Thursday, October 20, 2011

A Special Time With Jesus Part Three



       We have left the rocky enclave far behind and Jesus and I have continued our walk down the mountain of rest. With each step I take my heart is filled more and more with a hunger that I might know him in a new way. We walk in silence but my heart also feels a divine connection spirit to Spirit with him. As I turned my head and looked at him my heart began to be filled with love and devotion for him. His is the most beautiful of faces; his face at the moment is aglow with a look of serenity and peace.


He all at once turned and looked my way. Seeing that I was looking at him he smiled and said, “Son, we walk on the pathway of anointing and consecration. I said in my word that many are called but few are chosen. Fewer yet are those who find their way here. You have been afflicted and tormented by the forces of hell. Yet even in your darkest days, and weakest moments I knew that someday you would find your way here. For no matter how things may have seemed at times I have always been with you”.

We stopped walking and he turned to face me and put his right arm on my shoulder. “Son remember the angel who anointed you with oil in the valley of glory and restoration. He left behind a staff that you picked up and carry with you still. What you do not know is that this staff that you now carry was mine”.

His eyes are now locked with mine as my heart and spirit are drinking in every word.

“Son when I ascended to heaven and came here I had my staff in my hand. It was a staff that I had carried with me through out my ministry on earth. It is that staff my son that you now hold in your hand. A gift from me to you and I bequeath it to you my son as a sign of my love and affection that I have for you”.

“In the dark days that are soon to come may this staff be ever a reminder to you that I am with you and shall carry you through what ever you may face. The days ahead will not be easy ones my son but I shall carry you through them and yours shall be a voice of hope and consolation to others whom I am sending you to”.

With this he ceased speaking and put his arms around me in a loving embrace. Hot tears began to run down my cheeks and I pulled him closer to me and placing my head on his shoulder I began to weep.

I knew the moment I had picked it up there was something different about this staff. I had marveled that I felt a strengthing in my body as I took it in my hand. I had no idea at the time other than I knew there was something strange and wonderful about it. I cannot believe he has given it to me. I value it more than all the wealth the world possesses. Even my heavenly home as wondrous as it is I would not trade for this treasure he has given to me. I fell on my knees before him.

“My Lord I who am but dust cannot find the words to express how moved by your gift to me who am the least worthy of all your servants to have it. It shall ever be by my side and may I prove myself in the coming days ahead to be worthy of your love and favor. You honor me my Lord that I could have in any way be given such a token of love as this”.

He said, “My beloved child this is but a small thing. The glory, which you shall walk in with me, shall begin an internal transformation within your heart. For I shall reveal myself as I am. I shall lead you to the Father and we and the Holy Spirit shall unveil to you the true glory and power of who and what we are. All who give their hearts to me shall one day walk in the eternal light and understanding of our hearts, which you shall see. Few have been those who have seen it during the time of their earthly sojourn. Yet it is our will to unveil to you my son the essence of all that we are.

You shall walk in the strength of that understanding all the remaining days of your life. I will make yours a voice of kingdom power and authority. Many shall be looking for answers and hope in the days ahead and I am sending you to them my son. You will show them my heart, and yours shall be hands of mercy and compassion for you shall share our love and deliverance in this last hour as a witness to the world of the coming kingdom, which we shall soon establish in the earth”.

I stood to my feet and we shared a precious moment he and I. Nothing was being said but he was resting his right hand on my shoulder and in our eye to eye contact of this moment I had all the answers I would ever need. How could I at any time longed for anything in my life but to walk in his divine favor and presence. The hunger that I felt growing day by day in this son’s journey has erupted inside my heart into a roaring flame for my Lord and Savior.

We stood there together not saying a word but the love I saw radiating out of his eyes said all I would ever need to hear. It is a very special moment one that I shall never forget. He by and by smiled at me and we turned and began walking down the mountain again. I could not help but grip my staff a little tighter in my hand. It gives me so much comfort and fills my heart with a holy love and devotion for the Lord who gave it to me.

We are walking together side by side and I was suddenly aware I had no idea where we were going or what lay ahead. I further more could not care less because when I am with Jesus I know that no matter what lies ahead in the valley below this mountain or in my life on earth I am at complete rest knowing he is ever by my side.

A View From Israel: A Dangerous Precedent


                                                            Story taken from
                                                           http://www.jpost.com


           Separatists movements exist all around the world, including a large number in European countries. Palestinian statehood will help their causes.


The common explanation for the US and Israel’s objection to the Palestinian bid for statehood at the UN is that an end to the conflict can be reached only through negotiations. It is so easy to get caught up in this oft-repeated rhetoric, but there is a larger picture here that needs to be taken into consideration.

The bid could set a dangerous precedent for countries around the globe as their own individual separatist movements gain confidence and glean lessons from the Palestinian experience.

It is illogical that so much focus centers around Israel and the Palestinians. Why is it that disputes such as the one between Russia and Chechnya, throughout which thousands have been killed on both sides, create little to no interest, and yet the dispute between Israel and the Palestinians receives world attention?

There are hundreds of border disputes across the globe and dozens of national and separatist movements that seek to gain independence and recognition, yet it is the Israeli-Palestinian issue that garners the most international attention and is widely considered a major obstacle to regional stability.

A glance at European countries reveals no shortage of separatist movements.

Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Norway all have separatist movements. The same goes for Belgium (Flemish and Walloon separatists), Switzerland (Jura) and the Netherlands (Frisian).
Of course there are the well-known cases such as Chechnya and South Ossetia, which seek independence from Russia, Tibet from China and Kashmir from India.

The lesser-known Uighur separatists also want independence from China.

Spain wants Gibraltar back from the British but Gibraltarians reject any such deal. The Catalonians and the Basque separatist group ETA also want independence from Spain.

The Scottish Nationalist movement and the Plaid Cymru of Wales each desire secession from the United Kingdom.

Turkish, Iranian and Syrian Kurds seek recognition and independence.

The Islamic movement in Nigeria seeks to establish a separate Islamic government. The Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra wants independence from Nigeria.

Other disputes exist between France and Corsica and between the Tamil Tigers and Sri Lanka.

South America also has its share of separatist movements.

The Santa Cruz in Bolivia, the Mapuche in Argentina and Chile and the Zulia of Venezuela are just some examples.

In addition to separatist movements, there is a patchwork of border disputes around the globe, especially in the Middle East.

In Separatist Movements: Should Nations Have a Right to Self-Determination? Brian Beary writes, “Most of the new nations [in the 20th century] were created in the Post- WWII era, as the European powers shed their colonies in Africa and Asia.”

Much of the Middle East was drawn up by the colonial powers in an almost haphazard manner and this is one of the main causes behind many of today’s border disputes in the region.

Yemen and Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Northern Cyprus are two examples.

Iran has two ongoing border disputes with Bahrain and United Arab Emirates.

Iraq claims Kuwait’s Mubarak al-Kabeer port encroaches on its territorial waters.

In a paper titled “Separatist Wars, Partition, and World Order,” James D. Fearon of the Department of Political Science at Stanford University wrote, “prior to the Dayton agreement, there had been an ongoing debate among Kosovan Albanians about whether a violent insurgency or peaceful civil disobedience in the form of a ‘shadow government’ was the best course for attracting international support and redressing wrongs in Kosovo.

After Dayton, which the Kosovars reasonably interpreted as rewarding the violent Bosnian Serb leadership with virtual independence, the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) broke ranks and initiated a guerrilla campaign.”

Even if any of these aforementioned groups are not violent, does this mean their cause is any less legitimate? And what message does the United Nations Security Council send when it rewards those movements that are indeed violent? In discussing the right of Palestinian independence, it becomes important to review the member countries sitting on the Security Council.

It is almost humorous to witness the level of hypocrisy that exists as many of the members have separatist movements seeking independence from their own countries.

Besides India, France, China, Russia, the UK and Nigeria, Portugal has its Cabinda separatists and Bosnia- Herzgovenia’s Republika Srpska considers itself a separate entity.

Most if not all of the members of the Security Council have either separatist movements or border disputes with other countries.

Central and South America’s geographical distance from Israel does not remove them from the internal consequence that could result in their supporting a unilaterally declared Palestinian state.

Allowing the Palestinians to declare a state of their own through the Security Council will set a dangerous precedent that could result in more warfare and terrorism as separatist groups grow to believe their cause could only be furthered by violent means.

For this reason, Palestine needs to come into existence not unilaterally, but through negotiations with Israel

The Last Gospel Message to an Ungodly World

The Last Gospel Message to an Ungodly World

Missing Libya Missiles Find Their Way to Gaza Border


                                                      Story taken from
                                                    http://abcnews.go.com


           Some of the thousands of surface-to-air missiles that have gone missing since the collapse of the Gadhafi regime in Libya have now turned up just miles from the Israeli border.


U.S. officials say there were 20,000 Russian-made anti-aircraft missiles in Libya before the uprising, and thousands have disappeared in the looting of Moammar Gadhafi's arm caches. According to the Washington Post, many of those Russian-made anti-aircraft weapons are being sold in Egyptian black markets, and so many are available the price has dropped from $10,000 to $4,000.

Egyptian officials told the paper they have intercepted looted Libyan weapons, including anti-aircraft guns, missiles and artillery, on the road from Libya into Egypt, in black markets on the Sinai Peninsula, and in the smuggling tunnels between the Sinai and Gaza.

The heat-seeking surface-to-air missiles, most of them shoulder-fired, have a range of two miles and would pose a threat to Israeli helicopter and planes on either side of the Israel-Gaza border.

Though Libya had an estimated 20,000 man-portable surface-to-air missiles before the popular uprising began in February, Assistant Secretary of State Andrew Shapiro told ABC News in September the government does not have a clear picture of how many missiles they're trying to track down.

A spokesperson told ABC News that the State Department "commend[s] Egyptian authorities" for seizing the missiles and other arms.

"[W]e are seeking additional information from Egyptian authorities as their investigations continue," said Noel Clay. "Egypt is one of several nations in the region where we have held discussions about potential conventional weapons proliferation from Libya in recent months. It is clear that the Egyptian government shares our concerns about weapons smuggling."

"Preventing the proliferation of these weapons is of international concern," said Clay. "We are committed to working with the Libyan Transitional National Council (TNC), Libya's neighbors, and the wider international community to build a coordinated approach to this shared security challenge."

U.S. government officials and security experts have long been concerned some of the thousands of heat-seeking missiles, along with smaller arms, could easily end up in the hands of al Qaeda or other terror groups.

"Matching up a terrorist with a shoulder-fired missile, that's our worst nightmare," Sen. Barbara Boxer, D.-California, a member of the Senate's Commerce, Energy and Transportation Committee, said in September.

The missiles, four to six-feet long and Russian-made, can weigh just 55 pounds with launcher. They lock on to the heat generated by the engines of aircraft, can be fired from a vehicle or from a combatant's shoulder, and are accurate and deadly at a range of more than two miles.

ABC News visited a massive weapons depot in Tripoli, and confirmed that the arms were unguarded and available to whoever could cart them away. Crates upon crates of weapons and ammunition, from AK-47 assault rifles to grenades to surface-to-air missiles, were forced open and their contents missing.

Peter Bouckaert, emergencies director of Human Rights Watch, told ABC News that "once these missiles go missing they are not that large and they can be easily hidden. It's very difficult to track them down. They can be moved across borders and can be very easily used.''

"Those are not weapons you want floating around this already volatile region," said Bouckaert.



               

Preachers Gone Wild: Criminals In the Pulpit


                                                                      Story taken from
                                                                   http://blogs.christianpost.com





      Lately there have been plenty of news stories about religious leaders involved in crimes.


On October 5th members of First Sixth Baptist Church in Port Arthur, Texas, voted to remove their pastor after they learned he changed his name to escape his criminal past.

According to the Southeast Texas Record, church members distributed a petition to remove Rev. Donald Tousaint because "the congregation was unaware that Toussaint was charged with capital murder, kidnapping and armed robbery in 1982 for his role in the robbery of a convenience store, which ended in the deaths of two people."

Also last week Catholic priest Kevin McAuliffe pleaded guilty to embezzling $650,000 to fund his gambling habit. McAuliffe took money from multiple church accounts during an eight-year period and manipulated church financial records to hide his thefts.

This week the press is reporting more of the same. On October 11 three significant crime stories were reported involving two pastors and one ex-pastor.

CBS News reported that Joshua Drucker, a former youth pastor, was convicted of murdering two former friends in 2004.

The Tennessean reported that Pastor Rickey Reed of First Free Methodist Church was caught on camera breaking into one of his parishioners' homes to steal medications. Jean Harris told The Tennessean that after she confronted the pastor for breaking into her house, church members told her not to report Reed to the police.

This fraud is not just an American problem. Jamaican pastor Joan Brown was arrested for smuggling drugs. According to the Jamaica Observer, Brown was arrested while storing 113 ganja pellets in her stomach.

Fraud in the church has existed since the early days of the church. Apostle Paul wrote, "For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. And some people, craving money, have wandered from the true faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows." - 1 Timothy 6:10

In January a report in the International Bulletin of Missionary estimated that Christian religious leaders would embezzle $34 billion in 2011.

Tragically, that is more money than will be spent on world missions this year

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

A Special Time With Jesus Part Two



 My heart sings today because I find myself with the one who means more to me than life itself. I am as always still amazed that Jesus and I are spending this time together. We are still on the mountain of rest. Jesus and I continued walking down the mountain until we came to a place where a ledge or over hang rock formation jutted out from the mountain. Jesus immediately made his way over to this rocky enclave.


He said, “Son we shall spend time together for I have many things to say and share with you”.

He and I made our way to the back of this enclave where we proceeded to sit down. His face is at the moment reflecting the quiet strength and kindness that are just two of the marvelous traits that I have grown to love and appreciate so much. We are sitting side by side not two feet apart. I would estimate that we have come about halfway down this mountain. As I turned my gaze out and down all I can see from here is a cloud formation over the valley where we are going.

Jesus is the most loving, kind, and generous person I have ever known.

Even here at this time his heart and attention have been focused entirely on me. The last two days we have enjoyed just a marvelous time of friendship and bonding. He walks in the confidence and power of the divine, but he exudes an aura of total approachability and love. He is not only my Lord and master but also my best friend who I know from experience always puts my needs first.

We are sitting now side-by-side just enjoying each other’s company and the magnificent view that this ledge affords. I had noticed that there was firewood stacked at the back of this enclave about ten feet from us. Jesus looked at me with the glimmer of divine glory in his eyes and a look of complete relaxation and affability.

He said “Son, sit here and relax while I prepare us something to eat. With this he stood up and went over to the wood pile and gathered an armful of wood and in short order he had a campfire burning upon which he had kneaded some flour and was cooking some cakes for us.

I sat in silence and watched him work. He never ceases to amaze me. Although God almighty, he went about his task of preparing this simple meal much as I would have done it. It was almost that he was taking a special delight in preparing this meal in just such a fashion. He was in no hurry it was as if he had all the time in the world and the preparation of this meal had his entire attention. He has the entire universe and more to distract him, but when you are with Jesus it would seem that at that moment the only thing he is concerned about is you.

By and by his task completed he brought over the cakes and sat down beside me. Blessing it he tore a piece of the bread from one of the cakes and passed it to me. It was bread cooked over the fire but it had a wonderful sweet taste like honey to it.

Jesus looked at me and smiled, as I’m sure the look on my face showed just how much I liked the bread. “Son have you ever wondered what manna tasted like”? With this he gave a slight chuckle and his smile upon saying it bore an expression of amusement.

“Yes my son, this is that same bread that the children of Israel were provided all those years ago. Finishing our meal his face grew serious again.

“Michael, give no thought in the dark days that are coming of your daily provision”. He reached over and touched my arm as a point of emphasis as he continued. “Tell my people as this simple meal I have provided for you shall demonstrate. I still feed, clothe, and take care of my own. I have fed my people with manna before and I can do it again”.

He leaned back against the wall and resting his head on the back of the wall continued. “Tell my servants they shall find me when they seek me. I am the good Shepard and my heart is always to overshadow and protect my flock. I know my own and I will care for those my Father has given to me. I will soon in a new way fill the hearts and spirits of my people with that divine revelation reserved for this hour”.

As he spoke I sat mesmerized by both him and his words. I love to look at him anyway but never more intently than when he is teaching and leading me.

He turned and looked in my eyes. His eyes reflected the anointing, power and authority of God.

“Father gave me a divine commission all those hundreds of years ago. I came to earth to purchase by the eternal sacrifice of the cross the salvation of all those who would ever respond to my leading and guidance. Mankind for the first time since the beginning was infused with a divine link, and the power and glory of our life filled the hearts of believers, and the message spread far and wide. The message that God had by an eternal sacrifice opened the door for a holy union to be effected in every heart that would believe in me had come”.

My spirit began to shake under the power and authority of his words. It was hard not to fall prostrate before him there was such a glorious anointing pervading the atmosphere of this place. He was staring into my eyes and I did not in any way feel intimidated by him yet at this moment I am totally aware that I am looking into the eyes of the eternal God.

He said, “Son I am the resurrection and the life. I am the alpha and omega. I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It was my voice that spoke to Moses from the burning bush. It was by my hand and authority that I delivered my people from Egyptian slavery.

Mine was the voice and it was by my direction that the prophets of old were stirred. I have always in every generation and in every heart dedicated to me led, protected, and inspired those given to my charge by my Father.

I have all power in heaven and earth. It is by my word that nations rise and by my word that kingdoms fall. I have begun that eternal process under the charge I have received from my Father of liberation. Wickedness and evil shall be exposed in this day for what it is.

Yet to those hearts who turn to me in this day as in the days of old I will put my words in your mouths, and by my direction and guidance I shall demonstrate to the entire world that I am, that I am, even as I did to Egypt so long ago. Do not fear that which is about to come for I will cleanse my thrashing floor and the chaff of the wicked shall scatter to the winds. I am the light of the world, the sweet singer of Israel, the rod out of a dry ground, and the rock of salvation for the righteous and judgment and damnation for the wicked”.

His words thundered through my heart and I found myself overcome by his power and authority. I knew what John meant when he said that he fell at his feet as a dead man. My spirit is both rejoicing and also filled with a holy reverence and fear. I did not kneel but fell on my face before him. I who am but dust in the presence of the God of all the earth began to worship my Lord and my King.

Jesus reached down and touched me and I felt strength entering my body. He gently lifted me to my feet and put his arms around me. I could feel the love and acceptance for me radiating from him.

He said, “You have traveled far on this son’s journey and suffered in your body the afflictions of hell. This day I give you my strength and renew a fresh deliverance within you. You have been tried in the fire and continued to seek my face. Soon very soon, you shall be restored to perfect health but until that day walk day by day in my strength and life.

My servants Moses, Enoch, Abraham, Daniel, John, and Elijah have served me and you well in preparing you for this hour”.

Jesus put his arms on my shoulders and we are standing face-to-face inches apart. His eyes are aglow with love and understanding.

“My son what you must now see I and only I can show you. We are about to enter the valley of divine glory and understanding. There I myself shall continue the work those able and noble servants have begun.

There I shall unveil to you that universal holy vastness of our power and glory. There you shall find both a final deliverance for your bodies’ afflictions but also a new holy fire and understanding of who and what I am. There the quest that you have been on for your entire life shall find that which you have sought. You have been on this son’s journey not just for the past year but also for your entire life. There my son this son’s journey or eternal quest shall end in the holy revelation and fire of my power and understanding.

There my child I shall reveal to your heart the secrets of the ages in a divine revelation of my heart and purposes not only for you but for all those who long to know me in my glory”.

With this he sat back down and I sat down beside him. I am astounded by his words and my heart inspired by his favor.

Iran and the Cartels - Drug Routes Into US Are Opportunities For Terror


                                                                Story taken from
                                                             http://www.nationalreview.com



        Like Claude Rains in Casablanca, official Washington and its quasi-official media resonators were shocked, shocked, that Iran tried to hire the Mexican drug cartels for a hit on the Saudi ambassador to the United States, reportedly offering $1.5 million and even wiring a down-payment of $100,000.


Attorney General Eric Holder, facing subpoenas and nasty questions from Congress over his department’s dubious program of selling firearms to those same cartels, quickly credited the FBI with detecting the Iranian plot. But unnamed law enforcement officials told the Los Angeles Times that the news took them by surprise:

“Initially, our reaction was, ‘This doesn’t make sense. Prove to me this is really possible’” . . . [The Iranian military’s own] Quds Force, he added, was viewed as “the A Team,” and “the tradecraft here seemed inconsistent with the high standards that we have seen previously.”

In a series of statements, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton pronounced herself equally baffled while vowing — as usual — to hold Iran fully accountable.

But the truly shocking thing is that anyone was surprised, much less shocked. These are dots that could have been connected by anyone not blinded by inattention, agency agendas, or a worldview reflecting preferences rather than facts. The basics:

1. Whether Iran’s intentions resulted from central planners or rogue elements is irrelevant. Assassinating diplomats in any country is an act of war against the host country as well as the diplomats’ home country.

2. Iran’s actions here are consistent not only with its sorry record of contravening human rights and international law, but also with its well-documented use of covert forces. The regime has constantly used such methods to extend its influence and to strike directly at lesser rivals as well as the greater Satans.

3. The Mexican drug cartels are the only group that may be more professional and lethal than the Quds Force. The cartels preside over a logistical empire extending from just south of my San Antonio home to nationwide outlets as close as your neighborhood 7-11. If you seek to do serious harm to the United States, they’re an excellent choice thanks to the scope and reach of their networks, just as Hertz and Avis make a good choice for car rentals.

In the media’s sensational coverage of this story, you may have noticed a strange connection with Texas. The expatriate Iranian national at the center of plot has ties from Corpus Christi to the Austin suburbs, where large Iranian-immigrant populations now enjoy lifestyles unimaginable under the ayatollahs. But demographic changes affect lots of other things and, several years ago, I noticed some interesting connections.

In Afghanistan, we see the closest but oddest of couplings — Taliban religious extremists providing security and protection for opium producers. Could something similar be occurring here? Despite the studied indifference of the media establishment, the Rio Grande is the front line in a deadly shooting war, with Texas Rangers and local law-enforcement authorities daily engaging the cartels.

Known cartel capabilities include drug tunnels, ultra-light aircraft and, recently, even a medieval trebuchet. Automatic weapons, high-tech radios, and GPS systems are just some of the others.

That system’s main purpose is to provide security for the $14–30 billion in drugs that, according to a National Drug Intelligence Center estimate, the cartels move north to over 200 U.S. cities each year. But the growing military sophistication of cartels such as Los Zetas — they recruit from elite Mexican military units — has already attracted admiration elsewhere.

In June 2009, U.S. counterterrorism officials authenticated an al-Qaeda recruiting video boasting that the drug tunnels were the best way to smuggle biological weapons: “Four pounds of anthrax in a suitcase . . . carried by a fighter through tunnels from Mexico into the U.S. are guaranteed to kill 330,000 Americans within a single hour . . . if properly spread in population centers.”

Recruiting videos are notorious for exaggerated claims. But as I documented using open-source intelligence in the January 2010 issue of the national-security journal Orbis, well-established drug routes could in fact easily transport weapons of terror. As I further noted, “the growing presence of the cartels . . . provides the [terror] networks with manpower, financial and intelligence resources dwarfing the capabilities of most local law enforcement agencies.”

There was no official response from the U.S. intelligence community, which tends to disdain open-source intelligence. But the preferred worldview of that community fully reflects administration priorities. President Obama downplayed border concerns during a May speech in El Paso.

The traveling White House media kluge never mentioned the irony that his speech was delivered within earshot of the building where law-enforcement raiders uncovered an arsenal of cartel weaponry, including machine guns, grenades, and thousands of rounds of ammunition.

So what does open-source intelligence have to say about those shifting demographics, in and around our borders? Quite a lot, actually. There is a growing population of Middle Eastern immigrants in key regions throughout Latin America, including Brazil, Panama, and Peru, as well as Iranian proxies in Hugo Chávez’s Venezuela.

In April 2009, Adm. James Stavridis, then commander of our southern forces, warned that the terrorist group Hezbollah was involved in regional drug trafficking. In 2010, another DOD report warned that the Quds group was active in Latin America, possibly reflecting earlier Iranian statements that “our presence in Latin America was a very wise move.”

But what may concern you most of all was the discovery in January 2011of one of those subtle indicators (possibly even a definitive signature) that real intelligence officers live for: an Iranian suicide manual discarded in the Arizona desert near a regular route used for drug smuggling.

Now if you like connecting the dots, why would you be shocked by Iranian assassination plots involving Mexican cartels? Why would you even be surprised?

The Importance of the Prophetic in This Season - Rick Joyner Video | Prophetic Perspective on Current Events

The Importance of the Prophetic in This Season - Rick Joyner Video Prophetic Perspective on Current Events

The Changing Battlefield: Weapons developed to destroy electronics, not people


Story taken from
http://www.economist.com



      Bullets and bombs are so 20th-century. The wars of the 21st will be dominated by ray guns. That, at least, is the vision of a band of military technologists who are building weapons that work by zapping the enemy’s electronics, rather than blowing him to bits.


The result could be conflict that is less bloody, yet more effective, than what is now seen as conventional battle.

Electromagnetic weapons, to give these ray guns their proper name, are inspired by the cold-war idea of using the radio-frequency energy released by an atom bomb exploded high in the atmosphere to burn out an enemy’s electrical grid, telephone network and possibly even the wiring of his motor vehicles, by inducing a sudden surge of electricity in the cables that run these things.

That idea, fortunately, was never tried in earnest (though some tests were carried out). But, by thinking smaller, military planners have developed weapons that use a similar principle, without the need for a nuclear explosion. Instead, they create their electromagnetic pulses with magnetrons, the microwave generators at the hearts of radar sets (and also of microwave ovens).

The result is kit that can take down enemy missiles and aircraft, stop tanks in their tracks and bring speedboats to a halt. It can also scare away soldiers without actually killing them.

Many electromagnetic weapons do, indeed, look like radars, at least to non-expert eyes. America’s air force is developing a range of them based on a type of radar called an active electronically scanned array (AESA). When acting as a normal radar, an AESA broadcasts its microwaves over a wide area.

At the touch of a button, however, all of its energy can be focused onto a single point. If that point coincides with an incoming missile or aircraft, the target’s electronics will be zapped.

Small AESAs—those light enough to fit on a plane such as a joint strike fighter (F-35)—are probably restricted to zapping air-to-air and surface-to-air missiles (the air force is understandably reticent about supplying details of their capabilities).

Ground- or ship-based kit can draw more power. This will be able to attack both ballistic missiles and aircraft, whose electronics tend to be better shielded.

In the case of the F-35, then, this sort of electromagnetic artillery is mainly defensive. But another plane, the Boeing Growler, uses electromagnetics as offensive weapons.

The Growler, which first saw action in Iraq in 2010 and has been extensively (though discreetly) deployed during the NATO air war against Colonel Qaddafi’s forces in Libya, is a souped-up version of the Super Hornet. It is fitted with five pods: two under each wing and one under the fuselage. Some pods contain AESAs or similar electromagnetic weapons. Others have eavesdropping equipment inside them.

In combination, the pods can be used either to spy on enemy communications or to destroy them; to suppress anti-aircraft fire; to disable the electronics of ground vehicles; and to make life so hazardous for enemy aircraft that they dare not fly (and probably to shoot them down electronically, too, though no one will confirm this).

The Growler is able to keep its weapons charged up and humming by lowering special turbines into the airstream that rushes past the plane when it is flying. America has ordered 114 of the planes, and has taken delivery of 53.

By land, sea and air

Nor are aircraft the only vehicles from which destructive electromagnetic pulses can be launched. BAE Systems, a British defence firm, is building a ship-mounted electromagnetic gun. The High-Powered Microwave, as it is called, is reported by Aviation Week to be powerful enough to disable all of the motors in a swarm of up to 30 speedboats.

Ships fitted with such devices would never be subject to the sort of attack that damaged USS Cole in 2000, when an al-Qaeda boat loaded with explosives rammed it. A gun like this would also be useful for stopping pirate attacks against commercial shipping.

Land vehicles, too, will soon be fitted with electromagnetic cannon. In 2013 America hopes to deploy the Radio-Frequency Vehicle Stopper. This device, developed at the Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Directorate in Quantico, Virginia, is a microwave transmitter the size and shape of a small satellite dish that pivots on top of an armoured car. When aimed at another vehicle, it causes that vehicle’s engine to stall.

This gentle way of handling the enemy—stopping his speedboats, stalling his tanks—has surprising advantages. For example, it expands the range of targets that can be attacked. Some favourite tricks of modern warfare, such as building communications centres in hospitals, or protecting sites with civilian “human shields”, cease to be effective if it is simply the electronics of the equipment being attacked that are destroyed.

Though disabling an aircraft’s avionics will obviously cause it to crash, in many other cases, no direct harm is done to people at all.

The logical conclusion of all this is a so-called “human-safe” missile, which carries an electromagnetic gun instead of an explosive warhead. Such a missile is being developed at Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico, and will soon be tested at the White Sands Missile Range.

There is, however, at least one electromagnetic weapon that is designed to attack enemy soldiers directly—though with the intention of driving them off, rather than killing them. This weapon, which is called the Active Denial System, has been developed by the Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Directorate, in collaboration with Raytheon.

It works by heating the moisture in a person’s skin to the point where it feels, according to Kelley Hughes, an official at the directorate who volunteered to act as a guinea pig, like opening a hot oven. People’s reaction, when hit by the beam, is usually to flee. The beam’s range is several hundred metres.

Such anti-personnel weapons are controversial. Tests on monkeys, including ones in which the animals’ eyes were held open to check that the beam does not blind, suggest it causes no permanent damage. But when a vehicle-mounted Active Denial System was sent to Afghanistan in May 2010, it was eventually shipped back home without being used.

The defence department will not say exactly why. The suspicion, though, is that weapons like the Active Denial System really are reminiscent in many minds of the ray guns of science fiction, and that using them in combat would be a PR mistake. Disabling communications and destroying missiles is one thing. Using heat-rays on the enemy might look bad in the newspapers, and put civilians off their breakfast.

Cold showers are good for you

To every action there is, of course, an equal and opposite reaction, and researchers are just as busy designing ways of foiling electromagnetic weapons as they are developing them. Most such foils are types of Faraday cage—named after the 19th-century investigator who did much of the fundamental research on electromagnetism.

A Faraday cage is a shield of conductive material that stops electromagnetic radiation penetrating. Such shields need not be heavy. Nickel- and copper-coated polyester mesh is a good starting point. Metallised textiles—chemically treated for greater conductivity—are also used. But Faraday cages can be costly. EMP-tronic, a firm based in Morarp, Sweden, has developed such shielding, initially for the Gripen, a Swedish fighter jet.

It will shield buildings too, though, for a suitable consideration. To cover one a mere 20 metres square with a copper-mesh Faraday cage the firm charges €300,000 ($400,000).

Shielding buildings may soon become less expensive than that. At least two groups of scientists—one at the National Research Council Canada and the other at Global Contour, a firm in Texas—are developing electrically conductive cement that will block electromagnetic pulses. Global Contour’s mixture, which includes fibres of steel and carbon, as well as a special ingredient that the firm will not disclose, would add only $20 to the $150 per cubic metre, or thereabouts, which ordinary concrete costs.

The arms race to protect small vehicles and buildings against electromagnetic warfare, then, has already begun. Protecting ships, however, requires lateral thinking. For obvious reasons, they cannot be encased in concrete. And building a conventional Faraday cage round a naval vessel would be horribly expensive.

Daniel Tam, of the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command in San Diego, thinks he has a way to get round that. He proposes to use the electrical conductivity of the sodium and chloride ions in seawater to create a novel type of Faraday cage. A shroud of seawater around a ship, thrown up by special pumps and hoses if the vessel came under electromagnetic attack, would do the trick, he reckons.

It is an ambitious idea. Whether it works or not, it shows how much the nature of modern belligerency is changing. Bombs and bullets will always have their place, of course. But the thought that a cold shower could protect a ship from attack is almost surreal.

Humanists, atheists drive for wider global impact

                                                                       Story taken from
                                                                    http://af.reuters.com



              When Switzerland goes to the polls to elect a new parliament later this month, voters in Zurich will for the first time in the country's history have the chance to cast their ballot for a slate of Freethinkers.


"We decided we had to stand up and tell our politicians that it's time they recognised that there are a lot of non-religious people in their electorate," says 42-year-old Andreas Kyriacou, who heads the list.

"We, and probably a lot of Swiss people who have never thought about humanism or atheism, are tired of the influence the churches and religion still exert in this country," he said in an interview with Reuters.

Kyriacou, a management consultant, was speaking at a "Denkfest", or "Think Festival," that the Swiss Freethinkers Association held in Zurich last month, attracting scientists, philosophers and even comedians from around the world.

The Swiss Freethinkers -- a term that covers atheists, agnostics, secularists, rationalists, sceptics and just plain critics of religion -- argue that the country's political parties and leaders run scared of religious voters.

"There is a group for Bible study in our parliament, but no cross-party humanist group, though we know many of the deputies are non-believers," he says. "On right and left, they prefer to keep their heads down."

And Kyriacou points to the failure of politicians to take a stand on social issues like assisted suicide and abortion, where the Catholic church in particular has strong views, and on the powerful place of religion in education in parts of the country.

His stance -- as measured by comments at other conferences around Europe over the summer -- reflects growing determination among humanists and atheists on all five continents to make themselves more visible and their influence felt.

MOUNTING INTEREST

At the World Humanist Congress in Oslo in August, delegates from India, Uganda, Nigeria, Argentina and Brazil -- all countries where belief in a supreme deity or deities has a strong hold -- reported mounting interest in their philosophy.

Like their counterparts in Europe and North America, they argue that morality is based in human nature and does not need a father-figure god to back it up with punishment in an afterlife, in which they do not believe.

"There are more godless groups in the world than ever before," Sonja Eggerickx, a Belgian schools inspector who is president of the International Humanist and Ethical Union, told the Congress.

U.S. delegates, including a serving army major who has just established an organisation for atheists in the military, spoke of a surge of rejection of religion in all its forms among young Americans -- a point some recent opinion surveys back up.

In Manchester in May, British Humanists -- one of the world's oldest groupings -- were told of a sharp rise in humanist birth, marriage and death ceremonies, and strong growth in their association's four-year-old student wing.

In Ireland, a country where the influence of the Catholic Church was for decades dominant in all areas of life including politics and government decision-making, an optimistic national humanist association met in Carlingford in late August.

With the latest census showing that atheists, agnostics and humanists are the largest group in the country after Catholics, association president Brian Whiteside said numbers were growing fast in the wake of the "pedophile priests" scandal.

In Nigeria, where the openly non-religious face Christian preacher-inspired public opprobrium as "immoral reprobates" or "Satanists" and in the Islamic north are treated as apostates, the humanist movement held its Congress in Abuja in September.

REASON AND ENLIGHTENMENT

Its founder and chairman Leo Igwe, once a seminarist who set up the group 15 years ago and has helped form groups in Uganda and Malawi , called on delegates to work for "a new age of Reason and Enlightenment" across Africa.

He has been campaigning hard against the persecution and often killing of so-called "child witches" -- children perceived, often with the encouragement of Christian preachers, to be possessed by the devil.

African humanists are also vocal -- often, like Igwe, to their personal cost -- in defence of gays and lesbians who are denounced as criminals by governments and religious leaders and demonised in the popular media.

In India, where humanists and rationalists fight the influence of popularly revered "miracle-working" gurus as well as Hindu and Muslim fundamentalism, an Atheist University was founded last month in the south-east city of Vijayawada.

And in Israel this month, secularists who say they suffer from religious coercion despite a conviction that they represent a majority of the population, won a court ruling that they cannot be forced to list Judaism as their religion.

In Muslim countries where renunciation of belief can be punished by death but always ends in social ostracism and persecution, the existence of an organisation of atheists is almost unthinkable, says Roy Brown of the IHEU.

But in Europe, an association of ex-Muslims is growing, with national chapters in several countries. Some British Asians who have abandoned the faith were in Oslo, and found themselves arguing with Islamists who came to picket the gathering.

Back in Zurich two weeks before the elections, Kyriacou says there has been a good response to the campaign he and his youthful colleagues have fought. "It is young people who are mainly interested, and that is good for the future," he adds.

"We don't think for a minute we will overcome the party machines. But there is an outside chance, if the mathematics are right, that one of us will get elected. That would be a victory indeed for humanists everywhere."

Monday, October 17, 2011

A Special Time With Jesus Part One


The time has come to move on. I have spent the last two days on the mountain of rest.
In both body spirit I am refreshed and strengthened.


I took a last look around this wonderful arbor and then with a renewed sense of purpose and determination I began to descend down the slope of this mountain. In my mind I keep reflecting on the words of the angel who told me in this valley I would receive fresh revelation and inspiration. I have a new determination to walk with my Lord. The distractions of day-to-day living are having less and less of a hold on me.

I hunger for his wisdom and long to walk in his presence. Something has happened to me since I entered the valley of restoration and glory. I know that Father has a purpose for my life and I feel driven to put everything I have into reaching out to him and walking with him in his glory. I have been walking for quite sometime down the mountain alone with my thoughts and newly inspired convictions. With each step I take a holy fire, an internal blaze of glory if you will just keeps burning hotter and hotter within my spirit.

In the distance I see a solitary figure. When I saw him my spirit leaped for joy! He is still a little distance from me but he has never looked more glorious and beautiful to me than now. I am close enough now to see the smile on his face and I fell on my face and with tears running down my cheeks began to worship him. I reached out and took his feet in my hands,

those beautiful nail scared feet. I have loved him, and longed for him all of my life. Never has my desire to be with him been greater than today.

I said, “Oh my Lord my heart is aflame with a hunger for you. I can never again be satisfied with just a day-to-day existence. I pray my Lord that I may be accounted worthy to be with you always and to never leave your side”. I pulled myself up to me knees and looking into his face lifted my hands to him. The tears began to flow down my cheeks as I wept before him.

As I wept and opened my heart to him he said nothing. His eyes were ablaze with compassion and understanding.

“My Lord I dedicate myself and consecrate myself to you. Holy one I hunger to walk with you in your glory. I understand how Moses could cry out Lord show me your glory. Please take me my Lord. I have given you so many reasons to abandon me. I am a vessel wholly unworthy of you and my life has been a mosaic of half hearted dedication. Forgive me Lord for the failures of the past and I beg of you make me a vessel through whom others will see you. I long to share with the hurting your compassion.

My spirit grieves for the sheep Lord who in this final desperate hour need answers as never before. My Lord I can never convey to them the wonder of all that you are, but please I pray make of me a vessel through which you shall work your eternal purposes. I lay down my life this day, not for me my Lord, but rather for all the wounded, hurting, desperate souls in need of you my master.

Lord the sheep, the flock; they will always mean more to me than myself. In this final hour of human history my master please anoint your servant with a fresh new anointing. I give myself to you my master for your eternal purposes and service. I do this for the sheep of your kingdom my Lord.

I care not for myself. I am not concerned with any temporal or eternal rewards. I do not desire your power or blessing to build an earthly name or ministry for myself. Rather Holy one anoint your servant with your kingdom power and authority that I may be a vessel through whom the light of your heart and glory shall flow. My Lord let me be a light that leads them to you, and let me be a vessel that will show the way to others to this place”.

I fell on my face before him. My heart was to overcome with emotion to continue. I prostrated myself on the ground before him and my heart was overcome by both my love for him as well as the burden that I see for all the lost hurting ones in our world that so desperately need his touch. My spirit because I am here with him is flooded with such an inner awareness of just how wonderful and special he is. Yet millions around the world today need him and need a fresh revelation of him that comes straight from here. I am nothing but dust, and so unworthy to be with him here.

Yet I hunger to share the message of my Lord and master and who he really is with the hurting of the world. I have been privileged over my life to have spent more hours than I can count with him here. I know him and that knowledge does not come from some theology text but from personally spending time with him. I know the gentleness of his heart, because he has been so loving and kind to me.

I am living proof of his great love because I have been so many times the unworthy recipient of that love. I long for just one thing give me an anointing that will allow me to share with the world the Jesus I have grown to know and love. It is not his great power and authority that fills my heart with love and devotion but rather the person that he is that fills my heart with an eternal zeal to share with others.

All of this and more was running through my mind as I lay on the ground before him. He reached out his hand and gently ran his fingers through my hair. My spirit began to quiver and shake before him. No one moves my heart like him. I began to weep and cry with an even greater intensity than before. I love him so much. My spirit is alive with love and affection and my heart yearns to share with the world this Jesus who by a single touch can change some ones entire world.

He said, “My beloved son, I share with you this day my heart and desire.

You have never left my side even in your darkest days because even when you were not aware of my presence I have always been there. I will never leave you and for all eternity you shall forever be by my side. I have many things to share with you for your hour is almost upon you. Yet in this moment at this time I would share with you my heart. I do this not for an anointing for service but rather just for you. All I have done in all the years we have walked together my child has been because of the love that I have for you.

I give you also my heart and I do this just because you are you. Share with the hurting ones this fresh revelation of who I am. Show the ones to whom I shall send you my love and compassion. There shall be time for ministry but for now my son I share with you my heart and love for you”.

With this he ceased speaking and he began to glow with the inner glory of God. He is reaching out to my spirit and I feel an intense link spirit to Spirit with him. No words are being said between us and none were needed. I am lost in a divine connection with my Lord and my God.

Nothing else at this time matters to me. He has my whole heart and I think I can say that now possibly for the first time. The glory and power of my connection to him is growing stronger and stronger. As it grows I am being flooded with love. It is a love so pure and simple. We are sharing our hearts one with another. His love for me is even more intense than mine for him. He loves me! He loves me as I am! He longs for my heart as much as I do for his! To him be the glory.





Iranian Radicals Look For A Limited Armed Clash With the US


                                                Story taken from
                                               http://www.debka.com


     The motivation for the foiled Iranian-instigated plot to murder the Saudi ambassador to Washington at his favorite eatery, Café Milano in Georgetown, is revealed by debkafile's Iranian sources as a bid by a super-radical faction at the top of the Iranian regime to draw the United States into a limited military clash.


Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei approved the plot when his son and heir Mojtaba, 42, and the Al Qods Brigades commander Gen. Qassem Soleimanipresented him with their "grand plan."

US President Barack Obama said Thursday, Oct. 13 that a person charged with plotting to assassinate Saudi Arabia’s US ambassador “had direct links, was paid by” and “directed by individuals in the Iranian government. He also said he would not take any options off the table in dealing with Tehran.

The American UN ambassador Susan Rice later met with her Iranian counterpart about the plot. The contents of their conversation were not revealed.

debkafile's Iranian sources disclose how the "grand plan" was intended to unfold.

The first stage was kicked off last week with the flare-up of new Shiite-led riots in Bahrain which Iranian agents helped to expand into the neighboring Qatif oil region of eastern Saudi Arabia.

This week, Revolutionary Guards and Al Qods experts in mayhem organized pilgrims heading for the Umrah, the little pilgrimage, in Mecca starting on Nov. 4, as agents provocateur for stirring up riots among the massed pilgrims. The first batch of 20,000 Iranian pilgrims is already in the shrine cities of Mecca and Medina.

Ambassador Adel Al-Jubeir's assassination was planned to coincide with riots in the holy cities and disturbances in the oil regions and so cause a breakdown in national security and shake the throne to its foundations.

The Americans would then come running to save the kingdom, Mojtaba (picture on the left) and Soleimani figured, and head straight into a limited armed clash with Iran. This is what the pair was aiming for to further the following objectives:

1. To head off the spread of unrest in Syria into the Iranian Republic. The downtrodden ethnic and religious minorities which make up 60 percent of the population would not venture to rise up against the minority Persian rulers at a time of war for fear of being punished as traitors.

2. To push the controversial Iranian nuclear program down to the bottom of the international agenda and stop in its tracks the US-led campaign to halt its development.

3. To win international Muslim acclaim for diverting the military focus of the West away from Syria and saving President Bashar Assad's regime.

4. By sacrificing a few of Iran's warships and planes in a limited clash, Tehran would win support from Russia and China, which are both strongly opposed to Western military intervention in Syria or any other part of the Middle East.

5. They would produce a Tehran-led anti-American Muslim military line-up to stand up against the pro-American Sunni Muslim military bloc sponsored by the West, which Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan is assembling.

debkafile's intelligence sources say there is nothing paradoxical about the super-efficient professional Al-Qods Brigades enlisting a Mexican drug cartel for a hit squad to assassinate Ambassador al-Jubeir. For at least 20 years, Iran's Lebanese proxy Hizballah has kept itself in funds by drug trafficking, gunrunning and fencing stolen goods and today controls entire networks in Latin America and Africa.

This fact is well known, fully recorded and easily available to anyone interested.

The most competent clandestine organizations often use inept losers like the Iranian-born New York American Mansour Arbabsiar for "dirty operations." They tend to be a far cry from the high-IQ superspies of film and fiction. In this case, he may have been the best foot soldier available.

Al Qods maintains small sleeper cells among the 900,000 Iranian expatriates living in the United States, more than half of them in California and Texas. But its active agents are by and large of the same substandard caliber as Arbabsiar.

There is another possibility: His Al Qods controllers expected the plot to be foiled. They knew Arbabsiar was under FBI surveillance after an unsuccessful attempt to enter the drug market, and watched him walk into a trap when he tried to hire a DEA agent posing as a member of the Mexican drug cartel.

Had the assassination taken place, it would have been treated as an act of war by the United States, Saudi Arabia and Israel. (The Saudi and Israeli embassies were to be bombed at the same time in Buenos Aires.)

Mojtaba and Soleimani did not intend to go that far or provoke a full-blown war. A foiled plot was to be the cue for a limited armed confrontation which was all their "grand plan" required – and that result appears to be building up.

When Healing Comes From A Broken Place

When Healing Comes From A Broken Place

PA Plan: Use UN to Cement Claims to Jewish Holy Sites


                                                          Story taken from
                                                       http://www.israelnationalnews.com


            The Palestinian Authority plans to use membership in the United Nations’ UNESCO cultural committee to lay claims to Jewish holy sites, PA ministers said Monday, speaking to Reuters.


PA Minister of Culture Hamdan Taha said the PA would seek World Heritage status for several sites, beginning with Bethlehem. The PA has already had some success in claiming Bethlehem sites for the Arab world – in 2010, UNESCO agreed to declare the Tomb of Rachel a mosque and “an integral part of the occupied Palestinian territories.”

UNESCO also agreed to criticize Israel for declaring the Tomb of the Patriarchs (Me'arat Hamachpelah), in which most of the Jewish patriarchs and matriarchs are buried, an Israeli heritage site. The organization responded to Israeli protests by erasing them from the record; Israel responded by cutting ties with UNESCO.

The PA will seek UNESCO recognition for its claims in Hevron as well, Taha said. It will also seek recognition for Shechem, the Shomron (Samaria) city that is home to Joseph’s Tomb.

“We think that every old city has the right to prepare a nomination file” for heritage site status, Taha said.

Another site the PA hopes to earn heritage status for is the Dead Sea, he stated.

The PA bid to seek full UNESCO membership has led to conflict as the U.S. warns that by accepting the PA, UNESCO will be putting its U.S. funding at risk. U.S. Secretary of State termed UNESCO’s decision to vote on PA membership “inexplicable,” and said the group should leave voting to the United Nations.



               

South Carolina Episcopal Diocese Sees Crisis Over Gay Rights


                                                                   Story taken from
                                                                http://www.reuters.com


          The national Episcopal Church's acceptance of homosexuality has plunged it into "crisis," the South Carolina Episcopal diocese said on Wednesday, and the conservative diocese suggested that it could break from the national church.


"The question is not whether we can stay. It is whether they will let us stay and follow what we believe," the Rev. Jeffrey Miller of the South Carolina diocese said in the statement.

The statement followed the national church formally charging South Carolina Bishop Right Reverend Mark J. Lawrence recently with "abandonment" of the church's doctrine, discipline and worship.

Lawrence and many in the South Carolina diocese disagree with the tolerance of the national denomination for gays in the church.

The South Carolina bishop accused the national church of preaching a "false gospel of indiscriminate inclusivity ... that has suffocated the mission of the Church," according to the charges leveled against Lawrence.

About 100 clergy members met Tuesday in Charleston to respond to the charges. The South Carolina diocese is one of the conservative Episcopal groups distancing themselves or leaving the national church over the issue of allowing homosexual ministers, and other disagreements.

The Episcopal church is not the only Protestant denomination struggling with the issue of gays in the church. The Presbyterian Church ordained its first openly gay minister last week in Wisconsin, and an openly gay Methodist minister in the same state was sanctioned earlier this year for performing a same sex marriage.

The South Carolina clergy believe the national church is on a "fast track" to depose their bishop, according to the statement.

In 2003, the Episcopal Church ordained an openly gay man as bishop in New Hampshire. Conservative churches around the country distanced themselves from the national denomination.

Two churches in South Carolina left the national denomination and joined Anglican organizations.

Lynn Pagliaro, 70, a member of Grace Episcopal Church in Charleston, a city that is home to several historic Episcopal churches, said the differences go beyond homosexuality.

He said many parishioners believe the national church has gone too far in its openness.

"In the last eight years or so, those Episcopalians who feel very strongly on the evangelical side have coalesced on the homosexuality issue," he said. "They've really worked themselves to the point that they can define what they disagree with and can't coexist with."

Friday, October 14, 2011

The Arbor of Rest



    I sense an urgency in the spirit today. The Lord of hosts is about to shake the world with his glory. I also feel personally that his purpose for me as well as my deliverance from sickness in my body is at hand. As of yet all I have is what I call a spiritual knowing. Seers not only are shown visions and revelations but we can also discern the subtlest shift in the spirit. I know something big is in the offing. I just haven’t been shown yet what it is.


I know that I have walked through the valley of glory and restoration. I had an angel pour on me an anointing balm that has had a profound effect on my body. I actually felt I was close to death last week. Yet I knew that because this was so, my day of deliverance was at hand. I feel I have been strengthened and pulled back from the edge. The first steps in my final healing have begun. I have not bombarded heaven with requests for healing but rather I have an unshakeable confidence in the promises that the Lord Jesus has made to me on this son’s journey.

In our face-to-face encounters he has told me how moved he is by all I have suffered for him and Father. He has also said that the evil one has desired to kill me because of his hatred of all who love Father as I do. He will not be allowed to stop Father’s plan for my life. Finally he told me that in the ministry I am being prepared for that young men would not be able to keep up with me.

All these things and more are going through my mind today, I am at present lying on my cot in the cave of the arbor of rest. On one hand I feel an urgency to proceed on my journey. The angel who anointed me upon my arrival here said in the next valley I would receive revelation and inspiration.

So even though the hour is late and I am feeling the tug to move on, I can hear the voice of wisdom saying I need to stay here for a while. My spirit needs to rest and my body though greatly strengthened needs rest as well.

I know that no matter what sickness or weakness that I am feeling in my flesh at the moment, I am confident in the promises of my Lord and he has in mind the moment of my final deliverance. So many things have changed for me in this past year. For example I have an entirely different understanding of the Holy Spirit than what I had before. I have seen him move in demonstration and power through his ministry as the seven Spirits of God. I have had both wisdom and revelation speak to me personally on Father’s mountain. I say this to say that because of this experience when the Spirit of God speaks to me I hear his voice but I can also discern the voices of wisdom and revelation in the Spirit as he speaks to me. It is the voice of revelation that is pulling at my heart and showing me that something life changing in my life is about to occur in this next valley.

However wisdom is also speaking and saying that although this is so I need for the present to remain here for a while. The peace and serenity of this arbor of peace is just what I need at the present time. The fruit on these trees are having an effect on me spirit, soul, and most importantly in my body. My body is very weary and run down at the moment. The pain I was dealing with last week has subsided but I still have no strength or energy what so ever.

This whole journey in the valley of glory and restoration and here on the mountain of rest has been primarily about me. It has been a time to renew my strength for the battles, which lie ahead. So here I shall stay secure in his guidance and direction for my life. He knows the plans he has for me and that next valley will just have to wait a little while.

Syria Threatens to Set Middle East on Fire


                                                                   Story taken from
                                                              http://www.bibleprophecyblog.com



     Syrian President Bashar Assad today reportedly warned he will set the Middle East on fire if NATO forces attack his country.


"If a crazy measure is taken against Damascus, I will need not more than six hours to transfer hundreds of rockets and missiles to the Golan Heights to fire them at Tel Aviv," Assad reportedly said, according to Iran's state-run Fars news agency.

Assad made the comments in a meeting today with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmad Davutoglu, reported Fars.

Fars reported Davutoglu conveyed a warning from NATO and the U.S. that Syria could face an international military campaign if Assad does not halt his violent crackdown on an insurgency targeting the Syrian president's regime.

Assad also reiterated that Damascus will call on Hezbollah in Lebanon to launch an intensive rocket and missile attack on Israel, reported Fars.

"All these events will happen in three hours, but in the second three hours, Iran will attack the U.S. warships in the Persian Gulf and the U.S., and European interests will be targeted simultaneously," Assad was quoted as saying.

While Assad's remarks could not be immediately verified, Iran, which runs Fars, is a close partner of the Damascus government.

In August, WND was first to report that Assad is taking military measures to prepare for a possible U.S.-NATO campaign against his regime.

Informed Egyptian security officials told WND Assad instructed the Syrian military to be prepared for an air or ground campaign if the international community determines his pledges of reform are not enough.

Also in August, WND was first to report that Turkey secretly passed a message to Damascus that if it does not implement major democratic reforms, NATO may attack Assad's regime, according to Egyptian security officials.

The Egyptian security officials said the message was coordinated with NATO members, specifically with the U.S. and European Union.

The Egyptian officials said Turkish leaders, speaking for NATO, told Assad that he has until March to implement democratization that would allow free elections as well as major constitutional reforms.

Last month, Obama officially asked Assad to step down to pave the way for a democratic system in Syria.

According to informed Middle Eastern security officials speaking to WND, Assad asked his military to make specific preparations in the event of a U.S.-led NATO campaign similar to the military coalition now targeting Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.

May the Lord Give You a Full Reward

May the Lord Give You a Full Reward

China Cyber Attacks Threaten U.S. Security


                                                            Story taken from
                                                         http://www.latimes.com/



             China’s “predatory” campaign of intellectual property theft through cyber attacks against the United States and other Western nations has reached “an intolerable level” that is harming U.S. national security, the chairman of the House intelligence committee said Tuesday.


In the most explicit public criticisms of Chinese cyber spying by a senior American official, Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) said the U.S. and its allies must confront Beijing, which he said is waging “a massive trade war against all of us,” resulting in a slow and destructive transfer of military and technological secrets from the West to China.

Although major cyber intrusions have been attributed by outside experts to China, “that’s just the tip of the iceberg,” Rogers said. “There are more companies that have been hit that won’t talk about it to the press for fear of provoking further Chinese attacks.”

Rep Dutch Ruppersberger of Maryland, ranking Democrat on the committee, said cyber spies have stolen “critical defense files,” including details about U.S. fighter jets, missile systems and unmanned drones,” although he didn’t attribute those incidents to China.

Rogers' comments at a committee hearing on cyber security come at a time when General Electric is facing questions about its decision to transfer technology and production to China in a joint venture with China’s state-owned avionics company.

The U.S. is the world’s leader in avionics, the “brains” of aircraft, and despite GE’s insistence that it will wall off technological secrets at its Chinese facility, some critics question whether that would be possible.

“Historical experience strongly suggests that leakage of technology in these kinds of circumstances is virtually impossible to prevent,” wrote Clyde Prestowitz, a former Reagan administration trade official, on foreignpolicy.com.

GE’s chief executive, Jeffrey Immelt, is chairman of the President's Commission on Jobs and Competitiveness.

Former CIA and National Security Agency director Michael Hayden, meanwhile, testified that the public doesn’t understand the threat from cyber espionage in part because “this information is horribly overclassified inside the government.”

World Facing Worst Financial Crisis In History


                                                       Story taken from
                                                    http://www.telegraph.co.uk



        The world is facing the worst financial crisis since at least the 1930s “if not ever”, the Governor of the Bank of England said last night.


Sir Mervyn King was speaking after the decision by the Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee to put £75billion of newly created money into the economy in a desperate effort to stave off a new credit crisis and a UK recession.

Economists said the Bank’s decision to resume its quantitative easing [QE], or asset purchase programme, showed it was increasingly fearful for the economy, and predicted more such moves ahead.

Sir Mervyn said the Bank had been driven by growing signs of a global economic disaster.

“This is the most serious financial crisis we’ve seen, at least since the 1930s, if not ever. We’re having to deal with very unusual circumstances, but to act calmly to this and to do the right thing.”

Announcing its decision, the Bank said that the eurozone debt crisis was creating “severe strains in bank funding markets and financial markets”.

The Monetary Policy Committee [MPC] also said that the inflation-driven “squeeze on households’ real incomes” and the Government’s programme of spending cuts will “continue to weigh on domestic spending” for some time to come.

The “deterioration in the outlook” meant more QE was justified, the Bank said.

Financial experts said the committee’s actions would be a “Titanic” disaster for pensioners, savers and workers approaching retirement. Sir Mervyn suggested that was a price worth paying to save the economy from recession.

Under QE, the Bank electronically creates new money which it then uses to buy assets such as government bonds, or gilts, from banks. In theory, the banks then use the cash they gain to increase their lending to businesses and individuals.

By increasing the demand for gilts, QE pushes down the interest rate yields paid to holders of these and other bonds. Critics of the policy say it pushes up inflation and drives down sterling.

The National Association of Pension Funds yesterday called for urgent talks with ministers to address the negative impact of lower gilt yields on pension funds. Joanne Segars, its chief executive, said QE makes it more expensive for employers to provide pensions and will weaken the funding of schemes as their deficits increase. “All this will put additional pressure on employers at a time when they are facing a bleak economic situation,” she said.

Ros Altman, of Saga, said the latest round of QE was “a Titanic disaster” that would increase pensioner poverty. As well as fuelling inflation, she said, falling bond yields would make annuities more expensive, “giving new retirees much less pension income for their money and leaving them permanently poorer in retirement”.

The MPC also voted to keep the Bank Rate at its historic low of 0.5 per cent, another decision that hurts savers. Yesterday, protesters outside the Bank’s headquarters smashed a giant piggy bank to symbolise the situation of pensioners and others forced to raid savings to keep up with the rising cost of living.

Asked about the plight of savers, Sir Mervyn said it was more important to support the wider economy than to support them. He suggested that savers would not be helped by deliberately pushing the British economy into recession. Yesterday’s decision was the first move on QE since 2009, during the global credit crisis, when the Bank injected £200 billion into the economy.

Some analysts believe that this round of QE could be less effective than the previous one, forcing the Bank to create even more money this time.

Michael Saunders of Citigroup, forecast that there could be as much as £225 billion more QE by next year. “I think they will do lots more QE,” he said. “It’s both that the economy is weak but also that the MPC’s view is that QE is not a very powerful tool, or rather it takes a large amount of QE to have much effect on the economy.”

The Bank is supposed to keep inflation near a target of 2 per cent. Inflation now stands at 4.5 per cent, and the Bank admitted it is likely to hit 5 per cent as soon as this month. The Bank’s own research shows that as well as stimulating the economy, QE pushes up prices.

Sir Mervyn insisted that yesterday’s move was still consistent with the 2 per cent inflation target, saying that the slowing economy means inflation could actually fall below that mark “by the end of next year or in 2013”.

The Governor insisted that the MPC’s decisions had been the correct response to events. “The world economy has slowed, America has slowed, China has slowed, and of course particularly the European economy has slowed,” he said. “The world has changed and so has the right policy response.”

City traders took heart from the Bank’s move to boost growth, with the FTSE 100 rising 3.7 per cent to 5,29, its biggest two-day gain since 2008.

The Bank’s decision came after mounting political pressure from ministers worried that Sir Mervyn was not reacting urgently enough to the darkening global economic outlook.

George Osborne, the Chancellor, welcomed the Bank’s move, saying: “The evidence shows that it [QE] will help keep interest rates down and boost demand and that will be a help for British families.”