Don Stanton, Maranatha Revival Crusade. www.MaranathaMRC.com

PERILOUS TIMES WILL COME!

“But realize this ...

in the last days perilous times will come.”

(PAUL - 2 Timothy 3:1)

“But . . . when these things begin to take place,

straighten yourselves and lift up your heads –

look up, because your redemption is

drawing near.”

(JESUS - Luke 21:28)

Following the food price riots over the past few months, there has been one great disaster after another – cyclones, typhoons, tornados, earthquakes, floods and droughts.

What awesome times we are living in! Is God giving man a foretaste of the coming Great Tribulation? I believe He is! And be sure – there will be a great tribulation as the prophets and the Messiah foretold.

“For then there will be great tribulation, such as has never occurred since the beginning of the world until now; and there will be nothing like it again.” (Matthew 24:21)

“Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. All these things are the beginning of sorrows.” (Matthew 24:7-8)

What we are witnessing today is not the Tribulation, but it is possibly a run-up to, or, the “beginning of sorrows.” But let me say, before we look at some of today’s tragedies, I am not looking for the Great Tribulation! I’m looking for the coming of the Saviour, Jesus Christ – Y’shua the Messiah, who said:

“Let not your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s House are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you, for I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, so that you also may be where I am.” (John 14:1-3)

And the apostle Paul wrote to the church at Corinth:

“You are not lacking in any gift as you eagerly wait for the revealing of our Master, Y’shua the Messiah.” (1 Corinthians 1:7)

Yes, believers should indeed be eagerly awaiting the Master’s coming to catch away His people from this sin-sodden world. Again, Y’shua the Messiah says - especially to those living in the endtimes:

“But when these things begin to take place, straighten yourselves and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” (Luke 21:28)

Yes, it is redemption that is ahead for all born again believers - for those whose faith is in Y’shua, Jesus, for He is the Saviour. And it is the Rapture - “the catching up” that will bring deliverance. Yes, believer, we are right to anticipate an imminent Rapture. But for many, it will take place when they do not expect it.

Even many Christians have given up their confidence and think “nothing will happen,” while others are being persuaded that believers are destined for the Great Tribulation. Even verses such as 1 Thessalonians 5:9 and Revelation 3:10-11 do not convince them.

“For God has not destined us to suffer wrath, but to receive salvation through our Master, Y’shua the Messiah.” (1 Thessalonians 5:9)

“Because you have kept the word of My endurance, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which is about to come upon the whole world, to try those who live on the earth. I am coming quickly - soon!” (Revelation 3:10-11)

They are seemingly convinced that believers are going to go through the Tribulation. And yet, I never hear of any of them making any real preparation for themselves and their children, for survival during those seven horrendous years. There is apparently a fatalistic acceptance that they will somehow endure the disasters, resist the torture that would compel them to receive the mark, and somehow, escape the guillotine. And many hope it won’t be so horrible and literal as the Scriptures declare.

One Christian I know of, is talking about having his own farm so that he and his family can survive the Tribulation. But he fails to realise that without taking the mark of the Beast, no one will have the freedom to operate a farm. Without the mark they will soon be rounded up and eliminated. It will be even worse than Hitler’s concentration camps and gas chambers.

LET’S FACE THE REALITY!

For people in the Tribulation, the only chance of preservation will be to find a good hide-away, far from any city or town - maybe in an uninhabited jungle or mountain. Even the catacombs will not be safe in modern times.

My dear reader, if you think the things happening now are awful, I tell you, you haven’t seen anything yet! The Great Tribulation is seven years of “hell upon earth.”

And as we see signs of the progress of Mystery 666 – the surveillance, technology and totalitarian laws being passed around the world in preparation for Antichrist’s world government - we can be forgiven for believing that it is coming soon!

But my friend, I am not looking for Antichrist and the Tribulation. I’m eagerly awaiting the revealing of our Master. He is coming for His people, and this is called “the blessed Hope.”

“Awaiting and looking for the blessed hope - the glorious appearing of our great God and Saviour, Y’shua the Messiah.” (Titus 2:13)

The blessed hope is the expectation of being caught up as 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18 says:

“For the Master Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. Then the dead in Christ - those who died with faith in the Messiah - shall rise first.

“Then we, the living believers who remain, will simultaneously be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Master in the air. And so we will be with the Master for ever. Therefore comfort and encourage one another with these words.” (1 Thessalonians 4:16-18)

My reader, the blessed home is not a vague hope that somehow we will be able to endure the worse seven years ever to come on the earth!! It is deliverance!

But many people scoff about the Lord’s promise to catch His people away before the Tribulation. Well, the apostle Peter wrote:

“You must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, mocking and following after their own evil desires; and saying, ‘Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers died, everything goes on just as it has since the beginning of creation.” (2 Peter 3: 3-4)

Even some Christians argue, saying, “See, the word Rapture is not even in the Bible.” That’s true. But even the word “Bible” is not in the text of the Bible; and the word Trinity is not in the Bible.

Paul uses the word harpazo - “caught up” in 2 Cor 12:2 & 4, and in 1 Thes 4:17. It is also used in Rev 12:5). And Y’shua, in John 14:1-3, said He will come again and receive (paralambano) His people to Himself.

So those who don’t like the word Rapture, could consider using the lovely Greek word, and call it “The Harpazo,” or “The Paralambano.”

But as for me, Rapture is a beautiful word, and it fits this glorious, rapturous event very well – “the catching up to meet the Saviour in the air.”

PREPARATION

Now, the preparation that believers need to make in these days, is to make sure their loved ones, and their friends and associates, are saved, so that they will be “harpazoed” - saved - out of this present evil world.

I was chatting with a friend recently, who is concerned about current events. I said:

“Make sure your daughter gets saved soon!”

He said, “Yes, but she is only six months old.”

“Right,” I replied. “Put her hands together and teach her about the Saviour.”

“Yes,” he said, “we are teaching her the Name of Jesus.”

“Good, and continue to plant the seeds of faith in her little heart and mind.”

Oh my friends, we must make prayerful, Spirit-led efforts to get our loved ones saved before it is too late!!

And now, let’s look at some of the things that are happening today. May this report shake us, each one, out of any indifference to the conditions and events happening around the world.

A recent AP story about the United States, asks:

IS EVERYTHING SPINNING OUT OF CONTROL?

World events are moving so fast, one after another, that even journalists in major news services are taking notice and wondering what is going on. The Associated Press has written a story that asks in its lead, “Is everything spinning out of control?”

The authors of the article say that the 21st century may just be about “a great unraveling of some things long taken for granted.” Speaking about the US, they cite a list of catastrophes occurring right

before our very eyes, including the floods in the Midwest, where entire towns are under water.

Americans, they say, “need to do no more than check the weather, look in their wallets, or turn on the news for their daily reality check on a world gone haywire.”

The US does indeed seem to be copping the “beginning of sorrows” – hundreds of horrendous tornados, drought, widespread wildfires, and super flooding from the Mississippi.

There are also running blackouts in America because suppliers cannot keep up with energy demand. Only 17% of Americans think the country is headed in the right direction, according to the story.

Adding to those American woes, there’s the wars raging without end in Afghanistan and Iraq. And there’s the financial woes; the home mortgage crisis with thousands of people unable to pay off their homes; the sinking US dollar; a national debt of many trillions of dollars, and the price of oil going sky-high, and with air fares, food, college tuition and health care following suit.

Although America has endured comparable periods, and even worse, throughout its history, this AP article seems resigned to an America without positive direction and without leadership that provides solutions. It concludes by saying there is “a dour powerlessness chipping away at the country’s sturdy conviction that destiny can be commanded with sheer courage and perseverance.”

FIRES BURN AGAIN IN CALIFORNIA

Jun 4, 08. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a state-wide drought.

Jun 24, 08. Last October, California’s inferno was described as “the Gates of Hell.” 1800 homes were destroyed. Now, once more, California is baking under a ferocious heat wave, and hundreds of wildfires are blazing across the north of the state threatening thousands of homes. More than 800 scattered fires covering 45,500 hectares were raging, leaving about 5,500 residences at risk.

Jun 30, 08. Two of Northern California’s 1,400 wildfires choked parts of the Sierra Nevada foothills, darkening a 100-mile stretch between Sacramento and Reno with clouds of black smoke.

“Wail, for the day of YHWH is near! It will come as destruction from the Almighty. Therefore all hands will fall limp, and every man’s heart will melt.” (Isaiah 13:6-7)

“HISTORIC” FLOODS: WHOLE TOWNS SWAMPED

5 MILLION ACRES OF GRAIN MAY BE LOST

Like England, and Queensland last year, and like China recently, it’s now the turn of the US, to be devastated by floods.

After Midwest storms and torrential rains in late May, the Iowa and Mississippi rivers broke through at least 36 levees, swamping large areas of Iowa, Illinois and Missouri, submerging homes. More than 38,000 people were displaced, mostly in Iowa where 83 of 99 counties were declared disaster areas.

Fears that as many as 5 million acres (2 million hectares) of corn and soybeans have been lost to flooding in the world’s largest grain and food producing region.

EARTHQUAKES

“And there will be great earthquakes.” (Luke 21:11)

May 12, 08. The 8.0 earthquake in China left 90,000 dead including hundreds of children who were buried in collapsed school buildings; and left 5 million homeless. Hundreds of aftershocks, including three at 5.4, 5.7 & 6.0, destroyed another 420,000 homes. Some towns were permanently wiped out. Several hundred quake aid workers died when they were buried by mud landslides.

The quake in Sichuan Province, reportedly, affected some of China’s nuclear facilities including several nuclear warheads, causing tremendous explosions.

And following the earthquakes, China was overwhelmed with huge floods in many southern provinces, causing immense suffering and destruction.

Jun 8, 08. A strong 6.5 earthquake hits Greece killing at least two people, injuring more than 100, and leveling dozens of homes. July 15 another 6.3 quake hits Greek island of Rhodes.

Jun 14, 08. At least six people are dead and more than 140 injured after a 7.2 earthquake rocks Japan triggering landslides. The quake was centred on Iwate - a rural mountainous region on Japan’s main island, Honshu.

VOLCANIC ERUPTIONS

Chile. A red stream of lava flowed down the flanks of the Llaima volcano in early July, and dozens of people were evacuated. Some 50 people live in the “first risk ring” around the 9,400-foot (3,120-meter) volcano. Llaima is one of Chile’s most-active volcanoes. It had already been erupting for about two weeks in January, forcing hundreds of tourists to evacuate from Conguillio National Park but causing no damage.

The long-dormant Chaiten volcano farther south erupted in May, forcing the evacuation of some 4,500 people from the nearby town of Chaiten. Since then, the town has been largely destroyed by ash and by water from a river partially blocked by volcanic debris.

Hawaii: July. Mount Kilauea volcano was pouring out rivers of lava. Fortunately it was in an area with little habitation.

Alaska: July 14, 2008. A volcano in Alaska’s Aleutian Islands has calmed down after erupting and spewing ash and rocks 35,000 ft. into the air.

CYCLONES AND TYPHOONS

“Dismay among nations, in perplexity at the roaring of the sea and the waves.”

(Luke 21:25)

Immense disaster was caused by Cyclone Nargis which hit Burma on May 2. The cyclone caused huge tidal waves that swept inland over the low-lying delta. 130,000 were dead or missing, and 2.4 million were left homeless and hungry.

The calculated neglect of Burma’s military government was appalling. They themselves were unable to meet the enormous need of millions of destitute people, and yet they would not allow foreign aid workers to distribute the aid that was ready to be shipped into the ravaged areas.

“But evil men and imposters will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.” (2 Timothy 3:13)

In June a massive typhoon walloped the Philippines, leaving more than 1,000 dead. A passenger ferry was caught in the storm, and turned upside down, dooming most of the 900 people on board.

“They have heard bad news; they are disheartened. There is anxiety by the sea.” (Jeremiah 49:1)

DROUGHTS

Devastating droughts in various parts of Africa, California and Australia, are contributing to …

THE GLOBAL FOOD CRISIS

“They slice off what is on the right hand but still are hungry.

They eat what is on the left hand but they are not satisfied.” (Isaiah 9:20)

BIO-FUELS PUSHING 30 MILLION INTO POVERTY

Jun 25, 08. As the head of the World Bank warned world leaders that the planet is entering the “danger zone” with millions thrown into extreme poverty by the twin food and fuel crises, a leaked report from his organisation shows that bio-fuels have pushed up global food prices by 75% - a much bigger role in the disaster than previously thought.

The use of bio-fuels is soaring as developed countries try to reduce their dependence on imported oil and cut emissions of carbon dioxide, but critics say this has led to a shortage of grain, pushing up commodity prices. “Grain reserves are now at an all-time low.”

Oxfam is calling on rich countries to dismantle subsidies for bio-fuels and to reduce import tariffs. “Rich countries spent up to $15 billion last year supporting bio-fuels while blocking cheaper Brazilian ethanol, which is far less damaging for global food security,” the report said.

The European Union plans to get 10% of its transport fuel from renewable sources like bio-fuels by 2020. But it is planning strict criteria to ensure bio-fuels do not do more harm than good. Some member states want targets to be conditional on the commercial availability of second-generation bio-fuels from farm waste, timber waste and domestic waste.

Oxfam estimates that by 2020, CO2 emissions from land-use change in the palm oil sector may have reached over 3.1 billion tonnes, largely as a result of the EU target -- and it would take over 46 years of bio-fuel use at 2020 levels to repay this “carbon debt.”

INDIAN STATE FACING FAMINE FROM RAT PLAGUE

“And there will be … plagues, pestilences, and famines.” (Luke 21:11)

July 10, 08. A million people in the state of Mizoram face famine after rats destroyed most of the rice crop in their state, the International Rice Research Institute has said. A 2007 infestation spread over the borders from areas of Bangladesh and Myanmar in early 2008.

NATURAL DISASTERS UP 400% IN TWO DECADES

The number of natural disasters around the world has increased by more than four times in the last 20 years, according to a report released by Oxfam, a British charity. Oxfam analyzed data from the Red Cross, UN and researchers at Louvain University in Belgium. It found that the earth is currently experiencing approximately 500 natural disasters per year, compared with 120 per year in the early 1980s.

The number of weather-related disasters in 2006 was 240, compared with 60 in 1980.

AIDS TOPS DISASTERS LIST

June 08. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies centred its 2008 World Disasters Report on AIDS, the immune-destroying disease that destroys more than any other

disaster including floods, cyclones and earthquakes. For many communities the AIDS epidemic is undoubtedly a disaster. - Reuters. Geneva

There were 405 natural disasters worldwide in 2007 that killed just under 17,000 people, (the lowest annual figure for a decade), but the numbers affected rose by 40% to 201 million.

In 2008, the Burma cyclone and the China earthquake have killed more than 160,000.

But the report cited United Nations statistics that say 2.1 million died from AIDS in 2007.

The HIV virus was at the root of a rolling social crisis across southern Africa.

“And there will be in various places, plagues, (malignant, contagious or infectious diseases, and deadly, devastating epidemics).” (Luke 21:11)

OUR VOLATILE WORLD ECONOMY

Along with the skyrocketing oil prices, food shortages and high prices, there is the volatile world economy and stock markets. Did you see this report? …

RBS ISSUES GLOBAL

STOCK AND CREDIT CRASH ALERT

June 19, 08. The Royal Bank of Scotland have advised clients to brace for a full-fledged crash in global stock and credit markets over the next three months as inflation paralyses the major central banks. “A very nasty period is soon to be upon us - be prepared,” said the bank’s credit strategist.

A report by the bank’s research team warns that the S&P 500 index of Wall Street equities is likely to fall by more than 300 points to around 1050 by September as “all the chickens come home to roost” from the excesses of the global boom, with contagion spreading across Europe and emerging markets. - RBS/Reuters

“Come now, you rich, weep and wail because of the miseries that are coming upon you. Your wealth has become rotten, and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver have corroded, and their corrosion will testify against you and will consume your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the Last Days!”

(James 5:1-3)

GLOBAL STOCK MARKETS KEEP GRINDING LOWER

Jun 30, 08. As the United States markets edge toward bear territory (where shares are falling), losing nearly 20% of their value from last autumn’s peak, investors might wonder where they can turn for relief. The gloomy answer: nowhere.

Many of the major markets in Europe and around the world have already entered a bear market (of falling shares). Germany and France are among the markets suffering the most, and once high-flying emerging markets in countries like China and India, have collapsed even more drastically.

GLOBAL STOCKS DISMAL! OUTLOOK GRIM!

Jun 30. 08. The worldwide credit crisis that burst onto investors’ radar screens nearly a year ago, has wiped out some $3.3 trillion in wealth from global stock market wealth in the first half of this year. Optimism for a second-half recovery is fading fast. - Reuters / New York

COLLAPSE OF MAJOR U.S. BANK

July 14, 08. INDYMAC Bank had about $32 billion in assets, but it has collapsed, and has been seized by federal regulators. There was a run on the bank as depositors withdrew $1.3 billion in eleven days. It was the third largest bank failure in US history.

The collapse is expected to cost the Federal Deposit Insurance Company between 4 and 8 billion dollars which will wipe out 10% of the FDIC’s $US53 billion deposit insurance fund.

Capital marketers are also on tenterhooks over two Home Lending institutes – Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The two institutions between them guarantee about $5 TRILLION of mortgages – more than 40% of all UN home-mortgage debt.

Due to speculations that the US is on the brink of another Great Depression, the two institutions were plunged into crisis – a crisis fuelled by the rumour and speculation that has threatened to push the US economy over the edge, taking the rest of the world with it.

U.S. stocks fell, sending financial shares to their lowest level in almost a decade.

The US Treasury is reportedly studying plans to inject $16 billion into the imperiled mortgage firms. – Source: The Wall St Journal and The Australian

July 13, 08. The Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department announced steps to shore up mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The plan is intended to signal the government is prepared to take all necessary steps to prevent the credit market troubles that erupted last year with losses from sub-prime mortgages, from engulfing financial markets.

ZIMBABWE ROBERT MUGABE

“But evil men and imposters will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.” (2 Timothy 3:13)

You think you have financial problems! Give a thought for Zimbabwe, where inflation is now running above 1,000,000%, and the failed country is suffering and starving as a result of more than ten years of misrule.

The recent election was a sham. Robert Mugabe was re-elected as president, unopposed, after murdering and battering his opposition into hopelessness.

“But I say, ‘Woe to me! I am ruined! Woe to me! The treacherous deal

treacherously, and the treacherous deal very treacherously.”

(Isaiah 24:16)

FURY AS ZIMBABWE SANCTIONS VETOED

July 12, 08. A resolution in the UN Security Council which call for an arms embargo and a travel ban for President Robert Mugabe and 13 of his key allies, was vetoed by Russia and China. Nine of the Councils’ 15 members voted for the resolution. Five voted against – China, Libya, Russia, South Africa, Vietnam; and Indonesia abstained.

Britain and the US condemned Russia and China for vetoing the resolution which was aimed at alleviating the suffering of Zimbabwe’s people.

UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband said the veto was incomprehensible. The US said it brought into question Russia’s reliability as a G8 partner.

IRAQ OPENS OILFIELDS TO INTERNATIONAL COMPANIES

July 1, 08. Iraq has opened its main oilfields to exploitation by international companies in a first step towards reintegrating its massive reserves into the international market where prices are soaring.

Iraq has some of the world’s largest proven oil reserves, behind Saudi Arabia and Iran. Some Iraqi leaders claim that the real figure could be almost three times higher.

Hussain al-Shahristani, the Oil Minister, said that he was keen to use international finance and expertise to allow Iraq to realise its full oil potential, an important step to boosting reconstruction and ultimately ending the violence. He said the Government had drawn up a list of 35 companies and six state-owned oil firms that would be allowed to bid for long-term contracts in six oilfields.

But five big Western oil companies had refused to sign smaller, short-term service contracts to renovate the country’s dilapidated oil infrastructure unless they were guaranteed a slice of the massive oil-pumping deal.

Well, you have no doubt read of all of this, but there is a lot more you haven’t read about, or seen on TV.

MILITARY SPENDING

Did you know that global military spending totaled almost $US 1.34 trillion ($US 1,340 billion) in 2007, a real-term increase of 45% since 1998. This is equivalent to about $200 a year for every person in the world.

“Proclaim this among the nations: Prepare for war! Rouse the warriors! Let all the men of war draw near; let them come up to attack! Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning-hooks into spears. Let the weak say, ‘I am strong!’ ” (Joel 3:9-10)

RECENT BILDERBERG CONFERENCE

Jun 7, 08. Ben Bernanke (Fed Reserve chairman), Condoleezza Rice, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are amongst a host of over 125 global power brokers who have all convened in Chantilly Virginia to secretly discuss the future of the world - yet not one mainstream U.S. corporate media outlet has uttered a single word about the 2008 Bilderberg conference.

Of course the world news media does not report any real details about the periodical Bilderberg meetings. They are closed meetings, and do not like unwanted publicity.

THE EUROPEAN UNION

I think most of my readers will realize that the Antichrist will become the ruler of the Western (Roman) Confederation. The EU we believe is the forerunner of “The Beast Empire.”

“The fourth beast will be a fourth kingdom that will appear on the earth. It will be different from all the other kingdoms, and will devour the whole earth, treading it down and crushing it. As for the ten horns, they are ten kings who arise out of this kingdom. After them another king will arise (that is, Antichrist).” (Daniel 7:23)

The European Union is increasing, and becoming more powerful and influential. It is striving for a complete federal system of control. But an upheaval in the EU can be expected before the Antichrist gains full sovereignty in Europe. And that I expect, will happen after the Rapture.

THE LISBON TREATY

BRITAIN RATIFIES, IRELAND REJECTS

Jun 19, 08. Britain has become the 19th European Union country to ratify the Lisbon Treaty without a referendum, after the EU Amendment Bill completed its passage through Parliament.

Parliamentary ratification came on the eve of an EU summit in Brussels expected to be dominated by Ireland’s rejection of the Treaty in last week’s referendum.

Irish Prime Minister, Brian Cowen, is expected to ask for more time to consider his country’s response to the No vote, which threatens to prevent next year’s planned implementation of the Treaty’s reforms, including a full-time EU president and foreign minister.

The Treaty cannot come into force unless it is ratified in all 27 EU states.

Earlier, a European constitution was rejected by two of the member nations. The Lisbon Treaty is a new attempt at the consolidation of the 27 nations.

EU VOWS TO PURSUE LISBON TREATY

Jun. 16, 08. EU foreign ministers have agreed to keep the Lisbon reform treaty alive despite its rejection by Irish voters. The ministers said those EU members who have not yet ratified the treaty should carry on and do so.

The treaty cannot be implemented unless approved by all 27 EU states. Only the Irish Republic has held a referendum.

GERMANY & POLAND DECLINES TO SIGN TREATY

July 1, 08. Polish president Lech Kaczynski has indicated he will not sign the Lisbon
treaty until Ireland gets over its No vote, dealing a strong blow to EU attempts to revive the pact. He said that at the moment it would be pointless to sign the Lisbon treaty.

German ratification also went on hold, pending a Constitutional Court decision in autumn.

July 2. 08. Polish President Lech Kaczynski has toned down his rhetoric against the Lisbon treaty, and the French EU presidency also has downplayed the mini-crisis. Analysts said Mr Kaczynski’s stance is a bargaining tool for foreign policy concessions.

SARKOZY ASSUMES EU LEADERSHIP

– WANTS TO SAVE THE EU

July 1, 08. French President Nicolas Sarkozy took over the rotating presidency of the EU for the next six months, with promises to save the

EU’s reputation by showing that it could improve people’s lives.

He wants to introduce measures on immigration, the cost of living, and pollution.

Since the Irish rejection of the Lisbon treaty, Sarkozy has recast himself as the would-be saviour of the Union during the six-month French presidency of the 27-nation group, which began at midnight and was marked by the Eiffel Tower being lit up in blue and gold.

The French President wants to rekindle trust in the EU and put the treaty, which he helped to broker a year ago, back on track by the end of his tenure. He will visit Dublin on July 11, to sound out options from Brian Cowen, the Irish Prime Minister.

NEW UNION OF EU AND

MEDITERRANEAN NATIONS

July 13, 08. Leaders from 43 nations including Israel, the Palestinians, all Mediterranean states except Libya, and all 27 EU members, met in Paris to launch a regional union, tackling issues including regional unrest, immigration and pollution.

The summit - its official name is, Barcelona Process: Union for the Mediterranean – was hosted by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who said the aim was to see that the region was a place where people could love each other instead of making war. And the role of Europe and France, he said, was to help achieve peace through economic development, political initiatives and providing guarantees for all stakeholders. He said the main problem was one of confidence.

For the first few years the project will be co-presided over by one EU and one Mediterranean country – currently Egypt’s president, Hosni Mubarak, and Mr Sarkozy.

In what seemed to be an early sign of progress, Mr Sarkozy announced that Syria and Lebanon had agreed to set up embassies in each other’s capitals for the first time. Relations between the two have been strained since Lebanon’s former PM Rafik Hariri was assassinated in 2005 - an attack which Lebanon claims Syria was involved in.

In his speech, Israel’s PM, Ehud Olmert, said that never before had the leaders of Israel and the Palestinians been so close to peace.

But Syria president, Bashar Assad, did not shake hands with Olmert at a summit, and he deliberately left the meeting while Ehud Olmert gave his speech.

Assad stated, however, that once direct talks (with Israel) were launched, it could take as little as six months to reach a final deal. And he said he would agree to sit down with Olmert at the same table. That would be a historic first for these two enemy states.

Mr Sarkozy who has long spearheaded the idea of a Union for the Mediterranean, recently claimed the grouping could transform the Mediterranean region into an area of peace and prosperity.

The Union will have a Joint Permanent Committee based in Brussels that will assist in the preparation of meetings of senior officials; and a joint Secretariat – whose “political mandate,” location, as well as the nationality of its director, are to be decided by the Union’s foreign ministers, who will meet in November.

A Union for the Mediterranean high-level summit will take place once every two years, while its foreign ministers will meet once a year.

The only European or Mediterranean leader boycotting the Paris meeting was Libyan President Muammar Gaddafi, who described the union as a new form of colonialism.

The vision and hope of Nicolas Sarkozy, I believe, is doomed to ultimate failure. The prophecies of Daniel indicate that the Roman “king” will come against the Middle East nations to destroy and annihilate many.

“A king will arise, insolent and skilled in intrigue. He will become very strong,

but not by his own power. He will destroy to an extraordinary degree.”

(Daniel 8:23-24. Also chapter 11:39-43)

DO NOT GIVE IN TO A SPIRIT OF FEAR

Understanding the current situation around the world is just a book away. Read Matthew 24:6-8 to gain a clear understanding of what is happening. Jesus Christ explained that in the ...

“beginning of sorrows”, “you shall hear of wars and rumors of wars ... nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in diverse places.”

But remember, the Apostle Paul:

“For God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” (2 Timothy 1:7)

“Be patient, therefore, brethren, until the coming of the Master. See how the farmer waits expectantly for the precious ‘fruit of the earth,’ waiting patiently until the land receives the early and late rains. You too be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Master is near.” (James 5:7-8)

ISRAEL AND THE PALESTINIANS

“For look, Your enemies are roaring; and those who hate You have raised their heads. They craftily plot against Your people, and conspire against Your hidden, treasured ones.” (Psalm 83:2-3)

Palestinian, Israeli Leaders Call for

Larger EU Role in Peace Process

Palestinian and Israeli leaders have declared their commitment to peace at the Mediterranean summit in Paris. And both sides have called for Europe to play a bigger role in the Middle East peace process.

OLMERT, SARKOZY & ABBAS

Flanked by Israeli and Palestinian leaders, French President Nicolas Sarkozy described the Euro-Mediterranean summit in Paris as an historic event because it gathered almost all the Arab heads of state along with the Israeli Prime Minister.

HAMAS PLANS TO USE TEMPORARY TRUCE

TO TAKE OVER PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY

Hamas plans to use the current ceasefire (the temporary truce) with Israel to take over the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, says a report of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs. The report, asserted that Hamas would use the temporary ceasefire to bolster its presence in the West Bank.

“An important objective for Hamas is winning the Palestinian presidential election, which will be held when Mahmoud Abbas finishes his term of office on December 5, 2008.”

Israeli military intelligence chief Maj. Gen. Amos Yadlin told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee that Hamas plans to exploit the lull to smuggle weapons and shatter the embargo on the Islamic regime; and Hamas would not impose the ceasefire on Palestinian militias in the Gaza Strip.

The report said Hamas could argue that according to Palestinian law, administrative authority should be relayed to the chairman of the Palestinian Legislative Council. Hamas has an overwhelming majority in the PLC, also chaired by a Hamas member.

In contrast to the Israeli government’s assertion, the report said Hamas did not agree to a temporary lull, or tahdiya, out of distress. It said that despite heavy Israeli attacks, the Hamas regime maintained law and order in the Gaza Strip, suppressed the opposition, and won broad support for its policies. “For Hamas, the lull in the fighting will permit the movement to prepare the field to take over from Abbas, thereby complementing its military takeover of Gaza.”

The report said the six-month ceasefire would also enable Hamas to expand its military buildup. Hamas was said to be seeking longer-range missiles to match the deterrence of the Iranian-sponsored Hizb’ullah in Lebanon.

“Israel has acknowledged Hamas, albeit unwillingly, as the de facto ruling power in Gaza,” the report said. “Israel’s acceptance of the ceasefire is a blow to the international war on terror and gives immunity to Hamas and other terrorist organizations in Gaza, including Al-Qaida affiliates.” - MENL / June 08

THE HAMAS ARSENAL

Within six months of taking power in Gaza, in June of last year, Hamas was able to amass at least 230 tons of explosives, 30,000 rifles, over six million rounds of ammunition, and scores of anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles.

Many military experts have warned that Hamas is using the ceasefire period to increase their arsenal of weapons and explosives, for use against Israel when the next round takes place.

ROCKETS STILL BEING FIRED FROM GAZA

July 1, 08. Rockets and mortars are still flying from Gaza into Israel despite the “cease-fire.” Hamas even attacks the crossings through which Israel attempts to deliver aid. Yet, many in the media continue to report the claim that Israel is enforcing a “siege” on Gaza as a form of collective punishment. – Honest Reporting/ Israel

Hamas said it remains committed to a cease-fire with Israel, but will not act as Israel’s “police force” in confronting militants who breach the truce.

ISRAELI GOVERNMENT UNDER FIRE FOR

TRANSFERRING $100,000,000 TO HAMAS

Jun 30. 08. According to a World Tribune report, the Israeli government has acknowledged the transfer of more than $100 million to the Hamas regime in the Gaza Strip.

The Israel Law Center has accused the Olmert government of secretly transferring hard currency to Hamas. “Tens of thousands of Hamas terrorists and governmental officials get their salary in Israeli currency - in cash,” Israel Law Center director Nitsana Darshan-Leitner wrote in a letter to PM Ehud Olmert. “Thus, the transfer of large sums of cash into the Gaza Strip is, by definition, an act that directly fuels the terrorist activity of Hamas and is therefore a violation of the Terror-Funding Act of 2005 and the domestic and international laws against money laundering.”

Olmert’s office replied that Israel had transferred hundreds of millions of Israeli shekels to Hamas because of “Israeli diplomatic considerations.” “At this point, due to conclusions that there is an Israeli interest that the transfer of funds continues, a decision was made to continue to transfer certain sums of money to the Gaza Strip.”

This was the first time the government, which has sought to isolate Hamas, acknowledged that it was financing the Islamic regime.

The Darshan-Leitner letter said, “Hypocritically, the PM demands governments around the world isolate and embargo the Hamas terrorists in Gaza, and stop transferring funds to them while at the same time he authorizes the transfer of Israeli currency into the hands of the enemy. This government claims to be fighting against the smuggling of tens of millions of dollars and euros into the Gaza Strip via the Egyptian border, all the while participating in the laundering of this money by exchanging them for New Israeli Shekels.”

“There can be no doubt that the Israeli government’s policy of transferring shekels is assisting the Hamas terrorists with their missile attacks on the Negev communities,” Ms. Darshan-Leitner said. “If the prime minister does not immediately halt the currency transfers to Gaza, Shurat HaDin [Israel Law Center] will take all legal means available against the government to bring this terror financing to a close.”

OLMERT AVERTS EARLY POLL

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert struck a last-minute deal with the Labour party to save his coalition and avert fresh elections. Labor’s leader, Defence Minister Ehud Barak, has agreed not to support an opposition bill to dissolve parliament.

In return, Mr Olmert agreed for party elections for his Kadima party in September, and is now expected to step aside for his successor to lead the party.

BILL APPROVED CALLING FOR ISRAELI

WITHDRAWALS ONLY BY REFERENDUM

Jun 30, 08. A bill stating that a referendum must be held before the ceding of any land belonging to the State of Israel has been approved in its preliminary reading by the Knesset [Parliament]. The motion was approved with a majority of 65 MKs [members of Knesset - Parliament], and was opposed by 18.

According to the bill, if the government approves the ceding of Israeli land the decision will be brought before the Knesset, and if it is approved by the Knesset, a referendum will be held within 180 days. However, should a withdrawal be supported by at least 80 MKs, the matter will not be brought to a referendum.

The bill refers to areas that Israel has full sovereignty over, such as the Golan Heights and east Jerusalem. The West Bank [Judea and Samaria] does not fall under this category.

EU PROTESTS EAST JERUSALEM CONSTRUCTION

July 14, 08. The European Union said Israeli plans to build nearly 900 homes in east Jerusalem undermine the credibility of peace talks with the Palestinians.

The 27-nation bloc said the decision last month to build new homes was illegal under international law. “This decision serves to undermine the credibility of the ongoing diplomatic process,” the EU said in a statement. - www.jpost.com

SARKOZY: “STOP CONSTRUCTION,

DEPORT JEWS, DIVIDE JERUSALEM”

Speaking in the Knesset, French President Nicolas Sarkozy assured Israel, “France will always be Israel’s friend and will always stand in the way of those calling to destroy it. Israel will always be every Jewish person’s sanctuary. It is the only place where Jews will always be safe.”

Sarkozy then promptly called for the division of Jerusalem into two capitals, and for the Jews to be expelled from Judea and Samaria. He emphasized that there will never be peace in the Middle East until Israel stops building in Judea and Samaria, and said that the Knesset should pass a law to compensate and deport all the Jews currently living there. He also called on the Palestinians to stop terrorism against Israel.

In response, Knesset Speaker Dalia Itzik warned that terror has no boundaries, and that both Iranian nuclear power and Islamist terrorism “will reach Paris after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.”

Opposition leader and Likud party chairman MK Binyamin Netanyahu said in his address at the session, that “Israel will never cede the Golan Heights and will never agree to the division of Jerusalem.”

MK Benny Elon (National Union) said he agrees that there should be two states, but with slight differences to Sarkozy’s proposal: “One state should be Jordan, on the east bank of the Jordan River, and Israel on the west side. No other state should be established between them.”

SHIMON PERES:

NO CHANCE OF PEACE WITH PALESTINIANS

July 4, 08. Israel’s President, Shimon Peres, believes there is no chance of an agreement between Israel and the Palestinians.

Peres, the one-time proponent of a “new Middle East” made this statement at a dinner with the Jordanian and French ambassadors in Defence Minister Ehud Barak’s Tel Aviv apartment.

“It would be very hard to reach an agreement,” Peres said, due to the Hamas-Fatah split.

He said Abbas had no support among his people, no power to carry out security agreements and that any agreement Israel and the PA made, crumbled a day later due to the PA’s weakness. Therefore there is no chance of agreement.

True, Mr. Peres! True! But beware of the “rider on the white horse” – “the man of sin.”

“A king will arise, insolent and skilled in intrigue.” (Daniel 8:23).

“Behold, a white horse. Its rider held a bow, and a crown was given to him; and he rode out conquering, and bent on conquest.” (Revelation 6:2)

THE RESURGENCE OF ROSH

“O Gog, chief prince of Rosh (Russia), Meshech, and Tubal ... Get ready; be prepared, you and all the hordes gathered about you, and take command of them. After many days you will be summoned; in the latter years you will invade the land that has recovered from the sword, whose people have been gathered from many nations to the mountains of Israel … You and all your troops and the many nations with you will go up, advancing like a storm; you will be like a cloud covering the land.” (Ezekiel 38:3, 7-9)

RUSSIA’S NEW DUO

Dmitry Medvedev Vladimir Putin

Today, Russia under its new duo-leadership -- Dmitry Medvedev and Vladimir Putin -- with overflowing oil wealth, is defining and shaping its new role as the “Gog” of the Great Confederation of the North. Russia’s short romance with the United States and the democracies is over.

Driven by oil politics, Russia is lining up with Iran, Libya, Venezuela, Saudi Arabia and supporting Zimbabwe.

“U.S. - A FRIGHTENING MONSTER”

Jun 3, 08. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin compared the US to a “frightening monster” and urged France to distance itself from its American ally.

“How can one be such a shining example of democracy at home and a frightening monster abroad?” he said the day after meeting French President Nicolas Sarkozy. Putin, said the US was creating “new Berlin Walls” in Europe by pushing the NATO to expand into ex-Soviet states Georgia and Ukraine.

Mr Putin, who passed on the presidency earlier this month to his handpicked successor, Dmitry Medvedev, continues to set the foreign and domestic policy agenda.

The election of Medvedev, 42, a lawyer who has called for more dialogue between the East and West, has raised hopes of an eventual thaw. Under Russia’s constitution, the president is supposed to be solely responsible for foreign policy and has more formal authority than the prime minister, who can be fired by presidential decree and is charged with implementing Kremlin policies.

Putin “remains the pre-eminent power” in Russia, said Michael Emerson, a former EU ambassador to Moscow and an analyst at the Centre for European Policy Studies in Brussels. “The EU has to deal with the people who are there, both of them.”

Putin said expanding the NATO military alliance deeper into former Soviet territory risked a return to Cold War competition.

RUSSIA WARNS U.S. OVER RADAR IN EUROPE

July 9, 08. Russia has threatened that it will be “forced to react not in diplomatic fashion but with military-technical means” if the United States moves ahead with plans to deploy parts of a missile defence system in the Czech Republic.

“No doubt that bringing elements of the strategic US arsenal faced towards Russian territory could be used to weaken our deterrent potential,” the Russian foreign ministry said. It added that Moscow would take adequate measures to compensate for potential threats to its national security. “This is not our choice,” the statement concluded.

The warning came only hours after the Czech foreign minister Karel Schwarzenberg confirmed on 8th July, the country’s willingness to host a US radar on its soil by signing a deal with US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice. – Euobserver

IRAN AND RUSSIA SIGN MAJOR OIL DEAL

July 14, 08. A few days after French oil giant Total withdrew from its planned multi-billion dollar gas investment project in Iran, Russia’s Gazprom is entering the market in a multi-billion-dollar deal.

Gazprom’s Chief Executive Alexei Miller met with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and went on to sign an agreement for developing Iranian oil and gas fields. - Media Line News Agency / Jerusalem Post

RUSSIA BOOSTING TIES WITH SAUDI ARABIA

July 14, 08. Russia hopes to further boost ties with Saudi Arabia, Russian PM Vladimir Putin said during talks with Saudi Arabia’s Security Council chief Prince Bandar bin Sultan.

The prince voiced hope that he “will be able to convey the king’s thoughts on perspective in economic, political, military and security spheres as well as others.”

News agencies reported the two sides signed a military cooperation treaty.

Another report says that Saudi Arabia is seeking to woe Russia away from Iran by offering to buy Russian armaments worth $2.4 billion.

But it is doubtful that such a tack would work. Selling the armaments, yes; but distancing itself from a strategic ally, no! Russia has long had interests in Iran.

SAUDI KING OPENS INTERFAITH EVENT IN SPAIN

July 16, 08. At the start of a Saudi-sponsored gathering that aims to bring Muslims, Christians and Jews closer together, King Abdullah exhorted followers of the world’s leading faiths to turn away from extremism and embrace a spirit of reconciliation, saying at the start of an interfaith conference that history’s great conflicts were not caused by religion itself but by its misinterpretation.

“My brothers, we must tell the world that differences don’t need to lead to disputes. The tragedies we have experienced throughout history were not the fault of religion but because of the extremism that has been adopted by some followers of all the religions, and of all political systems.” - AP

IRAN AND THE NUCLEAR CRISIS

Islamic Iran is being driven by Mahdist prophecies, and sees itself as the catalyst to bring about a new Islamic world order, and as the spearhead of the Imam Madhi’s endtime agenda for the destruction of infidels. But unwittingly, the president and mullahs of Iran are fulfilling the Bible prophecy:

God says: “Prepare for war! Rouse the warriors! Let all the men of war draw near. Let them come up to attack! Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning-hooks into spears. Let the weak say, ‘I am strong!’ Come quickly all you surrounding nations, and gather yourselves together! Bring down, O YHWH, Your mighty ones! Let the nations be aroused and come up to the Valley of Jehoshaphat (Jerusalem), for there I will sit to judge all the nations on every side. Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Come, tread the grapes, for the winepress is full. The vats overflow, for their wickedness is great.” (Joel 3:9-12)

Way back in September 1995, Yitzhak Rabin, the prime minister of Israel, warned of the danger posed by Islamic Iran. Rabin appealed to the leaders of the free world to isolate and deal with the mullahs’ regime in Tehran. (Iran’s nuclear weapons program had been revived in 1981.)

Since then Iran has accelerated its relentless pursuit of nuclearisation and building up its war machine while taunting the West, and especially Israel and the US, with threats of the destruction coming upon them.

Iran was once the great Persian empire of Cyrus (the first Shah). It is listed in Ezekiel 38:5, as a major part of the Northern Confederation that, led by Rosh (Russia), will come against Israel in the endtimes.

It is becoming more obvious that Russia is on the side of Iran in the present equation; and also that both nations are preparing for their own doom in the nuclear holocaust prophesied in Ezekiel 38 and 39:

“And with pestilence and with bloodshed I shall execute judgment upon him; and I shall rain on him, and on his troops, and on the many peoples who are with him, a torrential rain, with hailstones and burning sulphur.” (Ezekiel 38:22)

“You (Rosh) will fall on the mountains of Israel, you and all your troops, and the nations who are with you. I will give you as food to birds of prey of every kind and to the wild animals. You will fall in the open field, for I have spoken, declares the Sovereign Master, YHWH. I will also send fire on Magog and on those who live in safety in the coastlands. Then they will know that I am YHWH.” (Ezekiel 39:4--6)

THE CURRENT SHOUTS OF WAR

This is to give you an idea of the tense current situation:

* May: The International Atomic Energy Agency says Iran’s suspected work on its nuclear program is “a matter of serious concern.”

* June 6: In an interview published in the Israel newspaper Yediot Ahronot, Deputy PM Shaul Mofaz warned that “If Iran continues with its program for developing nuclear weapons, we will attack.”

* June 20: The New York Times reports Israel carried out a major military exercise in the first week of June that was believed to be a rehearsal for a potential bombing attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities. More than 100 Israeli F-15 and F-16s fighters, and KC-130 air refueling tankers participated in the maneuvers, which were carried out over the eastern Mediterranean and over Greece.

After the Israel Air Force exercise, conducted with Greece in the Aegean Sea, US Defence Dept raised the prospect of an Israeli air strike on Iran in 2008.

* July 23: Former US Ambassador to the UN, John Bolton, reportedly says he believes Israel could attack Iran after the US elections this November.

* June 28: A former Israeli Air Force general tells Der Spiegel that Israel is capable of carrying out a successful attack against Iran’s nuclear program. “We could do it today,” said Isaac Ben-Israel.

* June 28: The Commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps, Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari warns Israel against launching any attack, reminding the Jewish state that it “is completely within the range of the Islamic republic’s missiles.” Jafari warns that if attacked, Iran will barrage Israel with missiles and choke off the strategic Strait of Hormuz, a narrow outlet for oil tankers leaving the Persian Gulf.

* June 29: The Sunday Times reports that Iran has repositioned a number of its ballistic missiles to hit specific Israeli targets including Israel’s nuclear plant at Dimona in the south of the country.

* June 29: Iranian commander Gen. Mir-Faisal Bagherzadeh says his country is preparing 320,000 graves to accommodate its slain enemies in the event of an attack on the country.

* July 2: Admiral Mike Mullen, the chairman of America’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, warns that an Israeli attack on Iranian nuclear facilities would be a high-risk move that could destabilize the Middle East.

* July 3: The Jerusalem Post reports that the US fears Israel is preparing to launch an attack on Iran.

* July 4: Ha’aretz cites another US admiral who warns that Iran is likely to attack Israel.

* And there have been more threats and shouts of war constantly since then !!

AHMADINEJAD:

“ISRAEL WILL SOON DISAPPEAR”

Jun 2, 08. Iranian (Persian) President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad maintains that Muslims will uproot “satanic powers” and that Israel will soon disappear.

“I must announce that the Zionist regime (Israel), with a 60-year record of genocide, plunder, invasion and betrayal, is about to die and will soon be erased from the geographical scene,” he said.

“Today, the time for the fall of the satanic power of the United States has come and the countdown to the annihilation of the emperor of power and wealth has started.”

Another notorious Persian leader who wanted to wipe out the whole of the Jewish race, was hung on the very gallows he himself had made to execute the Jews in the Medo-Persian empire. His name was Haman. (See the small book of Esther in the Bible.)

AHMADINEJAD TO JAPAN:

“PREPARE FOR A WORLD WITHOUT THE US”

Jun 5. Ahmadinejad has been making headlines during his first visit to Western Europe as Iran’s president by attacking the US and Israel, but he also is trying to use the opportunity to show that he’s not as isolated as his opponents would wish.

The official Iranian news agency, Irna, had a different take on the encounter, saying Ahmadinejad had told Fukuda that US domination was in decline. “Iran and Japan as two civilized and influential nations should get ready for a world minus the US,” he said.

CONFLICTING REPORTS

Britain and France have become concerned over the prospect of an Israeli or US strike on Iran. Britain has issued an alert to its embassy in Bahrain of an imminent US confrontation with Teheran.

Early July, the US television network, ABC News, reported that Israel could strike Iran’s nuclear facilities in late 2008. ABC quoted a senior Pentagon official as reporting an “increasing likelihood” that Israel would attack Iran once it (Iran) produced enough highly-enriched uranium to assemble a nuclear weapon.

But a senior Israeli security source said the military was not ready to destroy Iran’s nuclear weapons facilities. The source told the Israeli daily Maariv that the military, weakened by an inadequate budget, was incapable of a sustained strike.

And yet, the ABC quoted the Pentagon official as saying that Israel wants to stage an operation before Iran acquires the SA-20, or S-400 air and missile defense system from Russia. The US intelligence community has assessed that Iran could acquire the S-400 Triumf over the next few months.

Both conflicting and corroborating reports circulating late June in Israel indicate that something could happen soon, as both sides have increased their saber-rattling.

FORMER ISRAELI INTELLIGENCE CHIEF:

“WE MUST BOMB IRAN”

July 02, 08. According to Meir Amit, a former head of the Mossad, Israel’s CIA, if Israel does not move with force against Iran, the Jewish state will pay a terrible price down the road. Israel must not talk about attacking, but must launch its strike as a surprise when it believes it needs to do so.

Amit, who although retired is still described as one of the most highly-regarded figures in Israel’s intelligence community, has made a 180% turn on the issue of whether or not to hit Iran.

A year ago he was apparently more in favor of the assassination of Iranian fanatical leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad than of attacking his country. Mounting evidence that Iran is racing to acquire nuclear weapons while Ahmadinejad intensifies his fiery rhetoric threatening Israel’s destruction, appear to have changed Amit’s assessment of what the IDF needs to do.

According to WND, Amit is not overly concerned about Tehran’s military response to an Israeli strike on its nuclear program. “I am not impressed by Iran’s threats. We have to do what we think should be done and obviously plan for consequences,” he said. - Source: World Net Daily

Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak said recently: “The international community must not allow Iran to go nuclear.”

ISRAEL ASSURES WEST: “NO IRAN ATTACK IN 2008”

An Israeli official has said, “There has been alarm in some capitals that Israel will attack to destroy Iran’s nuclear facilities over the next few months or even weeks, but there will not be any operation in 2008. An operation such as this must be coordinated — at least with the United States.”

Israel has told the governments of Britain, France and the United States that the Jewish state would allow for yet another diplomatic effort to halt Iran’s uranium enrichment program. But …

THE WORLD EXPECTS ISRAEL TO BOMB IRAN

The West believes that Israel is aware of the magnitude of the Iranian nuclear threat and assumes Israel will hit Iran, and that the Jewish State will be blamed for any global flare-up that follows, says an ex-IDF intelligence officer.

Yossi Kuperwasser, the former head of the IDF’s Research and Assessment Division, believes that the Pentagon source’s assessment that Israel will likely strike in Iran by the end of the year shows that the West assumes Israel will do the dirty work for it.

“Within 12 to 18 months the Iranians will have enough uranium for a nuclear bomb,” he says.

The SA-20 aerial defence system purchased by Iran from Russia, Kuperwasser admits could make an aerial strike considerably more difficult to carry out. “This is a missile system that can protect against missiles and airplanes.”

“The West realizes that this is an Iranian challenge to the existing world order, aiming for Islam to enjoy a different status,” Kuperwasser says.

“The question is whether officials in the US and Europe realize the gravity at this time. It looks as though everyone is trying to shift the responsibility to someone else, and they believe that ultimately, if nothing changes, Israel will do the job for the West.”

“The Iranians are continuing their nuclear project unabated, in the belief that nobody will stand in their way. Iran realizes that the West is sensitive to pain and money, and won’t embark on an operation that would significantly boost oil prices,” he says. “Every time the possibility of a military strike is raised, the Revolutionary Guard’s commander speaks out and warns against the chaos. They believe that the likelihood of a strike is very low.” Source: ynetnews.com

US & ISRAEL LACK INTELLIGENCE

ON IRAN’S NUCLEAR BASES

The “let the Israelis do it” fantasy is simplistic when it comes to Iran’s nuclear weapons program, as if the Israel Air Force (IAF) can easily destroy the bases as they did with Iraq’s nuclear site in 1981.

Iran’s bases have been constructed by a San Francisco based engineering firm, and they have not been constructed above ground where they would be an easy target.

Ha’aretz quoted the British Sunday Telegraph which said a US official close to the discussions between the Pentagon Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Michael Mullen and Israeli generals, acknowledged they had very little information as to the exact locations of Iran’s nuclear installations. Source: www.newsblaze.com

RUSSIA WARNS AGAINST STRIKE ON IRAN

July 2, 08. A Russian foreign ministry official said that any military attack on Iran would be very dangerous, and have a “catastrophic” effect on the whole Middle East.

The warning came after US media reported in June that Israeli jet pilots had trained for a possible strike on Iranian nuclear sites, and might launch such an attack.

The official who remains anonymous, also said Iran was “ready to look seriously at proposals” presented on June 14 by six world powers aimed at getting the Islamic republic to suspend uranium enrichment. He called Iran’s attitude a “positive signal.”

Russia, a permanent member of the UN Security Council, has a section of border close to Iran in the Caucasus mountains and has been cautious about Western efforts to punish Iran over its nuclear activities. Source: www.breitbart.com

OPEC WARNS AGAINST CONFLICT WITH IRAN

July 10, 08. The head of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries warned that oil prices would see an “unlimited” increase in the case of a military conflict involving Iran, because the group’s members would be unable to make up the lost production.

SYRIA’S ASSAD WARNS:

ISRAEL WILL PAY A DIRECT PRICE FOR ATTACKING IRAN

July 14, 08. At the EU-Mediterranean summit, Syrian President Bashar Assad warned that a military attack against Iran over its nuclear program would have grave consequences for the US, Israel and the world.

U.S. WON’T ALLOW IRAN TO SHUT GULF OIL ROUTE

July 1, 08. The commander of the US navy’s Fifth Fleet has warned that the US will not allow Iran to close the Strait of Hormuz, the Gulf sea lane through which 40 percent of the world’s crude oil is supplied.

“They will not be allowed to close it,” Vice-Admiral Kevin J. Cosgriff told a press conference in Bahrain, where the Fifth Fleet is based.

The chief of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards, General Mohammad Ali Jafari, had recently issued a warning against any attack against his country over its controversial nuclear drive.

“It is natural that when a country is attacked it uses all of its capabilities against the enemy, and definitely our control of the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz would be one of our actions,” Jafari said. “Certainly if there is fighting ... the scope will be extended to oil, meaning its price will increase drastically. This will deter our enemies from taking action against Iran,” Jafari said. – AFP

“U.S. WON’T ALLOW ISRAEL TO ATTACK IRAN”

July 8, 08. According to Prof. Anthony H. Cordesman, a former Pentagon official and currently the top defence analyst at the ABC TV network, the US did not give the green light for an Israeli attack on Iran.

He said IDF Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi was notified of the United States’ stance regarding Iran by Admiral Michael Mullen, the top uniformed US military officer, during Mullen’s visit at the end of June. The US has opted at this point to stick to the diplomatic track in its efforts to keep Iran from going nuclear, and has made clear to Israel that it shouldn’t attack Iran without White House approval, Cordesman said.

AHMADINEJAD: ‘US, ISRAEL WON’T DARE ATTACK’

“Even if some countries like Israel and the US join forces they will not dare to attack Iran and they know it very well,” Ahmadinejad said. “They know that they cannot use the language of force against Iran and must bend in the face of the will of the Iranian people.”

That may well be true - for now. Who is bluffing who?

IRAN TEST-FIRES MISSILES IN PERSIAN GULF

July 9, 08. Iran test-fired nine long- and medium-range missiles during war games that officials said aimed to show the country can retaliate against any US and Israeli attack.

An official from the elite Iranian Revolutionary Guards warned, if the US or Israel attacks Iran, Tehran will retaliate by “burning down” Tel Aviv and US naval forces in the Persian Gulf.

Reports showed footage of at least three missiles firing simultaneously, and said the barrage included a new version of the Shahab-3 missile, which has a range of 2,000 km and is armed with a 1-ton conventional warhead. That would put Israel, Turkey, the Arabian peninsula, Afghanistan and Pakistan within striking distance.

US and Israeli officials said Iran’s test-firing of missiles capable of hitting the Jewish state and US interests in the region didn’t demonstrate any new capability, and they dismissed the exercise as saber rattling.

The White House is calling on Iran to refrain from any more tests. And Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the tests are more evidence that the world needs the US missile defense system.

SECRET AND SEMI-SECRET DEALS GOING ON

Various negotiations with the aim of solving problems are going on between enemy states. In a departure from their declared policy of not negotiating with terrorists, both Israel and the US have entered into secret deals in a spirit of expedient compromise.

Talks between Israel and Syria have been brokered by Turkey. A deal between Israel and Hamas has been brokered by Egypt; and a prisoner swap deal has been carried out by Israel and Hizb’ullah.

Abbas’ Palestinian Fatah also has been having secret talks with Hamas in spite of declaring they would not do so – and both Israel and the US turn a blind eye to these talks, in spite of their warning to Abbas that such talks with Hamas would end their support to Fatah.

SECRET U.S. - IRANIAN DIALOGUE

And now, “sideline contacts” between the US and Iran have led to secret talks between these chief enemies. Of course, Barack Obama has already declared that the US should have direct talks with Iran – but George Bush has evidently beaten him to it.

Driven by circumstances and expediency, (and some would say “common sense”), the lame duck Bush administration is cutting a deal as an exit strategy from Iraq, and from the presidency, by alleviating pressure on oil prices and the US dollar.

Most compromise deals, of course, often unravel within a short time.

According to a www.debka.com report (July 8, 08), secret American-Iranian talks began in June to solve burning issues including the pricing of oil.

DEBKA’s Middle East sources disclosed that the negotiations were deliberately masked by the war fever, engineered by Washington, in the form of leaks indicating that a US or Israeli attack on Iran’s nuclear installations was imminent.

Behind all the war talk, however, there is a common ground for three key objectives:

1. The Bush administration was willing to refrain from military action against Iran before its term ends in January 2009. It could not, however, promise that Israel would not act unilaterally; but in a bid to stay Israel’s hand, sources in Washington have been putting out semi-official comments that say Israel is short of the intelligence and military capability for striking Iran without help.

2. Iran was willing to open the way for the US military to continue fighting al-Qaeda and the Sunni guerrilla insurgents in Iraq which would allow President Bush to claim his Iraq campaign had ended successfully before leaving the White House. Iran is Shia (Shi’ite) and is basically opposed to Sunnis.

It is to Iran’s advantage that the US pull out of Iraq as this will allow Iran to fill the vacuum and establish its influence there.

Iraqi PM, Nouri al-Maliki (a Shi’ite) is also demanding that US gives a timetable for withdrawal.

DEBKA reports that Tehran ordered Iranian intelligence officers working undercover in Iraq to halt attacks on US troops by pro-Iranian militias, including Moqtada Sadr’s Mehdi Army. This has left US and Iraqi government forces with free hands for large-scale operations against al-Qaeda.

3. One part of the agreement was to not allow the price of oil to rocket past $150 the barrel.

If the deal holds, it could also help Bush’s fellow-Republican, John McCain, to get elected as the new US president.

The war rhetoric and threats continue, but according to the report, the understandings unfolding between Washington and Tehran have clearly impacted on Syria and Lebanon.

One result of the secret negotiations was June’s Doha accord for the election of Lebanese president Michel Sleiman, which produced a new government in Beirut headed by the pro-Western Fouad Siniora, which gives veto power to the Hizb’ullah ministers.

Washington has for the moment lowered the heat of political, economic and intelligence pressure on Iran’s close ally, Syrian president Bashar Assad and even Hizb’ullah leader Hassan Nasrallah, permitting them to assume a role in political processes in Lebanon and the Middle East at large.

The US-Iran understandings on Iraq have strengthened Iraq’s Shi’ite PM, Nouri al-Maliki, but even more dramatically, it has revalued the Syrian president’s international legitimacy, although some aspects of his position are still under discussion between Washington and Tehran.

The threats to the Assad regime have receded, notably the international tribunal for prosecuting the assassins of the former Lebanese PM, Rafiq Hariri; and Washington has withdrawn its support for Syrian opposition factions.”

PEACE WITH SYRIA?

The deal involving Israel and Syria, brokered by Turkey, is supposed to bring advantages for both Damascus and Jerusalem. Israel is required to give up most of the Golan Heights, and cease its opposition to Syria regaining influence in Lebanon.

Israel will gain military security from a peace deal in exchange for supporting Syrian primacy in Lebanon.

Syria will gain economically, and will bring Israel’s enemy, Hizb’ullah, down to size as it poses a threat to Syria’s economic domination in Lebanon. And as it is a “peace deal,” Syria will have a minimal need to rely on Iran. And thus Israel hopes to achieve a peace accord with its three main neighbours - Egypt, Jordan and Syria - the three enemies that wanted to destroy Israel in the 1967 6-day war.

A Debka report, however, says that despite the charade being conducted by Syria President Bashar al-Assad - pretending to improve relations with Israel and the West, behind the scenes Assad continues to approve the merging of Syria-Iran’s security-military relations.

On June 27, General Fouad Sultan, head of Syria’s Internal Security, signed an intelligence agreement with his Iranian counterpart Ahmed Hosseini. The agreement enables Syrian intelligence and police officers to receive training in Iran.

IRAN DECRIES CONTACTS BETWEEN

SYRIA AND ‘ILLEGITIMATE’ ISRAEL

July 14, 08. Iran is unhappy about ongoing indirect talks between Syria and Israel and believes that any ensuing peace agreement would lead to radical changes in Syrian-Iranian relations, Hussein Shariatmadari, an advisor to Iran’s spiritual leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said. He told the pan-Arab newspaper Asharq al-Awsat that Tehran was unhappy that Islamic countries like Syria and Turkey were holding talks with Israel.

“We always say there is no country called Israel in the region. This country is called Palestine. So, it is normal that we reject any negotiations between an Islamic state, like Syria or Turkey, and an illegitimate, non-existent state,” the advisor said. - www.haaretz.com

U.S. OFFICIAL TO attend talks with Iran

Washington’s change now out in the open!

The US announced that a high diplomat, William Burns, would join the EU’s Javier Solana in a meeting with Iranian nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili, on July 19, in Geneva.

Mr Solana is seeking a definitive response from Tehran to the latest package of incentives for suspension offered in June by the five permanent UN Security Council Members and Germany.

The EU and US are hoping that Tehran might be willing to agree to a “freeze-for-freeze” pact, under which Iran would freeze its nuclear program, and the Security Council would stop efforts to impose new sanctions on Iran. But in a recent letter, Iran said it has no intention of changing path, and will not enter more “condescending” talks meant to scrap its nuclear program but wants to negotiate a broader peace and security deal.

The US change distances the Bush administration from Israel’s policy position, which calls for the curtailment of Iran’s drive for a nuclear bomb by all means, including military action.

A DEBKA report says: “It leaves Jerusalem alone in the arena against Iran on the nuclear and other security issues, such as Hizb’ullah, Syria and the radicalized Lebanese government.

“The indirect peace talks Olmert initiated with Syria through Turkey are now revealed as a smoke screen which he laid down unwittingly to cover Washington’s pursuit of a secret rapprochement with Tehran and Damascus.”

NEW NUCLEAR DEADLINE FOR IRAN

July 19, 08. At the talks in Geneva, envoys from the US, EU and UN asked Iran to suspend its uranium enrichment in return for a pledge not to introduce new sanctions. Iran gave no guarantees it would halt its activities, so the diplomats gave Tehran two weeks to provide an answer. Iran must decide between confrontation and co-operation in the dispute over its nuclear plans, the US has warned.

SYRIAN, IRAN, HIZB’ULLAH PREPARING FOR WAR

July 08. DEBKA’s military sources say that military movements carried out in the last two weeks by Hizb’ullah in conjunction with Tehran and Damascus can only be interpreted as preparations for war. Lebanese sources have been saying openly that Syria, Iran and Hizb’ullah are now in position for a new Middle East confrontation.

Israel’s intelligence community has reported that the Iranian-sponsored Hizb’ullah has accumulated an arsenal of more than 40,000 missiles and rockets in Lebanon. On the eve of the 34-day war in July 2006, they were believed to have possessed 14,000.

The whole situation in the Middle East is in flux – it’s changing and very confusing. The saber-rattling going on, no doubt contains a lot of bluff, counter-bluff, and smoke-screening, but the dangers persist and are very real. And the atmosphere is highly charged.

A nuclear climax is ahead!

Ezekiel 38:18 to 39:1-6 foretells the destruction of the Alliance of Rosh when it comes up against Israel. That invasion will lead to world war and a nuclear holocaust that will bring about the destruction of Iran along with all its Russian allies. This I believe will be in World War 3, early in the 7-year Tribulation.

In the meantime, while Iran’s nuclear issue is reaching the point of no return, the Tribulation and the World War is clearly getting closer every day.

To an outsider, Iran’s threats and rhetoric are totally irrational. But the rulers of Iran are looking through prophetic glasses – the prophecies concerning the coming Imam Mahdi at a time of chaos and war – and they are certain that the Mahdi will soon bring an end to all “infidel” regimes.

The Imam Mahdi, when he arrives, will prove to be “the man of sin” - the Antichrist who poses as “The Master of all Religions.”

And he will indeed annihilate many:

“A king will arise, insolent and skilled in intrigue. He will become very strong, but not by his own power. He will destroy to an extraordinary degree and prosper and perform his will. He will destroy mighty men, and also the holy people, And through his shrewdness, he will cause deceit to succeed under his hand; And he will magnify himself in his heart. He will destroy many while they feel secure and are at ease. He will even rise against the Prince of princes. But he will be broken without human agency.” (Daniel 8:23-25)

Meanwhile, Britain’s former Prime Minister has different ideas …

TONY BLAIR’S MISSION TO UNITE ALL RELIGIONS

Jun 3, 08. Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who converted to Roman Catholicism last December, launched the Tony Blair Faith Foundation at the Time- Warner headquarters in New York.

He said the Foundation has three goals: to promote faith as a force of good, to improve knowledge between religions, and to tackle poverty and war.

“In an era of globalization, there is nothing more important than getting people of different faiths and cultures to understand each other better and to live in peace and mutual respect; and to give faith itself its proper place in the future,” Blair said in a statement before Friday’s launch. As there is more “interdependence” in the world, people need to co- exist and work together to solve problems.

Mr Blair said he had spent “decades” thinking about setting up the foundation — including during the time he was prime minister, when faith had helped him make tough decisions. Now he wants to spend the rest of his life bringing the religions of the world together.

Mr Blair’s foundation will attempt to bring religions together to tackle major global issues such as the UN’s eight Millennium Development Goals, which range from eradicating extreme poverty to ensuring environmental sustainability.

Mr Blair wants to mobilize churches to help tackle global poverty. The group’s advisory council includes evangelical mega-pastor Rick Warren!!

In its first three years, the Foundation plans to give priority to interfaith initiatives to tackle global poverty and to improve understanding between religious groups through education. - Reuters

Mr Blair has argued that faith has to be rescued from those who would use it to divide and those determined to write it off as an irrelevance. By stressing the values of respect, justice and compassion which, he says, the great religions hold in common, he believes faith can help unite the world and shape its direction for the better.

The foundation aims to build up a “war chest” of hundreds of millions of dollars to fund projects to tackle global poverty, such as an anti-malaria campaign, according to Time magazine.

Mr Blair is scheduled to start teaching a course on “faith and globalization” at Yale University in Connecticut in September. For Tony Blair’s letter and website, check … www.tonyblairfaithfoundation.org

HIMALAYAN KINGDOM OF NEPAL BECOMES A

FEDERAL DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC

KING GYANENDRA DETHRONED

May 28, 08. The historic first meeting of the Constituent Assembly has endorsed a proposal to amend the interim constitution implementing the declaration of Nepal as a federal democratic republic.

May 30, 08. Nepal is celebrating a new era as a republic after consigning its centuries-old monarchy to the history books and ordering its god-king to quit his palace.

In a vote capping a peace accord between Maoists and mainstream parties, a new consti�tutional assembly voted to abolish the 240-year-old monarchy and to establish a repub�lic. The flag of the Shah dynasty was taken down from the main palace in the capital, Kathmandu, which will now be turned into a national museum.

Nepalese hope the assembly’s decision will end a decade-long civil war that has killed more than 13,000 people and devastated the country’s tiny, tourism-dependent economy.

Nepal’s army, long seen as a bastion of royal support, said it would respect the verdict of the assembly.

The Maoists, clear winners of April’s elections to the constitutional assembly, started the war to overthrow what they viewed as a backward, caste-ridden structure that had kept most of Nepal’s 29 million peo�ple in poverty.

“The Nepalese people have been freed from centuries of feudal tradition and the doors have now opened for a radical social and economic transforma�tion,” Maoist spokesman Krishna Bahadur Mahara said.

Many remain wary of the Maoists, whose loyalists are regu�larly accused of using violence and intimidation. – AFP

MAOISTS WANT BOTH TOP POSTS

May 31 08. While Maoist chair-man Prachanda has said that his party deserves both the positions of president and prime minister, leaders of Nepali Congress (NC) and Unified Marxist Leninist (UML) have reiterated that the positions should go to separate parties.

“Demanding both president and prime minister is nothing but totalitarian tendency,” said Ram Chandra Poudel, NC vice president and Minister for Peace and Reconstruction.

Senior leader of UML Bharat Mohan Adhikary also blasted the Maoists for demanding both positions.

Prachanda had earlier said that his party would opt to stay out of power if positions of president and prime minister are divided among different parties.

The Maoist leaders have been saying that installing individuals from different parties in these positions could create a parallel power center during the transitional period. http://www.nepalnews.com/archive

PS. July 23. In a parliamentary election of a President, the Maoists’ candidate lost, and Mr Ram Baran Yadav, who was supported by the Nepal Congress party, was elected and immediately sworn in as President.

The presidency is a largely ceremonial position, but the Maoists - who ended a decade of civil war to enter mainstream politics - are refusing to form a government.

They had insisted their choice of president should be elected, arguing Yadav's victory would give them little room to manoeuvre should they form a government, and little chance of implementing key platform pledges like radical land reform.

TECHNOLOGY

SUPER-COMPUTER SETS RECORD

Jun 9, 08. An American military supercomputer, assembled from components originally designed for video game machines, has reached a long-sought-after computing milestone by processing more than one quadrillion (one thousand trillion) calculations per second.

The new machine is more than twice as fast as the previous fastest supercomputer, the IBM BlueGene/L, which is based at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California.

The new $133 million supercomputer, called Roadrunner, was devised and built by engineers and scientists at IBM, in Los Alamos, New Mexico. It will be used principally to solve classified military problems to ensure that the nation’s stockpile of nuclear weapons will continue to work correctly as they age. The Roadrunner will simulate the behavior of the weapons in the first fraction of a second during an explosion.

To put the performance of the machine in perspective, Thomas D’Agostino, the administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration, said that if all six billion people on earth used hand calculators and performed calculations 24 hours a day and seven days a week, it would take them 46 years to do what the Roadrunner can in one day. - San Francisco

SURVEILLANCE

STUDY SECRETLY TRACKS CELL PHONE USERS OUTSIDE U.S.

Jun 4, 08. Researchers secretly tracked the locations of 100,000 people outside the United States through their cell phone use and concluded that most people rarely stray more than a few miles from home.

The first-of-its-kind study by Northeastern University raises privacy and ethical questions for its monitoring methods, which would be illegal in the United States. The scientists would not say where the study was done, only describing the location as an industrialized nation.

Researchers used cell phone towers to track individuals’ locations whenever they made or received phone calls and text messages over six months. - AP/Washington

SURVEILLANCE BILL PASSED IN SWEDEN

Jun 18, 08. - The Swedish Parliament has passed a controversial bill allowing the government to monitor all SMS, e-mail and other data traffic crossing Swedish borders with 143 in favor and 138 opposed.

Faced with powerful criticism from the opposition, international experts, and from within its own ranks, the government sent the bill back to a parliamentary committee for further preparation to protect personal integrity. The committee required that the government safeguard individual rights further. - Stockholm / Xinhua

CHIPPING’ OF HUMANS NO LONGER THE STUFF OF NOVELS;

USE OF RFIDS BECOMING COMMONPLACE IN AMERICA

More and more, George Orwell’s “1984” is becoming a reality; babies, students, and elderly are being ‘chipped.’

Radio Frequency Identification Devices (RFIDs) are finding their way into and onto humans in many ways. There are several ways government and commercial entities are looking to profit through impressive ID and Global Positioning System (GPS) technologies.

Verichip Corp. successfully marketed “Hugs” Infant Protection System to hospitals in 2005. Since then, infants at many major hospitals receive ankle bracelets, something like what many people on probation are currently required to use. - www.americanfreepress.net

When we read of the fast-moving developments and the alarming disasters around the word, we could be quite disturbed and fearful. But there are very encouraging words of the Messiah for those who trust in Him: He said:

“When you hear of wars and uprisings - disturbances and revolutions, do not be terrified; for these things must happen first, but the end will not come immediately ... But when these things begin to take place, straighten yourselves and lift up your head – look up, because your redemption is drawing near.” (Luke 21:9, 28)

The “redemption” in this verse is referring to the transformation of the body of believers; the completion of their salvation which takes place at the Rapture. As Paul also taught:

“Listen! I tell you a mystery, a secret truth; we will not all fall asleep, (that is - die); but we will all be changed, transformed - in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised incorruptible and imperishable, and we, also, will be changed - transformed. For this corruptible, the perishable part of us, must put on incorruption, and this mortal part of us - that is capable of dying, must put on immortality.” (1 Corinthians 15:51-53)

THE LAST TRUMP

The last trumpet here is not the seventh trumpet of judgment in Revelation; it’s the trump of summons - “Come up, My people.” The “last trump” is a military term. A series of trump blasts were given to prepare an army to march. “Get ready; check your gear; take your place; get set; ready; (and the last trump) - GO!”

The Holy Spirit is undoubtedly sounding the trumpet today, calling God’s people to “get ready, get set ...”

A “SECRET” RAPTURE ?

The Rapture has often been called a “secret” coming, but the Bible does not use that word. The idea of “secret,” however, comes from the above verses in 1 Corinthians 15:52 - “in the twinkling of an eye.” The Rapture and transformation will happen in less than one second – believers will simply disappear as they are caught up to meet the Lord in the air.

The Rapture will take before the Tribulation begins.

“For the Master Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. Then the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we, the living believers who remain, will simultaneously be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Master in the air. And so we will be with the Master for ever. Therefore comfort and encourage one another with these words.” (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17)

These are indeed encouraging words. Paul also calls the Rapture “The Blessed Hope,” (Titus 2:13) and “hope” in the Bible means “a definite expectation.” And in another place he gives more encouraging words:

“God has not destined us to suffer His wrath, but to receive salvation through our Master, Y’shua the Messiah, who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep, we will live together with Him. Therefore encourage one another and build up one another, just as in fact you are doing.” (1 Thessalonians 5:9-11)

It’s the Revealing of the Master at Armageddon (at the very end of the Tribulation) that will be a public display of power and glory.

“... when the Master, Y’shua, is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in blazing fire.” (2 Thessalonians 1:7-8)

At that time everyone living will see Him:

“And they will see the SON OF MAN COMING ON THE CLOUDS OF THE SKY [Dan 7:13] with power and great glory.” (Matthew 24:30). “He is COMING WITH THE CLOUDS, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him.” (Revelation 1:7)

At that revealing, the Bride - the glorified, corporate Body of Christ - will be revealed with Him in glory.

“When the Messiah, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.” (Colossian 3:4)

So my friend, if Y’shua, Jesus, is indeed your Saviour and Master, be encouraged, and keep looking up, for His coming for you is drawing nearer every day. Oh wonderful and glorious day!

But dear reader, if you do not know the Saviour personally; if you do not have a relationship to Him; if you have not been saved and had your sins forgiven, then I beseech you, delay no longer. Call upon the Lord Jesus, today, and receive Him as your personal Saviour.

“For WHOEVER WILL CALL UPON THE NAME OF Y’SHUA the LORD WILL BE SAVED.” (Romans 10:13)

Let me explain “the steps” to salvation.

1 Recognise that you are lost, condemned sinner and that you need the Saviour.

“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23)

2 Understand that any work or efforts you perform to gain salvation, will not succeed. Salvation is a gift of God which you cannot buy or work for.

“For by grace you are, or have been, saved, through faith - and this is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God - not as a result of works...” (Ephesians 2:8-9)

3 Believe the Word of God that says that Jesus, Y’shua, is God’s Anointed One who came to seek and to save the lost.

“And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son - the Saviour of the world. Whoever confesses that Y’shua is the Son of God, God lives and remains in him, and he in God.” (1 John 4:14-15)

“And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven (apart from Y’shua, Jesus) that has been given among men, by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12)

4 Believe that Y’shua the Messiah paid the penalty for all your sins when He gave up His life on the cross; and believe that He is indeed the living Saviour.

“For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance, that the Messiah died for our sins, according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.” (1 Corinthians 15:3-4)

5 Know that you need to receive Y’shua as your personal Saviour through faith in Him – that is, by believing and trusting in Him.

“For by grace you are, or have been, saved, through faith.” (Ephesians 2:8)

“To all who received Him, to those who believe in His Name, Y’shua, He gave the right to become children of God.” (John 1:12)

6 You make this transaction – this act of faith in your heart and mind, and it is expressed in a simple prayer, calling to God in Messiah’s Name.

“For whoever will call upon the name of Y’shua the Lord will be saved.” (Romans 10:13)

7 Confess Y’shua as your Saviour and Lord.

“If you confess with your mouth Y’shua as LORD (Heavenly Master) and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart man believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.” (Romans 10:9-10)

My dear reader, if you are convinced that Jesus is the Saviour, but have not yet received Him as your Saviour, will you come to Him today, confessing Him as your Saviour and Master? The following prayer may help you to express your faith in Him.

PRAYER FOR SALVATION

Heavenly Father, I come to You in the Name of Your Son, Jesus, seeking Your grace and salvation. I believe that Y’shua, Jesus is the Messiah and that He died on the cross to pay the penalty of my sins. I believe that He rose from the dead, and is the living Saviour. I now receive Him as my own personal Saviour.

Lord Jesus, thank You for Your love and Your great sacrifice on the cross that has brought me salvation. I will confess You as my Master from this day on, and I ask You to make me a new person. By Your grace I will seek to follow Your Word all the days of my life. Please take my life and let it be consecrated, Lord, to You. Thank You, Master.

Heavenly Father, thank You for Your gift of eternal life, and the new life You have given me in Christ. Teach me Your ways, Father, and fulfil Your will in my life, I pray.

Thank You Father. I pray in the Name of Y’shua, Jesus the Messiah. Amen

Signed ………………………….. date …………

If this has been your prayer, dear reader, we would be glad to hear from you, and we’ll send you a booklet to help you get established on “The Way.”

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