Month: July 2014

The World Polarizes

by atharris, posted in Israel

Tiny little Israel, roughly the size of the state of New Jersey and with a population of one half of 1 percent of the world’s 7 billion people, and yet it has caused a great divide and commotion among the peoples of the world in the midst of their conflict with Hamas.

Interestingly 2000 years ago, Israel was polarized against one man; Jesus. The Pharisees and Scribes of the day were against Jesus, even accusing Him of working for Satan and calling ‘good’ evil. In the end, most of Israel rejected Jesus and went on to see their destruction beginning in 70 AD.

As it was in the beginning with Adam and Eve, and as it was in the days Jesus walked the Earth, so it is today, a fight between good and evil, a fight for the Kingdom. Just as Israel ended in destruction during that time, the world today is facing the most destructive time in its history.

Perhaps you are reading this and looking for a way out of all the uncertainty, war, and the coming destruction? Perhaps you desperately need peace in your life? Jesus is the only way. Do you know Him?

3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.

4 And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know.

5 Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way?

6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. John 14:3-6

 

 

Watching the events around the world today, a few verses come to mind.

13 But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in. Matthew 23:13

 

12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Ephesians 6:12

 

20 Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Isaiah 5:20

 

3 And I will bless them that bless thee (Israel), and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. Genesis 12:3

 

16 And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.

17 For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled. 18 And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth. Revelation 17:16-18

 

7 In his days shall the righteous flourish; and abundance of peace so long as the moon endureth. 8 He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth. 9 They that dwell in the wilderness shall bow before him; and his enemies shall lick the dust.

10 The kings of Tarshish and of the isles shall bring presents: the kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts. 11 Yea, all kings shall fall down before him: all nations shall serve him. Psalm 72:7-11

 

17 His name shall endure for ever: his name shall be continued as long as the sun: and men shall be blessed in him: all nations shall call him blessed. 18 Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, who only doeth wondrous things. 19 And blessed be his glorious name for ever: and let the whole earth be filled with his glory; Amen, and Amen. Psalm 72:17

 

 

 

 

 

Declaring Israel a ‘terrorist state,’ Bolivia’s president ends free entry for Israeli visitors

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/07/30/declaring-israel-terrorist-state-bolivia-president-ends-free-entry-for-israeli/

Rising tide of anti-semitism in Britain as Jewish people face backlash over bloodshed in Gaza

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2707421/Rising-tide-anti-semitism-Britain-Jewish-people-face-backlash-bloodshed-Gaza.html#ixzz393io2QAn

Facebook says page calling for death to Jews doesn’t violate ‘community standards’

http://washingtonexaminer.com/article/2551348

Anti-Jewish slogans return to the streets in Germany as Mideast protests sweep Europe

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the-israeli-palestinian-conflict-spills-into-europe-with-protests-anti-jewish-slogans/2014/07/30/36ca8d41-b5a4-4790-9b53-c94e75da4ba6_story.html

On Monday morning, an Orthodox synagogue in North Miami Beach, Fla., Congregation Torah V’Emunah, found a swastika and the word Hamas scrawled on the outside of the building. A day earlier, cars owned by a Jewish family in Miami Beach were egged, smeared with cream cheese, and defaced with graffiti reading “Jew” and “Hamas.”

 

In Malibu, Calif., graffiti reading “Jews=Killers” and “Jews are Killing Innocent Children” appeared near the entrance to a Jewish summer camp. Pro-Palestinian graffiti was sprayed on a Chabad center in Las Vegas and on an Orthodox synagogue in Lowell, Mass.

http://www.haaretz.com/jewish-world/jewish-world-news/1.608088

A very good article:

As Operation Protective Edge continues into its fourth week, US Jewish leaders describe in excited terms an almost unprecedented atmosphere of unity among American Jews.

………

However, there is another narrative being voiced as well.

A recent Pew poll highlights an age group that is less than “supportive.” Instead of standing with Israel, the poll finds that a third of all young Americans aged 18-29 (Jews and non) in fact blame Israel for the Gaza conflict.

……….

In a comment on a Times of Israel news article about the poll he writes: “In the US, according to recent surveys, it is largely the younger generation (18-29), the self-proclaimed liberals that chastise Israel the most, yet this is the same generation that cannot point to Israel, Iraq, or Afghanistan on a map (there are many surveys to back that up, too). Empty, misguided conviction in other words.

 

 

 

The 9th of Av

by atharris, posted in Israel

The infamous 9th of Av will fall on August 4-5, a week from today.  Menachem Av is the 5th month on the Jewish calendar. Why is this significant?

  • After Moses sent 12 spies into the land of Canaan, the spies return on the eighth day of Av and report that the land is unconquerable. That night, the 9th of Av, the people cry. They did not believe that God could help them, and the people as a whole were persuaded that it was not possible to take the land. As a result, the entire nation was made to wander in the desert for 40 years Numbers 13, 14.
  • The First Temple was destroyed on the 9th of Av (423 BCE).
  • The second Temple was destroyed on the 9th of Av (68 CE).
  • Betar, the last stronghold in the heroic Bar Kochba rebellion, fell to the Romans on the 9th of Av of the year 3893 (133 CE) after a three-year siege. 580,000 Jews died by starvation or the sword, including Bar Kochba, the leader of the rebellion.
  • The Jews of England were expelled by King Edward I on the 9th of Av in 1290.
  • The Jews of Spain were expelled by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella on the 9th of Av of 1492, terminating many centuries of flourishing Jewish life in that country.
  • World War II and the Holocaust, historians conclude, was actually the long drawn-out conclusion of World War I that began in 1914. Germany declared war on Russia, effectively catapulting the First World War into motion, on the 9th of Av.

Clearly the 9th of Av historically has been a day of judgment against Israel. Will something of significance happen this year? Israel does not currently have a temple but there is some new significant movement in this area with the recent statement of finding a perfect Red Heifer and now a campaign to complete architectural plans for the Temple.

The Temple Institute launches an Indiegogo campaign to build the Third Temple, under the title: ‘Don’t make history, make the future.’

“Now is time for one of its most ambitious projects yet: completing architectural plans for the actual construction……

“It is not enough to wait and pray for the Third Temple,” it concludes. “It is a Biblical obligation to build it.”

The Temple Institute’s campaign will run for sixty days, ending on September 25 – during the Jewish New Year, or Rosh Hashana.

The campaign aims to raise $100,000 toward a building fund for the Third Temple, as part of its wider campaigns to train kohen-priests for Temple duties and rebuild the instruments in the priestly services.

https://www.templeinstitute.org/archive/28-07-14a.htm

Building the temple, says the Indiegogo campaign statement, would “usher in a new era of universal harmony and peace,” as prophesied in the Bible.

As Christians know and understand, the building of the third temple will usher in the 7 year Tribulation.

15 When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)……….

21 For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. Mattthew 24:15-21

Temple-Mount-map-4.jpg__600x0_q85_upscale

 

 

 

 

 

Turning Point?

by atharris, posted in Israel/Hamas conflict, Middle East

Gaza’s sole power plant said down after Israeli attack

The only power plant supplying electricity to the Gaza Strip was knocked out of commission by Israeli shelling, the deputy director of the energy authority in the Palestinian territory said Tuesday.

 
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ISIS and the Return to Mecca

by atharris, posted in ISIS, Israel, Middle East

Why does ISIS continue to destroy temples, tombs and even Muslim mosques wherever they go? What point are they trying to make? It’s strange that they would even destroy their own places of worship.

Ancient shrines become latest casualties of ISIS rampage: Islamic extremists demolish mosques and temples as they spread their carnage through Iraq

  • Images show at least 10 ancient shrines and Shia mosques being destroyed
  • Pictures show buildings demolished and bulldozers plowing through walls
  • Sunni extremists consider Shia Muslims heretics and the veneration of saints apostasy

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2683087/ISIS-wages-war-Shia-Muslims-Extremists-demolish-ancient-mosques-temples-spread-carnage-Iraq.html#ixzz38bptVoi5

But yet, there is a real reason behind it. They see themselves as a more ‘pure’ type of Islam and are out to destroy that which is not.

What these groups are doing is based on an endemic Salafist principle common to most Salafist movements, whether they are jihadists or not. This principle underlines the need to purify the earth of polytheism and disbelief. These groups consider religious shrines or any other sites related to a certain person to be a kind of sanctification, which is, according to them, a true sign of polytheism.

The destruction of these sites is part of the process of returning to the authentic Islam and eliminating all alien elements, according to the Salafist understanding. This contradicts the traditional understanding of Islam by all Muslim confessions, which means that Islam does not contradict other sanctities, but rather understands them and considers them sacred, especially when the people of these sacred places are prophets of the Quran, such as the prophets Jonah and Daniel and many others from both the New and Old Testaments.

The destruction of sacred places also happened during the establishment of Saudi Arabia, which was described as the first political entity for Salafists in the Islamic world.

Read more: http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2014/07/iraq-is-destruction-shrines-abrahamic-religions.html#ixzz38brOKstp

While it cannot be confirmed, ISIS has threatened to destroy the Kaaba or black stone in Mecca. It is the holiest site of all Islam. Men walk in a circle around the Kaaba.

Kaaba
ISIS is leaving a path of destroyed churches, shrines and mosques in its wake as it storms across Syria and Iraq, and has even set its sights on Mecca — Islam’s holiest site.
“They see themselves as the last defenders of Islamic civilization and want to eradicate anything that they see as the enemy of Islam, and any Muslim they perceive as compromising with the West,” Yvonne Haddad….

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/07/10/isis-destroys-shrines-and-mosques-sets-sights-on-mecca/

Will they attempt to do so and will they succeed? The following video was filmed in 2012 and although does not mention ISIS, it presents a very plausible scenario that ISIS could indeed at least attempt to do so with respect to what is happening in the Middle East today. The video is also packed with other Biblical facts and tidbits that make a very interesting view. Pay attention when Avi mentions the Arab Spring midway and particularly towards the end of the film.

The land promised to Israel is much greater than what they poses today, and the day is coming soon when they will expand their borders.

Deuteronomy 11:24

24 Every place whereon the soles of your feet shall tread shall be yours: from the wilderness and Lebanon, from the river, the river Euphrates, even unto the uttermost sea shall your coast be.

  • The Southern boundary – The Wilderness
  • The  Northern boundary –  Lebanon
  • The Western boundary – River Euphrates
  • The Eastern – Uttermost (Mediterranean Sea)

It may look something like this.

Israel

Watch the video for more information guaranteed to turn on ‘light bulbs’!

Cease-fire complexity update

by atharris, posted in Israel/Hamas conflict, Middle East

I had posted the news below in the previous post.

Mashaal made one more interesting point that relates to the US. He claimed that Secretary of State John Kerry called his friends in Qatar and Turkey at the start of the conflict and asked them to broker a ceasefire. If this is true, it’s nothing less than a scandal because it would mean Kerry had cut out the ground from beneath the Egyptian ceasefire proposal.

It turns out this was a true statement by Mashaal concerning the latest, absurd cease-fire proposal from Secretary of State John Kerry.

The Palestinian Authority is fuming at US Secretary of State John Kerry, accusing him of trying to undermine the Egyptian ceasefire initiative endorsed by Israel and the PA last week and rejected by Hamas, an Arab daily reported on Sunday.

Palestinian sources told the London-based A-Sharq Al-Awsat that Kerry had initially agreed to an Egyptian proposal for an immediate ceasefire followed by five days of negotiations between Israel and the PA, with American assurances to address some of Hamas’s demands. But on Friday evening Kerry produced a new plan based on consultations with Qatar and Turkey and conducted between “the State of Israel” and “the Palestinian factions,” excluding the PA. The Israeli cabinet unanimously rejected Kerry’s plan.

Read more: Abbas fumes at Kerry over alternative ceasefire bid | The Times of Israel http://www.timesofisrael.com/abbas-fumes-at-kerry-over-alternative-ceasefire-bid/#ixzz38i1vKPdw

“confidential draft” of the American ceasefire proposal leaked to the press appears to confirm what The Times of Israel reported Friday — that Washington was willing to generously accede to many of Hamas’s demands, while all but ignoring Israel’s security requirements.
The published text of the proposal, obtained by Haaretz, also shows that Qatar and Turkey – Hamas’s main sponsors in the region — were given prominent roles in the mediation, while the Palestinian Authority and Egypt were entirely marginalized.

According to the text, “the Palestinian factions” and the State of Israel would make three commitments:

a)……

b)……..

c) Convene in Cairo, at the invitation of Egypt, within 48 hours to negotiate resolution of all issues necessary to achieve a sustainable cease-fire and enduring solution to the crisis in Gaza, including arrangements to secure the opening of crossings, allow the entry of goods and people and ensure the social and economic livelihood of the Palestinian people living in Gaza, transfer funds to Gaza for the payment of salaries for public employees, and address all security issues.

…..as it basically accepts all of Hamas’s demands but addresses Israeli worries only tangentially.

Read more: Leaked document confirms US ceasefire bid generous to Hamas | The Times of Israel http://www.timesofisrael.com/leaked-document-confirms-us-ceasefire-bid-generous-to-hamas/#ixzz38i5aSH6x

Betrayal?

As Ha’aretz correspondent Barak Ravid, one of Israel’s premier left-wingreporters, put it:

“The document recognized Hamas’ position in the Gaza Strip… [and it] placed Israel and Hamas on the same level, as if the first is not a primary US ally and as if the second isn’t a terror group which overtook part of the Palestinian Authority in a military coup and fired thousands of rockets at Israel.”

 

http://www.israeltoday.co.il/NewsItem/tabid/178/nid/24786/Default.aspx?utm_source=news&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=No-sidebar-news-1&utm_content=1308

Interesting words, a hint of something to come?

In the legitimacy stakes, Netanyahu has three solid allies for crushing Hamas: Saudi King Abdullah, Egyptian President Abdel-Fatteh El-Sisi and the UAE ruler Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum. Sunday, Mahmoud Abbas attached a Palestinian voice to this group.

This regional coalition has enormous clout, derived, on the one hand, from the Israeli military and its fight against Hamas in the Gaza Strip and the Egyptian army’s containment of Hamas efforts to break out into Sinai for strategic depth; and, on the other, from the financial might of Saudi Arabia and the oil emirates and the world prestige they enjoy.

So why is the Obama administration shoving this powerful coalition out of his way and building a rival alliance to counter it?

 

http://www.debka.com/article/24135/Netanyahu%E2%80%99s-dilemma-Back-Obama%E2%80%99s-save-Hamas-policy-or-fight-for-its-downfall-with-Egypt-and-Saudis-

Meanwhile Egypt continues to guard Israel’s back.

An official in Cairo reports that 14 Al Qaeda militants were killed and 47 other terrorists were arrested in Egyptian army raids in northern Sinai. Friday, 12 jihadists were killed and 11 others detained, said a spokesperson of the Egyptian Armed Forces, Mohamed Samir Abdel Aziz Saturday night.

 

The majority of Evangelical Christians are still in favor of Israel, but as I stated before, this White House Administration is not. So now the complexity increases with a new twist. With all of the consulting and counseling going on, is it starting to look more like Psalms 83?? Just a thought for now…..

Keep not thou silence, O God: hold not thy peace, and be not still, O God.

2 For, lo, thine enemies make a tumult: and they that hate thee have lifted up the head.

3 They have taken crafty counsel against thy people, and consulted against thy hidden ones.

4 They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.

5 For they have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee:Psalms 83

 

 

 

 

 

Syrian Al-Qaeda fighters

by atharris, posted in ISIS, Middle East

The ever changing landscape of the Syrian Civil War continues as it has since March 2011. Now Syrian AL-Qaeda militants have moved next to the Israeli/Jordanian border after fleeing from IS (Islamic State or ISIL).

  Thousands of Syrian jihadists affiliated with al-Qaeda’s Al-Nusra Front have recently taken refuge near the Israeli and Jordanian borders fleeing northern Syria, which has fallen into the hands of the more extreme Islamic State, formerly known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

Created in January 2012 and led by Mohammed al-Jawlani, the Al-Nusra Front is classified as a terror organization by the United Nations, the United States, and other Western countries. Al-Qaeda, represented in Syria by Al-Nusra, has dissociated itself from the Islamic State, which has occupied vast territories in northern and western Iraq, as well as northern Syria.

IS continues its rampage to destroy.

Islamic State destroys Jonah’s Tomb in Mosul

Radical army continues to impose reign of terror on Mosul as Iraq faces major crises

Al Quds Day

by atharris, posted in Israel/Hamas conflict, Middle East

Violent riots were staged in different parts of Jerusalem Thursday night in protest against the IDF counter-terror operation in the Gaza Strip. A man was killed in a rally of some 10,000 at the Kalandia crossing into the West Bank. Some 90 people were injured. Three Jerusalem police officers were injured in another outbreak on Temple Mount. Hamas has called on West Bank and Jerusalem Palestinians to launch an intifada against Israel.

f140703sk102-cropped-635x357

 

 

 

 

 

Al Quds Day begins tomorrow, Friday the 25th.

Muslims across the world will be taking to the streets on Friday to protest against the atrocities and crimes committed by the Zionist regime of Israel against the innocent people of Gaza. 

International Quds Day is an annual event held on the last Friday of Ramadan that was initiated by the Islamic Republic of Iran in 1979 to express solidarity with the Palestinian people and to oppose Zionism and Israel’s control of Jerusalem. 

http://www.tehrantimes.com/component/content/article/94-headline/117240-muslim-world-to-stand-up-to-israel-on-quds-day