Monday, January 9, 2012

Iran: Pushing The World Into War

If you have followed prophecy and the prophetically related news then you know the importance of Iran. Additionally, as we see the Middle East consolidating against Israel, you can see Iran working behind the scenes - through their proxies (Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, Hezbollah, Hamas, etc.) in an effort to gather forces who will ultimately attempt to destroy Israel. Ahmadinejad has made no secrets about his intentions. Today we see just how important Iran is in end-times prophecy:

Iran Has Ability To Block Strait Of Hormuz

Iran has the ability to block the Strait of Hormuz “for a period of time,” and the U.S. would take action to reopen it, Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman General Martin Dempsey said.

“They’ve invested in capabilities that could, in fact, for a period of time block the Strait of Hormuz,” Dempsey said in an interview aired yesterday on the CBS “Face the Nation” program. “We’ve invested in capabilities to ensure that if that happens, we can defeat that.”

Should Iran try to close Hormuz, the U.S. “would take action and reopen” the waterway, said Dempsey, President Barack Obama’s top military adviser.

Blocking the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic shipping lane linking the Gulf of Oman with the Persian Gulf, would constitute a “red line” for the U.S., as would Iranian efforts to build a nuclear weapon, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said on the same program.


Iran Reported To Enrich Uranium At Underground Lab

Iran has begun uranium enrichment at a new underground site built to withstand possible airstrikes, a leading hard-line newspaper reported Sunday in another show of defiance against Western pressure to rein in Tehran's nuclear program.

The operations at the bunker-like facility south of Tehran, reported by the Kayhan daily newspaper, are small in comparison to Iran's main enrichment site. But the centrifuges at the underground labs are considered more efficient and are shielded from aerial surveillance and protected against airstrikes by up to 300 feet (90 meters) of mountain rock.

Uranium enrichment is at the core of the international standoff over Iran's nuclear program. The U.S. and its allies fear Iran could use its enrichment facilities to develop high-grade nuclear material for warheads.

A senior commander of the Revolutionary Guard force was quoted as saying Tehran's leadership has decided to order the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic oil route, if the country's petroleum exports are blocked. Revolutionary Guard ground forces also staged war games in eastern Iran in an apparent display of resolve against U.S. forces just over the border in Afghanistan.


Russian, French Warships Off Syria, Iran, U.S. Drones Over Iranian Coast

US, Russian French and British air and naval forces streamed to the Syrian and Iranian coasts over the weekend on guard for fresh developments at the two Middle East flashpoints.

The Russian carrier Admiral Kuznetsov anchored earlier than planned at Syria's Tartus port on the Mediterranean Sunday, Jan. 8, arriving together with the destroyer Admiral Chabanenko and frigate Yaroslav Mudry.

DEBKAfile's military sources report a buildup in the last 48 hours of western naval forces opposite Iran in the Persian Gulf and Arabian Sea in readiness for Tehran to carry out its threat to close the Strait of Hormuz.

Britain has dispatched the HMS Daring, a Type 45 destroyer armed with new technology for shooting down missiles, to the Sea of Oman, due to arrive at the same time as the French Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier.

After the Admiral Kuznetsov docked in Tartus Sunday with much fanfare, the Syrian Navy commander Dawoud Rajha was received on the deck by a guard of honor of marines under a flyover of Russian Su-33 and Su-25 fighter-bombers. This was taken as a signal of Moscow's willingness to back the Assad regime up against any Western military intervention as well as a gesture of support for cooperation between Syria and Iran in their operational plans.


Khamenei Says Iran WIll Not Yield To Western Sanctions

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Monday that Iran would not yield to the pressure of sanctions imposed by the West to get the Islamic Republic to change its nuclear course.

"The Islamic establishment...knows firmly what it is doing and has chosen its path and will stay the course," Khamenei said.

Iran has so far refused to halt uranium enrichment activity, a pathway to nuclear energy or nuclear weapons, as demanded by the United Nations Security Council.


Iran Issues New Threat To Close Strait Of Hormuz

Iran has again threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz, this time using the excuse of a military exercise set for January 27.

According to Esmaeil Kowsari, a Iranian legislator who is a member of the parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, the country's elite Revolutionary Guards corp will launch the naval exercise.

Kowsari was quoted in a report published Saturday by the Mehr News Agency as saying the drill would be carried out with the aim of fine-tuning Iran's ability to close the Strait of Hormuz "in the shortest possible time when the situation requires it."

Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi said the drills -- dubbed the "Great Prophet" -- will be the "greatest naval war games" ever conducted by the Revolutionary Guards, according to the hard-line Fars news agency.


The Real Deal On The U.S.-Israel Joint Mega-Drill Sending Military Message To Iranians

A planned American-Israeli missile defense exercise is receiving special attention on the heels of a 10-day Iranian naval exercise and Iranian threats of closing the Strait of Hormuz through which a sixth of the world’s oil passes.

The AP quoted a senior military official:

He said it would be the biggest missile defense drill ever held. He was speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue. The Israeli official said thousands of American and Israeli soldiers from different units would take part. He said the drill would test multiple Israeli and U.S. air defense systems against incoming missiles and rockets. Israel has deployed the “Arrow” system, jointly developed and funded with the U.S., designed to intercept Iranian missiles in the stratosphere, far from Israel.

The joint American-Israeli exercise, expected to occur in the spring, is just one of a number of weekend developments with a cumulative effect of sending warnings to Tehran. The Telegraph reported from London that the UK will deploy its largest warship, the HMS Daring, to the Persian Gulf to “send a significant message to the Iranians…” It will arrive later this month.


Haniyeh Promises "Difficult Days" For Israel

Speaking at a rally in the Tunisian capital of Tunis, Haniyeh urged Arab Spring revolutionaries to fight for an independent Palestine. AFP reported that he received an ovation from a crowd of some 5,000 men, women and children, who gathered in a stadium waving PLO, Tunisian and Hamas flags.

“Israel no longer has allies in Egypt and in Tunisia, we are saying to the Zionist enemies that times have changed and that the time of the Arab Spring, the time of the revolution, of dignity and of pride has arrived,” Haniyeh was quoted as having said

He added, “We promise you that we will not cede a single part of Palestine, we will not cede Jerusalem, we will continue to fight and we will not lay down our arms.”

Haniyeh also urged “the people of the revolution to fight the army of Al-Quds. To Tunisia we say: ‘It is us today who are going to build the new Middle East.’”

He insisted that Hamas “will not recognize Israel”, as the crowd chanted, “Death to Israel”, “The Tunisian revolution supports Palestine”, and “The army of Mohammed is back,” said the report.

24 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ok, here it is >>>>>>>

there may still BE one more pop to
the upside.....not sure yet.

DOW UP 32 pts, with the 3rd smallest range of the last year !!

VERY QUIET for some reason.

but devious.

EWI counts still suggest a (3)
down dead ahead. IT IS POSSIBLE
the rapture could hit before the
wars, ie, "they shall be proclaiming peace and safety, disaster will hit, they WILL NOT escape it"

NO way to know of course.

ALL I CAN tell you guys is that
number 3 downs are very powerful
and i am not sure what will happen
to cause it BUT it will NOT be
good for this world. NOT AT ALL !!

This (2) UP is already past three months and is REALLY LONG in the
tooth so to say, walking on eggs !!

There is a CRISIS shock coming,
I can see it like a BLACK WAVE
over the ocean, I just cannot tell
you WHAT it is.....

we will see....

Stephen >>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Anonymous said...

GOD IN A WHIRLWIND



Oct 23, 2011 12:08 PM
God approached the mortal
To speak to him
About the children and livestock that had perished

Normally, one brings a condolences card for these things
A bouquet of flowers
A sympathy note
Dressed in sorrow and comfort
Instead
God appeared with the descending of a whirlwind
A graphic reminder of the forces
Of nature that had started the problem
Job must have realized that all of his terrifying accusations must have been true
God was indeed the source of the troubles
If not He, then who?
There He was, right there
In a whirlwind
To inflict the final punishment
For the sin
That Job had vehemently denied
What had He done?
Why him?
Why him?
Why Him?
God against man: he was no match for Him.
Can a lion attack an ant?
Where is the fairness and justice in such a fight?
But God
God
God
Spoke to Job out of a whirlwind
Seemingly cruelly indifferent
To
To his many hurts and fears
God spoke
And far from explaining Himself
God pulled the rug from under Job
Reminding him of which one of them owned the capital H -- not he, but He.
(The Being, not a being.)

In all of this
Job failed to see one small, important thing
Out of countless created beings, he, a mere he, had received a live visit from Him
He came
He came
He came
(Though He spoke out of a whirlwind and not a harmless sunrise)
You see, that's the crux of the matter, isn't it?
It's always the crux
Literally
God comes to speak
The Son --not risen yet,
Appears, untamed and unpredictable
Over the mountain
Carrying the Crux
The Cross
The symbol of punishment
For the sin we'd forgotten
But knew in our hearts we should be punished for
The cross
Our death
We do not know what He intends to do with that cross
That He is carrying over the mountain
We fear that He intends to give us what we deserve
Forgetting that far worse is His apathy than His wrath
And that if His intention had truly been to destroy us, then He would have done the worst thing imaginable: not coming at all
So maybe
He's not carrying that cross to punish us for our sins
Had condemnation been His purpose
He would have never come at all
But there is one simple problem with that observation when held up to the fact of His appearance, a problem that convinces me more of divine love than divine wrath
And that maybe we, in our fear and hurt, have accused God of being the
Bad Guy when indeed, scandalously, He may be the Lamb that
Takes away the sin of the world

It is that He came.

OK, so remember I say good things too, ok ??

So respect my EWI,

Stephen >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Diane said...

Beautiful, Stephen, thanks for sharing.

Diane

Anonymous said...

CAN u believe this ???

please go here >>>>>

http://www.jpost.com/IranianThreat/News/Article.aspx?id=252899

SPOOKY !!!!

Stephen >>>>>>>>>>>

Dave DU said...

Put that to "rap music" Stephen. It might just work.

Well done.

Diane said...

Why does this not surprise me?

The photo of those 2 dictators reminds me of photos of Hitler and Mussolini.

This is all in God's Plan and He is not surprised by any of it. I am so glad that we can trust in the One who holds the future.

"We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain "(Hebrews 6:19)

Or as the song goes :Jesus is our "anchor beyond the veil".

Blessings, Diane

Anonymous said...

I am starting to get concerned
about something. like I stated
earlier, there would be possibly
another POP up and then the top.

We have that tonite.

Sure enough, Dow futures JUST went to a new high in the Y wave a little while ago....soon ending a
(2) UP >>>>>>>

But here's my point.

Number 3 downs are very destructive...and I was reading 24
Matthew and 17/21 LUKE and 1 THESS 5 and it would SEEM that this rapture really WILL just come out of the blue....

When people are saying "peace and safety" as Paul states. I cannot
DENY his words. of course not.

and think about it, with 17/19 Isaiah close and 38 Ezekiel right
after that, one has to wonder,
with all that WAR LIKE stuff going
on, where is the peace and safety
jazz ????

That is what scares me....

Scott, you might be right, its possible, based on Paul's words
in 1 THESS 5, that rapture could
be VERY CLOSE.

Why ??

Cause I just cannot see this market
continuing back to 12,900 and on.
And Prechter does NOT believe that
either, they are VERY BEARISH right now.

We are still above 12,000 as I write this....

I could be wrong BUT scripture
DOES give clues and i have just
stated all that.

we will see >>>>>

Up until NOW i was against admitting this but the EWI model
is making me LOOK AT the evidence
in context again.

Stephen >>>>>>>>>>>

Dave DU said...

This story's fairly quiet so I'd thought I'd share for a few minutes of how I got saved for all our curious unsaved readers.

Basically I was in my mid to late 20s and I was going no where in life. I was feeling pretty down and out and rejected by the world and society in general. I had no women by my side and in my mind I could see a grey cloud coming over the horizon.. I new this cloud was death because I was seriously contemplating ending it all.
In the mean time my grandma had been praying for me for years to become born again and everytime time I would visit her she would sit me down and preach to me sometimes for hours. As usual I would Finnish the visit and come back again months later.
I remember the day I got saved, it was just another planned normal visit and once again grandma sat me down and preached. "Four hours later" I'm still there, "patient as" mind you, and then she mentioned Barry Smith an end times evangelist and how he had been preaching the end of the world; "bang" the understanding of my mind opened. I could feel a voice saying "give Jesus a go", repeating over and over. Then I felt a presence slip down into me, filling up my arms, fingers, body, legs, everything, my entire being.
I now know that was the Holy Spirit coming to live in me and give me understanding of the God head.
I can't say I haven't looked back but I don't want to live without Jesus ever again.
I went back to work and gave my life to Christ a week later. As I said I dont want to go back.
It hasn't been easy becoming a Christian, but the end result is well worth the growing pains.
God has given me a new heart with new and right desires and in particular a revealing of what abortion really is. But I'll discuss that some other time later olif Scott doesn't mind.

By the way any grandmothers out there who are preaching to your kids or grand kids, don't give up, keep at them because God will fall on your hearers and save them.

That's my salvation in a nut shell and I would seriously advise any person out there who feels an urge to turn to God, to do it.

Dave

Anonymous said...

BTW, that poem UP there is not mine, I got it off Real Jock . com
that GAY site I was telling you about where I was posting rapture warnings.....

Stephen >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Anonymous said...

Dave, do you remember the exact date ??

Mine was 30 OCT 1977

please tell me

Stephen >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Dave DU said...

I'm pretty sure it was May 92 Stephen.

Scott said...

Dave
Thats an awesome story. I LOVE to hear about people's salvation "story" - thanks for sharing that. I think about my grandmother all the time - one of the most devout believers I have ever known - I can't wait to see her again in New Jerusalem!

Dave DU said...

I still have mine Scott. She's in her 80s. She's sicilian and has the fiery temper to back it up. When she heard one of my brothers left the Pentecostal church to join the Seventhday Adventist Church she threatened "horse heads in bed" so to speak, I can tell you.

I'm the same Scott about hearing how people got saved. It would be nice if the forum members gave a testamony each.

Brilliant

Dave

bandungborn said...

LOVED hearing your testimony Dave DU and I echo you in saying it would be of great interest to hear the circumstances around which other people got saved. Thank you for sharing.

Kathleen said...

Dave DU,
Great testimony! I will give mine in the hopes that someone who needs to, will hear it. I grew up in the church. Went three times a week. Got saved (I think)at age 8. I didn't notice any change. In my young adult life I got away from the church because of the hypocrisy I saw in Christians, particularly my mom. I went my own way and got into new age because I was searching for *something*. Everytime I would get into something, a little voice in the back of my mind said *what's if it's not true?* Thank God for the Holy Spirit!! In 98, the Lord set me up to hear about the Left Behind novel. I read it, thinking it would be a good novel but it scared the hell out of me (literally). I still remember being so cold, shivering from the Holy Spirit on/in me. I was definitely changed from that moment on.

In Bible college we did a teaching testimony and I thought I was like the prodigal son, but the Holy Spirit pointed out Luke 15:4. I was the one sheep Jesus left the 99 others to find! and I am eternally grateful to Him!! Plus, I know people were praying for me.

Scott said...

Kathleen
Funny you'd say that about the 'Left Behind" series. I was reading it during a time that I was traveling a lot. I can't even count the number of times, in an airport, that someone would approach me (after seeing me reading one of the books) and tell me how they were saved as a result of reading the series. It was rare that I would complete a trip without at least one person telling me such a story. ANd it was really nice each and every time - you could see the pure joy in these new believer's hearts.

Dave DU said...

My pleasure bandungborn.

Loved your testimony to, Kathleen. I love the persistence of God in your life. He never really left you it seems.

Dave

Kathleen said...

Scott, I'm sure many, many people were saved through reading the books.

Dave DU, thanks. To brag on God a little, to see what He went through to bring me back is amazing when I looked back on it. I was at Sams Club (not sure if you know what that is...a warehouse store) with my fiance at the time. We were looking at books and my fiance had one in his hand titled This Present Darkness by Frank Peretti. A man walked up to us and said "that's a good book". Then when we were in line checking out to pay for the book, my fiance asked me to hold the book and wait in line while he checked on the price of something. As I stood in line holding the book, the man in front of me turned around, looked at the book and said "that's a good book", if you want to read another good book, it is called 'Left Behind". It was the same man we saw earlier at the book aisle. So, I filed that book title away in my mind for future reference, then later bought it, and the rest is history. Just thinking of how the Lord put everything into play in order for me to learn of the book is just amazing to me.

Interestingly, I asked my sister to read the Left Behind book, thinking it would have the same effect on her, but it didn't. To her it was just a good novel.

It is true He never really left me and as He says in John 10:28-29, no one is able to snatch me out of His or the Father's hand. :-)


Blessings,
Kathleen

Diane said...

Hello, all , here is a CS Lewis quote for the times in which we now live:

"The real test is this. Suppose one reads a story of filthy atrocities in the paper. Then suppose that something turns up suggesting that the story might not be quite true, or not quite so bad as it was made out. Is one’s first feeling, ‘Thank God, even they aren’t quite so bad as that,’ or is it a feeling of disappointment, and even a determination to cling to the first story for the sheer pleas...ure of thinking your enemies as bad as possible? If it is the second then it is, I am afraid, the first step in a process which, if followed to the end, will make us into devils. You see, one is the beginning to wish that black was a little blacker. If we give that wish its head, later on we shall wish to see grey as black, and then to see white itself as black. Finally, we shall insist on seeing everything –God and our friends and ourselves included—as bad, and not be able to stop doing it: we shall be fixed for ever in a universe of pure hatred." - CS Lewis

What do ya'll think ?

By the way, loving the testimonies. As either Mrs C or Sue said (in different words ): eternal security is not based on OUR abilities, but on GOD's abilities to hold us .(and he is able :)

Diane

Dave DU said...

G'day Diane
Well it took me quite a few reads but having decifered what his point was from all the wording I can stay I stand convicted. I'm going through stuff in relation to my daughter and that is the first of many installments ( im sure ) from God about my attitude.
Thanks.

......I can't believe they used to preach like that!!!!

Dave

bandungborn said...

I'm a quiet one, a perimeter person, who has been reading this blog for several years but haven't commented much. I'll share my testimony and then step back to the perimeter again :) Probably no one will see this since but sharing will be good practice for me.

I became a believer when I was four. My parents were missionaries (to Indonesia - hence the "bandungborn") so they were always evangelizing. One day my dad was witnessing to a man, but I ended up being the one to confess my sins and accept God's free gift of salvation.

Fast forward to the age of 27. By that time I was married to a wonderful man and had two children. Life was good but something was lacking. I kept thinking there had to be more to the Christian life than what I was experiencing.

One day I was reading a Christmas gift, an old classic "The Christian's Secret Of A Happy Life" by Hannah Whitall Smith and as a result I realized what I needed was a personal relationship with Jesus. I began that Nov 2, 1988. Even though I was already a believer and saved, that day I became a follower. What a difference He has made!

I've been a prophecy watcher for a long time and really enjoy watching with all of you. It's so exciting! Jesus is coming soon!

Alice said...

LOVED your testimony, bandungborn! You, too, DaveDU and Kathleen. Thank you all for sharing!

Diane said...

Love your testimonies , all !!!

I grew up in a nominally Christian home, with a Godly heritage. We attended church most of the time.

It was not until I attended a week of VBS at a Baptist Church at age 12, that I finally began to understand what it meant to become a Chistian. And I did receive Christ as Saviour and I was baptized that very summer.

Throughout junior high and high school I followed Christ and felt called to become a foreign missionary (now called "church planter").

However, in college I "fell away" and made some foolish choices. But God was still with me, protected me, and kept me from even more foolish mistakes.

Soon after graduating college, He called me back to Himself thru the movie of the musical, "Godspell".

I became involved with some sincere "Jesus people" (aka "Jesus hippies")of the early to mid 1970's. God even provided older Godly women to help me. It was there and then that I met and married my husband.

I have had many trials thru the years . There were many times when I thought God had deserted me and that He just kept sending me difficulties. We think that God owes us certain things. But really He owes us nothing. It is because of His mercies, that He gives us so much. Salvation and Eternal Life is the greatest Gift of all, and unearned.

Now, as I enter my senior years , I see that He was there the whole time.

My life is like the poem
"Footprints in the sand"
One night I dreamed I was walking along the beach with the Lord.
Many scenes from my life flashed across the sky.
In each scene I noticed footprints in the sand.
Sometimes there were two sets of footprints,
other times there were one set of footprints.

This bothered me because I noticed
that during the low periods of my life,
when I was suffering from
anguish, sorrow or defeat,
I could see only one set of footprints.

So I said to the Lord,
“You promised me Lord,
that if I followed you,
you would walk with me always.
But I have noticed that during the most trying periods of my life
there have only been one set of footprints in the sand.
Why, when I needed you most, you have not been there for me?”

The Lord replied,
“The times when you have seen only one set of footprints in the sand,
is when I carried you.”

That is certainly true for me. Diane

bandungborn-holly said...

I always enjoy hearing other people's testimonies. Thanks Kathleen and Diane, Stephen for your profession of faith, and DDU I already thanked above. Wonderful all.