Prophesy Ponderings
As I have mentioned to many of you, I read a website almost daily called Rapture Ready. The information about prophetic happenings is amazing. If you haven't been there already, I will post a link here: www.raptureready.com
Below I will post some comments from the author of Rapture Ready. He was recently at a prophesy conference in Tulsa, and here was his report. Notice that there is a feeling of calm amongst all the prophesy watchers and there seems to be some wonder if what they are feeling is the calm before the storm. Keep praying that the Lord will come soon and spare us from the wrath that God has promised for this earth and those who have rejected Christ.
Tulsa Prophecy Ponderings
The 2008 Mid-America Prophecy Conference at Tulsa, Oklahoma has come and gone, and I wanted to think with you just a bit on perspectives gleaned while there this past week.
Conference speakers, some of whom have been my personal friends for many years, provided insights from discernment that can be found only in God’s servants who have devoted their lives to submitting to His will while they undertake study of these end times. There seemed a collective sense during this conference, unlike most of recent vintage, that the almost eerie lull in which we find ourselves, prophetically speaking, might foreshadow significant things just ahead.
The speakers presented perspectives on those possibilities from varied and fascinating viewpoints.
David Reagan spoke on the imminency of the second coming and the thrilling prospects that event promises for believers and portends for non-believers. Reagan gave the conference attendees masterfully presented insights into Israel's primary role in the end-times. He moved the audience with a profound look into how the Jewish people have been satanically persecuted throughout their history, and why Satan was--and remains-- intent on killing every Jewish person.
Walid Shoebat, a one-time Muslim now converted to Christianity, included as part of his several lectures some fellow speakers asking him questions, which made for a different but interesting slant on prophetic matters discussed. His focus was, in part, on how Islam is not a peaceful religion, like many are trying to portray it. He presented the origin of the Israel land controversy, going in-depth about how there was no such thing as a Palestinian, providing historical examples that proved the word “Palestine” came from ancient Rome, with the Caesar so naming the region in order to take away the Jews' legitimate claim to their promised land. He gave the facts about Rome using the region’s former inhabitants, the history of the Philistines, in making up the name “Palestine." Shoebat, a former Islamic terrorist, expressed and expounded upon the subject of frustration for most all of the attendees, presenting the case for why there is many who make excuses for terrorists, saying they are justified in their murderous acts--when there is no excuse.
Mike Gendron, a former Catholic, spoke on Roman Catholicism and his belief that that powerful religious system will be the nucleus of the forming one-world religion. He spoke passionately on the importance of witnessing to the soul-saving power of Jesus Christ in these closing days of the Church Age.
Gary Fisher, as we have come to expect from him, gave a masterful presentation on Israel and that nation’s all-important part in the mix of end-time matters. He spoke on proof of the nearness of the return of Christ, based in large part upon Israel’s juxtaposition against the other nations of Planet Earth today.
Les Feldick, host lecturer of a long-standing television program on biblical studies, spoke on signs of the rapture--signs of the second coming. I had never met Mr. Feldick, but found him personally engaging in private conversation. He proved to be a Bible teacher with a special gift for making one feel as if sitting in private conversation when receiving his teaching. His thorough knowledge of Bible prophecy, in particular, is compelling.
Phillip Goodman, host of the Tulsa Mid-America Prophecy Conference--and, if I may digress for a moment of personal interjection, one of my closest friends--spoke on the imminent rapture of the church. He also addressed, with a level of expertise few possess, the coming Russian-Islamic invasion of Israel as found in the Gog-Magog events of Ezekiel, chapters 38 and 39. He indicated that the major players are in place for this showdown between Gog and Israel’s great protector. The current world, he believes, is configuring in ways that forewarn a soon-coming explosion in the Middle East.
Jeremy Hall, a citizen of Canada and co-host of a prophecy conference held in his country, spoke on exposing false doctrine, and how Christians can be insulated against the terrible effects of lies from the false teachers, only if steeped in God’s Word and prayer. I found Mr. Hall a quite thoroughly furnished lecturer, in both his gift for speaking and in well-studied acumen. His mature level of understanding and ability to impart that understanding to those in attendance is particularly gratifying to see in one young in physical years. He spoke on the millennium, expressing reasons he believes the pre-trib view of the rapture is the correct view while the other primary views of rapture fall short of meeting biblical parameters for that great event.
Joe Lawendowski traveled from Alaska to bring the conference attendees a fascinating and pertinent perspectives on eschatological events being set on God’s end-times stage. He spoke on "Babylon: Past, Present and Future." His being stationed in Iraq while in the U.S. military gave insights few have the privilege of accumulating, then using as part of Bible study on end-times matters. His presentation included photographs of the area where ancient Babylon sat. His pictures of still-existing bricks that were etched with the name of "Nebuchadnezzar" held the attention of those in attendance, while Lawendowski’s excellent lecture covered Babylon and its past, present, and future relevance to Bible prophecy. Jeremy Hall and Joe Lawendowski are partners in a ministry, and are joint hosts of the Canadian prophecy conference.
On another note of interest about the Tulsa conference: I was priviledged to pose interview questions to each of the conference speakers as part of filming during early preparation for a documentary I’ve been asked to help put together. The documentary at this point is intended to be seven one-hour shows in a series on end-times things. It will, God willing, air at a future date on A&E, Discovery Channel, The History Channel, or perhaps one of the broadcast networks.
The series will include many other writers, speakers and scholars on Bible prophecy, including Todd Strandberg, and myself. Todd and I ask, on behalf of all involved in the project, that you lift prayers that God’s will be done at every step of the way in this effort.
--Terry
posted by dennis at
2:36 PM
5 Comments:
So you believe in a pretrib rapture? Before you say "That's my final answer," you might care to Google "Famous Rapture Watchers," "Open Letter to Todd Strandberg," "The Rapture Index (Mad Theology)," "Letter from Mrs. Billy Graham," "Pretrib Rapture Diehards," "Pretrib Rapture Desperados," "Thomas Ice (Bloopers)," and "Revisers of Pretrib Rapture History" - written by the author of the bestselling book "The Rapture Plot" (see Armageddon Books online), the research of which has been publicly endorsed by a galaxy of evangelical scholars (Google "Scholars Weigh My Research"). Have you ever wondered why "Left Behind" books sell well here in the Unrealistic States of America but not so well in places like Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, and the Sudan? Happy dreams! Irving
Another part of the fantasy - Walid Shoebat. As phony as a three dollar bill.
Check it out:
The Jerusalem Post Internet Edition
The Palestinian 'terrorist' turned Zionist
jorg luyken , THE JERUSALEM POST Mar. 30, 2008
When he was 16, says Walid Shoebat, he was recruited by a PLO operative by the name of Mahmoud al-Mughrabi to carry out an attack on a branch of Bank Leumi in Bethlehem.
At six in the evening he was supposed to detonate a bomb in the doorway of the bank. But when he saw a group of Arab children playing nearby, he says, his conscience was pricked and he threw the bomb onto the roof of the bank instead, where it exploded causing no fatalities.
This is the story that Shoebat, who converted from Islam to Christianity in 1993 and has lived in the United States since the late 1970s, has told on tours around the US and Europe since 9/11 opened the West's public consciousness to the dangers of Islamic extremism.
Shoebat's Web site says his is an assumed name, used to protect him from reprisal attacks by his former terror chiefs, whom he says have put a $10 million price on his head.
Shoebat is sometimes paid for his appearances, and he also solicits donations to a Walid Shoebat Foundation to help fund this work and to "fight for the Jewish people."
The BBC, Fox News and CNN have all presented Shoebat as a terrorist turned peacemaker, interviewing him as someone uniquely capable of providing insight into the terrorist mindset.
Now he and two other former extremists are set to appear along with US Senator Joe Lieberman, Ambassador to the US Sallai Meridor and other notables at an annual "Christians United For Israel" conference in Washington in July.
The three "ex-terrorists" have appeared previously at Harvard and Columbia universities and, most recently, at the US Air Force Academy in Colorado, in February, at a conference whose findings, the organizers said, would be circulated at the Pentagon and among members of Congress and other influential figures.
Last year, Shoebat spoke to the BattleCry Christian gathering in San Francisco, which drew a reported 22,000 evangelical teenagers to what the San Francisco Chronicle described as "a mix of pep rally, rock concert and church service."
The paper described Shoebat as a self-proclaimed "former Islamic terrorist" who said that Islam was a "satanic cult" and who told the crowd how he eventually accepted Jesus into his heart.
However, Shoebat's claim to have bombed Bank Leumi in Bethlehem is rejected by members of his family who still live in the area, and Bank Leumi says it has no record of such an attack ever taking place.
His relatives, members of the Shoebat family, are mystified by the notion of "Walid Shoebat" being an assumed name. And the Walid Shoebat Foundation's working process is less than transparent, with Shoebat's claim that it is registered as a charity in the state of Pennsylvania being denied by the Pennsylvania State Attorney's Office.
Shoebat's claim to have been a terrorist rests on his account of the purported bombing of Bank Leumi. But after checking its files, the bank said it had no record of an attack on its Bethlehem branch anywhere in the relevant 1977-79 period.
Shoebat told The Jerusalem Post that this could be because the bank building was robustly protected with steel and that the attack may have caused little damage.
Asked whether word of the bombing made the news at the time, he said, "I don't know. I didn't read the papers because I was in hiding for the next three days." (In 2004, he had told Britain's Sunday Telegraph: "I was terribly relieved when I heard on the news later that evening that no one had been hurt or killed by my bomb.")
Shoebat could not immediately recall the year, or even the time of year, of the purported bombing when talking to the Post by phone from the US. After wavering, he finally settled for the summer of 1977.
The Sunday Telegraph described Shoebat as a man who "for much of his life... was eager to commit acts of terrorism for the sake of his soul and the Palestinian cause."
In that interview he described how he and his peers were indoctrinated as children "to believe that the fires of hell were an ever-present reality. We were all terrified of burning in hell when we died... The teachers told us that the only way we could certainly avoid that fate was to die in a martyrdom operation - to die for Islam."
But an uncle and a cousin of Shoebat, who still live in Beit Sahur in the Bethlehem area, where Shoebat grew up, said that Shoebat's education was rather mild ideologically, and that religion did not play a dominant role.
The uncle, interviewed at his home, said he remembered little about his nephew, because Walid left for America at the age of 16, and because his American mother always kept a distance from the rest of the family. The uncle and his wife both said firmly that there was no attack on Bank Leumi.
When questioned on this discrepancy, Shoebat was adamant that he did carry out such a bombing, and that his relatives deny it to cover up for another cousin who was with him during the attack and still lives in Bethlehem.
Shoebat evinced no particular surprise that his family could be tracked down simply by asking Beit Sahur locals where they lived, even though his Internet site claims that his is an assumed name.
Shoebat describes his conversion to Christianity as a transformation "from hate to love." He told the Post that he believes "in a Greater Israel that includes Judea and Samaria, and by this I mean a Jewish state."
He argued that Israel should retake the Gaza Strip and rehouse Jews there, regarding Gaza as Jewish by right. "If a Jew has no right to Gaza, then he has no right to Jaffa or Haifa either," he said.
He advocates that the government of Greater Israel introduce a law providing for the exiling of anybody who denies its right to exist, "even if they were born there."
He has little sympathy for the PLO or Hamas. "The Palestinians have not met a single demand from Israel," he said, and added, "Both the PLO and Hamas have not given up the goal of destroying Israel."
"The Jews are not aware of the true threat," Shoebat said. "They are still fighting dead Nazis. It is easy to fight dead people. But they don't have the will to fight the living Nazis, the Islamic radicals."
He told the Post he had set up his Walid Shoebat Foundation to educate Americans as to why the US should support Israel. Shoebat said the foundation had reached out to over 450 million people. He said it held events where he and others like him - whom he called "ex-terrorists" who have become Zionists - spoke about their views to Jewish, Christian and secular audiences.
A New York Times report last month on the Air Force Academy event, headlined "Speakers at Academy Said to Make False Claims," noted that "Academic professors and others who have heard the three men speak in the United States and Canada said some of their stories border on the fantastic, like Mr. Saleem's account of how, as a child, he infiltrated Israel to plant bombs via a network of tunnels underneath the Golan Heights. No such incidents have been reported, the academic experts said. They also question how three middle-aged men who claim they were recruited as teenagers or younger could have been steeped in the violent religious ideology that only became prevalent in the late 1980s."
The Times quoted Prof. Douglas Howard, who teaches the history of the modern Middle East at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan, as saying after he heard Saleem speak last November at the college that he thought the three were connected to several major Christian evangelical organizations.
"It was just an old time gospel hour: 'Jesus can change your life, he changed mine,'" Howard said.
The professor told the Times that his doubts about the authenticity of the three grew after he heard stories like that of the Golan Heights tunnels, "as well as something on Mr. Saleem's Web site along the lines that he was descended from the grand wazir of Islam. The grand wazir of Islam is a nonsensical term."
The newspaper said Arab-American civil rights organizations have questioned "why, at a time when the United States government has vigorously moved to jail or at least deport anyone with a known terrorist connection, the three men, if they are telling the truth, are allowed to circulate freely."
A spokesman for the FBI, the paper reported, said there were no warrants for their arrest.
The Times said the three men were to be paid $13,000 for the Air Force Academy event.
Visitors to Shoebat's Internet site are encouraged to make a donation to his foundation to enable him to disseminate his message. However, a notice on the page states that for "security reasons," the money will not be debited to his foundation, but rather to a company called Top Executive Media. The name Top Executive Media is used by a greetings card firm from Pennsylvania called Top Executive Greetings, a company with an annual turnover of $500,000. When one makes a donation through the Shoebat Internet site, the Web address changes to topexecutivegreetings.com/shoebat.
This seems to be the only active page for the company; its homepage is blank.
Asked by the Post whether the Walid Shoebat Foundation is a registered charity, Shoebat replied that it is registered in Pennsylvania.
The Pennsylvania State Attorney's office said it had no record of a charity registered under this name.
Questioned further, Shoebat said it was registered under a different name, but that he was not aware of the details, which are handled by his manager.
"I remain separate to the running of the charity so that I am not constrained by church rules," he explained, adding that the organization's connection to certain churches meant it would be difficult for him to speak to secular audiences if he became too involved in running it.
Dr. Joel Fishman, of the Allegany County Law Library in Pennsylvania, expressed doubts about this donation process. If the money were being given to a registered charity, the charity would have to make annual reports to the state and federal government on how it was being spent, he noted.
Shoebat insisted donations were not being misused, however. "I survive by being an author," he said. "I only get paid for being an author. All the money that is donated gets put back into events."
If the Bank Leumi bombing claim is unfounded, it is unclear why Shoebat would have wanted to manufacture a terrorist past. True or not, however, it has plainly brought him some prominence and provided him with a means to speak in favor of Israel and be paid for doing so.
This article can also be read at http://www.jpost.com /servlet/Satellite?cid=1206632362598&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
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Copyright 1995- 2008 The Jerusalem Post - http://www.jpost.com/
To Irv,
I don't expect anyone to believe in the pretrib rapture. It certainly isn't necessary for salvation through Christ. It's just what makes the most sense to me by reading the bible and discussing the topic with other Godly men. As far as wondering why the LEFT BEHIND books don't sell in Saudi Arabia and Sudan...why would they? Those are Islamic countries who have no concept of Christ and Christian theology. That's like asking if I have ever wondered why they sell so few swim suits in Siberia, but sell so many in Florida. The answer is so obvious, that no one thinks to ask it. Dennis
To John Hubers,
I will definately look into Walid Shoebat. To be honest, I have not heard or read much about him. He seems to just be one of many who attended the Tulsa conference. Most definately there are frauds in every field, career and hobby and everyone needs to be watching out. Thanks for the heads up and I will look more into who Shoebat is and will watch more to see where he comes up. Dennis
The Fraud Claims Against Shoebat Has Been Debunked
Your news is old news:
http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/son-of-hamas-attacks-my-veracity/
You provide no research material on Shoebat, no details of any sort, and no due-diligence to collaborate supposed efforts to arrive at this “fraud” allegations. Your story has been debunked, so please correct.
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