The Prince of Persia - Jack Kinsella - www.omegaletter.com

"But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days: but, lo, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me; and I remained there with the kings of Persia. Now I am come to make thee understand what shall befall thy people in the latter days: for yet the vision is for many days." (Daniel 10:13-14)

The United States military forces in Iraq are currently conducting combat operations against a Shi'ite militia in Fallujah under the control of a radical Muslim cleric named Muqtada al-Sadr. The Pentagon decided to retaliate -- hard -- for the killing and mutilation of four American civilian security contractors there last week.

It seems that too many columns open with the phrase, "military forces in Iraq are currently conducting combat operations against a Shi'ite militia somewhere under the control of some radical Muslim cleric" somewhere.

Despite that, too many people still don't get it. At some point, every columnist in every Western country in the world is likely to write a variation of that same sentence inserting his own country at the beginning. In the meantime, they write columns explaining why America deserves to be Islam's favorite target.

While the West dithers, Islamic forces are gathering, burying old animosities and building new alliances in preparation for what appears to be an all-out confrontation.

About ten days ago, US occupation forces closed an Iraqi newspaper, Al Hawaza. The coalition said it closed the newspaper for 60 days because it had been printing false statement likely to incite violence. The paper belonged to Muqtada al-Sadr. The closure was followed by days of demonstrations, and, eventually, the outrage at Fallujah.

Making matters worse, US coalition forces arrested al-Sadr's aide, Mustafa al-Yacoubi for murder in the killing last April of al-Sadr's rival, Shi'ite cleric Abdel-Majid al-Khoai.

al-Sadr's claim to legitimacy comes from his father, Ayatollah Muhammad Sadeq al-Sadr, who was killed by Saddam in 1999. Portraits of the father are hoisted at every gathering, and his sayings are often cited by the younger al-Sadr. He claims he is descended through his father from the Prophet Muhammad and, as such, is referred to as "al-sayed," or master, by fellow Shi'ites.

It sounds like Middle Eastern Islam conducting business as usual; deception, demonstrations, riots, killings and political intrigue. Strikes, counterstrikes, assassination of rivals, calls for 'death to America' for liberating it from Saddam -- all the usual stuff. But this is coming, not from Saddam's pet Sunnis, but from the Shi'ites who suffered the most at his hands.

The Shi'ites are not Saddam loyalists, they were his targets. They were, together with the Kurds, the ones we actually DID liberate from oppression. Why fight their liberators?

The Islamic paradise of Iran is a Shi'ite Muslim paradise. The Shia are ideological enemies of the Sunnis of Iraq, as well as the Wahhabis of Saudi Arabia.

If they weren't attacking the West, they'd be fighting each other. Confused yet? While they remain bitter enemies, they share in common the religious worldview of 'Dar al Islam' (Zone of Islam) and 'Dar al-Harb' (Zone of Death).

Since the West lives outside the Zone of Islam, it is inside the Zone of Death to Shia, Sunni and Wahabbi alike. Israel, on the other hand, is an alien presence inside Dar al Islam, and an offense to Islam by its very existence.

Since America not only supports Israel's existence, but is also an occupying force inside the Dar al Islam, it is Islam's enemy twice over.

Iran's fingerprints are all over al-Sadr's movement, and its activities. Iran has been working with the Shi'ites in Iraq since the fall of Saddam. The Iranians are also heavily involved with Hamas, despite the fact that Hamas is majority Wahabbi, and is also receiving funding from Wahabbi Saudi Arabia.

The death of Sheik Yassin created a power vacuum in Hamas. Yassin had close ties to the Saudi royals, whereas Abdul al Rantisi does not. And that's where Iran comes in.

Shi'ite Iran is also the principle supporter of Hezbollah, whose secondary source of support is Syria's ruling Ba'athists, who, although secular, identify themselves with Sunni Islam.

Last month, Hamas lost its web host in Switzerland after somebody remembered that Hamas had been declared a terrorist organization by the European Union. It resurfaced, hosted by a Russian web host company.

All these dots connect, if you are watching closely.

It is significant to note that Sunni Muslims, like those of Iraq's deadly Sunni triangle, make up about 85% of world-wide Islam. Shi'ite Muslims, like the followers of Muqtada al-Sadr and the rulers of Iran, only account for some 10% of Islam. And the Wahabbi Islam of Saudi Arabia and al-Qaeda are just one of seven smaller Islamic sects that comprise the other 5%.

Mixed in somewhere with the Wahabbis in that five percent are Kharijis, Druze, Alawi, Ismali, Ahmadiyyah and Sufis. What seems to be missing is the kinder, gentler, Islam of peace favored by that Muslim majority that DOESN'T want to bring jihad to the Dar al Harb.

Assessment:

The prophet Daniel discovered in the writings of Jeremiah a prophecy that said Israel would serve in captivity for seventy years. "In the first year of his reign I Daniel understood by books the number of the years, whereof the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah the prophet, that he would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem." (Daniel 9:2)

Daniel wrote, "In those days I Daniel was mourning three full weeks. I ate no pleasant bread, neither came flesh nor wine in my mouth, neither did I anoint myself at all, till three whole weeks were fulfilled." (Daniel 10-2-3)

Daniel waited, and he prayed, until an angel of the Lord appeared to him. The angel assured Daniel he had been heard from the beginning, "Fear not, Daniel: for from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand, and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard, and I am come for thy words." (11:12)

But the angel said he was withstood for '21 days' (three weeks) by the 'Prince of Persia' until the archangel Michael "came to help me; and I remained there with the kings of Persia." (11:13) The angel said in the next verse, "Now I am come to make thee understand what shall befall thy people in the latter days: for yet the vision is for many days." (11:14)

There is a pattern here. Daniel knew the time to liberate the captives was at hand. All the signs were there, all the preconditions had been met, but the liberation had not yet come. He prayed, he waited and he prayed and he waited. The angel explained that he was delayed because he was locked in spiritual combat with the prince of Persia. Michael, the archangel assigned to the protection of Israel, was dispatched to help.

Note the appearance of Daniel's angel:

"Then I lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and behold a certain man clothed in linen, whose loins were girded with fine gold of Uphaz: His body also was like the beryl, and his face as the appearance of lightning, and his eyes as lamps of fire, and his arms and his feet like in colour to polished brass, and the voice of his words like the voice of a multitude." (10:5-6)

Compare it to John's description of the appearance of Jesus Christ:

"And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle. And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle. His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire; And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters." (Revelation 1:13-16)

Daniel recorded his reaction when he saw the revealing Angel:

"Therefore I was left alone, and saw this great vision, and there remained no strength in me: for my comeliness was turned in me into corruption, and I retained no strength. Yet heard I the voice of his words: and when I heard the voice of his words, then was I in a deep sleep on my face, and my face toward the ground." (Daniel 10:7-8)

So did the Apostle John:

"And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last: " (Revelation 1:17) Do you see any similarities? There are others.

Daniel's vision was for what would befall Israel in the last days. The first three chapters of the Revelation of Jesus Christ contain the outline of what would befall the Church, leading up to the Rapture.

Daniel's expectation of redemption from captivity for his people was held up by a spiritual battle between the revealing Angel and the Prince of Persia.

The Church is also expecting its redemption. Jesus told us that, "when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh." (Luke 21:28)

We see the signs of the times, read the promises of Scripture regarding the Rapture of the Church, and we wait, as Daniel did.

Meanwhile, all around us, a great spiritual war is raging, spilling out into the flesh-and-blood world as a war between the Christian West and the Jews of Israel, against the forces of Islam, the Prince of Persia.

Scripture promises a special crown to those who study Bible prophecy and announce His coming. "For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming?" (1st Thessalonians 2:19)

It is one of only four crown rewards available to the believer at the Bema Seat, the others being; the crown of righteousness (2nd Timothy 4:8), the crown of life (James 1:12) and the crown of glory, (1 Peter 5:4) -- so it is a very significant reward.

"And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end. Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand." (Daniel 12:9-10)

Understand?
 

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Special Report: The Third Temple - Jack Kinsella - www.omegaletter.com

"Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God." (2nd Thessalonians 2:4)

In his 2nd Letter to the new church at Thessolonica, the Apostle Paul was addressing a specific teaching that had been corrupted by a false teaching that the Rapture had already occurred and they Thessalonians had been left behind.

"Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto Him, That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand."(2nd Thessalonians 2:2-3)

Note something right off the bat. The "Day of Christ" is the triumphant 2nd Coming at the conclusion of the Tribulation Period and the national redemption of Israel.

Paul refers to an event that the Thessalonians interpreted as meaning that Day 'was at hand' and NOT that the "Day of Christ" had come and gone. Instead, they feared they'd been left behind to go through the Tribulation.

"Our gathering together unto Him", Paul assures the Thessalonians, is a separate event that, had it occurred, would have meant the countdown to the "Day of Christ" had started.

Moreover, Paul assures the confused Thessalonians, "Let no man deceive you by any means: for that Day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God." (2nd Thessalonians 2:3-4)

The religious Jews of modern Israel believe the restoration of Israel to the land is evidence of the coming of the Jewish Messiah, and have been planning for a 3rd Temple to resume the Temple worship system since the British recaptured Jerusalem from the Ottoman Empire in 1917.

Writing in the London Sunday Illustrated Herald, the British official eventually responsible for redrawing the maps of the Middle East and carving the Balfour Declaration Mandate in half observed, "It would almost seem as if the gospel of Christ and the gospel of Antichrist were destined to originate from the same people." Winston Churchill, February 8, 1920.

That may sound antisemitic, but only if one fails to understand the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

While the Jews are not responsible for the death of the Messiah, they did reject Him. They didn't recognize Who He was, by Divine Plan. That isn't a condemnation of the Jews, it is a recorded fact of history.

"He came unto His own, and His own received Him not; But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His Name:" (John 1:11)

Jesus Himself confirmed that the antichrist will be received as the Messiah by Israel during the early part of the Tribulation:

"I am come in my Father's Name, and ye receive Me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive." (John 5:42)

Speaking of the salvation of the Cross, the Apostle Paul explains; "What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded. (According as it is written, God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear;) unto this day." (Romans 11:7-8)

Paul explains further that; "For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in." (Romans 11:25)

In that single verse, Paul forever dashes any justification for antisemtism, instead, revealing the enormous debt the Church owes the Jews. Apart from any Divine judgment against Israel for past sins, the "blindness, in part, is happened to Israel" so that we, the Gentiles, could be saved.

That being said, there is something else important to note about the Third Temple of 2nd Thessalonians 2:4: Many Christians teach that the Third Temple is the Temple of the Antichrist -- it is even so nicknamed. But Paul says -- note this well -- the antichrist takes his seat "in the temple of God".

This is another evidence that the Church Age concludes at the Rapture, and that the Rapture takes place before the beginning of the Tribulation Period. The Tribulation is also called "The time of Jacob's Trouble" (Jeremiah 30:7) or the 70th Week of Daniel. (Daniel 9:24)

The Tribulation Period is the final week of the Age of the Law, which was cut short at the Cross. (Daniel 9:26)

Also, when examining Daniel's Seventy Weeks, look at God's sixfold purpose to be accomplished at their conclusion:

1) to finish the transgression,

2) to make an end of sins,

3) to make reconciliation for iniquity,

4) to bring in everlasting righteousness,

5) to seal up the vision and prophecy, and,

6) to anoint the most Holy.

For Christians, this was accomplished at the Cross. But national Israel will be saved, Paul tells us. "And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob." (Romans 11:26)

While some Jews were saved in the 1st century, and some in each century since, Paul says that in God's Divine Plan, "ALL Israel shall be saved." There is no misinterpreting the word 'all'.

The purpose of Daniel's 70th Week is to accomplish all that is promised in order to bring about the Millennial Kingdom. The Church plays no role, which is why the Church is not mentioned anywhere in Scripture in the context of Daniel's 70th Week.

Because, as Paul told the Thessalonians, "we have not yet been gathered unto Him" so the Day of Israel's national redemption, the "Day of Christ" (see Zechariah 12:10) is not "yet at hand".

Why is all this important to the Third Temple? Because the Third Temple is ritually legitimate during the Tribulation. According to the Temple Mount Institute, Temple worship could be resumed today, if they could rebuild the Temple itself.

According to director Chaim Richman, (who told me this personally in 1992), they know where the Ark of the Covenant is located in a secret chamber inside the Temple Mount. The Temple Mount Institute makes a similar claim on its website.

A rabbinical school (or yeshiva) for the training of the priests for this temple is presently in existence in the Old City. To ensure ritual purity, its students live on elevated platforms and are not permitted to touch Israeli soil until the Temple area can be ritually cleansed.

Sacred vessels and priestly garments have been prepared. Cedar from Lebanon captured in the north during the war there in 1982 has been placed in storage for the next temple, and so on.

Thus there has been considerable preparation for the Third Temple by the religious Jews of modern Jerusalem. Both the Askenazi and Sephardic Chief Rabbis of Jerusalem agree that such a temple will be built as soon as circumstances permit.

It would not be necessary for the entire Temple to be rebuilt before the restoration of the Jewish system of Temple worship and animal sacrifice. (David's first temple was a tent to house the Ark of the Covenant).

But the worship and sacrifice MUST be performed on a ritually cleansed Temple Mount. The only problem is the al-Aqsa mosque that currently occupies that spot.

Illegal construction underneath the Temple Mount by the Muslim Waqf (who control the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is causing the ancient retaining wall that holds it up to crumble.

Using forbidden heavy earth-moving equipment, they are now excavating a northerly channel on the Temple Plaza heading in the direction of the Dome of the Rock. Breaking into the bedrock in this area, archeologists warn, would also harm the gold-topped Dome, which sits on that rock.

It seems more than probable, especially with the announcement by the US and UK that it will support Sharon's unilateral disengagement plan, that another Arab-Israeli war is on the horizon, particularly if that wall should crumble and topple the al-Aqsa Mosque.

There is some reason to suspect that the collapse of the Dome is the reason Arafat has ordered such extensive excavations despite dire warnings of what might result. A collapse of the Dome would rally the entire Arab world to his cause, particularly after Arafat blames Israeli sabotage for its destruction.

There is absolutely no reason to doubt that, in the event of any such war, Israel will recapture the Temple Mount. And there is no reason to believe they will ever surrender it again.

According to the Mitzvot, it is the obligation of every generation of Jews to rebuild their holy Temple on Temple Mount. Flush with the victories of 1967, the Israeli government surrendered the Temple Mount to Arab control to forestall the inevitable UN demands that Israel surrender ALL the territory it captured.

Over the last decade, Israel's exchange has proved futile, as the Arabs have managed to reclaim almost all the land Israel gave up sovereignty over the Temple Mount to keep.

The Israelis are unlikely to ever surrender it again.

"If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy." Psalms 137:5-6)

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The Burdensome Stone - Jack Kinsella - www.omegaletter.com

British Prime Minister Tony Blair began to distance himself a bit from his war ally, George Bush, following the US announcement of support for Ariel Sharon's unilateral disengagement plan. While the White House responded to Israel's killing of Hamas leader Abdel Rantisi by saying Israel has a right to self-defense, Tony Blair denounced it as an 'assassination'.

That seems an odd posture for any country engaged in the war on terror to take.

Abdel Azizz Rantisi was a terrorist killer who was directly responsible for the deaths of hundreds of innocent Israelis. Osama bin-Laden is a terrorist leader who is directly responsible for the deaths of tens of Britons.

It is worth asking the question; if a British sniper in Afghanistan got Osama in his cross hairs and took the shot, would he be a hero, worthy of praise? Or an 'assassin', worthy of condemnation?

The British press is following its political leader in damning Israel enthusiastically for deciding to pull out of Gaza and withdraw from most of the West Bank.

The Palestinians want it all, and will accept nothing less than 'all' and that's all there is to it, goes the British view of the situation. "Since Israel stole it from the Palestinians in the first place, the thinking goes, any portion the Palestinians lets the Jews keep is more than they have coming."

(The irony is that it was Great Britain that created a much-larger Jewish homeland via the 1917 Balfour Declaration in the first place -after Britain 'stole' it from the Ottoman Empire in World War I)

In any case, the fact Israel wants to retain control of six long-established settlement blocs out of all of Gaza and the West Bank is unacceptable to the Brits. Just as it is unacceptable to the whole of the Arab world. And unacceptable by the United Nations entire; but for the US, the Marshall Islands, and Micronesia.

Think about it for a second -- I mean, really THINK about what we are talking about. Virtually unanimous global support for the ethnic cleansing of all Jews from the West Bank! There are about a quarter million Jews concerned, many of whom have lived in their homes for thirty years or more! It staggers the imagination.

What really staggers the imagination is the global uproar that would ensue if Israel attempted to ethnically cleanse the Jewish State of its Israeli Arab population.

Think this through. Israel is surrounded by hostile Arab states. Some of its own Israeli-Arab citizens have been been directly involved in terrorist acts against Israel on the behalf of those Arab enemy states. Israel possesses about 1/6th of one percent of the entire Middle East -- the rest is in Arab hands.

If Israel tried to expell a relative handful of Arabs into an Arab world more than one hundred times its size, Israel couldn't even count on Micronesia, let alone America, to support it. But let the Arab world try to expell a quarter-million Jews from its territory into tiny Israel -- and it takes a US veto to stop the UN from sending troops in to help with the cleansing operation.

Assessment:

The global reaction to the Israeli unilateral withdrawal is the exact opposite of what one should expect. Ever since Israel captured the West Bank and Gaza, the world has demanded an Israeli withdrawal. The UN General Assembly has passed resolution after resolution demanding an Israeli withdrawal, going all the way back to 1947. (Most of them were unanimous, except for dissenting votes from Israel, the US, the Marshall Islands and Micronesia.)

So now, Israel is pulling out, asking only that the quarter million Jews already settled for a generation be allowed their homes. Instead of having Palestinian Arabs dancing for joy in the streets, while diplomats clink together celebratory glasses of champagne, the disengagement plan is meeting universal opposition.

What about the Arab 'Right of Return'? Where will the Palestinians work? Who will take care of Gaza when the Israelis pull out? How will the Arabs govern their war-torn new state and shattered economy?

(Those answers should provide clues about the true nature of Israel's 'brutal occupation'? IF one were looking for the truth, that is.)

That nobody can see the deliberate, systematic effort on behalf of virtually the whole world to drive the Jewish state out of existence (or turn a blind eye to it) is no more acceptable to me than that Europe 'didn't know' where its Jews went when they boarded those trains headed east during WWII.

In 1947, the Palestinians were offered a state larger than the one they claim to demand now, but they rejected the UN Partition Plan in favor of a plan to wipe out the Jews and take it all. The Arabs who lived on the UN's Jewish Mandate fled, expecting to return after the Jews were annihilated. They gambled and lost. (Those Arabs and their descendants are the ones affected by the 'Right of Return')

The 'Right of Return' is analogous to betting against the house in a casino, losing, and demanding your bet back as a 'Right of Refund'. But it enjoys the backing of every nation on earth except Israel. And now, the United States, and (possibly) Micronesia and the Marshall Islands.

The Arabs didn't want a state in 1947, they wanted to deny the Jews one. Subsequent history proves that goal remains unchanged. And secretly shared.

Following the 1967 Six Day War, Golda Meir, then-Israel's prime minister, offered to return virtually all the territories Israel had just captured in exchange for peace. That included the entire West Bank and the Gaza Strip. The Palestinians and Arab States answered with the famous "three nos" -- no recognition, no negotiation, and no peace.

In 1979, the Palestinians turned a joint Egyptian and Israeli invitation to join the peace negotiations at Camp David. Had they accepted, they could have had an independent state decades ago.

In 2000, Yasser Arafat turned down the Camp David proposal that would have given the Palestinians the beginnings of a thriving Palestinian state. It included all of Gaza and 97 percent of the West Bank.

Not only did the Arafat turn down the offer, he unleashed the second intifada. There is now little left to rule, but the Arab goal was never statehood from the beginning.

At each historic opportunity, what scuttled the Palestinian chance at statehood was the Arab insistence on evolving terms they knew Israel could never accept, like demanding all of Jerusalem, or holding out for an eventual 'Right of Return'.

The UN endorsed it, for a number of reasons, not the least of which was that, institutionally, the UN shares the Arab vision of a Jew-free Middle East. Israel has been the catalyst for most of the UN's headaches since the day it first raised its flag and declared its existence. The world would a much simpler place to govern if Israel were an Arab state.

And the Right of Return would give the Arabs an overnight electoral majority, meaning Israel would be an Arab state at the next election. George Bush, in his endorsement of unilateral disengagement, took the 'Right of Return', not to mention Jerusalem, right off the table.

That is one of the reasons behind a new Palestinian tactic being tested now. Ahmed Queria threatened recently to abandon claims to the West Bank and Baza and to demand equal citizenship in a 'bi-national' state. It would have the same ultimate effect of creating an instant Palestinian majority. And the eventual end of a Jewish State in the Middle East.

President Bush was stating the obvious when he said: "It seems clear that an agreed, just, fair, and realistic framework for a solution to the Palestinian refugee issue . . . will be found through the establishment of a Palestinian state and the settling of the refugees there rather than in Israel."

But as obvious as it is, it is evidently only clear to Israel, the US, the Marshall Islands and Micronesia.

"And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it." (Zechariah 12:3)

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Special Report: "A More Sure Word. . ." - Jack Kinsella - www.omegaletter.com

"For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His Majesty." (2nd Peter 1:16)

What sets a Christian apart from a Muslim, a Jew, or a Buddhist? Christians wake up each morning, confident in their salvation and unafraid to meet their God.

Their God isn't an unknowable Allah, or a dead Chinese philosopher or a coming Messiah, but a Risen Savior Who has already paid the full penalty for their sin on the Cross.

To a born-again Christian, at the moment of rebirth, one becomes 'positionally seated in the heavenlies' -- that is to say, as surely as if that person was there already.

In the beginning, God created man in His Image. God is eternal -- existing outside of space and time, He always was and He always will be, in a kind of ever-present now, for want of a better analogy. God created the angels in the same way, although they had a created beginning, they were designed to last eternally.

So, we have the two eternal creations of God -- the angels, and man. Everybody with me so far?

The angels rebelled and were cast out of heaven (Jude 1:6, Job 2:2 Isaiah 14:12). Then Adam and Eve fell, and were cast out of Eden. (Genesis 3:23)

After the Flood, God sought out Abraham, with whom He made a covenant. Through Moses, God established the Law, which in essence, subdivided spiritual mankind and created a new spiritual entity in the Jew.

All mankind was now subdivided into either Jew or Gentile. Are you still with me? To this point, there are three distinct eternal entities; angels and mankind, subdivided into Jews and Gentiles.

Spiritually, they are distinctly different with the only common characteristic being that they are created with an eternal spiritual existence. Don't let me lose you now. Here's the good part.

The Bible teaches that, at the Cross, a fourth spiritual creation came into existence. It is distinct from either Jew or Gentile, but is related to both.

"Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." (2 Corinthians 5:17)

You still with me now? Allow me to torture yet another analogy by way of explanation. Think of the caterpillar and the butterfly. Or, better yet, a pickle and a cucumber. Your choice.

You start life spiritually, as a caterpillar (or a cucumber). Unless you get squashed (or eaten) before the transformation takes place, then that is how you remain for eternity.

Stay with me. . .

On the other hand, once the caterpillar becomes a butterfly (or the cucumber becomes a pickle), that is what it is. It isn't what it WILL be, it is what it IS.

And no matter what you do, you can't turn a butterfly into a caterpillar (or a pickle into a cucumber). That is why it is called TRANSFORMATION. It is permanent and irrevocable.

"For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature." (Galatians 6:15)

Becoming a 'new creature' in Christ is not a future event -- it cannot be, since it takes place at the moment of salvation.

"For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God." (1 Corinthians 1:18 ) We already HAVE that power of God and the indwelling Holy Spirit as a birthright procured on our behalf by the Savior.

Let's pull it all together now. Among the most divisive doctrines in the Body of Christ is the doctrine of eternal security.

At various times, we've examined it from the perspective of 'this is what the context of this verse is' and, 'the original Greek says' and so on, but the fact remains that when a Jew or a Gentile is saved by the Blood of Christ, he becomes a new creature, no longer a spiritual caterpillar, (or a pickle), but something else.

The transformation is complete at that moment. The rest is up to Jesus.

"Being confident of this very thing, that He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:" ( Philippians 1:6 )

Whether 'once saved, always saved' is a slogan or a doctrine is debated endlessly. But the simple truth of God is that the truth of God is simple.

You can't turn a butterfly into a caterpillar. And you can't turn a pickle into a cucumber.

Assessment:

"We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts:" (2nd Peter 1:19)

Don't let doubt steal your confidence, and don't let it be shaken by clever-sounding arguments that keep you bound by guilt and out of the battle. Know you are loved by God, and that "the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.' (Romans 11:29)

Remember Who 'He which hath begun a good work in you' is, and be confident. When you are saved, the power of God indwells you. "Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding." (Proverbs 3:5)

The time is short until He returns and eternity is a long, long time. Each of us knows somebody who is either a caterpillar or a cucumber. How they will spend eternity may be up to you.

The enemy wants you to think that you aren't good enough to be used by God, heck, you aren't even really saved! Look at what a mess you are! How can God use you? How can you tell other people that they need to trust Jesus when He can't even kick your cigarette habit for you?

The enemy wants to blind you to the fact you ARE new creature. If he can hold your salvation over your head, extending it, and then pulling it away, then that gives him power over you.

The real truth is, the only thing still up to you after salvation is whether you're going to be a beautiful butterfly or a moth; a Vlasic or a sour pickle.

But you don't have to be a spiritual heavyweight to introduce people to Jesus. Or to be ready to answer the skeptic's arguments, or to give a reason for the hope that is in you.

The only requirement for membership into the Body of Christ is that you must first be a sinner who trusts in Jesus alone for his salvation.

It bears repeating; the simple truth of God is that the truth of God is simple.

"But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;" (1 Corinthians 1:27)

Special Report: 'A More Sure Word' (a different version) - Jack Kinsella - www.omegaletter.com

"For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty." (2nd Peter 1:16)

All the world's large religions have their sacred texts; from Islam to Buddhism to Confucianism to the various Celtic and pagan religions. But among the world's sacred texts, the Bible stands uniquely above them all.

That is no insignificant claim; Webster's Dictionary defines 'unique' as "different from all others; having no like or equal."

Muslims, Hindus, pagans and so on find that characterization of the Scriptures offensive, but indisputable. There are books LIKE the Bible, but they aren't 'unique' in the sense the Bible is, even among those who follow their teachings.

The Koran was composed from the oral teachings of Mohammed. The Book of Mormon was written by Joseph Smith. Confusicious was the author of the religion bearing his name, as was Buddha.

The Bible is made up of sixty-six separate books. They were written over a period of 1600 years, roughly a span of forty generations. The human authors of the books of the Bible came from every conceivable walk of life.

Moses was a political leader who was trained in the universities of Egypt. Peter was a simple fisherman. Amos was a herdsman, while Joshua, a military general.

Nehemiah was a cup bearer to the king of Persia and Daniel, prime minister in the courts of Babylon. Luke was a physician. Solomon a philosopher-king. Matthew was a tax collector, while Paul was a converted Pharisee who made tents for a living.

For perspective, consider this. Imagine you could assemble your ten favorite writers and have each of them write a book on a single controversial subject. Now, you pull the whole thing together, unedited, as the 'definitive' work on that particular topic.

Would the finished product, do you imagine, flow together as seamlessly as do the books of Scripture? Would they be in harmony and without a single contradiction? Would they be accurate in all possible areas and each progressively explain and expound upon the book that came before?

Remember, you are using your ten favorite writers, all living at the same time, all addressing only one topic. The Bible is the product of 40 writers over 40 generations addressing every topic from science to medicine, from creation to the destruction of the world, from, as Norman Geisler once put it, "Paradise Lost in Genesis to Paradise Regained in Revelation."

Moses wrote from the wilderness; Jeremiah from a dungeon. Daniel wrote from Nebuchadnezzar's palace, Paul from within the walls of a Roman prison awaiting his execution.

John wrote from exile on the Island of Patmos when he was a very old man, while much of the old Testament was written on Israel's battlefields by warriors and shepherds.

The Bible was written on three continents in three different languages; Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek, yet it reads as if it flowed from a single pen.

It addresses thousands of controversial subjects, ranging from the origins of the universe and the natures of both God and man to the events that will take place in the last generation before the return of Christ.

And it does so in complete harmony.

Think of it! Now return, for a second, to your ten favorite authors analogy and look at them side by side. No contest, right?

The Bible is unique in its survival against supernatural odds. Though written on perishable material, it has been faithfully copied and recopied down through the ages, while its style, correctness, or existence did not diminish.

Manuscripts discovered at Qumran and known collectively as the Dead Sea Scrolls (including the complete Book of Isaiah), testify to the accuracy of the copyists.

Compared to other ancient writings, like those of Plato or Socrates, the manuscript evidence for the Bible is greater than for any ten pieces of classical literature combined, according to Josh McDowell's 'Evidence that Demands a Verdict'.

According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the Bible is the best selling book of all time, with sales of 2.5 billion copies between 1815 and 1975. By the end of the 19th century, the Bible had been translated into 337 languages. There are at least portions of the Bible now in over 2,000 languages.

There have probably been as many copies of the Bible burned by dictators trying to suppress it as there were copies that survived. In 303 AD, Diocletian attempted to exterminate the church and decreed that every manuscript of the Bible was to be seized and destroyed. He had the words 'extincto nomine Christianorum' ("the name of the Christians having been destroyed") put over the ashes of a copy of the Bible.

(In 328, Constantine ordered fifty copies of the Christian Scriptures prepared at Roman government expense.)

Voltaire, the famous French atheist, predicted that Christianity would be swept from existence and pass into history within 100 years of his time. Voltaire died in 1778.

In a delicious irony of history, his house and printing press was eventually sold to the Geneva Bible Society -- to print Bibles!

Unlike any of the other sacred texts of any religion, the Bible makes clear and precise prophecies concerning future events. Not only does it make those prophecies, but it claims 100% accuracy, 100% of the time.

The Bible's track record of fulfilled prophecy -- up to and including the restoration of Israel in this generation -- conforms to the Bible's impossible standard of perfect accuracy.

In addition to being a book of prophecy, the Bible contains scientific, medical, historical and geographic knowledge that was impossible for anyone to know at the time.

The oldest book of Scripture, chronologically speaking, is the book of Job. Job lived in the Middle East, probably in the area of southern Iraq.

Yet Job refers to the 'frozen face of the deep' and the 'hoary frost'(38:30) as well as recording such scientific knowledge as the fact that light is in motion or that winds move in circular patterns instead of a straight line.

The speed of light and study of climatology are recent scientific disciplines. And no science can explain Job's knowledge of Arctic conditions from southern Iraq -- centuries before Moses was inspired to write the Book of Genesis.

While sailors in Columbus' day believed the world was flat, Isaiah referred to the Lord as 'sitting on the circle of the earth' 500 years before Christ. (Isaiah 40:22)

Unlike other sacred texts that portray their principle characters as men of extreme holiness, the Bible's characters were anything but. Not only do all authors agree on the same subject, unlike any other great work, they are painfully frank about their shortcomings and failures.

From Adam and Eve blaming each other and the serpent for the Fall to Noah's drunkeness to Lot's incest to David's adultery and murder, the Bible's patriarchs and prophets are flawed human beings, just like us.

What makes the Bible unique among the sacred texts of the world's religions is its Author. "For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." (2nd Peter 1:21)

Because of its Divine Authorship, the Bible claims, "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:" (2 Timothy 3:16)

We all know people who know nothing of Scripture that are more than willing to debate its intricacies and dispute its truths. If you were to ask those same people to debate the relative merits of the Texas Penal Code provisions on disorderly conduct, they would probably decline because they never studied the Texas Penal Code.

But they will argue about 'whether a loving God could send people to hell' until the cows come home, misquoting Scriptures they can't cite and denying truths before they hear them.

"But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." (1 Corinthians 2:14)

The evidence of its Authorship abounds, from its composition to its inerrancy to its unique standing among the world's literature.

No one can be truly considered educated unless he is familiar with Scripture. And one truly familiar with Scripture could hardly be considered ignorant.

"Every word of God is pure: He is a shield unto them that put their trust in Him." (Proverbs 30:5)

"For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know Whom I HAVE BELIEVED, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day." (2nd Timothy 1:12)

The verse that sits dead-center between Genesis 1:1 and Revelation 22:21 is Psalms 118:8 -- which says it all in a single verse.

"It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man."

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Asher's Foot - Jaxk Kinsella - www.omegaletter.com

"And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee: Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation." (Genesis 17:20)

Later, when Ishmael's nephew, Esau, discovered that his brother Jacob had usurped his blessing, Esau went to his father Isaac, and begged;

"Hast thou but one blessing, my father? bless me, even me also, O my father. And Esau lifted up his voice, and wept.

And Isaac his father answered and said unto him, Behold, thy dwelling shall be the fatness of the earth, and of the dew of heaven from above; And by thy sword shalt thou live, and shalt serve thy brother; and it shall come to pass when thou shalt have the dominion, that thou shalt break his yoke from off thy neck." (Genesis 27:39-40)

The fulfillment of the promises of Scripture to Ishmael and Jacob are nothing short of astonishing in their specificity.

Tracing the geneology of Ishmael (Genesis 25:12-18) and that of Esau (Genesis 27:38-39) establish that the descendants of Ishmael and Esau make up the modern-day Arab world. Most of the world's proven oil reserves are to be found in the Arab Middle East. The Arab world accounts for some 99.4% of the total land mass of the Middle East. And what they control, they control absolutely.

Since the birth of Islam in the 5th century AD, the Muslim Middle East has been the exclusive domain of the descendants of Ishmael and Esau. Under the banner of the crescent moon, Islam at one time controlled a vast empire that extended well into Europe. The Ottoman Empire (1417-1917) under Suleiman the Magnificent, (1520-1566) was the most powerful empire in the world.

During his reign, he more than doubled the Ottoman territories inherited from his father, creating a multi-national multilingual empire stretching from Vienna in the west to the upper Arab peninsula in the east, the Crimea in the north to the Sudan in the south.

Architectural growth abounded. He had public baths, bridges, religious schools, and grand mosque complexes erected. Economic wealth spilled over into other fine arts. At the Palace Studio, 29 painters, half of them European, created a new aesthetic direction with their miniature paintings.

After Suleiman, the Ottoman Empire fell into decline before finally being defeated by the Allies in the First World War. After the war, the victorious Allies divided up the Ottoman Empire into individual states, including Syria, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Transjordan.

The Islamic Empire of the Ottomans was replaced by the Islamic oil sheikdoms, but their oil afforded them wealth and global influence that would have made Suleiman green with envy.

God kept His promise to Ishmael and Esau.

Assessment:

Hal Lindsey came into Toronto a day early so we could spend some time visiting and sightseeing before he had to start his busy conference schedule. We spent most of Thursday and Friday together catching up on mutual friends, stories about our kids and their kids, etc., etc.

With Hal was his cousin and fellow evangelist, Ralph, of whom I had heard much but had not yet met. Ralph is also involved in the oil exploration efforts ongoing in Israel. Ralph directed me to the Scripture that has guided Zion Oil and Gas to drill in a specific place in northern Israel.

What fascinated me was not that subsequent geological reports have confirmed the existence of a vast oil field somewhere in the area, but that the company was founded based on a Scriptural promise in the first place.

Zion founder John Brown, recognizing the literal fulfillment of promises made to the sons of Ishmael, examined the Scriptures regarding God's promises to the sons of Jacob and struck oil, so to speak.

"And Jacob called unto his sons, and said, Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days. Gather yourselves together, and hear, ye sons of Jacob; and hearken unto Israel your father." (Genesis 49:1-2)

The patriarch then gives specific prophecies concerning the posterity of each of his twelve sons. The most well-known of these was the prophecy of the Messiah Who would come from the line of Judah:

"The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto Him shall the gathering of the people be." (49:10)

Of his favorite son, Joseph, Jacob prophesied, "Even by the God of thy father, who shall help thee; and by the Almighty, who shall bless thee with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lieth under, blessings of the breasts, and of the womb: The blessings of thy father have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills: they shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him that was separate from his brethren." (49:25-26)

Note several things here. Joseph is to be blessed with the "blessings of the deep that lieth under" the land of Israel. The blessings shall be "on the head of Joseph."

Deuteronomy 33:13 repeats the blessing and the prophecy: "And of Joseph he said, Blessed of the LORD be his land, for the precious things of heaven, for the dew, and for the deep that coucheth beneath."

Finally, Ezekiel 47:13-14 allots Joseph a double portion of the land; "Thus saith the Lord GOD; This shall be the border, whereby ye shall inherit the land according to the twelve tribes of Israel: Joseph shall have two portions."

Of Asher, Jacob prophesied, "Out of Asher his bread shall be fat, and he shall yield royal dainties." (Genesis 49:20) In addition, Deuteronomy 33:24 records, "And of Asher he said, Let Asher be blessed with children; let him be acceptable to his brethren, and let him DIP HIS FOOT IN OIL."

Ralph gave me a map showing where Asher's 'foot' touches Joseph's 'head'. That is where Zion Oil located its Ma'Anit well site. Interestingly enough, it is just outside Meggido (on the plains of Armageddon.)

http://www.omegaletter.com/images/articles/oil_map.jpg

According to Ralph, Zion expects to make a major oil strike, with reserves expected to exceed several billion barrels. Such as strike would make Israel energy independent, and could well break the stranglehold on oil production and pricing now held by the sons of Ishmael.

It could make Israel as wealthy as any Arab oil kingdom. It is unlikely that the Arab states would allow Israel membership to OPEC, which could easily signal the end of the oil cartel's power.

An oil strike in Israel would be catastrophic to the Arab oil economy, and could easily result in another pan-Arab war against the Jewish State.

But a Jewish State in possession of huge proven oil reserves would be a different enemy than the tiny energy-dependent pariah state whose only real friend is the United States. An oil-rich Israel would find itself much more popular among the Europeans, as well.

About the only major world power who would NOT welcome a new source of oil, from whatever source, would be the oil-rich but technologically-poor Federation of Russian republics, whose largest oil reserves are in the Islamic Republic of Chechnya.

So, let's add things up, shall we? An Israeli oil strike would bring down the wrath of the Islamic world, threaten Russia's plans to use its own oil as a future strategic weapon, and earn Israel a new favored status among the Europeans, bringing all the players in Ezekiel's Gog-Magog invasion to center stage at the same time.

All that remains to be discovered is exactly where the 'blessings of the deep' are located. How likely is it that Zion Oil will strike Israel's black gold? The same God Who fulfilled His promise to Abraham regarding Ishmael and Esau also promised that Asher "will dip his foot in oil."

"And he spake to them a parable; Behold the fig tree, and all the trees; When they now shoot forth, ye see and know of your own selves that summer is now nigh at hand. So likewise ye, when ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand. Verily I say unto you, THIS GENERATION SHALL NOT PASS AWAY, till ALL be fulfilled." (Luke 21:29-32)

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Will The Real America Please Stand Up? - Hal Lindsey - www.hallindsey.com

We have to face the fact that there is taking place a real polarization in America. On the one side there is a growing aggressive minority of Americans who are amoral, agnostic, anti-religious, reject traditional American values and are very liberal politically.

On the other side, there is a majority of people who believe in traditional American values, are religious, moral and usually politically conservative. But this majority is more complacent and non-active politically.

There is no question but what it is the irreligious minority that is seen by most of the world as being the true American. This terrible situation in the Iraqi prison abuse brings this out into the open for all to see.

Most Americans cannot understand such behavior. It isn't a matter of being better trained. These military personnel should have known not to do such things from having just simple traditional American decency.

And we have been treated to a glaring example of majority of the media's lack of morality and concern for the best interest of America.

The news could have been reported without providing the enemy with pictures he can plaster up all over the Middle East. It was very reckless and self-serving of CBS.

CBS executives know that lots of Arabs can't read, and still more can't read English. But a picture says a thousand words, even to an illiterate peasant.

It has been even more reckless of US politicians to provide captions. Take the comments of Rep. John P. Murtha of Pennsylvania at Nancy Pelosi's press conference last week, for example.

Murtha told reporters, "The direction's got to be changed or it's un-winnable, in my estimation." As Tom DeLay said when he heard Murtha's shocking assessment, "It tells our enemies that if it's unwinnable to us, it's winnable to them."

The declaration that the Iraq war is 'unwinnable' by a sitting member of Congress was not prompted by a patriotic concern for our national security. It was prompted by a partisan concern to unseat the current administration—at whatever cost necessary.

This includes national security, public morale and the enormous added danger into which it places our soldiers fighting in the field. As a direct result of this kind of activity, Iranian cleric, Sheik al-Bahadli offered a reward of $350 to anyone who captures a British or American soldier.

You can just imagine what kind of treatment they will give the soldier. And he offered $150 to anyone who kills a soldier. Even more ominous, the mullah said, "Any Iraqi who takes a female soldier captive can keep her as a slave or gift to himself."

This is all condoned in the name of Allah. Iraqi terrorist groups have warned that they intend to castrate captured American and British soldiers on the banks of the Euphrates and Tigris River.

So the irresponsible politicizing of the Iraqi prisoner tragedy by the media and the Democrats not only gives aid and comfort to the enemy, it incites them into a blind fury that will cause the torture of our troops.

If this isn't illegal, it ought to be. This isn't Vietnam. If there IS an historical analogy, it would be much closer to that of World War 2.

America is fighting for its life against forces dedicated to its physical destruction. Vietnam posed no such threat. Again, there are two Americas at war here. One is at war with international terror. The other is at war with itself.

I have known from the prophetic scenario of the end times that the power of the West has to shift from the US to Europe. It just may be that the US is about to collapse from its own moral decay.

But even worse, the real cause may be laid at the feet of the moral majority who did nothing when the could have. And to the Christians who have not aggressively proclaimed the greatest good news – that Jesus Christ purchased a pardon for all those who will turn to him and receive it.

It is free to us, but it cost God the death of His beloved Son. Confess your sin now and receive the pardon that Jesus purchased for you.

Then get as active as possible in trying to turn this country back to its founding principles before it is too late.

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Special Report: From Oslo To Hell - Jack Kinsella - www.omegaletter.com

During the 1991 Gulf War, Yasser Arafat and the Palestinian Authority threw their support behind Saddam Hussein and Iraq's invasion of Kuwait. While the rest of the Arab world reluctantly fought beside American troops to throw Saddam out of Kuwait, Arafat made a trip to Baghdad to encourage the dictator.

Arafat's support of Saddam cost the Palestinians dearly.

The Saudis and Kuwaitis, until the Gulf War, were among the PLO's chief patrons, supplying the bulk of Arafat's operating capital. More than two hundred thousand Jordanian 'Palestinians' had lived and worked in Kuwait for generations -- another four hundred thousand in Saudi Arabia.

During that time, they were sending a portion of their salaries back home to Jordan (where Palestinians came from) to help support their families.

When Arafat backed Saddam, that all came crashing to a halt. The Kuwaitis and Saudis cut off PLO funding. All the 'Palestinian' workers in both countries were immediately deported -- to Jordan.

Suddenly, hundreds of thousands of displaced 'Palestinians', instead of helping to support Jordan's economy, now dotted the Jordanian desert in hastily thrown-up refugee camps. Jordan's King Hussein refused to assimilate them into Jordan's general population and, since Arafat was responsible for their expulsion, he left it up to Arafat to deal with.

Supporting Saddam cost Arafat his funding, his most powerful political supporters, forced his people into concentration camps in Jordan and left him with no other recourse but to seek peace with Israel.

On September 13, 1993, Yasser Arafat and Yitzhak Rabin stood together in the Rose Garden of the White House, shook hands, and signed the Oslo Accords.

The Oslo Agreement was set up in three stages. The first two years of the agreement were to be an experimental period during which time Israel would grant the new Palestinian Authority 'limited autonomy' over the Gaza Strip and the West Bank town of Jericho.

During this period, the PA was to be given autonomy over local government services, like trash collection, public education and local law enforcement. Certain obligations were imposed on both sides.

For example, a shared capital at Jerusalem was off the table. In fact, the PA agreed not to conduct any official business within the city limits.

Before the ink was dry, Arafat set up his official 'government' offices at the Orient House in East Jerusalem and dared Israel to do something about it.

Arafat stood on the Jericho Road and claimed ALL the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, as his Palestinian State -- within two months of signing an agreement promising he would not.

The next phase of the agreement was to run three years, during which time, assuming the 'limited autonomy' experiment was successful, it would be expanded over a greater part of the West Bank.

The two-year 'limited autonomy' did NOT work, Arafat broke every part of his agreement, and by the time Phase Two was due to start, Arafat had already claimed the whole West Bank as his eventual Palestinian State.

The Oslo Agreement specifically precluded any consideration of statehood until Stage Three -- the final dispostion of Jerusalem period. Phase Two was due to run its course for three years, ending in September, 1998. If the experiment in expanding limited autonomy was successful, the two sides would begin negotiations over Jerusalem.

Of course, Phase Two was NOT successful, Arafat broke every part of his agreement, and turned down everything offered him at Camp David. The offer extended him by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak was so generous it is doubtful it would have passed the Knesset.

It gave Arafat 97% of the West Bank plus all the Gaza Strip for his Palestinian State and even offered Arafat a shared capital in Jerusalem.

So, the two year 'final status' phase of Oslo, ostensibly over the permanent status of Jerusalem, was already decided before it was due to come to the table. Barak offered Arafat everything he had been demanding, and Arafat turned it down cold.

Oslo also required regular Palestinian leadership elections. Arafat honored that once, in 1996, and claiming the title of 'President' in violation of Oslo. The next election was due in September, 2000, and for the first time, it really looked like his people were ready for a change.

On September 13, 2000, seven years after Oslo's land-for-peace effort began, instead of peace, Arafat launched the current war against the Jews.

To the average Palestinian living under Arafat's regime, life has become a living hell, and it just keeps getting worse.

During his heyday, Arafat and his entourage showed up to negotiating sessions, exiting their chauffer-driven Mercedes wearing silk Armani suits, paid for by Western aid packages designed to alleviate the suffering of the Palestinian people.

Arafat didn't WANT to alleviate the suffering of the Palestinian people, because if they were happy, they'd be disinclined to resume the conflict with Israel, which was Arafat's plan all the time.

(His 1974 Phased Plan for the Destruction of Israel called for obtaining all that was possible through negotiation, and then to use the acquired real estate as a base for operations aimed at Israel's destruction.)

Since Arafat's funding has dried up, he can no longer pay salaries to his security forces. Now, Arafat is taking a page from his deposed hero Saddam, and is encouraging security officers to rob, pillage, rape and even kill ordinary Palestinians who get in the way.

A new report was just issued by the Palestinian Human Rights Monitoring Group, entitled, "Intrafada, the Chaos of the Weapons."

The report documents official Palestinian abuse of their own people and the transformation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip into a wasteland of violence.

According to the report, those who can, run. The report said Christian migration has increased and cities with Christian majorities have been taken over by the Hamas and Islamic Jihad. Hamas and Jihad encourage this migration.

First, they target Christian women who don't dress according to Islamic norms. Then they take over Christian homes for use in attacks against Israeli forces, particularly in the Bethlehem area.

The report said 90 percent of what it termed "gang lawlessness" can be traced to people on the PA payroll. The report said Fatah operatives often bring their guns to a dispute between Palestinian neighbors.

According to the report, the most effective tactic is to denounce someone as an 'Israeli collaborator' - a charge that can carry a sentence of death without trial.

The PA or the terror gangs often swoop in to detain, torture and even kill a Palestinian accused of collaboration. No one bothers to investigate, even if Arafat orders a probe.

Collaboration also provides an option to punish women. The accusation by a husband that his wife is a collaborator has a chilling affect on the family.

Women who don't listen to their fathers have been accused of collaboration to ensure that they are killed. Fatah terrorists often rape and then kill women who refuse to marry them and later charge the victims with being collaborators.

"Violence permeates the security forces, and it is worsened by legal confusions," the group said in the report.

"Unless and until more accountability and order is introduced, the problem will remain and could worsen as PA control continues to deteriorate. Sometimes violence erupts between police members and loyalists of political factions."

It is important to remember that this report wasn't authored by the Americans or the Israelis, or even by the UN. This report was authored by Palestinians living under what Arafat calls a 'government'.

It notes that Arafat operates more than 12 security and police agencies. They include the civilian police, civil defense, national force, Preventive Security Apparatus, coastal police, civilian intelligence, military intelligence and the presidential guard.

There are also secret intelligence and security cells that conduct operations so dirty that the PA doesn't want to be formally connected.

The report cited an absence of a command structure in the dozen or more PA security agencies, including the police, Preventive Security Apparatus, intelligence services, coastal force and presidential guard.

"The confusion is especially dangerous with regard to the multitude of Palestinian policing forces, whose roles remain ambiguous, but who exist independently of each other," the report stated.

"Even insiders do not know who is in charge and which branch is responsible for which tasks. The overlap of jurisdictions can result in both verbal and physical infighting among those forces designed to protect the larger populace from violence."

The report also noted that, "Arafat only exacerbates the problem by playing each security chief off against the other in order to secure his own position."

Finally, the report notes that an Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip would be disastrous for Palestinians. When the Israelis are gone, the report said, Palestinians expect an increase in PA abuse, corruption and dictatorship, with their only hope being a Hamas takeover of the Gaza Strip.

The Palestinian group does not envision cooperation between Hamas and the PA in sharing power.

"Two opposing power centers -- the PA and Hamas -- cannot co-exist or coordinate affairs, especially if there is no geographical continuity," the report said. "The 'Gaza First' initiative thus raises the prospect of two separate Palestinian states -- an Islamic one in Gaza, and a PA-controlled one in the West Bank."

Assessment:

As is now evident, the 'land for peace' equation was accurate only in that, as long as Israel was actively giving up land, there was an illusion of peace.

When Barak made what amounted to a final offer of land, Arafat had no reason to continue the illusion of peace.

Since the collapse of Oslo, the United States and European Community have launched various initiatives aimed at salvaging Oslo. Together with the UN and Russia, the so-called 'Quartet' have agreed to the creation of a Palestinian State beside Israel, despite the PA's history and Arafat's leadership.

But Israel declared the Quartet-sponsored Road Map dead as well, and is launching its own pullout from Gaza, effectively turning it over to the terrorists who already control it.

The prospect of two separate Palestinian states is a real possibility. And this is where it all starts to tie in to Bible prophecy.

The Gaza Strip was never part of Eretz Israel. Although it was granted to Abraham, God ordered Joshua to destroy Canaan's inhabitants and expressly forbid any alliances with them.

"And ye shall make no league with the inhabitants of this land; ye shall throw down their altars: but ye have not obeyed my voice: why have ye done this? Wherefore I also said, I will not drive them out from before you; but they shall be as thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare unto you." (Judges 2:2-3)

What is today the Gaza Strip was, in King David's time, inside the borders of the land of the Phillistines. To this day, they are as thorns in Israel's side, and the followers of Allah are dedicated to Israel's annihilation.

The failed Oslo Agreement was a covenant between Israel and those same traditional enemies of seven year's duration. Subsequent efforts to revive the agreement and confirm its terms have so far been unsuccessful.

The prophet Daniel wrote of the coming antichrist:

"And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate." (Daniel 9:26)

Daniel's 'week' is a 'week' of years -- the Hebrew calendar calculates in 'weeks' of seven years the way the Greek calendar calculated 'decades' of ten years each. The one-week covenant already exists.

It failed, but only because there was nobody willing to confirm its terms. The Bible says the antichrist will come up with a way to ensure both sides keep the revived agreement.

The possible separation of Gaza and the West Bank fits with Zechariah's prophecies for the last days concerning the war over Jerusalem and the disputed territories.

"The LORD also shall save the tents of Judah first, that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem do not magnify themselves against Judah." (Zechariah 12:7-8)

The modern West Bank 'territory' is Biblical Judea and Samaria -- the House of David didn't include Gaza, and neither does Zechariah.

"And when these things BEGIN TO COME TO PASS, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh," Jesus told the generation that would witness the complete fulfillment of prophecy and His return at the conclusion of the Armageddon War.

"Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass away, till ALL be fulfilled." (Luke 21:28,32)

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The 'Air America' Alternative - Jack Kinsella - www.omegaletter.com

The passing of the father of modern political conservatism, Ronald Reagan, has begun a debate about American conservatism and what some are calling the 'death of liberalism' in America.

Al Gore's brainchild, the all-liberal talk radio network, "Air America" is doing so poorly that Al Franken started doing his radio show for free. The network was unable to meet its air-time bills and lost four of its six biggest markets within months of making its debut.

Since it started, Chairman Evan Cohen, Vice Chairman Rex Sorensen and Head of Programming David Logan have left while co-founder Mark Walsh has stepped down as chief executive to take a smaller role in the organization.

Air America's failure is alternatively being blamed for mismanagement, poor programming, overly-optimistic financial forecasting and even sabotage by conservatives.

Air America has gotten so much free publicity, from Al Gore's speeches to endless stories in the mainstream media extolling the need for an 'alternative' voice, that none of those reasons make sense.

It might be more accurate to say they don't UNDERSTAND the real reason.

In the 1950s and the 1960s, very few people identified themselves as conservative. In 1964, John Kenneth Galbraith, an economist and author, said: "These without doubt are the years of the liberal. Almost everyone now so describes himself."

Things have changed. Polls now indicate that 41 percent of Americans identify themselves as 'conservative' while only 19 percent view themselves as 'liberal'.

The liberals don't realize that. All their friends are liberal. Liberals control the bias in movies, television programming, news reporting, etc. Even Mickey Mouse is a liberal.

So they can't see why liberal talk radio hasn't taken off like wildfire.

Assessment:

Despite the dominance of the liberal worldview in the media, arts, politics and Hollywood, America as a whole has been steadily moving to the right as the last days tick down to the final countdown.

Even when compared to the citizens of Great Britain, America's closest ally, Americans are markedly more conservative on a variety of political, moral, and social issues.

For example, only 17 percent of the British are against legalized abortion while 46 percent of Americans oppose it. American political tradition calls for power to rest with the individual, where the British tradition doles out power to the top and is handed down through the ranks.

About 60 percent of Americans believe the role of government should be to provide people the freedom necessary to pursue their goals. Sixty percent of the British, however, believe the role of government should be to guarantee that no one is in need.

Europeans and liberals have a hard time understanding American conservatism. When Europeans come to the United States, they tend to visit places like Los Angeles or New York City. They seldom venture into the Red States. This in part helps to explain the growing transAtlantic rift between the 'Crusader' US and socialist Europe.

American conservatism is rooted in the Judeo-Christian ethic. While not all conservatives are Christians, most Christians are conservative. (There are some exceptions to that rule, I suppose, but I don't see how a Christian can support abortion)

American liberalism shares Europe's secular humanist worldview, which is why so many liberals continue to cry out for America's submission to the United Nations. And why Air America is doing so badly.

In a sense, Osama bin-Laden was right when he declared war against 'Christian' America. Christian Americans look around at America, with its pornography, drugs, violence and so on, and question whether or not America has entered into its post-Christian era.

(As long as there are Christian Americans to wonder, that means we aren't there yet. But the Scripture say we're close)

That we are in the last days is beyond question. Israel is restored to her original homeland. Jerusalem is the center of world attention. The old Roman Empire has revived as the modern European superstate. Russia is in place for her appointment with destiny.

The kings of the east, the kings of the south, the Gog-Magog alliance, revived Rome, Israel, all the main players for the last days are ready to move center stage.

But there is no mention of a fifth, overarching superpower resembling America in the last days. One reason could be that America loses its war against terror. Another could be that America is somehow destroyed in a war the Bible fails to mention.

But America's steady shift to the right portends a more hopeful explanation:

"For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first, Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord." (1st Thessalonians 4:15-17)

Most of our current leaders claim Jesus. So do most of our military leaders and a large percentage of our servicemen. One of the things that fascinates the media is how many soldiers meet to pray before a patrol; hold Bible studies on their off-hours and fill the Sunday church services. When they do report it, it is usually as a kind of quaint curiosity.

And forty-one percent of Americans identify themselves as conservatives. Again, not all conservatives are Christians, but its a safe bet a significant number of them are.

That's a lot of people to suddenly vanish -- it would instantly decapitate America's government and defense structures.

The Bible does not mention America in the last days, for whatever reason. But it does mention the Rapture of the Church in the last days, giving a whole new twist to the concept of 'Air America'.

And, having explained the Blessed Hope, the Scriptures tell us:

"Wherefore, comfort one another with these words." (1st Thessalonians 4:18)

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The Conservative Laodicean - Jack Kinsella - www.omegaletter.com

President Reagan's passing has brought his conservative ideology and its effect on American society out of the closet as even CNN struggled to praise President Reagan without praising the ideology he championed.

We often discuss liberals and conservatives in the Omega Letter, and how they interact, and even how the two philosophies dovetail with Scripture in the last days.

But defining a 'conservative' is a little like trying to describe the color red to a blind man. At best, all you can do is describe it technically; red is one of the prime colors, etc. You have to see red to know what it really IS.

So some of this background information might seem a bit dull. I apologize. It is necessary to the ultimate point.

To begin with, a conservative worldview is defined more by what it isn't than what it is. In the broadest possible definition, it means supporting things as they currently are, and being somewhat skeptical of change.

Social conservatism is a social doctrine first clearly articulated by the Irish thinker, Edmund Burke. Burke wrote at a time when European thinkers were beginning to develop the ideology of modernism.

'Modernism' as an ideology, emphasizes progress guided by reason. That isn't to say that conservatives oppose progress, or reject reason.

Instead, conservatives believe that human reason alone is incapable of ensuring a good society, and believe in the necessity of humility when confronting the unknowable.

One way to describe a conservative would be one who puts his emphasis on tradition as a source of wisdom that goes beyond what can be demonstrated or even explicitly stated.

To a conservative, existing institutions, like religion, have virtues that cannot be fully grasped by any single person or interest group.

There are Jewish conservatives, Christian conservatives, even agnostic conservatives, but all recognize the importance of faith to the social fabric of human society.

Conservatives fear efforts driven by reason alone to modify the complex web of human interactions that form human society for the sake of some unproved doctrine or theory. The risks posed by the law of unintended consequences looms large in the conservative worldview.

In broad strokes, then, a conservative embraces an attitude that is deeply suspicious of any attempt to remake society in the service of any ideology. Human freedom is something rooted and organic; to try to prune and shape it according to the plans of an ideologue is to invite unforeseen disaster.

Social conservatives emphasize traditional views of institutions such as the family and the church. For example, social conservatives would typically define family in terms of formal marriage and kinship, and would oppose innovations in the institution of marriage.

They are less likely than others to consider unmarried heterosexual couples, even those with children, as families. Social conservatives see gay marriage as one of those examples of how tinkering with the institution of marriage can invite the law of unintended consequences.

Religious social conservatives tend to reject any reinterpretation or modification of what they see as traditional beliefs in areas of morality and biblical scholarship.

Conservatives also tend to respect other traditional institutions, like the military and traditional government.

Most people on the political left tend to view 'right wing' and 'conservative' as interchangeable terms. Conservatives would find little in common with what actually are 'right wing' objectives, like establishing a single religion, even Christianity, as the state religion of the United States.

Finally, the major political difference between a conservative worldview and a liberal one is how each views the source of the government's authority to govern.

To a liberal, the authority to govern is derived from the people themselves. A liberal worldview has no room for political absolutes; the majority rules. If the majority approves of gay marriage, then, to the liberal, gay marriage is moral. If the majority approves of abortion, then killing the unborn in the womb is a 'right'.

If the majority voted to legalize prostitution, recreational drug use and lowering the sexual age of consent to 12 years old, then liberal ideology says these things would become morally acceptable.

To a conservative, authority to govern is derived from the Almighty. If the majority voted to legalize something prohibited by the Ten Commandments, it would not be moral, and engaging in the prohibited practice would be wrong, even if it were legal.

Politically, the differences between the two worldviews mirror the differences between a Constitutional Republic and a pure democracy. A pure democracy could legalize murder with a majority vote, whereas a Constitutional Republic could not.

Now, we'll try and pull everything together. Be patient with me. There's a lot to cover.

Assessment:

In His appearance to John at Patmos, Jesus dictated seven letters to the seven churches of Asia. Each of the letters corresponded to one of seven church epochs, or ages.

Jesus outlined the leading characteristics in the life of the church at different periods in history, from John's day to the Last Days.

There is Ephesus, bold in resolute endurance, discerning, intolerant of departures from the faith -- this was the Apostolic Age.

There is Smyrna, battling nobly with tribulation and danger in the midst of poverty and suffering—rich in faith and good works. The Age of the Martyrs.

There is Pergamos, married to the world. This church epoch began with the Emperor Constantine declaring Christianity to be the State Church of Rome.

The Church at Thyatira was condemned for its continual sacrifice and the introduction of new doctrines during the Dark Ages. (Purgatory, indulgences, and the Inquisition).

Sardis was the 'dead church' as it had become by the time of the Reformation. The period from the Reformation in the 15th century to the end of the 19th century, was the epoch of the Church of Philadelphia.

This was the 'missionary church' that took the Bible to the New World, to darkest Africa, to China and the far corners of the earth.

The end of the Philadelphia Church Age coincided with the 'Enlightenment' in Europe, brought about by 'modernist' thinking near the end of the 19th century.

From Philadelphia to Laodicea, distinguished for its worldly riches, its high-toned profession and spiritual pride; yet lowest in the scale and standard of all, neither cold nor hot — a religion of boasting words, but devoid of moral strength — "poor, blind, and naked."

Partly conservative, partly liberal, completely lukewarm. Still with me?

The Church of Laodicea is the last church epoch in human history. Unlike all the others, Jesus has NO words of commendation to offer it.

Instead, He says it is lukewarm, sickening, "So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth." (Revelation 3:14)

Jesus' counsel to the last-days church at Laodicea continues through to the end of Chapter 3, concluding with this cryptic comment; "He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches." (3:22)

So, we sharpen our ears and listen. There is a message from the Holy Spirit to each of the Churches. What does the Spirit have to say to the Laodicean age?

Jesus described -- in detail -- the characteristics of each church epoch. And He did it so clearly that we can look back through history and map them in reverse.

As we stand in our place in the timeline of history, we can look around us and easily identify this epoch as corresponding in every respect to that of the Laodicean epoch.

Here is where it all comes together; note the very next verses -- (Revelation 4:1-2)

"After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither . . ." (whereupon John says he was translated) "And immediately I was in the Spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne."

Are you still with me? Chapter Four begins the Tribulation Period, with its judgments, from the perspective of heaven. From that point forward, there is no mention of an earthly church, despite the preceding three chapters being devoted to no other subject.

So, where is the earthly Church from Chapter Four to Chapter 22 of Revelation? Compare John's description to that of the Apostle Paul:

"For this we say unto you BY THE WORD OF THE LORD, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:" (John's immediate translation into the Spirit)

"Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and SO SHALL WE EVER BE WITH THE LORD." (1st Thessalonians 4:15-17) (John's 'catching up' into heaven)

"Come up hither . . . immediately I was in the Spirit . . . a throne was set in heaven. . ."

Paul described it from one perspective, John from another, but both were describing the same event; the conclusion of the Church Age with the Rapture, followed by the Tribulation.

We are well into the Laodicean Church Age -- and the Bible gives no indication of any church epoch to follow. We ARE the generation that will see the return of Christ.

But at some point before the Tribulation Period kicks off, we, who are alive and remain, will first hear, 'Come up hither!"

"Wherefore comfort one another with these words." (1 Thessalonians 4:18)
 

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America in prophecy - Hal Lindsey - www.hallindsey.com

"Where is America in Bible prophecy?"

This is a difficult question, mostly because it has such a difficult answer. I love my country, and I'd love to find references to it in the last days. But it isn't there. And that seems to be quite a mystery, given that we are at the moment the most powerful nation on earth, by every conceivable measure.

There are some who try and find America in Scripture. I'll outline a few of these views for you.

America, the wide and smooth?

Some point to Isaiah 18, which speaks of a people "tall and smooth" who are "feared far and wide." The passage says these people are "a powerful nation whose land the rivers divide" that will one day bring gifts to the Messiah when He reigns from Mount Zion.

Those who hold this view, point to the fact the United States is divided by the Mississippi, to America's power and say we are the people "feared far and wide" of whom Isaiah was speaking. But this view only works if you ignore the first verse of Chapter 18. It clearly identifies the powerful nation divided by a river as Cush, or Ethiopia. At the time of Isaiah, Ethiopia was part of the Egyptian empire and the river referred to is without doubt the Nile.

Tarshing America

Another view says that America is identified by the prophet Ezekiel in Ezekiel 38:13. Ezekiel speaks of the "merchants of Tarshish and all the young lions thereof" who launch a diplomatic protest at the time of the Gog-Magog invasion of Israel. Some point to the fact that Tarshish was the westernmost trading and seafaring nation of the ancient world. From there, Tarshish becomes Britain. After all, Britain is the westernmost point on the Continent. And the symbol of Britain is a lion. Consequently, "all the young lions thereof" become the former British colonies, like Australia, Canada and, of course, the United States. Therefore, ipso facto, the merchants of Tarshish and all the young lions thereof must be referring to America.

But this doesn't work, either. First and foremost, nobody can pinpoint with any degree of accuracy the location of Tarshish. The only thing we are sure of is that it isn't Britain. The most recent archeological evidence puts ancient Tarshish in Spain, which, while close, doesn't quite win the cigar.

The eagle has landed

Another popular candidate for a biblical America is found in Revelation 12:13-17. In this exercise in applied imagination, we can find America, and she is busily engaged in an heroic effort to save Israel. If you accept the interpretation that includes America, that is.

This passage states that during the Tribulation, God will provide a means of escape for the Jewish remnant in Israel. It says they will be carried into the wilderness on the "wings of a great eagle." Misinterpreting this verse makes it possible to have the United States supplying a military airlift of Israelis to safety -- on the "wings of an eagle." You can make this work only by ignoring the fact that Scripture interprets Scripture. And the Scripture already identifies who has the wings of an eagle.

In Deuteronomy 32:11, God identifies the bearer of Israel on eagles' wings. "As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad on her wings, taketh them, and beareth them on her wings, So the Lord alone did lead him [Israel] and there was no strange god with him." It is a nice picture, and in keeping with our own self-image, to see America as Israel's savior during the Tribulation. But it is clearly incorrect.

Babylon, N.Y.

Probably the most widely accepted explanation of America in Bible prophecy uses Revelation Chapter 18 to show that the United States is really "Babylon the Great, Mother of Harlots." The reason this symbol is the most widely accepted symbol of the United States is because the shoe seems to fit. Consider the evidence offered in support of this view, because it is compelling. Revelation 18:2 opens with the angelic declaration that "Babylon the Great is fallen." Verse 3 describes Babylon the great thusly: "all the nations of the earth have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornications with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies." This doesn't seem to be much of a reach, on first glance.

America has sunk to moral depths scarcely imaginable a generation ago. We kill babies in the womb when they are socially inconvenient. The nuclear family is all but extinct. Morals are situational, if they are relevant at all. We choose as entertainment stories about adultery, fornication, violence and virtually every form of evil. We are the world's leading exporters of filth and pornography, not to mention being the world's largest arms dealer and exporter of destruction and mayhem. Politically, we have just emerged from eight years of the most shameful and immoral leadership the United States has ever been subjected to.

Not America's vision

The description goes on, referencing the fact she "sits as a queen and no widow." One could argue the U.S. sits as a queen (it's probably more politically correct than a king, anyway) and no widow, as America has seen no war on her shores in living memory. Since the Apostle John also refers to the fact that "ships and sailors and as many as trade by sea" will see the city burning, this view makes New York City Babylon the Great. The original Babylon still stands, in Iraq, but nowhere near the sea. And, just outside New York City is the city of Babylon, N.Y.! So, there you have it! And it all seems to make sense, really. Provided you are looking at prophecy as if it were given from the perspective of Washington. But it isn't.

In Bible prophecy everything orients from Israel. John's vision of the apocalypse is from the perspective of Israel, during the time of Jacob's trouble, not America's. But the most conclusive reason is given in Revelation 17:18. John says Mystery Babylon is really a woman -- that great harlot who will reign over the cities from earth. But John wrote that the great city was clearly Rome, and that is the city that will reign over the earth in the last days.

I can imagine the heaps of criticism this column will engender.

America faces threats from mad bombers, mad dictators, a unified Russian-Chinese military adversary and a host of other threats. Who wants to be the one to say that, biblically speaking, there is no reason to think one of them isn't going to happen? But America is not a major player in the last days -- she hasn't even a bit part. I personally believe that one explanation could be that our country and its leadership will be so decimated following the Rapture that we will simply cease to be a major influence overnight.

I prefer that over the alternative.

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WHY DOES THE WORLD HATE ISRAEL? - by Herbert I. London

Israel is a tiny nation, roughly half the size of Lake Michigan. Its population is roughly half the size of the New York metropolitan area. Despite being a Jewish state, more than twenty percent of its residents are Arab and most Jews in Israel describe themselves as secular rather than religious. Yet if one were to read world press accounts or daily condemnations from the United Nations or the recent decision of the ICJ criticizing the construction of the fence, you might conclude that Israel is a world power intent on destabilizing Middle East affairs.

Why, it might well be postulated, does the world resent this speck of land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean?

Although my comments are speculative, I suspect they could be borne out empirically if historical accounts were fair and objective.

Israel is a thorn in the side of the Arab world because it is a remarkable technological phantasmagoria. Almost every Israeli is engaged in a software scheme. The Jews in this arid nation have made the deserts bloom; they have converted brain power into technical marvels and consequent wealth.

By contrast every nearby Arab nation is dysfunctional. Their governments are tyrannical; the people are poor and uneducated and local officials have been unwilling to convert oil revenue into social benefits.

Resentment is the natural result of this contrast. Afterall, Israel has all of the geographic disadvantages of its neighbors and it doesn't have any oil fields. Yet it prospers, while others falter.

Second, it should be hastily noted that Israel is a proxy for anti-American sentiment. The misguided belief that the U.S. is an imperial power eager to put its stamp on the Middle East is demonstrated by the aid and support given to Israel. Rarely, is it noted by U.S. detractors that American assistance to Egypt is equal to aid for Israel. Moreover, American involvement in Iraq was neither precipitated by Israel (Does the tail wag the dog?) nor has this engagement influenced Israel's relations with her neighbors in any new directions.

Third, the Palestinian question has awakened emotions on the European left and in many Arab states. Yet remarkably the critique of Israel is generally quite banal. Arafat, as putative Palestinian leader, was granted 97 percent of the West Bank and some control over holy sites in the negotiation at Wye Plantation. Yet he turned down these generous Israeli terms.

In fact, there aren't any terms that serve the ambitions of Arabs eager to destroy the state of Israel, unless, of course, national suicide is a reasonable negotiating point.

Fourth, the fence has the metaphorical power of the Berlin Wall. It is used for propaganda purposes to argue that Israel is intent on "taking Arab land" and isolating itself from Palestinians.

What should be noted is that the Berlin Wall was created to keep East Germans bound to the chains of communism, while the Israeli fence is designed to prevent suicide bombers from continuing wreaking bloodshed among Israelis.

Intifada II has resulted in at least a thousand dead Israeli citizens since 2000 and others maimed as well. It is encumbent on any leader of any nation to offer his people a modicum of security against those bent on bloodshed. If the fence reduces threats and increases security, Prime Minister Sharon should embrace it. His duty to protect his own people transcends any obligation imposed on him from multilateral organizations.

Fifth, the Palestinians have made their case to the international court of public opinion more effectively than the Israeli government. They have positioned themselves as underdogs against a mighty military force from tiny Israel. They have persuaded many of their supporters that the land Israel acquired after the '67 war is "occupied" rather than "disputed" territory. Hence, their sanguinic tactics are ignored by opinion markers normally opposed to terrorist activity.

Sixth, the Palestinians manage their news media. There isn't an opposition voice in the Palestinian territory and if an unpredictable comment is made, it is often squelched with force. Reporters Without Borders has reported numerous occasions where journalists were beaten when they challenged Hamas or Hezbollah positions in print.

Israel, as an open and free society, entertains every point of view, including anti Israel arguments. As a consequence, criticism of Israel is widespread and criticism of Palestinian activity muted.

Seventh, the United Nations is now systematically organized to criticize the United States and Israel. It is instructive that in a statement emanating from the Secretariat's office condemning the construction of the fence, not a word was mentioned about suicide bombers who precipitated the construction.

As I see there is very little that can be done at the moment to change international opinion. Israel has an obligation to its own people to remain resolute against usually unfair and hateful allegations. For the Middle East this is the Dark Ages. But if the Arab world wishes to enter the 21st century – a far from clear conclusion – it will have to adopt and perhaps emulate much of Israeli life. On that slim reed, hope shall continue to exist.

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The Butterball Solution - Jack Kinsella - www.omegaletter.com

When it comes to the war on terror, all roads lead to Riyadh. Information gained from captured terrorists from Afghanistan and Iraq link back to the Saudis. Investigators have found links that run directly from members of the Saudi royal family to al-Qaeda.

According to several Western intelligence agencies, two Saudi princes, Prince Nayef Prince Salman and King Fahd's youngest son Abdulaziz are still maintaining 'back-channel' contacts with al-Qaeda.

Yet the administration not only continues to do business with the House of Saud, Prince Bandar is a regular guest at the Crawford Ranch. When a Congressional report was released post-9/11, the White House ordered 28 pages of it redacted (blacked out) because they showed Saudi ties to 9/11.

Senators who read the redacted material said there was no need for it to be classified, at least from a national security standpoint.

But the White House refused to release it, leading to speculation that something else was at play--perhaps a courtesy had been extended between two families said to be very close--the Saudis and the Bushes.

In his book, 'Sleeping with the Devil,' ex-CIA agent Robert Baer says a lot of past and present administration officials have benefited from financial gifts and sweetheart business deals with the Saudis, and may in fact be beholden to them.

Stephen Schwartz is the author of 'The Two Faces of Islam'. Schwartz says Saudi Arabia's friends in Washington make sure this special and lucrative relationship continues.

"… When 911 happened, they sprang up and said oh, Saudi is just as much of a target as we are…trying to tell us Wahhabism as a form of Islam was somehow comparable to the Methodist church or Unitarians, which is ridiculous…and the kingdom, they're our best friends…15 out of the 19 terrorists on September 11th were Saudis. If 15 out of 19 of them had been Bosnians, or to say a non-Muslim country, Colombia, or Irish, or some other group in the world, everything would have been completely different…but because they were Saudis, our government has taken this position of spinelessness."

Assessment:

Is there a special relationship between the Bushes and the Saudi royal family? Prince Bandar, as I noted, is a frequent guest at the President's Crawford ranch. During the first Gulf War, that friendship served American interests well. Saudi Arabia opened its borders to American troops staging Operation Desert Shield and as a forward operating base during Operation Desert Storm.

But it was the American presence in Saudi Arabia that gave Osama bin-Laden his cause. And it was Saudi-sponsored Wahabbi Islam that provided him with an army of jihadists to carry it forward.

Most of the 9/11 hijackers were Saudi, and there is considerable evidence to suggest members of the Saudi royal family were directly involved with some of them. And it is pretty obvious that the administration is not eager for anyone to pursue ties that might lead back to the Saudis.

Is it the Bush family ties that are protecting the Saudis from being implicated in the 9/11 attacks? Lots of people believe it is.

It seems to make sense. The Bush family and the Saudi royals have a long-standing friendship. If it were proved that the Saudi government had direct ties to September 11, the Bush Doctrine puts them in America's crosshairs. So, because of his family ties, the thinking goes, Bush is whitewashing any Saudi involvement.

As I said, it SEEMS to make sense. But it really doesn't. As obvious as it is that the Saudi royals are getting the royal treatment, personal friendship isn't the reason.

It's the oil. Even the Democrats tread lightly when it comes to the Saudi-Bush connection, because they are afraid to push the Saudis any harder than the Republicans would. Every president since Nixon has bent the knee before the Saudi king, and America is willing to expend plenty of blood for oil, chanting idiots notwithstanding.

In 1973, the Saudis, co-ordinating with OPEC, sparked the longest and most severe economic recession America had seen since the 1930's. All they had to do was embargo oil, and we were driven to our knees. By the mid 1970's, friends would greet each other, not by saying, "How're ya doin'?" but rather, "Are ya workin'?"

Oil is America's lifeblood, and the Saudis control the tourniquet that can shut off its flow whenever necessary. Or, as in recent years, increase production when OPEC cuts back, preventing a rerun of 1973.

The useful idiots chanting, 'No blood for Oil' arrive at their demonstration sites in vehicles powered by oil. They complain as loudly as anyone at paying $2.09 a gallon for gas.

Most places in Europe pay five dollars or more per gallon. If US gas prices went to that level, those same useful idiots would be demanding the president's head, no matter what party he belonged to.

There are alternatives. One of them is what I'll call the "Butterball Solution." We've discussed it before, so I'll just give a quick recap. There is a working process called Thermal Depolymerization that will convert almost anything into sweet, pure crude oil.

The "Butterball Solution" comes from the fact the first plant was built outside a Butterball turkey rendering plant. Instead of throwing out the unusable parts of a turkey, guts, bones, feathers, etc., this process turns them into petroleum, carbon suitable for printer toner and other products, fertilizer and potable water. In goes garbage, out come useful products.

Thermo-depolymerization mimics the Earth's own recipe for fossil fuels, but shaves millions of years off the production time. Waste—turkey guts, for instance—is mixed with water and ground into a thick slurry, which is then heated to 500 degrees Fahrenheit, pressurized at roughly 600 pounds per square inch, and cooked for about 15 to 60 minutes until the organic material's molecular structure—its polymers—begin to break apart.

Pressure on the mixture is then dropped, releasing steam that is recaptured to power the remaining process. More heat, then distillation, creates the byproducts—natural gas, which is diverted back to fuel the bio-reformer; crude oil, which can be sold to refineries; minerals, to be used in materials like fertilizers; and water.

Barring nuclear waste, anything can yield these goods, according to proponents of the process: 100 pounds of tires, for instance, yields 44 pounds of oil (along with the other byproducts); a similar quantity of medical waste would result in 65 pounds of oil.

So, why aren't we building TDP plants all over America? Is it because of the Bush-Saudi friendship? If true, George Bush should not only be impeached, he should be tried for treason. Or so it seems, on the surface.

The "Butterball Solution" would instantly impoverish the Arab Middle East. The resulting backlash from a couple of billion starving Muslims is almost unthinkable. The relative handful of Islamic terrorists with whom we are now at war have claimed almost five thousand American lives so far -- and unlike all previous American wars, most of the American war dead are civilians.

There are almost 2 billion Muslims in the world, and about five hundred million of them would have nothing to do but plot ways to get revenge on America for impoverishing them. The risks are enormous -- whether we do something, or whether we do nothing -- the risks are the same.

Former CIA Director James Woolsey said on July 1 that Saudi Interior Minister Prince Nayef Bin Abdul Aziz could be the next leader of the kingdom. Woolsey described Nayef as a Saudi minister "whose views have closer similarity" to bin Laden than the United States.

The US has already begun reexamining its relationship with the House of Saud. No matter who wins in November, the old relationship is already on its way out the window.

Last week, the U.S. House voted to cut security aid to Saudi Arabia. Although the amount of aid was minuscule — $25,000 — the House measure would also end discounts in the sale of U.S. weapons to Riyadh.

Kerry proposes a plan for the United States to end its dependence on Middle East oil over the next decade. He said this would allow the United States to confront Saudi support for al Qaeda-inspired violence.

That also SEEMS reasonable, except for the 'five hundred million hungry Arabs backlash' thing. In any case, the end result will be the same, according to the prophets.

"And he [Ishmael] will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren. (Genesis 16:12)

"Thus saith the Lord GOD; Art thou he [Ishmael] of whom I have spoken in old time by my servants the prophets of Israel, which prophesied in those days many years that I would bring thee against them?" (Ezekiel 38:17)

Could be. "And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed." (Romans 13:11)

Maranatha!
 

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Special Report: The Silent Invasion - Jack Kinsella - www.omegaletter.com

According to an article in the tiny Tombstone (Arizona) Tumbleweed, two groups of Middle Eastern males have been caught entering the United States from Mexico in the past six weeks.

Information officer Andy Adame, from the Border Patrol Tucson sector told the Tumbleweed; "I guarantee it's not true," but the paper disagrees.

Instead, it says it has verified information that a flood of Middle-Eastern males have been caught entering the country illegally east of Douglas, Arizona.

The increased patrols in the Huachuca Mountains area of Cochise County, the paper says, seems to have diverted the flow of OTM's, "other than Mexicans" east to the Chiricahua Mountains.

So just who are, and from where, is this invading force of encroachers coming from?

"Can't tell you that", said Border Patrol spokesman Andy Adame when queried by the Tombstone Tumbleweed newspaper. Agent Adame declined to say what countries the OTM illegals are from, although he admitted detainees include "people from all over the world."

Adame added, "We apprehend them, process them, and turn them over to [the U.S. Department of] Homeland Security and the FBI and that is all I can say."

But, Adame says, since October 1, 2003, the beginning of the fiscal year for Border Patrol; agents in the Tucson sector have apprehended 5,510 illegals from countries other than Mexico or other central or South American countries. Adame described them as "people from all over the world".

But in the last month, the Tumbleweed has confirmed at least two documented accounts of Border Patrol agents encountering large groups of non-Spanish speaking males in the Chiricahua foothills and on trails along the high mountain areas.

On June 13, 2004 Border patrol agents from the Wilcox station encountered a large group of suspected illegal border crossers, estimated to be around 158, just east of the Sanders Ranch near the foothills of the Chiricahua Mountains. 71 suspected illegal aliens were apprehended; among them were 53 males of Middle-Eastern descent.

The paper said its source was a Border Patrol field agent, who said the men were suspected to be Iranian or possibly Syrian nationals.

"One thing's for sure: these guys didn't speak Spanish and after we questioned them harder we discovered they spoke poor English with a middle-eastern accent; then we caught them speaking to each other in Arabic…this is ridiculous that we don't take this more seriously, and we're told not to say a thing to the media, but I have to," said the agent, who spoke to the Tumbleweed with the promise of anonymity.

The information was corroborated by a local rancher in the area who reports that sightings of groups similar to these are on the rise. The rancher reports that groups of heavily armed paramilitary drug smugglers have also been seen in the same area.

"We've had groups in the hundreds coming through again. They were gone for awhile but now they're back. And of course we have the drug mules again and many are carrying automatic weapons. Many other ranchers in the area have been frustrated with the lack of response from Border Patrol. After calling over and over again to the Wilcox headquarters, we might get a response a few hours later. We call them in to the Border Patrol, we only have the Wilcox station, and they're so darned far away. By the time they send in the helicopters these groups are long gone. I don't know how many they catch but they're coming through here heavy right now."

On June 21, 2004, agents from the Wilcox Border Patrol station apprehended 24 members of a larger group of Arabic speaking males located just east of the Pierce/Sunsites area of Cochise County.

At least half of the males escaped capture and disappeared into the United States.

Assessment:

The Tombstone Tumbleweed is a tiny newspaper in a tiny Arizona town best known for the Gunfight at the OK Corral, so that might be why the major media hasn't picked up this story. What is more likely is that the story is being 'spiked' out of some misguided sense of political correctness.

Just a few weeks ago Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge visited Fort Huachuca, in the Arizona desert near the Mexican border and to get an update on the Border Patrol's use of unmanned aerial vehicles as an aid to enforcement.

(Does anybody really believe the Department of Homeland Security is deploying UAV's to catch migrant Mexican farm workers?)

The paper says it spoke with three different Border Patrol agents, all of whom confirmed the June 13th roundup and offered up chilling insights about the detainees.

They told the paper that these suspects wore clothing that is normally worn by migrants: baseball caps, tennis shoes, jeans, T-shirts even with patriotic American slogans.

But the agents said what was particularly odd was that all the clothing worn by the Middle Eastern males was brand new. Each one in the group looked to have had just been to a barber shop with fresh new haircuts, all clean cut, with the exact style and cut of mustaches.

Border Patrol sources, at the risk of being in violation of orders and losing their jobs, offered a subsequent chilling revelation.

On June 21, 2004, they and their colleagues from the Wilcox Border Patrol station apprehended another 24 Arabic-speaking males in the area of Pierce/Sunsites. These small towns are approximately 25 miles northeast of Tombstone and not far from the Chiricahua foothills.

Even more worrisome, the agents say, is that the 24 men who were seized were only part of a larger group. Particularly since, as already noted, at least half of the group escaped capture and remain on the loose in the United States.

Two weeks later, on July 7, top officials from the CIA, FBI and Homeland Security Department warned members of Congress that al-Qaeda could try to launch new attacks in a 'bid to influence upcoming US election'.

All members of the House of Representatives were invited to a closed-meeting with Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Robert Mueller, Homeland Security Under-secretary Asa Hutchinson and John Brennan, a representative of the Central Intelligence Agency.

"There is a steady drumbeat of reporting," Christopher Cox, chairman of the House homeland security committee, told reporters after the meeting. "The threat has not abated."

The Washington Times carried a report from an eyewitness on a cross-country domestic flight. She said that 14 Syrian men boarded her flight, taking different seats and pretending not to know each other.

Once the plane took off, the witness said, they began congregating in groups of two or three, stood nearly the entire flight, and consecutively filed in and out of bathrooms at different intervals.

One man took a McDonald's bag into the bathroom, and then passed it off to another passenger upon returning to his seat. When the pilot announced the plane was cleared for landing and to fasten seat belts, seven men jumped up in unison and went to different bathrooms.

The Times spoke with a pilot who told them that on one of his recent flights, an air marshal forced his way into the lavatory at the front of his plane after a man of Middle Eastern descent locked himself in for a long period.

The marshal found the mirror had been removed and the man was attempting to break through the wall. The cockpit was on the other side.

This is the real deal -- Homeland Security has been repeatedly warning of an impending terror attack. A recent book called 'Osama's Revenge' says al-Qaeda has sleeper cells all over the United States who have ALREADY planted Soviet nuclear 'suitcase' devices in 'seven to nine' cities across America.

Both candidates for president are running, essentially, on the same platform -- the peace and safety of the Homeland.

"But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, PEACE AND SAFETY; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief." (1 Thessalonians 5:1-4)

"Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober." (1 Thessalonians 5:6)
 

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UN Takes 'Action' Over Sudan - Jack Kinsella - www.omegaletter.com

Over 100,000 people have been brutally murdered in recent months in the Darfur region of Sudan. At least 120,000 are living in tent camps, now being hammered by rains that turn the dust to mud. Diseases that thrive in the soggy ground continue, along with malnutrition, to drive the body count higher.

Many of the women refugees have been raped in a systematic campaign reminiscent of those employed by Bosnian Serbs to terrorize Muslims. The UN has yet to make a decisive move to characterize and prosecute wartime rape as a crime against humanity.

But the UN has yet to make a decisive move on anything. The last decisive thing the UN did was authorize the first Gulf War. Halfway through the war, they couldn't decide whether to win or not, so instead, they left Saddam in power.

The UN couldn't decide how to enforce its own resolutions, so instead, they punished the powerless Iraqi citizens with sanctions -- but left the reason for the resolutions -- Saddam Hussein -- untouched for a dozen more years.

When Rwanda went up in flames in 1994, the UN couldn't decide whether or not it was 'genocide' until after 800,000 ethnic Tutsi tribesmen had been hacked to pieces by the Hutu government.

The UN Security Council passed a resolution yesterday demanding that Sudan disarm marauding Arab militia and prosecutes its leaders or face 'possible' international economic sanctions.

The resolution requested UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to report in 30 days, and monthly thereafter, to it on Sudan's compliance with the demands.

It "expresses its intention to consider further actions, including measures as provided for in Article 41 of the Charter of the United Nations, on the government of Sudan, in the event of non-compliance."

The Sudanese government swiftly rejected the resolution.

Assessment:

Although the UN decided to 'express its intentions' it couldn't decide if they could call the murder of 100,000 black Africans by Sudanese Arabs 'genocide'.

The reason they couldn't decide if it was genocide is because a finding of genocide would require immediate UN action to put a stop to it.

Like they did in Rwanda. Once they 'decided' it was genocide, the world body put a stop to it. But not until after 800,000 men, women and children were brutally butchered.

Kofi Annan decided to call for a global moment of silence -- ten years after he pulled UN troops from Rwanda to allow the bloodletting go unhindered.

"And let us," he intoned, "by what we do in one single minute, send a message –- a message of remorse for the past, resolve to prevent such a tragedy from ever happening again -– and let's make it resound for years to come."

The UN Security Council's threat of 'economic sanctions' against Sudan doesn't pass the laugh test. Sudan's only product is oil. (Heyyyy! What about an 'Oil-For-Food' program?)

The original resolution, submitted by the United States, called for an immediate finding of genocide, but was watered down at the insistence of the usual suspects, the Arab League, the Russians and the Europeans. Gives you a creepy 'deja vu all over again' kind of feeling, doesn't it?

Unlike Rwanda, where the UN stood idly by for 100 days, the newly discovered Sudanese crisis has been raging unabated for decades.

The tragedy of Darfur is actually the second Sudanese genocide of our age. The first killed over two million African Christians and animists in southern Sudan.

In 1983, the Arab Sudanese imposed Islamic law on the entire country, including millions of Christians. Though that decree has since been tempered, it touched off the massive bloodshed whose aftermath the world is now witnessing.

Meanwhile, as the Sudanese government was spending its already limited resources fighting its own citizens, much of the country ended up in the throes of severe, African-style famine.

The resulting chaos -- only a few hours' flight south of Rome -- resulted in the ongoing campaign that qualifies as the biggest mass murder anywhere since the Khmer Rouge genocide in Cambodia during the late 1970s.

And it is NOT a civil war, but an openly declared Islamic jihad. A 1992 fatwa issued by a group of pro-Khartoum Sudanese imams declared:

"An insurgent who was previously a Muslim is now an apostate and a non-Muslim is a non-believer standing as a bulwark against the spread of Islam, and Islam has granted the freedom of killing both of them."

This allowed for the murder of the Christians and animists in the south; now it has been turned against the Muslims of Darfur, whose Islam doesn't measure up to Khartoum's hard-line standards.

The blacks of Darfur and southern Sudan continue to be murdered and enslaved by Islamic Arab fundamentalists. The jihadists operate with impunity before a world that doesn't dare give the name to the crime they are committing.

The UN has become an instrument of Islam -- the Islamic states maintain an unbreakable solidarity. Global hesitancy to condemn Iraq for twelve years, for example, or the global support for Yasser Arafat's terror state, as compared to the almost daily UN resolutions condemning Israel for something.

The UN is so completely under the thumb of the Islamic voting bloc that the only reason Israel still exists is because of the US veto. (Most anti-Israeli resolutions are unanimous, except for the votes of the United States, the Marshall Islands, and Micronesia.)

Kofi Annan's 'moment of silence' aimed at 'ensuring such a tragedy never happens again' is as transparent -- and ultimately, as useless -- as the United Nations itself.

It is corrupt from its Secretary General on down, dominated by Islam at a time when the world is supposed to be united in a war against Islamic terror, and

Only the most brain-dead liberal would deny that it is an utter failure.

But, as I've noted in the past, it has spawned a global infrastructure of international financial, political and military organizations that can't be allowed to implode with the United Nations itself.

All those beaurocrats, all that hardware and all that red tape have to go somewhere. The need for a global government exists -- indeed -- people are crying out for it, particularly in the light of the United Nations' domination by Islam.

By any political standard, Europe is only logical candidate to pick up the pieces. And the Bible predicts that is exactly what will happen.

Truly, we are eyewitnesses to the most amazing display of God's power seen since Jesus ascended back into heaven.

(And we ain't seen NOTHIN' yet!)

As the Apostles gazed up at our ascending Lord, 'two men stood by them in white apparel;'

"Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven." (Acts 1:11)

The Apostle Paul tells us more about when Jesus returns in 'like manner' as they Apostles had seen Him go:

"For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord." (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17)

"Wherefore comfort one another with these words." (1 Thessalonians 4:18)
 

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Nothing To Lose - Jack Kinsella - www.omegaletter.com

North Korea's official news agency is reporting that heavy rains have swamped at least 100,000 hectares of cropland and more than a 1,000 homes have been flooded, mainly in the southern and central part of the country.

That would be about four percent of North Korea's arable land.

The state-run news agency adds the damaged fields are unlikely to produce a crop this year.

North Korea suffered a famine in the mid-1990's, and now relies on foreign aid to feed about one-fourth of its population of 22 million. Its primary donors are South Korea, Japan, China, Russia and the United States.

Some countries, especially Japan and the United States, have cut back donations over the past few years, in a feeble effort to dissuade the "Dear Leader" Kim Jong Il, from pursuing nuclear weapons.

North Korea is the world's most closed society. Kim Jong Il, the "Dear Leader", succeeded his father, Kim Il Sung, the "Great Leader" and both are worshipped by the North Koreans as gods.

It is also arguably the world's poorest society, with the North Korean people in a perpetual state of mass starvation. And, much like the situation with Saddam Hussein, sanctions have no effect on North Korea's leadership.

Kim's former Japanese chef has said in newspaper interviews that the leader of the impoverished DPRK has a 10,000-bottle wine cellar, likes blonde western women, collects Mazda RX-7 sports cars, stages all-night banquets at which attendance and heavy drinking is compulsory for high officials (this was also a habit of Stalin's), and has a troupe of strippers for his personal entertainment. According to this account Kim once sent his wife and children on a secret trip to Tokyo Disneyland.

Assessment:

Of course, none of this is known to the starving citizens of North Korea. Instead, they are told that they are being starved to death, deliberately, by the United States, who fears the might of the powerful North Korean Army.

It sounds ridiculous to Western ears, but to North Koreans who have been ruled by the Kim family since 1948, it is gospel. Especially since it is a gospel message being delivered them by their god.

North Korea's grinding poverty cannot really be imagined; those accounts that reach the West via defectors are so lurid that they are often summarily dismissed as unbelievable.

But satellite photos taken over North Korea at night testify to the real story -- North Korea is a big black spot located between the lights of South Korea and those of China. Even Pyongyang is dark.

Few people sentenced to North Korean prisons emerge alive. Those who are lucky enough to escape prison are instead permitted to slowly starve to death in the countryside.

North Korea's population has been weakened by years of famine and malnutrition, and diseases like tuberculosis are flourishing. Medical care is below basic. Hospitals lack the money to buy even rudimentary supplies.

Pyongyang is festooned with political slogans and billboards, many showing US forces skewered on People's Army bayonets. Patriotic songs in the style of the Soviet Red Army Choir blare from loudspeakers.

Even on the escalators down to the city's Moscow-style underground railway, political commentaries squawk at commuters: "We must safeguard the leadership of Comrade Kim Jong-il!"

The stories about the murderous nature of the Pyongyang regime rival those attributed to Saddam Hussein. A North Korean scientist told the BBC that he used chemical weapons to experiment on political prisoners before defecting to the South.

In the BBC report, headlined ``Human Guinea Pigs,'' the North Korean defector claimed he conducted the gassing tests in glass cubicles, monitoring the prisoners until they died.

``The purpose of this experiment was to determine how long it takes for a human being to die,'' Dr. Kim told the BBC. ``We wanted to determine how much gas was necessary to annihilate the whole city of Seoul.''

North Korea's government has declared this year to be the "year of camouflage" for its military forces and has called for strengthening what the U.S. military calls denial and deception efforts.

South Korean intelligence sources said North Korea is building a large number of fake naval, air and army bases. Meanwhile, the North Korean forces are strengthening concealment measures for existing bases.

The North Korean military has built numerous concrete towers disguised as anti-emplacements near the Demilitarized Zone. As many 80 fake underground bases have been built, as well. It is pretty obvious that North Korea is preparing for war. The starving masses of North Koreans have nothing to lose. To the average North Korean, there are many things worse than death. (Like life in North Korea). There is no enemy more dangerous than one with nothing to lose.

The Bible makes a reference to the "Kings of the East" (Revelation 16:12) described as a vast army that crosses the Euphrates in the last days to participate in a battle that ultimately claims the lives of a third of mankind, "by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths" (Revelation 9:18)

North Korea was famously dubbed a member of the 'Axis of Evil' by President Bush following the attacks on September 11.

It is no coincidence that Pyongyang shares that designation with Iran's mad mullahs, the devoted followers of the angel dubbed the 'Prince of Persia' who delayed God's revealing angel for twenty-one days (three weeks) as recorded in Daniel 10:13.

Like a jigsaw puzzle, the complete picture doesn't begin to emerge until most of the pieces are in place. There are still a few pieces missing, but there are enough there to recognize some of the details.

'Persia' [Iran] and North Korea continue to pursue the acquisition of nuclear weapons. Both nations are unstable enough to use them with or without sufficient provocation.

Neither will be deterred and, at the same time, neither can be permitted to achieve their nuclear goals. At the moment, war appears not only to be the only option, but it appears to be an IMMINENT option.

More than two thousand years ago, the Bible prophets outlined, in perfect harmony, the geopolitical alliances that would exist in the last days, in some cases, naming by name, nations that did not exist at the time (like Israel, for example) and in other cases, naming nations that, until recently, were firmly established on the 'wrong' side (think Turkey).

Virtually all the major players of the last days began preparing for their appointments with destiny at the same point in history. (North Korea [1948] China [1947-48] Israel [1948] Europe [Benelux Treaty, 1948] - just to name a few)

The World Council of Churches, the Computer Age, [global economy] the UN Declaration of Human Rights and the Vienna Genocide Treaty [global government] -- all came into being in 1948. The ground-breaking ceremonies for the United Nations building in New York occurred on September 14, 1948.

And, on March, 08, 1948, the United States Supreme Court issued its very first ruling that religious instruction in public schools violated the Constitution.

So, why 1948, in particular? That was the year that God's 'fig tree' (Judges 9:11, Joel 1:7), -- Israel -- was reborn as a nation. That impossible event began the final countdown for the last generation -- the generation that will witness the return of Christ. THIS generation!

"Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh: So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors."

"Verily I say unto you, THIS generation SHALL NOT PASS, till ALL these things be fulfilled." Matthew 24:32-34

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Special Report: The Year of the Countdown - Jack Kinsella - www.omegaletter.com

As discussed in previous letters, most of the major prophetic fulfillments of the last days can trace their genesis to the same point in history -- on or near the year 1948.

This is most significant since Jesus said that the generation who witnessed the restoration of Israel (the blossoming fig tree) 'would not pass until ALL was fulfilled' (Matthew 24:34)

Jesus spoke, for example, of 'wars and rumors of wars', but cautioning, 'the end is not yet'. (Matthew 24:6) The Cold War was the ultimate 'rumor of war'. It lasted more than forty years without either side ever directly confronting the other on the battlefield. Historians trace the beginning of the Cold War to the Berlin Airlift to break the Soviet blockade of Berlin, imposed on June 24, 1948.

The most well-known of all Bible prophecies is the Mark of the Beast. According to Revelation 13:15-17, the antichrist will assume control of a global system of government unlike any the world had ever known. Under the antichrist, any person outside that system will be declared 'socially dead' -- any who refuse to accept the Mark will be unable to buy or sell.

Consider this for a minute, but I suggest you sit down before you do.

We are so close to that system today that the SAME METHOD is ALREADY being used to rout out and destroy terrorist cells! Every economic transaction, every internet session, every email and every phone call -- world-wide -- is already being electronically monitored as part of the war on terror.

To catch the terrorists in our midst, they must be isolated from mainstream society, their sources of funding targeted and destroyed, and their ability to engage in day-to-day social intercourse electronically interrupted.

Such intimate control of society was impossible before the advent of the Computer Age. Although there were clunky working computers dating back to the 1930's, they relied on notoriously unreliable vacuum tubes, and firing one up consumed enough electricity to light a small city.

Before the digital explosion, transistors were a vital part of improvements in existing analog systems, such as radios and stereos.

When it was placed in computers, however, the transistor became an integral part of the technology boom. They are also capable of being mass-produced by the millions on a sliver of silicon—the semiconductor chip. It is this almost boundless ability to integrate transistors onto chips that has fueled the information age.

Today these chips are not just a part of computers. They are also important in devices as diverse as video cameras, cellular phones, copy machines, jumbo jets, modern automobiles, manufacturing equipment, electronic scoreboards, and video games. Without the transistor there would be no Internet and no space travel.

Bell Labs patented the transistor chip in 1948, launching the modern computer Age.

Revelation 13 also highlights the career of the False Prophet, who will lead a global religious system that John describes as 'having two horns like a lamb' but 'spake as a dragon'.

The World Council of Churches, the UN-backed ecumenical movement, whose stated goal is to bring about a global religious system, was created in Amsterdam in August, 1948.

Ostensibly a 'Christian' council, the WCC doctrinal statement says, it passes "no judgment upon the sincerity with which member churches accept" the WCC's basic 'confession' of Jesus Christ. In other words, NOT believing in Jesus is no barrier to membership in the WCC, something Paul called, "having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof." (2nd Timothy 3)

The modern European superstate traces its roots to the 1948 Benelux Treaty that inspired the modern revival of the old Roman Empire.

And finally, we return to Israel. In Leviticus 26:3, 7-8, the Bible says that the army of Israel would have a supernatural power to prevail during times of conflict. Leviticus says that 5 people would be able to chase away 100 people, and that 100 would be able to chase away 10,000.

On May 15, 1948, Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, and Lebanon invaded Israel. The combined populations of these countries was at least 20 million at the time, versus less than a million Israelis.

When the war was over, not only had Israel driven off the invaders, but she expanded her territory by over fifty percent. The 1967 war lasted only six days and left Israel in control of Jerusalem for the first time in 2000 years. The 1973 Yom Kippur War was over in a couple of weeks.

The Year 1948 marked the end of one Divine Countdown and the beginning of another. The first Divine Countdown dealt with the duration of Israel's Diaspora.

In Ezekiel 4:5-6, the prophet records the period determined by God as punishment for Israel's disobedience:

"For I have laid upon thee the years of their iniquity, according to the number of the days, three hundred and ninety days: so shalt thou bear the iniquity of the house of Israel.

And when thou hast accomplished them, lie again on thy right side, and thou shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days: I have appointed thee each day for a year."

Babylon was later conquered by Cyrus in 539 BC. Cyrus allowed the Jews to leave Babylon and to return to their homeland. But, only a small number returned. The return had taken place sometime around 536 BC, 70 years after Judah lost independence to Babylon as Jeremiah predicted.

Because most of the exiles chose to stay in pagan Babylon rather than return to the Holy Land, the remaining 360 years of their punishment was multiplied by 7. The reason is explained in Bible's book of Leviticus. (Leviticus 26:18, 26:21, 26:24 and 26:28). In Leviticus, it says that if the people did not repent while being punished, the punishment would be multiplied by 7. And, by staying in pagan Babylon, most exiles were refusing to repent.

So, if you take the remaining 360 years of punishment and multiply by 7, you get 2,520 years. That is 2,520 Jewish lunar years. 2,520 years x the 360-day lunar calendar works out to 907,200 days. Divide that by 365 and you come up with 2485.479 years.

2,485.479 years from 536 BC brings us to the end of the first quarter of the year 1949 -- exactly one year AFTER Israel's restoration in 1948. But 1 BC and 1 AD were the SAME year, so the ACTUAL date on our calendar that Ezekiel predicted the restoration of Israel corresponds to late spring, 1948!

1948 -- the Year of the Countdown, counts down in BOTH directions. It counts down with staggering precision to the exact point in history when the fig tree would once again blossom.

That event triggered the Second Countdown -- the one that signals the end of the Church Age. It is somewhat less precise, for obvious reasons.

Jesus said no man would ever be able to calculate the exact day and time, but He did tell us we would know when 'it was near, even at the door', saying, "THIS generation shall not pass, until ALL be fulfilled."

The current Prime Minister of Israel, Ariel Sharon, fought in the 1948 War of Independence. He is still around. And so are we. So the 'fig tree' generation has not yet passed from the scene.

And it won't before the Return of Christ. Which could be any minute now.

Keep looking up!
 

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UN Report: "The Beginning of Sorrows" - Jack Kinsella - www.omegaletter.com

"Then said He unto them, nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven." (Luke 21:10-11)

According to a new report issued September 17 but the United Nations disaster reduction agency, (UN/ISDR), there has been a global spike in world-wide natural catastrophes, as well as those of the man-made variety.

More than 254 million people were affected by natural hazards last year, a near three-fold jump from 1990, according to data released by the inter-agency secretariat.

And long-term trend over the past decade shows a steady rise in victims, according to the statistics from the Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters at the University of Louvain in Belgium.

"Not only is the world globally facing more potential disasters, but increasing numbers of people are becoming vulnerable to hazards," the UN/ISDR said in a statement.

Disasters ranging from storms, earthquakes and volcanoes to wildfires, droughts and landslides killed some 83,000 people in 2003 compared with about 53,000 deaths 13 years earlier, it noted.

In addition, storms and freak temperatures appear to be on the rise with 337 natural disasters reported in 2003, up from 261 in 1990, the agency said.

An onslaught of deadly hurricanes that have battered the southern United States support theories that such storms are occurring more frequently.

"Look at the number of hurricanes this year, it is hard to keep up with all the names," said John Harding, a program officer at the UN/ISDR.

"The scientific community tells us that the intensity and frequency of disasters are very likely to increase in the medium-term due to climate change and that increase may well be occurring at this stage," he told AFP.

The United Nations will hold a conference on disaster reduction in Kobe, Japan - itself hit by a devastating earthquake in 1995 - from January 18 to 22 to explore the issue.

Assessment:

When Jesus was describing the signs that would herald His return, He said, "nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places." (Matthew 24:7)

By themselves, these aren't signs, they are merely restatements of the natural order of things, events common to the history of man.

Ethnic wars and wars between 'kingdoms', famines, pestilences and earthquakes all make their first appearances in the Book of Genesis.

But Jesus described these things using a very specific metaphor -- that of a woman in labor. He said in verse 7, "All these are the beginning of sorrows."

The word rendered 'sorrows' is 'odin' -- which means, "the pain of childbirth, travail pan, or birth pangs." Every parent who has ever lived could instantly grasp the meaning of this metaphor -- that is why Jesus chose it. As the birth of a child approaches, the mother begins to experience labor pains, which, having once begun, continue to increase in both frequency and intensity as the moment of birth approaches.

Prospective parents in Jesus' day did exactly what I did with each of my kids -- timed the interval between the contractions. It was a carefully chosen metaphor designed to resonate with all people, of all cultures, in all generations.

But, to the generation to whom those signs were addressed, the meaning would be unmistakable. Since 1948, there has been a discernible uptick in the frequency of all these catastrophic events.

It was discernible, but it was also deniable, and so, until recently, it was framed as an issue of proponents of the global warming theory vs. opponents of the global warming theory.

Each side could produce its own statistics to disprove the other side, and the battle rages on -- is global warming responsible for the increasingly violent global weather patterns? Or not? From the perspective of Bible prophecy, who cares?

In the early 90's I used to regularly run into the same lady at Bible prophecy conferences. So often, in fact, that we nicknamed her the Earthquake Lady. She would come equipped with reams of information that 'proved' earthquakes are not increasing in either frequency or intensity. But they are.

Global warming opponents, armed with equally impressive reams of information, vociferously deny that there has been any unusual changes in global weather patterns, arguing instead that it is just part of a cycle.

Last year, astronomers were at a loss to explain why nine major solar eruptions occured during a two-week period in October during the middle of the nine-year solar 'minimum' season. There should be little to no solar activity until 2012 or later. Instead, scientists declared it the most turbulent periods of solar activity since 1940, during a solar maximum event.

Richard Willson, NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies and Columbia University's Earth Institute, authored a study for Goddard Space Institute in which he concluded;

"Historical records of solar activity indicate that solar radiation has been increasing since the late 19th century. If a trend, comparable to the one found in this study, persisted throughout the 20th century, it would have provided a significant component of the global warming the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reports to have occurred over the past 100 years."

A report in the July 'Science' section of the New York Times predicts the Earth is perhaps 150 years into the collapse of the Earth's magnetic field. The EU has even approved the deployment of a trio of new satellites, called 'Swarm'.

The mission of 'Swarm' is to monitor the collapsing field to help scientists forecast when the compass needles will start pointing south.

A group of leading space scientists from NASA and universities in the US, Europe, Russia and Australia recently sent a letter pleading with the Australian government to rejoin the asteroid search seven years after that country had dropped out.

According to them, the odds of a catastrophic asteroid strike on the Earth sometime in the next century are about 1-in-5,000.

As I've noted before, through the centuries, through the Dark Ages, through the Reformation Period, up into the modern era, the asteroids have been out there, zipping through space, making their rounds through the solar system. But the odds are 1 in 5000 that a Doomsday Rock will hit us in the next 100 years?

The UN claims that we are witnessing, on an increasing scale in both frequency and intensity, earthquakes, famines, wars and pestilence. NASA continues to document the unexpected and unsettling changes in the sun's solar flare cycles.

The European Union is monitoring the collapse of the Earth's magnetic fields, while scientists from all countries are urgently searching the stars for killer asteroids.

Meanwhile, up and down the Atlantic seaboard, forecasters continue to worry about running out of letters in the alphabet before we run out of hurricanes.

"And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. "

Everybody has a reason to explain why the sun is out of phase, why we should be scared to death of falling space rocks, or why the global weather patterns are growing increasingly unpredictable and violent.

'Why' isn't important. What it all means, when taken together into the Big Picture for the last days, however, is of eternal importance.

"And THEN shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. And when these things BEGIN to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh." (Luke 21:28)

"And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed." (Romans 13:11)

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Special Report: "Have You Considered the Jew?" - Jack Kinsella - www.omegaletter.com

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

There is a legendary story concerning an agitated Frederick the Great, who, in frustration, demanded from his cabinet that somebody provide him with proof of the existence of God. There was a momentary silence, before one of his counsellors spoke up; "Have you considered the Jew, your Majesty?', he asked.

The continuing existence of the Jew is proof positive of God's existence, just as the existence of a Jewish State is proof positive that we are living in the last days of human government as foretold by the Bible prophets of antiquity.

There are three distinct statements made within the Divine promise of blessing given to the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

The first is that God will bless those who bless the Jews.

When the United States wrested its seat at the council of nations from England, it became the first nation on earth to grant full citizenship to Jews.

It was the first nation to allow the Jews an unrestricted vote. It was the first nation to recognize the incomparable blessing the Jewish people have been to humanity.

America's second president, John Adams, said of the Jews, "The Jews have done more to civilize men than any other Nation. They are the most glorious Nation that ever inhabited the earth. The Romans and their Empire were but a bauble in comparison to the Jews. They have given religion to three-quarters of the globe and have influenced the affairs of Mankind more, and more happily than any other Nation, ancient or modern."

And no nation on the face of the planet today, or at any time in recorded history, has been more greatly blessed than the United States of America.

The second is that God promised that in the Jews 'shall all families of the earth be blessed'.

Without the Jews, there would be no Bible. Jesus came to earth as a Jew. Without the Jewish Jesus, there would be no Christianity.

Apart from the theoligical argument, a quick look at the last hundred years or so proves the promise isn't confined to religious blessings alone.

From 1901 to 2001, the world's six billion people competed for the scarce 844 Nobel Prizes that have been awarded. Among those six billion people are nearly two billion Muslims -- roughly 20 percent of the global population.

Of those two billion Muslims, 8 have been singled out to receive the Nobel Prize - (seven if you consider that one of them was a politically-motivated award mistakenly given unrepentant terrorist Yasser Arafat)

In any case, Muslims account for less than one percent of the total Nobel Prizes awarded in the last hundred years.

In the middle of the 20th century, the Nazis exterminated some six million Jews, more than half the world's Jewish population. There are today about fourteen million Jews left.

Even with half their number exterminated at the century's midpoint, 159 of the remaining 836 Nobel Prizes were awarded to Jews, or roughly 18.8% of all the Nobel Prizes awarded in Nobel's history.

(If you're keeping track, that is about twenty times as many prizes divided among fourteen million Jews than were shared by the 2 billion Muslims world-wide)

In America, the influence of American Jews is hugely disproportionate to their numbers. Conspiracists point darkly to the 'Jewish influence' in education, banking, law, medicine, government, media and entertainment as evidence of a Jewish conspiracy to control the world.

They accurately point out that American Jewry accounts for less than 2% of America's general population, but then draw their conclusions without the benefit of Scriptural discernment.

The 'Jewish influence' in American life is part of God's blessing on America -- the 'Jewish conspiracy' canard given them in reward is part of God's curse on Israel.

"Then will I pluck them up by the roots out of My land which I have given them; and this house, which I have sanctified for My Name, will I cast out of my sight, and will make it to be a proverb and a byword among all nations. " (2nd Chronicles 7:20)

The curse was partially lifted, beginning in 1948, but will not be entirely lifted until the close of the Tribulation Period.

"And it shall come to pass, that as ye were a curse among the heathen, O house of Judah, and house of Israel; so will I save you, and ye shall be a blessing: fear not, but let your hands be strong." (Zechariah 8:13)

The Jews have returned to the Land, but they remain a 'proverb and a byword among all nations' to this day.

Finally, God promised that He would 'curse them that curse you'. The precision with which God kept this promise is nothing less than astonishing.

During the Crusades from 1095 to 1270, Jews in Southern Europe fled to Spain, England, Scandinavia, and Eastern Europe as the result of severe persecution and wholesale massacres of the Jews.

England turned out to be the wrong place to go, because in 1290 King Edward I expelled the Jews. King Charles II did the same thing in 1394 in France by forcing all Jews from France. Interestingly, Spanish Jews found peace and security in Spain and Portugal while those countries were under Muslim rule.

At that point in history, Europe was fractured, ignorant and in constant turmoil, while that same period of time is known to history as the Golden Age of Islam.

The Moors were world-renowned for their knowledge of astronomy, medicine and science and the Islamic world boasted the most extensive libraries that had ever existed to that time.

In the 1400s, the Moors were kicked out of Spain by the Papal forces of Europe. In 1492, on the same day Columbus set sail for the New World, Spain expelled any uncoverted Jews who had survived the Spanish Inquisition. This time they fled back to England where the Protestant reformation now welcomed them.

Spain's global empire lasted less than a century after it expelled its Jews, to be replaced by the Jew-friendly British Empire whose reach extended to every corner of the globe. In 1917, the British captured Palestine from the Muslims. The British Crown offered the Jews a homeland via the Balfour Declaration, and a year later, England won the First World War.

After the war, the British broke most of their promises to the Jews, restricted Jewish immigration to the Holy Land, and in the years since, have increasingly turned their backs on the Jews that brought them such great blessings for more than three hundred years.

The British Empire upon which 'the sun never set' in 1900, had, by 1948, lost its last colony when Burma declared independence, and the British Empire was no more.

In 1933, Germany was among the most cultured and sophisticated nations in Europe. Old Berlin was Europe's Crown Jewel. The Nazis turned on the Jews, together with most of Eastern Europe, and twelve years later, Europe's Crown Jewel was pile of burning rubble.

The Arab world, which had been so blessed during its Golden Age, collapsed into its present state of affairs, with most of it still operating as if electricity had never been harnessed.

The Arab Muslims supported Hitler, opposed Jewish immigration, waged repeated wars against Israel, deny Israel its rightful territory, and now mount a global jihad to finish Hitler's goal of total extermination. The backward nature of modern Islamic culture and society are the fruits of those efforts.

Historically, wherever the Jews were welcomed, that nation flourished and prospered. Where the Jew was persecuted, those nations floundered.

It is more than just coincidence, it is an identifiable historical pattern that has continued, without deviation, since the days of the Babylonian captivity.

Babylon prospered when its Jews prospered, it fell to Persia when Neboplasser turned against them. Persia prospered until it turned on the Jews, whereupon it fell to Alexander's Greece. And so on, throughout history, up to and including the impending collapse of the rabidly anti-Semitic United Nations.

God's Word is true, and Bible prophecy is always 100% accurate. Jesus said that, before He returned, ALL Bible prophecy would be fulfilled -- to the tiniest 'jot and tittle' -- (the two most insignificant characters in the Hebrew alphabet)

In tracing Israel's history from Babylon to the present, we see the incredible detail with which God keeps His Word. Although America continues to be Israel's principle protector, and continues to enjoy the comcomitant blessings that come with it, America's good fortunes began to wane about the same time the White House forced Israeli into the Oslo Agreement.

The 'land for peace' formula called for Israel to give up some of the land of Promise in exchange for peace. In other words, it was a form of blackmail whose terms were drawn up in Washington and forced upon Israel for the express purpose of undoing what God had already done, including dividing Jerusalem and taking part of it from the Jews.

"And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it." (Zechariah 12:3)

People can certainly deny any Biblical connection but the hard reality marches on with the growing shadow now falling across global society. Now it is America's turn to discover just how serious God was about the whole 'blessing and cursing' thing.

And by the time circumstances force America to recognize the danger it faces, it will be too late to do anything to affect the outcome.

"So shall My Word be that goeth forth out of My Mouth: it shall not return unto Me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. " (Isaiah 55:11)
 

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