The following articles are compiled by:

Leo Wong

Leo@WatchmenWatching.com

 

 

 

Iraq Sunnis and Shiites meet at the U.N.

Source: Associated Press

 

June 12, 2007 -- Iraqi religious and political leaders met to reaffirm their commitment to building a tolerant, multiethnic nation, declaring that the ties that bind all Iraqis "will not be broken" in spite of the sectarian violence ravaging the country.

 

Sunni and Shiite leaders gathered at U.N. headquarters for a two-day conference that ends Tuesday to discuss ways to ease the sectarian tensions sparking violence in Iraq. Iraq's U.N. mission sponsored the event, entitled "Iraq for all Iraqis."

 

"We have gathered here in New York, religious leaders and scholars, to discuss the vital issues of reconciliation and re-establishing the fraternal ties that have historically bound the people of Iraq together, which, however strained they may become, are not broken and will not be broken," said Iraq's deputy U.N. ambassador, Feisal al-Istrabadi.

 

Many of the leaders, who are theologians and imams in Iraq, have participated in a series of similar dialogues since May 2003, when they began working with Religions for Peace, an international religious coalition, to create an inter-religious council. They have met in Iraq, England, Jordan, South Korea, Japan and Norway during the past four years.

 

Mustapha Tlili, director of New York University's Center for Dialogues, which co-sponsored the event, urged the leaders to reach a "new political consensus."

 

"The old consensus was conceived in and enforced by violence," he told the group.

 

The new consensus, he said, must be based on "shared values, shared objectives, shared interests, shared identities, and framed by mutual respect, a spirit of reconciliation and a strong commitment to peace - a strong commitment to an 'Iraq for all Iraqis.'"

 

Comments:  Brother fighting brother and you wonder why Arabs haven’t been able to push all the Jews right into the Mediterranean Sea by now.  If Arabs can’t get their collective act together, Israel can rest easier knowing the internal discord of her foes play right into her hands.  Sunnis hate Shiites and the feeling is mutual.  Iran and Syria are mostly Shiites while Iraq is predominately Sunni.  Iraq is like a rump roast that the butchers can’t wait to get their hands on in order to carve it up.  Unless the Iraq Sunnis and Shiites put away their hatred for each other, expect Iran, Syria and Turkey to arm and fuel the Shiites in such a manner as to tip the balance of power to the Shiites.  The U.N. is obviously perturbed by this propsect which runs contrary to its “they shall beat their swords into plowshares” (see Isaiah 2:4) world peace vision.  It would like to mediate a truce between the warring factions, but time is running out. Meanwhile, the slaughter continues unabated.

 

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Study: Baby boomers expect to work longer

Source: Associated Press

 

June 12, 2007 -- As the baby boomers begin to ease into their 60s, most expect to delay retirement longer than their parents or grandparents.

 

That's good, because many can't afford to stop working anytime soon.

 

Two new reports portray aging boomers as better educated, with higher incomes and longer life expectancies than the generations that preceded them. They also have fewer children and are less likely to be married, leaving them with fewer options if they need help in their old age.

 

Comments:  The baby boomers are the most privileged generation of this modern era.  Rich (in material goods) beyond their wildest dreams, they’ve messed up big time in running America, Canada and other Western countries.  They were hippies and flower children in the 1960s preaching revolution, i.e. down with the establishment and set up communes to live in peace and harmony.  That experiment didn’t pan out.  They were the generation that experimented with Eastern religions, marijuana, LSD and cocaine.  Exemplified by rock groups such as the Beatles, Rolling Stones and Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, they didn’t bring about the changes promised to reform the capitalistic system of ours.  Many ex-hippies conformed to the corporation norm in order to get ahead careerwise.  Like hypocrites, they’ve betrayed their principles and causes.

 

Relgious-wise, baby boomers have turned away from God/Jesus in large numbers.  Attracted to Eastern mysticism, cults and the occult, they have run after the Devil’s paganism and patheism.  Now as they age (ungracefully), there’s no fall back in terms of their eternal destiny and fate.  Having mostly rejected Jesus’ way of salvation, even their dreams of Freedom 55 have gone into the toilet of despair.  More years to work in order to pay the rent because they’ve frittered away their inheritance.  More blood, sweat and tears are in the offing.  No heaven on Earth and no everlasting life.  Genesis 3:[19] In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.

 

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Hamas TV: We have taken over the northern Gaza Strip

Source: Jerusalem Post

 

June 12, 2007 -- Hamas launched a full-scale attack Tuesday afternoon against Fatah security bases and positions in Gaza, and succeeded in taking over a number of them, Israel Radio reported.

 

Hamas-affiliated television said that the organization overtook the entire northern section of the Gaza Strip. After airing the report, the station was attacked by PA security forces and forced to play pro-Fatah songs.

 

Israel Radio also reported that a top Fatah military official sent a message to Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas stating that security forces were holding their ground, but calling on the Fatah leader to order an end to the current policy of restraint, allowing troops to return fire.

 

Comments:  Call it what you may, but it’s essentially a Palestinian civil war we’re seeing being waged in the Gaza Strip that threatens to spread into the West Bank as well.  Israel’s leaders may be rubbing their hands in glee at hearing and seeing Palestintians killing each other, but in the long term, this civil war may require Israel’s military to intervene.  It’s like cancer.  Remove it early through surgery or leave it alone to grow and thus risking the patience’s health.  It’s ironic that Israel is rooting for Fatah to come out on top, the same ‘moderate’ Fatah Party that Yasser Arafat ruled with an iron fist.  Fatah is the lesser evil when compared to Shiite Hamas (supported and armed by Iran and Syria) which will not recognize Israel’s right to exist no matter.  They say, “The enemy of my enemy is my friend”.  There’s a catch here though. If Fatah does win out, it remains a foe to Israel.  On the surface, Israel can work with Fatah to achieve a peace treaty, but deep down, Fatah is still Palestinian and Palestinians have been brainwashed as children to destroy Israel.

 

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Pope Benedict upgrades interfaith outreach office to improve relations with Islam

Source: www.star-telegram.com

 

June 12, 2007 -- Pope Benedict XVI will upgrade a Vatican office in charge of dialogue with the Islamic world, a little more than a year after subordinating it to another body.

 

Observers have described the policy change as an effort to improve the Vatican's strained relations with Islam.

 

Comments:  Pope Benedict is bending over backwards to appease Islam.  This so called self-proclaimed “Vicar of Christ” knows that if you can’t beat them, join them.  Roman Catholicism (RC) and Islam side by side as brothers. How romantic.  After all, both believe they worship the same god (we know it’s not the God of Heaven).  Just think of it.  The RC have 1.1 billion members and Islam has 900 million. Doing the math = 2 billion.  That’s about 30% of this planet’s population.  The Vatican is already far along in its courting of the Eastern Orthodox Catholics and Protestantism, i.e. ecumenism.  Add the Eastern religions of Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism and Confuscisim, Native Spirituality, and the cults and you have nearly all the faiths and religions that mark this world.  Only true Christianity is left out of the mix (thank God!).  The latter will be raptured to Heaven very shortly.  What will be left behind are all the unsaved work based, pagan rooted religious people who didn’t accept Jesus as Saviour. Islam is the biggest piece of pie and as such, it’s the RC’s priority to get cozy and snuggle up to it.

 

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The wrath of 2007: America's great drought

Source: news.independent.co.uk 

 

June 12, 2007 -- America is facing its worst summer drought since the Dust Bowl years of the Great Depression. Or perhaps worse still.

 

From the mountains and desert of the West, now into an eighth consecutive dry year, to the wheat farms of Alabama, where crops are failing because of rainfall levels 12 inches lower than usual, to the vast soupy expanse of Lake Okeechobee in southern Florida, which has become so dry it actually caught fire a couple of weeks ago, a continent is crying out for water.

 

Comments:  It’s been said that America is the bread basket of the world.  So much of the world depends on the U.S.’s food supply for its day to day survival.  Wheat and rice are the essential staples that sustain life for many in impoverished countries. If the U.S. experiences a bad crop season, the ripple effects are felt in many places.  Granted, Earth has way too many people to feed and with dwindling resources and crop growing land, something has to give somehow.  Dust bowl conditions would devastate America and elsewhere.  The years of plenty may have been in the past.  Hard times have struck with a thug.  Famine is a natural by-product of drought.  The rains have stopped falling.  Food supplies will be reduced to a trickle, the same as fresh water. Is this part of God’s judgment upon America, the nation that exports the most porn, Hollywood style moral busting filth, over 60 million abortions, the champion of gay and lesbian rights, rampant corruption in high places, American Idol?  Maybe. The uncoming Tribulation Period will be defined by wars, drought, famine and a shortage of food.  Are we just about at the doorstep?  Sure looks like it.  Revelation 6: [6] And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.

 

 

 

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Keep watching (Matt 24:42)!

 

Until next time,

Shalom!

 

 

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