On a number of occasions, Jesus was asked about, or offered information about, the timing of his return and on every occasion he seemed to imply that it would be within the lifetime of his disciples.
Tackling this seeming conundrum has produced acres of print, and my blog post really needs to be a book.
But I would suggest for anyone who wants to do more research, they look into the web pages at the bottom of the post, and also this book, available from Amazon and elsewhere:
Continue reading
“It is our duty to force all mankind to accept the seven Noahide laws, and if not—they will be killed.” (Rabbi Yitzhak Ginsburg, Ma’ariv, October 6, 2004)
“The penalty for violating any of these Noahide Laws is spelled out on page 1192 of the Encyclopedia Judaica, … ‘violation of any one of the seven laws subjects the Noahide to capital punishment by decapitation’.”
When I wrote my article about a false revival (here) a couple of days ago, I had missed a significant fact that I now need to share.
The title of the E5-ll video that I included was called “The Return 2020: A Great Revival? Or A Great Deception?” and the only part at that time that struck me was the similarity to what the Lord had been showing me about a false revival in the pipeline.
I did not know (because I didn’t connect the title with anything more than revival) was that The Return 2020 is actually a planned revival event that is to take place nationwide and worldwide according to its website.
Had I known that I would have included it in my first article, but I’m adding it here because it ties right in with what I had said. I am now even more disturbed about coming events this Autumn. Continue reading
I recently watched the video below, with some hesitation and skepticism. However, having seen it – and then researched the subject and read portions of Ernest Martin’s book (link below) I am convinced.
The original, biblical Temple was NOT situated on the Temple Mount but in the City of David alongside, by the spring Gihon.
The video – and even more so the articles and books – give verse after verse in the bible, as well as quotes from historians such as Josephus who knew the location of Herod’s Temple, to confirm the facts in the video. Continue reading
I was recently led to start reading the book of Samuel. Unexpectedly I stumbled on scriptures that informed my thoughts about Friday’s Presidential Inauguration.
I should explain that this was part of my regular reading plan, not a deliberate policy. It happened, as they say, by chance.
I had come to the end of the book of Acts and intended to start Luke’s Gospel again, but in the meanwhile I came upon a verse in Samuel and then thought “why don’t I start Samuel instead?”
That was a week or so ago. All of this is to say, I believe I was led to read Samuel because the Presidential Inauguration was coming up on Friday this week (20th January). Continue reading
It has come to my attention just how many important anniversaries and special events are happening in 2017.
In Israel, the new year begins in the Autumn of 2016, so there’s a overlap time-period of 2016/2017 that has so many important anniversaries of political and religious events. Can this all be pure coincidence without any meaning? Or is it the start of something new? I wonder! Continue reading
Why does ISIS exist? Why is it advancing almost unchecked? I have prayed these things without an answer. But the answers are more complex than we would like to admit.
We would simply like for the refugees to be rescued, and the bloodshed to end. Human nature yearns for peace and security in the Middle East, and the threat against Israel as well as other nations to be removed. It’s heart-wrenching to hear of yet another atrocity, bomb blast, mass execution! The souls of all right-thinking people are wrenched with pity, and in this I include many ordinary Muslims and members of other religions.
But here lies the problem – and the answer. It’s not at a time of war, but when they say “peace and security!” that “sudden destruction comes upon them”.
1 Thess 5:2-4 For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night. While they are saying, “Peace and safety!” then destruction will come upon them suddenly like labor pains upon a woman with child, and they will not escape. But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that the day would overtake you like a thief…”
Jordan’s King Abdullah is reported to have said that Israel “must choose between the mentality of “Israel the fortress” or “living in peace and security with its neighbors.”” The pressure to do so will mount as the attacks grow fiercer, and as the borders fall, making Israel more and more vulnerable. But at what price, peace? Continue reading
I have decided to continue my series on the Four Seals of Revelation Chapter 6 by updating the information to include the fourth seal.
We have no real proof of what that seal may be, as the bible does not (contrary to popular belief) say that the pale horse with Death and Hades is “plague”. It only speaks of “death” in various forms. Nonetheless, I thought it would be a good idea to look into current events to see how they might fit in to the sequence that has been unfolding since 1994.
As some of you will know, I differ from the traditional opinion, in believing we are already in the time of the opening of the seals of Revelation. Anyone curious about my viewpoint of the endtimes should have a good look around my Birthpangs website, and perhaps it would be useful to glance at this chart which accompanies my lengthy article on Revelation and Yom Kippur in the Temple.
In short, I do not hold to the conventional pre-seven-year rapture position. I am what you might call a “mid-seal rapturist”. Nonetheless I DO believe in the rapture of the Church! But in that context, I will dive straight into the subject at hand, the fourth seal.
To continue reading, please click here to go to my website.
There is to be a massive movement of people on March 30th this year to surround Jerusalem (or as close as they can come) to “demand freedom for Palestine and its capital Jerusalem.” It is timed to coincide with ‘Palestine Land Day’.
Continue reading
Last week I was about to post to this blog with an update to information I started getting in the early 1990’s. In the end I held back because the update [surprisingly even to me] included the suggestion of a coming THIRD WORLD WAR.
Not wanting to rush to make this statement, even though I felt it was backed up by scripture and current events, I laid the blog entry to one side intending to pray over it and work on it some more.
Today however I received in the mail what I believe was partly a confirmation, although of course everything like this needs to be treated with due caution and surrounded by prayer.
I had in fact encountered this article before, but I read many articles and they go in the pending pile until they are relevant (if ever). The timing of this one seemed to be more than coincidence however.
Let me preface it with a personal note:
I am becoming increasingly concerned at the lack of preparedness, lack of interest and lack of understanding of the majority of Christians and churches regarding the biblical endtimes!
I believe the devil is distracting many with ear-tickling messages that appeal to our love of safety and security, instead of facing up to the hard cold facts – that we need to put our lives in order, seek God for wisdom and understanding, repent of any known sin that keeps us from living a fully-dedicated life, and be brave enough to reconsider all the old well-worn theories about the tribulation and rapture and endtimes that have served well enough for centuries but NOW are incomplete and misleading.
The approaching troubles will require every ounce of your faith, endurance and dedication to the truth. It will drain you of all self-reliance and require you to be firmly standing on the ROCK, and on that only. It will shake your every perception and belief, test your self-sacrifice to the limit, and require you to put aside every other consideration such as family, relationships, churches, careers, finances, comfort and possessions so that your one and only ground on which you firmly stand is GOD, his WORD and his REDEMPTION.
So without further preamble, please read this 1968 PROPHECY from a 90-YEAR-OLD WOMAN in NORWAY
An old woman of 90 from Valdres in Norway had a vision from God in 1968. The evangelist Emanuel Minos had meetings (services) where she lived. He had the opportunity to meet her, and she told him what she had seen. He wrote it down, but thought it to be so unbelievable that he put it in a drawer. After 30 years, he understood he had to share the vision with others.
The woman from Valdres was a very alert, reliable, awake and credible Christian, with a good reputation among all who knew her. This is what she saw:
“I saw the time just before the coming of Jesus and the outbreak of the Third World War. I saw the events with my natural eyes. I saw the world like a kind of a globe and saw Europe, land by land. I saw Scandinavia. I saw Norway. I saw certain things that would take place just before the return of Jesus, and just before the last calamity happens, a calamity the likes of which we have never before experienced.
She mentioned four waves:
1. “First before Jesus comes and before the Third World War breaks out there will be a ‘détente’ like we have never had before. There will be peace between the super powers in the east and the west, and there will be a long peace. [Remember, that this was in 1968 when the cold war was at its highest. -E. Minos]. In this period of peace there will be disarmament in many countries, also in Norway and we are not prepared when it (the war) comes. The Third World War will begin in a way no one would have anticipated – and from an unexpected place.
2. “A lukewarmness without parallel will take hold of the Christians, a falling away from true, living Christianity. Christians will not be open for penetrating preaching. They will not, like in earlier times, want to hear of sin and grace, law and gospel, repentance and restoration. There will come a substitute instead: prosperity (happiness) Christianity.
“The important thing will be to have success, to be something; to have material things, things that God never promised us in this way. Churches and prayer houses will be emptier and emptier. Instead of the preaching we have been used to for generations – like, to take your cross up and follow Jesus – entertainment, art and culture will invade the churches where there should have been gatherings for repentance and revival.
This will increase markedly just before the return of Jesus.
3. “There will be a moral disintegration that old Norway has never experienced the likes of. People will live together like married without being married. [I do not believe the concept ‘co-habitor’ existed in 1968 – E. Minos.]
Much uncleanness before marriage, and much infidelity in marriage will become the natural (the common), and it will be justified from every angle. It will even enter Christian circles and we pet it – even sin against nature. Just before Jesus returns there will be TV- programs like we have never experienced. [TV had just arrived in Norway in 1968. -E. Minos]
“TV will be filled with such horrible violence that it teaches people to murder and destroy each other, and it will be unsafe in our streets. People will copy what they see. There will not be only one ‘station’ on TV, it will be filled with ‘stations.’ [She did not know the word ‘channel’ which we use today. Therefore she called them stations. -E. Minos.]
TV will be just like the radio where we have many ‘stations,’ and it will be filled with violence. People will use it for entertainment. We will see terrible scenes of murder and destruction one of the other, and this will spread in society.
Sex scenes will also be shown on the screen, the most intimate things that take place in a marriage.”
[I protested and said, we have a paragraph that forbids this kind of thing. -E. Minos.] Note: the word is probably ‘law’ .
There the old woman said: “It will happen, and you will see it. All we have had before will be broken down, and the most indecent things will pass before our eyes.”
4. “People from poor countries will stream to Europe. [In 1968 there was no such thing as immigration. -E. Minos.] They will also come to Scandinavia – and Norway. There will be so many of them that people will begin to dislike them and become hard with them. They will be treated like the Jews before the Second World War.
Then the full measure of our sins will have been reached [I protested at the issue of immigration. I did not understand it at the time. -E. Minos.]
NOTE: in Norway recently we have indeed seen the results of this devil-inspired hatred. Breivik was a ‘Christian fundamentalist’ who held anti-Muslim views.
He believed he had the mission of saving Europe from the threats of Islam, immigration and multi-culturalism.
The man who carried out the nation’s deadliest tragedy since World War II portrays himself as a “crusader against a tide of Islam”.
(continued) The tears streamed from the old woman’s eyes down her cheeks. “I will not see it, but you will. Then suddenly, Jesus will come and the Third World War breaks out. It will be a short war.” (She saw it in the vision.)
“All that I have seen of war before is only child’s play compared to this one, and it will be ended with a nuclear atom bomb. The air will be so polluted that one cannot draw one’s breath. It will cover several continents, America, Japan, Australia and the wealthy nations. The water will be ruined (contaminated?). We can no longer till the soil. The result will be that only a remnant will remain. The remnant in the wealthy countries will try to flee to the poor countries, but they will be as hard on us as we were on them.
“I am so glad that I will not see it, but when the time draws near, you must take courage and tell this. I have received it from God, and nothing of it goes against what the Bible tells.
“The one who has his sin forgiven and has Jesus as Savior and Lord, is safe.”
An elder in the Pentecostal Church at Moss, Norway, Martin Andersen, heard the following prophecy in 1937, in Moss:
‘When oil comes out of the North Sea and along the Norwegian coast, things will begin to happen, and the return of Jesus is approaching.’
When these words had been proclaimed, people stood up in the congregation and asked the man to sit down and not speak such nonsense. In 1937 it was indeed nonsense to talk about oil being pumped along the Norwegian coast. Today all the world’s big oil companies are pumping oil along the coast of Norway. Norway is the world’s third greatest exporter of oil – after Saudi Arabia.
Original source editor’s note:
Because of my fear of transmitting false prophecy, I have diligently inquired concerning the information in this letter. Publication has been delayed until permission could be secured from Ragna [Von Porat] in Israel. In my contact with her, she has assured me that these accounts are true and reliable. In fact, she relates that the first account has already been published in one of Norway’s Christian newspapers.
I have found in my own research that the first account was also published by the Christian Information Service in Germany. The website of Dr. Emanuel Minos is active today and can be accessed for verification. Although the language on this site is Norwegian, the very similar story of the woman and her vision is posted there in English. The above accounts are transmitted just as they were received.
Personal Note: All such prophecies need to be tested and not accepted as the inspired word of God. But I must say that nothing here contradicts what I have seen in scripture and know from my studies in biblical prophecy. That may worry some who believe that NONE of these events will be seen by the Church, and that a Third World War will only take place during the time of the Antichrist.
I am not a post-millennialist (in case you wondered) nor am I even a post-tribulationist in the usual meaning of that term. But I do see in scripture that the “coming of Jesus” (aka the Rapture) takes place after a build-up of events and signs over an unspecified number of years, and immediately before the greatest disaster and cataclysm this world has ever seen.
I intend to write at more length about this in a new web article.
The Palestinian Authority will formally submit its bid for full membership in the United Nations on September 20. This follows consultations in July and at least four rounds of negotiations between President Shimon Peres of Israel and President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestine Authority.
The Palestinian membership bid will go first to the Security Council and is expected to receive firm majority support. The leadership of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) had previously announced that mass marches would be held in the West Bank that day in support of UN recognition.
The Israeli Prime Minister’s Office called the UN bid “expected but regrettable,” adding that it seems to indicate Abbas has decided to avoid direct negotiations with Israel. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu believes only direct negotiations, rather than unilateral decisions, can advance the peace process.
The Arab “star” seems to be in the ascendancy with Middle East events leading towards a multi-national alliance, and next month, Arab members will be at helm of UN bodies with Lebanon holding the rotating presidency of the Security Council, and Qatar as chairman of the General Assembly.
President Mahmoud Abbas’ attempt to upgrade the Palestinians’ status at the United Nations, despite U.S. and Israeli opposition, signals a bolder approach. But Palestinians are divided on the merits of the diplomatic offensive.
In the West Bank, Abbas’ Fatah movement bills it as a turning point in the Palestinian struggle, while in Gaza, a politician from rival Islamist Hamas dismissed it as hot air. Reconciliation between Abbas’ West Bank administration and Hamas in Gaza is seen as vital for mobilizing popular support behind the September initiative and, more broadly, any new Palestinian strategy.
Israel is wary. The Palestinians will likely emerge from September’s General Assembly meeting with a U.N. status upgrade that will give them access to dozens of U.N. agencies. But talk in Israel of a looming “diplomatic tsunami” has subsided.
Abbas’ Plan A — to secure full U.N. membership for Palestine — is destined to fail. The United States, which has veto power in the Security Council, is expected to oppose a move viewed in Washington as unhelpful to its Middle East diplomacy.
Plan B, as outlined by Palestinian officials, is to ask the General Assembly to upgrade Palestine to a non-member state from its current status as an observer. That would not need Security Council approval and elevate the Palestinians’ U.N. status to that of the Vatican. This present move is largely of symbolic value and George Giacaman, a political scientist at Birzeit University in the West Bank comments: “If the Palestinian Authority has a plan for after September, it hasn’t announced it.”
But it will produce some tangible results, giving the Palestinians access to U.N. agencies and potentially allowing them direct recourse to the International Criminal Court, where they could pursue cases against Israel.
In the July 11th meeting to consider the issues involved, the Quartet (EU, US, Russia, UN) could not even issue a joint statement afterward, so big is the gap between the parties.
At a press conference prior to the Quartet, EU High Representative Catherine Ashton and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sounded uneasy at the prospect of the UN vote on Palestinian independence, in the absence of a political settlement. She said that the right path to follow was that of a negotiated peace agreement leading to independence. “What we strongly advocate is a return to negotiations, because a resolution, a statement, an assertion is not an agreement”.
But a return to talks (as we all suspected) achieved nothing.
Now, at the 66th UN General Assembly, opening on 13 September, the request for recognition of a Palestinian state will test loyalties and political policies on every side.
In the EU ten states are sceptical, including Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland. Britain is likely to abstain, along with the US. Other EU member states more supportive of the Palestinian approach, including France, Spain, Ireland, Sweden and Portugal.
Europe is very keen to avoid the appearance of disunity, given the recent instability over the Euro. A less ambitious request by the Palestinians could make it easier for the 27 EU members to reach a compromise. For example, the Palestinians could seek a status similar to the Vatican’s permanent observer status, or adopt the solution of the World Bank and IMF, which consider Palestine “ready for independence,” or make recognition of the state of Palestine contingent on a resumption of the peace talks.
Meeting in Council, on 18 July, the EU’s foreign ministers urged the Israelis and Palestinians to “show the highest sense of responsibility and to resume direct and substantive talks,” read their conclusions. United in their conviction of the need to rekindle the peace process and to move towards a “two-state solution,” the 27 ministers abstained from mentioning the planned request for recognition of the Palestinian state at the 66th United Nations General Assembly because “such recognition may interfere strongly with the Union’s capacity to speak with a single voice”.
For years, the two sides have been urged to reach a negotiated solution — President Obama called for a peace deal by September — but the consequences of stalemate could be profoundly damaging for all involved.
Any UN agreement would be in name only. After the initial exhilaration, Palestinians would be even more alienated, while extremists would try to exploit that disaffection.
The best way is indeed serious negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians, but they are not talking. All share blame for the stalemate. Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has used any excuse he can find (regional turmoil, the weakness of his coalition government) to avoid negotiations. He has resisted President Obama’s prodding because the President’s call for a return to the 1967 borders was clearly unacceptable and unworkable.
And Arab leaders haven’t given the Israelis any incentive to compromise. The Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, seemed to give up on diplomacy when Mr. Obama could not deliver a promised settlement freeze. We see no sign that he has thought even one step beyond the U.N. vote.
With the September deadline approaching, the Obama administration is back in the business of incremental diplomacy. The White House is working with Israel and the Quartet on a statement setting out parameters for negotiations but as long as the deal is exactly as before (a Palestinian state based on pre-1967 borders with mutually agreed land swaps) there will be no forward movement. As we have already seen, Europe is more interested in appearing to speak and act as one, than in achieving a workable solution.
With the September General Assembly drawing closer, what will happen next is anybody’s guess. But the consequences could be grave.
Nabil Abu Rudeima, spokesman for President Mahmoud Abbas, said: “What is happening across the Arab world has changed everything, there is even a Jewish Spring happening now. It is time for the United States to accept the idea [of a UN-approved Palestinian state]. It would be embarrassing for them if they do not. As long as Israel’s settlement activities continue and as long as Israel refuses to accept the 1967 borders, after 60 years of occupation we have no other choice but to turn to the international community. We are not declaring war. We are applying to the United Nations.”
And if the United Nations refuse to act – what then is the alternative?
Read More: BBC News Question & Answer with Diagrams
The “Mideast Quartet” is to present an international Peace Plan in a last-minute effort to stop the Palestinians from seeking unilateral recognition at the United Nations in September. The Quartet’s envoys – representing the United States, the European Union, the United Nations, and Russia – are planning to present a new international peace plan at a summit in Washington on July 11, based on US. President Barack Obama’s Mideast speech on May 19.
LINK: What Obama did to Israel See here “What Obama did to Israel” and what it will mean for Israel (Washington Post article).
The summit will be taking place at a very critical time – only four days before the appointed date that the Palestinians set to officially appeal to the United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and to send him Palestine’s request for full membership at the UN.
The Palestinians have said they are prepared to consider the peace plan, but the political adviser to President Mahmoud Abbas said the leadership are preparing the text of the declaration that will presented to the UN in September, should talks not go ahead.
It will include, he said, references to Jerusalem as the capital of the Palestinian state, and UN resolutions 242 and 194 on the return of Palestinian refugees and establishment of a state based on territories prior to Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and Gaza in 1967.
(click the link above to find out how this will affect Israel).
The Proposal
The Palestinian leadership formally decided to seek UN recognition in September of a state in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem. Palestinian officials plan to ask the United Nations to recognise an independent Palestinian state within 1967 borders. The idea is strongly opposed by Israel and to some extent, the United States.
What are the Palestinians asking for?
The Palestinians, as represented by the Palestinian Authority, have long sought to establish an independent, sovereign state in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem.
In 1988, the late Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat, unilaterally declared the establishment of a state. This won recognition from about 100 countries, mainly Arab, Communist and non-aligned states – several of them in Latin America. Recognition of Palestine as a sovereign state by the UN would have greater impact as it is the overarching international body and a source of authority on international law.
For years, the Palestinians have been collecting recognition of a state of Palestine from individual countries and so far 112 nations have done so, mostly in the developing world. The Palestinians predict they will have 135 recognitions by September – more than two-thirds of the 192 U.N. member states.
Their bid at the United Nations would be a more dramatic step: seeking some sort of official recognition by the world body as a nation defined by the 1967 borders.
Late last year, Palestinian officials began pursuing a new diplomatic strategy: asking individual countries to recognise a Palestinian state within 1967 borders.
Now they want the UN to do the same. This would entitle them to full member state representation at the UN, where the Palestine Liberation Organisation currently has only observer status.
It could also have political implications allowing Palestinians greater access to international courts where they could possibly launch legal action to challenge the occupation of territory by Israel.
What is the process?
The 15-member UN Security Council needs to recommend statehood to the General Assembly. If it does, then a vote on membership by its 192 members could take place on 20 September. Approval requires a two-thirds majority – or 128 votes. Currently 116 countries are said to recognise Palestine but the Palestinians hope they would gain the support of up to 150.
The US is the main obstacle to a General Assembly vote because it has veto power as a permanent Security Council member. In February, the US vetoed a resolution, which was co-sponsored by 130 countries, condemning Israeli settlements in the Palestinian territories as an obstacle to peace. This time around, the Palestinians are hoping to persuade the US to at least abstain.
As a back-up, they are exploring other possible legal options. These include a loophole created by a 1950 resolution, which may allow the Security Council to be bypassed on issues of “world peace”. The Palestinians and their supporters are also looking at ways to press for UN General Assembly resolution 181 of 1947 to be enforced.
The resolution calls for the partition of British Mandate Palestine into a Jewish state and an Arab one. At the very least, the Palestinians say they want the General Assembly to accept Palestine as an observer state.
What does the Palestinian proposal entail?
The formulation of the resolution that is emerging from Ramallah will be a “cut and paste” job of lines from the president’s speech on May 19, in which he presented the formula of the 1967 lines with mutually agreed border adjustments.
In a keynote policy speech on 19 May, US President Barack Obama issued a clear call for Israel and the Palestinians to use the borders existing before the 1967 Six Day War, with land swaps, as the basis for talks. However, he made it clear that an appeal to the UN for full membership for Palestine would be a mistake.
Mr Netanyahu rejected President Obama’s proposal outright, saying the Jewish state would be “indefensible” if it returned to the 1967 borders, which would exclude dozens of Jewish settlements. He also rejected the idea of dividing the city of Jerusalem. Palestinians want East Jerusalem as their capital.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday implored Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to accept the existence of Israel as a Jewish state, calling it a “basic demand” for achieving peace in the region. Netanyahu directly addressed Abbas in this plea: “Just say these words – ‘I accept a Jewish state’. It is a basic demand for peace.”
After the snub delivered to Obama by Benjamin Netanyahu, the American President is not eager to use the right to veto again. Nor would siding with Israel against the odds look good for his re-election. Therefore, the Americans have been investing special effort in enlisting key European countries, first and foremost Germany – the weak link in initiatives depicted as being against the Jewish state – along with Britain and France, the permanent European members of the Security Council.
Obama has warned the Palestinians twice in recent days against unilateral moves.“The United States will stand up against efforts to single Israel out at the United Nations or in any international forum,” he told the pro-Israel lobbying group AIPAC in a speech in Washington on Sunday. However, the U.S. would clearly want to avoid being put in the position of having to veto Palestinian statehood.
What if there is a deadlock?
President Barack Obama threw down a gauntlet this weekend: no vote at the United Nations, he asserted, would ever create a Palestinian state.
Never before has the assembly taken on a new member state without a nod from the council. But legal experts say there may be ways to maneuver around that block. One possibility of bypassing the Security Council – at least to a degree – is the so-called “Uniting for Peace” resolution, first invoked in 1950 to circumvent further Soviet vetoes during the course of the Korean war, U.N. officials say.
To date, 10 emergency special sessions have been convened under “Uniting for Peace.” The Palestinians and their supporters could seek to hold another one, arguing that not recognizing a Palestinian state constitutes a threat to international peace and security.
Who supports and opposes the UN option?
After the recent reconciliation deal between rival political factions, even leaders of the Islamic militant organisation, Hamas, acknowledged there was a broad consensus on the establishment of a Palestinian state within 1967 borders, though they formally still refuse to recognise Israel and their Charter is committed to its destruction.
The appeal to the UN is also backed by the 22-member Arab League. Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Friday that the international community should accept the Palestinian request to become a UN member
Cyprus on Monday said it would rally support in Europe for the Palestinian bid for UN recognition of statehood in September. Cyprus recognized a Palestinian state on 1967 borders in January.
The main opposition comes from Israel. “Peace can only be achieved around the negotiating table. The Palestinian attempt to impose a settlement will not bring peace,” Mr Netanyahu told a joint session of the US Congress in May.
Some major European Union states are looking increasingly favourably on the idea of recognising a Palestinian state. This is mainly because of their disappointment with Mr Netanyahu’s government in Israel-Palestinian peace talks and what they see as its recalcitrance over settlements.
In the coming weeks, both Palestinian and Israeli delegations will be on a diplomatic drive to win countries around to their point of view.
The Palestinian Authority had deployed delegations to make the rounds of nearly a dozen countries to try to drum up support for their bid to have the United Nations recognize a Palestinian state. They have to submit their bid by July 15 in order to have it considered at the UN General Assembly in mid-September.
Palestinian officials will visit Canada, Australia, New Zealand and several other countries that have not yet endorsed the Palestinian plan for recognition, and all Palestinian ambassadors would meet in Madrid in early July to discuss how to gain the support of European Union member states.
Questions and Answers: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-13701636
New evidence has emerged that the Iranian government sees the current unrest in the Middle East as a signal that the Mahdi -or Islamic messiah- is about to appear.
CBN News has obtained a never-before-seen video produced by the Iranian regime that says all the signs are moving into place — and that Iran will soon help usher in the end times.
Continue reading
Atheism dressed up as “theology”: the God haters are clamouring to applaud tonight’s ripping up of biblical truth in the form of the BBC’s new series presented by the atheist senior lecturer at the University of Exeter, Francesca Stavrakopoulou.
The first episode (Tuesday 15th from 9-10 on BBC2) is all about rubbishing David and his kingdom. Doubtless the same kind of sensationalised “archeology” and “new evidence” that we are used to seeing in such documentaries will support the conclusion she’s already reached, that the God of the bible only exists in the blinded eyes of those who worship him.
But who is this woman? One supporter praises her “excellent” work on “cultic child sacrifice to Yahweh” which sounds to me startlingly close to the age-old blood libel. But maybe the world is ready for another heavy dose of anti-semitic lies to spark off the next round of pogroms? And as for the Christians, they are about to appear as foolish numbskulls who need pagans and atheists to correct their theological understanding.
Stavrakopoulou first appeared on television last year in Channel 4’s “The Bible: A History”, saying that Moses did not exist. (I remember trying to watch this series and recall how conceited she sounded.)
“The Bible’s Buried Secrets”, which begins tonight, is her first prime time series. Her published books include include “Baal and Asherah: Image, Sex, Power, and the Other” and “King Manasseh and Child Sacrifice: Biblical Distortions of Historical Realities”.
Her book “Blood ritual in the Hebrew Bible” again raises the spectre of the Blood Libel. Will it become the new “Protocols of Zion”?
She is “Secretary of the Society for Old Testament Study and a member of the European Association of Biblical Studies and the Society of Biblical Literature” so is clearly a voice of influence for those who need to denounce all that is holy and true. In one short biography it is revealed it took her to the age of eleven to realise that Jesus was Jewish. One wonders what would have happened if she’d actually paid attention at school like the rest of us.
Ms Stavrakopoulou’s big drum which she is bound to beat throughout this TV series is pluralism. That is, the God of the bible is about to be presented as simply one of a host of cultic gods worshipped in ancient Judea. Again, according to some “the fact that Yahweh once shared a bed with Mrs Yahweh (“Asherah”) is widely accepted by mainstream scholars as a part of orthodox religious belief”. Perhaps it is amongst the “religious” but not for those who know God. Let us pray the outcry will be loud and long against this destructive heresy!
Titus 1:15-16 – To the pure all things are pure, but to those who are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure; but even their mind and conscience are defiled. They profess to know God, but in works they deny Him, being abominable, disobedient, and disqualified for every good work.
Recently I’ve been thinking about the preparations we are all now making for the coming of the Lord. (At least, those of us who are aware of it!)
I liken it to this: a family know they are going to move house. Maybe not this week, nor next week, but soon and they have to make a start on the sorting and packing. They are down-sizing so not everything can be included, and the children have a LOT of toys and stuffed animals so something has to be sacrificed.
They hand the children a box each and say, “put in there ONLY what you absolutely need. You can only take the essentials. You’ll have to be brave and leave a lot of things behind!” This is like our preparations for the End. We have all – during this time of peace and prosperity – developed lives full of inessential clutter, and I don’t mean just material possessions. Actually, it’s the spiritual clutter that slows us down the most.
Now the time has come to sort through our lives and think “what do I actually NEED?”. We can allow ourselves plenty of “things” while we sit at home in our large house, but when God begins to move we have to follow and then anything too big or cumbersome will just be a hindrance.
The Israelites found this out when they came from a settled way of life in Egypt into a dry wilderness. They were led by God who showed himself as a pillar of smoke by day and fire by night. Whenever the pillar moved on, the Israelites had to pack up and move. Imagine if you’d just got the tent the way you liked it, added a few shelves, arranged the food alphabetically in rows, plumped up the skins that you sat on, made a roaring fire and had just set the pan of water on it to have a nice hot drink (or whatever – excuse me but I have no idea what they’d do, so bear with me). As you lay back and sigh, contemplating a relaxing afternoon, you see through the tent door the pillar of smoke moving away. ARGHH. Now you have to hurry and pack everything up again!
How much better it would have been to be “always at the ready” as Jesus warned. He said we should be waiting for him like people about to go on a journey, ready-clothed, hat and coat on, bag slung round your shoulder, spare toothbrush in your pocket and you don’t need to rush down to the bank to draw out some cash. Don’t get too settled is my point. Travel light. If there’s anything in your “tent” that is going to cause a delay, get rid of it, that’s my advice.
Going back to the those boxes – what will you put in yours? If you don’t really need it, ditch it!
I was struck today by this news report HERE which gives a summary of the recent unrest, country by country, and the map at the very top looks eerily like the map on my website in the section where I shared an old dream of world events. You can compare the two maps and the additional comment about the Yemen (now coming up as the next area of unrest) at THIS PAGE
LONDON (Reuters) – Lawmakers urged the British government on Sunday to talk to moderates within Hamas, saying the West’s policy of shunning the Palestinian Islamist group was showing little sign of success.
The British parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee said in a report it stood by a recommendation it first made two years ago that the government should engage politically with moderate elements within Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip.
Britain and other Western nations reject contact with Hamas because of its refusal to recognize Israel, renounce violence and accept existing interim peace deals.
Russia is the only member of the Quartet of Middle East peace brokers — which also comprises the United States, the United Nations and the European Union — talking to Hamas.
“We conclude that there continue to be few signs that the current policy of non-engagement is achieving the Quartet’s stated objectives,” the committee said.
“We further conclude that the credible peace process for which the Quartet hopes, as part of its strategy for undercutting Hamas, is likely to be difficult to achieve without greater cooperation from Hamas itself.”
The committee said it was concerned the Quartet was failing to provide Hamas with greater incentives to change its position. It said Britain should talk to Hamas moderates as a way of encouraging the group to meet the Quartet principles.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s government changed policy in March by saying it was open to talks with the political wing of Lebanon’s Iranian-backed Hezbollah, but it remains opposed to talking to Hamas.
The committee, made up of Members of Parliament from all the main political parties, said it was dismayed that, six months after the end of fighting in Gaza, there was still no ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas. There had been little change to several issues that contributed to the conflict, it said.
“We conclude that this situation makes for an ongoing risk of insecurity and a renewed escalation of violence,” it said.
Israel invaded Gaza on December 27, 2008 and fighting continued until January 18, 2009, killing more than 1,000 people.
The committee said it was deeply concerned about the high number of casualties, the extent of the damage and allegations of violations of international law during the Gaza conflict.
“We conclude that Hamas targets civilians in its armed actions, and that Israel’s military action in Gaza was disproportionate,” it said.
The Economic Meltdown
by Dr. David R. Reagan – Lamb & Lion Ministries
Did you notice that the stock market collapse on September 29, 2008, totaled 777 points and occurred on the eve of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year? From my viewpoint, it appears to be a judgment on our nation that has the fingerprints of God all over it.
Keep in mind that President George W. Bush was the first president to propose the establishment of a Palestinian state, and for the past month he has had his Secretary of State in the Middle East trying to force the Israelis to give up their heartland.
The Word of God warns that nations who try to divide Israel in the end times will pay a terrible price. In Joel 3:2 the Lord says that He will “enter into judgment” against those nations that “have divided up My land.”
We have sold out Israel for Arab oil, and we are paying the price. But our treatment of Israel is not the only reason for this remedial judgment. Our worship of money is the other reason.
In my book “America the Beautiful? The United States in Bible Prophecy” published in 2003, I presented several scenarios that could explain the absence of the United States in end time Bible prophecy. They included such things as an internal nuclear attack by terrorists, an external nuclear attack from another nation, and a societal collapse due to internal moral rot. The only positive scenario I could conceive was the destruction of our nation due to the Rapture of the Church.
The very first scenario I offered was an economic one. I put it first because it was the one I felt was most probable. Here’s what I wrote:
The first thing that comes to mind is an economic catastrophe that will result from our out of control debt situation. The official outstanding debt of the U.S. government is currently 6.2 trillion dollars. That amounts to $21,540 per person. This debt is increasing at the rate of 1.1 billion per day! Private debt is even more horrendous. At the beginning of the 21st Century, there was a staggering $25.6 trillion of credit market debt outstanding in the U.S. That total represents a doubling of the debt burden since 1990. America’s total debt, public and private (including state and local government) stands at around $32 trillion dollars! That’s $115,322 per man, woman, and child. Amazingly, 52% of this debt was accumulated in the 1990s, a decade driven primarily by debt instead of productivity.
There is no way to escape the conclusion that America has become a debt junkie. We are living on money we do not have and will never have, and sooner or later the weight of this debt is going to collapse our economy. One irony is that we have killed 50 million babies who could have been in the work force today contributing to our economic health by producing goods and services and paying taxes.
I believe an unprecedented economic collapse is highly likely because money is the real god of America, and the true God of this universe is a jealous One who does not tolerate idolatry. God, by His very nature, is going to be compelled to destroy our false god.
We are a nation driven by greed. The mortgage debacle which has caused the current crisis is due first of all to greedy people wanting to live in houses they could not afford. They were serviced by greedy banks who were willing to grant loans they knew the people could not pay because the banks intended to flip the loans quickly, making a fast profit. And all the while, greedy politicians were willing to look the other way while their campaigns received money from the greedy lenders who they were supposed to be regulating.
Republicans have run for office for years as fiscal conservatives, vowing to take good care of taxpayer’s money. Yet, when they gained control of Congress, they fed at the money trough like ravenous hogs, and President Bush looked the other way, refusing to exercise his veto power. The result is that our national debt continued to skyrocket.
Greed motivates big business, big labor, big sports, and big religion. Every aspect of our society is infected with it. Relentless advertising encourages people to live beyond their means by relying on credit cards.
One sobering result of the current economic debacle is that it has made it almost impossible for John McCain to be elected, meaning that our nation is most likely going to receive the kind of leaders we deserve. We could well end up with the most liberal president in our history, one intent on expanding abortion to include infanticide, determined to retreat internationally from the threat and challenge of Islamic terrorism, and committed to packing our Supreme Court with ultra-liberals who will hold our Constitution in contempt.
The Bible teaches that when a nation rebels against God, He will first raise up prophetic voices to call the nation to repentance. The Lord did that years ago here in America when he began to call for national repentance through voices like Dave Wilkerson who also warned us in graphic language of the consequences if we refused to repent.
When prophetic voices are ignored, God always resorts next to remedial judgments, which increase in ferocity over time. We have experienced a whole series of such judgments, beginning with our loss of the Vietnam War. Other judgments have included such things as natural disasters, epidemics, crop failures, political corruption, crime, and immorality. According to Romans 1, what God does in times of national rebellion is lower the hedge of protection around the nation and allow evil to multiply.
The biggest wake-up call occurred with the attacks on 9/11. But like a sleepy person, we just rolled over, hit the snooze alarm, and went back to sleep.
The most disturbing thing about all this is that the Bible teaches that when a nation refuses to repent in response to prophetic voices and remedial judgments, a point will ultimately come when God will deliver the nation from judgment to destruction. Our nation currently appears to be on that threshold.
Let us pray for our nation as we have never prayed before. Let each of us pray prayers like the one Daniel prayed in Daniel chapter 9, where he took the sins of the nation upon himself and asked for forgiveness. After all, all of us are responsible to one degree or another for the sins of our nation, either due to our participation in them or our unwillingness to speak out against them. Let us pray for God to show us grace by not giving us the kind of leaders we deserve. And let’s pray for a national revival that will sweep many people into the Lord’s kingdom before it is too late.
http://www.moriel.org/articles/notice_board/economic_meltdown.htm
Oct 9th, 2008
Zephaniah 1:18 Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD’S wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.
Zephaniah 2:3 Seek ye the LORD, all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought his judgment; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the LORD’S anger
The world saw the dark day in which the Dow dropped 777 points in a one day nose dive at the beginning of the Jewish Holiday celebrating the New Year known as Rosh Hashanah. Putting this in perspective many analysts have been trying to calm the fears as major governments joined in the move to save the world economic system by buying up bad debt. Fox business news quoted Frank Davis, the director of sales and trading at LEK Securities who said “We’ve got fear selling going on. It’s hard to control logical when you have fear selling.”
Luke 21:25 And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.
“Global Economic Trouble”
Revelation 6:5 And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand. And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.
Moreover, with the Nikkei index dropping to its lowest level in two decades, the world financial crisis is taking its toll. On this day, the day in which Yom Kippur begins at sundown, world markets are greeted by the Federal Reserve lowering its prime interest rate by a half point. The move to lower the rate was an historic one as the Bank of England, the European Central Bank, the Swiss Bank, Chinese Bank, and numerous others joined in to save the world economy.
This is a sign of the times, prophetically. First on Rosh Hashanah we find the down dropped 777, a triumviral number of 7’s. Seven is a perfect, complete number, one of completion. With three of them on the downward spiral of the Dow, this signals a staunch warning. The year we have entered will be one of a financial crisis. It is one where the governments will not be able to handle. It is one where we find the LORD God shaking up the systems of government and their monetary markets as well.
James 5:1 ¶Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten. 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. Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth. Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter.
The fall feasts all look forward to prophetically to the coming of the LORD Jesus Christ [Yeshua Ha Massiach]. Included in these is the time of repentance, examination, and seeking the LORD God, known as Yom Kippur. Add to this the time known as Sukkot or Tabernacles and you have a picture of the coming Messiah, Jesus Christ who will rule and reign in his Tabernacle from Jerusalem. He will also have all the nations come once a year to celebrate this ‘Feast of Tabernacles’. The economy, money crisis, credit crunch, debt, and global ability to finance will be affected to the point that fear and panic will spread as never before. Add to this the full signs found in Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21 and you will have a true picture of what is coming.
Isaiah 55:6 ¶Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near:
Acts 15:17 That the residue of men might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles, upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord, who doeth all these things.
Dana G Smith is the author of D-Day For America, a prophecy book of what is coming to America. Published by Xulon Press, ISBN: 1-59781-843-7. Dana is the editor of the W.I.B.R. online Web Sites. http://write-wing.blogspot.com/
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