October 27, 2005

Four Killed, 30 Wounded in Israel Bombing
Oct 26 10:24 AM US/Eastern
A suicide bomber struck an open-air market Wednesday in the northern Israeli town of Hadera, killing four people and wounding at least 30, police and medics said. Israel TV reported...

Israel Troops Arrest Islamic Jihad Leader - Yahoo! News
Oct 27 9:46 AM US/Eastern
Israeli troops entered this West Bank town Thursday and witnesses said they arrested a local leader of Islamic Jihad, pushing forward with an offensive against the Palestinian militant...

Tropical Storm 'Beta' Forms...
...Beta moving slowly northwestward over the southwestern Caribbean Sea...very heavy rainfall expected in portions of Central
America...A hurricane watch and a tropical storm warning remain in effect for the islands of San Andres and Providencia.

Iran Leader Calls for Israel's Destruction
Oct 26 10:12 AM US/Eastern
Iran's hard-line president called for Israel to be "wiped off the map" and said a new wave of Palestinian attacks will destroy the Jewish state, state-run media reported Wednesday. ...

Israel Worried About Possible New Russia-Syria Arms Deals - Haaretz
Israel has expressed concern over Russia's intention to sign new arms deals with Syria, following the already completed deal to provide Syria with SA-18 anti-aircraft missiles. Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom, who is scheduled to meet Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Wednesday, will tell him of Israel's objection to the sale of more weapons to Syria, a political source in Jerusalem said Tuesday.

Church-Going Boosts Economic Well-Being: Study - Reuters
Such visits correlate to higher levels of education and income, lower levels of welfare receipt and disability, higher levels of marriage and lower levels of divorce, the study said.

No Bird Flu Risk From Consuming Eggs, Chicken: Agency
The European Food Safety Authority said Wednesday that people should not fear being infected with bird flu by eating chicken or eggs.

Mark Steyn: Bush Was Right: Sometimes War Is Worth It
I yield to no one in my disdain for the United Nations and all its works, but I did find myself warming up to UNICEF the other day. Just over a week ago, on Belgian TV, the U.N. children's agency premiered the first adult movie featuring the beloved children's cartoon characters (beloved by Belgians anyway) the Smurfs. By ''adult,'' I don't mean it was a blue movie. Only the characters were blue. But it was an adult movie in the sense that the Smurfs were massacred during an air strike on their village, until in the final scene only Baby Smurf is left, weeping alone, surrounded by wall-to-wall Smurf corpses. It's the first Smurf snurf movie.

Mort Kondracke: Bush Iraq Policy, Flawed As It Is, May Still Succeed
Despite flagging public support for the Iraq war, there's reason to think President Bush's policies just might work. Americans of all parties should pray that they do.

That's because Bush has this much right: Iraq is now a central front in the war on terrorism. If we lose, the terrorists win — big.

Comments
Israel has been the victim of another suicide bombing.  This time it took the lives of five innocent people and wounded at least fifty more. Personally, it's going to take a miracle to make this peace plan work.  Currently, the present world leaders including Bush, Blair, Putin and Annan, are not getting the job done.  

Many prophecy watchers look to these leaders and other prominent world figures as potential candidates to be the antichrist.  I can say with confidence that I don't know who the antichrist will be and neither does anyone else.  If there's one thing that these last days have proven it's to expect the unexpected.  Meaning, things can change in a second as we saw from the death of Yasser Arafat.  With the death of one leader comes the rise of another...usually someone who was previously unknown.  That's probably how the Lord will allow the antichrist to surface and it will likely be someone we've never heard of...at least not the casual reader.

Take a look at II Thessalonians 2:3:

"Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition".

The "falling away" has been interrupted in two possible ways…one, a departure from the faith, and two, a departure of Christians from the earth (rapture).  I tend to believe this scripture may be speaking of the rapture, but I certainly wouldn't rule out a great spiritual decline occurring as well.   If this interpretation is correct we (Christians) will be gone, then the antichrist will be revealed. 

But what about those who have wisdom (Revelation 13:18); won’t they be able to figure out who he is prior to the tribulation period?  I believe that verse is reserved for those who enter the tribulation and are saved during that period.  Many will be saved during the tribulation period due to the preaching of the 144,000 and two witnesses, and the heavenly angels (Revelation 7; 11:3; 14:6,7).  They alone will be granted wisdom to identify who the antichrist is and will not be deceived.

Whoever the antichrist turns out to be he will have a god like persona.  He will be dynamic and magnetic unlike anyone who has ever come before him.  He will demand worship from the whole world and as shocking as it sounds they will worship him...many out of belief and others out of fear (Revelation 13).  Can you image the whole world, in today's society, bowing their knee in worship to a man!  One day soon that will happen and nearly everyone will be taken in by his deceptions. 

Switching gears, Iran's president has called for the destruction of Israel...again.  This falls right in line with what the Bible has foretold (Ezekiel 38 & 39) regarding a future attack on Israel in which Iran will play a major role.  Although the Bible is clear that Russia will lead this attack it's still unclear why they will be involved.  Their motive will be greed (to take a spoil) but at this time Israel has little to offer.

Continue to pray for the peace of Israel and remember there is a reward for those who love the coming of the Lord.  "Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing."  (II Timothy 4:8)  Do you love the appearing of the Lord?  If so, the good news is you are promised a crown of righteousness from the Lord.

Pastor Malone