The following articles are compiled by:

Leo Wong

Leo@WatchmenWatching.com

 

 

 

 

First artificial life 'within months'

Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

 

Scientists could create the first new form of artificial life within months after a landmark breakthrough in which they turned one bacteria into another.

 

The team that carried out the first “species transplant” says it plans within months to do the same thing with a synthetic genome made from scratch in the laboratory.

 

If that experiment worked, it would mark the creation of a synthetic lifeform.

 

Comments:  Rest assured that prideful man playing God will invite the unmitigated judgment of the Lord.  Only God has the sole right to create life. Man’s incursion into God’s exclusive domain mirrors the arrogance of Lucifer (the angel of light) who aspired to usurp God from His throne (see Isaiah 14).  For that, Lucifer was brought down low and he and his legions of fallen angels were stripped of their privileged positions.  Their fate is the Lake of Fire, the place of final destiny for the future Antichrist and the False Prophet.  “Anti” also means “in place of”.

 

Mankind’s acts of evil know no bounds.  All that intelligence goes to puff up man’s self importance.  We have seen artificial insemination, embryo implantation, and cloning.  With each ‘success’ springs up a challenge to go one better.  There appears to be no limit to what man strives to do.  The end products could be monstrosities that might redefine or threatened the continuation of life itself, i.e. mutations, deformations, etc.  (Be careful of what you ask for.) God will put a stop to this in due time.  Proverbs 29:[23] A man's pride shall bring him low: but honour shall uphold the humble in spirit.

 

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PM Ehud Olmert: Full Kassam protection impossible

Source: Jerusalem Post

 

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Thursday that he had no intention of providing maximal protection to all residents of Gaza periphery communities. "A country cannot protect itself ad infinitum, because there would be no end to it."

 

Olmert was addressing the Caesarea Conference.

 

The prime minister added that stepping up protection would be "just as [ineffective] as the demand to solve Sderot's Kassam problem by wiping Beit Hanun and other towns in Gaza off the face of the earth.

 

The prime minister appealed to the residents of the Gaza periphery: "In the short term we cannot supply you with all of the personal security that we would like to provide, because such protection would draw from expensive resources that are needed for other critical security needs."

 

Olmert also addressed the media, asking that they "not encourage, even mutely, demands of citizens that no normal government could accept." He added that "life in Israel entails a certain security risk, and anyone who chooses to live in the Jewish state is accepting this risk." And yet, "the risk in Israel is lower than the risk threatening Jews in other parts of the world."

 

Comments:   As incredible as it may seem, Israel is a relatively safe country.  Tourists who have visited the Holy Land within the past 10 years have remarked that they felt comfortable in the old part of Jerusalem and especially in modern Tel Aviv and Haifa.  The news media play up the terror aspect after sporadic suicide bombings.  Yet in spite of the appearance of safety and calm, Israeli Jews have inner feelings that doom and gloom hover over the nation. With external threats from Iran, Syria, Hamas and Hezbollah, the storm clouds will cover the tiny state like locusts on a lush field of crops.

 

Israel’s military is a vaunted entity.  It ranks among the top 8 in the world and although it’s well funded by American taxpayers, it could use more resources to reassure its worried citizens.  Yes, live in Israel at your risk; Jews worldwide are potential targets as well.  Israeli Jews are indeed dwelling securely in the land, but that’s about to end with a mighty wakeup call.  The Gaza Strip being in the control of Hamas extremists will most likely be the first testing ground for Israel’s military this summer.

 

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Germany says no to two-speed Europe

Source: EUObserver.com

 

Speaking just days after she brokered a deal on a new-look treaty that permits a group of member states to move ahead in judicial and police cooperation and which has given an apparent opt-out to the UK from the Charter of Fundamental Rights, Ms Merkel said that for EU citizens' sake the 27 nations should proceed together.

 

"Only when we act systematically and together can we achieve tangible headway for our citizens," said the chancellor on Wednesday (27 June) before MEPs in Brussels.

 

Referring directly to a "two-speed Europe," she said "I don't think that is a good idea" adding that it would only lead to "the opening of new trenches" in Europe.

 

The chancellor's comments come as several politicians have criticised that the treaty negotiations were conducted behind closed doors and that the end result contains several exemptions, footnotes and declarations in an attempt to get all governments on board.

 

In the summit aftermath – which has seen Polish-German relations take a nosedive - Italian prime minister Romano Prodi regretted the loss of the European spirit and said that a "two-speed Europe is inevitable" under the new look treaty - a comment echoed by several MEPs in recent days.

 

Comments:  If Germany has its way, it would drive an automatic rather than a 2‑speed stick shift.  The 2-speed proposal by Italy’s PM Romano Prodi (the very first former EC Commission President) was a knee jerk proposal by a frustrated politician who is accustomed to getting his way.  The EU members must be like a well oiled rowing team, i.e. all rowers planting their oars in the water at the same time.  If they don’t, they could be rowing in circles and not getting anywhere.  Yes, it’s almost next to impossible to get all 27 members agreeing on the EU treaty because national interests are varied and people’s pride is ever present.  Outsiders looking in marvel at the lack of uniformity in the Revived Roman Empire which isn’t of one mind in the most important of matters, i.e. a constitution, the very heart and soul of an emerging superstate in the making.

 

What’s in the immediate future for the EU?  Well, the date for the treaty ratification will be pushed back to 2009 and beyond.  Bible prophecy watchers will be in despair as the revealing of the Antichrist is further delayed, however God can throw a monkey wrench into the prophecy gears via the Rapture event and then things will really get hopping in the EU!

 

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Ohio's Camp Quest lets young atheists enjoy summer fun with like-minded children

Source: Chicago Tribune

 

At the same time youngsters at Bible camps across the nation are reciting, "Now I lay me down to sleep; I pray the Lord my soul to keep," kids at Camp Quest are climbing into their bunks, confident there is no one out there to hear those prayers.

 

Proudly proclaiming the motto "Beyond Belief," Camp Quest bills itself as the nation's first sleep-away summer camp for atheists. Founded in 1996, it has inspired four similar camps across the nation for children whose parents are either opposed or indifferent to religion.

 

Much of what goes on here, amid the cornfields of southwestern Ohio, is little different from any other camp. Campers canoe on the Little Miami River, practice archery skills and go on nature hikes.

 

To be sure, they also engage in some unusual rainy-day discussions of philosophical issues. Children who barely come up to an adult's waist toss around terms such as "circular logic." And those nature hikes focus on the beauty of evolution, unaided by any unseen hand.

 

Atheism has been experiencing a revival, as it were. Some national surveys show the numbers of non-believers growing. Books hyper-critical of religion are best-sellers. The biologist Richard Dawkins argued in "The God Delusion" that religion is just that. Faith as the source of all evil was explored with burning passion by Christopher Hitchens in "God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything."

 

Comments:  A beloved brother in the Lord once told a young people’s audience that secular universities were the training ground for the Devil.  In this news article, we read of heart wrenching happenings in an atheist camp for children.  It’s bad enough that adults denigrate God, but to foist their views on impressionable children before they’re of the age of consent is not only deplorable, but deserving of God’s immediate judgment.  I hear of parents who won’t shove religion down their kids’ throat opting to let them decide later on in life.  That at least lets them off the hook, but these atheists have crossed the line of responsibility.  What would it be like to spend a summer at an atheist camp?  I acquired a similar experience when I spent 3 weeks at a Catholic summer camp.  Jesus was portrayed in a statute and in the scenes where He was carrying the cross to Jerusalem.  Other than that, Jesus was never prayed to nor what He referred to for our soul’s salvation.  I had a miserable 3 weeks. If Jesus isn’t in the events, then there’s no real joy and happiness.  Although I wasn’t yet saved back then, my heart felt heavy and despondent.

 

Hello Danny and Belinda!  There is a God!  Don’t believe the atheists and agnostics who prefer Hell to Heaven.  They’re dead wrong and on the road that leads to perdition.  Jesus loves me, yes I know.  For the Bible tells me so.  Mark 10:[14] But when Jesus saw it, he was much displeased, and said unto them, Suffer (allow) the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God.  Mark 9:[42] And whosoever shall offend one of these little ones that believe in me, it is better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he were cast into the sea.

 

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Quartet aims to meet in the Middle East in August 2007

Source: www.eubusiness.com

 

The Quartet seeking peace in the Middle East will probably meet in the region in August, European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana said on Thursday.

 

Solana said it would be the first meeting of the Quartet -- which comprises the EU, the United States, the United Nations and Russia -- after Portugal assumes the six-month rotating EU presidency this weekend.

 

Solana, speaking alongside Portuguese Foreign Minister Luis Amado at a press conference in Lisbon, described the situation in the Middle East as "complex and difficult."

 

The Quartet is looking to relaunch the Israeli-Palestinian peace process and on Wednesday named former British prime minister Tony Blair as its new special envoy.

 

Comments:  The Quartet will meet in August 2007 unless there’s a Middle East war between Israel and a quartet of enemies (Iran, Syria, Hamas and Hezbollah) at that time.  You probably let out a wide yawn when you read this article’s headline.  “Oh another fruitless meeting” you thought to yourself, “Another occasion for photo opportunities and to wine and dine on roasted wild boar and Minsk caviar and vodka from Russia.”

 

It’s not difficult to become cynical when it comes to the Arab-Israeli conflict.  After all, not even the charismatic President Bill Clinton could get Jews and Arabs dancing up and down with uncontrollable euphoria. So, what makes one think that Javier Solona and the newly appointed Tony Blair can “make it so, No. 1” (to borrow a command from Capt. Jean Luc Picard of the USS Enterprise)?  Talk is cheap, but no one walks the walk.  Well, I believe no mere mortal will solve the violence over there.  It will take a Satanically possessed human to step into the world stage and announce to everyone that he has the magic solution.  We know from Bible prophecy that it will be the long awaited Antichrist, Mr. 666.  I believe he’s presently alive and working behind the scenes orchestrating a step by step plan to bring about Middle East peace.  Unfortunately for him, try as he might, his efforts are being impeded by God’s Holy Spirit until the moment of the Rapture event when God’s starting pistol is sounded and the Antichrist bolts out like a thoroughbred stallion.

 

 

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Keep watching (Matt 24:42)!

 

Until next time,

Shalom!

 

 

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