I went for a walk
with my daughter this morning, up a dusty road to the top of the hill
where we can see the incredible panorama of the Sea of Galilee, the
Golan, and he Lower Galilee. It was a beautiful morning with a clear
blue, blue sky and large, fluffs of clouds floating above the western
horizon. Tomorrow the rain is supposed to begin to fall and after
that the flocks of black and white storks will cross over our village
by the thousands, calling plaintively as they wheel about in the sky
waiting for the stragglers in this mass migration to catch up. I
love this time in Israel....but then, I love all time in Israel.
With this beauty,
and all of the peace of nature around us, there is a choking, ominous
feeling in the air. A brother in the Messiah said he had an
overwhelming sense that something very evil is coming.....it is near.
I know it is subjective, but I personally have not felt this kind
of dread since just before the three teenagers were kidnapped and
murdered. It is a time to walk especially close to God.
This morning a
terrorist rode up on a motorcycle and shot a Rabbi in Jerusalem in
the chest several times. The Rabbi, Yehuda Glick, is one of the
Jews actively working for the right of Jews to pray on the Temple
Mount, which the Arabs have violently declared to be their exclusive
right. I am continually reminded of the admonition of Paul the
Apostele in his 2nd letter to the Thessolinians, ¨Let no
one deceive you by any means,that Day (the day of our Lordś return)
will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin
is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself
above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as
God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. 2V3
This is going to
happen and this is the reason why the Arabs want Jerusalem and the
Temple Mount. They plan for it to be a throne for their
Mahdi.......who is probably the anti christ. In conjunction with the
terrorist attempt to murder this Rabbi and the Palestinian
organization, Islamic Jihad taking full credit for it, this morning
Sweden announced that they will officially recognize the Palestinians
and Hamas as a State. I have a feeling that God just marked a large
red X across the land of Sweden. Goodbye Sweden, I´m glad I don´t
live in you!
Dear brothers and
sisters. Let no one, by any means deceive you. The world is
saturated with deception and lies. We must see to it that we stand
for truth.....which contrary to the belief of most, does exist in the
person and Spirit of God and in His Word. I advise you to become a
serious student of the Bible and in particular of Biblical prophecy,
and to ask the Holy Spirit to be your teacher.
Wednesday, October 29, 2014
Genetically Modifying Humanity
Although gene-altering
drugs are indeed helping to pave the way for further human genetic
modification, it is only a single move in the game. Just a few months
ago, we reported on the very first group of genetically modified babies being
‘created’ in the United States. The scientists stated that 30 babies
were born using genetic modification techniques. In addition, 2 of the
babies tested were found to contain genes from a total of 3 different
parents. Genetecists state that this genetic modification method may one
day be used to create genetically modified babies “with extra, desired
characteristics such as strength or high intelligence.”
Interestingly enough, that day may come sooner than expected – at least for some of us. Even leading scientists are now pushing
for selective breeding based on genetic makeup, ‘handpicking’ genes of
offspring, and even developing cloning technology to ‘grow’ human
hybrids and other bizarre experiments.
While gene-altering
drugs and GM babies may appeal to the general public, scientists and
biotech companies heavily funded by the government have been working on
achieving a much larger feat -genetically modified humans in the form of
‘super soldiers’. These GM humans go beyond even the imagination, not
requiring food or sleep to perform Olympic-style physical feats, while
being able to regrow limbsthat were destroyed by enemy fire.
—-
The
fact is that humankind has been moving toward a genetically altered
existence for some time now, unknown by the general public. While the
mainstream media will have you believe that drugs to repair damaged
genes is the answer, no one really knows the kind of dangers that could
come with such advancements. We’ve already seen how genetically modified
foods can cause tumors and even early death - why wait to see what happens when altering the human genetic code.
Earth lost half its
wildlife in the past four decades, according to the most comprehensive
study of animal populations to date, a far larger decline than
previously reported.
The new study was conducted by scientists at the wildlife group WWF, the Zoological Society of London and other organizations. Based on an analysis of thousands of
vertebrate species, it concludes that overall animal populations fell
52% between 1970 and 2010. The decline was seen everywhere—in
rivers, on land and in the seas—and is mainly the result of increased
habitat destruction, commercial fishing and hunting, the report said. Climate change also is believed to be a factor, though its consequences are harder to measure. The fastest declines were seen in rivers and other freshwaters systems, where populations fell 76% since 1970. By comparison, terrestrial and marine populations each fell 39%. While biodiversity continues to decline
in both temperate and tropical parts of the world, the downward trend is
greater in the tropics. The most dramatic decline was in Latin
America, where overall populations of mammals, birds, reptiles,
amphibians and fish fell 83%.
Bennett: Obama Administration 'Throwing Israel Under the Bus'
Jewish Home chairman condemns remarks on Netanyahu attributed to officials in Washington, calls for U.S. to renounce them.
“The United States administration is planning to throw Israel under
the bus,” Jewish Home chairman Naftali Bennett said on Tuesday night, respondingto harsh words against Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu which were attributed to senior officials in the Obama administration.
“Israel is stronger than all those who curse it,” said Bennett, after Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic quoted officials in Washington as having described Netanyahu as “chickens**t”, among other things.
“The prime minister is not a private individual,
but the leader of the Jewish State and the Jewish world as a whole.
Serious curses such as these against the Israeli Prime Minister are
harmful to millions of citizens of Israel and Jews worldwide,” added
Bennett.
“Neither the leader of Syria, who has slaughtered 150,000 of his
citizens, nor the leader of Saudi Arabia, who stones women and gays,
have been called ‘chickens**t. If what is written is true, then the
current administration intends to throw Israel under the wheels of the
bus,” he said.
“Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East, and it has
struggled for its existence over the past 66 years. Israel is the
vanguard of the free world against the Islamic terrorism of ISIS, Hezbollah, Hamas and Iran,” noted Bennett.
“Instead of attacking Israel and forcing suicide conditions upon it,
it should be strengthened. I call upon the U.S. administration to
renounce these abusive remarks and reject them outright,” he concluded.
The comments that were published Tuesday highlight growing tensions between Jerusalem and Washington in recent months, the latest revolving around Netanyahu’s giving instructions for the
building of about 660 homes in Ramat Shlomo, in northern Jerusalem, and
about 400 more in Har Homa, in the capital's southern section.
On Monday night, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki responded to the move by saying Washington was "deeply concerned" by the reports and American embassy officials were having high-level talks with Israeli leaders to seek more information.
Law Lets I.R.S. Seize Accounts on Suspicion, No Crime Required
Photo
Carole Hinders at her modest, cash-only Mexican restaurant in Arnolds Park, Iowa. Last year tax agents seized her funds.Credit
Angela Jimenez for The New York Times
ARNOLDS
PARK, Iowa — For almost 40 years, Carole Hinders has dished out Mexican
specialties at her modest cash-only restaurant. For just as long, she
deposited the earnings at a small bank branch a block away — until last
year, when two tax agents knocked on her door and informed her that they
had seized her checking account, almost $33,000.
The Internal Revenue Service
agents did not accuse Ms. Hinders of money laundering or cheating on
her taxes — in fact, she has not been charged with any crime. Instead,
the money was seized solely because she had deposited less than $10,000
at a time, which they viewed as an attempt to avoid triggering a
required government report.
“How
can this happen?” Ms. Hinders said in a recent interview. “Who takes
your money before they prove that you’ve done anything wrong with it?”
The federal government does.
Using
a law designed to catch drug traffickers, racketeers and terrorists by
tracking their cash, the government has gone after run-of-the-mill
business owners and wage earners without so much as an allegation that
they have committed serious crimes. The government can take the money
without ever filing a criminal complaint, and the owners are left to
prove they are innocent. Many give up.
Photo
The I.R.S. seized almost $33,000 from Ms. Hinders.Credit
Angela Jimenez for The New York Times
“They’re
going after people who are really not criminals,” said David Smith, a
former federal prosecutor who is now a forfeiture expert and lawyer in
Virginia. “They’re middle-class citizens who have never had any trouble
with the law.”
On
Thursday, in response to questions from The New York Times, the I.R.S.
announced that it would curtail the practice, focusing instead on cases
where the money is believed to have been acquired illegally or seizure
is deemed justified by “exceptional circumstances.”
Richard Weber, the chief of Criminal Investigation at the I.R.S., said in a written statement,
“This policy update will ensure that C.I. continues to focus our
limited investigative resources on identifying and investigating
violations within our jurisdiction that closely align with C.I.'s
mission and key priorities.” He added that making deposits under $10,000
to evade reporting requirements, called structuring, is still a crime
whether the money is from legal or illegal sources. The new policy will
not apply to past seizures.
The
I.R.S. is one of several federal agencies that pursue such cases and
then refer them to the Justice Department. The Justice Department does
not track the total number of cases pursued, the amount of money seized
or how many of the cases were related to other crimes, said Peter Carr, a
spokesman.
But the Institute for Justice,
a Washington-based public interest law firm that is seeking to reform
civil forfeiture practices, analyzed structuring data from the I.R.S.,
which made 639 seizures in 2012, up from 114 in 2005. Only one in five
was prosecuted as a criminal structuring case.
The
practice has swept up dairy farmers in Maryland, an Army sergeant in
Virginia saving for his children’s college education and Ms. Hinders,
67, who has borrowed money, strained her credit cards and taken out a
second mortgage to keep her restaurant going.
Their
money was seized under an increasingly controversial area of law known
as civil asset forfeiture, which allows law enforcement agents to take
property they suspect of being tied to crime even if no criminal charges
are filed. Law enforcement agencies get to keep a share of whatever is
forfeited.
Critics
say this incentive has led to the creation of a law enforcement
dragnet, with more than 100 multiagency task forces combing through bank
reports, looking for accounts to seize. Under the Bank Secrecy Act,
banks and other financial institutions must report cash deposits greater
than $10,000. But since many criminals are aware of that requirement,
banks also are supposed to report any suspicious transactions, including
deposit patterns below $10,000. Last year, banks filed more than
700,000 suspicious activity reports. Owners who are caught up in
structuring cases often cannot afford to fight. The median amount seized
by the I.R.S. was $34,000, according to the Institute for Justice
analysis, while legal costs can easily mount to $20,000 or more.
There
is nothing illegal about depositing less than $10,000cash unless it is
done specifically to evade the reporting requirement. But often a mere
bank statement is enough for investigators to obtain a seizure warrant.
In one Long Island case, the police submitted almost a year’s worth of
daily deposits by a business, ranging from $5,550 to $9,910. The officer
wrote in his warrant affidavit that based on his training and
experience, the pattern “is consistent with structuring.” The government
seized $447,000 from the business, a cash-intensive candy and cigarette
distributor that has been run by one family for 27 years.
There
are often legitimate business reasons for keeping deposits below
$10,000, said Larry Salzman, a lawyer with the Institute for Justice who
is representing Ms. Hinders and the Long Island family pro bono. For
example, he said, a grocery store owner in Fraser, Mich., had an
insurance policy that covered only up to $10,000 cash. When he neared
the limit, he would make a deposit.
Ms.
Hinders said that she did not know about the reporting requirement and
that for decades, she thought she had been doing everyone a favor.
Photo
Jeff Hirsch, an owner of
Bi-County Distributors on Long Island. The government seized $447,000
from the business, a candy and cigarette distributor run by one family
for 27 years.Credit
Bryan Thomas for The New York Times
“My
mom had told me if you keep your deposits under $10,000, the bank
avoids paperwork,” she said. “I didn’t actually think it had anything to
do with the I.R.S.”
In
May 2012, the bank branch Ms. Hinders used was acquired by Northwest
Banker. JoLynn Van Steenwyk, the fraud and security manager for
Northwest, said she could not discuss individual clients, but explained
that the bank did not have access to past account histories after it
acquired Ms. Hinders’s branch.
Banks
are not permitted to advise customers that their deposit habits may be
illegal or educate them about structuring unless they ask, in which case
they are given a federal pamphlet, Ms. Van Steenwyk said. “We’re not
allowed to tell them anything,” she said.
Still
lawyers say it is not unusual for depositors to be advised by financial
professionals, or even bank tellers, to keep their deposits below the
reporting threshold. In the Long Island case, the company, Bi-County
Distributors, had three bank accounts closed because of the paperwork
burden of its frequent cash deposits, said Jeff Hirsch, the eldest of
three brothers who own the company. Their accountant then recommended
staying below the limit, so for more than a decade the company had been
using its excess cash to pay vendors.
More
than two years ago, the government seized $447,000, and the brothers
have been unable to retrieve it. Mr. Salzman, who has taken over legal
representation of the brothers, has argued that prosecutors violated a
strict timeline laid out in the Civil Asset Forfeiture Reform Act,
passed in 2000 to curb abuses. The office of the federal attorney for
the Eastern District of New York said the law’s timeline did not apply
in this case. Still, prosecutors asked the Hirsches’ first lawyer,
Joseph Potashnik, to waive the CARFA timeline. The waiver he signed
expired almost two years ago.
The
federal attorney’s office said that parties often voluntarily
negotiated to avoid going to court, and that Mr. Potashnik had been
engaged in talks until just a few months ago. But Mr. Potashnik said he
had spent that time trying, to no avail, to show that the brothers were
innocent. They even paid a forensic accounting firm $25,000 to check the
books.
“I don’t think they’re really interested in anything,” Mr. Potashnik said of the prosecutors. “They just want the money.”
Bi-County
has survived only because longtime vendors have extended credit — one
is owed almost $300,000, Mr. Hirsch said. Twice, the government has made
settlement offers that would require the brothers to give up an
“excessive” portion of the money, according to a new court filing.
“We’re just hanging on as a family here,” Mr. Hirsch said. “We weren’t going to take a settlement, because I was not guilty.”
Army
Sgt. Jeff Cortazzo of Arlington, Va., began saving for his daughters’
college costs during the financial crisis, when many banks were failing.
He stored cash first in his basement and then in a safe-deposit box.
All of the money came from paychecks, he said, but he worried that when
he deposited it in a bank, he would be forced to pay taxes on the money
again. So he asked the bank teller what to do.
“She said: ‘Oh, that’s easy. You just have to deposit less than $10,000.'”
The
government seized $66,000; settling cost Sergeant Cortazzo $21,000. As a
result, the eldest of his three daughters had to delay college by a
year.
“Why
didn’t the teller tell me that was illegal?” he said. “I would have
just plopped the whole thing in the account and been done with it.”
.Here is a perspective by Dr. Peter Hammond.
He was born in Capetown in 1960, grew up in Rhodesia and converted to
Christianity
Adapted from Dr. Peter Hammond's book: Slavery, Terrorism and Islam:
The Historical Roots and Contemporary Threat:
Islam is not a religion, nor is it a cult.
In its fullest form, it is a complete,
total, 100% system of life.
Islam has religious, legal, political, economic, social, and military
components.
The religious component is a beard for all of the other components.
Islamization begins when there are sufficient Muslims in a country to agitate
for their religious privileges.
When politically correct, tolerant, and culturally diverse societies agree to
Muslim demands for their religious privileges, some of the other components
tend
to creep in as well..
Here's how it works:
As long as the Muslim population remains around or under 2% in any given
country, they will be for the most part be regarded as a peace-loving
minority and not as a threat to
other citizens. This is the case in:
United States -- Muslim 0..6%
Australia -- Muslim 1.5%
Canada -- Muslim 1.9%
China -- Muslim 1.8%
Italy -- Muslim 1.5%
Norway -- Muslim 1.8%
At 2% to 5%, they begin to proselytize from other ethnic minorities and
disaffected groups, often with major recruiting from the jails and among
street gangs.
This is happening in:
Denmark -- Muslim 2%
Germany -- Muslim 3.7%
United Kingdom -- Muslim
2.7%
Spain -- Muslim 4%
Thailand
-- Muslim 4.6%
From 5% on, they exercise an inordinate influence in proportion to their
percentage of the population.
For example, they will push for the introduction of halal
(clean by Islamic standards) food, thereby securing food preparation jobs for
Muslims.
They will increase pressure on supermarket chains to feature halal on their
shelves -- along with threats for failure to comply.
This is occurring in:
France -- Muslim 8%
Philippines -- 5%
Sweden -- Muslim 5%
Switzerland -- Muslim 4.3%
The Netherlands -- Muslim 5.5%
Trinidad & Tobago -- Muslim 5.8%
At this point, they will work to get the ruling government to allow
them to rule themselves (within their ghettos) under Sharia,
the Islamic Law. The ultimate goal of Islamists is to establish Sharia
law over the entire world.
When Muslims approach 10% of the population, they tend to increase
lawlessness as a means of complaint about their conditions.
In Paris , we
are already seeing car-burnings. Any non Muslim action
offends Islam, and results in uprisings and threats,
such as in Amsterdam
, with opposition to Mohammed cartoons and films
about Islam.
Such tensions are seen daily, particularly in Muslim sections, in:
Guyana -- Muslim 10%
India -- Muslim 13.4%
Israel -- Muslim 16%
Kenya -- Muslim 10%
Russia -- Muslim 15%
After reaching 20%, nations can expect hair-trigger rioting, jihad
militia formations, sporadic killings,
and the burnings of Christian churches and Jewish synagogues, such as in:
Ethiopia -- Muslim 32.8%
At 40%, nations experience widespread massacres, chronic terror
attacks, and ongoing militia warfare, such as in:
Bosnia -- Muslim 40%
Chad -- Muslim 53.1%
Lebanon -- Muslim 59.7%
From 60%, nations experience unfettered persecution of non-believers
of all other religions (including non-conforming Muslims),
sporadic ethnic cleansing (genocide), use of Sharia Law as a weapon,
and Jizya, the tax placed on infidels, such as in:
Albania -- Muslim 70%
Malaysia -- Muslim 60.4%
Qatar -- Muslim 77.5%
Sudan -- Muslim 70%
After 80%, expect daily intimidation and violent jihad, some State-run
ethnic cleansing, and even some genocide, as these
nations drive out the infidels, and move toward 100% Muslim, such as
has been experienced and in some ways is on-going in:
Bangladesh -- Muslim 83%
Egypt -- Muslim 90%
Gaza -- Muslim 98.7%
Indonesia -- Muslim 86.1%
Iran -- Muslim 98%
Iraq -- Muslim 97%
Jordan -- Muslim 92%
Morocco -- Muslim 98.7%
Pakistan -- Muslim 97%
Palestine -- Muslim 99%
Syria -- Muslim 90%
Tajikistan -- Muslim 90%
Turkey -- Muslim 99.8%
United Arab Emirates -- Muslim 96%
100% will usher in the peace of 'Dar-es-Salaam' -- the Islamic House
of Peace.. Here there's supposed to be peace,
because everybody is a Muslim, the Madrasses are the only schools, and
the Koran is the only word, such as in:
Afghanistan -- Muslim 100%
Saudi Arabia -- Muslim 100%
Somalia -- Muslim 100%
Yemen -- Muslim 100%
Unfortunately, peace is never achieved, as in these 100% states the
most radical Muslims intimidate and spew hatred,
and satisfy their blood lust by killing less radical Muslims, for a
variety of reasons.
'Before I was nine I had learned the basic canon of Arab life. It was
me against my brother; me and my brother against
our father; my family against my cousins and the clan; the clan
against the tribe; the tribe against the world, and all of us
against the infidel. -- Leon Uris, 'The Haj'
It is important to understand that in some countries, with well under
100% Muslim populations, such as France, the minority
Muslim populations live in ghettos, within which they are 100% Muslim,
and within which they live by Sharia Law.
The national police do not even enter these ghettos. There are no
national courts, nor schools, nor non-Muslim religious facilities.
In such situations, Muslims do not integrate in to the community at
large. The children attend madrasses. They learn only the Koran.
To even associate with an infidel is a crime punishable with death.
Therefore, in some areas of certain nations, Muslim Imams and
extremists exercise more power than the national average would
indicate.
Today's 1.5 billion Muslims make up 22% of the world's population.
But their birth rates dwarf the birth rates of Christians, Hindus, Buddhists,
Jews, and all other believers.
Muslims will exceed 50% of the world's population by the end of
this century .
Adapted from Dr. Peter Hammond's book: Slavery, Terrorism and Islam:
The Historical Roots and Contemporary Threat
Please forward this important information to any who care about the
Future of our Country.
Many
people—religious and non-religious—are asking questions about a word
they hear the media use when referring to ISIS and other Islamist
jihadists. That word is apocalyptic, which is used when specifically referring to the fatalism of Islamists.
People wonder, why do so many Muslims (both Sunni and Shiite) operate with such an “apocalyptic,” end-of-world mindset?
Our secular society, however, coupled with the media’s carelessness, is bandying about words like apocalyptic
without using them properly and without explanation. That creates a
great deal of confusion for some, many of which just throw up their
hands in resignation and say, “I don’t understand this.”
But for those who want to understand, I am offering this 2-part column, taking excerpts from my newest book, Jesus, Jihad, and Peace.
I hope this will put things into perspective, so when the media says
that an Islamist entity (such as ISIS, al-Qaeda, Iran, etc.) operate
with an apocalyptic vision, you can make sense of it.
The word apocalypse does not, in fact, refer to a disastrous, catastrophic, end-of-world event. It’s a Greek word, the root of which means revelation, or revealing things that are hidden. For instance, we know the last book of the Bible as Revelation, but in the original Greek language, it is Apokalupsae. It reveals what is happening in the heavenly realm, as well as events in the future. The Concept of the Antichrist
Both the Old Testament and New Testament spoke of an end-times figure, the Antichrist,
some six hundred years or more before Islam came on the scene. That
timing will be important when I explain Islam’s “end of time” coming of a
Mahdi in my next column.
The Antichrist is known by various names. Paul calls him “the lawless
one,” “the man of lawlessness,” and “the man doomed to destruction”
who “will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is
worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming
himself to be God” (2 Thessalonians 2:1-12). The most detailed
description of the Antichrist is in Revelation 13, where the Apostle
John refers to the Antichrist as “the beast.” The Old Testament prophet
Daniel describes the abominable works of the Antichrist, but gives him
no name or title (Daniel 9:27).
Who, then, is the Antichrist, whose brief but terrible reign is
predicted in both the Old and New Testaments? He will be a world leader
of unparalleled political, military, and religious power. He will be
charming, persuasive, and popular beyond measure. The world will not
know him as the “Antichrist,” but by some attractive name and appealing
title. But just as the word “Antichrist” suggests, he will be the
opposite of the Lord Jesus Christ in every way. Everything Christ is,
the Antichrist is not; everything Christ is not, the Antichrist is.
Jesus came from heaven (John 6:38); the Antichrist comes from the
Abyss, the spiritual domain of evil (Revelation 11:7). Jesus came in the
name of the Father; the Antichrist comes in his own name (John 5:43).
Jesus was despised by the world (Isaiah 53:3); the Antichrist is
worshiped by the world (Revelation 13:3-4). Jesus came in humility as a
servant (Philippians 2:7-8); the Antichrist comes in pride, claiming to
be God (2 Thessalonians 2:4; Daniel 11:36). Jesus is the truth (John
14:6); the Antichrist is the lie (2 Thessalonians 2:9-11). Jesus is the
Son of God (Mark 1:1; Luke 1:35); the Antichrist is the son of perdition
(2 Thessalonians 2:3 KJV).
The Apostle Paul tells us that the mystery (or secret) of godliness
is that God Himself has appeared to us in human flesh (1 Timothy
3:16)—and that the mystery (or secret) of lawlessness is that Satan has
produced a counterfeit Christ, the Antichrist, Satan wrapped in human
flesh (2 Thessalonians 2:6-8). Jesus is the true Shepherd; Satan will
have his evil shepherd, the Antichrist. Jesus is the Holy One of God;
the Antichrist will be the lawless one of Satan. Jesus is the Man of
Sorrows; the Antichrist will be the man of sin. One Antichrist and many antichrists
First of all, the Antichrist is coming—a lawless man who will come in
Satan’s power, demanding to be worshiped as God, destroying all those
who love God. But John tells us that there are many other antichrists,
lesser deceivers who are also self-exalting, evil, and destructive. They
are antichrists, but they are not the Antichrist.
Jesus tells us that, shortly before His return, the Antichrist will
arise during a time of global chaos and confusion, when the world is in
political, social, financial, and ecological upheaval. The terrified
people of the world, desperate for a strong leader, will turn to this
man and give him control of the governments of the world.
Daniel tells us that the Antichrist will speak “boastfully” (Daniel
7:8), yet it is clear that these will not be empty boasts. The
Antichrist will appear to possess superhuman brilliance. He’ll be the
ultimate smooth talker, the greatest con-man who ever lived, and he’ll
unite the nations under his rule. At first, he’ll seem to be a wise and
benevolent dictator, bringing peace, prosperity, and hope. But once he
is firmly in control of the gears and levers of power, he’ll reveal his
true intentions.
The way has been paved for such a leader. Atheists, humanists, New
Age mystics, Hindus, Buddhists, and Islamists have little in common with
each other—but they all share in the belief that Jesus is not
the only way to salvation. There are even many self-styled “Christians”
who deny the Lord’s claim to be the only way to God. So it will be easy
for the Antichrist to establish himself to many as an acceptable
alternative.
In these days of muddled and confused worldviews, it is vitally
important to know the truth. After all, Jesus said, “The truth will set
you free.” As events unfold, we need to see them not only through the
cameraman’s lens, but also through the lens of biblical revelation.
That the Antichrist is coming is known—only the timing is unknown.
Although we know not the hour of night that the thief comes, we must be
prepared nonetheless. In next week’s article (Part 2), we’ll take a look at the striking parallels between the Antichrist and Islam’s Mahdi (savior).
The Antichrist and the Muslim Mahdi (Part 2)
Mecca, also called Makkah, is the birthplace of the Prophet Muhammad and the site of his 1st revelation of the Quran.
In my last article,
I explained the Judeo-Christian understanding of the Antichrist and
that he will somehow be intertwined with Israel—and more specifically,
Jerusalem.
Because
Islam borrowed a great deal from Judaism and Christianity, it is not
surprising that they too have a figure with a messianic complex—the
Mahdi, or the Guided One.
Muslims
see the Mahdi as a savior who will lead a global revolution and
establish a worldwide Islamic empire. The Mahdi will rule the Earth as
the final Caliph of Islam (a caliph is both a political ruler and a
spiritual representative of Allah on Earth).
Muslims
revere Jesus (whom they call Isa) as the Masih or Messiah. In Islamic
eschatology, the Mahdi will arrive at the same time that Isa returns.
Isa will descend to Earth in Syria, east of Damascus, dressed in yellow
robes, and will assist the Mahdi, who will rule over the world for seven
years (or, in some Islamic traditions, nine or 19 years). At the end of
the Mahdi's rule, there will be a Day of Judgment for the entire human
race.
The
parallels between the biblical Antichrist and the Mahdi of Islam are
chilling. Both are associated with the End Times and the Judgment. Both
are said to possess political, military and religious power, and head up
a one-world religion. The Mahdi will force all non-Muslim people to
convert to Islam. Like the Antichrist, the Mahdi will establish
Jerusalem as his capital, from which he will rule the Earth.
Islamic scholars Muhammad ibn Izzat and Muhammad Arif write, in Al Mahdi and the End of Time:
"The Mahdi will be victorious and eradicate those pigs and dogs and the
idols of this time so that there will once more be a caliphate based on
prophethood as the hadith states. ... Jerusalem will be the
location of the rightly guided caliphate and the center of Islamic rule,
which will be headed by Imam al-Mahdi. ... That will abolish the
leadership of the Jews ... and put an end to the domination of the Satan
who spit evil into people and cause corruption in the earth, making
them slaves of false idols and ruling the world by laws other than the
Sharia [Islamic law] of the Lord of the worlds."
Though
Muslims revere Jesus as a prophet, they deny that Jesus is the Son of
God. Jews and Christians are, to Muslim fundamentalists, "pigs and dogs"
who must either convert to Islam or be eliminated. Bible prophecy makes
it clear that the Antichrist will target Jews and Christians for
destruction, just as Islamic prophecy states that the Mahdi will wage
war against Jews and Christians. Those who oppose the Antichrist's
worldwide religion will be executed.
Muslim
scholar Imam Muhammad Baqir states clearly how the Mahdi will establish
his one-world religion: "There must be bloodshed and jihad to establish
Imam Mahdi's rule." And Ayatollah Ibrahim al Amini of the Religious
Learning Center in Qom, agrees: "The Mahdi will offer the religion of
Islam to the Jews and Christians; if they accept it, they will be
spared. Otherwise they will be killed."
Daniel
tells us (and Jesus affirms in the Olivet Discourse) that the
Antichrist will establish "the abomination that causes desolation" in
the Temple in Jerusalem. The apostle Paul adds that the Antichrist "will
oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is
worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God's temple, proclaiming
himself to be God" (2 Thess. 2:4). Since the Temple was destroyed in 70
A.D., as Jesus predicted, this has led some (not all Christians) to
suggest that the Jewish Temple must be rebuilt on Temple Mount before
the Antichrist can be revealed to the world.
Yet the golden-topped Dome of the Rock shrine and the Al-Aqsa mosque stand on Temple Mount today. One of the Islamic Hadiths
(traditions) records that their Prophet Muhammad said, "[Armies
carrying] black flags will come from Khurasan [Iran and Afghanistan], no
power will be able to stop them, and they will finally reach Eela [the
Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem] where they will erect their flags." In
Islamic tradition, black banners symbolize violent conquest, and Muslims
await the Mahdi's conquest of Jerusalem, when he establishes his reign
from the Temple site.
Daniel
9:27 tells us the Antichrist will establish a seven-year covenant with
Israel—but he will break the covenant after three-and-a-half years,
defiling the Temple with "an abomination that causes desolation." The Hadiths
of Islam also speak of a seven-year covenant that the Mahdi makes with
Israel: "The Prophet said: There will be four peace agreements between
you and the Romans. The fourth will be mediated through a person who
will be from the progeny of Hadrat Aaron [Honorable Aaron, the brother
of Moses] and will be upheld for seven years."
There
can be no doubt: Muslims are preparing to accept the Mahdi as their
leader—and the Mahdi is indistinguishable from the world leader we know
as the Antichrist.
I
bring all of this to your attention so we can have a knowledgeable
perspective when viewing current events unfolding in the Middle East.
But Christians should not fear.
Regardless
of whether the Antichrist comes in this generation or a hundred years
from now, those who have placed their faith in God's Messiah, Jesus the
Christ, fear no one nor even death. Their eternity is secure in the One
who is the only One to defeat death and rise from the grave.
Michael Youssef, Ph.D.,
is the founder and president of Leading the Way with Dr. Michael
Youssef, a worldwide ministry that leads the way for people living in
spiritual darkness to discover the light of Christ through the creative
use of media and on-the-ground ministry teams. Youssef was born in
Egypt.
Monday, October 6, 2014
Total Lunar Eclipse On Wednesday Will Be a Rare 'Selenelion'
By by Joe Rao, SPACE.com Skywatching Columnist
October 5, 2014 9:27 AM
A photo of the first total lunar eclipse of 2014 taken from Arizona.
Observers of Wednesday morning's total lunar eclipse might be able to catch sight of an extremely rare cosmic sight.
On Oct. 8, Interested skywatchers should attempt to see the total eclipse of the moon and
the rising sun simultaneously. The little-used name for this effect is
called a "selenelion," a phenomenon that celestial geometry says cannot
happen.
And indeed, during a
lunar eclipse, the sun and moon are exactly 180 degrees apart in the
sky. In a perfect alignment like this (called a "syzygy"), such an
observation would seem impossible. But thanks to Earth's atmosphere, the
images of both the sun and moon are apparently lifted above the horizon
by atmospheric refraction. This allows people on Earth to see the sun
for several extra minutes before it actually has risen and the moon for
several extra minutes after it has actually set. [How to See the Total Lunar Eclipse (Visibility Maps)]
As a consequence of this atmospheric trick, for many localities east of
the Mississippi River, watchers will have a chance to observe this
unusual sight firsthand. Weather permitting, you could have a short
window of roughly 2 to 9 minutes (depending on your location) with the
possibility of simultaneously seeing the sun rising in the east while
the eclipsed full moon is setting in the west.
Regions of visibility
From Newfoundland, the start of the partial stages of the total eclipse begins about 30 to 45 minutes before moonset.
A growing scallop of darkness will appear on the upper left part of the
moon when it sets as the sun is coming up. Across eastern Nova Scotia,
only the lowermost portion of the moon will be in view as it drops below
the western horizon. Farther to the west and south along the Atlantic
seaboard, the moon will rise completely immersed in the Earth's shadow.
Now you see it … now you don't?
Then again, sighting a selenelion might be problematic feat.
Twenty-five years ago, in the August 1989 issue of Sky & Telescope,
Bradley Schaefer, an astronomer who extensively studied the visibility
of the moon when it was low in the sky, noted that the full moon only
becomes visible when it is about 2 degrees up and the sun is about 2
degrees below the horizon.
So, depending on the clarity of your sky, you might have up to roughly
10 to 15 minutes before sunrise for the sky to still be dark enough, and
the moon to be high enough above any horizon haze for it to be clearly
visible. And keep in mind that this holds only for the uneclipsed
portion of the moon. You might, however, be able to mitigate the effects of a brightening sky somewhat by using binoculars or a telescope.
If the moon is totally eclipsed
prior to sunrise, you probably are going to have to scan the western
horizon with binoculars as the twilight brightens in order to still
detect some semblance of the Moon, which will somewhat resemble a very
dim and eerily illuminated mottled softball.
A peculiar moonset
People who live in those portions of the United States and Canada that
are a few hundred miles inland from the Eastern Seaboard should have a
good view of the Moon's emergence from the umbra somewhat later. The
low, partially eclipsed Moon in deep-blue twilight should offer a wide
variety of interesting scenic possibilities for both artists and
astrophotographers. From Toronto and points south through the eastern
Ohio Valley and into the Piedmont to the Florida Gulf Coast, a
peculiar-looking, waxing crescent moon with its cusps pointing downward
will appear to set beyond the western horizon.
Farther west,
across the western Great Lakes and down through the Deep South to the
Gulf of Mexico, the moon will appear to be notched on its lower right
side by the shadow.
Going
still farther west, the Moon will go down "full," but if the western
horizon is haze-free, assiduous observers from much of Minnesota,
western Iowa, eastern portions of Nebraska and Kansas as well as central
sections of Oklahoma and Texas might still be able to detect a faint
penumbral stain on the moon's lower right limb.
Editor's Note:
If you snap an amazing picture of the Oct. 8 total lunar eclipse, you
can send photos, comments and your name and location to managing editor
Tariq Malik at spacephotos@space.com.
Joe
Rao serves as an instructor and guest lecturer at New York's Hayden
Planetarium. He writes about astronomy for Natural History magazine, the
Farmer's Almanac and other publications, and he is also an on-camera
meteorologist for News 12 Westchester, N.Y.Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebookand Google+. Original article on Space.com.
Saturday, October 4, 2014
Everybody is talking about
Global warming
but rarely you hear about
Global Dimming.
When we calculated the effects of greenhouse gases in the 1980ties and
compared our findings with reality, we found differences. Some people
told us, that all these calculations were nonsense.
But for many years now, our calculation are much more accurate - WHY?
We had to calculate in a different factor:
Global Dimming
Visibility on clear days has declined on Earth since the 1970s because of a rise in airborne pollutants.
"Global Dimming" can be clearly seen in over south and east Asia, South
America, Australia and Africa, while visibility remained relatively
stable over North America, except Los Angeles, and improved over Europe.
Headlines about China's record-breaking pollution are usually
accompanied by hazy photos of the Beijing skyline and statistics so
large they seem abstract: 1.2 million Chinese people die because of air
pollution each year, and water pollution kills another 70,000 people.
Pollution and disease go hand in hand. In fact, about 40 percent of
deaths around the world can be attributed to air, water and soil
pollution. The Blacksmith Institute and Green Cross Switzerland ranked
the planet's most severe pollution threats and the health problems
associated with them. (Text: Robynne Boyd)
Three holes have recently been found in Siberia. The first, whose
size has been estimated to be 50–100 meters (165–330 ft) across, has
been found to have a lake at the bottom of it. The second hole, miles
away from the first, is only about 15 meters (50 ft) wide. The third
hole, accidentally found by reindeer herders, is a nearly perfect
cone-shaped hole about 4 meters (13 ft) wide and 60–100 meters (195-330
ft) deep.
As indicated by the ring of debris and dirt around each hole, the massive holes were created by a force that came from inside the Earth
and exploded outward, leading to some interesting theories. Some insist
that it is related to the gas industry prevalent in the area, but the
holes are so far away from gas lines that the idea was dismissed
outright by scientists. Other theories include stray missiles,
mischievous pranksters, and there is, of course, no shortage of theories
about extraterrestrial involvement.
The real cause might be a little more terrestrial but no less
strange. One of the working theories about the holes is that they’re a
kind of reverse sinkhole
that hasn’t even been scientifically documented yet. In these cases,
it’s thought that instead of collapsing in on itself, the holes were
initiated by an underground collapse caused by the melting of
permafrost. The holes then filled with natural gas, and once the
pressure became too great, dirt and debris erupted into the air rather
than falling into the underground space.
According to some locals, the holes aren’t actually new, and
scientists agree that the growth of vegetation around them indicates
that they could have been there for at least a few years. The second
hole discovered, located on a peninsula lovingly referred to as “the end
of the world,” was allegedly observed by locals as early as September
2013. Eyewitness accounts differ, though, with some saying it was an
explosion from the Earth and others claiming to have seen something
falling from the sky.
Is Jesus' Prophetic Promise of End Times Soon to be Fulfilled?
"And this Gospel of the
Kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the
nations, and then the end will come." –(Matthew 24:14) According
to Wycliffe CEO and President, Bob Creson, the finish line for the goal
of having the Good News preached to all nations is not far away, and
could be fulfilled in our lifetime. (Photo via Wycliffe)
Using technology, Wycliffe Bible Translators
are getting close to having the Gospel translated into every known
language.
"We really believe that in ten or twelve
years—the final translation programs will be started," said Creson.
"That last translator for that last translation program is alive and
somewhere in the world today."
Creson added that Wycliffe is inviting
people to come alongside with the ministry to "finish the Bible
translation task in our lifetime."
Daniel
Greenfield, a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the Freedom Center, is a
New York writer focusing on radical Islam. He is completing a book on
the international challenges America faces in the 21st century.
If
the weather is too hot or too cold, if there is a natural disaster, if a
plane crashes, if crime increases, if crime decreases, if the Ebola
virus rampages across of Africa or stays home to read a good book
instead, if the price of coffee goes up or if a war breaks out… it will
eventually be connected to Global Warming
Even the rise of ISIS has been blamed not on the Koran, but on Global Warming.
Meanwhile a Muslim terrorist can blow himself up at Ground Zero on
September 11 while screaming, “I am doing this because I am a Muslim and
I hate you all” and those same experts will tell us that it had nothing
to do with Islam, but it was caused by the impact of Global Warming on
the molecules of his brain.
It’s all a matter of how you connect the dots.
Democrats think that Global Warming is a bigger threat to America
than Al Qaeda. That’s the profitable notion that Al Gore has been
selling for some time. When ISIS began making headlines, lefty
publications scurried to explain how ISIS had been caused by Global
Warming. If you can’t get rid of ISIS, you can always promise to make it
go away with another few billion for Bay Area Green Tech liberal
donors.
That’s why Homeland Security is focusing on Global Warming. Why
bother with Islam when the root cause of Islamic terrorism turns out to
be neither Islam nor terrorism, but your failure to buy recycled toilet
paper and pay much higher prices for energy. Instead of droning ISIS, we
will drone on about sustainable sustainability and how eagles would
rather be killed by wind turbines than by oil spills.
Ideas are roads to conclusion and conclusions lead to policies. If
you want to control the policy, you have to control where the roads go.
The media narratives are roads. If you take them, you can never reach
the right conclusions because they just don’t go there. The media’s map
of America has highways going from climate change to marriage equality
to death panels. The policies we end up with are based on that map and
the policies determine where all the money and the power end up.
If Islamic terrorism is a major threat then the money will go to
defense contractors and security consultants, to building more drones
and bombs. That means guys named Earl and Amos who wear sunglasses and
have a background in the Agency and the Mossad are suddenly in demand.
Transguys named Meaghan and Tad who wear retro eyeglasses ironically and
did their thesis on using non-linear histrionic narratives to educate
inner city children about climate change suddenly have to get real jobs.
But if Global Warming is a major threat, then money goes to
environmental consultancies and non-profits, to propaganda for education
and the arts, to Green Tech companies and Wall Street. And the
consultants, bureaucrats and regulators gain a vast suite of expanded
domestic and international powers. Meaghan and Tad are back and running
every aspect of your life through their gigs at some non-profit you
never heard of funded by a family foundation with Ford or Rockefeller in
its name.
The War on Terror expanded the powers of domestic law enforcement,
but it’s nothing compared to what the War for the Environment has done
to the power of every bureaucrat large and small to raise your heating
bill, outlaw your washing machine, eliminate your water supply and root
through your trash. If you thought the TSA was bad, the carbon regime
puts a carbon footprint value on everything you do from driving to the
grocery store to buying a beer to viewing this website.
And then it decides which of your behaviors have to be changed and how.
Global Warming and the War on Terror empower different parts of the
government and the assorted consultants and contractors who plug into
them. Those people not only have political differences, but also major
cultural differences. It’s no wonder that the media, whose writers,
producers and talent are culturally a lot closer to Meaghan and Tad than
to Earl and Amos, favors their narrative.
The Warmist side of government is also the more liberal side. The
side that bombs ISIS doesn’t even understand why anyone would stand on
line for two hours to buy fair trade artisanal pancakes.
A shift to the terror side of the dial means restrictions on
immigration, more strong male role models and more domestic oil
drilling. Tilt to the Warmist side and the emphasis is on letting
Meaghan and Tad decide what you can buy, where you can live and whether
you can live.
However only one of these crises is real and it isn’t the one that
involves the planet burning up, the polar bears riding surfboards to San
Francisco and Al Gore revealing that he was sent as a messenger from a
distant alien civilization to convince us to change our ways. But that
has never mattered before.
The left has a long history of diverting attention from real problems
by inventing urgent crises. Liberals rarely go two decades without
declaring a major crisis in education. They were doing it throughout the
twentieth century with invariably disastrous results. Common Core is
only their latest effort at imposing a reviled educational reform plan
funded by corporate giants and opposed by parents and teachers.
Liberals did their best to divert attention from the Cold War with a
poverty crisis. The Cold War was won, while the War on Poverty made a
lot of sociologists very rich and enabled the transformation of the
country without actually ever being won. That war has morphed into the
obesity crisis, the equality crisis and a dozen other smaller crises
which all add up to power and wealth tilting to the left.
Then there was the crisis of the uninsured which couldn’t wait to be
solved until someone in Congress actually read the bill meant to solve
the problem or until anyone at HHS learned how to write code. It still
isn’t solved, but ObamaCare has driven a lot of money and power to all
the right parts of Maryland.
The Global Warming crisis is only the latest incarnation of a range
of environmental alarmism about everything from a coming ice age to
worldwide famines. Eventually another term and another threat will
replace Climate Change, but schoolchildren will still be coloring in
posters crying out, “Save the Planet.”
These crises divert attention from a real crisis that would weaken
the power base of the left while inflating an imaginary crisis that will
put cash and power in their pockets. The left accused the right of
inventing foreign enemies to justify wars of profit. But Communism and
Islam were and are real threats. It’s the left that invents phony
threats and fights phony wars for money and power.
We aren’t being allowed to recognize the threat of Islamic terrorism
because the left wouldn’t profit from it. At least not until someone
finally proves that the Koran was caused by Global Warming.
*
A series of NASA satellite images has revealed the shocking
decline of water levels in the Aral Sea, a massive environmental
disaster dubbed “the quiet Chernobyl.”
NASA’s Terra satellite
began capturing the images in 2000, when the vast central Asian lake
known as the Aral Sea was already a fraction of its 1960 size (as shown
by the black line in the images).
“It shows the power of long-term satellite observation from space,” a
NASA spokesman told FoxNews.com, noting that the Terra satellite will
have been in space for 15 years in December.
The victim of a Soviet era water diversion project in Kazakhstan,
Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, the Aral Sea was once the fourth largest
lake in the world, but now holds less than 10% of its original water
volume.
By 2000 the body of water had already separated into Northern and
Southern Aral Seas, also known the Small and Large Seas. As the
satellite image taken in 2000 shows, the Southern Sea was split into
tenuously-connected eastern and western ‘lobes,’ or basins.
Within 12 months, however, the southern part of the connection had
been lost, and the shallower eastern basin began to quickly retreat over
the subsequent years. Dry conditions in 2014 caused the basin to
completely dry up for the first time in modern times, according to NASA.
“As the lake dried up, fisheries and the communities that depended on
them collapsed,” said NASA, in a statement accompanying the satellite
images, adding that the increasingly salty water became polluted with
fertilizer and pesticides.
NASA also noted that the blowing dust from the exposed lakebed,
contaminated with agricultural chemicals, became a public health hazard.
“The loss of the moderating influence of such a large body of water
made winters colder and summers hotter and drier,” it added.
A dam built by Kazakhstan’s in 2005 was a last-ditch attempt to save
parts of the lake, but was effectively “a death sentence” for the
Southern Aral Sea, according to NASA.
Launched on December 18, 1999, the Terra satellite studies the earth’s atmosphere, lands, oceans and energy.
Follow James Rogers on Twitter @jamesjrogers
According
to Wycliffe CEO and President, Bob Creson, the finish line for the goal
of having the Good News preached to all nations is not far away, and
could be fulfilled in our lifetime. (Photo via Wycliffe) 
