MidnightWatcher – Prophecy in Motion

Update 10/31/2011: UNESCO Grants Full Membership to Palestinians

By John Irish – “PARIS – Palestinians moved a step closer to full membership of the UN cultural agency on Wednesday when its board decided to let 193 member countries vote on admission this month.

The latest move in a Palestinian quest for statehood recognition drew a swift rebuke from the United States and Israel, which both argue that the way to create Palestine is through negotiations, and a cool response from France.

In September, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas formally applied to the UN Security Council for full membership of the United Nations, ignoring a U.S. warning that it would veto the move, as well as threats from members of the U.S. Congress to restrict American aid to the Palestinians.

At UNESCO, the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, 40 representatives of the 58-member board voted in favor of putting the matter to a vote, with four — the United States, Germany, Romania and Latvia — voting against and 14 abstaining, a source at the agency told Reuters.

That set the scene for a membership vote at UNESCO’s General Conference, a meeting that runs from Oct. 25 to Nov. 10 and involves all 193 members of the agency, based in Paris.

It also raised questions about whether Washington might be required by U.S. law to cut off funding for the agency if it were to accept the Palestinians as a member. The United States pays 22% of UNESCO’s dues, the State Department said.

EXACERBATING ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN TENSIONS?

U.S. ambassador to UNESCO David Killion issued a statement urging all delegations to join the United States in voting ‘no’ while in Washington U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland sharply criticized the Palestinian effort.

‘This is not going to create a state for them,’ she said at her daily briefing. ‘It is going to make things harder … It further exacerbates the environment of tension.'” Read more.

Actor-in-Chief: President Obama Steps Into a Pro-Israel Role to Woo Jewish Votes, But If Re-elected … – “The Obama administration told the Palestinian Authority it cannot significantly help advance a Palestinian state until after the 2012 presidential elections, a top PA official told WND. The official, however, said the U.S. will press for a Palestinian state quickly if President Obama is re-elected… ‘after the reelection, the U.S. said the schedule will be short to reach a Palestinian state.’” Read more.

Sigh …

By Ray Downs – “Harold Camping, the Christian broadcaster who boldly announced that the world would end on May 21, only to later say that he was “flabbergasted” when the rapture did not occur, is now telling everyone to get ready for the real rapture, which is set to occur on Oct. 21 – probably.

Some time after being released from a nursing home in June after suffering a stroke, Camping, released an audio message on Family Radio’s website saying, ‘We would have not been able to be used [by God] to bring about the tremendous event that occurred on May 21 of this year, which probably [will] be finished out on Oct. 21 that’s coming very shortly. That looks like it will be … the final end of everything.’

Camping, not sounding quite as strong in his voice or as confident about his rapture prediction in his audio message, expressed gratitude for prayers from supporters (read a transcript of Camping’s audio message).

The California Bible teacher, who confessed that he has ‘restudied’ his predictions, said in the recording that the rapture will be quick and quiet. ‘Probably there will be no pain suffered by anyone because of their rebellion against God,’ Camping said.

He added, ‘This is very comforting to all of us because we all have children, we all have loved ones that are dear to us that we know are not saved and yet we know that they’ll quietly die.’

As for ‘the true believers,’ like those who have been praying for his recovery, Camping said in the message that believers ‘will quietly receive the new heaven and the new earth.'” Read more.

“NEW YORK — Protests against Wall Street entered their 18th day Tuesday as demonstrators across the country show their anger over the wobbly economy and what they see as corporate greed by marching on Federal Reserve banks and camping out in parks from Los Angeles to Portland, Maine.

Demonstrations are expected to continue throughout the week as more groups hold organizational meetings and air their concerns on websites and through streaming video.

In Manhattan on Monday, hundreds of protesters dressed as corporate zombies in white face paint lurched past the New York Stock Exchange clutching fistfuls of fake money. In Chicago, demonstrators pounded drums in the city’s financial district. Others pitched tents or waved protest signs at passing cars in Boston, St. Louis, Kansas City, Mo., and Los Angeles.

A slice of America’s discontented, from college students worried about their job prospects to middle-age workers who have been recently laid off, were galvanized after the arrests of 700 protesters on the Brooklyn Bridge over the weekend.

Some protesters likened themselves to the tea party movement — but with a liberal bent — or to the Arab Spring demonstrators who brought down their rulers in the Middle East.

‘We feel the power in Washington has actually been compromised by Wall Street,’ said Jason Counts, a computer systems analyst and one of about three dozen protesters in St. Louis. ‘We want a voice, and our voice has slowly been degraded over time.’

The Occupy Wall Street protests started on Sept. 17 with a few dozen demonstrators who tried to pitch tents in front of the New York Stock Exchange. Since then, hundreds have set up camp in a park nearby and have become increasingly organized, lining up medical aid and legal help and printing their own newspaper, the Occupied Wall Street Journal.

About 100 demonstrators were arrested on Sept. 24 and some were pepper-sprayed. On Saturday police arrested 700 on charges of disorderly conduct and blocking a public street as they tried to march over the Brooklyn Bridge.” Read more.

By Ray Gano – “Recently an article came across my desk that really disturbed me.

To be honest I have tried to push it off multiple times, but it just kept haunting me. The fire in my bones will not let me leave it be.

In this article the author talks about moral decay, the economy, and even makes the statement that ‘Total and worldwide financial disaster is inevitable.’

‘Nature – The world can’t take much more of this punishment.’

‘War – The hate cannot be held back any longer.’

‘Immorality – The restraining force on immorality has all but fled, mostly leaving us to our own self-destructive tendencies.’

You know what? I agree with this, but what I cannot agree with is what is to come.

His solution, ‘The Hopeful Escape’ and I guess it is with his lack luster do nothing attitude that caused the fires to burn in my bones.

Here is what the author said..

“Despite the soon break of the gathering storm, and despite the hopelessness about the future that it brings, believers in Christ can know that it is not our future. Our future plays out in the polar opposite. Instead of living in a world gone mad, we foresee a new home in Heaven. Instead of persecution by a crushing tyrant, we face a loving and benevolent King. Instead of living under wrath, we see living under love. And, where there is only hopelessness left on earth, there is hope, peace and joy awaiting us (Rev. 21-22).

The change on our horizon is bright, for the King of Kings is coming to take those who are saved up to live in Heaven with Him forever and ever.”

What is troubling is that more and more ministries are taking on an attitude of ‘Why should I worry about the evil in the world, I am going to be raptured away.’

Folks, you all know that I stand on an imminent return, but it seems that so many who profess a Doctrine of Immanency have pushed it to the side and turned the rapture into a form of escapism instead of something that goads us into action.

We as students of bible prophecy KNOW what we are to expect. We KNOW that there will be hard times ahead, we KNOW that persecution takes place, we KNOW that tyrants abound and many have and will pay the ultimate price in standing for Christ.

I mean are we to expect a wonderful happy world one day and the next when the rapture takes place all of a sudden things are really bad?” Read more.

By Jim Matheny – “Louisville residents searching for the source of an unexplained ground-shaking boom can scratch another theory off the list.

A Loudon County resident speculated on Thursday that the noise could have come from maintenance on an underground pipeline (see previous story below). The Plantation Pipe Line Company operates a large liquid refined petroleum pipeline that runs from Knoxville to Macon, Georgia. The pipeline is co-owned and operated by Kinder Morgan.

Emily Mir with Kinder Morgan’s media relations department contacted 10News on Friday morning and indicated there were no recent operations that would have created the noise. Furthermore, the pipeline in question is located around 10 miles from the Lashbrooke subdivision.

The Lashbrooke subdivision in Louisville enjoyed a quiet and sun-bathed afternoon on Thursday. The peaceful surroundings of the affluent neighborhood along the Tennessee River lend no hint that its residents suffer from shell-shock.

‘It’s scary-loud. It’s loud enough that it makes your heart stop for a second,’ said Andy Wombold. ‘It sounds like a shotgun or an explosion of some kind.'” Read more.

Unearthly Sounds of Earth Perplexing Scientists – “Strange unearthly sounds heard around Earth are perplexing scientists, especially when similar sounds are heard at the same time. The sounds are described as ‘running trains,’ while others are described as trumpets or booming sounds. All are unearthly. YouTube.com is full of videos displaying strange sounds from all over the world, with viewers asking for explanations. They vary in countries and states—with many heard at the same time but in different locations of Earth, such as the sounds in southern Sweden.” Read more.

By Aaron Klein – “The Obama administration told the Palestinian Authority it cannot significantly help advance a Palestinian state until after the 2012 presidential elections, a top PA official told WND.

The official, however, said the U.S. will press for a Palestinian state quickly if President Obama is re-elected.

‘The main message we received from the U.S. is that nothing will happen in a serious way before the 2012 elections,’ said the official.

The PA official said Obama ‘will not accept the Palestinian request of a state at the (U.N.) Security Council and cannot help on the ground for now.’

‘We were told to wait for Obama’s reelection, and that before then nothing serious will happen for a state,’ the official continued. ‘But after the reelection, the U.S. said the schedule will be short to reach a Palestinian state.'” Read more.

AJC Survey Confirms: Obama Losing Jewish Vote – “A new poll from the American Jewish Committee shows further erosion of President Obama’s Jewish support. Only 45 percent of American Jews approve of ‘the way President Barack Obama has handled his job as President,’ and 48 percent disapprove. This is an even worse statistic than the 40 percent Jewish disapproval that Gallup reported last week. Even more damning, the AJC survey suggests that this disapproval might not simply stem from general economic woes: 53 percent of those surveyed disapprove ‘of the Obama Administration’s handling of U.S.-Israel relations.’ And a plurality – 45 percent – disapprove ‘of the Obama Administration’s handling of the Iran nuclear issue.'” Read more.

“A California health teacher is banning the phrase ‘God Bless You,’ said by some students after a classmate sneezes, from his classroom claiming the blessing is disrespectful and disruptive. For punishment, he knocks 25 points off the student’s grade if he or she says it.

This classroom rule is leaving many parents outraged saying he doesn’t have rights to impose his personal beliefs on others; the school agrees. Now, California teacher Steve Cuckovick has promised to try a less controversial form of punishment.” Source.

Isaiah 1:18a, “Come now, and let us reason together …”

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