Grace Thru Faith Digest "Do Some Think It's OK To Sin?"

Do Some Think It’s OK To Sin?

Jack Kelley

Q. Why do some Christians turn away from sinful behavior and clean up their act, or try to, while other Christians think it’s okay to continue sinning because they are already saved? I hope you can shed some light on this matter for me.

A. I don’t know of any true believer who thinks it’s OK to sin.  While we all do it, and none of us can stop doing it, we all have the Holy Spirit with in us who convicts us of our sins, making us feel bad about it.  His intention is to draw us to God in confession so we can be forgiven and feel better.  Out of pride or fear, we may resist for a while and when we do we wind up carrying enormous burdens of guilt instead. Our friends and family often don’t see the effects of our internal struggles, but sooner or later all of us feel bad enough about our sins to ask the Lord to forgive us.  And as soon as we do, He takes all of our guilt away and everything’s fine again.  He can do this because He already knew about all of our sins and paid the penalty for every one of them.

Tags: Forgiveness, Sin

Related Posts:

o   How Long Can I Go On This Way?

o   Will God Forgive Me?

o   Struggling With sin

o   Still More On Homosexuality

o   My Friend Can’t Accept Forgiveness

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This material was brought to you by B.C.Digest, a ministry of Michael James Stone, Volunteers, and people dedicated to the Love of God and Salvation of Souls. We hope it helps you to prepare daily for life and living, as well as the return of Jesus, He is Coming Very Soon. BroadCast Christianity, operates by you. “Freely you have received, freely give”  Pass this on, everywhere you can, anytime you can. You will be blessed if you do.

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Grace Thru Faith Digest "Joel Speaks Again, Part 2"

Joel Speaks Again, Part 2

Table of contents for Joel Speaks Again

1.       Joel Speaks Again

2.       Joel Speaks Again, Part 2

This Week’s Feature Article by Jack Kelley

This week we’re continuing our series on Joel with a survey of Chapter 2, the heart of Joel’s prophecy.

Blow the trumpet in Zion; sound the alarm on my holy hill. Let all who live in the land tremble, for the day of the LORD is coming. It is close at hand- a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and blackness. Like dawn spreading across the mountains a large and mighty army comes, such as never was of old nor ever will be in ages to come. (Joel 2:1-2)

The End of the Age is finally arriving. The phrase “Blow the Trumpet in Zion” indicates there’s an Old Covenant keeping remnant of Jews in the promised land. The sound of a trumpet can mean either great news or terrible news in Israel. In this case, the phrase “the Day of the Lord is coming” means it’s the most terrible news imaginable. Any more references to locusts are now symbolic of the judgment that’s coming upon the whole world, to test those who who live on the Earth. The Lord has promised to keep the Church out of both the time and place of this event (1 Thes. 1:10 & Rev. 3:10) but no such promise has been made to Israel, and certainly not to the unbelieving world, which is about to be totally destroyed.

Before them fire devours, behind them a flame blazes. Before them the land is like the garden of Eden, behind them, a desert waste— nothing escapes them. They have the appearance of horses; they gallop along like cavalry. With a noise like that of chariots they leap over the mountaintops, like a crackling fire consuming stubble, like a mighty army drawn up for battle. At the sight of them, nations are in anguish; every face turns pale. (Joel 2:3-6)

In Rev. 8-9 we read of the Trumpet judgments and encounter wording so similar it might have been lifted from the pages of Joel 2. All the grass of the land is burned up (Rev. 8:7) The locusts have the appearance of horses (Rev. 9:7) and make a noise like that of chariots (Rev. 9:9) as they leap over the mountain tops. Men are in anguish and every face turns pale (Rev. 9:6).

They charge like warriors; they scale walls like soldiers. They all march in line, not swerving from their course. They do not jostle each other; each marches straight ahead. They plunge through defenses without breaking ranks. They rush upon the city; they run along the wall. They climb into the houses; like thieves they enter through the windows. Before them the earth shakes, the sky trembles, the sun and moon are darkened, and the stars no longer shine. The LORD thunders at the head of his army; his forces are beyond number, and mighty are those who obey his command. The day of the LORD is great; it is dreadful. Who can endure it? (Joel 2:7-11)

In his book “The Late Great Planet Earth” Hal Lindsey saw Rev. 9 as John’s attempt to describe fleets of attack helicopters filling the skies above the battle ground. Our exposure to war movies makes this easy to imagine, and we can almost hear their unique ground thumping sound as they swoop in to release another barrage of rockets. Their number is so great that just the sound of them makes the Earth tremble, and they blot out the sun and moon (Rev. 9:2). John gave the number of mounted troops they support as 200 million (Rev. 9:16) an incredible force. Before they’re finished 1/3 of mankind will die (Rev. 9:18). And this is just the beginning. The full fury of God’s wrath will be released in His final effort, the Bowl Judgments.

Some incorrectly interpret the Bowl judgments as the only time of God’s wrath, but that’s not how John described it. He said that the wrath will begin with the Seal Judgments (Rev. 6:17) and will be completed with the Bowl Judgments (Rev. 15:1), not begun there. By the time He’s finished the nations to which His people have been dispersed will have been completely destroyed (Jere.30:11) all the cities of the world will have been reduced to rubble (Rev. 16:19) and every island and mountain will have disappeared (Rev. 16:20)

I believe that one purpose of the Tribulation judgments will be to return Earth to the condition it was in when God created it, in preparation for the Millennium. The elimination of the mountains and islands may point to the reversal of changes brought about in the Great Flood. Psalm 104:8 says the flood waters flowed over the mountains and down into the valleys God prepared for them. Some scholars interpret this to mean that at the time of the Great Flood, the mountains were raised up and the valley floors depressed to make room for all the water generated in the flood. Those deep valleys are now the floors of the sea.

Perhaps this act will be reversed, eliminating the high mountains and raising up valley floors. And if the continents are brought back together into one land mass, as some scholars speculate they once were, there will be no islands, either. Looking at a map of the continents, you can see how they’re shaped in such a way as to hint that they may have all been joined together in the distant past. Scholars have named this single land mass Pangea, which means All-Earth, or One World. Some believe that Genesis 1:9describes Pangea and that Genesis 11:25 says it was divided into the seven continents we know after the flood.

Isaiah 65:20 hints at the return of long life spans, such as was the case in the earliest days. This was made possible by a water vapor canopy that surrounded the Earth until the Flood. (Genesis 1:6-8) Since Rev. 21:1 says there’ll be no more sea, this water could likely be used to restore the canopy.

If all this is true, then passages like this one from Habakkuk are not just poetic license but are describing very scary times ahead.

He stood, and shook the earth; he looked, and made the nations tremble. The ancient mountains crumbled and the age-old hills collapsed. His ways are eternal. (Habakkuk 3:6)

Rend Your Heart

“Even now,” declares the LORD, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning.”

Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity. Who knows? He may turn and have pity and leave behind a blessing— grain offerings and drink offerings for the LORD your God. (Joel 2:12-14)

Even in wrath God remembers mercy (Habakkuk 3:2). In the midst of judgment, all we have to do is admit our sin and seek His forgiveness. Some form of the phrase “slow to anger and abounding in love” appears eight times in the Old Testament. Eight is the number of new beginnings, meaning the Lord is always ready to start over with us. His mercies are new every morning. (Lament. 3:22-23)

Blow the trumpet in Zion, declare a holy fast, call a sacred assembly. Gather the people, consecrate the assembly; bring together the elders, gather the children, those nursing at the breast. Let the bridegroom leave his room and the bride her chamber. Let the priests, who minister before the LORD, weep between the temple porch and the altar. Let them say, “Spare your people, O LORD. Do not make your inheritance an object of scorn, a byword among the nations. Why should they say among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?’ “ (Joel 2:15-17)

This will be a time for every man, woman, and child to petition the Lord for mercy. From the elders to the nursing babies, and every one in between. Not even the bride and bridegroom sequestered in their bridal chamber will be exempt. The priests ministering in the Temple will stop what they’re doing and beg the Lord to spare them.

“Come, let us return to the LORD,” they’ll say. “He has torn us to pieces but he will heal us; he has injured us but he will bind up our wounds. After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will restore us, that we may live in his presence. Let us acknowledge the LORD; let us press on to acknowledge him. As surely as the sun rises, he will appear; he will come to us like the winter rains, like the spring rains that water the earth.” (Hosea 6:1-3)

The LORD’s Answer

Then the LORD will be jealous for his land and take pity on his people. The LORD will reply to them: “I am sending you grain, new wine and oil, enough to satisfy you fully; never again will I make you an object of scorn to the nations. I will drive the northern army far from you, pushing it into a parched and barren land, with its front columns going into the eastern (Dead) sea and those in the rear into the western (Mediterranean) sea. And its stench will go up; its smell will rise.”

Surely he has done great things. (Joel 2:18-20)

If this judgment were left to run to its logical concllusion, not a single soul would survive, but for the sake of His elect, the Lord will bring it to an end (Matt. 24:22) Locust plagues move in the direction and at the speed of the wind. They typically end when the swarms are blown into the desert or out to sea. It’s an act of God, and that’s how Joel characterizes the end of the Great Tribulation.

Be not afraid, O land; be glad and rejoice. Surely the LORD has done great things. Be not afraid, O wild animals, for the open pastures are becoming green. The trees are bearing their fruit; the fig tree and the vine yield their riches. Be glad, O people of Zion, rejoice in the LORD your God, for he has given you the autumn rains in righteousness. He sends you abundant showers, both autumn and spring rains, as before. The threshing floors will be filled with grain; the vats will overflow with new wine and oil. (Joel 2:18-24)

In the Kingdom Age the land will once again be plentiful. And though He has shaken the mountains and removed the hills, the Lord’s unfailing love for them will never be shaken, nor His peace removed. (Isaiah 54:10)

“I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten— the great locust and the young locust, the other locusts and the locust swarm — my great army that I sent among you. You will have plenty to eat, until you are full, and you will praise the name of the LORD your God, who has worked wonders for you; never again will my people be shamed. Then you will know that I am in Israel, that I am the LORD your God, and that there is no other; never again will my people be shamed. (Joel 2:25-27)

The Lord will restore Israel to its former glory as the pre-imminent nation on Earth. Instead of disgrace His people will rejoice in their inheritance. They will inherit a double portion in their land and everlasting joy will be theirs. (Isaiah 59:7)

The Day Of The LORD

“And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days. I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD. And everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved; for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be deliverance, as the LORD has said, among the survivors whom the LORD calls. (Joel 2:28-32)

This prophecy achieved only a partial fulfillment on the day of Pentecost when the Church was born (Acts 2:17-21) and the Holy Spirit was given. Its ultimate fulfillment awaits the time when the Sun turns to darkness again and the Moon becomes blood red before the coming of the great and dreadful Day of the Lord (Rev. 6:12). Once more the Lord will pour out His Spirit and everyone who calls upon the His name will be saved.

Tags: The Prophets Speak Again

Related Posts:

o   King Of The Locusts

o   Real Locusts Or Demonic Beings?

o   The Wrath Of The Lamb And The Wrath Of God

o   Joel 2 And Ezekiel 38

o   The Latter Rains

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This material was brought to you by B.C.Digest, a ministry of Michael James Stone, Volunteers, and people dedicated to the Love of God and Salvation of Souls. We hope it helps you to prepare daily for life and living, as well as the return of Jesus, He is Coming Very Soon. BroadCast Christianity, operates by you. “Freely you have received, freely give”  Pass this on, everywhere you can, anytime you can. You will be blessed if you do.

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Bob Coy Digest "Buttercup"


A Letter from Pastor Bob
I'll never forget the day Buttercup died.
I was just a kid and it was November-right around my birthday. Oh, and Buttercup wasn't my pet milk cow. He was my parakeet.
I took Buttercup's untimely demise pretty hard. To properly memorialize the little guy, I stuffed a very decorative shoe box with cotton balls and then laid him to rest in the cardboard casket. Then I tied a bow on it-just to make it extra special. It being winter in Michigan, the ground outside was frozen and snow covered, and a proper burial was not an option. So . . .
. . . I put the box down in the basement freezer. And soon my family forgot about Buttercup. 


Jump forward about a month. 



It's Christmas time and my mom, as was her practice, had already been baking goodies for a couple of weeks. She'd make batches of cookies, box them up, and store them in the freezer until needed when company dropped by.
I suspect you already know where this story is headed. One day right before Christmas, Jackie and Jim Steven from across the street are over. My mom says to her friend, Jackie, "Hey, go downstairs and grab a box of cookies out of the freezer to take home with you."
Yes, Jackie carried a festively-wrapped box home with her. A little later, a scream echoed through the neighborhood as Jackie met Buttercup.



Focus or Frustration

A lot of people feel like screaming at some point during the holidays. After all, Christmas seems to always bring extra obligations, busyness, and increased stress. It's easy to get halfway through the season and realize you have totally lost your spiritual focus. Suddenly, it's no longer a season of celebration-it's a season for frustration.


Can I be honest with you?



 It happens to pastors, too. 


Oh, don't misunderstand-I absolutely love Christmas and I always look forward to it. 


But for a pastor, it is an incredibly busy time. Christmas brings an opportunity to reach so many people who haven't been open to hearing the Gospel at any other time of the year-so our church plans lots of extra worship services to welcome them in. At the same time, we double up our outreach and benevolence efforts to try to meet all the spiritual and financial needs that seem to be amplified at this time of year.
It gets so hectic that I have to be careful to keep my focus where it belongs. I don't want to get so busy doing for God that I forget the importance of abiding in Him.



What's in a Name

There are many wonderful prophecies in the Old Testament about the coming Messiah-especially in the book of Isaiah. Let me remind you of one that can help you keep your focus on celebration this Christmas.


Therefore the Lord Himself shall give you a sign: Behold the virgin will conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:14)



If you don't know, "Immanuel" means "God with us." For hundreds of years, God's people could read this prophecy, but could only imagine what it would really mean or how it would be fulfilled. Today we celebrate Christmas precisely because we really do know what it means.

We know that God chose to come and live among us, arriving in the flesh in the most humble way imaginable-as a baby born in a stable. We know that His birth, as humble as it was, was heralded by angels. We know that the baby grew to be a Man who declared Himself to be the Son of God, and who showed us the nature and character of His Heavenly Father.
And we know that He willing laid down His life for us, and then conquered death on our behalf.
We also understand now that "God with us" means more than just "God in the flesh." Because as Jesus was preparing His disciples for the day He would no longer be with them in human form,


He said this: 

"And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, and He will abide with you forever-the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you." 

(John 14:16-17)


That's the promise we have today. 


That "God with us" is just as real for us, through the Holy Spirit, as it was for shepherds who bowed down to worship that baby in the manger, or disciples who walked with Him and heard Him preach and saw Him heal the sick.
So as the busyness of the Christmas season presses in on you, as it certainly will; as the pressure to do so much to fulfill your obligations pushes you to the point that you might want to scream, remember that He is with you, literally, every moment. Let the comfort of the Holy Spirit restore the joy of Christmas in your heart.


And can I challenge you to share that Good News with those around you? 



Remember that during this holiday season, many hearts are a little more open to the Gospel message. They are longing for the peace that you have discovered through our Savior, Jesus Christ. 

Don't miss the opportunity to share the reason for the hope you have-the true reason for the season.



My New Year's Pledge to You

Now as we head in to the uncharted waters of the year 2010, I want you to know that we are more committed than ever to bringing you the keys to experiencing God's highest and best for your life.


There has never been a more exciting time to be a real disciple of Jesus. And no matter what twists and turns the road may take in the coming months, you can be sure that we'll be here to encourage you, help you and equip you to be effective in serving God.


Speaking of service to God . . . If you're giving an offering into the ministry of the Active Word this month, please keep this in mind:


With your gifts, and those of other faithful friends, we're using every medium at our disposal to bring to you and others the keys to living the Christian life at the highest possible level. 


And it's working. Disciples are being made. Hearts are being mended. Eternal destinies are being changed.


Thanks for being such an important part of all God is doing in us and through us. And thanks for standing with me this past year. It means so much to me.


If there is anything we can join you in praying about, we would consider it an honor. Let me hear from you soon.



Until the whole world hears,

P.S. In the coming year, may you experience God more fully, know Him more intimately, and realize more of the joy that comes from walking in His will. And if there is a prayer request our prayer team can lift to the Lord on your behalf here at Christmas, feel free to contact us.
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This material was brought to you by B.C.Digest, a ministry of Michael James Stone, Volunteers, and people dedicated to the Love of God and Salvation of Souls. We hope it helps you to prepare daily for life and living, as well as the return of Jesus, He is Coming Very Soon. BroadCast Christianity, operates by you. “Freely you have received, freely give”  Pass this on, everywhere you can, anytime you can. You will be blessed if you do.


God Calling Digest "Guidance"

God Calling

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Perpetual Guidance

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Fullness of Joy. The Joy of Perpetual Guidance. The Joy of knowing that every detail of your lives is planned by Me, but planned with a wealth of tenderness and Love.

Wait for Guidance in every step. Wait to be shown My way. The thought of this loving leading should give you great Joy. All the responsibility of Life taken off your shoulders. All its business worry taken off your shoulders. It is indeed a Joy for you to feel so free and yet so planned for.

Oh! the wonder of this a God-guided life. To think anything impossible in such circumstances is to say it cannot be done by Me. To say that is surely a denial of Me.

"That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son." 1 John 1:3


blessings to you and yours this day and always ...

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Now to Him who is able to keep you from falling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen. Jude 1:24-25

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DEBKA Digest

Summary of DEBKA Exclusives


Iran digs hundreds of missile silos - some for misdirection
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report

14 Nov. The Iranians are frenziedly digging hundreds of new missile launch silos in central and Western Iran in readiness for a US or Israeli attack on their nuclear installations, DEBKAfile's intelligence sources report. Some Western sources have noticed that they are creating more silo bases than they have operational missile batteries in order to mislead their enemies about the locations of the genuine launch pads. The dummy silos are fully equipped with air defenses including anti-air missiles which too are fake.
The Iranians are working at the same frantic tempo to turn out Shehab-3, Shehab-4 and Sajil-2 ballistic missiles, as well as a fourth secret ICBM which is believed to be designed to carry a nuclear warhead. Our sources believe it is modeled on Pakistan's Ghauri 3, a three-stage weapon powered by solid fuel with a range of 3,000 km. If they can get this secret weapon off the production line, it would be the first three-stage missile in Iran's armory.


Iranian TV headlines DEBKAfile Exclusive on US-Israel-Egyptian-Jordanian intelligence summit
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report

14 Nov. Saturday, Nov. 14, Iran's state Press TV ran verbatim DEBKAfile's exclusive Nov. 12 disclosure of an extraordinary secret summit of the intelligence chiefs of four nations in Amman earlier this month. The Iranian medium gave this publication full credit for the exclusive, which ran as follows:
The crisis over Iran's nuclear program and possible outbreak of a regional war occasioned an extraordinary secret conclave of the intelligence chiefs of four nations in Amman in the first week of November, DEBKAfile's military and intelligence sources disclose. Hosted by the chief of Jordan's General Intelligence Service, Gen. Muhammad Raqed, it was attended by senior officials of the American CIA and Defense Intelligence Agency, Israel's Mossad chief, Meir Dagan and military intelligence head Brig. Amos Yadlin and Egypt's intelligence minister, Gen. Omar Suleiman. As soon as the meeting ended, Suleiman set out for Riyadh to brief the head of Saudi general intelligence Prince Moqrin bin Abdul Aziz.


Obama Enlists Both Clintons to stop a Palestinian state
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report

14 Nov. Mahmoud Abbas has been warned by the Obama administration to give up his plan for a unilateral declaration of the Islamic Republic of Palestinian within 1967 or 1949 borders with Jerusalem is capital.
Due in Ramallah Sunday, Nov. 15, is a covey of US presidential emissaries led by former president Bill Clinton whose mission is to deter Abbas, who is flatly refusing to restart peace negotiations with Israel and talking about the Kosovo 2008 precedent.
Abbas has his work cut out to work his way through insurmountable thickets on his home ground: Under the Palestinian constitution, his presidency, government and parliament are illegitimate. He first tried scheduling an election to Palestinian institutions for Jan. 24, 2010, to rectify this lacuna and validate his government, only to discover that the legal difficulties besetting the Palestinian Authority and its rule of the West Bank (the Gaza Strip is ruled by Hamas) were fraught with complications. Above all, unlike that Balkan enclave, the Palestinians are split between two illegal entities, the Fatah-ruled West Bank and the Gaza Strip under Hamas rule.


16 November Briefs:

·        Gunmen in military uniforms shot 13 men dead in a Sunni village near Baghdad Monday.

·        Number of Israeli H1N1 fatalities rises to 48 with two more deaths.

·        Netanyahu freezes debate on attorney-general's functions, says new appoint must go through as is.

·        Saudi High Mufti denounces Iran's support of Yemen's Shiite rebels as "sin and aggression."
Sheik Abdul-Aziz Al Sheikh said kingdom had right to defend itself.


IAEA wants to inspect three secret Syrian nuclear sites
DEBKAfile Special Report

16 Nov. The new IAEA report on Iran's formerly secret uranium enrichment site at Fordo near Qom also includes a section on Syria and a demand to inspect suspicious sites there too. The inspectors clearly suspect Tehran and Damascus of concealing secret facilities related to nuclear weapons production.
With regard to Syria, IAEA inspectors are to visit Damascus on Tuesday, Nov. 17, for clarifications of the conflicting explanations Syria has offered for uranium traces. They will also insist on making return visits to three military sites which Damascus has so far refused, following information received by the agency of clandestine "nuclear activity" there. DEBKAfile's intelligence sources reveal that Israel hit one of three at the same time as its air force bombed the unfinished plutonium plant at Dair Alzour in 2007, although this was never admitted by Israel or Syria.


India's nuclear plants on alert for possible terror attack

16 Nov. The Press Trust of India news agency reported the nuclear plants were put on alert Monday, Nov. 16 in the wake of the arrest in the United States of two suspects of complicity in the Mumbai attacks a year ago in which 171 were killed. David Headley and Tahawwur Hussain Rana, both of Chicago, are held to have maintained ties with the al Qaeda-linked Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) which was responsible for those attacks.
Headley is believed to have carried out advance reconnaissance on the Mumbai targets ahead of the killing rampage in the city, including hotels and the Jewish Habad center. For the latter he is said to have masqueraded as a religious Jew.
Headley and Rana, a Chicago businessman, now face federal charges for an alleged terrorism conspiracy against a Danish newspaper which ran cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad in 2005. The cartoons aroused violent Muslim protests worldwide. The store is now being investigated as a possible center for plotting terrorist attacks.


New IAEA report raises fear of more secret Iranian nuclear sites

16 Nov. The UN nuclear watchdog's report on its inspection of Iran's second uranium enrichment site 20 km north of Qom says that Tehran's belated declaration of its existence raises questions about more still secret facilities. Iran claimed building of the Fordo facility had begun in 2007 and its notification to the IAEA was therefore timely. The inspectors found work had begun five years earlier in 2002. The inspectors reported that Iran had moved highly sophisticated technical equipment into the site in readiness for startup in 2011 and a production capacity of a ton of enriched uranium a year by about 3,000 centrifuges. This would be enough for a nuclear warhead but too little for a civilian reactor.

Top US intelligence teams in Israel to discuss Iran
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report

16 Nov. Two high-ranking teams of American CIA and DIA intelligence officials are conferring with their opposite numbers in Israel, in line with President Barack Obama's strategy for applying military heat to Iran as well as diplomatic pressure for an accommodation on its nuclear program, DEBKAfile's military and intelligence sources report. The US teams arrived from a four-nation intelligence summit in Amman earlier this month with the heads of Israeli, Egyptian and Jordanian clandestine services (first revealed by DEBKA Friday, Nov. 13).
Our intelligence sources report that frequent Middle East visits by high-ranking American intelligence teams are rare occurrences. Worthy of note is that the visit is wedged between two other related events: the joint US-Israel Juniper Cobra 10 ballistic defense exercise which ended last Tuesday and the publication of the much-awaited UN nuclear watchdog's next report due out Monday, Nov. 16.
DEBKAfile's sources say that US and Israeli intelligence chiefs met for the final touches to the process the Obama administration has instituted of strategic give-and-take with Israel ahead of a possible outbreak of war with Iran. It is meant to exhibit close cooperation for Tehran to see and insure Washington against any Israeli surprise moves.
The alignment is going forward on four levels: White House-to prime minister's office, Pentagon chief to defense minister; army and intelligence chiefs.


November 17 Briefs:

·        US Sen. Lieberman likened government's failure to deal with Maj. Hasan's growing radicalism to the Intelligence failure to prevent 9/11.

·        Iranian general warns Yemen and Saudi Arabia that continued "Wahhabist terrorism" would have consequences for entire region.

·        Netanyahu: Israel is without doubt Iran's first target, but not its last.

·        Iran temporarily boosts gasoline production by 30 pc show the West it can survive sanctions.
Iran envoy: neither sanctions nor attack will stop our nuclear work.

·        Netanyahu condemns uniformed men protesting duties in dismantling settlements.
Six Israeli soldiers court-martialed, jailed, banished from combat units for protesting duties as "political."

·        The EU rejects as "premature" Palestinian request to support unilateral independence.

·        Thousands march for destruction of "Zionist-fascist" Israel in Buenos Aires for President Peres' visit.

·        Brazil to purchase $350 m worth of Israeli Heron drones for border patrol.
The UAVs will also secure 2014 World Cup and 2016 Rio Olympics.


US, Israel try to stop Abbas quitting for fear of alternatives
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report

17 Nov. The Obama administration and Netanyahu government are bending over backwards to dissuade Mahmoud Abbas from going through with his decision to retire as chairman of the Palestinian Authority, which he now says is final. They fear he will be succeeded by his new deputy, Abu Maher Ghneim, a died-in-the wool rejectionist of peace diplomacy.
Monday, Abbas was promised a grant of$131 million to pay for four brigades to double the size of his presidential security guard in Ramallah for withdrawing his resignation.
Netanyahu and Barak have often propped him up before and may be expected to chip in with a fresh batch of concessions for the Palestinians to bring him round. But neither the US or Israel will let Abbas get away with a unilateral declaration of Palestinian independence.


Controlled US-Israel discord on Jerusalem amid broader strategic understandings
DEBKAfile Exclusive Analysis

18 Nov. The understandings on broad strategic cooperation sealed by US president Barack Obama and prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu in their recent White House talks are not to the liking of some their opponents at home, DEBKAfile's Washington sources report. Tuesday, Nov. 18, State Department spokesman Ian Kelly stated: “We find the Jerusalem planning committee's decision to move forward the approval process for the expansion of Gilo, in Jerusalem, as dismaying." He added: We believe that these actions make it more difficult for our efforts (to restart peace negotiations) to succeed.”
He was referring to the approval sought for the addition of 900 housing units to the Gilo neighborhood
's population of 40,000 in the southern neighborhood of Jerusalem. Netanyahu's office replied: "The action is routine: Gilo is an integral part of united Jerusalem in the same way as Ramat Eshkol, Rehavia, French Hill and Pisgat Zeev. There is no difference between construction in these neighborhoods and construction in Tel Aviv or Haifa."
DEBKAfile sources add that in the interests of broader strategic understanding, the US president and Israeli prime minister agreed to disagree on some issues including Jerusalem, while working together on the looming nuclear threat from Tehran. Obama has promised to preserve Israel's military preponderance in the region in the face of advanced sales of warplanes to Saudi Arabia and the UAE, including the continued development of the Arrow-3 missile interceptor.


Obama's Iran sanctions strategy routed by Chinese, Russian rebuffs
DEBKAfile Special Report

18 Nov. Chinese president Hu Jintao said clearly after meeting US president Barack Obama in Beijing Tuesday, Nov. 17, that their governments disagree on tougher sanctions for Iran - or any other issue relating to the Islamic republic. DEBKAfile's sources report that this rebuff has led Washington's efforts to round up big power endorsement of harsh penalties for Iran's continued intransigence on its nuclear program, such as an embargo on refined petrol products and gasoline, to a dead end. The efficacy of unilateral American sanctions, the only non-military option still left to Washington, is questionable.
The Chinese rejection followed a rebuff from Moscow.
Tuesday, before Beijing and Moscow knocked sanctions on the head, Israeli PM Binyamin Netanyahu said optimistically that the Iranian nuclear issue should be left for the world powers and international community to deal with. In a few short hours, that option had melted away. He is now confronted with a most unwelcome dilemma.


Iran is advancing on dual nuclear bomb track: plutonium and uranium
DEBKAfile Special Report

19 Nov. DEBKAfile's military sources report that the UN inspectors' October visit to Iran turned up dual-track progress in support of its nuclear weapons program: Feverish activity was registered in the production of plutonium at Isfahan as an alternative to the Fordo enriched uranium plant near Qom which starts up in 2011.
The IAEA experts discovered 30 metric tons-IS of heavy water hidden in 600 tanks, each holding 13 gallons, according to the report they handed in last week to agency headquarters in Vienna.
The amount of heavy water discovered at Isfahan would be enough to make at least one plutonium bomb when the Arak plutonium reactor is finished.
From the shape of the tanks and other indications, the experts concluded that this stock was imported.
DEBKAfile's sources report from Vienna that on November 10, IAEA director Mohamed ElBaradei sent a request to the Iranian Nuclear Energy Committee asking it to confirm the presence of the heavy water and document its origin with a full explanation. Tehran has yet to reply.
The presence of the heavy water tanks at Isfahan is additional proof that the reactor at Arak is designed for military purposes, not a peaceful installation as Tehran claims.


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Spurgeon Digest "Salt"

MORNING:

              

       "Salt without prescribing how much." 

              -- Ezra 7:22

Salt was used in every offering made by fire unto the Lord, and from its preserving and purifying properties it was the grateful emblem of divine grace in the soul. It is worthy of our attentive regard that, when Artaxerxes gave salt to Ezra the priest, he set no limit to the quantity, and we may be quite certain that when the King of kings distributes grace among his royal priesthood, the supply is not cut short by him. Often are we straitened in ourselves, but never in the Lord. He who chooses to gather much manna will find that he may have as much as he desires.

There is no such famine in Jerusalem that the citizens should eat their bread by weight and drink their water by measure. Some things in the economy of grace are measured; for instance our vinegar and gall are given us with such exactness that we never have a single drop too much, but of the salt of grace no stint is made, "Ask what thou wilt and it shall be given unto thee."

Parents need to lock up the fruit cupboard, and the sweet jars, but there is no need to keep the salt-box under lock and key, for few children will eat too greedily from that.

A man may have too much money, or too much honour, but he cannot have too much grace.

When Jeshurun waxed fat in the flesh, he kicked against God, but there is no fear of a man's becoming too full of grace: a plethora of grace is impossible. More wealth brings more care, but more grace brings more joy. Increased wisdom is increased sorrow, but abundance of the Spirit is fulness of joy.

Believer, go to the throne for a large supply of heavenly salt. It will season thine afflictions, which are unsavoury without salt; it will preserve thy heart which corrupts if salt be absent, and it will kill thy sins even as salt kills reptiles. Thou needest much; seek much, and have much.

EVENING:

              

       "I will make thy windows of agates." 

              -- Isaiah 54:12

The church is most instructively symbolized by a building erected by heavenly power, and designed by divine skill. Such a spiritual house must not be dark, for the Israelites had light in their dwellings; there must therefore be windows to let the light in and to allow the inhabitants to gaze abroad. These windows are precious as agates: the ways in which the church beholds her Lord and heaven, and spiritual truth in general, are to be had in the highest esteem. Agates are not the most transparent of gems, they are but semi-pellucid at the best:

"Our knowledge of that life is small,

Our eye of faith is dim."

Faith is one of these precious agate windows, but alas! it is often so misty and beclouded, that we see but darkly, and mistake much that we do see. Yet if we cannot gaze through windows of diamonds and know even as we are known, it is a glorious thing to behold the altogether lovely One, even though the glass be hazy as the agate.

Experience is another of these dim but precious windows, yielding to us a subdued religious light, in which we see the sufferings of the Man of Sorrows, through our own afflictions.

Our weak eyes could not endure windows of transparent glass to let in the Master's glory, but when they are dimmed with weeping, the beams of the Sun of Righteousness are tempered, and shine through the windows of agate with a soft radiance inexpressibly soothing to tempted souls. Sanctification, as it conforms us to our Lord, is another agate window. Only as we become heavenly can we comprehend heavenly things.

The pure in heart see a pure God.

Those who are like Jesus see him as he is. Because we are so little like him, the window is but agate; because we are somewhat like him, it is agate.

We thank God for what we have, and long for more. When shall we see God and Jesus, and heaven and truth, face to face?

This material was brought to you by B.C.Digest, a ministry of Michael James Stone, Volunteers, and people dedicated to the Love of God and Salvation of Souls. We hope it helps you to prepare daily for life and living, as well as the return of Jesus, He is Coming Very Soon. BroadCast Christianity, operates by you. “Freely you have received, freely give”  Pass this on, everywhere you can, anytime you can. You will be blessed if you do.

Posted via email from The Last Call Digest

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