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Merry Christmas Sheikh Yousuf Al-Qaradhawi and ACLU

December 24, 2009

http://www.tribulationperiod.com/

Begin Excerpt from MEMRI

Middle East Media Review Institute (MEMRI)

Special Dispatch Nr. 2709

December 21, 2009

Sheikh Al-Qaradhawi on Christmas Celebrations in Muslim Countries: ‘I Wanted To Warn My People That This Is Prohibited, Shameful, And Inappropriate… Ignorance Of What Islam Obliges Us To Do…;’ ‘[Can] Muslims in Europe and America… Celebrate Ramadan… in the City Centers[?]’

In a recent Friday sermon from Qatar by Sheikh Yousuf Al-Qaradhawi, he condemned Christmas celebrations in Muslim countries, saying that they were forbidden and stating that the Muslim nation is abandoning its Muslim identity. He also commented on President Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize, calling it undeserved.

Sheikh Al-Qaradhawi, Sunni Islam’s most prominent cleric, is head of the European Council for Fatwa and Research, president of the International Union of Muslim Scholars (IUMS), and spiritual guide for many other Islamist organizations across the world, including the Muslim Brotherhood. He has been barred from entering the U.S., the U.K, and other western countries.[1] In recent years, he has called for Islam to conquer Rome;[2] in the past few months alone, he has threatened a boycott of Switzerland,[3] come out against interfaith dialogue,[4] and issued a fatwa stating that Iraqis must not become U.S. citizens.[5]

Following are excerpts from Al-Qaradhawi’s sermon about Christmas, which aired on Qatar TV.[6]

“What is Going On in the Shops and On the Streets of Doha – All These Celebrations of the So-Called Birth of Jesus [!]”

Sheikh Yousuf Al-Qaradhawi: “Brothers, I would like to talk to you about two issues.

First, I would like to talk about what is going on in our countries these days. I could almost ask what kind of society we are living in – Muslim or Christian? What is going on in the shops and on the streets of Doha – all these celebrations of the so-called birth of Jesus, the so-called Christmas? It is as if we are living in a Christian European country!”[…]

“The Nation is Abandoning Its Muslim Identity – Islam Wants Us to Maintain Our Islamic Uniqueness”

“We do not even celebrate [the birth] of the Prophet Muhammad, but we celebrate Christmas?! Christmas trees, four or five meters high, are erected in shops, which are owned by families known to be Muslim. What is this?

! It means that the nation is abandoning its Muslim identity. Islam wants us to maintain our Islamic uniqueness.”

Can “The Muslims in Europe and America… Celebrate Ramadan and the Muslim Holidays in the City Centers [?]”

“They prevent us from building minarets… I was just talking about that last week. They banned the building of minarets, and they are about to

ban the building of mosques. 41% of the people polled in France [support] preventing the building of mosques, while 47% support the banning of minarets as well as a mosques. Even the mosques…

“Are the Muslims in Europe and America – and there are millions of them in some countries – able to celebrate Ramadan and the Muslim holidays in

the city centers, like some people do in our Arab and Muslim countries and cities, in the Arabian Peninsul

a? Is this conceivable?! What has happened to this nation?!”

Why “Celebrate a Religion That Is Not Yours – When They Are Preventing Us From Performing Our Rites?… [It’s] Prohibited, Shameful, And Inappropriate”

“I call upon these shop owners… Just for a profit… They do it for money… People who want to buy will come without all this.

Why do you pretend to celebrate a religion that is not yours, when they are preventing us from performing our rites? They prevent us from building a beautiful minaret, which is considered a beautiful piece of architecture, regardless of the religious aspect.

[…]

“Brothers, I wanted to convey my message, and warn my people that this is prohibited, shameful, and inappropriate.

It points to stupidity in the treatment of others, and ignorance of what Islam obliges us to do about this.”

“What Did Mr.

Obama Accomplish to Deserve This Peace Prize?”

“There is another issue that I wanted to talk about in brief. Obama received the Nobel Peace Prize. I don’t know why they gave him this prize. What did Mr.

Obama accomplish to deserve this peace prize? There is no peace in Iraq. There is no peace in Afghanistan. There is no peace in Somalia. There is no peace in any country.

He hasn’t even managed to force Israel to cease its settlement activity.

[…]

“He withdrew some soldiers from Iraq, only to send them to Afghanistan – from one war to another, from one bloodshed to another.

Blood continues to be shed in Iraq and in Afghanistan, and I should add Pakistan, Yemen, Sudan, and so on. The world is boiling with war, so what did Mr. Obama get the Nobel Peace Prize for?”

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Supplement to Previous Blog just Issued in the last Hour

Please Scan Down and Read the Previous Blog

December 23, 2009

http://www.tribulationperiod.com/

I had no sooner issued the previous Blog than when I read

the following in my E-Mail.

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Last Sunday night I sent out an email explaining that our Church in Chore had froze.

Even though we have lived here 2 and half years I did not realize how devastating this situation was.

This is Wednesday and they are still a good distance away from having heat.

The highs in Chore this week have be well below 0F and the night time temperatures have been in the -30F’s. This is also the temperature of the inside of their church building and parsonage. They have removed the radiators and have used a wire to clear all

the ice from the water lines.

After replacing the seals of a radiator they would install it and try sending hot water from the boiler thru. It has turned out that many of the radiator fins have small crakes that are not detectable until water is ran through.

This has become almost an impossible task in such temperatures.

They have tried to test several radiators to get one complete unit, with the water freezing in no time as they try to disassemble and reassemble.

We have decided to purchase and send all new radia

tors to get the heat back on as quickly as possible. Next spring we will test the frozen radiators and hopefully be able to sell a few of them.

We have all agreed we needed to get the heat restored as quickly as possible, so we could get the parsonage livable and the church building useable.

Aagii and his wife Olsii live in the parsonage and it is frozen and they are now living in a 18 foot ger with another family.

We do not know what effect these temperatures are doing to their refrigerator and other appliances.

This is an appeal! So far it has cost almost 4 million tugrugs ($2800) to purchase what we believe it will initially take to get the hot water back flowing.

We still are not aware of all the other damage that has been done to the plumbing. We did not have much money left in our building fund, but because of the seriousness of the situation we have borrowed this money from our translators fund. We need to replace this money, if any of you have a Sunday School class, men’s or ladies group, or youth

group that is looking for a worthwhile project may I suggest helping this new church in Mongolia with this repair.

This has been devastating to the Pastor, his wife and this small congregation. Whether you can send money or not please remember this church in prayer as they see the hand of God taking care

of them.

Send any offerings to Landmark Missionary Baptist Church,

391 Arthur Road

Martinez, CA 94553

Designate it for Chore Building

Bill

Waiting for the last trump in Mongolia

End Time Persecution is now Increasing,

Middle East Christmas IS NOT TOO MERRY,

As it was prophesied to be in the last Days,

Christmas is a Time of Uncertainty THIS YEAR,

For Many Christians in MULTIPLE foreign Lands,

And Scripture indicates persecution will Increase,

Until the Messiah our Lord and Savior rescues Us!

It will be unimaginable Wonderful in our New Home,

Which is much more than Worth waiting for Faithfully!

Christians in lands across Middle East Face Uncertainty,

Much more so than American Christians in our Homeland!

We have a God given opportunity to pray for them each Day,

And financially support our missionaries existing among Them,

For our day of persecution and trouble in America is at our Door

If we do not support those on the frontline how CAN God reward Us

For something we failed to do in not manifesting LOVE for his Servants,

Who suffer in more ways than persecution and hardships FOR OUR LORD!

December 23, 2009

http://www.tribulationperiod.com/

The following excerpt is a mission report we received from Bill Cooper who is a part of the Mongolian Mission team along with his wife. The M ongolian work is am

ong the best mission endeavors on this earth. In the midst of hardships God has worked in the dedicated lives of men and women there to produce a wonderful work on a difficult foreign field.

Begin Excerpt from Bill Cooper

First the praise. Today was the first day that the Chengeltei church met in their new building. For Sunday School they had 37 children show up for this service. The adult worship service had attendance of 78.

At their old location they were averaging attendance between 29 – 35. Pray that these new faces will return and accept Christ as their savior and help turn Mongolia upside down for

Christ.

Now for a special prayer request.

Many members from Chore had traveled to UB to attend Bible School this past Friday and Saturday.

They had left an individual that they believed to be a responsible person in Chore to keep the boilers going in the Church Building and also in the parsonage. This person left and did not keep the home fires burning.

The temperatures in Chore ranged from -33 to -17F. Both of the buildings froze solid. All the water in the radiator lines are now frozen and we will not k

now the extent of the damage to the radiators until we can get some kind of heat in the building. In Mongolia this is a very serious condition.

Once a building has froze it is a daunting task to get it warm again. Even if they took

torches to the radiators they would freeze again before the hot water could start flowing. Please keep this in prayer, the church had to meet in a ger on the property which is a person’s home.

Bill

Waiting for the last trump in Mongolia

End of Excerpt

Thank God for those who are able to endure both persecution and hardships in the name of Jesus Christ.

Begin Excerpts from Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs/Daily Alert

Excerpt 1 from UK Telegraph

Christians in Lands across Middle East Face Uncertainty

Richard Spencer, Samer al-Atrush, and Rob Crilly

The region that was Christianity’s birthplace is witnessing an unprecedented modern-day exodus.

Bethlehem’s resident Christians have dwindled from four-fifths of the population since

the Second World War to just a quarter today.

In the Palestinian enclave of Gaza, Christian shops have been firebombed.

In Egypt, a string of businesses owned by Coptic Christians were burned down in riots in the southern province of Qena last month. “Copts are in a continuous state of fear,” said the diocesan bishop, Anba Kirillos.

In Iraq, as many 600,000 of its once million-strong Christian community have fled abroad since 2003, while hundreds of thousands more have moved to safer areas in the north, abandoning once thriving Christian communities in Mosul, Baghdad and Basra. Across the Middle East, a Christian population that stood at 20% a century ago has now sunk to under 5%. (Telegraph-UK)

Excerpt 2 from UK Times

Iraq Christians Fear Extinction

Alice Fordham

Last week 100 Christian leaders and politicians of all religions held an emergency meeting just before fresh violence broke out in the northern city of Mosul, with attacks on churches and Christian schools. On Tuesday a baby was killed and 40 people, including schoolchildren, were injured in three simultaneous bombings. (Times-UK)

Excerpt 3 from New York Times

Abbreviating Christmas in Iraq

Timothy Williams

For Christians in Iraq, this will be a year of canceled holiday celebrations and of Christmas Masses spent under the protective watch of police officers and soldiers because of a spate of threats by extremist groups to bomb churches on Christmas Day. (New York Times)

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The Middle East rats are trying to get on a safe storm harbor Ship,

Come Into My Parlor Said The Iranian Spider To The Moderate Flies,

Which is an Excellent Way for Moderate Arab Flies to Die as They Try

Ending strife between iron and clay toes seeking them to join as One.

All part of a process as pieces of the puzzle are NOW slipping in Place!

They now see the West as the Loser and are swinging to the Iranians!

This swinging together can well be said to be a great change of HEART!

Since no one wants to wake up to find they chose the side of the Loser!

Mankind Has A Habit Of Picking WHAT It Believes Is THE BEST Storm Port!

December 23, 2009

http://www.tribulationperiod.com/

Revelation 17:17 – For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast,

until the words of God shall be fulfilled.

II Thessalonians 2:8-12 – And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: [9] Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, [10] And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. [11] And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: [12] That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

Revelation 17:12.13 – And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast. [13] These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.

Revelation 19:19-21 – And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army.

[20] And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image.

These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.

[21] And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh.

Daniel 2:44 – And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.

Daniel 7:13,14 – I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like

the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. [14] And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.

Begin Excerpt from DEBKAfile Special Report

Mubarak on urgent trip to Gulf about Iran’s reconciliation move

DEBKAfile Special Report

December 22, 2009, 8:28 PM (GMT+02:00)

While Israel was wholly caught up in the next stage of a deal with Hamas for trading its soldier Gilead Shalit for several hundred jailed Palestinians, the Iran-Syrian axis pounced with swift moves to mend its fences with moderate Arab rulers. Sunday, Dec. 20, the powerful Iranian speaker of parliament, Ali Larijani, arrived in Cairo and was received at once by Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak for a conversation lasting two hours.

DEBKAfile’s Iranian sources report that the Iranian visitor carried with him a wide-ranging proposal to ease the strained relations between Tehran and the moderate Arab governments.

Without wasting a moment, the next day, the Egyptian president flew to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the Arab emirates to discuss the momentous turn of events.

The octogenarian Mubarak travels very infrequently these days because of his failing health except in extraordinary circumstances.

He was galvanized this time by the message Larijani brought from Tehran containing the offer of “a new Iranian approach to resolving outstanding issues.” Iran’s president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has already offered to open an embassy in Cairo for the first time since ties were broken off after Iran’s 1979 Islamic revolution.

Aware that any breakthrough with the Arab governments was contingent on allaying their fears of its nuclear drive, Iran’s offer of a new beginning is reported by our sources as including a form of Iranian-Arab nuclear cooperation. Its immediate objective is to close ranks with the Arab nations in order to outmaneuver the US-Israeli campaign against its nuclear drive, thereby derailing the US president Barack Obama’s plans for drawing Europe, Russian and China into approving another round of harsh sanctions against the Islamic Republic.

The expeditiousness of Mubarak response to Tehran’s overture and the promptness of his Gulf consultations indicated that the bloc of Arab nations, which he and Saudi king Abdullah lead, has given up on effective action by America or Israel, including force, for throwing Iran off its current nuclear course.

Within the region today, coexistence with Iran looks like a safer bet.

If this burgeoning realignment of Middle East partnerships goes forward, the region’s strategic balance will be pulled out of shape, Washington’s influence heavily downgraded and Israel isolated.

Iran and Syria are acting on more than one front.

When Lebanese prime minister Saad Hariri visited Damascus over the weekend, he was handed an invitation to visit Tehran soon by Syrian president Bashir Assad.

Furthermore, Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is in Damascus with 10 of his ministers to sign new accords for closer relations. The new Turkish-Syrian pact brings Ankara into Iran’s circle of influence.

In W ashington, White House spokesm

an Robert Gibbs warned that December is a very real deadline ahead of possible new sanctions on Iran and its nuclear program.

The US ye ar-end de

adline for accepting a UN-brokered compromise for its nuclear program was quickly brushed off by Ahmadinejad. “They say we have given Iran until the end of the Christian year. Who are they anyway

? It is we who have given them an opportunity,” Ahmadinejad said in a speech in the city of Shiraz carried live on state television Monday, Dec. 22.

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The Final Strong Delusion is Rising to a Head!

Age old strife between Persians & Arabs,

And between the Shiites and Sunnis,

Represents Part Clay & part Iron,

And are 10 toes of Daniel Two,

Mixed together by our God.

Put together by our God,

To Fulfill His Prophecy,

To end Gentile Age,

By Jesus’ Return,

To Break Clay

& Iron Bond

FOREVER!

December 22, 2009

http://www.tribulationperiod.com

Our heartfelt thanks go out to all of you for

your prayers for my wife Emogine McElmurry. God brought her through her cancer surgery with flying colors.

We could not be more pleased with the results, and her prognosis is outstanding. Please remember Geraldine Duke, a dear friend and member of the church I pastor. She experienced a double cerebral hemorrhage stroke and is in Sparks hospital in Fort Smith, Arkansas.

God’s unspeakable gift, Jesus, has given our family a wonderful Christmas Gift in our wife and mother’s surgery. We pray that it will be his will to give Geraldine’s family a similar gift in her recovery. Thank you all from the depth of our hearts. This Christmas will always have a special place in our hearts. She has raised me and seven children, and God has let us keep her. I pray he will do the same for the extended family of Geraldine Duke.

Tom McElmurry

Clay and Iron don’t naturally hold together – nor do Shiites and Sunnis or Persians and Arabs. It takes a spiritual goal to hold them together for a common Islamic interest akin to their individual national interest. The spiritual mixing is the bond of Islamic Jihad.

It has, and is, creating a strong delusion in the minds of some 1.6 Muslim minds on planet earth.

Because of this strong delusion, God is giving them up to it, and will allow it to hold them together to accomplish his will in the final attack on Israel, much as he did with the Egyptian King who pursued them into the Red Sea. The end result of God putting it in Islamic hearts will be to fulfill his word Islam would not receive, just as the Ruler of Egypt would not receive it.

II Thessalonians 2:8-12 – And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: [9] Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, [10] And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. [11] And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: [12] That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

Daniel 2:43 – And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay.

Revelation 17:12,13 – And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.

[13] These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.

Revelation 17:17 – For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled.

Daniel 2:44 – And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.

Begin Excerpt from Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs/Daily Alert

December 21, 2009

The Eclipsing of the Arab-Israeli Conflict

Michael J. Totten (Commentary)

According to a new study of public opinion by the folks who host the Doha Debates in Qatar, a clear majority in 18 Arab countries now thinks Iran poses a greater threat to security in the Middle East than Israel.

The leadership in most of these countries has thought so for years. That average citizens now do so should be encouraging news for everyone in the region.

Some may find it hard to believe that so many Arabs think Iran is more threatening

than Israel, but I don’t. Leave aside the fact that Iran really is more threatening. Arabs and Persians have detested each other for more than a thousand years, ever since Arabs conquered premodern Iran and converted its people to Islam. The lasting ethnic enmity between the two is compounded by religious sectarianism. Most Arabs are Sunnis, most Persians are Shias, and Sunnis and Shias have been slugging it out with each other since the 8th century.

After the Iranian revolution against the Shah in 1979, Ayatollah Khomeini’s Islamic Republic exploded into the Arab Middle East with a campaign of imperialism and terrorism. Khomeini never concealed his ambition to lead the whole Muslim world, and the government he founded has been hammering the established Sunni Arab order with a battering ram ever since.

The Arab-Israeli conflict is a minor historical hiccup compared with the ancient feuds between Arabs and Persians, and Sunnis and Shias. It has barely lasted a fraction as long and has hardly killed anyone by comparison. Arabs and Persians killed hundreds of thousands of each other in the Iran-Iraq war alone in the 1980s.
The civil war between Sunni and Shia militias in Baghdad a few years ago was much nastier than any of the Israeli-Palestinian wars.

Begin Excerpt from UK Guardian

Iran’s mini-incursion into Iraq

Baghdad is little concerned with Tehran’s temporary takeover of an oil well in disputed territory

Ranj Alaaldin

UK Guardian

December 21, 2009

When Iranian forces entered an oil area in Iraqi territory, the response from Baghdad was a quiet one. This starkly contrasted with the fierce nationalistic and potentially violent reaction that might have been expected of Iraq under Saddam Hussein. Was this just a taste of Baghdad’s future receptivity towards potential Iranian expansionism? Not exactly.

The Fakka oilfield – in an uninhabited part of Misan province where the precise line of the border with Iran is disputed – currently produces about 10,000 barrels per day; Iran took control of one (inoperative) well out of the seven in the field. On Sunday, it was reported that Iranian troops had withdrawn partly, though Tehran had initially denied ever crossing into the territory in the first place.

Despite the sensationalist reporting that followed the event, on the ground sources have confirmed that incursions into the territory have been carried out by Iran on previous occasions. As negotiations between the two neighbours continue over the field’s status, both sides send their personnel in at different periods to work in the field and then, once finished, hoist their country’s flag.

In allowing it to continue and providing a feeble response to this latest and widely documented incursion, Iraq’s Shia-led government gives leverage to the more nationalistic, anti-Iran elements within the country.

The Sunni parties, in particular, will look to capitalise on the event at Iraq’s national elections in March by playing to the nationalistic sentiments of the Iraqi population. They would place particular emphasis on the close relationship between Tehran and leading Shia groups like the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, and the Islamic Dawa party of Iraqi prime minister Nouri al-Maliki, who were exiled in Iran.

Iran’s move pushed oil prices up to its benefit, suggesting a calculated decision; it also came just days after Iraq awarded leading international energy companies contracts to operate seven oil fields in the country.

The fact that Iraq’s increasingly attractive energy sector has the potential to rival that of Saudi Arabia probably worries Tehran, given that it has its own dilapidated oil industry

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and social justice issues, etc.

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http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml.

You may use material originated by this site. However, if you wish to use any quoted copyrighted material from this site, which did not originate at this site, for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner from which we extracted it.