Watchman Newsletter forThis newsletter is printer-friendly! It will change format automatically when you print it. Merck drug company vaccines admits injecting cancer viruses LiveLeak - This stunning censored interview conducted by medical historian Edward Shorter for WGBH public television (Boston) and Blackwell Science was cut from The Health Century due to its huge liability--the admission that Merck drug company vaccines have traditionally been injecting cancer viruses (SV40 and others) in people worldwide. This segment of In Lies We Trust: The CIA, Hollywood & Bioterrorism, produced and freely contributed by consumer protector and public health expert, Dr. Leonard Horowitz, features the world's leading vaccine expert, Dr. Maurice Hilleman, who explains why Merck's vaccines have spread AIDS, leukemia, and other horrific plagues worldwide. 0:09:56 The Mahdi is Coming Babylon the Great is Falling (September 6, 2007) - Greetings my friends, Below you can see the official announcement from Iran's state-run news network pleading with the Islamic Mahdi or Messiah to come and establish peace and justice for all nations. After reading that you can read the first few paragraphs of the article "The Fundamentalist" which was posted on our web site February 1, 2007. Most Americans and Europeans are dangerously unaware that Iran's government and people are so deeply entrenched in these Islamic prophecies, which seem to parallel those of the prophet Daniel and the visions of John in the Revelation. In their version, as you can plainly read, they win as the Mahdi establishes..."a global government of justice"...remarkably with the help of his side-kick lieutenant, Jesus Christ. In my article posted below I asked some questions. I hope you take the time to read them anew and send me your comments, even criticisms. Please forward this email to your family and friends who might be interested. By the way, I have posted some very interesting replies I have received in the "Your Comments" (September) section of our web site, many of them dealing with an appeal I made to Hal Lindsey, which is also posted on the web site under "Articles". Finally, I want to thank those of you who responded to my latest article "Pacifist, Patriot, or Pilgrim" which also contains much about Islam's place in end-time events. Your eternal friend, Jack World awaits you o Mahdi! IRIB News Main Page 2007/08/28 | Islam | NewWorldOrder |
Shiite leaders urges outreach to Sunnis Associated
Press (January 11, 2008) - One of Iraq's
most powerful Shiite political and religious figures on Friday issued a stunning
call for the government to set aside differences with Sunni Muslim politicians
and entice them back to help lead the country. The appeal by Ammar al-Hakim, the
son and heir-apparent to the head of Iraq's main Shiite political bloc, sharply
increased pressure on Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to bring Sunni factions
back into the fold as part of Washington-backed efforts at sectarian
reconciliation. It also could push al-Maliki's government to accelerate steps to
integrate armed Sunni groups that have joined the fight against al-Qaida in Iraq
and other extremists. The United States has credited the so-called "Awakening
Councils" with helping uproot insurgents and has urged Iraq's Shiite leadership
to reward the new Sunni allies with security force posts. The Awakening Councils
have played a role in a major U.S. offensive launched this week, an operation
that included one of the most intense airstrikes of the war. A top U.S.
commander said Thursday's bombing blitz south of Baghdad destroyed extremists'
"defensive belts" and allowed American soldiers to push into areas where they
have not been in years. The United States is also counting on political support
from al-Hakim and his father, Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, the leader of the Supreme
Islamic Iraqi Council — the country's pre-eminent Shiite political grouping. The
elder al-Hakim, who has been a close ally to the United States since the 2003
invasion, has been diagnosed with lung cancer and underwent chemotherapy last
year in Iran, where he spent years in exile during Saddam Hussein's rule.
more...
ECB, Bank of England holds rates steady Associated
Press (January 10, 2008) - The European
Central Bank and the Bank of England kept their benchmark interest rates on hold
Thursday, both torn between the opposing challenges of higher inflation and
worries about economic growth. Those two factors could put the central banks on
different paths in the coming months, with the ECB striking a hawkish note in
the face of strong Euro-zone inflation while the Bank of England is widely
expected to deliver a cut next month to restore shaky consumer confidence. ECB
President Jean-Claude Trichet said the bank "remains prepared to act
preemptively" to keep inflation in check, a statement economists interpreted as
the bank retaining its holding stance while leaving the door open for a
potential interest rate rise later this year. The ECB is concerned that sharp
rises in food and energy prices will turn into broader and more persistent
inflation if workers obtain higher wages and producers begin to transfer higher
costs to consumers. "We are in the position of total alertness ... and won't
tolerate this risk to materialize," Trichet said in Frankfurt after the bank
announced its decision to keep its key interest unchanged at 4 percent. The
bank's concerns about inflation carry intense weight given that it sets monetary
policy for Germany, France and 13 other countries home to 318 million residents,
which account for more than 15 percent of the world's gross domestic product.
The ECB faces inflation estimated at 3.1 percent — well above its guideline of
just under 2 percent — but it also must contend with sliding business and
consumer confidence thanks to the global credit crisis. Rate increases to rein
in inflation can also restrain economic growth and fears of an economic malaise
could be enough to discourage the bank from lifting rates in the near term. "In
line with the market we expect no change in ECB rates this year, with Trichet,
et al, happy to let further U.S. monetary policy easing prop up global demand,"
said Calyon economist Stuart Bennett. While the ECB has held rates steady for
seven months since it raised borrowing costs in June 2007, the
U.S. Federal Reserve has cut its key rate three
times over recent months to 4.25 percent and analysts there believe another half
a percentage point cut is likely. British policymakers, meanwhile, are dealing
with mirror image of the ECB's concerns.
more... Bush predicts Mideast peace treaty Associated Press (January 10, 2008) - President Bush, summing up meetings with both sides in the Israeli-Palestinian dispute, said Thursday that a peace accord will require "painful political concessions" by each. Resolving the status of Jerusalem will be hard, he said, and he called for the end of the "occupation" of Arab land by the Israeli military. "Now is the time to make difficult choices," Bush said after a first-ever visit to the Palestinian territories, which followed separate meetings with Israeli leaders in Jerusalem the day before. Bush is in the Mideast for eight days, trying to bolster his goal of achieving a long-elusive peace agreement by the end of his presidency in a year. Speaking at his hotel in Jerusalem, he said again that he thinks that is possible. "I am committed to doing all I can to achieve it," Bush said. Within minutes, Bush's national security adviser Stephen Hadley said the president would return to the Middle East "at least once and maybe more" over the next year. He wouldn't elaborate on possible destinations, but another White House official said Bush is likely to attend Israel's 60th anniversary celebrations in May. Bush gave his most detailed summation yet of what a final peace should include, including U.S. expectations for the resolution of some of the hardest issues in the violent conflict, one of the world's longest-running and most intractable. He used tough language intended to put both sides on notice that he sees no reason they cannot get down to serious business, "starting right now." In his set of U.S. bottom lines were security for Israel, a "contiguous" state for the Palestinians and the expectation that final borders will be negotiated to accommodate territorial changes since Israel's formation. He also suggested international compensation for Palestinians and their descendants who claim a right to return to land they held before Israel's formation. He made a point of using a loaded term — occupation — to describe Israeli control over land that would eventually form the bulk of an independent Palestinian state. That he did so in Jerusalem underscored that he is trying not to seem partial to Israel. On borders, Bush said any peace agreement "will require mutually agreed adjustments" to the lines drawn for Israel in the late 1940s. He was referring primarily to Israeli neighborhoods on disputed lands that Israel would keep when an independent Palestinian state is formed. Earlier in the day, Bush had said Palestinians deserve better than a "Swiss cheese" state fitted around Israeli land and security bulwarks. "The point of departure for permanent status negotiations to realize this vision seems clear," he said. "There should be an end to the occupation that began in 1967. The agreement must establish a Palestine as a homeland for the Palestinian people just as Israel is a homeland for the Jewish people." White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said Bush was referring to the West Bank when he spoke of occupation. more...| Israel | Islam | Dividing the Land | America | Olmert: No peace unless attacks stop Associated Press (January 9, 2008) - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Wednesday that "there will be no peace" unless attacks are halted from all parts of the Palestinian territories, including those not controlled by his negotiating partners in the Palestinian leadership. But he said that both sides "are very seriously trying to move forward" on a deal. "Israel does not tolerate and will not tolerate the continuation of these vicious attacks," Olmert said, after two and a half hours of talks with President Bush. "We will not hesitate to take all the necessary measures. There will be no peace unless terror is stopped. And terror will have to be stopped everywhere." On the first day of his eight-day Mideast trip aimed at pushing the Israelis and Palestinians toward an agreement, Bush declared there is a "historic moment, a historic opportunity." But he also said: "I'm under no illusions. This is going to be hard work." "America cannot dictate the terms of what a state will look like," he added. "We'll help." Earlier Wednesday, an Israeli airstrike in northern Gaza killed two Palestinians and wounded four others, a move the Israeli army said was taken in response to Palestinian militants who had bombarded the rocket-scarred southern Israeli city of Sderot with rocket and mortar fire. Bush said he and Olmert also discussed Iran's nuclear weapons ambitions and an incident Sunday when Iranian boats harassed and provoked three American Navy ships in the strategic Strait of Hormuz. U.S. officials said Iran threatened to explode the vessels, but the incident ended peacefully. more...| Iran | Gog/Magog | Israel | Islam | 1st Seal | Dividing the Land | Ezekiel 38:8 Beyond the dividing of Israel and the creation of a Palestinian state, one of the prerequisites of the Magog invasion by Iran, Turkey, Russia and others is that Israel is living in safety. This works to bring about the false peace as well so I have a feeling that the rockets are going to soon stop and that will help spur the division of the land to create a situation of relative, temporary peace.
Anxious people have higher heart risk
Reuters (January 8,
2008) - Heart attacks may not be reserved for the hostile and
driven among us -- anxious, fearful people also have a higher
risk, U.S. researchers reported on Tuesday. They found men who
scored the highest on tests of anxiety were 30 to 40 percent more likely
than the others to have a heart attack. The findings held even when
standard heart risks such as diet and smoking were factored in,
psychologist Biing-Jiun Shen and colleagues at the University of
Southern California in Los Angeles reported. "What we're seeing is over
and beyond what can be explained by blood pressure, obesity,
cholesterol, age, cigarette smoking, blood sugar levels and other
cardiovascular risk factors," Shen said in a statement. "Older men with
sustained and pervasive anxiety appear to be at increased risk for a
heart attack even after their levels of depression, anger, hostility and
Type A behavior are considered." So-called Type A personalities include
people who are ambitious, assertive and often those who are hostile as
well. Writing in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, Shen
and colleagues said they analyzed data from a study of 735 men. They
took psychological tests in 1986, when they were still in good health,
and then followed for 12 years. Those who scored in the top 15
percentile for anxiety were more likely to suffer heart attacks later,
the researchers found. The finding should not be surprising, said Shen.
"The physiological reactions of anxiety are very similar to signs and
changes that are thought to lead to myocardial infarctions," Shen said,
referring to heart attacks. "Look at what happens when you are anxious.
Your body reacts as if it is in danger. It is the flight or fight
response. The reactions are very similar to those brought on by anger or
a Type A personality that have been observed in earlier research."
Nervous men can lower their risk of heart attack, Shen added. "The good
thing about anxiety is that it's very treatable," Shen said. Luke 21:25,26
Jesuits gather in Rome to elect new "black pope" Reuters
Africa (January 7, 2008) - There
won't be any white smoke to tell the world he has been elected, but
another sort of secret conclave began in Rome on Monday -- to chose the
worldwide Jesuit leader who is known as the "the black pope". At Jesuit
headquarters a block from the Vatican, 225 delegates from around the
world will choose a new superior general to run the largest and perhaps
most influential, controversial and prestigious Catholic clerical order.
Their leader is traditionally known as "the black pope" because of the
colour of the simple cassock he wears and because -- like the pope who
dresses in white -- he has worldwide influence and usually keeps the
position for life. But this year's general congregation, as the meeting
is known, is different. The current superior general, Father Peter-Hans
Kolvenbach, 79, received permission from Pope Benedict to retire for
reasons of age. A soft-spoken Dutchman with white hair and a goatee,
Kolvenbach has been in the job since 1983 and has won widespread praise
for steering the Jesuits through one of their most difficult periods in
their 468-year history. Kolvenbach's charismatic predecessor, a Basque
named Pedro Arrupe, had several conflicts with Benedict's predecessor,
Pope John Paul, who believed the order had become too independent,
leftist and political, particularly in Latin America. When Arrupe
suffered a stroke in the early 1980s Pope John Paul appointed a personal
delegate to run the order to make sure it would not drift further
leftwards, a move some Jesuits at the time resented as "papal martial
law". Kolvenbach, by contrast, has been credited with re-establishing
good relations with the Vatican over the past 25 years while dealing
with issues such as declining vocations and the future of the order
founded by St Ignatius Loyola in 1540. In the 1960s, the all-male order
officially known as the Society of Jesus peaked with some 36,000 members
worldwide. It now has about 19,200 members involved in education,
refugee help and other social services. The election of Kolvenbach's
successor is expected to take place in mid-January after days of prayer
and what is known in Latin as "murmuratio", or murmurings, among the
delegates about who might make a good superior general. While
politicking for the post is strictly banned -- delegates are obliged to
'turn in' anyone who actively seeks the top job -- some names have
already circulated in religious media. One is Father Lisbert D'Sousa of
India, and some Jesuits have said it is time for the top job to go to
someone from the developing world. "This (the developing world) is not
only the new center of gravity for the Society of Jesus but for the
Church," Father James Martin wrote in America, the weekly of the U.S.
Jesuits. "And an election of a developing world general would be
interesting as a possible bellwether for the next papal conclave,
whenever that will be," he wrote. The new Jesuit leader is elected
by a secret ballot. After he is chosen, the delegates are not allowed to
leave the room until Pope Benedict is informed, in keeping with a
centuries-old tradition that the "white pope" be the first to know who
the new "black pope" is. But unlike a conclave to elect the real pope, a
Jesuit general congregation can continue for weeks or even months after
the new head has been elected in order to discuss the order's future
challenges and priorities.
WiMax seen growing fast globally Reuters (January 8,
2008) - An emerging long-range,
high-speed wireless technology is expected to spread quickly and be available
globally within two years, a key backer of the so-called WiMax technology said
on Tuesday. "In a year or two, we will see it
in many metro zones and areas of heavy demand," Dan Eldar, head of Intel's
(INTC.O) design center in Israel
where the WiMax technology was being developed, told Reuters. "It will
take time to reach a massive deployment." Sprint Nextel
(S.N), the number three U.S. wireless carrier, said on Tuesday it was
soft-launching its Xohm mobile Internet service for employees in Chicago,
Baltimore
and Washington D.C. ahead of a commercial WiMax launch later in 2008 in
select U.S. cities. Sprint Nextel has said it will spend $5 billion by 2010 on a
WiMax network using the new 802.16e standard. Smaller mobile carrier Clearwire (CLWR.O)
is also planning a WiMax network. WiMax, which is expected to bring in higher
revenues to the telecoms sector, allows for high-speed Internet connections in
the tens of megabits per second -- far faster than the very popular WiFi, which
users connect to networks over short distances. "It will enable the same type of
(broadband Internet) on the road as you have at home," said Gaby Waisman,
general manager of Europe
for Alvarion (ALVR.O) (ALVR.TA), an Israeli maker of WiMax modems and
equipment. WiMax can cover a stretch of as much as tens of kilometers, depending
on the number of users. In New York City,
for example, many base stations will be required around the city to meet the
heavy demand, while a sparsely populated region will need fewer, Eldar noted. He
said that in addition to the United States, mobile WiMax is close to being
rolled out in some European and Asia-Pacific countries including Russia and
Japan.
"Estimates for the number of subscribers to WiMax ranges from the high tens of
millions to more than 100 million in the next four, five years," Eldar said
before a news conference to mark the start of a WiMax trial by Intel,
Alvarion and 012 Smile.Communications (SMLC.O) in the southern city of
Sderot. Sderot, which has been hit hard by rocket fire from Palestinian
militants, will be the first test of WiMax in Israel.
Further rollout in the country depends on the success of the trial and how
quickly the Communications Ministry allocates licenses to telecoms providers.
Intel, the world's largest microprocessor maker, has made a large bet that
mobile WiMax will take off and is the developer of chipsets for WiMax.
more...
Rare winter tornado reported in Ark. Associated
Press (January 8, 2008) - A tornado
was reported blowing across eastern Arkansas Tuesday, a day after a
freak cluster of January twisters sprung up in the unseasonably warm
Midwest and demolished houses, knocked a railroad locomotive off its
tracks and shuttered a courthouse. The twister swept through Pope
County, the National Weather Service said. One person was killed, said
Tommy Jackson, a spokesman for the Arkansas Department of Emergency
Management. Others were injured, said Jim Campbell, Assistant Director
for Pope County 911. "We've got some homes damaged, trees and roads and
stuff like that," he said. The tornadoes came as record high winter
temperatures were reported across wide areas of the country. Tornadoes
were reported or suspected Monday in southwest Missouri, southeastern
Wisconsin, Arkansas, Illinois and Oklahoma. Two people were killed in
Missouri. Bill Lischka was drinking coffee at a restaurant in Caledonia,
Ill., when he heard something he didn't expect in January: a tornado
siren. "Next thing you know ... a tornado just popped right out of the
clouds," Lischka said. Al Ost said he "prayed like a sissy" as he fled
to the basement of his house in Boone County, Ill. The storm damaged a
barn on his property, he told the Rockford Register Star. Hardest hit
was a subdivision in Wheatland, about 50 miles southwest of Milwaukee,
where at least 55 homes were damaged, Kenosha County sheriff's Lt. Paul
Falduto said Tuesday morning. "With the light of day it always looks
worse than at night," Falduto said. Thirteen people were injured in the
county, none seriously. "I have never seen damage like this in the
summertime when we have potential for tornadoes," Sheriff David Beth
said. "To see something like this in January is mind-boggling to me."
The only other recorded January tornado in Wisconsin was in 1967 and it
was Illinois' first since 1950, the National Weather Service said.
However, tornadoes are not unknown elsewhere, with 141 twisters in
January 1999 in Arkansas, Louisiana and Tennessee, according to weather
service records. Kenosha County Circuit Judge Bruce E. Schroeder,
presiding over opening testimony in a murder trial, said he couldn't
believe it when a deputy said the courtroom had to be evacuated because
of a tornado warning. "It's a first," he said while waiting with 300
people in the basement. "I've actually had ... warnings occur during
jury trials before and frankly I just ignored them. But not in January."
more... It's All Happening at the ZOO Herescope (January 7, 2008) On Christmas Day, a Siberian tiger at the San Francisco Zoo scaled the retaining wall that was supposed to protect the public. The tiger attacked and killed one young man while seriously injuring two others. Zoo officials could not understand how Tatiana the tiger had gotten loose. It was soon discovered that the wall retaining the animal was 4 feet short of the height recommended for tigers. According to the experts, if it had been erected "by the book" the wall would have protected those three young men. They had relied on the wisdom of zoo management for their safety and they had been disastrously let down. Unfortunately, a sad parallel is occurring in many of today's churches. Pastors are neglecting the clear admonition of Scripture to be "sober" and "vigilant" regarding our Adversary the devil - thereby failing to provide an adequate hedge of protection or retaining wall for their flocks. In neglecting to go by the book - the Holy Bible - many of today's pastors are no different than those zoo officials whose neglect permitted a caged feline to get loose. As a result, our spiritual Adversary is permitted, just like that San Francisco Siberian tiger, to "walketh as a roaring lion" in many of our churches "seeking whom he may devour." One theory about the attacks blames the victims for taunting the tiger. However uncertain the preceding circumstances, the facts of the assault are clearer: Just before the zoo's closing time, the 4-year-old tiger named Tatiana escaped her pen and attacked the older of the Dhaliwal brothers, then turned on and killed Sousa, who was apparently trying to save his friend by distracting the animal. She then made her way 300 yards to the zoo café, following a trail of blood left by the first injured man who had fled with his brother. It was there she attacked her third victim, the younger Dhaliwal, and was shot dead by police officers — 20 minutes after they had received the call that the tiger was loose. So, what exactly was Tatiana's motive? It may well be that she, despite being born into captivity and identified with a human name, was simply being a tiger — acting as any other predator would in nature. It's no surprise that tigers can be aggressive. But is it possible that Tatiana may have remembered the three men — who may have taunted her — and set out for them specifically? Was she, in other words, holding a grudge?Is is possible that many evangelical leaders are actually taunting the "roaring lion" as they spread misinformation about his basic nature? What is particularly amazing is that Tatiana had a "history of violence" - an "assault just over a year ago on a zookeeper during a feeding." It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that one must seek to avoid a close encounter with a large, cantankerous feline! So why is it that many evangelical leaders tell believers to ignore the prowling Adversary as if he were no more dangerous than a purring, cuddly house cat?! Just as people depend on zoo officials to keep them safe from animals, believers should be able to depend on their pastor/shepherds to protect them through accurate scriptural counsel. For spiritual leaders to minimize and ignore the warnings in Scripture plays right into our Adversary's hands. Just as the San Francisco Zoo officials did not appear to factor in Tatiana's previous violent history and basic cat nature, and thus take precautions to build up their retaining wall accurately, pastors are not taking Satan seriously anymore, nor can we trust their statements about our spiritual Adversary to be accurate. Make sure your hedge of protection is measured accurately. Measure everything by Scripture - not by the unreliable words of undiscerning spiritual leaders. The Truth:
| Apostasy |
Indonesia mud volcano breaches barrier and sparks panic Reuters
(January 4, 2008) - A mud volcano that
forced more than 15,000 people to abandon their homes on the Indonesian
island of Java in 2006 has breached the barriers built to contain it,
causing further damage, police said. Residents in Porong in East Java
province fled from their homes in panic late on Thursday when hot,
foul-smelling mud began to flow into the area, covering the nearby
railway tracks and a main road. "At least 10 vehicles were buried by
one-meter (yard) deep mud, including mine," said Andi Yudianto, a local
traffic police chief. The newly affected area is about 20 km (12 miles)
from Surabaya, Indonesia's second-largest city. But thousands of homes
and factories in an area four times the size of Monaco have been
submerged by the hot mud since it first started to erupt in May 2006.
The disaster occurred about 200 meters from a gas exploration well
operated by PT Lapindo Brantas, just two days after an earthquake hit
the city of Yogyakarta in Central Java. There has been a dispute over
whether the mud volcano was caused by the gas drilling well or by the
earthquake. Lapindo is partly owned, through various other companies, by
the family of Aburizal Bakrie, a cabinet minister and businessman. The
Bakrie family last year topped the Forbes' list for the wealthy in
Indonesia. The government has tried several schemes to halt the flow,
including dropping giant concrete balls into the crater, but the hot mud
continues to spurt out. Ahmad Zulkarnain, a spokesman for a government
body managing the mudflow, said it had been unable to reinforce the
10-metre thick and 5-metre high dyke built to contain the mudflow
because there had been no agreement on compensation with the owner of
the land where the defenses are situated. "We had been worrying about
this for some time. It is vulnerable, especially during the rainy
season," he told Reuters. more...
Forget oil, the new global crisis is food Financial
Post (January 4, 2008) - BMO
strategist Donald Coxe warns credit crunch and soaring oil prices will
pale in comparison to looming catastrophe. A new crisis is emerging, a
global food catastrophe that will reach further and be more crippling
than anything the world has ever seen. The credit crunch and the
reverberations of soaring oil prices around the world will pale in
comparison to what is about to transpire, Donald Coxe, global portfolio
strategist at BMO Financial Group said at the Empire Club's 14th annual
investment outlook in Toronto on Thursday. "It's not a matter of if, but
when," he warned investors. "It's going to hit this year hard." Mr. Coxe
said the sharp rise in raw food prices in the past year will intensify
in the next few years amid increased demand for meat and dairy products
from the growing middle classes of countries such as China and India as
well as heavy demand from the biofuels industry. "The greatest challenge
to the world is not US$100 oil; it's getting enough food so that the new
middle class can eat the way our middle class does, and that means we've
got to expand food output dramatically," he said. The impact of tighter
food supply is already evident in raw food prices, which have risen 22%
in the past year. Mr. Coxe said in an interview that this surge would
begin to show in the prices of consumer foods in the next six months.
Consumers already paid 6.5% more for food in the past year. Wheat prices
alone have risen 92% in the past year, and yesterday closed at US$9.45 a
bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade. At the centre of the imminent food
catastrophe is corn - the main staple of the ethanol industry. The price
of corn has risen about 44% over the past 15 months, closing at US$4.66
a bushel on the CBOT yesterday - its best finish since June 1996. This
not only impacts the price of food products made using grains, but also
the price of meat, with feed prices for livestock also increasing.
"You're going to have real problems in countries that are food short,
because we're already getting embargoes on food exports from countries,
who were trying desperately to sell their stuff before, but now they're
embargoing exports," he said, citing Russia and India as examples.
"Those who have food are going to have a big edge." With 54% of the
world's corn supply grown in America's mid-west, the U.S. is one of
those countries with an edge. But Mr. Coxe warned U.S. corn exports were
in danger of seizing up in about three years if the country continues to
subsidize ethanol production. Biofuels are expected to eat up about a
third of America's grain harvest in 2007. The amount of U.S. grain
currently stored for following seasons was the lowest on record,
relative to consumption, he said. more...
World Powers call for Coalition Government The
Australian (January 4, 2008) -
EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana and US Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice called for the creation of a coalition government in
violence-wracked Kenya. The pair "agreed the focus should be on
pressing the parties to agree on setting up a coalition government," the
spokeswoman for Mr Solana said. Mr Solana and Dr Rice also discussed
sending EU and US envoys to convince Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki and
opposition leader Raila Odinga to negotiate, but no decision was taken,
the spokeswoman said. Kenya's main opposition party claims the vote
count after last week's presidential election was rigged. More than 340
people have been killed in violence since the election and tens of
thousands displaced, mainly in western regions. European Commission
external relations spokeswoman Christiane Hohmann earlier appealed for
calm. "Violence does not have any place in a country after an election,"
she said. International diplomatic efforts to halt the Kenyan crisis
have been intensifying. Germany's Foreign Minister Frank-Walter
Steinmeier called for mediation to stop the violence, while South
African Nobel peace laureate Desmond Tutu was in th capital Nairobi on
Thursday to try and mediate between Mr Kibaki and opposition Mr Odinga.
Bush sees Israeli-Palestinian peace deal in 2008: report Breitbart (January
3, 2008) - US President George W. Bush believes an
Israeli-Palestinian peace deal will be reached this year, according to
excerpts of an interview published on Thursday ahead of his visit to the
region. Bush said the two sides must clinch a deal in 2008 in order to
see the creation of a Palestinian state, Israel's top-selling Yediot
Aharonot newspaper quoted him as saying in the interview which will be
published in full on Friday. The US president is visiting Israel and the
Palestinian territories next week in a bid to give a push to Middle East
peace talks which were relaunched at an international conference in
Annapolis in November. In the interview, Bush sought to ease Israeli
fears that any future Palestinian state could threaten its security. "I
will not allow the creation of a terrorist state on Israel's border," he
said in a quote translated into Hebrew. America Has Lost Her Mind News With Views (January 3, 2008) - As the old United Negro College Fund commercial used to tell us, “the mind is a terrible thing to waste.” Losing one’s mind is even worse. America has lost her mind. What is the mind? It is "the element, part, substance, or process that reasons, thinks, feels, wills, perceives, judges, etc." In most Americans this part of the brain no longer functions. For many the loss of our mind is a result of the “mind blowing” experience of the sixties, or from sitting at the feet of the radical Humanists who permeate our nation’s universities, or perhaps from a life filled with Oprah, Dr. Phil, Jerry Springer and the Cable News outlets. The average American no longer thinks. Years in the public-fool system has sucked all ability to use logic and reason out of our populace. Americans have been systematically dumbed-down. “No Tax Dollar Left Behind” had as its goal a slick transformation in educational method. Measure, measure, measure…test, test, test. This is the only way, we were told, to determine whether or not our children are learning. Testing measures rote memory. In other words, for those of you who never learned that word, it means a measurement of WHAT YOU HAVE MEMORIZED. “Jack Spratt could eat no fat, his wife could eat no lean.” Today’s “testing” measures whether you can recite the poem, not your ability to analyze the dietary principles enunciated therein. (I used those fancy words so that you would know I still have my mind.) Logic is the ability to frame an argument based on knowledge. Knowledge is “acquaintance with facts, truths, or principles, as from study or investigation" and reason requires the application of logic in order to determine the validity of a particular theory. Ultimately, wisdom is the goal. Wisdom is “the ability to discern or judge what is true, right, or lasting.” Proverbs 4:7 says “Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding.” “What is true, right, or lasting……” sort of puts you in mind of the knowledge we are pumping into America’s young “skulls full of mush,” doesn’t it? Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools. What is a fool? Why, a fool is “a person who lacks judgment or sense.” Americans and American schools are producing trained-fools. Not just fools, “a stupid person,” but trained fools, fools who have been “coached in or accustomed to a mode of behavior or performance.” All wrong thinking leads to wrong action. The thief thought he would get away with it. The rapist never thought he would get caught. The teenager never thought she would get pregnant. Just because you believe something, anything, does not make it true. We no longer teach our children HOW to think. Instead, we “coach” them on WHAT to think and then test to measure if the indoctrination has worked. Ooops, “indoctrination,” that is probably another word many are not familiar with. Indoctrination is “teaching someone to accept doctrines without proof.” Everywhere you look we are being indoctrinated. Our news is indoctrination. “They decide, we report.” “We have to stop Hillary.” “Who are you to judge?" “Global warming is destroying the planet.” “Top-tier candidates.” American-adults have lost their minds. Look at the garbage we are teaching our kids:
We have lost our minds!
We have lost our minds!
We have lost our minds!
We have lost our minds!
We have lost our minds! I could go on.
Let me leave you with a few Scriptures to chew on. Perhaps they can help
explain the mess we are in. Proverbs 1:7 “The fear of God is the
beginning of knowledge.” Philippians 2:5 “Let this mind be in
you, which was also in Christ Jesus:” Psalm 14:1 “The fool hath
said in his heart, there is no God.” America has become a “ship of
fools” captained by fools. The ship has lost her moral rudder. The blind
are leading the blind. more...
SWF'S - Saviours or Harbingers of Economic Apocalypse? Financial Sense University (January 3, 2008) - Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWF's) are being hailed as the saviours of the financial world, but in reality are more akin to harbingers of the economic apocalypse for countries such as the United States and United Kingdom. The SWF's have been stepping in of late with tens of billions in financing and investments into the cash starved US banking and finance sector with financial institutions such as Citicorp selling off large chunks every other week to funds such as that to the Abu Dhabi SWF at 4.9% of the company for $7.5bn on a fixed yield of 11%, the terms are far more favorable than offered to domestic investors. Most recent speculation is that Rio Tinto maybe inline for a Chinese SWF bid of as much as $150 billion. As petro and trade dollars flow into these SWF's, we will find increasingly larger and larger slices of important US and western world capital producing infrastructure flowing into the hands of asian and the middle eastern government controlled funds as part of a multi-pronged strategy. The effect of which is literally to gradually transfer sovereignty of the United States to these countries. Whilst there are many arguments as to the value of sovereignty to the average citizen given the observed quality of the democratic institutions where as little as 50% actually turn out to vote, and further diminished by suspected corruption in the voting process such as hanging shads and denial to thousands of democratic black voters in Florida during 2000. The transfer of sovereignty has consequences that could be deemed to be permanent and irreversible. The Multi-pronged strategy towards the transfer of sovereignty -
1. Transfer of manufacturing base
eastwards. Whilst trillions of dollars flowed into US government bonds to support the dollar, the US government and Fed were able to effectively manage the influence of bond holders via monetary policy i.e. to maintain the US economy and corporate infrastructure via foreign financing in the form of lower domestic taxation, corporate favorable laws and foreign policy. However the SWF's are invested in assets that are priced to fluctuate inline with profitability and the value of the underlying assets such as mineral and energy reserves, therefore are less influenced by monetary policy and the exchange rates then the bond markets. As SWF's buy up hard assets, these resource and technology corporations and banks are increasingly going to come under the influence of the sovereign wealth funds, which have their own agendas at work based on national self interest. The amount in SWF's continues to grow at an astonishing rate as the giant US deficit of $700 billions continues to feed their coffers. Current estimates put the funds at more than $ 3 trillions and growing as more of the trade surpluses flow directly into the funds... What does this mean for the US and UK? As part of the multi
pronged strategy of the transfer US based assets and the means of
production. The key to the strategy is to support the US dollar will for
the time being at least, by the likes of China, Arab states and Japan ,
so as these countries can continue to buy US assets and transfer US and
British jobs abroad through outsourcing and maintain supply of goods and
services to the US consumer in exchange for more dollars to buy more US
assets with. However the situation has reached a point that the amount
of sovereignty and manufacturing base transferred to date may be so
great that even the strategy of supporting the dollar is breaking down.
The eventual inevitable outcome is for a sharp fall in the currencies of
the UK and USA as a result of market forces so as to diminish the
ability of these countries to be able assert themselves economically and
militarily across the globe as these countries will no longer have the
economic base to do so. Russia being more immature and a late comer to
the game, is prematurely eager to demonstrate the impact of the trend
towards transfer of sovereignty then China is, hence the increasing
noises emanating from Putin's Kremlin. This should be taken as a strong
warning of what the future holds as sovereignty continues to drain
eastwards. If Russia is this aggressive with a $150 SWF, how will it
behave once currency reserves allow it to create a $1 trillion SWF?
more...
Trends to a New World Order: Part 1 Transnational Elites and Pernicious Globalization Old-Thinker News (January 3, 2008)
As we enter the new year of 2008, themes of a "global community" and a "unified global approach" are becoming more prevalent. When keeping an eye on current events and reading various think tank projections regarding the future of the world, a sobering picture begins to emerge. Forecasts are being made of a world in which a sharp divide exists between the elite and the rest of humanity. Advanced technology offers those who can afford it a means of personalized "auto-evolution". "Pernicious globalization" takes its toll on the world and global elites thrive, leaving the rest of us in the dust. Increasingly open borders, unchecked immigration and trends to world governance cause communal conflict between various groups. The middle class becomes revolutionary as economic hardship hits hard on millions of Americans. Dictators utilize life extension technologies to prolong their reign of terror. A computer simulation offers government agencies and corporations a system to test marketing strategy and psychological operations on a virtual mirror of the real world in real time. "Gen-rich" and "Gen-poor" classes emerge to form a new "biological caste system". All of this would make for a thrilling Sci-Fi novel, but these trends come not from science fiction - though science fiction has proven to be a prophetic precursor to these developments -, but from present day realities seen by the U.K. Ministry of Defense, the CIA and other prominent individuals in the fields of technology, science and government. This short two part report will attempt to answer these questions: What impact has globalization had on us and how will it effect us in the future? How do present day trends in technology, globalization, politics and government relate to the prospect of a New World Order? The New World Order A "New World Order" has been heralded by global elites for many years. We are told by these elites that trends to a system of world governance are only natural, that national sovereignty must be eliminated. James Paul Warburg, speaking before the US Senate in 1950, stated that, "We shall have World Government, whether or not we like it. The only question is whether World Government will be achieved by conquest or consent." Globalization and advances in technology have undoubtedly impacted our lifestyles, world-views, and lives dramatically. A "global outlook" has planted itself in our society, but more so among elites. Zbigniew Brzezinski writes of this global outlook in his 1970 book, Between Two Ages: America's Role in the Technetronic Era,
The dissemination and injection of globalist ideology into the collective vocabulary and consciousness of society has been a leading goal of such transnational elites. Regional governance in conjunction with regional economic systems inside a world government has also been a long term goal of globalist organizations. In order for these regional systems to operate smoothly and to be generally accepted, think tanks have undertaken projects of social engineering on a massive scale to rid the population of "outdated" ideas of national sovereignty. [2] The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars hosted a conference in 2002 which was dedicated to the development of strategies to overcome such "outdated" ideas. The political, social and economic integration of the United States, Canada, and Mexico into a union similar to the European Union was discussed. America was acknowledged by the conference panelists as being one of the largest obstacles to globalist planning. Expanding the definition of "we", framing integration in a non threatening manner and a "winner at the polls" were some of the suggested social engineering strategies. A summary of the conference states, "Further economic, political, and social integration will depend on how citizens of the three countries define their national identities and the degree to which they are willing to cede some of their countries’ sovereignty to a larger entity." [3] As we enter the new year of 2008, themes of a "global community" and a "unified global approach" are becoming more prevalent. The United Nations has recently begun an initiative to bring more into agreement with the "global consciousness" with a comic book geared towards children. Marvel Comics has teamed up with the UN to create a comic book that will teach children "...the value of international cooperation." [5] Another example comes from the London based think tank mi2g, which released a statement in late December of 2007 that stated in part,
Combating climate change with a "global unified approach" is a concept that Richard Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations, is quite familiar with. In an article carried in the Taipei times, Haass writes that sovereignty must become weaker in a globalized world faced with climate change, "Some governments are prepared to give up elements of sovereignty to address the threat of global climate change..."more... | EU/UN / 4th Kingdom | Technology | NewWorldOrder | America | Earth Changes |
Is Your Church Suffering From R & R? News
With Views (January 2, 2008) -
The Lord sent me on a difficult journey several years ago. It has
been a long, painful and frustrating excursion. But it has also been
quite rewarding in that I have learned so much along the way. He
called me out of
The People's Church in
August of 2000 for reasons I have already chronicled in a published
piece by the same name. It wasn't a mere critique of a church gone
bad from a disgruntled ex-member with an axe to grind, but rather
the beginning of a calling of sorts to expose what I discovered to
be a growing movement and trend in church life that in reality robs
people of their faith in Jesus Christ. In my ten or so years as an
untrained writer and columnist with an undeserved high school
diploma and a very basic knowledge of the scriptures that came
largely through personal study and prayer, I started writing
commentary for the internet barely knowing even how to punctuate a
sentence, much less how to structure one properly. It was more or
less on-the-job-training; so frankly, I learned as I wrote what I
witnessed. And not having the luxury of editors most of that time,
it meant that any embarrassing errors I made involving grammar,
punctuation or spelling were promptly published for all the world to
see - and in many cases, still are. In retrospect, I suppose that
helped keep my ego in check, at least most of the time, especially
when the praise and support of other Christians began coming in -
not unlike the Apostle Paul's thorn in the flesh that
tormented him throughout his ministry. By the same token, I guess
those words of encouragement helped keep my discouragement,
embarrassment and humiliation from overwhelming me when all the
criticism and rejection followed. I had been a musician all of my
adult life and until the mid-nineties, had no inkling or desire to
write about anything that didn't involve music - much less
controversial matters of church and faith. To this day I'm amazed
that anyone is interested in anything I have to say -
and moreover, that the Lord would compel a fool like me to write it
down. But I do nonetheless, for whatever it's worth. After leaving
The People's Church, I
ended up at a smaller more traditional Southern Baptist fellowship
where the pastor assured me numerous times over the four years I was
there that he would not bring that church growth movement
stuff I had agonized through at my previous church into his
church, only to end up, much to my dismay, hearing him quote Rick
Warren and his Purpose Driven Life principles time and again from
the pulpit - eventually going so far as to offer a class on it to
those who were interested in attending - that is, until I reminded
him of his promise to me. It was as if every time I tried to settle
in and serve the Lord in some capacity there, either as a teacher, a
committee member or as a trustee, the CGM would reappear in one form
or another and distract me into a confrontation and response in
order to restrain its influence. As I would soon learn, many others
who were reading my articles were also enduring the same kinds of
struggles at their churches. Whenever I questioned my pastor about
his PDL proclivities, the justification was that, even though he
didn't actively promote The Purpose Driven Life and Church per se,
there were some practical things in Warren's books he thought
would help our congregation. I suspect he was also under at least
some peer-pressure, intentional or not, from local promoters and
sellers of PDL products and materials which may have included fellow
pastors and representatives from LifeWay Christian Resources here in
Nashville, where such things have been for sale for years - a
company that once employed him as an editor - not to mention the
fact that he was shepherding a handful of misguided church members
who were absolutely taken by Warren's unbiblical notions and ideas.
Is your church suffering from R & R? Both my previous churches
obviously were; and amazingly, so have every one of the
Southern Baptist churches my wife and I visited across three
counties here in Middle Tennessee over the last three years. Blame
whomever and whatever you will; but somewhere along the way, they
all to varying degrees, quit believing God - they lost their
faith - their conviction - their focus and their Divine call
to hear, believe, proclaim and obey the Word of God
at all costs, whatever may come - and made the call to
repentance and faith in Christ at best, secondary to the
pragmatic pursuit of Results and Relationships - refashioning
their religion into something more marketable - more practical -
more horizontal and humanistic, so as to please prospects and
participants into jumping onboard, that they might artificially grow
their congregations into something impressive instead of something
faithful - boasting of "fruit" while yielding a great harvest
of weeds. more...
Borse Dubai to acquire stake in Nasdaq Earth
Times (January 2, 2008) - The US
foreign investment committee has cleared a proposal of Dubai's
state-owned stock exchange Borse Dubai Limited (BDL) to acquire a stake
in Nasdaq, the second largest US equities exchange, WAM news agency
reported Wednesday. According to the plan, the BDL will get Nasdaq's
stake in the London Stock Exchange Group and a 19.9 percent stake in the
US exchange, although its voting stake will be limited to 5 percent. It
will also allow Nasdaq to proceed with its plan to merge with
Stockholm-based OMX exchange. After that deal closes, Nasdaq will be
known as Nasdaq OMX Group Inc. Nasdaq will make an investment in Dubai
International Financial Exchange and enter into certain technology and
trademark licences with Borse Dubai and its subsidiary, Dubai
International Financial Exchange Limited.
The Coming of Eurabia International
Analyst Network (January 2, 2008) -
According to Moorish legend, Boabdil, the last Muslim (Moorish) king of
what was left of Al Andalus (the great Moorish Empire in Spain),
surrendered the keys to his city Granada on January 2, 1492, and on one
of its hills, paused for a final glance at his lost Empire. The place
would become known as El Ultimo Suspiro del Moro - "the Moor's Last
Sigh." Over 500 years have passed since the end of the Moorish Empire in
Andalusia, but for the Muslim world, the memory, the humiliation and the
pain still linger. Bin Laden, in the wake of the March 11, 2004 Madrid
rail attacks called for the restoration of the Muslims’ lost Islamic
caliphate. D'himmis, whether Spaniards or Israelis, must never be
allowed to rule over Muslims in lands previously conquered by Islam.
Once lands formed part of the Muslim umma ("community" - in its global
sense), they remain part of the Muslim umma. In a strange twist of
irony, history may now be coming full circle. If Muslim population
growth continues at it’s expected pace, the Europe of today will become
the Eurabia of tomorrow. What kind of European Islam will evolve,
however, remains to be seen. The demographic Arab and Muslim weight in
Europe is combining with the flow of Arab capital, the globalization of
markets and the huge European financial investments in Arab lands to
produce a gradual but inexorable movement toward the Islamification of
Europe. The ascendancy of Islam in Europe began in response to the
booming European economy of the 1960s and the need for cheap foreign
labor (mostly from North Africa) and as a political consequence of the
Arab oil embargo in the early 1970s where Europeans became so afraid of
losing their oil supplies that they decided to pander to the requests of
OPEC, discarding Israel and beginning an intense dialogue with Arab
countries. The political trappings of this change can be seen today in
Islamic control over Middle Eastern Studies Departments at European
universities; the re-writing of European historical textbooks; allowing
Euro-Arab bodies to screen cultural exchanges and publications relating
to Islam and the Arab Muslim world for “unwelcome” content; taboos
imposed on issues related to immigration and Islam; disinformation
campaigns demonizing Israel and America, while fostering a comprehensive
and “brotherly” alliance between European Union (EU) and Arab League
countries on the political, economic, cultural, and social levels; and
the servile obedience of the EU's mainstream media to all these
initiatives. The National Association of Teachers in Further and Higher
Education (NATFHE) which voted to adopt boycott of Israelis
universities, professors and students followed by the British National
Union of Journalists voting for a boycott of Israeli products were two
actions instituted by these increasingly powerful Euro-Arab League
relationships. But these are just the surface manifestations of more
ominous developments unfolding on the European continent. Over the past
three decades, liberalization, secularization, and the need for cheap
labor brought about liberal immigration policies that resulted in
millions of impoverished Arab Muslims flocking to the continent for its
wealth, it’s higher standard of living, its freedom and its ethnic and
religious tolerance. Europe opened its borders to them, while turning a
blind eye to the hundreds of minarets that began rising in the shadows
of its basilicas and bell towers.
Olmert says Israel must internalize divided Jerusalem The
Jerusalem Post (January 2, 2008) -
Israel needs to internalize that even its supportive friends on the
international stage conceive of the country's future on the basis of the
1967 borders and with Jerusalem divided, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has
declared to The Jerusalem Post. At the same time, he made clear
that he did not envisage a permanent accord along the '67 lines,
describing Ma'aleh Adumim as an "indivisible" part of Jerusalem and
Israel. In an interview at the start of a year that he hopes will yield
a permanent Israeli-Palestinian peace accord, the prime minister said
many rival Israeli political parties remain "detached from the reality"
that requires Israel to compromise "on parts of Eretz Yisrael" in order
to maintain its Jewish, democratic nature. If Israel "will have to deal
with a reality of one state for two peoples," he said, this "could bring
about the end of the existence of Israel as a Jewish state. That is a
danger one cannot deny; it exists, and is even realistic." Indeed, his
primary responsibility as prime minister, Olmert said, lay in ensuring a
separation from the Palestinians. "What will be if we don't want to
separate?" he asked rhetorically. "Will we live eternally in a confused
reality where 50 percent of the population or more are residents but not
equal citizens who have the right to vote like us? My job as prime
minister, more than anything else, is to ensure that doesn't happen."
The reality in which Israel was seeking an accommodation, he elaborated,
includes a situation in which even "the world that is friendly to
Israel... that really supports Israel, when it speaks of the future, it
speaks of Israel in terms of the '67 borders. It speaks of the division
of Jerusalem." What was extraordinary about US President George W. Bush,
in this context, Olmert said, was that Bush, since a landmark letter he
wrote to then-prime minister Ariel Sharon in 2004, has made plain that
he envisages Israel maintaining at least some territory in Judea and
Samaria. Bush "has already said '67 plus," said Olmert, "and that's an
amazing achievement for Israel." Thus, Olmert asserted, while the road
map obligated Israel to stop all building in the settlements, including
for natural growth, the Bush letter "renders flexible to a degree the
significance of what is written in the road map." In comments likely to
further exacerbate Palestinian protest at ongoing settlement expansion,
Olmert said he considered Ma'aleh Adumim to be "an indivisible part of
Jerusalem and the State of Israel. I don't think when people are talking
about settlements they are talking about Ma'aleh Adumim." At the same
time, the prime minister expressed considerable empathy for Palestinian
concerns over settlement growth. If the only construction work
undertaken since the road map was accepted had been at Ma'aleh Adumim
and Har Homa, he said, "then I imagine the Palestinians, though they
might not have been happy about it, would not have responded in the way
that they respond when every year, all the settlements - in all the
territories - continue to grow. There is a certain contradiction in this
between what we're actually seeing and what we ourselves promised. We
always complain about the [breached] promises of the other side.
Obligations are not only to be demanded of others, but they must also be
honored by ourselves." While all the final-status issues were now on the
table as part of the Annapolis process, Olmert stressed that he would
never accept a Palestinian "right of return" to Israel. He said he was
convinced, too, that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas
"has made the choice in his heart" between clinging to the
"myth of the 'right of return'" and the opportunity to establish a
Palestinian state where all Palestinians, refugees included, would live.
"My impression is that he wants peace with Israel, and accepts Israel as
Israel defines itself," Olmert said. "If you ask him to say that he sees
Israel as a Jewish state, he will not say that. But if you ask me
whether in his soul he accepts Israel, as Israel defines itself, I think
he does. That is not insignificant. It is perhaps not enough, but it is
not insignificant." more...
Kosovo train-wreck warnings The Washington
Post (January 2, 2008) - It is
expected that early on in 2008, probably February, the United
Nations-supervised Albanian Muslim Administration of the Serbian
province of Kosovo will make a unilateral declaration of independence (UDI).
The United States has said it is prepared to recognize Kosovo, despite
the objections of the Serbian government and more importantly, despite
the fact that Russia, a key ally of Serbia, does not want Kosovo
independence. While unclear, it is likely a number of European
countries starting with the United Kingdom, France and Germany will
follow Washington's lead. Several other countries, notably Spain,
Cyprus, Romania, Slovakia and Greece say they will not recognize
Kosovo's UDI. The UDI would be undertaken without approval from the U.N.
Security Council because of the vigorous objection of Russia and China,
who claim no sovereign state's territory can be detached without its
consent. Further, as pointed out by George Friedman in his Stratfor
article, there was an absolute consensus that post-World War II borders
of Europe were sacrosanct. Therefore, no borders would shift. Most
ominously, Russia with its newfound resurgence under Vladimir Putin's
guidance has stated its willingness to support Serbia against what they
would consider an illegal occupation of Serbian territory. The current
Serbian government is divided on whether it would be prepared to use
force to protect its citizens in a breakaway Kosovo, but there have been
clear indications that Moscow is prepared to provide military assistance
if Serbia requests it. A government crisis in Belgrade would certainly
unfold in the wake of a Kosovo UDI and U.S. recognition. This certainly
would solve Serbia's dilemma about requesting Russia's offer of aid. As
described in a recent article in Stratfor, Washington and Moscow seem to
blunder into what is described as an "asymmetrical" crisis. The U.S.
seems intent on letting the Serbian province of Kosovo break away and
apparently sees the issue of no great importance. Russia on the other
hand, sees the situation very differently. Moscow has warned it will not
accept independence for Kosovo. Mr. Putin has put his prestige on the
line. He cannot afford to back down as Boris Yeltsin did. And therein
lies the crisis. This is an "optional" crisis. We cannot overlook the
fact that the dominant element in the local Albanian administration are
commanders from the so-called Kosovo Liberation Army that have known
ties to the global jihad movement and organized crime. Further, more
than 300 mosques have been built in Kosovo, funded mainly by Saudi
Arabia where the radical teachings of the Wahhabi sect are promoted.
From a strategic viewpoint, we are endorsing formation of a
"Taliban-like" state in the very heart of Europe. It is
difficult to see what advantages exist for the U.S. to force a
resolution for Kosovo, especially one that threatens to unleash
instability in the troubled region, as well as a broader political
showdown with Russia, and China too. Not only do we have enough serious
issues with those countries, over Iran, Taiwan and North Korea, the U.S.
can ill afford with our ongoing efforts in the Middle East to commit
additional military forces to a new confrontation in the Balkans.
With an unemployment rate of up to 70 percent, no one who has been to
Kosovo, as I have, can doubt we are looking at the creation of a failed,
nonviable rogue state. This, notwithstanding claims by the House Foreign
Affairs Committee chairman that somehow Muslim-led governments will
embrace the United States for supporting creation of a Muslim state in
the very heart of Europe. They will embrace us the same as Iran did
after our elimination of their archenemy Saddam Hussein. more...
Oooh arrrr not alone anymore The
Sun (January 1, 2008) - This
stunning photo of a UFO over Cornwall was last night hailed by experts
as one of the best ever taken in Britain. The classic flying saucer
shape is seen above two ships. And UFO watchers believe it could be
proof we are NOT alone. Kelvin Barbery snapped the mystery object
from a coastal path between Swanpool and Maenporth, near Falmouth. In
a weird twist, Kelvin, 55, did not even see the UFO at the time. He
thought he was just taking a sea view — but when he loaded the digital
camera card on to his computer, the round metallic “craft” was in the
centre of the shot, about two miles away. Kelvin, a facilities manager
for schools, said: “There were a couple of tankers out in the bay and I
thought that it made a nice shot. “There was nothing in view and
certainly no fault on the camera. “When I got home I couldn’t believe
what I had. I thought, ‘Wow, where did that come from?’ I’m not the sort
to believe in UFOs — now I’m not so sure.” Nick Pope, one of Britain’s
foremost UFO experts, said the photo was one of the best he had seen.
Nick, formerly the official Ministry of Defence UFO analyst, said: “If I
was still there I’d be looking at this very closely. The object looks
structured, symmetrical and metallic. This man has caught something very
interesting indeed.” Michael Soper, of the Contact International UFO
group, agreed: “This does appear genuine. Digital photos can be doctored
but everything about it appears consistent.” KELVIN took his
picture at 3.31pm on December 29, with a Nikon D80 Digital SLR on
automatic. See picture at link
Hamas averages 8.2 missiles a day in 2007, steps up Iran-Syrian-backed
preparations for full-scale war
DEBKAfile (January 1, 2008) -
The annual report of Israel’s domestic intelligence service, ShinShin
BetBet, paints a troubling picture of a Hamas-ruled government in Gaza
expanding its efforts to build a war machine capable of taking on Israel
in full-scale military combat, with active input from Iran and Syria. In
the outgoing year, Hamas and its allies fired more than 1.300 Qassam
missiles and 1,700 mortar shells from Gaza, subjecting Israeli
communities in an expanding radius to a daily average of 8.2
projectiles. At the same time, the ShinShin BetBet and IDF were
strikingly successful in their preventive campaign. They thwarted 29
major attacks inside Israel originating in Gaza, and the number of
Israelis killed by terrorists declined from 50 in 2005 and 24 in 2006 to
13 in 2007. Nonetheless, the Palestinians mounted a total of 2,946
Palestinian terrorist attacks, 9 less than 2006, including a single
suicide bombing in Eilat and another three that were intercepted in
time. No let-up is expected next year. In 2007, Hamas smuggled into Gaza
more than 80 tons of explosives for use in the fabrication of missiles
and bombs, including roadside devices laid down against an Israeli
military incursion. Al Qaeda and its Palestinian affiliates recently
stepped up their participation in attacks, more conspicuously since
Fatah al Islam set up operations in Gaza after being thrown out of its
northern haven in Lebanon four months ago. Israeli officials said that
Osama bin Laden’s threat to “liberate every inch of Palestine” is being
taken seriously. The ShinShin BetBet reports that hundreds of Hamas
operatives were smuggled through the Sinai tunnels out to Iran and Syria
and back for special 2-6 month courses at facilities near Tehran and
Damascus in commando combat and the manufacture and launching of
missiles. Among them were officers and naval commandos. The ShinShin
BetBet report notes that Hamas’ smuggling projects spread out from Gaza
to the West Bank, where a new terror machine is taking shape. Local
terrorist elements are being taught to manufacture and use Qassam
missiles and high-trajectory weapons, thereby bringing Israel’s central
coastal cities, including Tel Aviv, within range. Scores of West Bank
Hamas activitists were also sent to Iran and Syria to study missile
manufacture. During most of 2007, Iran’s Lebanese surrogate, Hizballah,
funded the West Bank project at the rate of the equivalent of $10
million per month. The transfers slowed in recent months. The ShinShin
BetBet reports that Hizballah is diverting more funds to building its
own substantial new infrastructures in SouthSouth LebanonLebanon and
north of the LitaniLitani RiverRiver.
Cyprus and Malta make the switch to Euros International Herald
Tribune (January 1, 2008) -
EU newcomers Cyprus and Malta adopted the
euro on Tuesday, bringing to 15 the number of countries using the
currency with increasing clout over the slumping U.S. dollar. The
Mediterranean islands, both former British colonies, scrapped the Cyprus
pound and Maltese lira at midnight. Malta's Prime Minister, Lawrence
Gonzi, had to wait a little before getting his hands on the new
currency. An automated teller machine did not work when Gonzi tried to
withdraw euros, and he was obliged to use a different ATM. "We are the
smallest member state of the European Union, but we are proud," he said.
Both countries welcomed the euro with outdoor celebrations, including a
fireworks display in Malta's rainy capital Valletta. The euro has risen
more than 11 percent against the dollar during the year and nine East
European countries are waiting to convert. The euro's strong exchange
rate of $1.4599 on Monday - up 79 percent from its lowest point of 82
cents in 2000 - has given more pocket power to European tourists in the
United States, while curtailing the movements and spending of many
American tourists and workers abroad. We are in a region that could have
some geopolitical surprises," Cyprus's Finance Minister, Michalis
Sarris, said. "Although the pound has been a loyal and faithful servant
of the Cyprus economy, we felt that things could happen that could
destabilize a small open economy, so it was to your benefit to join the
euro zone as soon as possible." Only the southern, Greek-speaking part
of Cyprus will use the euro. The government in the north is recognized
only by Turkey, but many Turkish Cypriot merchants will also accept
euros along with Turkish lira. Cyprus's euro coins will be inscribed in
both Greek and Turkish, with designs that include the mouflon or wild
sheep, a national symbol. Malta's 1 euro and 2 euros coins will bear the
Maltese cross. "We're sorry to say goodbye to our pound but happy to
welcome the euro," Cyprus President Tassos Papadopoulos said moments
after midnight on the island. more... Abbas: This will be the year of our victory YNet News (January 1, 2008) - Palestinian President calls on Israel to resolve core issues obstructing way to peace, says PA will never cede ground on Jerusalem in negotiations. Speaking at Ramallah celebration marking Fatah anniversary, Abbas also extends conciliatory hand to rival faction Hamas. "We are filled with hope that this new year will be our year of victory and independence, that we will see the establishment of a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital," said Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Monday. Speaking to a crowd of Fatah-loyalists assembled in Ramallah to celebrate the movement's 43rd anniversary, the president called for ''a new page, writing in its lines a credible agreement based on partnership, on life, on our homeland and our struggle to liberate it.'' Abbas also said the Palestinian Authority would not cede a single inch of ground in negotiations with Israel over the future sovereignty of Jerusalem. Abbas vowed he would bring any eventual agreement with Israel to a public referendum so that the Palestinian people would be given the chance to decide the course of their national future. "This is not the time for empty slogans," said Abbas, "it is time to resolve the core issues based on the view of the international community, time to find a solution for Jerusalem, the settlements, the borders and the Palestinian refugees." 'Israel held talks with Hamas' Abbas also claimed on Monday that Swiss President Micheline Calmy-Rey revealed to him that despite Israel's stated policy that it would not speak to Hamas, representatives from both parties met for clandestine talks in Switzerland. The negotiations, held under the banner of 'The Switzerland Accords,' proposed the establishment of a Palestinian state within temporary borders in exchange for a 15-year ceasefire. "They spoke of a temporary state, but this is unacceptable," said Abbas. 'Dialogue, dialogue, dialogue' Abbas also took a newly conciliatory tone toward his
Hamas rivals, calling for a ''new page'' in relations between the bitter
enemies. ''There is no way for any party here to be an alternative to
the other, and there is no room for terms like coup or military
takeover, but only for dialogue, dialogue, dialogue,'' Abbas said,
referring to the Islamic militant Hamas' violent rout of his Fatah
forces and takeover of the Gaza Strip in June. Abbas maintained his
position that Hamas must restore power in Gaza to an elected government.
But he urged reconciliation and called for new elections in an effort to
end the suffering the Palestinian people have endured as a result of the
takeover. ''I renew my offer for early elections here, as a way out of
the hell that was imposed on us,'' Abbas said Monday. Hamas spokesman
Fawzi Barhoum rejected Abbas' speech. ''It is full of incitement and
words calling for divisions. There is no new initiative or practical
step in this speech that can pave the road to start an immediate
dialogue,'' he said.
Global Banks Adopting Islam
News With Views (December 14, 2007)
- The Bible warns that “… the love of money is the root of all sorts of
evil” (1 Ti. 6:10) So, just when you think you have just about seen it
all, something even more shocking turns up. Like this… Either global
bankers are seducing Islamic dictators, or vice versa. Even if they are
seducing each other at the same time, the result will be the same:
Islamic/Shari’a banking is coming to the United States and other western
nations, thanks to global banks such as Citigroup, HSBC, Deutsche Bank,
Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs. With Great Britain now pledging to
become the Islamic banking center of the world, the stampede by all
global banks to enter the world of Islamic banking is well underway.
Western banking met Islam many decades ago, but only began to sleep with
her a few years ago. Since then, it is has become a wanton and open
affair. The implications for the west, and especially for the United
States, are staggering. Because all Islamic banking products must be
created and offered according to strict Shari’a law, global banks are
doing for Islam what it could never do on its own: give legitimacy to
Shari’a and infiltrate it into the fabric of western society.
What is Islamic banking?
Simply put, “Islamic banking and finance” creates,
sells and services products that are in strict accordance with Shari’a.
In the Islamic culture, it is referred to as “Shari’a finance” and
covers the practices of banking, investment, bonds, loans, brokerage,
etc. To insure Shari’a compliance, banks must hire Shari’a scholars to
review and approve each product and practice as “halal”, the Muslim
equivalent of kosher in Judaism. Because there is a shortage of such
scholars, there is competition between banks to find the best expert to
sit on their boards of directors. This provides the highest legitimacy
to each ruling because it is made at the director rather management
level. It should be noted that most of these scholars are from the
school of radical Wahhabi/Salafi Shari’a in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere,
holding views diametrically opposed to the basic values of Western
civilization. Shari’a finance has many differences from orthodox
banking: Notably, it cannot charge interest (usury) and it calls for
alms giving (zakat). It also calls for avoidance of excessive risk and
may not be associated in any way with gambling, drinking alcohol, eating
pork, etc. Zakat demands a tithe of 2.5 percent of revenue be donated to
Islamic charity. If western banks follow this rule, their
contributions will be staggering. It is certain that a portion of this
money will end up in the hands of radical Muslims who are sworn to
destroy the U.S. and replace its government with Shari’a law. Shari’a
finance is a recent phenomenon. There were very few Islamic banks
prior to 1980. However, with the Khomeini revolution in Iran in 1979,
Shari’a was summarily imposed throughout Iran and Shari’a finance took
off. Shari’a demands total and unquestioned submission. Its subjects are
told that Shari’a is given by Allah and that whatever befalls them (good
or bad) is Allah’s will. To question a judgment under Shari’a (right or
wrong) is to question Shari’a itself and will only bring harsher
punishment. If a person receives harsh punishment for something they
didn’t do, the rationale is that Allah could and would have prevented it
if that had been his will. This fatalistic and deterministic approach
allows Shari’a rulers to get away with virtually any thing that enters
their head. To the average western mind, Shari’a is no more than a
medieval, barbaric code that somehow survived to the 21st century. It
flies in the face of western law, philosophy, liberty and freedom.
Furthermore, it is the vehicle used to call for the complete destruction
of the west and in particular the United States of America, which then
will be replaced by Shari’a dictatorships. more...
Just wanted to remind everyone in light of the initial video and the information here. Global governance in an emergency... U.S. under U.N. law in health emergency World Net Daily (August 28, 2007) - The Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America summit in Canada released a plan that establishes U.N. law along with regulations by the World Trade Organization and World Health Organization as supreme over U.S. law during a pandemic and sets the stage for militarizing the management of continental health emergencies. The "North American Plan for Avian & Pandemic Influenza" was finalized at the SPP summit last week in Montebello, Quebec. At the same time, the U.S. Northern Command, or NORTHCOM, has created a webpage dedicated to avian flu and has been running exercises in preparation for the possible use of U.S. military forces in a continental domestic emergency involving avian flu or pandemic influenza. With virtually no media attention, in 2005 President Bush shifted U.S. policy on avian flu and pandemic influenza, placing the country under international guidelines not specifically determined by domestic agencies. The policy shift was formalized Sept. 14, 2005, when Bush announced a new International Partnership on Avian and Pandemic Influenza to a High-Level Plenary Meeting of the U.N. General Assembly, in New York. The new International Partnership on Avian and Pandemic Influenza was designed to supersede an earlier November 2005 Homeland Security report that called for a U.S. national strategy that would be coordinated by the Departments of Homeland Security, Health and Agriculture. The 2005 plan, operative until Bush announced the International Partnership on Avian and Pandemic Influenza, directed the State Department to work with the WHO and U.N., but it does not mention that international health controls are to be considered controlling over relevant U.S. statutes or authorities. Under the International Partnership on Avian and Pandemic Influenza, Bush agreed the U.S. would work through the U.N. system influenza coordinator to develop a continental emergency response plan operating through authorities under the WTO, North American Free Trade Agreement and the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization. WND could find no evidence the Bush administration presented the Influenza Partnership plan to Congress for oversight or approval. The SPP plan for avian and pandemic influenza announced at the Canadian summit last week embraces the international control principles Bush first announced to the U.N. in his 2005 International Partnership on Avian and Pandemic Influenza declaration. The SPP plan gives primacy for avian and pandemic influenza management to plans developed by the WHO, WTO, U.N. and NAFTA directives – not decisions made by U.S. agencies. The U.N.-WHO-WTO-NAFTA plan advanced by SPP features a prominent role for the U.N. system influenza coordinator as a central international director in the case of a North American avian flu or pandemic influenza outbreak. In Sept. 2005, Dr. David Nabarro was appointed the first U.N. system influenza coordinator, a position which also places him as a senior policy adviser to the U.N. director-general. Nabarro joined the WHO in 1999 and was appointed WHO executive director of sustainable development and health environments in July 2002. In a Sept. 29, 2005, press conference at the U.N., Nabarro made clear that his job was to prepare for the H5N1 virus, known as the avian flu. Nabarro fueled the global fear that an epidemic was virtually inevitable. In response to a question about the 1918-1919 flu pandemic that killed approximately 40 million people worldwide, Nabarro commented, "I am certain there will be another pandemic sometime." Nabarro stressed at the press conference that he saw as inevitable a worldwide pandemic influenza coming soon that would kill millions. more...| EU/UN / 4th Kingdom | NewWorldOrder | America |
How Pietism Deceives Christians by Bob DeWaay - There are no extraordinary Christians; but being an ordinary Christian is an extraordinary thing. How I wish I would have understood that when I was a new Christian. But I didn’t. Soon after my conversion I began a quest to become the best possible Christian. In so doing I fell prey to teachings that promised me a Christian life superior to that of ordinary Christians. What I did not know was that I had embraced pietism. I didn’t become an extraordinary Christian and I did walk straight into error. My journey into the “deeper life” oftentimes involved embracing contradictory teachings. For example, two of my favorite teachers in the early 1970’s were Watchman Nee and Kenneth Hagin. One taught a deeper Christian life through suffering) and the other taught a higher order Christianity that could cause one to be free from bodily ailments and poverty. The hook was that both claimed to have the secret to becoming an extraordinary Christian. I found out that they didn’t. My dissatisfaction with the Christianity taught in Bible College led me to join a Christian commune some months after graduation. That group’s founder taught that all ordinary churches and Bible Colleges were caught up in “religious Babylon.” He taught that the kingdom of God was to be found by quitting one’s job, selling one’s possessions, giving the money to the commune, and moving in together to be devoted to the “kingdom” twenty four hours a day. So in my search to become an extraordinary Christian I did what he said and joined. By the time I had fully explored many versions of pietism seeking to escape the tainted Christianity found in ordinary churches, I had squandered the first ten years of my Christian life. I was converted in 1971 and by 1981 I had given up on becoming a superior Christian. I bought a house for my family and began a car repair business to pay the bills while I tried to figure out what to do with my calling to preach now that most everything I had been taught, practiced, and taught others had failed. By God’s grace I went back to the Bible and determined to merely teach verse by verse from that point on. It took another five or six years to rid myself of the various errors I had embraced and then I taught Romans in 1986. Through that study I came to appreciate the doctrines of grace. That understanding opened my thinking and was the turning point for my ministry. I also came to realize that the wrong-thinking that attracted me to pietism was that I held to a theology based on human ability rather than grace alone. Once I grasped that, I never looked back. If the “secret” to a higher order Christianity is based on something we discover and implement (the secret to the deeper life), then it makes sense that some Christians could achieve a higher status than others. But if salvation AND sanctification are God’s work through His grace, then we are all in the same boat, and there’s no higher order. Pietism is difficult to define because it can be taught and practiced in an unlimited number of ways. Some versions appear to be innocuous while others are so radical that most people would see that something is wrong. I now know that no version of pietism is actually innocuous. If a teaching is called pietism but teaches no more than what God has always used to sanctify Christians, then it is not really pietism. Real pietism always harms those who embrace it. The essence of pietism is this: It is a practice designed to lead to an experience that purports to give one an elite or special status compared to ordinary Christians. The Bible addresses this error in the book of Colossians. The false teachers in Colossae claimed to have the secret to a superior Christian experience that would cause people to rise above the bad “fate” they feared. Paul went on to explain that they already had everything they needed through Christ and His work on the cross. Another way of stating this is: If after having fully trusted Christ’s finished work on the cross, you are told that you are still lacking something, you are being taught pietism. Church history is littered with misguided pietistic movements. Many of them are linked with mysticism. I will give examples later in this article. Pietism can be practiced many ways including enforced solitude, asceticism of various forms, man made religious practices, legalism, submission to human authorities who claim special status, and many other practices and teachings. The fact that pietism has many forms can be seen by the litany Paul gives in Colossians: Colossians 2:16-23 Paul calls this approach “self-made
religion” which is exactly what all forms of pietism are. They all
suggest that having been converted by the Lord through the cross and
practicing His ordained means of grace by faith are inadequate. They
have discovered a better way that leads to a higher order experience.
Paul says they have “the appearance of wisdom.” Pietism is an attack on
the scriptural truth that Christ has already done it all and that this
is true for all Christians. I believe in progressive sanctification, but
God is sanctifying all Christians by the same means. more... |
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