Monday, April 11, 2011

In the news:

1. Persecution:

Beijing police halt unapproved church service

Beijing police on Sunday detained dozens of worshippers from an unapproved Christian church who were trying to hold services in a public space after they were evicted from their usual place of worship, a parishioner said.

Leaders of the unregistered Shouwang church had told members to gather at an open-air venue in Beijing for Sunday morning services, but police, apparently alerted to their plans, taped off the area and took away people who showed up to take part.

An AP videographer saw about a dozen people escorted by police onto an empty city bus and driven away.


China Breaks Up Christian Worship

Police in China detained hundreds of Christian worshippers as they gathered for an outdoor service in Beijing. The detentions are the latest in a crackdown on individuals and groups deemed by the government to pose a threat to social stability.

Hundreds of uniformed and plain clothes police officers were deployed to stop the outdoor service.

Around 200 Christian worshippers were were rounded up and detained in a nearby school and others were forced onto buses by police and driven away to an unknown location.


2. Middle East

Syrian forces seal off Banias as sectarian tension mounts

Violence is also escalating in Syria:

AMMAN - Syrian security forces sealed off the coastal city of Banias overnight following sectarian killings by irregulars loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, witnesses said on Monday.

Another rights activist confirmed roads to the town were blocked.

At least three people were killed, a human rights activist in the city told Reuters. The authorities said an armed group had ambushed a patrol near Banias, killing nine soldiers.

In the Houla area of the central province of Homs, north of Damascus, buses were also seen unloading security personnel. A decision by Assad several days ago to sack the governor of Homs has failed to placate protesters. Witnesses said on Saturday security forces had used live ammunition and tear gas to scatter thousands of mourners in Deraa, where protests first erupted in March, after a mass funeral for protesters killed on Friday.


Israel concerned about Hamas-Egypt relations

This article describes exactly what we have been predicting:

...concern increases in Israel over an apparent strengthening of ties between Hamas and the new Egyptian government. During a recent visit to Cairo, Mahmoud al-Zahr, the so-called Hamas foreign minister, met not just with Egyptian politicians but also with military and intelligence officials.

“There is a new relationship between Hamas and Cairo today,” one senior official said. “This is likely connected to the upcoming elections and the understanding in Egypt that the Muslim Brotherhood is a strong player and as a result it is important to maintain contacts with Hamas.”


Unrest Continues in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain

Gulf states are facing renewed protest from their religious minorities. In Saudi Arabia, Shiite Mulims protested Friday and called to release Shiite demonstrators from prison and give Shiites more rights.

Protesters also called for the withdrawal of Saudi troops from neighboring Bahrain. Saudi Arabia has been assisting Bahrain in putting down its own Shiite protests.

Similar protests have been held over the past several weeks. The government recently announced a crackdown, stating that all marches and protests are prohibited, and that demonstrations are a violation of Muslim law and of Saudi tradition.


3. EU Growth and Progress Towards "The Mark":

EU should forge ahead with electronic ID

"E-society and all these services make government effective, make government transparent and they bring citizens closer and we can't say that these initiatives should stop because they are more efficient and we are maybe losing jobs – that cannot be an argument."

More broadly, his message to the European Commission is that is should stop treating the internal market and the digital market as two different things: "The internal market should be digitised."

To get to this point, the legal infrastructure (allowing for e-signatures, e-commerce and privacy) has to be set up as well as an environment where e-identification that can be used across all member states.

"We have to make possible that e-ID is accepted in all countries in the same way. This means if you have Estonian e-identification you can do everything in Germany, in Portugal, in Italy, in Finland.

"That is not the case for now. It needs a very real action plan."


"Cyber-security" has become the new buzzword. It would seem that the ONLY way to combat cyber-security would be for each citizen to use an implantable microchip rather than a "card" - as a card can easily be stolen. Not so much for an implantable microchip. It would seem that the cyber-security issues have taken us to the last step in this progression of electronic IDs.

4. More Quakes:

Japan rattled by aftershock on quake anniversary

A strong earthquake rattled Japan's northeast Monday and sparked a fresh tsunami alert on the one-month anniversary of the massive temblor and wave that devastated the northeastern coast and unleashed a still-unfolding nuclear crisis.

Aftershocks have repeatedly rattled the disaster-weary region, but there is little left in the northeast to ruin. Last Thursday's 7.1-magnitude aftershock, which had been the strongest tremor since the day the original quake hit, did sink hundreds of thousands more households into darkness, however. Most of that electricity has been restored.


The signs of the coming Christ keep coming in waves - just like birth pains - just as Jesus described. Only now, the birth pains have quickened. We are approaching the last parts of this birth process - there can be no denying this obvious fact.

22 comments:

Alice said...

Maranatha!!!!!

Mike said...

I still don't understand what's the connection between Rapture and Israel? So the Rapture is not for Jews? The Rapture is only for Gentile, since none of Jews believe in Jesus. Am I correct? How actually the Rapture will happen? Will all of the Believers suddenly gone / disappear? How will the rest of the people will react? They will be confused of our disappearence, right? What will be the logic explanation? Will they see Jesus at the Rapture time? Thanks for your explanation

Alice said...

And a little more encouragement in case you haven't heard this...it's brand new.

Praise to our Lord! This is not our home!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7DlNIU7FCY

More about the artist/new release here: http://www.laurastorymusic.com/

(Scott, I hope you don't mind me sharing this!)

Alice said...

Hi Mike! Scott can answer this better than me, but I'll jump in to answer part of your 1st question, since you just posted.

There are many Jewish believers in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior in the U.S., Israel, and world-wide. They are called Messianic Jews. They will be raptured along with all believers in Jesus Christ when the rapture occurs. But those Jewish people who do not believe that Jesus came to die for their sins will go through the Great Tribulation.

Scott (and others) can take over from here to answer the rest of your questions. You have lots of good questions!

Anonymous said...

Mike Israel and the Jews are important because the rapture of the church refocuses
God's attention upon Israel for what the book of Daniel descibes as the 70th week.

The Books of Ezekiel 38-39, Isaiah 17 and Psalm 83 describe end time wars that we believe lead up to the 70th week.

If these wars are about to start then the 70th week and the 7 year great tribulation are also about ready to start.

Many of us believe that the church will not be present for at least the Ezekiel Gog-magog battle.

Thus our very intense interest in the state of Israel and the nations who are gathering around them. (Syria, Hezbollah, Hamas, Egypt, Lebanon and Jordan) this is also predicted in I believe Zechariah.

I'll let Scott and others fill in more blanks...

WVBORN56

jweaks said...

I have nothing to base this on other than anecdotal evidence, but I suspect that the number of Messianic Jews is grossly underestimated... many are simply "underground." -jw

DrNofog said...

Mike, yer in luck! [that's if you believe in "luck"...]

One of the other sites that several of us, who have too much time on our hands [like EI, when she's not 'busy' on one of her 007 missions, throwing rocks on "postie" sites] frequent, just "happened", by coincidence, to start a series today, with Don Perkins, Founder and Director of "According to Prophecy Ministries", on guess what... "Your Future in the Tribulation", of all thing! [that's if you believe in "happenstance" & "coincidences"...]

Concerning the Rapture, Dr. David Reagan used this perfect analogy of how wagon trains protected themselves from prairie fires here.

"When you place your faith in Him, you step into the area where the wrath of God has already fallen, and you become immune to the wrath that is to come." [ie. a "protected place" where it cannot fall ever again. {bold wuz mine for em-phasis`}]

Hope this helps
;)

DrNofog said...

That's one for the mid-trib & posties to chew on!

I guess that's why they try to make such a distinction between the "wrath of man & Satan" and the "Wrath of God" in the 7yr tribulation.

They know that the Wrath of God fell once, for all time, on Christ, and we, the Church, are in that one and only "protected place"; IN Christ where it can never again fall!!

That's why Dr. Reagan correctly states: "The Bible says that every person on planet earth is under either the wrath of God or the grace of God because those are the [only] two ways in which God deals with sin (John 3:36)."

Dylan said...

Is there any more news on the gaza no fly zone?

Anonymous said...

Scott, I'm curious to know if you believe the rapture will occur during a Jewish feast or festival. The reason I ask is that when Christ reigns during the Millennial Kingdom, people will flock to Him, worship Him, and keep the Feast of Tabernacles as noted in Zechariah 14:16.

~gearedup2go

Scott said...

GEAREDUP:

This is just my personal theory and I'm sure many folks would disagree.

It is my belief that the separation of the church (and the church age) and the Nation of Israel is so distinct, that there would be no overlap in the two. I do think there are parallels between the various harvests and the various first fruits etc - but as far as thinks happening on Jewish "occasions" - I don't believe so.

I believe that Rapture will occur independently from any of the Jewish holidays. Now could it be consistent with some of the significant dates associated with the church? Possibly....(Easter? Pentecost?)

But I reserve the right to be wrong on things like this:)

Scott said...

Mike
It looks like the other good folks (and DrNo) on this board have answered your questions (ok, I was kidding about "and DrNo" he is most definitely "good folk" but I have to get in a jab every now and then, just to keep him honest :)

In brief, there is no specific connection between the Rapture and the Nation of Israel, per say - however (and this is what may be confusing) - the prophecies which reveal that the Nation of Israel is approaching the last battles (Gog-MaGog, Isa 17 etc) - reveals that the conditions for the Tribulation are approaching and because we believe in a Rapture occurring prior to the Trib, we are highly interested in the fulfillment of Israel-related prophecy.

Dylan - I just got back to the computer, I plan on looking around later tonight. I'm getting ready to speak to some college students tonight and thats always tremendously exciting and rewarding to be around young people fired up for Christ. When I get back, I will check on the Gaza situation.

Great comments all around today!

Scott

Anonymous said...

Thanks Scott! You're very helpful.

Dylan said...

Ok thanks. Because here in Canada the media is all consumed by the election campaign going on. Nobody in Canada even wants an election. So yeah, basically were not getting much news except for what Michael ignatieff, Steven Harper and jack Layton are doing.

Anonymous said...

Mike-I olso wonder what is going to happen after the rapture? Will people realize that we are gone with Jesus? Or maybe like the natural disaster in Japan where so many bodies are expected to not be found? or maybe something else we cant imagine. i can only speculate. If people do realize the Christians are gone, will there be a great revival of all the fence sitters? Imagine almost all of the muslim nations will be left intact but business transportation government doctors and nurses teachers etc will be gone here in the usa. talk about an economy crasher. Imagine the first sunday after the rapture! What would the churches look like ? You can tell I think way to much lol. Glad today was sorta a slow day . Im not sure how much longer my nervous system can take waiting! :-)-ally

DrNofog said...

Hey Mike,

Forget Scott! He's a push-over.

If you want a real jab, just cross EI on sumpin' Scriptural and, like they say in the Cajun Louisiana bayous; "Oooooweee"!!!
:D

DrNofog said...

Ally,

Concerning "after the rapture", I recently had the opportunity to read several books of the "Left Behind" series by Tim LaHaye.

I had discounted the series, a number of year ago, as just something to make money, and maybe actually good for those who are actually "Left Behind".

What an "Eye-opener"! What a "different perspective"!!

I had never before considered how easily we read the Book of Revelation, seven FULL years, so tightly compacted, uninterrupted!

One seal opens, and a judgment, dot, dot, dot, and then another seal opens, and another judgment, dot, dot, dot...

Then Bowl judgments, then trumpet judgments...

Seven FULL Years of what kind of day to day survival for the Tribulation Saints struggling to endure to the End! Who to contact, who to trust, who to work with, who to witness to, and always knowing there is yet still much more to come at the set times!!

I now think it's worth buying, reading, and sending to lost loved ones.

DrNofog said...

PS. The calm before the storm... I'm afeared EI is back from one of her 00EI 'missions' and is now lurking about, waiting for the moment to strike...
;)

Anonymous said...

DrNo--a Show Me State cajun?

~gearedup2go

DrNofog said...

geared,
Yer starting to sound like one of them 'fundamentalists', taking all that literal interpretation too far.

I mentioned being from the "Show Me State", ...as in 'a long ways from'..., although I did spend a few yrs there.

I wuz actually born in the deep south, though. Around the south Los Angeles area...

As far as picking up cajun expressions, in the late 80s we were in the SF bay area, and there was a popular, jolly old Cajun cook on TV who was quite entertaining.

I also got to hear a live interview with Mr. Gustin, one morning on KSFO, a classic rock station and picked up one of his favorite recipes for a good Cajun fish soup.

In his usual Cajun drawl, he mentioned all the usual vegetables to be cut up in moderate sized chunks, including a good portion of 'onyuns'.

Then Justice explained how to properly prep a Blow fish, then loading all the veggie chunks and his favorite Cajun seasonings in thru the mouth, and holding the fish's mouth up to the kitchen faucet, filling it til it balloons out like it does in the ocean.

Then Mr. Gustin said to stitch the mouth closed and put it in a big pot and cook it til it's all tender.

Disk-jockey: "And what's the name of this recipe, Justice?"

Justice: "I call it 'Blow-chunk soup!"

Disk-jockey: "There you have it, folks; Justice Gustin' with Blow-chunk soup!"
[just disgustin'!!]
;D

Expected Imminently said...

DrNoFog
Ere EI am - I've bin brain straining over summat and winding up my fav Postie; bless him!

It’s great to see so many good replies; very encouraging that folk are really getting into God’s Prophetic Word.

AND,tis strange; nay, spooky; cos I have JUST arrived at the same conclusions as you on the 'Left Behind' series. It makes EI twitch a bit, but overall it’s fiction with an important message. By the by, I l-o-v-e Cajun Chicken. :)

Scott my view on Israel and the Church is the same as yours. How many problems would be averted if only folk would recognise the clear cut DISTINCTION between Israel (the Jewish wife of Jehovah) and the Church (the Bride of Christ both Jew and Gentile) Literally that comes from Covenant Theology and the allegorical way it interprets prophecy.

God bless my bros.
Sue

Expected Imminently said...

DrNofog

Are ya there lad? I missed your input when a well known Pre-Wrather A.K. took a swipe at our Nathan.

He didn't last fer long; he got a right old ear bashing, even David R rolled up his sleeves and got stuck in - politely, of course! and Billy frightened him by blowing a 'rasberry'! :D

Wot larks!
Sue
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