WHY THE ANTICHRIST WILL PROBABLY BE A MUSLIM (PART ONE).

WHY THE ANTICHRIST WILL PROBABLY COME FROM "ASSYRIA" AND BE A MUSLIM (by Neville Stephens).

Ever since I was saved under “Second Coming Teaching” back in the mid seventies, eschatology, the Second Advent of Yeshua, the Rapture of the Church to Glory, and the general end times scenarios have always been close to my heart, as well as providing a very useful tool to witness, and to warn people of events to come on this earth.

However, the one area of “the last days” doctrine I was always uneasy with was the almost universally held belief amongst Bible Prophecy scholars and students that the Antichrist will come from the Revived Roman Empire, and that he would become a WORLD dictator and leader.

What emphatic evidence do they have to base such an argument? I think you will find that if you approach this issue with an open mind, and let Scripture speak for itself, you will find the evidence is very flimsy indeed!

Have we ever had a “world leader” in the past, despite the Bible giving the impression that dictators such as the Pharaohs of Egypt, Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, Darius the Mede, Cyrus the Persian, Alexander the Great of Greece, and the Caesars of Rome all held sway for vast sways of our ancient history?

None of these despots actually conquered all of the known world at their various points in history, and one by one, all of these great empires of seemingly invincible power, crumbled and were overtaken.

What they do have in common is that they all conquered Jerusalem, Israel, and the surrounding territories, and this is very important to remember. The Bible is Jerusalem-centric, and from the heavenly vantage point of Almighty God, all things revealed in the Scriptures relate to His ancient Jewish covenant people and the land promised to them.

Everything revolves around them in the eyes of the Lord, and also the countries which come into contact with them. Blessings on countries which help and bless Israel, and curses upon countries which attack them, physically, spiritually, and verbally (Genesis 12:3).

The Bible does not mention countries such as China, India, Russia, America, The Commonwealth countries of Britain, Canada, Australia, South Africa etc (and many other illustrious nations), simply because they had no direct involvement with Palestine and The Holy Land In Bible times.

If this was the case in the Old Testament, it stands to reason that the same consistent principle must apply to the New Testament, and in particular to the events prophesied to end at Armageddon and the Second Coming of Jesus. After all, He comes back to Jerusalem, and to Israel, not to Rome, London, or New York.

Before He returns in glory and judgement, however, he is preceded by this “man of sin”, and I will try and convince you in this short series of articles that there is far more Scripturally based evidence for claiming that the Antichrist will be a Muslim, an Islamist, possibly descending from Israel, but probably more likely to be a descendant of the former “Assyrian” Empire of the ancient prophets.

After all, one of his thirteen Biblical titles is “The Assyrian” (Micah 5:5), but this name of the beast (another name for the Antichrist) is nearly always overlooked by most prophecy buffs as they strive to endorse their view that he must come from “Rome and its subsidiaries, in the newly revived empire of modern days”.

Although very much in the minority, I have always tended to favour the viewpoint put forward by the likes of Bullinger, Welch, Allen, and others that this man will indeed be an Assyrian, as the Bible states, and it is always best to let the Bible be its own interpreter.

The Tim LaHaye “Left Behind” books, and the Christian television prophecy pundits with large audiences such as David Reagan, Ed Hindson, Hal Lindsey, Jack Van Impe, Perry Stone, Grant Jeffrey, and others have always maintained that this “beast” of Revelation 13 will come from Rome and its cohorts.

But with the emergence of the teachings from the Joseph Farah inspired World News Daily expositors and other excellent writers such as Joel Richardson, Walid Shoebat, Simon Altaf, and others, they are now making Christians sit up worldwide to re-evaluate their opinion! In particular, I would like to give an awful lot of credit to Richardson after reading his exciting books titled “The Islamic Antichrist”, and “The Mid East Beast”. Even great men such as Chuck Missler, Ron Matsen, and John MacArthur have been influenced by these splendid works, and have changed camps following several interchanges with these men, on television, at conferences, and at other Christian gatherings.   

If Islam is going to be the primary vehicle which Satan will use to fulfil his final rebellion against God, it is the Bible that must be the primary litmus test. What does the Bible say about the nature and the composition of the Antichrist’s empire? The fact that the Antichrist is “an Assyrian” is very important, and this geographical element will play a major part in our discussion in this series. It is a very vital ingredient for discovering where this “man of lawlessness” originates. But for now, I would like to concentrate on why this “son of perdition” does not come from Rome, Strasbourg, Brussels, Paris, London, or any other leading European country.

The Bible abounds with proofs that this Satanic Empire will consist only of nations that today are all Islamic! Despite numerous prevailing arguments for the emergence of a revived Roman Empire as the Antichrist’s power base, the specific nations that the Bible identifies as comprising this empire are today all Muslim.

The Old Testament lists the nations of this final empire quite specifically, as Ezekiel prophesies the future attack of the Antichrist against Israel. The prophet describes how an alliance of Gog, Magog, Meshech, Tubal, Persia, Cush, Put, Gomer, and Togarmah form an unbeatable alliance to defeat their ancient common foe, namely the chosen and covenant people of Israel (Ezek.38:1-7).

Gog is a title, such as a Pharaoh in Egypt or a Caesar in Rome, and this titled being is recorded here in Ezekiel chapter 38, and with his people of Magog  they appear here in Ezekiel, and again in the New Testament in the Book of Revelation. After Satan is released from his one thousand year imprisonment after the Millennial Reign Of Christ, he appears to resurrect Gog and Magog again for another final and decisive battle against the Holy One Of God (Rev 20.7-10).

So as we attempt to identify the eight nations mentioned in this ancient Biblical prophecy which is yet to be fulfilled, we are indebted to Joel Richardson for such a concise summary. Seven of these nations are mentioned in the book of Genesis as descendants of Noah and his three sons.

Bible scholars and historians can trace the names of Noah’s sons to certain people groups and regions, and thus identify them with modern nations. While the identification of some of these people groups is somewhat debatable, there is a general measure of agreement among Bible scholars as to their identification.

MESHECH AND TUBAL:  Modern day prophecy buffs such as Hal Lindsey, Jack Van Impe, and their counterparts quickly jump to the false conclusion that these two identities are Moscow and Tobolsk, because of their false premise that these enemies “come from the north” of Israel, and that their names fit in with their incorrect scenario that the northern enemy is Russia, rather than Turkey. Please remember that when Ezekiel  penned his words, Russia did not exist, and that the enemies of the Jewish nation were always the countries that encompassed their territory then, AND NOW! They were always Arabic and Islamic, not European, and certainly not Russian!

A modern day American scholar who does not fall into this false teaching, is Dr. Mark Hitchcock from Oklahoma, who has written many best selling prophecy books worldwide. In his impressive book “The Coming Islamic Invasion Of Israel”, he  points out that Ezekiel 27:13 describes Meshech and Tubal as trading partners with ancient Tyre, in what is today Lebanon. Hitchcock says “that it is highly doubtful that ancient Tyre was trading with people as far north as Moscow and Tobolsk”.

In fact it is even questionable whether or not these areas were even very well populated in Ezekiel’s day. Hitchcock concludes this section by stating that these ancient peoples dwelt in the area around, and primarily south of, the Black and Caspian Seas in Ezekiel’s day, and that these nations today are in the modern country of Turkey, and also possibly parts of Southern Russia and Northern Iran.

We need to keep a watchful eye on Turkey in these last days of Bible Prophecy, for they often fall under the radar of watchful eyes for some strange unknown reason. This former great country ruled Palestine and the Middle East area for centuries following the collapse of the Roman Empire, and they are making strenuous efforts today to revive their former Caliphate status for this critical region in world affairs. A former friend of Israel, they have now shown their true colours by returning strongly to their Islamic roots, and have sided with the many other Muslim countries in their sworn defiance of the newly formed Zionist state in Israel.

MAGOG: The identity of this people group has also led many people astray, mainly because “the easily led sheep-like” commentators of our western culture have followed the false premise laid down by Cyrus Schofield in 1909 in his now infamous “Schofield Reference Bible”, and also the similarly inaccurate teachings of Matthew Henry in his “Complete Commentary On The Whole Bible”.

Both of these great men of God have helped an enormous number of Christians along the pilgrim pathway, and also helped to bring sinners to saints at the foot of the Cross. We do not belittle their overall Christian efforts one iota. But sadly, like a lot of great men of God down through the ages, they have got their theology slightly wrong in places, and this is such a case.

Schofield and Henry base their perspective from the ancient writings of the Jewish Historian Flavius Josephus, who claimed that Magog founded the Magogians, who the Greeks called Sythians, and based in modern day Southern Russia.

Mark Hitchcock, however, claims that the Sythians were a great nomadic tribe who inhabited the ancient territory from central Asia all across the southern part of ancient Russia. He states that the descendants of Magog were the original inhabitants of the plateau of central Asia, therefore today the land of Magog is inhabited by the former Soviet Republics of Kazakhstan, Kyrgystan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, and possibly even northern parts of Afghanistan.

Walid Shoebat in his book “Islam And The Final Beast” agrees with this scenario, but adds that “the location of Magog is the land mass between ancient Armenia and Media, namely the Republics south of Russia and north of Israel, comprised of Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, Turkestan, Chechnya, Turkey, Iran, and Dagestan”.

There is a third school of thought that Magog could include the country of Syria, but even if this was the case, we are still left with an Islamic nation. Thus, while the specific nations that comprise Magog may be partially in question, the same general area is agreed upon. We are dealing with Asia Minor, and possibly parts of central Asia, and some of the southern regions of the former Soviet Union. Please note that despite small differences of opinion, these countries and regions are all ISLAMIC, and not European!

Of the other countries mentioned in Ezekiel’s prophecy, Persia is obvious to everyone, the ancient country from Biblical times which only changed its name to Iran in 1935. There is no dispute over this identity amongst prophecy students.

Cush is also relatively easy to identify. Some scholars just claim that this is the modern country of Ethiopia, but to be more accurate it also encompasses the modern state of Sudan, and you will find it hard today to find a more sworn enemy of Israel and Christianity than this ultra radical Muslim Islamic state!

Put is the region west of Egypt, normally today called Libya, but again to be more accurate to the ancient terminology, most scholars would include what we would today call Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia (starting place of the Arab Spring Uprising of 2011)! Either way, we have another entirely Islamic region or nation.

Gomer, scholars seem to almost universally agree refers to the Celtic Cimmerians of Crim-Tartary of north central Asia Minor. Therefore Gomer is Gimarra, which is Cimmeria, which is Cappadocia. Cappadocia is simply central Turkey, and another Islamic region.

Togarmah is a descendant of Noah through Japheth, then Gomer (Gen.10:1-3). He is known to Assyrian records as Tilgarimmu in Asia Minor, which is a city state in Eastern Anatolia, more specifically the South Eastern part of Turkey, near the Syrian border.

You do not need to be an Einstein to work out from this, that all of these countries, states, or regions come from the north of Israel, that is the Turkish, Assyrian, Syrian, and the Muslim “istan” states of the former Soviet Union (as mentioned above), and every single one of them is ISLAMIC!!

Thus, in the final assessment, five of the eight nations mentioned by Ezekiel, occupy modern day Turkey, and possibly some parts of the Southern Russian regions near the Caucasus Mountains, as well as some of the Turkic nations of central Asia. Obviously the Lord directed Ezekiel to significantly highlight Turkey. The other three mentioned, Libya, Sudan and Iran, together with Turkey, form a perfect circle around Israel.

Turkey covers Israel’s entire northern horizon, while Iran (which has sworn to wipe Israel off the face of the earth) covers the eastern flank, with Sudan to the south, and Libya to the west. Israel finds herself surrounded on all four sides by ISLAMIC nations of the Antichrist’s Empire, and all desiring the downfall of the Jewish state! Therefore, in my opinion, the coming invasion of the Holy Land from the north with its confederacy of assisting nations will be Islamic, led by Turkey from the north, and not European led by Russia, from further north.

Neville Stephens.

Part Two To Follow Shortly.

PART FOUR OF OUR "EXTREME WEATHER EVENTS OF 2012", THIS THE NEW UP-DATED VIDEO FOR JULY.

"THE FRONT FELL OFF"!! WANT A GOOD LAUGH? THEN WATCH THIS SHORT VIDEO NEWS CLIP FROM AUSTRALIA AND DECIDE FOR YOURSELF WHETHER IT IS REAL OR NOT!!

JESUS ASKED? SATAN REPLIED DEMANDING HIS LIFE!! JESUS ACCEPTED!! WATCH THIS SHORT MUSICAL VIDEO AND BE BLESSED FOR WHAT YESHUA, OUR GREAT GOD AND SAVIOUR DID FOR US!!

THE MAD PRESIDENT OF IRAN STRIKES AGAIN!! PLEASE READ HIS LATEST OUTBURST CLAIMING THAT CHRISTIANITY AND JUDAISM DO NOT EXIST!!!

AHMADINEJAD'S LATEST BOAST -  JUDAISM AND CHRISTIANITY DO NOT EXIST!!!

“FCNN (Farsi Christian News Network) reports from Tehran (article supplied by http://www.midnightwatcher.wordpress.com/:

"Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, President of the Islamic Republic, in his opening speech at an Islamic conference held in Tehran on Tuesday 10th July 2012 said that the prophet of Islam is the prophet of Americas, Europe, and Asia, as well as Buddhists, and Hindus; adding that God did not create Judaism nor Christianity, in fact god only ever created one religion, Islam!

Thrashing out the details of the immediate need for a fundamental change in world affairs and the role of the United Nations, he said that the UN can be a key institution in this change; and went on to ask ‘but who controls the UN today?’

He reiterated: ‘people across the world, in Asia, Africa, Americas and all other parts of the world should wake up for the world to be rectified. The Prophet is to rectify the world affairs, our dear prophet Muhammad came to rectify the world affairs, Islam is a world religion, God did not send one religion to any one group of people, nor did he send it to one race of creed only’. After a lengthy discourse on Justice, he said: ‘My dear ones! Islam is a world religion and god has only one religion, that of Islam, he did not send Judaism or Christianity; Abraham was a harbinger of Islam, as were Moses and Jesus!

Repeating himself many times over, The President of the Islamic Republic added: ‘god has only ever created one religion, that of Islam!, our dear prophet belongs to the whole world, he is the last of the prophets, he is the prophet of Asians, Americans and Europeans, he is the prophet of Buddhists and Hindus too, he came to save everyone, our prophet is for all the people of the world’. Ahmadi-Najad said: ‘Muhammad, our dear prophet, is not just for Muslims, Koran is not just for Muslims either, Koran belongs to all the world’.

Adding; ‘we must be careful to have our weapons always pointed against Israel and bring down the dictatorial regimes in the region, Zionism is the cause of dictatorship in the region and across the world, and unless Zionism is destroyed, nations of the world will not have, nor see, happiness’.

‘To establish justice in the world, god has chosen one heavenly creature, who is himself the embodiment of pure justice and free from wrong decisions and mistakes he can deliver god’s promises. God has declared that when peoples of the world rise against tyranny, a child of prophet of Islam will come down from on high alongside Jesus Christ himself!’”

Article from http://www.midnightwatcher.wordpress.com/. 

READ AGAIN LANCE LAMBERT'S CHILLING PROPHECY ABOUT THE WEATHER IN BRITAIN THIS YEAR!!!

Do you ever wonder what is happening to the economy and the weather in Britain at present? Have another read of the prophecy made by the renowned Lance Lambert in August last year. It is quite chilling and startling!

"PROPHETIC WORD FOR GREAT BRITAIN ON SATURDAY 6TH AUGUST 2011".

Dear Friends, 

Hear the voice of the Lord, O Isles that I have so greatly loved and favoured. I the Lord the Almighty, I took you when you were nothing, clothed with skins and woad, and through My saving power, I made you great. When you were nothing, through My Word and your faith in Me, I lifted you and made you Great Britain.

Through many awakenings and many revivals, stage by stage, I took you until you became a great power with the greatest Empire in the history of the nations. From you My Gospel and My Word went throughout the world, and tens of thousands came into an experience of saving faith! That Empire with all its many failings and weaknesses was still one of the most just and righteous Empires of history.

Those Isles of yours were soaked with the blood of My faithful martyrs and its soil received the burnt ashes of those who would not renounce My Name, My Truth, and My Word. I, the Lord have not forgotten those who gave their all for Me!

But now the whole nation that I created and sustained has turned from Me. They paganise their land, state and institutions; there is no voice heard to warn the nation. False religion, the work of world rulers of darkness, cover your Isles; A Laodicean church, neither hot nor cold, rumbles on like machinery. It is a church where I am outside of its routine; its organisation and its methodology. It is Christianity without Me: Religion without Me!

My being is seared with pain, for judgement is determined against your land. I can do no other. I will destroy the vestiges of her greatness; I will return her to her first estate. I will wreck her economy, destabilise her in every way. I WILL CHANGE HER CLIMATE, EVEN HER WEATHER! I will prove to her that the way of the transgressor is hard and terrible. I will allow demonic forces held in check erstwhile by My Word and Gospel, and the living faith of so many, to become rampant in her social life, to the destruction of her society.

Will you who know Me and love Me go blind and dumb and deaf into this judgement? It is time for you who love Me, who are faithful to Me, to take action! Stand before Me and plead The Finished Work of My Son. At least cry out to Me, that there will be those who turn from darkness, from sin, and be saved. For whosoever shall call upon My Name in the midst of these judgements, I will save!

It will cost you everything to stand in the gap, but you will enter into My heart, and know deep fellowship with Me. Such travail conceived in your heart by My Spirit will cost your deeply, but it will end in My Throne and Glory.

Lance Lambert.

ANTICHRIST DECEPTION! THE WHITE HORSE IS NOW RIDING WORLDWIDE. FALSE PROPHETS ARE EVERYWHERE, INCLUDING AMERICA'S LATEST RISING STAR, JOEL OSTEEN!

ALERT! - THE ROMNEY RISING - THE WHITE HORSE PROPHECY OF MORMONISM!!

17 (NO MAKE THAT 23) REASONS TO BE EXTREMELY CONCERNED ABOUT THE SECOND HALF OF THIS YEAR!!!

What is the second half of 2012 going to bring? Are things going to get even worse than they are right now? Unfortunately, that appears more likely with each passing day. I will admit that I am extremely concerned about the second half of 2012. Historically, a financial crisis is much more likely to begin in the fall than during any other season of the year.

Just think about it. The stock market crash of 1929 happened in the fall. "Black Monday" happened on October 19th, 1987. The financial crisis of 2008 started in the fall. There just seems to be something about the fall that brings out the worst in the financial markets. But of course there is not a stock market crash every year.

So are there specific reasons why we should be extremely concerned about what is coming this year? Yes, there are. The ingredients for a "perfect storm" are slowly coming together, and in the months ahead we could very well see the next wave of the economic collapse strike.

Sadly, we have never even come close to recovering from the last recession, and this next crisis might end up being even more painful than the last one.

The following are 17 ( no, make that 22) reasons to be extremely concerned about the second half of 2012....

#1 Historical Trends

A recent IMF research paper by Luc Laeven and Fabián Valencia showed that a banking crisis is far more likely to start in September than in any other month.

So what will this September bring?

#2 JP Morgan

Do you remember back in May when JP Morgan announced that it would be taking a 2 billion dollar trading loss on some derivatives trades gone bad? Well, the New York Times is now reporting that the real figure could reach 9 billion dollars, but nobody really knows for sure. At some point is JP Morgan going to need a bailout? If so, what is that going to do to the U.S. financial system?

#3 Derivatives

Last week, Moody's downgraded the credit ratings of 15 major global banks. As a result, a number of them have been required to post billions of dollars in additional collateral against derivatives exposures....

Citigroup’s two-notch long-term rating downgrade from A3 to Baa2 could have led to US$500m in additional liquidity and funding demands due to derivative triggers and exchange margin requirements, according to the bank’s 10Q regulatory filing at the end of the first quarter.

Morgan Stanley – which Moody’s downgraded from A2 to Baa1 – said a two-notch downgrade from both Moody’s and Standard and Poor’s could spur an additional US$6.8bn of collateral requirements in its latest 10Q. The bank did not break down its potential collateral calls under a scenario where only Moody’s downgraded the bank below the Single A threshold.

Royal Bank of Scotland estimated it may have to post £9bn of collateral as a result of the one-notch Moody’s downgrade to Baa1 in a statement on June 21, but did not detail how much of this additional requirement was driven by margin for swaps exposures.

The worldwide derivatives market is starting to show some cracks, and at some point this is going to become a major disaster.

Remember, the 9 largest U.S. banks have a total of more than 200 trillion dollars of exposure to derivatives. When this bubble completely bursts it is going to be impossible to fix.

#4 LEAP/E2020 Warning

LEAP/E2020 has issued a red alert for the global financial system for this fall. They are warning that the "second half of 2012" will represent a "major inflection point" for the global economic system....

The shock of the autumn 2008 will seem like a small summer storm compared to what will affect planet in several months.

In fact LEAP/E2020 has never seen the chronological convergence of such a series of explosive and so fundamental factors (economy, finances, geopolitical…) since 2006, the start of its work on the global systemic crisis.

Logically, in our modest attempt to regularly publish a “crisis weather forecast”, we must therefore give our readers a “Red Alert” because the upcoming events which are readying themselves to shake the world system next September/ October belong to this category.

#5 Increasing Pessimism

One recent survey of corporate executives found that only 20 percent of them expect the global economy to improve over the next 12 months and 48 percent of them expect the global economy to get worse over the next 12 months.

#6 Spain

The Spanish financial system is basically a total nightmare at this point. Moody's recently downgraded Spanish debt to one level above junk status, and earlier this week Moody's downgraded the credit ratings of 28 major Spanish banks.

According to CNBC, Spain's short-term borrowing costs are now about three times higher than they were just one month ago....

Spain's short-term borrowing costs nearly tripled at auction on Tuesday, underlining the country's precarious finances as it struggles against recession and juggles with a debt crisis among its newly downgraded banks.

The yield paid on a 3-month bill was 2.362 percent, up from just 0.846 percent a month ago. For six-month paper, it leapt to 3.237 percent from 1.737 percent in May.

Needless to say, this is very, very bad news.

#7 Italy

The situation in Italy continues to deteriorate and many analysts believe that it could be one of the next dominoes to fall. The following is from a recent Businessweek article....

The euro zone’s third-biggest economy is seen as the next domino at risk of toppling after the European Union’s June 9 deal to lend Spain $125 billion in bank bailout funds. Yields on Italy’s 10-year government bonds reached 6.2 percent on June 13, up from just 4.8 percent in March. By pushing up Italy’s borrowing costs out of fear of default, investors are making a default more likely.

A recent Fortune article detailed some of the economic fundamentals that have so many economists deeply concerned about the Italian economy right now....

The main glaring risk threats that could propel Italy down the path to become Europe's next domino is the size of country's outstanding debt (at €1.9 trillion or 120% of GDP); the mountain of debt it has to roll over in the next 12 months (nearly €400 billion); and the market's cracking credibility around Prime Minister Mario Monti's ability to reduce the country's fiscal footprint and spur growth.

Further, fear around Italy's creditworthiness, which has recently been expressed by near cycle highs in sovereign CDS spreads and government yields on the 10-year bond, follow some rather glaring negative fundamentals over recent quarters and years: declining GDP over the last three consecutive quarters; a rising unemployment rate (especially among its youth); deterioration in labor market competitiveness; and increased competition for export goods to its key trading partners.

#8 Greece

I have written extensively about the financial nightmare that is unfolding in Greece. Unemployment has soared past the 20 percent mark, youth unemployment is above 50 percent, the Greek economy has contracted by close to 25 percent over the past four years and now Greek politicians are saying that a third bailout package may be necessary.

#9 Cyprus

The tiny island nation of Cyprus has become the fifth member of the eurozone to formally request a bailout. This is yet another sign that the eurozone is rapidly falling apart.

#10 Germany

German Chancellor Angela Merkel continues to promote an austerity path for Europe and she continues to maintain her very firm position against any kind of eurozone debt sharing.

Merkel, speaking to a conference in Berlin today as Spain announced it would formally seek aid for its banks, dismissed “euro bonds, euro bills and European deposit insurance with joint liability and much more” as “economically wrong and counterproductive,” saying that they ran against the German constitution.

“It’s not a bold prediction to say that in Brussels most eyes -- all eyes -- will be on Germany yet again,” Merkel said. “I say quite openly: when I think of the summit on Thursday I’m concerned that once again the discussion will be far too much about all kinds of ideas for joint liability and far too little about improved oversight and structural measures.”

In fact, Merkel says that there will be no eurobonds "as long as I live". This means that there will be no "quick fix" for the problems that are unfolding in Europe.

#11 Bank Runs

Every single day, hundreds of billions of dollars is being pulled out of banks in southern Europe. Much of that money is being transferred to banks in northern Europe.

In a previous article I included an extremely alarming quote from a CNBC article about the unfolding banking crisis in Europe....

Financial advisers and private bankers whose clients have accounts too large to be covered by a Europe-wide guarantee on deposits up to 100,000 euros ($125,000), are reporting a "bank run by wire transfer" that has picked up during May.

Much of this money has headed north to banks in London, Frankfurt and Geneva, financial advisers say.

"It's been an ongoing process but it certainly picked up pace a couple of weeks ago We believe there is a continuous 2-3 year bank run by wire transfer," said Lorne Baring, managing director at B Capital, a Geneva-based pan European wealth management firm.

How long can these bank runs continue before banking systems start to collapse?

#12 Preparations For The Collapse Of The Eurozone

As I have written about previously, the smart money has already written off southern Europe. All over the continent major financial institutions are preparing for the worst. For example, just check out what Visa Europe is doing....

Visa Europe is holding weekly meetings to discuss scenarios in the event the euro zone collapses, joining other companies that are preparing for a potential breakup of the currency bloc.

Chief Commercial Officer Steve Perry said Tuesday that management at the U.K.-based credit-card company meets weekly to explore various possible outcomes, including a total collapse of the euro zone.
#13 Global Lending Is Slowing Down

All over the globe the flow of credit is beginning to freeze up. In fact, the Bank for International Settlements says that worldwide lending is contracting at the fastest pace since the financial crisis of 2008.

#14 Sophisticated Cyber Attacks On Banks

It is being reported that "very sophisticated" hackers have successfully raided dozens of banks in Europe. So far, it is being estimated that they have stolen 60 million euros....

Sixty million euro has been stolen from bank accounts in a massive cyber bank raid after fraudsters raided dozens of financial institutions around the world.

According to a joint report by software security firm McAfee and Guardian Analytics, more than 60 firms have suffered from what it has called an "insider level of understanding".

What happens someday if we wake up and all the money in the banks is gone?

#15 U.S. Municipal Bankruptcies

All over the United States there are cities and towns on the verge of financial disaster. This week Stockton, California became the largest U.S. city to ever declare bankruptcy, but the reality is that this is only just the beginning of the municipal debt crisis....

Stockton, California, said it will file for bankruptcy after talks with bondholders and labor unions failed, making the agricultural center the biggest U.S. city to seek court protection from creditors.

“The city is fiscally insolvent and must seek Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection,” Stockton said in a statement released yesterday after its council voted 6-1 to adopt a spending plan for operating under bankruptcy protection.

#16 The Obamacare Decision

The U.S. economy is already a complete and total mess, and now the Obamacare decision is going to throw a huge wet blanket on it. All over America, small business owners are saying that they are going to have to let some workers go because they cannot afford to keep them all under Obamacare.

It would be hard to imagine a more job killing law than Obamacare, and now that the Supreme Court decision has finally been announced we are going to see many businesses making some really hard decisions.

#17 The U.S. Election

It is being reported that Barack Obama is putting together an army of "thousands of lawyers" to deal with any disputes that arise over voting procedures or results.

It certainly looks like this upcoming election is going to be extremely close, and there is the potential that we could end up facing another Bush v. Gore scenario where the fate of the presidency is determined in court. This campaign season is likely to be exceptionally nasty, and I fear what may happen if there is not a decisive winner on election day. The possibility of significant civil unrest is certainly there.

We definitely live in "interesting" times.

Personally, I am deeply concerned about the September, October, November time frame.

The other day, Joe Biden delivered a speech in which he made the following statement....

"It's A Depression For Millions And Millions Of Americans"

And what Biden said was right for once. Millions of Americans are out of work right now and millions of Americans have fallen out of the middle class in recent years. If you have lost everything, it does feel like you are living through a depression.

When people lose everything, they tend to get desperate. And desperate people do desperate things - especially when they are angry.

A whole host of recent opinion polls have shown that anger and frustration in the United States are rising to unprecedented levels. The ingredients are certainly there for an explosion. Someone just needs to come along and light the fuse. We truly do live in frightening times.

Let us hope for the best, but let us also prepare for the worst.

                                           **********************************
PS. This is a concerning and thought-provoking article from the  http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/ website (please go there for more details). But on top of their 17 dire warnings, I would like to add a few more of my own.

18. There is every chance of some major terrorist action in the upcoming London Olympic Games, and even if the mega counter-terrorist operation being put into place succeeds, watch out for diversionary tactics from the enemy as all of the main focus will be on London!

19. The USA Presidential elections were mentioned briefly above, but the scenario was omitted which could present us with a MORMON as the most powerful man in the Western World come November! Mitt Romney is already five per cent ahead of Obama in the national polls, but either way we will have a Mormon or a Muslim leading the USA come November. It is also worth mentioning here, that the Book of Mormon predicts that a powerful world leader from within their ranks will emerge at the end times to put the world to rights, so to speak! Obviously, this is not Scripture, but Satan has always used devious deceptive methods to lead people astray, and none better illustrated than the false Koran and the devilish faith of Islam!

20. There is a splendid new book out right now called "Petrus Romanus - The FINAL Pope Is Here". Pope Benedict has turned 85 and is increasingly showing signs of frailty and fatigue. Thes observations have prompted speculation over whether he will be the first pontiff in seven centuries to resign! He is the only Pope in living memory to discuss the possibility of resignation, and has recently said he recognises he is now in "the last stretch of his life"! Benedict is now the oldest reigning Pope since Leo XIII, who died aged 93 in 1903. For more than 800 years, scholars have pointed to the dark augury having to do with "The Last Pope". The prophecy, taken from St.Malachy's "Prophecy Of The Popes", is among a list of verses predicting each of the Roman Catholic Popes from Pope Celestine II to the final Pope, "Peter The Roman", whose reign would end in the destruction of Rome. Tradition holds that Malachy had been called to Rome by Pope Innocent II, and while there, he experienced the vision of the future Popes, including the last one, which he wrote down in a series of cryptic phrases. According to the prophecy, the next Pope (following Benedict XVI) is the final Pontiff, Petrus Romanus, or Peter The Roman. The idea by some Catholics that the next Pope on St.Malachy's list, heralds the beginning of "great apostasy" followed by "great tribulation" sets the stage for the imminent unfolding of apocalyptic events, something many non-Catholics agree with. This will give rise to the false prophet, who according to the Book Of Revelation leads the world's religious communities into embracing a political leader known as the Antichrist!

21. The much publicised Mayan Calendar predicts "the end of the world" on December 21 this year! This also ties in with the ancient prophesies of the Inkas, the Summarians, and several other of the "ancient religious" tribes of times gone by. Scripture tells us that this world will never end, but is it possible that a current "age" might come to a cataclismic end with judgement and tribulation? There are so many frightening scenarios going on right now in this decaying world of ours, that there is much speculation that something very severe and calamatous could occur to our planet around this crucial November/December period!

22. Read again the prophecies of Lance Lambert, John Hayward, and Stewart Dool on this blog. There is no doubt that there is a "shaking" going on in the world (Haggai 2:6), and that Britain, Europe, and even the mighty USA are suffering what many believe is judgement from Yeshua! And things will get worse, not better!

23. Also, read again the article on the dreams of impending further terrible judgement to be passed on the USA in the second half of 2012. They are from reliable and normal Christians with good pedigrees, both in leadership and others well acquainted with the Scriptures, not the usual scare-monger type of "nutter" out there, so read them again, and be warned!

It is the 1st of July today friends, and the second half of 2012 has begun. The first six months have seen some extreme weather patterns (see videos on this blog), floods, droughts, famines, earthquakes, tornadoes, giant hail stones, wild bush fires destroying vast areas, economic meltdown worldwide, the possible collapse of the Euro and even the Eurozone itself, Rampant apostasy in the Church, the emergence of new age and new religious philosophies, and much, much more. Well, if this is just for "starters" you had better hold on tight to your seat belts, for the second half of 2012 promises to be one heck of a roller coaster ride!

Neville.

REMEDY FOR EMPTINESS FROM "GRACETHRUFAITH".

Remedy for Emptiness

Q.   First of all, I just want to say that I enjoy your web site like no other…it rocks and you all rock also!  My question is: why is it that some days I feel that I am just loaded with the presence of the Lord and am happy and then suddenly I can feel as empty as my wallet?


A.  We all have up and down days because we are all affected by the way we perceive the things that are going on around us.  Paul gave us the remedy for this in Philippians 4:4-7.

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!  Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.  Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

It’s especially important on our down days to look for the countless blessings God pours out on us every day and thank Him for them.  The more you look the more blessings you’ll find.   It’s guaranteed to restore your joy.

Extracted from the "Gracethrufaith" website at http://www.gracethrufaith.com/.

Neville.

THE HUMOUROUS "PASTOR'S BUSINESS CARD".

PASTOR'S BUSINESS CARD:

A new pastor was visiting in the homes of his parishioners.  At one house it seemed obvious that someone was at home, but no answer came to his repeated knocks at the door.

Therefore, he took out a business card and wrote 'Revelation 3:20' on the back of it and stuck it in the door.
When the offering was processed the following Sunday, he found that his card had been returned.  Added to it was this cryptic message, 'Genesis 3:10..'
Reaching for his Bible to check out the citation, he broke up in gales of laughter.  Revelation 3:20 begins 'Behold, I stand at the door and knock.'  Genesis 3:10 reads, 'I heard your voice in the garden and I was afraid for I was naked.'

Remember when the funniest jokes were the clean ones?They still are!   Pass it on 'A cheerful heart is good medicine' (Prov. 17:22).

Neville.

LATEST UPDATE FROM THE HIGHLY RESPECTED JOURNALIST DAVID DOLAN, WHO NOW LIVES IN JERUSALEM.

SHALOM FROM JERUSALEM.

Turmoil continues to intensify in the quaking Middle East, where Palestinians launched over 150 rockets and mortar shells into Israel in June as warfare escalated in Syria and the Muslim Brotherhood won the presidential election in Egypt. We are just getting news reports that a Syrian army general and other senior soldiers have defected today to Turkey. The prospect that Israel could get drawn into the fighting in Syria is growing as the Iranian-backed Hizbullah militia is reportedly preparing to transfer SCUD missiles into Lebanon—an action Israel will probably attempt to interdict. All the details are below. As one friend of mine put it, "birth pangs are turning into hard labor."

I was interviewed by CBN news on my roof here in Jerusalem ten days ago, which is viewable at the link below. I spoke about the then-impending Egyptian presidential election and the ominous situation in Syria. We are conducting another interview today, which will be included in the next program. It is scheduled to be posted on the same site around the end of June. I have been invited to speak at a prophecy conference in Wisconsin in early September, and in the Seattle area in late October. Details are on my web site, www.ddolan.com
Here is the link for the program Jerusalem Dateline: http://www.cbn.com/media/player/index.aspx?s=/Archive/News/Jerusalem_ Dateline_061812v2_WS&search=jerusalemdatelineepisodes&p=1&parent =0&subnav=false +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ +++++++++++++++++++FRESH TURMOIL ROCKS THE MIDDLE EASTBy David DolanThe tense Middle East continued to quake during June, with regional violence and turbulence spreading to portions of southern Israel as fighting escalated in Syria and the Muslim Brotherhood won a foreboding presidential victory in Egypt. After several months of relative quiet, a new wave of Palestinian rocket attacks was launched mid-month aimed mainly at Israeli civilian centers in the vicinity of the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip. Hundreds of thousands of area residents were forced to take shelter as air raid sirens sounded in several cities and towns, warning of incoming rockets. School classes were cancelled along with many public events. Several Israelis were wounded by Palestinian rocket shrapnel.

IDF military helicopters and jets went into action in response to the bombardments, killing around 15 Palestinians in the week-long clashes, including a man they said was behind an earlier terror attack along Israel’s border with the Sinai Peninsula. That attack, which left an Arab Israeli worker dead, sparked off the latest round of conflict. Over 100 rockets and mortar shells were fired over a three-day period before an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire was supposed to go into effect. However over 50 additional rockets were directed at Israeli cities after that, most likely fired by Iran’s main Palestinian ally, the Islamic jihad group. Suspecting that Iranian leaders were trying to goad Israel into another major conflict to deflect them away from attacking Iranian nuclear targets, Israeli defense officials nevertheless warned of a possible new ground offensive in the Gaza Strip if radical Hamas leaders—whose movement was born in 1988 out of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood group—did not enforce the declared truce.

The Palestinian attacks came as fresh political chaos rocked neighboring Egypt and warfare escalated in Syria. The American-trained Egyptian military basically took back the reigns of governmental power on the eve of the mid-June presidential election by canceling the results of the earlier parliamentary vote won by two Muslim fundamentalist parties. The military leaders also made clear that they, and not any future parliament, would oversee the drawing up a new Egyptian constitution. The Islamic parties strongly objected to the dramatic moves, calling them a virtual military coup. Hundreds of thousands took to the streets in protest. Days later, both the Muslim Brotherhood candidate for president, Muhammad Morsi, and his rival Ahmed Shafik claimed victory in the presidential race. Israeli officials were said to be extremely concerned when it was announced that Morsi had defeated Shafik in the election, significantly moving forward the march of militant Islam in the quaking region. Hamas supporters danced in the streets of Gaza City after the election results were announced. Earlier a senior Muslim Brotherhood official called for Israel’s total destruction, vowing the militant group would help make that happen.
To the north, a United Nations official used the term "civil war" to describe the escalating conflict in Syria. Several mass civilian killings were blamed on the Assad regime. Human Rights groups say the death toll in the 16 month-old conflict is now over 14,000. Syrian dictator Bashar Assad denied his forces were responsible for the latest atrocities, claiming the horrendous slaughters of men, women and children were occurring at the hands of unnamed "enemies of the state."
Officials from NATO countries announced they would hold an urgent meeting to discuss Syria’s downing of an F-4 Phantom Turkish warplane off of the northern Syrian coast on June 22.

The Assad regime claimed the jet had strayed into Syrian airspace near its Latakia seaport, where Russian naval forces are stationed. The Turkish Muslim government denied this charge while strongly denouncing the Syrian action. This came after various Middle East analysts warned that the intensifying fighting in Syria could spread to other regional countries. More armed clashes broke out in Lebanon between supporters and opponents of the embattled Syrian regime. Meanwhile tens of thousands of Syrian refugees continued to pour into neighboring Jordan, Turkey and Lebanon. A Syrian air force pilot defected with his MIG jet to a Jordanian air force base in the north of the Hashemite kingdom. Several top Assad government officials were said to be preparing to defect to the rebel side of the mushrooming civil war.
The possibility that Israel could get drawn into the Syrian conflict was highlighted by news reports saying Israeli officials have warned they would not allow the Shiite Lebanese Hizbullah militia to transfer SCUD missiles from Syria into Lebanon. Hizbullah leaders are apparently concerned that the SCUDS could fall into the hands of mainly Sunni Muslim forces fighting the Assad regime. A rebel military-style attack was launched earlier in the month against a Syrian air force base near the border with Jordan, not far from the Golan Heights. Israeli military forces were placed on full war alert in the north as the internal fighting in Syria ominously spread to the border area.

The brutal Syrian regime denied Iranian media reports claiming that a massive war exercise would soon be held in Syria involving Russian, Chinese and Iranian military forces. The Kremlin also denied the reports, which came just before Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Israel for a short visit. American and European leaders made clear during June that they might be compelled to enter the conflict if mass civilian slaughters continue. Press reports said the CIA is helping to smuggle weapons to the "Free Syrian Army" from Turkey. Meanwhile UN monitors operating in the crumbling country were ordered back to their bases after armed attacks were launched against them. The UN said civilian thugs working for the Assad regime were most likely behind the assaults, along with at least most of the mass slaughters.

Russia denied American government claims that it was sending new defense helicopters to the besieged Assad regime. However the Kremlin later announced that additional Russian warships were en route to two Syrian Mediterranean ports to supposedly "protect" Russian citizens working in the war-torn country.

With the headlines dominated by the jarring news from Egypt, Syria and the fresh Palestinian rocket attacks, the crisis with Iran continued to simmer on the back burner. A new round of international talks, this time in Moscow, failed once again to persuade the defiant Iranian clerical government to halt its apparent rush towards developing nuclear weapons. It was not even clear if any further meetings would be held. Israeli officials again warned that the defiant Shiite Muslim regime is simply using the talks as a cover while racing to reach its goal to be in a position to quickly produce nuclear weapons. Media reports in late June said American military forces were being beefed up in several Arab Gulf states opposite Iran.
Two other domestic news items received extensive coverage in Israel during the month. One was the government’s decision to begin deporting some of the African migrants that have entered the country illegally over the past six years. Officials say at least 60,000 migrants, mostly young men, have entered the country, with some estimates reaching double that number. While some Israeli groups opposed the deportation moves, surveys showed that a large majority of Israelis support the action, especially in light of a growing crime wave involving some of the migrants who are mostly living in south Tel Aviv. The second item was a serious riot in the center of Tel Aviv, which took place after police stopped leftwing "social justice" Israeli protestors from setting up a new tent camp in the center of the city. Hundreds of protestors responded one day later by smashing windows in three city banks and shutting down the main Ayalon freeway for half an hour. Unrest then spread to Jerusalem where protestors held an unlicensed demonstration in the heart of city, blocking light rail trains from running on Jaffa Road. Analysts warned that additional violent encounters between anarchist protestors and security forces were likely this summer.

ATTACKS ON THE BORDERS. An Israeli soldier was killed by a Palestinian who infiltrated from the Gaza Strip on the first day of June, setting off a month of intense violence in the area. Sergeant Nethanel Mushyashvili from Ashkelon was shot dead by an armed terrorist who broke through Israel’s security fence. The soldier, 21, was a member of the Golani brigade. The attacker was then killed by other Golani troops patrolling in the area. Israel tanks and helicopters were sent into action, entering territory near the site of the attack and also in the southern portion of the Gaza Strip where it was believed the infiltrator had come from. Israelis living in nearby communities were ordered to stay indoors near their bomb shelters in case the Palestinians responded with rocket attacks. Some reports said the infiltrator had hoped to take at least one soldier hostage.

Early in the morning on June 18, Arab Muslim terrorists attacked two Israeli work crews constructing the new security fence along Israel’s porous Sinai border with Egypt. The attackers, later identified as Egyptian and Saudi citizens, fired rocket-propelled grenades and other explosive devices at the civilian workers, killing Saed Phashpashe, an Arab Israeli from Haifa, and wounding several others. Israeli army units rushed to the scene and entered into armed combat with the Muslim squad. The army later announced that "several terrorists" were killed in the encounter. The next day, an Arab group calling itself the "Shura Council of the Mujahideen in the Holy Land" said it had carried out the terrorist attack. Israeli security sources said the group, probably linked to Al Qaida, is based in the southern Gaza Strip.
In response to the unprovoked attack, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak ordered the air force into action against several targets in the Gaza Strip. This came after the Premier issued a statement saying the terrorist assault would not halt work on the border fence. "This barrier is meant both to prevent terrorism and also to prevent the entrance of infiltrators. Its construction is of supreme national interest." Officials say the security fence should be fully constructed by the end of this year. The term "infiltrators" is used by the government to describe the illegal African migrants—most of them Muslims—that have crossed into Israel in recent years.

Israeli aircraft struck several targets in the southern Gaza Strip soon after the border terrorist attack, killing a number of Palestinians. When the Palestinians responded by firing rockets and mortar shells at Israeli civilian centers around the coastal zone, the IDF launched further air force strikes, killing or wounding a number of Palestinians the army spokesman said were members of various terrorist cells. The spokesman said one of the planners of the Sinai border assault named Aleb Armilat was among the dead. His superior, identified as Muhammad Rashdan, was reportedly seriously wounded in the strike. Palestinian groups, especially Islamic Jihad, then stepped up rocket attacks, many of them aimed at the nearby Israeli coastal city of Ashkelon. This was followed by the firing of a more powerful, longer-range Iranian-supplied Grad rocket at the Negev Desert city of Beersheva.

The Israeli Iron Dome anti-rocket system was put into action two days after a rocket struck a border police base in Ashkelon, wounding four Israeli border policemen working there, one of them seriously. The system successfully destroyed a rocket that advanced Iron Dome computer projections showed was heading to a built up area of the coastal city. The system was deployed again later in the week, destroying ten more rockets in flight. However another rocket struck a factory in the hard-hit town of Sderot, seriously wounding a male Israeli worker.

HAMAS OWNS UP. The Hamas movement, which usually claims its forces are not involved in rocket attacks, took "credit" for some of the firings. Probably emboldened by developments in neighboring Egypt, it was the first time the ruling Palestinian group had done so since April 2011. This admission prompted further IDF air strikes on Hamas militia positions. The IDF spokesman said several Palestinian were killed as they were preparing to fire rockets or mortar shells, or in some cases right after they had done so. On the morning of June 19, military helicopters spotted a group of militiamen planting roadside bombs just inside of the Gaza border security fence, apparently in anticipation of a possible IDF military move into the area.

Several more Palestinian men were killed or wounded in that encounter. Later several non-combatants died when a wall collapsed after the IDF struck a nearby rocket launcher. Defense Minister Barak and other senior government officials made clear Israel was not afraid to launch a full-scale ground operation into the Gaza Strip if necessary. Vice Premier Silvan Shalom of the Likud party warned that "The more things deteriorate, the closer we come to a decision we don't want to make."
On the evening of June 20—a day which saw over 60 rockets directed at Israel—the so-called "military wing" of Hamas announced it had agreed to accept an Egyptian proposal to halt its fire if Israel would also do so. A statement posted on the Hamas web site said "Responding to the Egyptian efforts, we and the armed resistance announce our commitment to stop this round of confrontation as long as the occupation stops its aggression." Of course, it was a terror attack on unarmed civilian workers, planned by militant Palestinian Muslims in the southern Gaza Strip, which set in motion the so-called Israeli "aggression." As usual, IDF military strikes were directed at carefully pinpointed terrorist targets while Hamas and its cronies deliberately lobbed most of their rockets and mortar shells at Israeli civilian communities.
The IDF spokesman’s office said the weapons arsenal under overall Hamas control includes many Iranian-produced Fajr-3 Grad rockets featuring more powerful explosive heads and longer ranges than older Palestinian-made Kassam rockets. The office added that longer range Katyusha and Grad rockets are being smuggled all the time into the Gaza Strip from Egypt, along with new anti-tank missiles and heavy mortars. Some of the weaponry is thought to be coming from the large arsenal once controlled by slain Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi. The office reported that during the past six years, rocket fire from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip has killed 44 Israeli civilians and injured nearly 1,700 others, some of them children.

Several Israeli commentators noted that the latest rocket barrage was barely reported by the international media, being especially ignored by television and radio networks like the BBC and CNN which are viewed all over the world. Some opined that if Israeli leaders feel forced to respond to continuing rocket fire by sending ground forces once again into the Gaza Strip—an option they are hardly pining for—that story would be heavily reported. In New York, Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Ron Prosor, handed a letter to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, noting that "the lives of about a million Israelis are being paralyzed" by the ongoing Palestinian rocket and mortar fire.

TROUBLE ALL AROUND. While focused on the rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip, Israeli officials were also closely monitoring the jarring developments in neighboring Syria and Egypt during June. Military analysts noted that while the dramatic news coming out of Cairo has very grave implications for the future, the expanding civil war inside of Syria has the potential to directly involve Israel in a new military conflict at virtually any moment. Israel’s Channel 10 network reported on June 16 that concern is mounting that the Lebanese Shiite Hizbullah militia might be preparing to try to move advanced weaponry, including SCUD missiles, into Lebanon from Syria. It added that the move would come in order to protect the weapons from falling into Sunni Muslim hands if the Assad regime is overthrown, as many predict will eventually occur. Veteran military reporter Alon Ben-David narrated the news story as video pictures showed some SCUDS being recently moved from the Syrian capital Damascus to undisclosed locations.

It was not revealed how Channel 10 obtained the footage. Other reports said the missiles were moved to two air force bases outside of the city. Analysts said the SCUDS are actually owned by Hizbullah, which reportedly purchased them from the Syrian regime using Iranian money two years ago. An attempt to smuggle them into Lebanon at that time was met by public Israeli warnings that such transfers would not be allowed to take place.
Analysts warn that any fresh Hizbullah attempts to smuggle heavy weapons into Lebanon could easily spark off another round of conflict with the Muslim militia, which has received copious amounts of new weaponry since the 2006 war in clear violation of the UN-backed ceasefire which ended that conflict. Some say extremist Hizbullah leaders might not be terribly worried about any IDF interdiction since the militant group could then blame Israel for starting any subsequent full-scale conflict. This is precisely what occurred when the Israeli government ordered a first strike in 1967 after Egypt blockaded the southern port city of Eilat and moved troops into the Sinai Peninsula after signing a war alliance with Syria, both then backed by the powerful Soviet Union.

The disturbing Channel 10 report came just a few weeks after regional media outlets said Sunni Muslim rebel forces brazenly attacked a Syrian air force base known as As Suwayda. It is located near the city of Daraa some ten miles east of the Golan Heights on the Syrian border with Jordan. The main highway from Damascus to Amman runs through the city. Thousands of refugees continue to pour through Daraa every week on their way to seek refuge in Jordan. Arab media reports said that on the morning of June 3, heavily armed rebel forces fired mortar shells at the air force base, setting scores of warplanes and assault helicopters on fire.

They also reportedly managed to destroy some of the aircraft runways at the base. Israeli analysts say the strategic base is extremely important to the besieged Assad regime, being the closest to Israeli military forces stationed on the nearby Golan Heights. The attack came just days before Israeli Armed Forces Chief Benny Gantz expressed concern that Sunni Muslim terrorists might take advantage of the chaos in Syria to aim their weapons at IDF troops in the area. "We may face terrorist attacks on the Golan border fence," he told reporters while visiting the area.
The armed rebel assault near Daraa was significant for another reason. The Syrian uprising against the Assad regime actually began in the city in early March 2011.

Syrian security forces arrested a number of children, all belonging to the same family, after some of them wrote anti-Assad slogans on a local school wall. When government officials refused to release the children, who ranged in ages from 9 to 15, anti-regime protests began outside a neighborhood mosque, calling for government reforms and an end to corruption. Syrian forces opened fire on the protestors, leaving four dead. Anti-Assad demonstrations and deadly government suppressions of them have continued in the city almost every day since then, as they have all over the fracturing country, leaving an average of 100 Syrians dead now every day.

HORRIBLE SLAUGHTERS. Just a few days before the reported rebel action in the south of Syria—apparently conducted by military defectors—over 100 civilians were slaughtered in several villages near the town of Houla, north of the city of Homs in western Syria. The UN said among the dead were 49 children and 34 women. A UN probe concluded that the victims had been "summarily executed in two separate incidents." They added that survivors of the massacre testified the perpetrators were members of a pro-Assad group popularly known as the Shabiha, which is an Arabic word that roughly translates as "thugs." Like Hitler’s "brown shirts," they are known to be doing the dirty work of the regime.

The Syrian dictator claimed the attack was part of an "external war using domestic tools," which analysts said was probably a reference to some Al Qaida members thought to be fighting with the rebel Muslim forces. For the first time since the Syrian revolt began in March last year, PM Netanyahu condemned the Assad regime over the slaughters, calling for "the international community to act in the light of continuous Syrian atrocities."

Several other mass killings took place in the war torn country during June; the largest in the city of Hama where the UN said 70 people were murdered. Admitting his peace plan had totally fallen apart, UN and Arab League special envoy Kofi Annan warned, "If the situation doesn’t change, Syria faces all-out civil war." Others said it is now evident that such a conflict is already well underway. This seemed to be confirmed when UN monitors attempting to check on the Hama slaughter came under armed attack as they approached the city, prompting the UN mission chief to order all his monitors back to their bases until further notice. He added that the situation does indeed now appear to have escalated into a full-blown civil war.

American Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned the Russian government during June that its refusal to sanction UN action against Syria would add explosive fuel the conflict, which she added "could morph into a proxy war in the region." She also accused Moscow of supplying the embattled Assad regime with arms, including attack helicopters. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov denied the allegation, claiming his country was only sending back older Syrian helicopters that had been refurbished in Russia. Later in the month, the Kremlin announced it was sending more warships and military personnel to two naval bases it operates out of on the Syrian Mediterranean coast. Military analysts said while they were officially being dispatched in order to prepare to evacuate Russian citizens working in Syria, they would obviously act as a major deterrence to any Sunni Arab, NATO, or other foreign intervention in the conflict.This came after regional media outlets claimed that US President Barrack Hussein Obama had vetoed a French-Saudi proposal to bomb Assad’s palace in order to either kill him or drive him from power.

Meanwhile the British newspaper Daily Telegraph reported on June 21 that unnamed "senior Syrian government officials" are quietly preparing to defect to the country's opposition if rebel forces manage to destabilize the Assad regime. "We are seeing members of Bashar Assad’s inner circle make plans to leave," an unnamed senior American official told the newspaper. The report said the Syrian officials have already been in contact with opposition leaders, while quietly transferring their private money to overseas banks.
With regional birth pangs becoming stronger and more frequent with every passing day, we can only look to the Holy One of Israel who promised long ago that a day will come when "Violence will not be heard again in your land, nor devastation or destruction within your borders. But you will call your walls salvation, and your gates praise (Isaiah 60:18).

DAVID DOLAN (Formerly a CBS newscaster and correspondent, but now a freelance journalist living in his beloved Jerusalem, in Israel).

WATCH THIS SHORT VIDEO CLIP OF HOW IRANIAN TELEVISION PROMOTES THE NOTION THAT THE ISLAMIC MAHDI IS TO RETURN SOON!!

THE BIBLE ACTUALLY PREDICTED THE RETURN OF ISRAEL TO THEIR HOMELAND IN 1948.

Bible Predicted Date Of Israel's Return

http://www.wnd.com/2012/06/author-bible-predicted-date-of-israels-return/

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The author of “Covenant: G-d’s Plan for Israel in the Last Days,” a book by Baruch Battlestein published in Italy, cites prophecies by Ezekiel and Moses that pinpoint with precision the date of Israel’s return to the land in May 1948.

“Was May 14, 1948, chosen by G-d as the exact day in time to resurrect the nation of Israel, or was it just some random date in human history?” Battlestein asks. “Could it be possible that this exact date was prophesied thousands of years before in Scripture?”

Battlestein cites three verses to reach his conclusion that the date of Israel’s return to the land after 1,900 years was indeed prophesied accurately.

The first is Ezekiel 37:21-22: “And say unto them, ‘Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen, whither they be gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land: And I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king to them all: and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all.’”

This verse, Battlestein points out, shows “that it was the will of the Lord to bring them back to their own land and make them one nation in the land.”

The second citation of interest is Leviticus 26:23-24: “And if ye will not be reformed by me by these things, but will walk contrary unto me; Then will I also walk contrary unto you, and will punish you yet seven times for your sins.”

“As a stand-alone verse this is very strange, and when applying it to the history of Israel it seems impossible to fully understand,” writes the author. “However, when we read the Book of Ezekiel we find another strange prophecy that leads us back to G-d’s prophecy in Leviticus. It is through these prophecies that we come to an understanding that May 14, 1948, was the exact date chosen by G-d for the resurrection of Israel thousands of years before it took place.”

That second Ezekiel citation is Ezekiel 4:4-6: “Lie thou also upon thy left side, and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it: according to the number of the days that thou shalt lie upon it thou shalt bear their iniquity. 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.”

“In this strange prophecy, Ezekiel is commanded to first lay on his left side for 390 days and then on his right side for 40 days, for a total of 430 days, as punishment for the iniquities of the house of Israel,” explains Battlestein.

“We are told that this punishment represents one day for each year. Taken alone, the prophecies in Leviticus and Ezekiel do not take on any specific significance. However, when we combine them, the results are astonishing.”

He continues: “G-d decreed to Israel a total of 430 years of punishment for her sins against Him. That punishment consisted of physical removal from the land G-d had promised His people. Israel’s captivity in Babylon was exactly 70 years as prophesied by the prophet Jeremiah (Jeremiah 25:11-12; 29:10). Therefore, the first 70 years of Israel’s punishment was completed when the Babylonian captivity ended.

By the decree of King Cyrus, conquerer or Babylon, the Jews were set free from their captivity in the year 538 B.C.E. The year 538 B.C.E, therefore becomes the base year with which we begin our calculations: 430 years minus 70 year captivity equals 360 years of remaining punishment to come.”

That’s where the Leviticus prophecy kicks in, says Battlestein. The 360 years needed to be multiplied by seven, for a total of 2,520 years.

Using the 360-day Hebrew calendar, that totals 907,200 days. When converted to the 365-day calendar, the 2,520 years or 907,200 days becomes 2,485 years and five months or 2,485.5 years and months. If you subtract 538 years B.C.E, you get 1,947 years and five months.

Battlestein reminds that there was no year zero.

“Therefore, the year 1,947.5 we call the year 1948.5,” he explains. “So exactly 1,947.5 years after 538 B.C.E., we come to the year 1948.5,” he writes. “May is the fifth month of the modern calendar, and on May 14, 1948, Israel arose from the ashes of extinction to become a nation!”

Battlestein is a messianic Jew who lived in Israel until moving to the U.S. He is the author of several books.

THIS IS THIRD VIDEO OF EXTREME WEATHER PATTERNS IN 2012. THIS ONE IS CALLED "APOCALYPTIC LIKE WEATHER PHENOMENON JUNE 2012".

THE WORLD'S FIRST GENETICALLY MODIFIED BABIES BORN by MICHAEL HANLON OF THE DAILY MAIL.

The world's first genetically modified humans have been created, it was revealed last week.

The disclosure that 30 healthy babies were born after a series of experiments in the United States provoked another furious debate about ethics.
So far, two of the babies have been tested and have been found to contain genes from three 'parents'.

Fifteen of the children were born in the past three years as a result of one experimental programme at the Institute for Reproductive Medicine and Science of St Barnabas in New Jersey.

The babies were born to women who had problems conceiving. Extra genes from a female donor were inserted into their eggs before they were fertilised in an attempt to enable them to conceive.

Genetic fingerprint tests on two one-year- old children confirm that they have inherited DNA from three adults --two women and one man.

The fact that the children have inherited the extra genes and incorporated them into their 'germline' means that they will, in turn, be able to pass them on to their own offspring.

Altering the human germline - in effect tinkering with the very make-up of our species - is a technique shunned by the vast majority of the world's scientists.

Geneticists fear that one day this method could be used to create new races of humans with extra, desired characteristics such as strength or high intelligence.

Writing in the journal Human Reproduction, the researchers, led by fertility pioneer Professor Jacques Cohen, say that this 'is the first case of human germline genetic modification resulting in normal healthy children'.

Some experts severely criticised the experiments. Lord Winston, of the Hammersmith Hospital in West London, told the BBC yesterday: 'Regarding the treat-ment of the infertile, there is no evidence that this technique is worth doing . . . I am very surprised that it was even carried out at this stage. It would certainly not be allowed in Britain.'

John Smeaton, national director of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children, said: 'One has tremendous sympathy for couples who suffer infertility problems. But this seems to be a further illustration of the fact that the whole process of in vitro fertilisation as a means of conceiving babies leads to babies being regarded as objects on a production line.

'It is a further and very worrying step down the wrong road for humanity.' Professor Cohen and his colleagues diagnosed that the women were infertile because they had defects in tiny structures in their egg cells, called mitochondria.

They took eggs from donors and, using a fine needle, sucked some of the internal material - containing 'healthy' mitochondria - and injected it into eggs from the women wanting to conceive.

Because mitochondria contain genes, the babies resulting from the treatment have inherited DNA from both women. These genes can now be passed down the germline along the maternal line.

A spokesman for the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), which regulates 'assisted reproduction' technology in Britain, said that it would not license the technique here because it involved altering the germline.

Jacques Cohen is regarded as a brilliant but controversial scientist who has pushed the boundaries of assisted reproduction technologies.

He developed a technique which allows infertile men to have their own children, by injecting sperm DNA straight into the egg in the lab.

Prior to this, only infertile women were able to conceive using IVF. Last year, Professor Cohen said that his expertise would allow him to clone children --a prospect treated with horror by the mainstream scientific community.

'It would be an afternoon's work for one of my students,' he said, adding that he had been approached by 'at least three' individuals wishing to create a cloned child, but had turned down their requests.

Michael Hanlon of the Daily Mail or go to http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-43767/Worlds-GM-babies-born.html

THE TRAGEDY OF THE DUMB CHURCH by ROBIN SCHUMACHER.

I have a friend who’s an experienced pastor, teacher, and Christian apologist. He’s very well educated, articulate, teaches in a way that hits the mark, and has a passion particularly for grounding young people in the faith during their high school and early college years.

Currently, he’s employed with Youth for Christ and a while back he felt a burden to try and help churches in our area do what he does best, which is equip youth to defend the Christian faith in the world and know what/why they believe.

Because he’s developed a number of curriculums to use for such situations, he sent a letter to all the churches in our metropolitan area (which is quite a lot) explaining what he does, and offered to come to their church free of charge and conduct Christian apologetic training for their youth.

How many churches took him up on his offer?

Zero. None. Zilch.

Now, any Christian leader who doesn’t have their head in the sand knows how depressing the statistics are for young people who walk away from the faith in the late high school/early college years. At times, I’ve had atheists toss such data in my face in an attempt to argue that people ‘smarten up’ when they get older, but that isn’t it at all.

The fact is some in this particular demographic leave the Church because they get talked out of a faith that they were never sure of in the first place. The storyline is sadly familiar.

Maybe a young person was brought up in a church. Or, maybe they weren’t and began to investigate Christianity on their own. Either way, sooner or later they begin to ask hard questions, good questions, questions that deserve solid answers. But they don’t get them. So, because they rightly need what they believe in their heart to connect with their mind, they disconnect from Christianity.

Why does this keep happening?

In short, it happens because much of the Church today is dumb. Don’t misunderstand me, I mean no disrespect when I use the term ‘dumb’. What I mean is that the Church is dumb in that they aren’t well educated in what they believe, fail miserably in fulfilling 1 Peter 3:15 that says all Christians should be prepared to give a reason for why they believe, and are woefully unable to handle any challenge to Christianity that comes from unbelievers or the cults.
The Age of the Dumb Church

Dr. R. C. Sproul has said many times that he believes we are living in the most un-intellectual period in the history of Western civilization. Over 30 years ago, former Lebanese ambassador to the United States, Charles Malik, said the following in his speech at the dedication of the Billy Graham Center in Wheaton, Illinois: “I must be frank with you: the greatest danger confronting American evangelical Christianity is the danger of anti-intellectualism. The mind in its greatest and deepest reaches is not cared for enough.”

Such statements made by Sproul, Malik, and others were not always heard in the Church. The fact is, the Church dominated intellectual thought and discourse for hundreds of years, producing such thinkers like Augustine, Aquinas, Calvin, Edwards, and others. Such men had their opponents (the Church always will), but their detractors never ridiculed their brainpower because the Churchman’s intellectual prowess left no room for it.

But shortly after the era of Edwards, something changed. Gospel preachers like Charles Finney arose and replaced the intelligent presentation of the Gospel, which was backed by meaty Biblical exposition and solid philosophical rationale, with emotional appeals, questionable theology, personal anecdotes with humor, a celebrity-style leader, and engineered publicity.

Sound familiar? Unfortunately, in many seeker friendly or liberal churches today, the characteristics of Finney and his followers are played out each Lord’s Day with the end result being a church body unable to intellectually defend the faith they espouse.
Characteristics of the Dumb Church

How can you tell if your church exhibits traits that characterize a dumb church? Although not exhaustive, I offer these criteria that I believe help contribute to a church becoming ‘dumb’:

Where the church leadership is concerned:

Preaching is always topical and never expository. Selective topical series allow tough and deep theological subjects, as well as ‘controversial’ passages of Scripture, to be avoided with ease.

Although the church leaders offer strong external facing statements as to how they are a “Bible believing church”, the Bible is actually used and referenced very little in the sermons.

Few quotations from Scripture are heard in a message, with the vast majority of all sermons consisting of personal rhetoric, humor, videos, and personal stories.

Biblical terms such as justification, reconciliation, sanctification, propitiation, etc., are avoided like the plague.

There is little to no instruction for new (or existing) believers on the core doctrines of the Christian faith, and no requirement for new believers to attend such instruction.

There is no continuous offering of apologetic training classes that are designed to train Christians in the evidences and defense of the faith, and little to no interest of the pastors in the subject area.

There is no easy way for the congregation to have tough questions answered by the lead pastors; such a thing is quietly ignored, discouraged or not practiced regularly.

Deep Bible study programs are either absent or deliberately pushed out in favor of more ‘relevant’ classes that deal with softer subject matters (e.g. money management).

Adult and children’s Bible studies before/after the main church service are either omitted or are second class citizens to “Community Groups” that seek to have members meet in each other’s homes during the week, where no oversight is given as to what is done or taught. These groups, where teaching is concerned, are run “hands off” where the church leadership is concerned.

There is a huge emphasis on relationship building and serving in areas of the church, but no similar importance placed on growing more Biblically and theologically literate.

The youth department has an unmistakable concentration on entertainment, games, social interaction, etc., vs. actual teaching of Christian doctrines.

The church either has no library or one that is not kept up to date.

There is either no staff member assigned specifically to church education, or it is assigned to an already overburdened associate pastor.

Doctrinal statements of the church are missing or are not prominently made available. If they exist, they do not address any controversial theological topics or make very vague statements concerning them.

Where the congregation is concerned:

The term “Christian apologetics” is completely unfamiliar to the vast majority of the members.

Most of the congregation has no knowledge of church history with the names of Polycarp, Martyr, Luther, Calvin, Edwards, Wesley, Whitefield, Tyndale, and others being completely foreign to them.

Attendance of offered classes are very low compared to overall church attendance.

A Warning to the Dumb Church

God warns us in His Word about cultivating a dumb church. For example, chastising his readers, the writer of Hebrews offers this admonition against fostering a dumb church environment: "For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food.

For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant. But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil” (Hebrews 5:12-14).

When you have a dumb church, the writer of Hebrews says the outcome is a body of believers that is incapable of properly discerning good and evil. Slowly but surely, error and heresy creep in with no one being the wiser. The end result are churches championing teachings such as universalism, applauding homosexual marriage, and calling evil good and good evil.

My friend Greg continues to train young believers in apologetics, but he does so at the co-op school used by Christian homeschool families and at his home. To date, no church has yet taken him up on his generous offer to ground their youth in the Christian faith, which is very sad.

My hope and prayer is that such situations stop happening, that dumb churches become the exception rather than the rule, and that smart people who are asking good questions about the Christian faith get the answers they’re looking for from learned believers and pastors like the ones Jeremiah describes: “I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding” (Jer. 3:15).

Describing today’s current climate and the type of Christianity that’s needed to meet the challenge, apologist and author Ravi Zacharias said: “World leaders don’t have answers anymore. And I think America’s youth will rise up to the occasion . . . but it will have to be a passionate and thoughtful Christianity and not a mindless, emotive one that has no staying power.”

Some say such a thing is not need, but I disagree. One of the most haunting questions I’ve ever seen was on the back of my first church history textbook I got in seminary: “How can you live out your faith if you don’t understand it?” Anyone have a good answer?

Robin Schumacher from http://blogs.christianpost.com/

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