Special Report: Examining the Evidence For the Pre-Trib Rapture

Special Report: Examining the Evidence For the Pre-Trib Rapture
Vol: 38 Issue: 30 Tuesday, November 30, 2004

In yesterday’s Omega Letter, we discussed the Rapture of the Church and why nobody should be discouraged that it hasn’t happened yet.

We discussed the fact that God is long-suffering towards us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance and suggested that what appears to us to be a delay is really God providing one last chance for the lost before the Lord Jesus comes for His church.

As usual, it prompted a firestorm of emails from people demanding (again) that I prove to them that there is such a thing as a pre-Trib Rapture, using all the usual ‘bait’ — I am preaching falsehood that will somehow harm the Church and that the Bible doesn’t teach a ‘great escape’ etc., etc..

It is fascinating to me how those who hold to a different view of the Rapture are so hateful toward those who anticipate the Rapture first and the Tribulation to follow. It is as if they have a holy mission to chance my view to match theirs.

On the other hand, I feel no such mission to ‘convert’ them. Whether one believes in a pre, mid or post Trib Rapture, or whether one believes in the Rapture at all, when it happens, if such a one is saved, they will be just as raptured as somebody who doesn’t.

We aren’t saved by the timing of the Rapture, or even by the doctrine of the Rapture. We are saved by trusting in the completed Work of the Cross through the shed Blood of Jesus Christ, shed on our behalf as an atonement for sin. Period.

Additionally, many of my critics say that in teaching a pre-Trib Rapture, I am condemning Christians to lose their faith during the Tribulation.

The reasoning goes like this: Since I teach a pre-Trib Rapture, if it doesn’t happen, the faith of those Christians who shared my view will be so shattered that they will turn away from Christ, accept the Mark of the Beast and be lost forever.

The obvious flaws in that line of reasoning are immediate and obvious. First, saving faith is in Christ, not the Rapture. Secondly, the Scripture promises the Holy Spirit will indwell me until Jesus returns, so it is impossible for me to be both truly indwelt and to turn away, accept the Mark, or be lost forever.

Finally, a pre-Tribulation Rapture is the only explanation that meets all the difficulties presented by Scripture in regard to any other view.

One of the first objections to the doctrine of the Rapture is that the word ‘Rapture’ doesn’t appear in the Bible. (As many have noted already, neither does the word ‘Bible’ appear in the Bible. What does that mean?)

The word ‘Rapture’ is derived from the Greek word, ‘harpazo’ which means to ‘seize, carry off by force’, or to ‘snatch out or away’. The Greek ‘harpazo’ translates into Latin as ‘rapios’ and it is from the Latin that we get our word ‘rapture’.

1st Corinthians 15:51:58 describes a translation of New Testament saints that involves an instantaneous change from mortality to immortality. Those believers living at that hour will never see death (1Corinthians 15:51)

1st Thessalonians 4:17 describes the same event, saying that the dead in Christ ‘rise first’ and then we who are alive and remain will be ‘caught up’ (harpazo, rapios) to be with Him in the clouds.

The Rapture is definitely a Biblical doctrine, unless we want to discard or allegorize away what is clearly a literal teaching. But does it take place before the Tribulation, during the Tribulation, or at its end?

1 Thessalonians 1:9-10, 5:1-9, Romans 5:9 and Revelation 3:10 all promise that Church Age believers will be ‘saved from the wrath to come’. The Tribulation Period is expressly called the Day of God’s Wrath.

Today, the Lord is withholding judgment. He sits on the Throne of Grace, but the day approaches when He will sit at the Seat of Judgment. Then, the ‘day of His wrath’ will fall upon all the world. (Psalms 110:5, Revelation 6:17, Isaiah 13:6-13)

There are those who believe Scripture promises that the Church won’t be saved OUT of the Great Tribulation, but instead think that the Church will be saved THROUGH it. That view collides with Revelation 13:7, which clearly teaches that those on earth during the Tribulation won’t be delivered from wrath, but rather, will be overcome by it.

“And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.”

It also fractures Daniel 7:21’s prophecy that says of the antichrist (the little horn); ‘I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them.”

If the antichrist prevails against the Tribulation saints, and overcomes them, as Scripture clearly says, then it cannot simulataneously be that those same saints are delivered ‘through’ the Tribulation.

The Scripture says the restraining ministry of the Holy Spirit will be removed BEFORE the Tribulation.

The Bible says the Holy Spirit is the restrainer of sin; (Genesis 6:3, Isaiah 59:19). The Holy Spirit came into the world in His present special dispensation at Pentecost (Acts 2), specifically to empower the Church for the Great Commission.

2nd Thessalonians 2:1-8 makes it clear that His restraining influence is FIRST ‘taken out of the way’ and THEN ‘that Wicked’ is revealed. If the Holy Spirit will not leave or forsake me until Jesus comes, then He cannot be taken out of the world without taking me with Him. To argue otherwise is to amend Jesus’ Promise to mean, “the Comforter will never leave or forsake you, (except when you need Him the most.”)

The Church plays no role in the Tribulation Period, which is the time of Jacob’s trouble, the 70th Week of Daniel. It is expressly reserved for two purposes; judgment against a Christ-rejecting world, and to bring about the national redemption of Israel described in Zechariah Chapter 12.

In the Book of the Revelation, chapter 4:1 begins with John hearing the phrase, ‘Come up hither!’. From that moment forward, there is no mention of the Church on earth, although the first three chapters discussed nothing else. The Church is not mentioned again until Chapter nineteen, when the Church returns along with the Lord.

Jesus told the Church; “In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.” (John 14:2-3)

But when Jesus comes at the end of the Tribulation, He comes to set up a Messianic kingdom on earth. If the Tribulation were for Church Age believers, that promise would not be fulfilled.

Then there is the doctrine of imminency. The Bible says the Second Coming at the end of the Tribulation will be preceded by specific signs — see Matthew 24, for example.

The Apostle Paul said that we need not worry about the signs of the times, because the Church is promised redemption from the ‘day of darkeness’ that is to overcome the whole world. (2nd Thessalonians 5:1-5) Pre-Tribulational Christians are awaiting Christ, not the antichrist.

Finally, there is the issue of the believers at the end of the Tribulation Period. Mathew 25:31-46 shows that there will be believers that will move on to the Millenium Kingdom. If the Rapture occurs at the end of the Tribulation, where do they come from?

It is clear that the pre-Tribulation Rapture is the only explanation that satisfies the requirements of Scripture.

“Wherefore, comfort one another with these words.” (2nd Thessalonians 4:18)

Back to Business

Back to Business
Vol: 38 Issue: 29 Monday, November 29, 2004

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is reportedly ready to scrap his plan for ‘unilateral disengagement’ with the Palestinians in favor of a coordinated withdrawal — something that now appears possible in a post-Arafat Middle East.

Israelis are optimistic that Arafat’s death was the beginning of the end for what Israelis have taken to calling the “Oslo War”. It is so called because Israel believes the Oslo Agreement was a smoke screen to hide Arafat’s plan to achieve his ‘Phased Plan for the Destruction of Israel’ which called for the Palestinians to obtain everything they could by negotiations, and then to use the land so obtained to launch a war of annihilation against Israel.

Arafat hoped that the launching of another ‘intifada’ — together with Israel’s expectedly harsh response — would so enrage surrounding Arab states that they would join in an all out war of ‘solidarity’ with their Palestinian brothers.

It might have worked, too, if it were not for Osama bin-Laden. The 9/11 attacks robbed Arafat of both his audience and the anticipated impact of his terror war against Israel. World attention was divided between Arafat’s suicide bombers and America’s entry into the war on terror.

Instead of the enraged Arab states rising up en masse against Israel, its leaders began scanning the skies for incoming cruise missiles. Arafat sat impotently in his bombed out headquarters, waiting for the chance that never came.

Pictures of Palestinians being abused by Israelis were replaced on Arab networks with pictures of American ‘atrocities’ in Afghanistan and Iraq. Arafat died without ever regaining the spotlight, and Jerusalem is hoping that the Oslo War died with him.

Fueling that hope was a communique from Hamas leaders indicating that the terror attacks against Israel are under suspension while the Palestinians prepare for an election to decide Arafat’s replacement. In an even more helpful sign, Sheik Hassan Yousef, the group s top leader in the West Bank, said Hamas also would consider a formal truce with Israel.

In the current situation, many political and militant groups have halted their attacks. They are waiting and exploring the new era, said Yousef, who was recently released from an Israeli prison after serving a 28-month sentence.

He also said that Hamas would consider a formal cease-fire, if Israel reciprocates. He said Israel must be prepared to release Palestinian prisoners, withdraw from occupied land and stop targeted killings of militants.

The truce should have a price, he said. There is no truce from one side. The truce should be two-way. But a truce with continued Israeli aggression is not acceptable to us.

Arafat’s terror wing of his Fatah Party is also hinting at a truce. Ala a Sanakra, an al Aqsa leader from Nablus, told Newsweek that, We are watching the changes after Arafat s death. We haven t announced a truce from our side but we are exploring the future. If there is a real truce on the table, we will agree to it, he said.

Assessment:

The European Union is meeting at the Hague to discuss implementing, “The Barcelona process” a summit that the EU boasts “is the only regional forum where Israel and its Arab neighbours sit together for dialogue, albeit anchored on Mediterranean nations’ trade and political ties with the EU.”

The Hague’s Euromed summit includes Israel, Palestinian representative, Nabil Sha’ath, Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Lebanon, Syria, Tunisia and Turkey. Libya is not yet a member, but was invited to observe as a guest.

Hours before leaving to attend the meeting, however, Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom told reporters that European diplomats have stepped up contacts with Israel over the past two weeks. “I believe it shows that the EU would like to get involved in a peace process in the region.”

But the Israelis aren’t quite ready to trust their security to the Europeans. He accused the EU of being biased in favor of the Palestinians. Israel is still furious that Javier Solana attended Yasser Arafat’s funeral.

The EU is using the Euromed partnership to force Israel into a choice between the carrot and the stick. Euromed partnership would provide Israel with at least the appearance of an international guarantor of its security, but it would also open up EU markets to Israeli goods.

And while the Israelis fear the EU’s pro-Palestinian bias, the death of Yasser Arafat seems to be offering at least the chance at peace with the Palestinians, anyway.

At the same time, the United States is more than willing to step back and let Europe take a crack at it while it continues to prosecute its own war against al-Qaeda, and, quite probably, Iran.

We find, then, all the players in Ezekiel’s Gog-Magog scenario grouped together at the Hague, discussing Israel’s possible future as an EU client, in exchange for concessions over Jerusalem, the implementation of the Oslo Accord’s ‘final status’ provisions and the dismantling of the Israeli ‘security wall’ — making Israel, once again, a ‘land of unwalled villages’.

The EU’s efforts to assume the role of guarantor of Arab-Israeli peace come at a time when Israel’s traditional guarantor, the United States, is preparing for a possible new conflict with Persia, a client nuclear state of Gog-Magog. While simultaneously fighting wars with both the Babylonian insurgents in Iraq and al-Qaeda’s Islamic forces throughout the Middle East.

Israel, although mistrustful of the EU, is desperate for peace and security, and the prospect of the economic security membership in the Euromed nations would provide is a powerful incentive to take the gamble.

The stage appears to be perfectly set for Ezekiel’s scenario to move forward. As a note of caution, it APPEARS to be perfectly set. That doesn’t mean it necessarily is.

Scripture says God is long suffering towards us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. (1 Peter 3:9)

The Lord promised He would hold off as long as possible, just as He did in the ‘days of Noah’ to give everyone a chance to hear the warning and escape the coming judgment.

Many parts of the end-times scenario are in place, but the end is not yet. That is no reason to become discouraged in waiting.

In the first place, Jesus promised; “Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think NOT the Son of man cometh.” (Matthew 24:44)

To believers who know the prophecies of Scripture, it seems like the Rapture should have already occurred — the Tribulation seems to be just around the corner. But the Lord is long-suffering, not willing that any should perish, and the signs of the times were given TO believers FOR the spreading of the Gospel to the lost.

It is evidence that the Lord is coming soon. To the believer, it is an encouragement. To the non-believer, it is a clear warning, an extra measure of God’s grace being extended in these last days.

“Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness. But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.” (2nd Peter 3:18)

Note:

Hal Lindsey will be going in for knee replacement surgery on Tuesday. The doctors say the only real danger is the possibility of a blood clot. Please pray all goes well and that he has a speedy recovery. God bless you all.

US Preparing To Tackle Prince of Persia

US Preparing To Tackle Prince of Persia
Vol: 38 Issue: 28 Sunday, November 28, 2004

Iran continues to argue that it has the right to keep some of the centrifuges used to enrich uranium for ‘research purposes’ — despite the much-vaunted ‘Paris Accord’ requiring Iran to give them all up.

In talks in Paris with Britain, Germany and France, Iran agreed on Nov. 15 to freeze all its nuclear activities. Its subsequent statement that it wants to retain some centrifuges for research purposes allegedly ‘stunned’ negotiators.

It makes one wonder what planet those alleged ‘negotiators’ arrived from? Iran is playing a game of brinksmanship and the EU’s negotiators should have expected it. Everybody else did.

An article in the newspaper Jomhouri Islami said recently that the IAEA’s opposition to letting Iran keep centrifuges for research was aimed at ‘preventing it from mastering the fuel cycle’.

“We must not trust the Europeans who have dishonored their pledges with Iran in the past and we should develop our fuel cycle with full capacity,” it said.

The week before last, President Mohammad Khatami had called the Paris agreement a “success,” and Hossein Mousavian, a member of the negotiating team, said Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, had approved the agreement.

“Iran considered the deal a victory because unlike the United States, which wants to dismantle Iran’s nuclear program, Europe has recognized it and even promised to help Iran become one of the 18 fuel producers,” said Kaveh Afrasiabi, a political scientist and adviser to the negotiating team.

Iran has been developing its nuclear program openly for almost a decade. During that time, the West stood by, apparently confident Iran was keeping to the terms of the various non-proliferation treaties to which Iran was a signatory.

History shows this to be a huge mistake; somewhere equal to the thirteen-year ‘sitzkrieg’ with Saddam Hussein’s regime, but with infinitely greater consequences.

A year ago, Iran promised to suspend nuclear enrichment activity, only to break that promise the moment the inspectors looked away. Now there is a new promise to suspend — but Iran demands the right to break the promise — in advance.

The National Council of Resistance of Iran said Teheran is not only breaking its pledge, it is doing so using a covert program the IAEA is allegedly unaware of.

It says the mad mullahs are using secret laser technology as part of Iran’s enrichment process, a process said to be key to developing nuclear weapons.

The council also said laser technology has been used at several Iranian military facilities. One might question the council, since it hopes to use the US to overthrow the mullahs, but the IAEA confirmed some of it in its latest report.

It found that Iran tried to acquire equipment suitable for uranium enrichment at the Lavizan site in Teheran. The US has identified Lavizan as a (formerly) secret nuclear weapons facility. Iran says Lavizan has been used since 1989 as a physics research center.

The IAEA also says Iran has produced tons of uranium hexafluoride, also known as UF6, in the city of Isfahan. UH6 is used to feed gas centrifuges to produce enriched uranium required for nuclear weapons.

The IAEA believes that 37 tons uranium yellowcake ore were delivered to the uranium conversion facility in Isfahan and that some UF6 has already been produced.

Assessment:

Colin Powell’s State Department has been at odds with the administration over the prospect of military action against Iran since President Bush first named it as a member of the ‘Axis of Evil’ following the 9/11 attack.

Powell’s reaffirmed to anyone who would listen, his policy of seeking a diplomatic resolution to the Iran nuclear standoff, to the degree he redefined thirty years of US policy on the fly, saying in a TV interview,

“We have no intention of regime change. That is our policy: no regime change.”

How’s that again? To my knowledge, regime change in Iran has been US policy since the day Khomeini’s thugs invaded the US embassy and took US citizens hostage for 444 days.

(This is part of the reason that there isn’t going to be a second Powell State Department).

The appointment of new Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice marks the beginning of a new policy (?) (or a resumption of the old?) — in any case, ‘regime change’ in Tehran is already in the works, just as surely as regime change in Iraq was already being discussed by war planners– even before September 11 diverted Washington’s attention to Afghanistan.

Over the next few weeks, Dr. Rice is almost certainly going to replace most of the assistant secretaries and career underlings at State.

Rice will bring in her own Middle East team and sideline the naysayers who opposed the war in Iraq, a vigorous campaign against Iranian nuclear weapons and those diplomats who coddled dead terrorist Yasser Arafat.

The regime change at State is the first signal of the planned regime change in Iran.

The Pentagon anticipates that diplomatic efforts to halt Iran’s program would fail and has been pressing for interagency feasibility studies for a possible US strike against Iran.

The Israelis estimate any successful strike against Iran’s nuclear program would involve the total destruction of more than three hundred and fifty targets.

Iran has acquired plans to develop a nuclear warhead for the Shihab-3 missile. It is no coincidence that Tehran has been developing the warhead in parallel with its uranium enrichment program.

The appointment of Condoleeza Rice to Secretary of State signals that Washington is tired of playing brinksmanship and unwilling to back down in the face of the threat.

We’ve discussed the possible ramifications of a joint US-Israeli military strike against Iran in terms of the Gog-Magog War.

According to Ezekiel, the Gog-Magog Alliance includes Persia, Russia, and most of the Islamic states of the Middle East. Ezekiel’s description of the battle includes the deployment and use of nuclear weapons.

This is not a time to be worried. God gave us prophecy so that we would know what the world does not.

“But take ye heed: behold, I have foretold you all things,” Jesus says in Mark 13:13.

He reminds us He foretold these things so that when they began to come to pass, we would know that all is going according to a Divine Plan.

What looks like chaos to the world is actually a blessed assurance from the Lord.

“For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day.” (2nd Timothy 1:12)

And that Day is fast approaching.

“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)

Prayer Power Unleashed

Prayer Power Unleashed
Vol: 38 Issue: 27 Saturday, November 27, 2004

“And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.” (James 5:15)

If anyone has serious doubts about the existence of God or the faithfulness of Christ, its because they haven’t spent any time in our member’s fellowship forums.

In fact, I ran the search term “answered prayer” and got thirty-four different testimonies. The most startling testimonies are like those that detail healings that can only be termed ‘miraculous’.

Our brother Joy offered the following testimony just yesterday:

“Today the Oncologist(Doctor) has made his ‘final decision’. Mom can go home this Monday. Since there is no reason why she should stay for further treatment. PTL!

The Doctor has said, that in his entire medical career he hasn’t seen a 180 degrees turnaround in such a short time (3-days). He uttered, that he “doesn’t understand.”

[Four days ago they didn’t even know what the prognosis would be.]

Folks, the news here is that today mom’s TLC level was 6,000 (normal = 4,000). She is feeling healthy, active, her appetite has grown and most of all she is in a cheerful and rejoicing mood, praising God with every breath she takes.

That’s not all folks, my mother got yet another opportunity to witness to the Doctor and told him that, ‘believers, the world over prayed for her good health and recovery’. To this he responded, “Then I think, prayers are what you need”. In other words, what medical science couldn’t do, prayers have done. Today, he acknowledged!!

He said, that no one with a full blown case of Leukemia(AML), [as my mom], has been discharged within three weeks of treatment. The Doctor is still in a shock. LOL

What an awesome Praise Report!!!

Another Doctor from the panel, while having a chat with the family admitted that it has been prayers in my Mothers’ case that have showed such remarkable signs of recovery within 3-days. He said that last week the team was losing hope of a possible recovery, but in the past 3-days everything has changed.

What more can I say as I personally am amazed to see the power of our LORD. Have been speechless……..”

I have been the recipient of the blessing of answered prayer as a result of our prayer warriors countless times, for things as miraculous as personal healings, or as mundane as journey mercies. Your prayers have kept the Omega Letter going when it seemed hopeless.

Your prayers have resulted in ISP’s unblocking delivery of the Omega Letter, made it possible to meet our financial commitments, even when it seemed impossible, have provided us with encouragement during the darkest moments, and have sustained us when our strength seemed almost gone.

To my mind, it should be impossible for me to produce a fresh overview of global events every single morning for the past 1101 mornings without having burned out hundreds of volumes back.

There was a time, many years ago, when it took me a whole week just to come up with enough material to fill a half-hour segment of “This Week in Bible Prophecy” — and sometimes I needed help to do that.

Between the Omega Letter, Oracle and several extra columns each week for other venues, one would think Hal’s weekly TV program, “The International Intelligence Briefing” on TBN, would be a ‘bridge too far’, so to speak.

But somehow, we always seem to manage to get the job done, despite my pessimism — thanks to answered prayer.

The way you encourage each other in the forums is an answer to my own prayers that the Omega Letter’s mission serve believers in a unique way in these last days.

Not only is it a training center for the one-on-one personal evangelistic efforts among our fellowship, it is a place where you learn from each other — a place where the teachers are the students and the students are often the teachers.

Most ministries focus their attention on telling you how NOT to live in this world. The Omega Letter’s uniqueness can be found in the way we all learn the really salient questions facing believers; we all know how Christians AREN’T supposed to live.

Through our shared experiences in Christ, believers in our forums learn instead HOW to live out this sin-sick and weary existence while maintaining our witness during our vigil, until He comes.

Our brother Lou has made the point more than once: “On the personal side, I find answered prayer to be a certain endorsement by God when He is comfortable to settle in with those who love Him, as answered prayer is what separates us from religion and showing that we have a relationship. . .”

Head_spaz commented in one post; “Answered prayer is so special! Nothing else to live for!”

Amen to that!

Lou’s comment in another posting to the effect that, “Prayer request are seen now as also opportunity to observe answered prayer, things we can log in and see what God does either right away or over time which is something we don’t notice often,” really impacted me.

Many times I have thought about that — every answered prayer is a witness, and every prayer request provides another opportunity for a praise report.

Robert Oyler posted a prayer request, saying, “I have a friend who is going through some health issues. sometimes it gets pretty serious from what I understand. My prayers aren’t enough, more is needed and will be appreciated.”

Later, in the same thread, came the inevitable praise report; “You people are an answer to prayers. And I never even knew to ask Him for all of you, He just provided.”

Allie Byrd, in response to Robert’s initial request for prayer, summed up the kind of fellowship God has built among our membership, writing; “Oh, that all people had such dear friends as you, that would bring their plight to others for intercessory prayer…”

Sheldon noted that, “I used to think that my prayers didn’t matter much, but to make a couple of long stories short, God has made it a point to prove me wrong on quite a few occasions.”

Me, too, Sheldon! And I believe there are others who could offer the same testimony.

Jeshua’s lil_sister wrote: “My sister Rebecca was operated on yesterday. The doctors are VERY PLEASED with the results so far. Her scans seem to have shown no spread of the cancer. This is holy ground here. Our God saves…and truly is the God of abundant Life. Am over the moon with joy for my sister and her two children. Wanted to share this good news here with you all dear brothers and sisters first. Thank you so much for your precious prayers.”

I know that your prayers had a major impact on our brother Wylie’s condition. His brain surgery should have left him blind and crippled — the doctors didn’t offer much in the way of hope, either. They warned that he may never come out of the surgery the same, and that, in any case, he wouldn’t have long to live.

Wylie came out different, all right! The Lord cured his blindness as a direct answer to prayer. The Lord healed the partial paralysis that he experienced after the surgery. And Wylie continues to report that he never felt better in his life.

Wylie now spends his time praising God and speaking to churches about death, dying, and the certainty of salvation. (Few people realize just how miraculous that is, unless they know Wylie like I do.)

When I get discouraged, or when I wonder if the Omega Letter is truly accomplishing the mission God assigned to it, God lifts me up through your intercessory prayer. And your praise reports continue to remind me of the power of intercessory prayers and the joy with which God grants each one.

When I get discouraged, I need only pay a visit to our member’s fellowship forum to be refreshed and renewed. May God bless you all for your faithfulness to our Lord — and especially for your faithfulness toward one another.

Thank You, Jesus, for answered prayer. And thank You even more for the faithfulness of the prayer warriors who offer those prayers in confidence.

“And this is the confidence that we have in Him, that, if we ask any thing according to His will, He heareth us: And if we know that He hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him.” (1 John 5:14-15)

We’re coming up on Christmas, and we know that each of you has extra financial obligations to meet over the coming month, so we anticipate a lean month for the OL.

Please join with me in prayer that the Lord will meet the Omega Letter’s needs through December without placing any extra burden on any of you. You have enough on your plate already.

I am confident that He will answer.

I look forward to publishing my praise report in January. Unless He comes first.

Then I will give it in person.

America’s Communist Lawyers’ Union

America’s Communist Lawyers’ Union
Vol: 38 Issue: 26 Friday, November 26, 2004

The ACLU’s holy war against the Boy Scouts, the LA County Official Seal (containing a tiny Cross), holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas — and even the Constitution itself — has unmasked the ACLU as a tyrant less interested in civil rights than imposing judicial restraints that amount to suppression of majority rights by a tiny minority.

The ACLU claims to be an unbiased, neither conservative or liberal organization devoted exclusively to protecting the civil liberties of all Americans. But their record proves just the opposite.

ACLU Founder Roger Baldwin admitted as much, saying for the record that; Civil liberties, like democracy, are useful only as tools for social change.

Although they claim to defend constitutional rights, they don t even believe in the document as written. They say that, The Constitution as originally conceived was deeply flawed. They even go so far as to brag, The ACLU was the missing ingredient that made our constitutional system finally work.

Roger Baldwin was a student of communist Emma Goldman who tutored him in subversive ideology of Lenin, together with secular humanism. He claimed Emma as one of the chief inspirations of his life .

During World War 1 Baldwin worked in the Bureau of Conscientious Objectors, a division of AUAM, to help draft dodgers with resistance and provide legal and financial aid.

This resulted in controversy and Baldwin renamed the organization The Civil Liberties Bureau to avoid some of the flack. Roger refused to tone down his liberal talk and the AUAM sought a split, which resulted in the bureau renaming again; The National Civil Liberties Bureau.

One paper Baldwin wrote for the Bureau was called unmailable by the Post Office because of radical and subversive views which resulted in a FBI raid on their offices. Shortly thereafter he was drafted and upon resisting and openly spouting social reform propaganda, was imprisoned for a year.

In 1920 he moved his offices in with the Communist Party s paper, New Masses and renamed the group a final time to the ACLU. He developed many ties with the communist movement and even wrote a book, “Liberty Under the Soviets”, which bragged about the liberty won for anti-religion .

Baldwin admitted in his book; “I joined. I don t regret being a part of the Communist tactic, which increased the effectiveness of a good cause. I knew what I was doing. I was not an innocent liberal. I wanted what the Communists wanted

The ACLU was founded at a party attended by Socialist Party notable Norman Thomas, future Communist Party chairman Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, and Soviet agent Agnes Smedley.

In 1920, Rev. Harry Ward, the ‘Red Dean’ of the Union Theological Seminary was Chairman, Baldwin was director, and Communist publisher Louis Budenz, who would later go on to testify against Communism, director of publicity.

Other Communist and radical founders included William Z. Foster, author of Toward Soviet America, Harold J. Laski, Morris Hilquit, A.J.Muste, Scott Nearing, Eugene V. Debs, and John Dewey.

The 1930 s membership would include such radicals and change agents as Vito Marcantonio, Haywood Broun, Corliss Lamont, and Bishop G. Bromley Oxnan.

The 1940 s roll would include George S. Counts, Norman Cousins, Melvyn Douglas, Robert M. Hutchins, and Freda Kirchwey.

Most prominent American luminaries of the left were, and are, members of the ACLU.

On January 16, 1981, President Jimmy Carter awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom to ACLU founder Roger Nash Baldwin, calling him ‘a champion of human and civil rights.’

Under the guise of ‘protecting American civil rights’, Baldwin’s ACLU has sued to;

– Halt the singing of Christmas Carols in public facilities.

– Deny tax -exempt status for Churches.

– Remove all military chaplains.

– Remove all Christian symbols from public property.

– Prohibit Bible reading in classrooms even during free time.

– Remove In God We Trust from our coins.

– Remove God from the Pledge of Allegiance

– Deny federal funding for Boy Scouts until they admit gays and atheists

The ACLU championed the gay rights movement and Roe v. Wade. In 1977, the ACLU created its “Reproductive Freedom Project” that, over the next 16 years, utilized 17 full-time employees and a budget of $2 million.

In 1986 the ACLU created its “Lesbian and Gay Rights” project.

Some other causes adopted by the ACLU include the rights of AIDS patients to keep their diseases confidential and denying freedom of worship in public places.

In 1986, 5th grade teacher Kenneth Roberts was ordered, following an ACLU suit, to remove his Bible from his classroom. (In 2001, it sued the Anahein public school system for refusing to put pro-homosexual propaganda in the district’s high school libraries.)

In 1988, it barred a doctor from telling a Kansas man’s former wife that her ex-husband had tested positive for AIDS. In the words of the director of the ACLU’s Privacy and Technology Project, “The benefits of confidentiality outweigh the possibility that somebody may be injured.”

In 1997, the ACLU convinced the Supreme Court to protect the rights of pornographers on the Internet – including the right to show their images to children.

In May 2000, Arizona Governor Jane Hull issued a proclamation celebrating the birth of Buddha. An ACLU spokesperson said, “Although we may think proclamations are inappropriate, they may not violate the Constitution.”

(But two years earlier, when Governor Hull issued a proclamation declaring a “Bible Week,” the ACLU sued, claiming a violation of the so-called “separation of church and state.”)

Assessment:

Among the ACLU’s repertoire of victories are cases involving the defense of Communists, anarchists, Ku Klux Klansmen, and those who sought to overthrow American government.

In order for the ACLU to tear down constitutional barriers to governmental power, they must extinguish America’s fundamental belief in God, since such a belief is an essential denial of the supreme power of government.

According to the Declaration of Independence, rights come from God, not government. When God’s presence in the American mindset ceases, however, people no longer look to God as the grantor of rights but to government.

Thus, the ACLU argues that the more power the government has, the better off the people under it are. If one looks at the history of the Soviet Union and any other Communist country, one will be apt to find Communist leaders who predicated their form of government on atheism and a secular state religion.

The ACLU has been so successful that even the Declaration of Independence can be interpreted as unconstitutional, if the argument is framed properly.

A San Franscisco suburban teacher was forbidden to give out copies of the Declaration of Independence to his students by the school’s principal, Patricia Vidmar, because it refers to God. Principal Vidmar has also required that Mr. Williams clear all his lessons first with her.

This has led to other materials that refer to God or Christianity being rejected, such as George Washington’s journal, John Adams’ diary, Samuel Adams’ “The Rights of the Colonists,” and William Penn’s “The Frame of Government of Pennsylvania.”

The Barna Research Group found in a recent poll that 40% of all Americans claimed to have read the Bible in the week preceding the poll. Fully 80% admitted to praying to God in the previous week, while 83% said that religion had ‘changed their behavior’.

Two-thirds of Americans claimed they attend church at least once a month. Interestingly, more Americans believe in God than Israelis do. The National Opinion Research Center found that 62.8% of Americans believe in God, as compared with only 43% of Israelis.

Given these numbers, how can it be that the ACLU can impose such a ‘through the looking-glass’ worldview on the majority of Americans?

In the natural, there are plenty of reasons; the careful installation of anti-Christian activists judges, ninety years of brainwashing, the imposition of secular humanism as America’s state religion, and the domination of professions like the law and teaching by secularists and homosexual activists.

But the Bible says that it is more than that.

Romans 1:28 says, “And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient.”

2nd Timothy 3:5,8,13 say that, “Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof”, “evil men and seducers will wax worse and worse” eventually resulting in their becoming “men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith.”

Note that Paul begins this passage by warning, “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.” (2nd Timothy 3:1)

The word ‘reprobate’ means ‘without moral scruples’ and carries with it the sense of being morally blinded to the degree that one is unable to think clearly, even when it is in one’s own best interests.

Clearly, espousing the idea that the Declaration of Independence is unconstitutional because it mentions God, particularly in the context of PROTECTING religious liberties, cannot logically be squared with the concept that religious liberty is guaranteed by God.

Webster’s 1913 Dictionary defines ‘reprobate’ theologically as “Abandoned to punishment; hence, morally abandoned and lost; given up to vice; depraved.”

Romans 1:28 says God ‘gave them over’ to a reprobate mind.

2nd Thessalonians says that the antichrist (that ‘Wicked’ v.2:8) would be revealed after the restraining influence of the Holy Spirit is ‘taken out of the way’ (v.7) after which, Paul writes, “God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie,” with the ultimate result that, “they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” (v. 12)

The ACLU exists, openly and it all its glory, for the express purpose of propagating the lie that God does not exist, and therefore the worship of God is a crime, even though, apart from God, there is no guarantor of the civil liberties the ACLU claims to protect.

Do you follow? The ‘reprobate mind’ suffering from the ‘strong delusion’.

It is here, it is now and it is in your face. And it will continue to get worse.

Until He comes.

“But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth . . . Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle.” (2nd Thessalonians 2:13,15)

How is it that so many Americans can be deceived into allowing themselves to by tyrannized by the minority? A reprobate mind.

Why hasn’t it affected the True Church?

“For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a SOUND MIND.” (2nd Timothy 1:7)

Which is why the Red States earned the nickname, “JesusLand.”

Giving Thanks

Giving Thanks
Vol: 38 Issue: 25 Thursday, November 25, 2004

On this Thanksgiving Day, we in America have much to be thankful for. As an individual, I have much to be thankful for.

Thanksgiving is a day set aside in America to dwell on our blessings, and on the One who grants them.

In the first place, I am thankful that there is such a place on the earth as the United States of America. There has never been a country like it. America truly is the land of opportunity.

Take Arnold Schwartzeneggar, for example.

He arrived in America as an almost penniless Austrian immigrant. Today, he is known the world over and is worth billions.

After an implausible acting career, despite his almost unintelligible accent, he is now the governor of California. There is even talk of amending the Constitution so he could run for president. Only in America.

Thanksgiving is a uniquely American concept. Other countries have their own Thanksgiving Day, (Canada, for example) but the idea of setting aside one day on a national basis to rejoice before the Lord in gratitude for His blessings is uniquely American.

George Washington proclaimed the first day of Thanksgiving in 1789 to celebrate its new Constitution. President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed in 1863 that the last Thursday of November would be a national Day of Thanksgiving.

Over the next seventy-five years, Presidents followed Lincoln’s precedent, annually declaring a national Thanksgiving Day. Then, in 1941, Congress permanently established the fourth Thursday of each November as a national holiday.

I am thankful that America is still a free country. I am thankful that it gave me shelter. I am thankful that America is uniquely hated by the world BECAUSE it is a Christian country.

“If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. Remember the Word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his Lord. If they have persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept My saying, they will keep yours also.” (John 15:19-20)

There is much to be thankful for on this Thanksgiving Day, 2004.

I am thankful that John Kerry isn’t the President of the United States. I am thankful for the tongue-in-cheek map of the US that shows the Red States as ‘JesusLand’.

I am thankful that America still produces the kind of citizens who willingly put themselves in harm’s way so that others might be free.

I am thankful that freedom is America’s legacy to the world, and thankful we have a President who views individual freedom as a gift from God guaranteed by America, rather than one who views America as the grantor of freedom.

I am thankful that God chose to let me live through this pivotal time in human history. I am thankful for the Word of God. And that I am blessed to be an eyewitness to its fulfillment in this generation.

I am thankful that I can worship Him in freedom and that the ACLU has not been able to separate God from America, despite its best efforts to do so.

I am thankful that, despite the snares of this world, America is still a Christian country. I am thankful that America is Israel’s best friend and protector.

I am thankful for my family, our continued good health, and I am thankful that God allowed me to see my grandchildren. I praise God that my children turned out to be the kind of people that they are.

I am thankful to God for His gift of grace through faith, and I am thankful that my children are all saved. I am thankful that God called me to the ministry, and I am thankful that He continues to sustain me for His work.

I am thankful for the Presence of the Comforter, and for His sustaining power that keeps us all going despite the best efforts of the enemy to steal our victory.

I am thankful for the members of our fellowship from other countries where being faithful is not as easy as it is in America. I am thankful for your perseverance in the face of obstacles we in America don’t fully appreciate.

I am thankful that we have a more sure word of prophecy that proves beyond doubt that what appears to be chaos and anarchy to the lost is, to us, evidence that God remains on the Throne and that the seeming chaos is evidence of the fulfillment of a carefully defined Divine Plan.

And I am thankful for each of you. You are such a blessing to me that words cannot adequately express the depth of my gratitude for your prayers and for your fellowship.

May God richly bless us all in the coming year, if the Lord chooses to tarry that long. And may we continue to praise Him and give Him thanks and make every day our own, personal Thanksgiving Day.

Until He comes.

Thanksgiving Without God

Thanksgiving Without God
Vol: 38 Issue: 24 Wednesday, November 24, 2004

As we were flying home from California, we were greeted by the airport screeners, the lady in the airport bookshop, the stewardesses and the pilot via the intercom with the phrase ‘Happy Holidays’.

The only ‘Happy Thanksgiving’ greeting I heard on the whole trip was from Gayle when she responded to the greeting.

This morning, I heard a teaser for an upcoming segment on Fox News in which the announcer said; “Meet the man who things Turkey Day should be a religious holiday. . .” as if it were a secular holiday about to be hijacked by the Religious Right.

It must be difficult for students to figure out why its called ‘Thanksgiving’ when there’s nobody to thank.

In Maryland’s schools, according to the Capital News Service, “students are free to thank anyone they want while learning about the 17th-century celebration of Thanksgiving — as long as it isn’t God.”

Maryland public school officials have turned Thanksgiving into a multicultural harvest devoid of its spiritual essence. Students are taught that Pilgrims had a “belief system,” but nothing further.

“The Pilgrim Story is read in Spanish and English,” Alfreda Adams, principal at Mills-Parole Elementary School in Anne Arundel County where 70 Hispanic students attend, told the Capital. “We make sure that we celebrate all cultures.”

Isn’t that nice? Students are given the opportunity to reject God in two languages in Maryland, while, as Michelle Malkin noted recently, “the town of Hamtramck, Mich., feels free to blast Islamic prayers over public loudspeakers five times a day.”

Secular America is on the horns of a dilemma; here we have a holiday set aside exclusively to give thanks for the blessings of the past year, but there’s nobody to thank.

The first Thanksgiving proclamation was issued by George Washington in 1789. In his proclamation, Washington suffered no confusion concerning Who is the Author of the blessings we are to be thankful for.

“It is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor.”

Hint: George Washington thought that thanks should be directed to ‘Almighty God’.

It was Abraham Lincoln who made Thanksgiving a national holiday, with the 1863 proclamation that it was to be a day of “Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens.”

Is our ‘beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens’ just an off-the-cuff reference to a generic deity?

Assessment:

I ‘googled’ ‘Thanksgiving’ and ‘God’ on Google’s news search engine, and most of the hits that came back were about Thanksgiving without God. Of those, I found just two secular news stories decrying God’s removal from the holiday.

The remainder of the hits came either from Christian-based news sites like ‘Christianity Today’, etc.

In an article at Better Homes and Gardens about Thanksgiving entitled, ‘Why Do We Celebrate?’ discussed the kinds of foods served at the first Thanksgiving feast, the utensils, the guests, but the only mention of God was a notation that, “No meal could begin without saying grace, since the Pilgrims believed that their good fortune was due to their relationship to God.”

The poor, stupid, Pilgrims! They ‘believed that their good fortune was due to their relationship with God’ instead of just dumb luck. Although no student in an American school is taught it, the Pilgrims didn’t merely have a ‘belief structure’ about a ‘deity’ — they were Christians who believed in Jesus Christ.

After 66 days crossing the Atlantic Ocean, the Pilgrims landed in Plymouth in November 1620.

“Being thus arrived in a good harbor and brought safe to land,” wrote Governor William Bradford about their arrival in the book, ‘Of Plymouth Plantation’, “they fell upon their knees and blessed the God of heaven, who had brought them over the vast and furious ocean, and delivered them from all the perils and miseries thereof, again to set their feet on the firm and stable earth, their proper element.”

An editorial in Delaware County News reminds us all: “This was a holiday formed with good intentions, established for a nation to give thanks to God for the bounty it had received.”

But, lest the editorialist be pigeon-holed as a purveyor of myth, he hastens to add, “Though born out of a slanted and inaccurate mythology involving the Pilgrims and Native Americans, it still denotes images of sharing, family, harvest, sacrifice and prayer.”

Some public school teachers dig deeper toward a darker view of history — that Europeans showed up in the Americas with racially bigoted attitudes and greed, and the peaceful interactions between them and the Indians quickly went downhill.

Rose Lanin, a second- and third-grade teacher at the Kazoo School (Michigan) who has been teaching students about early American life, explained to her students that some pilgrims brought slaves and indentured servants with them.

The ACLU is busy again this year, monitoring public school curriculums to ensure that Thanksgiving Day is celebrated as ‘Turkey Day’, worshipping the creature (the turkey) more than the One who created it.

It isn’t like this should be a difficult concept. Anybody with half a mind should be able to figure out that Thanksgiving Day without Someone to thank is a logical conundrum.

But intelligent people who otherwise are capable of tying their own shoes, holding jobs, driving themselves to work and even educated enough to read can’t seem to grasp the inherent inconsistency.

It is as if they’ve lost the ability to reason, even when it is in their own best interests to do so.

“Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools.” (Romans 1:22)

The Apostle Paul’s description of last-days unbelievers notes that they are those;

“Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.” (Romans 1:25)

“And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient.” (Romans 1:28)

Thanksgiving Day isn’t ‘Turkey Day’ — but that’s what your kids are taught in school.

Thanksgiving Day is a day set aside for America to heed the promise of 2nd Chronicles 7:14:

“If My people, which are called by My Name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek My Face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”

“Thank You, Jesus, for Your many blessings showered upon America. Forgive the ignorant who have been brainwashed by the enemy and lead them to a right knowledge of You. We give You the honor and the glory that is rightfully due to You, and pray that You will come quickly. In Your Name we pray. Amen.”

Happy Thanksgiving! May God richly bless you all.

Note:

We arrived back home last night. Once again, I must thank you all for your prayers for journey mercies. In spite of the fact it was two days before the busiest air travel holiday of the year and a high state of security, the screeners were efficient, lines were short and our flights were both on time and smooth.

We had a wonderful time of fellowship. Things were so hectic with all the guests (mostly other pastors and their wives) that Hal and I didn’t have much of a chance to spend any quality time alone. There was no time to get him into the chat room, but I was able to let him read your happy birthday wishes. He was very moved.

I will be posting some of the pictures from Hal’s birthday party later today in the member’s forum.

I enjoyed the visit, but I am glad to be back in my own time zone.

Much love in Christ

Jack

“By Peace He Shall Destroy Many”

“By Peace He Shall Destroy Many”
Vol: 38 Issue: 22 Monday, November 22, 2004

Yasser Arafat’s elusive medical records were finally released to his nephew by French authorities. According to the Palestinian Authority, the cause of Arafat’s death is still ‘inconclusive’.

The French refused to release the records to the Palestinian Authority, citing French privacy laws that only permit the release of medical records to family members.

Arafat’s wife, Suha, made off with the originals and went to Tunisia, where she tried to use the dead terrorist’s medical records to leverage a pension for her and her daughter from the Palestinian Authority.

She was foiled when Arafat s nephew, Nasser al-Qidwa, went to Paris to request copies. The French government released the records to al-Qidwa, prompting Suha’s lawyers to threaten to sue the hospital.

Lawyers Philippe Plantade and Jean-Marie Burguburu said there were no other eligible people to receive the files than Arafat s wife.

He would also not say whether Arafat s widow would make the records public, despite the fact al-Qidwa has already handed them over the Palestinian Authority.

“Mrs Arafat fully understands existing diplomatic and historic reasons but these cannot justify raison d’etat prevailing over the rule of law,” the lawyers said in the statement.

When he was alive, Arafat ordered that Suha’s $100,000.00 per month apartment be paid for out of the PA Treasury. She was also receiving about $100,000 a month from the Palestinian budget to cover her shopping sprees in Paris, according to Palestinian authorities.

Arafat was kept alive on life support for more than a week after he was declared brain-dead while Suha tried to find out where Arafat hid all his money.

Failing in that effort, she took his medical records hostage in the hope that the PA would pay her off in return for their release.

Assessment:

Even dead, Arafat remains a top newsmaker and probably will continue to top the headlines for months, if not years.

The scope of his corruption and theft is breath-taking, and ordinary Palestinians are now learning just how much money he stole from them to support his wife’s lavish lifestyle while ordinary Palestinians the money was intended for suffered in the abject poverty caused by Arafat’s refusal to make peace with Israel.

According to new revelations from Abdel Bari Atwan, editor of the London-based daily al-Quds al-Arabi, an Arafat confidante, Arafat never intended to make peace with the Israelis.

He related the details of a meeting he had with Arafat at the PLO s Tunis headquarters in 1994, just days before the PLO was allowed to triumphantly enter the Gaza Strip following the signing of the Oslo Accords.

“The man told me, ‘Listen, Abdel Bari, I know that you are opposed to the Oslo Accords, but you must always remember what I’m going to tell you. The day will come when you will see thousands of Jews fleeing Palestine. I will not live to see this, but you will definitely see it in your lifetime. The Oslo Accords will help bring this about.'”

Atwan also revealed that it was Arafat who had personally established his Fatah party s Al Aqsa Brigades military wing a group featured prominently on the US State Department s list of known terror groups.

“President Arafat was the one who established the Aksa Martyrs Brigades in response to the attempt to marginalize him after the failure of the Camp David summit,” he said.

Atwan said Arafat rejected the unprecedented offers made by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak at Camp David because he wasn’t prepared to sign a final agreement with the Jewish state.

It isn’t like it wasn’t obvious to everybody else — with the possible exception of Bill Clinton, who hoped to ram through a peace deal in order to secure for himself a different legacy than being the first president to be convicted of perjury while in office.

According to another political analyst close to Arafat, Yunis Udeh, “Arafat said, and I quote, ‘I am hammering the first nail in the Zionist coffin.

Only hours after shaking Yitzhak Rabin s hand on the White House lawn in 1993, Jordanian TV broadcast a pre-recorded message from Arafat to the Arab masses assuring them the agreement he had just signed was merely the first step in his phased plan to destroy Israel.

A year later, while most Israelis were celebrating their newfound peace, Arafat admitted to congregants at a Johannesburg, South Africa mosque, in English, that the Oslo Accords had been a ruse.

This agreement, I am not considering it more than the agreement which had been signed between our prophet Mohammed and Quraish, he said, referencing a deceptive peace treaty brokered by Islam s founder.

In 626, Mohammed signed the Hudaibiya Treaty with the Quraish tribe of Mecca. He promptly abrogated the agreement two years later after amassing enough strength to defeat and massacre the Quraish.

The Hudaibiya Treaty is also known among Arabs as the peace of the brave, a term used often by Arafat to describe the Oslo peace process.

Yasser Arafat never intended to make peace with Israel, no matter what Israel put on the table. I knew that ten years ago and said so many times since. So did Israeli officials like Benjamin Netanyahu, who warned that the Oslo Accords was the first step in Arafat’s ‘Phased Plan for the Destruction of Israel’ drawn up in 1974.

It is unlikely that Bill Clinton didn’t know as well, but it didn’t matter, so long as he could secure a peace deal, genuine or not, that would overshadow his impeachment trial.

It is equally unlikely that the United Nations Secretary General was unaware of Arafat’s duplicitous intentions, (since I did, and so did anybody else who was actually paying attention.)

But the fact that Arafat deliberately blocked any genuine peace effort with Israel didn’t stop the UN from issuing resolution after resolution against Israel, while granting Arafat the unique status as a head of state without a state.

Neither did that fact carry any weight with the Europeans or the World Court. The EU bitterly opposed the construction of the security fence Israel finally erected to keep Arafat’s terror squads at bay. The World Court decided that it was ‘illegal’ — but had no real problem with the terror squads that prompted the fence’s construction.

At his death, Kofi Annan ordered UN flags flown at half staff, although it is impossible to imagine that Annan didn’t know that Arafat died an unrepentant terrorist. Not only did Annan have the evidence of Arafat’s actions, Annan couldn’t have been unaware that Arafat openly admitted to anybody who would listen that his plan was to use the peace process to destroy Israel.

Arafat was eulogized by the Pope, by Annan, by the French government, by Arab leaders the world over — even President Bush, when told of his death, responded by saying, “God bless his soul.”

The revelation that the world body had allowed itself to be used by Arafat as an extension of his plan to destroy a nation and kill its citizens is unlikely to make much difference.

That the world hates Israel could not be more clearly illustrated than by the open support it gave Yasser Arafat’s efforts at its destruction. It wasn’t a secret that Arafat was siphoning off hundreds of millions of dollars in foreign aid — but the aid kept coming — because they KNEW what he was using at least some of the money for. To kill Jews.

The prophet Daniel outlined part of the antichrist’s strategy for completing the work begun by Yasser Arafat, saying that he will even use the same methodology in his effort.

“And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and BY PEACE SHALL DESTROY MANY: he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes; but he shall be broken without hand.” (Daniel 8:25)

Daniel also noted that the antichrist would ‘confirm’ a seven-year peace treaty between Israel and her enemies. The Oslo Accords was a seven year phased peace process that was supposed to have resulted in a peace deal by September, 2000, when Arafat began the current ‘intifada’ against Israel.

Arafat wasn’t the antichrist, but he did set the stage and conditioned the world for the antichrist’s ultimate strategy of using false peace to turn the world’s attention to Israel’s destruction during the Tribulation Period.

It is now an established fact that, no matter how transparent the excuse, if it results in Israel’s destruction, the world will embrace anybody and turn a blind eye to anything.

Even the antichrist.

Notes from the field:

Hal’s birthday party went off perfectly. I got lots of pictures, but I don’t have the software on my laptop necessary to resize them for the internet. I will post them as soon as I can get them resized.

Among the guests was my old friend, Stan Rogers, who produces Hal’s program, “The International Intelligence Briefing.” Stan and I have worked together since the program started, but it has been about seven years since we saw each other in the flesh.

Things have been so hectic that Hal and I haven’t had much time to sit down together yet — hopefully we will have a chance today.

Hal had great time — so did everybody else. We will be here one more day, and will fly home early Tuesday morning — please pray Jesus will grant us journey mercies on the way home.

Regular publication of the Omega Letter will resume Wednesday morning.

I pray God’s blessings on you all.

Much love in Christ

Jack

“It’s On, Now!”

“It’s On, Now!”
Vol: 38 Issue: 21 Sunday, November 21, 2004

It turns out that Election 2004 was at least as much a referendum on Christianity in America as it was about who would lead the United States for the next four years.

At least, that is the way it is being interpreted by the losing side. And, to some extent, by American Christians.

Virtually every move made by the White House is being framed in terms of faith and Christianity. To one side, the administration’s policies are ‘too’ Christian, while to the other, those policies are not Christian enough.

The big loser in all of this is American Christianity overall. The Democrats are talking about how they need more ‘God stuff’ in their speeches and are advising politicians and political candidates to ‘fake it till they make it’, so to speak, by making sure they get photographed leaving church on Sunday, conspicuously carrying big, black, Bibles under their arm.

At the same time, there are some on the right who feel betrayed by George Bush, saying that now that he has been reelected, he is showing his ‘true colors’. In either case, the focus is on Christianity more than it is on either policy or political differences.

I’ve noted on more than one occasion that anybody who votes for a candidate based on his confession of faith in Jesus Christ can expect to be disappointed.

In the first place, Christianity isn’t a political worldview. It is a personal faith in Jesus Christ, with the emphasis on ‘personal.’

It applies to politics only to the extent that one’s Christian values are indicative of one’s personal character.

It is impossible to bring five Christians together in a room without having five different doctrinal views.

As a case in point, I’ve spent the last couple of days with well-known Christian leaders from different churches in different parts of the country who came together to celebrate Hal’s birthday with him.

We had some long, interesting conversations, with the most remarkable thing being that no two of us agreed completely on anything.

There was no concensus of agreement on anything. It didn’t matter what the topic, there was always at least one voice of dissention. Given the maturity of the Christians involved, disagreements were friendly and generous; nobody tried to change anybody else’s mind or force their own views, but there were surprisingly few points of common agreement.

If a group of old friends who have spent the better part of their lives studying and teaching Scripture can’t reach a concensus, it is far too much to expect a politician to satisfactorily represent the cause of Christ to all his constituents all the time. Or even some of the time.

On the other hand, the anti-Christian forces in America are in total agreement.

Assessment:

It is that common agreement on the part of American anti-Christians that makes it possible for a small minority to dictate the terms of religion to the vast majority who actually do have Christian values.

One case in point would be the ACLU’s successes in removing monuments to the Ten Commandments or banishing anything remotely resembling prayer from American public life.

Another would be the ACLU’s efforts to destroy the Boy Scouts based on Scouting’s requirement that its members believe in God. There have been no similar legal efforts aimed at the destruction of American Islamic groups that exclude Christians or espouse hatred for Jews, for example.

The military bends over backwards to accomodate the beliefs of Islam, even going so far as to set up a Muslim chaplain corps.

But the Air Force Academy at Colorado Springs is warning Christian cadets to stop acting like Christians. It seems that is offensive to non-Christian cadets who complain that they are being ‘coerced’ by Christians holding Bible studies in their dorm rooms or including Bible quotations at the bottom of their academy email messages.

Officials at the Colorado Springs military college have instituted a new training program, under the title ‘Respecting the Spiritual Values of People’.

Although 90% of the cadets are from Protestant or Catholic backgrounds, and half of the remaining 10% said they had “not felt pressure to be involved in religion,” the tyranny of the minority has become the rule, rather than the exception, in all matters involving American Christianity.

Satan doesn’t like to be defeated. So the fight has kicked into high gear.

Right now, our forces (who are overwhelmingly Christian) are locked in combat with an enemy who is overwhelmingly Islamic.

The two most hated nations on earth are Christian America and Jewish Israel. Both countries are struggling to come up with ways to redefine themselves as secular states in the vain hope that that will placate their shared enemies.

According to Scripture, in the last days, the only targets of the antichrist’s persecution program will be Christians and Jews.

As the hours tick down to the end of this present age, the war against the people of the Bible has kicked into high gear.

Jesus warned the Jews; “They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.” (John 16:2)

He told Christians, “Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.” (Matthew 10:34)

In observing the escalating war against Christianity in America, one can’t help but wonder if He was speaking directly to America when He said:

“And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household.” (Matthew 10:36)

Notes from the field:

We had a wonderful time last night with Hal as more guests arrived for his big party tonight. Hal’s daughters, their husbands and their children arrived late last night. I had an enjoyable time with Hal’s neighbor, Harry, who is a retired Los Angeles Sheriff’s deputy of 32 years service.

Although Hal is virtually crippled by pain thanks to his failing knees (he will be having surgery next month) he is otherwise in terrific health and in great spirits.

Today, while things are fairly quiet, I’ll share all the wonderful messages wishing him a happy birthday that have been posted in our member’s forum.

Please forgive the lateness of the OL reports while I am out here on Pacific Coast time. And God bless you all.

ACLU: Boy Scouts Bad, Kiddie Nudist Camps Good

ACLU: Boy Scouts Bad, Kiddie Nudist Camps Good
Vol: 38 Issue: 20 Saturday, November 20, 2004

The Pentagon is backing away, somewhat, from its settlement with the ACLU, saying this year’s Boy Scout Jamboree, which draws tens of thousands of Scouts and their leaders to Virginia’s Fort A.P. Hill Army base every four years, will go on as planned this summer.

This, despite a court settlement announced Monday that requires military bases and units to withhold official support from the Boy Scouts.

The Pentagon and a spokesman at Fort A.P. Hill confirmed that the Jamboree, a quadrennial gathering of more than 40,000 Boy Scouts and leaders on 3,000 acres of the 76,000-acre Army base, will go forward but future stagings of the event likely will depend on the outcome of the ongoing legal battle between the (ACLU) and the Scouts.

The God-hating ACLU (whose right to exist, ironically, is granted them by the Creator in the Constitution) seeks to force the U.S. Army to drop their financial support of the Jamboree.

The ACLU set it sights on destroying the Boy Scouts back in the 1990’s when the Scouts won Supreme Court backing for its policy of NOT letting homosexuals become scoutmasters. The ACLU has softened this approach in the wake of the anti-homosexual marriage votes during the election.

Now they are reverting to their backup position that the Boy Scout oath requires Scouts to believe in God — something they claim is prohibited by the Constitution.

At the time of this lawsuit, about 400 Boy Scout troops were officially sponsored by U.S. military bases. Since then, all those troops have changed their charters and are now sponsored by Veterans of Foreign Wars and American Legion posts, as well as churches and other groups.

Spokespersons at Washington-area military bases said Boy Scout troops, often composed mostly of boys from military families, meet on their bases but that the troops are run by parents.

Contrast that to the recent ACLU lawsuit filed earlier this year in support of a proposed children’s NUDIST camp in Virginia.

The ACLU protested the requirement that children wanting to run around naked in the woods together first had to get permission from their parents.

To the ACLU, the Boy Scouts is an evil organization that should be denied any federal recognition, removing from military families the opportunity to enroll their kids in Scouting on the bases where they live.

On the other hand, the ACLU thinks it is entirely reasonable to deprive parents of any say in whether or not their kids should be allowed to spend the summer at a nudist camp.

Notes From the Field

First, my apologies for not sending out an Omega Letter yesterday. Between the jet lag and the whirlwind of activity when we first got here, there wasn’t much time left. You must have prayed hard for journey mercies for Gayle and I, and the Lord certainly answered your prayer.

This is the first time either of us have flown since 9/11 and we really didn’t know what to expect.

Security was tight, but the lines were short and everyone was cooperative. We found the screeners to be thorough, but polite. Perhaps it was because Raleigh’s airport isn’t that big, but it was a breeze to get through it all.

The flight was smooth, changing planes was a breeze, and all flights were on time. In fact, our plane touched down at our destination at the exact time it was scheduled to — to the minute.

Hal was waiting for us at the airport. He looked terrific for a man of his years. We were supposed to go for dinner with them after we checked in to our hotel, but I made the mistake of lying on the bed for a short nap first. (I woke up the next morning.)

We spent the day with Hal and Jolynn, and their other guests, a pastor from Miami and another, (Hal’s cousin Ralph) who pastors in Houston. It was a wonderful time.

By the end of the day, we had mapped out a course to cure all the world’s ills, and determined the exact time the Lord would return. (I can’t tell you, though. We swore each other to secrecy)

I went to Best Buy and bought a digital camera so I can record the festivities for you. Right now, Gayle is reading up on how it works. Then she will show me and I can take some pictures.

The trip so far has underscored the goodness of God and His faithfulness to answering prayer. I dreaded the trip — I hate flying anyway, and with the post-9/11 security measures, I expected it to be much worse than usual. During the flight, I could FEEL your prayers. It was an indescribable comfort to me.

Today will be a time of fellowship and relaxation in advance of the birthday party tomorrow. I wish you all could be here with us. But I will do my best to share with you as it all unfolds.

And thanks to all of you who posted birthday greetings to Hal in the briefing forum. Today, I will sit down with my laptop and share them with Hal. I am sure he will be as warmly moved by them as I was.

And a final note for all subscribers, particularly those on the seven-day trial. Since this week’s publication schedule is a bit haphazard while we are away, your subscriptions will be extended accordingly.

May God richly bless you all for your prayers and for your love.

I’ll keep you posted.