June 12, 2009
The SIGNS of the End-Time
“Now learn this parable from the fig tree: When its branch has already become tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near. So you also, when you see all these things, KNOW that it is near [real beginning of previous verses]—at the doors” (Matthew 24:32-34; Luke 21:29-32)
“WATCH JERUSALEM”
Dear Brethren,
Time after time, Mr. Armstrong cautioned us that above all other areas with end-time prophecy in mind to ‘WATCH JERUSALEM!’ As we move closer to the end there are the news reports making known there is even a greater need than ever to be watching what is taking place with Jerusalem.
Sadly division is widening between the house of Joseph, Reuben and Israel.
According to the news, the leadership in Washington D.C. is making demands on the leadership in Israel that affects Jerusalem and its growth as a sovereign nation that is unacceptable to them for it would virtually mean no expanding population.
Even if you do not read every word of these news reports what can be seen from the headlines themselves should enable one to see how the breaking of relations with the United States will lead Israel to look to the 10 nations in Europe that will very soon come together that will unquestionably be headed by Germany.
This helps one to understand more fully the prophecy in Zechariah as well as tie with other end-time prophecies (Zechariah 14:2).
Presently, Israel is being forced into a corner by the United States with no place else to turn except to Europe and especially Germany.
There appears to be no giving on the part of the United States that is forcing Jerusalem to begin looking elsewhere for nations in Europe that are still friendly to them.
The news also makes known there is a widening division between Germany and the United States. As the United States moves farther to the left, Germany and other nations in Europe are moving to the right.
In the meantime, Anti-Semitism is once again rearing its ugly head against the people of Judah! News articles have made this known in past writings particularly so in France. New we see the beginning flames of it here in America.
F
rom
the internet: Wright,
the former pastor
of Chicago's Trinity United Church of Christ, said he hasn't spoken
to Obama since he became president.
"Them Jews ain't going to let him talk to me. I told my baby daughter that he'll talk to me in five years when he's a lame duck, or in eight years when he's out of office," Wright told the Daily Press of Newport News following a Tuesday night sermon at the 95th annual Hampton University Ministers' Conference.
"They will not let him to talk to somebody who calls a spade what it is. ... I said from the beginning: He's a politician; I'm a pastor. He's got to do what politicians do."
Since then he has apologized for what he said about the Jews.
Though it is very sorrowful and terribly tragic, the indications are now being seen that the Jewish people will once again be open to hate-mongers and persecution as was experienced by them in Germany prior to and during World War II; they are always the scapegoat!
Please pay close attention to the following news articles for they are very revealing in view of what prophecy reveals about the end-time concerning Jerusalem, the House of Israel and Germany.
Clinton Spars with Bibi: No Building in Yesha - ‘No Exceptions’
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
U
.S.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton came out swinging at Prime
Minister Binyamin Netanyahu Wednesday night and specifically rejected
his policy for allowing building for “natural growth" in
Judea and Samaria.
H
er
statement came on the eve of Thursday’s visit of Palestinian
Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas to the White House, which two weeks
ago told Israel to stop all building for Jews in Judea and Samaria.
"The president was very clear when Prime Minister Netanyahu was here. He wants to see a stop to settlements -- not some settlements, not outposts, not natural growth exceptions," Secretary Clinton said at a news conference with visiting Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit. She also dined with Abbas Wednesday night.
Obama Takes on Israel with 'Tough Love'
by Avraham Zuroff
U
.S.
President Barack Obama said ahead of his trip to the Middle East,
that his country would not automatically agree to Israel’s
policies and has taken a stricter definition of a freeze on settling
towns in Judea and Samaria than his predecessor.
"I don't think we have to change strong support for Israel," Obama said in an interview with National Public Radio on Monday. "We do have to retain a constant belief in the possibilities of negotiations that will lead to peace," Obama said. "And that's going to require, from my view, a two-state solution."
Obama reiterated that no settlement expansion also includes “natural growth,” an allowance made by his predecessor. Obama said that the peace process would require a freeze on settling Judea and Samaria, including expansion to accommodate successive generations of Jews living there, and for the Arab side to end "the incitement that understandably makes Israelis so concerned."
Jerusalem feels that the Obama administration has backtracked from previous agreements made under Bush’s tenure allowing for “natural growth” in Jewish towns within Judea and Samaria.
The definition of “natural growth” was left vague in the past, and could be interpreted by Israel to allow for expanding existing homes for one’s growing family or to allow new housing for one’s married children. However, both Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have taken the stricter definition, upsetting Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, who prefers the lenient definition.
11:03 , 06.02.09
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The Yesha chairman said that the recent rhetoric used by Obama and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton "implies that the current administration doesn't see Israel as a sovereign nation."
Dayan added that the current period, as Obama and Prime Minister
Netanyahu "determine the rules of the game," was critical.
Dayan said that Israel must draw the line by refusing to agree to a
complete freeze in the settlements.
"If not this will snowball and then we won't be able to stop (Obama) on the division of Jerusalem either," he said. "Those who won't stop the American attempt to dictate Israel's housing policies in Samaria, Judea and Jerusalem, will also see them determine the borders of this country, they will say who will be prime minister, what the coalition will look like, and most importantly what the fate of Jerusalem and the Temple Mount will be."
The Great Obama Shoe Photo Debate: What Was He Trying to Say?
by Gil Ronen and Hana Levi Julian
A White House photograph of U.S. President Barack Obama with his feet on his desk while speaking on the phone with Binyamin Netanyahu has turned into a news story in own right, with reporters in Israel and elsewhere speculating that it was meant to send a message of disrespect.
The photograph, snapped by White House photographer Pete Sousa, was sent out to news media earlier this week.
Sole man: Obama talks to Netanyahu (Pete Sousa, The White House).
The ripples began with an article by a political correspondent for the far-left Hebrew-language newspaper Haaretz who noted the photograph and interpreted its meaning in a way that is consistent with the newspaper’s pro-Palestinian Authority position:
A photo released by the White House, which shows Obama talking on the phone with Netanyahu on Monday, speaks volumes: The president is seen with his legs up on the table, his face stern and his fist clenched, as though he were dictating to Netanyahu: "Listen up and write 'Palestinian state' a hundred times. That's right, Palestine, with a P." As an enthusiast of Muslim culture, Obama surely knows there is no greater insult in the Middle East than pointing the soles of one's shoes at another person. Indeed, photos of other presidential phone calls depict Obama leaning on his desk, with his feet on the floor.
The story was then picked up by at least one Israeli TV newscaster, who in turn was quoted by Howard Arenstein of the World Watch news blog on CBS news.
“Israeli TV newscasters Tuesday night interpreted a photo taken Monday in the Oval Office of President “It could also be interpreted as a very relaxed feeling that Obama has when he speaks with Netanyahu,” Amb. Etinger said.
Obama talking on the phone with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as an ‘insult’ to Israel,” Arenstein reported. “They saw the incident as somewhat akin to an incident last year, when the Iraqi reporter threw a shoe at President Bush in Baghdad.”
“It is considered an insult in the Arab world to show the sole of your shoe to someone,” the correspondent noted. “It is not a Jewish custom necessarily, but Israel feels enough a part of the Middle East after 60 years to be insulted too.” Whether or not a subliminal message of pressure was intended, Arensein added, "it shows the mood in Israel. They feel cornered. The reactions out of Israel reflect that feeling.”
Both the Haaretz article and the CBS blog were, in turn, quoted by numerous blogs worldwide.
The boss pose
Haaretz’s
take on the shoe photograph, however, is by no means the only one
that the picture elicited in Israel. Channel
2 TV’s website
submitted the
photo Tuesday to an expert on body language, Michelle Stein Teer. She
noted that people only put their feet up on the desk when they feel
relaxed and at home, as Obama seems to feel in the Oval Office, and
calls his pose a “boss pose.” Beside showing that the
President is relaxed, she said, the photograph also indicates that
Obama is trying to make Netanyahu understand precisely what he wants
from him – as Obama’s right thumb and forefinger indicate
by their “precision position,” which is used in writing,
sewing and other tasks requiring preciseness.
Teer interpreted the picture’s message as: “I will not change my positions. I await your speech keenly.”
'Total
control'
Ambassador
(ret.) Yoram
Etinger, a former senior Israeli diplomat in Washington, told Israel
National News
that the President has
“total control” of the photographs that are issued by the
White House and that he has no doubt that either Obama or a top
staffer like White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel approved the
picture’s dissemination.
However, Etinger did not sense that the White House intended any kind of subliminal offensive message by releasing the photo. “I do not think so,” he said. “It could also be interpreted as a very relaxed feeling that Obama has when he speaks with Netanyahu.”
“In the United States, in is not rare for someone to put his feet up on the desk when you come into his office, because he is relaxed,” Etinger explained. He recalled going to Capitol Hill during congressional recesses and being told “come into my office, I can put my feet up on the desk and talk calmly now, because there are no votes going on.”
A conciliatory talk?
Before Haaretz sparked the shoe furore, Israeli media actually reported favourably on Monday’s phone conversation between Obama and Netanyahu.
News daily Yedioth Acharonoth quoted an unnamed aide to Netanyahu who said the talk was held in a "conciliatory tone” that "stemmed from the fact that the Americans realize they went too far and that, ultimately, Netanyahu is the partner that they have, and they must embrace him, not topple him.”
If, however, the Haaretz interpretation is correct, Israel has reason to worry. It would mean that the President is purposely and crudely mocking Israel in front of a vast Arab audience. In that case, the content of Netanyahu's upcoming speech would not make much of a difference and all the Jewish State can do is wait for the other shoe to drop, so to speak.
If meant as an insult, it would not be the first time that Obama used body language to deliver concealed barbs. During his election campaign, Obama made playful but effective use of non-verbal offensive messages while talking about rivals Hillary Clinton and John McCain.
The New York Times reported on June 5 about a widening rift between Germany and the USA. Mr. Obama's denial of this rift, when visiting Buchenwald, sounds less than credible in light of the following facts:
"A rift has quietly opened up between Germany and the United States, marked by official statements of harmony and private grumbling. It is not an outright crisis in relations, but there are underlying tensions and disagreements on matters ranging from the global economic crisis to the future of inmates held at Guantánamo Bay.
The Associated Press reported on June 7: "Europe leaned to the right Sunday as tens of millions of people voted in European Parliament elections, with conservative parties leading or favored in many countries amid a global economic crisis... right-leaning governments edging the opposition in Germany, Italy, France, Belgium and elsewhere. Conservative opposition parties were tied or ahead in Britain, Spain and some smaller countries...
"In Germany, the conservatives of German Chancellor Angela Merkel were headed for a center-right majority and her center-left rivals faced a crushing defeat, exit polls showed, less than four months before a national vote.
MIDDLE
EAST EU-Israel Israel seeks to upgrade relations with the EU
By Toby Vogel
11.06.2009 / 05:14 CET
Avigdor
Lieberman, Israel's right-wing foreign minister, will be in
Luxembourg next Monday (15 June) for talks about upgrading relations
with the European Union.
The
upgrade, approved in principle by EU member states in December, has
never been formally frozen, but the war in the Gaza strip in December
and January led to its de facto suspension.
The
Israelis hope to receive a signal that the upgrade will go ahead,
though a European diplomat said that such a signal was unlikely at
this point. Lieberman will meet Jan Kohout, foreign minister of the
Czech Republic; Carl Bildt, foreign minister of Sweden, which takes
over the EU's presidency from the Czech Republic at the end of the
month; Javier Solana, the EU's foreign policy chief; and Benita
Ferrero-Waldner, the European commissioner for external relations.
The
meeting takes place on the sidelines of the monthly conference of EU
foreign ministers, who will discuss the Middle East after a briefing
by Solana on his visit to the region this week (10-14 June).
Under
pressure Several EU member states have had their doubts about
upgrading relations with Israel deepened by a centre-right victory in
February's general election and the subsequent refusal by Binyamin
Netanyahu, the new prime minister, to endorse the creation of a fully
independent Palestinian state in the Gaza strip and the West Bank,
the so-called two-state solution.
“The
two-state solution will remain the basis of the policy of the EU”
towards the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Kohout said last month.
Barack
Obama, the US president, increased the pressure on Israel last
Thursday (4 June), when he said that his administration would no
longer tolerate the expansion of Jewish settlements in the West Bank.
Lieberman
is the leader of the Yisrael Beytenu party, whose platform is
described by many observers as anti-Arab. A settler himself, he
advocates swapping territories – and people – between
Israel and a future Palestinian state. . . .”
The
Stage is Being Set for the Fulfillment of End-Time Prophecy
Though the House of Israel will be defeated by the revived Roman Empire and experience martyrdom and slavery, the Jewish nation will not be defeated at that time. Prophecy indicates they will be spared for a short time.
Afterwards they will be overpowered within the city of Jerusalem by the occupational armies there with the pretense of protecting them from the Arab nations, but being in key places will end up overpowering them right after the elect of God’s Church flees from there to the place of safety (Matthew 24:15-21; Luke 21:20-24).
History will undoubtedly repeat itself once again with the Jewish people; men, women, and children, having suffered greatly from times of old with harsh persecution unto death in their religious past.
One that should be considered very seriously can be seen from the research of a well known writer regarding a man who could very well be a type of the Beast of the future, Antiochus Epiphanes IV.
The Source, James A Michener, pages 377-422
“
Many
times in their long history the Jews would be threatened with
extinction because of planned religious persecutions, but none of the
later holocausts would start so gently and with such persuasiveness
as the first in the series, launched in the year 171 B.C.E. by
Antiochus IV, tyrant of the Seleucid Empire. . . .”
The book makes known that from the gentle persuasion Antiochus Epiphanes began that led from small changes to intolerable edicts for the Jews. This led to horrible sufferings and their virtual decimation for their refusal to worship the pagan god Zeus and Antiochus Epiphanes.
Note the changes from gentleness to extremely harsh rulings which could very well be a pattern for the future:
Page 377-378 “In 198 . . . One of the first things the new ruler did was to promulgate a degree which gave much encouragement to the Jews of Makor: “Be it known that our majestic emperor advises his new Jewish subjects that they are now free to worship their god as they wish. They may build synagogues. Their priests may offer sacrifices – the only requirement being they may in no way offend Zeus, whom all accept as the supreme deity of the Seleucids.”
Page 378 “In 171 Antiochus IV announced a small change in the religious life of his dominions, and if the Jews of Makor had enjoyed first-rate leadership they might have foreseen at that moment that trouble of great magnitude was upon them; but they were poorly led and the fact escaped them. The new rule was clear-cut: ‘Henceforth all citizens must acknowledge that the god Zeus has come to earth in the person of the divine Emperor, Antiochus Epiphanes.’
Page 379 “In 170 a law announced requiring all citizens to present themselves four times a year to pay formal homage to Antiochus Epiphanes as the senior god of the Seleucids. . . . The day chosen for these periodic submissions was Shabbat, when Jews preferred not to leave their homes, this being their day of worship. . . .”
Page 379 “In 169, the Jews were summoned to hear the next edict: ‘In order to halt the perpetuation of differences among the peoples of his great empire, Antiochus Epiphanes has decided that Jews shall no longer circumcise their male children.’
Page 380 “In 168 the Greeks of Makor were required to promulgate an edict which was bound to cause trouble, and they put an extra force of men into military uniform before they announced it. The summoning all citizens to the temple of Zeus, onto whose portico the giant head of Antiochus Epiphanes had been moved, they directed the herald to read: ‘Throughout the empire it is ordered that from this day the worship of Antiochus Epiphanes shall be the one and official religion of all people.’
Page 381 “In 167 came the incredible climax to any religious person. The instructions from the outrageous emperor were so brutal that the Greek officials of Makor were loath to read them, and the edict was handed to a common soldier, who caused the Jews to be marched to the public square, where they stood sullenly to hear what their punishment was to be.
In harsh, guttural tones the soldier shouted, ‘You Jews of Makor, approach in single file and kiss the god of Asia,’ and the recalcitrant ones were moved inside the temple to the monstrous head of Antiochus, where they were made to stand on their toes to kiss the great stone neck below the protruding Adam’s apple.
Then, in the awesome silence of the holy place, the soldier rasped, ‘You Jews of Makor, having disobeyed the law of our emperor by continuing to circumcise your sons, and having offended our god by refusing to sacrifice swine in your synagogue, have surrendered any claim to mercy. Hear and obey!
From this moment on, any Jew who refuses to accept Antiochus Epiphanes as sole god, supplanting all others, including your god known as Yahweh’ – the Jews shuddered – ‘any Jew who persists in following the law of your prophet called Moses, any Jew who circumcises his son, or any Jews who refuses to place his hand upon the sacrificial pig, shall be arrested and dragged before the temple of Zeus. There he shall be scourged with fifty blows, after which he shall be placed upon the ground so that his skin may be pulled away while he still lives. Thereafter he shall be slain, his body cut apart and thrown to the dogs. Hear these penalties and obey.’”
Terrible Times Just Ahead
Brethren, there is no question based upon end-time prophecies but that these things are going to be extremely hard for all Israel, including Judah, and those of the Church who will not be counted worthy to escape these horrors. They will be so bad; they are very hard even to contemplate, but as Jesus Christ said, these end-times will be worse than has ever happened before in history or ever will again (Matthew 24:21-22; Daniel 12:1).
It is in this context, Jesus Christ cautioned all of us as His people: “But take heed to your selves . . . and that Day come upon you unexpectedly. For it will come AS A SNARE on all those who dwell on the earth. WATCH therefore and PRAY ALWAYS, that you may be counted worthy TO ESCAPE all these things that will come to pass, ad to STAND before the Son of Man” (Luke 21:36).
Your brother and servant in Christ Jesus our Lord,
Don Billingsley
http://bodyofchristonline.us/ http://cog-ff.com http://www.ezekielwatchman.org/ http://worldnewsbulletin.com
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