January - 2005

Saturday - January 1, 2005

Israel, Palestinians in talks over Abbas visit to Temple Mount

By Arnon Regular and Jonathan Lis, Haaretz Correspondent

Israeli and Palestinian officials have been meeting over the past few days to discuss the possibility of allowing Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas to make an election campaign visit to East Jerusalem and the Temple Mount next week. The visit would come several days before the January 9 elections in the Palestinian Authority.

Senior Fatah sources in the Jerusalem area told Haaretz about the talks and confirmed that the two sides discussed a possible Abbas visit to the Temple Mount, known to Muslims as al-Haram al-Sharif.

Israel Police officials met Thursday in a Jerusalem hotel with Palestinian figures in the lead-up to the elections.

Police sources refused Thursday to reveal what was discussed in the meeting but said the two sides were seeking to organize the permissibility of election campaigning in East Jerusalem and to determine security arrangements.

The decision to allow Abbas into Jerusalem is in the hands of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. If the election jaunt is authorized at the political level, this would be the first visit in Jerusalem of a Palestinian personality of Abbas' level.

Israel had in the past prevented Yasser Arafat from visiting Jerusalem. In one instance at the beginning of the intifada, however, Israel allowed his convoy to pass adjacent to the Old City while he was making his way to Jericho.

Police said Thursday that "Jerusalem police will carry out every directive issued by the political level."

Abbas campaigned Thursday in Jenin. His convoy was escorted by hundreds of PA security officers and members of the Fatah's military wing in the city headed by Zakariya Zubeidi, who is wanted by Israeli security forces.

Zubeidi and Abbas met face to face and the militant even hoisted the Palestinian leader on his shoulders.

Al-Aqsa Brigades commander Zubeidi told Channel 10 TV news that "we are not talking about the end of the intifada, not about a cease-fire and not about an end to terror attacks."

Regarding the wanted militants, Abbas said "they are neither criminals nor murderers. Rather they are fighting for the honorable lives of their Palestinians brothers."

Nothing has changed with the new Arab Palestinian leadership. Nothing but the secular Jewish politicians willingness to close their eyes to the truth. The same games are being played by foolish men who think they can control through deception. It is both sides, and it is all foolishness. The Temple Mount is used for whatever political gain can be achieved with no regard for God. This is all going to end. The God of the Bible is changing dispensations, and the apathy exhibited by men is in for a rude awakening.

The Temple Mount is the most Holy place on the planet. It has reflected the neglect of men over the millenniums for now, but all that is about to change. The return of the Jews to the Holy Land has put the Temple Mount back to it's place of prominence according to the Bible. The right people have returned who are the only authorized to build God's House once again on this Holy Place. Only the Jews can bring back the holiness that is fixed to this one place on planet earth. Only the Jews can bring about all the Bible prophecies associated to the Holy Land, Jerusalem, and the Temple Mount.

The last time a Jewish Temple stood on the Temple Mount was in the days of Christ. The most noted prophecy in the Bible is the prophecy of the return of the LORD Jesus Christ. The Bible is clear it will be to another Jewish Temple on the Temple Mount to which He will return. It will be the Last Jewish Temple. It will be the Temple described in Ezekiel 40 - 48.

Ezekiel 43:4-5

4 And the glory of the LORD came into the house by the way of the gate whose prospect is toward the east.

5 So the spirit took me up, and brought me into the inner court; and, behold, the glory of the LORD filled the house.
KJV
 

t is this Temple Mount over which the politicians play their foolish games. Soon the glory of God will overcome this world of sin, and it is going to happen at the Temple Mount. The fig tree of Israel is the sign! The return of the Jews is the sure indicator that God is again going to take control of the Temple Mount. The secular politicians are in for a great surprise when all their manipulating comes to nothing. It will be these pompous fools who left God out of their calculations who will be sure to suffer the wrath to come. The Mount is no little thing to God, and this apathetic generation is prime for His judgment.

Friend, this may be the year that all these things come to pass. Are you ready? Have you made your peace with the coming King of glory? The time is short. Only the saved have a wonderful future with Christ. The rest will be condemned for all eternity because they refused so great a salvation. Set the record of your life straight. Come to Christ right now!

 

Sunday - January 2, 2005

Sunday 2nd January, 2005

Palestinians kills Palestinian girl   

Big News Network.com     Sunday 2nd January, 2005  

A Palestinian rocket blasted the home of a refugee family in the northern Gaza Strip Saturday, killing a 10-year-old Palestinian girl.

Ibtihal Abu Daher was killed and her 11-year old brother, Ihab, wounded in the explosion, Ha'aretz reported.

Militants often fire homemade Qassam rockets and mortar shells from the Jablya camp into southern Israel, the newspaper said.

Meanwhile, Israel sent troops to the camp after three other Qassam rockets landed in the western Negev town of Sderot. No injuries or damages resulted from those three rockets

Such are the frustrations of resisting the will of God. The most devious plans often go wrong. Had these been Jewish children the Palestinians would have danced in the streets. The killers would have been deemed heroes by the Islamic culture. Today, they are slinking in some hole angry at how fate turned on their plans to murder. There will be no reckoning from Palestinian authorities over the murder of innocent Arab children. The mother dare not raise a voice of protest against these warrior freedom fighters. They will be free to endanger many more Arab children because they are trying to kill Jews. This culture says as long as Jews are the object of vengeance their own children are expendable. It is a most evil culture, and the culture the gentile Road Map intends to give a large portion of the Holy Land, Jerusalem, and the Temple Mount. It seems this generation is intent on changing the Holy Land into the Unholy Land! The intent is to make it the most inhospitable place on the planet for a Jewish King to set up His Kingdom.

I only wonder what reckoning is coming to these murderers who have no regard for children. Their fate seems to be in great jeopardy according to the Bible, and the coming King of glory.

Matthew 18:3-7

3 And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children , ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.

4 Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

5 And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me.

6 But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.

7 Woe unto the world because of offences! for it must needs be that offences come; but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh!
KJV
 

These Palestinian children will receive a reckoning for what was done to them in indifference to the offence. True justice is coming to the Holy Land. Biblical justice will prevail over all. The little children will finally have an advocate who will put their rights above that of the politicians. They will no longer be expendable, because the one who loves them will be the authority.

It is the responsibility of men to come to this Christ as little children. An innocent faith trusting Him to make all things right. We can rest in Him as children rest in the arms of those they know love them. It is a wondrous love the Bible teaches us to expect from the coming King of glory. Woe to all who would offend! The wrath of a loving parent defending His children will be their fate!

 

Monday - January 3, 2005

30 Weekend Rockets and Shells; IDF Begins New Offensive
13:24 Jan 02, '05 / 21 Tevet 5765
 

Once again: In response to a terrorist barrage of Kassam rockets at Sderot, the IDF has begun an anti-terror offensive. An Israeli was seriously wounded in a shelling attack Sunday morning.

The IDF has begun another anti-mortar shell offensive in Gaza, this time in the north. The terrorists are not deterred; they fired two shells late this morning at the Erez Industrial Zone area, wounding two Israelis. One of the victims, Nissim ben [son of] Sarah, is listed in serious condition.

Following a Friday afternoon Kassam barrage, two more rockets were fired at the western Negev city of Sderot this morning (Sunday). Six people were lightly wounded and are being treated – five of them for trauma - in a nearby hospital. One rocket landed in the yard of a private home, and the second fell in the Shaar HaNegev industrial zone, causing property damage.

Late Friday afternoon, four other Kassams were fired towards Sderot. Two of them landed inside the city, including one that scored a direct hit on a furniture store, causing heavy damage. No one was in the store at the time, and no Israelis were hurt in the Kassam attacks. One rocket fell short of its mark, landing in an Arab house in Gaza and killing a 12-year-old girl.

Another Friday rocket fell to the north of Gaza, just south of the Ashkelon power plant. Critics of Prime Minister Sharon's disengagement plan have long pointed out that an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza would bring the power plant within unsupervised striking range of Kassam rockets. The Ashkelon facility is Israel's major source of electricity, aside from the Hadera facility, north of Tel Aviv.

The IDF, which ended a three-day counter-terror offensive in southern Gaza late last night, immediately this morning began another similar operation in northern Gaza. The offensive has been code-named Side Wind. Infantry accompanied by engineering and armored forces entered the Beit Hanoun and Jebalya areas, and are searching out Kassam launching cells.

Thirteen terrorists were killed in the just-completed southern-Gaza offensive.

Egypt has accused Israel of failing to live up to its promises not to interfere in the PA elections. Israeli officials have said that they would not take major counter-terrorism measures before the upcoming election, scheduled for a week from today. Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Gheit emphasized "the necessity for Israel to implement what it promised [with regard to] facilitating the holding of the Palestinian elections."

During the course of the night, IDF forces thwarted the attempted firing of a Kassam rocket towards the Negev, when Israel Air Force helicopters killed the terrorists involved.

Mortar shell and rocket attacks at Gush Katif towns continued in a big way last night. Eight shells hit Gush Katif during the first of the night, and another six after midnight: Four shells hit the community of N'vei Dekalim, another one exploded near the Southern Brigade headquarters, and a Kassam rocket smashed into the town Gadid, damaging a home and two cars.

An estimated 4,000 youths from all over Israel spent the Sabbath in various Gush Katif communities, in an annual show of solidarity with the residents. The ten mortar shells fired at the Jewish communities during the day caused no casualties.

The war continues on the Palestinian side with increased vigor. They know the Jewish secular politicians are committed to the Gaza withdrawal, and there is no turning back. They can fire at will into the Jewish settlements killing as many Jews as possible without fear of ruining the withdrawal. They know IDF intrusions are mostly symbolic and certainly temporary. The shelling of Jewish settlements is increasing. The Islamic Arabs see this withdrawal as a retreat, and praise Allah for how he has defeated the Jews. They see this as a victory of Islam over the West. They are now convinced that Allah will soon give them all of the Holy Land, Jerusalem, and the Temple Mount. The more they engage the Jews in terrorism, the more they gain in land and honor. They can envision the whole world falling into their hands through the foolishness of the secular politicians. All they have to do is practice war while talking peace. All they have to do is tell the leaders of this generation the lies they want to hear, and they can kill Jews first with impunity. Later will come the elimination of all infidels.

The Bible says Islam will fail! The Bible says the Road Map will fail. The Bible says the LORD Jesus Christ will be victorious, and His coming Kingdom will last forever. There is a great conflict between what this generation wants, and what God has said will happen. When it comes to the Bible, there are no options. With God there is no turning back! The commitment was made in 1948 when Israel became a State. The fig tree has begun to leaf. In a short 50 years Israel became a mighty nation. Their army won every hostel encounter with Islam, and the world witnessed the power of the God of the Bible. Now, the secular politicians are turning the blessings of God into a curse! They are giving away what God promised them for even less then a hand shake. They are giving the heathen their keys to the Kingdom! They are giving them most of the Holy Land, Jerusalem, and eventually all of the Temple Mount.

The wrath of God is coming on all who resist His revealed Biblical plan. It will come on Islam first. I'm convinced Ezekiel 38 & 39 records the end of Islamic influence over the Holy Land, and opens the door for the Jews to build the Last Holy Jewish Temple on the Temple Mount. It will be Ezekiel's Temple (Ezekiel 40 -48) that chronologically follows the Last Jihad Islamic invasion of Ezekiel 38 & 39.  The secular Jewish politicians will be shamed into silence. The gentile world will follow Islam onto the dung heap of history. In just seven short years the Great Tribulation will finish what the recent tsunami has only started. The Biblical Kingdom is coming with great judgment. God is no respecter of persons. All races, religions, governments, cultures, and genders that resist the Second Coming of the LORD Jesus Christ to the Holy Land, Jerusalem, and the Temple Mount will perish! There will be only one victor! There will be no deceit, or manipulations. Either men submit to this King of glory with all their heart, all their soul, and all their might, or the great tsunami of God's wrath will wash them into an eternal hell.

Christ and the Bible are the only Road Map this world has. All other ways lead to destruction.

Matthew 7:13-14

13 Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:

14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way , which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.
KJV

 

Thursday - January 6, 2004

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Peres Concerned Rabbis May Divide the Nation
13:06 Jan 03, '05 / 22 Tevet 5765
 

(IsraelNN.com) Opposition leader MK Shimon Peres does not see the Gaza Disengagement Plan or other policies which he supports as problematic, but he is concerned the actions of “some rabbis” may lead to a split in the nation.

Realizing the growing trend among those planning to refuse orders to remove Jews from their homes, Peres directed his remarks at rabbis who call upon officers and soldiers to defy orders dealing with the Gaza Disengagement Plan. He stated that those rabbis and the radical left-wing insubordinates “will create a significant split in the nation”.

Peres stated the minority cannot decide policy for the majority, stating threats cannot take the place of governmental decision. He added, “The settlers do not have a solution to the demographic dangers and we cannot abandon a rational approach for an emotional one”.

Tens of Thousands Expected for 10-Day Sit-In Tomorrow
22:03 Jan 02, '05 / 21 Tevet 5765

"This is the critical week." So say Yesha Council leaders, referring to the planned mass anti-disengagement protest activities scheduled for the coming days. A massive sit-in begins tomorrow.

Thousands of people from both sides of the Green Line are expected each day beginning tomorrow, when a giant ten-day sit-in outside the Knesset is to begin. The communities of Judea, Samaria and Gaza (Yesha) have divided up the days, with each region taking two days. Volunteers from cities in pre-'67 Israel will supplement them according to an arranged schedule. In addition, or possibly chiefly, organizers are hoping that supporters will come in their thousands without advance notice.

Residents of Beit El have been assigned to take Friday and Sabbath as their days of residency in the tent-city that will be built around the Knesset. Large tents, cold and hot water, restroom facilities and other services will be provided. Meals will be sold at subsidized prices, and family-sized tents will be available for renting. Yesha Council leaders say that Beit El proved itself when its residents, both from the town's yeshiva and general population, led the successful campaign to win the Likud referendum against the disengagement several months ago.

MK Benny Elon (National Union), a leading opponent of the disengagement plan, told a "town meeting" in his hometown of Beit El last week that the issue is essentially now in the hands of the public. "We, as parliamentarians, have done very tedious work, and it's important – trying to remove some of the more dangerous parts of the evacuation law, trying to get United Torah Judaism to stay out of the coalition, etc. But now it comes down to you. If there are 100 or 200,000 people who will sit down and protest for day after day in front of the Knesset, the government will not be able to deal with this. They don't have an answer for civil disobedience on this scale. They also don't have a solution for how to arrest children, because the law states that children may not be arrested together with adults who are not their parents..."

"It must be made 100% clear," Elon said. "Sharon has no plans to stop with this disengagement. Gush Katif and northern Shomron are not the end. He won't stop until he gets to the partition fence. Even the settlement blocs, on behalf of which he is supposedly doing this whole thing, are not safe."

Vice Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said openly last week that further withdrawals will be necessary. "Israel cannot afford to sit and do nothing," he said. The Prime Minister's Bureau hotly denied any plans to perpetrate additional pullbacks.

MK Tzvi Hendel (National Union), a who appeared at the same event, said, "The Likud MKs who oppose this plan are well-meaning, but they can't do it alone. They need to know that they have public support. We have to wake up and show them they're not alone."

In the meantime, more than 5,000 Israelis are signed on petitions saying they will refuse to serve in the reserves if called up to help out in the disengagement process. Last night, a public protest was held in Kiryat Arba against the transfer/expulsion program.

 

The turmoil in Israel is reaching the breaking point. Civil resistance to the Sharon withdrawal plan is now reaching into the military. It will soon be only politically correct goon squads which will remain loyal when the physical removal of the Independent Fundamental Jewish Settlers takes place. Sharon along with much of the liberal secular politicians seem more then able to muster the right kind of forces vicious enough to perform such a dastardly deed. The world is more concerned over the minority Kurds of Iraq then they are the minority of Jews who are standing on the Bible. This gentile Road Map forcing such civil disobedience in Israel, and taking away the rights of this Jewish minority has never been up for review. All seem to agree that these Jewish settlers have no rights at all. All seem to agree that Biblical rights are of no consequence. The gentiles have their plan, and God be cursed for having published a contrary plan in the Bible.

I know God's plan will be victorious, and I know that plan is only for a remnant. Democracy, majority, the vote are all meaningless to God. The Bible is all that counts to Him. Righteousness, absolute righteousness is the standard, and should all men disagree with this standard then all men will be cursed. That is exactly what the Bible says happened in the Garden of Eden. All men are damned with the curse of sin. Only one promised Savior has come who fulfilled all the Biblical prophecies that predicted His coming. He was the sacrificial lamb that shed His blood for the forgiveness of sin for the remnant of each generation who came, and are yet to come. He met all the Biblical standards required by the Holy God of the Bible. Now, He is coming again. He is coming again as the King of the Jews. He is coming to the Holy Land, Jerusalem, and the Temple Mount. He is coming again for the faithful remnant of this generation.

The rapture, or separation of those who posses Christ (born again) from the professors who only talk about Christ is next on the Biblical agenda. A remnant will be removed from the great apostate monster that today's Christianity has become. Only a remnant will go up to heaven when the trumpet sounds. All the professors of Apostate Christianity will go into the Great Tribulation with all their self-righteousness exhibited today, but it will all be judged by the Bible as filthy rags. The wood, hay, and stubble will be consumed in just seven short years. The focus of God will change with the predicted dispensational change from the remnant of Christians to a remnant of Jews. I know God is going to call Two Witnesses from Jerusalem, and another 144,000 Jews from the tribal lands of their fathers. Who will be this next remnant? My vote, for what it is worth, goes with the Independent Fundamental Jewish Settlers who are turning the world upside down with their tenacity to obey the Bible.

Biblical dispensational change is coming to planet earth. It is not for the masses who reject the Bible, and the coming again Biblical Christ. It will be only for a humbled remnant that desire to turn from their sin, and come the the only Redeemer who came to save sinners.

The plan of God in the Bible is a plan for only a few. The masses could come, but they won't. They resist Biblical righteousness which condemns all men. They refuse to acknowledge their total dependence on the only Savior revealed in the Bible. They would rather seek another way. Friend, it is only those who come with all their heart, all their soul, and all their might who can break from the crowd. Would you join the remnant of "born again" possessors of Christ? Can you separate yourself from the rampant apostasy of this generation, and come to the Biblical Christ? The time is short. Do not let this opportunity to come to Christ pass by. The crowd is wrong. The Bible is right!

Romans 9:27-28

27 Esaias also crieth concerning Israel, Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved:

28 For he will finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness: because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth.
KJV
 

 

Friday - January 7, 2004

ABBAS PLEDGES TO SHIELD FUGITIVES

Interim Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas said Saturday (Jan. 1) that the Palestinian leadership had a duty to protect armed fugitives on Israel's wanted list and indicated that he did not intend to crack down on them. Abbas reiterated that Palestinian attacks against Israel are counterproductive, but he also said the Palestinian leadership would seek to shield wanted militants. "We will not forget the wanted, the heroes," he said at a campaign rally in Rafah, according to The New York Times.
 

ABBAS IN GAZA LABELS ISRAEL "THE ZIONIST ENEMY"
Interim leader stakes out hard-line support for 'right of return'

PLO chief Mahmoud Abbas, the leading candidate to succeed Yasser Arafat as head of the Palestinian Authority, sharpened his campaign rhetoric on Tuesday in the northern Gaza town of Beit Lahiya, labeling Israel the "Zionist enemy" following deadly clashes between Palestinian rocket crews and Israeli forces.

His comments came after the IDF killed seven masked Palestinians youths in the town as they launched mortar shells at nearby Israeli civilian targets. "We came to you today, while we are praying for the souls of the martyrs who were killed today by the shells of the Zionist enemy in Beit Lahiya," Abbas declared.

The comments reveal the extent to which Abbas lauded as a moderate by the White House has been forced to echo the violent sentiments of the Palestinian street in Gaza ahead of next week's PA leadership elections.

On Monday, Abbas re-affirmed his long-standing hard-line attitude to the right of return, telling a crowd in Gaza City that Palestinian refugees and their descendants from the two-year war that followed Israel's creation in 1948 should have the right to return to their original homes. "The day will come when the refugees return home," Abbas told the cheering crowd, according to the AP.

The refugees and their descendants now total about 4 million people, over 5 times their original number, which is why Israel has always considered the right of return an irreconcilable deal-breaker in any prospective peace talks. For Israel's 5 million or so Jews, who already live alongside over a million Israeli Arab citizens, the prospect of becoming a minority in their homeland is tantamount to eradicating the Jewish State.

Can the leopard change his spots? There are situations where change can take place, but there are also heart held convictions which will never change. Abbas has demonstrated he is in the category of those who are beyond repentance. The politicians like to call it electioneering rhetoric, but in the wake of Arafat the truth is another leopard has taken control of the Arab Palestinian culture.

Another Arafat who talks through both sides of his mouth is the only leadership the Arab Palestinians will allow. It goes far beyond Palestine, and right into the heart of Islam. The leopard of this generation of Islam is fixed. It will never change. It will never repent before a Jewish King. Abbas, the Palestinians, and Islam as a whole are all being exposed by the God of the Bible for the coming judgment. It will be their hard, unmovable hearts that will be their condemnation. It will be the exposed double talk of peace out of one side of their mouth, and animalistic total depravity coming out of the other side that will be their doom.

Islam is successful because the Jewish secular politicians along with the rest of the world listens with only one ear to the peace side of the rhetoric. They willingly give a deaf ear to the truth as exhibited by the beastly behavior of the Palestinians coming out of the other side. I really believe mankind thinks if they listen only to the lies, and convince themselves they are true, they must be exonerated at the Judgment seat. Such is the thinking of the totally depraved mind.

It is clear to me, and any who seek truth from the Bible that this present Middle East Road Map is leading to Armageddon. The only plan the whole world has signed on to is in direct conflict with the Biblical plan for the future of the Holy Land. This generation in spite of God bringing the Jews back to the Holy Land has decided to challenge the Biblical prophecy about the return of the LORD Jesus Christ, and His coming Kingdom! The truth about who believes the Bible is being placed before this generation to see who talks out of both sides of their mouths. Those who say "I'm a Christian" while at the same time say "the Road Map is the best plan for our generation." The placing of the worst culture of our generation into the midst of the Holy Land giving them a perpetual home that will never allow a Jewish King to return to Jerusalem, or the Temple Mount. Placing the most exposed leopard like culture that will never change right where the Bible says the Kingdom is going to come! And, then thinking God will not hold them responsible for their silence!

It is madness! Folks, Christ is coming again! There is no way that anyone can be on both sides. Either we are with Him, or we are His enemy. There is no middle ground! Where is your heart? Do you want the Kingdom, or the Road Map? This generation is being tested, and exposed for talking through both sides of their mouth. The crowd has chosen the broad way. Which way do you seek? Will you be among the few who stand for truth? Who stand with the LORD Jesus Christ!

Matthew 7:13-14

13 Enter ye in at the strait gate : for wide is the gate , and broad is the way , that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:

14 Because strait is the gate , and narrow is the way , which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.
KJV
 

Saturday - January 8, 2005

Police briefly detain PA candidate Barghouti

By Arnon Regular, Haaretz Correspondent, Haaretz Service and Agencies

Palestinian Authority chairmanship candidate Mustafa Barghouti was briefly detained by police Friday as he tried to enter the Old City of Jerusalem to pray at the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the last day of campaigning before Sunday's PA elections. It was the second time Jerusalem police have detained him during the campaign.

Jerusalem police spokesman Shmuel Ben-Ruby said Barghouti, who ranks a distant second in polls, had violated an agreement not to campaign at the sensitive mosque compound, where thousands of people pray on Fridays. He said police were concerned about possible unrest and took Barghouti away for questioning. He was released a short time later.

Barghouti was arrested the first time because he did not have a permit to campaign in Jerusalem, police said.

Meanwhile, leading candidate Mahmoud Abbas canceled a campaign stop to Jerusalem, saying it would be embarrassing to appear before his own people surrounded by the large security detail with which Israel wanted to provide him, a campaign official said.

Instead, Abbas planned a campaign appearance later Friday in Beir Naballah, a Palestinian town on the outskirts of Jerusalem. He had been tentatively scheduled to travel to Jerusalem to pray at the Al-Aqsa Mosque, hold a rally and tour the Old City.

Abbas spent the morning attending an Orthodox Christmas service in Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity and laying a wreath at Yasser Arafat's grave in the West Bank town of Ramallah. Asked why the Jerusalem trip had been canceled, he said: "I will go to Jerusalem later on." He did not elaborate.

Police spokesman Gil Kleiman said no request had been received for Abbas to enter the city.

IDF to halt activity in territories ahead of election
Israel Defense Forces troops will halt operations in the West Bank and Gaza Strip as of Saturday, to avoid interfering with Sunday's elections for Palestinian Authority chairman, Israel Radio reported.

The troops will stay away from Palestinian areas until after all the ballots are counted and a winner decreed, the radio said.

However, the IDF said it would work to stop a "ticking bomb" if it found out that Palestinians were about to attack an Israeli target.

The IDF will also permit Palestinian police officers to carry pistols and two rifles at every polling station, except for those in close proximity to settlements or major roads, and will ease restrictions at roadblocks, the radio said.

Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said Thursday that the IDF had already begun to pull troops out of West Bank cities.

Preparations for voting completed
Preparations for voting have been completed, the PA Central Election Committee said Thursday.

According to data provided by the committee, 1,757,756 eligible voters will cast their votes in 1,072 centers in the territories, where a total of 2,800 ballot boxes will await them.

Some 800 foreign observers have arrived representing various countries and non-governmental organizations, joining some 20,000 local observers representing the candidates and various Palestinian organizations.

Voters in Sunday's election for a new Palestinian Authority chairman will be marked with indelible ink designed to remain visible for 72 hours, to prevent fraud.

Each voting station will be run by a ballot committee that will confirm the identity of the voter and provide him with a ballot containing the names of all the candidates. The voter will then proceed behind a curtained cubicle where he will make his choice.

The committee will then mark the voter as having voted.
 

These Palestinian politicians know the Temple Mount is the bottom line in their struggle with the Jews. They keep it in front of their supporters so there will be no doubt the Mount must always be Islamic. Islam knows more about Bible prophecy then do the Christians. They know the Bible says the Jews are back to build the Last Jewish Temple on the Temple Mount. The Arab League has determined what their nuclear targets will be even before they have the bomb. Tel Aviv is number one, but number two is the recently discovered "Red Heifer" that was born in Israel. The announcement by the rabbinical court that this was truly a kosher cow threw the Arab world into an uproar. The Islamic Arabs knew the altar of any Jewish Temple needed the ashes of a kosher "Red Heifer" before it could be purified. Suddenly, not only had the Jews returned to the Holy Land as the Bible predicted, but now the first "Red Heifer" needed before kosher sacrifice could start is now living in Israel ready for holy use. It has been almost 2000 years since a "Red Heifer" has been born in Israel. Islam sees what the God of the Bible is doing, and have set themselves to to stop Him. They are determined that Allah will stop the Jews, and the Koran will be the only  book venerated forever in the Holy Land.

The future for the Temple Mount is only more tumultuous. The present war with Israel is called the Al Aqsa War by all of Islam. They know what is the center piece of their quest. This war will not end until the Temple Mount is back in Islamic hands, or Islam is no more. Islam knows if they can control the Mount the Bible falls apart. The promises to the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob become meaningless. The Jewish Messiah becomes a myth that will never come true.

The Palestinians know the first step in stopping the Bible is for them to have a forever State right in the middle of the Holy Land. They have made it abundantly clear that their forever capital city will be Jerusalem. They know once the Jews retreat from the Gaza that next will be Judah  and Samaria. The forceful removal of over 250,000 Independent Fundamental Jewish Settlers by the secular Jewish authorities will make the turn over of Jerusalem and the Temple Mount a little thing. Allah will have proved he is more powerful then the God of the Bible, and the whole world will have a new found respect for the Koran as the leading religious guide for all men.

American Christianity has fallen into the trap of democracy, and freedom of religion as more important then Bible prophecy. Our White House with all the Bible studies taking place promotes the Road Map that plays right into Islam's plans. It is the US that signed on with Russia, the EU, and the UN which pressured the secular Jewish politicians into accepting the gentile Road Map. My only conclusion is that blind Bible teachers are leading the blind politicians into giving Allah exactly what is needed to make Islam succeed. The Great Satan may not be so far fetched an Islamic euphemism as once decreed for the United States.

Friend, watch the Temple Mount. The God of the Bible is not going to foolishly play the Road Map game. This once Holy place will be Holy once again. Islam must step aside for the God of the Bible, or perish. The Last Biblical Holy Jewish Temple will be built on this mount just as the Bible says. The last generation submerged in World War Two would have laughed at the suggestion that a Jewish State would exist in just a few years in the Holy Land! Today, the Last Jewish Temple is only a few years away, but the men of this generation laugh at such a statement. Watch the Temple Mount, and see the smiles wiped off the faces of this generation!

Read about the Red Heifer

http://members.ozemail.com.au/~adamgosp/heifer.htm

 

Sunday - January 9, 2005

General Warns of 'Spectacular' Iraq Plots

Jan 7, 3:16 PM (ET)

By DUSAN STOJANOVIC

We live a very blessed, and comfortable life here in America. It is because of our Christian heritage. Previous generations made the sacrifices necessary for the comfort we enjoy today. Islam in this generation has challenged our Christian beliefs. The 1948 formation of the State of Israel was the factor that caused Islam to raise a generation of blood thirsty children who are now challenging the world. A generation of hate is now matured, and engaged in a war to the death with the Jews, and their Christian allies. It is not all of Christendom that is willing to stand up against this great threat to our generation. The great apostate side of Christianity is opposed to engaging in this war. They care nothing for the Bible, or their Christian heritage. They care nothing for the Jews prophesied to establish a Jewish Biblical Kingdom in the Holy Land. They are only concerned about their creature comforts.

I'm convinced it is our Christian duty to be in Iraq. We are fighting those who would have a 9/11 every day here in America were they able. They are the children of hate Islam has nurtured for this day. They hate the Bible because of the prophecies about the return of the Jews, and would replace it with the Koran which gives Islam the victory.

America is fighting the right war at the right time. We are in the dark days much as the last generation faced in the first years of the Second World War. Will we stay the course is yet to be determined. The cost is great, but nothing like pervious generations went through to prove their worth. Time will prove whether we cower in fear, or stand firm in our faith that the God of the Bible is our God.

Let me say in the same breath that the Road Map is blasphemous. We do right by being in Iraq, and we should also be in Syria. The job will not be done until Syria falls as did Iraq. Where we go wrong is when we interdict our gentile desires on the Jews of Israel. God is working on the Jews preparing them for the coming Kingdom. Redemption for the Jews is on the way, but it is going to come with great tribulation. We tread where gentiles dare not go when we cross into God's domain as related to the Jews. Repentance on the part of each individual Jew is a work beyond our abilities. It is a work only God Himself knows how to accomplish. What is certain is that placing the worst heathen culture of our generation with a forever State in the Holy Land is wrong!

It is possible to start off right, but stumble along the way. The latter end can be just as the Amalekites, and how they perished forever. An American generation gone wrong insults all who went before. Our latter end can be shameful should we persist in honoring our commitment to the gentile Road Map! All that we did right in the beginning will become of no account at the end!

 

Monday - January 10, 2005

Gush Katif, Sa-Nur Lead Yesha Growth
21:44 Jan 09, '05 / 28 Tevet 5765

Israelis voted with their feet the past six months and boosted the population in areas that the government has proposed to destroy and leave under Arab control, according to government statistics.

Netzarim, one of the most embattled Jewish communities in Gaza, enjoyed a 12 per cent growth as families moved to the town. The overall growth in the Jewish communities in Gaza was 4.8 per cent, the government’s Interior Ministry reported Sunday.

Yesha, not including areas such as French Hill and Gilo which were established since 1967 and are under the jurisdiction of Jerusalem, now numbers more than 250,000.

Sa-Nur, one of the northern Samarian communities that the government wants to destroy, grew by more than 50 per cent as young families, including newlyweds, planted roots there and increased the number of residents to more than 100.

Kfar Darom, where Jews have legal title to property before the 1948 War of Independence, showed an 11 per cent growth.
 

The God of the Bible continues to call Independent Fundamental Jewish Settlers to occupy His Promised Land. This, to the consternation of the secular Jewish politicians, the Arab Palestinians, Islam as a whole, and the entire gentile world with the sole exception of a remnant of born again Christians. I don't know of a modern equivalent where so few are turning the whole world upside-down because of the Bible! We of this generation are about to witness their persecution for simply being Jewish, and sticking to their Biblical convictions. These settlers would have more support if they were a group of homosexuals then what they are receiving as independent Jews. The God of the Bible is forcing the settler's plight on the world. He is forcing the world to show the difference between Biblical righteousness, and their own self-righteousness. The settlers are viewed as the bad guys who are ruining the Road Map. They are the spoilers to the gentile plan for a phony peace in the Holt Land. The Bible plan for the coming Kingdom has been abandoned. We are all expected to view the coming Biblical dispensational change as a myth, or at the least not for this generation. No thought should be given to the coming of the Jewish Messiah, or the return of the LORD Jesus Christ in this our generation! Such thinking is not politically correct! It would be as opposed to the Road Map as are the settlers.

The generation that witnessed the first coming of the LORD Jesus Christ were chastened by Him for not recognizing the signs of their times. I 'm certain that same chastisement is applicable to our generation that has witnessed the return of the Jews to the Holy Land. The chastisement is applicable to every Christian who would say dispensational change is not for us. We have no stake in what happens to the Independent Fundamental Jewish Settlers.

Matthew 16:1-4
16:1 The Pharisees also with the Sadducees came, and tempting desired him that he would shew them a sign from heaven.

2 He answered and said unto them, When it is evening, ye say, It will be fair weather: for the sky is red.

3 And in the morning, It will be foul weather to day: for the sky is red and lowring. O ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times ?

4 A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given unto it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas. And he left them, and departed.
KJV
 

O ye Hippocrates! Can ye not discern the signs of the times! What an indictment by the LORD. Friend, there are no good men leading this generation. The best of the Road Map crowd are but briars and thorns. The secular Jewish politicians are the enemies of the settlers from their own house. The Christian leadership that supports the Road Map are the enemy who dwell in our own house. The LORD Jesus Christ is coming again, and it matters not that this generation refuses to act on the signs He has given. It matters not that this generation would give His Promised Land to the Islamic heathen. The God of the Bible is coming with great judgment, and the faithful shall behold His Biblical righteousness on all who would resist.

Be certain you are trusting in the Biblical Christ. The Jewish Messiah. The King of the Jews. The coming King of glory. He is coming again to the Holy Land, Jerusalem, and the Temple Mount. Is this the Christ in whom you trust? He is no myth, or some futuristic promise. He is coming soon. Friend, you are without excuse for not being ready! Come to the Biblical Christ today! Tomorrow may be too late. All the signs needed have already been revealed. Now is your time to come.

 

Wednesday - January 12, 2005

Abu Mazen: Little Jihad is Over, Big Jihad Starts
16:25 Jan 10, '05 / 29 Tevet 5765
 

Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) received just over 62% of the vote, and will take Arafat's place as Palestinian Authority chief - with a practically identical platform.

Appearing before cheering crowds last night, Abu Mazen said that the period of the "little Jihad [holy war] had ended, and now the big Jihad is beginning." This quote led to a quaint exchange on Israel Radio's morning newsmagazine. Arabic-speaking correspondent Avi Yisacharov played the tapes of Abu Mazen's quotes, and then quickly said, "Regarding the future..." He was immediately interrupted by anchorman Aryeh Golan, who said, "Whoa, wait a second. What's this 'big Jihad' stuff?" Yisacharov gave a nervous chuckle and said, "I don't think he means a real Jihad, he just means the challenges ahead of reforms in the PA and the release of Palestinian prisoners by Israel..."

Yisacharov similarly played a recording of a leading Abu Mazen supporter singing in joy at the results of the election, and explained that it was simply "an old PLO war song."

Abu Mazen did little to allay Israeli fears that he is no different than Arafat. He said he dedicates his victory to "brother shahid [martyr] Yasser Arafat," to the "shahids and prisoners," and to the "Palestinian people from Rafiach to Jenin." The crowd responded, "A Million Shahids Marching to Jerusalem!"

MK Shimon Peres, who is expected to be named Associate Prime Minister this afternoon if the Knesset approves the new composition of the government, said that Abu Mazen will have to apologize for the "big Jihad" statement, "just like he apologized for his 'Zionist enemy' statement." Peres added that Abu Mazen was a "moderate, smart and experienced, and we have to give him a chance."

Peres is famous for his lukewarm reactions to militant statements by Arafat as well. For instance, after Arafat's Johannesburg speech explaining that his agreement to make peace with Israel was merely temporary, and calling for Jihad against Israel, then-Foreign Minister Peres insisted the recording was a fraud and right-wing propaganda.

Less than two years ago, in March 2003, Abu Mazen told the London-based Arabic paper A-Sharq al-Aussat, "The intifada must continue, and it is the right of the Palestinian people to resist and use all possible means in order to defend its presence and existence. I add and say that if the Israelis come to your land in order to erect a settlement then it is your right to defend what is yours [using] all means and arms as long as they are coming to your home..." Peres said at the time, "It doesn't matter what they say..."

Though Abu Mazen has said that the intifada was a mistake, and that now is "not the proper time" for violence, he campaigned with armed terrorists and was even photographed atop the shoulders of wanted terrorist Zakaria Zubeidi of Jenin. U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell responded, Peres-like, by saying that this was "disturbing, but I don't think it reflects his overall approach to governing."

Abu Mazen continues to adhere to the traditionally maximalist demands of full Israeli withdrawal from all of Judea, Samaria and Gaza, eastern Jerusalem as the capital of a PLO state, and "right of return."
 

It doesn't matter what they say, we will only believe what we want to hear. This is the justification for continuing the Road Map, and forcibly removing over 8,000 Independent Fundamental Jewish Settlers from their Gaza homes. Abu Mazen has said white is black, and the world must decide what is true. It would normally be no problem if it were not the Jews of which he speaks. There is a lot of unjustified animosity against the word Jew, and when double-talk is present the the anti-Jewish side is most often the only side to which the majority listen.  The secular Jewish politicians bow to the pressure from this gentile dominated world always seeking compromise with men over obedience to the God of their fathers. Today is the day when the majority has decided to be wise with men, and foolish with God!

1 Corinthians 1:20

20 Where is the wise ? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?
KJV
 

Only a fool could believe Abu Mazen wants peace with the Jews. Yet,most of the world is on his side, and against the Jewish settlers. I'm convinced I understand what he meant by the Big Jihad has now started! You see I read the Bible! I know that though Balaam wanted to curse the Jews he could not help saying the truth. Caiaphas who ordered Christ be scourged at the first illegal trial before His crucifixion also could not keep from saying the truth.

John 11:50-51

50 Nor consider that it is expedient for us, that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not.

51 And this spake he not of himself: but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation;
KJV

So also does Abu Mazen say the truth when he said "the period of the little Jihad had ended; and now the Big Jihad is beginning!" I'm sure he is oblivious to the fact that the Bible records his Big Jihad in Ezekiel 38 & 39. The Last Jihad Islamic invasion of Israel that ends in Ezekiel 39 with the utter destruction of the invaders by a supernatural act of God. It will end Islamic influence over the Holy Land forever, and open the door for the cleansing of the Temple Mount in preparation for the building of Ezekiel's Holy Jewish Temple as recorded in Ezekiel 40 - 48! The cheering Islamic Arab crowds also spoke truth when they responded "a million shahids (martyrs) marching to Jerusalem." A reading of Ezekiel 39 assures their statement about martyrdom is true. However, it will be the martyrdom of fools with the absents of wisdom for dismissing this 2550 year old prophecy about the Holy Land, Jerusalem, and the Temple Mount.

Friend, it is time for you to become wise. Come to the Christ of the Bible for salvation. All religions will soon pass away, but the LORD Jesus Christ who is coming again to Jerusalem will never end. He will never change. He promised redemption to the Jews, and that promise is bringing dispensational change to planet earth. The rapture will end the present 2000 year old Christian Church Age, and the Bible says God will again focus His attention on the Jews. The time is short. Better to come to Christ now then go into Great Tribulation!

 

Thursday - January 13, 2005

Poll: Western Wall most visited tourist site in Israel

By Irit Rosenblum, Haaretz Correspondent

The Western Wall is still the most visited site by foreign tourists visiting Israel, despite a sharp rise in Christian tourism and a decline in Jewish visitors, a poll revealed Wednesday.

The survey was conducted by the Geocartographic Institute on behalf of the Tourism Ministry, and related to tourists who visited Israeli during the first half of 2004.

Christians made up 33 percent of visiting tourists, compared to 27 percent in the first half of 2003. The number of Jewish tourists dropped from 57 percent in the first half of 2003, to 52 percent of all tourists.

According to the survey, 53 percent of all tourists visited the Western Wall in the first half of 2004. The second most visited site was the Jewish Quarter in the Old City of Jerusalem. Next most visited site was Old Jaffa, visited by 28 percent of tourists, followed by the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, 26 percent, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in the Jerusalem?s Christian Quarter, 25 percent, the Via Dolorosa, 23 percent, the Tower of David, 22 percent, Masada, 20 percent and Caesarea, 16 percent.

The poll also reveals that 75 percent of tourists visited Israel independently, while 13 percent came on organized tours. Twelve percent bought package deals.

According to the survey, 80 percent of tourists said their trip to Israel was very good, or excellent. On a scale of 1 to 5, the average score on overall satisfaction from the trip to Israel stood at 4.2.

Ninety-five percent of tourists said they would encourage their friends to visit Israel, and 73 percent said they had no security concerns during their visit to Israel.

I was surprised to read that 75% of the tourists coming to Israel come independently. I had assumed tour groups would be the leading way to visit Israel. There is a boldness that comes with independent travel that is being expressed with these latest statistics. It seems the same boldness of the Independent Fundamental Jewish Settlers exists among many Jews and Christians. The gentile world is out to break the back of the settler movement. I'm sure any perceived  independent support coming from the outside will also find back breaking resistance from the Road Map crowd. Islamic demands are in, and the Bible demands are out during this present generation. All who would stand firmly on the Bible will find they are out of step with where this generation wants to go.

The Western Wailing Wall of the Second Jewish Temple remains the number one tourist attraction. That also says something about where the bold are designating what is important. The Temple Mount is a prominent place to these emboldened travelers who have a Biblical orientation. They are drawn to the only remaining wall of the Jewish Temple that also stood in the days of Christ. They visit a wall that was most certainly viewed by the LORD Jesus Christ almost 2,000 years ago. Excavations along the wall go down to the street level of the Second Temple era where the time of Christ has been brought back into the light.

A statement by Christ from 2000 years ago must also be brought back to light. He was confronted with this magnificent Temple by His disciples when He said the day would come when not one stone would be left upon another.

Luke 21:5-6

5 And as some spake of the temple, how it was adorned with goodly stones and gifts, he said,

6 As for these things which ye behold, the days will come, in the which there shall not be left one stone upon another , that shall not be thrown down
KJV
 

Later that statement was twisted at His phony trial by false witness to mean He would personally destroy the Temple, and rebuild it in three days. The truth of which Christ spoke about not one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down has not yet literally taken place. The Western Wall still stands today with ashlars unmoved from the time of His statement. I can only conclude the day of which Christ spoke is still to come.

A day is coming when the Temple Mount will be cleansed of all the filth of the ages. It will be purified from the contamination men have falsely attached to the structures now standing on this wondrous site. Ezekiel was given the blueprint for the last Holy Jewish Temple to be built on the Mount. Before this structure can be built all Moslem, and Jewish shrines of the past must be cleared out of the way. The wall that the Jews of this generation venerate so much must be torn down to make way for Ezekiel's Temple. The very ground bedrock must be swept clean, and consecrated before construction may begin. The holiness of this Last Holy Jewish Temple will demand such meticulous attention to purity. That day is soon approaching. The purpose for which the God of the Bible has brought the Jews back to the Holy Land will soon find fruition. The coming Kingdom of which the Bible speaks will center around this one holy place. The King of glory will soon sit on His throne here on this one single place. Holy ground will have perfect meaning on that day. Hear what Ezekiel says of the Temple his vision revealed.

Ezekiel 43:7

7 And he said unto me, Son of man, the place of my throne , and the place of the soles of my feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel for ever, and my holy name, shall the house of Israel no more defile, neither they, nor their kings, by their whoredom, nor by the carcases of their kings in their high places.
KJV
 

The day when the LORD Jesus Christ comes again to the Temple Mount is quickly approaching. Are you ready? Are you trusting in this coming King of glory for your salvation? Have you been consecrated through His blood unto the redemption that is promised? Friend, don't put off the day. Come to the King of glory today for the purification of your soul.

 

Friday - January 14, 2005

Christians Flee Iraq

Iraq's ancient Christian community, targeted with special ferocity by Islamic extremists for the past year, is disappearing rapidly, the (London) Telegraph reported last week. Churches have been bombed, priests kidnapped, and Christian neighborhoods subjected to random shootings, the terrorists' revenge for the community's shared religion with the "Christian" invaders. According to church leaders, some 300,000 Christians - roughly a quarter of the population - have fled their homes since the US-led invasion. "It's genocide. You can see it with your own eyes," said Bishop Putres Harbori, head of a small Christian community near the Turkish border.

The Islamic world can extradite all non-Moslems without fear of retribution by the rest of the world. I can only wonder what the uproar would be should the Jews do the same in Israel. The wrong group is being forced to leave their homes in the Gaza. It should be the animalistic Arab Palestinian culture that world pressure should be forcing to leave, not the Independent Fundamental Jewish Settlers. This Arab culture has proven time and time again that they do not want peace with the Jews. They have raised and nurtured a generation on hate! What should happen is that every Arab who can't sign a paper agreeing to submit to  Jewish sovereignty over the Holy Land be treated as the Christians of Iraq. The Palestinians should be forced to leave with the same intensity as has been presently mustered against the Jewish settlers. The reality on the ground is that the Jews have the sovereignty. None can argue with reality. It must be accepted for what it is. The Jews have certainly been more magnanimous to their antagonists then have the Iranians, or any other Islamic nation. The example set by the Islamic world should be forced back upon them where they do not have sovereignty, and refuse to behave. Now, civilized people do not practice the barbarian behavior of the Islamic nations, but every non-Moslem nation does require their sovereignty be honored by Islam. All sub-cultures living under another's national sovereignty are required to submit to their authority. All except Israel. Only here does the natural sovereignty rules become reversed.  The gentile world is demanding the worst culture of our generation be given sovereignty over land that was never under their sovereignty. It was Jordan, and Egypt that had sovereignty over the West Bank and Gaza. Both nations have refused to accept the sovereignty they once had back. Neither wants to deal with the animalistic Arab Palestinian culture. It would not normally matter how the world decides to administer boarders, but this is the Holy Land. It does not belong to the world for distribution. The gentile Road Map would distribute the land to the heathens at just the time when God is reasserting His right to the land. It is the God of the Bible who has brought the Jews of this generation back to the Holy Land. This is the wrong time at the wrong place for the world leaders of this generation to challenge the Bible over the Holy Land. The LORD Jesus Christ is coming again this time as the King of glory. He will assume His title as King of the Jews. He will demand sovereignty over the Holy Land, Jerusalem, and the Temple Mount. Woe to any who refuse to step aside!

All the torment the Jews of the Holy Land are experiencing is because they refuse to obey God about the disposition of the Arab Palestinians. The Road Map will make the pricks and thorns even more painful. The Bible is very clear what should be done to those who refuse to step aside. It will not be long before God does what He expected His children to do in the Holy Land. God gave the Jews of the first Exodus the same sovereignty as He has given this generation of the last Exodus. The responsibility, and the consequences have remained unchanged. The news only substantiates this truth!

 

Saturday - January 15, 2005

Sanhedrin Rabbis Discuss Sublime, Procedural Issues
12:59 Jan 14, '05 / 4 Shevat 5765
 

The 71 rabbis seeking to fulfill the Biblical commandment of renewing the Sanhedrin continue to meet regularly, solidifying their organizational structure and establishing an agenda of topics.

Their most recent meeting was this week, in which they discussed technical and procedural issues, topics for their agenda, and the Halakhic [Jewish legal] and other ramifications of renewing the Passover sacrifice.

The rabbis held a festive ceremony this past October 13th, the 28th day of the Jewish month of Tishrei, inaugurating the Sanhedrin as Judaism's supreme legal body. They stress that by doing so, they are merely fulfilling a Biblical mitzvah (obligation). “It is a special mitzvah , based on our presence in Israel, to establish a Sanhedrin,” Rabbi Meir HaLevi, one of the 71 members of the new Sanhedrin, has explained. “The Rambam [12th-century Torah scholar Maimonides] describes the process exactly in the Mishnah Torah [his seminal work codifying Jewish Law]. When he wrote it, there was no Sanhedrin, and he therefore outlines the steps necessary to establish one."

A religious-legal assembly of 71 Sages that convened in the Holy Temple and for several centuries after its destruction, the Sanhedrin was the highest Jewish judicial tribunal in the Land of Israel. Organizers of the current edition stress that they are still in a transitional phase, and that though today's members are all Torah scholars and experts in many secular and scientific fields, every one of them has agreed to step aside the moment a more deserving candidate should step forward.

Meeting in Jerusalem’s Old City, the Sanhedrin consists of representatives of all stripes of religious Jewish society. Hareidi-religious, Hassidic, national-religious, Ashkenazi, Sephardic, modern Orthodox and university professors sit side by side in a semi-circle, seeking to re-establish Jewish legal tradition after 2,000 years of exile.

"We can make a real difference," said one member, Rabbi Chaim Richman of Jerusalem. "Many cardinal issues are on the public agenda, and our body – which is totally based on Torah, even down to its rules and regulations – is naturally geared to deal with them. Issues such as agunot (estranged women whose husbands refuse to give them a divorce), abortions, traffic safety, economic issues, education, and so much more."*

"Not only are we commanded to establish the Sanhedrin," Rabbi Richman told Arutz-7's Yosef Meiri, "but this seems to be the perfect time to do so - a time of Divine will. On the one hand, there is a spiritual void in the 'establishment,' and on the other hand, there is a real thirst among the public for spirituality and guidance."

The Sanhedrin's takanon, document of regulations, is still undergoing final adjustments prior to its official adoption. A permanent Nassi, President, and Av Beit HaDin, literally, Court Father, still must be elected. The continuing role of the Vaad HaMechonen , the founding committee that has led the Sanhedrin thus far, also needs to be determined. But the Sanhedrin is carefully moving ahead, strictly adhering to the guidelines set out by Maimonides, who classified the obligation to reestablish the Sanhedrin as one that is incumbent upon every generation.

“The Sanhedrin is past its greatest initial hurdles,” a spokesman