reachout

Asia may face crisis

2006-11-13T23:18:00.000-08:00

Asia’s regional economy could see a period of contraction next year with a currency crisis, a widening wealth gap, rising protectionism and bird flu posing longer-term threats, a study by a regional policy study group warned yesterday.

Based on a survey of opinion leaders and the views of a panel of experts, the Pacific Economic Cooperation Council (PECC) forcasts regional growth of 5% this year slowing to 4.3% next year.

The bulk of the decline is expected to be linked to the contraction of the United States’ mighty economy, where demand for Asia –produced products is due to weaken.

“A slowdown in 2007 has been widely anticipated and is largely due to faltering demand in the United States and the effect of monetary tightening around the world,” the survey report, entitled The State of the Region, released yesterday said.

While the report says Japan’s once-faltering economy was back on track and looking likely to stay that way, China was becoming a concern as its booming economy threatened to overheat and a decline in American demand for its goods posed the possibility for a hard landing.

What this is saying is that even as the world is rushing in its endless chase of economic wealth and power, many in the different regions are also caught up in this web of avarice.

What is the price of this endless dream?

Man by his own nature of greed will never be satisfied or contented no matter what amount of wealth and power he has accrued. Looking at the situation around the world, the wealthy are the power brokers and these would go to any extent to get what they want without any qualms of dignity and honesty.

The freedom of expression brought about through the advent of the internet has now made it possible for the free expression of thoughts and opinions. Through this avenue, there has been obvious revelation of the blatant crimes and corruption that is going on in the corridors of power world-wide that is practiced in the pursuit of wealth.

Political icons are exposed in their selfish and unscrupulous antics in milking the wealth of their own countries. Heinous crimes are committed without any conscience or even a blink of the eye. Murders and plundering are instruments that these would use to meet their aims. The means are justifiable as long as it meet its end.

Further down the chain, entrepreneurs and industrialists are also involved in this chase and web of avarice. Their whole lifestyle is geared only towards accruing worldly wealth and power. Money brings position and power in the world. To this end, nothing matters more to them than to attain their worldly desires.
But where are all these leading to? Does life just mean having all the wealth and power on earth in our hands? After that, what else is there?

When the economic crash comes, many industrialist and entrepreneurs who have overstretched will have a hard landing and many will lose their wealth and fortune. This will bring the reality of life to them and many would lose their dreams and their dreams will transfer into a nightmare.

The words of God say; “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.”

The Diseases Of Egypt

2006-11-12T06:21:00.000-08:00

The diseases of Egypt.

Over the weekend, we had our good friend Bro Leong P L come over and share his ministry with us.

His forte is in the healing ministry with good testimonies of miraculous healings being wrought through his hands. A godly man who has been favored by God to touch lives of men and women in high places of society, Bro Leong came to pray for the sick. His testimony comprises of many miraculous healings of terminal cancers of people from all walk of life and also in different countries.

Women who have not been able to conceive after long years of marriage were prayed for and they have conceived beautiful children as a result of the prayers of our brother. A particular case was a woman who had been diagnosed as having a deformed uterus and being unable to conceive was prayed for and she conceived immediately after.

All manners of sicknesses and diseases were also healed not only through prayers but also through the placing of tissue papers prayed over by Bro Leong. Businesses were also restored through prayers.

Why is it that many people suffer from sicknesses and poverty? The answer is there are natural causes as well as human causes. Natural causes can be in the form of contact with viruses and bacteria due to our carelessness in our lifestyle.

However, we also understand that there can be another cause due to our transgressions against God’s laws which say “If you diligently heed the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in His sight, give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes. I will put none of the diseases on you which I have brought on the Egyptians. For I am the Lord who heals you."
In this verse, Egypt refers to the then known world. In the world there will be many diseases and sufferings that are brought about through our transgressions against the law of God and thereby exposing one to the curse of the law. How then do one protects oneself from this curse?

The first line of defense is to heed the Almighty and to listen to His voice, to have a hearing ear so we will hear Him. He speaks in many ways; through His word, through His anointed servants, and through direct revelation in your inner man.

Second, the Almighty asks us to do what is right in His sight. When we do this, we enter into a covenant with the Almighty and his promise is He will keep His people free from diseases, and conditions the promise upon their diligent obedience.

Many people suffer from the affliction of diseases because of their slack lifestyle and disregard to God’s standards. Barrenness can be brought about through indulges of premarital relationship which transgress the law. Other diseases like cancer and arthritis can be brought about through bitterness and unforgiveness.

Unforgiveness causes the person to be pent up with bitterness and stress which would cause the body to react and causes malfunction to organs and cells. The Almighty knows this and therefore has put a caveat for us in order to enjoy his original plan for man to enjoy divine health. We need to follow His laws and precept so that we can escape and circumvent the judgment of the law.

This lifestyle would therefore save us from much pains and sufferings, only if we keep to his will and keep to His path.

Healing Explosion 2006

2006-10-26T19:58:00.000-07:00

Healing Explosion 2006

The week of 16-22nd Oct was yet another milestone for our people.

Papa A.L.Gill flew in from the States to take us on a 5 day teaching seminar on the truth of healing being a part of the atonement of Jesus Christ.

Starting from day one, Papa Gill laid the foundation on the truth of healing that God had intended for all his people. He went through all the promises of God for healing to his people and by the third session, he began to move into the actual practice of releasing healing through the hands of the believers.

He taught on how to release healing for different kinds of ailments and diseases that are common, starting from the healing of back aches explaining that these are normally caused by the misalignment of the vertebrae, discs and nerves. He demonstrated how healing could be administered to the patients.

He went on to explain and teach on the healing of lower back aches, problems with abdominal organs and also how to pray for healing of terminal diseases. His teaching was systematic and clear. Everyone who sat in on the seminar learned on the effective ways of praying. By the fifth session, he had completed most of the teaching and it was time for the impartation of the anointing.

Every one lined up to receive prayers for the impartation. There was such a strong and tangible presence of God in the seminar room.

The next day was ‘D’ day.

We went over to the Katerina Hotel Ballroom where we had our public outreach. From the publicity that we have put out, many people from the town came for healing. Some came in wheelchairs, others came with crutches. Some came with hopes for healing of terminal diseases.

An 85 yr old Malay lady was brought in by her children for healing. She had lost her sight and hearing and she was also haunch. After prayer, she received her sight and she could see clearly. Her ears were also opened and she could hear even a soft whisper. She also could stand straight after receiving prayers.

Others were also healed. Many neck problems, back problems, abdominal problems were healed. One cancer patient also testified how she felt the power of God going through her body and she expects to receive her total healing. A woman who had a stroke came in with a walking stick and left without her walking stick. The next night she came again to give her testimony to the complete healing that she had received.

There are so many other testimonies given during the two nights of healing outreach. We can only get them after we hear from the members. All in all it was a great journey of faith for all.

We will look forward to the days ahead when everyone who has received this training to be a living testimony to the living God who heals us of all our diseases.

The World must not 'bury its head in teh sand

2006-10-24T21:02:00.000-07:00

Olmert: The world must not 'bury its head in the sand' on Iran

By The Associated Press

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert appealed to the international community on Monday to ostracize Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, saying the world must not "bury its head in the sand" while he calls for Israel's destruction.

"It is inconceivable that ... a member of the United Nations continues to be received throughout the world as a legitimate leader while he stands up and says that another UN member state should be wiped off the map," Olmert told a business conference.

"We shall never repeat the mistakes of 60 years ago of burying our heads in the sand, ignoring what was being heard then when it was still possible to save lives," he added, in an allusion to the Nazis who killed 6 million Jews in Europe

Descendants of King David Planning Reunion in Israel

2006-10-23T00:09:00.000-07:00

"WorldNetDaily" reports that the Eshet Chayil Foundation is seeking to gather Jewish descendants of King David for a reunion next year in Jerusalem aimed at fostering Jewish unity.

Aaron Klein/TN (Oct 18th, 2006)

"King David was the first and essentially the only king of Israel to unite all of the Jewish people under one kingdom," said Susan Roth, CEO and founder of the foundation. "In these times of conflict and divisiveness it is very fitting to make a public expression of unity, a demonstration to show it is time for the Jewish people to be joined together while common enemies from around the world once again seek our destruction."

Roth also reportedly founded the Davidic Dynasty, which seeks to promote awareness about Jewish history and Jewish ties to the land of Israel through the life and leadership of King David. According to the report, The Dynasty is holding a launch dinner in New York this week ahead of a larger conference and a first-ever reunion of Davidic descendants in Israel in May 2007.

Jewish descent from David can be traced through oral tradition, rabbinic sources, historical data and extensive research, Chaim Freedman is quoted as saying. Freedman is "a renowned Israeli genealogist" who says that after the cessation of the Jewish monarchy following the destructions of the Jewish Temples, the line of David was carefully preserved and guarded.

The North Korean Threat

2006-10-23T00:05:00.000-07:00

By: Perry Stone
http://www.voiceofevangelism.org/prophecy_update.cfm

According to the Korea Times, a South Korea newspaper (October 16, 2006), a report to the South Korean legislature revealed for the first time that the last piece of missile warhead fired by North Korea was found in the U.S. state of Alaska.

The report came from the Japanese foreign minister, Taro Nakayama. “Washington, as well as Tokyo, has so far underrated Pyongyang’s missile capabilities,” Nakayama is quoted as saying in the report to the National Assembly of the Republic of Korea. His source for the information about the missile falling in Alaska came from some American documents furnished to the Japanese government, he said.

This revelation came on the heels of a startling announcement. On October 9, 2006, North Korea’s Korean Central News Agency announced that the Communist country had successfully conducted an underground nuclear test. They had been warned by the entire world community, including China and Russia, not to do nuclear testing. Their announcement shocked the world and prompted the United Nations Security Council to pass a resolution condemning North Korea’s action

This means that this country, thumbing its nose at world opinion and often challenging other nations with a belligerent pose and hostile words, has not only the ability to explode a nuclear device but also the capability to deliver it to the shores of the United States.

As threatening as this sounds, however, there is something even more frightening about North Korea’s nuclear capabilities: this is that the Communist regime will sell weapons and technology to the world’s evil terrorists. North Korea manufactured and sold the Scud missile that were used by Saddam Hussein in the Gulf War.

An Ominous Warning from IsraelIsrael Today reported that on October 15, 2006, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told his cabinet that taking the North Korean nuclear problem lightly will result in nuclear weapons in Iran and, ultimately, in the hands of Al Qaeda., according to.

There is nobody who thinks that if Iran gets a nuclear weapon it will not get into the hands of other elements.

He specifically mentions Hezbollah and al-Qaeda. Both groups actively recruits and gives orientation to suicide bombers. Al-Qaeda has no country of its own, and practices ongoing attempts to de-stabilize the governments of nations it does not like. It takes no responsibility in the community of civilized and peace-loving nations.

Consequently, the international community is worried about what will happen if nuclear devices fall into the hands of rogue and lunatic organizations. “This is a very dangerous situation,” Olmert added.

Be Wise As A Serpent

2006-10-13T19:01:00.000-07:00

This is a new one.

People sure stay busy trying to cheat us, don't they?

A friend went to the local gym and placed his belongings in the locker. After the workout and a shower, he came out, saw the locker open, and thought to himself, "Funny, I thought I locked the locker. Hmmm."

He dressed and just flipped the wallet to make sure all was in order. Everything looked okay - all cards were in place. A few weeks later his credit card bill came - a whooping bill of $14,000! He called the credit card company and started yelling at them, saying that he did not make the transactions.

Customer care personnel verified that there was no Mistake in the system and asked if his card had been stolen. "No," he said, but then took out his wallet, pulled out the credit card, and yep - you guessed it - a switch had been made.

An expired similar credit card from the same bank was in the wallet. The thief broke into his locker at the gym and switched cards.

Verdict:

The credit card issuer said since he did not report the card missing earlier, he would have to pay the amount owed to them. How much did he have to pay for items he did not buy? $9,000!

Why were there no calls made to verify the amount swiped? Small amounts rarely trigger a "warning bell" with some credit card companies. It just so happens that all the small amounts added up to big one!

SCENE 2.

A man at a local restaurant paid for his meal with his credit card. The bill for the meal came, he signed it, and the waitress folded the receipt and passed the credit card along. Usually, he would just take it and place it in his wallet or pocket.

Funny enough, though, he actually took a look at the card and, lo and behold, it was the expired card of another person. He called the waitress and she looked perplexed. She took it back, apologized, and hurried back to the counter under the watchful eye of the man.

All the waitress did while walking to the counter was wave the wrong expired card to the counter cashier, and the counter cashier immediately looked down and took out the real card.

No exchange of words --- nothing! She took it and came back to the man with an apology.

Verdict:

Make sure the credit cards in your wallet are yours. Check the name on the card every time you sign for something and/or the card is taken away for even a short period of time.

Many people just take back the credit card without even looking at it, "assuming" that it has to be theirs.

FOR YOUR OWN SAKE, DEVELOP THE HABIT OF CHECKING YOUR CREDIT CARD EACH TIME IT IS RETURNED TO YOU AFTER A TRANSACTION!

SCENE 3:

Yesterday I went into a pizza restaurant to pick up an order that I had called in. I paid by using my Visa Check Card which, of course, is linked directly to my checking account. The young man behind the counter took my card, swiped it, then laid it on the counter as he waited for the approval, which is pretty standard procedure.

While he waited, he picked up his cell phone and started dialing. I noticed the phone because it is the same model I have, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Then I heard a click that sounded like my phone sounds when I take a picture.

He then gave me back my card but kept the phone in his hand as if he was still pressing buttons. Meanwhile, I'm thinking: I wonder what he is taking a picture of, oblivious to what was really going on. It then dawned on me: the only thing there was my credit card, so now I'm paying close attention to what he is doing. He set his phone on the counter, leaving it open.

About five seconds later, I heard the chime that tells you that the picture has been saved. Now I'm standing there struggling with the fact that this boy just took a picture of my credit card. Yes, he played it off well, because had we not had the same kind of phone, I probably would never have known what happened.

Needless to say, I immediatelly canceled that card as I was walking out of the pizza parlor. All I am saying is, be aware of your surroundings at all times.

Whenever you are using your credit cards, take caution and don't be careless. Notice who is standing near you and what they are doing when you use your card.

Be aware of phones because many have a camera phone these days. When you are in a restaurant and the waiter/waitress brings your card and receipt for you to sign, make sure you scratch the number off.

Some restaurants are using only the last four digits, but a lot of them are still putting the whole thing on there. I have already been a victim of credit card fraud and, believe me, it is not fun. The truth is that they can get you even when you are careful, but don't make it easy for them.

Lost Tribe returning to Israel

2006-10-07T18:02:00.000-07:00

Hundreds from "Lost Tribe" Granted Permission to Immigrate from India to Israel
"Whoever heard of an ancient lost tribe returning to its ancestral homeland 2,700 years after their deportation? Without exaggerating, it seems fair to say that this is a miracle of Biblical proportions."

Aaron Klein/TN (Oct. 7th, 2006)

WorldNetDaily reports that hundreds of Jews from a group of thousands in India that believes it is one of the 10 "lost tribes" of Israel has been granted permission to immigrate here next month, fulfilling for many of them a life-long dream of returning to what they consider their homeland.

"The significance of this should be readily apparent, even to the most hardened of cynics," Michael Freund, chairman of Shavei Israel, the organization leading the charge for the return of the tribe, told WorldNetDaily. "After all, whoever heard of an ancient lost tribe returning to its ancestral homeland 2,700 years after their deportation? Without exaggerating, it seems fair to say that this is a miracle of Biblical proportions."

The Bnei Menashe are a group of about 7,000 Indian citizens, who believe they are the descendants of Manasseh, claiming they have been in exile from Israel for over 2,700 years. The group has reportedly preserved ancient Jewish customs and rituals, has been trying the past 50 years to return to Israel.

Rabbis were sent to meet with tribal members. "The rabbis were incredibly impressed with the Bnei Menashe," said Freund. "They saw for themselves that the group is very serious and should be integrated into the Jewish nation. That they are a blessing to the state of Israel."

The International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, an American-based grassroots coalition of Jews and Christians will aid in their absorption into Israel. "The return of the Bnei Menashe is a historic event," said Freund. "It is the literal fulfillment of the vision of our prophets that our people will return to Israel from the four corners of the earth. It is a timely and welcome example of just what Israel, and its wondrous rebirth, is truly all about."

North Korea Warned Against Conducting Nuclear Test

2006-10-05T19:11:00.000-07:00

North Korea Warned Against Conducting Nuclear Test
Thursday , October 05, 2006

SEOUL, South Korea — A U.S. Military plane capable of detecting radiation has taken off from southern Japan amid concerns over a threatened nuclear test by North Korea, a news report said Thursday.

The plane, which can collect and analyze radioactive substances in the air, took off from the U.S. Air base at Kadena on the southern island of Okinawa, Kyodo News agency reported.

The plane is believed to be monitoring signs of a possible nuclear test by North Korea, Kyodo said. The North threatened Tuesday to conduct a nuclear test to prove it is a nuclear power. It claims it has nuclear weapons and needs them to deter a U.S. Attack, but hasn't performed any known test to verify that.

Col. Anne Morris of U.S. Forces Japan refused to confirm the Kyodo report, saying she was not authorized to talk specifically about ongoing operations, but said U.S. Forces were on alert for any moves by the North.

"Of course, everybody is being vigilant. But the U.S. Position remains that we hope North Korea will allow the situation to be resolved diplomatically," she said.

North Korea threatened Tuesday to conduct a nuclear test to prove the country is a nuclear power. Pyongyang claims it has nuclear weapons and needs them to deter a U.S. Attack, but hasn't performed any known test to verify that.

CountryWatch: North Korea

South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun ordered his government to send a "grave warning" to North Korea about the consequences of a threatened nuclear weapons test, Yonhap news agency reported Thursday.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that Moscow was working with Pyongyang to try to dissuade it from a test.

"We must do everything so that that doesn't happen," Lavrov said at a news conference on a visit to Warsaw, Poland. "We are working with the leadership of North Korea to stop steps that could negatively impact the situation."

Roh also ordered the South Korean government to draw up a "contingency plan" if the nuclear standoff with North Korea worsens, Yonhap said, citing unidentified presidential staff.
At the same time, Roh instructed his government to step up diplomatic efforts to forestall a North Korean test, the report said.

Roh's orders came after a meeting with his top security adviser, according to Yonhap.
Calls to the presidential office went unanswered on the first day of a three-day holiday.

Click here to go to FOXNews.Com's North Korea Center.
The North's announcement also prompted outcry from China, the North's main ally. Beijing's ambassador to the United Nations urged Pyongyang Wednesday not to go ahead with a test, warning of "serious consequences."

Wang Guangya said at the U.N. That "no one is going to protect" North Korea, if it goes ahead with "bad behavior."

"I think if North Koreans do have the nuclear test, I think that they have to realize that they will face serious consequences," Wang said Wednesday.

The comment was China's most forceful public response yet to its ally's announcement Tuesday, and a break with Beijing's usual conciliatory strategy of avoiding warnings to or criticism of the North.

Beijing — the North's main source of food and fuel aid — had previously appealed for restraint but hasn't said what it might do if Pyongyang detonates a bomb.

The rebuke could spell trouble for North Korea, which faces a relatively united front against its nuclear aspirations, in sharp contrast to the fractured reaction to a series of North Korean missile tests in July. At that time, China accused Japan of overreacting in calling for sanctions.
Earlier Thursday, a pro-North Korean newspaper based in Japan warned that Pyongyang was not bluffing.

"The nuclear test statement was not empty language, but announced on the premise of action," the Choson Sinbo said. "Carrying out a nuclear test is an inevitable conclusion ... Under a condition where (the country) declared possession of nuclear weapons in February last year."
The paper, run by an association of North Korean residents in Japan, is not part of the North's official media but is considered one of its propaganda tools. Its articles are believed to reflect the country's position.

It hedged its warning by saying the crisis can be overcome if the U.S. Begins to take action toward denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula with "the same goal" of North Korea.
In his first reaction to the North's announcement, Roh called Wednesday for a "cool-headed and stern" response and ordered his government to let the North know what the consequences would be if it goes ahead with a test.

The man who claims to be Jesus

2006-10-03T19:58:00.000-07:00

The Man Who Claims To Be Jesus
Followers Claim Doral Man is God On Earth
Jose Luis deJesus Claims There Is No Heaven, No Hell
Followers Believe All Other Religions Must Be Destroyed

http://cbs4.com/topstories/local_story_254163721.html

His name is Jose Luis de Jesus Miranda; his followers call him everything from apostle to Dad, or simply Jesus Christ Man. De Jesus Miranda himself believes he’s the living incarnation of “Jesus Christ Man,” “the second coming of Christ.”A follower of his believes “he is God, he is God.” She also lavishes him with money and gifts."I don’t have one Rolex,” de Jesus Miranda said, “I have 3 because they want to give it to me.

It's like that woman that came to Jesus with the expensive perfume and put it on his feet. He didn’t reject it, so when someone gives me a watch or a gift, I receive it. I like them too, they're nice."This self-proclaimed Son of God is a 60 year old former heroin addict and convict.

The divorced father of 4 was born in Puerto Rico and now lives in South Florida with his second wife. From a warehouse in Doral, near Miami, he presides over the "Creciendo en Gracia" or Growing in Grace Ministry which he also calls “God's Government On Earth. As any other head of state, he is protected by a security detail that mimics the U.S. Secret Service.

In an interview with the self-proclaimed Messiah, CBS4’s Ileana Varela asked de Jesus if he was able to do some of the things Jesus Christ did like performing miracles, healing the sick and walking on water.De Jesus said not necessarily. “My life is my church and what I’m doing worldwide,” he said.

What De Jesus is doing at more than 300 centers in Central and South America, Cuba and the U.S. is preaching a message of "freedom to indulge" because according to this modern messiah, there is no sin, no devil and no hell to pay.De Jesus says, “It doesn’t exist. The devil was destroyed two thousand years ago."It is music to the ears of his followers, mostly Hispanic men and women who believe they are God's chosen people, predestined for salvation no matter what they do on earth. They also believe all other faiths are false and must be destroyed, from Catholics to Baptists and Jehovah’s witnesses.

His followers have organized marches at which they destroy religious books and symbols. They also have a campaign aimed at disrupting other religious gatherings, sometimes with violent consequences. “What disturbs me is that he fits into the typical mold of a cult leader, total complete submission to his authority," FIU Religion professor, Daniel Alvarez said.Alvarez has a Masters Degree in Theology from Harvard Divinity School, and is among those who fear "Creciendo en Gracia" has the makings of a destructive cult.“He destroyed my family,” said former member Regina Albarracin, who left the church about 5 years ago. Her husband soon followed but their son Alvaro remained to become one of the ministry's biggest financial backers, donating more than $1 million to the church.

Alvaro is not alone; many others have set up businesses in de Jesus' name that pour cash into the ministry."I know were going to be running the whole world,” de Jesus said. A web entrepreneur and self made millionaire, Alvaro Albarracin left his wife and children for the man he calls Jesus. He has since remarried to another church member and rarely speaks to his parents who insist he's been brainwashed by the man "they" certainly don't call Jesus.

His mother, Regina Albarracin said, "You think he's Jesus Christ? No he’s the devil. You think he's the devil? Yes that's him."Regina Albarracin is afraid for her son's soul, and Professor Alvarez says she should be.

Most of these movements, he says, self destruct sooner or later."Lots of broken lives, lot of spiritual and emotional and psychological debris that will be strew on the path of the gentleman,” Alvarez said, “and the fallout will be inestimable for the lives of these people who get caught up in this kind of movement.”Unfazed by the criticism, de Jesus continues to plan for the role he believes he is destined to play on the world's stage. “I will be president of the biggest government that this earth has experienced," promised de Jesus.

Another False Messiah

2006-10-03T19:55:00.000-07:00

Another False Messiah… Dr. Jose Luis de Jesus Miranda

Now comes another false messiah, Dr. Jose Luis de Jesus Miranda, proclaiming himself as “King of Kings” and “Lord of Lords”. Sadly, this man is turning many people to his teachings. You can learn more about this false messiah at www.cegenglish.com.

People are hungry for a spiritual renewal around the world, and many are falling victim to charismatic speakers like this man, who preys primarily on the uneducated and uninformed, although the deception presented by this leader has also captured the attentions of many wealthy and influential business professionals, who are lavishing this false messiah with homes, businesses, cars, watches, and cash.

He says “sin no longer exits” and there is “no such thing as the devil”. He also claims “prayer is a waste of time” and the teachings of all other religious leaders are “a lie”. He is preaching a message of “freedom to indulge” so there is no condemnation. If you murder someone, you are guilty of a crime (according to the laws of the land); however, you have not sinned, as there is no longer any sin in the world…so God sees you perfect.

He is targeting primarily Hispanics in South America, Central America, Mexico, and the United States…but is also expanding into Canada and other parts of the world with his “own gospel”. He is a 60-year old former heroin addict and convict, a divorced father of four, born in Puerto Rico, who now lives in South Florida with his second wife. From a warehouse in Doral, he runs “God’s Government on Earth” from his church. He claims he will be president of the world in the largest government earth has ever seen.

This is a dangerous man, and those who follow him are being deceived. This pastor has launched a protest movement against other religions/denominations, and many of these have become violent of late. This is nothing more than a cult, and one that is causing great harm to the followers, who are being exploited for the personal gain of the leader.

Fatah, Hamas Preparing for War With Israel

2006-10-03T19:20:00.000-07:00

By Hillel Fendel

Hamas has smuggled up to 1,300 tons of weapons from Egypt into Gaza and is preparing for the option of launching a large-scale conflict with Israel. So states a Fatah report quoted by WorldNetDaily.

The weapons, WND reports, include between several hundred and 1,300 tons of advanced rockets; anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles; rocket propelled grenades; raw explosives; rifles; ammunition; and other heavy weaponry.Israel has long complained that the arrangements at the Egypt-Gaza border crossing are not satisfactory, and that the European monitors are ineffectual in stopping the smuggling.

Then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon agreed to the deal last November, after U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice arrived in the region and gave her stamp of approval.WND's Aaron Klein quotes Abu Ahmed, leader of the northern Gaza chapter of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades terror group, as saying the terrorists are working towards, and succeeding in, turning Gaza into a Hizbullah-like threat against Israel.

"We learned from Hizbullah's victory that Israel can be defeated if we know how to hit them and if we are well prepared," Abu Ahmed said. "We are importing rockets and the knowledge to launch them and we are also making many plans for battle."WND also quotes another terrorist leader - Abu Abdullah, reported to be a top member of the Izaddin Al-Kassam Brigades of Hamas - detailing the preparations for war against Israel."In the last 15 months," Abu Adullah said, " though the fighters of Hamas kept the ceasefire, we did not stop making important advancements and professional training on the military level.

In the future, after Hamas is obliged to stop the ceasefire, the world shall see our new military capabilities." He said that Hamas and Hizbullah, which has cells in Sinai, are cooperating in importing rockets and guerilla training.

Christianity: A Global Explosion According to Mission Statistics

2006-10-02T19:09:00.000-07:00

"Evangelicalism is growing twice the pace of Islam and three times as fast as the overall world population."

Jennifer Riley/TN (Oct 2nd, 2006)

A report in the Christian Post says young Christian leaders from around the world met at a Lausanne gathering in Malaysia this week to listen to mission experts discuss the rapid growth of global evangelicalism. Lausanne is a missions-initiatives organization started in 1974.

Nearly 500 young leaders from over 110 countries reportedly gathered in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, for six days, Sept. 24-30, for Christ-centered leadership development. The Younger Leaders Gathering is said to be a ministry of the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization where emerging leaders in churches, ministries and the marketplace ages 25-35 convene to learn new leadership skills, strengthen their spiritual life, and form networks with other young Christian leaders around the world.

Jason Mandryck, co-author of the mission prayer guide Operation World, is quoted as saying that although Christianity has barely kept pace with world population growth over the last century, evangelicalism is "far and away the fastest growing major religious movement in the world today." Evangelicalism he says, is growing twice the pace of Islam and three times as fast as the overall world population.

Most significantly, the global growth is seen in the South in countries such as Brazil, China, Bangladesh and Nigeria which have "exploding" Christian populations. Indeed, states Mandryck, the Mongolian church is now the most efficient missions force, sending one missionary for every 222 Christians.

Homosexuals headed for Jerusalem

2006-09-29T01:20:00.000-07:00

Homosexuals headed for Jerusalem
200,000 from the nations to flaunt perversions in God's holy city
By Stan Goodenough

Not only the Muslim world means to steal Jerusalem from the Jews, but one of the planet’s most militant movements also has the ancient Holy City in its sights.

In August this year, hundreds of thousands of men and women who practice perverse sexual lifestyles plan to descend on Jerusalem for a week of wickedness.

Not content with morally polluting cities “from San Francisco to Montreal to Sydney to Berlin,” the movement whose members insist they have the right to flaunt their behavior in the face of the rest of the world want to notch up a victory in the capital of Israel.

Having successfully conquered Jerusalem, these people clearly hope to ensure that no other city on earth will be able to withstand their assault.

The aim of these homosexuals – who in 2000 purposely held their first international event in Rome in order, according to them, to have it on “the Pope’s doorstep” – is to confront and defy the teachings and followers of Judeo-Christian faith.

Their destination this year is the city of King David, a man after God’s own heart; who’s son Solomon built a temple here for the LORD. It is Israel’s God Who says that for a man to lie with another man is “an abomination” (Leviticus 18:23) that is “against nature” (Romans 1:26-28).
In a classic case of calling black white and evil good, the champions of homosexuality are proudly proclaiming their purpose under the banner of “WorldPride”.

They are coming to what they even dare call “the holy city” in “a massive demonstration of dignity [sic], pride and boundary-crossing celebration,” – homo-speak for public displays of lewd and lustful behavior.

As they do on their marches elsewhere, they plan to parade through Jerusalem on August 10, men openly fondling and kissing men, women groping and kissing women, while bodies will be bared for all passers by to see.

The left-wing Israeli government that will be sworn in next week will almost certainly not oppose an event that promises millions of homosexual dollars in revenue.

Jerusalem’s ultra-orthodox mayor is not expected to try to prevent this outrage after the liberal Israeli Supreme Court fined him for expressing his opposition to a much smaller march a few years ago.

With just four months to go before the scheduled event, it is unclear whether Judeo-Christian leaders will be willing and able to rally enough opposition to stop it.

Syrian Front Now Cause for Concern

2006-09-28T20:09:00.000-07:00

Military Intelligence: Syrian Front Now Cause for Concern
By Yechiel Spira

Changing its long-time assessment regarding the Syrian threat, military intelligence now believes Damascus might launch a military action against Israel. For the first time in many years, IDF intelligence officials are signaling concern that President Bashar al-Assad’s administration may be contemplating a military offensive across Israel's northeastern border.

Officials emphasize that though Syria has not taken any operational steps towards a military action, the situation cannot be ignored.Meanwhile, Knesset Speaker MK Dalia Itzik (Kadima) says Israel must “not miss the opportunity” to enter into dialogue with Syria. Itzik insists that Assad has repeatedly exhibited a willingness to enter into negotiations with Israel, and that if Jerusalem turns her back on such statements, the opportunity for dialogue could be lost forever. Itzik continues to encourage senior government ministers to take Assad’s statements seriously and begin opening diplomatic channels that could lead to a peace agreement.

Peres: The Syrian Administration Opposes Peace Vice Premier Shimon Peres, currently in London, stated that Bashar al-Assad is providing refuge for a wanted terrorist - Hamas politburo leader Khaled Meshal. It is Meshal who is preventing the release of captive soldier Gilad Shalit, Peres explained, adding that even the PA (Palestinian Authority) Hamas-led administration wishes to release Shalit at this point. “If his father Hafez [al-Assad] would only have come to Camp David with Sadat, the Golan Heights would have already been in his hands for years. They are opponents of peace,” stated Peres.

Military intelligence over the past year has discarded Assad's statements calling for peace. Both the governmental and the intelligence communities were in agreement, during the Sharon administration, that such calls have not been sincere, and were nothing more than Syria’s ploy towards compelling Israel to retreat from the Golan Heights, which Israel liberated in the June 1967 Six Day War.Itzik’s Statements UndermineAmerican PolicySome analysts point out that Knesset Speaker Dalia Itzik’s calls to open a dialogue with Damascus openly undermine American policy.

Her repeated statements come at a time when the United States is working to enlist support for calls to impose sanctions on Syria, seeking to isolate Damascus from the world community.U.S. Secretary of State Rice has been signaling Jerusalem to refrain from such open statements at this time while the State Department is seeking to enlist allies to pressure Assad into backing down.

The U.S. accuses Syria of “supporting terror,” as does Israel. Analysts explain that remarks such as those made by the Knesset Speaker are most unwanted at this time, especially given Syria’s willingness to permit Hizbullah weapons to reach southern Lebanon and thus infuse life into the terror organization. Meanwhile, Defense Minister Amir Peretz has approved the appointment by IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Dan Halutz of Maj.-Gen. Gadi Eisenkott as the new Northern District Commander. Eiskenkott is currently the IDF’s Chief of Operations.

The other serious contender for the post was IDF Southern Command Chief Maj.-Gen. Yoav Gallant. At the end of the year, Central Commander Maj.-Gen. Yair Naveh will also be resigning from his post. Eisenkott, 46, has been serving in the IDF for 27 years. He spent most of his years in the Golani Brigade, and served as military secretary to Prime Minister/Defense Minister Ehud Barak. He is viewed as a respected member of the General Staff. Some critics oppose the appointment, explaining that Eisenkott is one of a number of senior officers who will be questioned and debriefed by the Winograd Commission investigating the war in Lebanon.

This they explain may lead to further embarrassment following his new appointment. Others explain that Eisenkott was a model of stability and professionalism during the war, an “anchor” on the General Staff who continued acting in a professional fashion despite the chaos that prevailed in senior military circles. Officials in the Northern Command expressed satisfaction over the appointment.

Calm Before The Storm

2006-09-27T23:35:00.000-07:00

Commentary By: Jerry Golden
www.thegoldenreport.com

The calm before the storm is what we are experiencing at this time here in Israel. The UN resolution 1701 that Israeli mistakenly signed after losing its first war with Olmert at the helm has already proven to be a terrible mistake. The Multi-National Forces are handicapped and have to stand aside while watching truck loads of missiles and other weapons being shipped from Syria and Iran into the hands of Hezbollah. These forces are not allowed to stop the shipments unless they have the permission of the Lebanon Government and they are now basically controlled by Hezbollah.

What we are seeing now is the UN and Multinational Forces are knowingly protecting Hezbollah from Israel and not stopping them from rearming for the next war. Many of those in the know now believe that Bashar Assad is now convinced that it is time for him to join forces with Hezbollah in the next war against Israel.

As alarming as all this sounds it isn’t nearly as disturbing as Iran having a nuclear bomb. We now have a Prime Minister who instead of doing what is necessary to protect the Israelis is depending on George W. Bush to do that job. In his speech yesterday he made the comment like a small child who depends on his father to protect him “George Bush will not allow Iran to have a nuclear bomb”.

In the meantime we are finding out that Egypt is planning their nuclear reactors with of course the help of Russia, North Korea, and China all bidding to do the job for the Egyptians. It is also being reported that daily the flow of arms from Egypt into Gaza increases with absolutely no deterrence being offered from the Egyptians and most believe they are encouraging it.

In the Gaza Strip Hamas is now trying to model their attacks against Israel after the success of Hezbollah in Lebanon. Daily we are having kassam rockets being fried into our western Negev towns, even reaching now into Ashkelon one of our largest city. But little news coverage is given to this terrorist activity as the free world is suffering from a certain fear that the next large mega terrorist attack will hit them and could very well be nuclear or at least a dirty bomb. The IDF reported today that 10 suicide bombers were thwarted in the last week.

With Egypt having been armed by the US second only to Israel in the this area, and Hezbollah rearming right under the eyes of the UN and Multinational forces and Syria talking war to its people. Iran threatening to wipe Israel off the Map possibly with a nuclear bomb poor Jordan has little to no choice but to join in with the rest of the insane Islamic Arab World and become part of the forces getting ready to attack Israel. To say things have never looked bleaker for Israel than today would be an understatement. But when you have God on your side you are always the majority and never a loser.

The one thing I am certain of these Islamic Terrorists will not succeed in destroying Israel, they will lose for God’s Word never lies, Yeshua will plant His feet on the Mount of Olives not in Medina or Mecca. That He will complete bringing His people the Jews back to the land He promised them even if they are not willing to come freely.

For what other reason would God give us the ministry for rescuing them if they were no Jews to rescue and bring home to Israel. God is speaking too many in these last days to assist the Jews for there is another Holocaust on the horizon, and Jews throughout Europe are waking up to that reality daily, many are already making their way home.

The Magog Invasion

2006-09-26T23:11:00.000-07:00

The Magog Invasion:

In The Twinkling Of An Eye, This Invasion Could Begin As All Prophesied Nations Are In Place!
New Middle East War Imminent? Iran Is Said To Be Preparing To Ignite Yet Another Fire In The Region, To Combat The U.S. War In Iraq

Turkey is said to be preparing to launch a coordinated attack with Iran, in northern Kurdistan. If this war gets underway, and if Turkey and Iran are allies, the prophetic fulfillment of Ezekiel 38-39 will undoubtedly be enhanced, because both nations are prophesied to march with Russia at the End of the Age with Israel.

If the news reports which we are about to share with you prove correct, Turkey and Iran are about to launch a war into northern Iraq -- into the new Kurdish state which we reported earlier as having been formed on a de facto basis

"Israel is concerned lest military action against Turkish PKK rebels uproot its military and economic presence in Iraqi Kurdistan. DEBKAfile’s military sources report that since 2004 Israeli military instructors and intelligence officers have been helping the Kurds build up their peshmerga army and anti-terrorist forces. Iran and Turkey are convinced that Israel also maintains in north Iraq Kurdistan observation and early warning posts to forewarn the Jewish state of a coming Iranian attack. If this is so, the two invaders will make a point of destroying such posts. Israel would then forfeit a key intelligence facility against the Islamic Republic."

Therefore, Israel's ability to attack any Iranian nuclear installations could be seriously jeopardized by this impending war! The intelligence loss on the ground to Israel might be so enormous that an attack on Iranian nuclear facilities might be thwarted. By the time you add this next complication, you might conclude that this invasion might make an Israeli attack on Iran nearly impossible.

The Bush Administration poured gasoline on this fire, rather than diplomatic retardant! Listen:
"A semi-official American military publication recently ran a new map showing parts of Turkish and Armenian territory marked 'Kurdistan'. This map fueled suspicions in Ankara and the Armenian capital Yerevan that the US high military command was in on a plan for Iraqi Kurdish forces led by President Jalal Talabani and Masoud Barzani to help themselves to territory in Turkey and Armenia in a counter-attack to a potential Turkish-Iranian military move in Kurdistan. This kind of mistrust has lent wings to Ankara’s resolve to go forward against Kurdistan - the sooner the better." (DEBKAfile article)

Special Forces from both Turkey and Iran are already reportedly 7-8 km inside Iraqi Kurdistan territory right now! If this war breaks out, when might it start? The answer might surprise you.

"Ankara is keen ... to get in its blow against Kurdistan before an American action against Iran. The Turks buy Russian and Iranian intelligence evaluations according which the US attack may take place at any time between the last week of September and the end of December, 2006. So they feel the ground is burning under their feet. Iran, for its part, is waiting for Turkey to make the first move in Iraqi Kurdistan. Its troops will go into action only after the first Turkish soldier and tank are on the move." (DEBKAfile article, above)

If Turkey and Iran combine forces to attack northern Iraq to prevent the formation of a Kurdistan government, then the world will be witnessing two major nations of the Ezekiel 38-39 prophecy coming together for the first time in modern history. This could be a situation worth watching.

A Strange Discovery From The Days Od Noah

2006-09-26T22:59:00.000-07:00

A Strange Discovery from the Days of Noah

By: Perry Stone, Jr.http://www.voiceofevangelism.org/prophecy_update.cfm

Something unusual has been occurring that I did not understand and have questioned for some time. I believe I found an answer as I was researching certain parallels to the days of Noah. It deals with the sudden number of deaths of unusually godly, righteous people of God. Why is the Lord taking so many good people to heaven at the same time? Sacred history may hold a clue to this mystery.

So Many Are “Going Home”

It appears that a godly generation is being taken to heaven. Obviously, when people reach the age of 70 to 90 years of age, we know that in time they will depart this life. But what about when so many pass away within weeks of each other? What about some going on at a much earlier age?

There is a parallel in the time before the flood of Noah.
Ten Generations before the Flood

From the time of Adam to Noah is 10 generations. The actual number of years between Adam and Noah is about 1,658 years. Within those ten generations, the entire earth had become corrupt with evil imaginations and violence, until God chose to send a cleansing flood over the entire earth. Once the date was determined for the flood, the righteous generation began to die.

The book of Jasher is not considered an inspired book of the Bible, although it is mentioned in Scriptures and was known during the Old Testament period (see Joshua 10:13; 2 Samuel 1:18). A scroll of the book of Jasher was discovered in 1840 and translated into English. Scholars believe the information in this scroll does contain important sacred history.

Noah, Not Married after 480 Years

According to Josephus, a prophecy given to Adam that the earth would be destroyed twice: once by water and another time by fire. This revelation was recorded in brick and stone by the sons of Seth, therefore Noah knew this prophecy. According to Genesis 6, God revealed that from the time when God announced His judgment until the flood, man’s “days shall be one hundred and twenty years” (v. 3). According to Jasher, Noah was 480 years old and was not married because he knew a flood was coming and did not want to have children who would perish in the destruction:

And Noah the son of Lamech refrained from taking a wife in those days, to beget children, for he said, Surely now God will destroy the earth, wherefore then shall I beget children? (Jasher 5:12).

God spoke to Noah and told him to take a wife and have children:

And the Lord said unto Noah, Take unto thee a wife and beget children . . . . [A]nd Noah went and took a wife, and he chose Naamah the daughter of Enoch (vv. 14, 15).

Noah and Naamah, the daughter of Enoch, had three sons and at age 500—Shem, Ham and Japheth (Genesis 5:32). Sacred literature says Noah’s sons married the three daughters of Eliakim who was a son of Methuselah. God revealed to Noah that he and his family would be spared from the destruction because he had the grace and favor of God on his life.

Death of the Righteous

There were ten righteous men from Adam to the flood. Sacred literature recorded the year of Noah’s life when these righteous persons died:

In the 84th year of Noah’s life, Enos, the son of Seth, died.

In the 179th year of Noah’s life, Cainan died.

In the 234th year of Noah’s life, Mahalallel died.

In the 336th year of Noah’s life, Jared died.

The last of these righteous people living up until the week of the flood was the great, great grandfather of Noah, named Methuselah. This man lived 969 years! He died seven days before the flood began. God allowed Noah to bury his dear relative prior to the flood. The book of Jasher gives the reason for the deaths of these righteous souls:

And all who followed the Lord died in those days, before they saw the evil which God did declare to do upon the earth (Jasher 5:5).

The world was becoming so thoroughly evil that God knew the righteous would be too grieved to see what was coming on the earth.

And all the sons of men who knew the Lord, died in that year before the Lord brought evil upon them; for the Lord willed them to die, so as not to behold the evil that God would bring upon their brothers and relatives as he has so declared to do (Jasher 5:21).

Death of Jacob’s 12 Sons

A similar occurrence seems to re-appear in the account of the twelve sons of Jacob, as they began to die in Egypt, prior to the people of Israel becoming slaves under the Pharaohs.
The same happened before the bondage in Egypt

Jacob had 12 sons who moved with their father to Egypt, when a famine was the earth was reeling from a famine. After the famine, instead of returning to the land God had given them, the 12 sons and their children settled in Goshen in Egypt. These 70 souls multiplied into a strong nation (Exodus 1:5). Again in sacred history we read that these sons suddenly began to died, one after the other, within 12 to 24 months.

The year in Egypt Son who died Reference in Jasher

79th year in Egypt Reuben died 52:1

80th year in Egypt Dan died 52:2

82nd year in Egypt Asher died 52:4

83rd year in Egypt Gad died 52:5

86th year in Egypt Judah died 52:23

89th year in Egypt Naphtali died 52:24

93rd year in Egypt Levi died 53:1

When the last son died, the Egyptians began to afflict the Hebrews and demand their land and houses. In 102nd year of living in Egypt, a Pharaoh who was friendly to the Hebrews died and another Pharaoh arose who did not know Joseph.

Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph (Exodus 1:8).
After the last son of Jacob had passed away, the political change in Egypt initiated a change in their treatment of the Hebrews. God did not permit this transition as long as the 12 sons of Jacob were living, but they did experience it after the death of Levi.

A Key Passage

The righteous perishes, and no man takes it to heart; merciful men are taken away, while no one considers that the righteous is taken away from evil (Isaiah 57:1).

Those who were raised in a full gospel or Pentecostal setting know that the previous generation was a very pure and righteous group of people who would do nothing to offend the Holy Spirit. They preached against unrighteousness. They were grieved in their spirits to see the sins entering the church and the world. Could it be that the godly generation is being taken so they will not see the evil that is coming on the earth?

Does this mean that those still living are less holy or righteous. Absolutely not. Lot lived out the judgment of the city of Sodom! He was “vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked,” and called a “righteous man” (2 Peter 2:7). However, the pattern seems to be that when a righteous generation dies, a form of judgment can often fall upon the earth or upon the nations. Through death, God is sparing the righteous from experiencing these things that are coming on the earth!

What Will this Generation Do?

What will we do when the strong teachers of righteousness depart? What will we do when the great prayer warriors go home to be with the Lord? What about when those who are anointed to lay hands on the sick are taken from us?

We must begin to impart to and train the next generation to keep alive the truths and traditions of the fathers that have been handed down from the beginning. As long as God’s people do nothing, the world will perish. With the power of the Holy Spirit, we can save some before the end comes.

As God takes from us some “spiritual giants” from a very godly generation, let us remember the experience of Noah’s day. If the judgment of God is about to strike a people who have forgotten God, He will provide an ark of safety for the righteous. When we see the Lord take one of His precious saint’s home, we remember that God may be shielding that individual from suffering through the heartbreak of witnessing an act of God’s judgment on a family member or close friend.

Like Noah, we must continue to be righteous before the Lord, obey His voice, minister to our families and warn a lost generation about the mercy and the justice of God.

Israel speaks out against Iran

2006-09-26T19:56:00.000-07:00

Israel's FM Livny in UN Speaks Out Against Iran

By Hillel Fendel

At a UN General Assembly session attended by family members of the kidnapped Israeli soldiers, Israel's Foreign Minister called on the world to act according to its values and stand up to Iran. "If we want to protect our values," Minister Tzippy Livny said, "it is not enough to believe in them - we must act according to them. There is no greater challenge to our values than that posed by the leaders of Iran.

They deny and mock the Holocaust. They speak proudly and openly of their desire to wipe Israel off the map. And now, by their actions, they pursue the weapons to achieve this objective, to imperil the region and to threaten the world."Saying that the "moment of truth" had arrived, Livny continued, "The international community is faced with no greater responsibility than to stand against this dark and growing danger - not for Israel’s sake, but for its own; for the sake of the values it claims to embrace; for the sake of the world we all wish our children to inherit."

"What more needs to happen for the world to take this threat seriously?" she asked. "What more needs to happen to end the hesitation and the excuses? We know the lessons of the past. We know the consequences of appeasement and indifference. There is no place for such leaders in this forum. There is no place for such a regime in the family of nations."

"For any who still had doubts," the Foreign Minister said, "the Iranian threat was exposed to all in the recent conflict in Lebanon. Armed, financed and directed by Iran, Hezbollah kidnapped Israeli soldiers and targeted Israeli cities, but it was the hopes of an entire region that they aimed to take hostage. Out of the conflict - and because of Israel’s response to it - opportunity has emerged. But much is needed to turn opportunity into reality. Hizbullah can never again be allowed to threaten the future of the region.

The world faces a critical test - to ensure the full implementation of resolution 1701, and the immediate and safe release of the Israeli hostages."U.S. President George Bush, speaking with CNN on Wednesday, said that if he were Israel’s foreign minister, he too would be deeply concerned about Iran's threats to destroy his country. Asked how the US would react if Iran attacked Israel, Bush said, “You can't just hope for the best. You've got to assume that the leader, when he says that he would like to destroy Israel, means what he says. If you say, 'Well, gosh, maybe he doesn't mean it,' and you turn out to be wrong, you have not done your duty as a world leader."

Former U.S. President Bill Clinton said that the U.S. should continue to talk with Iran. Clinton told NBC, "If you think you might have trouble with somebody, and [certainly] if you think it could lead to a military confrontation, then there needs to be the maximum amount of contact beforehand."

Livny's speech addressed both of the above points, noting that Iran threatens the entire world, not just Israel, and speaking of the dangers of "hesitation and excuses."Iran's Ayatollah Haminai took the opportunity to warn that Iran's armed forces "are sufficiently ready to give a response to any threat such that the enemy would be surprised and defeated."

At least one U.S. Senator takes the Iranian threat very seriously. "I think he's a Hitler type of person," said Sen. George Voinovich (R.-Ohio) about Iranian President Ahmedinejad, adding, "I call him Ahmed-in-a-head." The Senator said, during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing this week, that the Iranian leader "has made it clear that he wants to destroy Israel. He has made it clear he doesn't believe in the Holocaust. He's a, he's a -- we all know what he is."

The frightening truth of why Iran wants a bomb

2006-09-24T23:55:00.000-07:00

By Amir Taheri

(Filed: 16/04/2006)

Last Monday, just before he announced that Iran had gatecrashed "the nuclear club", President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad disappeared for several hours. He was having a khalvat (tête-à-tête) with the Hidden Imam, the 12th and last of the imams of Shiism who went into "grand occultation" in 941.

According to Shia lore, the Imam is a messianic figure who, although in hiding, remains the true Sovereign of the World. In every generation, the Imam chooses 36 men, (and, for obvious reasons, no women) naming them the owtad or "nails", whose presence, hammered into mankind's existence, prevents the universe from "falling off". Although the "nails" are not known to common mortals, it is, at times, possible to identify one thanks to his deeds. It is on that basis that some of Ahmad-inejad's more passionate admirers insist that he is a "nail", a claim he has not discouraged. For example, he has claimed that last September, as he addressed the United Nations' General Assembly in New York, the "Hidden Imam drenched the place in a sweet light".

Last year, it was after another khalvat that Ahmadinejad announced his intention to stand for president. Now, he boasts that the Imam gave him the presidency for a single task: provoking a "clash of civilisations" in which the Muslim world, led by Iran, takes on the "infidel" West, led by the United States, and defeats it in a slow but prolonged contest that, in military jargon, sounds like a low intensity, asymmetrical war.

In Ahmadinejad's analysis, the rising Islamic "superpower" has decisive advantages over the infidel. Islam has four times as many young men of fighting age as the West, with its ageing populations. Hundreds of millions of Muslim "ghazis" (holy raiders) are keen to become martyrs while the infidel youths, loving life and fearing death, hate to fight. Islam also has four-fifths of the world's oil reserves, and so controls the lifeblood of the infidel. More importantly, the US, the only infidel power still capable of fighting, is hated by most other nations.

According to this analysis, spelled out in commentaries by Ahmadinejad's strategic guru, Hassan Abassi, known as the "Dr Kissinger of Islam", President George W Bush is an aberration, an exception to a rule under which all American presidents since Truman, when faced with serious setbacks abroad, have "run away". Iran's current strategy, therefore, is to wait Bush out. And that, by "divine coincidence", corresponds to the time Iran needs to develop its nuclear arsenal, thus matching the only advantage that the infidel enjoys.

Moments after Ahmadinejad announced "the atomic miracle", the head of the Iranian nuclear project, Ghulamreza Aghazadeh, unveiled plans for manufacturing 54,000 centrifuges, to enrich enough uranium for hundreds of nuclear warheads. "We are going into mass production," he boasted.

The Iranian plan is simple: playing the diplomatic game for another two years until Bush becomes a "lame-duck", unable to take military action against the mullahs, while continuing to develop nuclear weapons.

Thus do not be surprised if, by the end of the 12 days still left of the United Nations' Security Council "deadline", Ahmadinejad announces a "temporary suspension" of uranium enrichment as a "confidence building measure". Also, don't be surprised if some time in June he agrees to ask the Majlis (the Islamic parliament) to consider signing the additional protocols of the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT).

Such manoeuvres would allow the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) director, Muhammad El-Baradei, and Britain's Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw, to congratulate Iran for its "positive gestures" and denounce talk of sanctions, let alone military action. The confidence building measures would never amount to anything, but their announcement would be enough to prevent the G8 summit, hosted by Russia in July, from moving against Iran.

While waiting Bush out, the Islamic Republic is intent on doing all it can to consolidate its gains in the region. Regime changes in Kabul and Baghdad have altered the status quo in the Middle East. While Bush is determined to create a Middle East that is democratic and pro-Western, Ahmadinejad is equally determined that the region should remain Islamic but pro-Iranian. Iran is now the strongest presence in Afghanistan and Iraq, after the US. It has turned Syria and Lebanon into its outer defences, which means that, for the first time since the 7th century, Iran is militarily present on the coast of the Mediterranean. In a massive political jamboree in Teheran last week, Ahmadinejad also assumed control of the "Jerusalem Cause", which includes annihilating Israel "in one storm", while launching a take-over bid for the cash-starved Hamas government in the West Bank and Gaza.

Ahmadinejad has also reactivated Iran's network of Shia organisations in Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Yemen, while resuming contact with Sunni fundamentalist groups in Turkey, Egypt, Algeria and Morocco. From childhood, Shia boys are told to cultivate two qualities. The first is entezar, the capacity patiently to wait for the Imam to return. The second is taajil, the actions needed to hasten the return. For the Imam's return will coincide with an apocalyptic battle between the forces of evil and righteousness, with evil ultimately routed. If the infidel loses its nuclear advantage, it could be worn down in a long, low-intensity war at the end of which surrender to Islam would appear the least bad of options. And that could be a signal for the Imam to reappear.

At the same time, not to forget the task of hastening the Mahdi's second coming, Ahamdinejad will pursue his provocations. On Monday, he was as candid as ever: "To those who are angry with us, we have one thing to say: be angry until you die of anger!"

His adviser, Hassan Abassi, is rather more eloquent. "The Americans are impatient," he says, "at the first sight of a setback, they run away. We, however, know how to be patient. We have been weaving carpets for thousands of years."

Iran at the UN

2006-09-20T22:18:00.000-07:00

By Mike Evans

The terrorists that attacked America on 9/11 were permitted to travel through Iran on unstamped passports in order to avoid detection, and with the blessing of Iran’s leaders. Had those men had dirty bombs rather than using aircraft, America could have lost three million on 9/11 rather than nearly three thousand.

It is outrageous to think that the U.N. allowed Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to speak in New York City yesterday even as families continue to grieve over the events of 9/11. This follows on the heels of his threats to attack America with 52,000 suicide bombers, and a threat to “wipe Israel off the map.” This is totally reprehensible. These threats cannot be brushed aside as the ranting of a madman. That happened with Osama bin Laden, and America suffered the tragedy of 9/11 as a result of ignoring his threats.

We must not allow Ahmadinejad, whose ultimate aim is a world without Zionism or America, to achieve the means through nuclear proliferation to attack America, Israel or the more moderate Arab countries in the Middle East.

My latest book, Showdown with Nuclear Iran, reveals how Russia has been instrumental in building Iran’s nuclear program with absolutely no restrictions or consequences.

Iran has blatantly rejected the appeals of the G8 nations to abandon nuclear enrichment. It is time that all possible economic and diplomatic sanctions are invoked in order to prevent Iran from achieving its ultimate goal – the acquisition of a nuclear bomb.

Showdown with Nuclear Iran also exposes the fact that Iran is responsible for the majority of the deaths of American troops in Iraq through IEDs, terrorist proxies, intelligence and money. (Eighty-five percent of the IEDs used in Iraq are supplied by Iran). I have been told that Iran will attempt to accelerate the murder of American troops in Iraq. They believe if they can reach the number 3,000, the result will be the loss of the House for President Bush.

Iran has done the same thing with impunity to the State of Israel by authorizing the firing of some 4,000 missiles into Israel during the Lebanon war. One-third of the nation of Israel was forced into bomb shelters for over a month while Iran tested Israel’s resolve through Hezbollah.

Ahmadinejad believes he is on a mission from God to usher in the Twelfth Imam (the Mahdi) through an apocalyptic event. He believes at that time, all infidels will bow to Islam. He is testing America’s resolve and tolerance for terror, and we are failing the test.

If Iran obtains a nuclear device, it will be too late for America, Israel, for our troops in Iraq, and for the world. The UN will never stop Iran. If Hitler were Ahmadinejad and this were the 30s, the UN would be helping Hitler build concentration camps while asking Hitler to promise not to use them to kill Jews.

Ten Million Shekels of Terror Money Nabbed

2006-09-20T21:37:00.000-07:00

By Hillel Fendel

IDF, Shabak, Civil Administration and police forces cooperated in the mission, which took place on several fronts - in Shechem, Tul Karem, Ramallah and Jenin. The objective had been marked by the General Security Service several months ago: money smuggled in from foreign sources to the various terror organizations.

The main venue of last night's operation was in a bank in Shechem used by Hamas to finance its terror activities. The raid included the confiscation of computers, documents, telephones, and receipts. Gunshots and explosives rained down upon the Israeli forces, who were unhurt but returned fire. One wanted terrorist was arrested, and another was shot.

A Hamas member arrested a month ago told investigators that the money had been transferred from Syria and Lebanon to Hamas and Islamic Jihad via Arab money changers in Judea and Samaria. The Palestinian Authority does not supervise monies that arrive from abroad, and turns a blind eye to their frequent use for terrorist activities.

Two moneychangers have been arrested and questioned by the Shabak over the past several weeks, one from Judea and one from Samaria. One of them, Iman Sayad, has admitted to having helped in the transfer of tens of thousands of dollars from Hizbullah in Lebanon to leading wanted terrorists in Shechem. The second, Amin Shahtour of Bethlehem, was arrested on similar charges."

This money is the gas that fuels the engine of terrorism," a Shabak leader said, "and that which helps build the terrorist infrastructures and enables the perpetration of terror."Dr. Martin Sherman, of Hebrew University's political science department, told Arutz-7's Hebrew newsmagazine today that Hamas mixes charity funds and terrorism monies together in the same bank accounts.

"This makes it difficult for Israel to explains operations such as the one in Shechem," he said.Sherman says that throughout the world, "it is known that Hamas and Hizbullah receive their money from trans-Atlantic drug deals, based in South America. The money goes to support families of terrorists who committed suicide attacks, and is used to pay for training and attacks, including the arms and explosives they require.

Palestinian Terrorist Again using Children as Shields

2006-09-20T21:34:00.000-07:00

By Hillel Fendel

In the course of IDF activity Tuesday in an Arab village south of Jenin, an IDF force noted another manifestation of this worrisome trend amongst Arab terrorists - the second time in a week. The soldiers had surrounded a house in the Arab village Sanur - not far from the evacuated-and-destroyed Jewish town of Sa-Nur - hoping to catch wanted terrorist Nabil Hanani. Hanani then came out of the house holding a small child.

The soldiers refrained from shooting, as he expected. He then quickly passed the child to a man standing near him and opened fire at the soldiers. The soldiers recovered quickly and killed him with their return fire. No soldiers were hurt.A similar case occurred last Tuesday in Bethlehem, during the arrest of terrorist cell leader Ali Tzalhat. Tzalhat headed a cell - of which all the members have been killed or arrested by Israeli forces - that was responsible for murdering four Israelis as well as a series of shooting attacks in southern Jerusalem.

When the soldiers arrived to arrest him, he came out of the house with a baby in his hands. The soldiers did not shoot, arresting him peacefully instead - as was their plan from the start.Army sources told Arutz-7 correspondent Haggai Huberman that these cases are not isolated ones, but rather indicate a growing phenomenon among Palestinian terrorists about to be arrested or caught.

Caliphate's Capital will be Jerusalem

2006-09-17T19:14:00.000-07:00

Israeli Islamist Leader: Caliphate´s Capital Will Be Jerusalem

By Nissan Ratzlav-

KatzReiterating a position he has expressed in the past, the leader of the northern branch of the Islamic Movement declared that a new Caliphate will soon arise, with its capital in Jerusalem. The Islamist leader, Sheikh Raed Salah, made the prediction Friday night, at the 11th annual conference of the Israeli Islamic Movement, in the southern Galilee city of Um El-Fahm. Tens of thousands attended the event, including the Palestinian Authority-appointed mufti, Ikrima Sabri, and an archbishop of the Greek-Orthodox Church.

Arab League Secretary-General Amr Musa of Egypt sent his regards to the gathering, as well.The conference was held under the slogan "Al-Aksa [the Temple Mount mosque] is in Danger," which has been utilized as a theme repeatedly at Islamic gatherings in recent years, harking back to incitement that preceded Arab massacres of Jews in the pre-State period.

Likening Israeli sovereignty over Jerusalem to that of past non-Muslim rulers in the region, Salah said, "The Israeli occupation will leave Jerusalem soon. It will happen sooner than is thought." To aid in that process, Salah repeated a call of his from several months ago for Arab and Muslim states and organizations to establish a special fund aimed at "saving" Al-Aksa Mosque and Jerusalem from the Jews.

Salah also claimed that former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and President Moshe Katzav are suffering, each in their own way, because of their plans to "attack" the Al-Aksa Mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem's Old City. Sheikh Raed Salah was arrested, along with four other leaders of the Islamic movement and the mayor of Umm El-Fahm, in 2003 on charges of belonging to a terrorist group, passing information to an enemy, contact with a foreign element (an Iranian intelligence operative stationed in Lebanon), conspiracy to commit a crime, money laundering, and other security and corporate crimes

Amnesty Finds Hizbullah guilty of War Crimes

2006-09-15T05:39:00.000-07:00

Amnesty Finds Hizbullah Guilty of War Crimes

By Hillel Fendel

The int'l rights organization Amnesty has released a report criticizing Hizbullah for “serious violations of int'l humanitarian law” and “deliberate attacks on civilians and civilian objects.” During the month-long war Hizbullah initiated by kidnapping two Israeli soldiers on July 12, the terrorists fired nearly 4,000 Katyusha rockets at Israeli towns and cities, killing 41 civilians and 12 soldiers.

Even Al-Jazeera noted with surprise that "Amnesty International [had] not issued a report accusing Hizbullah of war crimes" - until today (Thursday).Earlier, Amnesty had issued a scathing report against Israel, saying it had committed war crimes by targeting Lebanese infrastructures during the war.

Today's report noted that Hizbullah's Katyushas are "rockets with warheads packed with thousands of metal ball bearings intended to maximize harm to people... Katyusha rockets cannot be aimed with accuracy, especially at long distances, and are therefore indiscriminate" and illegal.The report did not address the oft-repeated charges by Israeli and media sources that Hizbullah had used Lebanese civilians as protection against Israeli attacks.

A recent Human Rights Watch report even denied these charges outright, claiming to have "found no cases in which Hizbullah deliberately used civilians as shields to protect them from retaliatory IDF attack."Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz that this was "contrary to what every newspaper in the world had reported and what everyone saw with their own eyes on television."

The Amnesty report notes that it is "based on first-hand information from visits to Israel and Lebanon; interviews with dozens of victims; official statements; discussions with Israeli and Lebanese military and government officials, as well as senior Hizbullah officials; information from non-governmental groups; and media reports."

Despite the above, Amnesty notes in the report that it is still "conducting further research" into the charges that Hizbullah used the civilian population as a cover for its military activities. The organization says it "intends to address them separately."Dershowitz says Amnesty is wrong in its accusations against Israel. "Israel committed no war crimes by attacking parts of the civilian infrastructure in Lebanon," he wrote recently in The Jerusalem Post.

"In fact, through restraint, Israel was able to minimize the number of civilian casualties in Lebanon, despite Hizbullah's best efforts to embed itself in population centers and to use civilians as human shields."Dershowitz continues, "The total number of innocent Muslim civilians killed by Israeli weapons during a month of ferocious defensive warfare was a fraction of the number of innocent Muslims killed by other Muslims during that same period in Iraq, Sudan, Afghanistan, Algeria, and other areas of Muslim-on-Muslim civil strife.

Yet the deaths caused by Muslims received a fraction of the attention devoted to alleged Israeli 'crimes.' This lack of concern for Muslims by other Muslims - and the lack of focus by so-called human rights organizations on these deaths - is bigotry, pure and simple."

Moslem Peace with Israel? Never!

2006-09-15T05:30:00.000-07:00

Islamic History Expert: Moslem Peace with Israel? Never!

By Ezra HaLeviIslam

History Professor Moshe Sharon of Hebrew University told a counter-terrorism conference Thursday, "There is no possibility of peace between Israel and the Palestinians whatsoever - ever.”

Sharon, speaking at the annual conference of Herzliya’s Counter Terrorism Institute, said that Iran is dead serious about obtaining and using nuclear weapons in order to bring about its vision of an Islamic End of Days. The veteran expert on Islam says that Western officials fail to grasp that the Arab and Islamic world truly see Israel’s establishment as a “reversal of history” and are therefore unable to ever accept peaceful relations with it.

From Moslems’ perspective, “Islamic territory was taken away from Islam by Jews. You know by now that this can never be accepted, not even one meter. So everyone who thinks Tel Aviv is safe is making a grave mistake. Territory which at one time was dominated by Islamic rule, now has become non-Moslem. Non-Moslems are independent of Islamic rule and Jews have created their own independent state. It is anathema. Worse, Israel, a non-Moslem state, is ruling over Moslems. It is unthinkable that non-Moslems should rule over Moslems.”

Sharon dismissed various peace treaties signed by Moslem and Arab officials over the years as "pieces of paper, parts of tactics and strategies… with no meaning."Sharon’s assessment focused on the danger posed by Iran. From studying Iranian culture, literature, newspapers, broadcasts and interviews with major players in the Islamic regime, Sharon concludes that a deep belief in a Shiite messiah is at the root of Iran’s nuclear project. “They truly believe that the Shiite messiah, the 12th Imam (also known as the Mahdi), is here, and that he will reveal himself…

What moves the Iranian government and leadership today is first and foremost the wish to bring about the 12th Imam." Addressing the theological doctrine of how exactly the this Messiah will be revealed, Sharon explained: "How will they bring him? Through an apocalypse. He (the Mahdi) needs a war. He cannot come into this world without an Armageddon. He wants an Armageddon. The earlier we understand this the better. Ahmadinejad wants nuclear weapons for this!"

Sharon has in the past insisted that the Western world was engaging in great folly by differentiating between radical and peaceful Islam. “All of a sudden we see that the greatest interpreters of Islam are politicians in the Western world,” he wrote sarcastically. “They know better than all the speakers in the mosques, all those who deliver terrible sermons against anything that is either Christian or Jewish.

These Western politicians know that there is good Islam and bad Islam. They know even how to differentiate between the two - except that none of them know how to read a word of Arabic.”“The difference between Judaism, Christianity and Islam is as follows: Judaism speaks about national salvation - namely, that at the end of the story, when the world becomes a better place, Israel will be in its own land, ruled by its own king and serving G-d.

Christianity speaks about the idea that every single person in the world can be saved from his sins, while Islam speaks about ruling the world.

I can quote here in Arabic, but there is no point in quoting Arabic, so let me quote a verse in English: ‘Allah sent Mohammed with the true religion so that it should rule over all the religions.’“The idea, then, is not that the whole world would necessarily become Moslem at this time, but that the whole world would be subdued under the rule of Islam.”

That, Sharon insists, is the plan, in black-and-white, of the Iranian regime. “This is why [Iranian President Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad seeks nuclear weapons,” he emphasized. “The faster we realize this, the better.”

Watch out for the rise in anarchy!

2006-09-12T23:25:00.000-07:00

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran has requested a visa to enter the U.S. in order to attend a meeting at the U.N. later this month. -- by Mike Evans

This is the same Ahmadinejad who:

has called for the annihilation of the State of Israel by saying it should be “wiped off the map”;

denies the Holocaust and the deaths of over six million Jews;

instigated a cartoon competition ridiculing the Holocaust;

wrote President George Bush an 18-page letter inviting him to convert to Islam;

issued a veiled threat by writing: “Those with insight can already hear the sounds of the shattering and fall of the ideology and thoughts of the liberal democratic systems.” (In Islamic fascism, the belief is that you warn your enemy and give them an opportunity to convert before an attack);

said in an August 15 speech: "If you [the U.S.] would like to have good relations with the Iranian nation in the future, bow down before the greatness of the Iranian nation and surrender.”;

rejected every attempt by the U.S. and the EU to stop Iran’s headlong rush to build an atomic bomb by enriching uranium;

authorized the Hezbollah attack on the State of Israel that resulted in the launch of 4000 missiles that killed and wounded Jews, and forced 1/3 of the nation into bomb shelters for over a month.

It is an outrage that this man who blatantly supports terrorism around the world, and who has boasted of 52,000 suicide bombers ready to attack the U.S. and its interests abroad would be allowed entry into America. Can you imagine a visa being granted to Adolf Hitler after he stated that he wanted to exterminate the Jews?

On the anniversary of 9/11, Former Iranian President Mohammed Khatami (1997-2005), Ahmadinejad’s predecessor, already in the U.S. is working to white-wash Iran's record of nuclear developments, support for terror and human rights violations. Khatami arrived in the United States on Sept.1, and has visited Columbia University, the University of Virginia and Harvard University. He also plans to attend the annual congress of the Islamic Society of North America and gave a major speech at Washington National Cathedral. There is also a possibility that he will be meeting with former President Jimmy Carter.

Ahmadinejad believes that he can hasten the resurrection of the twelfth descendant of Mohammad, the Mahdi, through an atomic attack that would result in mushroom clouds that would engulf Israel and also much of America.

Ahmadinejad has said he would “sacrifice half of Iran for the sake of eliminating Israel” and that Israel’s destruction is “essential to the restoration of Muslim glory.” He has poured hundreds of millions of dollars into funding terrorism. The 9/11 terrorists were allowed to travel through Iran without having their passports stamped in order to avoid detection from the U. S. government. This is the man who is now seeking a visa to enter the U.S.

When Ahmadinejad appeared before the U.N. in September of last year, he ended his speech with the following: “From the beginning of time, humanity has longed for the day when justice, peace, equality and compassion envelop the world. All of us can contribute to the establishment of such a world. When that day comes, the ultimate promise of all Divine religions will be fulfilled with the emergence of a perfect human being who is heir to all prophets and pious men. He will lead the world to justice and absolute peace.

"O mighty Lord, I pray to you to hasten the emergence of your last repository, the promised one, that perfect and pure human being, the one that will fill this world with justice and peace.”

More Information
After his return to Tehran, Ahmadinejad told the mullahs that during the time he spoke, no listener so much as blinked; they were completely mesmerized by his speech.

Does Everyone Go To Heaven?

2006-09-07T20:20:00.000-07:00

Coach Dave Daubenmirehttp://www.newswithviews.com/Daubenmire/dave35.htm

You don’t hear much about hell anymore. It is not a very popular subject. In today’s “Who am I to judge” America, it is unusual to hear a pastor speak on this most important of all issues.
Because of the influx of Humanism into the church it seems as if most of the messages that we hear today focus on how Christianity can make your journey here on earth a little more enjoyable. I contend that seeker sensitive churches are a good thing.

We are all seeking. My concern is not that the churches are seeking the seekers, but what are they seeking them for? This brings us to the unavoidable question, “What is the purpose of the cross”

The recent abduction of two Fox News reporters by Palestinian extremists and their alleged conversion to Islam really caught the eye of the world. Many of the radio talk-shows focused on the “conversion” to Islam of Steve Centanni and his cameraman Olaf Wiig. I listened in amazement as I heard caller after caller explain why they too would have “converted” in order to save their skin. In a society where we worship entertainment and those who provide it, it is frightening that even those who call themselves “Christian” do not really understand what that term means. Is it possible to deny Christ and go to Heaven?

Jesus died on a cross, not to give us a better life here, although that might be a by-product of His crucifixion, but to give us a path to Heaven. Why do Christians call Him “the Savior”? If He died on the cross to “save” sinners, what is it He has saved us from?

The answer is obvious, but rarely mentioned. Jesus died on the cross not to save us TO Heaven, but to save us FROM Hell!

Perhaps the question the seeker-sensitive churches, as well as the tradition-worshiping mainstream ones, need to ask those sitting in the pews is this one.

“Does everyone go to Heaven?”

Hell is the farthest thing from the minds of Americans. In fact, I have heard the mantra many times that “this is hell right here on earth.” Funny, that isn’t what Christianity teaches. No, most “Christians” today think that they are going to go to Heaven because they are “a good person”, or they “go to church”, or they “try to do what is right”, or my favorite, “I was born a Christian”. How can any Christian study the Bible and come to that conclusion?

Right there is the answer. Christians today don’t study the Bible. They take for granted what others have told them about it. The crucifixation of Christ, the central event of Christianity, is not understood by most church goers. Christ died to save us from our sins and an ultimate eternity in Hell. That message is lost on most Christians today.

Forever is a long time. A man once explained it to me this way. If a bird were to land on a beach and pick up a piece of sand and fly away to the farthest star in the universe and drop it off, and then return to the beach and pick up another piece and carry it off to that same star, that would take a long time. But imagine if that same bird were to repeat that trip until he had carried every piece of sand on every beach, and on every desert, to that far away star, how long that would take? And yet, he still would not have begun to touch eternity. Yes, forever is a long time.

Where will you spend it?

There is hope for America, but that hope lies only in the cross of Calvary. Jesus told us, And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. John 3:14-18.

The American culture today is hell-bent (sorry) on convincing you that “I’m OK, you’re OK”, when in fact we are not. America is sick because Americans are sick. We are sin-sick, whistling past the graveyard, oblivious to the impending doom waiting at the end of our journey. We are a nation of “Christians” careening towards hell….truly living our best life now. Not concerned about eternal life? How about eternal death? Sorry, but someone has to speak the Truth.

That brings me back to Steve Centanni and the talk-radio crowd. If this life is all there is, if Christianity is nothing more than one of the world’s great religions, if our purpose here on earth is only to enjoy our life here on earth, then we are, as Paul said “of all men most miserable.”

I pray you will never have to make a choice between claiming Christ and dying, or denying Christ and living? If confronted with the sword will your set of religious moral codes give you something to die for? Is living a “good life” really what it is all about? If you really knew Christ you would never deny him. If you are merely following a religion then you are not a Christian. Christianity is not a religion, it is a relationship.

Would converting to Islam to save this life really be worth it? Would you trade an eternity in Hell for a few more years now? What if Steve Centanni had been beheaded after he converted? Where would he be today?

The Bible is filled with the names of those who did not flinch, and did not bow in the face of death. Hebrews 11 lists the Faith Hall of Fame, some who did not deny Christ, even though it cost them their lives.

Let’s assume for a moment that Jesus is real and that He really did die for our sins. Let’s also assume that what He said in Matthew 10 “But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.” is the Truth. Let’s assume that there is a Heaven to gain and a Hell to shun, and let’s assume that Jesus IS who He says He is, and that He is the only way to the Father.

“And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows. Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven.”

Matthew 28-33.
Jesus said “I am the way, the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except by me.” John 14:6. I think He meant it.

You shall know the Truth and the Truth shall make you free. Do you KNOW Him? Have you received Him into your heart, or are you burdened down with a “moral code” that you can never quite live up to?

Yep. Everyone is going to Heaven. Unfortunately, not everyone is going to stay. Death waits us all at the end of this earthly journey. Hell is real. What will you do with Jesus?

Battling a Virus and Disbelief

2006-08-31T04:53:00.000-07:00

Sumatran Villagers With Avian Influenza Turn to Witch Doctors

By Alan SipressWashington Post Foreign ServiceWednesday, August 30, 2006; A12

JANDI MERIAH, Indonesia -- Dowes Ginting, the most wanted man on Sumatra island, lay dying. He had abandoned the hospital where he had seen his relatives succumb one after another, and he had fled deep into the mountains, trying to outrun the black magic he feared had marked him next. For four nights, witnesses recalled, a witch doctor hovered over him in a small clapboard home, resisting the evil spell.

Ginting, a wiry 32-year-old, had watched disease burn through his family over the previous two weeks, killing six and sickening two others, including himself. International health experts grew increasingly concerned when laboratory tests confirmed they were sickened by bird flu, the largest cluster of the disease ever recorded. But Dowes feared medical treatment more than he did the flu. And so he ran, potentially exposing villagers across the province to the highly lethal virus.

In the end, the outbreak in May did not presage the start of a worldwide epidemic. But the enormous difficulties that Indonesian and international disease specialists confronted in investigating the outbreak and protecting against its spread raised fundamental questions about whether bird flu could be contained if it mutated into a form more easily spread among people.

"If this were a strain with sustainable transmission from human to human, I can't imagine how many people would have died, how many lives would have been lost," said Surya Dharma, chief of communicable disease control in North Sumatra province.

Officials from the World Health Organization, drawing on sophisticated computer modeling of a theoretical bird flu outbreak in Southeast Asia, have suggested that a pandemic could be thwarted through a rapid containment effort in the affected area, including the right mix of drugs, quarantines and other social controls. To succeed, the antiviral drug Tamiflu would have to be distributed to 90 percent of the targeted population, roughly defined as those within at least a three-mile radius of each case. The drug would have to be administered within 21 days from the "timely detection" of the initial case of an epidemic strain. Residents would have to stay home, limit contact with others and take the medicine as prescribed.

In the case of the North Sumatra cluster, almost none of this happened, according to extensive interviews with health officers, family members and villagers in several areas of the province. The underlying problem was that most family members and many villagers were convinced that black magic, not flu, was to blame.

"How can you ever get people to cooperate if they don't even believe you?" Dharma said.Tracking the Flu's Path Scientists are still working to determine how bird flu is transmitted to and between humans. More than 200 people worldwide have contracted the deadly H5N1 strain of the virus since 2004. Most of the cases have resulted from direct or close contact with infected live or uncooked poultry, or with surfaces contaminated with secretions and excretions from infected birds.

Health investigators have concluded that the eight-person cluster in Sumatra began with Ginting's older sister, who fell ill in late April. They suspect she was infected with bird flu from live chickens sold in a market where she peddled oranges, limes and chili peppers, or from contaminated poultry droppings in manure used in her garden. She died and was buried before any samples were taken to confirm bird flu.

Several days after she became sick, the extended family gathered in the village of Kubu Sembilang for a feast of roast pig and chicken curry to celebrate the annual harvest festival. That night, many of the relatives slept in the same small room with the sister, who had developed a serious cough. By the time she died, a sister, a brother, two sons, a niece and a nephew had become ill. Flu specialists said the final victim, Dowes Ginting, in turn likely caught the virus from his infected son.

Health experts have concluded this was the first time the bird flu virus was passed from one person to another and then on to a third person.

"None of us thought it was bird flu. We thought it was black magic," said Anestia Tarigan, the wife of the youngest Ginting brother, Jones, the only victim to survive. "Everyone in the family was getting sick and no one else was. Someone had put a spell on our family. Black magic is very common in our place."

Indonesian and WHO investigators discovered that many residents in Kubu Sembilang were unwilling to share information or give blood samples that could reveal how widely the virus was circulating. Many villagers believed that claims of bird flu were a lie. Some even threatened the investigators. When a team of officers first arrived from the provincial health department, they were warned by their local counterparts that it was too dangerous to enter the village.

"We chased them away," said Hendra Tarigan, whose wife, one of the Ginting siblings, died. "Each time they came back, we gave them no information. We just told them to leave."

Despite a concerted effort to collect blood specimens, investigators were able to take samples from only two people in the village, including the local midwife, said Diana Ginting, chief of the district health department, who shares a common surname in the region.

Indonesian health officials working with an international team returned day after day to the village and made grudging progress. They recruited 20 local volunteers to monitor fellow residents for fever and set up a temporary health post on the soccer field offering free medical care. The investigators methodically pieced together the chronology of the outbreak. They traced those who had contact with the victims and provided them with Tamiflu.

But many of those closest to the Gintings refused to take it, according to interviews with villagers in Kubu Sembilang and nearby Jandi Meriah.

"The doctors gave us Tamiflu, but we didn't take it," said Mamajus Boru Karo, 38, a relative of the Gintings, scrunching up her face as she retrieved the unpleasant memory. "We should we take it? We don't have bird flu."'I Was Losing Hope'

At the hospital in the provincial capital, Medan, members of the Ginting family were proving uncooperative. More than a dozen relatives had come down from the mountains. They had been sent there by a smaller clinic, and they remained unconvinced that bird flu was what ailed them.

They initially balked at taking Tamiflu or receiving injections of antibiotics, doctors said.

"They tried to refuse all treatment," said Nur Rasyid Lubis, the hospital's deputy director. "We could treat them only because their condition made it impossible for them to resist. But if they had been healthy enough to walk, they all would have run away."

Jones, the youngest sibling, did just that.

"I was losing hope. I thought I was going to die," he said in a raspy voice, his stare blank beneath thick eyebrows and his cheeks sunken. He had once been a young tough, but his arms and legs, covered with elaborate swirling tattoos of red and green, had grown scrawny after more than two months of battling the disease.

Jones Ginting fled the hospital, moving around Medan and the Sumatran highlands despite his fever and increasing difficulty breathing. He returned after villagers told him that the police were looking for him and might arrest him.

But he continued to resist treatment, initially refusing to take medicine or give blood samples, and threatened to attack the nurses with his fork. Finally, doctors reached a deal with family members, allowing them to invite a witch doctor to the hospital in return for blood specimens from Jones Ginting.

Agenda Purba, a witch doctor from Jandi Meriah, traveled six hours by van to the hospital. It was midnight by the time he started the ceremony in the special bird flu ward, he said.
Purba chanted over 21 betel nut leaves, each about the size of his calloused palm and filled with blossoms, a pasty white lime, brown chunks of an astringent and bits of an orange-colored nut. He prayed for the young man's recovery. Then Purba lifted the first of the leaves to his lips. He chewed, puckered and softly spit onto Jones's forehead. Bending over the patient, he gently blew the slime over the flesh. The witch doctor lifted the second leaf, chewed it and spit it onto Jones Ginting's chest, repeating the process. He continued until he had finished the leaves, slathering the torso, arms, legs, hands and feet, alternating between left side and right, making sure to cover all the joints.

None of the staff at the hospital ever cautioned Purba that he might be exposing himself to a killer disease, he said. No one suggested he take Tamiflu. No one sampled his blood or monitored his health. But had they tried, Purba said, he would have considered it silly.

"I'm the one to save Jones," he said. He grinned, baring a mouthful of teeth stained black by decades of betel nut. "There will be no more casualties. Seven is enough. I drew a border around them at the hospital." Purba stood up to demonstrate and etched a line in the dirt with the tip of his flip-flop. "It stops here," he said, "because I protected the family with my magic line."A Turn for the worse when Dowes Ginting developed a fever and began coughing, he fled in search of a witch doctor, just as his younger brother had done a week before.

In the home of another medicine man in Jandi Meriah, Suherman Bangun mumbled the unintelligible words of an incantation over Dowes, recalled the healer's wife and Dowes's relatives, who had helped him while he was in hiding from the health inspectors. The witch doctor doused Dowes with cooking oil and massaged his aching muscles. He put a hefty chunk of betel nut in the corner of his own mouth and chewed, his lips turning red from the juice of the mild narcotic, and then with surgical precision spit the concoction bit by bit over his patient's head, face and chest and along his extremities. To control the surging fever, the healer pounded a bowl of rice laced with galangal ginger, applying the pasty preparation called beras kencur to the man's sweaty flesh.

After three days, Indonesian and international health investigators tracked the sick man to the village and urged his family to take him to a hospital. The relatives demurred: They said he required two more days of traditional treatment.

That night, Dowes took an abrupt turn for the worse. The medicine man repeated his treatment several times in the night.

Shortly before dawn, Dowes rose to use the bathroom. Because there was no toilet there, his uncle helped him walk next door. Dowes could hardly breath. He was staggering, on the brink of collapse. His uncle lugged him to his Suzuki SUV parked out front and set off for the district hospital. Before they made it, Dowes had died.

Jewish Nation welcomes month of Elul

2006-08-27T19:20:00.000-07:00

Jewish Nation Welcomes Month of Elul

By Ezra HaLevi

Friday marked the first day of the Hebrew month of Elul – the last month of the year 5766. Elul is considered a month of preparation for the new year and is traditionally a time of soul-searching and personal accounting.Between the first day of Elul until Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, is a period of 40 days. These are the 40 days which Moses spent on Mount Sinai before he descended with the second set of Ten Commandments.It was on the 17th of Elul that the spies - sent by Moses to scout out the Land of Israel and delivered the negative report about the land - died (Numbers 14:37).

According to Jewish tradition, G-d created the world on the 25th day of Elul. Today (Sunday), the 3rd of Elul, is the 71st anniversary of the death of Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak HaCohen Kook, the first Chief Rabbi of the Holy Land in modern times and the spiritual father of the religious-Zionist public.

Jews from North African countries began reciting selichot, special prayers of repentance, Saturday night. Ashkenazi Jews will begin reciting them the Saturday night before Rosh HaShana. The fundamental part of the selichot service is the repeated recitation of the "Thirteen Attributes," a list of G-d's attributes of mercy that were revealed to Moses after the sin of the golden calf (Exodus 34:6-7).

It is customary to blow the shofar, ram’s horn, every morning (except on the Sabbath) of the month of Elul, with the intent of awakening the Jewish people to repentance and action. Psalm 27 is also added to the daily prayers each day until the end of the Festival of Sukkot.More than 2,500 Jews took part in the monthly encirclement of the Temple Mount Wednesday night in honor of the month of Elul.

UNIFIL accused of providing information

2006-08-27T19:10:00.000-07:00

4. UNIFIL Accused of Providing Israeli Intelligence to Hizbullah

By Hillel Fendel

The officially-neutral UN peacekeeping force posted, on its website, information about Israel's troop deployments in Lebanon - but nothing about Hizbullah. UNIFIL (UN Interim Force in Lebanon), the neutral force that has been stationed there since 1978, is tasked with maintaining peace between Israel and Hizbullah along the 70-mile Israeli-Lebanese border.

However, as columnist and ZOA Philadelphia chapter President Lori Lowenthal Marcus writes in the Weekly Standard this week, it appears that UNIFIL took a clearly one-sided stand in favor of Hizbullah during the recent war in Lebanon. UNIFIL "openly published daily real-time intelligence, of obvious usefulness to Hizbullah, on the location, equipment, and force structure of Israeli troops in Lebanon," Marcus wrote, "even specifying the placement of IDF safety structures within hours of their construction."In contrast, nothing specific regarding Hizbullah's terrorist forces was ever posted. Instead, only general statements such as one to the effect that Hizbullah "fired rockets in large numbers from various locations" were published.

As an example, UNIFIL posted the following on July 25: "Yesterday and during last night, the IDF moved significant reinforcements, including a number of tanks, armored personnel carriers, bulldozers and infantry, to the area of Marun Al Ras inside Lebanese territory. The IDF advanced from that area north toward Bint Jubayl, and south towards Yarun."UNIFIL has been implicated before in partiality towards Hizbullah. Just 18 hours after the kidnapping of three IDF soldiers along the Israeli-Lebanese border in late 2000, UNIFIL troops videoed two cars that were used in the abduction and that were filled with blood and other kidnapping-related evidence.

Though the videos may have helped save one or more of the soldiers' lives, high-ranking U.N. officials, including Secretary General Kofi Annan and Middle East envoy Terje Larsen, denied that any such videotape existed. Only on July 6, 2001 did the U.N. finally admit that it possessed the tape.Meanwhile, efforts to build a new UNIFIL force to help the Lebanese Army deploy in southern Lebanon instead of Hizbullah met with some success on Friday. European nations pledged up to 7,000 troops - nearly half of the 15,000 soldiers called for by the ceasefire, UN Resolution 1701.

UNIFIL currently has just under 2,000 troops. The largest force - 3,000 soldiers - is to come from Italy, followed by 2,000 from France. The Italian troops could arrive this week, followed within two weeks by the French.Other countries that said they would send troops include Spain (1,000-1,200), Poland (300, with 200 already in UNIFIL), Belgium, and Finland. Three Islamic countries with no diplomatic relations with Israel - Malaysia, Bangladesh and Indonesia - have offered to participate in UNIFIL, though Israel has expressed its reservations.Despite Israel's request, UNIFIL peacekeepers will not be stationed along the Lebanese-Syrian border to prevent arms smuggling to Hizbullah unless Beirut specifically requests it. This was decided at the UN-sponsored meeting on Friday.

What are they watching??

2006-08-25T19:26:00.000-07:00

By ALAN DERSHOWITZAugust 23, 2006

When it comes to Israel and its enemies, Human Rights Watch cooks the books about facts, cheats on interviews, and releases predetermined conclusions that are driven more by their ideology than by evidence. These are serious accusations, and they are demonstrably true. Consider the following highly publicized "conclusion" reached by Human Rights Watch about the recent war in Lebanon between Hezbollah and Israel: "Human Rights Watch found no cases in which Hezbollah deliberately used civilians as shields to protect them from retaliatory IDF attack." No cases!

Anyone who watched even a smattering of TV during the war saw with their own eyes direct evidence of rockets being launched from civilian areas. But not Human Rights Watch. How could an organization, which claims to be objective, have been so demonstrably wrong about so central a point in so important a war? Could it have been an honest mistake? I don't think so. Human Rights Watch not only failed to interview witnesses who had contrary evidence, it ignored credible news sources, such as the New York Times and the New Yorker.

"Hezbollah came to Ain Ebel to shoot its rockets," said Fayad Hanna Amar, a young Christian man, referring to his village. "They are shooting from between our houses." Mr. Amar said Hezbollah fighters in groups of two and three had come into Ain Ebel, less than a mile from Bint Jbail, where most of the fighting has occurred. They were using it as a base to shoot rockets, he said, and the Israelis fired back.

– Sabrina Tavernise, "Christians Fleeing Lebanon Denounce Hezbollah," the New York Times, July 28, 2006

Near the hospital, a mosque lay in ruins … A man approached and told me that he was a teacher at the Hariri school. I asked him why he thought the Israelis had hit a mosque, and he said, simply, "It was a Hezbollah mosque." … A younger man came up to me and, when we were out of earshot of others, said that Hezbollah had kept bombs in the basement of the mosque, but that two days earlier a truck had taken the cache away.

– Jon Lee Anderson, "The Battle for Lebanon," the New Yorker, August 8, 2006

Even if the location of U.N. posts were known to Israeli commanders, that doesn't rule out the possibility that Hezbollah fighters used one as a shield from which to unleash fire. They've done so in the past, says retired Major General, Lewis MacKenzie, who witnessed the technique while on peacekeeping assignments in the area, "It's the same as if you set up your weapons systems beside a mosque or a church or a hospital."

– Carlie Gillis, "Diplomacy Under Fire," MacLean's, August 7, 2006

The surgeon led a group of journalists over what remained — mangled debris, shredded walls, and a roof punched through by an Israeli shell.

"Look what they did to this place," Dr. Fatah said, shaking his head. "Why in the world would the Israelis target a hospital?"

The probable answer was found a few hours later in a field nearby. Hidden in the tall grass were the burned remnants of a rocket-launcher.

Confronted with the evidence, Dr. Fatah admitted his hospital could have been used as a site from which to fire rockets into Israel.

– Sonia Verma, "Hezbollah's Deadly Hold on Heartland", National Post, August 5, 2006
"[Samira] Abbas said she heard from relatives that her house in Bint Jbeil had been destroyed. She said Hezbollah fighters had gathered in citrus groves about 500 yards from her home."

– Mohamad Bazzi, "Mideast Crisis — Farewell to a Soldier; Reporting from Lebanon; Running Out of Places to Run," Newsday, July 28, 2006

"What that means is, in plain English, ‘We've got Hezbollah fighters running around in our positions, taking our positions here and then using us for shields and then engaging the (Israeli Defence Forces),'" said [Lewis] MacKenzie, who led Canadian peacekeepers in Bosnia.

– Steven Edwards, "UN contradicts itself over Israeli attack", CanWest News Service, July 27, 2006

It was also reported that Hezbollah fired from the vicinity of five U.N. positions at Alma Ash Shab, AtTiri, Bayt Yahoun, Brashit, and Tibnin.

– United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, Naqoura, July 28, 2006 (Press Release)

While these pictures have escaped the ravaged country, other images and footage taken by local newspaper and television teams are routinely seized by armed Hezbollah fighters at road blocks. In one image a group of fighters, including youths, are preparing to fire an anti-aircraft gun just meters from an apartment block with sheets drying on a balcony.

Others show a Hezbollah fighter armed with a nickel-plated AK47 rifle guarding no-go zones after Israeli blitzes.

Another depicts the remnants of a Hezbollah Katyusha rocket in the middle of a residential block, blown up in an Israeli air attack.

The Melbourne man who smuggled the shots out of Beirut told how he was less than 400 meters from the block when it was obliterated. "Hezbollah came in to launch their rockets, then within minutes the area was blasted by Israeli jets," he said. "Until the Hezbollah fighters arrived, it had not been touched by the Israelis. Then it was devastated. "After the attacks they didn't even allow the ambulances or the Lebanese Army to come in until they had cleaned the area, removing their rockets and hiding other evidence …"

– Chris Tinkler, "Revealed: How Hezbollah puts the innocent at risk; They don't care," Sunday Mail (Australia). July 30, 2006

How could Human Rights Watch have suppressed this evidence from so many different sources? The only reasonable explanation is that they wanted there to be no evidence of Hezbollah's tactic of hiding behind civilians. So they cooked the books to make it come out that way. Even after the fighting ended and numerous reports of Hezbollah hiding among civilians were published, Kenneth Roth essentially repeated the demonstrably false conclusions that "in none of those cases was Hizbullah anywhere around at the time of the attack."

So committed is Human Rights Watch to its pre-determined conclusions that it refused to let the facts, as reported by objective sources, get in its way. Many former supporters of Human Rights Watch have become alienated from the organization, because of, in the words of one early supporter, "their obsessive focus on Israel." Within the last month, virtually every component of the organized Jewish community, from secular to religious, liberal to conservative, has condemned Human Rights Watch for its bias. Roth and his organization's willful blindness when it comes to Israel and its enemies have completely undermined the credibility of a once important human rights organization. Human Rights Watch no longer deserves the support of real human rights advocates. Nor should its so-called reporting be credited by objective news organizations.

Mr. Dershowitz is a professor of law at Harvard. His latest book is "Preemption: A Knife That Cuts Both Ways."

We can be heroes

2006-08-25T00:39:00.000-07:00

The world is looking for hero figures that it can follow. Some look to man and others look to fictional characters which is a common practice in the eastern cultures. Some have even elevated such fictional characters to diety status.

In Hebrews 11 we see a list of non-fictional heroes: Abraham, Joseph, Rehab and David and others heralded as “heroes of faith.” They were real people who allowed God to add “His extra” to their lives. Studying how God used their ordinary lives gives us hope for our own destiny.
Of course the greatest hero of all time is Jesus Christ. He didn’t let people, culture, or even religion define who He was. One day in the synagogue God defined who Jesus was when the scroll that contained the messages of Isaiah the prophet was handed to Him to read. He unrolled it to a specific passage and read aloud.

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for He has appointed me to preach Good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim the captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the downtrodden will be freed from their oppressors, and that the time of the Lord’s favor has come. He rolled up the scroll, handed it back to the attendant, and sat down. Everyone in the synagogue stared at him intently. Then he said, “This scripture has come true today before your very eyes!” (Luke 4:16-21)

“Isn’t this Joseph’s son?” the people asked. They knew Him to be ordinary, yet they witnessed His teaching with authority. He was the carpenter from their hometown, but He was extraordinary!

As He traveled with his disciples, Jesus told people He had come so they might have life to the fullest. (John 10:10) He told them that anyone who believes in the Son has eternal life, an infinitely high quality of life in living fellowship with God. He offered them a life lived in the present as well as in the future.

God wants to show that this all surpassing power for living is from Him and not from us. He chooses to put His extraordinary treasure in ordinary jars of clay. We must lay down our own plan for our life because Christ came to earth to add His extra dimension to our ordinary life. It is then that we can become real heroes

2006-08-23T23:51:00.000-07:00

Interesting News -- Iran

Today, Iran gave its August 22 reply to the United Nations and the European Union. As expected, Iran refused to back down from claiming it her right to enrich uranium.

NEWS BRIEF: "Iran Won't Give Up Enrichment", By ALI AKBAR DAREINI, Associated Press Writer, August 22, 2006

"Iran said Tuesday it was ready for "serious negotiations" on its nuclear program, but a semi-official news agency said the government was unwilling to abandon nuclear enrichment - the key U.S. demand. Top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani delivered a written response to ambassadors of Britain, China, Russia, France, Germany and Switzerland to a package of incentives aimed at persuading Iran to roll back on its nuclear program. Larijani refused to disclose whether the response included an offer to suspend uranium enrichment, and no details of Iran's response were released. The state-run television quoted Larijani as telling the diplomats Iran "is prepared as of Aug. 23 to enter serious negotiations" with the countries that proposed the incentives package ... and 'instead has offered a new formula to resolve the issues through dialogue'."

Yesterday, President Bush urged the United Nations to take swift punitive sanctions action if Iran refused to bow to the international community.

That is the key understanding: the matter is before the United Nations. That means Russia and China have veto power in the Security Council, and they are expected to continue to back Iran in this issue.

But, in the meantime, expect oil and gas prices to creep back upward -- according to the predictable pattern.

We do not expect that any nation will launch any kind of devastating attack on Iran , for all the reasons we have stated for so long, but especially since she is protected by the prophecy of Ezekiel 38-39, and that protection includes the umbrella of Russia

"PRESIDENT BUSH SEEMS TO BE DRIVING IRAN (PERSIA) INTO THE ARMS OF RUSSIA AND EUROPE, JUST AS PROPHECY FORETELLS!")

Finally, as you consider the current news about Iran and her nuclear program, remember Iran has possessed nuclear arms sine 2002. Therefore, the world has to ask itself, "NUCLEAR ARMED IRAN VS. AMERICA -- WHOM SHOULD THE WORLD FEAR?

As the Mass Media spins the terrifying possibilities of a war with Iran, just remember that all this hoopla has been "Rumors of Wars" thus far.

A touching story by a soldier

2006-08-21T01:42:00.000-07:00

Lone Soldier: WarPosted by LONE SOLDIER

After being called to emergency reserve duty two weeks ago and much indecision on the part of the officers of how we would be utilized in the raging conflict, my unit was assigned a complicated mission. We were to penetrate some ten kilometers into Lebanon and root out and engage Hezbollah guerrillas that were concentrated in bunkers on a mountain slope facing northern Israel. Intelligence and aerial photographs described a site that was heavily fortified and defended by several cells of well-trained and equipped jihadists.

Despite a sustained aerial bombardment by the air force, Katyusha rockets continued to be launched from the area into Haifa, Nahariya, Tzfat. The decision was made that the launchers could only be destroyed and the guerrillas eliminated by ground troops. The problematic nature of the action foreboded heavy casualties on our side. It’s like trying to pull a rattlesnake out of its hole without getting bitten. Mine is a demolition unit, so the mission fell on us. I was honored to be the heavy gunner that would be on the point team.

After three days of training, we crossed the border into Lebanon on foot, a week ago Sunday, and marched through the night, pushing deeper and deeper into Hezbollah's backyard. At dawn, after the first long night's march, we rushed the small village of Quzah in a hail of gunfire, grenades and missiles, and blew down doors and commandeered homes where we waited out the day. Our orders were to only move at night.

We tried to rest inside the home as best we could, considering the intensity of the fighting all around us. Heavy artillery being fired from the Israel side of the border rained around the blocky outcropping of hilltop villas. Knowing we were in the area but unsure of our precise whereabouts, Hezbollah operatives in the hills surrounding us launched missiles and mortars shells randomly into the homes in the village through the night. Automatic gunfire was everywhere and we had no way of knowing if it was theirs or ours.

Early that morning we received horrible news over the radio: in a village half a mile to our east, an advanced anti-tank missile was launched into a window of a home where a unit we had been working with in parallel was hunkered down. The result was devastating; nine killed, forty wounded. We had been with those guys hours before, sipping Turkish coffee around the buses before we crossed over the border. Now we heard their cries for assistance over the radio.

Our initial objective was delayed as we were ordered to take up positions on a hillside in order to secure the evacuation of the dead and wounded under the cover of darkness back into Israel. In the hours just before dawn, we assaulted the village again and entered into the homes where we laid on the bathroom floor and in other rooms that did not have exterior walls. Quzah would be our home for two long days and nights.

In daylight hours, we peered out the kitchen window at a valley to the east of us and watched as volleys of Katyushas were launched from the brush into northern Israel to our south. It was surreal seeing the Israeli towns across the border from the same perspective as the enemy. It was terrible. It was beautiful.

We did our best to direct the artillery cells and the F16s to the precise positions, calling in coordinates as we peered out of the wreckage of previously shelled homes. If we saw a missile battery that was close enough, we crawled into the streets and fired our own rockets into the brush. The valley was bombarded relentlessly by artillery shells, the cannons systematically sweeping the area, tearing up huge swaths of earth. Every so often a shell would strike something hidden amongst the trees and a secondary explosion would erupt and missiles would fly from the brush in all directions like fireworks on the fourth of July.

The secondary explosions were identified by us, and by pilot-less aircraft patrolling the skies; we zeroed in, and F16s swooped in, dropping massive bombs. We watched as huge silent explosions left moon sized craters, and moments later the sound and the concussion would hit us. It was as if the atmosphere would rip in the tremendous blasts, shaking the homes violently.

We remained in that bombed out village for two nights, all the while taking mortar shells and hostile gunfire into the windows of the homes. You could hear the whistle of the mortars as they came down, and you could do absolutely nothing but sit on the floor and hope that it would not fall in your lap. It sounded as if Cadillacs were being catapulted into the village and the explosions shook the already shaky building and chunks of red-hot shrapnel rained down in the streets. At night, we left the houses and commandeered different homes so that Hezbollah would not zero in on our exact positions. We monitored their radio transmissions and heard them directing their fire to where they thought we were. We slept in one-hour stretches, if at all.

After the last of the casualties was evacuated from the adjacent village - an excruciatingly slow process in which another one of our tanks was hit and four more precious soldiers lost - we left the village and continued on our march deeper into Lebanon.

After two nights of hard treks through impossibly difficult terrain, we arrived to a hillside a few kilometers from our objective. Different units commandeered small villages along our route and provided cover for us as Hezbollah cells fired on us from the hillsides. The artillery was constant, pounding any structures that were along our path a kilometer before we would arrive.

As planned, we arrived to a hillside where we waited amongst the scorched brush and shattered terraces for supply helicopters that were to come and drop off water and additional explosives that we would use to destroy the bunkers. After receiving the supplies, we were to continue making progress on foot to execute our mission. We were exhausted, filthy, but happy for the brief opportunity to drop our packs. And then, the unthinkable.

The helicopters arrived gloriously, six of them, flying low over our heads. We had thought the area was relatively secure and the helicopters landed in a field maybe two hundred yards from where we sat behind boulders. After making their drops, the helicopters roared away again one by one towards Israel, again flying low, directly overhead. Suddenly, as if in a dream, I saw a rocket rise up out of a field maybe a hundred yards to the left of us. It took me a moment to realize what was happening, To my horror, the missile struck the fourth helicopter's left side, maybe 40 feet directly over my head.

There was a huge fireball, and I don't know if I saw it or if I imagined it, but I pictured the pilot struggling with the controls. We thought the helicopter would crash down on us and there were a few moments of indescribable terror, but the crippled aircraft flew another 50 yards, turned over on its side and fell onto the hillside. There was a mushroom cloud of black smoke that enveloped a huge orange ball of fire as the helicopter exploded. I don't remember if I heard the explosion, I just remember my captain next to me in the bush saying, "my God, my God."

Immediately, Hezbollah mortar shells began to rain down on our position and we dove for cover as the earth boiled around us. The remaining helicopters banked away and flew off, shooting off decoy flares. A second land-to-air missile rocket narrowly missed a Black Hawk that arrived to survey the scene of the crash. It too deployed decoy flares and swooped away. Heavy gunfire ripped through the pitch-black night, but I was uncertain if it was theirs or ours. I saw from where the missile came but couldn't shoot for fear of hitting one of our own in the darkness. This continued for many hours, and when the barrage ceased we retreated back into the valley, leaving a small force in the area to search for and watch over the wreckage of the helicopter. Hezbollah was sure to try to take the remains of the pilot and crew for ransom.

Later, we learned that five of the helicopter's crew died in the crash. The loss was more than any of us could bear, but we considered ourselves fortunate. The helicopter was struck after it had made its drop. Minutes before, it had been full with some thirty soldiers.

Because of the crash, we did not receive the supplies as planned, a serious development considering that we were down to out last canteens of water. In the few frantic hours before daylight, planes parachuted crates of water to us, but we were unable to find them in the rough terrain, and as dawn broke we retreated back to our previous positions before the Hezbollah snipers and mortar men emerged from their bunkers.

We quickly hollowed out and entered into bushes and waited for night to come. To sleep was impossible. I was struggling against exhaustion and dehydration following the previous night's frantic search for the supplies. I had slept maybe four hours in previous four days and the constant burden of the heavy machine gun I carried and my battle vest with some thousand rounds of ammunition had taken its toll. I received two saline infusions in the bush and tried to eat from the few battle rations that remained but was unable to keep anything down. Most of day, three other soldiers and I sat in silence, unable to sleep, each absorbed in his own thoughts, resigning himself to a singular and unforeseeable fate. Some day I will find the words to describe the thoughts that go through your head under such circumstances. To try now would be futile.

When dusk fell, we again geared up. The officers were determined to carry out the mission without further delay, but we were down to our last drops of water. Over the radio we learned that the bodies of the helicopter crew had been recovered. The officers decided to divide the unit into two task forces; one to evacuate the wounded amongst us: three soldiers who had broken or sprained ankles and legs in the previous days' frantic marches over the harsh terrain. They would be airlifted along with the remains of the helicopter crew back into Israeli territory. The second unit was to search for the water that had been dropped from airplanes the night before. After, we were to reunite and make our final push to the mountain slope to put an end to the firing of rockets from that area into our cities in the north.

I was placed in the squad to evacuate the wounded, and as we made our way to the landing site carrying the stretchers, a call came over the radio. A General Staff order was made to all forces operating in the area: immediately stop all proactive measures in observance of a cease-fire, a cease fire that we had no idea was even in the works. Just like that, the war was suddenly over, for now.

With news of the end of hostilities, the decision was made to evacuate me in my weakened state along with the wounded. Again, I found myself in the same area where I watched a helicopter shot down the night before, preparing to board a helicopter myself. The Black Hawk emerged from the black depths of the valley below us.

As soon as it landed we ran to it, carrying the stretchers and the sacks with the remains of the dead. We dove inside and immediately the helicopter rose sharply and banked away, shooting flares from its sides to act as decoys for incoming rockets. I found myself lying amongst the dead and injured as the flight crew trampled over us. I could only see the fire from the flares and could have no idea if the extreme banking of the helicopter was a defensive measure or if we had been hit. After a few moments of terrifying uncertainty thinking we would hit the ground at any second, the helicopter leveled off and we rose sharply out of the range of any Hezbollah rockets and flew back into Israel.

I was released from the hospital a few hours ago after being treated for severe dehydration and exhaustion. I just wanted to let everybody know that I am fine

2006-08-21T01:38:00.000-07:00

Read the Bible? What a Concept!

By Marsha Westhttp://www.newswithviews.com/West/marsha14.htm

So many barbaric and perverse things are going on lately that I sometimes dread listening to news reports. The America I grew up in was decent, but that’s all changed. When I was a youngster people had morals and respected laws. Kids obeyed their parents, parents spent time with their kids, families went to church together, even had their meals together. Prayer was said at the dinner table and allowed in public schools. The Pledge of Allegiance was recited every morning in classrooms across America. And no one complained about it!

When I was in grammar school my sister and I walked to and from school together. We walked when it was hot, when it was cold, even when it rained. Amazingly, our parents weren’t the least bit concerned that we would be kidnapped or molested. It was perfectly rational for parents to assume that their kids were safe.

In those days Christians believed that all truth is God’s truth, that God revealed His truth to us in His Word (the Bible) and in Him who said, “I am the Truth.” The scriptures were memorized and quoted frequently and no one was offended by it. People placed their right hand on the Holy Bible and solemnly swore to tell the truth, the whole truth… And meant it. Back then the Bible was the Good Book.

It still is.

God actually reveals Himself in Scripture, which is pretty amazing when you think about it. Which begs the question, why are so many Bibles shut away in drawers or collecting dust on bookshelves? That’s the 64,000-dollar question.

One excuse for not reading the Bible is that flawed men wrote it. Funny how that logic doesn’t apply to the Washington Post, The Enquirer, Doctor Phil or Deepak Chopra! Take my word for it. The Holy Spirit did not inspire Dr. Phil’s books. The Spirit of God did, however, inspire the authors of Scripture. “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16).

Reading and studying the Bible is not a choice; it’s a command. Noted theologian R.C. Sproul puts it this way, I could plead with you to study the Bible for personal edification; I could try the art of persuasion to stimulate your quest for happiness. I could say that the study of the Bible would probably be the most fulfilling and rewarding educational experience of your life. I could cite numerous reasons why you would benefit from a serious study of Scripture. But ultimately the main reason why we should study the Bible is because it is our duty.

If the Bible were the most boring book in the world, dull, uninteresting and seemingly irrelevant, it would still be our duty to study it. If its literary style were awkward and confusing, the duty would remain. We live as human beings under an obligation by divine mandate to study diligently God’s Word. He is our Sovereign, it is his Word and he commands that we study it. A duty is not an option. If you have not yet begun to respond to that duty, then you need to ask God to forgive you and to resolve to do your duty from this day forth. (Emphasis added.) [1]

Christians will spend hours on end reading about an imaginary code in a painting by Leonardo Da Vinci, but little to no time reading their Bibles. Is it any wonder that America is in a state of moral anarchy?

Before Bibles began playing host to dust mites, Christians knew what they believed and why they believed it. Not anymore. Biblical moral values no longer dictate the way believers live their lives. Professed Christians have all but cast off their biblical worldview and blended in with our godless society. Is it any wonder that the religion of Secular Humanism has infiltrated our nation’s institutions?

The Secular Humanist religion is anti-supernaturalism, therefore God does not exist. You might say that its theology is atheism. As well, it has a philosophy of naturalism and holds to a belief in Darwinian evolution. Secularists believe that man is self-sufficient. If man is self-sufficient, he has no need for God.

Don’t think for one minute that worldview doesn’t matter. It matters. The secular humanist’s influence on our courts has been dramatic. We’re hearing more and more how activist judges are handing down ungodly decisions. The ACLU, aided by liberal judges, are destroying the very foundations of our biblical heritage under the guise that the First Amendment has erected a wall of separation between church and state. The radical Left hopes to eliminate every trace of biblical expression from this nation. Removal of the Ten Commandments displays from public property is a good example. According to author and historian David Barton, “No ruling has been more publicized than that against Judge Roy Moore in Alabama. In that case, the 11th Federal Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a 5,280 pound granite monument of the Ten Commandments could not be displayed in the rotunda of the Alabama State Judicial Building.”
The irony is that America was founded on Judeo/Christian principles, so what could be more absurd?

Most Americans no longer believe in absolute moral truth as defined by Scripture. Instead they embrace moral relativism, which is the belief that truth is relative to the person and their situation. In other words, moral principles have no objective truth. Relativists use phrases like, “That’s your truth,” which translates to, “Believe what you want, I’ll believe what I want.” Relativists aren’t concerned that their view of rightness and wrongness is based on whatever seems right. Can a person’s worldview be considered sound if the object from which they form their worldview is illogical or indefensible?

During the 60’s and 70’s many young people held the belief that, "God is dead." Mainly because if God is indeed dead, then you’re free to “Do your own thing” as long as it won’t put you behind bars. Suddenly people’s outlook was, "Who cares?" "Better him than me," "Tolerate others," "Make love, not war," "Sex, drugs and rock ‘n roll" which led to “Create your own reality.” The 60’s spawned the "If it feels good, do it" generation. When people are free to create their own reality, their own truth, pretty much anything goes ? and there are no rules!

“In two national surveys conducted by Barna Research, one among adults and one among teenagers, people were asked if they believe that there are moral absolutes that are unchanging or that moral truth is relative to the circumstances. By a 3-to-1 margin (64% vs. 22%) adults said truth is always relative to the person and their situation. The perspective was even more lopsided among teenagers, 83% of whom said moral truth depends on the circumstances, and only 6% of whom said moral truth is absolute.”[2]

Sadly, this includes Christians.

Jesus Christ was not a relativist. Christianity and moral relativism are incompatible. Christianity believes it has the only truth! We believe this because Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life?” With these words Jesus conveyed to His folllowers that he was the personification of Truth. Jesus also said, “These are the scriptures that testify about me” (John 5:39).

Jesus taught that truth is rooted in the authority of the scriptures, which have been tested, reflected upon, and debated for over two thousand years. Truth is not a personal preference. Truth is person. And that person is Jesus Christ. If you sincerely want to know more about Christ, read the Bible.

If you balk at the idea, look at it this way. To maintain your strength, good nutrition is essential. That’s a no brainer. To become a strong Christian your daily diet must include the reading of God’s Word. Believers have an open invitation to join the King of kings and Lord of lords in His throne room. How often do you visit with the King? If your answer is, “Not very often,” here’s a word of advice: Change your priorities. Most people find the time to talk on the phone, watch TV, surf the Internet, answer email, workout at the gym, read novels, etc. Wouldn’t you rather be talking to the perfect, all-powerful, all-knowing Creator of the universe instead of lounging in front of the TV?

In Deuteronomy 111:18 God says, “Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.” James tells us, “Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent, and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you. Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like” (James 1:21-25).

During the 60’s and 70’s if sincere Christians had taken seriously the counsel of James and obeyed what the Bible says about morality instead of joining the “Do your own thing” revolt, America would be a far different place today. Youngsters would still have the same freedoms my sister and I enjoyed growing up. Walking to school with my sister and friends was fun! And it was safe.

“Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” ? Matthew 5:19

Israel can only loose once

2006-08-20T21:55:00.000-07:00

'http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=51587

During one of Israel's many wars, Golda Meir offered this famous – and tragic – observation: "The Arabs can fight, and lose, and return to fight another day. Israel can only lose once." Golda's assessment became a truism of the Middle East up until now. And the jury is still out as to whether her assessment remains true to this day.

In the strange and surreal world that is the Middle East, Israel lost its war with Hezbollah. And while it remains intact at the moment, her enemies no longer view the Jewish state as invincible. History tells us that means the current cease-fire is a temporary condition at best, and that next time, Israel will be facing a lot more than an outlaw terrorist organization like Hezbollah.

On second thought, strike that. Hezbollah is only an outlaw terrorist organization in the eyes of the United States. Europe sees Hezbollah as a radical but legitimate political party that constitutes part of Lebanon's legally elected government. The United Nations has yet, in its long history, to come up with a definition of "terrorist," let alone outlaw one.

So let's rephrase it to say that Israel will likely face a lot more formidable enemy that just Hezbollah next time. And make no mistake – there will be a "next time." Israel, for the first time in its history, failed to meet a single one of its war objectives. It meekly accepted a substandard, U.N.-imposed cease-fire, leaving Hezbollah largely intact, Hassan Nasrallah unscathed; it failed to eliminate Hezbollah's arsenal of rockets; and, worst of all, it came home without the two hostages kidnapped by Hezbollah that prompted the war in the first place.
Until now, it had been an unshakeable article of faith that Israel was capable of imposing whatever outcome it deemed necessary against any Arab force. And, until now, Israel continued to press its military advantage until it had attained its stated goals.

That is no longer the case. After a month-long war, Israeli forces limped home as Hezbollah, Syria and Iran all claimed victory against the Jewish state. It was defeated by a newly invented international "law of proportionality" that dictates Israel cannot achieve a greater victory against its enemies than its enemies are capable of inflicting upon them.

Of course, such a ridiculous law could only be imposed against Israel. The United States did not use "proportional" force against the Taliban and al-Qaida in Afghanistan in 2002. Osama bin Laden used three commercial airplanes against the United States. The United States used every weapon in its formidable arsenal, with the exception of nuclear weapons, to bomb Afghanistan further into the Stone Age than it had already been.

Were the United States to subject itself to the law of proportionality, we would have sent 19 guys with armed with box knives to exact revenge for Sept. 11. Of course, it's stupid. But it evidently didn't sound as stupid when Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice signed on to the idea and joined the U.N. in demanding a cease-fire that left Hezbollah armed, in place and able to re-arm, regroup and try again. Oh, Secretary Rice spoke great, swelling words about not maintaining the status quo, but when it got down to it, she folded up like a cheap lawn chair.

The "status quo" before Israel attacked Hezbollah had the armed terror group ensconced along Israel's borders, raiding Israeli territory at will, and killing and kidnapping any Israeli soldier within reach of its infiltrating forces, without fear of interference from the incompetent and unsympathetic UNIFIL forces ostensibly stationed there to ensure Israel's border security.
Following Israel's month-long war, Hezbollah remains intact, armed with long-range rockets, capable of attacking Israel at will without fear of interference from the UNIFIL forces still stationed there. The only difference is that Lebanon is dispatching a military force that it openly admits has no intention of either disarming Hezbollah or engaging it militarily if it decides to resume its previous infiltration or kidnapping tactics.

The U.N. has yet to put together a credible military deterrent, and so far, the only nations willing to contribute troops are overwhelmingly sympathetic to Hezbollah and Lebanon. The biggest contributor so far is France. Lebanon is a former French colony. And it is hard to imagine Paris engaging its ally to defend the Jews. France is among the most openly anti-Semitic nations in Europe.

Hezbollah acquired anti-tank weapons from Syria and Iran that decimated Israeli armor. Syria and Iran have both since claimed joint victory against Israel, along with Hezbollah, and have pledged to continue the conflict until Israel has been wiped from the map.

Hezbollah has demonstrated that total Arab defeat is not inevitable – and with this demonstration, Israel has lost its tremendous psychological advantage. If Hezbollah could hold the mighty Israeli juggernaut at bay, then the possibility that Israel could finally and decisively be wiped from the map of the Middle East by another pan-Arab army is once again feasible.
Hezbollah has emerged as a massive political force. Syria, marginalized in recent years, has re-emerged as a regional player as Hezbollah's patron. Hezbollah's victory represents a victory for Iran and the Shia. Hezbollah, a Shiite force, has done what others could not do.

This will certainly result in both Jordan and Egypt rethinking their own assumptions about the viability of another war of annihilation against Israel. In a sense, the Arabs have little to lose by taking the risk. If they win, they will have succeeded in reclaiming their lost honor in previous conflicts, with the added bonus of having rid the world of the Jewish cancer in its midst. And if they lose, they can once again count on the U.N. imposing a cease-fire in time for them to remain intact and viable.

One doesn't need a crystal ball to know that Syria and Iran will move quickly to exploit the advantage Israel's defeat at the hands of Hezbollah has given them.

This is exactly the outcome that both Damascus and Tehran had been hoping for, although they certainly didn't expect it. But now that it is a reality, Golda's words echo with haunting clarity. "The Arabs can fight, and lose, and return to fight another day. Israel can only lose once."

http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=51587

During one of Israel's many wars, Golda Meir offered this famous – and tragic – observation: "The Arabs can fight, and lose, and return to fight another day. Israel can only lose once." Golda's assessment became a truism of the Middle East up until now. And the jury is still out as to whether her assessment remains true to this day.

In the strange and surreal world that is the Middle East, Israel lost its war with Hezbollah. And while it remains intact at the moment, her enemies no longer view the Jewish state as invincible. History tells us that means the current cease-fire is a temporary condition at best, and that next time, Israel will be facing a lot more than an outlaw terrorist organization like Hezbollah.

On second thought, strike that. Hezbollah is only an outlaw terrorist organization in the eyes of the United States. Europe sees Hezbollah as a radical but legitimate political party that constitutes part of Lebanon's legally elected government. The United Nations has yet, in its long history, to come up with a definition of "terrorist," let alone outlaw one.

So let's rephrase it to say that Israel will likely face a lot more formidable enemy that just Hezbollah next time. And make no mistake – there will be a "next time." Israel, for the first time in its history, failed to meet a single one of its war objectives. It meekly accepted a substandard, U.N.-imposed cease-fire, leaving Hezbollah largely intact, Hassan Nasrallah unscathed; it failed to eliminate Hezbollah's arsenal of rockets; and, worst of all, it came home without the two hostages kidnapped by Hezbollah that prompted the war in the first place.

Until now, it had been an unshakeable article of faith that Israel was capable of imposing whatever outcome it deemed necessary against any Arab force. And, until now, Israel continued to press its military advantage until it had attained its stated goals.

That is no longer the case. After a month-long war, Israeli forces limped home as Hezbollah, Syria and Iran all claimed victory against the Jewish state. It was defeated by a newly invented international "law of proportionality" that dictates Israel cannot achieve a greater victory against its enemies than its enemies are capable of inflicting upon them.

Of course, such a ridiculous law could only be imposed against Israel. The United States did not use "proportional" force against the Taliban and al-Qaida in Afghanistan in 2002. Osama bin Laden used three commercial airplanes against the United States. The United States used every weapon in its formidable arsenal, with the exception of nuclear weapons, to bomb Afghanistan further into the Stone Age than it had already been.

Were the United States to subject itself to the law of proportionality, we would have sent 19 guys with armed with box knives to exact revenge for Sept. 11. Of course, it's stupid. But it evidently didn't sound as stupid when Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice signed on to the idea and joined the U.N. in demanding a cease-fire that left Hezbollah armed, in place and able to re-arm, regroup and try again. Oh, Secretary Rice spoke great, swelling words about not maintaining the status quo, but when it got down to it, she folded up like a cheap lawn chair.

The "status quo" before Israel attacked Hezbollah had the armed terror group ensconced along Israel's borders, raiding Israeli territory at will, and killing and kidnapping any Israeli soldier within reach of its infiltrating forces, without fear of interference from the incompetent and unsympathetic UNIFIL forces ostensibly stationed there to ensure Israel's border security.

Following Israel's month-long war, Hezbollah remains intact, armed with long-range rockets, capable of attacking Israel at will without fear of interference from the UNIFIL forces still stationed there. The only difference is that Lebanon is dispatching a military force that it openly admits has no intention of either disarming Hezbollah or engaging it militarily if it decides to resume its previous infiltration or kidnapping tactics.

The U.N. has yet to put together a credible military deterrent, and so far, the only nations willing to contribute troops are overwhelmingly sympathetic to Hezbollah and Lebanon. The biggest contributor so far is France. Lebanon is a former French colony. And it is hard to imagine Paris engaging its ally to defend the Jews. France is among the most openly anti-Semitic nations in Europe.

Hezbollah acquired anti-tank weapons from Syria and Iran that decimated Israeli armor. Syria and Iran have both since claimed joint victory against Israel, along with Hezbollah, and have pledged to continue the conflict until Israel has been wiped from the map.

Hezbollah has demonstrated that total Arab defeat is not inevitable – and with this demonstration, Israel has lost its tremendous psychological advantage. If Hezbollah could hold the mighty Israeli juggernaut at bay, then the possibility that Israel could finally and decisively be wiped from the map of the Middle East by another pan-Arab army is once again feasible.
Hezbollah has emerged as a massive political force. Syria, marginalized in recent years, has re-emerged as a regional player as Hezbollah's patron. Hezbollah's victory represents a victory for Iran and the Shia. Hezbollah, a Shiite force, has done what others could not do.

This will certainly result in both Jordan and Egypt rethinking their own assumptions about the viability of another war of annihilation against Israel. In a sense, the Arabs have little to lose by taking the risk. If they win, they will have succeeded in reclaiming their lost honor in previous conflicts, with the added bonus of having rid the world of the Jewish cancer in its midst. And if they lose, they can once again count on the U.N. imposing a cease-fire in time for them to remain intact and viable.

One doesn't need a crystal ball to know that Syria and Iran will move quickly to exploit the advantage Israel's defeat at the hands of Hezbollah has given them.

This is exactly the outcome that both Damascus and Tehran had been hoping for, although they certainly didn't expect it. But now that it is a reality, Golda's words echo with haunting clarity. "The Arabs can fight, and lose, and return to fight another day. Israel can only lose once."

2006-08-20T21:34:00.000-07:00

I’ve been following Maitreya and his “prophet” (Benjamin Crème) for many years. This individual is reportedly performing miracles and is ready to take the world stage. We recently had a series of advertisements in our state newspapers announcing the “Messiah” is here, and will appear shortly. With all the turmoil in the Middle East (and around the world) the stage is right for a dynamic, charismatic leader to rise to the forefront to bring peace and prosperity to the world.

Maitreya could be just such a one…here’s what his website says about him:

www.share-international.org

Many now expect the return of their awaited Teacher, whether they call him the Christ, Messiah, the fifth Buddha, Krishna, or the Imam Mahdi. Millions now know that the Teacher who fulfills all these expectations is already living among us.

Maitreya, the World Teacher, has not come alone, but with a group of wise Teachers who have long guided humanity from behind the scenes.

They are returning to the everyday world to help us solve our most critical global problems. Maitreya is not a religious leader, but an educator in the broadest sense.

He is here to inspire us to create a new era based on sharing and justice, so that all may have the basic necessities of life: food, shelter, health care, and education.

His open mission in the world is about to begin. As Maitreya himself has said: 'Soon, now very soon, you will see my face and hear my words.'

Below is the most current post to “The Master’s Article” section of their site…something I found of specific interest.

Help is needed – and offered
by the Master —, through Benjamin Creme, 16 July 2006

http://www.share-international.org/magazine/SI_current.htm

It will soon become clear that without help men have but little time to rectify the problems, ecological, political and economic which cause chaos, danger and heartache to the majority of Earth’s people. It is a situation unique in Earth’s history. Much depends on men realizing that they have, as custodians, the responsibility to tend carefully the well-being of the planet and all its kingdoms, and to pass on a vibrant, healthy planetary home to future generations.

So unhealthy has the planet become from man’s predatory action and cavalier neglect, that, were it human, grave doubts of its recovery would be in order. The home of man and the lower kingdoms must be nursed back to health to fulfil its role in the evolving Plan.Chaos reigns, likewise, in the political sphere. The nations are led by groups dedicated to the past, unable to see that their methods apply no longer to the needs of today and tomorrow. Blindfolded and arrogant, they strut the stage of life like out-of-date actors, unsure of their direction or their lines. The door marked EXIT looms large for these destructive usurpers of power.

Saddest

The economic and social spheres are the saddest of all. While the world’s wealth flows into fewer and fewer hands, countless millions beg for the minimum to survive. Millions are too weak to beg, and die, forlorn, before they have tasted life. What can men do to rectify these sad and dangerous conditions? To whom can they turn for help in their agony?There is but one source of help for men in their extreme need. That help is theirs for the asking.

We, your Elder Brothers, seek only your welfare and happiness, and are ready to aid you and to point the way to a better future for all.We see all men as One, brothers and sisters of one great family. Men need, likewise, to banish from their hearts the sense of separation, and to rediscover the reality of brotherhood which lies at the heart of the human condition. Men, all men, are potential Gods and needs must create the conditions in which they all can flourish. We will help you to do this, gladly, when you take the first small step in that direction. That first step is not difficult nor fraught with risk. You have nothing to lose and your divinity to gain: that first step is called Sharing.

(The above article will be published in the September 2006 issue of Share International magazine.)

Note: Jesus Christ warned that before his coming again to redeem the world there will be many false prophets claiming to come and save the world. Be watchful whom we would follow.

Mt 24:10-11; At that time, many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people.

Mt 24: 24; For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceieve even the elect---if that were possible.

Christians in Beslan reach out to children in Chechnya

2006-08-20T21:24:00.000-07:00

Christians in Beslan, reach out to children in Chechnya
August 18, 2006

Russia (MNN) -- September 1, 2006, marks the second anniversary of the Belsan, Russia, school terrorist attack. Chechen rebels killed more than 300 people, mostly children, on the first day of school. But, what man meant for evil, God used for good, especially in camping ministry. Vice President of Russian Ministries Sergey Rakhuba says, "Because of the terror attack a couple of years ago, many teenagers came to know Christ and wanted to do something for Jesus, so they went back to Chechnya and ministered to their children, instead of going back and taking revenge."This summer more than 160 young people attended summer camp there.

Rakhuba says it was met with incredible response. "Working together with local Muslim officials, they were so open to have Christian young church leaders to work with their children. Some of them would says, 'Hey guys, we would like you to come more often."According to Rakhuba, camp is a great change for many of the children there. "There's so many children born in that area that have no chance to (live in peace). They hear all those gun shots (and) explosions. They see dead people. Their friends die in the bombings."Hope is lacking, says Rakhuba. That's why summer camp is important. With two weeks left in the camping season, they'd like to add to the 7,000 young people that have already attended camps in the former Soviet Union. "Every $49 that we're asking will help send a child to a summer camp where Christian counselors will work with (them), tell (them) about Jesus."Rakhuba says humanitarian aid must accompany the Gospel.

That's when even the adults open their ears and their hearts to Christ.Pray for the ongoing work of Russian Ministries. Pray for safety as they reach out in difficult areas, like Chechnya. Pray too for the last few weeks of summer camps that many young people will turn to Christ.

2006-08-09T22:37:00.001-07:00

Captured Hizbullah Kidnapper Details Syrian, Iranian Collusion

By Nissan Ratzlav-Katz

The IDF released videotaped footage of an interview with a captured Hizbullah member who was involved in the July 12th attack in which eight IDF soldiers were killed and two others kidnapped. Chief of military intelligence, Maj.-Gen. Amos Yadlin, told cabinet ministers on Sunday that the Hizbullah terrorist had been taken prisoner during an operation in Lebanon. Soldiers Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev are still being held hostage by the Iranian-backed Hizbullah. Among other revelations of Hizbullah recruitment and training methods, the captured terrorist, Hussein Ali Sliman, said that he and a group of 40 or 50 others travelled from Beirut to Iran by way of an unofficial Syrian air strip in 2003. He also noted that the caravan of Hizbullah vehicles crossing into Syria travelled by way of an official military lane. The trip was undertaken for one of two practical field exercises of Hizbullah terrorists under Iranian tutelage. Sliman, age 22 from the Beirut-area Burj Al-Barajneh PLO refugee camp, was interrogated after being captured by IDF forces in an unspecified raid in Lebanon. Speaking in Arabic, the captive Hizbullah member appears to be very calm and cooperative with his off-camera interrogator in the edited recording

Early in the interview, Sliman described how he began Hizbullah militia training activities at the age of 15, after school hours, in his home town. The training, Sliman said, lasted one and a half months, during which the youths were given military, educational and religious instruction.

Sliman: "I was young. In 2000, I took part in a combat course, after the liberation [a reference to the Israeli unilateral withdrawal from southern Lebanon in that year - ed.]."

Interrogator: "And until 2000, what did you do during that period?"

Sliman: "Nothing. Mosque attendance. Mosque attendance and lessons with the sheikh [Muslim cleric]." After a multi-faceted 45-day combat course in the Ba'albek region of eastern Lebanon, Sliman learned how to use anti-tank weapons and eventually took part in what might be likened to a military officers course for commanders of specific districts. When asked by his questioner if he took courses outside of Lebanon, Sliman answered, "Not a course. I took part in practical field training exercises ['war games' - ed.]. Two exercises."

Interrogator: "When was the first exercise?"

Sliman: "At the end of 2003."

Interrogator: "Where did you do it?"

Sliman: "In Iran."

Interrogator: "How did you leave for Iran?"

Sliman: "We left Beirut in cars, range rovers, other vehicles...."

Interrogator: "Hizbullah cars. It is known that military cars belong to the Hizbullah."

Sliman: "Not military vehicles, but..."

Interrogator: "But they are recognized as belonging to the Hizbullah."

Sliman: "Yes. Recognizable." The captured Hizbullah terrorist was then asked where they went from Beirut. "From Beirut to the Damascus airport," he replied. "At the Al-Missna Crossing, by way of the military lane." After clarifying that the group of about 50 Hizbullah terrorists traveled to Syria as a group, by way of a military crossing, the interrogator asked Sliman what they did once they reached the Damascus airport.

Sliman: "We did not enter the Damascus airport, we entered a separate area...."

Interrogator: "That is to say, unofficial."

Sliman: "Yes, unofficial."

Interrogator: "They entered the Damascus airport..."

Sliman: "An airport bus, the bus came and took us and we took off in the plane."

Interrogator: "Did they stamp your passports when you left?"

Sliman: "We didn't have any passports." The video then cuts to a discussion of the attacks Sliman carried out once back in Lebanon. In 2005, he was part of a peripheral team assigned to prevent Israeli tanks from firing at the border town of Rajar, as another cell attempted to kill or kidnap IDF soldiers stationed on the Israeli side of the border. That operation failed. "The main goal was really not achieved," he admitted, "but the secondary goal was to land a harsh blow against the military outposts." Regarding his part in the July 12th attack and kidnapping on the Lebanese-Israeli border, Sliman said that he was assigned to prevent the approach of IDF reinforcements from nearby military positions.

Massive Western Aliyah This Week

2006-08-09T22:37:00.000-07:00

1. Massive Western Aliyah This Week, Despite Month of War

By Ezra HaLevi

Despite the two-front war, the thousands of missiles, and the evacuation of northern communities, more than 800 North American and British Jews are moving to Israel this week.

After a month of war, and even though they have had plenty of time to postpone or reschedule their Aliyah (immigration to Israel), four planeloads of Jews are scheduled to arrive in Ben Gurion airport in the coming week – the first on Thursday.

On Wednesday, August 16th – the one year anniversary of the forced eviction of the Jews of Gaza – three simultaneous flights will arrive. Embodying the Jewish prayer that the nation be gathered “from the four corners of the Earth,” the planes will depart from Canada, America and England – all arriving simultaneously in the Holy Land.

The August 16, 2006 influx will constitute the largest number of Jews in history making Aliyah to Israel from Western countries in a single day.

Overall this summer, 3,000 North American and British Jews are moving to Israel on specially chartered flights organized by the Nefesh b'Nefesh Aliyah assistance organization, in close cooperation with the Jewish Agency.

Greeting the arrivals Thursday will be Minister of Public Security and former Shabak Chief Avi Dichter (Kadima) and Minister of Immigrant Absorption Ze'ev Boim (Kadima). Opposition leader MK Binyamin Netanyahu greeted the last group of arrivals last month.

Visit the Nefesh b'Nefesh web site to learn about immigrating to Israel or sign up to greet the new immigrants upon their arrival.

Hezbollah's Nazi roots

2006-08-04T20:33:00.000-07:00

The true nature of the Islamic force opposing Israel was made quite plain by a most interesting article which exposed Hezbollah's Nazi roots.

NEWS BRIEF: "Hezbollah's Nazi roots: Across the Middle East, radical Islamists yearn for a new Holocaust", Canada's National Post, Friday, August 04, 2006

"This is the first Middle East war in which the main threat to Israel comes, not from secular Arab nationalism, but from Islam. Both Hezbollah and Hamas draw their main inspiration, armaments and funding from Islamist sources ... What unites them all is a fanatical dedication to the destruction of Israel."

"Sounding like a modern-day Hitler, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad this week repeated his call for the 'elimination' of Israel, home to six million Jews. Hezbollah, Iran's proxy army in Lebanon, shares that objective. Its leader, Hassan Nasrallah, has urged the world's Jews to collect in Israel in order to facilitate the task of exterminating them."

Let us repeat that last sentence, for it is simply pregnant with meaning, once you understand what it is truly saying.

"Nasrallah has urged the world's Jews to collect in Israel in order to facilitate the task of exterminating them."

What a profound statement! Regional Islamic leaders actually want all the world's Jews to gather within the tiny state of Israel so they can be eliminated that much more easily! As radical as that thinking is, it is not a new idea. Have you ever wondered at the historic oddity of the Soviet Union, under the leadership of Josef Stalin, not using its Security Council veto power to prevent the United Nations from authorizing Israel to be restored as a nation?

For centuries before Hitler arose to power, Russia was known as the world's most anti-semitic peoples. The very word, "pogrom" originated from the Russian language (Tormont Webster's Illustrated Dictionary, p. 1308). Hatred of Jews has run deeply within the Russian collective consciousness; further, that hatred was shared by Stalin and his Communist leadership.

Since this is the case, why did Stalin refuse to use Russia's veto authority in the UN Security Council when the vote was taken to authorize the Jews to return to their land to re-establish Israel? Stalin took serious note of the extreme difficulty Hitler's SS and regular armed forces had rounding up Jews from all throughout Eastern Europe and Russia and then transport them to selected death camps. The logistical strain was enough to cost Hitler the war because he literally had to constantly choose which effort he would support to the hilt -- the war or the extermination of Jews.

Since Hitler was driven by the demonic host called into him by rituals of The Thule Society, he made the decision to give the fuel and the railroad assets to the extermination effort, even though it meant German soldiers at the Russian and Allied fronts went without desperately needed supplies. Untold tens of thousands of fine German soldiers lost their lives because Hitler consistently made the decision to fully fund the Jewish slaughter effort -- and Germany lost the war. (A full accounting of this story can be found in two books, "The Nazi Doctors" by Robert Jay Lifton and "The Spear of Destiny" by Trevor Ravenscroft).

Therefore, Stalin did not cast his veto vote to prevent the United Nations from creating Israel, because he reckoned that the Jews could be more efficiently slaughtered at some future date if they were encouraged to all come to the tiny land of Israel. In this regard, the current thinking of Islamic leaders parallels the thinking of Communist dictator, Josef Stalin, in 1947.

Now, let us return to our featured news article.

"One thing that Arab nationalists and Islamists clearly have in common, though it is usually ignored in the Western media, is their explicit debt to the Nazis. This extends even to overt Nazi symbolism ... With houses in the Israeli town of Metullah in the background, hundreds of uniformed Hezbollah terrorists are raising their arms in a Nazi-style salute. This obscene ceremony, complete with yellow standards and mullah commanders taking the salute, was happening in full view of Israeli civilians. Mr. Gross asks pointedly, 'Are all those now attacking Israel around the world even capable of imagining what an elderly Holocaust survivor who happened to glance across the fence might have felt?' " (Emphasis added)

Not only did the Nazis create the salute Hezbollah fighters are using, they forced Jews to wear yellow armbands!

"The Nazi legacy also manifests itself in Holocaust denial or revisionism, a Middle Eastern obsession that unites the most extreme Islamists, including Iran's president, with "moderate" secularists such as Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas." (Ibid.)

Not only has the current Iranian President echoed the theme of denying that the Holocaust ever happened, but he proposed sponsoring a global conference which would officially deny the Holocaust.

Truly, the specter the deadly anti-semitism of Adolf Hitler and Josef Stalin rises over the current Middle East, having poisoned the minds of Islamic leaders and citizens across the entire Middle East. Virtually all Muslims in the region want the Jews exterminated.

In this regard, let us review the prophetic warning of how God is going to determine which nation(s) come under His judgment axe.

"FOR BEHOLD, in those days and at that time when I shall reverse the captivity and restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem, I will gather all nations and will bring them down into the Valley of Jehoshaphat, and there will I deal with and execute judgment upon them for their treatment of My people and of My heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations and because they have divided My land." (Joel 3:1-2; Parallel Bible, KJV/Amplified Bible Commentary)

"For the day of the Lord is near upon all the nations. As you have done, it shall be done to you; your dealings will return upon your own head." (Obadiah 15; Parallel Bible, KJV/Amplified Bible Commentary)
Once again, we see God's premise for judgment: the wickedness these Arab people have showered down upon Israel will return upon their own heads.

"For as you [Edom] have drunk upon the mountain of My holiness, desecrating it in the wild revelry of the destroyers, so shall all the nations drink continually, in turn, of My wrath." (Obadiah 16; Parallel Bible, KJV/Amplified Bible Commentary)
Please understand that God is going to carry out many slaughters of people and armies during the entire "Day of the Lord". That time period is generally considered to begin during the final war to produce Antichrist, to continue throughout the seven-year Tribulation, and then begin again once Satan is loosed from his 1,000 years of captivity so he can go forth to deceive the nations one last time.

Now you should understand why it is prophetically impossible for Israel to ever enjoy peace with her Islamic neighbors,

Hezbollah's sophisticated anti-tank missiles

2006-08-04T20:13:00.000-07:00

By BENJAMIN HARVEY, Associated Press Writer
10 minutes ago

JERUSALEM - Hezbollah's sophisticated anti-tank missiles are perhaps the guerrilla group's deadliest weapon in Lebanon fighting, with their ability to pierce Israel's most advanced tanks.

Experts say this is further evidence that Israel is facing a well-equipped army in this war, not a ragtag militia.

Hezbollah has fired Russian-made Metis-M anti-tank missiles and owns European-made Milan missiles, the army confirmed on Friday.

In the last two days alone, these missiles have killed seven soldiers and damaged three Israeli-made Merkava tanks — mountains of steel that are vaunted as symbols of Israel's military might, the army said. Israeli media say most of the 44 soldiers killed in four weeks of fighting were hit by anti-tank missiles.

"They (Hezbollah guerrillas) have some of the most advanced anti-tank missiles in the world," said Yossi Kuperwasser, a senior military intelligence officer who retired earlier this summer.

"This is not a militia, it's an infantry brigade with all the support units," Kuperwasser said.

Israel contends that Hezbollah gets almost all of its weaponry from Syria and by extension Iran, including its anti-tank missiles.

That's why cutting off the supply chain is essential — and why fighting Hezbollah after it has spent six years building up its arsenal is proving so painful to Israel, officials say.

Israel's Merkava tanks boast massive amounts of armor and lumber and resemble fortresses on tracks. They are built for crew survival, according to Globalsecurity.org, a Washington-based military think tank.

Hezbollah celebrates when it destroys one.

"A Zionist armored force tried to advance toward the village of Chihine. The holy warriors confronted it and destroyed two Merkava tanks," the group proclaimed on television Thursday.

The Israeli army confirmed two attacks on Merkava tanks that day — one that killed three soldiers and the other killing one. The three soldiers who were killed on Friday were also killed by anti-tank missiles, the army said.

It would not say whether the missiles disabled the tanks.

"To the best of my understanding, they (Hezbollah) are as well-equipped as any standing unit in the Syrian or Iranian armies," said Eran Lerman, a retired army colonel and now director of the Israel/Middle East office of the American Jewish Committee. "This is not a rat-pack guerrilla, this is an organized militia."

Besides the anti-tank missiles, Hezbollah is also known to have a powerful rocket-propelled grenade known as the RPG29. These weapons are also smuggled through Syria, an Israeli security official said, and were previously used by Palestinian militants in Gaza to damage tanks.

On Friday, Jane's Defense Weekly, a defense industry magazine, reported that Hezbollah asked Iran for "a constant supply of weapons" to support its operations against Israel.

The report cited Western diplomatic sources as saying that Iranian authorities promised Hezbollah a steady supply of weapons "for the next stage of the confrontation."

Top Israeli intelligence officials say they have seen Iranian Revolutionary Guard soldiers on the ground with Hezbollah troops. They say that permission to fire Hezbollah's longer-range missiles, such as those could reach Tel Aviv, would likely require Iranian go-ahead.

Iranian official admits Tehran supplied missiles to Hezbollah

2006-08-04T19:46:00.000-07:00

Last update - 20:53 04/08/2006

Iranian official admits Tehran supplied missiles to Hezbollah

By Amos Harel and Yoav Stern, Haaretz Correspondents

A senior Iranian official admitted for the first time Friday that Tehran did indeed supply long-range Zelzal-2 missiles to Hezbollah.

Mohtashami Pur, a one-time ambassador to Lebanon who currently holds the title of secretary-general of the "Intifada conference," told an Iranian newspaper that Iran transferred the missiles to the Shi'ite militia, adding that the organization has his country's blessing to use the weapons in defense of Lebanon.

Pur's statements are thought to be unusual given that Tehran has thus far been reluctant to comment on the extent of its aid which it has extended to Hezbollah.

Hezbollah secretary-general Hassan Nasrallah warned Thursday night in a televised broadcast that his organization would target Tel Aviv if Beirut was attacked by Israel.

"If our capital, Beirut, is attacked, we will attack your capital, Tel Aviv," Nasrallah threatened.

The Hezbollah leader issued his warning after Israel Air Force aircraft dropped leaflets over the Lebanese capital, calling on residents of three Shi'ite neighborhoods in southern Beirut to evacuate their homes.

Israeli security sources assessed that Nasrallah's threats are serious.

On Wednesday evening, the IAF attacked Beirut for the first time after a hiatus of nearly five days. The dropping of the leaflets yesterday is considered to be a precursor to new air strikes on the city.

Military Intelligence estimates that Nasrallah would like to end the war with a dramatic move, such as the firing of missiles against Tel Aviv.

The range of the Iranian-made Zelzal missiles is estimated to be 210 kilometers, enabling Hezbollah to target the northern suburbs of Tel Aviv and its environs. Last week, the IAF deployed Patriot anti-aircraft missiles near Netanya as part of the overall effort to foil a possible Zelzal attack.

Hizbollah rockets kill 8 in Israel

2006-08-03T21:34:00.000-07:00

From Reuters News Service:

Hizbollah rockets kill 8 in Israel

Thu Aug 3, 2006

By Ari Rabinovitch

MAALOT, Israel (Reuters) - Hizbollah rockets killed eight people in northern Israel on Thursday, in one of the most lethal barrages launched by the Lebanese guerrilla group since fighting began more than three weeks ago.

The deaths, in the cities of Acre and Maalot, raised to 27 the number of people killed by rocket fire from Lebanon during the current conflict.

More than 100 rockets were fired in the late afternoon barrage, killing eight people and wounding dozens, police said.

The salvoes were another sign the guerrilla group was still a potent threat to Israel despite comments on Wednesday by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert that Israel had destroyed its infrastructure.

"Israel will actively seek out and pursue Hizbollah, until these murderous attacks cease and until quiet is restored to northern Israel," said David Baker, an official in Olmert's office.

Hizbollah fired more than 200 rockets into Israel on Wednesday, its most intense one-day barrage of the conflict.

On a road outside Maalot, cars came to a screeching stop and motorists ran for cover in ditches at the sound of multiple explosions. Smoke rose over the town and a nearby forest.

"People have been holed up in shelters -- it is difficult, but people understand that soldiers are still fighting in Lebanon and we will get through this period," Acre Mayor Shimon Lancry said on Channel 2 television.

Some 10,000 Israeli troops have pushed into southern Lebanon in the ground offensive against Hizbollah. Israel's Channel 10 television said the army had carved out a "security zone" of 20 Lebanese villages up to six km (four miles) from the border.

"They will remain until a multinational force arrives," the television said, quoting the army. It did not specify whether this meant the military had completed its planned advance in south Lebanon.

The army's chief spokeswoman, Brigadier-General Miri Regev, said the military, which pulled out of southern Lebanon in 2000, had no intention of making its current deployment permanent.

"We do intend to clear an area near the border with Lebanon of Hizbollah terrorists to stop them from firing at Israel and to hit their infrastructure," she told Army Radio. "At the moment we have seven divisions inside the area."

Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora said 900 people have been killed by Israeli attacks in Lebanon.

Sixty-six Israelis, including 39 troops, have been killed in the violence, which began after Hizbollah killed eight soldiers and kidnapped two others in a cross-border raid on July 12.

The other side of the coin

2006-08-02T19:54:00.000-07:00

Former Citizen of Lebanon Takes a Courageous Stand on CNN Interview
News Staff / AH (Aug 2, 2006)

"Thank you Israel, we urge you to hit them hard, and destroy their terror infrastructure. It is not only Israel who is fed up with this situation, but the majority of silent Lebanese in Lebanon, who are fed up with Hezbollah, and are powerless to do anything out of fear of terror retaliation." - Message to Israel, Brigitte Gabriel, former Lebanese citizen.

Brigitte Gabriel, who was a Christian citizen of Lebanon, and a victim of Islamic Jihad, speaks out in a recent interview on CNN. On her website, she describes some of her experiences while living in Lebanon. "I am a victim of the Lebanese civil war, which was the first front in the worldwide Jihad of militant Islam against the only Christian country in the Middle East. My family's home was shelled and destroyed [by radical Islamists] leaving me wounded."

"I lived underground in a bomb shelter from age 10 to 17 without electricity and very little food. I had to crawl under sniper bullets to a spring to fetch water for my elderly parents. I was betrayed by my country, rescued by my 'enemy' Israel, the Jewish State that is under attack for its existence today."

Gabriel went on to become an American citizen, the Founder and President of the American Congress for Truth, and has just authored the book Because They Hate, on radical Islam. She was interviewed recently by CNN's Miles O'Brien, during which she spoke about the Lebanese people who, like herself, have been victims of Hezbollah's rule in their land, and how they hope Israel will complete the work of clearing the terrorist organization from their country.

"The American Congress for Truth was formed in June 2002 to inform, inspire and motivate Jews and Christians throughout society in ways to act and fight for our western ways of life and the values we cherish," explains Gabriel on the website. "Our members include Jews, Arabs and Christians from all backgrounds both secular and religious, liberals and conservatives. [These are] people who have put their differences aside to combat both anti American and anti Israel propaganda, masquerading as anti Imperialism, and anti Zionism wherever it exists; in the western media, among the intellectual elite, and on American college Campuses."

"So many times in history in the last 100 years, citizens have stood by and done nothing allowing evil to prevail. As America stood up against and defeated communism now it is time to stand up against the terror of religious bigotry and intolerance."

Why Does Satan Hate Israel?

2006-07-28T20:26:00.000-07:00

This is a reflection of the current spat of events in the Middle East from the biblical perspective

By: Stephen Yulish

As Israel is chastised by the entire world for its tough response against Hezbollah rocket attacks from Southern Lebanon, some Christians want to know what this has to do with them. They wonder if God may be finally finished with Israel after all their years of stiff necked defiance and refusal to accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior. They see the United Nations, the EU, the Vatican, and other religious organizations calling for a ceasefire. Only the United States thus far has stood behind Israel’s right to defend itself against kaytusha rocket attacks against its civilians in the northern Galilee and Haifa.

I wrote a similar article, last year (“A Promise is a Promise”) when people were concerned about Israelis leaving their settlements in Gaza. Look what has happened. They left southern Lebanon in the year 2000 and were promised that the militias like Hezbollah would be disarmed. They left Gaza last year hoping that a land for peace strategy would work. Both withdrawals failed, as Gaza and southern Lebanon have both erupted in violence. I did a radio interview last week and was asked why the Jews and Muslims could not just get along. The reason is that Satan hates the Jewish people, especially the Israelis, and there would not be peace until the Prince of Peace returns (Isaiah 9:6).

Why is this? Paul summarized it best in Romans 9:4-5 “Israelites to who belongs the adoption as sons and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the Law and the temple service and the promises, whose are the fathers, and from whom is the Christ according to the flesh, who is over all…

God used His first born chosen people, the Jews (through the Patriarchs, Prophets, and Temple) to bring His word, the Law and morality, to the earth and then sent His Son in a Jewish body to save the world from its sin. Satan hates God and His word and he hates God’s chosen vessel, the Jews, from who came Jesus Christ. Satan used the Babylonians and the Persians and the Assyrians and the Hittites and the Egyptians to try and destroy this royal bloodline by destroying the Jews, but he failed. Then after Christ died on the cross for our sins, he continued to try and see that the scattered Jews would not return to their homeland and reestablish their Jewish nation. He infiltrated the Church and helped instigate the Crusades and the Inquisition and the pogroms and the Holocaust in order to destroy the Jews so they could not create another Israel. Why was he so hell-bent on preventing that from happening? Because Jesus Christ is to return to the Mount of Olives (Zech 14:4) to rule and reign from Jerusalem for a 1000 years from the rebuilt Temple.

Unfortunately, however, Satan is still alive and well in the body of Christ spouting such lies from the pits of hell as “replacement theology”, that the church has somehow replaced Israel. It is Satan trying to show that God’s word is a lie. He will of course fail but many souls will be lost in the process, Muslim as well as Jew as well as so called Christian.

What Christians fail to realize, is the fact that if God is finished with Israel then maybe He might be finished with them as well. Ludwig Schneider wrote “Christians note the veil over the eyes of Jews that binds them from seeing the Messiah, but when non Jews don’t believe that God’s promises to Israel are still valid today, there is a veil over their hearts which encompasses all the nations. Whether Jew or Gentile, these veils must be removed.”

The Abrahamic Covenant gave ownership of the land of Canaan unconditionally to the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. It was an everlasting possession (Genesis 17:7-8). That means forever. This was reiterated when an Angel of the Lord said; “I brought you up out of Egypt and led you into the land which I have sworn to your fathers and I said I will never break my covenant” (Judges 2:1). God keeps His promises that He confirmed to Israel as an everlasting covenant (Psalm105:6-11) and He says that the offspring of Israel will cease from being a nation when the fixed order of the sun, the moon and the stars departs (Jeremiah 31:35-37).

If Israel ceases to be a nation on that land, then what was Paul speaking of when he said of the Jews that the gifts and calling of God are irrevocable (Romans 11:29)? Jesus Himself said that all the things talked about in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled. It means the Temple must be rebuilt (Daniel 9:27). The House of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem must recognize Him that they have pierced (Zechariah 12:10). That will never happen if Jerusalem is ceded to the Palestinians. Paul in his Second Letter to the church at Thessalonica said that the antichrist will reign from the Temple (2Thess.2:4). The Temple will not be rebuilt under Palestinian control.

And finally Paul wrote that someday all Israel will be saved (Romans 11:26). This will not happen if Israel no longer exists.

What does all of this mean to Christians? If God promised Israel that land and reneges on His promise, then He might renege on your promise of salvation as well. Paul wrote to Titus about “the hope of eternal life which God promised ages ago” (Titus 1:2). God cannot lie and His promises are faithful (Hebrews 10:23). Thus if God keeps his promises to Israel and the land, then He will keep His promises to you about eternal salvation. Watch God working with Israel and rest assured that He will keep working with you because a promise is a promise. And like He did not forsake a stiff-necked rebellious Israel, God will not turn His back on us. God loves Israel and Satan hates Israel.

God says that anyone that touches Israel touches the apple (pupil) of His eye (Zechariah 2:8). That means that anybody that messes with Israel sticks his finger in God’s eye. Why does Satan hate the Israelis? He hates them because God loves them in spite of their unbelief and one day is going to set up His kingdom in their midst for a thousand years as He gives them a new heart and a new spirit (Zechariah 12:10 , Jeremiah 31:33).

Israel's War and Unbalanced Speculation

2006-07-26T19:51:00.000-07:00

An article on the current war in Israel with biblical perspectives

By: Jan Markell

www.olivetreeview.org

Prophecy lovers are searching the Bible for connections to the current Mid East conflict as it relates to the Bible. While significant events are predicted in the Bible that relate to such wars, be careful with unbalanced speculation. Such speculation that then doesn't come to pass has caused many to toss the entire subject onto the ash heap of history. But here are some thoughts to ponder:

· Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is quoted in The Jerusalem Post as saying that he, "hopes for an 'eternal covenant' signed betweeen Israel and its neighbors" even in the midst of a raging war! While this raises red flags about the covenant of Daniel 9:27 when Antichrist fools Israel into such an act, Antichrist is not yet on the scene. And yet the statement is a significant one. It is setting the stage for a climate in Israel for peace at any cost and under any circumstances. That signing officially kicks off the Tribulation--Daniel's 70th Week.

· Eschatology (Bible prophecy) Web sites, including this one, are setting new records for visitors. People are watching, wondering, and asking questions. Some of us have been ridiculously accused of trying to "hasten the end times" as I was on air recently. Don't fall into the "I predict" category as we still see through a glass darkly. (I Cor. 13:12). Avoid the sensational and please don't be dogmatic to inquiring friends.

· Isaiah 17 states, "Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap," and Amos 1:3 says, "Thus saith the Lord: For three transgressions of Damascus, I will not turn away punishment thereof." This is going to happen eventually, timing unknown. Presently, it is likely this would only happen if Syria got involved with her chemical weapons inflicting massive damage on Israel and her people. Israel could be tempted to retaliate with nuclear weapons but don't rush to judgment. This would be a last resort as that would invite a wider war. Yet she must protect her people and send a message that the tiny Jewish state is not up for grabs by her power-hungry neighbors.

· CNN announced this week that a manuscript dating back to 800-1000 AD has been discovered in Ireland and that it was opened to Psalm 83. This describes a scenario of an end-time battle where most of Israel's neighbors come against her in a last days' war. You can view it in a film presentation here:

http://www.olivetreeviews.org/topics/israel.shtml

All the players are listed. I do NOT believe the current conflict is leading to Psalm 83 as much of the Arab world is opposed to Hezbollah's actions, realizing it is orchestrated by Iran and Syria. Iran is not Arab, though it is Muslim. The Arab world is beginning to be alarmed at the rapid climb of power-hungry Iran and her insane leader Achmadinejad. That is yet a future war unrelated to the current conflict.

· The Gog-Magog invasion of Ezekiel 38-39 takes place when Israel is trusting in the peace and security of Antichrist. While turning on the TV makes on think the Tribulation has begun as the earth growns with problems, it has not begun.

· Strong Delusion! Israel's Prime Minister Olmert has just stated that he still plans on a massive West Bank withdrawal. This can only be a part of the great end-time delusion the Bible often refers to (II Thess. 2:11). No clear-thinking person or leader would be engaged in a serious war affecting hundreds of thousands of her people and still announce that she plans to appease the evil-doers even more!

The end-time clock is moving ahead. There are those in Israel dying of heart attacks, a reminder of the Luke 21 reference when last days' events will cause men's heart to fail them for fear.

To the believer, we know that "when you see these things begin to come to pass, look up and know your redemption draws nigh" (Luke 21:28).

Fall of the House of Easau

2006-07-25T22:42:00.000-07:00

The following is an article extracted from billcloud.org which gives a biblical insght of what is happening in the Mid East

By: Bill Cloud
www.billcloud.org

Lately Iran's president has been making some very inflammatory remarks in regards to Israel and the West. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad recently renewed the Islamic call for Israel's destruction and also declared that now is the time for the West to submit to Allah: "On the anniversary of the victory of the Islamic Revolution, the Iranian nation … calls upon those governments to worship Allah." These types of remarks, coupled with Iran's obvious pursuit of nuclear armaments has many people considering that war with Iran is inevitable. While this may be true in some respect (a pre-emptive strike perhaps), I can't help but thinking that the next major end-time development is brewing elsewhere.

As most of you are aware, recent Palestinian elections paved the way for the terror group Hamas to assume legitimate power and to begin speaking officially for the Palestinian people. Jeff Jacoby, a columnist for the Boston Globe, noted that the Hamas win "is an unambiguous reality check into the nature of Palestinian society. And if there is one thing that the West badly needs, it is more realism and less delusion about the Palestinians." I wholeheartedly agree.

Case in point: even as Condoleezza Rice traveled the Middle East seeking support from our Arab "allies" in isolating the Hamas government (Egypt and Saudi Arabia rejected such an idea), President Bush tried to put a positive spin on the development. He implied that the Hamas victory over Fatah was because Palestinians desperately desired "honest government." Mr. Jacoby counters by saying, "Palestinians are not stupid, and it insults their intelligence to pretend that when they vote to empower a genocidal organization with a platform straight out of Mein Kampf, what they're really after is better health care ... It's a safe bet that hatred and mass murder had something to do with the turnout." Amen!

Everyone needs to understand that there is little difference between Hamas and Fatah other than the fact that Fatah (the political entity affiliated with the late Yassir Arafat) sometimes pretended to accept Israel's right to exist. In reality, that was simply a ruse executed with the same purpose in mind as that of those who were continuously launching rockets into Gaza and the Golan - kill the Jews and destroy Israel by any means possible. Ironically, the Hamas victory peels away the façade, making it easier for anyone with half a brain to grasp the reality of the situation. That reality is this: more Palestinians than not support Hamas and their uncompromising and murderous way of dealing with Israel - that is, her total destruction!

It doesn't stop with the nation of Israel, however. At about the same time Iran's President was railing against Israel and the West, Iran's Hamas allies were predicting the demise of governments beyond Jerusalem. On February 3, 2006, overall Hamas political leader Khaled Mashal declared: "We say to this West. . . . By Allah, you will be defeated. Tomorrow, our nation will sit on the throne of the world. This is not a figment of the imagination, but a fact." This, coming from the representative of an organization that most have assumed was interested only in obtaining lands in the Middle East, i.e. Israel.

Consider also that Hamas has now secured financial support from Iran and is actively seeking the same from Russia. Iran is also negotiating with Russia in order to realize their goal of becoming a nuclear power. In other words, Hamas and Iran are making it clear what they think of the U.S. and other Western powers. In effect, we are returning to a scenario that hasn't existed for close to two decades now - hostile Islamic governments courting Russian assistance and, perhaps, intervention in Middle Eastern affairs. As it stands now, Syria is the lone regional power still beholden to Moscow. With the addition of Iran and an emerging Palestinian state to their stable of beneficiaries, Russia would regain some lost influence in the region. It is very possible that the Russian government, also pining for a return to past glories, sees the Hamas electoral victory as a means of countering growing American influence in the Middle East. In other words, we potentially have the ingredients for what Ezekiel described in chapters 38 & 39 - an assumed Russian-led confederation of mostly Islamic nations invading tiny Israel.

That brings me to my next point. Why do they invade? Is it retaliation perhaps? When you study who the invading nations are, you will notice the conspicuous absence of a long-time Russian ally and sworn enemy to Israel - Syria. Why? Interestingly enough, most of Hamas' "external" leadership - those living outside of Palestinian controlled areas - reside in Syria. I do not believe this is happenstance for it is Syria, Damascus specifically, that is to factor prominently in Bible prophecy, more sooner than later in my opinion. It was from a Damascus mosque that Hamas' Khaled Mashal predicted the downfall of the West and the advent of a global Islamic power. It is in Syria that many feel Saddam's WMDs can be found. Therefore, is it possible that the reason Syria is not mentioned in Ezekiel's roster of invading nations is because Syria is no more (see Isaiah 17:1)? And should that prove to be accurate, what provokes Syria's destruction? Might it be associated with the significant Hamas presence?

As we have reported before, the Bible suggests that in the end, Hamas' role in world events may not be limited to Israel proper but could extend around the globe. In Genesis 6:11, the earth is "filled with violence." The Hebrew word translated as "violence" is hamas. In Obadiah's prophecy against Edom, the house of Esau (which I believe to be the present-day Palestinians), Esau's descendants are "cut off forever" because of the violence (hamas) they have committed against their brother Jacob (Obadiah 1:10). What fascinates me even more about this is who Obadiah specifies as the one being used to destroy Esau's house once and for all.

"The house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame; But the house of Esau shall be stubble; They shall kindle them and devour them, And no survivor shall remain of the house of Esau," For the LORD has spoken." (Obadiah 1:18)

It is the "house of Joseph" who is instrumental in Esau's complete destruction and as I have suggested to you in this publication, the true believers in this country are primarily those the Bible refers to as the House of Joseph. Therefore, it seems possible that this country may be used to bring about Esau's demise. What is even more compelling, if not a little puzzling, is that the Bible seems to hint this might happen very, very soon. Here is why.

"For violence (hamas) against your brother Jacob, shame shall cover you, and you shall be cut off forever." (Obadiah 1:10)

Shame overwhelms them because of the violence - hamas. The Hebrew word translated as "shame" carries with it the idea of being made bare or naked. The word is vauc bushah and appears here in the feminine form. However, the word written in its root form (which is also its masculine form) is auc bush! Is it possible that, even though President Bush is pushing for a independent Palestinian state, he may be forced to deal violently with the unintended consequences of his handiwork, that is, to destroy another terrorist government dedicated to our destruction!

An eye witness account on the ground

2006-07-25T21:36:00.000-07:00

The following is the transcript from an eye witness in Jerusalem.

I have just returned from Israel where Hezbollah continues to boast of lobbing over 2200 rockets into Israel to target civilians since Israel launched the offensive to make this terror organization in Lebanon pay for the kidnapping of three Israeli soldiers. These same terrorists are using human shields in Lebanon in order to raise the death toll and make Israel appear to be the heartless aggressor with no regard for human life.

Hezbollah is using human shields in their war against Israel. The rockets are being fired from outside homes, and the families taken into the tunnels to insure maximum civilian casualties. They want to insure that Israel loses the public opinion battle, and the liberal media is more than willing to assist them.

Hezbollah’s representative Hossein Safiadeen’s defiant statement came during a conference in Tehran attended by representatives from HAMAS, and ambassadors from Lebanon and Syria. “We are going to make Israel not safe for Israelis. There will be no place they are safe. You will see a new Middle East in the way of Hezbollah and Islam, not in the way of Rice and Israel.”

His challenge was issued even as U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was meeting in Lebanon with Prime Minister Faud Saniora. Hezbollah, represented by the Lebanese government, rejected the peace proposal Rice placed on the table.

Safiadeen is adamantly opposed to any efforts to arrange a truce between Israel and Lebanon, even though there are some Arab states, including Egypt and Saudi Arabia that are pressuring Syria to end support for Hezbollah. Both Syria and Iran strongly support Hezbollah with funds and arms. As I told the anchors on Fox News Monday morning, the Secretary is trying to negotiate with a proxy organization that has no power. Hezbollah can only do what those that hold the purse strings (Iran and Syria) order them to do.

Syria has hinted that they might talk, but made the return of the Golan Heights one of the talking points. Israel is not likely to give up another area that would allow a base for further missile attacks.

Safiadeen is convinced that the people in Israel will pack up and leave the area if Hezbollah will simply increase their rocket and suicide-bombing attacks. According to him, “The people who came to Israel, (they) moved there to live, not to die. If we continue to attack, they will leave. This war will be remembered as the beginning of the end for Israel."

They do not know the Jewish people. The Mayor of Naharya told me that it was his destiny to stay and stand. He has fought in three other wars. He warned that Jews, Christians, anyone not Muslim was in the terrorists’ crosshairs. Even as we drove north from Naharya, Katuysha rockets roared overhead toward other targets in Israel.

I was privileged to interview the mother, father, brothers and the young bride of just ten months of one of the kidnapped soldiers. During the interview, we were joined by the families of the other two missing soldiers. The family pled with us to keep the plight of their son in the forefront of the headlines.

Your ambassador to Jerusalem,

Mike Evans Jerusalem Post

Medical Mission to Sarawak June 2006

2006-07-24T00:53:00.000-07:00

To fulfill a pledge made to the people of Bekelalan, two years ago, our team made a trip to Sarawak to minister to the tribal people.

Our trip was full of adventure starting from the first leg. The plane scheduled to take us to Miri was delayed for 3 hrs in Johor Bahru as one of the instruments reading in the pilot cabin showed extreme abnormality and may be dangerous to fly. The plane had to be on standby awaiting the arrival of the maintenance engineer who was on leave. Finally the fault was rectified and we took off, arriving at Miri behind schedule and the connecting flight on to Lawas was delayed in order to accommodate us.

Within minutes, we took off and headed for Lawas and before we could land, dark clouds and rain came. Approaching Lawas, one of our team members saw a circular rainbow in the clouds just ahead of our aircraft which flew right through it. Later on we came to understand that this was a sign from God to confirm that He is with us because the ground conditions were so bad that even the locals confirmed that they have not experienced such conditions before.

To land at Lawas, the aircraft must negotiate a mountain range and get through a narrow gap in the range. As visibility was down to only 500 meters, the aircraft could not see the mountain and had to turn around and return to Miri. We were delayed for a night.

The next day, our flight was further delayed for half a day but we finally made it to Lawas at 1 pm. Upon landing, we took off immediately in the 4WD to Bekelalan as we had a meeting scheduled for 8pm. We had to negotiate over a hundred miles of off-road timber track.

The condition of the road was very bad as it had rained in the area for over 8 months continuously. The whole stretch of the road had been churned up with tyre tracks of over 2 ft deep. To run on this kind of conditions, all the 4WDs need to be elevated with high wheels and modified suspensions.

By 8 pm we were deep in the jungle and we came to a bridge that was partially washed away by the river. We could do nothing except to sit it out through the night in the jungle. It was cold and rainy throughout the night. The villagers who had expected us waited until 3 am before they dispersed.

The next morning they sent out a rescue truck to locate us and with this help we managed to forge the river and continued our journey. The rest of the way was not any easier and our vehicle got bogged down in several other places but with the help of the other vehicle they pulled each other out of the mud literally. Every time the vehicle got stuck, we had to get down and walk barefooted in the mud. Without realizing it the horse flies and sand flies had a great feast at our bare legs. Having rolled up our long pants to walk, soon our legs were swollen and itched like crazy with all the bites from the flies.

We arrived the next day at the village at 3 pm. The short stretch which would have taken only 2 hrs to travel in good weather now took us more than half a day. Upon arriving we immediately set about treating the patients in the villages as there was not much time. We stopped only for dinner followed immediately with a revival meeting in the church.

The Lord gave a word that called for the people to turn back to Him as many had grown cold and complacent in their walk with Him. When an altar call was made for the rededication of their lives to the Lord all the leaders and more than half of the congregation came forward to rededicate themselves.

After dinner the medical clinic continued until well past midnight as there was a steady stream of patients. This was continued in the morning and by 10 am we had to make the return trip to Lawas as we also had another meeting scheduled.

The trip out was not any easier. We were bogged down again in many places and to make it worse, the vehicle had to climb a very steep stretch of the road. Under the conditions of the slippery and muddy road, our vehicle came to a stand still again. However, this time there were another four vehicles that are traveling with us and together, they pulled and pushed each other up the hill. It was such a rewarding experience to witness the tenacity of the tribal people and their never give up attitude. It was also a marvel to see their skills of survival and their unity in working together to overcome such heavy odds.

They had such skills in handling the vehicles and also their improvising with whatever resources they could lay hold of in the jungle. Having got out of the bad stretch, we began to make our way out and after half an hour, I saw the driver pumping away at the brake pedal. To our horror, the brake pads of the vehicle had been totally worn out when the vehicle struggled through the mud. The mud and sand that went into the wheel hub has done its work of abrasion on the brake pads. It was a very dangerous drive out as the vehicle had to negotiate sharp bends through the mountain. There were steep incline to negotiate and our driver used the low gear to drive all the way. To slow the vehicle down he had to rely on the gear.

This went on for a few hours until we reached a timber camp where our driver managed to get a pair of new brake pads which he fitted to the vehicle. We made it back to Lawas but it was 11 pm and already too late for our meeting.

The next morning we flew out to Miri and went straight to the SIB church where we took the service. Once again we took a revival message and again a great number of people rededicated their lives to the Lord. The Lord moved sovereignly and when a general prayer was made for those who came forward, some of them began to fall under the power of God and many wept and repented. Others with needs were also ministered to by the Holy Spirit.

One lady who had just been operated on for a malign condition felt an electric shock going through her body when I laid hands on her and she fell backwards. Later she told her husband that she felt no pain when she fell even though there was no one to catch her.
Another man came forward with excruciating pain in the lower back. He was prayed for and immediately the pain left him. Another woman with one deft ear was also prayed for and was healed.

During the fellowship after the service, the local pastor told us a testimony of a recent visitation by God to the area.

In Penut, another village about 2 hours away and on 20th Dec 2005, at about 8.10 pm a hugh circle of light appeared in the night sky. It was about few thousand ft high and there was a cross in it. On the cross was the image of a man and from his chest came forth another strong yellow glow as though the heart was pulsating. The cross which was red in colour had divided the circle into four quadrants. Soon the people noticed seven stars appearing in the four quadrants surrounding the cross.

This manifestation was first seen by a lady who was staying about a hundred feet from the church. She immediately cried out to her daughter to call for the pastor who was having a board meeting in the church. Upon hearing the commotion outside, the pastor asked his wife to go out and see if there was a quarrel that was taking place. She came running and when she saw the manifestation she fell straight to the ground under the power of God and could not get up for a long time.

Soon the pastor and others from inside the church came out and they also fell under the power of God. There was great repentance as the whole village began to pray. The image remained in the sky for one and half hours until 9.40 pm. Meanwhile there was a father and son who was out hunting in another part of the area and they also witnessed this manifestation from about ten miles away. Interestingly, the manifestation was in the colour of the Sarawak state flag which is Black, red and yellow.

At 9.40 pm the lights began to disperse and regroup together and this time it formed into the map of Malaysia covering both East and West. This image remained in the night sky until 3 am. before it faded away. No one is clear as to the meaning of this manifestation as yet. One of the leaders later received a word from the Lord that there would be another visitation on the 8th of the month. However, the month and year was not revealed. We would have to wait until the Lord makes His will known to His people. I have asked the pastor to let me know and we will surely try and be there when the Lord next come for an encounter with His people.

In spite of all the tough challenges we went through, the Lord had been faithful and He had blessed the local congregation through the demonstration of His power with signs and wonders and we ourselves had been blessed knowing that God had been with us all the way.

Secrets of ocean birth laid bare

2006-07-23T23:20:00.000-07:00

The following is a report which makes good and interesting reading.

Secrets of ocean birth laid bare
By Helen Briggs
BBC News science reporter

The crack is 8m-wide in places
The largest tear in the Earth's crust seen in decades, if not centuries, could carve out a new ocean in Africa, according to satellite data.

Geologists say a crack that opened up last year may eventually reach the Red Sea, isolating much of Ethiopia and Eritrea from the rest of Africa.

The 60km-long rift was initially sparked by an earthquake in September.

Follow-up observations reported in the journal Nature suggest the split is growing at an unprecedented rate.

See the rift in detail
We think if these processes continue, a new ocean will eventually form

Dr Tim Wright, University of Oxford
It betrays events deep beneath the ground, where some of the tectonic plates that form Africa are gradually moving apart from the Arabian plate, causing the crust to stretch and thin.

As rifts appear, molten rock bubbles up from beneath the surface, hardening to form a new strip of ocean floor.

Dr Tim Wright from the University of Oxford, UK, said if the ripping of the crust continued, the horn of Africa would eventually split off from the rest of the continent, in about a million years.

"We think if these processes continue, a new ocean will eventually form," he told the BBC News website. "It will connect to the Red Sea and the ocean will flow in."

Fundamental processes

Dr Wright is a member of a team from the UK and Ethiopia that has been monitoring the creation of the new ocean basin; a rare event on dry land.

They used sensitive seismic instruments, field measurements and satellite images from the European Space Agency's Envisat spacecraft to study what is happening beneath the ground.

"We've been able to work up all the satellite data and get a very precise map," said Dr Wright.

"It's the biggest rifting episode at least since the 1970s and possibly in hundreds of years.

"It's the first time we've been able to use satellite images to investigate the fundamental processes behind rifting."

The shift in the Earth's plates has been happening gradually over the course of two million years but every now and again earthquakes and volcanic eruptions herald sudden break-ups.

Space techniques

One such event took place in September last year, opening up a 60km-long (37 mile) stretch of a fault-line that runs from Ethiopia to the southern edge of the Red Sea.

An international team is monitoring two million years of rock history
"It's amazing," said Cindy Ebinger, from Royal Holloway, University of London.

"It's the first large event we have seen like this in a rift zone since the advent of some of the space-based techniques we're now using.

"These techniques give us a resolution and a detail to see what's really going on and how the Earth processes work."

Scientists have calculated that 2.5 cubic km (0.6 cubic mile) of magma has flowed up through the crack in the Earth's crust.

It is enough to fill London's Wembley stadium 2,000 times or smother the area within the capital's M25 orbital motorway with molten rock to a depth of 1m (1 yard).

Activity Update

2006-06-17T01:15:00.000-07:00

It has been a blessed two weeks in the mission field in a neighbouring country.

Right from the start, the presence of God was so real in our midst. When the believers gathered on the first day and as the word of God was expounded the mighty presence of God came into the meeting. The believers were hungry for the word and as they sat listening and learning, their faith level began to rise. This brought down the presence of the Holy Spirit and at the end of the session; the believers were brought through the exercise of moving in the spiritual gifts.

Many began to see visions for the first time, others experience receiving the revelation gift of the word of prophecy. One by one, they began to bring forth the word that the Holy Spirit has given to each of them. It was a totally new experience for every one of them. The Holy Spirit also quickened that further natural disaster would visit the nation in the near future after the recent earthquake in May 2005. Another word that came forth was the need for a man to stand as a voice to the nation calling for national repentance. The fellowship went on to well past midnight as the Holy Spirit led the group in exercising their gifts.

The next day (Sunday), the word has gone out concerning the euphoric experience of the night before. There were three worship services back-to-back starting from 7.30 a.m. stretching to mid-day. Every congregation was challenged and charged with the word and all the people experienced an uplifting and a revival.

Next was a dinner party thrown for a house dedication by my host family. After dinner, I was given five minutes notice to share a word with the family and to pray. This was a surprise for me as I had thought that I was just going along to enjoy a great meal. PTL that as I entered the sitting room, the word of revelation came to me for the host family.

Considering that I had met the family for less than 24 hours, I knew only some of them by name while the rest were new acquaintances. As I began to share, the word of knowledge and the word of wisdom began to flow. Hidden and unknown conditions and relationship problems began to be revealed. The family members were struck in awe as family secrets were unveiled. At the end of the message, heads of all the extended families recommitted and rededicated their own lives to the Lord and also their respective families as well.

The following day I visited a bible college in another part of the city. This bible college is spread out over 6.5 acres and once had more than 300 students and a complex of offices, classrooms and dormitories.

During the riots of 1998, a large group of provocateurs came and razed the whole compound to the ground except for a concrete building which stands in the middle of the complex. They attacked the students with machetes, both boys and girls. One of the students was martyred. I was shown the photographic records of the aftermath. There were pictures of teenage girls and boys with wounds from their heads to their feet inflicted by the provocateurs. One boy had his neck nearly severed from the back of the neck. In fact, the spinal cord was also cut and the fluid from his brain had drained out. Medically, he would have become paralyzed if he can survive.

However, a miracle took place, not only has he survived, he is currently pastoring a vibrant church. Praise The Lord!

Today the same groups of provocateurs are still camped around the compound and have prevented any reconstruction activities to be carried out. They now have about 30 plus bible school students and a drug rehab work together with a mental disorder rehab work.

During ministry time a deft mute was delivered and instantly spoke and heard for the first time. Others also received healing and revelation words of encouragement.

I asked the leaders if they were afraid with all the provocateurs encamped around them. The answer was yes but they are ever ready to be a martyr for Christ. Their faith level is something that we can learn from.

Each day more and more meetings were added and many came for counseling. Many received emotional healing and broken families were restored including one woman who had a husband who is a non-believer. This family was already on the verge of breakup but the Holy Spirit touched their lives and today he is praying with his wife and is visiting church. PTL! They are also enjoying the bliss of their first love. Healing also took place between the children and the parents, in particular the mother.

Another lady who had suffered the trauma of a broken home during her early childhood had to be delivered from the spiritual oppressions that had bound her for over 30 years. Immediately after she was delivered, her countenance changed and in the following days all her friends were surprised with her joy and radiance.

Several other families were also revived as emotional healing took place. They testified of the goodness of God over the last few days of the transformation in their homes. There is now new love and joy in their families and partners who have gone cold in their faith have now come back to the Lord.

During the course of a late night session in one of the churches, where the work of the Holy Spirit was taught, the congregation was also released to move in the gifts. The Holy Spirit spoke through five people and the same message came through revealing of yet another wave of persecution that is coming to the churches in this nation in the future. This would be a greater persecution than the last. The intercessors were moved to cry out to the Lord for His mercies. There was great travail as they confess the sins of the nation.

Subsequent meetings were geared towards children and parental relationship in the Christian homes. Many of the problems of the families were dealt with and all the mothers and fathers present were convicted of their past failures to bring their families up in the fear of the Lord and also according to godly standards as demanded from the scriptures. There were two families who came for prayers and confessed of their failure in bringing their families up properly resulting in their children now serving term in jail.

The fire of revival has started among the churches visited and the people have committed to continue to keep this fire growing and are praying that this revival will spread to others.

They have covenant to continue meeting together for prayers and to exercise the spiritual gifts that they have received and to press on irrespective of the high price that they are challenge with to keep their faith.

Earthquakes in various places.

2006-05-27T01:52:00.000-07:00

The surge in the frequency of earthquakes has become unparalleled in history. At the time of writing, yet another severe earthquake has struck on the island of Java in Indonesia at 5.54 am on 27th May. Thousands of people have died and thousands more are injured and the quake of 6.2 richter scale is just 15 miles from the rumbling volcano of Mt. Merapi which has been spewing lava and ashes for over two weeks.

The nation of Indonesia is still reeling from the effects of the last tsumami that killed over 110,000 people in Acheh and another over 100,000 in other neighbouring countries. Much of Acheh is still under devastation and people are still staying in make-shift refugees tents.

In between all these, there have also been medium scales quakes happening on a regular basis around the western sea off Sumatra near the island of Nias.

The occurences of these and other volcanic eruptions and earthquakes are part of the pattern of events that would have to take place before the last days.
The scriptures clearly tell us that there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. (Mt 24:7) These are early signs before the coming of the last days.

Much hype has also been made in the media about the worldwide screening of the 'Da Vinci Code.' The author of the book and the producer of the film both acknowledge that the script in the movie is all fictional. These have been the works of the gnostics which try to discredit the time honored truth of the scriptures, having been proven by historians and also records of the region during the time of Jesus.

But because of the skillful art of deception of the digital techniques of modern film technolgy and also the spinning of the plot, it has become such a convincing piece of work that many Christians and even clergy has been shakened in their faith. Some have questioned their own belief and have given up their faith.

Why is it that this is happening?

Again, it is recorded in scriptures that there will be a great falling away before the last days. The fact will remain that many Christians insufficiently grounded in the sciptures will have their faith challenged. They would be found wanting and these would be the ones who would fall away.

Another piece of Hollywood's deception was a movie called 'Angel in America'. From the cover, it was presented to look as if the Angel of God has come to visit America. However as the film progressed the demonic plot began to reveal. The whole story was spun around the homosexual lives of the main actors who were projected to be the power brokers of the Whitehouse. The entire film was dedicated towards the promotion of homosexuality and finally when the angel appeared to one of the homosexual, she had a sexual relationship with him.

The angel identified herself as the intercontinental principality of America. To the non-christian society, this is known as the territorial spirit over America which controls the state of affairs over the country. Further on in the movie the angel appeared a second time and this time she is no more clothed in white but she had a black and white outfit. Out of her mouth comes blasphemes that blamed God for forsaking the world and the conditions it is in now. THe dialogue between both the man and the angel were crude accusation of God.

Finally, the homosexual man was brought up to heaven which was presented as a place of ruins as in the old Grecian and Roman culture. There he was greeted by a panel of all the continetal territorial pricipalities of the world (territorial spirits) and was granted a place in heaven.

This is all contrary to the pure word of God. Homosexuality is not acceptable in all religions and also in the law of many countries. Scriptures also confirm that homosexuals will not inherit the kingdom of heaven.

Clearly, the deception in the world is widespread and many will fall away from the righteous path and will follow the ways of the world.

Let us beware of the deceptions that are in the world.

Worldly Deception

2006-05-16T07:56:00.000-07:00

I was at a church over the weekend and the Pastor narrated his experience of his encounter with a blind man on the streets. According to his account, he saw a blind man walking with his stick and heading towards a roadside stove with a strong fire burning. It looks as if he was about to hurt himself because he could not see what and where he was heading. Out of concern, the Pastor went over to try and lead the blind man away from the apparent danger.

Upon tapping the blind man on his shoulder to alert him, the blind man turned around, removed his dark glasses and rebuked the Pastor for disturbing him. This was a clear case of deception by the blind man to cheat innocent and compassionate peple of their hard earned money by pretending to be blind and deceiving the public of money.

In recent times, I have also received numerous emails offering large sums of money which was supposed to be ill gotten and requires some intermedaries from other countries to release such funds.

There are also offers from so-called reputable firms that claim hugh sums of money owing to their companies through international trade and they are seeking for individuals or parties to help them to collect such funds with the lucrative offer of 10% commission of the total sum collected. They go to great extent to try and establish their creditability.

The offer is for the funds to be paid into the agent's account first and then released to the so-called exporting firms. This is too good to be true!! How can anyone trust some unknown people in other countries to collect hugh sums of money without any obligations?

Now, the art of scamming and deception has taken on a spiritual tint. I have just received another offer from Nigeria saying that some Dr. John Joko who had passed away due to a stroke had bequested nearly USD 1 million to me even without knowing if I existed. The offer was made in a personal letter with full salutations and respect.

The so-called Christian solicitor who was supposed to be handling the fortune claimed that this so-called Dr John had seen my name in some Christian journal and because of the reputable christian work I had been doing in bringing the gospel to the world, he had bequested this money to me.

Oh, how convincing and honorable it sounded!!!

I am reminded of another Pastor who actually met another so-called Christian Pastor from Nigeria while attending an international christian seminar. He was also made an offer like this. He fell for it hook, line and sinker. When he responded to the offer, the Nigerian man asked for hugh sum of money upfront to facilitate the release of the funds. This demand was made in installments of USD50,000 and over a period of months.

Now the pastor is already poor and he went and borrowed money from relatives, friends and even loan sharks so that he could give this conman the so called fascilitating money. Today he has lost few hundred thousand dollars and he has lost his church, his ministry and saddled with a hugh debt he cannot repay.

The lesson is, there is always a fool born everyday. Out of greed, people will compromise their integrity and would fall into the pits of destructions.
On the other hand, the world is full of conmen and swindlers. Unfortunately, some so-called christians are also into such ungodly deception.

The bible says,'The name of God is blasphemed among the gentiles because of you'(Rom 2:24)

As Christians, we must give an account for every word and deed that we say and do on the day of judgement. Our commission is to win souls for Jesus Christ and not to destroy lives. Remember the scriptures tell us that we will reap what we sow.

A HISTORY OF EASTER and the EASTER EGG

2006-04-07T22:02:00.000-07:00

The commercial world is cashing in on the sales of Easter Eggs and Easter Bunnies and even Christians are all jumping into this practice without even knowing if this is actually a Christian festival at all.

A good article has been written on this and is reproduced for our enlightenment.

Delve into the history and origins of the Christian festival of Easter and you come up with a few surprises. For instance, Easter eggs do not owe their origins to Christianity and originally the festival of Easter itself had nothing to do with Christianity either. A closer look at the history of both Easter and the Easter Egg reveals a much earlier association with pagan ritual and in particular, the pagan rites of spring, dating back into pre history.

For us, the ancient rites celebrating the Spring Equinox are most obviously associated with the mysterious Druids and places like Stone Henge, but most ancient races around the world had similar spring festivals to celebrate the rebirth of the year. The Egg, as a symbol of fertility and re-birth, has been associated with these rites from the earliest times.

The Christian Festival Of Easter

In fact, the festival of Easter is a classic example of the early Christian church adapting an existing pagan ritual to suit their own purposes. The Saxon spring festival of Eostre, was named for their goddess of dawn, and when they came to Britain in about the 5th century AD, the festival came with them along with re-birth and fertility rituals involving eggs, chicks and rabbits. When the Saxons converted to Christianity and started to celebrate the death and the resurrection of Christ, it coincided with Eostre, so that's what the early church called the celebration, Eostre or Easter in modern English.

The actual date that Easter falls on every year is governed by a fairly complex calculation related to the Spring Equinox. The actual formula is: The first Sunday after the first full moon following the Spring Equinox is Easter Sunday or Easter Day. This formula was set by Egyptian astronomers in Alexandra in 235ad, and calculated using the same method as the Jews have traditionally used to calculate the feast of the Passover, which occurred at about the same time as the crucifixion.
Easter Eggs

As well as adopting the festival of Eostre, the Egg, representing fertility and re-birth in pagan times, was also adopted as part of the Christian Easter festival and it came to represent the 'resurrection' or re-birth of Christ after the crucifixion and some believe it is a symbol of the the stone blocking the Sepulchre being 'rolled' away.

In the UK and Europe, the earliest Easter eggs were painted and decorated hen, duck or goose eggs, a practice still carried on in parts of the world today. As time went by, artificial eggs were made and by the end of the 17th century, manufactured eggs were available for purchase at Easter, for giving as Easter gifts and presents.

Easter eggs continued to evolve through the 18th and into the 19th Century, with hollow cardboard Easter eggs filled with Easter gifts and sumptuously decorated, culminating with the fabulous Faberge Eggs. Encrusted with jewels, they were made for the Czar's of Russia by Carl Faberge, a French jeweller. Surely these were the 'ultimate' Easter gift, to buy even a small one now would make you poorer by several millions of pounds.
The Chocolate Easter Egg

It was at about this time (early 1800's) that the first chocolate Easter egg appeared in Germany and France and soon spread to the rest of Europe and beyond. The first chocolate eggs were solid soon followed by hollow eggs. Although making hollow eggs at that time was no mean feat, because the easily worked chocolate we use today didn't exist then, they had to use a paste made from ground roasted Cacao beans.

By the turn of the 19th Century, the discovery of the modern chocolate making process and improved mass manufacturing methods meant that the Chocolate Easter Egg was fast becoming the Easter Gift of choice in the UK and parts of Europe, and by the 1960's it was well established worldwide.

Reproduced with permission from;

©2004 - Aphrodite Handmade Luxury Chocolates (www.aphrodite-chocolates.co.uk)

The Longing Of The Soul

2006-03-16T20:24:00.000-08:00

I had the occassion of sharing with one of my non-christian friends about the very nature of man in seeking for theAlmighty.

This instinct has been input into all man by God himself. Right from the beginning of time, mankind has always been looking towards finding and reaching God. This however can differ from culture to culture depending on their geographical location, cultural upbringing and their deepest desires.

Some have withdrawn themselves to remote and isolated locations totally separated from the distractions and temptations of the material world. Others have buried themselves in intellectual research of scriptures and spiritual teachings in the archives of world religion in the hope of finding the one and true God.

Jesus Christ promised us "Seek and you shall find, ask and it shall be given and knock and the door will be opened". The key towards finding God is to be proactive and be sincere in our quest.

John Fisher from Purpose Driven Church wrote the following;

Your soul is the place where you know there is a God even before you meet Him. The soul is that in us which longs for the right thing. And once we come into a relationship with God, it’s the place where we commune with Him. The soul can be filled with God or devoid of Him, but if it is empty, God is the only thing that will fill it.

We can throw all sorts of pleasures and loves in there, but none will satisfy like God, because the soul was made to long for Him and no other. When God breathed into Adam, he became a living soul, forever longing for God’s breath to fill him again.
So growing your soul means to enlarge your capacity for God and truth. It’s all about learning to walk with God -- listening to Him through His word and through the natural revelations of Him that come through the things He has made, which includes all the people you know since they were made in God’s image.

Growing your soul can also involve finding God in the ordinary life and activities we share in every day. It’s about being more conscious of the presence of God within you as you go about your normal routines of life. Growing your soul doesn’t only happen through spiritual activities like praying and reading the Bible; it can also happen in the way we do everything else. It’s a God-consciousness that enlarges as we grow it. When Paul says to pray without ceasing, he means to be more of a soul-conscious person.

This may be hard sometimes, even for the most mature of believers. We all go through times when everything around us seems dry and barren, spiritually. Our souls still long for God. David’s soul longed for God in a dry and weary land where there was no water (Psalm 63:1), and like a deer panting for water, his soul panted for the Lord (Psalm 42:1).

This is important to know, because it is not a longing that is over once we meet God. We still long for Him because we long to know Him more, and we sometimes lose sight of Him even though we know better. Just as we must regularly take in physical food in order to stay alive, our souls must have spiritual food in order to grow and be healthy. If your soul is undersized, it is because you haven’t been paying attention to it. It’s been telling you all along what it needs and wants. It’s time to do something about it.

Promoting lifelong learning.

2006-02-27T06:30:00.000-08:00

The University of the Third Age (U3A) found in countries like France, China, the United Kingdom and Malta helps people live well in their old age.

The phrase “Third Age” refers to an active post-retirement phase of one’s life. The first age consists of one’s childhood and formal education years while the second age is one’s working life. The fourth age refers to the period of dependence and sometimes senility.

The concept of the 3UA was first developed in 1972 in Toulouse, France, to give the opportunity or older persons to take part in existing academic programmes.

As the concept grew, some universities developed new programmes to cater to the needs of these students.

There are currently over 1,770 3Uas in 39 countries all over the world. They are open to people in their post retirement age generally 60 and above and offers education for leisure. It does not give out degrees but instead, certificates of participation.

The increase in knowledge and technology is so fast in the present age that inventions and products become obsolete within very short span of time. New products are taken off the shelves within a year or two. Electronic appliances are upgraded monthly.

The learning curve has become steeper and many baby boomers are finding it hard to keep up with the advances in technology. This often led to communication gaps between parents and their young adult children. In turn this leads to much frustration and a lack of patience to the elderly parents from the baby boomer generation.

In turn this leads to family breakdown as the value systems of each generation differs and because of lack of communication, impatience and disrespect come in. Often we see the younger generation of today have no more values of family units and are not willing to stay on with their aged parents.

King Solomon wrote in Proverbs 1:5; ‘A wise man will hear and increase learning. And a wise man of understanding will attain wise counsel.’
This is the truth, parents must continue their learning in order to keep abreast with their children who are now educated in the curriculum of the present age. Failing to do so will bring frustrations to both the aged parents and their children.

New cult reaching out via Internet.

2006-02-27T06:24:00.000-08:00

A new cult which is based in Indonesia, is reaching out via the Internet to the neighboring countries.

Led by a 58 year-old single mother, who reportedly has a young son, the reports quoted the sect’s website as saying that its membership was growing and that its followers included politicians.

Cult founder Lia Aminuddin claimed that an angel came to her in 1997 and had trained and tested her to be “the savior”.

She also claimed to be God’s anointed judge to mete out punishment on disbelievers. The former gardener, who referred herself as “Lia Eden”, said recent natural calamities that had occurred were all forms of punishments from God against those who challenged the authenticity of the cults teachings.

The local vernacular newspapers reported on the cult’s website which showed various rituals performed by the followers. All of them were dressed in white robes while many, who had their heads shaved, wore white bands around their heads.

Jesus had warned about the rise of false prophets and false messiahs in the time just preceding his second coming.

He said in Matthew 24: 11; ‘Then many false prophets will rise and deceive many.

Paul also gave this prophecy when he wrote in 1 Timothy 4:1 ‘Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons.

The media also report on a certain president of a middle east country who is now actively promoting and preparing for the mahdi to arise from his country.

All these are happening and will continue to happen because these are the signs that will be manifested more and more until Jesus comes again.

Along with these signs are the other events politically, socially, and natural disasters that will continue to take place in greater frequencies and magnitude.

We are seeing all these but Jesus said that these are only like labor pains that must precede the birth of the baby. In other words, his coming is not yet but just as labor pains intensify in frequency and magnitude just before the birth, it would also be so before Jesus returns to judge the world

Passing our faith to our children

2006-02-14T01:04:00.000-08:00

Today's culture shows the remarkable success of Satan in influencing the values of the world with all the TV programs and internet access into adults sites. The media has also been an influence and has been used to convince the values of people to a decadent level.

Advertisements in the media are all laced with lust and sensual suggestions. What about the behavior and dress culture of screen icons? There is a generous flaunting of the flesh which leaves nothing to the imagination.

It is a common sight to see our daughters coming to church wearing plunging necklines and also low hanging jeans or slacks. Satan has been most successful in convincing our sons and daughters that his ways lead to happiness and fun. That to be popular, they need to think, talk and act as modern culture tells them to.

The deception is also that there is no need to worry about tomorrow---that they should go for all the pleasure they can get today. That illicit sex is fun and everybody is (or should be) doing it. That drugs and alcohol are a wonderful escape. Satan has thus far been remarkably successful in his efforts.

How do we counteract this influence?

Parents must tell God's story to their children as soon as they are able to grasp it. This is done by parents exposing their children to the Scriptures, sharing what God has done in their own lives and helping each child connect to God's love and His plan.

Each child is unique and have different talents, gifts, fears and desires. The challenge of a parent is to meet each child at his or her point of need and interest. We should help them to connect to God in the context of their individual emotional and intellectual make-up.

In embracing the way of God, a child will have to identify this way with his or her own personal circumstances and thinking. Our educational efforts as parents have to be tailored to the individual child. Parents should ask God in prayer to help them see the ways that they can make His existence and truth relevant to their children.

Making connections with your children's interests will help them connect to others who walk with God successfully. They can and should picture themselves as having the potential to be servants of God.

Parents must attempt to connect with their children by perceiving what is in their hearts their feelings and emotions, hopes and dreams and what they aspire to be. These can become the basis of discussion of how God and His truth can impact their lives. they will gradually learn that God is there as a friend and help. It needs to become very personal or else they will feel it doesn't apply to them.

Was Jesus a man on this earth?

2006-01-27T22:37:00.000-08:00

An Italian judge heard arguments Friday 27 Jan 2006 on whether a small-town parish priest should stand trial for asserting that Jesus Christ existed.

The priest’s atheist accuser, Luigi Cascioli, says the Roman Catholic Church has been deceiving people for 2,000 years with a fable that Christ existed, and that the Rev. Enrico Righi violated two Italian laws by reasserting the claim.

Lawyers for Righi and Cascioli, old schoolmates, made their arguments in a brief, closed-door hearing before Judge Gaetano Mautone in Viterbo, north of Rome. They said they expected the judge to decide quickly.

Cascioli filed a criminal complaint in 2002 after Righi wrote in a parish bulletin that Jesus did indeed exist, and that he was born of a couple named Mary and Joseph in Bethlehem and lived in Nazareth.

Cascioli claims that Righi’s assertion constituted two crimes under Italian law: so-called “abuse of popular belief,” in which someone fraudulently deceives people; and “impersonation,” in which someone gains by attributing a false name to a person.

Cascioli says the church has been gaining financially by “impersonating” as Christ someone by the name of John of Gamala, the son of Judas from Gamala.

He has said he has little hope of the case succeeding in overwhelmingly Roman Catholic Italy, but that he is merely going through the necessary legal steps to reach the European Court of Human Rights, where he intends to accuse the church of what he calls “religious racism.”

Righi, 76, has stressed substantial historical evidence — both Christian and non-Christian — of Jesus’ existence.

Archeological evidences and records of ancient Rome has revealed that the very roman soldiers and persecutors who had thrown Christians into the Colosium to be eaten alive by wild beasts have seen the faith of the Christians who had died for a cause and faith that was based on the man Jesus Christ. They were so convinced with the faith and testimonies of these believers of Jesus Christ that many of them also took up the faith and in turn were put to death the same way that they persecuted the Christians.

There are many other records of such atheists or unbelievers of Jesus who had started off as cynics and persecutors of the christian faith but halfway down the road they made an about turn when they saw the truth and their folly in what they had been doing. Subsequently these have become not only fervant believers but also champions of the faith.

One such person was Paul, who was once a zealot in persecuting and killing Christians but after his conversion he wrote much of the New Testament scriptures as a revelation given to him by God.

The apostle Paul also gave his personal account of his encounter with Jesus. he wrote in 1Co 15:1-8

"Now brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you have received and on which you have taken a stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise you have believed in vain.

For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried , that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time , most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles and last of all he appeared to me also."

Many great scholars who have started off in trying to disproof the truth of Jesus have taken the same path as Paul and they have now found that the evidences they have uncovered point toward the indisputable truth that Jesus did lived as a man on this earth and there are many records of the gospel that he taught and also the miracles and signs that he did while he was on the earth.

Unveiling body piercing

2006-01-10T01:42:00.000-08:00

In search of beauty or establishing an identity, people from different cultures have adopted practices of body piercing. Today, this practice has made a renaissance among the young and trendy. Teenage girls and boys are piercing their bodies in various parts of their anatomy where they can display their accessories of rings or other metal as a form of body art.

Common areas of piercing and wearing of accessories are the ears, noses, navels and even other less conspicuous parts of the body. Wearing of metal accessories is also common among the punk culture and such accessories are a demonstration of their values which are basically diverse of the norm.

Body piercing is an age-old art form that has been used in generations in cultures all around the world. Many individuals today who seek to pierce different parts of their body may choose to do so to honor their heritage or make a unique statement of their own.

The first sign of body piercing is the form of nose rings that were recorded approximately 4,000 years ago in the Middle East. In fact, there is even mention of nose piercing in the Bible as a snare (Job 40:24). Nomadic tribes in Africa and the Middle East still practice nose piercing, and often the size and quality of the ring denote the wealth and social status of the wearer. Nose piercing is also common in India, where the left nostril is pierced to prevent medical issues and ease childbirth.

It is recorded in the bible in Ex 21:5-6; But if the servant plainly says, ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free.’ Then his master shall bring him to the judges. He shall also bring him to the door, or to the doorpost, and his master shall pierce his ear with an awl; and he shall serve him forever.

Tongue rings date back to the ancient Aztec and Mayan cultures of Central America and Mexico. These cultures heavily believed in the power of shaman, who pierced the tongues of individuals in order to communicate with their deities. The pain from the piercing forced the individual into an altered mental state, whereas the blood from the hole was shed in their honor. In addition to these native cultures, certain tribes in the Pacific Northwest also practiced tongue piercing for similar reasons.

Ear piercing is by far the most popular type of body piercing and is believed to have been practiced longer than any other form of body piercing. In fact, when scientists found what they believe to be the world's oldest fully mummified body, tests showed holes punctured through the mummy's ears. Ear piercing ranged from a status symbol to a magical ward to a coming of age ritual.

In South Asia and S.E Asia, where there are large groups of Hindus and Chinese religious groups, it is a common sight during certain religious festivals where the devotees are pierced in various parts of their bodies with metal accessories as a sign of devotion and submission to the spiritual powers that they revere.

The lip labret piercing is used in many African cultures, with graduated discs inserted in the hole to slowly stretch the skin. The size of the disc is directly associated with power, virility, and status. Similarly, tribes in Mali, Ethiopia, South America, and the Pacific Northwest pierce the lip labret. Famous explorer Dr. Livingstone came upon the Makololo tribe in the African country of Malawi and inquired to why the men in the tribe wore lip labret. The answer was a simple one: beauty.

Another piecing popular with ancient cultures and civilizations is the septum piercing. Commonly associated with the "bull ring," a septum piercing penetrates the space directly between the nostrils. Most ancient tribes pierced their septum in order to promote a fierce or war-like face on their warriors. Individuals in India, Tibet, and Nepal wear a septum piercing, as do many North American Indian tribes, including the Nez Perce. Australian aboriginals also wear a piercing through the septum and have so for thousands of years.

This piercing of the ear signifies a total obedience and submissiveness to the one who has made the piercing. Similarly the piercing in the nose signifies that the one who is pierced will follow the guidance and leading of the master and in most cases in Africa, Middle East and India it means total submission of the woman to the man.

Body piercing has been around for thousands of years, ranging back to primitive people to current individuals and tribes all over the world. Although some body piercing may be controversial, they are certainly not original or new. Many individuals choose to showcase their cultural or native heritage by choosing a body piercing that reflects their heritage. Others choose to pierce different parts of their bodies to elicit a shock to those around them. Still, others choose a piercing for personal reasons, whether it is a remembrance of a beloved friend or family member or in honor of a personal milestone.

Whatever your motive and intention for body piercing may be, first seek out the implications of the act before diving into it. Failure to do so may cause long term emotional and spiritual oppressions which are the original intent of these practices which is a dedication of worship to the god Eros .

Global Ethics

2005-12-09T23:56:00.000-08:00

The Konrad Adenauer Foundation (KAF) in cooperation with Malaysia’s Education Ministry and the Global Ethic Foundation of Germany (GEF) met in Kuala Lumpur on Dec 6 .2005 for a special forum entitled “Teaching Common Values”.

Prof Dr Hans Kung, the president of GEF explains that Global Ethic is not a new religion or school of thought but is a common principle as old as mankind. The Global Ethic refers to as set of common moral values and ethical standards which are shared by the different faiths and cultures with a common set of values that also have secular appeal.

They are:

• Having respect for all life (or You shall not kill)
• Dealing with others honestly and fairly (or You shall not steal)
• Speaking and acting truthfully (or You shall not lie)
• Respecting and loving one another (or You shall not commit sexual immorality)

Underlying the Global Ethic is the Golden Rule which asks a person to treat others as he or she would like to be treated. (Do unto others what you would want others to do unto you) This Golden Rule is one of the oldest rules of human society. It is the basis of all other rules even though it is sometimes forgotten. Indigenous communities too had ethical standards even before they were discovered.

Prof Kung pointed out that the Global Ethic is not just theory. In practical terms, it is necessary in politics, business, science, education and culture. The importance of speaking and acting truthfully is especially glaring in the present day society. With globalization, there is a greater need for Global Ethic, especially when religions become more insular within political contexts which are hostile such as in the Middle East and Kashmir.

Taking a closer look at the value systems of the world, all values and laws are derivative of the 10 Commandments that God has given to Moses and the world. Before the commandments, there was no law in the world and all man did as he thinks right.

This is possible because of the conscience that God has given to each man for guiding him in his dealing with himself and with others. However, having said that, we must also realize that our conscience may be hardened by our lifestyle and therefore the values and standards of our conscience ruling our thoughts and intentions differ.

Some have developed hardened consciences and callous hearts which would not make them blink an eye for the atrocities and evil that they do sometimes even in the name of religion as we have seen in the acts of those perpetuating terrorism in the world.

These perpetuators have become the law to themselves as we see the brutal killings in some countries where crime has been committed in the name of holy wars. Innocent women and children have been killed mercilessly all in the name of god.

But God had never perpetuated killing, in fact his commandments included ‘Thou shall not kill.’ Whether it’s killing, stealing, or any other crime, these have been condemned by God when he instituted the 10 commandments for all mankind. How then can any man justify that their evil deeds are in obedience and glorification of God?

World religious leaders and world political leaders must take a re-look at the value systems of whatever they are propagating and expanding.

With their zealous leadership in advancing their glorious plans, are they conforming to the true teachings of their religions and cultural ethics?

The world has now become a borderless global village. It is now possible to traverse the globe within hours and such propagators of their own values can import it from one country to another with such ease.

For the world to continue to exist in harmony and peace, the world societies and cultures must make a return to the original laws and ethics declared by God. These are the very foundational values of society from the very beginning of mankind. Such values cannot be discarded as a cost for present day development.

Black metal group banned!

2005-12-03T09:23:00.000-08:00

It was very encouraging to learn that the Malaysian Government has banned the performance of the Norwegian black metal band group ‘Mayhem’ from performing in Malaysia.

The reason for the ban is that this group promotes satanic worship and drug use, both of which are destructive to individuals as well as to society at large. Their very motto is “Bringing hell to your doorstep” and they have songs with lyrics about ‘Carnage’, ‘A time to die’ and ‘Deathcrush.’

Some people may say that all this is music and culture. There is nothing wrong with listening to modern music. This is from the worldly and intellectual point of view where there is an ignorance of the truth behind the whole spectrum of rock culture which inculcates violence and ungodly values.

Rock culture has its roots and practices from the occult and can easily be traced through a little reading and research. A recent article from ‘Raiders News Update’ in America carries the following write-up.

BLACK ROCK CITY, Nevada -- Across the sea in the UK, Brighton proudly wears the title these days of 'Capital of Occulture.' This year's Occulture festivities exhibited bigger than ever venues - sacred music and dance, clarivoyance, psychic and tarot readers, chakra, traditional witchcraft, tatooing, piercing, fetish satanism, shamanism, transcendent techniques, and lectures favoring paganism from the original Book of Shadows.

And then there was the 'Pleasure Dome" where magicians, sorcerers and witches discussed their trade, including Mogg Morgon, founder of the Golden Dawn Occult Society, Ralph Harvey, a prominent Wiccan High Priest, and Emrys, a Shaman of the Cromlech Covenant.

On the heels of this in the U.S., Burning Man 2004 has grown to become the largest ever, surpassing last year's 33,000 participants as the number of earth-worshipping pagans swell the ranks of party-goers from across Canada, Brazil, Germany, Russia, and 25 other countries to an isolated corner of Black Rock Desert in Nevada.

As in the past, this year's clothing-optional Burning Man offers a no-holds-barred "Woodstock" style festival where neo-pagans, wiccans, transvestitie entertainers, curiosity seekers, and old hippies can go to trance, perform rituals, burn sacrifices to deities, fornicate, and otherwise "express" themselves freely.
The 40-foot-high effigy Burning Man (the "Spirit Cave Man"-- sacred to local Indians and New Agers) will be torched as usual together with just about everything else at the close of the festivity.

UNDERSTANDING THE OCCULT FIRES PHENOMENON

The spirit of the occult has existed since the beginning of time. Like an insidious cancer—unseen, patient, deadly—it has grown. Indications of its presence have been felt occasionally, and confirmations of its actuality have been documented from Brighton to Washington D.C.

As we approach the culmination of the “new order of the ages,” cult experts forecast a continuing revival of such mysticism. While church attendance continues to decline across the United States and Britain, adherents of the occult expand their "services" to meet the desires and mystical interests of a spiritually hungry world.

New Age expert Judy Vorfeld says, “Dabbling in the realm of the occult is currently stylish. Even some Christians seem unable to avoid the attraction of this colorful, seductive world.”

She's right. From Burning Man festivals to public school Environmental Education to faddish television good-guys and bad-girls, today’s generation is lapping up as much New Age Occultianity as they can get their hands on. Whether it's comic book heroes that teach youth the dangerous Persephonian idea that a person can be in league with the devil and still be a good person, or the syncretistic goals of the Occulture Festival and Burning Man, the glowing fire of pagan revival can no longer be denied.

THE REAL BURNING MAN

From a Biblical point of view, powerful and ancient entities are behind the revival of paganism. In the air above and the earth beneath are nefarious progenitors of esoteric mysticism. “Demons” to some and “gods” to others, such forces have numerous titles. They can appear in hideous forms or as beautiful angels of light. They are the “wicked spirits” (poneria: the collective body of demon soldiers comprising Satan’s hordes), “rulers of darkness” (kosmokrators: governing spirits of darkness), “powers” (exousia: high ranking powers of evil), and “principalities” (arche: commanding generals over Satan’s fallen army) of Ephesians 6:12. As the "gods and goddesses" of the underworld, they live today and encourage mysticism among pagans, witches, New Agers and even church-goers in at least the following ways:

• Aphrodite—sensuality, fertility rites, wiccan rituals, sacred prostitution.
• Amun-Ra—masturbation, self realization, environmentalism, Darwinism.
• Apis—animal worship, animal rights, animal channeling, occultianity.
• Apollo—humanism, oracles, channeling, psychics, drugs, visualization.
• Artemis—goddess worship, animal worship, animal rights, lesbianism.
• Asclepius—holistic medicine, psychic dreaming, spirit-guide animals.
• Athene—goddess worship, feminism, the spirituality movement, lesbianism.
• Baal—oracles, polytheism, abortion, fertility issues.
• Demeter—environmental education, earth worship, goddess worship.
• Dionysus—drunkeness, freudianism, ecstasy, pornography, lesbianism, abortion.
• Eros—eroticism, mystic sex, body worship, body piercing, sacred prostitution.
• Gaia—earth worship, environmentalism, paganism, pantheism, sweat lodges.
• Geb—environmental movement, animal rights, eco-paganism.
• Hades—devil worship, occultism, spiritism, necromancy.
• Hathor—goddess worship, earth worship, animal rights, animal worship.
• Hecate—witchcraft, necromancy, crystals, spells, druidism, feminism.
• Heka—mysticism, demonism, animal rights, environmentalism.
• Hypnos—hypnotism, psychic dreaming, prognostication, e.s.p., clairvoyance.
• Imhoteb—mystic healing, animal dancing, holistic medicine, vision quests.
• Isis—wicca, witchcraft, goddess worship, magic, channeling, visualization.
• Min and Qetesh—fertility rites, body worship, sensuality, pornography.
• Osiris—occultianity, necromancy, anthropomorphism, occultism, spiritism.
• Persephone—animism, zoroastrianism, dualism, magic, necromancy.
• Ptah—universalism, pantheism, mysticism, holistic medicine.
• Sekhmet—environmentalism, mystic medicine, animal worship.
• Seth—homosexuality, rebellion, earth worship, environmental movement.
• Vatchit—devil worship, channeling, trancing, visualization, necromancy.
• Zeus—satanism, transexualism, pantheism, oracles, animal worship.

By whatever names they may otherwise be called, the underworld spirits elevated in the Burning Man and Occulture festivals are gathering the combined efforts of the kingdom of Satan toward a conspiracy of apocalyptic proportions. As a consequence, we are experiencing an unprecedented pagan revival at a time when the United States and Britain are considered the most advanced economic and technological powers in the world.

Where will the revival of paganism lead?

Billy Graham says, “Lucifer, our archenemy, controls one of the most powerful and well-oiled war machines in the universe. He controls principalities, powers, and dominions. Every nation, city, village, and individual has felt the hot breath of his evil power. He is already gathering the nations of the world for the last great battle in the war against Christ—Armageddon.”

Many pagans would disagree with Graham, saying they reject the idea of personal evil spirits such as Satan and his angels. The concepts of Hell and a future Great Judgment are also disregarded. But the reality of Hell and the doom of Satan's followers is described in the Bible. The "old gods" of the underworld will be destroyed by Yahweh. "The Lord will be terrible unto them: for he will famish all the gods of the earth" (Zeph. 2:11). "The Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, saith; Behold, I will punish...the gods" (Jer. 46:25). Yahweh will also punish the leader of the gods, that old serpent, called the Devil, and his human followers. In Isaiah we read:

Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast. For, behold, the Lord cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain. In that day the Lord with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish Leviathan the piercing serpent; and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea. (Isa. 26:20-27:1)

However futile, the pagan gods will retaliate, and a war of indescribable intensity will occur. This is the war mentioned by Graham. It will be fought on land and sea, in the heavens above, and in the earth below, in the physical and spiritual worlds. It will include "Michael and his angels [fighting] against the dragon; and the dragon [fighting] and his angels" (Rev. 12:7). According to the Bible, last days pagans will join the battle, calling upon "idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and wood" (Rev. 9:20) to summon "the spirits of devils working miracles, which go forth unto the Kings of the earth...to gather them to the battle of that great day...[to] a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon" (Rev. 16:13-14; 16). There, in the valley of Megiddo, the omnipotent Christ will utterly repel the forces of darkness and destroy the pagan armies. Blood will flow like rivers, and the fowl of the air will "eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink the blood of the princes of the earth."

Between now and then, Christian's have the same opportunity to preach the same Gospel that caused the Oracle at Delphi to surrender in 362 A.D.
To the physician of the Emperor Julian, the Byzantine ruler who tried to restore paganism after Christianity had become the official religion of the Byzantine Empire, the god Apollo sent message: "Tell the King," said the oracle, "that the curiously built temple has fallen to the ground, that bright Apollo no longer has a roof over his head, or prophetic laurel, or babbling spring. Yes, even the murmuring water has dried up."

The Season of Christmas

2005-11-28T03:38:00.000-08:00

The shopping malls and commercial centers have already begun bringing out all the paraphernalia that is used in decoration and lighting up the public areas so as to create a festive mood and ambience for the coming of the Christmas holidays.

Christmas trees both natural and artificial are finding their way to the shops and malls as families begin their rounds of selecting and buying the trees and the tinkles that would decorate the tree.

Of course the frenzy to look for gifts and presents for friends and family members would continue to accelerate. The members of society begin to move in tandem with the momentum of the atmosphere that is being built up by the market place. Irrespective of their religious and cultural back ground, families begin preparing for the customary decorations in the homes and offices to induce a festive mood in the best way they understand it to be.

What then do they understand of Christmas?

The world understands it as a time of merry making, giving and receiving gifts and goodwill. Then there is the fantasy which has somewhat turned into imaginary reality as the world conjures the myth of Santa Claus and his reindeer-drawn sledge coming from his headquarters some where in the Artic region.

Children and adults brought up in decades of disillusion somewhat believe that there is some form of truth in that. Children can even send their requests to Santa in Lapland and can even expect a reply from Santa.

To add to the delusion, some churches and Christians also believe in Santa and they bring this practice into the churches. What is wrong with this practice? Is there truly a Santa?

The truth about Christmas is that it is a time of reflecting upon the first coming of Jesus Christ into the world to save the world from their decadent sinful lifestyle that would lead all into eternal judgment and punishment.

Who is Jesus that He can do this for the world?

Scripture reveal to us; “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.” (John 1:1-5)

This passage confirms the declaration in Genesis chapter 1 on the creation of the earth. Jesus was the Word of God that spoke forth the creation of the earth and all that is in it. The Word is Jesus Christ, the eternal, ultimate expression of God. Jesus spoke the world into existence.

In the gospel of John, he received the revelation that ‘The Word was God’. The Word came as the light in the world of darkness and sin and the world of darkness did not comprehend it.

This meant that ‘The world of darkness does not gain control of it.’ The world of darkness is unreceptive and does not understand it.

The world of darkness will never be able to eliminate it. Light and darkness essentially are antagonistic. However the Christian’s joy is in knowing that light is not only greater than darkness but will also outlast the darkness.

Christmas is therefore not a time for merry making and exchanging gifts but it is a time when we come and meditate upon the truth that God in the person of Jesus Christ, ‘The Living Word’, has come to drive away the darkness of the world and He will soon come again to gather His own to himself.

Men are like grass

2005-11-27T18:39:00.000-08:00

A month ago, a young man of 19 years was driving back after having a late supper with friends and he lost control of his car smashing it against a road barrier. The car split into two and he and his friends were hurt.

While his friends survived the accident, this young man succumbed to his injuries and a promising young man, talented in music and gifted in studies died in such a tragic manner. His parents who had looked forward to their only son to do well in his medical studies had their dreams and ambitions shattered.

The poor parents are left to try and live through their grief and to pull themselves together in the face of such cruel reality. Perhaps in their minds they must be wondering why all these are happening to them especially when they are so committed to their godly ways and also their commitment towards serving the almighty God.

Again we see another young man who is striving hard to ascend the corporate ladder and has worked hard day and night so as to attain a measure of success in his working career.
There is much pressure in the corporate world where demands are high from peer pressure as well as from the employers.

This pressure has brought in great stress into his life and the end result is that the deadly cancer disease took hold of him. He underwent an operation few years ago and now has a second relapse and has to undergo another operation.

The truth is man is so fragile and life is so unpredictable.

Every young person has only one aim in life and that is to pursue a successful career at whatever cost and by whatever means. The measure of success in the world is measured in terms of worldly wealth. But what are worldly possessions as it is only for a short time in our lifespan and whatever we attain will be left behind when we leave this world.

The word of God tells us;

“All flesh is as grass,
And all the glory of man as the flower of the grass.
The grass withers,
And its flower falls away.’ (1 Peter 1:24)

Just like grass which can be trampled and destroyed, which can be burned in the heat of day and eaten by the animals in the fields, it has no defense of its own.

Man is compared to this nature of grass; we are so fragile in the world. Any strong oppression that comes against man will be able to destroy him. Any event that brings shock and trauma can also cause the death of man. Sickness takes its toil; nature also takes its toil of man.
But man in his own folly thinks that he can live forever without the grace and mercy of God. Man may even think that they have a long life and they can afford to eat drink and be merry and be in total control of his own destiny.

How foolish it is! What does man gain even if he inherits the whole world but looses his life? All things are temporal, only the things of God are eternal. Perhaps we need to reflect on what our lives are in this temporal world and purpose in our lives to choose the things of God.

Are you ready to leave this world and to meet with God?

Are you confident in meeting your creator and giving an account of your life?

Halloween and The Feast of the Hungry Ghosts

2005-10-19T20:52:00.000-07:00

The feast of the hungry ghosts is celebrated by the Chinese world-wide during the seventh month of the lunar calendar. The tradition is that the gate of hell is opened to release the hungry ghosts to forage for food in the world.

Chinese superstition has it that if food and other offerings are not made, the hungry ghosts will bring misfortune and calamities to the people.

Halloween which is celebrated on a large scale in the US and now spreading throughout the world has a similar connotation. Few people understand the origins of Halloween with its trappings of witches, ghosts, jack-o’-lanterns, skeletons and the like.

History shows that the origin of Halloween links to the terrors of an ancient Celtic festival renamed All Hallows Eve. It was originally a holiday marking the mythical time when the dead supposedly rose from their graves to walk the earth. This in turn was linked to the ancient pagan festival of Samhain (pronounced sow-en)

Samhain is a celebration marking the beginning of winter as well as the first day of the New Year within the ancient Celtic culture of the British Isles. It comprised the eve of the feast and the day itself (31 October and 1 November) both the eve and day of Samhain were thought to be a time when the barriers between the human and supernatural worlds are broken allowing passage between the two.

“Other worldly entities, such as the souls of the dead, were able to visit earthly inhabitants, and humans could take the opportunity to penetrate the domains of the gods and supernatural creatures.

Fiery tributes and sacrifices of animals, crops, and possibly human beings were made to appease supernatural powers that controlled the fertility of the land. Samkain acknowledged the entire spectrum of nonhuman forces that roamed the earth during that period.” (The Encyclopedia of Religion p.177)

Centuries later, Irish and Scottish immigrants brought the custom of Halloween with them to the New World. After massive immigration of the Irish to the United States Halloween eventually became a national event.

What does the Bible say about strange customs and festivals like these?

God’s Word makes it clear that no one should dare entertain witchcraft or act as a sorcerer. “There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, or one who practices witchcraft, or a soothsayer, or one who conjures spells, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. For all who do these things are an abomination to the Lord” (Dueteronomy 18:10-11)

God pronounced death on any Israelites who dare dally with demonism or Satanism.

“A man or a woman who is a medium, or who has familiar spirits shall surely be put to death; they shall stone them with stones. Their blood shall be upon them.” (Leviticus 20:27) “You shall not permit a sorceress to live.” (Exodus 22:18)

Why was God so harsh?

God did not want such perverted, demonic practices to spread among His people and corrupt others.

“But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has spoken in order to turn you away from the LORD your GOD, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of bondage, to entice you from the way in which the Lord your God commanded you to walk. So you shall put away the evil from your midst.” (Deuteronomy 13:5)

Halloween focuses one’s attention on witchcraft and demonism and is a direct defiance against God’s Word! God hates mankind’s dabbling in the spirit world of Satan and his demons.

Christians who participate in such activities like Halloween are confused, disoriented and do not know their true God.

If you believe that God exists and you understand that HE is highly offended by such festivals and activities that are perpetuated by the god of this age, you need to repent and come back to God and honor Him the way He expects to be honored and be blessed for doing so.

God is not a god of masks, but a God of truth. God says that if you honor Him, He will honor you (1 Samuel 2:30)

If you ignore God, He will leave you to the mercies of the god of this world and all that entails.

God expects all who love and honor Him to repent from dead works and turn in faith toward Him, the only true God.

Flu could kill millions in the US

2005-10-19T01:13:00.000-07:00

This is the opinion of many senior health officials in the United States. President Bush has summoned the heads of giant pharmaceutical firms to the White House and urged them to speed up production of a bird flu vaccine.

Ted Cieslak, researcher with the Brook Army Medical Center in Texas, said avian flu posed a greater danger to the United States than the possibility of botulism, anthrax, small pox or plague bio-terror attacks.

Prof Li Guan of Hong Kong University who has been frantically researching for a cure of this flu for the last 30 years said that when the pandemic strikes there is a strong chance that whole nations could be wiped out. This is very possible in third world countries where the public health system is particularly of very low efficiency due to the poverty of the countries.

It would be impossible to contain the pandemic if these countries are hit due to the poor existing infrastructure and the ignorance of the people.

In Europe, both Romania and Turkey have reported the first cases of the bird flu and thousands of birds are culled. With the coming of winter, the danger of migratory birds bringing along the deadly virus is no more a speculation but will become a fact.

The New York Times has today realistically stated that the United States is completely unprepared to tackle the pandemic of the bird flu when it strikes. It is estimated that 1.5 million people will die in the US if the pandemic should strike and tens of millions will be affected by it.

At the home front, there is now an increase in the outbreak of Dengue Fever in the Asean region. Thousands of people are down with this killer disease which has no cure as yet. Governments are frantically taking action to eradicate the mosquitoes that carry the virus of this disease and to clean up all breeding grounds of the Aedes mosquitoes. However, this would be impossible to achieve humanly as the mosquitoes can breed in too many hidden corners.

Then there is the disaster of Hurricane Katrina, Rita and Stan that swept through a wide swatch of the United States leaving in their wake thousands of deaths and destruction to properties in the region in terms of tens of billion dollars loss.

China has also not been spared by the typhoon Long Wang which swept through Vietnam and South China. Hundreds of people perished with also great loss of properties. Similar reports are coming in from South America where nature has also been releasing its force on mankind. Guatemala and Mexico are among the countries that are suffering loss of lives in the thousands caused by Hurricane Stan.

More bad news comes in the wake of the 7.6 Richter scale earthquakes along the borders of Pakistan, India and Afghanistan. Tens of thousands of lives are lost and the number is still counting at time of writing. The authorities have still yet to estimate the economic loss to this region. Already the number of homeless is estimated at 3.0 million while the final figure for the dead will not be known for a while more. Some have estimated it to be in the region of 100, 000.

Why are these things happening in such frequency and magnitude in recent times? Can world governments be on top of all these catastrophes? All these seem to be beyond the control of man and governments.

The forces of nature are understood by scientists but they cannot offer any solutions to contain these. Sometimes they can predict and calculate the risks of such impeding dangers like the hurricanes and typhoons and governments can take preemptive measures to lessen the loss of lives but there is nothing that man can do to prevent the loss of properties.

These are the times that Jesus has spoken about.

“For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of sorrows.” (Matthew 24:7-8)

Jesus prophesied that all these things will happen concurrently. Political unrest and insecurity in nations and kingdoms are seen all around the world. Terrorists are killing and maiming their own people within their own countries as well as across the world. There is no place in the world which is safe from these acts of terrorism.

Pestilences which are pandemic killer diseases without cure such as Aids, Sars, Dengue Fever, Avian Flu are now resurging and threatening the whole world. No one nation or people are spared. There is nothing that man can do about it except to take preventive measures. All these are already prophesied two thousands years ago and what we are seeing is only the confirmation of prophecies.

Devastating earthquakes of great magnitude are now become too familiar. Over the last 10 months there have already been many tremors that are potentially destructive since the large quake on Dec 26 2004 in Indonesia which saw more that 200,000 deaths throughout the region.

Where are we heading to and is there any recourse for man? The answer is all these will continue to increase and man will have no solution to control the forces of destruction as prophesied.

The only recourse is in Jesus.

If you are troubled by what we see and want to receive the assurance of salvation from the judgment that God has prophesied, please pray along with me.

Jesus, I see all the destructions around the world as has been prophesied by you and I now turn to you and seek your salvation. Please forgive me of all iniquities and grant me your promise of eternal life. I receive it in your name. Amen.

The birth pangs have begun.

2005-09-06T01:00:00.000-07:00

Birth pangs are signs that prelude the birth of a new baby and the bible uses this to illustrate a global build-up and increase in frequency and magnitude of natural disasters and other catastrophes in the run-up to the last days. Some of the prophecies are recorded in scriptures as below.

The scriptures say in Mark 13:8 “For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows.”

We are seeing this already as geologists are recording a quantum leap in the frequency and magnitude of earthquakes during the last few years.

After the 9.2 Richter scale earthquake in Indonesia on 26 December 2004, the whole world has received a rude awakening to the destructive power of tsunamis in present times. The tsunami that followed the earthquake took more than 200 thousand lives. The sorrows that followed cannot be measured as families are totally destroyed.

In the last few months, large earthquakes are being recorded on regular intervals. Two days ago an earthquake of 6.8 on the Richter scale rocked the Celebes Sea east of Borneo. This morning another earthquake of 6.1 magnitude shook the eastern coast of Taiwan. More are expected in the near future with the same devastating effects of destruction.

It is recorded in Luke 21:11”And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.”

Today’s news on the network is that Northern India has been hit by the deadly disease ‘encephalitis’ which has already claimed over 480 lives and the count is increasing. There is no cure for this disease. The Indian Government has described its magnitude as ‘catastrophic’ and getting difficult to control.

Countries are now wary of the bird flu virus which is expected in the coming months due to the annual migration of the wild birds from the colder regions to the warmer sanctuaries in other countries. These birds will carry with them the deadly bird flu virus wherever they go.

Luke 21:25-26 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.

The US is reeling from the effects of the onslaught of Hurricane Katrina and the US Government is estimating the damage to be over US$187 billion. The US Media described the disaster as similar to the biblical proportion of the great flood. Loss of lives would be in the tens of thousands as the army begins to pump out the water around New Orleans and its surrounding areas. The government officials are warning that the true picture will be shocking as the water recedes. It would be unimaginable if diseases and epidemic begin to spread.

Another hurricane of greater magnitude is expected to hit the same area within the next few months as the hurricane season is only half way. Already meteorologists are warning of the built up of another prospectively devastating hurricane in the Atlantic Ocean which would make a re-visit to the southern states.

Crossing over to the Pacific Ocean, at the time of writing, Japan is now bracing for typhoon ‘Nabi’ to hit it with the same force like that of Katrina. Untold damage is expected and great loss of lives and properties will be suffered by the country.

There is surely a great distress to nations and perplexity to the world. Everything seems to be getting out of control and men’s hearts are failing them. Strong men are crying in the face of loss of lives and properties and the bleak future that faces them. There is no sense of security in anything around them.

The only hope is in the Almighty. Jesus said, ‘Come to me all you who are heavy laden and I will give you rest’. This ‘rest’ is in the assurance of eternal life, we may loose all worldly things but we cannot afford to lose our lives in eternity.

If you are heavy laden and lost, say this prayer with me.

“Jesus, I am lost and heavy laden. I have come to the end of all my worldly hope and I need your help. Come into my life and take control of it. I surrender all my needs into your hands. Give me your rest and take away all my heavy burdens. I receive of your promise for my life.

In Jesus name I pray.” AMEN.

Our Dual Citizenship

2005-08-25T02:20:00.000-07:00

This is the season for celebrating the ‘National Day’ for both Singapore and Malaysia.

Singapore has just celebrated her 40th birthday on 9.8.2005 with a big bash full of pompt and grandeur, with hundreds of thousands of its citizens parading out in full force to show their commitment in nation-building and to pledge their loyalty to their homeland.

The many events that were organized truly spoke well of the efforts of the Government in alleviating the lot of the grassroots citizens. The ordinary people were given prominence and many achievers of excellence in the world arena in fields of sports, education, industries, etc were singled out for national recognition.

This was a strong impetus for its citizens to rise up and do well for the nation as they were proud to identify with a nation where they are given every opportunity to improve and excel. Their loyalty was unquestionable and commitment contagious to one and all.

Just around the corner, the ‘National Day of Malaysia’ would be on the 31st August 2005. It would be her 48th birthday. The Government and the people are likewise in a frenzy of activities in preparing for programs that are worthy of the nation’s auspicious occasion.

The whole governmental and public machinery are geared towards many worthwhile programs that would also inculcate and enhance the nation’s patriotism. The pride of the nation in terms of achievements, milestones in development, education, science and technology etc would be paraded for all to see.

People of different faith are also encouraged to spend a full month in prayer for the nation preceding the run up to the day.

These are noble practices and values by the two Governments in inculcating the loyalty and patriotism of their respective people. Only when there is patriotism and harmony can a country focus on progress and achievement for her people.

The word of God also speaks of our dual citizenship. While we are the citizens of our homeland here but our citizenship is also in heaven. (Phillipians 3:20)

For those who believe in Jesus Christ, we also have the hope and assurance that we can and we will inherit the citizenship of our homeland in heaven.

Jesus said that He has gone to prepare a place for us which is far, far better than the homeland that we know here. He gave us a description of this very place

“…He showed me the Holy City…
It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as a crystal.
It had a great high wall with twelve gates and with twelve angels at the gates. On the gates were written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel.
There were three gates on the east, three on the north, three on the south, three on the west.
The wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
The angel who talked with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city, its gates and its wall
The city was laid out like a square, as long as it was wide. He measured the city with the rod and found it to be 12,000 stadia (i.e about 1,400 miles) in length, and as wide and as high as it is long.
He measured its wall and it was 144 cubits (about 200ft) thick (or high) by man’s measurement, which the angel was using.
The wall was made of jasper, and the city pure gold, as pure as glass.
The foundations of the city walls were decorated with every kind of precious stone. The first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald,
The fifth sardonyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh, jacinth, the twelve amethysts.
The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate made of a single pearl. The street of the city was of pure gold, like transparent glass.” (Revelation 21:10-21)

For the believers in Jesus Christ, this is our eternal hope that one day we will go to the homeland that is already prepared for us.

And for those who do not know Jesus Christ at this point of time but you desire that you may also become good citizens of the Kingdom of God, can I invite you to pray with me the following prayer;

“Lord Jesus, I confess that I have trespass against you and your grace and mercy. I ask for your forgiveness in my past lifestyle that was lived in the world of iniquities. I receive you as my Lord and Savior this day. Please grant to me your promise of the eternal homeland in heaven. I receive it your name. AMEN”

Warring Housewives!

2005-08-04T21:52:00.000-07:00

The world is being inundated with the onslaught of Hollywood’s sensual series on ‘Desperate Housewives’. It has become the No.1 sitcom world-wide and it brings across a permissive culture that has now been accepted as norm in the world today.

Loose and promiscuous living is no longer frowned upon but is wholly accepted as normal culture in this post-modern age. Teenagers through their peers have either succumbed to or have been coerced into the entrapments of the permissive lifestyle.
This has also spilled over to adults in the world culture irrespective of whether they embrace western values or otherwise.

What was once practiced in the dark and in secrecy has now evolved into blatant open display of pride and arrogance as the practitioners move around openly flaunting their priced conquest of sensual assault.

The local newspapers have periodically been reporting on the ‘invasion’ of young and beautiful girls from China coming into the country to practice their trade of gold digging.

Their modus operandi is to come into smaller towns and befriend some of the local businessmen with the motive of availing themselves as mistresses to these businessmen. These beautiful young ladies are called ‘China Dolls’ and once they have found their prey; they begin to milk the businessmen of all their assets and money.

The newspapers report that the housewives of these businessmen have gone on the warpath and have joined together to form a vigilante group to flush out these ‘China Dolls’. Some of them are so good that they have been reported to be able to even get photocopies of the passports of these China Dolls and details of the activities and movements. They have passed these on to the Immigration authorities so that repatriation of these foreigners can be carried out.

Is this practice a present day social ill?

Far from it, for this is the oldest profession in the world and has been practiced since early civilization. The word of God has warned all men about the dangers and destructions that such would bring. This is what it says;

1. My son, pay attention to my wisdom; lend your ear to my understanding,
2. That you may preserve discretion, and your lips may keep knowledge.
3. For the lips of an immoral woman drip honey, and her mouth is smoother than oil;
4. But in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword.
5. Her feet go down to death, her steps lay hold of hell.
6. Lest you ponder her path of life—her ways are unstable; you do not know them.
7. Therefore hear me now, my children, and do not depart from the words of my mouth.
8. Remove your ways far from her, and do not go near the door of her house,
9. Lest you give your honor to others, and your years to the cruel one;
10. Lest aliens be filled with your wealth, and your labors go to the house of a foreigner;
11. And you mourn at last, when your flesh and your body are consumed,
12. And say: “How I have hated instruction and my heart despised correction!
13. I have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor inclined my ear to those who instructed me!
( Proverbs 5:1-13)

21. For the ways of man are before the eyes of the Lord, and He ponders all his paths.
22. His own iniquities entrap the wicked man, and he is caught in the cords of his
sins.
23. He shall die for lack of instruction, and in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray.
(Proverbs 5:21-23)

God knows the intents of our hearts and He warns that when man becomes successful, he will be tempted to go the way of wine, women and song.

Seeking for spiritual power

2005-07-21T03:00:00.000-07:00

In the past few weeks, the newspapers have highlighted a deviationist sect that has recruited people from all over the world to their fold.

They have build a multi-million dollar complex in the remote farmland far away from the towns. The self-appointed leader profess to want to unite all people of different religious background.

He boasted that he has so much power received from god that he could even cause the death of any person on the TV even though he may be across the other side of the world if the person is propagating something that he dislike. Such is the character of this leader but yet people are flocking to him without even knowing who and what he is.

Why are people flocking to such 'gurus' of devious practices? The reason is that people are looking for 'supernatural powers' that would enhance their egos or to fill a vacumn in their spiritual lives. Some are misled or misguided in their quest but the truth is already revealed in the scriptures.

In the book of Acts 1:8 it is recorded as;

But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.

The main purpose of the baptism of the Holy Spirit is the receiving of power to witness for Christ so that the lost will be won over to him and taught to obey all that Christ commanded. The end result is that Christ may be known and loved by his people and also that we may be transformed into God’s chosen people.

Jesus commanded that all his people must be productive. In Mt 28:18-20; Jesus said, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.’

These are the word of the ‘Great Commission’
• The church is to go into all the world and preach the Gospel to all the people, including sending out missionaries
• The preaching of the gospel is based on repentance and the forgiveness of sins accompanied by the promise of receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit. Acts 2:38; ‘Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
• This preaching must also be accompanied by the separation from the corrupt world. Acts 2:40. ‘Save yourself from this corrupt generation’
• The purpose of the Great Commission is to make disciples who will obey Christ’s commands. However the purpose is not only to save the lost but also to be a continued building up of the Christians to become disciples and following him in their heart, mind and will.
• This starts with conversion followed by water baptism and a dedication to living for Christ
• The promise is that Christ will be with his obedient followers in the presence and power of the Holy Spirit. They shall become clothed with “power from on high” and shall become witnesses for God throughout the world.

This ‘power’ that is promised is not worldly power but it is spiritual power which includes the authority to drive out evil spirits and the anointing to heal the sick as the two essential signs accompanying the preaching of the Word of God.

This power is demonstrated by Jesus Christ while he was on the earth.
Lk 4:14; “Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside.”
Lk 4:18; “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight to the blind.”
Acts 6:8; Now Stephen, a man full of God’s grace and power, did great wonders and miraculous signs among the people.
Acts 8:5-7 Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Christ there. When the crowds heard Philip and saw the miraculous signs he did, they all paid close attention to what he said. With shrieks, evil spirits came out of many, and many paralytics and cripples were healed.
Acts 14:3; So Paul and Barnabas spent considerable time there, speaking boldly for the Lord, who confirmed the message of his grace by enabling them to do miraculous signs and wonders.
Acts 19:11-12 God did extraordinary miracles through Paul, so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them.

The power that is promised to the Christians in Acts 1:8 is for the believers to be able to witness more effectively. When they preach the word, miraculous signs will follow to confirm God’s words. The work of the Holy Spirit is mainly to confirm the message of the Gospel.

The second part of verse 8 is a command to the believers that you will be my witness.

The baptism of the Holy Spirit not only imparts power to preach Jesus as Lord and Savior, but also increases the effectiveness of the Christian. This is because of the strengthening and deepening relationship with God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit through being filled in the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit makes more real to us the personal presence of Jesus. John 14:16-18; And I will ask my Father; and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever—the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.

The HS is called the Spirit of truth because he is the Spirit of Jesus, who is the truth.
When we have an intimate fellowship with Jesus, we will experience a growing desire on our part to love, honor and to please Jesus.

The HS also brings glory to Christ not only with words but also in deeds. Therefore we who have received the baptism of the HS must demonstrate the Christ likeness of love, truth and righteousness in our lives.

The baptism of the HS is the starting point whereby Spirit filled Christians receives the power to witness for Christ and to bring the sinners to repentance of sins. When this happens there will be a very dramatic change in the lives of the people.

The baptism of the HS can be given only to those whose hearts are turned toward God in repentance from their wicked ways.
Acts 2:38; Repent and be baptized everyone of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.
Acts 3:26; When God raise up his servants, he sent him first to you to bless you by turning each of you from your wicked ways.

True power comes from God and cannot and must not be misused. True power is meant to enhance one in the minitry of God's works and to destroy the works of the powers of darkness and to break bondages of sins and wickedness.

True power sets people free and grant eternal slavation for all men.

Seek the truth and true power and not power to do harm and evil.

Age-old questions entice scientists.

2005-07-11T00:54:00.000-07:00

This week the world’s largest general science journal, aptly named Science, takes a different and more humble tack, presenting a list of the 125 biggest quandaries that scientists have failed to fathom.

This catalogue of bewilderment, part of the journal’s 125th anniversary celebration, is the product of a month’s-long survey of more than 100 leading researchers in myriad disciplines who were asked to focus on questions that have a chance of being answered in the next 25 years.

Beyond offering a glimpse of the many nagging gaps remaining in the human knowledge base; it reveals the enormousness of scientists’ ambitions and the great versatility of the scientific method, which has proved so valuable as a way to make a sense of the unknown.

“Reading through the questions gives a wonderful sense of all the incredibly intriguing things scientists are looking at these days,” said Colin Norman, Science’s news editor, who ushered the initial list of submissions through 17 versions to get it down to a mere 125. (source: The Star 10.7.2005)

Some of these pertinent questions still baffling the scientists are like the following.

How do organs and organisms know when to stop growing?
Why do we sleep?
What are the limits of learning by machines?
Is morality hard-wired into the brain?

It’s endless, with every answer cultivating a new crop of questions. But that’s the point.

“This is what scientists do,” Norman said, “they ask questions.”

The top 25 questions asked by scientist are listed below.

What Is the Universe Made Of?

What is the Biological Basis of Consciousness?

Why Do Humans Have So Few Genes?

To What Extent Are Genetic Variation and Personal Health Linked?

Can the Laws of Physics Be Unified?

How Much Can Human Life Span Be Extended?

What Controls Organ Regeneration?

How Can a Skin Cell Become a Nerve Cell?

How Does a Single Somatic Cell Become a Whole Plant?

How Does Earth's Interior Work?

Are We Alone in the Universe?

How and Where Did Life on Earth Arise?

What Determines Species Diversity?

What Genetic Changes Made Us Uniquely Human?

How Are Memories Stored and Retrieved?

How Did Cooperative Behavior Evolve?

How Will Big Pictures Emerge from a Sea of Biological Data?

How Far Can We Push Chemical Self-Assembly?

What Are the Limits of Conventional Computing?

Can We Selectively Shut Off Immune Responses?

Do Deeper Principles Underlie Quantum Uncertainty and Nonlocality?

Is an Effective HIV Vaccine Feasible?

How Hot Will the Greenhouse World Be?

What Can Replace Cheap Oil -- and When?

Will Malthus Continue to Be Wrong?

What is man compared to the Omniscience of God, the Alpha and the Omega of all knowledge? All knowledge comes from God for HE is the perfect creator and the scriptures tell us that the very heavens cannot contain the greatness of the Creator.

Only HE has all the answers to the very existence of the Universe. Scientists today are still grabbling with the wonders of the origin of the water that fills the oceans and lakes in the world.

For God has revealed to us that;

“My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8, 9)

DNA evidence prompts famous professor to renounce atheism

2005-07-01T01:55:00.000-07:00

Many intellectuals today are bound in their outlook of life contingent to the satisfaction of the understanding of their minds. There is this blockage which is linked to egoism and pride of some who consider themselves as intellectuals in their own spheres of learning which tends to cloud their understanding and acceptance of truths that are as yet incomprehensible to them.

In December 2004, a famous atheist and academic startled the scholarly world when he made the announcement that he had accepted the existence of God. Largely due to his study of DNA.

“What I think the DNA material has done is show that intelligence must have been involved in getting these extraordinary diverse elements together,” said Professor Antony Flew, 81, of the University of Reading, United Kingdom. “It could be a person in the sense of a being that has intelligence and a purpose, I suppose” ( Richard Ostling, “leading Atheist Now Believes in God,” Associated Press report, Dec 9 2004)

Professor Flew is arguably the best-known atheist in the academic world of the last 50 years. He helped set the agenda for atheism with his paper “Theology and Falsification,” considered the most widely reprinted philosophical publication of the last century. “Flew is one of the most renowned atheists of the 20th Century….” says the atheist writer Richard Carrier.

“So if he has changed his mind to any degree, whatever you may think of his reasons. The event itself is certainly newsworthy” (“Antony Flew considers God…Sort of,” December 2004, www.infidels.org)

Professor Flew mentions that his mind began to change for the existence of God and against theism over the last year. One line of evidence that became a clincher was the biological investigation of DNA.

He says in the video “Has Science Discovered God?” that DNA evidence “has shown, by the almost unbelievable complexity of the arrangements which are needed to produce [life], that intelligence must have been involved.”

He later wrote to Richard Carrier, “my one and only piece of relevant evidence [for believe in God] is the apparent impossibility of providing a naturalistic theory of the origin of DNA of the reproducing species.”

According to the Associate Press report, Professor Flew’s “current ideas have some similarity with American ‘intelligent design’ theorists, who see evidence for a guiding force in the construction of the universe.”

In an interview in the winter 2004 issue of Philosophia Christi, the journal of the Evangelical Philosophical Society, Professor Flew said, ‘I think that the most impressive arguments for God’s existence are those that are supported by scientific discoveries…. I think the argument of Intelligent Design is enormously stronger than it was when I first met it.”

The Sunday Times of Britain also stated: “Darwin’s theory of evolution does not explain the origin and development of life to Flew’s satisfaction. ‘ I have been persuaded that it is simply out of the question that the first living matter evolved out of dead matter and then developed into an extraordinary complicated creature,’ he said. The article went on to explain that Professor Flew is, in his words, ‘following the argument wherever it leads. The conclusion is—there must have been some intelligence.”

While Professor Flew is quick to state that he doesn’t view God as a personal being who interacts with mankind, he nonetheless apologizes for the effect his atheistic views had on others. The article quotes him as saying: “As people have certainly been influenced by me, I want to try and correct the enormous damage I may have done” (Stuart Wavell and Will Iredale, “Sorry, Says Atheist-in-Chief, I Do Believe in God After All,” Dec 12, 2004)
Source: ‘The Good News’ March-April 2005 edition.
Jesus said; ‘You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.’

Jesus was speaking of spiritual bondage and spiritual blindness that hinders the intellectuals from receiving and accepting the things of the spirit and the mysteries pertaining to the Kingdom of Heaven.

There are great mysteries in the world that confound the wisdom of man. Therefore Paul wrote in Colossians 1:9 for all men to ‘ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding.’

Then in Colossians 2:2 Paul urges that all men ‘may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely in Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.”

There is hope for all atheists and agnostics. The promise of Jesus is ‘Seek and you shall find the truth, knock and the door to wisdom, knowledge and salvation will be opened, ask and you shall receive the free gift of eternal life.’ (Emphasis added)

2005-06-27T08:34:00.000-07:00

Father’s Day

2005-06-17T08:54:00.000-07:00

For the last two weeks the hype in the media was to promote Father’s Day which falls on 19 June 2005.

There was a comical radio jingle that was aired daily by a consumer product company that highlighted the virtues of a father. It presented the love and sacrifices that the father had made and showered upon his family throughout the years of family upbringing. This was quite touching as it brought out the selfless sacrifices of a loving and doting father for his brood.

A Christian organization also rallied the churches to pray for the fathers in our midst. They reminded the people to pray for the fathers as well as step-fathers and for their love and leadership to their respective families.

By and large the immeasurable love of fathers has been highlighted to the attention of the people and the nation. The noble intention was to bring out the sacrificial love of fathers that have been inborn in man. Irrespective of the background and cultural divergences the nature of man is such that every father would give their life to provide for their children.

An article was also published in today’s newspapers of a father who had lost his job for the last two years. Because of the love for his children who were unable to further their education due to the lack of finance, this father went to rob and steal so that he could provide for his children. He was caught and convicted of armed robbery and now has to serve a life sentence for his deeds.

These are the sacrifices that fathers make for their offspring. It reveals the true heart of fathers.

We also have a Father who is above all other fathers. He is our heavenly Father who is the originator of love for his children. It is his father’s love that He has input into all man.

When He created man, He said let us make man in our own image. This means that man was created in his likeness and His characteristic of love was imparted to all man. He is the heavenly Father who loves all men in that while we were all yet sinners, He sent His Son to redeem us from our sins.

John 3:16-17 say; ‘For God so loved the world that He gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.’This was the act of love of Father God! There was no price and sacrifice that would satisfy Him for the redemption of the sins of all men. It was only the supreme sacrifice of His Son, Jesus Christ, who is sinless that can only pay the price for the forgiveness of sins of all men once and for all.

Jesus Christ paid this price and there is no further need for any other price to be paid or any further sacrifice to be made. Only a sinless man can pay the price for a sinful world.

Therefore all man can now have their sins washed and removed and be assured of salvation through Jesus Christ and eternal life in the world hereafter. Jesus said; ‘I am the way, the truth and the life. No man can come to the Father but by me.’ (John 14:6)

Are you sure of your destiny after your passing on from this world into the next? If you are not sure but want to make sure that you would receive salvation and eternal life, repeat this prayer with me.

Father God, I thank you that you are the most loving Father of all. You love me and you sent your Son Jesus Christ to die for my sins. I repent of all my sins and now I accept Jesus Christ as my Lord and my Savior. I receive the cleansing of all my sins through the washing of the blood of Jesus. Thank you that I am now your son/daughter. Amen.

A Tribute

2005-06-09T09:19:00.000-07:00

As a member of the internet-marketing fraternity, I received an email on the untimely demise of one of the world’s leading personality over the week-end. In fact the internet was flooded with obituaries for this fine young man.

Excerpts of some of the tributes are reproduced below.

A TRIBUTE TO: COREY RUDL - 1971- 2005

I am very sad when I heard today that the Internet Marketing World legend Corey Rudl has passed away from our midst in a tragic racing car accident. I have not met Corey, or to have spoken to him, but to have been in email contact.

He was one of the very few serious dedicated teachers of Internet's secrets and techniques. Corey will remain an Internet's star, and one of the very best internet's copywriters. He was young 34 and full of energy, and VERY Successful.

Corey Rudl of the famous MarketingTips.com and SecretsToTheirSuccess.com. But I will say that I admired Corey he was a step ahead and one you would want to learn from. Corey started about 1997 and pioneered ebooks, email and affiliate programs. Moreover, he helped numerous people to be successful some to become Internet millionaires.

Corey Rudl God Bless and may you rest in peace with the Lord - you will be missed Corey. It's a reminder that we never know what will tomorrow be. Our life is the present moment, today we create the future. Let's appreciate how precious it is.

Thank you Corey, you'll remain in our hearts the Internet will miss you, as an industry leader. My hearts and prayers go out to Tracy, his widow, his friends, family and staff

From:
Bryan Webb - United Kingdom

When I heard Corey Rudl passed away …

I was sad and dishearten to hear he died in a car accident. Among all internet marketers, I respected him the most. He never endorses any products that he doesn't believe in. Personally, I think his products are the best compared to any ebooks around. Nothing ever comes close at the value that he provides for such reasonable price products.

He had helped me with his knowledge and an inspiration of being success on the internet.

Such a great lost of talent.

There will never be another 'Corey Rudl' who dedicated his life to teach people about internet marketing.

Sincerely,

Patric Chan
- Malaysia

This is a sad day! Life is short, as Corey's death this week, has brought home to us all. Let us all make the best of the time we have left! May Corey's God be as good to him as he has been to his innumerable 'wannabes', me included, throughout his short life. I never met, nor spoke to Corey, but I am surrounded by many of his instructional books, tapes, videos etc. I have watched him so often, on DVD, doing what he did best, working hard to help us to become as successful as he was, that I feel I knew him well, and, more to the point, that HE KNEW ME TOO!. I'm sure, all his 'students' feel the same. Corey was so talented, accomplished and personable that he will be a godsend to his fellow angels. Our hearts ache for his widow, Tracy and we grieve with her in her loss. I haven't felt this sense of loss since 08/16/77. Ar Dheis De go raibh a h-anam. (Gaelic) (May his soul be at the right hand of God)

Liam Matthews,
Dublin, Ireland

I found out the news yesterday and still can't seem to believe it. On the one hand it's tragic news for a promising life cut so short. However, from a different perspective, look at what Corey achieved by the age of 34. He squeezed more into his lifetime that most people ever do. He was also wildly passionate about Internet Marketing and racing too. He also died living on the edge of life pushing the limits. He's also left a fantastic legacy in the materials he's left behind. He really created something from his life. Plus, he has touched so many people through the power of the Internet.

I never met Corey but had purchased some of his products such as the Insider Secrets course and the Ultimate Seminar DVDs. I valued the sage advice and the amount of practical tips he gave. Thank you Corey.

There are lessons in the story of Corey's life for us all:

How far are you pushing your limits... today?

What will people say about you if you go... today?

What will you leave behind if you go... today?

What do you need to do to begin to make your life worthwhile... today?
Thank you Corey for the lessons you've taught in your life and death. Sincere condolences to your family and business partners too. I cannot begin to comprehend what you are going through right now.

Shaun

Why does this happen to such a kind and young person who had devoted his life to help so many people worldwide? He had so much to offer in terms of his wisdom and knowledge of the world of IT.

We would not be able to understand this no matter how we look at it. However we know that all man must go this way.

The word of God in Isaiah 55:9 says; ‘For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.’

Compared to the wisdom of God, man’s wisdom is so finite and can never measure with the divine plans of God.

The divine plan is for man to have a short sojourn on this earth, do what has been planned for us to do and then everyman must move on.

God’s wisdom is also revealed by King Solomon who wrote in Ecclesiastic 3:2 ‘..there is a time to be born and a time to die,...’

God has an eternal plan that includes the purposes and activities of every person on earth. We must give ourselves to God as holy sacrifices, allows the Holy Spirit to accomplish God’s plan for us, and be careful not to be out of God’s will and miss his timing and purposes for our lives.

Believers must possess a single-minded passion to please God in love, devotion, praise and holiness, and to offer their bodies for his service.

Our greatest desire should be to live lives of holiness and be accepted by God. This requires separating ourselves from the world and drawing ever nearer to God.

We must live for God, worship him, obey him, take his side against sin and for righteousness. Resist and hate evil, perform works of kindness for others, imitate Christ, follow him, serve him, live by the Spirit and be filled with the Spirit.

2005-05-29T21:44:00.000-07:00

Star Wars grosses US$50 Million on first day.

On 22.5.2005 the newspaper reports ‘The final chapter in the Star Wars movie saga grossed a record US$50 million. From its first 24 hours in North American theatres, the highest box-office tally ever for a single day.’ It went on to gross over US$108 million over the weekend

Opening on Thursday on some 9,400 screens in nearly 3,700 US and Canadian theatres. Star Wars: Episode III –‘Revenge of the Sith’ generated US$16.5 million in ticket sales from sold-out debut midnight showings packed with costumed fans and accumulated US$50,013,859 by day’s end.

“We’ve not seen anything like this before,” said Paul Dergarbedian, president of box-office tracking service Exhibitor Relations. “This is an unprecedented achievement.”

But Dergarabedian said much of the credit for the film’s success belonged to a shrewd marketing strategy by producers, exhibitors and the studio.

What is this shrewd marketing strategy that Dergarabedian is delighted with?

The strategy is simple mind manipulation or deception that misleads the human mind to accept fiction as facts. The game plan is to manipulate the thought pattern of the audience into accepting fantasies as truth. This then goes towards the motivating of the persona of the film goers.

The plan is to motivate the film-goers to fantasize and identify with the characters of the film either be it the hero or the villain. This soon builds into a cult following as the film-goers begin to idol worship and enter into role plays of their favorite characters. Many spend large sum of money to acquire costumes and accessories so as to dress up as their idols.

This does not stop here, the film-goers soon begin to act out the roles of their favorites and if these are the villains, their fans would go around on a rampage imitating the senseless violent behavior of their idols leaving behind a trail of damage and destruction to lives and properties.

Besides this, it is bizarre for one to think that such movie goers can accept such deception and lies about inter-galactic beings that exhibit higher intelligence than man, let alone being able to communicate intelligently in the English language.

This speaks of the depravity of the mind of man and the power of deception that can bring about mind manipulation. Man who has made such advances in the arts and sciences, which in turn have influenced and build civilizations of the world, can forget the very basics of life.

Scientists know that the bodies of man and the bodies of animals are not the same. Man is the highest living being on the earth and in the Universe. Animals do not have the same life-forms and intelligence. It is inconceivable to think otherwise. Therefore to have animals and weird creatures projected as supreme forms of intelligence is high deception.

Not only is it impossible for such intelligent and advanced life-forms to exist, what more the deception of inter species copulating relationships? Man and animals are from different hierarchy and species in the biological structure.

This truth was revealed to man in the scriptures long time ago even before scientists knew this.

‘All flesh is not the same; Men have one kind of flesh, animals have another, birds another, fish another. There are heavenly bodies and there are earthly bodies; but the splendor of the heavenly bodies is one kind, and the splendor of the earthly bodies is another. The sun has one kind of splendor, the moon another and the stars another; and star differs from star in splendor.’ (1 Corinthians 15:39-41)

As for other life-forms in the vast Universe, men have tried to search the Universe for other life-forms throughout history. The truth is there is no other life and there would be no other life now or any other time in the future.

The word of God has already revealed this to man thousand of years ago even before scientists had developed telescopes and other sophisticated equipments. When man was still in their early civilization God revealed the truth about the universe.

“The highest heavens belong to the Lord, but the earth he has given to man” (Psalms 115:16). Among the billion of stars and planets in the vast Universe, God has only given the earth to man while all other planets are without life forms.

He said in Isaiah 45:12; “It is I who made the earth and created mankind upon it. My own hands stretched out the heavens.”

God has made it clear, earth is given to man but the Universe is for the Lord. There is no other civilization or physical life form in the Universe. The imagination and creation of the movie makers are out to deceive with the purpose and intention to turn man away from the eternal and Holy God who has purposed that all men can inherit the salvation of eternal life that He had planned from the foundation of the earth subjected to their obedience to His precepts.

One must be like the Psalmist, King David, who wrote “When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place. What is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him” (Psalm 8:3-4)

David knew the heart of God and he proclaimed the Lordship and love of God. He declared the truth that the Almighty God had indeed created the heavens. Even in His Glory, God’s love is for all men.

He knows each and everyone and His love and mercy is for every man. He is mindful of every little detail that happens in our lives. Nothing happens in us without his knowing.

Therefore let us follow God and not follow myths and deceptions of modern technology.
There is only one truth and that is God is the creator of the Universe and all things that are in it. We are also His creation. Let us turn back to Him and away from all lies and deceptions.

If you desire to do so, pray with me.

“Father God, I confess that I have believed a deception and strong disillusion. I confess that I have departed from you and now I want to return to you and be reconciled with you. Forgive me of my sins and lead me in your ways. I welcome you into my life and invite you to be my Lord and my God once again. Amen.”

2005-05-16T08:53:00.000-07:00

Finding the X factor

Two of the world’s top Management Gurus in the present day, Verne Harnish and Neil Rackham, met in Kuala Lumpur to speak at “Taipan 2005—The Making of Asian Giants”

Taipan 2005 is a ‘Forum on Management’ jointly organized by ‘Young Entrepreneurs Organization’ and the ‘Young Presidents Organization’.

In this forum the distinguished ‘gurus’ identified the X factor in business as being able to provide a solution to resolve an economic bottle neck situation and to be able to lock it in and turn it into a cash machine and still prevent others from copying it.

An example of this is the Starbuck coffee story which found a way to charge US$2 for what previously cost 25 US cents.

Rackham brought forth the new revolution in marketing where he highlighted that in the past salespeople would focus on solving problems for a customer to generate sales. But today, this is no longer so due to the advancement in technology that has met every need in the market place.

So today, the sales people have to ask new questions, such a ‘Is your business growing fast enough?’ ‘Would you like to grow faster?’ In short they have to be opportunity driven instead of problem-driven. That’s one of the shifts that have happened in the past ten years.

Customers today have no time. It’s hard for them to make time to see a salesman. They can find what they need on the Internet. They can self-serve.

Companies today need to have their salespeople know their customers better. The most successful salespeople are those who focus on fewer customers but in much more depth. However, most salespeople do not understand this truth. They fall back on old rudiments of trying to see as many customers as possible. The present day truth is that the more successful sales forces are those who cover fewer accounts but in greater depth.

This practice has also been incorporated into the finance industry where in the years past, financial managers and senior executives do not leave the comfort of their domain in their air conditioned rooms. They used to wait for the customers to come to them.

However, this has all changed as the managers and senior executives have now to go to the market place and interact with the customers to establish their relationship-marketing in order to solicit sales. The better they are at relationship-building, the bigger their market share would be.

Relationship marketing is now the key towards economic success as the playing fields become more even as a result of improved technology. Market products are highly competitive and customers now look for the personal touch and services that must come with the product. The managers turned salesperson must give the assurance of quality service and care to the customers. This is the way to retain customers’ loyalty.

This lesson must also be translated into the Church. Many Christian leaders and workers do not recognize the change that has come into the present society. Time honored traditions and methods have become outdated. The people are no longer easily satisfied with what they were used to before.

Church culture has become very high-tech and expectations of believers from the leaders have also been reoriented. In the past, the leadership was top-down. Now the leadership must be bottom-up. The leadership must be proactive and be involved with each and every functions and ministries of the church.

He can no longer remain aloof; he must now go down to the grassroots and interact with the people, understand their needs and meet their need. When this is not done, the church will not grow or they will leave the church.

The same criteria is needed in the church context, the leaders must find the ‘X Factor’ so that he can reinvent himself and the ministries in the church. He must change with times and the realities of the society. He must take the church to a newer and higher level. In other words, he also must re-engineer himself and his ministry. He must also be on a continuous learning curve to equip himself spiritually and intellectually so that he can be on a comfortable level with his congregation.

2005-05-10T20:55:00.000-07:00

The Gates Of hell Opened?

I was going through some old files where I had kept articles of interest over the years. The above article which was reported in a newspaper in Finland many years ago still is relevant if not more urgent today.

I am reproducing it for the reading of the X & Y generation of today.

SCIENTISTS are afraid that they have opened the gates to hell. A geological group who drilled a hole about 14.4 kilometers deep (about 9 miles) in the crust of the earth, are saying that they heard human screams. Screams have been heard from the condemned souls from earth’s deepest hole. Terrified scientists are afraid they have let loose the evil powers of hell up to the earth surface.

‘The information we are gathering is so surprising, that we are sincerely afraid of what we might find down there,’ stated Mr. Azzacov, the manager of the project to drill a 14.4 kilometer hole in remote Siberia.

The geologists were dumbfounded. After they had drilled several kilometers through the earth’s crust, the drill bit suddenly began to rotate wildly. ‘There is only one explanation—that the deep center of the earth is hollow,’ the surprised Azzacov explained.

The second surprise was the high temperature they discovered in the earth’s center. ‘The calculations indicate the given temperature was about 1,100 degrees Celsius, or over 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit.’ Dr Azzacov points out. ‘This is far more than we expected. It seems almost like an inferno of fire is brutally going on in the center of the earth.’

‘The last discovery was nevertheless the most shocking to our ears, so much so that the scientists are afraid to continue the project. We tried to listen to the earth’s movements at certain intervals with super sensitive microphones, which were let down through the hole.
What we heard turned those logically thinking scientists into trembling ruins. It was sometimes a weak, but high pitched sound which we thought to be coming from our own equipment,’ explained Dr Azzacov.

‘But after some adjustments we comprehended that indeed the sound came from the earth’s interior. We could hardly believe our own ears. We heard a human voice, screaming in pain. Even though one voice was discernable, we could hear thousands, perhaps millions, in the background, of suffering souls screaming. After this ghastly discovery, about half of the scientists quit because of fear. Hopefully, that which is down there will stay there,’ Dr. Azzacov added.

(Translated from AMMENUSASTIA, a newspaper published in Finland)

What does the bible have to say about the event above? It has long been documented in the scriptures that Hell is beneath the earth and there is total darkness and tormenting heat where the souls of the sinners are being tormented.

Jesus confirmed this in his account of Lazarus and the rich man. He narrated; “There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus covered with sores and longing to eat what falls from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores. The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. In hell, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away with Lazarus by his side. So he called to him, “Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this FIRE.”

But Abraham replied, “Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. And beside all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross from there to us.”

He answered, “Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my father’s home, for I have five brothers, let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.” (Luke 16:19-28)

Jesus also said;

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

"In my Father’s house are many rooms, if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me and you also may be where I am.” (John 14:2)

“I am the way the truth and the life, no one comes to the father except through me.” (John 14:6)

If you are not sure of where you will be after leaving this earth but you want to be sure of escaping the fire and torment of hell, then say this prayer with me.

Father God, I confess my sins before you. I know that I am a sinner and without Jesus I will end up in hell. I receive Jesus as my Lord and Savior and ask for your forgiveness for each and every sin I have committed against you. Thank you for the free gift of salvation and eternal life in Jesus. Amen.

2005-05-10T08:34:00.000-07:00

Mindset of Excellence

Malaysian workers should develop themselves as a “brand of excellence” so that the quality of goods and services they produce is automatically recognized around the world, said Datuk Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, the Prime Minister of Malaysia.

“We want our workers to become a brand for Malaysia. The moment we say ‘Malaysian worker’, everyone will know that their products are of good quality and the services they provide are the best,” said the Prime Minister.

Citing goods made in England as an example, he said no Malaysian had ever doubted the quality of products made there.

“The faith in English goods was so good that when the Japanese started producing cars, people said they were no good and they joked that the car bodies were made using Milo tins,” he said.

However, he said the situation had changed and Japanese cars were now being sold everywhere.

Abdullah said Malaysian goods had already reached a level of quality that they were able to reach overseas markets.

“However, if we are no longer able to compete, nobody, including Malaysians, will be interested in buying Malaysian products.”

Urging local workers to continuously value-add to better position themselves for the future, the Prime Minister said their present skills might no longer be good enough.

“For example, look at Malaysian football and badminton. We were once the best in Asia for football and the best in the world for badminton, but look what has happened.”

Using sports an analogy, he said the present batch of players could be playing as well as their predecessors but were not as successful because others had become better.

“Let this be a lesson to everyone.”

The lesson is that mediocre performances in this present age of excellence will no longer suffice. What was previously acceptable is no longer the case today. The present world demands excellence and zero defect efficiency. Anything else will be second class and not acceptable.

Everywhere in the arena of politics, finance, and commerce and in all other discipline of society, excellence is demanded and the cruel world does not and will not tolerate mediocrity. There is little room and allowance for the weak.

There is also a parallel in the spiritual realm. Much is expected of the spiritual level and commitment of the believers in Jesus Christ.

It is recorded that Christ will confront those who are mediocre in their commitment and walk in their faith. “I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were one or the other. So because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold--- I am about to spit you out of my mouth.” (Rev 3:15-16)

A lukewarm believer is one who compromise with the world and the surrounding society. He professes Christianity, yet in reality is spiritual compromised. Such are warned by Jesus about his judgment against spiritual lukewarmness. He sincerely beseeches the lukewarm believers to repent and be restored to a place of faith, righteousness, revelation and fellowship.

Every believer in Jesus Christ ought to examine himself so that they may not be found to be in a position of compromise with the world and be rejected by HIM.

A lukewarm relationship and commitment is not acceptable. Just like the world demands the spirit of excellence, Jesus also demands this of his people.

If you are lukewarm and have compromised on your spiritual walk with God and you purpose in your heart to turn back to HIM then say the following prayer with me.

Jesus, I confess that I have compromised my faith and walk with you. I have followed after the world and all its standards. I repent of this and I recommit myself to you this day. Help me Jesus to be totally committed to you and that henceforth, I will be able to turn my back to the worldly things that cause me to be lukewarm and uncommitted to you. Grant me the wisdom and faith to walk a closer walk with you. AMEN.

2005-05-09T02:14:00.000-07:00

Deception in the market place

A company that purportedly offered footbaths that could remove toxins from the body is now in hot water with the Domestic Trade and Consumer Affair enforcement division.

Acting on a public complaint, a team of enforcement officers visited the premises where a “demonstration” of the product was held.

After a few tests, the officers were not convinced that the product met its claims in brochures and a slide show.

The brochures claimed the color and particles in the water showed the areas of the body with toxins with each treatment costing RM50

He added that the public was made to believe the “treated” water had herbal ingredients to help remove the toxins from the body. Initial tests showed that the so-called herbs were salt and iodine mixed with pipe water while the color was changed using an electrical device.

This is a classic example of unscrupulous businessmen who prey on innocent and gullible people with some trickery of ionizing of chemicals in water with electricity.

Due to some chemical reaction, the deception is that the process can extract toxin from one’s body for a fee.

The company had relied on purported signs to promote their sales. It was an outright deception on their part to create and claim false results for their products.

Other deceptions that are more blatant are the slight of hand of the card shufflers or cup shufflers. One can see all these in the market place and many more unscrupulous offers of discounts and free gifts. Whatever the guise, their intent is to deceive.

Why is it so easy to deceive in the market place? This is because man by nature is gullible and trusting.

The bible tells us that all men are like sheep that have gone astray. Each is on an unending quest to seek and build his own fortune. They have put their guard down and like sheep move on a continual process of seeking greener pastures wherever they are led.

This is where and when they are caught in the unquenchable greed of wealth, honor and fame.

What about the converse of this? Supposing the individual is no longer caught in the chase of the above mentioned vices and turn to seek spiritual bliss. Would he be delivered from the trap of deception in his quest for spiritual enlightenment?

The bible also warned that because all men are by nature sinful, this same fallen nature of men would also be brought into operation in the spiritual circles. These masters of deceptions will move as wolves among the sheep in the church context.

Jesus warned that the true believers will be “like sheep among wolves” (Matt 10:16) By this Jesus meant that there will be masters of deception in the church as well as in the market place. Even those within the house of God will not be spared from those who are out to deceive.

The bible warned “there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you.” (2 Peter 2:1) If this were not so, the bible would not warn the believers as such. Deception is in the nature of man because this is one of the very sinful characteristics inborn of man.

This leads us to the issue that believers and would-be believers must exercise wisdom in avoiding the blind following of teachers and leaders who have dubious character and lifestyle. Jesus taught that our judgment and belief must not be based on the charisma and gifting of the leader, rather we must judge and believe the person from the fruit of the spirit which is demonstrated in the person's life, meaning what godly spiritual characteristics he bear in his life and ministry.

2005-04-25T03:12:00.000-07:00

Leadership Qualities.

The recent heated protests from China and Korea against Japan for the whitewashing of their history books on the atrocities committed during WW II by the Japanese saw the demonstration of the people in the former two countries against the interest of Japanese people and their businesses in these foreign lands.

The clamor is for the Japanese Government to apologize for their war-time atrocities. Past Governments of Japan had refused to do so.

However, the Prime Minister of Japan, Junichiro Koizumi took the positive step to face the realities of the issue and made a public apology on behalf of the Government and people of Japan. This was a bold and courageous action on the part of the Prime Minister as this would mean acknowledging the cruel deeds of the Japanese and departing from the denial stance of his predecessors.

In doing this the PM had demonstrated his mantle as a man of courage and humility. He did what he thought was right even though at the risk of repercussion from his own people. These are qualities that every leader should be endowed with.

Similarly, godly leadership is also demanded in the Kingdom of God.

God’s requirements of his leaders are qualities of faith, vision, courage, loyalty, resolute obedience, prayer and dedication to God and His Word.

Moses was such a man; he showed exemplary faith in God in leading his people under great duress. The Jews were known as stiff-necked people and were rebellious to God.
It was a difficult and challenging task for Moses to lead such a group of unrepentant and ungrateful people.

Throughout their sojourn in the desert Moses demonstrated all the qualities of good and godly leadership. He was also a trusted counselor and guide to Joshua and Moses’ qualities and lifestyle was picked up by Joshua. Towards the end when Joshua took over the leadership from Moses, he was known as a man ‘in whom is the spirit’.

“Now Joshua son of Nun was filled with the spirit of wisdom because Moses had laid his hands on him..’ (Deut 34:9)

Leadership is by example; Moses led the people of Israel by the example of his lifestyle. He is what he taught to the people. He walked his talk and the people respected him because of his leadership qualities.

Joshua inherited these qualities, ‘so the Israelites listened to him and did what the Lord has commanded Moses.’(Deut 34:9b)

How did Joshua get his leadership qualities? The Lord said to Moses, ‘Take Joshua son of Nun, a man in whom is the spirit, and lay your hand on him.’ (Numbers 27:18)

Joshua not only learned from Moses the leadership qualities and style but he was also privileged to receive the impartation of the leadership gifts and qualities through the laying on of hands by Moses.

This is the pattern of leadership training. Leaders must lead by example and impart what God has given to them to others.

The leaders must demonstrate a high level of faith in what they are doing. They must believe in themselves as well as in the vision that they are casting.

The bible tells us clearly that people without a vision would perish. Having a vision is not all that is required.

The leader must also demonstrate courage to face the challenges ahead. There may be many uncharted waters as he leads the people along in the quest to accomplish the vision that he has cast.

The leader must also demonstrate absolute loyalty to his cause. Once the vision has been identified and implemented, there must be no turning back. The leader must have great compassion and zeal for the vision.

And in the case of Christian ministry, the leader must exercise resolute obedience to the calling that he has received for the vision. Sometimes the vision may be too difficult for others to follow. This is because of the challenges that come with the vision.

As others look to the leader for direction and inspiration, he must be totally focused in prayer and dedication to God and His Word. Every godly leader must have a life that is fully led by God, failing which he would fall short of the full counsel of God and whatever he does would fail or be incomplete.

2005-04-20T04:42:00.000-07:00

Leadership is action and not position

I was having a conversation with a young man who is on the organizing committee for a national convention of Malaysian students in a foreign country.

This is an annual event which is organized to gather the Malaysian students who are in this foreign land to meet once a year for bonding of their relationship and also to be a support to them. The annual conference is meant to resolve problems that the students encounter and also to improve on existing facilities for the future batches of student who would make their way to this country for their tertiary education.

This young man was lamenting on the lack of commitment from the student leaders on the national level who are supposed to provide the vision and leadership for the conference. The sad fact was that some of these leaders lacked vision and leadership skills in the area of planning and organizing.

They were only interested in being recognized as leaders but unwilling and unable to provide the leadership commitment and work that was expected of them. What they wanted was a name for themselves and the glory that comes with it. They wanted to be seen and also to move with the national leaders of the host country.

They are also interested to be around the members of the Diplomatic Corp of the host country and the High Commissioner and his staff of Malaysia.

This unfortunate syndrome of politicking does not confine itself to student level only but can be observed in all levels and hierarchy of organizations in the secular world as well as in churches.
The sin of pride is inborn in the fallen nature of man. Even in the church context, there are some who wants greatness and power without the parallel of responsibility and accountability.

These church politicians want position but not action on their part. They want to be leaders in the church but not the responsibility that comes along with the leadership.

Many of such church politicians actually lack the equipping, skills and knowledge to lead the church.

Some, having been unable to get what they crave for, then leave and start their own churches with their own rag-tag group of followers. Their inadequacies will soon manifest when problems begin to surface and they would soon go through a time of testing and turbulence.

God who created all men knew the very basic character of man.

He said in the scripture, “SHOULD YOU SEEK GREAT THINGS FOR YOURSELF? SEEK THEM NOT.” (Jeremiah 45.5.) This was a timely reminder to Baruch, the secretary of Jeremiah not to seek power or position for himself.

In fact Jesus taught that “..whoever wants to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave.” (Matthew 20:26-27)

Jesus said that in the Kingdom of God greatness will not be measured by authority over others, but by giving oneself in service. Believers must not try to reach the top in order to exert their authority and supremacy. Rather they must give their lives in helping others, and especially laboring for the spiritual good of all people.

The way of man is to seek self glory and position.

God's way, however, is just the opposite. We begin to learn God's way from Jesus. He was "gentle and lowly in heart" (Matthew 11:29)

The Bible teaches you and me, “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus” (Phil 2.3-5).

To be humble means we will be conscious of our weaknesses and quick to give credit to God and others for what we accomplish.

We must be humble because we are lowly creatures who are sinful apart from Christ and can boast in nothing except in the Lord. We are dependent on God for our worth and fruitfulness and can accomplish nothing of lasting good without God’s help and the help of others.

God lives with those who walk humbly. God gives more grace to the humble, but opposes the proud. His children must serve “the Lord with great humility”.

Believers must live in humility toward others, considering them more important than us.

The opposite of humility is pride, an exaggerated feeling of self-importance and self esteem in a person who believes in his or her own merit, superiority and accomplishments. The inevitable tendency of human nature and the world is toward pride and not humility.

Christ’s humility of heart and mind must be found in his followers, who are called to live sacrificially and unselfishly, caring about others and doing good to them.