WORD WATCH DAILY PERSPECTIVE
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The 'bull in the china shop' to return to Israel:
'Kerry's framework proposal could be explosive'
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is expected to present a framework proposal to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas later this week • PMO: At no stage was there an agreement to free Israeli Arab prisoners.
Following Israel's release of 26 Palestinian prisoners on Monday night and ahead of U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry's expected arrival in Israel later this week, U.S. officials are projecting optimism for the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian peace talks entering the last stage of a nine-month negotiating window that opened in July.
"What we're focused on right now is the secretary's trip this week, working on the framework, working to narrow the gaps, and we'll just move forward from there," said State Department deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf on Monday.
US deal will trade off ‘Jewish’ Israel for 1967 lines — report
US Secretary of State John Kerry will offer Israeli and Palestinian negotiators a political trade-off: Israeli recognition of the 1967 lines as a basis for the future Palestinian state, in return for Palestinian recognition of Israel as the state of the Jewish people, Palestinian sources told the Saudi daily Al-Watan on Sunday.
According to the sources, the mutual recognition will constitute the core of a framework agreement to be signed by the end of January, and negotiated in greater detail during the following months.
“The coming weeks will be difficult for the Palestinian and Israeli sides, since they will need to make tough decisions,” a source told Al-Watan. “On the one hand, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will need to live with a text speaking of the 1967 borders, and the Palestinians, for their part, will need to live with a text speaking of Israel’s Jewishness.”
Abbas threatens to rally UN against settlement ‘cancer’
Abbas speaks during the welcome reception for prisoners at the
Muqataa presidential ground in Ramallah, in the early hours of
Tuesday, December 31, 2013. (photo: Hadas Parush/Flash90
Palestinian Authority president slams Israel for killing ‘dozens of civilians,’ imperiling the prospect of a two-state solution
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas compared the expansion of Israeli settlements to a “cancer” on Tuesday night and threatened to appeal to the United Nations to halt any new Israeli construction in the West Bank and east Jerusalem.
“We will not remain patient as the settlement cancer spreads, especially in Jerusalem, and we will use our right as a UN observer state by taking political, diplomatic and legal action to stop it,” Abbas said during a speech in honor of the forty-ninth anniversary of the founding of the Fatah party, according to AFP.
This long-duration snow event has begun, as an expansive swath of light snow spreads from the northern Rockies and northern Plains into the southern Great Lakes through New Year's Eve night as we shift from 2013 into 2014. Winter Storm Hercules is also being preceded by heavy but localized lake-effect snows east of Lake Erie and Lake Ontario Tuesday night into Wednesday.
Meanwhile, as the body of Hercules moves east, lake-effect snows will set up off Lake Superior and Lake Michigan Thursday into Thursday night. The Lake Michigan snow band will likely target the city of Chicago for a time before swinging into the more conventional Northwest Indiana snowbelts. Additional accumulations from the lake effect could push snow totals past the one-foot mark in a rather small area, but that small area could be home to several million people.
Frigid New Year's forecast for parts of U.S. -- 40 below zero
The National Weather Service forecasts many other areas of the United States will have a chilly start to the New Year with lows below zero -- well below zero.
“The two really cold spots will be New England and Wisconsin,” said Bruce Terry, a forecaster with the weather service. Minnesota and North Dakota will also be frigid, he said.
Lows in Wisconsin, Minnesota and North Dakota could reach 40 degrees below zero on Tuesday night, he said. In New England, temperatures will be relatively warmer, with lows near or below zero.
Major Snowstorm Targets 70 Million in Northeast
Two storms will merge quickly enough to produce a major snowstorm from the upper part of the mid-Atlantic to southern New England Thursday into Friday.
The storm will affect more than 70 million people in the Midwest and the Northeast combined and could have a major negative impact on travel for people returning from holiday destinations, heading back to school or resuming business activities.
It will be far from the worst storm to ever hit the area, but people should be prepared for flight delays and cancellations because of direct and indirect impacts from the far-reaching storm.
Putin vows to annihilate "terrorists"
after suicide bombings
President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday vowed to annihilate all "terrorists" following two deadly bomb attacks in the southern Russian city of Volgograd that raised security fears ahead of the Winter Olympics.
The uncompromising remarks in a televised New Year address were Putin's first public comments since suicide bombers killed at least 34 people in attacks less than 24 hours apart on a railway station and a trolleybus on Sunday and Monday.
But after two decades of violence in the North Caucasus, Islamist militants continue to pose a threat beyond their home region. Russia's Olympic Committee chief said no more could be done to safeguard the Games since every measure possible was already in place around Sochi, beneath the Caucasus mountains.
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Featured News  | ||
| Wednesday, Jan 01, 2014 01:47:42 AM EST Cameron, Merkel said to be headed to Israel in peace push | Tuesday, Dec 31, 2013 01:34:16 AM EST Drones, placentas and transgender students: New laws in 2014 cover much ground | Tuesday, Dec 31, 2013 01:21:39 AM EST Settler leaders: Washington under- stands the Jordan Valley must remain in Israeli hands |
| Tuesday, Dec 31, 2013 12:51:15 AM EST Dismay in Israel and joy in PA as Palestinian prisoners released | Monday, Dec 30, 2013 12:11:37 PM EST World in turmoil: Seven countries to watch in 2014 | Monday, Dec 30, 2013 12:05:07 PM EST Iran doesn’t take Obama’s military option seriously, says Oren |
| Monday, Dec 30, 2013 12:51:05 AM EST Netanyahu says Lebanese rocket attack constitutes 'double war crime' | Monday, Dec 30, 2013 12:45:36 AM EST Former MK Eldad: Time to Treat the Temple Mount Like a Holy Site | Sunday, Dec 29, 2013 02:00:34 AM EST House Intelligence chair: Benghazi attack 'Al Qaeda-led event' |
| Back To Top | ||
Inspired by God
"The men who have done the most for God in this world have been early on their knees. He who fritters away the early morning, its opportunity and freshness, in other pursuits than seeking God will make poor headway seeking Him the rest of the day. If God is not first in our thoughts and efforts in the morning, He will be in the last place the remainder of the day." - E. M. Bounds | ||
| Friday, Aug 16, 2013 01:44:04 AM EDT January 1: New Year - Streams in the Desert | Tuesday, Mar 05, 2013 02:57:42 AM EST January 1: Let Us Keep to the Point - Oswald Chambers | Tuesday, Mar 05, 2013 02:56:46 AM EST January 1: God’s Plan for Our Life - Charles Stanley |
| Thursday, Mar 12, 2009 10:36:42 AM EDT A.W. Tozer's Daily Devotional | Thursday, Mar 12, 2009 10:35:45 AM EDT Charles Spurgeon's 'Morning and Evening' Daily Devotional | Thursday, Mar 12, 2009 10:34:26 AM EDT Daily Light 'Morning and Evening' Devotional - Jonathan Bagster |
| Friday, Aug 08, 2008 08:36:37 AM EDT Charles Stanley's Audio Messages | Sunday, Dec 09, 2007 08:35:44 AM EST McLean Bible's Internet Services - Pastor Lon Solomon: Services are "live" Sunday' at 9 am, 10:45 am, & 12:30 pm (Eastern-US), rebroadcast Monday at 2 pm (Eastern-US) | Wednesday, Jan 31, 2007 04:14:46 PM EST Pastor Lon Solomon, McLean Bible Church, McLean, Virginia - Sermons by Date, Series and Podcasts |
| Back To Top | ||
RAPTURE READY NEWS PERSPECTIVE
01 Jan 14
Earthquakes in Tonga, Canary Islands and Oklahoma (Again): End of December 2013
The seven day period closing 2013 saw 1,398 tremors of all sizes in the US and its territories, and of at least M4 worldwide, but there were just 24 of M5 or more; the largest being an M5.9 in the Tonga Trench. The distribution of the larger earthquakes is broadly as expected, with the usual focus on the western Pacific Ocean.
Heatwave kills seven in Argentina
A heatwave affecting Argentina has left at least seven people dead - most of them elderly - in the past week, officials say. The heat has been compounded by power cuts, which have prevented many people from using air conditioning. In Santiago del Estero and other northern provinces temperatures have soared to over 45C (113F).
El Salvador orders evacuation from volcano's slopes
Authorities in El Salvador have resumed evacuating residents living on the slopes of the Chaparrastique volcano. The 2,130m-high (7,000 ft) volcano started erupting on Sunday morning, spewing ash and gases. Officials from the Salvadoran environment ministry said there was a risk the volcano could erupt again, this time emitting a lava flow.
US tells Israel: There's no chance Pollard will be freed for release of Israeli-Arab prisoners
US administration officials clarified to their Israeli counterparts that there is "no chance" that US President Barack Obama would be willing to free Israeli agent Jonathan Pollard in return for the release of Israeli-Arab prisoners... "This is simply posturing," the source said, "to be expected as part of the process. Pollard is needed as a confidence-building gesture to break an impasse which the US created, not as a quid pro quo."
AirSea Battle - concept of US defeat in war with China?
AirSea Battle envisions three main courses of actions: the destruction of an adversary’s potential in managing, monitoring and intelligence; the destruction of means with the help of which an adversary intends to isolate a combat area and not let US forces to enter it; the destruction of an adversary’s armed forces. The problem is that for many years China has been building its armed forces according to such strategy chosen by the adversary.
Fukushima is here: ‘ALL Bluefin Tuna Caught In California Are Radioactive’
Every bluefin tuna tested in the waters off California has shown to be contaminated with radiation that originated in Fukushima. Every single one.
Japan minister follows Abe to war shrine, pouring salt on wound for China
A Japanese cabinet member visited a shrine seen by critics as a symbol of Tokyo's wartime aggression on Wednesday, pouring salt on a fresh wound after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's pilgrimage there last week drew sharp criticism from China and South Korea.
Colorado pot users celebrate first day of legal weed sales
As Tuesday became Wednesday and 2013 became 2014, marijuana users in Colorado celebrated the new year with more than usual zeal. Beginning at 8 a.m., retail pot sales can officially begin in the Rocky Mountain State. Anyone over the age of 21 with a Colorado ID can purchase up to an ounce of marijuana at a licensed store.
Russian officials identify suicide bomb suspect as Putin vows to annihilate terrorists
Russian officials believe that they know the identity of the man who blew himself up Sunday at a train station in the southern city of Volgograd, killing at least 18 people.
Cameron, Merkel headed to Israel next month
British Prime Minister David Cameron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel will both visit Israel next month, Foreign Ministry officials said Wednesday.
West Nile Virus kills 27 bald eagles in Utah
State wildlife officials say West Nile Virus appears to be the mystery illness that's caused more than two dozen bald eagles to die in Utah this month. The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources says results of laboratory tests on some of the first birds found indicate they died from West Nile.
Global poll: US is the greatest threat to world peace
A survey carried out by Worldwide Independent Network/Gallup International found that the U.S. is perceived as the greatest threat to world peace. The annual end of year poll collected opinions from some 68,000 people in 65 countries.
IDF patrol takes fire from Gaza Strip
An IDF patrol operating along the Gaza border came under fire from an unidentified source in the Hamas-controlled territory Tuesday night. There were no reports of injuries or damage.
Gay couple to exchange vows on Rose Parade float
A gay Los Angeles couple plans to exchange wedding vows on a flower-covered float trundling through Pasadena during the nationally televised Tournament of Roses Parade on Wednesday.
RAPTURE READY Nearing midnight PERSPECTIVE
Dec 30, 2013
NSA Spying Is Hurting American Business
It has only been a few months since it was revealed that America has been spying on some of its closest friends. The scandal has already grabbed the title as one of the greatest diplomatic debacles in our nation’s history. It is also quickly becoming one of America’s greatest financial fiascos.
U.S. trade partners fully realize they are at risk of being spied on if they buy any communication technology made by U.S. firms. Our government passed laws requiring companies to install secret backdoors allowing the NSA to secretly gather information.
IBM, the largest computer-services provider, was one the first to report a sales drop. The firms’ China branch, reported a 22 percent drop in sales. The Chinese government is very tight-lipped about it its daily activities, so going forward, IBM would be the last company the Chinese government would chose to supply their data processing needs. A Louisiana Pension fund is suing IBM claiming the tech giant defrauded investors by concealing the sales decline after Edward Snowden leaked information that the company was cooperating with the NSA.
Cisco Systems is another company impacted by the NSA scandal. Cisco’s November sales were down 21 percent because of an instant problem with the Internet’s ability to trust its encryption products. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) told companies not to use cryptographic standards that may have been undermined by the NSA’s BULLRUN program. One of Cisco analysts admitted that cryptography was compromised: “It would be a critical blow to the trust required across the Internet and the security community.” Since Cisco is required give crypto keys to the NSA, its technology can never be trusted.
The bid by AT&T to acquire the European company, Vodafone, may be in danger due to the company’s well-documented involvement in the NSA data-collection programs. European officials are now saying the telecommunications giant will face “intense scrutiny” in the effort to purchase Vodafone. There may be so many restrictions placed on the combined company that AT&T may decide it is unprofitable to proceed with the venture.
Telenor, Norway’s largest telecom provider has reportedly halted its plans to move its customers to a U.S. based cloud provider. It will likely choose to go with a European firm.
The fallout is not just related to communication technology. Brazil has just decided to award a $4.5 billion contract to Swedish company, Saab AB, to replace its aging fleet of fighter jets. Boeing had been of the favorite to win the deal, but America’s spying voided its chances. “The NSA problem ruined it for the Americans,” a Brazilian government confirmed on condition of anonymity.
We have also damaged opportunities for foreign investments by giving everyone that comes to this nation, the Big Brother treatment. I’m sure many entrepreneurs have decided against opening a business in America because it meant being treated like a potential terrorist every time they visited our shores.
For American companies all this bad blood amounts to a huge shortfall in sales to other nations. Forrester Research, a technology and market research company says the lost trade could reach $180 billion by 2016. Since America already has a $500 billion annual trade deficit, adding tens of billions to this figure will only make matters worse.
There is very little concern in Washington about American companies losing their competitive edge due to NSA surveillance. Even when Angela Merkel called President Obama to compare the NSA to the Stasi that she faced growing up in East Germany, he offered no guarantee that the spying on her personal phone conversations would stop. I did find one U.S. Senator who understands the problem. Senator Ron Wyden recently remarked, “If a foreign enemy was doing this much damage to the economy, people would be in the streets with pitchforks.”
Before Obama left for a Christmas vacation, he had a meeting with leaders of this nation’s biggest technology firms, and they complained very “loudly” over what the NSA is doing to their business. Even if they managed to convince Obama that something needs to be done, I see only a small chance the tide will turn. Just as the military-industrial-complex has become an impossible beast to manage, the NSA has had a dozen years to become equally entrenched.
I think our spying problem will eventually fix itself. The economic base of this nation is being eroded so rapidly by incompetent policies that the day will soon come when we can no longer afford to snoop on the rest of the world. The Bible’s lack of clear reference to America in prophecy may indicate our downfall is close at hand.
--Todd
2014 Prophecy Prospectus
The upcoming year invites a look into its major prophetic potentialities, based upon the way 2013 is ending. If this was a prospectus on any number of the general matters on which a prospectus is normally issued, it would be directed only to those who have invested interests or potential investment interests in the financial possibilities presented.
In other words, the prospectus would be highly limited in scope to but a relatively few people. For example, stockholders of a publicly held company would want to know the potential economic advantages that holding stock in that company offers. The analysis within a prospectus would be to inform potential investors about products and or services, now or in the immediate future, and probable company performance before they determined whether to buy new stock being offered.
Our prophecy prospectus differs in a couple of major ways from that just described:1) Those investors potentially affected by future performance are neither limited in scope nor in numbers involved. Bible prophecy involves, literally, every person alive on planet Earth. 2) The prophecy prospectus literally involves investment potentialities--not of meager, earthly dollars and cents—but things that determine future dividends for investors throughout all of eternity.
We will try to analyze some of the primary issues and events at this year’s end and project the prophetic trends, based upon that analysis as we move into 2014 and beyond.
Admittedly, this will offer only the very slightest look at these things. We will do so, not with hubris or self-aggrandizement; only the God of Heaven knows the future. But, our Lord has indeed given us–and in many cases, in considerable detail—an overview of things to come. We are told by Him to “watch” (Mark 13:37) for those things to come that He promises us we can know, at least in general terms:
“Thus saith the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker, Ask me of things to come concerning my sons, and concerning the work of my hands command ye me” (Isaiah 45:11).
“Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come” (John 16:13).
The Holy Spirit, God in His omniscience, gives those who are in His family (all born again through belief in His Son, Jesus Christ) both the ability and the command to watch for prophetic signals in discerning the times in which we live. Therefore, let us look at the prospects for 2014, with the confidence that we can achieve at least a certain degree of understanding about things to come.
The bottom line in considering things to come at this juncture is that the time of Tribulation is no longer just a faint rumble of distant thunder on the prophetic horizon. Every major element of Bible prophecy leading up to Christ’s Second Advent can be discerned by anyone with a futurist viewpoint of biblical eschatology--that is, everyone who believes that there are major prophecies yet to be fulfilled. As the year 2013 closes, we very briefly analyze those key elements of prophecy yet future and consider the prospects for 2014 and thereafter.
Israel: Israel is at stage center for the final act of Satan’s war against God to play out. The American president has exerted his power and authority, to considerable extent, in putting the Jewish state’s prime minister on notice that Israel will be given U.S. support only if Israel complies with the stipulations Secretary of State John Kerry and the so-called Palestinian leadership contrive. Chief among these matters of compliance is, apparently, the cessation of construction within Israel’s sovereign territory. On the other hand, the Palestinians do not have to agree to even recognize Israel as a legitimate national entity. Certainly, for the immediate future, there can be no peace arrangement under this broad area of disagreement. If the dreadful peace of Isaiah 28 is to be made, there will likely have to develop even more severe potential for war in the region, with the Palestinian leadership perceiving they will lose any chance to achieve statehood, I believe. Then, that leadership–like all good Islamists—will lie to agree to some of Israel’s demands. Whether this government, led by Benjamin Netanyahu, will buy those lies is another matter. It seems to me that a much broader peace scheme must be in play for it to come up to the dimension of the Isaiah 28:15, 18 covenant, so look for the current peace efforts to limp along for quite awhile.
Iran: This nation that comprises most of ancient Persia smugly senses a weak U.S. administration, I suspect. It will play the game of Middle East chess until it is right back to doing within its mountainous underground nuclear laboratories what it has been doing since setting its sights on building a weapon that can carry out the mullahs’ designs of hegemony over the entire region and the elimination of the hated little Satan --Israel.
Russia: Russia will continue to demonstrate it is resuming superpower status in its climb back from the fall as the U.S.S.R. Prophetically, Russia’s ties to Iran can only grow stronger, even though the two nations will likely attempt to show, publicly, a marked independence from each other. I believe that Israel’s increasing capabilities in the area of natural gas production and its growing gas industry’s inroads into European and other markets greatly disturb Putin. Look for Russia to keep strengthening its military position and influence to the south.
Electronic control technologies: Electronic control technologies in the U.S. and on a global scale look to be growing ominously as the weeks roll on. Despite the NSA and other scandals, with the divulgences by Snowden and other revelations of privacy-destroying snooping by governments, the world-wide system of control is progressing geometrically and, perhaps, is already of sufficient strength and ubiquity to give Antichrist what he needs to subjugate most of the world’s populations once he takes the reins of power as indicated in Revelation 13:16-18.
These are the areas of most particular prophetic relevance while we finish this year and look into the next, in my opinion. Other areas, such as economy, religion, and cultural matters are only slightly less critical in considering prospects for 2014. We will continue to look at these aspects of life as well through the prism of God’s prophetic Word.
The most profitable investment any of us can make for the upcoming year is to pray, study God’s Word, and put our efforts and resources into His kingdom for reaching souls of men, women, and children. We at Rapture Ready solicit your help in investing in that mission in 2014. Your "heavenly bank account" will increase beyond measure.
-- Terry
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