An Endorsement from Osama bin-Laden

An Endorsement from Osama bin-Laden
Vol: 37 Issue: 30 Saturday, October 30, 2004

It worked in Madrid. After al-Qaeda blew up a train in what Spain called “it’s 9/11” it issued a communique offering Spain a deal; “If you don’t bother us, we won’t bother you.”

At the time, Spain was governed by Jose Maria Aznar, one of America’s staunchest US allies in the war on terror. The Madrid attack was timed to coincide with Spain’s national elections. Aznar’s government was forecast to easily defeat Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero’s Socialists.

The Socialists who had pledged to withdraw Spain from the coalition defeated Aznar in a surprising upset, and Zapatero announced that his government would abruptly withdraw Spain’s contingent of 1,300 troops from Iraq.

Immediately after hearing Spain’s announcement, radical Shi’ite cleric Sheik Muqtada al-Sadr to declare a moratorium on attacks against Spanish troops in Iraq. The message was clear. Spain had surrendered to al-Qaeda and al-Qaeda had accepted.

The week following Zapatero’s announcement of withdrawal, John Kerry told “Meet the Press” that, if he was elected, he would do the same thing.

“I will immediately reach out to other nations in a very different way from this administration,” he said. “Within weeks of being inaugurated I will return to the U.N. and I will rejoin the community of nations.”

Osama bin-Laden released his latest video ‘message’ to America four days before Election Day in order to accomplish in America what he did in Spain — use terror and fear to bring down a sitting government.

The whole message was a tirade against George Bush, comparing his administration to that of the dictatorships of the Middle East. bin-Laden had clearly been reading the New York Times, because he sounded like a spokesperson for the Democratic National Committee:

“He [Bush] moved the tyranny and suppression of freedom [from Middle Eastern dictatorships] to his own country, and they called it the Patriot Act, under the disguise of fighting terrorism.”

Echoing the criticism offered by John Kerry of the President’s actions on September 11, when he finished reading the story to school kids after hearing of the first attack, bin Laden taunted;

“We agreed with the leader of the group, Mohammed Atta, to perform all attacks within 20 minutes before [President George W.] Bush and his administration were aware of what was going on. And we never knew that the commander-in-chief of the American armed forces would leave 50,000 of his people in the two towers to face those events by themselves when they were in the most urgent need of their leader.

He was more interested in listening to the child’s story about the goat rather than worry about what was happening to the towers. So, we had three times the time necessary to accomplish the events.”

Osama’s ‘message’ read more like a list of Democratic talking points for the John Kerry campaign than the usual “we will make your streets rivers of blood’ rhetoric we’ve come to expect from the demented terrorist leader.

Once he had finished campaigning for John Kerry, bin-Laden underscored his point that a vote for the challenger is a vote for peace and safety.

“Your security is not in the hands of Kerry or Bush or al Qaeda. Your security is in your own hands. Any nation that does not attack us will not be attacked.”

Assessment:

The message couldn’t be more clear. Osama bin-Laden just offered the same deal to America that he offered to Spain. “If you don’t bother us, we won’t bother you.”

The Bush Doctrine calls for the US to hunt down and destroy terrorists wherever they can be found, and to treat states that support terrorism as national enemies of the USA. That policy will not change if George Bush is re-elected to the White House.

John Kerry SAYS now that he would be as tough on al-Qaeda as the Bush administration. But from his comments, it appears that bin-Laden has been following the campaign closely, so he is undoubtedly aware of John Kerry’s antiwar past. He has campaigned on an antiwar platform since receiving the Democratic nomination. Osama is betting on Kerry’s deeds, not his words. (Unlike many US voters)

Clearly, bin-Laden’s goal is to see John Kerry defeat George Bush.

It was a message echoed ’round the world. “Bin Laden shocks U.S,” was Saturday’s headline in Britain’s Financial Times newspaper. “Bin Laden to U.S. voters: your fate is in your hands,” said the front page of The Daily Telegraph.

Montasser el-Zayat, a Cairo-based lawyer who defends Islamic radicals, said the video amounted to an “unprecedented attack on Bush at a very critical time, before the U.S. elections.”

Paul Wilkinson, chairman of the Center for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence at St. Andrews University in Scotland, called the tape “a very crude but sinister attempt to try to influence the presidential election.”

Diaa Rashwan, a Cairo-based expert on extremist Muslim militants, said bin Laden was trying to influence Americans “to give Kerry their votes, not Bush.”

The only one who didn’t seem to get the message Osama was sending America was John Kerry himself. When the tape emerged, Kerry started slamming Bush for having not captured bin-Laden as evidence that he “can run a more effective war on terror than George Bush.”

Clearly, America’s enemies disagree, which is why they are campaigning on behalf of John Kerry.

So far, John Kerry has gotten the tacit endorsement of France and Germany. The release of the ‘missing explosives’ report by the UN’s Mohammed el-Baredei was timed to damage the Bush re-election chances and hand John Kerry his ‘October Surprise’.

His candidacy is supported by the American Muslim Council, CAIR, and Kerry is overwhelmingly favored over Bush in the Arab world. One recent poll showed that the only foreign country where George Bush was favored over John Kerry was Israel.

Now, Kerry has received the endorsement of Osama bin-Laden.

Yesterday, Kerry urged supporters at a rally in Orlando to vote for him so that he ‘can steer America a new direction’ — virtually echoing the demands made by Osama bin-Laden.

Is anybody listening?

Dominoes Beginning to Tumble. . .

Dominoes Beginning to Tumble. . .
Vol: 37 Issue: 29 Friday, October 29, 2004

Dominoes Beginning to Tumble. . .

After seeing the video of Yasser Arafat being propped up on both sides by supporters while dressed in sweats and a knit cap, the scene was so surreal I intended to title today’s OL ‘Weekend at Bernie’s’.

(If you’ve seen the movie, you’ll get the pun. If not, it would take too long to explain it.)

In any case, Britt Hume made the joke first, and then the New York Post followed up with photos of Yasser and a clip from the movie, and headed their column, “Weekend at Yasser s” — funnier than my idea, and more accurate.

It doesn’t look like the old Master Terrorist is long for this world — but that isn’t the first time I’ve said THAT, either. Arafat has an almost demonic capacity for survival — anytime Death approaches him, Arafat keeps him busy elsewhere — but this time, Arafat might actually be about to go to his reward.

The death of Yasser Arafat will create a welcome, albeit dangerous, void in the Palestinian political establishment.

Welcome, because both sides know there is no hope for peace as long as Arafat is alive. Dangerous, because his death will trigger a power struggle that could result in all-out civil war.

There is no established line of succession within the Palestinian Authority or the PLO. Arafat has ruled in the manner of ancient Middle Eastern kings — he keeps the second tier of command at each other throats in a constant power struggle which then fractures any unified effort to challenge his power.

It works. The Palestinian Authority is widely recognized by the Palestinian people as corrupt and incompetent. The Palestinians know that while they barely have enough to eat, they are paying for Sufi Arafat’s $100,000 per month apartment in Paris. And that Yasser Arafat has somehow become one of the richest men in the world.

Despite all that, he is still the figurehead of the Palestinian national struggle, and as such, his power and popularity are tarnished, but undiminished.

Under the Palestinian Authority’s Basic Law, if Arafat dies, he will be replaced by the speaker of the parliament for sixty days while new elections are organized.

The Palestinians, under Yasser Arafat, have not been able to organize an election in nearly a decade. The last Palestinian election was when Yasser Arafat was given a two-year term in 1996)

The presidency of the Palestinian Authority is not Arafat’s only grip on power. He is also chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization and head of the Fatah faction, which dominates the PLO.

Each group has its own rules for succession, and there is likely to be ‘competition’ among several Arafat deputies for leadership. (Think of the Kerry campaign — only with guns and bombs, instead of distortions and personal attacks).

Palestinian civil war, although probable, is not the only option. There is a surprising amount of ambivalence in the Palestinian ‘street’ over Arafat’s impending death.

An editorial in Jordan’s Al-Rai newspaper commented; “It is not in our culture to wish someone’s death. But politically speaking, the death [of Yasser Arafat] is not a big loss for the Palestinian people.”

Many Palestinians are relieved at the prospect of Arafat’s death, as long is it didn’t come at Israeli hands. Former Arafat cabinet member Abdel Jawad Saleh said, “He is and was sick,” Saleh said. “There is no possibility of blaming the Israelis for his death. . . There is a great possibility of smooth succession if everyone abides by the law.”

Even Hamas and Islamic Jihad have pledged in statements not to take advantage of the power vacuum stemming from Arafat’s illness, taking a ‘wait and see’ attitude for the short-term.

By and large, reports the Jerusalem Post, “The bottom line, reiterated politicians, opposition members, Fatah members, and bystanders in Ramallah, is that their future could scarcely be worse than their past.”

Assessment:

The death of Yasser Arafat changes the entire complexion of the Middle East ‘peace process’ and sets the stage for a new dynamic for the region. The European Union has been trying to insinuate itself into the process, hoping to replace the United States as the principle broker for regional peace.

Following a meeting with PA Foreign Minister Nabil Sha’ath in Brussels last Friday, the E.U.’s foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, said “important events are going to take place in the coming weeks.”

In an interview with the German magazine Der Spiegel the next day, Solana also alluded to increased E.U. involvement in the peace process, adding that Ariel Sharon’s Gaza disengagement plan would not be sufficient to bring peace.

“If Sharon believes that with a pullout from Gaza everything is already done and that peace would come automatically, we won’t support that,” he said. “That wouldn’t be a dream, but a nightmare.”

The EU is planning its own version of the ‘road map’ to peace — one that Israeli foreign ministry officials have already nicknamed the ‘street map’.

The EU’s foreign ministers, increasingly frustrated with the situation in the region and their lack of impact on events, gave EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana a mandate earlier in the month to draw up a recommended plan of action in the Middle East. He is slated to present it to EU leaders on November 5.

The decision to initiate a “street map” came at a meeting of EU foreign ministers two weeks ago in Luxembourg. At the end of that meeting, a statement on the Mideast was issued that was deemed in Jerusalem as unusually harsh towards Israel, even by EU standards.

The harsh statement and the mandate given to Solana to come up with a plan, reflect deep European dissatisfaction with US leniency on the settlement issue. The Europeans are frustrated they have no real leverage to shape events, angry over Israel’s operation in Gaza, and furious at Sharon’s determination to go through with the disengagement plan without cooperating with the Palestinians.

Like the failed Oslo Accords, the original road map to peace idea came from Europe. It was proposed by Denmark while they held the six-month rotating EU presidency.

Oslo failed because of Yasser Arafat. The road map to peace hit a brick wall, thanks to Yasser Arafat. The EU’s new ‘street map’ to peace has Israeli officials snickering, but that is because Arafat isn’t dead yet.

The Israelis are desperate for peace, and any agreement, Oslo, the road map, or even a ‘street map’ that might lead there is worth considering.

Ironically, after Arafat, the second biggest stumbling-block to peace is the United States of America.

Neither Israel nor the US would negotiate with Arafat, but, until Arafat’s illness, the EU was planning a diplomatic blitz to end Arafat’s Ramallah isolation. The EU has credibility with the Palestinians. The US does not.

Let’s step back and look at the wider picture for a moment. This is one of those historical crossroads in-the-making.

Since the turn of the 21st century, US credibility has been steadily declining. At the same time, European power and influence has been expanding to fill the void. The UN is on the verge of implosion. The Europeans are actively lobbying to replace the US as the principle peace broker between Israel and her enemies.

It looks like Arafat may die and clear the way for a new, European-sponsored peace effort, built on the rubble of the failed seven-year Oslo Agreement.

While all this is going on in the Middle East, America is embroiled in its own cold civil war that has fractured the country and hamstrung the government.

The Russians, French, Germans and Chinese, together with the UN, took advantage of Washington’s political distractions to plunder Iraq’s Oil-for-Food account, creating a five-party alliance of thieves whose fondest dream would be to see somebody gun down the American sheriff that broke up their conspiracy.

Among the other plunderers of Iraq, according to the Duelfer report and documents released by the Iraqi government, was the Vatican. The current Pope, John Paul II, like Yasser Arafat, is at death’s door.

New reports say the Russians are continuing to develop their alliances with the Muslim Middle East, despite their own war against Islamic terrorists in Chechnya.

And through it all, the most important city in the world, the one that is the obsession of the EU, UN, Russians, French, the Islamic world and the United States, is, was, and now more than ever, is the tiny city of Jerusalem.

“And He spake to them a parable; Behold the fig tree, and all the trees; When they now shoot forth, ye see and know of your own selves that summer is now nigh at hand. So likewise ye, when ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand.”

“Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass away, till ALL be fulfilled.” (Luke 21:29-32)

Taking into consideration the wider picture, there is not that much left to do on this side of the Rapture.

“And when these things BEGIN TO COME TO PASS, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.” (Luke 21:28)

al Qaqaa Depot ‘Looted’ — by the Russians!

al Qaqaa Depot ‘Looted’ — by the Russians!
Vol: 37 Issue: 28 Thursday, October 28, 2004

In March, 2003, President Bush made a phone call to Russian President Vladimir Putin to express U.S. concerns “involving prohibited hardware that has been transferred from Russian companies to Iraq,” White House Press Spokesman Ari Fleischer told journalists during the March 24 White House press briefing.

“We are very concerned that there are reports of ongoing cooperation and support to Iraqi military forces being provided by a Russian company that produces GPS [global positioning system] jamming equipment,” Fleischer said in response to a journalist’s question. “There are other causes of concern, as well, involving night-vision goggles and anti-tank guided missiles.”

At the time, President Putin assured President Bush that he had his facts wrong. Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov gave a statement that day saying Russia had observed all UN sanctions against Iraq and had not supplied any military equipment to Saddam Hussein.

Of course, it was nonsense. Prior to the regime change in Baghdad in April 2003, French and Russian oil companies possessed oil contracts with Saddam Hussein s regime that covered roughly 40 percent of the Iraq s oil wealth.

Political and military ties between Moscow and Baghdad were extensive. Documents found in the bombed-out headquarters of the former Iraqi intelligence service (Mukhabarat) in Baghdad reveal the full extent of intelligence cooperation between the Russian and Iraqi governments.

According to reports in the London Sunday Telegraph, Russia provided Saddam Hussein s regime with wide-ranging assistance in the months leading up to the war, including intelligence on private conversations between Tony Blair and other Western leaders.

The Russians are also believed to have illegally sold arms to Iraq right up until the outbreak of war with the United States in March 2003. The Bush Administration accused Russian arms dealers of selling thousands of night-vision goggles, as well as anti-tank guided missiles and electronic jamming equipment, to the Iraqis in open violation of UN sanctions.

During the course of Saddam Hussein s dictatorship, Russia reportedly provided him with $14 billion worth of arms shipments.

Assessment:

Senator Kerry continues to hammer away at the Bush administration for allegedly ‘losing’ 350 tons of high explosives from the al Qaqaa weapons depot.

Mohammed el Baradei, head of the IAEA, told reporters on Monday that the IAEA had 350 tons of high explosives — some suitable for nuclear weapons — under IAEA seal and that looters made off with them because the US failed to secure them properly after the fall of Baghdad.

Kerry continues to repeat the story even after both ABC and Fox have reported that IAEA documents indicate there were less than three tons of explosives under IAEA seal at the facility in the first place.

NBC reporters embedded with the 101st Airborne reported that when they arrived at al-Qaqaa the day after Baghdad fell, the allegedly ‘looted’ high explosives were already gone.

And Bill Gertz reported today in the Washington Times that they were removed by the Russians in the days leading up to the war.

The Russians sent special forces into Iraq in the weeks leading up to the war to shred evidence of Moscow’s collusion with Saddam Hussein, including removing some high tech weaponry before invading US forces could discover them.

John A. Shaw, the deputy undersecretary of defense for international technology security, said it would have been impossible for the facility to have been looted after the war. The al-Qaqaa site was closely monitored before, during and after the war, since it was known to contain huge stockpiles.

A Pentagon statement pointed out; “The movement of 377 tons of heavy ordnance would have required dozens of heavy trucks and equipment moving along the same roadways as U.S. combat divisions occupied continually for weeks prior to and subsequent to the 3rd Infantry Division’s arrival at the facility.”

Shaw said foreign intelligence officials believe the Russians worked with Saddam’s Mukhabarat intelligence service to separate out special weapons, including high explosives and other arms and related technology, from standard conventional arms spread out in some 200 arms depots.

The Russian weapons were then sent out of the country to Syria, and possibly Lebanon in Russian trucks, according to Shaw.

Shaw said he believes that the withdrawal of Russian-made weapons and explosives from Iraq was part of plan by Saddam to set up a “redoubt” in Syria that could be used as a base for launching pro-Saddam insurgency operations in Iraq.

The Russian units were dispatched beginning in January 2003 and by March had destroyed hundreds of pages of documents on Russian arms supplies to Iraq while dispersing arms to Syria, according to Gertz’ report.

A 26-page Iraqi document was discovered by US intelligence that detailed the extent of Russia’s involvement with Saddam’s military. It was written by Abdul Tawab Mullah al Huwaysh, Saddam’s minister of military industrialization, who was captured by U.S. forces May 2, 2003.

It says Russian Special Forces organized large commercial convoys of weapons that were then trucked out of the country to Syria.

The document included itineraries of military units involved in the truck shipments to Syria. The materials outlined in the documents included missile components, MiG jet parts, tank parts and chemicals used to make chemical weapons.

John Kerry was hoping that the ‘looter’ story would be the much-prized ‘October Surprise’ that would turn the election in his favor. And if the story, as he tells it, were true, it would be the October Surprise presidential challengers dream of.

It appears to be backfiring. But the information that is emerging continues to dovetail with events prophesied by Scripture for the last days. Despite its pretense that there is a ‘new’ Russia, the old Russian bear is still very much alive and well.

It is almost as if Russia can’t help it. There was a brief period of hope, a period when it looked as if Russia and the US might truly bury the hatchet and work together for peace.

Working together, Russia and the United States could easily settle the Arab-Israeli conflict. Had the Russians worked with the US, instead of re-arming the Arab world, the North Koreans wouldn’t be nuclear, the Iranians wouldn’t be a nuclear threat, Pakistan and India wouldn’t be nuclear powers, A.Q. Khan’s nuclear proliferation network wouldn’t have existed and Yasser Arafat wouldn’t have been able to sabotage the Oslo Accords.

But Ezekiel said of Russia that, after a brief period of ‘visitation’, (I vividly recall the day the newly-freed Russian Duma suspended a session because lawmakers were rushing out to the hall to get one of the free Bibles being handed out in the hallway), the Russian bear would ‘think an evil thought’.

This qualifies.

Strongly Deluded

Strongly Deluded
Vol: 37 Issue: 27 Wednesday, October 27, 2004

“And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:” (2nd Thessalonians 2:11)

Most of the time, when examining current events that point toward the coming fulfillment of this prophecy, the main focus falls on either the ‘strong delusion’ or THE ‘lie’.

I emphasize ‘THE Lie’ because the natural next step is to try and deduce exactly what ‘lie’ Paul is referring to. All these are specifics of the Tribulation Period. But this isn’t the Tribulation Period, so how is it relevant to current events?

Back up a bit in the verse to, “And for this cause. . .” and we are back to the headlines. In context, Paul is talking about the removal of the Restrainer (the Rapture), the revelation of ‘that Wicked’ (the antichrist) and his method of control (propaganda).

The Rapture has not yet occurred, and we don’t know who ‘that Wicked’ is, but we are already being conditioned to be receptive to propaganda.

How does one become ‘conditioned’ to propaganda?

Consider the following statement and ask yourself if you agree with it.

“All politicians lie.” Odds are that you do. And even if you don’t believe that ALL politicians lie, you must certainly believe that MOST do.

Now apply logic to the statement: “All politicians lie, therefore I accept the fact that political preference is merely being deceived by my deceiver of choice.”

That is how a nation — or a planet — is conditioned to be receptive to propaganda.

Though the Russians, French, Germans and the United Nations are up to their armpits in corruption and theft, (and stained with Iraqi blood in the process) they retain at least a semblance of their moral authority.

We have been conditioned to expect corruption in high places — so this is just business as usual. Their greatest sin was getting caught.

IAEA head Mohammed el Baradai’s effort to influence the election in Kerry’s favor by planting the al Qaqaa missing explosives story SHOULD have had the media screaming ‘foul’ — especially since it wasn’t true.

But not only did the New York Times and CBS News allow themselves to be used as political tools of foreign influence, they continue to defend their story (again) even after it was shot full of holes. But we know they are pro-Kerry propaganda rags, so the outrage is blunted by previous conditioning.

John Kerry continues to trumpet the ‘missing explosives’ story, hoping to seize on it as the ‘October Surprise’ that will influence last-minute voters. In 2000, the Bush DUI story broke on the eve of the election, causing a five point drop in his numbers that gave us Election 2000.

The difference between the two is obvious. The DUI story, while more than twenty years old, was true. And Bush admitted it was true.

The al-Qaqaa story is not true. And Kerry knows it isn’t true. But he doesn’t care — it might help him win. And neither does the media or Kerry’s supporters.

Kerry has made the alleged dishonesty of the Bush administration a centerpiece of his campaign. It was a brilliant manuever, say the pundits. In 2004, being a skillful liar with no qualms about bearing false witness is ‘political brilliance’.

Nobody seems to have noted the irony; Kerry switched tactics from his early ‘Vietnam hero’ plan to ‘Bush lied’ — because his Vietnam record proved to be a patchwork of lies, questionable documents and unprovable claims.

When it was finally proved that Kerry lied about being ‘seared — seared’ in his memory that he was in Cambodia in Christmas, 1968, the Kerry camp said that maybe it was ‘near Cambodia’ and maybe ‘it was a month or two later’. (Kerry was in Vietnam four months.)

Remember how the media handled it? ‘The Kerry campaign has sinced backed off on the Cambodia story.’

In other words, Kerry got caught in a lie, so he is gonna quit telling it, so let’s just move on. The best way to move on beyond the fact you got caught in a petty lie is to accuse somebody else of telling a great, big, fat lie.

The media has also gotten caught telling some whoppers, and its response has been to tell more. The media has been censoring anti-Kerry news by either ignoring it or under-reporting it, while it shouts anti-Bush stories from the housetops.

A new study for the non-partisan Project for Excellence in Journalism examined 817 stories produced by six major news outlets; The New York Times, Washington Post, Miami Herald) and the Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch, plus CNN and Fox News.

In the final accounting, 59% of stories that were mainly about Bush told a mainly negative story, while 25% of Kerry stories played out that way. One in three stories about Kerry were positive, one in seven for Bush.

Back to ‘this cause’ that is responsible for the strong delusion and The Lie.

“And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.” (2nd Thessalonians 2:10)

One of the major criticisms launched against the Bush administration is that Bush is too religious. The media takes every opportunity to lampoon Bush’s moral compass as evidence of his ‘rigid inflexibility’ — I’ve even seen him described as being blinded by a ‘messianic complex’.

Bush’s simple accounting of his faith is that he was saved by grace, is sustained by prayer and that Jesus changed his heart. To the crowned heads of Europe, the godless United Nations, and the American liberal left wing, that means, ‘not too bright’.

The white-hot hatred of the left for all things Bush is rooted in his expression of faith. It was his expression of faith that the left zeroed in on during Campaign 2000.

Bush’s DUI conviction, crowed the left, proved Bush was really a hypocrite. The only segment of the population with whom that charge didn’t take root was among genuine Christians.

Boston Globe columnist Jeff Jacoby noted that, in 22 years of following John Kerry’s career, the one thing he would never has characterized John Kerry as would be ‘religious’.

He writes; “And if at any point during all those years you had asked me whether I thought Kerry was a religious man, I would have answered without hesitation: “No, not at all.”

Jacoby was writing in the context of John Kerry’s sudden religiousity, his quoting the Bible at every opportunity, referring to himself as a former altar boy, and, Jacoby notes, putting out “on the campaign trail he wears a crucifix and carries a rosary, a prayer book, and a St. Christopher medal.

Propaganda works among those ‘who have received not the LOVE of the truth’ says the Apostle Paul. Instead, in their hearts is the ‘deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish’.

God-talk is acceptable from John Kerry BECAUSE the public knows he doesn’t really believe it. It is NOT acceptable from George Bush because they know he DOES.

It is for THIS cause that God sends them strong delusion (the removal His Restraining Spirit) that allows them to believe the lie during the Tribulation.

Because they prefer The Lie to the truth.

For those of us awaiting His return, that strong delusion won’t work. It can’t. That’s why the Church can’t be on the earth during the Tribulation. That’s why a pre-Trib Rapture isn’t a ‘Great Escape’, it is a necessary part of God’s Plan for the last days.

“Wherefore comfort one another with these words.” (1 Thessalonians 4:18)

Perilous Times

Perilous Times
Vol: 37 Issue: 26 Tuesday, October 26, 2004

Fresh evidence of the mainstream media’s effort to manipulate the presidential election by smearing the administration came to light when the New York Times broke an ‘exclusive’ detailing the administration’s failure to secure an arms depot in post-war Iraq.

Matt Drudge reported today that the NYTimes, together with ABC, CBS, MSNBC and CNN, worked together to make it the most high-profile story of the late-election campaign, with the highlight being the Bush administration’s failure to secure the arms depot and keep America safe.

The original story went something like this: During the initial phase of the liberation of Iraq, the administration failed to anticipate the wide-spread looting that followed the collapse of Saddam’s government.

During the post-war chaos, some 350 metric tons of high explosives — explosives so dangerous the International Atomic Inspection Agency had them under seal — were stolen from the unguarded weapons depot.

Within hours, John Kerry was hammering the administration for its failure to “guard those stockpiles.” Kerry seized the moment, using it as evidence of Bush’s incompetence in Iraq.

“This is one of the great blunders of Iraq, one of the great blunders of this administration.”

John Edwards went even further — eclipsing even his outrageous claim that voting for John Kerry would cure spinal cord injuries and Parkinson’s Disease.

“It is reckless and irresponsible to fail to protect and safeguard one of the largest weapons sites in the country. And by either ignoring these mistakes or being clueless about them, George Bush has failed. He has failed as our commander in chief; he has failed as president.”

And former press secretary and top Kerry advisor Joe Lockhart provided what may be the definitive example of ‘useful idiot-speak’, blustering;

“In a shameless attempt to cover up its failure to secure 380 tons of highly explosive material in Iraq, the White House is desperately flailing in an effort to escape blame. Instead of distorting John Kerry s words, the Bush campaign is now falsely and deliberately twisting the reports of journalists. It is the latest pathetic excuse from an administration that never admits a mistake, no matter how disastrous.”

Assessment:

The Times broke the story on Monday. Matt Drudge noted on his website that ABCNews mentioned the Iraq explosives depot at least 4 times, CBS 7, MSNBC managed to work it in thirty-seven times, while CNN topped the list, finding a way to mention it a whopping FIFTY times so far!

To be fair, ABC and CBS only have a half hour so they couldn’t hammer away at it the way 24 hour cable news outlets can.

And the effort was beginning to bear fruit. The White House was caught off-guard by the story and had no prepared response. CBS planned to air the story in a 60 Minutes piece just before Election day.

There was only one problem with the story. It wasn’t true. The most delicious irony of all is the source of the dissenting evidence. The depot was captured one day after the liberation of Iraq. Embedded with the troops that captured the al-Qaqaa arms depot was an NBC news crew.

And the explosives were ALREADY GONE when they got there.

This story originated with the International Atomic Energy Agency’s press release about the missing explosives. The last time the IAEA inspected the facility was January, 2002. It knew the explosives were missing when we secured it in April, 2003.

Why would it suddenly announce the missing explosives RIGHT NOW? The IAEA isn’t an American organization — it’s headed by an Egyptian and is overseen by the United Nations.

Answer? For the same reason Germany’s Der Speigel’s story, (published today) about al-Qaaqa was headlined; “A Culture of Cover-ups”.

Picking the story up from New York Times writer Paul Krugman, Der Speigel summarizes the story in its lead paragraph thusly; “The president’s officials have thrown a shroud of secrecy over any information that might let voters assess his performance in the war on terror.”

Germans will likely never hear NBC’s report. Neither will those reading Australia’s ABCNewsOnline.

It reported that, “European diplomats told the newspaper that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) cautioned the US about the danger of the explosives before the war, and after the invasion it specifically told US officials about the need to keep the them secured.”

Might this be a good time to repeat that the story is NOT TRUE? That the weapons were already gone when US forces, with the embedded news crew present, captured the depot? And, the IAEA already knew that when it released this week’s hoped-for October surprise. It was a deliberate lie designed to influence the US election by embarrassing the administration.

Not long ago, a British newspaper decided that this election is too important to be trusted to American voters alone. It obtained a voter roll for a county in Ohio and asked its readers to write the prospective voters and urge them to vote against Bush.

The United Nations has already expressed a preference for John Kerry over George Bush, as has most of Old Europe and especially, the Arab world. The world calls Bush ‘too inflexible’ but is careful to avoid admitting it prefers Kerry because they think he would be easier to bend.

America continues on its trip through the looking-glass, where no story is too inaccurate to report and no correction is important enough to mention, provided it favors the liberal left.

The left has promised to steal the election if it can’t win it. It has propagated lies designed to hurt the administration, even if those lies damage national security, international prestige, foreign policy, or even the troops in the field fighting and dying in ‘the wrong war at the wrong place at the wrong time’ in the process.

Far from merely dividing America, the Left has succeeded in dividing the world into two camps. In one camp, we find George Bush, Red State America, Israel and a handful of world leaders.

In the other, we find every dictatorship, Islamic regime, socialist state and globalist organization, allied with John Kerry and Blue State America.

It pretty much dovetails with the way the Bible divides up the world in the last days. Whether they succeed in conquering the Red States this time or not, the battle lines have been clearly drawn.

Paul describes the clash of opposing worldviews in the last days this way:

“This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God. Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof. . .” (2nd Timothy 3:1-4)

“Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.” (2nd Timothy 3:12-13)

Perilous times indeed!

How Close is It, Really?

How Close is It, Really?
Vol: 37 Issue: 25 Monday, October 25, 2004

How Close is It, Really?

Whether one views the polls, listens to the candidates or watches the TV pundits, the only fact upon which both Americas agree is that this year’s election will be ‘close’.

Various pundits describe the race as ‘too close to call’ or ‘balanced on a razor’s edge’ and the Democrats are so sure it will be another squeaker that they’ve recruited an army of ten thousand lawyers — in advance — to dispute any close election results in the courts.

John Kerry has already vowed to challenge the results of the election, even if it isn’t close. In fact, in the event of a close election, Kerry intends to declare victory, even if he loses.

But how close will it be? It all depends on which polls you read.

In 1948, all the major polls predicted Thomas Dewey would defeat Harry Truman — the Gallup poll had Dewey up by 15% on election day. But Truman defeated Dewey by a respectable five percent.

In July, 1984, a respected poll said Reagan was trailing Democratic challenger Walter Mondale by two percentage points. But in November, Reagan defeated Mondale 59% to 40%, one of the 20th century s biggest landslides.

Some other famous headlines from the past:

May 3, 1984: “Mondale-Hart, Reagan-Bush Tickets Running Neck and Neck in New Poll”

October 28, 1980: “Carter Goes Into Debate With Lead in New Poll”

July 12, 1936: “Roosevelt’s Popular Lead Is Reduced to 51.8% in July Poll; Landon Ahead in 21 States, Has Electoral Vote Majority”

Assessment:

Although the 2000 presidential race has emerged as the closest in a generation and possibly of all time, several others have been too close to call until the final ballots were tallied.

Indeed, John F. Kennedy’s defeat over Richard M. Nixon in 1960 wasn’t official until noon the following day. And Jimmy Carter wasn’t the clear winner in 1976 until 8 a.m. the next morning.

In both of these cases, however, the loser conceded defeat graciously, to avoid putting the country through the kind of devisive political debacle Al Gore forced on America in 2000.

In 2004, even if it isn’t close, Kerry intends to exploit Democratic anger by claiming the election was stolen ‘again’ by the Republicans.

Frankly, I don’t think it is going to be that close.

And I don’t think that Democratic strategy of forcing another Constitutional crisis is going to work. But here is how it would play out, if it does.

In a head-to-head matchup, using national figures, the race is a statistical dead heat. Although the polls have Bush ahead by a point or two, the margin of error is plus or minus four points — so Bush could actually be ahead by ten points, or Kerry could actually be ahead by eight. Hence, the ‘dead heat’.

But, as we’ve noted previously, America is not a democracy, it is a Constitutional Republic, and the president is not elected by the national popular vote, but by each individual state.

In heavily populated states like California and New York, Kerry could get every single vote cast in that state, and win the popular vote by a wide margin.

But it wouldn’t advantage him any more than winning that state by a single vote. The president is elected by the majority vote in each individual state.

The candidate who wins the majority in the most individual states is the winner, not the candidate who wins the most votes overall.

That’s how Gore lost in 2000. He got a whopping majority of votes in the states he carried, but he didn’t carry enough of them to win the election — even though he received more total individual votes than George Bush.

At the moment, Real Clear Politics gives George Bush 234 electoral votes, compared to John Kerry’s 211.

In play are the following ‘battleground states’ — which explains WHY they are so-called ‘battleground states’.

Minnesota (10 votes)is too close to call — but Bush has a slight lead (Bush +1.0%).

Florida (27 votes) is a statistical tossup but Bush enjoys a slight lead (+.08%)

Michigan,(17 votes)which is a heavily Democratic state, favors Kerry by +4.0%

New Hampshire (5), New Mexico, (Bush 2.7%) (5 votes), Ohio,(Bush +.06%) (20 votes) and Wisconsin (Bush +2.0%)(10) are all within the margin of error.

It takes 270 Electoral College votes to win. If Bush wins in the battleground states now leaning his way, he will win the election with 311 Electoral College votes and a clear mandate for the next four years.

It advantages both sides to maintain the fiction the race is ‘too close to call’ — if one side thinks his guy has things sewed up, then he might not vote.

So, while the race is statistically too close to call, I am going to go out on a limb .. it’s Bush by a landslide.

Stay tuned. . .

Musings . . .

Musings . . .
Vol: 37 Issue: 24 Sunday, October 24, 2004

This issue marks the one thousand and seventy-first Omega Letter I’ve written since we published our first issue on October 14, 2001.

In our forums, you have published many times that number of postings, covering the stories we’ve missed, sharing your own experiences and understanding of current events, and sharing your faith and courage with the rest of us.

Together we’ve weathered many tragedies; illnesses, marital problems, deaths and separations. We’ve considered together the mysteries of the universe, and watched together as some of that mystery was dispelled as formerly mysterious prophecies of Scripture began to unfold before our eyes.

We’ve discussed earthquakes, famines, wars, noted together the ascendency of Europe even as American global prestige and influence wanes; been astonished together as the mainstream media dissolved before our eyes into a haze of competing propaganda messages.

We’ve witnessed the power even overt propaganda can have on a sophisticated, educated and articulate society; useful idiots still cram the streets mindlessly repeating slogans long-since disproved by fact.

We’ve watched as the United Nations was exposed as a corrupt, self-serving, propaganda-spewing global political syndicate, instead of the non-partisan guarantor of global human rights it was created to be.

We witnessed with our own eyes, as the nations of the world actively fought to keep Saddam Hussein in power by any means necessary, knowing full well that his regime was responsible for the torture and deaths of millions, so they could continue to line their pockets with illegal bribes of money stained red by rivers of Iraqi blood.

We’ve watched the rise of the Islamic powers within the UN. The systematic torture and murder of Christians world-wide has increased in direct proportion to Islam’s growing UN influence, exactly as Scripture said it would in the last days.

We’ve discussed the latest trend in Islamic terror; the beheading of Western (to Islamic terrorists, that means ‘Christian’) hostages, together with the fact the Bible predicts that beheading would be the fate of witnesses for Jesus in the last days.

“. . .and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God . . .” (Revelation 20:4)

We’ve noted the strange cosmic events that continue to increase in frequency and intensity — from the weird solar storms at the turn of the century to the increasingly destructive forces of natural disasters.

Together, we’ve shared the prospect of a biological catastrophe being unleashed by terrorists while trying to cope with an ever-increasing list of new diseases unheard of in generations past.

We’ve watched the social decay spread — on a global basis — from legalized drugs and prostition to the point at which it has become necessary for the world’s only Christian nation to debate whether or not the Founding Fathers really intended marriage to be an institution exclusive to a man and a woman.

We’ve witnessed together the continued breakdown of relations between Israel and the rest of the world. We’ve watched together as the phenomenon of global anti-Semitism has revived and flourished to the point where anti-Semitism is openly acknowledged by leaders of government. We’ve even watched as Israel began construction of what we’ve dubbed “Ezekiel’s Wall.”

Since our first issue of the Omega Letter, we’ve tracked the steady decline of the UN’s reputation and relevancy, and witnessed together the expansion of the old Roman Empire to twenty-eight members.

We discovered together that the EU really only has ten full members. We’ve noted that those ten have created sub-tiers of membership for the remaining eighteen, and witnessed the EU’s launch of it’s newest sub-tier; “The European Neighborhood Policy” that will expand its empire into the Middle East.

And together, we’ve witnessed the most amazing thing of all — the outbreak of the spiritual war of the last days — the spark that will ultimately ignite the War of Armageddon.

While ostensibly a global war on terror, it is actually a war between the forces of Islam and the forces of Christianity and Judaism. The war that has been raging between the ‘Prince of Persia’ and the forces of Michael for eons — spilling out into the here and now before our eyes.

We’ve talked about this and much more, both in the Omega Letter dailies and in our forums. It was during our first few months of publication that we began to discuss the question of why there is no mention of America in Bible prophecy. Those of you who have been long-time members can recall the furor that topic caused when we first raised the issue.

As this election cycle progressed, we discovered together the emergence of a second America that has evidently dedicated itself to the destruction of Red State America to the degree that it has already announced its intention to steal the election by legal trickery if it can’t win the election the old fashioned way — by stuffing ballot boxes for their candidate while attempting to disqualify ballots for their opponent.

Note this as well — we are talking about a time frame of thirty-seven months! Every issue of the Omega Letter — one thousand and seventy-one of them, so far, has been focused on current events.

In other words, all of the above, without exception, we have watched come together into focus in less than three years’ time.

In so doing, we’ve attracted the attention of the enemy. We’ve been censored by Internet Service Providers, we’ve had our sources of funding cut by our merchant solutions, we even had to emigrate to keep from violating Canada’s anti-hate legislation.

Through it all, we’ve perservered in faith, knowing that God will provide a hedge of protection and make provision for His own. We’ve learned not to panic (even when our PayPal account shows a balance of $37.94 like it does this morning) since we’ve seen God do much more with less.

Preparing each morning’s Omega Letter is an exercise in faith — and faith, like muscles, is strengthened by repeated exercise. By faith, I try and communicate the truth — as I believe God reveals it — not by visions and bright lights, but by the careful comparison of His Word to events in our world.

Seeing it unfold in detail, as we do each morning in the Omega Letter, proves beyond question His intimate involvement in the affairs of men and provides daily reassurance that He remains on the Throne, despite the seeming chaos enveloping the planet.

In that sense, you are a gift from God to me. Each morning, we exercise and strengthen our faith together, while we prepare in faith, for the chaos that day might bring.

Today is our one thousand and seventy first issue of the Omega Letter. I recall reading a few months back that the editor of the Jerusalem Post was stepping down because he was burned out after having written three hundred columns or so over three years.

In a thousand-plus columns, the closest thing to burn-out I’ve experienced is in wondering if I am repeating myself too often.

We are the watchmen on the wall, and the fact we are still on that wall after a thousand-plus columns and three years of dodging enemy rounds is proof positive that we are not watching in vain.

The Lord is coming back very soon. And we’ll keep sounding the alarm until He does.

I praise God for each and every one of you. You will never know this side of heaven how much the power of your multiplied prayers sustain me.

But I do. May God bless you all as richly as your friendship blesses me.

Until He comes.

King of the World

King of the World
Vol: 37 Issue: 23 Saturday, October 23, 2004

In a couple of years, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan’s term in office will come to an end and the UN will be searching for a new king for the global debating society.

And, given the unfolding details of the Oil-For-Food investigation that continue to pile up on his door step, the job may come up vacant even earlier than that.

The Oil-for-food program, as everybody knows by now, was established by the UN in 1996, ostensibly to ease the impact that economic sanctions were imposing on ordinary Iraqis.

The project was a fool’s errand from the beginning, but it was popular among the Useful Idiot Brigades who argued sanctions should be lifted altogether because Iraqi babies had no milk and Iraqi hospitals had no medicine.

It was a fool’s errand for reasons that should have been obvious to the most intellectually challenged member of the UN Security Council present on voting day: Iraqi babies had no milk and Iraqi hospitals had no medicine because of Saddam Hussein, not because of UN sanctions.

But the UN’s ‘solution’ was to allow Saddam to sell limited amounts of oil in order to make money to buy ‘Iraqi babies milk and Iraqi doctors medicine’ — voting into the record the implausible assumption that Saddam cared more about Iraqi babies than he did his grip on power.

The Oil-for-food program generated enough money for lots of milk and medicine — about sixty thousand MILLION dollar-bills (if there WERE million-dollar bills).

But in January, an Iraqi newspaper listed about two hundred seventy foreigners suspected of illegally profiting from the oil sales. There were more accusations in a report by an American team, the Iraq Survey Group. Chief American weapons inspector Charles Duelfer, a special adviser to the Central Intelligence Agency, prepared the report.

The report said Saddam Hussein made eleven thousand million dollar-bills himself, all in oil profits outside U.N. control. It said his government imported military equipment and other illegal goods.

The report says the former government offered deals to hundreds of individuals, companies and governments in an effort to end the U.N. restrictions.

Many offers were aimed at Russia, France and China, all permanent members of the Security Council. The report also says there were illegal oil sales to Jordan, Syria, Turkey and Egypt during the full period of the restrictions.

Benon Sevan, the former chief of the U.N. oil-for-food program, is listed among those said to have received vouchers. He has denied any wrongdoing. So have Russia, France and others named in the report.

And at the top of the pile is Kofi Annan — a king so out of touch with his kingdom that he decreed that the new, struggling (and innocent) Iraqi government must foot the bill for the investigation of how the UN stole its money in the first place.

Incredibly, Annan’s argument amounted to the fact that, at thirty million dollars, it is only a drop in the bucket compared to what was already stolen from them, so it shouldn’t be a big deal. Nobody laughed.

While the money earmarked for Iraqi babies and Iraqi hospitals flowed into the pockets of the thieves, Saddam’s bloodbaths continued without interference.

Indeed, when the United States declared ‘enough!’ the thieves marshalled their Useful Idiot Battalions the world over to march in solidarity with Saddam, while chanting “Bush’s War” and “no blood for oil.” (Evidently, no food for oil was ok.)

I used to get a lot of flack from readers for referring to the antiwarriors as ‘useful idiots’ — I don’t so much anymore. As the details unfold about the complicity of nations with the UN to steal thousands of millions, it becomes perfectly obvious how useful they were to the theft.

That they were idiots is self-evident. Particularly since they still haven’t shut up, even after they found out what they were defending.

Assessment:

Under the watchful eye of Kofi Annan, millions have been slaughtered, from Kosovo to Iraq to Rwanda to the Sudan. Uncounted billions of dollars were stolen to line the pockets of greedy diplomats, all of which was stained with Iraqi blood.

Despite all that, the UN still has its worshippers. Kofi Annan received the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of the UN, while helping to keep a murderous dictator in power until Iraq’s oil wealth could be squeezed dry.

Among the UN’s worshippers are the man who would be the next President of the United States, if there are enough useful idiots left in America to give him the job.

Another is the former president, Bill Clinton. Clinton has been campaigning for Kofi Annan’s job since before he left the Oval Office.

According to a 2003 column by the Pittsburg Tribune-Review, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan is “under pressure to resign before the end of his second term in 2006.” Should he do so, the General Assembly would select his replacement, on the recommendation of the U.N. Security Council.

It noted that Clinton had already lined up support for his candidacy for the secretary-general position from Germany, France, England, Ireland, New Zealand, a handful of African states, Morocco and Egypt, and it is unlikely Russia or China would object.

And it is worthy of note that, while the United States hosts the UN’s headquarters in New York and is its single biggest contributor, no American has ever held the post of Secretary-General.

Globalists seem to love scoundrels. Kofi Annan can do no wrong. Yasser Arafat has more friends than Ariel Sharon. Fidel Castro is just a much-maligned victim of US imperialism. Jacques Chirac enjoys global respect.

While George Bush is arguably the most globally hated American leader in world history, Bill Clinton is arguably the most universally loved — by everybody except the anti-globalist American right.

I am not suggesting that Bill Clinton is running for the role of antichrist. Personally, I think he would be a good candidate, but he doesn’t fit the Bible’s profile. Neither does the UN. But he is the perfect man to finish the job of eroding the United Nations credibility that Kofi Annan started.

The Bible says that under the final form of global government, the power will emanate from revived Rome. As Europe expands, the UN increasingly looks to it for many of its institutions, like the World Court, World Bank, and, most recently, for its standing army.

The United States is steadily being pushed to one side. If Bill Clinton were appointed King of the World, there is no reason to believe the trend will do anything but accelerate.

A Clinton kingdom would be closely watched by his UN subjects for signs of favoritism towards the United States. That pretty much guarantees there wouldn’t be. If anything, Secretary Clinton would have to side AGAINST American interests to prevent appearing to side WITH American interests.

The effect at home would be to accelerate the growing calls for America to pull out of the UN, while increasing America’s global isolation.

Clinton is as unpopular among Americans as he is loved among the Europeans. A US pullout from the UN would mean its collapse. The European Union is the only realistic candidate to step in and pick up the pieces.

Allow yourself to speculate a little about the kind of relationship that would exist between the United States and a European UN in which America was not a member?

How possible does it seem — given the current state of global affairs? Barring a miracle, I don’t see how world events could play out any other way.

Either Kerry subordinates us to the UN, forcing a Congressional showdown and ultimate US withdrawal from membership, or the European and Islamic-dominated UN will force a showdown with George Bush over the issue of global sovereignty.

In either case, UN membership is for us, much like it has always been for the Israelis. It is more like being a observer at an enemy war council than a membership within the council of nations. Eventually, it outlives its usefulness and becomes a threat.

The pendulum began to swing away from ‘usefulness’ during the Bush vs Saddam global popularity contest leading up to the 2003 Iraq war. When Saddam Hussein won the prize in the category of ‘Most Believeable’.

The pendulum passed the half-way point when it turned out the contest was rigged and the judges were bribed, but Saddam still got to keep the title.

(John Kerry has built his entire campaign around his faith in Saddam’s worthiness to that title, in fact.)

No matter who wins in November, one thing is obvious. The UN, in its present form, is doomed — not just according to Bible prophecy — but by the force of unfolding events driving it inexorably towards the edge of the cliff.

No matter who replaces Kofi Annan, from America’s perspective, the UN is not just ‘irrelevant’ — it is an active antagonist.

And a US pullout spells its end — by anybody’s analysis.

Why I Think Bill Gates Is Really the Antichrist. . .

Ok, I am kidding about Bill Gates being the antichrist. But after yesterday, I have to hate somebody. Somehow, a virus managed to evade an internet security suite (that I have trouble penetrating most of the time) and ate my computer.

Well, not exactly, but the net result was the same. It ate a bunch of my operating system files — just enough of them to make it useless. One of the parts of the operating system it made inoperable was system restore.

After three hours of trying to make a dead horse jump, I gave up and reinstalled my operating system. That took most of yesterday, but finally, I got everything installed. Then the final reboot.

No internet connection. I spent the next couple of hours tweaking and fine tuning, trying to fix the problem.

(Of course, the problem was the last thing I actually diagnosed.)

My cable modem needed to be reset — but by the time I realized that, I had so bolluxed things up on my computer trying to fix something that wasn’t broken that I broke something I had already fixed.

Sigh. But I was finally connected to the Internet and could limp out there and finish the millions of Windows updates. Maybe one of them would reset whatever I unhinged.

Then came Service Pack 2 — and it was time to nuke it and start all over again. (Evidently, it only installs right the first time if you are hopping on one leg while patting your head and rubbing your stomach when you press the ‘any’ key. I think I did them in the wrong order)

By the time I got my Bill Gates’ Miracle Time-Saver Computing Machine restored and re-protected (from all the stuff he forgot to fix before he sold it to me), I had spent an entire day working in order to end up where I had started before the thing broke down in the first place.

Without ever getting a chance to do the job I bought it for in the first place.

The irony of it all would have kept me awake, if I wasn’t so tired after working all day with my only accomplishment being arriving where I started . . . or something.

In any case, if there WERE an election for antichrist, I think I’d have to vote for Bill Gates.

Sorry about yesterday’s Omega Letter.

10,000 Lawyers

10,000 Lawyers
Vol: 37 Issue: 21 Thursday, October 21, 2004

One could argue convincingly that America entered into a period of cold civil war on November 2nd, 2000. The post election recount debacle exposed Al Gore and his party as a ‘second’ America, and creating the ‘Red State/Blue State divide.

All wars, even cold ones, have underlying causes. Taken to its lowest common denominator, the Red States believe that our rights are guaranteed by our Creator, whereas the Blue States believe they are guaranteed by government.

The Red States believe that certain things are so obviously wrong that defining them as wrong is unnecessary, whereas the Blue States are in a perpetual search for the next legal loophole.

Don’t misunderstand — I am not saying everybody in the Red States thinks one way, or that everybody in the Blue States thinks another. But in each case, the majority of voters do.

At stake in the ongoing cold civil war is nothing less than America’s future as a sovereign nation. That is why US politics is so important to Bible prophecy for the last days. Because America isn’t there.

The four predicted spheres of global power are already in place. The Gog-Magog Alliance, the Kings of the East, the Kings of the South and the revived Roman Empire all exist in some form today.

Remove the United States of America from the global equation and the world is divided up along the EXACT geopolitical lines the Bible prophesied. Without the United States as the world’s only superpower, the only power strong enough to step into the vacuum is the steadily expanding European Union.

Consider this statement carefully. As long as the United States remains the world’s most powerful and influential nation, the Tribulation Period CANNOT begin. In a natural sense, it is the United States that currently functions as the ‘restrainer’ in this world.

No nation could move against Israel in a world dominated by the United States. The Gog-Magog alliance couldn’t. The Europeans couldn’t. The Islamic ‘Kings of the South’ are restrained, as are the Kings of the East, by the United States of America.

THAT is what makes America’s political civil war so relevant to the study of the last days. It could not possibly be MORE important to understanding the signs of the times. It is no coincidence that the world’s only Christian country is absent from the Big Picture after the Restrainer is taken out of the world.

If EVERY single Omega Letter were about US politics, we couldn’t do justice to the relevancy of America to the last days’ scenario.

Culturally, America is, as I noted, the world’s only Christian nation. An ABC News poll conducted in February found more than 80% of Americans identify themselves as Christians. While we can quibble about how many are real Christians as compared to cultural Christians, the fact remains that America is as Christian as Israel is Jewish.

Americans have always been extremely religious and overwhelmingly Christian. The 17th-century settlers founded their communities in America in large part for religious reasons. Eighteenth-century Americans saw their Revolution in religious and largely biblical terms.

The Revolution reflected their “covenant with God” and was a war between “God’s elect” and the British “Antichrist.” Jefferson, Paine and other deists and nonbelievers felt it necessary to invoke religion to justify the Revolution.

The Declaration of Independence appeals to “Nature’s God,” the “Creator,” “the Supreme Judge of the World,” and “divine Providence” for approval, legitimacy and protection.

Noted the Wall Street Journal recently,

“When asked in 2003 simply whether they believed in God or not, 92% said yes. In a series of 2002-03 polls, 57% to 65% of Americans said religion was very important in their lives, 23% to 27% said fairly important, and 12% to 18% said not very important. Large proportions of Americans also appear to be active in the practice of their religion. In 2002 and 2003, an average of 65% claimed membership in a church or synagogue. About 40% said they had attended church or synagogue in the previous seven days, and roughly 33% said they went to church at least once a week. In the same period, about 60% of Americans said they prayed one or more times a day, more than 20% once or more a week, about 10% less than once a week, and 10% never. Given human nature, these claims of religious practice may be overstated, but the extent to which Americans believe the right response is to affirm their religiosity is itself evidence for the centrality of religious norms in American society.”

One can learn a lot about America by looking at what Americans think is funny. Jay Leno told one joke last night that captured the essence of the cold civil war ongoing between the two Americas.

“Al Gore accused President Bush of using religion to support his presidency. And George Bush fired back that ‘Al Gore’s just mad because God made me president.'”

Assessment:

The Al Gore joke is fitting, because it was Al Gore who first declared war on Red State America. Al Gore initially conceded defeat in 2000, going so far as to call George Bush on the telephone to congratulate him on his narrow victory.

The next morning, Al Gore awoke to find out just HOW narrow, called Bush, retracted his concession (unheard of in US political history) and launched an all-out assault on the election process itself.

He challenged the voting machines, the honesty of election officials, fought to suppress the military vote, attempted to disqualify entire categories of voters, and brought America to the edge of a Constitutional crisis that had to finally be solved by the US Supreme Court.

Losing seemed to unhinge Gore somewhat. In fact, John Podheretz speculated in a New York Post column that he believed Al Gore had gone legally insane. But the insanity infected Blue State America as well.

Blue State America (the Democrats) has spent the last four years systematically dismantling America, keeping its promise to destroy the Bush presidency by ‘any means necessary’ — and at whatever cost.

Bob Just noted in a column at WorldNet daily that, “The furious fringe is taking over the party. They are solidified in their sense of victim hood. They aren’t looking for compromise, but for total victory revenge almost in fulfilling their vision for a new America, one that has nothing to do with biblical Christianity or Judaism, the pumping heart of true Americanism.”

During the Iraq War, Blue America took every opportunity to undermine the administration — and the United States, giving aid and comfort to the enemy, while reshaping world opinion of America with phrases like ‘selected and not elected’ and ‘regime change’ and ‘Bush lied, people died’.

That it aided America’s enemies is a no-brainer. The terrorists are crazy, but they are not stupid. They know that a divided America is easier to defeat and they are doubtless endlessly grateful for the daily reports from US newspapers that encourage them to persevere in their cause.

Just as the Democrats seem endlessly grateful to the terrorists for each act of terrorism, so that they can trumpet America’s failures as evidence we are fighting the ‘wrong war in the wrong place at the wrong time’ hoping to scare enough votes to their side so that they can win this year’s election.

Consider this. The Kerry campaign told Fox News this weekend that they have recruited an army of TEN THOUSAND lawyers — just in Florida — to challenge the results of this election. John Kerry has announced that he will challenge the election results, whether the vote is close or not.

With less than two weeks to go before Election Day, an unprecedented number of lawsuits challenging basic election rules are pending in many of the battleground states.

“Bush v. Gore really let the genie out of the bottle,” said Richard L. Hasen, an election law professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles. “Election law has become just another part of the political strategy of the parties.”

Democratic legal specialists are ready to wage recount battles in as many as five states at once. The Kerry campaign said it has raised more than $3 million for legal expenses.

Incredibly, the Democrats are openly admitting that if they can’t win the election, they intend to attempt a legal coup d’etat — using an army of lawyers instead of armed revolutionaries — but a coup effort nonetheless.

“This has been one of the top, if not the top, priorities,” said the Kerry campaign’s general counsel, Marc Elias. “The legal team is satisfied that we are working for a candidate who will not shy away from a full engagement with the other side.”

The Kerry strategy is to win the election. For four years, the Democrats have been exploiting voter anger over Election 2000, promising Anybody but Bush will restore integrity to the electoral process.

But just in case, they have an army of ten thousand lawyers standing by to steal it. And, even if it doesn’t work this time, the DNC thinks long-term.

If they can keep the ‘selected not elected’ label on Bush for another four-year term as a lame-duck, they hope America will be in such a mess by then that voters will rush to join the Blue States. That is the game plan, and it is already in play.

In terms of Bible prophecy, it could not be clearer how it all will turn out.

During the Tribulation, the Bible says there is no ‘restrainer’. And the world’s only Christian country is mysteriously absent from the Big Picture. Taken as a whole, it gives a new sense of urgency to what Jesus meant when He said;

“And when these things BEGIN to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.” (Luke 21:28)

Tick . . . Tick . . . Tick. . .

Welcome to the ‘Neighborhood’

Welcome to the ‘Neighborhood’
Vol: 37 Issue: 20 Wednesday, October 20, 2004

In December, 2003, the European Union unveiled a new strategy dubbed “The European Neighborhood Policy” — creating yet a fifth tier of membership within the Union.

Currently, the 28-state European Community consists of ten Full Members, six Associate Members, seven Associate Parters, and five Observers.

According to the European Neighborhood Policy [ENP]’s website, the mission of the ENP is to “prevent the emergence of new dividing lines between the enlarged EU and its neighbours and to offer them the chance to participate in various EU activities, through greater political, security, economic and cultural co-operation. ENP will also help address one of the strategic objectives the European Union set in the European Security Strategy in December 2003, that of building security in our neighbourhood.”

The ENP has invited Algeria, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Egypt, Georgia, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Moldova, Morocco, Syria, Tunisia, and the Ukraine. Oh, notes the ENP website, “also the Palestinian Authority.”

Take another look at the list again. There is one country that sticks out even more egregiously than the country the ENP website calls the “West Bank and Gaza Strip (no official name, but current denomination).”

Called an ‘action plan’, the ENP requires each country to meet certain political and econoic prerequisites. In October, Belarus strongman Alexander Lukashenko swept the elections in what the EU determined was ‘less than free and fair’.

Speaking on conditions of anonymity, reports one EU news report, one EU diplomat said that Belarus “can forget about the neighborhood policy” now.

The Russians aren’t too happy with the idea of the EU extending its influence into Moscow’s traditional sphere of influence in places like the Ukraine, Moldova, Belarus and the former Soviet republics in the Caucasus. But it is also eager to sign up for the economic benefits offered by joining the ‘neighborhood’ — but Moscow is seeking yet a sixth tier of membership.

According to the Moscow Times, Russia wants only “a bilateral relationship with the EU … and a free hand to try to reintegrate its near abroad,” said Michael Emerson, senior research fellow at the Center for European Policy Studies in Brussels.

The EU has drafted a “strategic partnership” in four areas: trade and EU investments in Russian transport, telecommunications and energy projects; cooperation in law enforcement and nonproliferation issues; settling border disputes with new EU members Estonia and Latvia; and negotiations for visa-free travel for Russians in Western Europe.

The “strategic partnership” aims to boost European investments in Russia’s energy sector. The EU already accounts for 58% of the Russian energy export market.

The European Commission is slated to meet this week to decide whether to approve the action plans for admission into the ENP of the first wave of countries and, of course, the Palestinian Authority.

The other countries involved, in addition to Israel, are Jordan, Moldova, Morocco, Tunisia, and Ukraine. Diplomatic officials said the Israeli action plan is the only one in doubt.

The action plan currently under discussion has two “baskets,” one political and the other economic. The political basket deals with formalizing a dialogue on issues such as the peace process, terrorism, small arms, non-proliferation, and human rights.

This would effectively institutionalize a role for the EU on Israel’s internal political issues. Nonetheless, of all the countries slated for inclusion in the ENP, no country wants entry more than the Israelis.

Through entry to the ENP, Israel hopes to gain entrance to a number of institutions and programs that are currently closed to non-EU members, such as the European Space Agency and the European Environment Agency.

In months of negotiations, the sides have looked for a “balance” between the baskets, meaning that if Europe wants to institutionalize a political role in different regional issues, it will have to compensate Israel by giving it entrance to various economic, scientific, and technological programs currently closed to it.

Opposing Israel’s admission are France, Belgium, and Britain. They fear it would be interpreted in the Arab world as ‘anti-Palestinian’ if Israel is included in the neighborhood.

Interesting.

French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier wrapped up his three-day visit to Israel with a lecture at Tel Aviv University Tuesday on Tuesday. He explained the EU’s ‘vision’ of Middle East peace as one in which there is coexistence between Israel and a democratic, viable Palestinian state, with recognized borders and its capital in east Jerusalem.

Barnier also said such a state must “demonstrate a will” to give Israel the security guarantees it needs.

“History has taught us that we don’t chose our enemies,” Barnier said, “but with them we have to make peace. I know what the conventional wisdom here is about the head of the PA, and what is said about those who meet with him. But our opinion is that nothing will happen without Yasser Arafat, or against [his will], and that keeping him a prisoner reduces the chances of bringing him to take the steps that everyone expects of him.”

Barnier also said that France and the European Union will support Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s disengagement plan — on the condition that it will be done in cooperation with the Palestinians, and is part of the road map.

Since Sharon has already rejected both conditions, the French were, in effect drawing a line in the sand.

Assessment:

There is a lot going on behind the scenes right now in Europe — taking place at breakneck speed from the standpoint of ordinary diplomacy. And it continues to follow the outline given by Scripture for the last days.

Europe is expanding its influence outward, moving into the political vacuum created by the sudden loss in American prestige brought about by four years of partisan infighting that turned a first term president fighting a global war into a lame duck presidency of four years’ duration.

The ten toes of Daniel’s vision, (the ten Full Members) pretty much rule the entire geographic region that made up the old Roman Empire, from the Middle East to the steppes of Russia, from the United Kingdom to Baltic Sea.

The Russians are looking for ways to develop an economic partnership with the EU on a unilateral basis — meaning Russia will not be ‘part’ of the EU — as Ezekiel 38-39 outlined 2500 years in advance.

Daniel says that somehow, the leader of this revived Roman Empire will introduce what appears to be a workable peace deal between Israel and her enemies, based on a pre-existing seven-year ‘land for peace formula’.

“And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week. . .” (Daniel 9:27)

(He can’t ‘confirm’ an agreement unless it already existed, anymore than you can ‘confirm’ a dentist’s appointment unless you had already made one.)

Of the antichrist who will lead the revived Roman Empire through its final seven years of existence, Daniel tells us;

“Thus shall he do in the most strong holds with a strange god, whom he shall acknowledge and increase with glory: and he shall cause them to RULE OVER MANY, and shall DIVIDE THE LAND FOR GAIN.” Daniel 11:39)

I want you to stop and think about this for a minute. The whole of the Big Picture as it is lining up. . .

The Apostle Peter said;

“Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, And saying, Where is the promise of His coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.” (2nd Peter 3:2-3)

So much is happening so quickly — and the Rapture hasn’t yet happened — that even some Christians are beginning to take that attitude. Things DO seem to continue as they were from the beginning. The sun rises every morning. It sets each night.

For some, it is beginning to look like the Tribulation is already here. Maybe that whole pre-trib Rapture thing really IS some cosmic ‘great escape’ theory, instead of sound doctrine. If the Rapture hasn’t happened yet, maybe the post-trib view is right after all.

The Lord, speaking through Peter, anticipated that attitude and addresses it in the next couple of verses;

“For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the Word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished: But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same Word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. ” (3:5-7)

The Word that was ignored by everyone except Noah didn’t make that Word invalid. The rains still came. Noah and his family were saved — regardless of popular opinion that he was nuts.

That same Word says the Church will be Raptured so that the ‘Restrainer” of 2nd Thessalonians 2:7 can be ‘taken out of the way’ in order that “that Wicked be revealed’ (2:8)

God’s Word says the Holy Spirit will indwell the Church until Jesus returns. Jesus tells us through the Apostle John of a miracle that takes place during the Tribulation.

Revelation Chapter 7 details the ‘sealing’ of the 144,000 Jewish evangelists, “Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.” (Revelation 7:3)

This ‘sealing’ of the 144,000 Jewish evangelists is so important that God devotes an entire chapter to it. It is important because the ONLY ones who have ‘it’ during this period are those Jews chosen to be sealed.

This ‘sealing’ is the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

“Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for Him hath God the Father sealed.” (John 6:27)

“Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.” (2nd Corinthians 1:22)

“In Whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the Gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise. (Ephesians 1:13)

“And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.” (Ephesians 4:30)

If the Church goes through the Tribulation Period and is raptured at some point in the middle, or at the end, it can only mean one thing.

It means that the Comforter, (the Holy Spirit – John 14:26) must be withdrawn from the Church during a time Jesus said would be so terrible that, if allowed to run its full course, ‘there should be no flesh saved’.

John 16:7 would have to be revised to read:

“Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you UNTIL YOU NEED HIM THE MOST. THEN YOU ARE ON YOUR OWN.” (allcaps mine)

Jesus promised; “And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you FOREVER.” (John 14:16)

Jesus said the Comforter He would send us in the Church Age would abide with me FOREVER. ‘Forever’ is a long time, and makes no allowances for a seven-year separation.

Recapping, then, the restraining influence of the Holy Spirit must be ‘taken out of the way’ BEFORE that ‘Wicked’ be revealed. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit is promised to Church Age believers ‘forever’ . The Apostle Paul says that indwelling is “whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.”

The Apostles, as Jesus ascended to the heavens from their sight, were told by two men “in white apparel; Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven.” (Acts 1:11)

Paul tells us that “For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.” (1 Thessalonians 4:17-18)

Daniel’s feet and toes of iron and clay are trudging through the Middle East, increasing their influence and expanding their empire to rival that of ancient Rome. The whole world stands against Israel over the issue of who will control Jerusalem and the Holy Land.

Jesus told us that when these things BEGIN to come to pass, our redemption draws near. (Luke 21:28)

We can already see the antichrist’s shadow on the wall of the EU Parliament Building in Brussels. Scripture says he won’t be revealed until after the Comforter has been ‘taken out of the way’ with the Rapture of the Church.

The time is short. The fields are white with the harvest. And the stakes are enormous. Both for the lost — and for those of us who know the truth.

“But if the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned; if the sword come, and take any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at the watchman’s hand.” (Ezekiel 33:6)

There is much to do — and not much time left in which to do it.