ANNOUNCING A SEPT. 11th WEBCAST ON RADICAL ISLAM AND THE CHURCH’S RESPONSE

Please join us for a special 9/11 webcast on Friday, Sept. 11th, 7-9pm eastern.

To go to www.insidetherevolution.org and watch the trailer, please click here

This fall, we will mark the 30th anniversary of the Iranian seizure of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and the dawn of a new era of Radical Islam. This fall we will also mark the 8th anniversary of the horrific al Qaeda attacks on New York, Washington and Pennsylvania. By God’s grace, more than twenty Radical Islamic terrorist attacks inside the U.S. have been thwarted since 9/11. But the threat has not diminished. Indeed, in many significant ways it has increased. We are now at the most dangerous moment of the Islamic Revolution. Jihadist leaders say they no longer simply want to terrorize Western cities; they want to annihilate them. The nightmare scenario is that Radical Islamic forces will obtain nuclear, chemical and/or biological weapons and use them against U.S., Israeli or other targets.

On Friday night, September 11, 2009, Lt.-General (ret.) Jerry Boykin, former commander of Delta Force, and I will host a “National Town Hall Meeting” — webcast to churches and individuals throughout North America and around the world — to discuss the threat of Radical Islam, the future of Israel, and the role of the Church in the Middle East. We will explan the three revolutions currently underway in the Islamic world involving the Radicals, the Reformers and the Revivalists. We’ll explain how the followers of jihad, Jefferson and Jesus have completely different goals and objectives, how each are battling to dominate the Middle East and transform the world, and why each should matter to you and your family.

That night, in a webcast filmed before a live audience in Philadelphia, we will show an exclusive 30-minute excerpt from the new 90-minute Inside the Revolution documentary film that will be released nationwide by Tyndale House Publishers that day. We will then answer questions from the audience, and from viewers around the country and around the world. Just how serious is the threat of Radical Islam today? How close is Iran to getting nuclear weapons? Could al Qaeda to seizing control of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons? Will Israel launch a preemptive strike against Iran? What would be the implications of such an Iranian-Israeli war? Are pro-democracy forces making any headway in the Islamic world? Is democracy finally taking hold in Iraq, for example? Are reports that millions of Muslims are turning to faith in Jesus Christ in Iran and the Middle East really true? How do current events in Israel and the Islamic world correspond to Bible prophecy? What should the Church be doing to bless Israel and her neighbors? What are practical ways we can show love to Muslims here in the U.S. and Canada?

These are critical questions at a critical moment and they deserve thoughtful, serious answers. General Boykin’s prayer and my own is that pastors in hundreds of churches throughout North America will choose to set aside Friday night, September 11th to show the webcast of the two hour National Town Hall Meeting to their congregations in their auditoriums as a catalyst for an ongoing conversation on these vital issues. There is no fee for churches to show the high resolution broadband webcast, but pastors must sign up and receive a special access code. Individuals around the world will be able to watch a normal resolution webcast free of charge through the special website we have set up.

The webcast will air live from 7pm to 9pm eastern on 9/11. It will later be rebroadcast for churches in Western time zones.

Please visit www.insidetherevolution.org and learn more about how you and your congregation can participate in this “National Town Hall Meeting on Radical Islam and the Church’s Response.” The site contains details about the event and the film. There is also a link to a trailer of the documentary film, filmed on location in Iraq, Morocco, Israel and Washington, D.C.

I hope you will join us, and invite your family and friends to join us as well. Thanks so much, and God bless you.

* To learn more about this 9/11 event, the film, or to sign up your church or ministry for the special, high resolution webcast, please click here.

HEADLINES TO TRACK:

• Obama: No green light for Israel to attack Iran
• Biden Says Israel Has ‘Sovereign Right’ to Attack Nuclear Iran
• World leaders delay Iran crunch-time
• The G-8 Speaks Softly on Iran’s Nuclear Program
• U.S. military chief says clock ticking on Iran nuke
• Mullen: Strike on Iran an Option, but a Bad One
• Sarkozy: Israeli strike on Iran would be a “catastrophe”
  

PRAY FOR AFGHANISTAN AS U.S. WAGES MASSIVE OFFENSIVE AGAINST TALIBAN

Pray for the people of Afghanistan, and our military forces.

Email from a friend who is serving the evangelical church in Afghanistan: “On July 2^nd 4,000 Marines launched the largest land assault since the Vietnam War in southern Afghanistan. Now is the time for the Church to launch a massive prayer initiative for the people and nation of Afghanistan. The Bible teaches ‘our weapons are not the weapons of the world, on the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.’ Please join with us as we cry out in prayer for peace in Afghanistan.”

“Around 4,000 Marines are involved in the massive operation launched Thursday in southern Helmand province, a Taliban stronghold,” reports Agence France Presse. “Operation Khanjar (’Strike of the Sword’) is part of the new White House strategy for Afghanistan, which is intended to curb an insurgency that has grown stronger and more lethal over the last few years. Commanders on the ground say the operation’s immediate objective is to improve security in Afghanistan’s most volatile region and ensure that presidential elections scheduled for August proceed smoothly. In the longer term, the military wants to secure sufficient stability to allow economic and political development, regain the trust of the local population and transfer responsibility for the country’s security to local forces.”

>> To purchase Inside The Revolution — including several chapters on the Reform movement in Afghanistan and a detailed profile of Afghan President Karzai — please click here

>> To learn more about — or to make a tax-deductible contribution to — The Joshua Fund, please click here.

>> Will you help us build a global alliance of 1 million true friends of Israel? Click here to sign up yourself, a friend or a family member for Joel’s Flash Traffic email alerts. Get the latest news and analysis on Israel and the epicenter, prayer requests and Joshua Fund project updates.

IN THIS ECONOMIC MELTDOWN, WHERE IS STEVE FORBES?

Great new book.

FLASH: VP Biden appears to give Israel green light for preemptive strikes against Iran’s nuclear facilities

UPDATE: Now State Dept says Biden did not give Israel a green light

* In signal to Iran, Israel sends sub through Suez Canal

As I traveled throughout the U.S. on my recent book tour, I kept running into people who would ask me, “Where is Steve Forbes? The economy is melting down. We need his economic expertise right now.”

I couldn’t agree more. Steve’s message in the 1990s of free market ways to create hope, growth and opportunity at home and abroad may have seemed too bold to the GOP establishment at the time. But it’s desperately needed today. His plan to scrap the corrupting federal tax code — “We need to take the tax code and kill it, drive a stake through it’s heart, bury it, and hope it never rises again to terrorize the American people” — and replace it with a simple flat tax that’s a real tax cut for American families and businesses is the right prescription for the the mess we’re now in. Steve was passionate about eliminating wasteful government spending, and eliminating pork barrel earmarks and ridiculous corporate welfare schemes. He had serious plans to advance market-based health care reforms where individuals and families get to choose their doctors, and market-based education reforms so that parents could choose the right schools for their children. In foreign policy, Steve was a strong proponent of missile defenses, and recognized the threat Russia and Iran were becoming before many others in Washington did.

The problem is that few in Washington today seem to believe in such bold, dynamic reforms, or have the courage to advance them. I certainly don’t hear any of the potential 2012 presidential candidates proposing such sweeping reforms to counter the President’s plan to rack up another $10 trillion in debt and socialize much of the American economy, notably the health care sector. As troubling, few are demonstrating Steve’s understanding of global trends and threats or insisting on missile defenses or a tougher stance towards Russia and Iran. Indeed, the biggest news the GOP makes these days are by politicians who have marital affairs and should resign but don’t, and successful governors who shouldn’t resign but do. What’s wrong with these people and this party?

Finally off the road from my book tour, I finally called Steve last week to catch up. The good news: he hasn’t disappeared. To the contrary, he’s spent the last few months working on a fabulous new book, Power, Ambition and Glory: The Stunning Parallels Between Great Leaders of the Ancient World and Today . . . and the Lessons You Can Learn. Last month, Steve embarked on a national media tour. He’s talking about the lessons we can learn from history’s most effective and provocative leaders and how we can apply those lessons to the challenges we face today. This week, the book hit the New York Times hardcover non-fiction best-seller list at #30. I hope it climbs much higher.

It’s a fascinating read. I’ve been most intrigued with the section on the Persian Empire and particularly the leadership of Cyrus the Great, the surprisingly tolerant leader of ancient Persia. It was Cyrus, Steve reminds us, who fulfilled the Bible prophecy by conquering the Babylonian empire, liberating the Jewish people, and giving the Jews permission to rebuild the holy city of Jerusalem and rebuild their Holy Temple. He also gave the Jewish people, among others, the freedom to worship God as their consciences led them, without fear of persecution. “With Babylon as part of his empire, Cyrus could boast he was ‘king of the world,’ and he pledged that all his subjects would be free to practice whatever religion they chosen. This promise was particularly significant for the Jews who had been enslaved when Nebuchadnezzar’s armies had taken Jerusalem…in 586 B.C.” He was, writes Forbes, “one of history’s most gifted leaders and his accomplishments are worth a deeper look.” What a stark contrast to the leaders who are running Iran today.

In case you’re curious, I had no part in writing this book, so it’s far better than you think! I highly recommend it, and I hope this book launch is just the beginning of Steve’s effort to re-engage in the battle of ideas. His message — and his perspective on history, and the future — is needed more than ever. With once-promising voices like Mark Sanford’s and Sarah Palin’s suddenly sidelined, it’s time for a wise and trusted voice to step back up to the microphone and inject some common sense conservatism back into the public debate.

>> To purchase Inside The Revolution from Amazon at 41% off, please click here

>> To learn more about — or to make a tax-deductible contribution to — The Joshua Fund, please click here.

>> Will you help us build a global alliance of 1 million true friends of Israel? Click here to sign up yourself, a friend or a family member for Joel’s Flash Traffic email alerts. Get the latest news and analysis on Israel and the epicenter, prayer requests and Joshua Fund project updates.

MOSCOW SUMMIT: Obama goes to Russia

President Obama meets with Czar Putin, to little apparent effect.

President Obama arrives at Moscow summit.

Presidents Obama and Medvedev meet. But Putin holds the real power.

Monday Update: President Obama’s summit in Moscow does not appear to have produced any progress on stopping Russian military sales to Iran or Russian nuclear technology sales to Iran. He met with the baby-faced puppet president today, Dmitry Medvedev. Tomorrow, Mr. Obama is expected to meet with the real power in the Kremlin, Vladimir Putin. Don’t expect any serious progress on Iran then either. It’s becoming increasingly clear that Russia has, in fact, formed a strategic alliance with Iran and sees its relationship with Tehran as more important that its relationship with Washington.

Wednesday Update: President Obama and Czar Putin met yesterday for two hours. Nothing substantive seems to have come out of the meeting. The biggest news of the day: the Russian military has launched large scale war games in the Caucusus. This appears to have been the least useful, least consequential summit in the history of post-Cold war U.S.-Russian summits. Photo op foreign policy is not what is needed as Russia continues to build military alliances with Iran, Syria, Libya, and Central Asia.

HEADLINES TO TRACK:

• Russia starts large-scale war games
• Putin says Obama meeting went well
• Medvedev says Russia, US must cooperate against nuclear proliferation, doesn’t mention Iran
• Obama, Medvedev agree to deal to cut nuke weapons
• Russia, Obama clinch deals to revive ties
• CNN Analysis: Who’s in charge as Obama visits Russia?
• Russian president hopeful for Obama summit
• Obama seeking to reshape US-Russia relations
• WSJ: Russia Is Back on the Warpath

BIBLE SKEPTICS TAKE NOTE: BABYLON IS BEING REBUILT, JUST AS PROPHESIED

U.S. forces guarding city of Babylon, currently being rebuilt. (June 2009)

U.S. soldier near the famed Ishtar gate in Babylon, Iraq (June 2009)

NOTE: I’ll be traveling in the U.S. this week and may not have the chance to update this blog until Friday or Saturday. Thanks for your patience.

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Regular readers of this weblog and my books know that Bible prophecy says the ancient city of Babylon, Iraq will be rebuilt and become the greatest center of wealth, commerce and power in the “last days” of history. The books of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Revelation are explicit on this subject. Skeptics and cynics abound, to be sure, but the fact is Babylon is being rebuilt right now, in part with U.S. taxpayer funds. Iraqi leaders hope that eventually millions of tourists will come to visit, and real progress is being made. Consider today’s edition of Stars & Stripes, a U.S. military publication. They have a fascinating story this morning headlined: “U.S., Iraqi experts developing plan to preserve Babylon, build local tourism industry.”

Excerpts:

• Soldiers with the 172nd Infantry Brigade are exploring the ruins as part of a U.S.-Iraqi effort to preserve the ancient city and plan for the return of Western tourists.
• Members of the brigade’s 2nd Battalion, 28th Infantry Regiment escorted a group of U.S. heritage tourism experts to the ruins last week for the first of several visits to develop a preservation and tourism plan for the area. U.S. and coalition troops have been criticized in the past for damaging and contaminating artifacts. In a 2006 report, the head of the British Museum’s Near East department said that, among other things, military vehicles crushed a 2,600-year-old brick pavement, and sand and archeological fragments were used to fill military sandbags. Now the rapidly improving security situation in surrounding Babil province has persuaded the U.S. State Department and the Iraqi State Board of Antiquities and Heritage to embark on the preservation project, dubbed the Future of Babylon Project.
• The State Department and the World Monuments Fund have committed $700,000 to the project, which will see U.S. and Iraqi experts develop a plan to preserve the site and develop a local tourism industry, said Diane Siebrandt, the U.S. embassy’s cultural heritage officer. The Babylon project is one of several that the State Department is involved in to conserve ancient sites in partnership with the Iraqi government, she said.
• Two people with expertise developing tourism plans for historic sites in third-world nations, Gina Haney and Jeff Allen, have been employed by the State Department to run the U.S. side of the project. They visited the ruins for the first time last weekend. Haney said the pair will involve the local community in the plan’s development, as they did with a similar project encouraging Western tourists to visit Ghana’s Gold Coast. “You could throw money at it and do all this work, but unless you can create a sustainable situation, your opportunities for tourism will run out,” Allen said. “The idea is to develop something that is going to be here 30 to 40 years from now and has benefits for the local people. We don’t want something that will only benefit outsiders.”
• The Iraqi government will be involved in the planning as well. “If you have 200,000 people a year coming to this site, you will have people staying at hotels, visiting restaurants, buying souvenirs,” Allen said. “The site is in some ways a revenue generator for the local community.” Babylon could be comparable to the Egyptian pyramids, which draw millions of tourists each year. But the area lacks the tourist infrastructure that has been built at sites such as the pyramids, he said. “There is nothing for tourists here, but if you interpret and present it in the right way, you can spark interest,” he said.
• Allen, who has experience designing walkways and signs for other heritage sites, said detailed planning won’t happen until authorities have worked out how best to preserve the ruins. The crumbling rocks of the original city are surrounded by more elaborate and modern fortifications, including a maze-like collection of interior walls built on top of genuine ruins during Saddam Hussein’s time.
• “Some of the past restoration work hasn’t been very good,” he said. “Saddam was trying to inherit the power of the ancients and continue that legacy. His restoration methods helped reinforce that vision of himself, and he created a pattern of restoration and repair work that benefited a certain agenda.”

Last month, a British art publication had a story headlined, “Controversial move to reopen Babylon: State board of antiquities and heritage believes site needs more protection.” The story indicated that Babylon would be open for tourists on June 1st. Another recent story out of Taiwan noted that a Taiwanese tour agency is starting to take people to Iraq to tour — among other things — the city of  Babylon as it is being rebuilt.

As Iraq becomes increasingly stable and secure, direct foreign investment is going to flood in, and Iraq will become the wealthiest country on the planet. Exxon Mobil, the world’s largest company, for example, is positioning itself to become a major investor in the Iraqi energy sector. Other major oil companies are doing the same. The Iraqi government in recent months has been developing investment incentive packages to draw in such companies. And this week, such energy companies will actually begin bidding for licenses to develop Iraq’s immense but badly atrophied oil exploration, drilling, and refining industry. Consider, for example, this headline from the Associated Press: “World’s big oil companies prepare for return to Iraq.” And this is just the beginning.

Skeptics take note: the Bible is coming true, one prophecy at a time.

>> To purchase Inside The Revolution from Amazon at 41% off, please click here

>> To learn more about — or to make a tax-deductible contribution to — The Joshua Fund, please click here.

>> Will you help us build a global alliance of 1 million true friends of Israel? Click here to sign up yourself, a friend or a family member for Joel’s Flash Traffic email alerts. Get the latest news and analysis on Israel and the epicenter, prayer requests and Joshua Fund project updates.

HEADLINES TO TRACK:

• Russia Holds Major War Games In Caucasus
• Netanyahu to Putin: Stop selling missiles to Iran
• Russia warns G8 against isolating Iran
• Ahmadinejad Vows Tougher Approach to West in New Term
• Ahmadinejad Rejects Obama’s Rhetoric, Warns of Crushing Response
• Obama officials: talks with Iran still possible
• Mahmoud Ahmadinejad regime plots purge after Iran election protests
• Netanyahu: Demilitarized state plan gaining ground
• U.S. Commander Says Iraq Forces Ready [to keep country secure as U.S. forces withdraw from Iraqi cities]
• Iraq ready to stand on own feet, says Maliki
• EXCLUSIVE: Cheney fears Iraq withdrawal will ‘waste’ U.S. sacrifices

EXCLUSIVE: IRAQI CHRISTIANS LAUNCH RADIO STATION

Antenna on the roof of the Iraqi Christian radio station The Joshua Fund helped finance.

FLASH: North Korea threatens to nuke U.S. and wipe America off the globe.

Dramatic news out of Iran this weekend. More than 3,000 Reformers arrested. Some 600 wounded. Conflicting reports about deaths. Some say at least 19 have been killed by the security forces. CNN has unconfirmed reports put the number of deaths at 150.

But this isn’t the only story of revolution in the region. What the media isn’t telling you is that the Revivalists are moving powerfully to share the gospel of Jesus Christ throughout the Muslim world.

Last month, for example, the Kurdish government of Iraq in May gave permission for a Christian radio station that The Joshua Fund helped finance to officially begin broadcast operations. The establishment of such a station owned and operated by Iraqi followers of Jesus Christ is really an historic development in the history of Christianity in the land once called Babylonia, and we are deeply grateful for your prayerful and financial support in making this happen.

The station’s headquarters and main broadcasting facility is located in the northern Kurdish region of Iraq, in the capital of Erbil, a city of some one million people, not far from the border of Iran. The station is operating on 97.1 FM in Erbil and has a translator station operating on 104.7 FM in the city of Kirkuk, a city of about 850,000. Each transmitter operates at 250 watts. That station — which can be heard throughout the Kurdish region and thus by more than two million people — is broadcasting Christian music, original and previously-produced educational programs, original and previously-produced cultural programs, Bible reading programs and radio dramas based on the Bible. All of this is in the Kurdish and Arabic languages.

“Growing up under the tyranny of Saddam Hussein, we never thought we would see the day when we who love Jesus could run a radio station in Iraq,” the station manager told a TJF staffer. “We are excited to see how the Lord will use us to bless the Iraqi people, and particularly the Kurdish people. Please be praying for us that the Lord’s favor would be with us and we would make a real impact in people’s lives here.”

• To learn more about this Iraqi Christian radio station, please click here
• To learn more about the movement of the DAMASCUS film — and how The Joshua Fund has invested $300,000 to help produce and distribute DVDs of this Arabic gospel film — please click here
• To learn more about The Joshua Fund, please click here

HEADLINES TO TRACK:

• Bombshell: Iranian envoy to IAEA says Islamic Republic has right to nuclear weapons
• WSJ op-ed writer: Iran’s Regime Will Never Be the Same; Leaders of the Islamic Revolution have turned against the system
• AEI’s new IranTracker website: 1.3 million protesters, 403 arrests, 32 confirmed deaths, possibly another 152 deaths
• Mossad chief kept on for another year to monitor Iran
• WSJ editorial: Mahmoud’s Friends: Russia, Hamas and Turkey, of all people
• CNN: Opposition candidate Mehdi Karroubi strongly criticizes Iran’s state-controlled media and supporters of hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, likens them to the Taliban
• The West must act against these monsters: An Iranian student activist, now forced into hiding, fears that a catastrophe is on the way
• NYT: Obama Condemns Iran’s Iron Fist Against Protests

NETANYAHU DISCUSSES IRAN ON MEET THE PRESS: “THE CLOCK IS TICKING”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was on NBC’s “Meet The Press” yesterday. He discussed the Iranian people’s thirst for freedom, and the Iranian regime’s thirst for brutality and nuclear weapons.

• Transcript
  
• On-line video

Key excerpts:

MR. GREGORY: Let me ask you about the nature of the Iranian threat. Mohamed ElBaradei who, as you know, runs the International Atomic Energy Agency, said in an interview with the BBC on Wednesday the following: “The ultimate aim of Iran,” he said, “as I understand it, is they want to be recognized as a major power in the Middle East. Increasing their nuclear capability is, to them, the road to get that recognition, to get that power and prestige. It is also an insurance policy against what they have heard in the past about regime change.” My question, Prime Minister, what does all that’s happening on the streets of Iran do, in your estimation, to the nature of the threat from Iran? Is this a game-changer in some way?

PRIME MIN. NETANYAHU: First of all, I don’t subscribe to the view that Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons is a status symbol. It’s not. These are people who are sending thousands and thousands of missiles to their terrorist proxies, Hizbullah and Hamas, with the specific instruction to bomb civilians in Israel. They are supporting terrorists in the world. This is not a status symbol. To have such a regime acquire nuclear weapons is to risk the fact that they might give it to terrorists or give terrorists a nuclear umbrella – that is a departure in the security of the Middle East and the world, certainly the security of my country. So I wouldn’t treat the subject so lightly.

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MR. GREGORY: Prime Minister, there has always been debate about whether, when it comes to the threat of a nuclear Iran, whether there is Washington clock and a Jerusalem clock. And let me show you a book by David Sanger of the New York Times that he wrote called, “The Inheritance, the World Obama Confronts and the Challenge to American Power.” And in the course of his reporting for that book, he wrote this about Israel’s plans: “Early in 2008 the Israeli government signaled that it might be preparing to take matters into its own hands” — this is about Iran — “In a series of meetings, Israeli officials asked Washington for a new generation of powerful bunker-busters far more capable of blowing up a deep underground plant than anything in Israel’s arsenal of conventional weapons. They asked for refueling equipment that would allow their aircraft to reach Iran and return to Israel, and they asked for the right to fly over Iraq.” My question — if there is not tangible progress toward de-fanging Iran as a potential nuclear power by the end of the year, do you, as a leader of Israel, go back to that planning that Israel had underway in 2008 against Iran?

PRIME MIN. NETANYAHU: I can’t confirm those assertions….This regime that supports terrorists and calls for the annihilation of Israel and for the domination of the Middle East and beyond — I think this would be something that would endanger the peace of the world, not just my own country’s security and the stability of the Middle East.

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MR. GREGORY: You have said, you said it to Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic magazine, talking about Iran — that it was a messianic and apocalyptic cult controlling atomic bombs. The Obama administration argues that for the past eight years, under President Bush, there has been a hard line calling it part of the “axis of evil,” and where has that hard line gotten America? Only emboldening Iran over that period of time. Is your hard line – is the U.S. hard line over the past eight years the wrong strategy to get Iran to change its behavior?

PRIME MIN. NETANYAHU: I think that the president spoke to me quite explicitly about the great threat that Iran’s development of nuclear weapons capability poses to the United States. I saw, in fact, the continuity, in that sense, of an assessment of the threat….The clock is ticking.

HEADLINES TO TRACK:

• Al Qaeda says would use Pakistani nuclear weapons
• New estimates: 600 wounded, some 3,000 arrested in Iran
• Iran Revolutionary Guard warns ‘rioters’: Prepare for confrontation

>> To purchase Inside The Revolution from Amazon at 41% off, please click here

>> To learn more about — or to make a tax-deductible contribution to — The Joshua Fund, please click here.

>> Will you help us build a global alliance of 1 million true friends of Israel? Click here to sign up yourself, a friend or a family member for Joel’s Flash Traffic email alerts. Get the latest news and analysis on Israel and the epicenter, prayer requests and Joshua Fund project updates.

UPDATE: JOSHUA FUND INVESTS $300,000 IN “DAMASCUS” FILM

After premiering in Syria in March, the "Damascus" film premiered at the Vatican in May 2009.

NOTE: Prime Minister Netanyahu will be on NBC’s “Meet The Press” on Sunday morning.

Quick update on Damascus, the 77 minute docu-drama film. It tells the story of Saul of Tarsus — a religious extremist and persecutor of the Church in the first century — who had a vision of Jesus Christ on the road to the Syrian capital and not only became a follower of Jesus but became the Apostle Paul, arguably the most famous of the early Church fathers and author of nearly half the books of the New Testament. The film was produced by Arab Christians. It was filmed on location in Damascus and other historic locations in Syria. The film has been endorsed by President Bashar al-Assad and premiered in Assad’s personal theater in Damascus in March. The film has also been endorsed by Protestant and Catholic leaders, and premiered at the Vatican in May. The film is also known in the region as, Damascus Is Speaking.

The Joshua Fund was asked to raise $300,000 to produce 300,000 copies of the film on DVD. The DVDs will distributed in Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and the Holy Land. After prayer, the board of TJF enthusiastically supported the project and committed to funding it in honor of Amy Knapp, one of TJF’s founding board members. By God’s grace — and with your faithful prayers and generous financial support — TJF raised the funds and transmitted them in May. The DVDs are currently being produced and readied for distribution. Please check back for more updates.

• To watch a trailer of the Damascus film, please click here
• To see a video about the premiere of the film at the Vatican, please click here
• To see coverage of the Damascus premiere in Syria on Aljazeera TV, please click here
• To email questions and comments to the film’s producers, please click here

If you would like to support The Joshua Fund financially to help on future projects to bless Israel and her neighbors, please click  here.

HEADLINES TO TRACK:

• UPDATE: At least 19 pro-democracy protesters killed by Iranian forces — CNN says unconfirmed reports put the number of dead at 150
• Obama urges Iran to stop ‘violent and unjust actions’
• Israeli cabinet minister: Iran headed for new revolution — 70% of Iranians oppose regime — but this won’t stop nuclear weapons program
• Mousavi ‘ready for ‘martyrdom’ as fresh Iran protests erupt

A NEW HITLER IS RISING IN THE EAST: Why can’t the West see it?

The Ayatollah Khamenei is preparing to annihilate the Jews.

Khamenei's model?

UPDATE ON SATURDAY:

• WHITE HOUSE RESISTS CALLS FOR TOUGHER STANCE ON IRAN
• CONGRESS VOTES TO STAND BY IRAN PROTESTERS, 405 TO 1
  

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President Obama says he refuses to “meddle” in Iran. Why not? He is clearly “meddling” in Israel, pressuring the Jewish people not to defend themselves from a new Hitler rising in the East. He is clearly “meddling” by pressuring Israelis not to continue developing and expanding their own neighbors in Jerusalem, their capital city? He is happy to “meddle” in pressuring the Israelis to divide Jerusalem, give away the West Bank and allow Islamic Radicals to establish a sovereign state in “Palestine.” Remind me why, then, President Obama is willing to “meddle” in the affairs of a truly democratic country such as Israel, and refuses to speak out with moral courage and clarity with regards to a tyrannical dictatorship in Iran beating, arresting, and killing innocent civilians.

To misunderstand the nature and threat of evil is to risk being blindsided by it. The U.S. was blindsided by Hitler’s move on Europe in 1939. We were blindsided by Pearl Harbor in 1941. We were blindsided by the  in the 40s. By the Ayatollah Khomeini’s Islamic Revolution in Iran in 1979. By Saddam’s invasion of Kuwait in 1990. By the 9/11 attacks just a few years ago. I believe we are increasingly in danger of being blindsided again. And the stakes couldn’t be higher,

How can the White House — and the Western alliance — not see the evil that is running Iran today? The Ayatollah Khamenei has called for Israel to be wiped off the map. He selected Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to be the president of Iran in 2005. He just re-annointed Ahmadinejad to serve another four years by rigging the recent elections. He and Ahmadinejad are fully committed to acquiring nuclear weapons, long-range ballistic missiles, destroying the U.S. and Israel, and bringing about the End of Days. They speak of it openly, as I document in my new book and will present in the documentary film we’re finalizing for release on 9/11 (see www.insidetherevolution.org). Yet top officials in Washington refuse to truly and effectively confront Khamenei and Ahmadinejad. Rather, they keep pressuring Prime Minister Netanyahu to make dangerous concessions to Israel’s avowed enemies. Meanwhile, Khamenei is threatening an even more bloody crackdown on the young Reformers crying out for freedom and justice. Ahmadinejad has been in Moscow building political and military alliances with Russia, China and the Islamic powers of Central Asia. And Iran’s chief Asian ally — North Korea — is threatening to conduct new nuclear weapons tests and may be preparing to test launch an ICBM into the Pacific next month that could threaten Hawaii.

Now, more than ever we need to pray for our leaders, that their hearts would be changed, that their eyes would be opened, that they would “do justice, and love mercy, and walk humbly with your God.” (Micah 5:8) We need to pray for the peace of Jerusalem. “Behold, He who keeps Israel neither will slumber nor sleep.” (Psalm 121:8) And we need to pray for the Lord to show His great love to all the people of the epicenter. “I will set My glory among the nations; and all the nations will see My judgment which I have executed and My hand which I have laid on them. And the house of Israel will know that I am the Lord their God from that day onward….I will not hide My face from them any longer, for I will have poured out My Spirit on the house of Israel, declares the Lord.” (Ezekiel 39:21,22,29)

HEADLINES TO TRACK:

• Obama refuses to ‘meddle’ in Iran
• NEW POLL: Only 6% of Israelis see Obama administration as pro-Israel”
  
• Iran’s top leader warns of protest crackdown
• Iran’s Khamenei slams protests, says right man won
• Iran’s Khamenei demands halt to election protests
• Japan warns that North Korea may fire missile at U.S. on Independence Day
• U.S. Military Set to Intercept North Korean Ship Suspected of Proliferating Missiles, Nukes
• US boosts Hawaii defense to counter NKorea threat

>> To purchase Inside The Revolution from Amazon at 41% off, please click here

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AHMADINEJAD IN MOSCOW

Shanghai Cooperation Organization meetings are underway in Moscow..

Prophetic? As Iranian forces murder pro-democracy protesters, Ahmadinejad heads straight for Moscow.

Massive protests in Iran not seen since ‘79 Revolution.

FLASH: IAEA head admits Iran seeking nuclear bomb

Students of Bible prophecy should keep a close eye on events unfolding in Iran and the epicenter, and keep praying for the Lord to have mercy on that country. With upwards of a million young, pro-democracy Reformers on the streets of Iran demanding an end to the Radicals’ regime, Iranian security forces have murdered as many as two dozen protesters. Iranian leaders are now threatening the Reformers with the death penalty. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad — freshly annointed by the Supreme Leader to stay as the face and voice of the regime’s apocalyptic agenda — couldn’t care less. Ahmadinejad headed straight for Moscow yesterday. There, he met with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and leaders of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) to continue building a political and military alliance between Russia, China, Iran and Islamic countries in Central Asia. Currently, Iran has “observer” status in the SCO, but has requested full member status. The SCO alliance is evocative of the eastern-portion of the biblical alliance foretold in Ezekiel 38-39 that will come against Israel and seek to destroy the Jewish people in what the Bible calls the “last days” of history. When one considers how closely Russia and Iran are currently growing to the western portion of the prophetic alliance — Sudan, Libya and Algeria, for example — it’s not hard to envision these prophecies coming true in our lifetime, or even in the next few years. That said, I believe it is currently too soon to draw any conclusions. There are many intriguing trends and developments, but it remains far from clear that we’re seeing Bible prophecy come to pass. That said, we cannot rule out the possibility. Events in the region are both unprecedented and riveting. All the more reason for followers of Jesus Christ to “get ready and be prepared” for whatever lies ahead.

MIRACLE, OR MANIPULATION? Excerpt from an NYT story worth noting: “Iranians are generally united in viewing the re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to another four-year term as a miracle. Some believe it in the literal sense that the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, seemed to intend when he said ‘the miraculous hand of God’ was at work. Others believe it in the sense that they see no earthly explanation why an incumbent who presided over worsening inflation, unemployment and isolation would draw more than seven million more votes than in his first victory.” Observation: With the full backing of his Supreme Leader for his apocalyptic End Times beliefs, is Ahmadinejad more or less likely to give up Iran’s nuclear weapons program to the Obama administration?

>> To purchase Inside The Revolution from Amazon at 41% off, please click here

>> To learn more — or to make a tax-deductible contribution to The Joshua Fund — please click here.

>> Will you help us build a global alliance of 1 million true friends of Israel? Click here to sign up yourself, a friend or a family member for Joel’s Flash Traffic email alerts. Get the latest news and analysis on Israel and the epicenter, prayer requests and Joshua Fund project updates.

HEADLINES TO TRACK:

• Khamenei on the Ropes?
• Opposition eyes new Iran rally as crackdown worsens
• Iran’s Revolutionary Guards issue warning to media
• Mossad head: Iran will have bomb by 2014
• Barak: Mousavi is a fundamentalist too
• Defiant Ahmadinejad blasts US at Russia summit
• Iran and Russia nip at US global dominance: At conference in Siberia, leaders of Russia, China, India, and Iran float idea of new ’supranational’ currency
• New media empowers Iran opposition: On Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Flickr and via text messages: An inside look on how the Iranian political struggle is really being fought