Madrid + 15 years

Source: Herb of fulfilledprophecy.com

January 12, 2007 -- Recalling the 1991 Madrid Conference, and considering both Bible prophecy and the geo-political elements making up today's news, I can't help thinking this Madrid+15 Conference may turn out to be important.

The number 15 comes from it being 15 years since Spain sponsored the first Madrid Conference. It was at this meeting of important international players that Israel and the moderate Arab leaders, for the first time, were able to sit together and talk peace. And, it was at this meeting in Madrid that the Middle East peace process -- the concept of Israel trading land for peace -- was born.

Comments:  NOTE: Herb is a post-tribulationist, i.e. he believes Christians will go through all 7 years of the Tribulation Period and will be raptured just prior to Jesus’s 2^nd coming to Earth.  Post‑tribbers are among the most zealous and passionate dispensationalists.  They’re actively looking for signs depicting the revealing of the Antichrist and the False Prophet.  The Mark of Beast technology fascinates them for that dreadful day will come when they either accept the Mark or be put to death.  Many post-tribbers stock up on nonperishable food and supplies to make it through the Tribulation Period.  Some have even built underground bunker shelters unbeknown to just a few people.  Survival will be their biggest concern as the Antichrist’s One World military will relentlessly hound and pursue them.

Back to this news article.  Spain did indeed start the current Mideast peace process (it’s now in a moribund state like the comatose Ariel Sharon who’s lying in an Israel hospital for a year).  15 years is a very long time pertaining to the many attempts at forging peace.  It has been a rollercoaster ride alright.  The Summer of 2000 was the closet to getting a peace accord agreed to between Israel and the Palestinians.  The 1993 Oslo Accords died that summer.  The present Quartet’s Roadmap is likely to suffer the same fate.  Israel is willingly to trade away more of her land, but the Arabs are intent on driving all Jews into the Mediterranean Sea.  There lies the main problem.

Spain is attempting to bring the two warring parties together once more in order to jump start the negotiations.  There’s a saying, “If you at first don’t succeed, try, try again”.  Yes, one of these days, peace (albeit a false one) will transpire.  It’s only a matter of time, God’s time that is and only because wayward spiritually blind Israel demands it so God finally relents.

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U.S. Predator drones to patrol Canada‑U.S. border

Source: Winnipeg Free Press Online

January 12, 2007 -- The United States government is poised to begin flying unmanned surveillance aircraft along the Canadian border, using Grand Forks as the takeoff point for the robot-controlled flights.

Before September, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, an arm of the federal Department of Homeland Security, will start sending propeller-driven drones called Predators into American airspace. At first one drone, with more to follow, will span much of the 8,900-kilometre frontier Canada and the U.S. share between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

Never before has the U.S. kept such a close watch over its northern boundary. The move is a response to growing American fears that the entry of even one potential terrorist through Canada could have serious consequences, said Scott Baker. He took over last Friday as Chief Patrol Agent of Customs and Border Protection in Grand Forks, N.D., responsible for guarding the 1,400-kilometre stretch of border between Lake Superior and Montana.

"Just one of the wrong people getting through, driving through our border area, could spell catastrophe," Baker said. "So, it is a concern."

Predators, known by the military as unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs, have flown missions along the U.S.-Mexico border for several years, Baker said. Illegal immigrants from Central and South America have long posed challenges to border officials watching over the southern fringes of the U.S.

The drones flying day and night out of North Dakota will cover some of the most remote -- and therefore permeable -- territory in the northern American states, Baker said.

The fear terrorists will exploit that remoteness to penetrate the U.S. concerns American politicians, said Doug Marshall, director of Project Development at the University of North Dakota's Odegard School of Aerospace Sciences.

It also makes monitoring the border by drone more efficient than any effort involving humans.

Comments:  Revelation 13:[8] And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.  Bible prophecy is clear that in the end times, there will be a One World Government ruled by the Antichrist.  His empire will be an autocratic dictatorship, one of monitoring, tracking and control of Earth’s citizens much along the line of the book titled “1984”.  Big Brother will be the Antichrist’s military which will have the unfettered power of monitoring every person on Earth.  To accomplish this Herculean task requires hi-tech electronics.  The U.S. currently has the latest and the best gadgetries money can buy.  These Predator drones run 24/7/366 without the need for human intervention.  Such sophisticated technology will be used by the Antichrist’s spies to track the movements of all people even those who had received the Mark of the Beast.  Some of these people had taken the Mark on their right hand or forehead and later had second doubts, but it will be too late for them; they’re headed for the Lake of Fire.  They may try to renounce their allegiance to the Antichrist, but they’ll be hunted down just like the Christians who defiantly refused the Mark and are being surveyed from the air by Predator II drones.  Many will be identified and arrested by ground units.  They’ll be beheaded.

If Jesus doesn’t return at the appointed time, the Predator II drones will have spotted every rebel on Earth and there would be no Christians left to populate Jesus’s future Millennium Kingdom.

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Syria diplomat: No preconditions to negotiations with Israel

Source: haaretz.com

January 13, 2007 -- Damascus will not accept any preconditions over entering negotiations with Israel, Syrian delegation head to a Middle-East conference in Madrid, Riad Daoudi, said on Friday.

The second Madrid conference, which commemorates the 15-year anniversary of the historic 1991 Madrid Peace Conference, began Thursday morning. The participation of Israeli and Syrian representatives at a dinner Wednesday to inaugurate the conference marked the first time in seven years that officials from the two countries sat together at the same table.

On Thursday, Daoudi said that the lack of peace has an adverse effect on Middle East stability. He said that now was the time to set in motion fresh negotiations, something he said was a matter of urgency for Syria and for the entire region.

Daoudi is accompanied by Damascus' Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Bushra Kanafani. The Israeli delegation is comprised of Knesset members and former ministers.

He said that Israel's intentions were unclear and blamed it for the failure of bilateral peace talks, particularly in 1996, when Shimon Peres was prime minister, and in 2000, when Ehud Barak led the government, and for the subsequent refusals to renew talks.

Daoudi also accused the U.S. of taking peace off its agenda in favor of force, which he said went against the interests of the regional states.

He called on Europe to take a more active role in renewing talks, and to take an official role in the Madrid conference in order to revive negotiations through all channels.

Comments:  The Syrians have softened their stance on peace talks with Israel.  No preconditions show how Syria wants desperately the return of the Golan Heights or perhaps goad the Israelis into a false sense of optimism.  Keep in mind that since Arabs, Egyptians and Persians (Iranians) own over 98% of the land in the Middle East, North Africa, and Persian Gulf regions, what’s so important about the Golan Heights whose only significance is of military nature.

All the pieces are now falling into place for the final status peace talks between Israel and all her enemies, a peace process to be taken over by the EU (the Western portion of the Revived Roman Empire).  Although the U.S. is reluctant to remain the main mediator, President Bush will assist the Europeans in every way possible.  He will be leaving office on January 20, 2009 and he would love to win the Nobel Peace Prize for his participation in finally getting a comprehensive peace accord agreed to, signed and sealed.

This Madrid reunion may very well jump start the dormant Mideast peace process.  Senor Javier Solana and new UN Chief Ki‑moon are eager beavers about bringing to an end the nearly 6 decades of Israeli-Arab conflict that has claimed untold number of lives on both sides.

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National Council of Churches (NCC) accused of secular backing 

Source: BPNews.com

January 13, 2007 -- For the first time since its founding in 1950, the National Council of Churches is receiving a majority of its operating revenue from non-church sources and foundations that often support liberal causes, a report issued by the Institute on Religion and Democracy said Jan. 10.

“Strange Yokefellows: The National Council of Churches and Its Growing Non-Church Constituency,” also claims that the NCC has aligned with leftist political organizations such as MoveOn.org and People for the American Way to combat and “defeat the alleged totalitarian ambitions of a right-wing conspiracy involving President Bush, Rush Limbaugh, James Dobson, and the IRD, among others.” People for the American Way was founded by Hollywood magnate Norman Lear to oppose conservative public policies and political candidates.

Comments:  2 Corinthians 6:[14] Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?  This verse exhorts Christians to not have any union with unbelievers when it comes to business dealings, political associations and moral issues.  The NCC is the American arm of the World Council of Churches, a totally liberal humanistic religious behemoth espousing anti‑conservative ideologies.  It’s no surprise then that the NCC would accept monetary donations from secular sources which vow to destroy Christian values be it family, public prayer, God, etc.  Their aim is to remove all vestiges of God, Jesus and the Holy Bible from the daily affairs of Americans.  They want a truly pagan America devoid of religion.  Their religion is the Playboy hedonistic lifestyle of Hugh Hefner.

Norman Lear was the creator of “All in the Family” starring Archie Bunker, a racist who abhorred God and the Bible inwardly, but outwardly was forced into political and religious correctness.  The Rockefellers (hardly poster boys for the Christian right) have donated huge sums of money to advance the social gospel.  There were rumors that the Rev. Moon (of the Moonies) contributed money to Jerry Falwell’s Liberty University.  If true, public Christians don’t seem to have any concerns about accepting payments for they believe that the Devil’s contributions can be used against him in furthering God’s agenda.  With the world increasingly under the grip of the Devil, it’s hard to identify any ethical organizations anymore, therefore, one can’t be choosy when funds are being willingly offered to you.  Some Christian organizations still have a moral conscious though; the Salvation Army has been known to refuse proceeds from government lotteries to help fund the additions to Salvation Army hospitals.

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Mahmoud Abbas tells Condi Rice: Temporary Palestinian state opposed

Source: CNN.com/Associated Press

January 14, 2007 -- Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas told Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Sunday that he opposes the establishment of a provisional Palestinian state in temporary borders.

Palestinian officials in recent weeks have grown increasingly wary of the idea, which was also proposed by Israel's foreign minister, fearing they will be stuck indefinitely with a truncated state.

"We reaffirmed to Secretary Rice our rejection of any temporary or transitional solutions, including a state with temporary borders, because we don't see in it as a realistic option," he told a joint news conference with Rice.

Rice responded by reiterating the U.S. commitment to the internationally backed "road map" peace plan.

"My work is going to be best targeted, I think, in these next months on trying to accelerate progress on the road map, which after all would lead us then to a Palestinian state and to helping the Palestinians and Israelis think through the political horizon," she said.

Rice said she was told during her trip that the United States needed to deepen its involvement in Mideast peace efforts. "You will have my commitment to do precisely that," she said.

"The Palestinian people have waited a long time for their own state. The Israeli people have waited a long time to live in security and peace with their neighbors," she said.

Comments:  You can’t really blame Abbas for turning down the ‘temporary’ statehood proposal.  Once something is in an interim status, the next step toward permanency might not be a priority issue any more as the other side feels you’ve received something and it’s time to move onto other matters.  In negotiations, if an issue is a ‘must have’ thing, don’t accept anything less than that.  Ms. Rice and Israel believe that the Palestinians don’t deserve statehood and by granting them a temporary state, they’re being quite benevolent.  The Palestinians ought to be grateful for they’ll receive the bulk of the West Bank to go along with all of the Gaza Strip.

As has been mentioned here before, if the Palestinians’ real goal is statehood, they could have had it way back in 1947 and as recently as July 2000, but both times, they said “no gracious”.  Their aim is the driving out of all Jews from the Holy Land.  The world is so blind that it doesn’t see the clandestine agenda of Abbas and before him, Yasser Arafat.  Ms. Rice, a professing Christian, doesn’t know or she doesn’t believe that God is sorely displeased with her for pushing the land in exchange for peace and security folly.  She’s a globalist like her boss President George W. Bush, another professing believer who doesn’t heed God’s Word.  These two people are merely bit players to their real masters, the One World Government movers and shakers who themselves are puppets of the Devil.

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Joel Osteen is most influential Christian in the U.S.

Source: christianpost.com

January 14, 2007 -- Barbara Walters' most fascinating pastor, Joel Osteen, now tops the list of the 50 Most Influential Christians in America.

Osteen heads one of the largest megachurches in the nation – Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas – and authors a #1 New York Times bestseller, Your Best Life Now. After Walters recently featured him as one of the 10 most fascinating people of the year, the Church Report announced the megapastor as the most influential Christian in its annual report.

"Always humble, Pastor Osteen gives credit to his wife, his staff and his church family for his success and the many blessings of Lakewood Church," the Church Report stated. "Pastor Osteen has a gift for reaching unreached people with his message of positive thought and God's plan for our lives."

Comments:  Well, Pastor Joel Osteen, go ahead and pat yourself on the back for making No. 1.  You deserved it, you really did.  You started out as the reluctant pastor after your father passed away and with your youthful good looks and charismatic personality, America loves you mucho.  Your messages of love and how God wants the very best for people (saved and unsaved) now on Earth.  They don’t have to wait for Heaven; they can have their cake now and eat it too.  It’s no wonder people buy your books, CDs and DVDs by the millions.  It’s no mystery why your renovated new digs, the Houston Compaq Center, hold the largest church membership in the USA. Who doesn’t want to be rich, materially and spiritually?  Don’t you know that the unsaved already  have their reward right now on Earth?  Matthew 6:[2] Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.