---

The following articles are compiled by:

Leo Wong

Leo@WatchmenWatching.com

 

 

 

Israeli and Palestinian leaders to meet with Rice

Source: CNN.com/Associated Press

 

February 8, 2007 -- A three-way meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will take place in Jerusalem on February 19, Olmert said during a speech Tuesday.

 

The announcement came on the eve of a meeting between Abbas and heads of Hamas in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, with the aim of forming a unity government for the Palestinians.

 

Speaking at a meeting of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations in Jerusalem, Olmert called on Abbas to "resist all the temptations and pressure of Hamas and to establish a government that will recognize Israel."

 

Since the Islamic militant Hamas faction took power last March, Western donors have cut off vital foreign aid, leaving the Palestinian government bankrupt. Abbas has been trying to forge a unity government to restore the aid.

 

Olmert said any Palestinian government must accept the three conditions laid down by the "Quartet" of Mideast mediators -- renouncing violence, recognizing Israel and accepting former peace accords.

 

"We will not accept any compromises of a government that does not accept the basic principles of the Quartet," he said, adding, "we will cooperate with any government that accepts these principles."

 

Comments:   What makes Condi Rice think she can succeed when her predecessors Colin Powell, Maddy Albright and others had thrown in the towel in sheer frustration?  Shuttle diplomacy since the days of Henry Kissinger has done nothing but accumulate Air Miles for a round trip to the Fuji Islands.  Israel is still in a perpetual state of war against a myriad of Arab hyenas bent of her extermination.

 

Here we go again, another round of endless talks between the two amigos and the senorita Americana. What will it accomplish, but the ingesting of lavish meals and German chocolate cake for dessert?  Surely, all three attendees know what’s at stake if Hamas and Fatah don’t kiss and make up and if the Quartet’s roadmap leads to a cul-de-sac (dead end road).  An all out civil war looms in Gaza and the West Bank.  Hamas doesn’t really want to share power with the “wimpish” Fatah Party.

 

The international community will deal only with the “moderate” Abbas.  Of course, if Hamas officially recognizes Israel’s right to exist and renounces terrorism, Hamas will be legitimized.  If Hamas does acquiesce to these two conditions, it would betray its own canons and its raison d’étre (reason for living) and it might as well fold up the tent and disband.  What a quandary Hamas find itself in.  It needs the wisdom of a King Solomon to extricate itself from having painted itself into a political corner.  But, then in the Middle East, insurmountable problems seem to be the norm.  It will take the superhuman efforts of the Antichrist to miraculously herald in peace in the most turbulent region of the world.  That, my dear readers, is just around the bend.  Ms. Rice is unwittingly preparing the survey stakes for the final pavement of the Antichrist’s highway to Hell.

 

________________________________________________________________________

 

 

I'm back on straight and narrow, vows disgraced preacher Ted Haggard

Source: The Sidney Morning Herald

 

February 8, 2007 -- The disgraced evangelical preacher Ted Haggard has emerged from three weeks of intensive counselling convinced he is "completely heterosexual".

 

Mr Haggard, 50, resigned as president of the National Association of Evangelicals in November and was fired from the church he founded after a male prostitute alleged Mr Haggard paid him for sex during a three-year relationship.

 

Mr Haggard broke a three-month silence at the weekend to email select members of his former church in Colorado Springs, the 14,000-member New Life Church.

 

Ross Parsley, the church's interim senior pastor, forwarded an email message from Mr Haggard to the wider church on Monday.

 

In the message, Mr Haggard revealed that he and his wife, Gayle, intended to leave Colorado and pursue master's degrees in psychology through online courses. He mentioned Missouri and Iowa as possible destinations.

 

Mike Ware, a member of the church oversight board dealing with Mr Haggard's case, said the board had recommended the move out of town and the Haggards had agreed.

 

Another member of the four-man board, Tim Ralph, said that the board had strongly urged Mr Haggard to go into secular work instead of Christian ministry.

 

Mr Haggard admitted to "sexual immorality", and a long battle against feelings contrary to his beliefs, but told the board his sexual contact with men was limited to his accuser, Mike Jones, a former male escort.

 

He also admitted buying methamphetamine but said he never used the drug.

 

Mr Ralph said that three weeks of counselling at an undisclosed Arizona treatment centre helped Mr Haggard immensely and left him sure of one thing.

 

"He is completely heterosexual," Mr Ralph said.

 

Comments:  Psychology is not Bible based.  Avowed unbelievers Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung perpetuated this secular method of analyzing and effecting cures to the troubled human mind.  Psychotherapy is not about taking Bible verses and applying them to their patients and praying for their recovery.  It’s about telling their patients that there’s inherent goodness in every human being and that we just need to tap into our inner strength to raise our self-esteem, elevate ourselves to be above our problems, and go forward with a positive attitude.  Self is the main focus and cognitive behavior therapy helps oneself to recover from a temporary setback in mental health.

 

If Ted Haggard had immersed himself in three weeks of intense secular psychotherapy, then we can surmise that he was indoctrinated with traditional psychotherapy.  If he had partaken of “Christian” psychotherapy, he’s no better off.  You can’t mix psychology and God’s Word and expect to reap long lasting benefits.  Somehow, the world’s way of thinking would counteract the intended message of the Scriptures.  Only a pastor/minister applying God’s Word in the power of the Holy Spirit and praying for the person needing counseling will avail for much.

 

So Ted Haggard is completely heterosexual after only 3 weeks?  That’s great news for his wife.  She was fortunate that her hubby’s foray into the gay lifestyle didn’t result in her contracting the HIV virus.  Will Mr. Haggard remain straight as an arrow for years to come or will his attraction for men be awakened the next time he meets a handsome hunk?  That will be the acid test.  Yes, God can cure a homosexual’s ways provided it’s according to His Word.  Any other method casts dubiousness. Restoration to happy fellowship with God is paramount, however, for a person to declare that he’s most definitely freed of his sinful inclination was quite presumptuous of him.  Only time will tell.

 

________________________________________________________________________

 

 

Secular institutes a gift of God, says Pope Benedict

Source: Zenit.org

 

February 8, 2007 -- Benedict XVI says that members of secular institutes are called to work in the Christian community as well as in the wider civil arena.

 

The Pope made that observation Saturday when he met with participants in the World Conference of Secular Institutes gathered in Rome for a two‑day symposium.

 

The Holy Father invited them to be a visible sign of Christ's beauty and a "laboratory of dialogue with the world."

 

The gathering marked the 60th anniversary of the Pope Pius XII's apostolic constitution "Provida Mater Ecclesia," the document that delineated the secular-institute members' form of consecration.

 

It was Benedict XVI's first meeting with members of these institutes as a whole.

 

Secular institutes are "one of the innumerable gifts with which the Holy Spirit accompanies the Church's journey and renews her in all the centuries," he said.

 

The Holy Father told them: "Your passion is born of having discovered the beauty of Christ, his unique way of loving, of meeting others, of healing life, of making it joyful and of consoling it.

 

"And your lives should be a song of this beauty so that your existence in the world is a sign of your existence in Christ."

 

The Pope outlined the characteristics of the secular mission including exemplary conduct and "the testimony of human virtues, such as justice, peace, joy."

 

He also mentioned the "commitment to building a society that recognizes in the different realms the dignity of the person and the imperative values for his or her fulfillment: from politics to economics, from education to commitment to public health, from management of services to scientific research."

 

Comments:  The Pope’s above goobliegook speech makes Latin seems more understandable for the commoner among us.  Even PH.D graduates would rack their cranium trying to decipher what the Pope just said.  His speech is more convoluted than a corn maze in a farmer’s field.  It’s no wonder many faithful Roman Catholics just nod their heads in bobblehead agreement and just leave it up to the RCC to know what’s best for them just like the many sectors of a Catholic person’s life from birth until death.  The intentional confusion created by this most vile of religious institutions will reap God’s deserving judgment.

 

Secular institutions are man made.  They exist because of the rebellion of mankind.  Christ stands outside the door knocking, but he’s barred from entering.  Without Jesus as their Savior and Lord, the unsaved’s good works to better society and make Earth a more hospital planet are for naught.  God called their righteousness filthy rags.  The mission of every inhabitant of Earth isn’t to serve man, but to get right with God through Jesus Christ.  Civilization was started by a wayward rebel named Nimrod.  His descendants inherited his nature and no amount of good works or intentions will ever reconcile them to a Holy God.  None whatsoever.

 

The Pope’s message spanks of secular humanism.  It’s all about man, man, man. You would think the goal of mankind is to procreate, contribute to society, seek out equality, fight against injustices, all for the betterment of mankind. Where’s the most important part, i.e. man is a sinner and needs a Savior and unless that person accepts Jesus before dying, that person is going to Hell?  Instead, Pope Benedict lulled his audience into a deep slumber from which they might never be awakened.

 

 

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

 

 

 

 

Keep watching (Matt 24:42)!

 

Until next time,

Shalom!

 

 

Watchmen Watching HOME PAGE

Millennium Weekend Ministries Home Page