How Can the European Union Recognize a Palestinian State Before it Exists?

Update 29 December 2010: This article was originally posted on 21 FEB 2010. Current events have caused me to update and expand it and and then bring it forward rather than compose an entirely new article on the same subject.

21 February 2010: The Israeli left-leaning newspaper Ha'aretz reported today that through a French and Spanish initiative the European Union will recognise the existence of a "Palestinian" state 18 months from now. Based upon "Palestinian" demands, such a state would comprise the yellow-colored areas of the West Bank seen in the small inset in the map image above. That area depicts the un-negotiated but de facto pre-June 1967 (6 Day War) borders", which are also known as the 1949 Armistice Lines. Most geo-political analysts worth their paycheck would offer the assessment that such a map does not geographically represent a viable nation state. Nothing of its kind has existed previously for any length of time.

Would not the total of 18 months from now constitute an exceptionable bit of timing? I mean to say, consider this: if they were aware of Jewish historical facts, would not the secular world's book-makers set odds on whether or not the European Union's official recognition of a non-existent state will occur on or before Tisha B'Av, or Tuesday, 9 August 2011? Or that the gambit of a unilateral "Palestinian" declaration of statehood would be successful or a failure? Would the fact that Tisha B'Av is the historical anniversary of the most tragic days in Israel's long history serve to increase the margin of those hypothetical odds?

Me thinks the answers are, respectively: yes, successful, and yes.

Inquiring minds would like to know because such an initiative as the driving force of Pan-Arab-Islamic expectations (i.e. the Arab League) for the unilateral declaration of "Palestinian" statehood over the intervening months will very likely be the impetus for a major war.

In point-of- fact, I believe that is precisely the goal, albeit unstated, of such a geo-political gambit should those expectations not be realized. A unilateral declaration of "Palestinian" statehood, with many nations of the world recognizing that declaration - prior to the actual declaratory words and institutions of statehood having been created much less functional - appears to me to be a very crafty calculation and political mechanism to achieve the reality of that state as the result of blatant appeasement - or - if forcefully resisted by Israel, for war. A war like the Psalm 83 war.

The 12 Days of Christmas

28 December 2010: This is just too good to let pass and not post. The true origin and symbolism of the song.

THE TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS


Written by Dr. Jack Wheeler
Wednesday, 22 December 2010

I want to wish you the Merriest of Christmases this Saturday, but according to the song, the First Day of Christmas is the day after Christmas, December 26.

Ancient Christians celebrated "The Holidays," as our militant secularists insist on referring to them now, starting with the day after the birth of Jesus and ending on January 6th with the visit of the Magi in Matthew 2:11 known as the Epiphany.

Start with 12/26 and end with 1/6 and you get: the Twelve Days of Christmas.

You may be really tired of hearing Christmas songs by now, including this one, yet you may still be wondering what the heck partridges in a pear tree and eight maids a-milking have to do with the birth of the founder of Christianity. So I thought we might take a break from Serious Thoughts About World Events, and take a look at the song's origin, meaning, and current urban myth.

The earliest printed version of The Twelve Days of Christmas is in a children's book published in London in 1790, Mirth Without Mischief. It is called a "memory and forfeits" game played by children in the form of a song, where the leader recites a verse, each player in turn repeats it, the leader keeps adding verses until a player's memory fails him/her and has to forfeit a piece of candy (if a girl, a kiss on the leader's cheek).

Kids in 18th Century England, however, learned the game from French kids, who had been singing their version, "In Those Twelve Days" since at least 1625. We know the song was originally French, as for example, partridges were introduced into England from France in the 1770s.

Even though The Twelve Days of Christmas was a kids' song-game, it nonetheless had a deep religious meaning.

Unlike the PC Happy Holidays of today, centuries ago Christmas was above all a religious celebration. All of the song's twelve gifts are Christian symbols.

On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...

A Christian's "true love" is God.

A partridge in a pear tree...

The partridge is Jesus; the pear tree stands for the Cross.

The French revered the mother partridge, which would feign injury to draw predators away from her nest and willing to sacrifice herself for the life of her children, and used the bird as a symbol for Jesus who lamented in Matthew 23:37: "O Jerusalem... How often would I have sheltered thee under my wings, as a hen does her chicks, but thou wouldst not have it so."

Why a pear tree? Because it's a song in English full of alliteration: partridge-pear, two-turtle, maids-milking, swans-swimming, lords-leaping, pipers-piping, drummers-drumming.

On the second day...two turtle doves...

The sacrifice Joseph and Mary made for Jesus (they actually sacrifice two turtle doves in Luke 2:24).

The French original refers to the two gifts of the Old and New Testaments.

On the third day...three French hens...

The three things that abideth of I Corinthians 13:13 -- faith, hope, and charity. In the French original, the three persons of the Holy Trinity, the Father, the Son, the Holy Ghost.

On the fourth day... four calling (in the English original, "colly" or black) birds...

The four Evangelists and their Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John.

On the fifth day... five golden rings...

Not rings on your finger, but ring-necked pheasants in keeping with the bird theme of the first seven verses; the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Old Testament known collectively as the Books of Moses.

On the sixth day... six geese a-laying...

The six days of Creation.

On the seventh day... seven swans a-swimming...

The Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit, much discussed by Augustine and Aquinas: wisdom, understanding, knowledge, counsel, fortitude, piety, and fear of the Lord.

On the eighth day... eight maids a-milking...

The eight Beatitudes or those who are blessed from the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5:3-10 (the poor in spirit, who mourn, the meek, who thirst for righteousness, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, who are persecuted for righteousness).

On the ninth day... nine ladies a-dancing...

The nine fruits of the Holy Spirit listed in Galatians 5:22-23: "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law."

On the tenth day...ten lords a-leaping...

The Ten Commandments.

On the eleventh day... eleven pipers piping...

The eleven loyal Disciples. We all know what happened to the twelfth.

On the twelfth day...twelve drummers drumming...

The twelve points of The Apostle's Creed.

That's the meaning.

Now on to the myth.

There is an "urban legend" floating in the Internet ether that the Twelve Days is a Catholic protest song, a secret catechism sung by English Catholics after Elizabeth I abolished "the old worship" in 1559, forbidding the open practice of Roman Catholicism (finally repealed by Parliament in 1829).

Yet all twelve enumerated gifts of the song were believed in common by both Catholics and Anglicans -- there is nothing in it exclusively Catholic needing to be secret and hidden.

Further, the song originated in France, not England. This myth was created by a Byzantine Catholic priest in Granville, New York named Hal Stockert in 1995.

He claimed he had done all sorts of research in 16th Century Latin texts and letters from Irish priests. When pressed to provide it, his dog had devoured his homework: "All of my notes were ruined when our church had a plumbing leak and the basement flooded."

Oh, he did make an electronic copy, but sadly it is on "a computer floppy disk that is so old that nobody has a machine that can read it anymore."

Hey, Hal: you're lying.

I have to tell you it was my son Jackson who gave me the idea to write this. The most wonderful Christmas present a man can have is his family and I am truly blessed with mine. Christmas gives us the opportunity to reflect upon and appreciate the blessings we all have in our lives. Merry Christmas -- all the way to January 6th.

Hal Lindsey Report: The Mystery of the Magi

26 December 2010: Click this embedded link to HisChannel to watch today's rebroadcast of The Hal Lindsey Report on "The Mystery of the Magi." This program is a truly Spirit-inspired study of the earthly birth of our Our Lord and Saviour - from Micah to the Book of Revelation - which is a blessing to all who will view it.

“Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him.”

“In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet:
‘ But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
Are not the least among the rulers of Judah;
For out of you shall come a Ruler
Who will shepherd My people Israel.’”

25 December 2010: To this post I'm adding this very timely linked TV segment from Prophecy in the News with Gary Stearman and JR Church entitled: "The Case for the Date of Our Savior's Birth." This agrees with and adds great detail to what I have long believed on this subject. Enjoy! A permanent link to the Prophecy in the News website is now in the "Favorites Links" on the right side navigation bar.

The Psalm 83 "Inner Ring" Solidifies

22 December 2010: This report began as an assessment on current events in the Middle East that I sent out as an Email to several Christian brothers on 13 December. The text of that Email follows.

"Subject: Israel - The Ultimate Joint Islamic Cause

Among the "inner ring" Psalm 83 nations only Egypt's publicly vehement opposition to the Shi'a Islamic regime in Iran appears to be intact. And that might change suddenly with an Islamist al-Ikhwan al-Muslimuun (Muslim Brotherhood) victory (coup d'etat) over the Mubarak regime in Cairo.

Syria, Lebanon, Gaza(Philistia), and certain elements within the West Bank are all benefactors of Iranian "assistance" in the continuing and ever increasing confrontation with Israel. Now Jordan, in the person of its reigning monarch, King Abdullah, made it clear yesterday (12 December) that the Hashemite Kingdom intends to follow the lead of its Sunni Arab brothers in reaching out to Iran. This is a stunning and totally out-of-the-blue reversal of Jordanian foreign policy vis-a-vis the Islamic Republic. Why and why now?

Jordan's king wants improved ties with Iran

Excerpt: "The Jordanian (Royal Court) statement quoted Abdullah as saying it was "imperative to undertake practical steps for improving Jordanian-Iranian relations in the service of both countries, their brotherly people and joint Islamic causes and to consolidate security and stability in the region."

Assessment:

I believe this reversal is based upon the Islamic imperative that confrontation with and destruction of Israel is the ultimate in joint Islamic causes. Consolidated security and stability within Dar al-Islam (land of Submission) cannot occur as long as Israel, a/k/a/ Dar al-Harb (Land of War) exists within the Islamic crescent. Tehran's rapprochement with Amman cannot occur as long as its unilateral peace agreement with Israel remains in force. Thus Jordanian abrogation of the agreement may occur without notice or upon the flimsiest of pretexts. Jordan sees what exists to its north - from Iran to the Mediterranean Sea - an Iranian-led and armed to the teeth coalition is intent on vanquishing Israel in the near term. Jordan, the Hashemite Kingdom, set itself up as the guardian of Islam's holiest shrines - from Mecca to Jerusalem - and over the course of recent history has lost both, the former to the Saudi's and the latter to the Israeli's. I believe this underlies King Abdullah's decision. It is an attempt to restore the Hashemite Kingdom's Islamic legitimacy and honor.

King Abdullah wants to save his kingdom - he's very aware of the near disaster his father faced in 1970 when the "Palestinians" nearly took the kingdom for their own. "Bloody September" is the root cause of the Lebanon we know today, and the Jordan. Abdullah is making sure the Palestinian's have their own state so that they don't want his."

Thus can we clearly see a palpable real-world and real-time solidification of the very appropriate "inner ring" nomenclature coined by Isralestine author Bill Salus. King Abdullah has no other option but to consign Jordan to the confederation of nations which have prophetically uttered in their native Arabic language, “Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation, That the name of Israel may be remembered no more.”

It was in no small way that I was a little more than slightly surprised this morning to see the secular Israeli website DEBKAfile publish an article (Jordan winds down military-intelligence ties with Israel) which reiterated the primary points I'd made in the above assessment. We've "closed the loop" so to speak at the tail end of the year 2010 A.D. and beginning of the Jewish year 5771.

On a related note rgarding Psalm 83, verse 8 (YLT):

"Asshur also has joined with them; They have helped ("zĕrowa`") the children of Lot."

Asshur was and is Iraq.

The first part of the prophetic verse above begins in the present and relative to the discrete time period of 1947-2003 (i.e. Asshur also has) and tranistions to a past tense (they have helped...) in its conclusion. The "Selah" at the end of verse 8 is a musical crescendo, it is an exhaltation!

In the period of 1947 to 2003 the Iraqi military precisley fulfilled the role of Asshur as assigned by Asaph. Precisely, and specifically to a 'T'. In fact, Saddam Hussein's clan/family hailed from that former northern Iraqi/Assyrian territory. Iraqi support and direct involvement with the sons of Lot (Ammon and Moab = Jordan) and the whole Arab League's war of annihilation against Israel is precisely what Asaph was speaking to. British-trained Iraqi generals led the pan-Arabic armies in the wars of 1947-47, 1967 and 1973.

Iraq (Asshur) last struck at Israel in 2001 with Saddam Hussein's Scud missiles, and I remain open to the possibility that the past tense of Psalm 83:8b may yet be future, that Iraq may yet assist in some token manner in the coming final battlefield engagement. For that engagement I make note that both Iraqi officers and enlisted are U.S.-trained and equipped professional soldiers. They very well could provide highly-prized assistance or augmentation to Jordan's U.S.-made and trained armed forces in the final battlefield engagement.

Additional Asshur/Iraqi "zĕrowa`" provided to the "children of Lot":

Iraq provided training, logisitics, sanctuary and finance to the Abu Nidal "Palestinian" terrorist organization;

Iraq provided significant financial aid and assistance to HAMAS;

Iraq hosted the Palestinian Liberation Front (PLF) under Abu Abbas in Baghdad (of SS Achille Lauro/Leon Klinghoffer infamy);

Iraq paid the families of "Palestinian" suicide bomber cash rewards of $10,000 for each act of mass-murder of Jews and martyrdom. This amount was raised to $25,000 in 2002. The cash was transited directly via automobile from Baghdad to Amman, Jordan along the 10 Freeway and on to the West Bank paymaster Mahmoud Besharat.

The Iraqi Salman Pak terrorist training center specialized the terrorist arts of aircraft, ship and train hijacking, IED and VBIED production, sabotage and assassination.

My final note on this is to recognize that this is an interpretation which could only be fulfilled in this last 'end times' generation, the generation which has witnessed the budding of the Fig Tree.

Vigilance for the Holidays and Beyond

The above embedded video is proof of precisely why "We The People" must always maintain a high state of vigilance with such incompetant, out-of-touch, unelected leaders in charge of our national security.

22 December 2010: Once again the Christmas and New Year holiday season is upon us. Unlike last year when Al Qaeda attempted, and thankfully failed, to blow an American airliner out of the sky on Christmas day, this year Al Qaeda in Iraq have a standing terrorist operations order to carry out attacks against Christian churches across the globe: “All Christian centers, organizations and institutions, leaders and followers are legitimate targets for the mujahedeen wherever they can reach them.” This includes the United States and Canada.

Recent AQAP terrorist plots discovered in the UK that are linked to Anwar al-AWLAKI are reported to have targets that include landmarks, public areas, shopping centers, hotels, restaurants and, last but not by any means least, our food supply. The ages of the terrorists primed to carry out these attacks are said to range from their late teens to early twenties.

The persistence of reports citing planned Mumbai-style terrorist attacks remains a primary concern for Europe and well as North America. Most recently, alerts were issued for a type of terrorist the Northeast Intelligence Network has long cited as being highly prized Al Qaeda recruits, the so-called “lily white” terrorists. This group of “white jihadists” is known to exist since two of them were recently killed while in training for their assignments by just one of the nearly one hundred C.I.A. Predator drone attacks in the northwestern Pakistani region of Waziristan this year. The two who were killed were among many “white jihadists” known to have been in training there.

So, the war goes on. Life goes on. And we each in our own way, where ever we live, work, travel and enjoy recreation and good times with family and friends in this holiday season and beyond need to be fearlessly vigilant to the Islamic enemy coming at us from any and every direction. As always, you see something, you say something. And have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Arab Muslim’s exhibit sickening delight over Israel fire: A Psalm 83 Connection?

Eschatology Today Note - 5 December 2010: I believe these fires are a deliberate preparation of the battlefield by Hezbollah for the coming war. I believe these fires, along with the words of the Muslims themselves quoted below, are directly related to the imprecatory prophecy found in Asaph's Psalm 83, particularly verses 4 and 14-15, and as they relate to the sum of the prophecy and its potential timing of ultimate fulfillment. -Sean Osborne

4 "They have said, "Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation,That the name of Israel may be remembered no more.""

14 "As the fire burns the woods,
And as the flame sets the mountains on fire,

15 So pursue them with Your tempest,
And frighten them with Your storm."

By Douglas J. Hagmann founder and director

Please pray for the safety of Israel and her people as the Muslims metaphorically fan the flames of hatred from all across the globe...

4 December 2010: In what is being described as the “most serious environmental disaster” in the history of Israel, the raging fire has caused at least 42 deaths, the evacuation of over 17 thousand people and destroyed over four million trees. According to a short statement by Israeli authorities, the fire was not a case of arson but of negligence, which is somewhat at odds with initial reports that that the fire had at least three separate points of origin that is suggestive of arson.

Regardless of the cause, the fire has been devastating – to the absolute delight of the Islamic communities in the Middle East.

Researchers of the Northeast Intelligence Network have been monitoring Arab news sources and web sites and forums sympathetic to Muslim terrorists. There have been dubious claims of responsibility for the conflagration, with the latest coming from a previously unknown group calling itself the “Lions of the Mujahideen in Palestine.” According to a statement posted on a web forum used to broadcast messages allegedly from Osama bin Laden, the group stated that they started the fire. According to the statement, the group set fire to the trees and dried brush at Mount Carmel between late Thursday and early Friday, [performing] “a holy and heroic expedition within the territory of the usurpers.”

Perhaps of equal importance consists of the Muslim response published on the forums and in response to news items, especially in the foreign press. Comments originating from all parts of the globe consist of a stomach-turning exuberance by the very people who claim their religion is one of peace. Much like the Muslims dancing in the streets in celebration of the 9/11 attacks, there is an unbridled joy among many that Israel is burning. Muslim prayers are being offered to Allah in thanks and for increased carnage, not only to Israel, but to any Arab Muslim who assists in extinguishing the fire.

The following reflect a few examples of Muslim sentiment from posters in the Middle East, Europe, Asia and even North America:

“Praise Allah for this new Holocaust!”

“Allahu Akbar! This is an effective weapon. We call on our Palestinian
brothers to set fire to all forests.”

“This fire is the result of prayers from our prisoners held in occupation
jails. The fire of Hell will be even stronger. May those Arabs who are helping
the Jews burn with them in Hell.”

“May Allah punish all Arabs who helped put down the fire.”

“Oh Allah, destroy Israel and all enemies of Islam.”

In addition to such printed reactions, there have been numerous references to the text of some Friday sermons held in mosques in Arab countries and even some in the U.S. that are metaphorically fanning the flames of hatred against Israel and the Jews. Muslim religious leaders are claiming that Israel is being punished for their “occupation,” and promise more destruction and death to come.

NOTE: Join the Facebook group “I support Israel – Fire Disaster 2010″ for updates and information (supported by but not affiliated with the Northeast Intelligence Network)

Stuxnet: Made in the USA

UPDATE 16 January 2011: Israel Tests on Worm Called Crucial in Iran Nuclear Delay

1 December 2010: Speculations on Stuxnet’s national point of origin have run as rampant as the trojan malware has within the Iranian nuclear weapons infrastructure since the discovery of the super cyber weapon by the Belarus security firm VirusBlokAda on 17 June 2010. The vast majority of those subject-matter-expert commentaries leading corporate media-driven speculations have centered on Israel and its secretive military intelligence Unit 8200 as that point of origin.

One of those so-called experts, Richard Falkenrath, a former Senior Director of Policy and Plans with the United States Office of Homeland Security, was on Bloomberg Television as recently as September 24 pointing a very accusative finger at Israel. When asked directly by the interviewer what were the chances that the United States was the nation-state of origin Falkenrath responded(at the 1:57 mark of the linked video), “It is theoretically impossible that the U.S. government did this, but in my judgment it is a very remote possibility. More likely is, frankly, Israel. That Israel did it.”

Richard Falkenrath needs to have a conversation or two with his former government peers, or at the least with the New York Times’s David E. Sanger about an article he wrote a full 17 months prior to the discovery of Stuxnet. Published by the Times on 10 January 2009 Sanger’s article, headlined “U.S. Rejected Aid for Israeli Raid on Iranian Nuclear Site,” clearly references the United States as the point of origin of Stuxnet during the last year of the administration of President George W. Bush..

Quoting Sanger’s article:

“President Bush deflected a secret request by Israel last year for specialized bunker-busting bombs it wanted for an attack on Iran’s main nuclear complex and told the Israelis that he had authorized new covert action intended to sabotage Iran’s suspected effort to develop nuclear weapons, according to senior American and foreign officials.... The White House denied that request outright, American officials said, and the Israelis backed off their plans, at least temporarily. But the tense exchanges also prompted the White House to step up intelligence-sharing with Israel and brief Israeli officials on new American efforts to subtly sabotage Iran’s nuclear infrastructure, a major covert program that Mr. Bush is about to hand off to President-elect Barack Obama.”

Stuxnet. Made in the USA.

For all of two years now the big remaining Stuxnet mystery has been hiding in plain sight, and now the operationally deceptive embedded “fingerprints” within the lines of Stuxnet’s code suggesting an Israeli origin are moot. And, for their part, the Israeli authorities don’t seem to have any problem with such misdirection exercises. The Israeli’s might even consider them to have some inherent entertainment value. From an intelligence perspective they do have that quality.

Interestingly, it was also the New York Times’s David E. Sanger who also informed the world in another article, published 29 September 2009, of a team of Symantec researcher’s discovery of a Stuxnet project string code driver (b:\myrtus\src\objfre_w2k_x86\i386\guava.pdb) that contained an apparently ingenious “paternity” reference to Israel linked to the Book of Esther. This article was published just five days after Richard Falkenrath’s accusative Bloomberg TV interview. The Book of Esther tells the story of how the Jews in ancient Elam overcame a Persian plot to annihilate them and instead turned the tables on their enemies and were granted the power to preemptively annihilate their enemies anywhere in King Xerxes realm.

It just so happens that ancient Elam is the same modern day geographical location for most of the crown jewels in the Iranian nuclear weapons program. Now that’s a brilliant touch of flair the American creators of Stuxnet should receive an award for. And now it can be said that the US has finally taken a step towards rectifying all of the acts of war Iran has committed against the US since 1979 as well the murders of our Marines in Beirut and other American heroes in Lebanon.

"The Most Brilliantly Audacious Defense of Israel Since Moses Parted the Red Sea"

16 November 2010: The title of this article is the verbal response made by an Irish columnist after hearing a debate presented two weeks ago by Cambridge Union law student Gabriel Latner. Here, in full, is Gabriel Latner's speech, wherein he conclusively proves beyond any doubt that the State of Israel is "a rogue state."

Enjoy!

"This is a war of ideals, and the other speakers here tonight are rightfully, idealists. I'm not. I'm a realist. I'm here to win. I have a single goal this evening - to have at least a plurality of you walk out of the 'Aye' door. I face a singular challenge - most, if not all, of you have already made up your minds.

This issue is too polarizing for the vast majority of you not to already have a set opinion. I'd be willing to bet that half of you strongly support the motion, and half of you strongly oppose it. I want to win, and we're destined for a tie. I'm tempted to do what my fellow speakers are going to do - simply rehash every bad thing the Israeli government has ever done in an attempt to satisfy those of you who agree with them. And perhaps they'll even guilt one of you rare undecided into voting for the proposition, or more accurately, against Israel. It would be so easy to twist the meaning and significance of international 'laws' to make Israel look like a criminal state. But that's been done to death.

It would be easier still to play to your sympathy, with personalised stories of Palestinian suffering. And they can give very eloquent speeches on those issues. But the truth is, that treating people badly, whether they're your citizens or an occupied nation, does not make a state' rogue'. If it did, Canada, the US, and Australia would all be rogue states based on how they treat their indigenous populations. Britain's treatment of the Irish would easily qualify them to wear this sobriquet. These arguments, while emotionally satisfying, lack intellectual rigour.

More importantly, I just don't think we can win with those arguments. It won't change the numbers. Half of you will agree with them, half of you won't. So I'm going to try something different, something a little unorthodox. I'm going to try and convince the die-hard zionists and Israel supporters here tonight, to vote for the proposition. By the end of my speech - I will have presented 5 pro-Israel arguments that show Israel is, if not a 'rogue state' than at least 'rogueish'.

Let me be clear. I will not be arguing that Israel is 'bad'. I will not be arguing that it doesn't deserve to exist. I won't be arguing that it behaves worse than every other country. I will only be arguing that Israel is 'rogue'.

The word 'rogue' has come to have exceptionally damning connotations. But the word itself is value-neutral. The OED defines rogue as 'Aberrant, anomalous; misplaced, occurring (esp. in isolation) at an unexpected place or time ', whilea dictionary from a far greater institution gives this definition'behaving in ways that are not expected or not normal, often in adestructive way '. These definitions, and others, centre on the idea of anomaly - the unexpected or uncommon. Using this definition, arogue state is one that acts in an unexpected, uncommon or aberrant manner. A state that behaves exactly like Israel. The first argument is statistical.

The fact that Israel is a Jewish state alone makes it anomalous enough to be dubbed a rogue state: There are 195 countries in the world. Some are Christian, some Muslim, some are secular. Israel is the only country in the world that is Jewish. Or, to speak mathmo for a moment, the chance of any randomly chosen state being Jewish is 0.0051%. In comparison the chance of a UK lotto ticket winning at least £10 is0.017% - more than twice as likely. Israel's jewishness is a statistical abberation.

The second argument concerns Israel's humanitarianism, in particular, Israel's response to a refugee crisis. Not the Palestinian refugee crisis - for I am sure that the other speakers will cover that - but the issue of Darfurian refugees. Everyone knows that what happened - and is still happening in Darfur is genocide, whether or not the UN and the Arab League will call it such. [ I actually hoped that Mr. Massih would be able speak about this - he's actually somewhat of an expert on the Crisis in Darfur, in fact it's his expertise that has called him away to represent the former Dictator of Sudan while heis being investigated by the ICC.]

There has been a mass exodus from Darfur as the oppressed seek safety. They have not had much luck. Many have gone north to Egypt - where they are treated despicably. The brave make a run through the desert in a bid to make it to Israel. Not only do they face the natural threats of the Sinai, they are also used for target practice by the Egyptian soldiers patrolling the border.

Why would they take the risk? Because in Israel they are treated with compassion - they are treated as the refugees that they are - and perhaps Israel's cultural memory of genocide is to blame. The Israeli government has even gone so far as to grant several hundred Darfurian refugees Citizenship. This alone sets Israel apart from the rest of the world. But the real point of distinction is this: The IDF sends out soldiers and medics to patrol the Egyptian border. They are sent looking for refugees attempting to cross into Israel....not to send them back into Egypt, but to save them from dehydration, heat exhaustion, and Egyptian bullets.

Compare that to the US's reaction to illegal immigration across their border with Mexico. The American government has arrested private individuals for giving water to border crossers who were dying of thirst - and here the Israeli government is sending out its soldiers to save illegal immigrants. To call that sort of behavior anomalous is an understatement.

My Third argument is that the Israeli government engages in an activity which the rest of the world shuns -- it negotiates with terrorists. Forget the late PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat, a man who died with blood all over his hands - they're in the process of negotiating with terrorists as we speak. Yasser Abed Rabbo is one of the lead PLO negotiators that has been sent to the peace talks with Israel. Abed Rabbo also used to be a leader of the PFLP - an organisation of 'freedom fighters' that, under Abed Rabbo's leadership, engaged in such freedom promoting activities as killing 22 Israeli high school students. And the Israeli government is sending delegates to sit at a table with this man, and talk about peace. And the world applauds. You would never see the Spanish government in peace talks with the leaders of the ETA - the British government would never negotiate with Thomas Murphy. And if President Obama were to sit down and talk about peace with Osama Bin Laden, the world would view this as insanity. But Israel can do the exact same thing - and earn international praise in the process. That is the dictionary definition of rogue - behaving in a way that is unexpected, or not normal.

Another part of dictionary definition is behaviour or activity 'occuring at an unexpected place or time'. When you compare Israel to its regional neighbours, it becomes clear just how roguish Israel is.

And here is the fourth argument: Israel has a better human rights record than any of its neighbours. At no point in history, has there ever been a liberal democratic state in the Middle east- except for Israel. Of all the countries in the middle east, Israel is the only one where the LGBT community enjoys even a small measure of equality. In Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, and Syria, homosexual conduct is punishable by flogging, imprisonment, or both. But homosexuals there get off pretty lightly compared to their counterparts in Iran, SaudiArabia, and Yemen, who are put to death. Israeli homosexuals can adopt, openly serve in the army, enter civil unions, and are protected by exceptionally strongly worded anti-discrimination legislation. Beats a death sentence.

In fact, it beats America. Israel's protection of its citizens civil liberties has earned international recognition. Freedom House is an NGO that releases an annual report on democracy and civil liberties in each of the 195 countries in the world. It ranks each country as 'Free,' 'Partly Free' or 'Not Free'. In the Middle East, Israel is the only country that has earned designation as a 'free' country. Not surprising given the level of freedom afforded to citizens in say, Lebanon - a country designated 'partly free', where there are laws against reporters criticizing not only the Lebanese government, but the Syrian regime as well. [I'm hoping Ms. Booth will speak about this, given her experience working as a 'journalist' for Iran,] Iran is a country given the rating of 'not free', putting it alongside China, Zimbabwe, North Korea, and Myanmar.

In Iran, [as Ms. Booth I hoped would have said in her speech], there is a special 'Press Court' which prosecutes journalists for such heinous offences as criticizing the ayatollah, reporting on stories damaging the 'foundations of the Islamic republic', using 'suspicious (i.e.western) sources', or insulting Islam. Iran is the world leader in terms of jailed journalists, with 39 reporters (that we know of) in prison as of 2009. They also kicked out almost every western journalist during the 2009 election. [I don't know if Ms Booth was affected by that] I guess we can't really expect more from a theocracy. Which is what most countries in the middle east are. Theocracies and Autocracies. But Israel is the sole, the only, the rogue, democracy. Out of every country in the middle east, only in Israel do anti-government protests and reporting go unquashed and uncensored.

I have one final argument - the last nail in the opposition's coffin - and its sitting right across the aisle. Mr Ran Gidor's presence here is the all evidence any of us should need to confidently call Israel a rogue state. For those of you who have never heard of him, Mr Gidor is a political counsellor attached to Israel's embassy in London. He's the guy the Israeli government sent to represent them to the UN. He knows what he's doing. And he's here tonight. And it's incredible. Consider, for a moment, what his presence here means. The Israeli government has signed off, to allow one of their senior diplomatic representatives to participate in a debate on their very legitimacy. That's remarkable. Do you think for a minute, that any other country would do the same? If the Yale University Debating Society were to have a debate where the motion was 'This house believes Britain is a racist, totalitarian state that has done irrevocable harm to the peoples of the world', that Britain would allow any of it's officials to participate? No. Would China participate in a debate about the status of Taiwan? Never. And there is no chance in hell that an American government official would ever be permitted to argue in a debate concerning it's treatment of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay. But Israel has sent Mr Ran Gidor to argue tonight against [a 'journalist'come reality tv star, and myself,] a 19 year old law student who is entirely unqualified to speak on the issue at hand.

Every government in the world should be laughing at Israel right now - because it forgot rule number one: You never add credence to crackpots by engaging with them. It's the same reason you won't see Stephen Hawking or Richard Dawkins debate David Icke. But Israel is doing precisely that. Once again, behaving in a way that is unexpected, or not normal. Behaving like a rogue state.

That's five arguments that have been directed at the supporters of Israel. But I have a minute or two left. And here's an argument for all of you - Israel willfully and forcefully disregards international law. In 1981 Israel destroyed OSIRAK - Sadam Hussein's nuclear bomb lab. Every government in the world knew that Hussein was building a bomb. And they did nothing. Except for Israel. Yes, in doing so they broke international law and custom. But they also saved us all from a nuclear Iraq. That rogue action should earn Israel a place of respect in the eyes of all freedom loving peoples. But it hasn't.

But tonight, while you listen to us prattle on, I want you to remember something; while you're here, Khomeini's Iran is working towards the Bomb. And if you're honest with yourself, you know that Israel is the only country that can, and will, do something about it. Israel will, out of necessity act in a way that is the not the norm, and you'd better hope that they do it in a destructive manner. Any sane person would rather a rogue Israel than a Nuclear Iran."

The Kings of the East

20 October 2010: "Now the number of the army of the horsemen was two hundred million; I heard the number of them. And thus I saw the horses in the vision: those who sat on them had breastplates of fiery red, hyacinth blue, and sulfur yellow..." Revelation 9:16-17 (NKJV). Notice the emblem on Chinese PLA General Liang Guanglie's hat. Is it mere coincidence that the above Communist Chinese Army emblem contains the prophecied colors of the 200-million man army of the kings of the East?

Let's look as some prophetic specifics.

According to God, per Revelation 1:1, these kings of the East are on the move at the sounding of the 6th angel's trumpet during Daniel's 70th Week. Their army is numbered at 200,000,000 strong, and they kill a third of mankind while enroute across Asia to a crossing of the river Euphrates which is dried up in the 6th Bowl wrath of God Judgment found in Revelation 16:12-16. 

According to the text of Daniel 11, particularly verses 42-44, after the other Middle Eastern military campaigns which the Antichrist executes successfully, news (i.e. military intelligence) comes to him about an approaching enemy force from the East and the North. Antichrist goes out with his military forces to engage them in battle.

"He shall stretch out his hand against the countries, and the land of Egypt shall not escape. He shall have power over the treasures of gold and silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt; also the Libyans and Ethiopians shall follow at his heels. But news from the east and the north shall trouble him; therefore he shall go out with great fury to destroy and annihilate many."

A 200-million man army coming from East Asia would not approach the Euphrates along a single axis of advance. No, sound military tactics and warfighting doctrine would determine that these Asian forces will enter the region in several columns across a broad, 800-mile front from the Persian Gulf to the Caspian Sea/Caucasus region. This 200-million man armed force will approach from the East and the North exactly as Daniel has foretold.

Incidentally, the third of mankind which killed by these military forces are not necessarily resident on the continent of Asia, but all over the world, and which when expressed in real numbers and based upon today's population of the earth, amounts to over 2.025 billion people. These deaths are attribbuted to the Eastern kings weaponry which is described as fire, smoke and brimstone. The text provides a clear description of nuclear warfare on an unprecedented scale, and it is at the same time quite symbolic of their nuclear weaponry and its effects: the fire - of a nuclear blast, the smoke - the over-pressure of the expanding sphere of destruction, and the brimstone- the fallout of nuclear debris.

I hold no doubt that the prinicple of these kings of the East is mainland China. The colors match, they can field a conquering army of 200 million men and they are nuclear armed. China is the emergent eastern superpower.

And where is this 200-million man Army going? To the Battle of Har Megiddo where the Antichrist awaits with his own armies several hundred miles west of the Euphrates River. These kings of the East will be at war with the Antichrist. Coming to this realization answered another question I have long pondered: why must the Euphrates River be dried up? The answer is because in that day all of the land west of the Euphrates will be within the boundaries of a much enlarged Israel. 

Here's proof:

"On the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying: “To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the River Euphrates— the Kenites, the Kenezzites, the Kadmonites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.” - Genesis 15:18-20

“I will send My fear before you, I will cause confusion among all the people to whom you come, and will make all your enemies turn their backs to you. And I will send hornets before you, which shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite from before you. 29 I will not drive them out from before you in one year, lest the land become desolate and the beasts of the field become too numerous for you. Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you have increased, and you inherit the land. And I will set your bounds from the Red Sea to the sea, Philistia, and from the desert to the River. For I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you shall drive them out before you." - Exodus 23:27-31

“For if you carefully keep all these commandments which I command you to do—to love the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways, and to hold fast to Him — then the LORD will drive out all these nations from before you, and you will dispossess greater and mightier nations than yourselves. Every place on which the sole of your foot treads shall be yours: from the wilderness and Lebanon, from the river, the River Euphrates, even to the Western Sea, shall be your territory. No man shall be able to stand against you; the LORD your God will put the dread of you and the fear of you upon all the land where you tread, just as He has said to you." - Deuteronomy 11:22-25

"From the wilderness and this Lebanon as far as the great river, the River Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and to the Great Sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your territory." - Joshua 1:4

Interestingly, these verses also put the kibosh to the theory espoused by the proponents of an Islamic Antichrist - Eastern Leg empire since these soon-to-be-former Muslims lands will at that time belong to Israel - from Lebanon north to the former Hittite Empire which today comprises the bulk of modern Turkey and northern Syria, east to the Euphrates river and Iraq. When in all of previous history has Israel occupied the lands of the Hittites? Since the answer is never, then the occurance of Israel's occupation of the land promised by God in Exodus must be a future reality, and logically a result of the coming Gog-Magog war.

So why is this subject on my mind? In the past week both Bill Gertz and Debka posted reports on the presence of Chinese PLA Air Force warbirds in Turkey for participation in the recent "Anatolian Eagle" air combat exercise. The Su-27 and MiG-29 aircraft flew direct from China to a refueling on the ground in eastern Iran and then continued to the their deployment station at Konya Air Base in central Turkey. Previously only NATO allies and Israel participated in the exercise. Turkish PM Ergodan stated the Red Chinese participation signalled a raising of bi-lateral Turkish-Chinese military relations to a "strategic level" per an agreement signed in Ankara on 8 October 2010. An advance guard 'kings of the East" have arrived per the strategic agreement between Turkey and the People's Republic of China.

Bible prophecy is continually in the news these days.

Inside the Middle East Crisis:

19 September 2010: If you live near or are within driving distance of The Moody Church in Chicago there is an event you might want to attend the first weekend in October. The Title: Inside the Middle East Crisis: Finding Peace in a Troubled World.

The eyes of the world are focused on the events in the Middle East—the epicenter of the dramatic events that are shaping our world and impacting our future.

Are you ready for it?

On October 1st and 2nd, 2010, at the historic Moody Church in downtown Chicago, New York Times best-selling author, Joel C. Rosenberg, along with Dr. Erwin Lutzer, Dr. Charles Dyer, Dr. Michael Rydelnik, and Dr. Mitch Glaser will open our eyes to the events that are unfolding in the Middle East from a biblical perspective and provide practical insight on how to love Israel and her neighbors, come what may.

WHEN
October 1-2, 2010
Buy Tickets Now

SPEAKERS
Joel C. Rosenberg
Dr. Erwin Lutzer
Dr. Charlie Dyer
Dr. Michael Rydelnik
Dr. Mitch Glaser
Steve Wiggins (Musical Guest)
Mark Elfstrand (Emcee)
View speaker bios

WHERE
The Moody Church 1635 North Lasalle Drive, Chicago, IL 60614
View more venue info

BUY TICKETS
Click here to buy your tickets now or call 888-405-5874 to register by phone. All tickets cover both days of the conference; single-day tickets are not available.

General Conference Rate: $59

Group discount of 20% for groups of four or more registrants (If you are a part of a group and you'd like to register separately, please click on "individual" when registering and then enter the code "group" to receive your 20% discount.

Conference Rate for Students: $25 (student ID required at check-in). Enter discount code student to receive the student rate in online registration

Israel Doesn't Care About Peace?

14 September 2010: If there was ever a global corporate newsmagazine cover which visually represents the anti-Israel agenda of the "Global Oligarchy" the most recent cover of TIME Magazine is it. That this graphic image was published at the precise time when Israel and Palestinian Authority representatives are engaged in the process of direct peace negotiations via the good offices of the United States of America the absence of any Palestinian national symbol is as striking as the accompanying headline "WHY ISRAEL DOESN'T CARE ABOUT PEACE."

And where the cover story author, Karl Vick, writes "Israel" he means not only the Israeli government negotiators, but the Israeli people themselves do not care or are totally disinterested about achieving a lasting peace with the "Palestinian" people. The intent and effect of Time Magazine is to blame the whole of Israel for the inevitable failure of the negotiation and for the war which will ensue. Thus we find the agenda of the "Global Oligarchy" unabashedly standing front and center: BLAME ISRAEL. Period.

What the "Globalist Oligarchists" and the nations which they lead are oblivious denial of is that in standing against Israel they stand and build their global empire against the will of Almighty God. They align themselves not with the will of the God of their fathers, nor the false god of the Arabs, but that of another god, a false god of fortesses, a god he himself will claim to be in the flesh as foretold by the prophet Daniel.

Israel at the Rubicon

15 August 2010: After years of endless debate, delayed decisions, additional deliberations, bald-faced lies and disinformation, followed by economic sanctions packages piled upon other ineffective economic sanctions packages, coupled with incessant Iranian and Western bellicose rhetoric which would have been considered casus belli in years gone by, the announcement made on Friday by Sergei Novikov, the spokesman for the Russian Federal Atomic Energy Agency (Rosatom), that the fueling of the Iranian Bushehr nuclear plant will commence on Saturday, 21 August has left the State of Israel standing on the southern bank of a literal River Rubicon.

In the absense of a decision by Western governments, the United States of America in particular, to back up its own rhetoric with concrete actions, Israel has been left holding the baggage containing approximately 144 hours of time. At the conclusion of those 144 hours it will have become irreversibly too late for military action to halt Iran and its current apocalyptic regime's nuclear weapons program. This is the conventional wisdom being related by many subject matter experts in the past 36 hours, experts such as former Ambassador John Bolton. Bolton's comments to FoxNews last Friday speak of just such a window of time remaining.

However, there's another window no one is openly considering, a window that may likely already have closed. The name of this window is "Russian nuclear technicians at Bushehr." Those Russian technicians effectively consistute a "human shield" guarding against a pre-emptive Israeli strike on the Bushehr reactor complex. Not to mention the Russian VIPs who will begin arriving on-site at the Bushehr complex for the opening cermonies prior to the end of the 144 hours.

Short of starting a war with Russia, the physical presence of Russian technicians at Bushehr affords Israel no option but to focus its contingency plans against deeply buried Iranian enrichment cascades, weaponization plants and delivery systems as well as the suppression of Iran's military retaliation capabilities. The Iranian response to an Israel air assault also includes thousands of missiles, some of them likely tipped with biological or chemical weapons in Lebanon (Hezbollah) and Syria, as well as an Iranian assault against commerical shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.

Have I just described a recipe for an armgeddon-like scenario to unfold in the Middle East? No doubt about it. This is precisely the type of scenario the leaders of apocalyptic Iran want more than anything. Great chess players those Iranians. So here stands Israel on the southern bank of the River Rubicon with virtually no time left to ponder her next move. Irregardless of the next action taken this world will never be the same, and only the ancient Biblical prophets have told us what lies ahead.

On The Brink

4 August 2010: Approximately three and one-half years ago I wrote a brief report regarding a firefight between troops of the Lebanese Army and Israeli Defense Forces on Februrary 8, 2007. That was a reminder of a similar firefight between the Lebanese Army and the IDF which preceded the surprise war which followed that became known as the Hezbollah-Israel summer war of 2006.

A review of that article might be prudent given the breaking news events of just the past 24-36 hours in the Middle East powder keg. It would appear that once again the Middle East is again on the brink of war – a war which has been repeatedly forecast to occur; a war the enemies of a negotiated settlement appear determined to cause at all costs.

Yesterday another deliberate assault upon IDF soldiers was executed by Lebanese soldiers. In the unprovoked opening skirmish a sniper firing from Lebanese soil shot and killed IDF Reserve Lieutenant Colonel Dov Harari and may have fatally wounded Captain Ezer Lakiya. Israel National News has details on this deliberate Lebanese Army assault. The immediate area of the Lebanese Army sniper assault is seen in the IDF image above. Israel immediately retaliated and the fighting escalated to near open warfare. By no means has this military engagement ended, both sides stand on the brink of full-scale war. The fecklessness of the Western-imposed UNSCR 1701 lies burnt to a crisp, although its remains continue to be propped up like some international scarecrow by malignant global politicians and their toadies.

This morning comes word from many Western and Middle Eastern news organizations of an apparently unsuccessful improvised explosive device (IED) assassination attempt against Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad as his vehicle and security convoy drove through the streets of Hamadan, Iran. After first denying such an assassination attempt has occured, I hold little doubt that the Ayatollah’s sock-puppet and holocaust-denying president will blame the attempt on “the Zionist entitity” further inflaming the military situation in the Levant and the entire Middle East region.

This past spring a regional war had been forecast to occur late this summer by many observers in the Middle East. It would appear that once again multiple fuses have been lit to preempt direct negotiations between the Palestinian Authority and Israel, and any of which could ignite the forecast war. Our summer vacation has just been cut short.

Don’t Tread On Me: The Second American Revolution

30 JULY 2010: A storm has been brewing for some time now in all levels of the American populace. Ever since the day that Barack Hussein Obama opened his “Office of the President-Elect” and then actually succeeded in usurping the office of Chief Executive and Commander-IN-Chief, there have been ever increasing rumblings across this great land. So much so that from the Atlantic to the Pacific coasts the American heartland has been bubbling with words not heard since our Founding Fathers cut colonial ties with Great Britain, and several southern states rebelled over the issue of State’s Rights. Join or Die. Don’t Tread On Me. Tea Party. Civil Disobedience. Secession. Revolution. The elite in Washington, D.C. would have to be deaf, dumb and blind not to see this coming.

And it just got easier. In yesterday’s issue of The Washington Times, Jeffrey T. Kuhner wrote an opinion piece entitled “Should Arizona Secede: Choice between devolution and dissolution may be inevitable.” Previous top-notch OpEds by Kuhner include: “President’s socialist takeover must be stopped,” and “Who Lost Afghanistan.” However, it is yesterday’s article which clearly shows where the “rubber meets the road” in America today, that a breaking point is all but inevitable when the will of “We The People” is usurped, over-ridden or ignored one time too many.

Jeffrey Kuhner’s concluding paragraphs lay it squarely on the line.

“For too long, liberals have successfully used the courts to impose radical social engineering upon a recalcitrant population. Abortion, homosexual marriage, pornography, racial quotas, affirmative action, a ban on public school prayer – all of these issues have been imposed by an imperial judiciary against the wishes of the majority. The Arizona law is the reassertion of democratic self-rule against the federal leviathan.

Arizona is where the old republic will stand or fall. It is showdown at high noon. Either America returns to its constitutional system based on real federalism, states’ rights, individual liberty and decentralized power, or it continues to slide toward the darkness of a socialist superstate. Washington – with its swollen bureaucracy, imperial arrogance, rampant corruption and dangerous detachment from ordinary citizens – is despised and distrusted by many Americans. A secession of the heart is taking place – a profound alienation from the liberal ruling class.

In the future, many states – including Arizona – may decide they have no other option but to break away from the union. The choice is becoming starkly apparent: devolution or dissolution.”

It is just a few more months until national mid-term elections occur and the will of the people is manifest. This coming election will go a long way in determining America’s near-term future, and what precisely need be done to ensure our God-given right to restore this Republic to the law of our Constitution. One way or another it is to going to happen.

Israel Integrates with NATO Theater Ballistic Missile Defense Systems

19 JULY 2010: Not quite 6 weeks ago, between 7 and 9 June, an Israeli delegation attended a briefing given by the NATO Program Office for the Active Layered Theater Ballistic Missile Defense System (ALTBMDS) Operational Users Group, led by the United States, Germany, Italy, Poland, the U.K., France, Holland and Canada.

The briefing brought the Israeli's up to speed on the current and future capabilities of the NATO ballistic missile defense system. At the same time the NATO side was briefed by Israeli Brigadier General (Ret.) Eitan Yariv on Israel's Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) system.

Obviously, the two systems were immediately recognized to be mutually compatable and would provide an immediate increase in joint capabilities against hostile ballistic missile threats against Europe, Israel and forward deployed NATO forces in the Middle Eastern theater of operations (Operation Enduring Freedom). Without question the Islamic Republic of Iran, with its Shahab-3/4/5 family of ballistic missiles, is seen by all parties as the primary emergent threat. Syria and newly ballistic missile-armed Hezbollah in Lebanon are second tier emergent threats.

It is no big surprise, therefore, to see operational in Israel today a jointly-manned American and Israeli operations center featuring the ground-based center-piece of the NATO system, the AN/TPY-2 radar seen in the image above. Israel has not only integrated its defenses with the American systems in theater, but now has integrated with those of NATO on the European continent. Any launched ballistic missile threat within 1,900 miles of these allied territories will be rapidly identified, the specific launch point located and the incoming warhead destroyed. The effective range of this system is likely limited only by the overhead postion of the space-based element of the networked system and the location of most forward deployed elements of the actual interceptor missiles - most likely located outside of Europe in Israel, Kuwait and Afghanistan.

Welcome Back Prime Minister Netanyahu. Here is Christian America's Message to You.

UPDATE 1 July 2010: Here is an image of the "Netanyahu - Fight For Your Land" billboard that went up yesterday near the interchange of I-85 and I-285 in northeast Atlanta, Georgia.

AWESOME!!!

Image courtesy of JC Watchman

29 June 2010: This is a billboard that will, Lord willing, go up just in time for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's scheduled July 6, 2010 visit to the United States. Click the image for a full-size version.

Sha'alu Shalom Yerushalayim - Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem!

Enemy War Preparations Continue Apace

21 June 2010: According to today's issue of the Kuwaiti daily newspaper Al-Anba another conference will hosted by the Syrian government in Damascus within the next week or so. The conference attendees are apparently limited to Iran, Syria, and the terrorist organizations Hezbollah and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ).

The stated purpose of this conference, which was agreed to on 4 June 2010, the 21st anniversary of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomenei's death, is to "activate resistance in the region in light of an expected Israeli offensive against Iran or against Hezbollah in Lebanon."

Is Ezekiel 38 Imminent?

Is Ezekiel 38 Imminent?

By Bill Salus
ProphecyDepot.com

20 June 2010: Current Middle East events are definitely stage setting for the final fulfillment of the Israeli War prophecies of Psalm 83 and Ezekiel 38-39. Turkey's recent newsworthy gyrations against Israel has got the “EZEKIEL 38 NOW” advocates rightfully at the edge of their seats. Now, Turkey and Iran, both members of the Ezekiel 38-39 prophecy, share a common enmity toward Israel.

Mainstream media has seized the opportunity to make Turkey’s bid to embarrass Israel and Iran’s nuclear aim to destroy Israel front page news. This media blitz has played an instrumental part in creating a significant amount of recent Ezekiel 38 newspaper exegesis.

Certainly, there is just cause to consider the Ezekiel 38–39 prophecy in light of recent events, however, what about Hezbollah, Syria, Hamas, and the Palestinians? They also are at odds with Israel and likewise frequently dominate current Mideast headlines. Curiously, Ezekiel 38 describes nine distinct populations by their ancient names including Russia, Iran, Turkey, and Libya but omits the historic name equivalents of Hezbollah, Syria, Hamas, and the Palestinians.

CLICK HERE to read Bill Salus' entire Bible prophecy Today article

Chosen People Ministries: Isaiah 53 Will Change Your Life!!

8 June 2010: I am posting the most recent newsletter (hat tip to Drew!) from Mitch at Chosen People Ministries in New York City, N.Y. This "Completed Jew" ministry is about to kick off a most ambitious outreach campaign based upon the Messianic prophecy found in Isaiah 53.

Shalom!

We are about to begin one of the most ambitious evangelistic outreaches we have attempted in more than half a century. The outreach focuses on Isaiah chapter 53, with the slogan "This Chapter Will Change Your Life!" We hope and pray that many seekers will discover that the One who is described in Isaiah 53 can and will transform the life of anyone who calls upon Him!

Let me give you an overview of the Isaiah 53 Campaign so that you can pray with us.

Our goal is to familiarize both Jewish and non-Jewish people with the great Messianic prophecy recorded in Isaiah chapter 53, and we'll be starting in our own back yard, New York City. We want to proclaim the fact that the Gospel message is Jewish – and that it is true!

You see, most Jewish people believe that when Jewish people become followers of Jesus, they give up their Jewish identity. This is perhaps the greatest stumbling block keeping Jewish people from Jesus.

Isaiah chapter 53 is one of the clearest prophecies in the Hebrew Scriptures predicting the coming of a Messiah who would suffer, but also reign as king on the throne of David. Both of these prophetic portraits of the Messiah were fulfilled in Jesus of Nazareth. Through the Isaiah 53 Evangelistic Campaign, we want to show Jewish people that the message of Jesus is founded on the Jewish Scriptures!

We will share this message with millions of New Yorkers through advertising in subways, on buses and billboards, and in The New York Times as well as other major publications and websites. The ads will offer a free book called Isaiah 53 Explained, which will be sent to all who respond either by phone or on our soon-to-be-launched website.

This outreach campaign will be combined with our Summer Training and Evangelism Program (STEP), in which a team of Chosen People Ministries staff members and volunteers will conduct two weeks of intensive ministry in New York City. The STEP team will do both public evangelism and follow-up with those who responded to the Isaiah 53 ads. They will be meeting with seekers by telephone, through personal visitation, and in small group Bible studies. We believe that this will be one of our largest and most effective evangelistic efforts in the New York area!

It is our goal to send a free copy of Isaiah 53 Explained to as many interested people as we can. We know that this effort will be blessed because of another passage in the book of Isaiah from chapter 55, where the prophet writes,

"So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it." (Is. 55:11)

We are trusting God that He will produce fruit through His Word touching many lives in this campaign!

If you want us to send the book to your Jewish friend or friends, we will! Just send us their name and address. The book will be ready to mail around the third week of June.

The advertising budget for this evangelistic campaign is about $300,000; the books cost $2.00 each to print and there will be postage costs in addition. Your gift today would be a great help as we bring the message of Jesus, the Messiah foretold in Isaiah 53, to the Jew first and also to the Gentile!

Thanks for praying and caring!
Your brother,
Mitch