Thursday, July 10, 2014

Hamas Steps Up Attacks

The missiles are flying out of Gaza.  Israel is pummeling Hamas targets.  Arab civilians are being killed in collateral damage....and now Hamas is stepping up its trash talk about the 'punishment' it is going to unleash on Israel.

Palestinian Media Watch on Thursday posted a video of a broadcast on Hamas' Al-Aqsa television station from Wednesday which feature threats against Israelis in Hebrew.

"Zionists, wait and see stabbing attacks everywhere. Wait for suicide attacks on every bus, café and street. Wait for the rage and for revenge for Gaza, wait for the flames of the West Bank and inside you [Israel]," the broadcast threatens.

The propaganda video was released as the IDF was carrying out Operation Protective Edge in Gaza aimed at halting rocket fire on Israeli communities.

"Zionists, do you still remember the rockets that made Tel-Aviv and the Israeli Parliament tremble? We just wanted to tell you that we have thousands of them," the voice in Hebrew warns.

"Zionists, [we] can reach you above ground and below it. So start counting the number of coffins you'll need in these months."

Hamas has released a number of propaganda videos on Youtube since the Gaza operation began, threatening longer, more powerful rockets.

"Zionists, the resistance has many goals, it has the ability to reach places you thought were safe. Look, they [the rockets] are on their way to you now
and will reach you soon."

Here;  http://www.jpost.com/Operation-Protective-Edge/WATCH-Hamas-steps-up-psychological-warfare-threatens-suicide-attacks-rockets-in-Hebrew-362235

Wars and rumors of war....

We need to continue to pray for these poor Arabs caught in the crossfire.  Hamas is being run by Satanically inspired messengers of hate.  Satan HATES Israel and he hates Jews.  He would like nothing more than to exterminate all Jews from planet earth.

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.  Only when Jesus returns will that region finally have peace.

Wednesday, July 9, 2014

The Next Gaza War

Israel finds itself at the center of world news...again.  The missiles are flying out of Gaza, the IDF is calling up reservists and hitting Hamas targets.  Hamas is rolling out its propaganda and using old photos from 5 years ago or even photos from Syria to lie to the world about what is going on.  It seems to be the same story...just a different day.

Will this cycle EVER end?

Today in the Wall Street Journal we find an article titled THE NEXT GAZA WAR.  The author suggests that Israel will need to totally destroy Hamas if they don't want to keep repeating wars in Gaza.

In 2005 Israel withdrew from Gaza, yet Israel has since been forced to go to war twice to stop a rain of rockets and mortars fired from the territory by the terrorist group Hamas and its allies. Now Israel might have to fight a third time to protect its citizens from random aerial assault.

As we went to press Tuesday night, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu looked set to launch a major military campaign as Hamas unleashed another indiscriminate volley of rockets that reached well into central Israel. A video posted on Facebook FB +3.41%  on Tuesday showed a rocket flying over a wedding, complete with shouts and a fleeing bride.

Maybe this time Mr. Netanyahu should address the cause of the problem rather than treat the symptoms. By "cause" we mean Hamas. When Israel left Gaza, it dismantled 21 Israeli settlements (along with four others in the West Bank) and forcibly evicted nearly 9,000 Israeli settlers. Western governments appointed high-level emissaries like former World Bank President James Wolfensohn to turn Gaza into a showcase of a future Palestinian state.

Gaza did become a showcase of a rather different kind. Within a year—and thanks in part to the absence of Israel—the strip descended into a civil war between Hamas and Fatah, the political party of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. The war was settled in 2007 when Hamas seized power by force. That was followed by a steady increase of rocket fire on Israel that only ended with Israel's temporary re-invasion in 2009.

For its efforts to defend itself, Israel was vilified as never before, including with the U.N.'s Goldstone Report (later recanted by its principal author, South African judge Richard Goldstone ). The war reduced rocket fire into Israel for a while, but by November 2012 it had to fight again. Israelis were only spared from major casualties thanks to their Iron Dome missile defenses.

Now Hamas seems to have decided that starting another war will be politically opportune—never mind the consequences to ordinary Gazans. Regionally, Hamas has been on the back foot since it lost Syria's Bashar Assad as a patron, and especially after the Egyptian army overthrew the Muslim Brotherhood government of Mohammed Morsi last summer. This is a chance to go back on the terrorist offense.

Hamas may figure it can use last week's murder of a Palestinian boy by a gang of Jewish vigilantes, which sparked widespread rioting, to ignite a third intifada uprising against Israel across all Palestinian territory. The West Bank has been an area of relative calm and prosperity for nearly a decade. A new spate of violence could sideline Mr. Abbas and shake Fatah's grip on power, create political openings for Hamas, and ostracize Israel internationally.

Hamas may also believe it can repeatedly go to war against a militarily superior foe because Israel has never exacted a fatal price. Hamas's aggression serves its political purposes, while Palestinian casualties serve its propaganda purposes.

Those goals are furthered when Western governments call for mutual restraint, as if both sides are equally responsible for the violence. "We're continuing to convey the need to de-escalate on both sides," State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Tuesday, a plea that has no effect on Hamas but pressures Israel to pull its punches.

Our advice to the Israelis is that if they want to avoid having to go to war over Gaza every three years or so, they will need to destroy Hamas as a political entity and military power. This does not need a permanent re-occupation of all of Gaza. But it will require a land campaign that destroys Hamas's ability to wage war. That probably includes retaking the old Philadelphi corridor running along the Egyptian border to prevent the underground smuggling of increasingly sophisticated munitions, many coming from Iran.

All of this will be condemned by the usual suspects. But Israelis will be denounced for whatever they do, so they might as well act effectively. In the long run Gazans will benefit from not having to live under rulers who are constantly driving them into pointless and destructive wars. Moderate Palestinian leaders in the West Bank will also be quietly pleased to see their domestic opponents humiliated.

Peace between Israel and its neighbors remains a long shot, but it has no chance as long as Hamas is seen as a strong and quasi-legitimate political player.

See it here;  http://online.wsj.com/articles/the-next-gaza-war-1404863155

How can the world expect Israel to make peace with Hamas when the VERY CORE of Hamas demands the destruction of Israel and the killing of all Jews?

Oh yeah....it's the world's expectations....which almost always go against what the Word of God actually says when it comes to Israel, Jerusalem and Jews.


Dreams, Visions, Jesus and Islam

We have been writing about dreams and visions happening in the Muslim world since 2008...and they continue today, maybe even at a faster pace!  This is exciting and GOOD NEWS people!  Muslims are coming to Christ!  Do you want to know the formula for Mid-East peace??....turning the Muslims into followers of Christ!!

The author of this article makes the bold and exciting claim that more Muslims have become Christ followers in the last 10 years than in the previous 1400 years combined!!

As we have seen over the last 2-3 years, the ballyhoo over the “Arab Spring” has died out, and the so-called great awakening has turned into a nightmare. However, throughout the Muslim world another awakening has been taking place. Quietly and in a much more personal way.

“I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me; I was found by those who did not seek me” (Isaiah 65:1). 

The Prophet Isaiah wrote those words twenty seven hundred years ago, a warning to Israel that God would open the doors of His kingdom to people other than the Jews if Israel turned from Him. 

We now know it was a foreshadowing of God's long term plan to bring Gentiles into His family. Paul made this clear in Romans 10, in which he agonizes over his people—the Jews, and their rejection of Jesus The Messiah. The benefits of the Death, Burial, and Resurrection of Jesus would now extend to the Gentiles:

“For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” (Romans 10:12-13). 

The book, Dreams and Visions: Is Jesus awakening the Muslim World? authored by Pastor Tom Doyle, who has spent eleven years as a full time Missionary in the Middle East and Central Asia. Muslims, men and women alike are experiencing dreams and visions of Jesus. Not in one isolated area, or a small select group of people, dozens of Islamic countries and countless Muslim cultures have been invaded by the love of Christ. Renouncing Islam and embracing Christ, more often than not at the risk of losing their lives, the stories are inspiring and astounding.

Muslims are coming to Jesus all over the globe. Their faith is fresh and their passion burning. Our new brothers and sisters in Christ live in Iran, Afghanistan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the Gaza Strip. They are bold and ready to die for Christ. In Egypt,  ten imams who have become Christians, have been brought together, and hold prayer meeting three times a week to pray that their families and those in their mosques will come to find Jesus.

More Muslims are coming to faith in Jesus than ever before. It is possible that in the last ten years -- than in the last fourteen centuries of Islam, more Muslims have become followers of Jesus Christ. Daily, we read in the headlines of terrorism and atrocities committed in the name of Islam. But is the real story about Muslims, ignored by the media, is that Jesus is reaching out to them with his offer of eternal life earned by His death on the cross and His resurrection? Islam has a visitor. Jesus has arrived. 

Read it all here;  http://www.raptureready.com/soap2/snyder1.html   

Friends, the news on planet earth looks and sounds REALLY BAD!  Rockets falling into Israel, drug use exploding among our youth, ISIS taking control of Iraq, dozens of people shooting each other in Chicago over race and turf,...the list is long and goes on and on!!  BUT JESUS IS IN TOTAL CONTROL!!  He always has been and always will be!  This GOOD NEWS of Muslims leaving their faith and coming to Jesus by the thousands every single day is SO EXCITING that the churches across America should be blowing the trumpet and proclaiming this GOOD NEWS!!

Yet, in my conversations with other church-going people, I find almost NONE that have any clue that this great harvest is taking place.  Why is that?

Now that you know, maybe we can all get involved in trying to get this message out to the churches of America.

"The harvest is at hand and the workers are few."


Tuesday, July 8, 2014

Air Raid Sirens Wail in Jerusalem

Reports are coming in that over 130 missiles have been launched into Israel in the last 12 hours all from Gaza strip.

Israeli Defense has supposedly called up 40,000 reservists and are getting ready for some sort of major incursion into Gaza to stop the rockets.

Two faint booms could be heard from downtown Jerusalem shortly after the sirens went off late Tuesday. It was not clear whether it was a rocket strike, or whether an incoming projectile had been intercepted.

Jerusalem is about 50 miles, or 80 kilometers, north of Gaza.

There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage.

Here;  http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/israel-army-authorized-mobilize-40000-troops-24464046

There can be no doubt that Jerusalem is becoming a cup of trembling.


Monday, July 7, 2014

Are You an Ally of the LGBT Community?

At the largest bank in the USA, employees are being asked some rather bizarre questions....and you have to sign your name to your answers, so they are not just part of a random, anonymous survey.

Which description applies best to you:

1)  A person with disabilities;
2)  A person with children with disabilities;
3)  A person with a spouse/domestic partner with disabilities;
4)  A member of the LGBT community;
5)  An ally of the LGBT community, but not personally identifying as LGBT.

How do you answer?  What if you are NONE OF THE ABOVE?  Could you be singled out for retribution if you REFUSE to call yourself an ally of the LGBT community??

NEW YORK – The largest bank in the United States now allegedly requires its employees to state whether or not they are supporters of the homosexual lifestyle.

JPMorgan Chase, headquartered in New York City, is the United States’ largest bank, with total assets of over $2.5 trillion. The bank has overtly supported homosexuality for several years, appearing in several “gay pride” events and even offering a number of special benefits to bank employees who identify as “LGBT.”

The employee further explained that the survey was not anonymous, since it required everyone to enter personal identification information. The implications, he suggested, are chilling.

“With the way things are going and the fact that LGBT rights are being viewed as pretty much tantamount to the civil rights movement of the mid-50s to late 60s, not selecting that option is essentially saying ‘I’m not an ally of civil rights’; which is a vague way to say ‘I’m a bigot,’” he told George. “The worry among many of us is that those who didn’t select that poorly placed, irrelevant option will be placed on the ‘you can fire these people first’ list.”

George agreed, writing in a blog post that JPMorgan Chase could quickly quash any dissenters who do not support the homosexual lifestyle.

“The message to all employees is perfectly clear:  You are expected to fall into line with the approved and required thinking,” George stated. “Nothing short of assent is acceptable. Silent dissent will no longer be permitted.”

After George first drew attention to the JPMorgan Chase survey, another employee of the bank contacted him to confirm the initial report.

“I just wanted to confirm the Chase employee survey,” the second employee said. “It did have the last two options about being an LBGT ally. … [I] was blown away by this question. I have no idea what they were thinking when they asked that.”

As previously reported, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled last week that “closely held corporations” can operate according to their owners’ religious beliefs. However, because JPMorgan Chase is a publicly-traded banking company, the same standards likely do not apply. The bank’s questioning of employees’ beliefs on homosexuality is therefore concerning to many Christians.

Here;  http://christiannews.net/2014/07/07/chilling-implications-largest-u-s-bank-asks-workers-if-they-support-homosexuality/

During The Tribulation people will have to choose sides.  Are they on God's side or the Antichrist's?  If they choose God, most likely they will lose their head.  If they choose the beast, and take his mark in order to buy or sell anything, they will lose their chance for eternal salvation.

As these days approach, we can expect to see more foreshadowing of people being forced to take sides.  Employers who support the LGBT lifestyle and gay marriage have now equated that movement with the Civil Rights movement of the 1960's....so in their eyes, if you don't support LGBT then you are just like the nasty bigots who didn't support equal rights for blacks in the 1960's!!

Are we prepared to stand for Christ in these last days?  What if it means sacrificing our job?  What if it means losing some of our friends?  What if it meas dividing some of our families because we are the only member who doesn't celebrate LGBT?

We all need to remember that Jesus clearly told us that THE WORLD would hate us and that this shouldn't surprise us....because THE WORLD hated Him first!!

Remember, we are ALL BORN INTO SIN!  Born-again believers acknowledge this fact and REPENT of their sinful lusts and behaviors that we are ALL BORN WITH!!  Our prayer is that through the power of the Holy Spirit dwelling within us, we hope to be CHANGED.

If Jesus can create the universe, the world and all that is in it...I'm quite positive He has enough power to change you and me from the lustful, perverted, selfish liars that we were all born as....even those who were born with lusts toward members of the same sex.

Dire Water Crisis in America

Here in Minnesota, we have had lots of rain.  In fact the flooding in June was the worst it has been in decades.  There are thousands of acres of farm land right around my house that NEVER got planted because it was simply too wet.

But in other parts of the country, the opposite is happening.  It's terribly dry.  No rain, no snow in the mountains to fill the reservoirs and now we are finding that the underground aquifers have been pumped so aggressively to irrigate farmland that they might be gone too.

Hmmmm....sounds like a famine could be coming.

The once bounteous quantities of water that flowed under his farmland in the Texas Panhandle are a distant memory–pumped to the last drop. Now there is only one source of water for his wheat and sorghum: the sky above. “We try to catch anything that falls,” Spinhirne says.

The scope of this mounting crisis is difficult to overstate: The High Plains of Texas are swiftly running out of groundwater supplied by one of the world’s largest aquifers – the Ogallala. A study by Texas Tech University has predicted that if groundwater production goes unabated, vast portions of several counties in the southern High Plains will soon have little water left in the aquifer to be of any practical value.

The Ogallala Aquifer spreads across eight states, from Texas to South Dakota, covering 111.8 million acres and 175,000 square miles. It’s the fountain of life not only for much of the Texas Panhandle, but also for the entire American Breadbasket of the Great Plains, a highly-sophisticated, amazingly-productive agricultural region that literally helps feed the world.

This catastrophic depletion is primarily manmade. By the early eighties, automated center-pivot irrigation devices were in wide use – those familiar spidery-armed wings processing in a circle atop wheeled tripods. This super-sized sprinkler system allowed farmers to water crops more regularly and effectively, which both significantly increased crop yields and precipitously drained the Ogallala.

Compounding the drawdown has been the nature of the Ogallala itself. Created 10 million years ago, this buried fossil water is–in many places—not recharged by precipitation or surface water. When it’s gone, it’s gone for centuries.

“This country became what it became largely because we had water security,” says Venki Uddameri, Ph.D., director of the Water Resources Center at Texas Tech. “That’s being threatened to a large degree now.”

With the world population increasing, and other critical global aquifers suffering equally dramatic declines, scientists acknowledge that if the American Breadbasket cannot help supply ever-growing food demands, billions could starve.

“The depletion of the Ogallala is an internationally important crisis,” says Burke Griggs, Ph.D., consulting professor at the Bill Lane Center for the American West at Stanford University. “How individual states manage the depletion of that aquifer will obviously have international consequences.”

Here;  http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/last-drop-americas-breadbasket-faces-dire-water-crisis-n146836

Did you see that?!?  "..BILLIONS COULD STARVE"!

People, this is ABC NEWS reporting this...NOT the National Enquirer!

The PhD in the article says that USA became what it became largely because we had water security.

Well, yes, that is partly true...but WHO blessed us with that water?  WHO hid it under the ground knowing that we would find it and use it to grow corn in the dry places and thereby feed the world and become wealthy in the process?

Friends, I don't care how smart or technologically savvy we are here in America.  If God doesn't send the rain and snow (or sends too much) this country will go under in a very short time....and if we aren't around to feed the world...billions WILL starve.

Already, California's farmers are not getting the water they need to water their crops.  No lettuce, no almonds, no broccoli, and more problems for all of us since California produces about 40% of all the stuff we eat in America!!

When a nation turns from God the blessings can cease in a hurry.

It sure seems as if we are heading for the Great Tribulation.  The table seems to be getting set for this occasion...and this talk of drought, famine and billions dying as a result, appears to be one more sign.

Revelation 6:8
I looked, and there before me was a pale horse!  Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him.  They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth.

Right now the world has a population of about 7.5 billion people....so do the math and we can figure that the rider on the pale horse is going to be killing a few billion.

Also please remember that a billion is 1000 million.

That's a whole-lotta-wrath coming!!   If you haven't already accepted the peace available ONLY from Jesus Christ...I would encourage you to bow, repent and accept Him now...so that you can escape all that is coming for this dark and fallen world.