Sunday, May 20, 2012

Sunday Headlines

Take a step back and look at this first article in the context of "the big picture" - contemplate and reflect. The headline tells the sad story:


Really?

Knesset Member Michael Ben Ari (National Union) and a few dozen activists celebrated Jerusalem Day by going up to the Temple Mount Sunday morning and asked to pray on the site.

Unlike the activists who kept their prayers short, Ben Ari threw himself down full length on to the ground of the Temple Mount as part of the prayer.

According to those who were with the lawmaker, the Arab bystanders did not respond to Ben Ari's action. “We scare ourselves for nothing,” said the MK. “Arabs understand what leftists do not understand. We have a right to pray on the Mount.”

Although the Arab security force on the site tried to arrest the MK and two other activists, Ben Ari refused to cooperate, insisted on his diplomatic immunity and claimed his right to pray on the site.

Although the Arab security force on the site tried to arrest the MK and two other activists, Ben Ari refused to cooperate, insisted on his diplomatic immunity and claimed his right to pray on the site.

Earlier, those who went up to the Temple Mount explained the decision to do so especially on this day as a desire “to bring loyalty to the holiest site in Jerusalem” as they defined it.

At 3:00 p.m. Sunday, thousands of people are expected to march around and through the Old City of Jerusalem in the traditional flag march marking the reunification of the ancient capital.



Outgoing IAF commander Maj. Gen. Ido Nechushtan suggested on Friday that it would be better to keep quiet on the subject of Iran and a possible Israeli strike on its nuclear facilities.

“We’re unable to talk about many things we’ve done and maybe that’s a good thing,” said Nechushtan, perhaps hinting at some covert operations Israel has carried out. “The Air Force will continue to protect Israel.”


On Sunday, as the nation celebrates Jerusalem Day and the anniversary of the reunification of the capital during the Six Day War, the 77-year-old Cahaner, who now lives in Kibbutz Neveh Eitan near Beit She’an, will join dozens of his fellow soldiers along the same road that they fought so hard to capture 45 years ago. At points where they fought with Jordanian forces, the veterans will lay wreaths and honor their fallen comrades.

“Every day, I feel the honor that I had to be responsible for Jerusalem,” he said.

“Jerusalem is not the same as any other place.”

“Today there are clouds over the city – violence and struggle between religious and secular,” he said. Extremism is the biggest threat that the city faces, he said, both haredi extremism and Muslim extremism.

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has warned the West against launching ‘hasty wars’, which may increase regional tensions and even trigger a nuclear war.

“Sometimes these [military] actions — which undermine state sovereignty — could result in a fully-fledged regional war, and even — although I do not want to scare anyone — the use of a nuclear weapon,” Medvedev was quoted by AFP as saying on Thursday during a legal forum in Saint Petersburg.

Russia has been at odds with the Western powers over the best way to manage the ongoing violence in Syria, which has led to many deaths over the past year.

Moscow, along with Beijing, has so far vetoed two anti-Syria resolutions, saying a solution to the Syrian crisis must be sought through political dialogue.



While the world debates the threat of Iranian weapons and their long-term effects on Israel and the Persian Gulf area, events may soon reach a critical mass in the most central and important Arab country, Egypt, in ways that endanger not only Egyptian-Israeli ties, but also the entire fabric of stability in the oil-rich Mid-East.

Egypt, meanwhile, lies at the heart of the Mid-East and symbolizes the region's dominant Sunni Arab community.


Recently, Israel warned all its citizens vacationing in the Sinai Desert to evacuate the area immediately because of an influx of armed Libyan extremists bent on killing Israelis.

Israel's Shin Bet security agency confirmed that two of the rockets used in recent attacks on the Israeli resort city of Eilat came from the weapons depots of Libya, smuggled across the border into Egypt. But there are other troubling signs.

Israeli officials say al-Qaeda, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and Libyan terrorists are all operating in the Sinai Desert on Israel's southern border, some of them having developed strong working relationships with members of the eleven Bedouin tribes in Sinai who specialize in smuggling drugs, weapons, and even enslaved women.

The last time a U.S. president's anti-corruption and pro-human rights crusade failed so miserably was when Jimmy Carter and his advisers thought Ayatollah Khomeini was a better bargain than the shah of Iran. We are still paying for that error. Jimmy Carter's U.N. ambassador even spoke of Khomeini as "some kind of saint," while Obama and his aides believe that Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood and Turkey's Islamist leadership are the face of moderate Arab democracy.

One can only guess how long we will pay for Obama's many errors.



When a delegation of Syrian Kurdish rebels recently visited Washington, D.C., the State Department met them to ask for a favor. What was it? The Obama administration urged them to join the Syrian National Council (SNC), the organization created by the U.S. government through Turkey to lead the opposition movement and receive Western aid for all Syrian opposition groups.

But the Turkish Islamist regime, which Obama put in charge of forming the SNC, put the Muslim Brotherhood in control, a fact I pointed out within hours of the announcement of the SNC leadership’s names.

Now that several SNC leaders have resigned complaining about Brotherhood domination, followed by some Arab journalists pointing out the obvious Brotherhood domination at the SNC’s last meeting, that reality is clear. But the implications of such an incredibly foolish policy—America putting an anti-American, antisemitic group into the “official” leadership of Syria’s rebels — have never been properly examined as a case study for Obama’s disastrous Middle East policy.

The Kurds had walked out of the talks that formed the SNC last year when they saw how Islamists would be in control. Not only do they oppose Islamism itself but they also see the Brotherhood as an Arabizing and centralizing group that would impose a regime oppressing the non-Arab Kurds.

To sum up, Obama policy has strengthened the Islamist forces in the opposition and fragmented the rebels, thus helping preserve a radical anti-American Syrian regime that is an ally of Iran or helping make any revolution more likely to produce a radical anti-American Syrian Islamist regime that will be an ally of an Islamist Egypt.

Obama policy follows the worst possible course. It minimizes U.S. help to the revolution while at the same time ensuring that a disproportionately large amount goes to Islamists.

On July 2, 2011, Rep. Trent Franks, a member of the House Committee on Armed Services, denounced the Obama administration's policy of "limited contacts" with Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood. Franks emphatically stated that "the [Obama] administration is fooling themselves as well as placing the United States and Israel in severe danger if they fail to recognize the fallout that would stem from the Muslim Brotherhood gaining significant and newfound influence in Egyptian policies following the September elections."

Completely ignoring this grave security risk, Obama enlarged the "limited contact" to a full public endorsement of a group whose codified aim is to murder Jews, exterminate Israel, and infiltrate the West and destroy it from within. According to Discover the Networks, MuslimBrotherhood operative Mohamed Akram espoused the "common goal of dismantling American institutions and turning the U.S. into a Muslim nation."

Robert Spencer, director of Jihad Watch, explains that "Egypt's parliament, which is dominated by two pro-Sharia Islamic supremacist groups, the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafists, voted unanimously [in early March 2012] to expel Israel's ambassador to Egypt, and signaled that the Camp David Accords would soon be a thing of the past: Egypt, the parliamentarians declared, would 'never' be Israel's ally. In fact, Israel was Egypt's 'number one enemy.' And how did Barack Obama respond to this egregious trampling upon the agreement that has kept an uneasy peace between Israel and Egypt for thirty years? By announcing a resumption of military aid to Egypt."

So a group that publicly espouses destruction of American Judeo-Christian values and freedomsreceives an open invitation to the White House. Furthermore, Obama bypasses congressional approval and gives $1.5 billion dollars to the Muslim Brotherhood. Washington Post journalistWilliam Wan notes that Obama has turned a blind eye to the daily dismantling of any democratic parameters in Egypt despite American congressional restrictions and objections from human rights and democracy advocates about the ascendancy of the Muslim Brotherhood.

12 comments:

Ally said...

Wow, also 2 big earthquakes, both 6.0's, ine in Italy and it did lots of damage and one honshu Japan. Italy had deaths and a lot of destruction. If you look at earthquake 3D for the past week, its astonishing!
Seems like Ben-Ari is a brave man who trusts in the Lord. What a beautiful story for a Sunday morning!
Be blessed, one and all! Be glad and Thankful fir all rhe good things he has provided for us! Praises to the King of Kings!

Gary said...

I've been studying prophecy for years, but there's something that I don't understand. I've always thought that the Church will be gone before Israel is attacked. Any comments?

Scott said...

Gary

I'm not sure where you got that....For instance, Israel has faced 4 serious attacks since their regathering in 1948 - the first of which was hours after their announcement of having become a Nation.

Now, as a separate issue, many of us speculate that we'll be gone before Gog-MaGog - but Gog-MaGog won't just be 'any' invasion - its an invasion in which God reveals Himself to "all nations" as He directly intervenes to save Israel from imminent destruction...

Maybe you somehow confused these two things?

Gary said...

Okay, let's say that Israel attacks Iran...and the M.E. explodes. Wouldn't take many years for these Middle Eastern countries to regroup...to do this all over again? I (mind you I'm not an expert on prophecy) thought that when hostilities got to the point of an all out war, that the anti-christ would stop everything and would insure peace for Israel.

Robin said...

Many of us believe the Psalm 83 and Isaiah 17 battles have not yet occurred . . Which would wipe out Israel's immediate neighbors and cause Israel to develop a false sense of security. It's that false security that would lead to a war involving Russia and Iran ie. Ezekial 38 . . .and that the Rapture would occur before the Ezekial 38 battle.

Anonymous said...

Well in a way that will happen but the pending wars are much more 'epic' in nature...for instance Isaiah 17 will result in the end of damascus...israels surrounding enemies will have been severely crippled....but Russia iran and Turkey et all will have been waiting for their chance to hit a weakened Israel...and they will try...but that is when God will intervene directly...
Scott

Caver said...

Geepers, just can't shake the feeling that it will be THE perfect storm....war in the ME, terror here, economic collapse, and I suspect there will be a few earthquakes/volcano activity and all that goes with those little sideline events.

Its just amazing watching prophecy come alive on all possible fronts simultaneously.

Anonymous said...

Socks are going UP again tonite,
but not by much. Hard to say what
will happen this week. IF selling
continues like it has, there will
BE A POINT where it will not be
orderly. Such selling of stocks for
three weeks now has been done in
an orderly fashion.

BUT there is NO assurance that will
continue. Not at all !!!! if selling
continues, there is a REAL RISK
of some big money managers deciding to start dumping stock
big time.
Then a panic would ensue.

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

Scott said...

Caver
Funny you'd say that - take a look at the evening update in a few minutes

Caver said...

Is are am awaiting! :drumfingers

Anonymous said...

I'm trying to live by the book and have the Lord Jesus Christ in my heart but it seems like its so much harder to do these days. I know its coming soon for his return, and the signs are so close together. I just feel so far from him. I just can't feel that fire I once had in my teen years. I'm 27 now and I feel like Satan has his grip around me and also my family. Anyone else feel this? I know its a struggle since time began, but I feel the enemy has unleashed his rage more than ever. Please pray for me and others that are on this darkened path.

Scott said...

Anon
I think many people are feeling this way recently. Let me recommend a book I have been reading (I assume it is on Amazon) - "GOSPEL" by JD Greear.....Its addresses this very thing and its really timely and worth reading. I'm devouring it right now. God Bless and hang in there.
Once saved always saved.

God doesn't love you any less - His love for you remains forever no matter what the circumstances are. Trust in that fact and trust in Him and His love for you.