Ahmadinejad: Israel's Destruction Getting Close

TEHRAN, Iran —

Iran's hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Sunday said the world would witness the destruction of Israel soon, the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported.

Ahmadinejad said last summer's war between Israel and Hezbollah showed for the first time that the "hegemony of the occupier regime [Israel] had collapsed, and the Lebanese nation pushed the button to begin counting the days until the destruction of the Zionist regime," IRNA quoted him as saying.

"God willing, in the near future we will witness the destruction of the corrupt occupier regime," Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying during a speech to foreign guests who attended ceremonies marking the 18th anniversary of the death of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who is known as the father of Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Embattled Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has lost public support after Israel failed to achieve its goals during last summer's 34-day war with Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon — freeing two captured soldiers and crushing the militant group.

The war was sparked after two Israeli soldiers were kidnapped by Iranian- and Syrian-backed Hezbollah militants in a cross-border raid. The fighting ended with a U.N.-brokered cease-fire that called for deployment of U.N. peacekeepers and Lebanese troops in southern Lebanon along the border with Israel.

Ahmadinejad has made anti-Israel comments in the past.

In October 2005, he caused outrage in the West when he said in a speech that Israel's "Zionist regime should be wiped off the map."

His supporters have argued Ahmadinejad's words were mistranslated and should have been better translated as "vanish from the pages of time" — implying Israel would vanish on its own rather be destroyed.

YES! JUST AS IT IS WRITTEN....

Ezekiel 38:1-13

1 And the word of the LORD came to me saying,
2 "Son of man, set your face toward Gog of the land of Magog,
the prince of Rosh, Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against
him

3 and say, 'Thus says the Lord GOD, "Behold, I am against you, O Gog,
prince of Rosh, Meshech and Tubal.

4 "I will turn you about and put hooks into your jaws, and I will
bring you out, and all your army, horses and horsemen, all of
them splendidly attired, a great company with buckler and shield, all
of them wielding swords;

5 Persia, Ethiopia and Put with them, all of them with shield
and helmet;

6 Gomer with all its troops; Beth-togarmah from the remote parts
of the north with all its troops--many peoples with you.

7 "Be prepared, and prepare yourself, you and all your companies
that are assembled about you, and be a guard for them.

8 "After many days you will be summoned; in the latter years you
will come into the land that is restored from the sword, whose
inhabitants have been gathered from many nations to the
mountains of Israel which had been a continual waste; but its
people were brought out from the nations, and they are living
securely, all of them.

9 "You will go up, you will come like a storm; you will be like a
cloud covering the land, you and all your troops, and many peoples
with you."

10'Thus says the Lord GOD, "It will come about on that day, that
thoughts will come into your mind and you will devise an evil
plan,

11 and you will say, 'I will go up against the land of unwalled
villages I will go against those who are (V)at rest, that live
securely, all of them living without walls and having no bars or
gates,

12 to capture spoil and to seize plunder, to turn your hand against
the waste places which are now inhabited, and against the people who
are gathered from the nations, who have acquired cattle and goods, who
live at the center of the world.'

13 "Sheba and Dedan and the merchants of Tarshish with all
its villages will say to you, 'Have you come to capture spoil? Have
you assembled your company to seize plunder, to carry away silver and
gold, to take away cattle and goods, to capture great spoil?'"'

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Who was Jesus? Why is He unique??

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The Cashless Society

Microchip Implants Vs Cash - The Race Is On

We first talked about this scenario in 1995. It is fascinating in a way that when we first told people back then about this technology and The Mark, people couldn't see the technology making it possible nor acceptance ever being possible. Well, here we are!

A hundred years ago or more, The Mark was an obscure prophecy few attempted to tackle.

The Church had nothing to say about it...just an obscure verse in Revelation that could have already happened or will happen in the future. In no other time since Jesus has The Mark become easy to spot.

Believe it! Shoppers could soon pay for goods using a microchip implanted under the skin, according to a report in The Times newspaper recently.

The idea, says the report, is already catching on with today's iPod generation, with one study showing that one in 10 teenagers and one in 20 adults already willing to have a microchip implanted to pay bills and help to prevent identity fraud.

The VIP Baja Beach Club in Barcelona already uses implanted human body chips to identify its exclusive clientele - ostensibly because wearing bikinis and shorts leaves nowhere to carry wallets and purses. Members use the chip to gain access and to pay for services.

Made by the VeriChip Corporation, the chip is a glass capsule which sits under the skin. It carries a ten-digit personal number that can be linked to a person's bank account.

For decades, certain prophets of our time - both Christian and secular - have warned that we're rapidly moving into a dangerously uncertain, cashless world.

For centuries, cash money ruled the world: a world where most people traded on a local scale and where nation-states could govern their own economies and produce their own currencies.

Today's world is very different. International trading pacts drive macro-economies and everything is linked to everything else all across the globe. A financial sneeze in one major trading center can cause whole nations to catch cold -- on the other side of the world.

To serve this new economic landscape, we've invented digital alternatives to cash.

The first step in the move toward a digital economy was the introduction of the now ubiquitous credit card. The process took a giant leap forward, though, when computer mchips were added to those cards.

Meanwhile, the mobile phone market offered hungry companies a hot new way to offer digital cash services.

Phones have three great advantages over cards. They have keys; they have transmitters ;and they have enough memory and power to handle big processors and software for encryption and accounting. The mobile phone is an amazing banking technology, because it's so convenient for the user.

The big new developments in the digital cash world are driven by tools such as Radio Frequency ID tags (RFIDs for short).

Each one of these tiny devices is basically a radio bar code. It's smaller than a grain of sand, yet it contains hardware, software, permanent memory, an operating system, and the ability to write and receive data. It transmits over small distances using short bursts of electromagnetic radiation and its built-in power generators could last up to 100 years (1).

Before we dump cash altogether, we should take a long, deep breath and consider a few facts.

First, despite all the bells-and-whistles technologies on offer, using cash still has its advantages: it doesn't require any special equipment, it's anonymous and there are no transaction costs.

Yes, digital money has the advantage of being able to handle large transactions instantly, even over long distances, but using it requires complex electronic systems. Transactions are not anonymous; they can be traced back to the user.

What's more, several studies have shown that when people with credit card debt are confronted with their spending in terms of cold, hard cash, they are shocked. They've never been able to weigh their spending against their earnings while money is nothing more than numbers on a screen.

It's only when they feel the cash in hand that they're able to attribute value to their earnings - and their spending.

There are even bigger human issues at stake, though; issues as fundamental as freedom.

Despite the relative merits of digital money, it's not hard to imagine how bankers and others are using it to slowly eliminate cash altogether. Twenty years ago, that would have sounded far-fetched, but not any more.

Multi-national companies are building global networks of interconnected computer databases. That's the reason we can bank, buy, receive social benefits and even pay our taxes electronically.

Real money is being replaced with virtual money and this may very well be sowing the seeds of eventual electronic enslavement.

Our reliance on cards is actually a reliance on chips and it is already leading to unacceptable invasions of privacy. As we grow more and more familiar with a microchip culture, the easier it gets for someone to centralise all the information contained on our cards.

One chip can easily contain all the relevant information about our health, banking details, buying habits, voting preferences and so on. The technology is already in place - what's missing is the public acceptance.

Once money becomes nothing more than numbers on a screen, our material wealth can easily be manipulated by other people.

Yes, cash can stolen, but when it is, fraudsters can't use it to steal your identity as well - as they can with cards. Stealing your cash does not give thieves access to personal information about you.

And the drive for a cashless society may well lead to sinister attempts to control individuals and even entire populations.

Already, miniature chip technologies are being used to turn us into an extension of our bank accounts - in a world where numbers, not individuals, rule.

Cash, though far from a perfect means of trade, equals freedom. If cash is eliminated,or downgraded even further, the stage is set for companies, national governments or even global bodies to monitor and manipulate our behaviour.


For more on this, watch Mal Fletcher's 30 min interview with futurist Dr. Patrick Dixon: High or Low quality version.

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Middle Eastrern Empires

VIEW THE FLASH PRESENTATION OF THE

EMPIRES OF THE MIDDLE EAST

This is an amazing, constantly changing map of the Middle East region, illustrating how various "empires" have risen and fallen in the past 3000 years--in just 90 seconds. Enjoy and share

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U.S. History, Christianity, and Politics PART 5

Sir Walter Raleigh

This is a new series that will reflect on the rich history of the United States and the part Christianity, politics, corruption, racism, and persecution has played before and after this great nation began. It is important that we remind ourselves of the factual history of the United States and the important role Christianity has in this country today as well as to remember the hardships endured by the people of the past. Some of the actions of "Christians" have not been Christian like at all, and by reviewing history, we hope that mistakes are not repeated again. We will first cover the history leading up to the founding of the United States of America.

Gilbert, Raleigh, and the Roanoke Settlers

English nobleman Sir Humphrey Gilbert believed England should found colonies and find a Northwest Passage. In 1576 he sent English sea captain Martin Frobisher to look for such a passage. Frobisher scouted along the inhospitable northeastern coast of Canada and brought back large amounts of a yellow metal that turned out to be fool's gold. In 1578 Gilbert obtained a charter allowing him to found a colony with his own funds and guaranteeing the prospective colonists all the rights of those born and residing in England, thus setting an important precedent for future colonial charters. His attempts to found a colony in Newfoundland failed, and while pursuing these endeavors he was lost at sea.

With the queen's permission, Gilbert's work was taken up by his half-brother, Sir Walter Raleigh. Raleigh turned his attention to a more southerly portion of the North American coastline, which he named Virginia, in honor of England's unmarried queen. He selected as a site for the first settlement, Roanoke Island, just off the coast of present-day North Carolina.

After one abortive attempt, a group of 114 settlers-men,women, and children-were landed in July 1587. Shortly thereafter, Virginia Dare became the first English child born in America. Later that year the expedition's leader, John Smith, returned to England to secure additional supplies. Delayed by the war with Spain he did not return until 1590, when he found the colony deserted. It is not known what became of the Roanoke settlers. After this failure, Raleigh was forced by financial constraints to abandon his attempts to colonize Virginia. Hampered by unrealistic expectations, inadequate financial resources, and ongoing war with Spain, English interest in American colonization was submerged for 15 years.


CREDIT: "Our Great Nation" Resources for Teachers, 2002.

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U.S. History, Christianity, and Politics Part 4

This is a new series that will reflect on the rich history of the United States and the part Christianity, politics, corruption, racism, and persecution has played before and after this great nation began. It is important that we remind ourselves of the factual history of the United States and the important role Christianity has in this country today as well as to remember the hardships endured by the people of the past. Some of the actions of "Christians" have not been Christian like at all, and by reviewing history, we hope that mistakes are not repeated again. We will first cover the history leading up to the founding of the United States of America.

English and French Beginnings

In 1497 the Italian John Cabot (Giovanni Caboto), sailing under the sponsorship of the king of England in search of a Northwest Passage (a water route to the Orient through or around the North American continent), became the first European since the Viking voyages more than four centuries earlier to reach the mainland of North America, which he claimed for England.

In 1524 the king of France authorized another Italian, Giovannia da Verrazzano, to undertake a mission similar to Cabot's. Endeavoring to duplicate the achievement of Portugal's Ferdinand Magellan, who had five years earlier found a way around the southern tip of South America, Verrazzano followed the American coast from present-day North Carolina to Maine.

Beginning in 1534, Jacques Cartier, also authorized by the king of France, mounted three expeditions to the area of the St. Lawrence River, which he believed might be the hoped-for Northwest Passage. He explored up the river as far as the site of Montreal, where rapids prevented him-or so he thought- from continuing to China. He claimed the area for France before abandoning his last expedition and returning to France in 1542. France made no further attempts to explore or colonize in America for 65 years.

England showed little interest in America as well during most of the sixteenth century. But when the English finally did begin colonization, commercial capitalism in England has advanced to the point that the English efforts were supported by private rather than government funds, allowing the English colonists to enjoy a greater degree of freedom from government interference.

Partially as a result of the New World rivalries and partially on account of differences between Protestant and Catholic countries, the sixteenth century was a violent time both in Europe and in America. French Protestants, called Huguenots, who attempted to escape persecution in Catholic France by settling in the New World were massacred by the Spaniards. One such incident led the Spaniards, nervous about any possible encroachment on what they considered to be their exclusive holdings in America, to build a fort that became the beginning of a settlement at St. Augustine, Florida, the oldest European settlement in what is now the United States. Spanish priests ventured north from St. Augustine, but no permanent settlements were built in the interior.

French and especially English sea captains made great sport of and considerable profit from plundering the Spaniards of the wealth they had first plundered from the Indians. One of the most successful English captains, Francis Drake, sailed around South America and raided the Spanish settlements on the Pacific coast of Central America before continuing on to California, which he claimed for England and named Nova Albion. Drake then returned to England by sailing around the world. England's Queen Elizabeth, sister and Protestant successor to Mary, had been quietly investing in Drake's highly profitable voyages. On Drake's return from his round-the-world voyage, Elizabeth openly showed her approval.

Angered by this as well as by Elizabeth's support of the Protestant cause in Europe, Spain's King Phillip II in 1588 dispatched a mighty fleet, the Spanish Armada, to conquer England. Instead, the Armada was defeated by the English navy and largely destroyed by storms in the North Sea. This victory established England as a great power and moved it a step closer to overseas colonization, although the war with Spain continued until 1604.

CREDIT: "Our Great Nation" Resources for Teachers, 2002.

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U.S. History, Christianity, and Politics PART 3

(Spanish Hacienda in Yucatan, Mexico [1542])

This is a new series that will reflect on the rich history of the United States and the part Christianity, politics, corruption, racism, and persecution has played before and after this great nation began. It is important that we remind ourselves of the factual history of the United States and the important role Christianity has in this country today as well as to remember the hardships endured by the people of the past. Some of the actions of "Christians" have not been Christian like at all, and by reviewing history, we hope that mistakes are not repeated again. We will first cover the history leading up to the founding of the United States of America.

New Spain

Spain administered its new holdings as an autocratic, rigidly controlled empire in which everything was to benefit the parent country. Tight control of even mundane matters was carried out by a suffocating bureaucracy run directly from Madrid. Annual treasure fleets carried the riches of the New World to Spain for the furtherance of its military-political goals in Europe.

As population pressures were low in sixteenth-century Spain, only about 200,000 Spaniards came to America during that time. To deal with the consequent labor shortages and as a reward to successful conquistadors, the Spaniards developed a system of large manors or estates (enocmiendas) with Indian slaves ruthlessly managed for the benefit of the conquistadors. The encomienda system was later replaced by the similar but somewhat milder hacienda system. As the Indian population died from overwork and European diseases, Spaniards began importing African slaves to supply their labor needs.

Society in New Spain was rigidly stratified, with the highest level reserved for natives of Spain (peninsulares) and the next for those of Spanish parentage born in the New World (creoles). Those of mixed (Mestizo) or Indian blood occupied lower levels.


CREDIT: "Our Great Nation" Resources for Teachers, 2002.

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U.S. History, Christianity, and Politics PART 2

Vasco de Balboa

This is a new series that will reflect on the rich history of the United States and the part Christianity, politics, corruption, racism, and persecution has played before and after this great nation began. It is important that we remind ourselves of the factual history of the United States and the important role Christianity has in this country today as well as to remember the hardships endured by the people of the past. Some of the actions of "Christians" have not been Christian like at all, and by reviewing history, we hope that mistakes are not repeated again. We will first cover the history leading up to the founding of the United States of America.

The Spanish Conquistadors

To conquer the Americas, the Spanish monarchs used their powerful army, led by independent Spanish adventurers known as conquistadors. At first the conquistadors confined their attentions to the Caribbean islands, where the European diseases they unwittingly carried with them devastated the local Indian populations, who had no immunitites against such diseases.

After about 1510 the conquistadors turned their attention to the America mainland. In 1513 Vasco Nunez de Balboa crossed the isthmus of Panama and became the first European to see the Pacific Ocean. The same year, Juan Ponce de Leon explored Florida in search of gold and the fabled fountain of youth. He found neither but claimed Florida for Spain. In 1519 Hernando Cortes led his dramatic expedition against the Aztecs of Mexico. Aided by the fact that the Indians at first mistook him for a god, and armed with firearms, armor,horses, and (unknown to him) smallpox germs all previously unknown in America, Cortes destroyed the Aztec empire and won enormous riches. By the 1550's other such fortune seekers had conquered much of South America.

In North America, the Spaniards sought in vain for riches. In 1528, Panfillo de Navarez led a disastrous expedition through the Gulf Coast region from which only four of the original 400 men returned. One of them, Cabeza de Vaca, brought with him a story of seven great cities full of gold, (The "Seven Cities of Cibola") somewhere to the north. In response to this, two Spanish expeditions explored the interior of North America. Hernando de Soto led a 600-man expedition (1539-1541) through what is now the southeastern United States, penetrating as far west as Oklahoma and discovering the Mississippi River, on whose banks de Soto was buried. Francisco Vasquez de Coronado led an expedition (1540-1542) from Mexico, north across the Rio Grande and through New Mexico, Arizona, Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas. Some of Coronado's men were the first Europeans to see the Grand Canyon. While neither expedition discovered rich Indian civilizations to plunder, both increased Europe's knowledge of the interior of North America and asserted Spain's territorial claims to the continent.


CREDIT: "Our Great Nation" Resources for Teachers, 2002.

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U.S. History, Christianity, and Politics Part 1

This is a new series that will reflect on the rich history of the United States and the part Christianity, politics, corruption, racism, and persecution has played before and after this great nation began. It is important that we remind ourselves of the factual history of the United States and the important role Christianity has in this country today as well as to remember the hardships endured by the people of the past. Some of the actions of "Christians" have not been Christian like at all, and by reviewing history, we hope that mistakes are not repeated again. We will first cover the history leading up to the founding of the United States of America.

1500-1763 The Colonial Period

The Age of Exploration

Excited by the gold Columbus has brought back from America, Amerigo Vespucci, an Italian member of a Portuguese expedition to South America whose widely reprinted report suggested a new world had been found. Ferdinand and Isabella, joint monarchs of Spain, sought formal confirmation of their ownership of these new lands. They feared the interference of Portugal, which was at that time a powerful seafaring nation and had been active in oversees exploration. At Spain's urging the pope drew a "Line of Demarcation" 100 leagues west of the Cape Verde Island dividing the heathen world into two equal parts--the east of the line for Portugal and the west of it for Spain.

Because the line tended to be unduly favorable to Spain, and because Portugal has the stronger navy, the two countries worked out the Treaty of Tordesillas (1494), by which the line was moved farther west. As a result, Brazil eventually became a Portuguese colony, and Spain maintained claims to the rest of the Americas. As other European nations joined the hunt for colonies, they tended to ignore the Treaty of Tordesillas.

CREDIT: "Our Great Nation" Resources for Teachers, 2002.

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