Wednesday, October 29, 2008

WILL IT BE WILD WEDNESDAY

EZEKIEL 36:24 GODS PROMISE TO ISRAEL THEIR OWN LAND
24 For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land.

AMOS 9:15 GODS PROMISES ISRAEL THEIR OWN LAND FOREVER
15 And I will plant them (ISRAELIS) upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them, saith the LORD thy God.

MATTHEW 24:32-34 ISRAEL BORN AS A NATION
32 Now learn a parable of the fig tree;(ISRAEL) When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh:(ISRAEL BORN MAY 15,1948)
33 So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.
34 Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.

JOEL 1:7 ISRAEL IS THE FIG TREE
7 He hath laid my vine waste, and barked my fig tree:(ISRAEL) he hath made it clean bare, and cast it away; the branches thereof are made white.

HOSEA 9:10 FIG TREE IS ISRAEL
10 I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness; I saw your fathers as the firstripe in the fig tree at her first time: but they went to Baalpeor, and separated themselves unto that shame; and their abominations were according as they loved.

DANIEL 9:24 THE LAST 7 YEARS ISRAEL AND JERUSALEM ARE DELT WITH
24 Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people (ISRAEL) and upon thy holy city,(JERUSALEM) to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.

ZECHARIAH 12:2-3 JERUSALEM A CUP OF TROUBLE IN LAST 7 YEARS
2 Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem.
3 And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.

JOEL 3:2 THE RESULT OF JERUSALEM DIVIDED WW3
2 I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.

LUKE 1:32-33 JESUS AFTER THE 7 YEARS RULES FROM JERUSALEM FOREVER
32 He shall be great,(JESUS) and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David:
33 And he shall reign over the house of Jacob (ISRAEL) for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.(JESUS RULES FOREVER FROM JERUSALEM)

SARAH PALIN HOPEFULLY NEXT USA VICE-PRESIDENT

SARAH PALIN GETS IN
http://www.israpundit.com/2008/?p=3976

SARAH PALIN IRAN MUST BE STOPPED
http://www.israpundit.com/2008/?p=3048

PALINS ENERGY POLICY,PALINS ACCOMPLISHMENT
http://www.israpundit.com/2008/?p=3864

HOW PALIN GOVERNED EFFECTIVELY
http://www.israpundit.com/2008/?p=4314

JUDGING WHO IS SMART
http://www.israpundit.com/2008/?p=4268

WATCH NIGHT TO HONOR ISRAEL
http://www.jhm.org/ME2/Sites/dirmod.asp?sid=&type=gen&mod=Core+Pages&gid=
E9F025178D754AB2AE33193BAF7903B5&SiteID=98614EAC31FA42C498745CE6581F8244

JERUSALEM CAPITAL OF THE JEWS - VIDEO
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X10FJZLHOgc

IDF IN PICTURES - VIDEO
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMKQ9Aihh3M&feature=related

JERUSALEM OF GOLD - VIDEO SPEAKER
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcQEry6-6aQ&feature=related

ISRAELI WEAPONS OF THE FUTURE - VIDEO
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcQEry6-6aQ&feature=related

FUTURE WEAPONS - VIDEO
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjY0Us7NOns&feature=related

OBAMA INTERVIEW POINTS TO MARXISM
http://www.onenewsnow.com/Election2008/Default.aspx?id=301520

Biden’s generated crisis will be a war against Israel
By Ted Belman OCT 29,08


Senater Biden recently warned about an upcoming generated crises and asked for political support for Obama re-action.Because it’s not gonna be apparent initially, it’s not gonna be apparent that we’re right.I know what he is referring to. At least I believe I do.In May of this year I wrote J-Street and Obama are in full agreement. It included J-Streets Statement of Principles
http://www.israpundit.com/2008/?p=1165
http://jstreet.org/page/j-street-statement-principles

J Street brings together Americans who seek a new direction for American policy in the Middle East and broader public and policy debate in the U.S. about ways to achieve lasting peace in the Middle East.

We support:

* Consistent and concerted diplomatic engagement by the United States to achieve Israeli-Arab peace. A negotiated end to the Israeli-Arab and Israeli-Palestinian conflicts serves both U.S. and Israeli strategic and security interests. Achieving it must be a priority for any future U.S. administration; (They insist that Israel be forced to capitulate.)

* An enduring relationship between the US and Israel that promotes their common interests. We recognize and support Israel as the homeland of the Jewish people, a democratic country that promises equal rights for all its citizens and that has the right to defend itself against external threats; (But not a a Jewish state.There is a difference.

* The creation of a viable Palestinian state as part of a negotiated two-state solution, based on the 1967 borders with agreed reciprocal land swaps. The future Palestinian state will require unprecedented levels of international economic and political support to succeed, including a resolution of the refugee issue within the new Palestinian state and in current host countries; (These borders would require the transfer of at least 150,000 Israelis.)

* An Israeli-Syrian peace agreement based on the land-for-peace formula, security guarantees, and details outlined in previous negotiations; (Of what value are security guarantees?)

* A comprehensive regional peace that builds on the Arab Initiative, leading to recognition of Israel by all its neighbors in the Middle East and the creation of a new regional approach to cooperation and security; (Pie in the sky.)

* An American policy in the Middle East more broadly based on diplomacy, multilateralism and real partnership with the European Union, the Quartet and others. We support dialogue with a broad range of countries and actors, including Iran, over confrontation in order to find solutions to the region’s conflicts. (They want to appease them rather than confront them.)

Essentially they support the Saudi Plan. I believe they pay lip service to a negotiated settlement and understand, the settlement must be imposed.

Of the utmost importance is the fact that both Obama and J-Street are supported by George Soros if not created by him. The prosecution of AIPAC’s Steve Rosen and Keith Weissman was the first public move which was followed by Mearsheimer and Walt’s book The Israel Lobby to undermine the power of AIPAC. Then J-Street was created to replace it.

Thomas Friedman lent a hand by Redefining What it means to be pro-Israel
http://www.israpundit.com/2008/?p=1079

Biden’s remark suggests Pres Obama is going to administer tough love.Thus the ground work has been laid for tough love but a generated crises is needed to set the plan in motion.I expect that Intifadah III will soon break out which will spiral out of control with Hezbollah and Hamas joining in. Just this week Top Iran officials recommend preemptive strike against Israel and DEBKA Iran has developed a series of optional plans for pre-emptively attacking Israel
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1030279.html

The floating dirty bomb. was intended for this purpose.
http://www.israpundit.com/2008/?p=4191

The UNSC will then pass a Chapter VII resolution, without an American veto, demanding that Israel withdraw to the greenline and abandon all settlements. The UN sends a force consisting of soldiers from Jordan, Egypt and Syria to enforce it and establish peace.And who would complain? Certainly not Olmert, the EU, J-Street and Obama’s foreign policy team.In an interview in 2002,
http://globetrotter.berkeley.edu/people2/Power/power-con5.html
Samantha Power, who is expected to be in Obama’s cabinet was asked,Would you advise him to put a structure in place to monitor that situation, at least if one party or another looking like they might be moving toward genocide? Power gave an astonishing answer:What we don’t need is some kind of early warning mechanism there, what we need is a willingness to put something on the line in helping the situation. Putting something on the line might mean alienating a domestic constituency of tremendous political and financial import; it may more crucially mean sacrificing—or investing, I think, more than sacrificing—billions of dollars, not in servicing Israel’s military, but actually investing in the new state of Palestine, in investing the billions of dollars it would probably take, also, to support what will have to be a mammoth protection force, not of the old Rwanda kind, but a meaningful military presence. Because it seems to me at this stage (and this is true of actual genocides as well, and not just major human rights abuses, which were seen there), you have to go in as if you’re serious, you have to put something on the line. Unfortunately, imposition of a solution on unwilling parties is dreadful. It’s a terrible thing to do, it’s fundamentally undemocratic. But, sadly, we don’t just have a democracy here either, we have a liberal democracy. There are certain sets of principles that guide our policy, or that are meant to, anyway. It’s essential that some set of principles becomes the benchmark, rather than a deference to who are fundamentally politically destined to destroy the lives of their own people. And by that I mean what Tom Friedman has called Sharafat [Sharon-Arafat]. I do think in that sense, both political leaders have been dreadfully irresponsible. And, unfortunately, it does require external intervention…. Any intervention is going to come under fierce criticism. But we have to think about lesser evils, especially when the human stakes are becoming ever more pronounced.

Now you more fully understand Biden’s remarks. In a 1992 Jerusalem Post story,
http://www.commentarymagazine.com/blogs/index.php/jpodhoretz/22302
Biden threatened to cut off all aid to Israel unless all settlement activity was stopped. John Podhoretz discussed this in his recent Commentary article Did Biden Call for a Cut-Off in Aid to Israel?
http://www.commentarymagazine.com/blogs/index.php/jpodhoretz/22302

Both Biden and Power made these remarks in 2002 during the second Intifadah.We already have witnessed UN efforts to demand Israel withdraw and efforts to establish an Arab force to keep the peace in Gaza and Judea and Samaria. Egypt is hosting discussions between Hamas and Fatah. What could they be discussing.Remember, every time there is an Arab/Israeli war, the UN intervenes to stop it.Ted Belman.

Israel's Netanyahu launches campaign Mon Oct 27, 11:34 am ET

AFP JERUSALEM – Israeli opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu has opened his campaign for prime minister by staking out a hardline position toward Syria and the Palestinians.Netanyahu told parliament on Monday that if he becomes prime minister, he will seek peace with Israel's neighbors. But he says Israel must keep the Golan Heights, large parts of the West Bank or any of Jerusalem.Netanyahu, who takes a tough stances against ceding land won in war, is roughly even in opinion polls against the moderate Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni.

Fall snowstorm knocks out power in eastern Ontario, western Quebec
Wed Oct 29, 8:35 AM


Thousands of people in Quebec and eastern Ontario were without power Wednesday morning after the first snowfall of the season, prompting the closure of some schools.A storm system that crept up the east coast of the U.S. and blew across eastern Ontario and western Quebec dumped between 10 and 20 centimetres of wet snow under strong wind gusts.Up to four more centimetres of blowing snow were expected to fall in Ottawa Wednesday before ending sometime in the morning and starting to melt as the temperature moves toward the expected high of 1 C.Hydro-Quebec said about 60,000 customers in the Laurentians and the Outaouais will have to wait until later Wednesday morning before power is restored.In eastern Ontario, about 10,000 households lost power between Highway 416 and the Quebec border, and Hydro One predicted that some would remain without power until noon.The power outages prompted the closure of some schools in eastern Ontario's Upper Canada School Board:
- Russell Elementary.- Russell High School.- Cambridge Public School.- Glen Tay School.- S.J. McLeod Public School.- North Stormont Public School.

School buses were cancelled for two schools in the Catholic board system, Mother Teresa Catholic School and St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic High School, but the schools remained open.Just before 7:30 a.m., the Ontario Provincial Police reported 23 collisions across eastern Ontario. Ottawa's traffic control said many of the city's roads were clear of snow, but seven intersections remained without traffic lights.A winter storm watch was in effect Tuesday from Brockville and the eastern edge of Algonquin Park to the boundary with Quebec.The snow system passed over Montreal, where a few centimetres accumulated but will melt as the forecast calls for warmer weather later in the week in the greater island region. But eastern Ontario and western Quebec can expect more snow.Wind gusts up to 60 kilometres per hour created hazardous driving conditions.In eastern Quebec, heavy rain fell Tuesday night, leaving up to 140 millimetres in the region between Bonaventure and Port Daniel.A handful of homes were evacuated as a precaution, public security officials said.

At least 170 dead as quake hits southwest Pakistan By SATTAR KAKAR, Associated Press Writer OCT 29,08

WAM, Pakistan – Desperate villagers clawed through piles of mud and timber looking for victims of an earthquake that collapsed thousands of homes in southwestern Pakistan before dawn Wednesday, killing at least 170 people. Army planes began flying in tents, medical supplies and blankets to the quake zone in Baluchistan province, but some 15,000 homeless people in the impoverished region faced a night in the open in near freezing temperatures following the 6.4-magnitude jolt.I have lost everything, said Haji Shahbaz, mourning the deaths of 17 relatives in Wam, a hard-hit village. Nothing is left here, and now life is worthless for me, he added, then wailed in despair, tears streaking his dust-caked face.Pakistan is no stranger to natural disasters, but the quake comes at an especially precarious time for the Muslim country, with the civilian government battling al-Qaida and Taliban attacks while grappling with a punishing economic crisis.As the army and other government agencies rushed to provide help, at least three hard-line Islamic organizations also were quick to aid quake survivors, according to an Associated Press reporter who toured the area.Among them was Jamaat-ud-Dawa, designated a terrorist group by the U.S. government for its links to Muslim separatists fighting in India's portion of the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir.The group set up relief camps and won friends among survivors of a 7.6-magnitude quake that devastated Kashmir and northern Pakistan in October 2005, killing about 80,000 people and leaving hundreds of thousands homeless.

Baluchistan is home to a long-running separatist movement, but has so far been spared the level of militant violence seen in the northwestern tribal areas along the border with Afghanistan, where Muslim extremists are strong.Wednesday's quake hit before sunrise as most people slept. Witnesses reported two strong jolts about an hour apart, saying the second at 5:10 a.m. caused the destruction, collapsing the flimsy mud-brick and timber houses common to this poor region.We were awoken with a big thundering noise and a tremor and we came out of our home and started reciting prayers, said Malik Abdul Hasmat, a 35-year-old teacher. We went back inside because of the cold and then came the second and bigger jerk and all the homes collapsed.As he spoke, excavators dug mass graves and villagers hacked away at the holes with spades. Over a loud speaker, a rescue official announced a grim find in the remains of one house: the body of young boy, believed to be around 1 year old.The worst-hit area was the Ziarat valley, where hundreds of houses were destroyed in at least eight villages, including some buried in landslides triggered by the quake.Dilawar Kakar, mayor of the hilltop town of Ziarat, said 170 people in the area had been killed, with 375 injured and around 15,000 left homeless. Ziarat itself, a popular summer resort since the days of the British empire, was spared major damage.In the village of Sohi, a reporter for AP Television News saw the bodies of 17 people killed in one collapsed house and 12 from another. Distraught residents were digging a mass grave.We can't dig separate graves for each of them, as the number of deaths is high and still people are searching in the rubble of many other homes, said Shamsullah Khan, a village elder.Hospitals were flooded with dead and injured. One patient at Quetta Civil Hospital, Raz Mohammed, said he was awakened by the sound of his children crying before he felt a jolt.I rushed toward them but the roof of my own room collapsed and the main iron support hit me, he said. That thing broke my back and I am in severe pain, but thank God my children and relatives are safe.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said his country was offering $310,000 in immediate aid, but the head of Pakistan's National Disaster Management Authority said an international relief effort was not needed.God has been kind, it has been a localized affair, said Farooq Ahmad Khan. I think we can manage it.

Pakistan is prone to seismic upheavals since it sits atop an area of collision between the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates, the same force responsible for the birth of the Himalayan mountains. Baluchistan's capital, Quetta, was devastated by a 7.5-magnitude temblor in 1935 that killed more than 30,000 people. Associated Press writer Mattiullah Achakzai in Quetta and APTN cameraman Abdul Rahman in Sohi contributed to this report.

CNN NEWS VIDEO
http://edition.cnn.com/video/

YAHOO NEWS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video

MIDEAST CONFLICT NEWS
http://news.yahoo.com/video/1874;_ylt=A0wNcxFdg6xIgbkAwD6z174F

ABC NEWS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video/2461

FOX NEWS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video/3074

FOX BUSINESS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video/3045

AP NEWS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video/2529

BBC NEWS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video/2918

REUTERS VIDEO NEWS
http://news.yahoo.com/video/2704

AFP NEWS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video/3091

CNBC NEWS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video/3245

HOARDING OF GOLD AND SILVER

DOCTOR DOCTORIAN FROM ANGEL OF GOD
then the angel said, Financial crisis will come to Asia. I will shake the world.

JAMES 5:1-3
1 Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.
2 Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.
3 Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.

REVELATION 18:10,17,19
10 Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.
17 For in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off,
19 And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate.

EZEKIEL 7:19
19 They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be removed: their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the LORD: they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels: because it is the stumblingblock of their iniquity.

REVELATION 13:16-18
16 And he(FALSE POPE) causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:(CHIP IMPLANT)
17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.(6-6-6) A NUMBER SYSTEM

WORLD MARKET RESULTS
http://money.cnn.com/data/world_markets/

HALF HOUR DOW RESULTS WED OCT 29,2008

09:30 AM -21.51
10:00 AM -61.33
10:30 AM +56.47
11:00 AM -51.30
11:30 AM +15.21
12:00 PM +36.71
12:30 PM +57.58
01:00 PM +64.43
01:30 PM +68.33
02:00 PM +87.05
02:30 PM -20.55
03:00 PM +30.50
03:30 PM +158.50
04:00 PM -74.16 8990.96

S&P 500 930.09 -10.42

NASDAQ 1657.21 +7.74

GOLD 752.30 +11.8

OIL 68.09 +5.36

TSE 300 +318.34 9,469.97

CDNX +41.79 858.73

S&P/TSX/60 +19.84 574.42

Dow,S&P 500 on pace for worst monthly percentage loss since Oct 1987.
Dow has averaged daily moves of 400 points over the last 10 sessions.
Nasdaq composite is 50% above Oct 2002 low of 1114.
GMAC has been cleared to join the FEDS commercial paper plan.
As a bank holding CO. GMAC could get equity injections from treasury.
GMAC seeks bank status in order to access 700 BILLION bailout fund.
Today marks 79th Anniversary of 1929 Black Tuesday.
Around 2:15 interest rate cut might be.

FEDS cut 1/2 percent to 1.00%.
FOMC:Fed will act as needed to promote sustainable growth,price stability.
FOMC:Pace of economic activity appears to have slowed markedly.
FOMC:Vote to cut rates a half point was unanimous.

CLOSING WRAPUP
Dow falls in last 15 minutes from 200 points to minus 100.

FEDS NEW SWAP LINES
-up to $30 Billion each with.
-Brazil,Mexico,Korea,Singapore.
-FED:4 countries are funamentally sound & well managed.
-14 New countries with swap lines to the fed through April 2009.

BUSH ON UPCOMING FINANCIAL SUMMIT
http://www.mymotherlode.com/News/article/kvml/1225113421

OCTOBER 16, 2008 EU to Push Global Oversight of Top Financial Firms Leaders at Summit Seize Momentum of European Response to Crisis; Sarkozy Says He Can Get U.S. and China on BoardBy GERALDINE AMIEL and PAUL HANNON

European Union leaders are set to call Thursday for the creation of international boards to oversee at least the world's 30 biggest banks and financial institutions.The latest effort to step up regulation to address the global financial crisis is based on a proposal by U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown, and comes as Mr. Brown and the EU have taken the lead in responding to the crisis.The proposed supervisory body would consist of regulatory officials from big countries and financial centers, EU officials said. The goal would be to enhance communication and response plans for bank operations world-wide, they said.

EU leaders backed the idea of global financial-system oversight at the start of a two-day summit in Brussels, diplomats said.That would face the significant challenge of getting the U.S. and others to cooperate. These are the kinds of issues that have been discussed at the Financial Stability Forum and the IMF. We will have an opportunity to discuss these -- and the ideas of others -- at the appropriate time, said White House spokesman Tony Fratto.EU leaders backed the idea of a supervisory body at the start of a two-day summit Wednesday, according to diplomats from three countries. The summit comes days after the EU's biggest economies agreed on a coordinated €2 trillion ($2.7 trillion) plan to prop up their biggest banks by buying equity stakes and guaranteeing debt. That move, which echoed a call by the Group of Seven leading nations, was rapidly followed by the U.S. All 27 EU members voted Wednesday to approve the bailout plan.Mr. Brown said the world needs a new Bretton Woods, a reference to the 1944 conference in New Hampshire that set up the basic rules for international banking, finance and monetary policy, and established the International Monetary Fund, which bails out countries in crisis. Mr. Brown began pushing for such a body in 1998 after the Asian financial crisis, when he was U.K. Treasury chief. The proposals are expected to be included in the summit's conclusions Thursday.Mr. Brown wants new and stricter international standards for the amount of capital reserves banks should hold and rules forcing financial markets to open their books, U.K. diplomats said.

The White House released a joint statement from the Group of Eight leading nations --four EU countries and Japan, Canada, Russia and the U.S. -- promising to meet at an appropriate time in the near future to discuss ways of reforming regulation of the world's financial sectors.French President Nicolas Sarkozy and other European leaders claimed credit for imposing calm on financial markets. For the first time Europeans showed their ability to act in an emergency in a coordinated way, said Mr. Sarkozy. "The reform can't stop at Europe. The economy is global.EU leaders have no option but to take their campaign for tighter supervision of international banks beyond Europe's borders, Mr. Sarkozy said, because it doesn't work if you regulate one half of the world lightly, and ignore the other half.The French president said he was confident he could win over China and the U.S. He said he will visit both countries in the next two weeks.EU diplomats dismissed concerns that even with U.S. backing, they might have a hard time selling their plan to the rest of the world, considering that the Doha Round of world trade talks collapsed this summer because the world's biggest economic powers -- the EU, U.S., China, Japan, India and Brazil -- couldn't find common ground.Any move to create supervisory agencies would build on an existing EU proposal for regulators from the countries in which a bank operates to share information on the bank and coordinate a response if it gets into trouble.

EU countries could also end up bickering among themselves about the fine print. The U.K. is unlikely to agree with Mr. Sarkozy's call for financial supervision to be extended to hedge funds, or to eliminate offshore financial centers. London is a big center for hedge funds, and on the European stage the U.K. represents the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man, which are large offshore financial centers.The talks on finance overshadowed other items on the EU summit's agenda: Georgia's conflict with Russia, EU carbon-emissions targets and Ireland's referendum vote to block a treaty that would give the EU its first permanent president.—John D. McKinnon in Washington contributed to this article.Write to Geraldine Amiel at geraldine.amiel@dowjones.com and Paul Hannon at paul.hannon@dowjones.com

Fed cuts key interest rate half-point to 1 percent By MARTIN CRUTSINGER, AP Economics Writer OCT 29,08

WASHINGTON – The Federal Reserve has slashed a key interest rate by half a percentage point as it seeks to revive an economy hit by a long list of maladies stemming from the most severe financial crisis in decades.The central bank on Wednesday reduced its target for the federal funds rate, the interest banks charge on overnight loans, to 1 percent, a low last seen in 2003-2004. The funds rate has not been lower since 1958, when Dwight Eisenhower was president.The cut marked the second half-point reduction in the funds rate this month. The Fed slashed the rate by that amount in a coordinated move with foreign central banks on Oct. 8.In a brief statement explaining Wednesday's action, the Fed said that the intensification of financial market turmoil is likely to exert additional restraint on spending, partly by further reducing the ability of households and business to obtain credit.The central bank said that downside risks to growth remain holding out the promise of further rate cuts if needed. The rate-cut decision was unanimous.Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and his colleagues pledged that they would monitor economic and financial developments carefully and will act as needed to promote sustainable economic growth and price stability.Wall Street had staged its second biggest point surge ever on Tuesday with the Dow Jones industrial average climbing by 889 points in anticipation of the Fed's action. Trading was more subdued on Wednesday with the Dow actually slipping into negative territory immediately after the announcement, but surged up by about 200 points in late-afternoon trading.

Many analysts said they believe the Fed will not stop at 1 percent if officials see the need to cut rates further. Some are forecasting another half-point move at the Fed's last meeting of the year on Dec. 16.But other economists said with rates already so low, the Fed may decide to hold at 1 percent, leaving some room for a further reduction if needed next year should the country's economic troubles intensify.David Jones, chief economist at DMJ Advisors, said the Fed's rate cut will be followed over the next week by similar action in other major countries as they grow more concerned that the recession that began in the United States is spreading to their regions.But he said a section of the Fed's statement where it listed all the efforts taken so far to battle the slowdown was a signal the central bank believes it has done enough for now.Other economists disagreed, saying the Fed clearly lowered its worries about inflation while raising concerns about economic growth.Sung Won Sohn, an economist at the Smith School of Business at California State University, said he believed the Fed will make the momentous decision to move the funds rate to zero if events in coming months show such an action is needed to battle the global credit crisis.In its statement, the Fed indicated it had room to lower rates because the spreading economic weakness was lowering the risks that inflation would get out of control. Indeed, the weakness has caused dramatic declines in the price of oil and other commodities.While many economists believe the country has already fallen into a recession, they think the aggressive efforts by the Fed to cut rates and take other actions to unfreeze credit markets will keep the country from plunging into a prolonged and deep downturn.The Fed's action was expected to be quickly followed by a reduction by commercial banks in their prime lending rate, the benchmark for millions of consumer and business loans, by a similar half-point.The central bank also announced that it was lowering its discount rate, the interest it charges to make direct loans to banks, by a half-point to 1.25 percent. This rate has become increasingly important as the central bank has dramatically increased direct loans to banks in an effort to break the grip of the credit crisis.Bernanke pledged in a speech earlier this month that the Fed will not stand down until we have achieved our goals of repairing and reforming our financial system and restoring prosperity.In addition to the rate cuts, the Fed has been moving to pump billions of dollars into the banking system to help unfreeze markets that seized up in dramatic fashion last month. The ensuing meltdown of financial markets caused the Bush administration to successfully lobby Congress to pass on Oct. 3 a $700 billion rescue package to make direct purchases of bank stock and buy up bad assets as a way of getting financial institutions to start lending again. That money started flowing earlier this week with $125 billion going to nine of the nation's biggest banks. Other industries, including automakers and insurance companies, are in talks with the administration to get a share of the bailout funds.
And there is pressure from lawmakers to deploy some of the bailout resources to provide mortgage guarantees to encourage more banks to rework home loans to stem a record tide of foreclosures.

Putin Urges China to Join in Moving Away From Dollar (Update1)
By Maria Levitov and Emma O'Brien


Oct. 28 (Bloomberg) -- Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin urged China to move away from the dollar, saying a global economy based on the U.S. currency has serious problems.Wider use of national currencies in the two countries' trade with each other is needed, Putin said at the Russia-China Economic Forum in Moscow today. We all know this well, the whole world based on the dollar is experiencing serious problems.The dollar has strengthened almost 10 percent against the ruble this year as the seizure in global credit markets deters investors from emerging markets. Putin this month blamed the worldwide financial crisis on the irresponsibility of the U.S. and said the world's largest economy is not in a state to make appropriate decisions to prevent a global recession. China is unlikely to diversify much from dollar holdings, said Jon Harrison, an emerging markets currency strategist in London at Dresdner Kleinwort. The world's fastest-growing economy has the largest foreign-currency reserves, at $1.9 trillion. Russia has the third-biggest, at $515.7 billion. It does not make sense for them to cut their dollar exposure dramatically as they cannot do so without devaluing the assets they hold, Harrison said. Putin is looking to build support for the ruble. Both Putin and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev have advocated the ruble as a reserve currency and urged the nation's oil and gas producers to move toward trading their commodities in the currency. Chinese exports to Russia slumped for the first time since 2000 in the third quarter, Vedomosti newspaper reported last week. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao will sign an oil-supply accord with Russia today that could make 300 million metric tons of oil available to China over the next 20 years. The country may also provide $25 billion of export-backed loans to Russia's biggest oil producer OAO Rosneft and OAO Transneft, Reuters reported.

The ruble was little changed at 27.3461 per dollar today, near an 18-month low against the U.S. currency. To contact the reporters on this story: Maria Levitov in Moscow at mlevitov@bloomberg.net; Emma O'Brien in Moscow at eobrien6@bloomberg.net

IMF likely to need more money for its bailout fund By DAVID STRINGER and PAN PYLAS, Associated Press Writers – Tue Oct 28, 3:38 pm ET

LONDON – With Iceland, Pakistan, Hungary and Ukraine already clamoring for mountains of cash aid, the $250 billion set aside by the International Monetary Fund to help struggling nations through the economic crisis is beginning to look puny.China and oil-rich Persian Gulf states should fund the bulk of a major boost in the IMF's bailout pot, Gordon Brown, the British prime minister who has burnished his reputation by taking the lead on the financial meltdown, said Tuesday.Those countries have the largest currency reserves and therefore should do the most, Brown said, without specifying how much more money should be added to the fund for helping nations whose banking systems and currencies are being battered.We must act now. We must set up the fund as quickly as possible, Brown told reporters before heading to Paris for further talks on the crisis with French President Nicolas Sarkozy.I believe it is possible in a very short period of time to create an international fund that is strong enough to withstand these difficulties, Brown said. It is in every nation's interest and in the interests of hard working families in our country and every country that financial contagion does not spread.Chinese institutions held relatively little of the toxic subprime mortgage debt hobbling Western institutions and were thus largely unscathed by the collapse of the U.S. housing market. But as a major exporter it is exposed to slumping demand for its products abroad if the debt crisis causes a deep global recession.There was no immediate comment from the Chinese government, which has reported foreign currency reserves totaling $1.9 trillion as of the end of September.Speaking in Berlin, Bahrain's King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa didn't directly address Brown's call for the Persian Gulf to help but said the region was open to talks. We would like to play a part in (working on) an international financial system, a new system, he said.Brown's office said he would discuss how much money he believes should be pledged to the IMF fund during talks Nov. 15 with world leaders in Washington. He and others, including Sarkozy, have called for discussion of a new world financial architecture relying on global bodies like the IMF.

The IMF's executive board is expected to soon consider streamlining its emergency loan programs ahead of a stream of petitions that analysts fear will be coming in from emerging economies needing support.It already agreed to lend Iceland $2.1 billion and Ukraine $16.5 billion, and is in talks with Hungary for an estimated $10 billion to $12.5 billion in loans. Pakistan said Tuesday it would ask for an IMF bailout within two weeks if it cannot secure $5 billion in funding from other sources.Brown said he planned to hold telephone talks with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao this week and would go to the Persian Gulf region Saturday to discuss the crisis.It will be the countries that have got substantial reserves — the oil rich countries and others — who are going to be the biggest contributors to this fund, Brown said.China also has very substantial reserves. There are a number of countries that actually can do quite a lot in the immediate future to make sure that the international community has sufficient resources to support countries that get themselves into difficulties, he said.With world stock markets down steeply, many investors have been withdrawing money from smaller countries' emerging markets, which has sent their currencies plunging. Tight credit from strapped banks and lending markets mean it is difficult for them to get financing on their own.Those troubles in smaller countries could hit economies in richer countries that trade with them or whose banks do business there.One analyst said Beijing could demand a bigger role in international institutions in return for helping.First thing that has to happen is that they have be seriously engaged in the dialogue, said Jeremy Batstone-Carr, head of research at the Charles Stanley investment firm in London. If you want their money, you have to give them a seat at the top table and let them have their say.Brown won plaudits after the British government took large stakes in foundering banks, an approach quickly adopted by the U.S. and other European governments. That burnished his standing abroad — although at home his Labour Party still trails the Conservative opposition in polls. Brown, who headed the IMF's 24-member policy advisory committee while he was head of the British Treasury for 10 years before he became prime minister in mid-2007, has taken the lead partly because he wants to maintain London's position as a major financial hub. Stephen Lewis, chief economist at Monument Securities in London, said it is a vital national interest that this position, and the tax revenues that flow from it, be preserved or enhanced in any new monetary arrangements that emerge from the forthcoming discussions.However, Lewis said it is probably premature for policy makers to be trying to make decisions on a new international financial architecture when it is not yet clear how much more of the old edifice will collapse.There is widespread skepticism much can be accomplished at the November meeting in Washington, given next week's U.S. elections that will make President Bush even more of a lame duck. Some participants may be inclined to stall on decision-making, preferring to put off serious discussions until Bush's successor is in the White House, said Lewis.

More policy reforms to make it easier to do business in ASEAN
By Wong Siew Ying, Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 28 October 2008 2119 hrs


SINGAPORE : More policy reforms to improve the business environment could help facilitate ASEAN's aim to integrate its economies by 2015. In a recent World Bank report, only Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand were ranked among the top 30 countries in terms of ease of doing business. For the second year running, Singapore topped the World Bank rankings, as the easiest place to do business. Its ASEAN neighbours Thailand and Malaysia jumped several notches to 13th and 20th positions respectively this year. But the rest of ASEAN, like Vietnam, Indonesia, the Philippines, Brunei and Cambodia, did not even make it to the top 80. With integration high on the grouping's agenda, the World Bank said it could spur countries to make more changes in order to be more competitive. Penelope Brook, director, Indicators and Analysis/Financial and Private Sector Vice Presidency, The World Bank Group, said: We saw some very important reforms in Cambodia last year, for example in the area of creditor rights, in the area of insolvency law; we are seeing countries like Indonesia moving towards important steps in trade facilitation, so we are seeing active reform across the region.Singapore, in spite of its good ratings, could still do more to simplify business procedures. Ms Brook said: For example, starting a business...Singapore currently has four steps, New Zealand has simplified this to one step which you could do online.

The Doing Business 2009 report measures regulation and red tape affecting small and medium-sized business in 181 economies. The report showed that a record of 113 economies implemented over 230 reforms in the past year to make it easier to do business, and a good number of economies comes from the Eastern European and Central Asian regions. The World Bank said the financial storm which has swept across global markets could also result in more policy changes next year. These are in the areas of protection to creditors and investors, quality of credit information and solvency procedures. - CNA/ms

Crisis threatens hearty growth for Latin America Even good news in ... comes with a flip side By JOHN OTIS 2008 Houston Chronicle South America Bureau Oct. 28, 2008, 9:24AM

BOGOTA, COLOMBIA — After five years of robust economic growth in Latin America, the global financial crisis appears set to bring its boom to a swift and painful halt.

Economic growth in Latin America, the World Bank says, will slow from annual rates of about 5 percent to between 2.5 percent and 3.5 percent in 2009. And some analysts believe the situation will worsen before it improves.I am concerned that the deterioration in the region is just getting under way, analyst Gray Newman wrote in a report for Morgan Stanley. The region is facing its most serious threat in decades.
Still, some analysts believe that the region is in a stronger position now to weather hard times than during previous downturns because many central banks have built up billions of dollars in foreign reserves and countries have diversified their economies.There are some pretty challenging headwinds facing Latin America, said Rahul Ghosh, who monitors the region for London-based Business Monitor International. But this time around Latin America has a better arsenal.

Economic muscle

Latin America has shown healthy growth rates since 2004, due in part to record prices for commodities such as oil, soybeans and copper, to huge sums in foreign investment and to rising consumer demand.But the turmoil in the global financial markets has slowed demand for Latin American products. World commodity prices are in a free-fall.Until recently, countries like Colombia, Brazil and Chile were viewed as safe havens, but some investors are pulling out of the emerging markets and buying up dollars in a quest for greater security.Central banks in Mexico and Brazil last week engineered billions in currency swaps and dollar sales to prop up currencies. Brazil also eliminated a tax on foreign investment to stem capital flight.Stock indexes have also taken a dive. The Bovespa in Sao Paulo, for example, has cumulatively halved in value since its peak in May.Even rare bits of good news seem to come with a flip side. For import-reliant Central America and the Caribbean, the drop in international food and fuel prices has brought some relief. But those benefits have been offset by a squeeze on remittances, the checks or money regularly sent home by people working in the U.S.Mexico sits in an especially vulnerable spot, because its economy is intertwined with that of the U.S. Eighty percent of Mexico's exports go to the U.S., where demand is falling. Some predict the maquiladora sector, which supplies U.S. factories, could face a rash of closures.Mark Weisbrot of the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington said most of the major South American countries have billions in reserves that could allow governments to prime the economic pump.Over the past five years, Brazil has strengthened its manufacturing base and diversified its exports. Today, soybeans, iron and other commodities account for one-third of Brazil's exports.

Much less vulnerable

Referring to Brazil's boom-and-bust economic cycles in the 1980s and 1990s, Sao Paulo economist Roberto Macedo said that Brazil seems poised to withstand the looming credit crunch, the weakening currency and other problems.In the past, Brazil was very vulnerable. We had no reserves. We had external debt, he said. Brazil is much less vulnerable today to contamination. We are in a hurricane, and I won't guarantee that we'll come out of it well. But we'll suffer less than we would have.

Oil-rich Venezuela has spent huge sums on social welfare programs, the nationalization of private companies, and weapons systems and as oil prices have fallen. Several analysts have predicted that the country's economy will fall into a tailspin.Yet oil is selling for about $64 a barrel, the same as last year when Venezuela's economy was humming. Just last Friday, the rating agency Standard & Poor's said that the outlook in Venezuela remains stable.Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said he has enough resources between the central bank's $39 billion in reserves and other assets to weather the storm.Some people are uniting behind falling oil prices thinking that now Chavez will fall, he said on state television.

I want to remind them that we arrived with $7 oil, and if it drops to $7 again, this revolution won't fall. It will only get stronger.Andrew Downie from Sao Paulo, Brazil, contributed to this report.john.otis@chron.com.

European Union Turns Down Plan For Super Regulator ,Telecoms commissioner Viviane Reding noted that giving individual countries and their respective telecom companies too much power over policy would be a mistake. By W. David Gardner InformationWeek October 27, 2008 06:25 PM

The European Union won't get a single super telecommunications regulator like the FCC in the U.S., according to current EU telecoms commissioner Viviane Reding.
In statements made on Monday, Reding said she believes the EU is making a mistake to continue to give individual countries and their respective telecom companies too much power over telecommunications' policies. More Telecom InsightsWhite PapersDiameter Protocol Stack Traffix Diameter Gateway WebcastsTaking Customer Service to the Next Level with SIP How to Gain Competitive Advantage From Microsoft Unified Communications Without Overhauling your Network ReportsSmaller Business UC Hurdles: User Adoption, Policies IT Survival Guide Reding agreed to drop her original proposal to give the European Commission veto power over national regulators, going along with recommendations from the EU parliament. Many of her proposals had been opposed by established telecommunications companies, according to European media sources. Maintaining that the current worldwide financial crisis demonstrates that closer regulation can help the telecommunications industry, Reding told a meeting of the European Telecommunications Network Operators' Association that over-regulation did not cause the financial crisis. I firmly believe that regulation taking care of competition always has a positive effect on the economy, she said. Times of economic difficulties are thus not a reason to suspend the principles of competition law.In her remarks to telecom company executives, she added: You and your lobbyists should be aware that the times when one could say no regulation to have policy makers and public opinion on your side that these times are over now.While the network operators have complained that regulatory restrictions tend to drive down prices thereby withdrawing valuable capital investment, Reding said past experience has shown that regulatory measures have pushed down prices, which has increased volume thereby sustaining revenues.

Bank of Israel lowers interest rates Monday October 27, 2:48 pm ET The Bank of Israel announces reduction in November interest rates

JERUSALEM (AP) -- The Bank of Israel says it lowered interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point due to fears of a looming recession.In a statement, the bank says the rate will be reduced to 3.5 percent. The bank said Monday that interest rate expectations derived from the capital market show no further change is expected in the next year.Israel's banking industry has not suffered the same problems faced by its larger counterparts in the U.S. and Europe, but the government is concerned a recession will reach Israel.The move comes as Middle East markets have been hit by the global financial crisis earlier in the week. Kuwait's central bank halted trading on Sunday in the shares of the country's Gulf Bank because of high derivatives losses.

October 27, 2008 Days of Turmoil Arlene Kushner

Well, President Peres has told the Knesset, which is beginning its winter session, that we will be going to elections. Part of the process down the road will involve dissolving the current Knesset. Several factions are urging that elections proceed as speedily as possible, for the nation's sake.Analysts project a two-way contest between Livni and Netanyahu, with Barak of Labor falling so far behind as to be pretty much out of the picture -- which is a good place for him. For the first time, polls have been released that show Livni ahead of Netanyahu by 2 or 3 seats. I figure that this is a result of her claiming the high ground in refusing to cave to Shas's demands. It is not necessarily a stable figure.; there's no such thing as a stable predictive figure three months before an election. But I guess it won't be a shoo-in for Netanyahu, which is how it seemed for some time.

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Olmert made a statement to the Knesset in the course of this discussion: The threats on the security of the people of Israel will not wait for political procedures. [Concern about] terror cannot be postponed because some of us are busy with the election process.He's right. Responses to terror, actions to protect national security, may be necessary between now and the time his successor takes over. But this doesn't provide him with the latitude to continue negotiations with the PA.

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Actually, because of the political uncertainty Abbas has cancelled a meeting with Olmert that had been scheduled. Whether it will be rescheduled is not clear. It shouldn't be.The PA is terribly unhappy about the current state of affairs and the likelihood that the Israeli elections will make progress in the peace process impossible. What a shame.What they are most worried about is the possibility that Livni might lose the elections: If Netanyahu becomes the next prime minister, we will have to declare the peace process dead.Fact is, Abbas is about to face enormous political turmoil come January in terms of his fight with Hamas regarding when his term ends. He's in no shape to advance peace either.

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Yesterday, Home Front Commander Maj.-Gen. Yair Golan, addressing a National Security Institute conference, said that Israel faces greater threat of missile attacks down the road. In the next five years, our enemies may fire 200-300 tons of explosive's worth in rockets on Israel. During the Second Lebanon War the rockets fired at Israel amounted to 30 tons of explosives. Golan was reassuring, however: The numbers may seem high but this isn't a catastrophe in waiting. We are more than capable of handling it. Let's pray so, as it's not simply a matter of more explosives, but also more sophisticated and accurate equipment.The conference was told that Home Front readiness is being revolutionized. But I have another thought, another concern: Are we going to sit here and wait for those explosives to start flying -- from Hezbollah or from Hamas? Will there be no pre-emptive actions, even though we know full well that arsenals are being strengthened??

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Yesterday, Defense Minister Barak complained to the head of UNIFIL regarding the continuing smuggling of arms by Hezbollah over the Syrian border. A whole lot of good this will do. Declaring that the IDF has been watching the situation closely and has seen the strengthening of Hezbollah (a re-arming the UNIFIL says they see no evidence of), Barak protested that, The repeated violation of 1701 could lead us to upset of the delicate balance that exists in Lebanon... I confess: I have no idea what delicate balance Barak has in mind. Hezbollah already has the upper hand, as far as I can see.

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A US Special Forces operation moved about 4 to 5 miles inside Syria yesterday, as part of an action to secure the Syrian border with Iraq, via which about 90% of foreign fighters -- as well as cash for Al Qaida and weapons -- enter Iraq. Eight people were killed in the helicopter raid, including, according to a US official cited by Fox News, the main target of the operation, the Al Qaida coordinator of foreign fighters stationed in Syria. Good move.The Syrians, who have not been particularly cooperative with regard to sealing their border (any more than they seal their border with Lebanon), are decidedly not happy.

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This past Shabbat, close to 600 PA special forces troops, US-trained, were deployed in Hevron. This is ostensibly to give the PA a stronger hand in combating Hamas, as Hevron is a Hamas stronghold. But this follows the deployment of PA troops some months earlier, first in Nablus (Shechem) and then in Jenin. And there is great unease in some quarters here in Israel that this is part of a process of turning Judea and Samaria over to PA security, one step at a time, as a prelude to pushing out Jewish settlement. It remains to be seen how the forces in Hevron will conduct themselves. In Nablus and Jenin it was reported that they helped restore calm on the streets and did things such as arrest car thieves, but did not actively take on Hamas -- this was left for the IDF to handle. A first operation of some sort, that rounded up criminals and Hamas loyalists is being reported in the media.

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For a number of reasons, the beleaguered Jewish community of Hevron fiercely protested this move, which could have been stopped by the IDF. Terrorists have on numerous occasions been incorporated into the PA security forces, and thus there is no reason to trust them. The PA-controlled area around the Jewish area of Hevron includes high points from which it is possible for snipers to shoot at Jews. This is not idle speculation, as this is what happened in 2001 to 10-month old Shalhevet Pass, who was deliberately shot dead by a sniper standing on a hill near the Avraham Aveinu neighborhood and aiming directly at her head.

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What is more, the speculation that the deployment of these forces is a prelude to pushing out Jewish settlement gained considerable traction in the small hours of Sunday morning as Israeli forces (police, army and more) demolished the home of Noam Federman and his family:The Federman farm is located outside of Kiryat Arba, not far from Hevron. Noam, his wife Elisheva, and their nine children, had lived in a house there for two years. In the pre-dawn hours of Sunday, they were awaked without prior warning and removed forcibly from their house -- which was totally demolished with contents inside. The reason given: It was illegally constructed.One is struck by the difference between this action and the deferential treatment afforded by the government to the families of terrorists who are resident in eastern Jerusalem -- treatment that makes Israeli officials move only very reluctantly with regard to demolishing their homes. It is Jewish Israelis, the settlers, the residents of Judea and Samaria, who have become the enemy, the roadblock to official intentions to accommodate the Palestinians.

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At the farm, as the home was being demolished, some few of the Jews present (for the word went out and people gathered) made injudicious remarks regarding the IDF. Apologies have since been offered for what was said, but a great deal is being made of this. I would offer here the words of Hevron spokesman David Wilder: There is a saying in Hebrew that a person should not be held responsible for his words when his loved ones are still lying dead in front of him. That is how I relate to the...remarks [made]. The expulsion from Gush Katif and Northern Samaria are all still much too fresh and the fate of those expelled still hurting much too much. It is no secret that this administration has plans to implement further expulsions...

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Arutz Sheva reports that the municipality of Kiryat Arba has decided officially to rebuild the home that was demolished on the Federman farm, using city equipment and calling upon Jews across Israel to help. It is felt important that the site not be permitted to remain desolate of a Jewish presence.The Jews of Judea and Samaria are tired of being the scapegoats and tired of the treatment accorded them, and they are angry. It is my own opinion that their resolve and their courage will be the salvation of our nation.

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A stunning analysis of the Obama campaign -- The Obama Temptation by Mark R. Levin --has come to my attention. Says Levin:...I sense what's occurring in this election is a recklessness and abandonment of rationality that has preceded the voluntary surrender of liberty and security in other places...even some conservatives are caught in the moment as their attempts at explaining their support for Barack Obama are unpersuasive and even illogical...[people with] significant public policy and real world experiences...find Obama alluring but can't explain themselves in an intelligent way. There is a cult-like atmosphere around Barack Obama, which his campaign has carefully and successfully fabricated, which concerns me. The messiah complex. Fainting audience members at rallies. Special Obama flags and an Obama presidential seal. A graphic with the portrayal of the globe and Obama's name on it, which adorns everything from Obama's plane to his street literature. Young school children singing songs praising Obama. Teenagers wearing camouflage outfits and marching in military order chanting Obama's name and the professions he is going to open to them. An Obama world tour, culminating in a speech in Berlin where Obama proclaims we are all citizens of the world. I dare say, this is ominous stuff.

Even the media are drawn to the allure that is Obama. Yes, the media are liberal. Even so, it is obvious that this election is different. The media are open and brazen in their attempts to influence the outcome of this election. I've never seen anything like it. Virtually all evidence of Obama's past influences and radicalism — from Jeremiah Wright to William Ayers — have been raised by non-traditional news sources. The media's role has been to ignore it as long as possible, then mention it if they must, and finally dismiss it and those who raise it in the first place...

...my greatest concern is whether this election will show a majority of the voters susceptible to the appeal of a charismatic demagogue. This may seem a harsh term to some, and no doubt will to Obama supporters, but it is a perfectly appropriate characterization. Obama's entire campaign is built on class warfare and human envy. The change he peddles is not new. We've seen it before. It is change that diminishes individual liberty for the soft authoritarianism of socialism. It is a populist appeal that disguises government mandated wealth redistribution as tax cuts for the middle class, falsely blames capitalism for the social policies and government corruption (Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac) that led to the current turmoil in our financial markets, fuels contempt for commerce and trade by stigmatizing those who run successful small and large businesses, and exploits human imperfection as a justification for a massive expansion of centralized government...The question is whether enough Americans understand what's at stake in this election and, if they do, whether they care. Is the allure of a charismatic demagogue so strong that the usually sober American people are willing to risk an Obama presidency?...
http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=ZTI1NmUxYjA4ODczZjgxOWJhMzQ3ODI0MDRkOWFlMDQ=

see my website www.ArlenefromIsrael.info

This is a brilliant article.Is America really going to do this? By Melanie Phillips, The Spectator OCT 29,08

The impact of the financial crisis on the American presidential election has somewhat obscured the most important reason why the prospect of an Obama presidency is giving so many people nightmares. This is the fear that, if he wins, US defences will be emasculated at a time of unprecedented international peril and the enemies of America and the free world will seize their opportunity to destroy the west.

Personally, I don’t give any credence to the support for one candidate over the other that has been expressed by the enemies of civilisation (Iran and Hamas support Obama, while an al Qaeda blogger supports McCain). Their agenda is simply to sow confusion and promote American recriminations and disarray. Nor do I set much store by many of the remarks made by either candidate during the latter stages of this election campaign, since under this kind of pressure both will now say pretty much anything to win it. The New York Times has run a useful analysis of the candidates’ foreign policy campaign statements which shows how Obama has carefully tacked to the hard power agenda while McCain has in turn nodded towards soft power.No, the only way to assess their position is to look at each man in the round, at what his general attitude is towards war and self-defence, aggression and appeasement, the values of the west and those of its enemies and – perhaps most crucially of all – the nature of the advisers and associates to whom he is listening. As I have said before, I do not trust McCain; I think his judgment is erratic and impetuous, and sometimes wrong. But on the big picture, he gets it. He will defend America and the free world whereas Obama will undermine them and aid their enemies.Here’s why. McCain believes in protecting and defending America as it is. Obama tells the world he is ashamed of America and wants to change it into something else. McCain stands for American exceptionalism, the belief that American values are superior to tyrannies. Obama stands for the expiation of America’s original sin in oppressing black people, the third world and the poor.

Obama thinks world conflicts are basically the west’s fault, and so it must right the injustices it has inflicted. That’s why he believes in soft power — diplomacy, aid, rectifying grievances (thus legitimising them, encouraging terror and promoting injustice) and resolving conflict by talking. As a result, he will take an axe to America’s defences at the very time when they need to be built up. He has said he will cut investments in unproven missile defense systems; he will not weaponize space; he will slow our development of future combat systems; and he will also not develop nuclear weapons, pledging to seek deep cuts in America’s arsenal, thus unilaterally disabling its nuclear deterrent as Russia and China engage in massive military buildups.McCain understands that an Islamic war of conquest is being waged on a number of diverse fronts which all have to be seen in relation to each other. For Obama, however, the real source of evil in the world is America. The evil represented by Iran and the Islamic jihadists is apparently all America’s fault. A lot of evil’s been perpetuated based on the claim that we were fighting evil, he said. Last May, he dismissed Iran as a tiny place which posed no threat to the US -- before reversing himself the very next day when he said Iran was a great threat which had to be defeated. He has also said that Hezbollah and Hamas have legitimate grievances. Really? And what might they be? Their grievances are a) the existence of Israel b) its support by America c) the absence of salafist Islam in the world. Does Obama think these grievances are legitimate? To solve world conflict, Obama places his faith in the UN club of terror and tyranny, which is currently fuelling the murderous global demonisation of Israel for having the temerity to defend itself and is even now preparing for a rerun of its own anti-Jew hate-fest of Durban 2, which preceded 9/11 by a matter of days.McCain understands that Israel is the victim rather than the victimiser in the Middle East, that it is surrounded by genocidal enemies whose undiminished intention is to destroy it as a Jewish state, and that is both the first line of defence against the Islamist attack on the free world and its most immediate and important target.Obama dismisses the threat from Islamism, shows zero grasp of the strategic threat to the region and the world from the encirclement of Israel by Iran, displays a similar failure to grasp the strategic importance of Iraq, thinks Israel is instead the source of Arab and Muslim aggression against the west, believes that a Palestinian state would promote world peace and considers that Israel – particularly through the settlements – is the principal obstacle to that happy outcome. Accordingly, Obama has said he wants Israel to return to its 1967 borders – actually the strategically indefensible 1948 cease-fire line, known accordingly as the Auschwitz borders.

Obama would thus speak to Iran’s genocidal mullahs without preconditions on his side (the same mullahs have now laid down their own preconditions for America: pull all US troops out of the Middle East, and abandon support for Zionist Israel) but has said he would have problems dealing with an Israeli government headed by a member of Israel’s Likud Party. In similar vein, it is notable that Obama opposed the congressional resolution labelling the Iranian Revolutionary Guards a terrorist organization, which passed the Senate by a wide margin with support from both parties. And had he had his way, there would have been no surge in Iraq and America would instead have run up the white flag, with the incalculable bloodbath and strengthening of the jihad that would have followed.Obama assumes that Islamic terrorism is driven by despair, poverty, inflammatory US policy and the American presence on Muslim soil in the Persian Gulf. Thus he adopts the agenda of the Islamists themselves. This is not surprising since many of his connections suggest that that the man who may be elected President of a country upon which the Islamists have declared war is himself firmly in the Islamists’ camp. Daniel Pipes lists Obama’s extensive connections to Islamists in general and the Nation of Islam in particular, and concludes with this astounding observation:Obama's multiple links to anti-Americans and subversives mean he would fail the standard security clearance process for Federal employees. Islamic aggression represents America’s strategic enemy; Obama’s many insalubrious connections raise grave doubts about his fitness to serve as America's commander-in-chief.The hatred that these Islamist connections entertain towards Israel is reflected amongst Obama’s own advisers. With one notable exception in Dennis Ross, whose late arrival in Camp Obama suggests a cosmetic exercise designed to allay alarm among Israel supporters, his advisers are overwhelmingly not only hostile to Israel but perpetrate the loathesome canard that Jews have too much power over American policy.The former Carter adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski, for example, not only denounced Israel’s war against Hezbollah thus: I think what the Israelis are doing today [2006] for example in Lebanon is in effect– maybe not in intent – the killing of hostages

but also supports Mearsheimer and Walt’s notorious smear that the Jews have subverted America’s foreign policy in the interests of Israel. Merrill McPeak, vice chairman of Obama’s campaign and his chief military adviser, has similarly blamed problems in the Middle East on the influence of people who live in New York City and Miami (guess who) whom no politician wants to run against’ and who he says exercise undue influence on America’s foreign affairs. Most revolting of all is Samantha Power, a very close adviser whom Obama fired for calling Hillary a monster but who says she still expects to be in Obama’s administration. Not only has Power has advocated the ending of all aid to Israel and redirecting it to the Palestinians, but she has spoken about the need to land a mammoth force of US troops in Israel to protect the Palestinians from Israeli attempts at genocide (sic) -- and has complained that criticism of Barack Obama all too often came down to what was good for the Jews.There are, alas, many in the west for whom all this is music to their ears. Whether through wickedness, ideology, stupidity or derangement, they firmly believe that the ultimate source of conflict in the world derives at root from America and Israel, whose societies, culture and values they want to see emasculated or destroyed altogether. They are drooling at the prospect that an Obama presidency will bring that about. The rest of us can’t sleep at night.Ted Belman.

International Fellowship of Christians and Jews
You can help provide life- giving support to poverty stricken Jews.


Dear Friend of Israel,

In the Former Soviet Union (FSU), thousands of elderly Jews are living in dire poverty. It is a situation painful to contemplate. Having worked hard all their lives, in their old age these men and women are now hungry, unable to afford medicine to treat chronic ailments, and forced to live without life's necessities. It is a meager existence at best for tens of thousands who do not have the support systems we enjoy here in America.Faina Survived the Nazis, Now She Worries if She Will Survive Life in the FSU.The story of Faina, an elderly Jewish woman living in the former Soviet Republic of Moldova, illustrates the overwhelming problems faced by far too many people in this part of the world. During World War II, she and her family attempted to flee the approaching Nazi armies. To their horror, they were surrounded by German troops. Only Faina and her sister managed to escape alive.

After the war, Faina married and lived a modest life. When her husband died she was left without any means of financial support other than a meager government pension of just $50 per month. Today, she suffers from numerous medical problems, including Parkinson's disease, and cannot afford to buy medicine -- let alone enough food to eat.But there is a bright spot in Faina's life -- a local Hesed center. The center is sponsored by The Fellowship's Isaiah 58 program that supports poor elderly Russian Jews as well as orphaned and abandoned children in the FSU. Many people come to the center every day to receive food and other assistance. But because Faina is too ill to leave her house, a home care worker from Hesed brings her food, medicine, rehabilitation equipment, clothes and heating fuel. Hesed even paid for repair work to be done to her house which had fallen into disrepair and was no longer safe.

All It Takes Is Caring, Compassionate Action

This assistance has changed Faina's life dramatically -- and she is grateful. One can only dream about the wonderful care I receive from Hesed, she says, with tears in her eyes. I cannot find the words to describe it! Throughout the FSU, Fellowship-sponsored Hesed centers act as a lifeline to poor, elderly Jews whose lives are a day-to-day struggle for survival. You can give a safe, secure online gift right now that will change the life of someone like Faina. You cannot imagine how many lives will be changed by each dollar you give to Isaiah 58.
https://secure2.convio.net/ifcj/site/Donation2?df_id=2100&2100.donation=form1&s_src=donateonline&s_subsrc=E8JLSX47&JServSessionIdr001=so21tdlox1.app1b

May God bless you for your kindness! With prayers for shalom, peace,
Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein President INTERNATIONAL FELLOWSHIP OF CHRISTIANS AND JEWS.

A MESSAGE OF HOPE FROM DR. JACK VAN IMPE

Last week we defined and described the new birth, now we want to prove that this experience is demanded by God. Jesus said... ye must be born again (John 3:7). He did not say that the birth was worthy of one’s consideration or that one’s acceptance of His proposal would be admirable. No, He said... ye must be born again. Why?

Adamic Nature

First, we must be born from above or born again spiritually because, through our physical birth, we have inherited the Adamic nature. We are chips off the old block. Adam, as the head of the human race, passed on the genes of a corrupt nature to all his posterity. Paul spells it out clearly in Romans 5:12, 18, and 19. Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned... Therefore as by the offence of one [Adam] judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one [Christ] the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.

We conclude, then, that every member of the human race inherited Adam’s rotten nature at birth, making each of us what our first dad was-a disobedient rebel. This old nature within us makes us lie, cheat, swear, and desire sin. One is not a sinner because he sins. He sins because he is a sinner.

That’s what the psalmist meant in Psalm 5 1:5 when he said, Behold, I was shapen in iniquity: and in sin did my mother conceive me. The sin in this text was not sex, for, Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled... (Hebrews 13:4). Instead, the iniquity refers to the old nature formed within one at conception. This old nature contains all the germs of every known sin. That’s why God declares in Psalm 58:3, 4; The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies. Their poison is like the poison of a serpent....

In the light of this convicting evidence, only rebellious sinners would say, I don’t need salvation, or I am saved because I was born into a Christian family God disagrees. He says ...here is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not(Ecclesiastes 7:20). . . . there is none that doeth good, no, not one (Psalm 14:3). All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him [Christ] the iniquity of us all (Isaiah 53:6). The good man is perished out of the earth: and there is none upright among men: they all lie in wait for blood; they hunt every man his brother with a net (Micah 7:2).

Jesus said . . . none is good, save one, that is God (Luke 18:19). Paul also adds a stroke on the canvas of life by stating in Romans 3:10-18: There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth. There is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. Their throat is an open sepulcher [grave]; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: Their feet are swift to shed blood: Destruction and misery are in their ways: And the ways of peace have they not known: There is no fear of God before their eyes.

What a portrait of every member of the human race without God. Sinners possess naught but depraved natures passed on to them from generation to generation. They now need a born again experience that produces a new nature through regeneration. No wonder Jesus said ...ye MUST be born again.

Spiritual Comprehension

Secondly the born again experience is compulsory if one is to understand God. 1 Corinthians 2:11-14 depicts this. For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? Even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing the spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. What a text! Let’s dissect it.

No man is able to understand another man except by the human spirit commonly possessed. This human spirit makes daily communication possible with other members of the human race, Though human beings enjoy such privileges among themselves, they are unable to conduct intelligible conversations with the animal kingdom, because the human spirit is missing in birds and beasts. Supposing I went into a pasture and began reading Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet to Bozo the bull. What would his reaction be if I looked into his eyes and said, Bozo, here is one of England’s greatest masterpieces. Are you listening? Oh, Romeo, Romeo wherefore art thou, Romeo? I think he might snort a little and give me a run for my money. In fact, I might fly over the fence faster than the Space Shuttle! The problem? A communication barrier. Now, Bozo might be the smartest bull in the herd and possess unusual qualities, but intelligible discourse would be an impossibility- he’s an animal.

However, if a veterinarian were able to transplant a human spirit within the breast of the beast, communication might become a reality Of course this is totally absurd. It could never happen. However, by way of analogy there is something that occurs at conversion which makes good horse sense. The new birth allows humans to become partakers of God’s nature (see 2 Peter 1:4). His nature enters a believer immediately as the Great Physician performs the miraculous transplant. Because of it, MAN, now possessing God’s Spirit, can, for the first time, understand God.

From this point onward he is able to grasp the truths of the Bible. The Scriptures are no longer mythological legends or contradictory pronouncements. God’s Spirit, present in the new-born convert, makes spiritual truths unbelievably comprehensible. This is the meaning of the text which bears repeating. ...the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. Which things also we speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual (1 Corinthians 2:11-13).

It is evident at this point that no human, regardless of I.Q., scholastic attainments, or academic degrees can by mere intelligence understand God. That’s why 1 Corinthians 2:14 adds, (Get it all you college students who have been brainwashed and misled by educated pagans) But the natural man [or unsaved man] receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: NEITHER CAN HE KNOW THEM, because they are spiritually discerned (emphasis mine).

The lost, even those with PhD’s, are hopelessly incapacitated when it comes to the Bible. They have no spiritual equipment to investigate the Spirit’s teachings. This takes a supernatural transplant by the Holy Spirit and is called the new birth. Then, the believer partakes of the divine nature and God’s Spirit within makes God’s writing understandable. You see, one must know the Author of the Bible to understand the Author’s writings. Until then, the Bible is as difficult and dry as Egyptian hieroglyphics to a Chinaman.

Heaven’s Entrance

Third, one needs a new birth experience to enter God’s presence. Jesus said, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. And again, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God (John 3:3 and 5).

Is it any wonder that the Saviour vehemently says in verse 7, Ye must be born again. None will ever see the light of the Holy City who reject Christ as personal Saviour. Instead, unbelievers and Christ-rejectors join the legion of the doomed for all eternity! Revelation 21:8 states, But the fearful, and UNBELIEVING, and the abominable, and murderers, and whorernongers, and sorcerers and idolators, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.

YOU MUST BE BORN AGAIN? He who has been born once dies twice, but he who is twice born, dies once. What strange language, you say? Not really If one is born but once-physically-he dies twice. First, the grave, then the lake of fire which is the second death (see Revelation 20:14). On the other hand, he who has been born twice-physically and spiritually-dies but once. For on such (the born again) the second death (lake of fire) hath no power! Will you die once or twice? Will you exit this earth instantly-via disease or disaster-and then enter the regions of the doomed forever? Why wonder? Why procrastinate? Eternity is ahead.

There is only one way to become spiritually born. That is . . .Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved... (Acts 16:31). Romans 10:13 adds ... whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Do it now!

FROM THE HEART OF DR. REXELLA VAN IMPE

WHO ARE YOU?

I grew up with a healthy appreciation of the arts. All through my school years, I learned to recognize the genius of the great masters of painting, sculpture, architectural design and, of course, music. As a singer at school and in church, I was in awe of the classical composers who could hear, create, and capture such glorious melodies and rich harmonies, making them come alive again and again in different places and times.

So when Jack and I were married and made our first trip to Belgium to meet all his relatives, it was an unbelievable joy to me. In addition to the welcoming and wonderful fellowship with the extended Van Impe family, the history and culture of old Europe was everywhere-the food, the traditions, the sights, sounds, and smells-the very atmosphere itself. Except for being seasick on the voyage over (we decided to fly on future trips), I loved every moment of our adventure.

When we strolled through the streets of Brussels and suddenly came upon the Grote Markt/Grand-Place, the amazing marketplace and celebration center of the capital city, my mouth flew open in amazement. There were flowers everywhere surrounding little booths and open-air shops that offered fresh produce, baked goods, candies, handicrafts of all kinds, and wandering troupes of street entertainers. There was color, sound, and life as far as the eye could see in every direction! And surrounding it all, framing the pulsing heart of the inner city, were the great, historic seventeenth century buildings with elaborate facades of brick and stone and glass, filled with shops, offices, and apartment flats. Amazing!

To this day, Brussels’ Grand-Place is one of my favorite spots in all the world, an ever-changing spectacle of vitality and excitement. But on my first trip to Europe as a young bride, the experience was almost overwhelming.

To further highlight my first visit to Europe, Jack and I got a car and drove from Brussels to Paris! I don’t have the words to describe my excitement at seeing the countryside, villages, and towns-most of them with their own marketplaces bustling with life-and soaking up the sounds of old languages accented with laughter and shouts. The people were real, live characters from folk literature, with costumes that would have seemed too elaborate even for my active imagination.

And then we were in Paris, standing outside perhaps the most famous art museum in the world, the Louvre! Could this really be happening to me? I’d always loved great art, and enjoyed visiting fine museums during family outings and school field trips. But the Louvre? As we walked through galleries filled with some of the most famous works of art in the world, I was literally overwhelmed. My mind could barely take in the reality of seeing the Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, Aphrodite, and works by Rembrandt, Van Gogh, Michelangelo, da Vinci, Renoir, Mondrian, Monet, Cézanne, El Greco, and scores of other great masters from the past. Too soon my brief visit was ended-I could have spent days there.

Fortunately, Jack and I got to go back to Europe to spend time with his relatives about every other year, and on each trip we tried to take in some notable or worthwhile place. I learned so much each time we went for a visit.

Life is all around you-don’t miss it!

Here at home, my husband and I also try to keep up with significant news developments and often visit historically important places. Connected with our ministry on our trips abroad-we’ve been in about fifty countries-we’ve explored noteworthy local sites and sought to better understand the people and cultures. Of course, Jack is always aware and sensitive to people, places, and events around the world with prophetic significance.

So many times as we’ve visited some historic site or an area with prophetic importance, suddenly the realization would hit me that I was seeing something important...that I was literally part of something significant or noteworthy. I felt a little nudge that I should pay special attention to what was around me at that moment-as if the Holy Spirit was whispering, He that hath an ear, let him hear... (see Revelation 2-3).

That happened to me again just this week! While Jack was getting his hair cut, I wandered through a little antique shop nearby and soon found myself browsing a small art exhibit. I’d never heard of the artist before, but he was extremely talented-I’d put him in the category of a great master-painter. I was drawn to a powerful work he had done that captured the images of two young girls. As I looked at them, it seemed they took on a life of their own as they laughed together and looked out on the vista before them.

The girls seemed so much more real than just a painting. They seemed so relaxed, so comfortable, so real. I felt that I should know them...that I’d like to know them. As I stood there for several long moments, I actually said aloud, Who are you?

It was the kind of deeply introspective moment a person may have in his life on occasion when he looks into a mirror and wonders, Does anybody know who I am? Do I even know? Does God know that I’m here?

As I looked into the skillfully created faces of those two youngsters in the painting, I whispered again, Who are you? And I thought in response, I know Someone who knows you better than this artist, and that is the Lord. No matter where you are today, He knows you!

I didn’t see anybody else in the quietness of that little gallery, but in that instant I became keenly aware that the Someone I’d just thought about had seen me...and recognized me...and knew me!

God knows us even before we are born

God spoke to Jeremiah and said, Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee (Jeremiah 1:5). What a phenomenal statement. When did Jeremiah become a viable, individual person? At conception? At some point in the prenatal process? At birth? According to the Lord God, He knew Jeremiah long before.

When Jesus said, Suffer the little children to come unto me (Mark 10:14), the Greek word used for children-brephos-can refer to born and unborn, I’m told. This would mean that Jesus was not just saying, let these children come unto me, but all children-those who have been born...and those who are not yet born.

I have a little sister in heaven who was miscarried. I have a brother in heaven who was born but lived only three hours. I will see them both in heaven someday! Every child who was ever conceived is known of God. He declared that before a child is formed in the belly or is born, He knew that baby! Before I was completely developed in my mother’s womb, God knew that I would be born and called Rexella Shelton. He knew who I was before I was!

I know He knows our names because in Revelation 3:5 He declares that He will not blot our name out of the book of life. Every name is in the book-it can only be blotted out if a person rejects the Lord. That’s why every child goes to heaven, no matter what. Jesus himself said that our names are written in heaven (see Luke 10:20).

What a great promise! So many children’s lives have been snuffed out in wars, epidemics, and famines. Millions more have been destroyed by abortion. But, thank God, how wonderful to know that every child is safe with Him...and He knows them all by name! Every single one of these precious lives is now with the Lord. Oh, that blesses me!

God walks with us in life

Have you ever needed to know that you were not walking life’s road all alone? Did you ever need the strong shoulder of the Lord to lean on in life’s hard places?

Thank God, the Word says, For the Lord thy God walketh in the midst of thy camp, to deliver thee (Deuteronomy 23:14).

I believe all of us have plenty of occasions when we need to be delivered. The longer I serve the Lord, the more times I recognize His presence in my camp, walking close beside me to deliver me from all harm and danger.

I remember getting up to sing one night to an audience of eight thousand people. As I looked over the crowd, I saw four men in the fifth row with stockings over their heads. God gave me peace so I was not afraid to go ahead and minister although it was obvious the men were there to try and disrupt the service or intimidate Jack and me. We later learned there was great turmoil in that city because a number of drug dealers had been converted, and the drug bosses wanted to threaten our lives. But God protected us from violence.

Another time in South America, we were on our way to the airport when a huge riot broke out. We were trapped in the middle of the violence, but God’s hand kept us safe.

Over the years we’ve received threats in the mail and over the phone, but Jack and I never were afraid, knowing that: There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling. For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways (Psalm 91:10-11).

More recently, I was not afraid when Jack was attacked by a serious, life-threatening physical illness. Somehow the Holy Spirit reminded me that God was in control and that my husband would be delivered. And he was!

How sad when people-even believers-lose contact with the presence of the Lord who is always with us. How tragic when they can no longer see the hand of God at work in their lives and are overwhelmed by despair. Thinking that nobody cares for them or is looking out for them, they try walking alone through the dark valleys of this world and are overwhelmed. The sad statistics reveal that more and more people are committing suicide, taking matters into their own hands.

Recently our long-time friend and team member, Chuck Ohman, told us of a friend of his who committed suicide. Some time ago, a pastor friend of our family in Detroit, took his own life. Another Detroit pastor we knew well had lunch with his daughter, kissed her and sent her on her way, then went into his office bathroom and hanged himself.

How sad to see these precious souls reach such a state of futility that they ended it all. Oh, if we had known their need! It hurts so much to see people destroy themselves in despair. Oh, if they had just come to us-or some other believer-for encouragement and help. Perhaps someone could have helped them find the answer to the question, Who are you? The answer for them-and for all of us-is: I am the beloved child of my Father, God almighty! If we know who we are, then we know there is help for the helpless and hope for the hopeless in Jesus. Nothing or no one is more powerful than God, and no one cares more than the Lord.

God remembers us in death

Several years ago I was in Israel interviewing some of the more influential members of the Israeli government, including members of the Knesset and various other leaders. One person I was to interview was the heroic military leader, General Moshe Dayan.

He was standing on a staircase, in uniform, complete with his trademark eye patch, ready to begin. As I greeted him, he suddenly said brusquely, I am not going to do this interview!

I was stunned because I had worked hard to make all the necessary arrangements, and politely inquired what had happened to change his mind. Oh, it’s nothing you have done, he said. I’ve just realized that this is pointless because no one will remember me when I am dead anyway! And he walked away.

I believe General Dayan was wrong. A great many people knew and cared about him. They appreciated his patriotism, and his heroic efforts to preserve the nation of Israel in the face of overwhelming odds. To this day, his name is remembered and revered as a great soldier and leader.

But even if no one on earth remembered Dayan after his career and his life were ended, there is Someone who will not-who cannot-forget who you are in birth, in life, and in death. This friend is aware of even the most minute details of our lives-He is the Lord!

The Bible says, But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered (Luke 12:7).

I have interviewed some 250 outstanding leaders and world figures, and I made it a practice to try, with the help of the Holy Spirit, to share something uplifting with them as well as seeking information and comments from them. I wish I’d had the opportunity to witness to General Dayan. I’d love to have been able to tell him that, indeed, someone would remember him-and walk with him-after death. Someone would remember, and walk with him through the valley of the shadow of death. He is God almighty!

Perhaps you think your life has been less distinguished and noteworthy than someone like General Dayan. But you are not less important to God. He has been with you before birth, and throughout life. And He will not desert you when you come to the end of life in this world. Who are you? You are God’s child...and one of His favorite traveling companions!

The time will come for all of us when it is time to cross over from this world to the next. And the Lord will walk with us, faithful to the end, until the shadows of life are illuminated by the light of heaven. So we can make that final walk in confidence.

The Bible says, We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:8). My husband, Jack, says that the phrases absent from the body, present with the Lord in the Greek are both instantaneous and simultaneous! When the time comes, just as you close your eyes-you’re there! And He will have been with you all the way!

The CARMEL ALERT Oct 24th 2008 A compilation of news reports from the past week for the information of those committed to praying for Israel and the salvation of the Jewish people.

Guest Comment: How Soon Will the Spirit of The Lord Move in Israel ? Errol Francis - NZ Ezekiel 37:14 (a) I will put My Spirit in you, and you shall live, (b) and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I, the
LORD, have spoken it and performed it, says the LORD.(NKJV)

A part of this verse (b) is in already in place. How soon can we anticipate (a) to be fulfilled and the blindness as to Yeshua Messiah to be lifted ? In the books of some US prophecy teachers, although they support the restoration of Israel, they are often negative about the future of the Jewish people. They do look for a Messianic Kingdom (Millennium), but predict that up to two thirds of Jewish people will be killed in a coming final holocaust (Zech 13.8-9), so the Jewish population of that Kingdom would be a small remnant. (Mark 13.20, Rom 9.27) They have the church raptured and Israel facing the tribulation almost alone. I prefer to see the two olive branches present and grafted together in the end-times. (Rom 11.17-24)

If there were to be a world wide out-poring of the Holy Spirit (revival) before Yeshua returns. (the restoration and revival in Joel 2.20-32). That is more positive than those who see a great falling away and a rapture to rescue the remnant church before none is left. (Math 24.12 & Luke 18.8) It was common in the 17th to 19th century for Christians to be looking for a final time of revival and to anticipate that this is when and so all Israel shall be saved (Romans 11.25-26) And that their salvation would bring in the greatest soul harvest ever. Modern thinking on prophecy, with emphasis on an early rapture then antichrist and war coming in the Middle Eas,t has eclipsed that previous hope.

In the revival I anticipate that the Jewish Messianic Congregations will be included (Ezek 39.29) and a large additional number of Jewish people will acknowledge Yeshua as their Passover Lamb, sacrificed for the atonement of their sins. ( 1 Cor 5.7 & Heb 12.2) They will then already be anticipating Yeshua to be Messiah, before His
coming. In anticipation they will be calling, well before that occasion, blessed is He that comes in the name of the Lord” (Math 23.39 & Psalm 118.26) It will not be for them; that Israel will be in such a desperate position under antichrist, with Armageddon’s armies gathering, that they have to make this call or perish. (Math 24.21-22)

There may still be people from all nations that continue to resist the Lord (Rev 22.11) in the day of decision. ( Joel 3.14). But those that turn to Him now, will not be astonished when they view Him standing of the Mt of Olives and knowingly see it is Him who their forbears pierced. (John 19.37 & Zech12.9-13) And that the
Christian Saviour is the Messiah of Israel as well ! I do not think it is correct that that is the one and only occasion for them to repent and accept Him. In the revival time many will have responded already.

As they become acquainted with Messiah it will be like the disciples on the Emmaus Road, He will be able to open all the scriptures to them revealing His identity and character, His achievements past present and future. How they fit in the plan when
and where the promises to Israel will all be fulfilled. ( Land restored, peace and prosperity, his presence dwelling with them, they being a light to the gentiles and having a just and righteous kingdom.) As they observe asking. Where did He get His wounds? He will be able to explain, in the house of my friends (Zech 13.6) and they will understand. They will even anticipate His answer. It will not be a shock
revelation, leading to guilt, despair and condemnation.

In the meantime we need to pray for the Jewish people who still have a blindness to Yeshua. This will be removed when the fullness of the gentiles comes in (Rom 11.25). This does not have to mean after the last gentile is saved late in the tribulation. (fullness meaning the complete number). The fullness of the gentiles can also mean when the fullness of the Out Pouring of the Holy Spirit occurs across the gentile world. So the blindness will be removed and the veil lifted ( 2 Cor 3.14, 16 & Heb 10.20) as the revival sweeps the world, also including the Jewish people! It is convincing that in Daniel 12.1 that when the end time deliverance comes to the children of thy people, (Israel) every one that shall be found written in the
book To me this indicates that they will have acknowledged Yeshua Messiah, just like gentiles Christians have done . Their names will be in the Book of Life! There will be one redeemed body of God’s people ( Isa 65.9, Gal 3.28 & Col 3.11)

Even if the times get harder for Israel’s people, they do not have to wait for the last day of the apocalypse to enter the new covenant, gain new hearts and have their sins cleansed. ( Jer 31.33) The Lion of Judah will overcome the aggressors and the enemies that may be camped around Jerusalem. (Rev 19.11 & 15) Some respected rival teachers are saying that the coming awakening will be directed by the Father God. As the Jewish people have traditionally only acknowledged this person of God Thus it would be fitting for Him to pour out the Spirit and reveal His Son Yeshua as their Messiah. To the Father’s call to salvation they must surely respond. (John 6.44)

The Lord bless you as you bless Israel by standing in defense of her right to exist on the land given to th Jewish people by the God of Israel Lets pray that Israel will turn back to their God. Do not be silent, but share this with your fellow Christians, share it with your pastors, and with anyone you have a chance to speak to. Lets also pray for that breakthrough to the Muslims, and please remember to pray for our son Jordan, and all of his fellow soldiers in the IDF.

Shabbat Shalom .... David & Josie.

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