August 28, 2015
Dear PASTORS:
When we look at the world’s conditions presently, with all that is going on yonder in the MIDDLE EAST; AND OUR ATTENTION AND EYES ON JERUSALEM, as the center-piece for all events as they are UNFOLDING BEFORE US, I am reminded of what THE LORD GOD OF THE HEBREWS showed KING HEZEKIAH through the PROPHET ISAIAH when a Despotic Dictator named Sennacherib sought to do harm to the PEOPLE OF THE LORD GOD OF THE HEBREWS, just as the Iranian Dictator is seeking to do presently---that God took out 185,000 of his soldiers in one night, and then let Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons smote him with the sword.
Isaiah 37:20 Now therefore, O LORD our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou art the LORD, even thou only.
21 Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent unto Hezekiah, saying, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Whereas thou hast prayed to me against Sennacherib king of Assyria:
22 This is the word which the LORD hath spoken concerning him; The virgin, the daughter of Zion, hath despised thee, and laughed thee to scorn; the daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee.
23 Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed? and against whom hast thou exalted thy voice, and lifted up thine eyes on high? even against the Holy One of Israel.
24 By thy servants hast thou reproached the Lord, and hast said, By the multitude of my chariots am I come up to the height of the mountains, to the sides of Lebanon; and I will cut down the tall cedars thereof, and the choice fir trees thereof: and I will enter into the height of his border, and the forest of his Carmel.
25 I have digged, and drunk water; and with the sole of my feet have I dried up all the rivers of the besieged places.
26 Hast thou not heard long ago, how I have done it; and of ancient times, that I have formed it? now have I brought it to pass, that thou shouldest be to lay waste defenced cities into ruinous heaps.
27 Therefore their inhabitants were of small power, they were dismayed and confounded: they were as the grass of the field, and as the green herb, as the grass on the housetops, and as corn blasted before it be grown up.
28 But I know thy abode, and thy going out, and thy coming in, and thy rage against me.
29 Because thy rage against me, and thy tumult, is come up into mine ears, therefore will I put my hook in thy nose, and my bridle in thy lips, and I will turn thee back by the way by which thou camest.
30 And this shall be a sign unto thee, Ye shall eat this year such as groweth of itself; and the second year that which springeth of the same: and in the third year sow ye, and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat the fruit thereof.
31 And the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall again take root downward, and bear fruit upward:
32 For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and they that escape out of mount Zion: the zeal of the LORD of hosts shall do this.
33 Therefore thus saith the LORD concerning the king of Assyria, He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shields, nor cast a bank against it. [BRETHREN, WE NEED NOTE THIS: GOD SAID “NOT ONE ARROW”WILL BE SHOT THERE!]
34 By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and shall not come into this city, saith the LORD.
35 For I will defend this city to save it for mine own sake, and for my servant David's sake.
36 Then the angel of the LORD went forth, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred and fourscore and five thousand: [OLE JAV really likes this next part of this verse] and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses.
37 So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and returned, and dwelt at Nineveh.
38 And it came to pass, as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons smote him with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Armenia: and Esarhaddon his son reigned in his stead. [You don’t want to mess with THE HEBREW PEOPLE, WHO BELONG TO THE LORD GOD OF ISRAEL!]
WASHINGTON — The attacks on Representative Jerrold Nadler, Democrat of New York, since he announced his support for the nuclear accord with Iran have been so vicious that the National Jewish Democratic Council and the Anti-Defamation League both felt compelled this week to publicly condemn Jewish voices of hate.
On the other side, three Jewish Democrats in the House who oppose the deal released a joint statementdenouncing “ad hominem attacks and threats” against not only supporters like Mr. Nadler but also Jewish opponents, who have been accused of “dual loyalties” and treason.
This August recess has not produced the kind of fiery town hall-style meetings that greeted lawmakers in 2009 before their vote on the Affordable Care Act, but in one small but influential segment of the electorate, Jewish voters, it has been brutal. Infighting among Jewish Americans may be nothing new, but the vitriol surrounding the accord between Iran and six world powers has become so intense that leaders now speak openly of long-term damage to Jewish organizations, and possibly to American-Israeli relations.
Greg Rosenbaum, the chairman of the National Jewish Democratic Council, raised such concerns this month at a private meeting between President Obama and Jewish groups. At the meeting, other Jewish leaders told Mr. Obama that his own rhetoric — framing the debate as a choice between diplomacy and war, and speaking of the money lining up against the deal — was only accelerating the corrosion.
“We are on the verge of fratricide in the Jewish community, and it has to stop,” said Mr. Rosenbaum, who spoke of Jews’ spurning organizational meetings, and even religious services, simply to avoid discussing Iran.
The animus is hard to miss. On his Facebook page, Mr. Nadler has been called a kapo: a Jew who collaborated with Nazis in the World War II death camps. One writer said he had “blood on his hands.” Another said he had “facilitated Obama’s holocaust.”
Dov Hikind, a New York State assemblyman, rented a double-decker bus this week; plastered the smiling face of Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, on it; and parked it in front of Mr. Nadler’s office. On Wednesday, he took six Auschwitz survivors to the office to condemn Mr. Nadler. Then, when groups including the Anti-Defamation League, which opposes the Iran deal, told him to back off, he delivered a mocking sympathy card and teddy bear on Thursday.
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“This immature, babyish, childish whining? Stop,” Mr. Hikind said in an interview. “I’m just getting started.” [You may recall that Dov Hikind is the Jew whom a group of us went to Israel with in 2005, just before the Disengagement!!]
Mr. Nadler said it pained him both to have his pro-Israel credentials questioned and to see Jewish lawmakers who oppose the deal face questions about their patriotism.
He cited a cartoon on the liberal website Daily Kos, which lampooned Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York, as a traitorous rodent for opposing the pact, as an example of blunt anti-Semitism from the left. (Mr. Schumer made a statement of his own, defending Mr. Nadler as “one of the most steadfast supporters of Israel’s security.”)
“I’ve been accused of being treacherous, treasonous, even disloyal to the United States,” said Representative Nita M. Lowey of New York, one of a half-dozen Jewish Democrats who have come out against the Iran deal.
Andy Bachman — a prominent progressive rabbi who until recently led Congregation Beth Elohim in Brooklyn, in Mr. Nadler’s district — called the discourse “horribly gut-wrenching.”
“Most Jews I know cringe at these very public battles and the ways in which we can be quite cruel toward each other,” he said.
In an open letter this week, Ms. Lowey, Eliot L. Engel and Steve Israel, all Jewish Democrats from New York opposed to the deal, wrote, “No matter where you stand on the Iran deal, comparisons to the Holocaust, the darkest chapter in human history; questioning the credentials of longstanding advocates for Israel; and accusations of dual loyalty are inappropriate.”
David G. Greenfield, a Brooklyn city councilman who represents part of Mr. Nadler’s district, was unapologetic. An Orthodox Jew, he said he had received “many calls” from supporters urging him to run against Mr. Nadler, which he has declined to do.
“This isn’t just another vote,” Mr. Greenfield said before a rally against the deal Wednesday evening. “I actually believe, and my constituency believes, that this is a matter of life and death.”
“We can’t just simply say, ‘O.K., we’re going to agree to disagree,’ and move on,” he said.
I have yet to hear a coherent argument against this deal.There is no logical argument against this deal.The President's argument for it are...
What would be the nature of the divide, I wonder, if the worst case scenario emerges. I.e., we oppose this deal, we tighten sanctions, we...
Our elected representatives need to vote based upon the best interests of the US, not the best interests of a foreign nation. The US has...
Beyond the name-calling is real concern about geopolitical implications. With momentum on Mr. Obama’s side, the chances that Congress can scuttle the deal appear remote, and Mr. Engel, the ranking Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said leaders in both parties needed to look at new security policies for Israel and the Middle East if the accord goes into force.
The agreement is likely to foreclose Iran’s path to a nuclear weapon for at least 15 years, even many opponents say, but the lifting of economic sanctions will give Iran more cash that it could use to destabilize the region, support terrorism and assert its authority.
“Whether this passes, whether this fails, we always have to be looking at next steps,” Mr. Engel said. “And there has to be a rapprochement between the United States and Israel. There just has to be.”
But the bitterness of the current debate will make that difficult. Mr. Israel said that Republican leaders had begun exploiting the rift among American Jews when Speaker John A. Boehner invited Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel to address Congress in March, and that “partisan Republicans will continue to squeeze the sponge.”
“Republicans who barely knew where Israel was on a map are the new David Ben-Gurions,” he said, referring to Israel’s first prime minister.
The Jewish left can be equally unforgiving. Jeremy Ben-Ami, the president of J Street, a Jewish political advocacy group that backs the Iran deal, spoke of a fundamental break between Democratic Party leaders inclined toward diplomacy and the worldview of a conservative Israeli government that has more in common with Dick Cheney than the former Israeli prime minister Golda Meir. That will not change even if congressional efforts to kill the accord fail, Mr. Ben-Ami said.
“This is a clash of epic proportions reflecting fundamentally different worldviews,” he said. “You can’t paper over that difference anymore.”
Mr. Israel said such concerns were overstated. During Ronald Reagan’s presidency, a battle broke out over the administration’s plans to sell advanced airplane-based radar called airborne warning and control systems to Saudi Arabia. At that time, Mr. Israel was a pro-Israel activist working against those plans and warning of a fundamental shift of American allegiance from Israel to the Persian Gulf states.
“People said this was a breach that would never be repaired, and within a year, no one remembered what Awacs stood for,” he said, laughing.
Iran Sends Powerful Zelzal Missiles into Iraq to Recover Fallujah and Ramadi!
Iran suddenly found itself this week fighting on two fronts.
For the first, the stalled offensive against the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIS), Tehran mustered its powerful Zelzal-3B (“earthquake”) solid propellant surface missile for an all-out offensive to finally root the Islamists out of the Iraqi cities of Faluja and Ramadi.
And so, after ISIS successfully parried every Iranian and Iraqi Shiite militia assault to recover those cities, Iraq sees heavy ground-to-ground missiles rolling into the battlefield for the first time since the US invasion of 2003.
ME sources report that the first batteries crossed in from Iran this week aboard trucks painted to represent civilian vehicles, their military number plates removed. They were delivered to pro-Iranian Shiite militia bases in the western province of Anbar.
These powerful missiles were brought in on the recommendation of Al Qods Brigades chiefGen. Qassem Soleimani, commander of the Iranian front in Iraq, and his deputy, Abu Mahdi, head of the “popular mobilization committee.”
Mahdi poses as an Iraqi Shiite, but is in fact an Iranian general called Jamal Jafaar Mohammed Ali Ebrahim, who is charged with establishing a pro-Iranian Shiite army.
Sistani challenges Iraqi Shiite deference to Tehran!
But the Iranians are lso gravely concerned by another challenge from an unforeseen quarter: the Supreme Shiite authority, Grand Ayatollah Sayyid Al Husaini Sistani, has begun leading an opposition movement against Iran. Our sources report that this development brought Al Qods Chief Gen. Qassem Soleimani, hastening Thursday, Aug. 27, to the cleric’s seat in the southern Iraqi Shiite shrine city of Najef.
Sistani challenges Iraqi Shiite deference to Tehran!
But the Iranians are lso gravely concerned by another challenge from an unforeseen quarter: the Supreme Shiite authority, Grand Ayatollah Sayyid Al Husaini Sistani, has begun leading an opposition movement against Iran. Our sources report that this development brought Al Qods Chief Gen. Qassem Soleimani, hastening Thursday, Aug. 27, to the cleric’s seat in the southern Iraqi Shiite shrine city of Najef.
Iran’s deepening intervention in the war on the Islamic State, and growing influence in Baghdad, have opened up a deep new rift at the top of the Shiite camp and among Shiite militias.
The Shiite world’s most venerated religious authority, Grand Ayatollah Sistani, 85, has come out forcefully against Tehran and its Iraqi minions.
He was outraged by the favored treatment awarded the Iraqi Shiite militias which bend the knee to Tehran, such as the Badr Brigade, the League of the Sons of the Righteous and the (Iraqi) Hizballah. They won plentiful supplies of Iranian weapons and their leaders were hailed publicly in Baghdad as heroes.
The Iraqi Prime Minister, Al-Abadi, and other Shiite leaders were treated to derogatory sneers.
When it was suggested that the Badr Brigade’s chief, Hadi al-Ameri would make a better prime minister than the incumbent, the outraged Sistani stirred into action.
Iraqi Shiites set up anti-Iran militias on Sistani’s fatwa!
The Iraqi Shiite leader has a history of disrespect for Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Sistani holds that Khamenei is not entitled to use the title of ayatollah and hisfatwas have no religious force for any Shiite.
When it was suggested that the Badr Brigade’s chief, Hadi al-Ameri would make a better prime minister than the incumbent, the outraged Sistani stirred into action.
Iraqi Shiites set up anti-Iran militias on Sistani’s fatwa!
The Iraqi Shiite leader has a history of disrespect for Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Sistani holds that Khamenei is not entitled to use the title of ayatollah and hisfatwas have no religious force for any Shiite.
For many years, the clerical establishments of Qom and Najf have vied for supremacy as the world centers of the Shiite faith, each presenting their religious seminaries as the more superior.
The contest between the two establishments has spilled over into world affairs: Sistani is up in arms against Iran’s drive for dominance in Iraq, the Gulf, Yemen, Syria and Lebanon. According to his teachings, men of cloth should devote themselves to religious activity and education – not conquests and wars.
The ageing Iraqi cleric ordered two steps for stemming Iranian ascendancy in Baghdad:
1. He issued a fatwa (decree) for the creation of Shiite paramilitary groups as a counterweight for the pro-Iranian militias. Fifteen new groups responded to his call, led by Jund al-Majayer.
But still, the pro-Sistani groups are heavily outnumbered by 45 pro-Iranian militias. More will have to be enlisted, to bring them level, notably from the extensive following of Moqtada al-Sadr, who is anti-Tehran but also cherishes his independence.
Gen. Soleimani rushes to Najef to placate Sistanti!
2. Sistani also mobilized his activists to derail the secret plot for turning last week’s protest rallies in Baghdad against corruption and the breakdown of essential services, such as water and electricity, into a movement for toppling the government.
These are the actions that brought Gen. Soleimani running to Najef in the middle of an operation for introducing the Zelzal missiles into service against ISIS. Placating the grand ayatollah was absolutely vital, because the internal Shiite struggle in Iraq between the pro- and anti-Iran camps was gaining momentum and threatening Tehran’s deep stake in Baghdad.
Gen. Soleimani rushes to Najef to placate Sistanti!
2. Sistani also mobilized his activists to derail the secret plot for turning last week’s protest rallies in Baghdad against corruption and the breakdown of essential services, such as water and electricity, into a movement for toppling the government.
These are the actions that brought Gen. Soleimani running to Najef in the middle of an operation for introducing the Zelzal missiles into service against ISIS. Placating the grand ayatollah was absolutely vital, because the internal Shiite struggle in Iraq between the pro- and anti-Iran camps was gaining momentum and threatening Tehran’s deep stake in Baghdad.
As far as we know, the Iranian general was still waiting Thursday night for an appointment to see the grand ayatollah.
DR. JEFF FUGATE HAS KEPT ME POSTED ON THE SAME-SEX MARRIAGE CONTROVERSY GOING ON IN Kentucky Here is a news article about it:
MOREHEAD, Ky. (AP) — A clerk in a rural Kentucky county continued to refuse marriage licenses to same-sex couples Thursday in defiance of a mounting pile of federal court orders that reject her claim that her Christian faith should exempt her from licensing a gay union.
The United States Supreme Court, which two months ago legalized gay marriage across the nation, will now be asked to consider whether Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis can continue to deny marriage licenses until her appeal is complete, a process that could drag out for several more months.
"It's getting tedious. We get torn down, built back up, torn down, built back up," said David Ermold. He and his partner, David Moore, have been rejected by Davis' office twice. "It's emotionally draining that this keeps happening over and over."
Days after the Supreme Court's same-sex marriage ruling, Davis announced that her religious convictions prevented her from sanctioning a gay marriage. She refused to issue licenses to any couple, gay or straight.
The American Civil Liberties Union sued her last month on behalf of four couples. U.S. District Judge David Bunning ordered Davis to issue marriage licenses two weeks ago. He later delayed that ruling until Aug. 31 or until the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals issued a ruling. The appeals court did so on Wednesday, denying Davis' appeal.
But a deputy clerk in Davis' office on Thursday told William Smith Jr. and James Yates, a couple for nearly a decade, the office believes Bunning's delay remains in effect until Aug. 31. He refused to give his name or give them a license.
Smith and Yates, rejected for the third time, left the office shaking their heads in anger and bewilderment.
Davis, meanwhile, sat in her office with the door closed. She talked on the phone, ignoring the commotion as Yates and Smith, trailed by television cameras, poured in through the door and demanded answers.
"The court of appeals did not provide any religious accommodation rights to individuals, which makes little sense because at the end of the day it's individuals that are carrying out the acts of the office," said Mat Staver, whose religious law firm Liberty Counsel is representing Davis. "They don't lose their individual constitutional rights just because they are employed in a public office."
Staver told The Associated Press he plans to file an emergency petition with the Supreme Court on Thursday or Friday. He wants the court to delay the judge's order until the appeal is completed, a process that could take several months.
Her appeal to the nation's highest court will fall to Justice Elena Kagan, who oversees the 6th Circuit. Kagan, a liberal judge, sided with the majority this summer when it ruled gay marriage bans unconstitutional.
Kagan could reject it outright in a matter of days, which would exhaust Davis' options for appeal, said Sam Marcosson, a constitutional law professor at the University of Louisville.
Scriptures are very definitive about the SODOMITE ISSUE:
Genesis 19:5 And they called unto Lot, and said unto him, Where are the men which came in to thee this night? bring them out unto us, that we may know them.
12 And the men said unto Lot, Hast thou here any besides? son in law, and thy sons, and thy daughters, and whatsoever thou hast in the city, bring them out of this place:
13 For we will destroy this place, because the cry of them is waxen great before the face of the LORD; and the LORD hath sent us to destroy it.
14 And Lot went out, and spake unto his sons in law, which married his daughters, and said, Up, get you out of this place; for the LORD will destroy this city. But he seemed as one that mocked unto his sons in law.
GOD ALMIGHTY DID DESTROY THAT CITY. THE NEW TESTAMENT SPEAKS PLAINLY ON THE SODOMITE ISSUE ALSO!
Romans 1:21 Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.
22 Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,
23 And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.
24 Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves:
25 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.
NOW, TO BE SURE BRETHREN, WE SHOULD BE VERY MUCH IN PRAYER ABOUT THESE EVENTS AS THEY UNFOLD IN KENTUCKY. PRAY FOR THE SAFETY’OF THE COUNTY CLERKS WHO RESIST SODOMITE MARRIAGES. ONE LIKE THE ONE IN VIRGINIA, WHO WENT ON A KILLING SPREE THIS WEEK, COULD TAKE OUT ONE OF THESE COUNTY CLERKS.
PRAY FOR THE PEACE OF JERUSALEM!
BE SURE TO PRAY FOR HOPE, AGE 7, DR. BILL PICKELL’S GRANDDAUGHTER, THAT THE CANCER SHE HAS WILL NOT SPREAD!
JIM VINEYARD
YEDIDIM OF ISRAEL
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