Linkster - Signs of the Times

Wednesday, September 17, 2014

BLOOD ON THE ALTAR, PARTS 1&2

“Keep Looking Up”

A Coming War Amongst Christians - Part 1

“Gary Stearman and Tom Horn discuss a coming war amongst Christians.”

Is There A Coming Zombie Apocalypse? - Part 2

“Gary Stearman and Tom Horn continue their discussion of Blood on the Altar. Is there a coming zombie apocalypse?”

About Prophecy In The News

For over 30 years, Prophecy in the News has been at the cutting edge of Premillennial prophetic interpretation. Gary Stearman brings thoughtful and relevant Bible exposition, plus an exciting line-up of contemporary guest scholars and authors.

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‘YOU CAN KILL MY BODY, BUT NOT MY SOUL’: CHRISTIAN REFUSES TO CONVERT TO ISLAM IN FACE OF DEATH

‘News From An Uncompromising Biblical Worldview’

“And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” - Matthew 10:28

Heather Clark, Christian News Network — (NIGERIA) A Christian man in Nigeria recently stood firm for his faith despite Muslim attempts to force him to convert to Islam while threatening him with death.

As previously reported, the Islamic terrorist group Boko Haram has been attacking the Gwoza area for several years, with violence intensifying throughout 2014. In June, South Africa Today reported that the death toll in Borno State was estimated at being between 400 to 500 residents, but that an exact tally could not be calculated.

“The killings are massive, but nobody can give a toll for now because nobody has been able to go to that place because the insurgents are still there,” lawmaker Peter Biye stated. “They have taken over the whole area.”

Last month, a number of Christians fled Gwoza and the surrounding villages as Boko Haram attacked neighborhoods with explosive devices, fire bombs and assault rifles. Approximately 100 people lost their lives in the attack.

Among those who fled was John Yakuba, who lives with his family in the predominately Christian village of Attagara in Northeast Nigeria. According to the organization Voice of the Martyrs (VOM), Yakuba fled to a refugee camp in Cameroon, but when it seemed that his family faced starvation there, he returned to the village to see if he could retrieve some of his livestock. He planned on selling the livestock so that he could have funds to feed his family.

However, when members of Boko Haram spotted Yakuba entering his house to gather a few other belongings left behind, they captured him and attempted to force him to become a Muslim.

“You must convert to Islam or else you will die a painful death,” they threatened.

Yakuba refused and was tied to a tree as Islamic insurgents then began slashing his hands with a knife.

“Can you become a Muslim now?” they asked.

“You can kill my body, but not my soul,” Yakuba replied.

Members of Boko Haram continued to torture Yakuba, using both the knife and a machete to cut his back and feet, asking him again if he would convert and follow Allah. He refused.

“We will show you,” the Islamists said.

They slashed his head and struck his knee with an axe. Yakuba soon lost consciousness. He was left for dead.

Miraculously, when someone spotted Yakuba tied to the tree three days later, he was still alive, although in a coma. He was transported to an area hospital, where he eventually regained consciousness.

A VOM representative met Yakuba in the hospital, and asked him how he felt about those who had attacked him.

“I have forgiven the Islamic militants because they did not know what they are doing,” he said.

An estimated 300,000 Christians are said to have been displaced due to the violence in the Gwoza area, many of whom—like Yakuba—escaped to Cameroon. » Full Article

Stories of Christian Persecution | Extremism in Nigeria

This powerful video shows the extent to which Nigerian Christians are under siege. The Islamic extremist group, Boko Haram, seek to wipe out the Christian population thereby the Church in Nigeria.

Learn more about what is currently happening with Persecuted Christians in Nigeria!

For even more information on Christian persecution in Nigeria, please visit World Watch List.

» Heather Clark | Article Archive
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HOUSE SPEAKER BOEHNER PREPARING TO HELP ISIS

Former Muslim Brotherhood Member Now Peace Activist

The enemy can be found in three states – Turkey, Qatar and the Islamic State. Boehner is advocating that the U.S. help all three.

By Ben Barrack, Shoebat Foundation — Arming the Syrian rebels helps no fewer than three states – Qatar, Turkey and the Islamic State. Despite this, House Speaker John Boehner is signaling that he will sign on to a plan that arms Syrian rebels. The main line of distinction between the FSA and ISIS is that there is almost no difference. FSA represents a wolf in sheep’s increasingly tattered clothing and ISIS represents a wolf in wolf’s clothing. The more that time passes, the more the interchangeable nature of the two groups becomes apparent. After all, beheaded Americans James Foley and Steven Sotloff were both allegedly handed over to ISIS by FSA affiliated groups.

Yet, Boehner wants to arm Syria’s FSA / ISIS rebel hybrid. Ironically, the argument Boehner is making is that ISIS must be defeated and arming the rebels is really the only option. In reality, arming the rebels is like writing a prescription for gasoline to be thrown onto a fire. In a sane world, arming Assad would be a better option but that would anger the two other terror states – Qatar and Turkey.

Screenshot of U.S. State Department’s list of State Sponsors of Terrorism.

People will shout, ‘What about Iran and Syria? Both of them are officially designated State Sponsors of Terrorism. At least as deserving, neither Qatar nor Turkey seem to be able to get on the list.

Via the Washington Times:

House Speaker John A. Boehner on Tuesday reiterated his support for President Obama’s request to arm and train Syrian rebels but said there’s more to be done to ultimately destroy the Islamic State terrorist group.

“I frankly think the president’s request is a sound one. I think there’s a lot more that we need to be doing, but there’s no reason for us not to do what the president asked us to do,” the Ohio Republican said.

The House is in the midst of prepping language on measures to fund the government past Sept. 30 and to equip and train a faction of Syrian rebels battling the Assad regime, the Islamic State and other Islamic militants.

Mr. Boehner added that if the ultimate goal is to destroy the terrorist group, which is also known as ISIS or ISIL, “we’ve got to do more than train a few folks in Syria and train a few folks in Iraq and dropping bombs.”

The way to do more in this instance is addition by subtraction. If there is no strategy for defeating ISIS outright, arming an incestuous sister group isn’t the answer; that’s called exacerbating the problem.

As Walid said, Obama’s plan is to:

“Aid Moderates” Who Want To “Kill Bashar” Who Is Already Trying To “Kill ISIS” And Lets Hope That Bashar’s “Moderate” Killers In The End “Kills ISIS”.

Geniuses in Washington Forgetting Enemy has a Vote

As the New York Times recently reported, Qatar is seeking influence with its contributions to the Brookings Institute, a prominent liberal Washington, DC think tank. Again, the Qatari agenda does indeed involve support for the Syrian rebels. The extent to which Qatari dollars going to Brookings help that agenda is unclear but favorable reports about Qatar from Brookings would certainly provide some cover from political flak inside the beltway.

There is no evidence of any similar arrangement between Qatar and Foundation for the Defense of Democracies (FDD), widely regarded as a more conservative think tank in DC. However, when it comes to Syria, many of FDD’s most senior voices have been espousing views that align with the agendas of Qatar and Turkey, which involves helping ISIS in Syria.

Consider a letter submitted to Barack Obama on July 30, 2012 that called for U.S. intervention in Syria:

The letter was organized jointly by the Foreign Policy Initiative and the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, both conservative policy organizations in Washington, D.C. Signees included Max Boot, Paul Bremer, Elizabeth Cheney, Eric Edelman, Jamie Fly, John Hannah, William Inboden, William Kristol, Michael Ledeen, Clifford May, Robert McFarlane, Martin Peretz, Danielle Pletka, John Podhoretz, Stephen Rademaker, Karl Rove, Randy Scheunemann, Dan Senor, James Woolsey, Dov Zakheim, and Radwan Ziadeh, a member of the Syrian National Council.

If there is one person on that signatory list that could be most interested in helping to further a Qatari agenda, it might just be Robert McFarlane. As Shoebat.com reported, McFarlane signed a $1.4 Million deal with Qatar in 2009. The details of the deal are not fully known but evidence suggests that McFarlane was to help with negotiations to get Sudan off the list of State Sponsors of Terrorism.

Another signatory – James Woolsey – is interesting, especially in light of his comments in 2006:

Less than two months after that July 30th letter, the attacks in Benghazi took place. One hour prior to the attacks, U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens wrapped up a meeting with Turkey’s Consul General Ali Sait Akin. It has also been reported by credible sources that Qatar was a major player and financier relative to the weapons trafficking operation being run out of Benghazi and onto the Syrian rebels through Turkey.

Less than one year later, a chemical attack occurred in Syrian and was quickly blamed on the Assad regime. Less than two months prior to that attack, Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood regime was overthrown, which was a serious blow to both Qatar and Turkey. By extension, it was a blow to the Obama administration and anyone else who wanted to support Syria’s rebels.

After the August 21st chemical attack, a similar letter was drafted and sent to Barack Obama. It called for more forceful action against the Assad regime. It contained many of the same signatories. There were two noteworthy omissions – McFarlane and Woolsey.

Assuming these prominent politicians and policymakers aren’t financially beholden to Qatar or Turkey, the only other conclusion to draw is that they have forgotten that the enemy always has a vote. In this case, it’s casting a vote for more weapons and the Speaker of the U.S. House appears ready to honor it.

The enemy can be found in three states – Turkey, Qatar and the Islamic State.

Boehner is advocating that the U.S. help all three.

» Full Article

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» Rescue Christians | Do Not Stand By Idly As They Die

OUTRAGE AS JOHN KERRY SAYS WE MUST PROMOTE ‘REAL ISLAM’ TO BATTLE ISIS

The Magazine Of Record For The Last Days

CLICK TO SEE THE FACE OF REAL ISLAM: GRAPHIC IMAGES WARNING

Obama Drops The ‘Other Shoe’ And Reveals
Hidden Agenda To Promote Islam

NTEB News Desk, September 16, 2014 — “I consider it part of my responsibility as president of the United States to fight against negative stereotypes of Islam wherever they appear… America is not — and never will be — at war with Islam… Islam is not part of the problem in combating violent extremism — it is an important part of promoting peace.” – Barack Hussein Obama, Cairo Speech 2009

The Obama administration is embarking on an outrageous but predictable strategy to battle the threat of ISIS in the Middle East. John Kerry, in a round-table discussion to world leaders, said that we must show the world ‘real Islam’.

Secretary of State John Kerry said Monday that to counter the ideology of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and its claim of a “religious foundation” for its actions, part of the strategy of the international coalition he is attempting to assemble must be to “begin to put real Islam out there.” Kerry, in Paris for talks with various world leaders to build that coalition, further said that all of the Arab leaders he had spoken with earlier concurred about their focus on “real Islam and how important the Friday sermons are.” The secretary of state recently said that ISIL’s ideology “has nothing to do with Islam” and President Obama echoed these words, saying that “ISIL is not ‘Islamic.'”

CLICK HERE to watch video…

Kerry’s remarks about “real Islam” came during a “roundtable discussion” with the press after the secretary met with representatives from twenty-six countries to discuss how to confront the threat posed by ISIL. In recent days Kerry has alternated between calling the action against ISIL “war” and “counter-terrorism,” but in any case he downplayed the military aspect of the operation. The military piece, he said, is a “critical component”, but “probably far more important” will be the effort to “start drying up this pool of jihadis who get seduced into believing there’s some virtue in crossing into Syria to fight or to join ISIL.”

John Kerry said this:

“It has to start major efforts to delegitimize ISIS’s claim to some religious foundation for what it’s doing and begin to put real Islam out there and draw lines throughout the region. And I think this is a wake-up call with respect to that because every Arab leader there today was talking about this, about real Islam and how important the Friday sermons are and where they need to go. Those are critical components of this strategy.”

Now you are beginning to the see the real war that Obama intends on waging. It’s not against ISIL, it’s a war for the promotion of Islam and Sharia Law in America.

» Full Article at NTEB

About the Author: NTEB News Desk

NTEB is run by end times author and editor-in-chief Geoffrey Grider. Geoffrey runs a successful web design company, and is a full-time minister of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. In addition to running NOW THE END BEGINS, he hosts a twice-weekly bible study and prophecy radio show on BlogTalk Radio, and oversees a dynamic street preaching outreach and tract ministry team in Saint Augustine, Florida.

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The Betrayal of America

“For generations the Bible has warned of the coming End of Days, you are now living in that time. America, a nation raised up by the Hand of God to spread the Gospel and to be a beacon of Freedom for people around the world is about to be forever silenced by those sworn to protect her — her leaders.” - Now The End Begins

NEWS BRIEFS: SEPTEMBER 17, 2014

Current Events And Commentaries

WND

America’s Independent News Network

“A Free Press for a Free People”

General Boykin:
Sending Military To Fight Ebola ‘Misuse’ Of Soldiers

Retired General Stresses ‘Great Risk’ Of Infection

Dr. Jerome R. Corsi, WND — NEW YORK – “Sending the U.S. military to combat Ebola in Liberia is an absolute misuse of the U.S. military,” Gen. William G. Boykin explained to WND in an exclusive telephone interview.

“The health mission in Liberia would be better accomplished by private sector NGOs [Non-Governmental Units], including the French organization Médecins San Frontières (MSF), Doctors without Borders, among others, or by some other U.S. government agency such as the Department of Health and Human Services,” he stressed.

“I believe it is a total misuse of the U.S. military’s capabilities at a time when the U.S. military is taking drastic budget cuts, it is being extraordinarily thin, and it is being recommitted to conflict in Iraq. I object to this quite strongly.”

Boykin grasped for reasons to explain why the Obama administration was planning to use the U.S. military in this international health care crisis.

“In the final analysis, the military has organization and leadership, the two key things the Obama administration is probably looking for here,” he speculated.

“The military has a capability to deal with a chemical or biological attack and some of that may be dual-purposed for dealing with this kind of epidemic.”

But he stressed in his 36 years of military experience, “I never dealt with any thing like this that had to do with a pandemic.”

Boykin expressed concern at the health risk the U.S. military was assuming going into the Ebola outbreak in Liberia.

“The U.S. military does not have specific training regarding how to handle a medical emergency like Ebola,” he said.

“It’s rather obvious there is a great risk the U.S. military going into Liberia to fight Ebola will end up getting infected themselves.”

He reasoned through the steps the U.S. military would have to take to protect U.S. soldiers from contracting the disease once in Liberia.

“One of the first things the U.S. military will have to do is to set up centers where the soldiers can be sterilized and cleaned, to try to reduce the risk to them. But, I think, the U.S. military going into Liberia are going to be clearly at risk of contracting Ebola.”

Even with precautions such as these, Gen. Boykin was aware how risky the situation will be, not only to the health of the U.S. military deployed to Liberia, but also potentially to civilians back in the United States.

“Then, let’s say two or three soldiers in a battalion get Ebola. What are you going to do with them?” he asked. “Obviously, you’re going to have to bring them back to the United States.”

In conclusion, Boykin dismissed President Obama’s decision as a bad idea.

“This is a terrible misuse of the U.S. military and it comes at a terrible time when not only is the military really stretched thin such that the U.S. military can not take on another mission, it comes at a time when we are reducing the military’s funding and the military’s numbers, but we’re at the same time giving them another mission,” he emphasized.

Boykin also questioned why the first line of defense would not be the United Nations Peacekeepers already stationed in Liberia.

“If military are required to combat the Ebola outbreak in Liberia, then the first troops that should be involved are the 6,000 United Nations Peacekeeping forces that are already in the country,” he said.

“It doesn’t make sense.”

Separately, WND has reported that according to United Nations records, the Ebola outbreak in Liberia has not been slowed by the over 8,000 United Nations personnel currently in Libya, including 6,000 uniformed Peacekeepers the United Nations currently has stationed in Liberia, including 4,460 troops, 126 military observers, and 1,434 police forces, with an approved budget from July 2014 through June 2015 of $427.3 million.

Last week, Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Hervé Ladsous addressed the media in Monrovia, the capital of Libya, explaining the United Nations mission in Liberia “is not a public health operation” and the U.N. Peacekeepers stationed there are not trained to combat the Ebola epidemic.