Jesus is Lord, A Worshipping Christian’s Blog

Please pray for the people of these churches and if you know anything about who may be doing this, please contact authorities immediately.

A series of church fires across Texas have been ruled the result of arson.

“It’s heart wrenching [when a church is burned down because] that’s where your church family is,” [Nancy McDonald, the secretary for the Wills Point church, one of the churches burned down] said in an interview with a local station. “But it’s just a building — you keep telling yourself that…

“And that’s evident when you go talk to the rest of the church members. They are already set up for Sunday morning, we’ve got another building that they could move into, and they’ve got it all ready to go. They’re amazing.”

So far no one has been hurt in the fires, but investigators say property losses are in the millions.

Original Link.

The new “hate crimes” bill was forced through the House and Senate by the Democrats, is being used to attempt to shut down all criticism of the homosexual lifestyle choice.

A campaign has been launched in Montgomery County, Md., to classify the speech of advocates for people who choose to leave the homosexual lifestyle as “hate speech,” which then could be banned under a new law signed last year by President Obama.

“Hate speech is unwelcome in Montgomery County Public Schools,” said an e-mail to the offices of Regina Griggs, national director of Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays & Gays, known as PFOX. “I would like to ask that you immediately cease distribution of your flyers at our public schools.

“We intend to pursue every method possible to protest your actions if you choose to continue,” the message warned.

The conflict was sparked by competing flyers distributed recently to public school students, one from PFOX and the other from the homosexual-rights group PFLAG, or Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays.

WND has reported on Obama’s “hate crimes” plan, which was adopted by Congress after Democrats piggy-backed it onto a defense appropriations bill.

The law was targeted just days ago by a lawsuit alleging it violates the civil rights of Christians and pastors, who according to the complaint now can become the target of federal investigations, grand juries and even charges for no more than opposing the activism of homosexuals.

The lawsuit was filed by the Thomas More Law Center in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan on behalf of Pastors Levon Yuille, Rene Ouellette, James Combs and Gary Glenn, the president of the American Family Association of Michigan.

In Montgomery County, the second flyer, from PFOX, explained “former homosexuals do not think something is wrong with them because they decided to fulfill their heterosexual potential by overcoming unwanted same-sex attractions.”

The flyer offered resources to help with “tolerance for everyone regardless of sexual orientation” for parents and students such as event speakers, books for libraries and brochures.

It said, “No one shold be labeled based on the perception of others. Get smart! Explore the origins of your same-sex attraction. … The decision of a prom date, a car, or whether to super-size those fries can be based on a feeling, but important decisions should not be made on feelings alone.”

One e-mail to PFOX, purportedly from a member of the county school district staff, said, “It is called freedom of speech unless it is hate-based and you people are sadly full of only that, hate.”

“You say we are not being ‘tolerant’ of ex-gays … and PFOX says it is not anti-gay … yet you people seem to HATE anything and everything that has to do with the way God wanted gay people,” the note continued. “Separation of church and state … read the U.S. Constitution.”

The note said, “You people are like the KKK but only in the form of religion … you should be ashamed of yourselves.”

PFOX already has raised the issue with the district’s board of directors, noting, “while distributing informative flyers to students and urging tolerance for sexual orientation, PFOX was harassed by several teachers. … ”

Griggs told WND she’s concerned about the attempt to define her Christian organization’s speech as “hate speech,” which could prompt the attention of federal prosecutors.

“What we have is people saying, ‘I’m gay and I don’t like what your said,’” she told WND, “‘and I’m going to sue you.’”

At a pro-homosexual website called change.org, signatures are being gathered for a letter to the district opposing the free speech of PFOX officials.

“Handing out these [flyers] to students is damaging. In the first place it tells LGBT students that they should desire to change their sexual orientation. In the second place, it reaffirms for many the stereotypes that being gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender is unnatural, or something that can be easily changed or manipulated,” the letter states.

“There’s no place for these [flyers] in Montgomery County Public Schools, or in any public schools. I would like … a statement that your school district will pledge to institute a process whereby [flyers] that are not based on facts – in this case scientific facts about sexual orientation – won’t be handed out to students,” the letter said.

At the web page’s forum, contributors were nearly unanimous in condemning PFOX’s brochure:

* People die as a result of these (ex-”gay”) programs. They are a threat to public health.

* This is why you cant (sic) give religious people even a nanometer because they take a friggen Astronomical Unit.

* Whenever any young gay/lesbian decides to end their lives via suicide – groups like this need to know that they have blood on their hands!!

* The county has one of the most comprehensive non-discrimination and anti-hate speech policies in the country. You’d think telling gay teenagers they can magically turn straight would fall under that.

* Free speech does not mean that groups such as PFOX should be permitted to distribute incorrect and demeaning information like this to high school students.

* There is no excuse for this. There should be an ethical policy your school can use to stop these flyers. … Telling people they can change something (sic) cannot, that uses guilt, shame, and fear, IS hate speech.

Griggs told WND her organization has watched the attacks increase since Obama took office and implemented an agenda friendly to homosexual causes.

“What it has done … we have become the targets. They feel justified. They feel protected,” she said.

But she noted a Washington judge has ruled homosexuality is not immutable, so the attacks are just “unadulterated hate.”

“I have never seen the likes of this,” she said.

In the change.org commentary, the author wrote, “While the school district was required in 2006 to begin distributing outside organizations’ propaganda on a quarterly basis, that order did not include the propaganda of hate groups. … the MCPS does not wish to confront the obvious truth that PFOX is a hate group.”

Another e-mail warned PFOX that “Hitler was a devout Christian [that is a lie!! see here. -ed] and most Christian and evangelical religious groups are actively taking a page from his writings. … It breaks my heart that so many Christians thoughtlessly want an American version of the Taliban.”

Said yet another, “I feel that telling students not to discriminate against the ex-gay community is hurtful. … The ex-gay community should be the least of anyones (sic) concerns.”

Another who identified himself as a teacher in the district said, “Homophobia is the problem for gay-related issues, not being gay. … Stay out of our schools and leave our children alone!”

Richard Thompson, president of the Thomas More Law Center, said at the time the lawsuit over the “hate crimes” law was filed, “There is no legitimate law enforcement need for this federal law. Of the 1.38 million violent crimes reported in the U.S. by the FBI in 2008, only 243 were considered as motivated by the victim’s sexual orientation. Moreover, [Attorney General] Eric Holder himself testified at a Senate hearing that the states are doing a fine job in this area.”

He called it a “political payoff” to homosexual advocacy groups for support of Obama in the last presidential election.

“The sole purpose of this law is to criminalize the Bible and use the threat of federal prosecutions and long jail sentences to silence Christians from expressing their biblically-based religious belief that homosexual conduct is a sin. It elevates those persons who engage in deviant sexual behaviors, including pedophiles, to a special protected class of persons as a matter of federal law and policy,” Thompson said.

The Hate Crimes Act was dubbed by its critics as the “Pedophile Protection Act,” after an amendment to explicitly prohibit pedophiles from being protected by the act was defeated by majority Democrats. In fact, during congressional debate, supporters argued that all “philias,” or alternative sexual lifestyles, should be protected.

The law was promoted by its advocates as a crackdown on “bias” crimes motivated by a person’s “actual or perceived” “sexual orientation” or “gender identity.”

Thomas More attorney Robert Muise noted, “This new federal law promotes two Orwellian concepts. It creates a special class of persons who are ‘more equal than others’ based on nothing more than deviant, sexual behavior. And it creates ‘thought crimes’ by criminalizing certain ideas, beliefs, and opinions, and the involvement of such ideas, beliefs, and opinions in a crime will make it deserving of federal prosecution.”

Obama signed the “Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act” in October 2009 after Democrats strategically attached it to a “must-pass” $680 billion defense-appropriations bill.

The law cracks down on any acts that could be linked to criticism of homosexuality or even the “perception” of homosexuality. As Congress debated it, there were assurances it would not be used to crack down on speech.

Obama boasted of the “hate crimes” bill when he signed it into law.

“After more than a decade, we’ve passed inclusive hate-crimes legislation to help protect our citizens from violence based on what they look like, who they love, how they pray or who they are,” he said.

The bill signed by Obama was opposed by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, which called it a “menace” to civil liberties. The commission argued the law allows federal authorities to bring charges against individuals even if they’ve already been cleared in a state court.

Original Link.

We need to continue to pray for Rifqa Bary, the teen who ran away from home, in fear of her life, after she converted from Islam to Christianity. I truly believe she is very much in danger. Her father is a very devout Muslim with ties to a very radical mosque. I don’t believe he will allow this perceived “insult” she has caused him to go unpunished. For Rifqa this means, at best, a life of forced marriage and abusive servitude, or at worst, a horrible “honor killing” death.

A former Muslim who is now a Christian pastor is convinced that 17-year-old Christian convert Rifqa Bary, if returned to her parent’s custody, would be on the first plane back to her native Sri Lanka.

Pastor Jamal Jivanjee has talked with Rifqa personally about her story. He also attended several of the case hearings both in Florida and Ohio. In statements she made both to Jivanjee and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, Rifqa claimed the family began making plans “to deal with her” after they found out she had become a Christian.

The pastor is fearful of what would happen if the young girl was returned to her parents, and they took her back to Sri Lanka.

“To have her dealt with in a very systematic way under Islamic law could mean killing [her]“, explains. “He [Rifqa's father] had threatened to have her put in an institution because they said she’s crazy. There were also plans in the works for a forced marriage.

“So lots of people believe that if the court were not to take this threat seriously and she was to be sent home before her 18th birthday, I believe that they would be on the first plane out of the country with her,” he concludes. “That would be very detrimental.”

Original Link.

See our previous post about Rifqa Bary.
Muslim Parents of Teen Christian Convert Renege on Custody Agreement.
Runaway Christian Convert to Remain Free of Parents, Judge Rules.
Rifqa Bary Case Takes a Positive Turn.
Court Issues Reunification Plan in Rifqa Bary Case.
Rifqa Bary Returns to Columbus.
Hamas-Linked CAIR Supervised Police Interview of Rifqa Bary’s Parents on Abuse Allegations.
Florida Investigation Finds No Credible Threat to Teen Christian Convert.
Teen Christian Convert Who Fled Muslim Family Gets Online Threat.
Muslim Teen Who Converted to Christianity Says Family Threatened to Kill Her.
Updated: Judge Decides Fate of Honor Student, Cheerleader Who Fears “Honor Killing” After Converting to Christianity.
Parents of Muslim Teen Who Converted to Christianity Have Ties to Mosque of Alleged Terrorist.
Political Asylum Suggested for Rifqa Bary, Teen ‘Muslim to Christian’ Convert.
Teen ‘Muslim to Christian’ Convert Order Back to Ohio by Florida Judge.
Rifqa Investigation Ignored Facts About Islam.

In Remembrance of Sarah & Amina Said and Noor Faleh Almalek.
Don’t let this become a memorial to Rifqa Bary as well. Stop Muslim “Honor” Killings Before They Happen!!

More information about so-called “global warming”. This time from one of the U.N. leading climatologist.

The U.N.’s controversial climate report is coming under fire — again — this time by one of its own scientists, who admits he can’t find any evidence to support a warning about a climate-caused North African food shortage.

The statement comes from a key 2007 report to the U.N., and asserts that by 2020 yields from rain-fed agriculture could be reduced by up to 50% in some African countries thanks to climate change.

But this weekend, a key author of the team behind that report told The Sunday Times that he could find no evidence to support his own group’s claim. The revelation follows the retraction by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) of a claim that the Himalayan glaciers might all melt by 2035, dubbed ‘Glaciergate’ by commentators.

The newest controversial claim could become a very important error in the IPCC’s reporting, because it comes not only from the IPCC’s report on climate change impacts — called Assessment Report 4, or AR4 — but is also repeated in its “Synthesis Report.” That report is the IPCC’s most politically sensitive publication, distilling its most important science into a form accessible to politicians and policy makers.

Its lead authors include IPCC chairman Rajendra Pachauri himself, who has quoted it in speeches, as has U.N. secretary-general Ban Ki-moon.

Speaking at the 2008 global climate talks in Poznan, Poland, Pachauri said: “In some countries of Africa, yields from rain-fed agriculture could be reduced by 50% by 2020.” In a speech last July, Ban said: “Yields from rain-fed agriculture could fall by half in some African countries over the next 10 years.”

Speaking this weekend, Professor Chris Field, the new lead author of the IPCC’s climate impacts team, said: “I was not an author on the ‘Synthesis Report,’ but on reading it I cannot find support for the statement about African crop yield declines.”

This sort of claim should be based on hard evidence, said Robert Watson, chief scientist at Defra, the U.K.’s department for environment food and rural affairs, who chaired the IPCC from 1997 to 2002.

“Any such projection should be based on peer-reviewed literature from computer modelling of how agricultural yields would respond to climate change. I can see no such data supporting the IPCC report,” he said.

Original Link.

Unbelievable!!

A new report by the International Planned Parenthood Federation is advocating that children as young as 10 be given extensive sex education, including an awareness of sex’s pleasures.

The report, “Stand and Deliver,” charges that religious groups, specifically Catholics and Muslims, deny their young access to comprehensive sexual programs and education.

“Young people’s sexuality is still contentious for many religious institutions. Fundamentalist and other religious groups — the Catholic Church and madrasas (Islamic Schools) for example — have imposed tremendous barriers that prevent young people, particularly, from obtaining information and services related to sex and reproduction. Currently, many religious teachings deny the pleasurable and positive aspects of sex.” the report states.

The report demands that children 10 and older be given a “comprehensive sexuality education” by governments, aid organizations and other groups, and that young people should be seen as “sexual beings.”

“Young people have the right to be informed about sexuality and to have access to contraceptives and other services,” Bert Koenders, the Netherlands Minister for Development Cooperation, wrote in the foreword to the report. It was his organization that helped fund the report.

The report argues that sex education should be “recast” to show sexuality as a “positive force for change and development, as a source of pleasure, an embodiment of human rights and an expression of self.”

Much like a U.N. report released last August that advocated teaching masturbation to children as young as 5, “Stand and Deliver” has set off a wave of protest among religious and conservative groups.

Ed Mechmann, spokesman for New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan, charged that Planned Parenthood was “trying to teach children sex without values and that sex is a matter of pleasure and done without consequences.”

He said religions like Catholicism and Islam teach sex as part of a much bigger picture and that Planned Parenthood was trying to de-link sex from traditional values.

“It is part of an effort to get children to reject traditional values and accept a liberal American-European view,” he said. “In many traditional countries — Catholic and Muslim — it won’t work and should be seen as cultural imperialism.”

Mechmann also charged that Planned Parenthood’s report was compromised because it has a financial stake advocating the changes. “The difference between Planned Parenthood and us is that we don’t make money off what we teach and say. They do. They make money off contraceptives and abortions,” he said.

Michelle Turner, president of the Maryland-based Citizens for a Responsible Curriculum, said Planned Parenthood was simply trying to eliminate parental say.

“What are they trying to do? They are trying to eliminate the role of mom and dad in the family,” Turner said. “For Planned Parenthood to decide that governments, private organizations and religious organizations should make decisions about kids’ sexuality is just going too far.”

“It is part of a bigger push to change the way we think about sex,” she said. That sex is all about pleasure and there are no consequences. They are wrong. No matter how much we teach children, some will make mistakes. They will forget. And Planned Parenthood doesn’t want to deal with that,” she said.

“They see religious groups, especially those that counsel abstinence and waiting until marriage, as bad guys,” she added. “We aren’t.”

Planned Parenthood said it was unable to comment because the report was issued by its European office and it was unable to contact them.

Original Link.

On January 24, 1995, President Bill Clinton delivered his State of the Union address to a Congress that looked radically different than the body of representatives that the President faced only one year earlier. Motivated by Newt Gingrich’s Contract with America and their disdain for “HillaryCare,” the American people had catapulted the Republican party to the majority position for the first time since 1954. In his opening remarks, the President made a point to let the American people know that he had gotten the message loud and clear. With his declaration that the “era of big government” was over, President Clinton showed that he “got it”

The American people had sent a clear message to the Democrats in 1994, one that could not be ignored and could not be misinterpreted. The people were unhappy with the course of their government and were calling for change. President Clinton went on to participate in some very successful bipartisan policy initiatives including balancing the budget and reforming welfare.

Contrast Mr. Clinton’s response with President Obama’s posture in the aftermath of the recent electoral upset in Massachusetts’ race that many have interpreted as a referendum on the Democrats’ health care plan and the Obama administration in general. In the face of a humiliating defeat for the Democrat party, the president seems incapable of admitting that he and his colleagues on Capitol Hill might have misinterpreted their “mandate” from the people. He appears unwilling to consider the possibility that the American people reject his brand of “change.” Instead, he has decided that his steadily declining approval rating and the historic election of a Republican in Massachusetts is a symptom of the people’s ignorance and confusion:

“After nearly a century of trying – Democratic administrations, Republican administrations – we are closer than ever to bringing more security to the lives of so many Americans. The approach we’ve taken would protect every American from the worst practices of the insurance industry. It would give small businesses and uninsured Americans a chance to choose an affordable health care plan in a competitive market. It would require every insurance plan to cover preventive care…. Still, this is a complex issue, and the longer it was debated, the more skeptical people became. I take my share of the blame for not explaining it more clearly to the American people.”

That’s right, folks. The President’s inability to explain himself clearly is the only reason we’re still discussing this whole health care reform thing. It’s not because of the nearly $1 trillion price tag, the closed-door back-room negotiations, the fuzzy math, or the constitutional infirmities inherent in the various proposals worming their way through Congress. It’s not because we have substantive, and as yet unaddressed, concerns about the treatment of the unborn, the disabled, and the elderly under a system administered by neo-Malthusians and their “comparative effectiveness” model. And it’s certainly not because we’re skeptical that the same people who have bankrupted Social Security and Medicare could run a lemonade stand, let along a full 20% of the American economy, without running it into the ground.

It’s just that we don’t “get it.” We’re just confused from too much Fox News and not enough MSNBC.

Here’s a news flash, Mr. Obama: It’s you who are confused. You have drastically underestimated the intelligence of the American voter. In the face of your big-government schemes designed to “fundamentally transform America,” the people – Democrats and Republicans alike – are recoiling in horror. If you continue to ignore the voice of the people, it’s likely that the next time you stand before our nation’s representatives to deliver a State of the Union speech you will find yourself facing a sea of newly-elected Republican faces, much as your Democratic predecessor did in 1995.

A strong majority of the American public has decided that it doesn’t want the kind of change you are trying to shove down its throat, and no amount of rhetorical flourish is going to change its mind.

Read the complete article here.

Obama still doesn’t get it. He literately can’t get it through his head that people don’t want this to happen.

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama said Sunday he has not ruled out a New York federal court trial for Sept. 11 planner Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, but he was taking into account the objections of the city’s mayor and police commissioner.

The Obama administration has come under withering attack, mainly from Republicans, for a decision by his Justice Department to try the terrorist mastermind in a U.S. court near Ground Zero, site of the attack that destroyed New York’s World Trade Center.

Obama said using the traditional judicial method was a “virtue of our system” in which Americans should take pride.

He also defended his decision, noting again that the administration of former President George W. Bush had handled terror suspects arrested in the United States in the same way.

“They prosecuted 190 folks in these Article III courts, got convictions and those folks are in maximum security prisons right now. And there have been no escapes,” Obama said. “And it is a virtue of our system we should be proud of.”

Later Sunday, Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., responded: “Based on the security, logistical and cost concerns raised by the mayor and the police commissioner, it is not feasible to have the trials in New York. The administration should realize that and move on.”

Original Link.

There is so much truth is this. Our society is constantly pushing sex on us, especially our children, all the time. One can hardly view any media source without having it thrown in our faces.

A new study shows that young adult and teen males feel there is too much pressure from society and culture to be sexually active.

The study was conducted for Seventeen magazine by TRU, a youth market research company, by way of an online survey which asked 42 questions about sex and relationships, including attitudes and sexual history. According to the survey, many young men feel pressured by society to exaggerate when it comes to their sexual activity.

“When the messages that they’re getting from television are also being echoed in the popular music that they’re listening to and the videos games they’re playing…I think one key factor, one key element is to try to limit as much as possible your kids’ exposure to those kinds of media influences,” [Melissa Henson, director of communications and public education for the Parents Television Council (PTC)] comments. “But that’s not always possible, so it is also important for parents to take the time to share their values with their children, to discuss right and wrong — especially issues of sexual morality.”

Original Link.

Matthew 24:6:

And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all [these things] must come to pass, but the end is not yet.

Isaiah 17:1:

The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from [being] a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.

A quick real estate tip if you’re thinking of investing in any Middle East properties: Don’t sink any cash into Damascus as it may well be on its way out, potentially very soon.

Tensions between Israel and Syria are presently sky high as a result of Syrian president Bashar Assad announcing this week that Israel is avoiding peace, his comments following on the heels of Syria’s foreign minister saying Israeli cities will be attacked in a future war between the two nations.

Responding to all the saber rattling coming out of Damascus, Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman yesterday said Syria has “crossed a red line that cannot be ignored”, adding that any future war will not only result in defeat for Syria but the removal of Assad and his family from power as well.

I’ve heard it said before, in relation to marriage, that couples should never allow the word divorce to be spoken in the heat of a dispute as even the mention of it plants a seed of insecurity within both parties, seeds having a tendency to grow, sometimes wildly fast. The same, I believe, is true where threats of war are concerned, even if they’re somewhat veiled.

The history of Israeli-Syrian relations is overflowing with conflict, both direct and by proxy on the part of Syria. Given that is true, especially at this time when Israel is already feeling threatened – and rightly so – by Tehran’s nuclear weapons program, Syria has selected the worst imaginable moment to “cross a red line” with Israel.

The prophet Isaiah tells us that Damascus is living on borrowed time and from where I’m sitting? There doesn’t seem to be a lot of sand left in the upper half of the hour glass. Many lost souls hang in the balance if things should go wrong and we can be more than certain, based on Isaiah’s prophecy, they’re going to sooner or later. Like it or not, believe it or not, Damascus is going to be removed from existence at some point in the future. Hundreds of thousands, in all likelihood, will die when fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy occurs. If that disturbing truth doesn’t motivate us to pray, both for the lost in Israel and Syria, nothing will.

In closing, a request from me to my readers. After reading these final words, please take a moment to pray for the lost in Syria, Israel and all over the world for that matter. As recent events in Haiti and Indonesia (the tsunami event of 2006) reflect, hundreds of thousands of souls can enter into eternity, with or without Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, on any given day. We need to care about that – and deeply.

John 3:16: For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Original Link.

A war is raging in the Middle East, but at least for now, it only involves words rather than bullets and bombs. In just a week’s time, there has been a very heated exchange between Israel and Syria that has led to a dramatic rise in Middle East tension. I’ve been following prophecy for thirty years, and I’ve never seen a time when so many hostile statements have been made between Israel and Syria.

The war of words started when senior Israeli policymaker Yossi Peled said that another conflict on the northern border was a “matter of time.” Peled noted that in the event of such a conflict breaking out, Israel would hold “Syria and Lebanon alike responsible.” Up until now, Israel had always viewed Syria and Lebanon as separate concerns.

Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon, meeting with Michael Williams, the UN special coordinator for Lebanon, expressed his concern that Hezbollah fighters have been training on surface-to-surface missile systems in Syria.

Foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman was more outspoken: “Assad must be told bluntly that in the next war, not only will Syria be beaten, but he and his family will lose power. You will not remain in power, and neither will your family,” the Moldovan-born former nightclub bouncer told a group of businessmen.

Lieberman’s most damaging remark was not the suggestion of a forced regime change, but the idea that Syria had better forget about ever getting back the Golan Heights. “We must bring Syria to realize that just as it gave up on the dream of greater Syria and control of Lebanon, so it will have to give up on its ultimate demand for the Golan Heights.”

His remark did contradict the official Israeli government position that it will trade territory for peace. The Syrians have long been totally fixated on getting the Golan back from Israel. They’ve even said in the past that the failure to return the Golan in a timely manner could mean war.

Damascus wasted no time in firing back. Syrian president Bashar Assad said that Israel is not serious about its intentions to make peace with Damascus, as evidenced by “its conduct, which is leading the region to war.” His foreign minister Walid Moallem boasted: “You know that war at this time will come to your cities.”

In Lebanon, the secretary general of Hezbollah–a puppet of Syria–said his forces will “change the face of the Middle East region” if there is another war with Israel.

The most likely reason Israel is taking a hard line with Syria is the realization that the vast amounts of weaponry being poured into Lebanon are part of an aggressive act by Syria. A rocket fire from southern Lebanon might as well come from Syrian soil.

There has also been a change in Israeli military thinking. Years ago, Israel was genuinely threatened by Damascus, and thought a war with them would be very costly. In the past few years, Israel has come to realize they have a huge technological advantage over the Syrians.

While the Syrian military should not be underestimated, it does not really have an air force, it has outdated artillery and armored corps, and its air defense systems were embarrassingly ineffective in the September 2007 strike against its nuclear reactor. The poor Syrians were so blindsided by the attack that they first denied it ever occurred.

One of the most dangerous factors at work in the Middle East is the idea that a conflict can be contained. Israel launched its attack against Syria with the belief that Damascus would do nothing. Syria has been shipping arms to Hezbollah with the belief that any conflict would remain confined between Hezbollah fighters and Israel.

At some point, Israel and Syria are going to reach their uncontrolled flashpoints. The involvement of key prophecy players like Russia and Iran in this potential conflict leads me to suspect that the progression of Bible prophecy is an equally unstoppable flashpoint.

If the Israeli brass knew Bible prophecy, they would probably warn the Syrians about the eventual fate of their capital. Because Israel ’s leadership lacks an understanding of prophecy, they are most likely doomed to play a role in the destruction of Damascus.

“The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap” (Isaiah 17:1).

– Todd

Original Link.

Wow, what a storm!! Think how bad it would have been without “global warming” to offset it a bit. Why without “global warming”, it would have been of epic proportions; an act of God even!! We are so lucky that we have “global warming”.

WASHINGTON — Tens of thousands of workers in the snowy Mid-Atlantic region were given Monday off to shovel out from a blizzard that buried some areas in nearly 3 feet of snow as another storm loomed.

Federal agencies that employ 230,000 in Washington will be closed, as will many businesses and school districts across the region. With more snow expected Tuesday, stranded travelers and those struggling with no electricity wondered when they’d escape the icy, gray mess.

“You’ve got a whole city held captive here,” Gwen Dawkins, who was trying to get to Detroit, said as she waited at Washington’s Reagan National Airport, where all flights had been canceled after 18 inches of snow was recorded by Sunday.

Crews plowing streets and homeowners shoveling their walkways faced the possibility of another storm adding to the work. The National Weather Service issued a storm watch for the Washington area Tuesday, saying there was potential for another 5 inches or more of snow. Forecasters expect highs in the low- to mid-30s for the next few days, though sunshine on Monday should help melt some of the snow, said weather service meteorologist Bryan Jackson.

The sight of cross-country skiers cascading down monument steps and flying snowballs has since given way to images of people hunched over snow shovels or huddled next to fireplaces.

Original Link.

Well, here we go again.

Tim Tebow, the rising football superstar, has dared to give his opinion on an issue and, of all issues he dared to confront, that issue just happened to be abortion.

You see Tim’s mother was confronted with an issue during her pregnancy with Tim. She was very ill at the time and doctors were advising her to get an abortion for ‘the sake of her health and that of her child’.

Doctors are so caring.

However, Pam, being the good Christian she is, decided to place her faith in God. She chose to love her child enough to give him a chance. The rest, as we say, is history.

What a great story. What a story of triumph. What a story of faith. What a story of the failings of man and the victory of trust in God. But that’s not how liberal feminists would tell it. You see, they would rather you NOT tell it at all. Why? Well, it’s simple. They are not who they claim to be. Let me explain.

These so called defenders women’s freedoms are not interested in women’s freedom at all. They want to keep a multi-billion dollar industry from going under. They couldn’t care less about women’s rights. If they did…………….they would “celebrate a woman’s right to choose Life”…………and they NEVER do. They only seem to celebrate a woman’s choice to commit infanticide.

When have you EVER heard a so called “pro-choice” advocate celebrate when a woman chooses to let her baby live? I don’t know about you, but I’ve NEVER heard them do that.

Oh, sure, they’ll say “well it was her choice” but it always comes across in a begrudging way that seems as if it’s delivered through clenched teeth.

Why?

I thought choice was the whole issue. It’s a woman’s right to choose, right? So when she chooses life, why do the feminists remain silent and when she chooses abortion they celebrate?

Quite a paradox.

The real message from these ‘heroes of women’s rights’ is “celebrate abortion”. So when a woman chooses life and wants to proclaim that she exercised her right to choose……..she’s told to shut up. They make her life a living hell and use her as some sort of symbol of evil against women and insist that her message is “intolerant”.

Who are the real intolerant people here?

I’d say she TOLERATED her child’s right to live and sacrificed convenience for herself.

I’d say that the “pro-choicers” are INTOLERANT of a life that may interfere with their own.

So what is society’s reaction to all of this?

Well, a people who have been completely desensitized to this evil tell Tim and his mother, “Well, maybe it would be better to not show such a thing on television. I mean, after all, we wouldn’t want to influence how many people want to watch the Super Bowl because of an utterly horrid commercial that would in any way celebrate life, now would we? Now roll the Viagra and Go-Daddy.com commercials!”

America, what in the name of all that’s holy is wrong with you people???

Are you telling me that we have stooped to such a low level as to be more concerned with pro football, TV attendance even, than with a person’s RIGHT to express a quality message about a major event in their life that directly affected a future pro football player?!

It goes beyond that. It goes back to money and selfishness.

That’s what this is all about. Let’s not dance around it. You cannot serve God and mammon.

If ‘pro-choice’ (death) supporters really had any guts at all, they would just admit what it is they really believe. But they won’t, because the nature of a coward is to hide behind something or someone else.

I, however, am not a coward. And so, I suggest we all give the NFL and TV stations something to be concerned about.

If Tim Tebow and his family are pressured to remove this commercial from the Super Bowl line-up, I ask you to support LIFE by turning the channel and not watching the game. Exercise your freedom to watch whatever else you want to watch.

As for me, I won’t be watching regardless.

For me the damage has already been done.

Unless of course, the pro-death hypocrites, rise up in one united voice in support of Pam and Tim Tebow………………………..but I’m not holding my breath.

God bless you all,
Eric Bruni
jesusknight72@hotmail.com

Original Link.

This is the point that many of us have been trying to drive home for years now; it doesn’t matter how much land Israel concedes in the pursuit of peace, the Muslims will not be satisfied until they have wiped Israel out of existence.

Bashar Assad understands the price he and the ruling Alawite minority would have to pay, in a country that is 74 percent Sunni, for a genuine peace with Israel. That is why in this week’s New Yorker, Assad frankly told Seymour Hersh that even if Syria regained the entire Golan, Israel, “cannot expect me to give them the peace they expect.”

Indeed, if Israel got the peace we expected, Assad’s de-facto truce with the Muslim Brotherhood would come undone. He’d have to expel Hamas leaders from Syria, a step the Brotherhood would find insufferable. A bad divorce with Teheran would ensue. Hizbullah would reorient Lebanon’s policies accordingly.

In short, Assad would be going down the path taken by the late Anwar Sadat: carving out a separate peace with Israel while the Palestinian issue festered, albeit due to the Palestinians’ own intransigence.

Naturally, if Assad got the Golan Heights on his terms, the legitimacy of his regime would be bolstered. But no Israeli government – not Yitzhak Rabin’s and not Binyamin Netanyahu’s – can come down from the Golan in return for a sham peace.

Assad will not risk a real peace that would force Syria to rethink its ideological identity in the absence of the Zionist bogeyman. How could he justify continued authoritarian rule?

Moreover, real peace would open Syria to progressive influences. The regime could come under pressure from now dormant liberal reformers. The 18,000 Druse and 2,000 Alawites on the Golan would be reunited with their co-religionists, but decades of life under the Zionists will have created social, economic and, yes, political expectations that could “contaminate” the larger Syrian polity.

So a strong argument can be made that the last thing Assad really wants is peace with Israel.

Yet if this assessment is excessively cynical and Assad is prepared to take major risks for peace – he needs to come to Jerusalem and ask for the Golan. His appearance at the Knesset podium would likely create an inexorable momentum for a total Israeli withdrawal.

REGRETTABLY, Assad cannot afford to make real peace. Worse still, through a series of military and rhetorical miscalculations – inspired, perhaps, by Iranian mischief-making – Assad is blundering toward a conflagration with Israel.

Original Link.

An oracle concerning Damascus:
“See, Damascus will no longer be a city
but will become a heap of ruins.”

Isaiah 17:1 (New International Version)

Today is World Cancer Day, and as a cancer patient, I am now painfully aware of what cancer really is. It’s no long just a word to be frowned at with a sigh of “that’s terrible”. Now it’s personal.
Almost everyone knows someone, a friend or family member, who has been affected by cancer. Please take a moment to think about cancer prevention and detection. I’m here because of early detection and treatment.
Please continue to pray for those who are afflicted with this horrible disease.

World Cancer Day

4 February 2010

Cancer is a leading cause of death around the world. WHO estimates that 84 million people will die of cancer between 2005 and 2015 without intervention.

Each year on 4 February, WHO supports International Union Against Cancer to promote ways to ease the global burden of cancer. Preventing cancer and raising quality of life for cancer patients are recurring themes.

This year’s theme, “Cancer can be prevented too”, focusses on simple measures to prevent cancer such as:

* no tobacco use
* a healthy diet and regular exercise
* limited alcohol use
* protection against cancer-causing infections.

Original Link.

Also see:
The American Cancer Society.
The Lance Armstrong Foundation.

Interesting. The Holy Land is the gift from God that keeps giving.

When scientists revealed in 2008 that an analysis of rings on stalagmite from a cave near Jerusalem showed the climate of the region got drier shortly after the Roman dispersion of the Jews in A.D. 70, it was no surprise to Rabbi Menachem Kohen of Brooklyn.

In his book, “Prophecies for the Era of Muslim Terror: A Torah Perspective on World Events,” he had explained the dramatic climate change that took place when the Jews were forced from their homeland.

Rabbi Kohen wrote that the land suffered an unprecedented, severe and inexplicable (by anything other than supernatural explanations) drought that lasted from the first century until the 20th – a period of 1,800 years coinciding with the forced dispersion of the Jews.

Kohen saw the cataclysm as a miraculous fulfillment of prophecy found in the book of Deuteronomy – especially chapter 28:23-24.

“And thy heaven that is over thy head shall be brass, and the earth that is under thee shall be iron.

“The LORD shall make the rain of thy land powder and dust: from heaven shall it come down upon thee, until thou be destroyed.”

A year later, University of Wisconsin geologists analyzed the chemical composition of individual rings that formed the stalagmite growing up from the floor of the Soreq Cave near Jerusalem between 200 B.C. and A.D. 1100. Geologists John Valley and Ian Orland concluded the climate was drier in the eastern Mediterranean between 100 A.D. and A.D. 700, with steep drops in rainfall around 100 A.D. and A.D. 400 – a period of waning Roman and Byzantine power in the region.

Researchers from the Geological Survey of Israel and Hebrew University in Jerusalem helped with the study, which appeared in an issue of the journal Quaternary Research. The scientific study was tied to research into global warming.

Before the Jews entered Canaan, it was described in the Bible as a land flowing with milk and honey. If you read what Israel’s climate and natural landscape was like from the time Joshua crossed the Jordan right up until the time of Jesus, it sounds like a heavily forested land. There were amazing crops raised by the people who inhabited the land when the Jews arrived.

For 1,800 years, it hardly ever rained in Israel. This was the barren land discovered by Mark Twain. So-called “Palestine” was a wasteland – few lived there. Beginning in A.D. 70 and lasting until the early 1900s – about 660,000 days – no rain.

A survey of rainfall charts in Israel beginning in the early 1800s leading up to through the 1960s also confirms the severe drought ended when the Jews began to return. The heaviest periods of rainfall during that 150-year period came in and around 1948 and 1967 – the years of Israel’s independence and its most stunning military victory.

Original Link.

Read it for yourself below, but there is no Rockefeller is going to build a third Jerusalem temple. Actually, there isn’t even a Rockefeller by that name.
It’s all a scam, folks.

JERUSALEM – A Rockefeller is raising capital to rebuild the Jewish Temple, said the news release published on CNN Money’s Internet site
and other news sources.

The plan would include a united Jewish and Palestinian Arab state. A Jewish group promoting the rebuilding of the Temple was reported to be cooperating.

The story spread virally through the evangelical Christian blogosphere.

But it was all part of an elaborate hoax.

The release, filed with MarketWire and republished at CNNMoney.com, claims “Supriem David Rockefeller” is director of a company, Kinti Holdings group, which is working with a Jewish Temple organization to rebuild the Third Temple.

States the release: “Kinti Holdings will be raising funds to go towards building the Third Temple in Jerusalem in strict coordinance with The Temple Institute, Rabbi Hiam Richman and The Palestinian National Interest Committee (PNIC) and supporting Husam Bajis for President of Palestine.”

Richman, international director of the Temple Institute, a Jewish Temple activist group, told WND the release is a “scam.”

“The Temple Institute strongly protests the use of its name and that of Rabbi Chaim Richman in a series of fraudulent press releases and advertising claims that are now circulating on the Internet,” read the Temple Institute’s official response to the release.

As for “Supriem David Rockefeller”? A spokeman for the Rockefeller Foundation told WND he doesn’t exist.

Original Link.

All the politicians seem to be able to do is wring their hands and wish it wasn’t true.

Iran flexed its muscles on Wednesday, displaying a new missile that the Islamic Republic claimed would serve as a satellite launch vehicle (SLV). But Israeli defense officials warned it could one day become an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) with a range of several thousand kilometers, putting almost all of Europe in its reach.

A model of the missile, named Simorgh, was displayed at a space show in Teheran, along with the three new Iranian-built satellites – Mesbah-2, Tolo and Navid-e-Elm-o-Sanat.

Iranian officials said that the 87-ton Simorgh could carry a satellite weighing 100 kilograms and place it into orbit in space. Hailing the new technology, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said the Simorgh would carry Mesbah-2 into space, but gave no timeframe.

“The scientific arena is where we should defeat the [West’s] domination,” Ahmadinejad said, in remarks broadcast live on state TV. He said the launch is a “very big event. This is the first presence of animals in space launched by Iran. It’s the start of bigger achievements” to come.

Tal Inbar, head of the Space Research Center, Fisher Institute for Air and Space Strategic Studies, said that the unveiling of the Simorgh was a worrisome development since the missile could one day be adapted into an ICBM, capable of carrying a nuclear warhead.

After analyzing images of the missile, Inbar said that it appeared to currently be powered by liquid fuel, but could one day be configured to work with a solid fuel propellant, a technology that the Iranians have already begun using in their Sajil ballistic missile, which has a range of around 2,500 km.

“This is a major technological breakthrough and could mean that the Iranians are on their way to obtaining an ICBM,” he said.

Original Link.

Good. Let’s strike down this First Amendment violation before it has a chance to do any damage.

A federal lawsuit has been filed against U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, challenging the constitutionality of the recently enacted federal “Hate Crimes Act.”

According to the [Thomas More Law Center (TMLC)] attorney, this law criminalizes those who speak out against homosexuality based on biblical principles and violates the plaintiffs’ rights to freedom of speech, expressive association, and exercise of free religion as protected by the First Amendment. The petitioners feel that the Tenth Amendment and the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution leave Congress lacking the authority to ratify the legislation.

“It is equating those pastors and religious persons who teach what the Bible teaches on homosexuality with somebody who might express racist comments,” Muise contends. “I think what this is about is chilling and inhibiting freedom of speech, the free exercise of religion, and the right of expressive association in particular for Christians.”

Original Link.

I’ll take this a bit further: Pro-choice is Pro-abortion. Pro-abortion is Pro-infanticide. Infanticide is defined as murder. Connect the dots yet? I can’t make it any simpler.

Focus on the Family produced the 30-second spot, which is slated to run during the CBS broadcast on Sunday and reportedly will feature Pam Tebow recounting her decision to carry Tim to full-term, despite a doctor’s advice to have an abortion due to health concerns.

Liberal and feminist groups were quick to denounce the ad, even though it has yet to be previewed, and Brandi Swindell, founder and national director of Generation Life, contends the heated opposition shows the liberal groups’ true colors.

The National Organization for Women has criticized the network’s decision to air the ad, saying it “life threatening” and “extraordinarily offensive and demeaning.” To which, self-described pro-choice sports columnist Sally Jenkins replies : “If the pro-choice stance is so precarious that a story about someone who chose to carry a risky pregnancy to term undermines it, then CBS is not the problem.”

Original Link.

As I’ve said before, these people are not going to give up, so keep fighting for marriage the way God and nature intended it to be; one man and one woman.

Pro-family groups are fighting against another bill before California’s Assembly that could redefine marriage.

Senate Bill 906, introduced by openly homosexual state Senator Mark Leno, uses the term “civil marriage” to refer to marriage and exempts pastors from having to perform ceremonies that are against their beliefs. Proponents are the same ones who have been fighting for homosexual “marriage” in the Golden State. Everett Rice, legislative coordinator and spokesman for the California Family Council (CFC), suspects a hidden agenda.

“It’s one of their ways of actually trying to slowly, incrementally change marriage itself,” he says. “So their focus of this, despite the rhetoric of the bill and what the proponents are saying, …has nothing to do with trying to protect churches. It has more to do with trying to slowly change the definition of marriage to suit their desires.”

Original Link.