France Urged Israel to Invade Syria During War

 

The following articles are compiled by:

Leo Wong

Leo@WatchmenWatching.com

 

 

'Egypt not doing enough to free Schalit'

Source: Jerusalem Post

 

March 16, 2007 -- A Palestinian Authority source criticized Egypt Friday morning for 'not doing enough' in order to release kidnapped IDF soldier Cpl. Gilad Schalit.

 

The source told the British-based newspaper Asharq Alawsat that "if Egypt was to conduct negotiations as Saudi Arabia did in order to push forward the Mecca agreement, there would already be an arrangement between Israel and the Palestinians to secure the release of Schalit."

 

On the same subject, a spokesperson for the Popular Resistance Committees told the Nazareth newspaper A-Sanara that "serious progress" had been made on the Schalit negotiations.

 

Comments:  Don’t blame Egypt for Cpl. Gilad Schalit’s continual hostage ordeal.   Instead, look squarely at the weak leadership of Israeli PM Ehud Olmert and the U.N. for its lack of success in freeing this soldier.  This is similar to the 444‑day American hostages affair in which American embassy personnel in Iran were detained against their will.  Then President Jimmy Carter couldn’t muster a commando raid worth a pluck nickel to liberate them and that led to Carter losing the presidency to Ronald Reagan.

 

With Israel’s vaunted IDF and Mossad’s intelligence know how, Israel under a hawkish prime minister would have rescued Schalit a long time ago.  Instead, his situation has kept the Israeli population’s mind focused of what an ineffective leader Olmert really is and that’s reflected in his abysmal low popularity rating.  Olmert has shrugged off such a telltale indictment of his leadership, but he’s not serving Israel well if the majority of Israelis have as much confidence in him as a family of four in a beat-up rusty Fiat cruising from NY State to California.

 

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Pope Benedict reaffirms 'obligatory' celibacy for priests

Source: AFP

 

March 16, 2007 -- Celibacy "remains obligatory" for Roman Catholic priests, Pope Benedict XVI stated Tuesday in a long-awaited text that also urges Catholic lawmakers to oppose laws favouring divorce, abortion and euthanasia.

 

"I reaffirm the beauty and importance of a priestly life lived in celibacy as a sign expressing total and exclusive devotion to Christ, to the Church and to the Kingdom of God," reads the apostolic exhortation, the first of Benedict's papacy and second in importance only to an encyclical.

 

"I therefore confirm that it remains obligatory in the Latin tradition," the pope wrote in the document reflecting the conclusions of an October 2005 synod of bishops.

 

Comments:   1 Timothy 4:[3] Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.  1 Corinthians 7:[9] But if they cannot contain, let them marry: for it is better to marry than to burn. [28] But and if thou marry, thou hast not sinned; and if a virgin marry, she hath not sinned. Nevertheless such shall have trouble in the flesh: but I spare you.

 

The Apostle Paul made it plain and simple and easy to understand that men of the cloth ought to marry if they can’t control their natural sexual urges.  For popes throughout the ages to forbid priests (and nuns) to marry, that was contrary to what the New Testament says.  As a result, popes and priests have gone to prostitutes to fulfill their needs and desires and have sexually abused altar and choir boys.  Millions of dollars have been paid out to those abused this way and that may be the tip of the iceberg.  When one rejects God’s counsel and impose man’s ways upon other human beings, then sin will abound.  Hypocrisy defined the early popes who had mistresses on the side, had affairs with married women and even fathered children.

 

Celibacy was originally intended to forbid not only marriage, but sexual relations as well.  Priests observed the former but some ignored the latter because not too many men can abstain from something that God naturally placed inside each of us.  Celibacy within the Roman Catholic Church (RCC) meant that whatever moneys (wages, gifts, inheritances, etc.) the priests had upon death would be turned over to the RCC’s coffers contributing to world’s richest organization.  You can read all of this in Dave Hunt’s book “The Woman Rides the Beast”.

 

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Group advocates Macho Christianity

Source: ABC News 

 

March 17, 2007 -- There is a new trend in religion: macho Christianity — a movement started by men who say traditional church services are just too feminine and sissy.

 

Nationwide less than four in 10 churchgoers are men, and the men in this movement say it's because men need a religious outlet that's more masculine.

 

In a rented space in a Tennessee shopping mall, masculine religion is championed by GodMen, a group that conducts daylong sessions of stunts and speeches. The sessions, according to GodMen's founder, comic Brad Stine, are intended to toughen up Christian men.

 

"It's about men stepping up and being strong again," Stine said.

 

Men need movements like GodMen because Christians have been taught about a Jesus who's too nice to be real, said life coach and Christian radio show host Paul Coughlin. The leaders of GodMen contend that church, as most men know it, has gotten too sissy.

 

"A meek and mild Jesus… eventually is a bore," he said.

 

GodMen is inspired more by the Jesus who went after moneychangers with a whip -- a Jesus that's assertive and courageous.

 

Comments:  Jesus was a meek lowly sacrificial Lamb doing the will of His Father when He was here on Earth.  When He returns to Earth, He will be the conquering Lion from the tribe of Judah.  Until that time, we Christians are to emulate his meek life when we’re witnessing to the lost and perishing.  Becoming aggressive with the lost is not a character that the Lord would want from us.  We aren’t to beat a person into submitting to Jesus.  Aggression is the world’s method of bullying others into getting one’s way.  Love is not aggressive.

 

Yes, in many churches, low tempo services are the norm.  Church goers tread softly with each other.  A woman’s touch is the décor preferred by the congregation.  Unless you belong to a charismatic denomination like the Pentecostals, you are in a low-key church where things seem to be predictable and oftentimes boring.  So, what’s wrong with that if godly precepts are being taught from the pulpit and the believers are walking in the truth in love?  Absolutely nothing.  Men don’t need to become macho and pound their fists on tables to make a point.  Let’s follow the Lord Jesus’s example.  Be meek toward the unsaved and toward God’s little flock.  Be assertive when confronted with blatant sins.  It’s not about men bring not tough enough, but it’s about men assuming their responsibilities before God.  Matthew 11:[29] Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.

 

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Female Lutheran minister fights the “Rapture” with Sunday school curriculum

Source: Reuters

 

March 17, 2007 -- Real estate agent Dave Eschenbach is an active member of his church, but he feels uncomfortable around a sizable portion of U.S. Christians -- those who believe they could be transported to heaven at any moment.

 

"The rapture is a racket," said Barbara Rossing, whose 2004 book, "The Rapture Exposed," criticizes rapture theology as unbiblical.

 

"The mainstream churches haven't avoided (Revelation) as much as we just didn't think it was that big of a thing, until the fundamentalist churches started making a big production out of it," she said.

 

For Leiserson, Revelation is a story about Jesus confronting the evils of the Roman Empire. To help counter the rapture tide, she is developing a Sunday school curriculum to teach kids that Jesus loves everyone and would not leave anyone behind.

 

"We were asleep at the switch for too long, and fundamentalists rushed in to speak to this vacuum. Now we've got to reclaim it," said Rossing, the Lutheran minister.

 

Comments:  Not to knock women in general, but here we have once again a woman minister who has been beguiled by the Devil.  Not only is she a female leader of the flock of God, but she’s very liberal in her perception of God.  For these humanists, God loves everyone and one day, we’ll all make it to the Promised Land.  Nobody will be left behind because how could a God of love send anyone to Hell?

 

Yes, a belief in the Rapture is not a prerequisite to being saved; only faith in Jesus Christ saves.  You see what the Devil is doing here though.  Since he can’t prevent Jesus from saving lost souls, the Devil will introduce false teachings among those who profess to be Christians so that they get their eyes off the blessed hope of the Lord Jesus soon coming in the air to physically snatch all believers to be with Himself in the Father’s house of many mansions.  Instead of believing in the Rapture, the Devil’s dupes such as Barbara Rossing want to divert their attention from Jesus and instead get them to settle down comfortably in this world.  When Christians stop watching and waiting, they will lose the sense of the immanency of Jesus’s return.  The Rapture is becoming increasingly ridiculed in Christendom.

 

Barbara Rossing is targeting Sunday Schools in order to deny young believers the joy (and a special crown) of the Lord’s coming.  She will pay dearly for her action, guaranteed.  Titus 2:[13] Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.  2 Timothy 4:[8] Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.

 

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Evangelicals: New gambling rules reveal government double standards

Source: www.christiantoday.com 

 

March 18, 2007 -- The Evangelical Alliance, representing more than a million evangelicals in the UK, has spoken out against the consistency of the government’s stance in key issues currently being debated in the UK.

The Evangelical Alliance believes that legalising gambling advertising, combined with the explosion in online gambling, will drastically increase the availability and attractiveness of gambling.

 

“The consequences of problem gambling are well documented in respect of personal and family costs.

 

“There can be no ‘socially responsible’ advertising of gambling, which can be highly addictive. Children will be able to view gambling advertisements on TV and in public spaces.”

 

Comments:  Gambling used to be illegal like making moonshine, but then governments not only made it legal, but is one of the leading promoters of lottery tickets and casinos.  If there‘s money to be made, expect Big Brother’s greedy little fingers to go through your pant pockets.  Instead of taxing the population at large, governments take the back door route by applying a tax on gamblers for that’s what the profits of gambling are, a tax grab.  The addicts of gambling lose their jobs, their families and sometimes take their own lives thanks to governments.  Whereas the big tobacco companies are now paying for their cancer inducing products, governments have yet been forced to incur penalties for the destroyed lives of millions upon millions of addictive gamblers.  Sin carries with it consequences.

 

The Internet and TV are shamelessly flaunting their Poker and Texas Hold’em games.  You can’t flip the channel without being bombarded with another blatant display of the Devil’s fool’s game for a fool and his money soon part company.  Unlike Kenny Rogers in the movie “The Gambler” who sang “You gotta know when to hold them and when to fold them”, most people don’t know how to call it quits.  Winning is too strong an urge for a person to know when to cut one’s losses.  Gambling is nothing more than expecting something for nothing and is fueled by the love of money.  Its prevalence tells us that we’re indeed living in the last days as foretold by the Apostle Paul. 1 Timothy 6:[10] For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.  2 Timothy 3:[2] For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, [4] Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;

 

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1/3 of all Christians say: We've suffered discrimination

Source: www.thisislondon.co.uk

 

March 18, 2007 -- One in three Christians claim to have suffered discrimination because of their religious views, according to a new poll.

 

The survey by the BBC shows unprecedented disquiet among church-going Britons amid claims they increasingly face prejudice in the media, the workplace and even in their own communities.

 

It follows a series of high-profile rows over unfair treatment towards Christians, including the case of the British Airways worker who was banned from wearing a crucifix, while Muslim employees were allowed to wear headscarfs.

 

Comments:  1 Peter 5:[8] Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.  Christians have always been persecuted since Jesus created the Church.  It’s only recently that attacks by the Devil’s minions seem to be picking up in the Western world.  Decades ago, the Devil left believers alone by lulling them into a complacent state of prosperity and conformity to the world.  The Devil found that this method produced carnal and lukewarm believers who were ineffective in their testimony.  Now a day, as the coming of Christ draws ever closer and closer, the Devil is as a roaring lion showing his true colors.  He knows his time on Earth is short and he has his demons targeting believers who publicly declare that they’re Christ’s.  That will get a bull’s eye target placed on you for sure.

 

You can declare that you’re a Muslim, a Catholic, a Hindu or even a Native American spiritualist and most people won’t discriminate against you, but if you dare try to lead a person to Jesus to be saved, watch out!  You’ll be slapped with a citation, a written reprimand from your boss, or you might even be terminated right on the spot.  Thereafter, you can either fight for your rights as a Christian through the liberal humanistic court system or take one on the chin for Christ’s sake.   We’ve said it before that there will be a bridge linking the Tribulation Period with this side of the Rapture.  By “bridge”, I mean that we know that Christians during the Tribulation Period will be rounded up and killed and the Rapture won’t all of sudden produce instant persecution.  Expect persecution to increase in intensity prior to the Rapture.

 

 

 

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Keep watching (Matt 24:42)!

 

Until next time,

Shalom!

 

 

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