(SRL Home)

Researchers: Asteroid Destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah

 University of Bristol

An Assyrian planisphere, or star chart, from about 700 B.C. which may depict events recounted by Sumerians from around 3123 B.C.

SAN ANTONIO (Reuters) - A Texas man is facing charges for selling liquor without a license after he was found peddling bottles of vodka containing dead baby rattlesnakes.

Bob Popplewell, who runs "Bayou Bob's Brazos River Rattlesnake Ranch" tourist attraction west of Fort Worth, was believed to be selling the vodka in the Asian community, where snakes are seen having aphrodisiac properties, state authorities said.

Popplewell faces misdemeanor charges for not having a liquor license but will not be charged over the 10-inch (25-cm) baby snakes in the bottles.

"I've been with the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission for 20 years," Sergeant Charlie Cloud said. "This is the most bizarre thing I've been involved in." http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080327/od_nm/texas_rattlesnake_dc

I'm sure Bayou Bob wasn't trying to make a Biblical point when he came up with this "sharp" marketing idea.

But he did.

Can Christians drink?

Believe it or not, it is hard to make a case for mandatory total abstinence from alcohol in the Scriptures.

Jesus' first miracle was changing water into wine at a wedding in Cana.

I know, I know. Some have said this was just grape juice, or containing only enough alcohol to fight off bacteria.

The record of that event says differently.

The difference between good wine and inferior? Fermentation. Which requires alcoholic content to achieve.

Paul also encouraged Timothy to use wine for medicinal purposes. (I Timothy 5:23)

It is clear that there are circumstances where Christians can drink.

But the real question is, should Christians drink?

And if that question makes us feel uncomfortable or defensive, we should take a step back and ask ourselves why.

There is no doubt that alcohol is an addictive agent.  Like any other addictive agent it is a mood altering substance.

The essence of addiction is an attempt to control how we feel.

First we drink because it makes us feel good. It calms us down. It takes the edge off.

Some drink because it makes them feel more free and less inhibited.

And at first, it gets results.

But the more one drinks, the less we experience the positives.

We can eventually get to the place where we no longer drink to feel good, but to avoid feeling bad.

And at that moment we are no longer controlling our mood. We are being controlled.

The snake has bitten.

The Lord offers us a positive alternative.

When we simply ask the Lord for the filling of His Holy Spirit, we give our life and circumstances over to the only One Who deserves to be in control of our lives.

The peace that floods our hearts as God directly communicates His unfailing love to us, and the joy we know when that love flows through us to others is a high without regret.

And if we can experience that blessing from the Spirit we meet in the Bible, why would we settle from some cheap knock off we find in a bottle?

And that is a great way to avoid getting "snake bit"!

"And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the LORD caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided." (Exodus 14:21)

One of the most famous stories of the Bible is God's parting of the Red Sea to save the Israelites from the Egyptian army and the subsequent drowning of soldiers and horses in hot pursuit.

But is there evidence that such an event did in fact happen – and if so, precisely where did it take place?

The issue is surfacing some 3,500 years after the event is said to have taken place with reports of Egyptian chariot wheels found in the Red Sea, photographs to document it and new books by scientists that could lead to a whole remapping of the Exodus route and a fresh look at ancient biblical accounts.

Wheel of fortune

"I am 99.9 percent sure I picked up a chariot wheel," Peter Elmer tells WorldNetDaily after two diving trips to the Gulf of Aqaba branch of the sea. "It was covered in coral."

The 38-year-old forklift mechanic from Keynsham, England, traveled to the region with his brother, Mark, after being inspired by videos of explorers Ron Wyatt and Jonathan Gray, who have documented artifacts that in at least one case authorities have confirmed to be a chariot wheel dating to the time of the Exodus.

"I believe I actually sat in an ancient chariot cab," Elmer said, referring to his time exploring a submerged item in what he describes as an underwater scrapyard. "Without question, it is most definitely the remains of the Egyptian army." http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=33168

There is one small problem with this claim.

Even those closest to Ron Wyatt dispute the results.

But despite all of Elmer's excitement, others who have been to the same location are not so sure what is being viewed underwater are the remnants of the great chase and urge extreme caution regarding the unsubstantiated claims.

"All kinds of people are finding coral and calling it chariot parts," says Richard Rives, president of Wyatt Archaeological Research in Tennessee. "It's most likely coral covered with coral. ... Opportunists are combining false things with the true things that are found. These people are making it up as they go to be TV stars."

Rives was a longtime partner of Ron Wyatt, an anesthetist and amateur archaeologist who died of cancer in 1999. Before passing away, Wyatt devoted years searching for and documenting physical evidence for events mentioned in the Bible. In addition to chariot wheels, Wyatt claimed to have found Noah's Ark on the mountain next to Ararat in Turkey, the "true" Mount Sinai in Saudi Arabia and the Ark of the Covenant with the Ten Commandments near the site of Jesus Christ's crucifixion. http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=33168

To add to the confusion, the so-called discoveries of Ron Wyatt and Jonathon Gray  are not held in high esteem in scientific and archeological circles.

Consider this assessment by the Answers In Genesis organization of the supposed discovery of Exodus remnants in the Red Sea.

Some unsolicited evidence also came our way concerning the alleged chariot wheels of the Exodus (which have never been made available to any archaeologists, Bible-believing or otherwise). There is a Jonathan Gray video purporting to show these on the bottom of the Red Sea. In one part, Gray claims that a ‘British Admiralty chart’ he is holding shows a ‘sand bridge’ with great depths either side.

The hydrographic office of the UK Ministry of Defense is, by international agreement, the authority for charting the Red Sea. A Mrs M. H. sent them the video; they wrote back to her that:

• Gray’s chart could be positively identified on blowups as United States chart no. 62020.

• ‘Contrary to Mr Gray’s statement, the “sand bridge” is not now, and never has been, a recognizable feature on British Admiralty Charts. Nor is it recognizable on the U.S. chart held by Mr Gray.’

• Gray’s comments about the ‘great depths’ also mislead.

• The naturally lit video footage of the sea floor could not possibly have been filmed anywhere near the spot claimed by Gray, as insufficient light would penetrate at that depth.

Subsequently, Gray published a second letter from the same office, claiming it vindicated his claims of a ‘sand bridge.’ However, when we checked with them, they wrote that their comments had been ‘seriously edited,’ with ‘selected parts’ shown under their letterhead. The full letter, which they sent us, ‘does not confirm the existence of a “sand bridge.”’

In short, whenever we have had the opportunity to objectively assess any of these claims, the same pattern emerges as from our ‘Ark’ investigation. http://www.answersingenesis.org/creation/v21/i2/ark.asp

What to make of claims of new discoveries that prove the reliability of the Biblical record?

No doubt there are those who are doing excellent work in these areas whose work stands up under the most scrupulous scientific evaluation.  Recent SRL guest Dr. Steven Collins work on the site of Sodom and Gomorrah is both first rate scientifically and compelling spiritually. http://www.trinitysouthwest.com/

But we would all be well advised to remember this word of caution offered by the staff at Answers In Genesis.

There is little doubt that the genuine discovery of certain objects would be both exciting and a powerful witness to the truth of the biblical record. However, we need to be careful not to become like some medieval pilgrims, keen to have relics to supplement (or supplant) the worship of the living God. Christ actually taught that if people did not listen to ‘Moses and the prophets,’ then neither would something as spectacular as someone rising from the dead convince them (Luke 16).

No doubt such fanciful claims as discussed here will always be with us, made by those seeking either profit, fame, the fulfillment of some deep psychological needs, or any combination of these. The ‘discoverers’ will often appear completely sincere, saying all the ‘right Christian things.’ Perhaps at some point they have even persuaded themselves.

The Bible does not say we should ‘believe all things,’ but rather that we should ‘prove all things’ (1 Thessalonians 5:21). Neither does it encourage a gullible approach toward those claiming the name of Christ. Rather, it warns about wolves among the flock, and also teaches that the heart of man is deceitful and depraved (Jeremiah 17:9).

As in other areas, extraordinary claims carry an extraordinary burden of proof. There is already a huge amount of archaeological and other evidence consistent with the truth of the Bible. Bible-believing experts exist in many fields, such as the archaeologist author of our article on Jericho (The walls of Jericho). They are always glad to assess and publicize actual evidence of genuine finds (there have been many over the years) supporting the historicity of the Bible. http://www.answersingenesis.org/creation/v21/i2/ark.asp

The Filipino government says it cannot stop the devotees from crucifying and whipping themselves

Dozens of Filipinos, including the boy and an 18-year-old girl, were nailed to crosses and scores more whipped their backs into a bloody pulp as the country's devout Roman Catholics marked Good Friday.

The voluntary crucifixions in the northern Philippines were the most extreme displays of religious devotion in this mainly Catholic country, where millions are praying and fasting ahead of the Easter weekend.

The health department said that those taking part in the rituals should have tetanus shots, check the condition of the whip they will use before lashing their backs and ensure the six-inch nails that will pierce their hands and feet have been sterilised.

"If we can't stop flagellants from whipping their own flesh, the best thing these penitents can do is ensure that their whips are clean and well maintained," said Health Secretary Francisco Duque.

"We are not trying to go against tradition because whipping has somewhat already become some form of atonement for sins for some of us.

"But this advice is important to make sure that no-one will land in hospital due to tetanus or other infections that penitents might get in the process." http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/worldnews.html?in_article_id=540453&in_page_id=1811

I can't tell you how many times I have heard someone say, "It doesn't matter what you believe, as long as you are sincere."

Want to share that with a straight face after seeing this spiritual debacle take place?

The saddest thing about this tragic Good Friday spectacle is how absolutely unnecessary it all was.

Consider what Paul said about the only kind of crucifixion that any genuine believer in Christ needs to participate in.

Paul certainly didn't define being "crucified with Christ" as going through some bizarre and self promoting ritual (complete with tetanus shots).

The real deal goes a lot deeper and is infinitely more challenging than anything that happened in the Philippines on Good Friday.

It involves a surrender of our life and will to the presence and power of Jesus. Paul's experience was a day by day dependency, not on ritual or religious routine, but on the indwelling Holy Spirit of God.

It is honestly looking at our lives and admitting that no religious deed, no matter how dramatic and painful, can make up for all of our faults, failures and out and out sins.

It is realizing the utterly humbling, yet utterly exalting truth that all we can do is trust not in what we do for God, but what He had done for us.

In the only crucifixion in history that really mattered.

All the sincerity, all the self torturing spectacle in the world cannot add a single thing to what Christ has done for us.

If a religious ritual can somehow make us right with God, then Christ died needlessly.

Too bad those sincere bit misguided people in the Philippines didn't get that message.

http://brainshavings.com/supplements/crucifixion/

WASHINGTON -- The outgoing pastor of Sen. Barack Obama's black megachurch in Chicago has come under fire for sermons that some have called racist, offensive, even dangerous.

The Rev. Jeremiah Wright has called the federal government the "U.S. of K.K.K. A." Just after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Wright said "America's chickens are coming home to roost," according to a review of his sermons by ABC News.

Observers of the black church say Wright's sermons may seem incendiary or uncomfortably provocative, but they reflect a proud history of what Walter Earl Fluker of Morehouse College in Atlanta calls "prophetic preaching, which is the trademark of the black church tradition, of which Jeremiah Wright is perhaps one of the most illustrious exemplars."

Peter Paris, professor emeritus of Christian social ethics at Princeton Theological Seminary, attended seminary with Wright in the 1960s and said Wright fits in the prophetic tradition of both the black church and the Bible.

"Prophets are basically reformers and not revolutionaries," said Paris, an Obama supporter. "There's a line beyond which one is no longer prophetic but one is revolutionary. He's not there, but the language may appear from time to time to be there." http://pewforum.org/news/display.php?NewsID=15177&IssueID=64

Did you catch the key word here? Prophet.

There is no doubt that Old Testament prophets had no problem speaking truth to power.

John the Baptist, the last Old Testament prophet got tossed in jail for just such a breach of societal etiquette.

So does that kind of boldness define the ministry of a true prophet?

Not exactly.

John was a prophet because he was committed not to speaking his own words, but the Word of God.

In fact, the original prophet Jeremiah gives us a key insight into what a true prophetic gift is all about.

The key to being a genuine prophet is not trying to put our words in God's mouth, but by faithfully relating the Word of God using our mouths.

The credibility of a genuine prophet comes not from their identity with an oppressed group, or their experience of personal suffering, but their faithfulness in relating God's Word as we find it in the Bible.

Does Jeremiah Wright pass this Biblical test?

Jeremiah Wright has ever right to express his opinions. But to try to equate angry politicized rhetoric with a "prophetic" word shows a stunning lack of understanding of the Biblical meaning of the term.

• "The government gives them [African Americans] the drugs, builds bigger prisons, passes a three-strike law and then wants us to sing 'God Bless America.' No, no, no, God d--- America, that's in the Bible for killing innocent people. God d--- America for treating our citizens as less than human. God d--- America for as long as she acts like she is God and she is supreme."

• After September 11, 2001, he said: "We have supported state terrorism against the Palestinians and black South Africans and now we are indignant because the stuff we have done overseas is now brought right back into our own front yards. America's chickens are coming home to roost." http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/mar/18/barackobama.uselections20083

Now if you had invested twenty years of your life in a church, in a committed relationship with a pastor, if you had him perform your marriage ceremony and baptize your children, and you heard these statements from the pulpit - would you walk away?

I have to say that if I had been in Barak Obama's shoes, the answer would have been, "No."

At least not at first.

What does the Bible say we should do if we see a brother, particularly a pastor stumbling?

When we see even a respected pastor departing from the truth of God's Word we are responsible to lovingly, yet firmly confront them, using the Bible as our frame of reference.

I would be curious to know if Barak Obama ever went to Jeremiah Wright with an open Bible and respectfully said, "Could you how me where these things are in the Word?"

I can't help but think that this distracting controversy could have been avoided if someone had cared enough to Scripturally confront this erring pastor.

But what if they don't listen?

My first job in ministry was as a college intern at a Baptist church.

I was invited to take the position by the overseer of the entire youth department, a man whose walk with God I deeply respected.

As I became more and more involved, I began to see troubling signs that all was not well within this church.

But the issue came to a head when I heard my friend and supervisor share with a large youth gathering a message on Moses and the burning bush.

My friend declared that the people of Israel, sick of being in slavery appointed Moses as their spokesman to search for god in the wilderness.

After fourty years of seeking God, the Lord appeared to Moses. He told God about the sad condition of His people and begged Him to help.

But God said, "You go do something about it!"

The rest of the message was a stirring call to personal responsibility when problems arise.

One hitch in the message, though. It didn't happen that way.

In fact if you have seen the Cecil B. DeMille version of "The Ten Commandments" you would be able to spot a few fatal flaws.

So what did I do?

Keep my mouth shut?

Avoid rocking the boat for the sake of my budding career?

No.

I confronted my friend.

Who promptly told me to mind my own business.

I was crushed.

If this was what ministry was all about, I decided I didn't want to be a part of it.

But before I threw in the towel, I decided to call a pastor whose books had really encouraged me. His name was Chuck Swindoll.

 Now at the time, I had no idea what a busy man Chuck Swindoll was. But, amazingly, he took a moment out of his schedule to call me back.

When I explained the situation to him he shared with me a word to the wise I will never forget.

"You have to have negotiables and non negotiables in ministry. If you prefer praise songs to hymns, that is a negotiable. But the Word of God is never a negotiable."

Barak Obama's personal loyalty is a commendable quality to have. And it appears he is attempting to stand by his church and pastor while trying to distance himself from the troubling teaching of Reverend Wright.

In his address before a small audience, Obama disavowed Wright's remarks as "not only wrong but divisive, divisive at a time when we need unity." But he did not wholly distance himself from his pastor or the church, Trinity United Church of Christ, on Chicago's South Side.

"I can no more disown him than I can disown the black community," Obama said of Wright. "I can no more disown him than I can disown my white grandmother - a woman who helped raise me, a woman who sacrificed again and again for me, a woman who loves me as much as she loves anything in this world, but a woman who once confessed her fear of black men who passed by her on the street."

Obama offered the most thorough explanation yet of his association with Wright, whom he has known for nearly 20 years.

"For some, nagging questions remain: Did I know him to be an occasionally fierce critic of American domestic and foreign policy? Of course," Obama said.

"Did I ever hear him make remarks that could be considered controversial while I sat in church? Yes. Did I strongly disagree with many of his political views? Absolutely - just as I'm sure many of you have heard remarks from your pastors, priests or rabbis with which you strongly disagreed." http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/03/18/america/obama.php

Is it really possible to have it both ways in a situation like this?

Where do we draw the line?

Loyalty to church, community, even a crucial mentor and friend is a positive thing.

But when that loyalty compromises our commitment to God's Word, we have crossed into intensely dangerous spiritual territory.

Then I was given a reed like a measuring rod. And the angel stood, saying, “Rise and measure the temple of God, the altar, and those who worship there.  But leave out the court which is outside the temple, and do not measure it, for it has been given to the Gentiles. And they will tread the holy city underfoot for forty-two months. (Revelation 11:1-2)

A reconstruction of Herod's Temple in Jerusalem. The mount draws its name from the Jewish Temple which once stood at the site

THE TEMPLE INSTITUTE HAS SPARED NO EFFORT in procuring the necessary materials for the performing of this Torah commandment, and once again has enlisted 21st century technology in order to do so in a manner befitting the Torah injunction that these priestly garments be "both dignified and beautiful". (Exodus 28:40)

SPECIALLY PREPARED FLAXEN THREAD, wound into six-ply strands, according to the Torah prescribed requirement, ("twined linen - shesh mushzar"), has been imported from India. These individual spools of thread are presently being spun into larger 1.7 meter long spindles in order to accomodate the next step: the weaving of bolts of fabric 1.7 meters wide. Before commencing this process, (known in Hebrew as hashtayah), of creating the 1.7 meter spindles, Rabbi Yisrael Ariel, founder of the Temple Institute made the traditional shechechiyanu blessing expressing gratitute to G-d " ...for keeping us alive and preserving us and permitting us to behold this day." In addition, before every step of the manufacturing process, a special statement of intent must be uttered in Hebrew: "L'shem mitzvat assei assiyat bigdei hakehuna: for the sake of the positive commandment to make the priestly garments."

THE PREPARED SPINDLES are then being transported from the textile factory in the town of Gedera to a second factory in the city of Tel Aviv. There they will be woven into kilometer (3,280 foot) long bolts. The weaving process, (known in Hebrew as arigah), creates the checkerboard pattern described in Torah, (ibid 28:39).

THE FINAL STAGES of the manufacture of the garments involves the cutting, sewing and embroidering of the woven fabric, creating the tunic (ketonet), pants (michnasayim), turban (mitznefet) and belt (avnet). The turban (mitznefet) is eight meters (26 feet) in length, and is wrapped around the priest's head. Each belt (avnet) requires a sixteen meter (52 feet) length of linen, which is wrapped around the priest's waist. (During the time of the Second Temple, when preparing to serve in the Holy Temple, the priests dressed in the chamber known as the chamber of Pinchas the Wardrober, and each priest was assisted by a fellow priest with the turban and belt.)

AS ALWAYS, IN RECREATING TEMPLE-READY VESSELS AND GARMENTS, the Temple Institute research department initiates the process with intensive research, assuring in this case that the priestly garments will be created in strict accordance to the halachic requirements as described in Torah and in the unbroken oral tradition received at Sinai and preserved by Jewish sages throughout the generations.

EACH SET OF PRIESTLY GARMENTS will be tailored to fit its individual purchaser. The garments being created are not museum pieces or collector's items. Their cost is 2,500 shekel, (approximately $695). They will be sold only to true decendants of the High Priest Aharon, who aspire to be fully prepared for the day when they can once again perform the Divine service in the Holy Temple, may we merit to rebuild it soon!

Keep an eye on developments in Israel. One of the most significant will be an agreement that will allow this dream of the Jewish people to come true.

By AMY TEIBEL, Associated Press Writer Wed Mar 12, 10:38 AM ET

JERUSALEM - German Chancellor Angela Merkel's upcoming address to the Israeli parliament has inflamed passions here, with one lawmaker threatening Wednesday to storm out of the session.

AP Photo: German Chancellor Angela Merkel, right, stands with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert

Arye Eldad said he was furious Merkel has been allowed to address the Knesset at all because it is a privilege reserved for heads of state — presidents and monarchs. Allowing her to speak in German, instead of the more neutral English, makes it even more painful, he said.

"German was the last language my grandmother and grandfather heard before they were murdered. The execution orders were given in German ... I plan to stand up and leave" before she speaks, he said.

Eldad, a member of the hardline National Union party, said he was not trying to organize a parliamentary boycott of Tuesday's speech and he did not know if other lawmakers intended to protest it.

His comments reflect the deep wounds that remain in Israel from the Nazi Holocaust, despite the cordial relations that have developed with Germany over the decades.

Knesset bylaws allow only heads of state to address the parliament. A parliamentary committee on Tuesday gave Merkel special dispensation to address lawmakers, said Ilan Ostfeld, a spokesman for Knesset Speaker Dalia Itzik. At Merkel's request, she will speak in her native language.

"She is a very important European and world leader, and a great friend of Israel, and she asked to speak in German," Ostfeld said.

The chancellor's spokesman, Ulrich Wilhelm, told reporters in Berlin that Merkel "has on various occasions expressed understanding for the particular sensitivity that there is in Israel on this question."

However, she "also asks for understanding that she, as a representative of the German government and the German chancellor, speaks in her mother tongue, in German," Wilhelm said.

Merkel is not the first German dignitary to address Knesset in German.

In 2000, then-President Johannes Rau broke that barrier, delivering an emotional appeal "for forgiveness for what Germans have done."

Current German President Horst Koehler expressed "shame and humility" toward Holocaust victims in a February 2005 Knesset speech marking 40 years of diplomatic ties between the two countries.

Several lawmakers boycotted those sessions.

Some 250,000 Holocaust victims live in Israel, having survived the Nazi genocide of 6 million Jews. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080312/ap_on_re_mi_ea/israel_germany

As you can see, forgiveness can be a tricky business.

The outrage expressed here seems a bit overblown from a distance. After all, Merkel's German government has been one of Israel's strongest allies in Europe. If you are keeping score at home, the term "European ally of Israel" is rapidly becoming an oxymoron.

It would seem that Israel needs all the friends she can get these days. Walking out on Merkel doesn't seem to make much sense politically.

But how about personally?

It seems to me that the outrage expressed comes less in reaction to the fact that Merkel will be speaking German in the Israeli Knesset, and more from the fact that it is a gesture of forgiveness from those who weren't directly effected by the horror of the Holocaust.

That's the funny thing about forgiveness. It can only be legitimately offered by the offended party.

If you and I were riding on a bus and the passenger next to you hit you in the face for no reason you would be understandably upset.

Now, imagine how you would feel if I leaned over to to there person who struck you and said, "That's OK. I forgive you for doing that."

You would be outraged.

Why?

Because you were the one who suffered the damage. For me to forgive for you is minimizing your pain and maximizing my self righteousness.

It is worse than an empty gesture.

Now, if the 250,000 Holocaust survivors in Israel had signed a petition offering formal forgiveness to the German people responsible, that would be different.

Only the offended party can truly forgive.

This provides an intense insight into the ministry of Jesus.

Consider this expression of forgiveness we find in Mark chapter two.

And again He entered Capernaum after some days, and it was heard that He was in the house.  Immediately many gathered together, so that there was no longer room to receive them, not even near the door. And He preached the word to them. Then they came to Him, bringing a paralytic who was carried by four men. And when they could not come near Him because of the crowd, they uncovered the roof where He was. So when they had broken through, they let down the bed on which the paralytic was lying.
When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven you.”
 And some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts,  “Why does this Man speak blasphemies like this? Who can forgive sins but God alone?”
 But immediately, when Jesus perceived in His spirit that they reasoned thus within themselves, He said to them, “Why do you reason about these things in your hearts?  Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Arise, take up your bed and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins”—He said to the paralytic, “I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.” Immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went out in the presence of them all, so that all were amazed and glorified God, saying, “We never saw anything like this!”

Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. 32 And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you. (Ephesians 4:31-32)

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Scott's Blog - 3/11/08

People or Projects?

Hello Scott,
I have encountered some Jewish people of faith who believe that Christians love
Israel and and it's people because we believe that when the Messiah returns "all the
Jews will be converted".  I have heard this suspicion of our agenda voiced several
times but I have never heard it taught in church.  Is this true or a rumor?  On what
is it based?

By ARON HELLER, Associated Press Writer 22 minutes ago

JERUSALEM - A gunman entered the library of a rabbinical seminary and opened fire on a crowded nighttime study session Thursday, killing eight people and wounding nine before he was slain, police and rescue workers said. It was the first major militant attack in Jerusalem in more than four years.

AP Photo: Israeli police officers search the site of a shooting attack in Jerusalem

Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip praised the operation in a statement, and thousands of Palestinians took to the streets of Gaza to celebrate.

The day's violence, which also included a deadly ambush of an army patrol near Israel's border with Gaza, was likely to complicate attempts by Egypt to arrange a truce between Israel and Palestinian militants. The U.S. is backing the Egyptian effort.

Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev harshly condemned the shooting and said the Palestinian government must take steps against the extremists — not just denounce their attacks.

"Tonight's massacre in Jerusalem is a defining moment," he told The Associated Press. "It is clear that those people celebrating this bloodshed have shown themselves to be not only the enemies of Israel but of all of humanity."

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who only on Wednesday persuaded moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to return to peace talks with Israel, condemned the attack as an "act of terror and depravity." http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080306/ap_on_re_mi_ea/israel_palestinians

Did you catch the key word in this account of cold blooded murder?

"Celebrate"

If Islam really is a religion of peace and tolerance, what does that make the thousands of Palestinians who look at this massacre as a reason to party?

I keep waiting for the so-called Islamic "moderates" to declare in their mosques and madrassas that those who practice and celebrate such wanton acts of depravity are infidels who desecrate the Moslem faith.

And waiting.

And waiting.

Things are nearing a boiling point in the Middle East. And by all accounts Israel appears to be bracing for the worst.

The next Mideast war is a rocket away

By Michael B. Oren
Special to The Washington Post

Article Last Updated: 03/01/2008 12:49:33 PM MST

It begins with a single Qassam rocket, one of the thousands of homemade projectiles fired in recent years by the Islamic radicals of Hamas from the Gaza Strip into southern Israel. The rockets have made life nightmarish for many Israelis but have largely missed their targets. But this one gets "lucky": It smashes into an elementary school, wounding 40 children and killing 15.
   
The Israeli government, which had heretofore responded to the Qassams with airstrikes and small ground raids, cannot resist the nationwide demand for action. Within hours, tens of thousands of Israeli troops and hundreds of tanks are rushing into Gaza, battling house-to-house in teeming refugee camps. Just as swiftly, Palestinian officials accuse Israel of perpetrating a massacre and invite the foreign press to photograph the corpse-strewn rubble. The images flash around the Middle East on al-Jazeera TV and trigger violent demonstrations in Arab capitals.
   
 Hezbollah, the radical Lebanese Shiite militia, then gets into the act, raining Katyusha rockets on northern Israel. But when Israeli warplanes bomb the Katyusha batteries, Syria leaps in, sending its commandos to retaliate by capturing key Israeli bunkers atop the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. Israel's counterattack succeeds only in precipitating a hailstorm of Syrian Scud-D missiles, some armed with chemical warheads, into Israeli cities.

Then, just as Israeli planes are incinerating the main electrical plant in Damascus, the first of hundreds of Shehab-3 rockets, pre-targeted at Tel Aviv, lift off from Tehran.
   
Sound fantastical or too horrific to ponder? Not to Israeli intelligence analysts it doesn't. The Israeli military recently conducted a round of large-scale war games based precisely on this scenario. In some rounds, Israel managed to humble Hamas and Hezbollah while shooting down most of the Iranian and Syrian rockets with its own Arrow and Patriot antimissile systems. But other forecasts went far less well: Israel survives but barely, with its cities devastated and countless civilians killed.
   
This is the mess that will soon land in the lap of President Clinton, President Obama or President McCain. http://www.sltrib.com/opinion/ci_8420518

As students of Biblical prophecy know, there is going to have to be a land mark event that will lead the way to a New World Order, the "strong covenant with many" the Antichrist will conclude that will bring a false peace to the region. (See Daniel 9:27)

Are we seeing the warm up for just such a cataclysmic event?

Or is this just another birth pain?

Stay tuned and stay in prayer.

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NELSONVILLE, Ohio (BP)--

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Scott's Blog - 3/04/08

What Do You Want To Be When You Grow Up?

A boy draws himself with explosives tied to his body

The Islamic Jihad is running a summer school - to teach boys the benefits of becoming suicide bombers.

A new generation of children, Palestinian boys aged between 12 and 15 years old, is growing up amid conflict and violence.

Teacher Mohammed el Hattab: Suicide bombers go to the highest state in paradise

The militant group has a sworn mission to wage a holy war against Israel.

The boys are told not only that it is good to kill, but also that it is good to die.

They learn that suicide bomb attacks have proved the most deadly way to hit the Israelis.

Part of the revolution

Mohammed, a 14-year-old boy, draws himself with explosives strapped to his body, ready to blow himself to pieces if it means killing Jews.

"Yes," he says, when asked if he wants to be a suicide bomber. "I want to liberate Palestine and be part of the revolution."

The boys are told that it is good to kill and good to die

The boys are shown pictures of those who have already died in the conflict with Israel.

They are taught that to give their lives is to be guaranteed a place in heaven.

And to be a suicide bomber is one of the highest forms of martyrdom.

They will be greeted in paradise by 70 virgins.

"We are teaching the children that suicide bombing is the only thing that make the Israeli people very frightened. Furthermore, we are teaching them that we have the right to do it," said Islamic Jihad member Mohammed el Hattab, one of the teachers on the programme.

"We are teaching them that after the suicide attacks, the man who makes it goes to the highest state in paradise," he said. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/1446003.stm

The message being shared at "youth camps" like these is hard to avoid.

Death is not to be feared, but rather loved, welcomed and encouraged.

So how do you fight an enemy who has become convinced that the goal of war isn't "to live to fight another day".

Our best secular and military minds are drawing a blank on this one.

Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz describes the maddening nature of a form of conflict unlike any we have ever seen.

Zahra Maladan is an educated woman who edits a women's magazine in Lebanon. She is also a mother, who undoubtedly loves her son. She has ambitions for him, but they are different from those of most mothers in the West. She wants her son to become a suicide bomber.

At the recent funeral for the assassinated Hezbollah terrorist Imad Moughnaya -- the mass murderer responsible for killing 241 marines in 1983 and more than 100 women, children and men in Buenos Aires in 1992 and 1994 -- Ms. Maladan was quoted in the New York Times giving the following warning to her son: "if you're not going to follow the steps of the Islamic resistance martyrs, then I don't want you."

Zahra Maladan represents a dramatic shift in the way we must fight to protect our citizens against enemies who are sworn to kill them by killing themselves. The traditional paradigm was that mothers who love their children want them to live in peace, marry and produce grandchildren. Women in general, and mothers in particular, were seen as a counterweight to male belligerence. The picture of the mother weeping as her son is led off to battle -- even a just battle -- has been a constant and powerful image.

Now there is a new image of mothers urging their children to die, and then celebrating the martyrdom of their suicidal sons and daughters by distributing sweets and singing wedding songs. More and more young women -- some married with infant children -- are strapping bombs to their (sometimes pregnant) bellies, because they have been taught to love death rather than life. Look at what is being preached by some influential Islamic leaders:

"We are going to win, because they love life and we love death," said Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah. He has also said: "[E]ach of us lives his days and nights hoping more than anything to be killed for the sake of Allah." Shortly after 9/11, Osama bin Laden told a reporter: "We love death. The U.S. loves life. That is the big difference between us."

The traditional sharp distinction between soldiers in uniform and civilians in nonmilitary garb has given way to a continuum. At the more civilian end are babies and true noncombatants; at the more military end are the religious leaders who incite mass murder; in the middle are ordinary citizens who facilitate, finance or encourage terrorism. There are no hard and fast lines of demarcation, and mistakes are inevitable -- as the terrorists well understand.

We need new rules, strategies and tactics to deal effectively and fairly with these dangerous new realities. We cannot simply wait until the son of Zahra Maladan -- and the sons and daughters of hundreds of others like her -- decide to follow his mother's demand. We must stop them before they export their sick and dangerous culture of death to our shores. http://www.law.harvard.edu/news/2008/03/03_dershowitz.php

Ok.

We need a new strategy if we are going to prevent suicide bombing from becoming as real to us as it is to those who live in Baghdad, or Tel Aviv.

Any suggestions?

I have one.

The solution to this problem isn't a political one, or a military one.

The only solution to this problem is spiritual.

Zahra Maladan and her son have become ticking time bombs for one reason - they have embraced the false religion preached by their spiritual leaders.

But what would happen if Zahra Maladan and her son had the opportunity to hear a different message?

A message of love and forgiveness, not hate and violence?

A message not of loyalty to clan and culture, but to the true and living God Who can change their hearts and lives?

If the Global War on Terror has taught us anything, it is that doctrine really does matter.

"Getting it right" concerning Who God is and what it means to know, love and serve Him has far reaching consequences not just for the lives of individuals, but nations - even the fate of the planet itself.

Jesus put it this way:

"The thief comes only to steal, kill and destroy. I have come that they might have life, and have it more abundantly." (John 10:10)

If Zahra Maladan and her family could only discover the new heart, the new love, the new life that Jesus (Whom Muslims already greatly respect) can give to them, I guarantee they would have a very different view of suicide bombing.

And when truth replaces lies, and love replaces hate, and mercy replaces a desire for vengance, the suicide bomber is disarmed.

The Nobel Prize winning Russian author Alexsander Solzhenitzen once said, "You have changed nothing until you have changed the hearts of people."

Are you praying for the Muslim people?

Are you supporting groups and missionaries that can reach Muslims with the message of Christ? (Check out www.GFA.org for an organization that is making a difference)

Are you taking advantage of the opportunities that God provides to tell others about His Son wherever you may be?

Long-range rockets fired from Gaza are Iranian: Israel army

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