The following articles are compiled by:

Leo Wong

Leo@WatchmenWatching.com

 

 

Holy Land's debts erased in TBN network deal

Source: www.orlandosentinel.com

 

June 8, 2007 -- Trinity Broadcasting Network, the world's largest Christian television system, has come to the rescue of the financially troubled Holy Land Experience, a Bible-based tourist attraction near Universal Orlando.

 

The arrangement was more a handover than a takeover, spokesmen for both organizations said. Holy Land needed financial support and a nationwide promotional platform to remedy sagging attendance. Trinity needed land to build television-production studios for the license it recently acquired for WTGL-TV Channel 52, as well as a back lot for some of its movie production and music videos.

 

"Universal Studios does the same thing," said Paul Crouch Jr., son of Trinity's founder who now serves as vice president of the California-based network. "We want Holy Land to be a smaller, faith-based version of that."

 

In all, four members of the Crouch family, who founded and control Trinity, will join Holy Land's board of directors. They replace seven of the eight previous members. Michael Powell, the current president and chief executive officer of Holy Land, will remain on the new board.

 

Because Holy Land is a non-profit, tax-exempt organization, there is no stock ownership. Thus, the park passes to the Crouches by virtue of their control of the board. Trinity also is a non-profit, tax-exempt organization.

 

Comments:  TBN is the same network that unceremoniously booted Hal Lindsey off its air waves because Hal was too pro-Israel and anti-Muslim.  Hal Lindsey refused to tone down his rhetoric and later signed on with another satellite network.  With TBN devoid of anything that puts down Islam, Muslim viewers must have increased in numbers.  Donations from the Muslim community may have gone up as a result and who knows, perhaps some have converted to Christianity.  Only God knows the fruits of the TBN broadcasts.

 

Flush with cash, TBN had the resources to take over Holy Land. TBN and Pentecostals in partnership?  They say, “Never say never”.  Pentecostalism contains many saved by the Lord Jesus.  They make many a Baptist squirm in the pew due to their penchant for speaking in tongues and their high energy worship and praise services.  Charismatics define the last day religious ‘revival’ or what appears to be a revival.  Expect TBN to really ‘pump it up, pump it up’  from hereon in.  Acts 2:[17] And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.

 

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Broadcasting expert warns of more TV profanity

Source: WorldNetDaily.com

 

June 8, 2007 -- A new decision from a federal appeals court in New York has tossed out a rule by the Federal Communications Commission that cracked down on "fleeting expletives" on television airwaves, and a media monitor says it's another setback in the battle for clean entertainment.

 

"Vulgarity has literally exploded," Robert Peters, chief of Morality in Media, told WND. "What went on in 1978 is not what's going on today."

The court ruling was in a case brought by Fox, CBS, NBC and ABC, who went to court against the FCC after the agency cited the networks for allowing various objectionable words to hit the air – and ears of consumers.

 

The case was based on those words that television characters sometimes blurt out – whether intentional or not. But observers noted it could have ramifications for other speech on television or radio.

 

Comments:  2 Timothy 3:[1] This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. [2] For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy… James 3:[6] And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell.

 

There’s hardly any doubt that we’re indeed living in the last days.  Turn on any speciality channel on your TV set and be prepared to have the Holy Spirit cringe within you as you watch and listen to a ‘hard core’ profanity laced show.  Even on the major networks like ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC, you’ll hear ‘soft core’ body parts and functions lingo and visual shots of a sexual nature and using Jesus’ name in vain that would have made your grandma coil in horror and have a stroke.  Before you know it, it will be all too common to hear the same literary garbage you’re exposed to at HBO, construction sites, fire halls and the Yuk Yuk comedy clubs.

 

The unsaved are the children of the Devil who is the ultimate blasphemer. “Like father like children”, they say.  Adults are being hypocritical when they wait until the kids have gone to bed before they pop in the latest R-rated DVD to enjoy some “adult humour”.  Their vile hearts relish in wallowing in the smut.  This is one way to distinguish a true child of God from a professing Christian/unsaved person by the liberal use of the F-word and blasphemous sentences.

 

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James Baker's disciples

Source: Caroline Glick for the Jerusalem Post

 

June 9, 2007 -- Ahead of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's trip to the White House on June 19, the Bush administration is pressuring Israel to endanger itself on at least two fronts.

 

First, the Americans are pressuring the Olmert government to agree to Palestinian Authority and Fatah chief Mahmoud Abbas's request to bring millions of bullets, thousands of Kalashnikov assault rifles, RPGs, antitank missiles and armored personnel carriers into Gaza from Egypt.

 

The government has yet to respond to the request. Those who oppose it argue that Fatah forces in Gaza are too weak and incompetent to battle Hamas, and so any weaponry transferred to Fatah militias will likely end up in Hamas's hands.

 

This logic is correct, but incomplete. It is true that Fatah forces are unwilling and presumably unable to defeat Hamas forces. But it is also true that Fatah forces use their arms to attack Israel. So even if there was no chance of Hamas laying its hands on the weapons, allowing Fatah to receive them would still endanger Israel.

 

The same limited logic informs Israel's strenuous objection to the Pentagon's intention to sell Saudi Arabia Joint Direct Attack Munition satellite-guided "smart bombs," or JDAMS. The government claims that while it has no quarrel with the Saudis, it fears for the stability of the regime. If the House of Saud falls, Osama bin Laden would get the bombs.

 

Yet like Fatah, the Saudis aren't simply vulnerable. They are culpable. In addition to being the creators of al-Qaida and Hamas's largest financial backers, the Saudis themselves directly threaten Israel.

 

The Bush administration is not just asking Israel to facilitate the arming of its enemies. It is also placing restrictions on Israel's ability to arm itself. As The Jerusalem Post reported on Wednesday, the Pentagon has yet to respond to Israel's request to purchase the F-22 stealth bomber. Moreover, the US seems to be torpedoing Israel's acquisition of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. The Pentagon recently voiced its objection to Israel's plan to install Israeli technology in the jets that are to be supplied starting in 2014. Israel's installation of its own electronic warfare systems in its F-16s and F-15s is what has allowed the IAF to maintain its qualitative edge over Arab states that have also purchased the aircraft.

 

The Administration's display of hostility toward Israel is unfortunately not an aberration. It is the result of a policy shift that occurred immediately after the Republican Party's defeat in the Congressional elections in November.

 

After the defeat, the administration embraced former secretary of state James Baker's foreign policy paradigm, which is based on the belief that it is possible and desirable to reach a stable balance of power in the Middle East.

 

As Baker sees it, this balance can be reached by forcing Israel to shrink to its "natural" proportions and assisting supposedly moderate and stable states like Egypt and Saudi Arabia to grow into their "natural" proportions. Once the states of the region (including Syria and Iran, which Baker wishes to appease) have settled into their proper proportions, stability will be ensured.

 

Comments:  There’s a general misconception that America supports Israel unconditionally and unwaveringly to the exclusion of the Arab/Muslim world.  As this article points out, the U.S. has been arming Israel’s Arab foes (including Saddam Hussein) for decades and in some circumstances, placed restraints on Israel’s attempts to negate the supply of hi-tech arms.  The goal is to attain a power balance so that neither Israel nor her enemies can bully the other into submission.  The idea is that if all sides in a conflict are equally equipped with hi‑tech armaments, there’s a lesser chance of a major regional war.  No country wants to start a war for fear of retribution which may bring about mutual destruction.  The real winners are major defense contractors and their stakeholders that manufacture, supply and ship the weapons of destruction to countries in the Middle East and Gulf regions.

 

One thing is certain, the deaths of Arab and Jews as a result of weapons approved and supplied to these age old foes can be attributed to American presidents.  The U.S. (including political bigwigs such as James Baker) is culpable for the deaths and sufferings for which there will be a day of reckoning and accountability before God.  In one way or another, countless American workers have been in complicity in the deaths of Abraham’s descendants.

 

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Christian teacher 'bans reading of Harry Potter witchcraft in class'

Source: www.thisislondon.co.uk 

 

June 9, 2007 -- A teaching assistant refused to listen to a child read a Harry Potter book because she believed its magic theme was against her Christian faith, a tribunal heard.

 

Sariya Allan, 47, was disciplined by her employers after she told a seven-year-old girl pupil "I don't do witchcraft in any form" and said she would be "cursed" by hearing the J K Rowling novel.

 

Miss Allan, who quit her job on grounds of religious discrimination, is now claiming around £50,000 damages from her former school.

 

Comments:  Good for Miss Allan!  For once, a believer in Christ took a stand against witchcraft.  She refused to contribute to the spiritual harm of young children unlike J.K. Rowlings who should have placed a millstone around her neck and cast herself in the sea (Mark 9:42).  For that, Miss Allan will receive a “well done” from Jesus.  While the vast majority of the brainwashed unsaved and some misinformed Christians have gone bananas over Harry Potter, those of us who have spiritual discernment know that Rowling’s novels are demonically inspired.  Witchcraft is rampant everywhere you look.

 

From Bewitched to Sabrina the Teenage Witch to Fern Gully to Harry Potter to the Lord of the Rings to the Chronicles of Narnia to Wiccan, Satan’s fingerprints are all on them.  Yes, even so called Christian authors have liberally sprinkled witchcraft into their works.  The Old and New Testament warn us against magic, sorceries and witchcraft yet astrologers and New Age occultism abound.  We’re indeed in the Age of Aquarius as composed and sung by the rock group The Fifth Dimensions in 1969.

 

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United Church holding service celebrating Gay Pride Day

Source: Protestant Minister Karen Toole for the Winnipeg Free Press

 

June 10, 2007 -- Imagine an inter-faith service that celebrates the life paths of gay, lesbian, bisexual and trans-gendered people. Imagine bringing together the strengths of various religious and spiritual traditions and drawing on them to affirm, nurture and resource the life paths of homosexual persons?

 

Even 10 years ago it would be hard to imagine Buddhist, Christian, Jewish, traditional aboriginal and Mind-Conscious Spirituality coming together in celebration of gay pride. Even as I write these words I remember the world of denial, fear and oppression that haunted the lives of homosexual persons of faith.

 

But today, we don't have to imagine an inter-faith service like this. It is possible to attend one. Augustine United Church will host a Pride Inter-faith Service this morning at 10:30 a.m. Today is Gay Pride Day and even though the service is not a Pride Committee Event, it is listed in the guide of events for the weekend celebration.

 

I had a discussion earlier this week with Patrick Woodbeck, one of the planners of the service, and I asked him why he thought this was a vital part of Pride Celebrations. Patrick told me that this is the second time that Augustine has hosted the service and that the Pride Committee planning for the day definitely wanted it to continue. This time the service is even more inclusive of interfaith expression. As Patrick put it, "Many in the community (of homosexual persons) have endured a profound disconnect from their religious communities. This is a vision and hope of reconnection."

 

I asked him as well, why Augustine would bother to host this service, and his response to that was simply, "Affirming and acceptance are the mandate of Augustine. We believe in our commitment to this village we are part of, and this service is ministry to the larger community of the village. We ask constantly how can we be of service to the people who live in our midst, and same-sex couples are among those who live in our midst."

 

Patrick provided me with an outline of this service, and I would like to highlight just a few aspects of the worship experience offered. There will be a traditional prayer and honour song, offered by the Cultural Advisor, from Thunderbird House. A representative from the Centre for Conscious Living will offer a teaching titled, "New Thought Spiritual Treatment. The prayers of the people will include the Kaddish offered by a representative from Temple Shalom. There will also be a Buddhist Meditation on Gay Pride, from the Winnipeg Insight Meditation Group. Woven throughout the service are music and readings from various traditions. The Rainbow Harmony Project will be leading the music.

 

As I reflect on the service I am both encouraged and intrigued. So much of religious teaching has been used to condemn homosexual persons. What a profound shift this service represents. Here those gathered will draw from the strength of what has been, and envision what can yet be. Here they will draw on teachings from both Eastern traditions and Western, from the people of the book and the people of the land. Here those faith traditions will draw on their own strengths of healing rather than the judgmental rigidities of harm.

 

Services like this uniquely titled "Pride Inter-faith Service" do us all a service by their very conception. The pride in this celebration is of course about homosexual persons but it is also the proclamation of pride for all human life. Pride is not to be confused with arrogance. Pride is about self-esteem, worth, dignity and respect.

 

Pride is about creators blessing of all creation in the fullest expression of their meaning and love. This kind of pride has in it the essence of humility. With this pride we touch the ground, the humus, of all our beings and know that here we find our shared beginnings, here we find a place to stand together, and here no one gets to define absolutely the will of a divine source for anyone else. Here we seek to stand together to bring about inter-faith, and inter-face of healing and hope.

 

Comments:  This article highlights the current state of apostate Christendom.  If you want to know how close we are to the start of the Tribulation Period, just dissect what’s contained in the article.  I know we’re talking about Canada here, but the U.S. pretty well mirrors what’s happening in Canada.  Under the guise of fostering love and religious unity through inter-faith services and the acceptance of gays and lesbians, Protestantism is fast sliding down the slippery slope leading to the One World Religion and the worship of Satan’s chosen Antichrist.  God and the Holy Bible are cast aside and replaced with man’s pride and the embracing of overt sins.

 

The community church’s mandate is to serve the constituents and immerse themselves in paganism and abominable practices rather than proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  As with many liberal mainline Protestant denominations, St. Augustine United Church has shut out God and Jesus. The ministers of Satan have shown themselves to be reprobate ministers.  Karen Toole and Patrick Woodbeck are beside themselves effusing with joy, pride and satisfaction in that they’re bringing about universalism in religion and the shameful lifting up of the Sodomites in God’s sanctuary.  How much further down in the gutter will spiritual depravity descend?  Surely, God’s cup of wrath must be on the verge of running over.

 

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For Israeli IDF Chief of Staff says 'Corruption worse than Iranian threat'

Source: Jerusalem Post

 

June 11, 2007 -- The corruption manifest in Israeli leadership and the society as a whole is more worrisome than the Iranian nuclear threat, former chief of General Staff Lt. Gen (Res.) Moshe Ya'alon said Monday.

 

"I lose more sleep over the corruption in the country than from the Iranian bomb," Ya'alon said at a conference on the leadership crisis in the country organized by the Movement for Quality Government in Israel, a government watchdog group.

 

He added that while the Iranian nuclear program was an external threat that was being dealt with by the international community and by Israel, corruption was an internal threat that threatened to "spread like cancer and kill" unless one exposes it.

 

Comments:  Like their Gentile counterparts, Israeli politicians are not immune to corruption.  Even stalwarts such as former General Ariel Sharon has been tainted by charges of benefiting financially from his political office.  The love of money is indeed a root of all evils (1 Timothy 6:10).  The temptation is too much for many to resist dipping their fingers into the money cookie jar.  Even though Israel is in a perpetual state of war and her ravenous enemies surround her on all sides and waiting patiently for an opportune time to pounce on her, that doesn’t stop the greedy political big wigs and small fries from under‑the‑table dealings with business savvy entrepreneurs and defense suppliers by skimming the cream off the top for millions of shekels. The looming spectre of being pushed into the Mediterranean Sea and being exterminated as a race of people doesn’t prevent the officers of the Good Ship Israel from ensuring that the gold, silver and platinum do not go down into the deep watery grave with the ship.  It’s every man for himself.  If Israel is going to be destroyed, let’s prepare to exit with gobs of money to take care of our lives in our new homes in Europe.

 

Despite the shadiness and self interests of Israel’s leaders, the God of Heaven still protects Israel because of His past promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to preserve their descendants and bequeath to them the Promised Land.  God never goes back against His promises; however, He does permit the children of Israel to experience trials and tribulations.  Bible prophecy tells us that during the last 3.5 years of the Tribulation Period, aptly called the “time of Jacob’s trouble”, severe testing will befall Israel due to her leaders’ and people’s spiritual blindness and moral degeneration. Jeremiah 30:[7] Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob's trouble; but he shall be saved out of it.

 

 

 

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Keep watching (Matt 24:42)!

 

Until next time,

Shalom!

 

 

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