Two Conferences this Saturday: one good, one evil

~ I, THRILL, will be speaking at an AWANA Conference in El Cajon, CA on Saturday, October 1st, 2011. I will be given the blessing of sharing with a small group of people the importance of why Christians, and citizens of this Nation Under God, should support the Nation of Israel.

A lot is going on this Saturday. It's October, so you know people are Google-ing to find out where an Octoberfest is happening in their area. Some will utilize this weekend to plan Halloween parties, and maybe discuss where and with who to have these parties with. A handful will even contemplate what costume they will wear. Many friends of mine will be spending this Saturday at the Miramar Air Show. There's even a gun show happening this weekend; ....I know! We all have something going on this Saturday.

Like I said, I will be giving a speech at a Christian conference on why we should all unite and support Israel.

However, there are those who will be meeting this Saturday,...at another kind of conference.... to unite and share ideologies on why the middle east should HATE Israel. Here is the story:

Tehran to Host Intifada Conference
Hundreds of Iranian, foreign politicians are due to participate in the 5th annual international conference in support of Palestinian uprising against Israel, Fars news agency reports; Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani to chair event.

Hundreds of Iranian and foreign politicians are due to participate in an international conference in support of the Palestinian Intifada in Tehran on Saturday, the Iranian Fars news agency reported.

“Over 50 parliamentary delegations and political figures, elites and intellectuals and many state officials from Muslim and non-Muslim countries are due to attend the conference,” Fars quoted conference organizer Hossein Sheikholeslam as saying.

According to the report, Sheikholeslam said that the 2-day conference will be chaired by Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani, who is also scheduled to hold separate meetings with several parliamentary delegations on the sidelines of the conference.

The news agency said that delegations from Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Jordan, Hungary, Colombia and many others have announced their willingness to participate in the conference.

The fifth annual event comes in light of the Palestinian bid for UN recognition, which Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas submitted last week to the global body's Security Council.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who addressed the UN General Assembly ahead of the submittal of the PA's proposal, accused the "Zionist regime" of imposing "homelessness, terror, and mass murder on the Palestinian people."

Ahmadinejad, known for his fiery anti-Zionist rhetoric, claimed in a different speech last Friday that the creation of a universally-recognized Palestinian state would be just a first step towards wiping out Israel.

"Recognizing the Palestinian state is not the last goal. It is only one step forward towards liberating the whole of Palestine," Ahmadinejad said. "The Zionist regime is a center of microbes, a cancer cell and if it exists in one iota of Palestine it will mobilize again and hurt everyone."

Mishap at Tri-City Church

Vista, CA- Today, at Tri-City Church, a church that I am a member of, I had the honor of listening Dr. Jeff Johnson speak. Dr. Johnson was the senior pastor of Tri-City when I first arrived ten years ago. He left as pastor shortly after I started attending, but I remember being moved by the Words of God he would amplify in his sermons.

Dr. Johnson is an expert on Biblical Prophecy and End Times. In 2002, he founded the Israel Today Ministries, http://israeltodayministries.org/ This man has incredible talents and by the hand of God, is moving mountain-sized tasks worldwide.

After guest speaking at my church, there was a Q&A held upstairs, where anyone could come and further their knowledge from Dr. Johnson. He brilliantly read the questions on a given stack of cards filled out by random people and gave an educated response to each. It was well worth the $4.

Well, there was a slip up on my part. At one point, I was convinced that Dr. Johnson slammed the credibility of the [Thomas Nelson New King James Bible for American Patriots.] The blow hit my soul deep. I was furious, but tried my absolute best to stay calm. The neighboring on lookers, mostly VIPs of my church, probably thought I was a total jerk. But I had to comment.

I weakly confronted Dr. Johnson on his nonchalant way of passing off this United States of America. I took offense that he would slam The American Patriot's Bible. Apparently, I've been advised that I misunderstood him. He did rebute my comment by advising me to readjust my tone- for this would make me further efficient when "witnessing" or "representing Christ" to others. Honestly, I was just pissed at him.

Understand that Dr. Jeff Johnson is an American and a great lover of this country. The channels were lost in communication. We ended the discussion on a positive note. I even spoke with him after the $4 meeting and made sure that he understood that I support his ministry. I even thanked him for enlightening me with his knowledge. Hopefully, he'll forget me and my stern tone.

Let's not take my actions out of context. Some of you think I am a total ass. You forget that your sons and daughters, your brothers and sisters, your husbands and wives, are my brothers and sisters in Christ. Now, I hate gossip, but you'd have to be a fool to believe that I don't hear the lies that are being spread before and after me. If you truly observe where I walk, and what I've been fighting for, you will understand why I speak and act the way I do.

I am truly sorry that my conduct may seem unorthodox. Instead of proclaiming how wrong it is that I conduct myself the way that I do, INSTEAD, ask yourself WHY is it I conduct myself the way that I do. By learning why my born-again heart is so heavy, maybe from there we can become productive with our united evangelism.

Nelson Bibles, A Division of Thomas Nelson Publishers, printed a New King James Version Study Bible called, "The American Patriot's Bible."

This Bible is basically a Nelson NKJVersion. On additional pages are notes that explain the history of how The United States of America was founded. It contains stories of real evangelical events that took place throughout the ages of America's birth and progress. The study notes of this Bible capture real evidence that shows just how Christian our Founding Fathers were in the genesis of this nation.

I understand that it is inevitable that America will fall to the ground. I understand that America is not Israel. (I also understand that the majority of the bodies living in the 50 states think America is a joke...I guess 9/12 is over.)
But, by God, America was founded to be and should remain UNDER GOD. There maybe no hope for the America of tomorrow. But sources like this "..American Patriot's Bible" can help us, an original Judeo-Christian nation, suppress the escalation of evil in our land.

This source also captures which presidents have walked with God during their service to this nation. Remember, it was a U.S. President, that helped Israel become a statehood, only because that president felt the call from the Holy Spirit. The freedoms of this nation, defended by our troops worldwide, allow citizens of this land to travel anywhere and share the Gospel.

I've seen what my M-16A2 Service Rifle can do to a human being. I am convinced that our military was molded by the grace of God. The swords of this nation are coated with the blood of Christ, and cleanse the filthy terrors of this planet towards righteousness. This Nation Under God protects the Church, and allows His Bride to Journey. No, America is not above Christ. America is UNDER the Father, the Son, and Holy Spirit.

America may not be the chosen nation by God, but America definitely is one of the biggest, and maybe only, huge column supporting the Lord's Israel.


Dr. Jeff Johnson is brilliant with his knowledge on why we all should care and support the Nation of Israel. I invite you all to please check out his website,
Israel Today Ministries: http://israeltodayministries.org/

Dr. Jeff Johnson, I'm sorry for the misunderstanding on Sunday. I love you very much.

-Thrill

The American Betrayal

by: Sima Kadmon
The earthquake in Egypt caught us off guard. As was the case before, this time too our intelligence officials did not predict it, yet we are in good company: No Western country, including America, predicted this, just like they did not predict Hamas’ rise in Gaza.

Yet there is one more thing we can learn from the events in Egypt, aside from the fragility of the region we inhabit, and it is something that’s not easy to digest: The Western world’s and mostly America’s treachery. We learned that the way they abandoned President Mubarak and gave him the cold shoulder can happen to us too. Or in other words, we cannot count on the Americans at a time of crisis.

Everyone understands that Mubarak has to go, yet we would expect the American Administration to back him rather than disown him. It’s the decent thing to do at least. For dozens of years, he was the only leader the West could rely on, the dam in the face of Islamization. He should have been treated differently if only in gratitude.

And when America does this to the Egyptian president, what should any other ally think? Perhaps that it’s better to conduct oneself like Iran or Syria, rather than like a moderate Arab state.

There is no doubt that something fundamental about the American Administration has changed. The US conduct in the Middle East attests to inexperience and lack of familiarity with the region. It appears as though the world is being led by a rookie.

Ignoring Mideastern Realities

A senior diplomatic source told me this past week that Israel is engaged in talks with US officials on the events in Egypt and Mubarak’s abandonment. The Americans are saying that they cannot ignore reformist elements that believe in the universal values espoused by the president. Or in other words: The current Administration’s problem is ideological and ignores Mideastern realities. Indeed, democratic reforms are worthy of being promoted, yet when this is done by abandoning an ally it sends a bad message to regional leaders.

Meanwhile, it’s clear to all that if Muslim groups take power in Egypt at the conclusion of the uprising, our peace deal with Cairo is doomed. And should this agreement collapse, what are the chances that Jordan will remain the only state in the region that has peace with Israel?

The revolution in Egypt has prompted a revolution in our thinking as well. Indeed, Egypt is not Israel, as we have the support of the US Congress and Jewish groups that exert immense influence on the Administration. However, following the events of the past week, we must wonder whether we can even count on that.

The Arab Revolution and Western Decline

by: Ari Shavit

Two huge processes are happening right before our eyes. One is the Arab liberation revolution. After half a century during which tyrants have ruled the Arab world, their control is weakening. After 40 years of decaying stability, the rot is eating into the stability. The Arab masses will no longer accept what they used to accept. The Arab elites will no longer remain silent.

Processes that have been roiling beneath the surface for about a decade are suddenly bursting out in an intifada of freedom. Modernization, globalization, telecommunications and Islamization have created a critical mass that cannot be stopped. The example of democratic Iraq is awakening others, and Al Jazeera's subversive broadcasts are fanning the flames. And so the Tunisian bastille fell, the Cairo bastille is falling and other Arab bastilles will fall.

The scenes are similar to the Palestinian intifada of 1987, but the collapse recalls the Soviet collapse in Eastern Europe of 1989. No one knows where the intifada will lead. No one knows whether it will bring democracy, theocracy or a new kind of democracy. But things will never again be the same.

The old order in the Middle East is crumbling. Just as the officers' revolution in the 1950s brought down the Arab monarchism that had relied on the colonial powers, the 2011 revolution in the square is bringing down the Arab tyrants who were dependent on the United States.

The second process is the acceleration of the decline of the West. For some 60 years the West gave the world imperfect but stable order. It built a kind of post-imperial empire that promised relative quiet and maximum peace. The rise of China, India, Brazil and Russia, like the economic crisis in the United States, has made it clear that the empire is beginning to fade.

And yet, the West has maintained a sort of international hegemony. Just as no replacement has been found for the dollar, none has been found for North Atlantic leadership. But Western countries' poor handling of the Middle East proves they are no longer leaders. Right before our eyes the superpowers are turning into palaver powers.

There are no excuses for the contradictions. How can it be that Bush's America understood the problem of repression in the Arab world, but Obama's America ignored it until last week? How can it be that in May 2009, Hosni Mubarak was an esteemed president whom Barack Obama respected, and in January 2011, Mubarak is a dictator whom even Obama is casting aside? How can it be that in June 2009, Obama didn't support the masses who came out against the zealot Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, while now he stands by the masses who are coming out against the moderate Mubarak?

There is one answer: The West's position is not a moral one that reflects a real commitment to human rights. The West's position reflects the adoption of Jimmy Carter's worldview: kowtowing to benighted, strong tyrants while abandoning moderate, weak ones.

Carter's betrayal of the Shah brought us the ayatollahs, and will soon bring us ayatollahs with nuclear arms. The consequences of the West's betrayal of Mubarak will be no less severe. It's not only a betrayal of a leader who was loyal to the West, served stability and encouraged moderation. It's a betrayal of every ally of the West in the Middle East and the developing world. The message is sharp and clear: The West's word is no word at all; an alliance with the West is not an alliance. The West has lost it. The West has stopped being a leading and stabilizing force around the world.

The Arab liberation revolution will fundamentally change the Middle East. The acceleration of the West's decline will change the world. One outcome will be a surge toward China, Russia and regional powers like Brazil, Turkey and Iran. Another will be a series of international flare-ups stemming from the West's lost deterrence. But the overall outcome will be the collapse of North Atlantic political hegemony not in decades, but in years. When the United States and Europe bury Mubarak now, they are also burying the powers they once were. In Cairo's Tahrir Square, the age of Western hegemony is fading away.

Israel Finds Common Cause with Evangelicals

by: Michele Chabin

JERUSALEM (RNS) - When Texas megachurch pastor John Hagee wrapped up a visit to Israel on Monday (Nov. 15) with 40 pastors in tow, he sought out the places where Jesus walked, preached and prayed some 2,000 years ago.

But there was another meeting on the itinerary that was a must-not-miss event for Hagee and his host: a sit-down with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.



The fact that Netanyahu -- knee-deep in contentious talks with Palestinians over a freeze on Israeli settlement construction -- found time to meet Hagee's contingent speaks volumes about the ties between Israeli officials and evangelical Christians.

Christian Zionist support for Israel is at an all-time high, observers say, and Israelis, American Jews, and Palestinians are all taking notice -- some favorable, some not.

While Israel has long courted financial and political support from evangelicals, many Jewish American leaders have viewed the alliance with suspicion, leery about potential proselytizing and uncomfortable with evangelicals' domestic agenda at home.

Recently, though, the American Jewish community has found a new appreciation for evangelical support at a time of mounting international criticism of Israeli policy and financial hardships for many prominent Jewish groups.

Hit hard by the economic downturn and the Bernard Madoff Ponzi scheme that decimated Jewish charities, American Jewish groups are sending less money to Israel. Dozens of evangelical groups "have definitely stepped in to fill some of the void," said Dan Brown, creator of the website e-jewishphilanthropy.com.

One of those groups is the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews (IFCJ), a Chicago-based evangelical group that has donated as much as $70 million to Israel in 2009 alone, and another $30 million to Jewish causes in the former Soviet Union and elsewhere.

Five years ago, Hadassah magazine, a mainstream Jewish women's magazine, rejected an ad from Eckstein's group. But this year, after a large donation to a Hadassah-affiliated hospital in Jerusalem, Hadassah honored Eckstein's group at its annual gala.

"We still haven't been embraced by the establishment Jewish organizations, but I do think there's a growing admiration because we've been able to grow by leaps and bounds over the past three years while the Jewish federation system and other sources of Jewish philanthropy have suffered declines," said founder Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein.

Evangelical leaders say their reliance on thousands of small donors -- rather than a few mega-givers -- has helped them weather the recession and actually increase their funding to Israel. No one knows how much Christian Zionists give Israel in total, but the amount is substantial.

The organizations, including many based in the U.S., support Israeli hospitals, schools, and social welfare programs. A few pay for bomb shelters and ambulances, and assist elderly Holocaust survivors and victims of terror attacks. Hagee's San Antonio-based group has donated more than $50 million since 2006, including $8.5 million this year.

Monetary support, however, is just part of the equation.

For the past four years, another Hagee group, Christians United for Israel, has held an annual Washington summit to push Israeli concerns on U.S. lawmakers. Christian Zionist groups sponsor letter-writing campaigns and are active on college campuses.

Joshua Reinstein, director of the seven-year-old Knesset Christian Allies Caucus in the Israeli parliament, said there has been "an explosion of support" from evangelical political leaders. The group now has pro-Israel "legislators of faith" caucuses in 18 countries, including the U.S.

Palestinian Christians, who have successfully cultivated their own powerful and wealthy allies in the mainline Protestant and Roman Catholic churches, are vocally opposed to Christian Zionism. Many of their church allies are active in the so-called Global BDS movement -- boycotts, divestment and sanctions of Israeli goods and citizens.

Christian Zionism is "a heretical and false interpretation of Christian theology" that "justifies violence and oppression in the name of God," said Jonathan Kuttab, chairman of the West Bank's Bethlehem Bible College.

Ari Morgenstern, a spokesman for Christian United for Israel, reads the Bible differently.

"The biblical mandate for Christian Zionism is Genesis 12:3," he said, referring to a verse where God promises to bless those who bless Israel, and curse her foes. "As Pastor Hagee has said, Christians should support Israel because it is simply the right thing to do."

Ironically, just as American Jewish groups have warmed to Christian Zionist partners, several prominent ultra-Orthodox Israeli rabbis have forbidden their followers from accepting funds or services from organizations funded -- even in part -- by evangelicals.

David Parsons, spokesman for the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem, said hard-line rabbis pressured Israeli dignitaries not to attend the recent opening of a home for Holocaust victims that was partially funded by Parson's group.

"It's a real shame they tried to spoil the event," Parsons said. "We don't missionize, and the focus should have been on the needs of destitute Holocaust survivors."

Shimon Sebag, whose charitable group Yad Ezer L'Haver runs the home, said it "never crossed my mind" to refuse the Embassy's assistance. Sebag said the 55 elderly residents now have "a warm home, meals and medical care."

"The Talmud says, `When you save one life, you save a world,'" Sebag said. "The Embassy saved 55 worlds."

Prime Minister Cameron’s Slander Against Israel

by: Peter Wehner


In a speech in Ankara, Turkey, British Prime Minister David Cameron said this:

I know that Gaza has led to real strains in Turkey ’s relationship with Israel. But Turkey is a friend of Israel. And I urge Turkey, and Israel, not to give up on that friendship. Let me be clear. The Israeli attack on the Gaza flotilla was completely unacceptable. And I have told PM Netanyahu, we will expect the Israeli inquiry to be swift, transparent and rigorous. Let me also be clear that the situation in Gaza has to change. Humanitarian goods and people must flow in both directions. Gaza cannot and must not be allowed to remain a prison camp. But as, hopefully, we move in the coming weeks to direct talks between Israel and the Palestinians so it’s Turkey that can make the case for peace and Turkey that can help to press the parties to come together, and point the way to a just and viable solution.

Prime Minister Cameron’s claim that the “Israeli attack” on the Gaza flotilla was “completely unacceptable” is utter nonsense. As I argued at the time:

The blockade was justified by international law. (Egypt , by the way, had also imposed a blockade on Gaza because of the threat from the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas, which illegally seized control of Gaza in 2007.) The Israeli navy first tried to warn the ships off verbally. The “peace activist” on board assaulted Israeli commandos (who were armed with paintball guns) with clubs, knives, metal pipes, stun grenades, and handguns; it turns out that many of them were recruited specifically to attack Israeli soldiers. The “humanitarian relief” the flotilla was supposedly bringing to Palestinians in Gaza was in fact no such thing (food, medicine, relief supplies, and electricity continue to pour into Gaza on a daily basis). And the “charity” that helped organize the flotilla was in fact the radical Turkish group IHH (Insani Yardim Vakfi), which has longstanding ties to Hamas and the global jihadist movement. Yet somehow, some way, it is Israel that is condemned when it acts in its own self-defense.

All of these facts are highly relevant, yet Cameron mentions none of them. I wonder why.

As for Gaza being a “prison camp”: if that’s what it is, Gaza is a prison camp of the Palestinian leadership’s own making.

It cannot be said often enough: in 2005, Israel and Prime Minister Ariel Sharon — in unilaterally withdrawing from Gaza — did for the Palestinians what the Turks (and, among others, the British, Egyptians, and Jordanian rulers of Palestine) never did: it granted them sovereign control in Gaza. Rather than build a peaceful and prosperous state, however, Hamas — which seized control of Gaza — decided to launch thousands of rocket and mortar attacks against unarmed Israelis. Israel responded as any sane, sovereign state would with measures including a blockade. Yet Cameron has no words of condemnation for Hamas. This sounds like midsummer madness.

The truth Cameron cannot abide is that the responsibility for the suffering in Gaza lies not with the Israelis but with Hamas and the Palestinians. And for the Prime Minister of Great Britain not only to deny this truth but also to engage in a smear of an estimable and admirable nation like Israel — all to establish a “new partnership” between Britain and Turkey and, in the process, to win applause from Turkey’s increasingly radicalized leadership — is troubling and disappointing. Prime Minister Cameron’s approach is morally offensive and strategically foolish.

On this matter at least, the British prime minister knows not of what he speaks.