The following articles are compiled by:

Leo Wong

Leo@WatchmenWatching.com

 

 

 

Arab League envoys make historic visit: Peace plan presented in Israel

Source: Associated Press

 

Arab League envoys paid a historic visit to Israel on Wednesday to present a plan calling for a comprehensive regional settlement, saying they were extending "a hand of peace" on behalf of the Arab world.

The one-day visit by the foreign ministers of Egypt and Jordan marked the first time the 22-member group has sent representatives to Israel. The Arab League peace plan envisions full recognition of Israel in return for an Israeli withdrawal from lands captured in the 1967 Middle East war.

 

The visit highlights a dramatic change of direction for the Arab body, which actively pursued Israel's destruction after the Jewish state was created in 1948. The league refused to recognize Israel for decades afterward and suspended Egypt in 1979 for a decade after it become the first Arab state to make peace.

 

In recent years, many of the league's member states have adopted a more conciliatory tone toward Israel as they became more concerned about the rising influence of Iran's hardline government and al-Qaida's brand of extremist Islam.

 

"We are extending a hand of peace on behalf of the whole region to you, and we hope that we will be able to create the momentum needed to resume fruitful and productive negotiations" between Israel and the Palestinians and the rest of the Arab world, Jordan's foreign minister, Abdul-Ilah Khatib, said at a news conference with Israeli President Shimon Peres.

   

Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit urged Israel to consider the plan seriously.

 

The envoys are expected to discuss the visit with their Arab League on Monday -- part of a flurry of diplomatic efforts meant to restart peace talks after a seven-year lull.

 

The international community's new Mideast envoy, former British prime minister Tony Blair, made his first voyage to the region this week, and U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is expected next week.

 

Comments:   Is it not ironic that the real and present danger of radical Islam precipitated the Arab League to make peace overtures to mighty (militarily that is) Israel?  “The enemy of my enemy is my friend” is a familiar refrain in the political circles.  The flurry of activities bodes well for Middle East peace and not solely on the Israeli‑Palestinian front.  We’re also talking about the Israeli-Syrian and Lebanese as well.  Comprehensive means all encompassing with no stones left unturned.  The Arab League’s full recognition of the Jewish state’s right to exist is a major indicator of the seriousness of this peace proposal.  Jews in the Holy Land have something joyous to look forward to although I would strongly suggest that they be wary of Arabs bearing gifts.  I smell a Trojan Horse trap being set up here with the only Achilles’ Heel of the Arabs being possible disunity among a few dissenters.  There always is.  100% agreement between the Arab brothers is as improbable as Barry Bonds not making it to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

 

We’ve said it from time to time here that Satan’s man of peace, the Antichrist, will come out from behind the curtain to mediate a miraculous comprehensive peace between Jews and Arabs/Muslims.  For that to happen, preceding peace proposals must have failed or on the precipice of unravelling resulting in an impending war.  Be on the lookout for these dizzying peace proposals being bandied about and ready to be accepted by both sides and then suddenly hit a snag or two.  The Antichrist’s services won’t be required if things go as smooth as Kraft peanut butter.  1 Thessalonians 5:[3] For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.

 

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Bill Hybels' leadership summit attracts world-class speakers

Source: THE CHRISTIAN POST

 

This year’s highly prominent Willow Creek Leadership Summit will feature a world-class line-up of guests and speakers, including exclusive interviews with former president Jimmy Carter and former secretary of state Colin Powell.

 

Now in its 12th year, the annual global gathering expects it biggest crowd ever of some 100,000 church and business leaders in more than 138 cities worldwide where the Aug. 9-11 summit will beam via satellite from Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Ill. An additional 76 cities will view the videocast in the fall.

 

The global expansion is a result of higher demand for one of the world's most premier leadership training events.

 

Following last year's exclusive interview with U2 front man Bono, who drew church attention to the extreme poverty and AIDS pandemic in Africa and made it no less than a command for Christians to help those suffering, Willow Creek founder Bill Hybels landed interviews with Carter, Powell and filmmaker Richard Curtis to feature at this year's event. Curtis is an Oscar-nominated screenwriter and co-founder of the Make Poverty History campaign and was also the driving force behind the recent success of the special "Idol Gives Back" program, which raised $70 million during the latest "American Idol" television season.

 

Comments:  James 4:[4] Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.  A recent poll of America’s 50 most influential churches had Bill Hybels’ Willow Creek Church as No. 1.  It’s also among the largest mega‑churches in the world and it’s of the Seeker Sensitive genre a lā Rick Warren.  Worldly business (can you say Peter Drucker?) methods are deployed to train pastors and church goers in the tried and proven ways. Not only would you be successful in your own church, but that also translates into promotions in the work place.  You can have your cake and eat it too; the best of both worlds.  It’s no wonder the unsaved don’t mind attending these Purpose Driven mega‑churches because they can gain in so many ways.  There’s nothing to offend the unregenerate since sin and Hell are taboo subjects inconsistent with life’s successes.

 

A red warning flag cropped up for me when I read that Jimmy Carter would be a top guest speaker.  This peanut farmer from Plains, Georgia, can hardly be held up a poster boy for church or corporate leadership.  His 4-year term in the Oval Office was one of the worst in modern history.  His recent diatribes against Israel for her “mistreatment” of the Palestinian people were deplorable and hinted of anti-Semitism.  He’s not a friend of Israel to say the least.  He’s a liberal Baptist with a Replacement Theology leaning.  Willow Creek and such others are married to the world and are leading Christians without discernment to be spiritual adulterers and adulteresses.

 

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New U.S. embassy rises in Iraq

Source: www.latimes.com

 

Conspicuously huge and self-contained but deemed inadequate for a disaster scenario, the compound is already taking fire.

 

Huge, expensive and dogged by controversy, the new U.S. Embassy compound nearing completion here epitomizes to many Iraqis the worst of the U.S. tenure in Iraq.

 

"It's all for them, all of Iraq's resources, water, electricity, security," said Raid Kadhim Kareem, who has watched the buildings go up at a floodlighted site bristling with construction cranes from his post guarding an abandoned home on the other side of the Tigris River. "It's as if it's their country, and we are guests staying here."

 

Despite its brash scale and nearly $600-million cost, the compound designed to accommodate more than 1,000 people is not big enough, and may not be safe enough if a major military pullout leaves the country engulfed in a heightened civil war, U.S. planners now say.

 

Comments:  Aside from precious black gold (petroleum), what is it about Iraq that has the U.S. and other nations so fixated on this country?  The Bush Administration is fearful of Iran’s nuclear program and imperialistic expansion plans and Israel feels the same.  Iraq is a fractured nation in much disarray from infighting among the Sunnis and Shiites and the insurgents’ resolve to kick out the Western nations’ occupation forces.  The U.S. plans to stay there (you wouldn’t spend $600M for a seasonal time sharing condo unit, would you?) and there have been calls for moving the UN headquarters to the ancient city of Babylon.

 

The Garden of Eden was believed to be located within Iraq and ancient Babylon is the cradle of modern day religious idolatry.  Many idol worshipping faiths and religions (e.g. Roman Catholicism) can be traced all the way back to Babylon the city that Nimrod built.  Babylon is the symbol of mankind’s wilful rebellion against God.  It was in Babylon that the Tower of Babel was built that would reach into Heaven to usurp God from His throne.  But God had other ideas and He befuddled the builders with different languages so that they couldn’t understand each other and the tower was left unfinished.

 

Physical Babylon will once again be in the news in the future although not restored to its once glory days.  It will be utterly destroyed by God during the last half of the Tribulation Period.  Revelation 18:[2] And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.

 

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Keep watching (Matt 24:42)!

 

Until next time,

Shalom!

 

 

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