August 11, 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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USS Truman posted opposite Hormuz as Iranian threats spiral – www.debka.com
"To meet increasingly defiant Iranian threats to US regional military forces, Washington has detached the USS Truman carrier from support duty for Afghanistan in the Arabian Sea and reassigned it to Dubai opposite the Gulf of Oman and the Straits of Hormuz with thousands of marines aboard.
Reporting this, debkafile's military sources note that the Iranian submarine attack on a Japanese oil supertanker last month near Hormuz underlined the urgency of heightened security for keeping the vital straits open.
Tuesday, Aug. 10, Rear Admiral Ali Fadavi, commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Navy (which is Iran's only real naval force), remarked: "Aircraft Carrier USS Truman is currently at Jebel Ali" - 35 kilometers southwest of Dubai - "and will quickly leave the region."
Speaking to reporters at the Bandar Abbas naval base, the admiral announced the addition of twelve torpedo and missile cruisers to the IRGC Navy and the purchase of a British Bladerunner speedboat. "What worries the Americans is that we have equipped (the speedboat) with military gear," he said.
Our Iranian sources note that Tehran keeps track of - and responds instantly with fleet deployments of its own - to every US naval movement in a broad radius from its shores - from the Red Sea in the North, to the Gulfs of Aden and Oman in the East, the Horn of Africa in the west and the southern approaches to the Indian Ocean.
debkafile of April 22, 2010, first revealed that Iran was preparing a fleet of speedboats for striking American air carriers.
By announcing that Iran had equipped the speedboats with military gear added, Fadavi unveiled Iran's counter-threat to US air carriers in general and the USS Truman in particular. Our military sources report that the souped-up Bladerunners have a speed of 61/5 MPH. They Russian-made Shkval torpedoes they carry had travel up to 360 knots per hour, the fastest of any comparable torpedo in service today, a speed which defies radar detection.
Two days earlier, on Aug. 8, Iran launched four Ghadir-type mini-submarines from the same base at Bandar Abbas.
The USS Truman Strike force carries 6,000 marines and sailors and Carrier Wing Three consisting of seven Battle Axe squadrons. It leads a flotilla of four more vessels: the guided missile cruiser USS Normandy, the guided missile destroyer USSWinston S. Churchill, the USS Oscar Austin destroyer and the guided missile destroyer USS Ross.
Another carrier, the USS Peleliu and its marine force are in the Arabian Sea waiting for permission to enter Karachi port and render aid to the millions of flood-stricken Pakistanis. The USS Nassau is cruising in the Gulf Aden.
In a bid to further dramatize Iran's readiness for war, IRGC Deputy Chief Gen. Hossein Kan'ani Moghadam announced Tuesday, Aug. 10: "The mass graves that were used for burying Saddam's soldiers [in the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s] have now been prepared for US soldiers - and this is the reason for digging a large number of graves."
The Iranian media ran this statement as a headline with large photos of the fresh graves.
debkafile's military sources report that Tehran is also flexing its muscles against the United States in Lebanon. After the Lebanese army's Aug. 3 clash with Israel, the Iranian ambassador called on the Lebanese chief of staff and offered Tehran's support for Beirut. He also proposed Iranian military assistance to take the place of the American hardware which US Congress proposes to cut off after the Lebanese army instigated the clash.
The Iranian diplomat proposed invoking the 2008 Iranian-Lebanese military accord which provides for Iranian arms, including heavy weapons, to be supplied to Lebanon together with Iranian military instructors.
This proposition was dismissed by US State Department spokesman Philip Crowley when he said Tuesday: "Iran's activities compromise Lebanese sovereignty."
Stepping up the pressure on Beirut to abandon its pro-Western orientation, Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has announced he will pay a visit Beirut after Ramadan (which began Tuesday night, Aug, 10 and runs for 30 days).
Iran navy produces armed copy of Bladerunner 51 speedboat - By Alastair Jamieson - www.telegraph.co.uk
Iran says it will mass produce armed replicas of the Bladerunner 51, the British-built speedboat hailed among the fastest in the world, for its navy in the Gulf.
A senior commander said Iran would arm the copy vessel with missiles and torpedoes as it continues to build its military presence in the Strait of Hormuz.
General Ali Fadavi of the Revolutionary Guards's navy, told AFP: "The Bladerunner is a British ship that holds the world speed record. We got a copy [on which] we made some changes so it can launch missiles and torpedoes.
"The Revolutionary Guards will be equipped with many” of them within a year, he said at a ceremony marking the delivery of 12 other speed boats equipped with missiles and torpedoes to the Guards.
The Bladerunner 51, weighing 16 tons and 15.5 meters (45 feet) long is manufactured at the ICE Marine shipyard in Britain and can reach a maximum speed of 65 knots.
The boat, powered by two 1,000-horsepower engines, reportedly conducted in 2005 a tour of the British Isles in a little more than 27 hours at an average speed of 63 knots.
IIn late 2005, it smashed the Round Britain World Record in 27hrs and 10mins at an average speed of 63.5mph, proving its astounding offshore capabilities.
General Fadavi did not fully explain how Iran managed to get a copy of the boat, only saying it had come "via South Africa."
He said a US ship had tried to intercept the boat before it entered Iranian waters 18 months ago, but added Iranian forces protected it and ensured its arrival.
Fadavi further warned that "in case of a conflict we will be everywhere and nowhere to face the enemies," recalling that Iran controls the strategic Strait of Hormuz through which 40 percent of world's seaborne oil supplies pass.
In recent weeks Iranian military officials have stepped up their warnings against any attack on the Islamic republic.
The United States and Israel have not ruled out a military strike against Iran to stop its controversial nuclear program.
Iranian leaders have also repeatedly warned Tehran would retaliate against any attempt by Western countries to inspect its vessels, as set out in the latest sanctions the UN Security Council adopted on June 9.
Iran last weekend took delivery of four new mini-submarines of the home-produced Ghadir class. Weighing 120 tons, the “stealth” submarines are aimed at operations in shallow waters, notably in the Gulf.
Assad Terms Iran-Syria Relations Strategic – www.english.farsnews.com
TEHRAN (FNA)- Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Wednesday described the relations between Iran and Syria as "strategic", and underlined that expansion of bilateral ties between Tehran and Damascus is important for maintaining regional security.
Speaking in a meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki in Damascus today, Assad viewed cooperation and relations between the two friendly states as highly important and necessary for the maintenance of security and stability in the region and expansion of regional cooperation.
Also during the meeting, the two sides discussed the status quo in the region and the threats posed by the Zionist regime to the security of the region.
The two officials described the Muslim countries' move to confront enemies' plots as "a positive and effective step".
Mottaki pointed to the strategic ties between Iran and Syria, and stressed the necessity for the two states to take wider strides to bolster their mutual cooperation, given the huge projects already defined for the two countries' joint economic cooperation.
Elsewhere, Mottaki conveyed Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's invitation to Assad to pay an official visit to Tehran in the near future. The Syrian president welcomed the invitation.
The Iranian foreign minister arrived in the Syrian capital, Damascus, on Wednesday to meet and confer with Syrian officials on bilateral relations and the latest developments in region.
Mottaki had earlier said that his visit would be aimed at a further reinvigoration of convergence in the region.
On Sunday, the Iranian top diplomat expressed Iran's full support for Lebanon and Syria in the event of any possible Israeli aggression.
Mottaki pointed out that the three countries are constantly exchanging views about Israel's war threats, and stressed that the Islamic Republic will offer any assistance to Lebanon and Syria.
No agreement on direct Israel-Palestinian talks - Mark Lavie – www.news.yahoo.com
JERUSALEM – There is still no decision to resume direct Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations, President Barack Obama's envoy acknowledged Wednesday, despite optimism in Washington that agreement was close.
Officials in Washington had hoped that envoy George Mitchell's current two-day round of separate talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders would be the last before peace talks are restarted.
Mitchell met Wednesday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who repeated his call for direct negotiations.
Mitchell said, "Well, we share your objective, as you know, and we are continuing our efforts."
Netanyahu replied, "So let's get on with it."
In Washington, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton echoed Mitchell's assessment. "We continue to work closely with both sides to get to direct talks as soon as possible," she said, describing the Mitchell-Netanyahu session as "a good, productive meeting."
Afterward, an Israeli official said there was no breakthrough, putting the blame on the Palestinians. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because no government statement was made.
Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat rejected the Israeli charge. "The key is in Netanyahu's hands," he told The Associated Press. He said the meeting between Mitchell and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday was "constructive and very positive."
Palestinians are demanding frameworks for the talks that include a total freeze on construction in Israeli settlements and a commitment to the creation of a Palestinian state in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem.
Israel's partial freeze on settlement construction in the West Bank, imposed to spur the talks, expires Sept. 26, and Netanyahu has indicated that it will not be extended.
Israel's ceremonial president, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shimon Peres, spoke out Wednesday in favor of direct talks, which he said would "serve the "interests of peace and peaceful coexistence." He spoke after talks in Sofia Wednesday with Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov. Peres said Bulgaria could serve as the venue for the negotiations.
Israel is insisting on talks with no preconditions, balking at previous international statements and frameworks that might have massaged the differences.
The last direct talks ended in late 2008 after a year of negotiations. Israel proposed a Palestinian state in the Gaza Strip, parts of Jerusalem and almost all of the West Bank with territorial exchanges. Erekat has said the Palestinians made a counterproposal to the U.S.
Since then, however, the more hawkish Netanyahu has taken power. He has revoked the earlier Israeli proposal and would likely offer much less to the Palestinians.
Lebanon: We'll reject U.S. military aid if weapons can't be used against Israel - Natasha Mozgovaya – www.haaretz.com
Lebanese Defense Minister Elias Murr said he would reject any U.S. military assistance to Lebanon's army if it comes with conditions.
Lebanese Defense Minister Elias Murr said Wednesday he would reject any U.S. military assistance to Lebanon's army if it comes with conditions that the weapons not be used against Israel.
Murr was commenting Wednesday on a decision by U.S. lawmakers to suspend $100 million in aid over concerns the weapons could be turned on Israel and that Hezbollah may have influence over the Lebanese army.
Murr said those who want to help the Lebanese army but place conditions on how their funds or weapons are used, should keep the money.
He also said a Lebanese soldier who opened fire across the border with Israel earlier in August was acting on orders. The clash killed two Lebanese soldiers, a Lebanese journalist and an Israel Defense Forces officer.
A top aide to Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri harshly criticized a decision by the U.S. Congress to freeze military aid to Beirut in response to the clash on the Israel-Lebanon border.
The adviser, Mohamed Chatah, said Tuesday the aid suspension is unjustified and weakens the government's efforts to build the Lebanese Army.
One week after the incident on the Israel-Lebanon border that killed Lt. Col. (res. ) Dov Harari, the chairman of the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee, Howard Berman, announced that Washington would freeze $100 million in assistance earmarked for the Lebanese military.
Berman said Washington needs to closely examine "reported Hezbollah influence" on the Lebanese armed forces before it resumes providing financial aid.
"Until we know more about this incident and the nature of Hezbollah influence on the LAF [Lebanese armed forces] - and can assure that the LAF is a responsible actor - I cannot in good conscience allow the United States to continue sending weapons to Lebanon," Berman said.
The congressman noted that the decision to halt aid was taken before the shooting incident, which only highlighted the need to better supervise the way money is being used.
The United States said it has seen no evidence indicating that American weapons were used by Lebanese soldiers in the cross-border incident.
According to State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley, Washington has no intention of re-evaluating its military relationship with Lebanon despite calls from Israel to do so.
"[U.S. financial aid to the army] allows the government of Lebanon to expand its sovereignty," Crowley said. "We think that is in the interest of both of our countries and regional stability as a whole."
The Lebanese Army is seen as woefully under-equipped compared to Hezbollah, which is believed to have been rearming since its 2006 war with Israel. The military lost 170 troops when battling an Al-Qaida-inspired Islamist group holed up in a Palestinian refugee camp in 2007.
ANALYSIS-Grain price rise may fuel Mideast, Europe unrest – Peter Apps – www.reuters.com
LONDON, Aug 11 (Reuters) - Rising grain prices from Russia's drought and fires will pressure populations already hit by the financial crisis and could stoke unrest -- particularly in the Middle East, North Africa and parts of Europe.
Wheat prices have risen by nearly 70 percent since June after Russia suffered its worst drought in 130 years and are at their highest since 2008, when the last major food price rally sparked protests and riots in a string of emerging nations.
Analysts warn that if prices stay high then the threat of street violence will increase -- at least up to a point.
"We could see some street riots but I wouldn't expect any governments to fall," said Jonathan Wood, global issues analyst for consultancy Control Risks.
"On one level, we have much less of a problem than in 2008 because we have better food stocks. On the other hand, because of the financial crisis many countries are not in such a good position financially to deal with it."
Particularly in emerging markets where food makes up a higher proportion of household purchases, the price rise could filter through in inflation, rate hikes and wider deficits.
The Middle East and North Africa, particularly Egypt, are regarded as particularly vulnerable, as are emerging and southern European countries where discontent has already been fuelled by harsh cuts in public spending, benefits and pay .
"Grain imports are particularly sensitive in the Middle East and North Africa -- bread is such a crucial staple of the diet," said Metsa Rahimi, analyst at security consultant Janusian. "Eastern Europe is also an obvious area of risk."
Europe has seen less social unrest than many expected from the financial crisis -- although riots in Greece in May unsettled global markets -- but risks are expected to rise in the autumn as unions call strikes and spending cuts bite.
Central and Eastern Europe have pushed through tough measures to qualify for IMF and European Union aid, but analysts see patience running thin, particularly in Romania. Spain, Italy, France and the Baltic states are also being closely watched.
POLITICAL WEAPON?
Much will depend on how long the price increase lasts and to what extent it filters through other commodities and foodstuffs.
That could swiftly bring angry mobs on the streets particularly in relatively poor authoritarian countries where maintaining food supply is seen as key to government legitimacy, they analysts said.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin was swift to impose an export ban, with the Kremlin likely to be keen to keep its silos full especially in the event of more damage to its winter crop.
"Adequate grain supplies have long been associated with social stability in Russia," wrote security consultancy Stratfor. "
Stratfor believes Russia may use the crisis to pull together nearby producers Belarus, Kazakhstan and Ukraine to form a regional grain cartel.
"Moscow very publicly has used energy supplies as a political weapon, either by raising prices or cutting supplies," it said in a note. "Grain exports fall very easily into Moscow's box of economic tools."
Several key importers of Russian wheat including Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Jordan have been swift to say they have enough stocks and there will be no immediate impact on ordinary people. But they are nervous.
"The risks are always greatest where there are large numbers of urban poor and where food makes up more than 60 percent of the consumer purchase index basket," said Alastair Newton, political analyst at Nomura.
"My top pick for potential trouble would be Egypt where tensions are already high with elections coming up and concerns about succession. Egypt has a long history of food price riots -- but my guess is the main impact will be on the deficit as the cost of subsidies go up."
Food prices and subsidies have always been notoriously political in Egypt, which faces elections next year with little clarity on whether 82-year-old President Hosni Mubarak -- in power for almost three decades -- will stand again.
POLITICAL RISK PREMIUMS
There have been occasional scuffles at Ramadan food handouts in recent weeks and grumbling over raised pre-Ramadan prices but no repeat of the widespread protests seen in 2008.
The government met those first with a security clampdown then with the promise of higher wages.
Other countries being particularly closely watched for signs of unrest include Algeria, drought-hit Syria and already unstable Yemen.
In contrast, there is seen less immediate impact on Africa, in part because of stronger other staple crops particularly maize in the continent's south. Nigerian food price rises have also slowed because of good local crops.
Even in West Africa's Sahel -- scene of a pre-existing food crisis -- aid agencies say the Russian grain crisis and global price surge has had little local impact as yet.
But rising global prices could still put pressure on some recent land deals for food production in which Middle Eastern and Asian nations have bought up tracts of land in Africa and elsewhere including Ukraine and Pakistan for food. Hungry local populations might not like seeing food being trucked abroad.
The only major change of government linked to the last food spike was the 2009 coup in Madagascar, in which popular desire to overturn a South Korean land purchase was seen as a key factor.
Insurer Zurich believes food-related unrest worries will prompt more investors to seek protection against political violence damage and expropriation. That could push up premiums and the cost of foreign direct investment in affected markets.
"We would expect to see increased demand for our political risk products as a result of this," said Dan Riordan, Zurich president for specialty products.
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Look what Obama's pushing Israel to do now – Aaron Klein – www.wnd.com
Palestinians warn they're unprepared to assume security control
JERUSALEM – The U.S. is pushing Israel into conceding strategic territory in the next few months despite admissions from the Palestinian Authority it is not fully ready to assume security control over the areas in question, WND has learned.
As a confidence gesture to the PA, the Obama administration has asked Israel to withdraw its forces from Area C – neighborhoods in the West Bank and eastern sections of Jerusalem where Israel maintains full security control. The PA's American-trained security forces would assume full control of those sections, according to the U.S. plan.
The gesture is part of a series of other measures the U.S. has asked of Israel in a bid to re-start direct talks with the PA. Other gestures include easing anti-terror roadblocks and checkpoints and facilitating greater movement of Palestinian civilians in the West Bank.
However, in recent meetings with George Mitchell – Obama's envoy to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict – PA security chiefs admitted their forces are not yet fully ready to assume security control of Area C, according to sources familiar with the meetings.
Since the late 1990s, the U.S. has run training bases for PA militias. The U.S. also has provided hundreds of millions of dollars in financial aid and weapons to build up the PA militias.
The past two years, the U.S. stepped up its efforts at training the PA, running more advanced courses guided by Keith Dayton, the U.S. security coordinator to the Palestinian territories. In 2007, Dayton initiated an advanced program for Palestinian police that trains 500 to 600 cadets at a time at the American bases.
The U.S. currently operates training bases for the PA police and other militias, such as Force 17 and the Preventative Security Services in the West Bank city of Jericho and the Jordanian village of Giftlik.
Israeli security officials previously told WND that despite recent U.S. training, they were also concerned the PA is not strong enough in the West Bank to impose law and order without the help of the Israeli army.
According to the officials, the PA's intelligence apparatus routinely hands the Israel Defense Forces lists of Hamas militants that threaten Fatah rule, requesting that Israel make arrests.
Atlantic Monthly: Israeli Strike on Iran Likely after Next July - by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu - www.israelnationalnews.com
There is a better than 50-50 chance that Israel will attack Iran after next July, but many Israeli officials think a better solution to the Iranian nuclear threat would be an American strike on its nuclear facilities, Atlantic Monthly’s Jeffrey Goldberg writes.
Under the title of “The Point of No Return, Goldberg’s article describes a probable scenario if sanctions, an internal Iranian revolution or local sabotage does not stop Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in his tracks.
“Uzi Arad, and the Israeli defense minister, Ehud Barak, will simultaneously telephone their counterparts at the White House and the Pentagon, to inform them that their prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has just ordered roughly one hundred F-15Es, F-16Is, F-16Cs, and other aircraft of the Israeli air force to fly east toward Iran—possibly by crossing Saudi Arabia, possibly by threading the border between Syria and Turkey, and possibly by traveling directly through Iraq’s airspace, though it is crowded with American aircraft,” Goldberg wrote in the new issue of the magazine.
“Israel would get only one try. Israeli planes would fly low over Saudi Arabia, bomb their targets in Iran, and return to Israel by flying again over Saudi territory, possibly even landing in the Saudi desert for refueling—perhaps, if speculation rife in intelligence circles is to be believed, with secret Saudi cooperation. These planes would have to return home quickly, in part because Israeli intelligence believes that Iran would immediately order Hizbullah to fire rockets at Israeli cities.”
One general told Goldberg, “Our problem is not Iranian air defenses, because we have ways of neutralizing that. Our problem is that the Saudis will look very guilty in the eyes of the world if we keep flying over their territory.”
With the likelihood that Iran will be able to deliver a nuclear weapon in 1-3 years, Goldberg said that the Holocaust echo of “Never Again” will leave Israel no choice other than to attack Iran without asking the United States for permission or even notifying it in advance.
The growing conclusion among Israeli leaders is that the alternative to bombing Iran would be the annihilation of the Jewish State.
“You don’t want a messianic apocalyptic cult controlling atomic bombs,” Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu told the journalist. “When the wide-eyed believer gets hold of the reins of power and the weapons of mass death, then the world should start worrying, and that’s what is happening in Iran.”
Israeli leaders have tried to drum in the message that the Iranian threat is aimed at the entire world and not just Israel. The reasoning leaves open the option—and hope—that U.S. President Barack Obama will step into the breach and carry out a military strike on the Islamic Republic. It is speculative whether the young president, who was elected on the back of sentiment against the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, would order an attack.
An unnamed Arab foreign minister told Goldberg, “This is not a discussion about the invasion of Iran. We are hoping for the pinpoint striking of several dangerous facilities. America could do this very easily.”
Israeli military officials also have their sights set across the Atlantic Ocean. Goldberg said that Israel’s security advisor Uzi Arad related that Prime Minister Netanyahu often tells visiting foreign officials, “Let me tell you a secret. The American military is bigger than Israel’s.”
“If the choice is between allowing Iran to go nuclear, or trying for ourselves what Obama won’t try, then we probably have to try,” the official added. Our time would be better spent lobbying Barack Obama to do this, rather than trying this ourselves,” one general told me. “We are very good at this kind of operation, but it is a big stretch for us. The Americans can do this with a minimum of difficulty, by comparison. This is too big for us.”
However, President Obama’s style of oratory and “engagement” of enemies has left Israeli officials doubtful. “We don’t believe that he is the sort of person who would launch a daring strike on Iran. We are afraid he would see a policy of containing a nuclear Iran rather than attacking it,” one policy maker told Goldberg.
Would Prime Minister Netanyahu be the man to “pull the trigger” on Iran? The answer goes back to the Holocaust. One official who “spends considerable time” with Prime Minister Netanyahu told Goldberg, “The only reason Bibi [Netanyahu] would place Israel’s relationship with America in total jeopardy is if he thinks that Iran represents a threat like the Shoah [Holocaust]. In World War II, the Jews had no power to stop Hitler from annihilating us. Six million were slaughtered. Today, six million Jews live in Israel, and someone is threatening them with annihilation. But now we have the power to stop them. Bibi knows that this is the choice.”
One mitigating factor against attacking Iran is the effect sanctions are having on its nuclear development. Despite the fanfare of a new centrifuge for enriching uranium, U.S. National Security Council official Gary Samore said, “The particular centrifuge machines they’re running are based on an inferior technology. They are running into some technical difficulties, partly because of the work we’ve done to deny them access to foreign components. When they make the parts themselves, they are making parts that don’t have quality control.”
Regardless of the effects of the sanctions, one Arab foreign minister pointed out the mentality of Ahmadinejad—that others might apply to all Muslim radicals—that while President Obama acts out of “reasonableness,” “Iran will continue on this reckless path, unless the administration starts to speak unreasonably. The best way to avoid striking Iran is to make Iran think that the U.S. is about to strike Iran. “
Goldberg wrote, “Based on months of interviews, I have come to believe that the administration knows it is a near-certainty that Israel will act against Iran soon if nothing or no one else stops the nuclear program; and Obama knows—as his aides, and others in the State and Defense departments made clear to me—that a nuclear-armed Iran is a serious threat to the interests of the United States, which include his dream of a world without nuclear weapons.“
Why the disasters in Asia? - Nathan E. Jones – www.lamblion.com
"Asia flooding plunges millions into misery"
So reports the Associated Press in their Sunday, August 8 article by Christopher Bodeen. Reports out of the Eastern Hemisphere are dire:
China
In the latest deluge in a summer that has seen China's worst seasonal flooding in a decade, heavy rains over the weekend have caused the Bailong River to burst its banks, creating flooding and subsequent mudslides that have devastated towns in northwestern China. Flotsam has blocked the river creating a tidal wave of mud, rocks and water which crashed down on the Gansu Province, ripping houses from their foundations and tearing six-story apartment buildings in half. Houses are slogged in mud, cars are encased in debris, and streets are buckled beyond use. To make it even worse, emergency response has been hampered by the mountainous location.
The loss in human life has been tragic as an estimated 1,300 Chinese are still missing. Nearly 45,000 people have been evacuated. This latest flood in China has confirmed 127 more dead to an already 1,100 people this year killed by the floods. The damage across 28 provinces and regions will cost an estimated tens of billions of dollars to repair.
Pakistan
Nearly four million Pakistanis faced food shortages and starvation from the destruction of their 1.4 million acres of crops in the breadbasket of Pakistan due to their country's worst-ever flooding in their recorded history. The swollen Indus River's overflow submerged the Mor Khan Jatoi village with chest-high water and destroyed many of its 1,500 mud homes. Resulting landslides buried two villages in the northern Gilgit-Baltistan.
In Pakistan, more than 1,500 people have been reported killed and millions more left begging for rescue aid as they face down starvation.
India
In Indian controlled Kashmir, rescuers raced to find 500 people still missing in flash floods that have already killed 132. Flash flooding has sent massive mudslides down remote desert mountainsides. Homes were buried and power and telecommunication towers were toppled.
North Korea
High waters have destroyed thousands of homes and damaged crops, submerging 36,700 acres of farmland. An estimated 5,500 homes were destroyed after the recent heavy rains.
Russia
While the nations to the south report terrible flooding, Russia to the north faces a trial by fire. "Moscow deaths double amid smog to 700 people a day," reports the Associated Press in their Monday, August 9 article by Vladimir Isachenkov. Western Russia has been burning as a sweltering heat wave — the most intense heat wave in 130 years of record keeping and 1,000 years of historical documentation — has ignited 550 separate wildfires.
Nearly 10,000 firefighters are battling the blazes with little success in putting them out. Heat and fire have annihilated 20 percent of Russia's wheat crop.
The Russian capital of Moscow is engulfed by poisonous smog from 40 local wildfires. For six straight days an acrid smog has blanketed Moscow, leaving residents choking on high concentrations of carbon monoxide and other poisonous substances.
Moscow's health chief Andrei Seltsovky claims the city morgues are nearly overflowing with 1,300 bodies, close to their capacity. The people must make a difficult choice to either breath the noxious fumes or close their windows and swelter to death. The wildfires have directly caused the demise of at least 52 people and destroyed nearly 2,000 homes.
Devastating Statistics
The world continues to painfully witness what NaturalNews.com reported in their article "Natural Disasters Up More Than 400 Percent in Two Decades" (Thurs., Jun. 5, 2008, David Gutierrez) — natural disasters are increasing in frequency, ravaging the world, our countries, and even our own homes.
"The number of natural disasters around the world has increased by more than four times in the last 20 years, according to a report released by the British charity Oxfam. Oxfam analyzed data from the Red Cross, United Nations and researchers at Louvain University in Belgium. It found that the earth is currently experiencing approximately 500 natural disasters per year, compared with 120 per year in the early 1980s. The number of weather-related disasters in 2006 was 240, compared with 60 in 1980... Between 1985 and 1994, Oxfam found that 174 million people were affected by disasters each year. In the following decade, this figure increased by 70 percent to 254 million people per year."
What is the cause?
The Bible gives us the correct answer to all this weather upheaval — God is speaking to us. God has always spoken through signs of nature. The Bible provides us with many signs we are to watch for that will signal the soon return of Jesus, including natural disasters. Jesus said these signs would be like "birth pangs" (Matt. 24:8). That means they will increase in frequency and intensity the closer we get to the Lord's return. And that is exactly what appears to be happening today.
Why God?
God uses signs of nature to underline the importance of major events, like Jesus' soon return.
God also uses them as remedial judgments to call nations to repentance. God isn't blind to the massacre of Christians in China where members of the underground church are routinely rounded up and sent to detention camps, to Pakistan where Christians are falsely charged of blasphemy to Allah and brutally executed daily, to India which burns Christian orphanages to the ground, to North Korea which enslaves their population to poverty at the whims of a madman, and to Russia who arms Iran in its ambitions to destroy Israel.
Because of our rejection of God and His moral standards, we tragically are the ones truly responsible for these natural disasters. As long as the nations continue to reject God and persecute believers in Christ, He will use natural disasters to yell — "I love you! Repent and come back to me!"
What to do?
God's Word makes it clear that when He sends discipline, the fundamental purpose is never to punish. Instead, the purpose is to call us to repentance so that we might be saved. Here's how the prophet Isaiah expressed it: "When your judgments come upon the earth, the people of the world learn righteousness" (Isa. 26:9b).
Our God is so merciful. He is patiently sending us one natural disaster wake-up call after another because He never pours out His wrath without warning. And the greatest "coming wrath" already visible on the far horizon is the 7-year Tribulation (1 Thes. 1:10), which will include so much natural devastation that the oceans and lakes will run red, the atmosphere will be polluted most likely by radiation, and a third of the grasses and trees will be decimated.
And so, we each individually need to repent for our own rebellion and selfishness. Across the globe we need to repent for removing God from our societies, for our murders from the womb to the elderly, for our obsession with sexual promiscuity, for our preoccupation with self, and for our lack of support for Israel's right to exist. We need to accept Jesus as our Savior, the only way we will be rescued from the "coming wrath."
When Jesus finally returns, the curse will be lifted and the natural calamities will cease.
Love Defined – Greg Laurie – www.harvest.org
"If you love me, obey my commandments."
— John 14:15
What is love? The Beatles recorded the classic song on the subject, "All You Need Is Love," and then they broke up and sued each other. Various philosophers have expressed opinions on love as well. Plato said that love is a serious mental disease. Oliver Wendell Holmes, who was more optimistic on the subject, said, "Love is the master key which opens the gates of happiness." Another said, "Love is the only sane and satisfactory answer to the problem of human existence."
We are given probably the greatest definition of love in 1 Corinthians 13:
Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.
The Bible clearly tells us that God is love. We don't have a greater example of love than what we have in God's showing His love for us. And we find the definitive statement on love in John 3:16: "For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life." So how should we respond? We ought to love Him back.
We can talk all day about love and how much we love God. We can sing about our love for God. We can speak about our love for God. But probably the best way to show our love for Him is by what we do. Jesus said, "If you love me, obey my commandments" (John 14:15).
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Rapture Myths - by Thomas Ice – www.pretrib.org
Hardly a week goes by that I don’t receive material opposing the pre-trib rapture which is filled with all kinds of error, both Scriptural and historical. For example, I ran across an article entitled "Origin of the Secret Rapture Theory." The first sentence said, "It may surprise and even shock you that neither the word ‘rapture’ nor the teaching of a secret rapture is not mentioned in ANY Christian literature prior to 1830—including the Bible!" I am hardly surprised or shocked that anyone could pack so much error into a single sentence, but there we have for all to see. This month I want to deal with some of the popular myths about the pre-trib rapture teaching that Dr. LaHaye and I very much believe is taught in the New Testament Scriptures.
The Term "Rapture"
First of all, the word "rapture" is found in the Bible, if you have the Latin Vulgate produced by Jerome in the early 400s. The Vulgate was the main Bible of the medieval Western Church until the Reformation. It continues to this day as the primary Latin translation of the Roman Catholic Church. Yet, as we shall see later, it was Protestants who introduced the word "rapture" into the English language from the Latin raeptius. It was Jerome’s Vulgate that translated the original Greek verb harpazô used by Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, in 1 Thessalonians 4:17, which is usually translated into English with the phrase "caught up." The leading Greek Lexicon says that harpazô means "snatch, seize, i.e., take suddenly and vehemently." This is the same meaning of the Latin word rapio "to seize, snatch, tear away." It should not be surprising to anyone, that an English word was developed from the Latin which we use today known as "rapture."
In Europe, during the Middle Ages and Reformation periods, the theologians were from various countries and therefore spoke different native tongues. However, the single language of the church, both Catholic and Protestant was Latin. In fact, many of the first books written and published in the American Colonies during the seventeenth century were in Latin. For example, Cotton Mather’s famous history of the American Colonies during the seventeenth century was written in Latin and called Magnalia Christi Americana, or The Great Works of Christ in America. Because it was done in Latin it could be read throughout Europe by the educated class. Thus, it should not be surprising to anyone that many new words came into the English language from a Latin source, especially in the realm of theology. Rapture is just such a word.
While it is technically true that the word rapture does not appear in the English Bible, it does, nevertheless, appear in the Latin Vulgate translation of the Bible. Certainly the notion of a rapture appears many times in the Bible. Translators of the Bible into English could have been justified had they translated "caught up" in 1 Thessalonians 4:17 with the English word "rapture." They also could have translated it by the word snatch. We could just as easily call the rapture "the great snatch."
I have in my personal library at least 50 commentaries on 1 Thessalonians. Virtually all of them use the word "rapture" to describe the event in 1 Thessalonians 4:17. They do not appear interested in using it in a derogatory way nor do any of them go on an excursus about how this word does not appear in English translations. Most of these commentators do not hold to a pre-trib rapture view. They merely use the word because they know that it is one of the many Latin words that have made it into the English theological vernacular. Sorry that some have not yet heard.
The rapture does occur in the Bible, especially if you read the Latin Vulgate. However, there is no doubt that the Greek word harpazô in 1 Thessalonians 4:17, usually translated into English "caught up," conveys the rapture concept.
"Rapture" Usage
Our anti-rapture diatribe noted earlier said, "the word ‘rapture’ nor the teaching of a secret rapture is not mentioned in ANY Christian literature prior to 1830." Oh really! It is not hard to find out when English words were first introduced into the language. One needs only to check The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) and it will cite examples of the history of the usage of the word. The oldest word in the "rapture" family is "rapt." OED cites examples of rapt occurring in 1400 in English literature. The earliest instances of "rapture" in secular English literature are cited as 1605, 1607, and 1608. OED provides seven nuances of the word Rapture. The fourth entry is the biblical one defined as "The act of conveying a person from one place to another esp. to heaven; the fact of being so conveyed." Two examples of this use are cited from the seventeenth century. The first by a writer named Ward in 1647 and the other by J. Edwards (not the American Jonathan) in 1693. It does not take long to realize that these examples are well before 1830.
Joseph Mede (1586-1638), considered in his day, a brilliant English exegete wrote a commentary on Revelation in 1627 called Clavis Apocalyptica (Key of the Revelation). In it he said, "Therefore, it is not needful that the Resurrection of those which slept in Christ, and the Rapture of those which shall be left alive together with them in the air . . ." While Mede was a premillennialist, he did not hold to a pre-trib rapture. Nor did the commentator and theologian John Gill (1697-1771) who wrote around 1745 the following in his commentary on 1 Thessalonians 4:17: ". . . and to which rapture will contribute, the agility which the bodies both of the raised and changed saints will have: and this rapture of the living saints will be together with them; . . ."
To admit that the word rapture was used in the English language at least a couple of hundred years before J. N. Darby came along does not in the least mean that one believes in pretribulationism. The Greek word harpazô is used fourteen times in the New Testament. In addition to 1 Thessalonians 4:17, it is used at least three more times of one being raptured to heaven (2 Cor. 12:2, 4; Rev. 12:5). So there is no need to get upset over the use of the Latin based, English word "rapture." It is a biblical word.
The "Secret" Rapture Myth
Included in the above tirade is an equation of the so-called "secret" rapture with pretribulationism. Sorry, but this is another mistake, another myth. In all my reading of pretribulationism and discussion with pretribulationists, I have never, that I can recall, heard a pre-trib rapturist use the nomenclature of "secret" rapture to describe our view. I have only heard the phrase "secret" rapture as a pejorative term used exclusively by anti-pretribulationists. Why? Apparently they enjoy fighting with a straw man.
Anti-pretribulationist, Ken Gentry declares, "On the very surface it is remarkable that one of the noisiest verses in Scripture is said to picture the secret rapture." The truth of the matter is that Gentry wrongly assumes that pretribulationists characterize their view of the rapture as "secret." We do not! However, there are anti-pre-trib rapture advocates, like Dave MacPherson who have taught this myth. As a result, unwitting critics like Gentry have absorbed this myth into their rhetoric without doing their homework.
Very likely it was Dave MacPherson who has spread this myth that equates pretribulationism with a secret rapture. "In 1880 William Reid, in his book on Brethrenism," declares MacPherson, "stated that ‘Edward Irving contributed the notion of . . . the secret rapture of the saints.’" MacPherson later concludes, "The pretrib rapture eventually became known as the ‘secret rapture.’ This label was based on the presupposition that only certain persons would have privileged visibility or knowledge during the occurrence of this catching up." MacPherson does not actually reference anyone who believes in a pre-trib rapture when he makes these statements. It is through slight of hand that he slips such an assumption into his plot of fictional myths about the origins of pretribulationism.
In fact, Brethren researcher R. A. Huebner refutes MacPherson’s misinformation about the pre-trib rapture and its supposed association with a secret rapture teaching. Huebner notes that supposed relation of pretribulationism and a secret rapture are built upon the following false historical assumptions: First, the "erroneous notions are the result of the myth that the Irvingites held a pretribulation rapture and also results from trying to link J. N. D. with this falsified Irvingism." Second, when speaking of events transpiring in the 1830s, Huebner says, "the Secret Rapture as used at that point in time did not refer to the pretribulation rapture." Third, "it seems that up to this point in time [the 1830s, T. D. I.], ‘Secret Rapture’ referred to a rapture at the appearing [the second coming, T. D. I.]." Fourth, "I am not aware if JND ever thought that the rapture would be ‘secret.’"
It was the Irvingites, and not the Brethren, who believed in the secret rapture. Since the secret rapture and pretribulationism are not the same, this is where much of the confusion resides. The Irvingite view of the secret rapture was a belief that a few enlightened ones would be taken right before the second coming at the end of the tribulation. This is what Irvingite, Margaret Macdonald’s revelation is about. It is impossible to find a pre-trib rapture of any kind in her vision.
Conclusion
I am sure that this call to anti-pre-trib rapture advocates will not result in much of a reduction of their zealous proclamation of mythological falsehoods about our blessed hope. It seems that too many are blinded by their zeal to oppose the biblical teachings of the any-moment hope of the rapture for them to take time to get their information straight. No wonder Columba Graham Flegg, in his scholarly work on the Irvingites spoke specifically of Dave MacPherson’s work as "less scholarly." Flegg said, the "conclusions reached in this work and the rationale behind them are hardly convincing." Now why is an expert on the Irvingites not impressed with MacPherson’s work? Because Flegg has a thorough knowledge about the times in which MacPherson writes and realizes that he is spinning out myths. Maranatha!
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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
