The following articles are compiled by:

Leo Wong

Leo@WatchmenWatching.com

 

 

 

Israel said proposing deal on Palestinian statehood

Source: www.khaleejtimes.com

 

Israel is proposing new talks with the Palestinians about “an agreement of principles” that could establish a Palestinian state on 90 percent of occupied territory, the Haaretz daily newspaper reported on Wednesday.

 

AND

 

Israel’s PM Ehud Olmert wants talks on Palestinian state 'principles'

Source: www.turkishpress.com/AFP

 

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is offering to hold negotiations to agree principles to establish a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital, a newspaper reported on Wednesday.

 

If accepted by the Palestinians, both sides would begin talks on the characteristics of the promised state, its official institutions, economy and the customs arrangement it will have with Israel, Haaretz said.

 

Only after an "Agreement of Principles" is reached, would they tackle more sensitive diplomatic issues, such as final borders and transit arrangements, which will be more difficult to agree, claimed the newspaper.

 

Olmert would be likely to offer establishing a Palestinian state in Gaza, and about 90 percent of the occupied West Bank, with territorial compensation in exchange for retaining large Jewish settlement blocs, Haaretz said.

 

He is also likely to propose connecting the two territories by a tunnel, for which Israel will in turn request territorial compensation, and for the Palestinians to be able to declare Jerusalem their capital.

 

Comments:  Under the table dealings with the Palestinians will not only rightly earn Ehud Olmert the title “traitor”, but a sneaky one at that.  In his desperation to hold onto power at any cost, he has effectively guaranteed Palestinian statehood with Jerusalem as its common capital city.  Years ago, then Pope John Paul II proclaimed that Jerusalem ought to be an international city to be shared by all of humanity.  Israel’s modern leaders had vowed never to divide Jerusalem, but this is what Olmert has essentially done.  He’s also going to give away 90% of the West Bank (historic Judea and Samaria) that Yasser Arafat had turned down in 2000 (when Israel’s PM Ehud Barak was pressured by President Clinton to hand over 96%).  The embattled Mahmoud Abbas will accept 90% to save his hide.  Desperate men resort to desperate measures.

 

The division of Israel’s land will garner Israel’s spiritually blind secular leaders God’s wrath to be sure.  Yes, Israel will bask in relatively peace and security during the Antichrist’s first 3.5 years in power.  In fact, he’ll make Jerusalem his capital city as well.  Then whammo!  He’ll suddenly turn against the Jews and slaughter 2/3 of them.  When the remaining 1/3 go into Petra to hide from the AC, they’ll remember Ehud Olmert and what he did to turn them from free citizens into fugitives on the lam.  Joel 3:[2] I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.  Isaiah 28:[18] And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it.

 

________________________________________________________________________

 

 

Should the Jews build the Third Temple?

Source: Jerusalem Post

 

Traditionally the Temple Mount Faithful attempt to set up a foundation stone for the Third Temple on Tisha Be'av, and the police routinely prevent them from doing so. The occasion for this street theater is the anniversary of the destruction of the First Temple in 586 BCE and that of the Second Temple in 70 CE, both said to have occurred on the same calendar date.

 

It is certainly right that the date be commemorated; but would rebuilding the Temple be an appropriate act for the State of Israel today?

 

Assuming there were no Dome of the Rock and no Muslim presence on the Temple Mount, no Wakf and no Aksa Mosque, the pressure to rebuild the Temple would be enormous - but would it, in historical terms, be sound?

 

The last time such an opportunity occurred was in the time of Julian the Apostate, in 362 CE. That Roman Emperor, who succeeded Constantine, reversed his predecessor's decision to turn the empire into a Christian state and returned to the former pagan religions, which were permissive of other cults, including the Jewish one. It seems that he gave permission for the Temple to be rebuilt, and then went off to fight his enemies.

 

In Jerusalem work commenced on reconstructing the altar, but hardly had a few stones been put one on another, when a massive earthquake hit the area and the work collapsed. Worse still, Julian was killed in Persia and his place was taken by the Emperor Jovian, who reinstalled Christianity as the official religion. Any hope of rebuilding the Temple ceased, never to return.

 

In 638 CE, the hordes of Islam conquered Jerusalem and by 692 the Caliph Abd al-Malik had completed the Dome of the Rock, which stood on the mountain inviolate for the following 1,315 years.

 

During the Crusader years it was converted to Christian use, and most Crusaders thought it had been built originally as the Temple of Solomon, but it was not changed structurally and returned to the Muslims on expulsion of the Crusaders in 1187. However, it did not return as a mosque, as it had never been one.

 

As the Dome was not a mosque, why did Abd al-Malik build it? It may be that he was attempting to set up a place of pilgrimage in competition to Mecca, which was controlled by his rival, Ibn al-Zubayr, but it seems more likely that, probably advised by an ex-Jewish companion, he recognized the historic significance of the site and in particular of the rock, the foundation stone, the even shetiya, that carried so much religious baggage. It was the scene of the Mihrab of Dawood (shrine of David) and the Bayit al-Makdis of Sulayman (Temple of Solomon) so al-Malik may have selected the site as a kind of location of ultimate holiness, maybe even for the Day of the Last Judgement.

 

The unique design of the building, a circular dome over an octagonal base, emphasized its concentration on the central feature, the Rock. Unlike any mosque, the building had no directional focus and was entered by four doorways, one to each of the cardinal points, as if to encourage access to persons or, indeed, their souls coming from the four corners of the earth.

 

Later the Muslims observed that the Rock was the mythical arrival and departure point of Mohammed on his white steed Buraq, but Abd al-Malik had recognized the precedence of Solomon and even Abraham on the site.

 

This makes it clear that the sanctity of the site stems from its Jewish origins, though the Muslims, of course, claim Abraham as one of their own, and venerate Solomon as divine. Now, even if the Muslim attitude would be to allow a Jewish presence, and even a rebuilding on the site, would it be in the Jewish interest to proceed with a third Temple?

 

Comments:  It’s the religious Jews’ desire to build the Third Temple of Solomon so that Old Testament animal sacrifices could be re‑instituted to reinforce their perception that God is pleased with the animal blood atonement for sins.  But, they’re wrong.  Since the coming to Earth as the God‑Man, Jesus Christ (whom the Jews rejected as their Messiah) became the ultimate sacrifice for sins.  Animal sacrifices were only a foreshadow that pointed to a future day when God’s Son would willingly lay down His life on the cross and allowed His blood to be shed to wash away all our sins.  Now, there’s no more sacrifice for sins.

 

Yes, the Third Temple will be constructed and we pre-tribbers believe it will be soon after we’ve been translated by Jesus to Heaven.  The son of perdition, the Antichrist, will then confirm a peace covenant for 7‑years and will permit the Jews to erect the Third Temple and animal sacrifices will once again occur.  All the implements and items needed for the Temple have been amassed.  It’s been estimated that it would only take up to 9 months construction period for the edifice.  The answer to the above question is: No, it’s not God’s wish that the Third Temple should be built, but it’s been prophesized and thus, it shall come to past.  At the mid-point of the 7-year Tribulation Period, the Antichrist reveals his true nature by entering the Third Temple, stopping the animal sacrifices, desecrating the Temple, and declaring himself God.  Mark 13:[14] But when ye shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing where it ought not, (let him that readeth understand,) then let them that be in Judaea flee to the mountains.

 

________________________________________________________________________

 

 

China on the lookout for Christian Olympic 2008 protesters 

Source: www.washingtontimes.com

 

China's intelligence services are gearing up for next year's Beijing Olympics, gathering information on foreigners who might mount protests and spoil the nation's moment in the spotlight.

Government spy agencies and think tanks are compiling lists of potentially troublesome foreign organizations, looking beyond the human rights groups long critical of Beijing, security specialists and a consultant familiar with the effort said.

 

They include evangelical Christians eager to end China's religious restrictions, activists wanting Beijing to use its oil-buying leverage with Sudan to end the strife in Darfur and environmental campaigners angry about global warming.

 

Comments:  Godless Communist rulers still have capitalistic China firmly in their grip.  Freedom of expression and religion is an illusion.  People fear for their lives if they dare criticize the government.  (Prisoners have been known to have mysteriously disappeared never to resurface.  Organs taken from dead prisoners bring in much cash in the lucrative organ black market trafficking.)  Religion is polar opposite to the atheistic leaders.  Even historic Buddhism (thought to be China’s official religion) is monitored and controlled.  Catholics and Protestants tread very carefully making sure they don’t rock the boat too much in their churches and missionary endeavours.  Evangelical Christians, in their fervour to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ, are especially irritating to China’s leaders.  They’re much targeted for persecution because the conversion of the people is into the millions, such converts tend to cast off Communist principles and put Marxism into a negative light.  Satan is a roaring lion in countries that seek out and physically arrest and incarcerate gospel preachers.

 

Olympics 2008 in Beijing will be broadcast all around the world.  The spotlight will be on China’s spanking new sport facilities and her athletes.  As well, documentary film crews will venture into the countryside showing viewers the lives of the typical Chinese including faiths and religions.  It’s best that Christian institutions be reined in now rather than when the games commence.  By that now, the world’s furor and outrage will have subsided somewhat.  1 Peter 5:[8] Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.

 

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

 

 

 

 

Keep watching (Matt 24:42)!

 

Until next time,

Shalom!

 

 

Watchmen Watching HOME PAGE

Millennium Weekend Ministries Home Page