August 3, 2010
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LIVING ON BORROWED TIME - DVD
A morally and spiritually bankrupt society …A worldwide economic meltdown…A planet racked with increasingly intense manmade and natural disasters…Are we the Final Generation?
Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming. But know this that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. Matthew 24:42-44
Reviews: The DVD should be seen by small groups and youth ministries far and wide. The clear quoting and referencing of bible verses is especially strong. The collage of dramatic imagery - both in photography and artwork, grabs the viewers' attention and weaves the conclusion that God is about to continue His plan in a major way. The video is so fresh - the oil explosion and spill in the Gulf of Mexico is shown as one example of how this old world is wearing out and is in flames
The video next defends the authorship and reliability of the bible before showing eight unmistakable developments in our world that point toward the soon return of the Lord Jesus Christ. The number one sign given to our generation is the return of the Jewish people to form the nation of Israel. Jesus Christ is now standing at the door waiting to take his beloved bride- His true believers. Like the admonition from the Book of Jude, verse 23, I pray that this DVD will be used by the Holy Spirit to pluck dying people out of the fire before the borrowed time runs out. - John Wicklund - Chair- Olive Tree Ministries Board of Directors - Maple Grove, MN
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'Iran ready to destabilize Gulf' – www.jpost.com
Revolutionary Guard deputy threatens harsh response to US attack.
Iran will make the Persian Gulf a war zone unsafe for all nations if the US attempts to attack its nuclear program, deputy head of the Revolutionary Guards Yadollah Javani told the official IRNA news agency on Sunday.
"If the American make the slightest mistake, the security of the region will be endangered. Security in the Persian Gulf should be for all or none," Javani was quoted as saying to IRNA by AFP. He added," We will defend ourselves if American or Israel resort to any hostile measures against our vital values."
Javani's statements came after the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff announced on Sunday that the US military has a plan to attack Iran, although he added that he thought a strike was probably a bad idea.
Adm. Mike Mullen, the highest-ranking US military officer, has often warned that a military strike on Iran would have serious and unpredictable ripple effects around the Middle East. At the same time, he said the risk of Iran developing a nuclear weapon was unacceptable.
Mullen would not say which risk he thought was worse. But he told NBC television program "Meet The Press" that a military strike remains an option if need be.
He added that, should it come to that, the military has a plan at hand. He didn't elaborate further.
Mullen said very directly in his February visit to Israel that he opposed Iran's acquisition of a nuclear capability. However, he also warned Israel tellingly of the “unintended consequences” of a military strike.
During a press conference at the US Embassy in Tel Aviv, Mullen said, “From a policy standpoint, Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon, [or] nuclear capability.”
He added, “I’ve also been clear, them getting a weapon and/or the outbreak of a conflict would be a big, big problem for all of us. And I worry a great deal about the unintended consequences of a strike that are pretty hard to be specific about in a pretty volatile region that’s pretty hard to predict.”
Iran vows 'crushing response' if attacked by Israel or U.S. – www.haaretz.com
U.S. has plan in case attack on Iran needed, says army chief; Iran envoy to UN: We'll set Tel Aviv ablaze if Israel strikes us.
Iran vowed Sunday that it would deliver a "crushing response" to Israel and the United States should either attempt to attack the Islamic Republic over its contentious nuclear program.
The remarks made by a top commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) came just hours after the U.S. army chief told media that a plan was in the works should an attack become necessary.
"Security in the Persian Gulf region for all, or for none," Iran's IRNA news agency quoted Deputy IRGC Commander for Political Affairs Brigadier General Yadollah Javani as saying.
"The Persian Gulf is a strategic region." he added. "If security in this region is jeopardized, they will suffer, too, and our response will be firm.
Turning his attention to Israel, Javani said that Iran did not believe its enemy capable of attacking. Nonetheless, he said, Iran would be prepared in case that equation should change. "Iran never ignores its enemies. Hence, we have been increasing our defense and deterrence capabilities."
"Iran will give a crushing response to its enemies," he added.
U.S. has plan in case attack on Iran needed, says army chief
Earlier Sunday, Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen said Sunday that the U.S. military has a plan to attack Iran if necessary, but clarified that he considered such a strike to be a bad idea.
Mullen, the highest-ranking U.S. military officer, has often warned that a military strike on Iran over its contentious nuclear program would have serious and unpredictable ripple effects around the Middle East. At the same time, he has called the risk of Iran developing a nuclear weapon unacceptable.
Mullen would not say which risk he thinks is worse, but told NBC television's Meet The Press that a military strike remains an option if need be. Should come to that, Mullen added, the military has a plan at hand. He did not elaborate.
Both the U.S. and Israel have declared that the option of attacking the Islamic Republic must remain on the table.
Also Sunday, Iran's envoy to the United Nations warned that the Islamic Republic would set Tel Aviv ablaze if Israel dares attack it.
"If the Zionist regime commits the slightest aggression against Iranian soil, we will set the entire war front and Tel Aviv on fire," Mohammad Khazai said, Kashmar, the Farhang-e Ashti daily reported.
Last month, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said world leaders "believe absolutely" that Israel may decide to take military action against Iran to prevent the latter from acquiring nuclear weapons.
“Iran is not guaranteeing a peaceful production of nuclear power [so] the members of the G-8 are worried and believe absolutely that Israel will probably react preemptively,” Berlusconi told reporters following talks with other Group of Eight leaders.
Iranian military officials said last week that the United States and Israel would not dare attempt a military strike of Iran's nuclear sites, adding that they were confident that Tehran would easily repel such an attempt.
The United States, the United Nations and the European Union have each imposed new restrictions on Iran over its nuclear enrichment activities.
Serious border clash leaves Israeli, Lebanese army casualties – www.debka.com
The border tensions brewing between Lebanon and Israel in recent weeks boiled over Tuesday, Aug. 3 into a heavy exchange of fire between troops on both sides of the border. IDF casualties are reported by foreign sources. The Lebanese report three soldiers and several civilians killed, as well as a number injured.
The exchange developed after the Lebanese army opened fire on Israeli troops, using mortars and RPGs. Israeli tank artillery retaliated, followed by IDF helicopters which attacked Lebanese firing positions.
An Israeli complaint to the United Nations holds the Lebanese government responsible for attacking Israeli troops whose work on the Israeli side of the border was coordinated with UN peacekeepers.
debkafile's military sources report indications in Beirut and Jerusalem that, despite UNIFIL's call on both sides to exercise "maximum restraint," the incident which flared at 12:30 p.m. may not be over.
On the Israeli side, helicopters, tanks and artillery are in action and all Lebanese units in the south have gone on full alert since President Michel Suleiman, at two p.m. called on the Lebanese people to be prepared to lay down their lives to defend their country and UN Security Council Resolution 1701 which terminated the 2006 war with Israel.
In Jerusalem, Prime Minister, Binyamin Netanyahu urgently consulted with security chiefs on Israel's response to what it sees as Lebanese aggression. The possibility that the Lebanese soldiers who began the shooting were Hizballah gunmen disguised in military uniform is under investigation.
The incident flared when they ordered Israeli troops to stop installing a surveillance camera on the border fence near Kibbutz Misgav-Am opposite the Lebanese village of Adeisseh village. They accused the Israeli soldiers of encroaching on Lebanese territory. When the Israelis replied they had kept to their own side of the border and refused to back down, the Lebanese started shooting.
According to debkafile's military sources, the clash was staged deliberately by the Lebanese side to divert attention from the radical change in the balance of power in Beirut as a result of President Bashar Assad's abrupt switch of patronage from Hizballah's Hassan Nasrallah to Prime Minister Sa'ad Hariri.
It coincided with a 'major speech' expected later Tuesday by Hassan Nasrallah, leader of the Iranian-backed Hizballah, and came a day after six missiles were fired towards the Jordanian port of Aqaba and Israeli Red Sea resort of Eilat, killing one Jordanian.
After Assad ditches Hizballah, Lebanese clash with Israeli troops – www.debka.com
Lebanese troops opened mortar-RPG fire on Israeli troops Tuesday, Aug. 3. Israeli tanks returned the fire. Lebanese and Israeli helicopters then took to the skies as the border tensions of recent weeks exploded into action. Lebanon reported two people injured and two houses set on fire in Adaissa village by Israeli shells.
Israeli military sources are checking to see if the Lebanese soldiers were in fact Hizballah gunmen in Lebanese army uniform, the first response to a decision by Syrian president Bashar Assad, reported by debkafile, to jilt Hizballah's Hassan Nasrallah and switch his support to the Sunni Prime Minister Saad Hariri. With Assad it is hard to tell if this is a real change of direction or a temporary gambit, but its impact is already far-reaching.
debkafile reported earlier:
It enables Hariri to stand fast against Nasrallah's brutal harassment to force him to withdraw Beirut's endorsement of the international tribunal investigating the five-year old assassination of the prime minster's father, Rafiq Hariri.
After the court indicted senior Hizballah operatives in the murder last month, its leader warned Hariri that his refusal to dismantle the tribunal would plunge Lebanon into another civil war and/or military showdown with Israel.
While still backing Hizballah verbally, the Syrian ruler has made it clear that, in practice, the Lebanese Shiite terrorists no longer enjoy his support - without, however, indicating where he would stand in another Hizballah conflict with Israel. Assad most certainly breathed a deep sigh of relief when the finger of guilt for the Hariri assassination turned away from his regime to Hizballah.
debkafile's Iranian sources report that Tehran has not so far questioned its Syrian ally's decision to pull the carpet from under its most important proxy - partly to see if it is a lasting policy shift or a temporary maneuver, but also because if, proven irreversible, it would confront Iranian leaders with a major strategic headache.
To salvage their own prestige, they would have to bolster Hassan Nasrallah against the loss of face and standing both of himself and his movement, after being ditched by Assad and deprived of Syria's political and military support. Hizballah would also have lost its contiguous land link to its bosses in Tehran.
Assad's apparent change of heart, dating as recently as Friday, July 30 - when he and Saudi King Abdullah cemented it by visiting Beirut hand in hand - has got Israel worried. Driven into a corner by the loss of Syrian backing, on the one hand, and the court subpoenas on the way to top Hizballah operatives accused of complicity in the Hariri murder, he is desperate for options to extricate himself.
One would be to inflame the Lebanese-Israeli border.
Washington, Jerusalem and other Middle East capital were therefore agog for Hizballah leader Nasrallah's next peroration scheduled for Tuesday night Aug. 3 to see which way the wind is blowing from that direction.
He may opt for putting his best face on Assad's turnabout for the moment, while gradually eroding it by craft or, alternatively, take up arms and fight back.
For military action, he would need a green light from Tehran.
Our Washington sources report that King Abdullah's stratagem for prying the Syrian ruler away from the Lebanese Shiite group was approved by President Barack Obama when they meet at the White House on June 29. It was one brick in a comprehensive policy edifice also encompassing joint US-Saudi initiatives for Iran, Iraq and the Palestinian issue, which was extensively covered in DEBKA-Net-Weekly 455 of July 31, 2010.
Israel approves new east Jerusalem apartments – www.news.yahoo.com
JERUSALEM – Israeli municipal officials have approved the building of 40 apartments in a Jewish neighborhood in Jerusalem's disputed eastern sector.
The move could undermine efforts to restart direct Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. It comes as U.S. peace envoy David Hale is visiting the region.
Municipality spokesman Stephen Miller confirmed the approval and said on Tuesday that construction would continue for residents of all faiths in Jerusalem.
Palestinians say building in east Jerusalem goes against their efforts to establish a state on the territory Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast war. Palestinians want east Jerusalem as their future capital.
Israel annexed the sector after the 1967 war but the annexation isn't internationally recognized.
Assad: Israel trying to destabilize ME – www.jpost.com
Lebanese, Syrian leaders respond to clash on northern border.
Lebanese and Syrian leaders responded sharply in the aftermath of the cross-border fire incident between Israeli and Lebanese troops on Tuesday.
Syrian President Bashar Assad told Lebanese President Michel Suleiman that Syria would stand behind Lebanon and provide any necessary support after the cross-border fire incident on Tuesday, the Syrian state news agency SANA reported.
The IDF fire "proves once again that Israel is constantly working to destabilize security in Lebanon and the region," SANA quoted Assad as saying.
Suleiman sounded a strongly defiant note in reaction to Tuesday's event, which left three Lebanese soldiers and one Lebanese journalist dead.
Suleiman reportedly exclaimed that his country would "stand up to Israel's violation of UN Resolution 1701 - whatever the cost." The resolution led to a cease-fire which ended the Second Lebanon War in 2006.
Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri also castigated IDF fire across the Israeli-Lebanese border on Tuesday.
Israel's actions were a "violation of Lebanese sovereignty and demands ... the United Nations and the international community [must] bear their responsibilities and pressure Israel to stop its aggression," Hariri said in a statement quoted by AFP.
China holds air drills amid tension with U.S. - Ben Blanchard – www.news.yahoo.com
.BEIJING (Reuters) – China began a five-day live-fire air defense exercise on Tuesday with fighter jets and thousands of servicemen against a backdrop of increased military and diplomatic tension with the United States.
The drills are taking place across the central province of Henan and eastern coastal province of Shandong, which backs on to the Yellow Sea, the official Xinhua news agency said. Both provinces are close to the capital, Beijing.
The "Vanguard 2010" exercises would involve coordinating more than 100 aircraft from the army, air force and navy, with live firing of missiles, to simulate defending Beijing from air attack, the China News Service added.
The increased activity comes as China and the United States have argued over joint U.S.-South Korean drills in the seas off South Korea, and coincides with Beijing's anger at U.S. comments about a sensitive territorial dispute in the South China Sea.
But the military has said it is simply trying to be more open, denying any connections to regional tensions.
"The aim is to raise fighting capabilities in this military region and make effective preparations for military combat," the China News Service quoted Zhao Zongqi, one of the generals overseeing the drills, as saying.
The drills would be as realistic as possible, with no rehearsals beforehand, and there would be seven aircraft types involved, including spy planes and helicopters, the report added without elaborating.
China has ramped up investment in its air force which is now equipped with Russian-designed Su-30 and Su-27 fighters, more than a match for the F-16s flown by Taiwan, the self-ruled island Beijing claims as its own and which it insists must unify with the mainland eventually, by force if necessary.
Chinese media has announced several military drills over the past few weeks, including of naval forces -- events normally shrouded in secrecy and little reported on.
The Chinese army-run Military Weekly newspaper said in a commentary that while the exercises were normal and that China had no intention of "seeking hegemony," it would strike back at any threats to its interests.
"Though China's drills are low-key, they send a message," it said. "If other people threaten our interests, we have enough military means and technological methods to keep them in check."
China reacted with fury to joint U.S. and South Korean drills in the Yellow Sea last month, which ended up being largely shifted to the Sea of Japan.
Beijing said the maneuvers threatened its security and regional stability. The United States and South Korea said they were aimed at deterring North Korea.
That spat was followed by another, this time involving the strategically located South China Sea, an area with competing territorial claims by China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and the Philippines.
Southeast Asian nations have become worried by China's increasingly aggressive stance on the complex set of disputes.
China, which has repeatedly said its claims on the waters and islands of the sea are indisputable, denounced U.S. comments on the issue at a security forum in Vietnam last month.
China's growing military might and rising defense spending have set alarm bells ringing around the region, especially in Japan and Taiwan.
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Is the Middle East on the Brink of a New Regional War? - Tony Karon – www.news.yahoo.com
Tuesday's cross-border firefight between Israeli and Lebanese government forces might simply have been a misunderstanding. And the rockets fired from Gaza and the Israeli air strikes on the besieged territory over the past week could be viewed as periodic blip in business as usual on that front. By the same token, last Friday's unprecedented joint visit to Beirut by the leaders of Saudi Arabia and Syria could be viewed simply as a move to stop the conflict between their Lebanese proxies turning nasty. And British Prime Minister David Cameron's pleas to Turkey to keep open its communication channels with Israel's leaders are quotidian diplomatic common sense. Viewed in a wider context, however, each of those events could be taken as signs of why many in the Middle East believe that despite the outward calm, the region may be on the brink of another catastrophic war.
A new report based on extensive conversations with regional decision makers released Monday by the International Crisis Group, the respected mediation organization of former diplomats, warns of the possibility of war. "The situation in the Levant is ... exceptionally quiet and uniquely dangerous, both for the same reason," the Crisis Group warns. "The buildup in military forces and threats of an all-out war that would spare neither civilians nor civilian infrastructure, together with the worrisome prospect of its regionalization, are effectively deterring all sides." But while Hizballah and its regional backers, Syria and Iran, believe that the buildup in the Shi'ite militia's arsenal and capabilities is deterring Israel from launching attacks on any of them, Israel views the acquisition by Hizballah of a missile arsenal capable of raining destruction on Israeli cities as an intolerable threat. "As Hizballah's firepower grows," the Crisis Group notes, "so too does Israel's desire to tackle the problem before it is too late ... What is holding the current architecture in place is also what could rapidly bring it down."
Should a new war break out, Israel is determined to strike a more devastating blow more quickly than it did during the last conflict, in which it failed in its objective of destroying Hizballah. It has publicly warned that it would destroy Lebanese civilian infrastructure, and that Syria, as Hizballah's armorer, would not be off-limits. But Hizballah believes its capacity to fire missiles into Tel Aviv is key to restraining Israel from returning to finish off the Shi'ite militia. And, of course, amid regional tensions over Iran's nuclear program, members of the self-styled "axis of resistance" - Iran, Syria, Hamas and Hizballah - have deepened their alliance, raising the possibility of any one of those groups joining the fray should any of the others come under attack from Israel or the U.S.
Although all of the main players have good reason to avoid initiating another war right now, the Crisis Group warns that "tensions are mounting with no obvious safety valve." At some point, Hizballah's growing deterrent could cross Israel's red line. And the Western diplomatic boycott of the resistance camp is cause for alarm because there are no effective channels through which the various antagonists can be made to understand how their actions could produce unintended consequences - in the tragic tradition of Middle Eastern wars that erupted in part because the adversaries failed to understand one another's intentions. Indeed, after proclaiming his movement's "divine victory" in standing up to Israel's 2006 offensive, a feat that made him a hero on the streets of the Arab world, Hizballah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah did admit that had he known Israel would respond with a full-blown invasion, he would have avoided the provocation of snatching the Israeli troops that started the showdown.
The danger posed by the lack of communication channels between the resistance camp and the Israelis explains why British Prime Minister David Cameron, a recent guest at the White House, last week went to Ankara to urge Turkey to maintain its ties with Israel and use its ties to the likes of Syria to facilitate communication that could mitigate an outbreak. Turkey has been pilloried in some quarters in the West - and certainly in Israel - for its diplomatic rapprochement with the likes of Syria, Iran and Hamas, but Cameron's appeal was a tacit admission that the continuing Bush-era policy of refusing to engage with the region's designated "radicals" has sharply diminished the ability of the U.S. and the European Union to influence events in the Middle East. Peace talks between Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and the Israelis are all very well, but Abbas is not at war with Israel, nor would he be even if a new round of fighting broke out in Gaza.
Even in the besieged Palestinian territory, however, neither side is looking to restart full-blown hostilities of the type that left the territory devastated 18 months ago. The projectiles fired from the Palestinian side last week caused no casualties, and the Israeli military believes they were fired not by Hamas, but by some of the smaller rival groups that occasionally challenge the cease-fire Hamas has imposed since February 2009. Some Israeli analysts suspect that Hamas may have momentarily eased up its enforcement of the cease-fire to remind the U.S. and Israel of the perils of leaving it out of the peace process. Still, although Israel targeted Hamas commanders in weekend air strikes, Israel's handling of Gaza has brought it increasing diplomatic isolation, which a new round of fighting would likely accelerate.
But the Hamas cease-fire that has largely held for the past 18 months is a unilateral one, with no clear channels of communication or agreed-upon rules of engagement, meaning that the danger of escalation is ever present. The same is true on the Israel-Lebanon border, where both sides have been preparing for the next war ever since the last one ended, neither desiring that option but both accepting it as inevitable. In the absence of any peace process by which Syria can recover the Golan Heights occupied by Israel since the 1967 war, Syria continues to support Hizballah as its prime form of leverage against the Jewish state. The diplomatic dynamic over the past decade has also deepened Damascus' alliance with Tehran, which in turn makes Israel even more leery of engaging with the Syrians. And conventional wisdom has long held that should Iran's nuclear facilities come under attack, Hizballah's rockets would figure prominently in Tehran's retaliation plans.
So, the potential triggers on different fronts for a new round of hostilities have multiplied, as has the danger of them going off in sequence as a result of the ties between some of the key players. And right now, the Crisis Group warns, "there is no mechanism in place to either address or ease" those mounting tensions. Absent a political process that can credibly resolve or regulate conflicts ranging from Gaza and the Golan Heights to Iran, "the world should cross its fingers that fear of a catastrophic conflict will continue to be reason enough for the parties not to provoke one."
Bombers, missiles could end Iran nukes – Rowan Scarborough – www.washingtontimes.com
Pentagon has plan for attack
A Pentagon strike against Iran would rely heavily on the B-2 bomber and cruise missiles to try to destroy the regime's ability to make nuclear weapons, analysts say, after the top U.S. military officer said a war plan is in place.
The missiles, fired from surface ships, submarines and B-52 bombers, would take out air defenses and nuclear-related facilities.
The B-2s would drop tons of bombs, including ground penetrators, onto fortified and buried sites where Tehran is suspected of enriching uranium to fuel the weapons and working on warheads.
"It will be primarily an air attack with covert work to start a 'velvet' revolution so [the] Iranian people can take back their country," said retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Thomas McInerney, a former fighter pilot.
Gen. McInerney said B-2s would fly over Iran while cruise missiles would be fired off shore. The operation would last several days, he said.
John Pike, a military analyst who runs Global Security.org, said that although Iran has many potential targets, only about a half-dozen facilities are so critical that, if destroyed, would set back the program significantly.
"Almost all are in isolated areas where civilian casualties would not be much of a problem," Mr. Pike said. "Most of them have co-located staff housing. Bomb the housing, kill the staff, set back the program by a generation."
His website's scenario states: "American air strikes on Iran would vastly exceed the scope of the 1981 Israeli attack on the Osiraq nuclear center in Iraq, and would more resemble the opening days of the 2003 air campaign against Iraq. Using the full force of operational B-2 stealth bombers, staging from Diego Garcia or flying direct from the United States … two-dozen suspect nuclear sites would be targeted."
The Obama administration this summer won the backing of the United Nations for another round of economic sanctions against Tehran, but there are doubts that limits on banking and trade would ever persuade the hard-line Islamic regime to give up plans to become a nuclear power.
Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, threw public attention back to the military option on Sunday when asked on "Meet the Press" whether the military had a plan for attacking Iran.
"We do," Adm. Mullen said, adding that striking Iran "is an important option, and it's one that's well understood."
Adm. Mullen's answer indicates that Pentagon strategists have updated and finalized a war plan for Iran.
In Tehran on Sunday, Yadollah Javani, deputy head of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards, said his country would make the Persian Gulf region unsafe for all if the U.S. attacks it over its nuclear program, Agence France-Presse reported.
"If the Americans make the slightest mistake, the security of the region will be endangered. Security in the Persian Gulf should be for all or none," Mr. Javani told the official IRNA news agency.
A former senior defense official has told The Washington Times that the Joint Chiefs of Staff during the George W. Bush administration held a series of discussions about Iran. But no chief, including Adm. Mullen, who then led the Navy, recommended launching strikes. The prime reason was that the top brass feared the Iranian population would rally behind the regime and abandon a fledgling democracy movement.
That's why it's important, said Gen. McInerney and other advocates of the military option, to have a covert plan in place to try to destabilize Iran's mullah-run government.
If sanctions fail, Washington faces a dilemma: Let Iran build the bomb, with which it can threaten Israel and other U.S. allies, or launch airstrikes.
"I talk to unintended consequences of either outcome," Adm. Mullen said, "and it's those unintended consequences that are difficult to predict in what is an incredibly unstable part of the world that I worry about the most."
With the retirement of the F-117 Nighthawk, which flew the first bombing run over Iraq in 2003, the Air Force has two stealth strike aircraft: the B-2 and the F-22 Raptor. The F-22 has not been deployed to the wars in Iraq or Afghanistan. The Pentagon did dispatch it to Asia last month as a show of force against North Korea.
A strike on Iran would fit the F-22, if the war plan calls for putting piloted aircraft over the country. Its forte is penetrating heavily defended airspaces to put bombs on target.
"It's pretty well known if we were going to go after the sites, we would have to go after underground facilities, and we could probably do that. The B-2s could do that," said retired Air Force Gen. Charles A. Horner, the top air commander in the 1991 Persian Gulf War. "It would be the key system."
None Dare Call It . . . What? - By Cal Thomas
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | Former Speaker Newt Gingrich may be the most notable public figure in some time to state the obvious: radical Islam is a clear and present danger to America.
In a speech last week at The American Enterprise Institute in Washington, Gingrich said, "this is not a war on terrorism … this is a struggle with radical Islamists." The problem, he said, is that too many leaders are "sleepwalking" and won't face the threat.
Ask yourself: if you wanted to infiltrate a country, wouldn't a grand strategy be to rapidly build mosques from Ground Zero in New York, to Temecula, Calif., and establish beachheads so fanatics could plan and advance their strategies under the cover of religious freedom and that great American virtue known as "tolerance," which is being used against us?
The best people to consult on such matters are those with the life experiences and knowledge to credibly comment on the subject. After all, we can't expect those who wish to destroy us to tell the truth, can we? Except that they do tell it by their words and deeds throughout much of the world. The problem isn't that they're not telling. The problem is that too many are imprisoned in denial.
One such expert is Yoram Ettinger a former Israeli diplomat and current commentator. He comments on Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons and the West's feckless response through meaningless sanctions and empty rhetoric, Ettinger writes: "Western policy-makers grow increasingly reconciled to co-existence with a nuclear Iran. They assume that, notwithstanding the radical rhetoric, the Iranian leadership is pragmatic, cognizant of its limitations, unwilling to expose its people to devastating Western retaliation and considering nuclear capabilities as a tool of deterrence -- and not as an offensive weapon -- against the U.S., NATO and Israel.
"However, a nuclear Iran would constitute a clear and present danger to global security and peace, which must not be tolerated. In order to avert such peril, it is incumbent to disengage from illusions and engage with realism."
Realism is a quality clearly lacking in much of the rhetoric from this and previous administrations.
Ettinger continues: "Unlike Western leaders, the Iranian revolutionary leadership is driven by ideological and religious conviction, bolstered by ancient imperialist ethos:
"1. Jihad is the permanent state of relations between Moslems and non-Moslems, while peace and ceasefire accords are tenuous.
2. The Shihada commits every Shiite to kill and be killed, in order to advance Shiite Moslem strategy
3.The strategic goal of Shiite Islam -- which replaced illegitimate Judaism and Christianity -- is to convert humanity to Islam."
That seems pretty straightforward. Is there anyone who can credibly doubt these stated goals? If not, why are we pretending radical Islamists don't mean it when they repeatedly prove they do?
Some of the zeal directed toward illegal aliens crossing our southern border might better be focused on securing America from radical Islamists. Instead, they build their mosques with minimal opposition from the squishy politicians and elites who could stand against them if they had any backbone. And so those radical Islamists who would dominate America move forward with plans to subjugate us all to their religion and way of life. If the Nazis or Soviets had been this good at infiltration and neutralizing criticism, we, not they, would be on "the ash heap of history."
If at that critical moment in our history, Paul Revere had not devised the plan to light signal lanterns in the belfry of Old North Church for fear of being called an "Anglophobe," Queen Elizabeth's picture might be on our money today.
Radical Islamists are here. Who else besides Newt Gingrich and too few others will sound the call? Who else has the power to do something while they still can?
Prophetic Warnings of Isaiah: White House usurps Congress on Illegal Aliens – Bill Wilson – www.dailyjot.com
The National Review has made public a memo by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services that proposes the White House use policy rather than legislation to allow millions of illegal aliens entry or residence in the United States. Shocking in this memo is that our own government is proposing to subvert Congress to actually allow even criminals and terrorists to enter into this country unabated. The very politically correctly worded memo suggests regulation changes to allow applicants who "require a waiver of inadmissibility" ways to remain or come to the United States "without fear of removal." The authors of the memo were obviously charged with finding ways to allow amnesty by Executive Order.
In fact, the memo boldly states that Immigration Services should break the law. It says, "Thus, USCIS should no longer adhere to the 1990 General Counsel opinions, and instead permit individuals in TPS (Temporary Protected Status) to adjust or change status. Opening this pathway will help thousands of applicants obtain lawful permanent residence without having to leave the U.S." To justify this, the USCIS Chief Counsel "has expressed her view that these legal opinions no longer reflect a correct interpretation of the statute." In other words, the current Administration's lawyers have reinterpreted longstanding 20 year old statues that prevent illegal immigration to mean that they allow it.
USCIS says that it has the "discretionary authority" under the law to "parole into the U.S. On a case-by-case basis for "urgent humanitarian reasons" or "significant public benefit" any applicant for admission." The memo states, "By granting PIP (parole-in-place), USCIS can eliminate the need for qualified recipients to return to their home country for consular processing." The memo says that this procedure has been used on a very limited basis for years, but the Administration had already approved a broader use of parole that could apply to all illegal aliens, which the memo calls "applicants." It even says that any "alien present in the U.S. who has not been admitted shall be deemed an applicant for admission."
This demonstrates how this Administration "interprets" the law to its own political ends. The memo so alarmed a group of Senators that they wrote a letter to the man who occupies the Oval Office. The group, led by Iowa Republican Senator Charles Grassley, says in part "While deferred action and parole are Executive Branch authorities, they should not be used to circumvent Congress' constitutional authority to legislate immigration policy, particularly as it relates to the illegal population in the United States." Isaiah 59:14 describes our government: "...justice stands far off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter." Isaiah 59:9 says, "we wait for light, but behold obscurity." The time for waiting is over.
Have a Blessed and Powerful Day!
Bill Wilson
Word of Life Ministry
True Conversion – Greg Laurie – www.harvest.org
"And when people escape from the wicked ways of the world by learning about our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and then get tangled up with sin and become its slave again, they are worse off than before."
— 2 Peter 2:20
Sometimes we hear about well-known people who claim to have made a commitment to Jesus Christ. Often, it is around election time. When they address Christians, they speak of their great faith in God. After the elections, we seldom hear about it again.
Then there are people who say they are believers, but a month or two later, they go back to their old ways again. They say, "I tried Christianity, but it didn't work for me." But in reality, they never really found Christ.
Others will turn to God when they hit hard times. Awhile later, you see them going back to their old ways, and you wonder what happened. I would suggest that many of these people never were converted at all. They went through the motions, but Jesus Christ never became a part of their lives. Often, they end up worse than before.
When Jesus Christ truly comes into our lives, He takes up residence. And He doesn't just do a basic housecleaning; He does a thorough one. There is real change. But when a house has only been swept, that is, when someone has made only moral changes, he or she is still vulnerable to the Enemy. This is why we must recognize the futility of simply turning over a new leaf or making a few new resolutions. We must realize the problem is deeper than our moral sins. We must get to the heart of the matter and have Jesus Christ take residence in our lives and change us from the inside out.
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The “Watered Garden” of Our Lord - Joseph R. Chambers - jrc@pawcreek.org
The Church of Jesus Christ has been identified in Scripture, “A garden enclosed is …my spouse; a spring shut up, a fountain sealed” (Song of Solomon 4:12). Only the Holy Spirit could speak with such authority and grandeur. The world disclaims the church because it only sees the exterior of religious organizations. The Triune God looks inside and sees the Saints shut up in His cocoon of grace as beautiful as a cultivated garden. Christ’s true church has never been a mixed multitude but a Hidden Remnant.
The Bridegroom Himself declares our unseen beauty, “And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, the kingdom of God cometh not with observation: Neither shall they say, Lo here! Or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:20-21). Our incredible beauty will not be seen until we arise to ascend the steepes of the sky. The Rapture will expose His grand and spotless jewels that are decked with grace, borne out of His mutilated flesh. Her beauty is not — now or then — of the tinsel from a dime store or the creation of lustful flesh.
The Psalmist got a glimmer of this company and was smitten with her aroma of beauty, “All thy garments smell of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia, out of the ivory palaces, whereby they have made thee glad. Kings’ daughters were among thy honorable women: upon thy right hand did stand the queen in gold of Ophir” (Psalm 45:8-9). These ointments are the other worldly ones and the “gold of Ophir” is priceless in its purity. The aroma and matchless beauty of the raptured spouse will precede her into the nuptial chamber of Heavenly Jerusalem, where the Bridegroom awaits her arrival. He could be standing in the foyer, even as we anticipate our leaving.
His Garden is enclosed. Let the church world brag about her right to live in their sins, but this Garden is not just one of the fields where many things grow. Malachi described this Garden as the Saints written in a Book of Remembrance. They had a beautiful reputation, “Then they that feared the LORD Spake often one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his name” (Malachi 3:16). The promise to them is one of the First Testament’s greatest mention of the Rapture, “And they shall be mine, saith the LORD of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him” (Malachi 3:17).
If you dare to doubt that this Garden of our Lord is only filled with plants of rare redeemed beauty, let the Holy Spirit speak to you, “Thy plants are an orchard of pomegranates, with pleasant fruits; camphire, with spikenard, Spikenard and saffron; calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense; myrrh and aloes, with all the chief spices: A fountain of gardens, a well of living waters, and streams from Lebanon” (Song of Solomon 4:13-15). The Grace of Christ is not cheap. Its action is to beautify the ugly, to cleanse the defiled, and to redeem the lost and broken. His plants will not need the cheap work of religious psychologists. “For the LORD taketh pleasure in his people: he will beautify the meek with salvation” (Psalm 149:4).
The Son of God spoke of this River of Living Waters, “He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water” (John 7:38). This reference from the Lord leaves no doubt that Solomon spoke of the Bridegroom and His Bride. Remember, Christ said, “Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you” (John 15:16). A large multitude claims faith in Christ but know nothing of the transformed life. If anyone is not transformed, they are certainly not in His Watered Garden.
Life within this Garden is ultimate life right here on God’s earth, but the best is yet to come. This Garden is the Bridegroom’s espoused Bride. We are His charming lovers that await the finishing touches on our wedding garments. These garments are woven by the needlework of a divine seamstress. Saved by Grace — intricately seamed by the daily cleansing of Holy Scripture — the Holy Spirit draws us to Christ and loads us with His benefits.
The eyes of those that grow in this Watered Garden are trained on the sky. It’s impossible to live for the here and now when the garden we are planted in is but a foretaste of our future home. The world has lost its charm to the Saints living so close to eternity. The water in Christ’s Garden is divine life by the Holy Spirit. Every time we pray through it’s like drinking from the River of Life flowing out of God’s throne, “And the LORD shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not” (Isaiah 58:11). The Garden of our Lord is a Garden enclosed, watered, and visited by the Garden Keeper.
Joseph R. Chambers
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Maranatha!
(Lord Come Quickly)
"On Christ the Solid Rock I Stand, All other ground is sinking sand."
"Let Us make the short time we have left count for all eternity!"
YBIC-Randy
