New Dead Sea Scroll Fragments
There is only one place on earth where an unending stream of evidence substantiating the Bible is discovered year after year. Granted, it’s been 40 years since the major discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls thrilled biblical archaeologists and others who love the Word of God.

The latest discovery—two small fragments of animal skin, brown with age, with Leviticus 23:38-39 and 43-44 inscribed in ancient Hebrew—are now in the hands of the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA). How they got there is an intriguing story in itself. About a year ago, Professor Chanan Eshel, an archaeologist at Bar Ilan University in Tel Aviv, was summoned to an abandoned police station near the Dead Sea for a clandestine meeting with a Bedouin Arab. After explaining that he’d been offered $20,000 on the black market, the man asked Eshel to evaluate the fragments. It would be hard to describe the emotions that surged through the professor’s heart as he examined the skins. “I was jealous that he had found them instead of me,” said Eshel, who has worked in the Judean Desert for nearly 20 years. “I was also very excited, though I didn’t believe I would ever see them again.” Months later, after learning that the fragments had not left the country, Eshel bought them with $3,000 provided by Bar Ilan. The skins were turned over to the IAA, which is now testing them for authenticity. They are the 15th find in this area and date to the Second Revolt against the Romans under Bar-Kochba.

The discovery sparked renewed hope among biblical archaeologists that the Judean Desert has much yet to yield. “No scrolls have been found in the Judean Desert since 1965,” said Eshel. “This [find] encourages scholars to believe that if they bother to excavate, survey and climb, they will still find things in the Judean Desert. The common perception has been that there is nothing left to find there, but that is clearly wrong.”

Al-Zarqawi Threatens to Kill Jordan's King

AMMAN, Jordan (AP) - An audiotape purportedly from the head of al-Qaida in Iraq Friday threatened to kill Jordan's King Abdullah II and bomb more hotels and tourist sites.

The speaker on the tape, identified as Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, also said the group's suicide bombers did not intend to bomb a Jordanian wedding party at an Amman hotel last week, killing about 30 people.

Al-Zarqawi said the bomber who detonated his explosives in the Radisson SAS hotel on Nov. 9 was targeting a hall where he claimed Israeli and American intelligence officials were meeting.

That bomb caused part of the roof to fall in the wedding hall.

Al-Zarqawi accused the Jordanian government of hiding casualties among Israeli and American intelligence agents, and he insisted al-Qaida in Iraq was not targeting fellow Muslims.

"We want to assure you that ... you are more beloved to us than ourselves," al-Zarqawi said, addressing Jordanians.

Amen Brother Tom,

This is indeed a beautiful study and you are right, there is much that can be written on this subject and it doesn't ake long for it to become a whole book after all the entire Bible covers this entire topic and it does cover a lot of studying.

I never grow tired of studying this subject so I am thoroughly enjoying myself.

Section of Plymouth Mass. hit by minor earthquake

PLYMOUTH, Mass. (AP) — A small-scale earthquake shook a section of Plymouth on Thursday.

Officials with the Weston Observatory, which monitors earthquake activity, say the 2.5 registered tremor was centered two miles south of the center of town.

The quake was felt just after 12:30 p.m., according to the observatory's Web site.

A quake of that magnitude is the smallest generally felt by people and not severe enough to cause damage.

"We deal with about half a dozen earthquakes a year felt somewhere in the New England region," said the observatory's director, John Ebel.

In Massachusetts, Ebel said, a majority of the seismic activity happens in the eastern portion of the state, usually concentrated north and northeast of Boston. The third area of activity is from Plymouth to the South Coast.

There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries, according to the Plymouth police and officials at the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency.

Peter Judge, a spokesman for MEMA, said the quake caused no problems at Pilgrim Nuclear Power Plant in the town.

A local cultural institution, Pilgrim Hall Museum which houses many artifacts from the 17th-century, was also safe.

"Pilgrim Hall has not fallen," said Peggy M. Baker, the museum's director.

Strong earthquake jolts northern Chile, Bolivia

SANTIAGO, Nov. 17 (Xinhuanet) -- A strong earthquake hit northern Chile and southern Bolivia on Thursday, causing panic among local residents and cutting utilities, but there were no immediate reports of casualties or damage, officials in Chile and Bolivia said.

    The quake, measuring 6.9 on the Richter Scale, occurred at 16:29 p.m. (1929 GMT) and triggered panic along the border in the Andes mountains, according to Chile's National Emergency Office (ONE).

    The epicenter of the quake was 40 kilometers southeast of the northern Chile resort town of San Pedro de Atacama, near the Bolivian border, at a depth of 155.4 kilometers, it said.

    In the Pacific coastal city of Antofagasta, 1,100 km north of Chile's capital, hundreds of residents rushed to the streets out of fear of a tsunami.

    Despite the subterranean shaking, there were no reports of casualties yet, according to Chilean officials.

    Officials in Bolivia also said there were no immediate reports of injury or damage there and that the earthquake zone was sparsely populated.

    The University of Chile Seismology Institute put the magnitude at 6.8 on the Richter Scale, still the second most intense quake registered in northern Chile.

    A more powerful quake in June left 11 Chileans dead and destroyed hundreds of houses in the Andes mountains along the border with Bolivia. Enditem

Hi air,

A little busy the last two days but I'm doing fine. My brother is home now but he has a long way to go for recovery yet. A simple walk from his living room to the kitchen (about 10 ft) is still quite a challenge but that will improve as time goes on.

I'm glad the hear that you are doing better. Pain can be quite a debilitating factor. I know it has been for me. I used to run marathons and the 1 1/2 mile run for the Navy physical fitness test was a breeze. Now it is a challenge just to do anything.

page two

However, this isn’t the end. The American Civil Liberties Union and 12 other national non-profit organizations successfully challenged Office of Personnel Management’s Combined Federal Campaign (CFC) requirements that all participating charities check their employees and expenditures against several government watch lists for “terrorist activities” and that organizations certify that they do not contribute funds to organizations on those lists. This is something the ACLU finds worthy of celebrating. In my opinion this is reason to be suspicious of what the ACLU does with its funds.

It isn’t a far fetched idea to wonder if the ACLU uses its funds to support terrorism. The ACLU’s history is tainted in this arena.

    In 1985 Samuel L. Morrison, an employee of the Naval Intelligence Support Command was convicted and sentenced for stealing classified spy satellite photographs from his office, cutting off the “secret” designation and selling them to a foreign publication. The ACLU claimed that Morrison had the right to steal and sell these classified documents and the under the First Amendment.

    Positions like these might be easier to understand if we look at ACLU Policy #117. They title this policy “Controlling the Intelligence Agencies”. ”

    Limit the CIA, under the new name of the Foreign Intelligence Agency, to collecting and evaluating foreign intelligence information. Abolish all covert operations. Limit the FBI to criminal investigations by eliminating all COINTEL-PRO-type activity and all foreign and domestic intelligence investigations of groups or individuals unrelated to a specific criminal offense.

    Prohibit entirely wiretaps, tapping of telecommunications and burglaries. Restrict mail openings, mail covers, inspection of bank records, and inspection of telephone records….”

The ACLU Defends the P.L.O.

    “I’m afraid even the good guys on civil liberties are going to be against us on this one.” Those are the words of ACLU Executive director Ira Glasser on the ACLU’s decision to represent an agent of Yassir Araftat’s Palestine Liberation Organization.
    I wonder if his definition of “good guys” meant American citizens who care about their country and are not willing to grant sworn terrorists complete freedom within our borders. If so, he is absolutely correct. We are against that one.
    “Arafat’s group of ruthless murderers had set up an “information office” in Washington D.C, only a few blocks from the White House.

The ACLU Defends “Mad Dog” of Libya, Muammar Qaddafi.

    “In 1985, the ACLU learned of an alleged plan by the CIA to engineer Qaddafi’s overthrow. Outraged, they put together a “strenuous” public protest against this proposed action.

    In a letter fillled with self-righteous indignation, Morton Halperin, Director of the ACLU Washington office, expressed his opinion of that plan to Sen. David Durenberger, Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, with copies to everyone imaginable.

    And to make sure no one was left out, the ACLU also issued a press release trumpeting it’s opposition to any attempt to oust Qaddafi.”

    The ACLU has also shown itself a willing tool of the terrorists, waging a massive anti-anti-terrorism legal campaign. This pillar of the legal Left denounced the government’s requirement that men aged 16-25 holding “temporary visas” from nations with known ties to terrorism register with the INS; represented Sami al-Arian, the North American fundraiser and co-founder of Palestinian Islamic Jihad (filing a brief upholding his inalienable right to fresh briefs!); rallied on behalf of convicted al-Qaeda benefactor Maher Mofeid Hawash; urged local communities not to cooperate with federal anti-terror investigations; and opposed the FBI’s monitoring Islamist mosques. As David Horowitz notes in his book Unholy Alliance, radical Center for Constitutional Rights lawyer Ron Kuby notes the “passionate…identification” most lawyers feel with their clients, such as that of convicted terror enabler Lynne Stewart for World Trade Center bomber Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman. Given her aid for international Islamic terrorism, the government is right to keep a watchful eye on those who perpetually side with the enemy. Front Page Magazine

They have fought hard for the release of Abu Ghraib images depicting sickening torture of our enemies, further inflaming the propaganda war on the side of the enemy. The ACLU also submitted a 37-page report to the United Nations Human Rights Committee describing specific U.S. breaches of the political and civil rights covenant.

The report included sections on “Excessive Government Secrecy”; “Racial Profiling of the U.S. Arab, South Asian, and Muslim Communities”; “Criminalization of Political Protest”; “Increased Surveillance Powers”; and “Random Searches.”

Recently the ACLU have decided to represent two detainees who claim the U.S. Military threw them into lions dens. Somebody is lion alright. They have also accused the U.S. military of outright murdering 21 detainees. They have even advised the majority of the prisoners at Gitmo that they did not have to answer questions from military interrogators.

Actions like these have enraged groups like The American Legion, and Christians for Reviving American Values, who are asking Congress to investigate the ACLU. The American Legion is already mobilizing its members to fight the ACLU over issues such as the Boyscouts. The sympathy for the enemy also has them fired up. To many of these groups, and to many Americans, the perception is that The ACLU cares more about terrorists than it does about America.

As you can see, balancing national security interests with a respect for civil liberties is not the goal of the ACLU. Its goal is the absolute pursuit of civil liberties, without regard for its consequences. Gone are the the carefully worded policies that guided Union thinking during World War II. Gone, too is any kind of talk about the enemies of the United States. It is hard to imagine a person vile enought, or a crisis serious enough, to shake the ACLU from its absolutist position during wartime. The tragedy is it is not just the nation’s security that stands to lose as a result, it is the cause of liberty itself.

ACLU’s War Against National Security

    In conjunction with the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the ACLU has lobbied hard against Arab-profiling at airports for years. “Profiles are notoriously under-inclusive,” says ACLU legislative counsel Gregory Nojeim. “Who knows who the next terrorist will appear as? It could be a grandmother. It could be a student. We just don’t know.”Source

    The airline industry’s fear of such lawsuits is based on solid historical precedent. In 1993, for instance, the ACLU joined forces with the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) to sue Pan American World Airways for having detained a man of Iranian descent during the first Persian Gulf War.

So, the ACLU says political correctness trumps common sense. They block that route of securing ourselves from being blown up. What to do? Hmmm.. I’ve got it! Lets do random searches!

    ACLU Files Suit Over Random Subway Searches.The New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU), the New York chapter of the ACLU, has announced that they intend on filing a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court in Manhattan today. The suit claims that the random bag searches before boarding the subway system is unconstitutional.

City lawyers have noted that an al-Qaida training manual advising terrorists to avoid police checkpoints gives the city some justification for its random searches of bags entering the subway system.

Ok, so the ACLU says no profiled searches, and no random searches. What about searches across the board? Nope. Raymond James Stadium tried it, and the ACLU sued. So, where does that leave us with searches? I think we can conclude that the ACLU are against all searches. Is this because they stand by the principle of the fourth amendment? The irony and hypocrisy here is that, the NYCLU HQ has a sign warning visitors that all bags are subject to search. Apparantly their war against searches is not based on principle.

But searches are not the only that brings criticism on the ACLU on the topic of National Security.

The ACLU and CAIR have actually taken up quite a number of cases together. In 2003, the Ohio chapter of the ACLU awarded its yearly “Liberty Flame Award” to the Ohio chapter of CAIR “for contributions to
the advancement and protection of civil liberties.” This same Ohio chapter, in August of this year, refused contributions from the United Way, as to not complete a required counterterrorism compliance form.

But it isn’t isolated to one rouge chapter.

    In October of 2004, the ACLU turned down $1.15 million in funding from two of it’s most generous and loyal contributors, the Ford and Rockefeller foundations, saying new anti-terrorism restrictions demanded by the institutions make it unable to accept their funds.

    “The Ford Foundation now bars recipients of its funds from engaging in any activity that “promotes violence, terrorism, bigotry, or the destruction of any state.”

    The Rockefeller Foundation’s provisions state that recipients of its funds may not “directly or indirectly engage in, promote, or support other organizations or individuals who engage in or promote terrorist activity.

What is this all about?

    Although its website proclaims that it does not receive “any government funding,” it does get money from a program that allows federal employees to make charitable contributions through payroll deductions. Last year it got $470,000 from the program. (The ACLU’s 2002 annual budget, the most recent available, was $102 million.)

    Now it had a choice: give up the money, or sign a promise certifying that the ACLU “does not knowingly employ individuals or contribute funds to organizations found on” government watch lists of suspected supporters of terrorism.

    Trouble was, the ACLU had strongly opposed the lists, saying they were often inaccurate and violated the constitutional rights of some people.

    But it really hated the idea of giving up the money.Source

So what did they do? Well, at first they decided they would try to trick the government. They decided to keep the money, AND keep hiring anyone they pleased, by what Nadine Strossen called a “clever interpretation.” Their solution was that if they remained ignorant of who was on the list, then they couldn’t “knowingly” hire anyone on the list. Anthony D. Romero, the ACLU’s executive director, tells the New York Times: “I’ve printed [the lists] out. I’ve never consulted them.”

To make a long story short, when The New York Times outted them, they caved in. But they didn’t cave in to the government, they just decided to forgoe the money, so they could still ignorantly hire people on the government watchlist. Isn’t that nice?

cont'd on page two

Hi again di,

Yes children are such a blessing. I have a daughter that is now 21 yrs old that is educationally handicapped and now has a daughter of her own. She has always been a blessing to us.

WASHINGTON, Nov. 17 /Christian Wire Service/ -- The Reverends Rob Schenck (pronounced SHANK) and Patrick J. Mahoney will visit ACLU headquarters today to hand-deliver more than 20,000 petitions demanding that the left-leaning liberal attack group back off of terrorizing communities and individuals who seek to affirm America's Judeo-Christian values.

Schenck, who heads up Faith and Action in the Nation's Capital, and Mahoney, director of the Christian Defense Coalition, asked their respective members to sign the statements after the ACLU sued a small rural school district in Adams County, Ohio, over four displays of the Ten Commandments in front of public schools there. The ACLU won an order for the Commandments to be removed, then demanded that the school reimburse them for legal expenses. After Christian ministers in the community stepped forward with a pledge to replace the money taken from the school budget, the ACLU settled for $80,000.

"The ACLU is this generation's Ku Klux Klan," said Rev. Rob Schenck. "They gallop into small towns with legal hoods over their heads and terrorize good people by threatening to harm children by draining the coffers of local schools if they so much as dare to recognize our nation's true heritage. These ACLU bullies are nothing more than psychological terrorists."

The Reverends Schenck and Mahoney plan to arrive at the offices of the ACLU around 3:00 P.M.

[It's not possible to use it for military purposes]

Iran admits satellite can spy on Israel

November 17, 2005

BY ALI AKBAR DAREINI

TEHRAN, Iran -- Iran said the satellite would be purely scientific. But a month after its launch -- and only weeks after the president said Israel should be wiped off the map -- the head of Tehran's space program now says the Sina-1 is capable of spying on the Jewish state.

The launch of the Russian-made satellite into orbit aboard a Russian rocket last month marked the beginning of Iran's space program. Officials say a second satellite -- this one Iranian-built -- will be launched in about two months, heightening Israeli concerns.

The Sina-1's stated purpose is to take pictures of Iran and to monitor natural disasters in the earthquake-prone nation. But as it orbits the Earth, with controllers able to point its cameras as they wish, Sina-1 gives Iran a limited space reconnaissance capability over the entire Middle East.

''Sina-1 is a research satellite. It's not possible to use it for military purposes,'' said Deputy Telecom Minister Ahmad Talebzadeh, who heads the space program.

But he agreed it could spy on Israel.

''Technically speaking, yes. It can monitor Israel,'' he said. ''But we don't need to do it. You can buy satellite photos of Israeli streets from the market.''

Iran also has said its nuclear program is peaceful, aimed at producing electricity -- though the United States believes the program secretly aims to produce nuclear weapons.



(My Notes: This is not entirely true. It is capable of low level Military useage such as reconnaissance and UHF and VHF communications. Something else to note here is that it has a shelf life of three years.)

And remember...we're all works in progress.

Amen, Allinall and yes my Dad really had it.  

[three]

Hi GKB,

First all please stop "shouting" (turn your caps off).

No the Bible does not say "trinity" but there are a lot of different words that we use today that are not in the Bible either. This does not make them any more invalid than any others.

The term trinity came about because of the verses that show there to be three and the word trinity indicates three. Yet as you said they are one.

1Jo 5:7  For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.
1Jo 5:8  And there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one.

So you see we did not say that Jesus is three. The Bible speaks of God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit as separate entities in more than one place, and yet it also tells us that they are one.

Hi Daniel,

I'm not really new here. I've been with the forum since Oct of 2004. Yes, I remember your testimony in the "About You" area. It was and is a beautiful testimony and it will be a wonderful reunion when we all get to heaven.

I knew a lot of SeeBees in NMCB 9. When and where were you there?

Iwas born at an early age and no I'm not stealing your joke, 2T but I am making use of it.   I was not a full term baby. I was born 2 and half months early but still weighed in at 9 lbs 3 ozs. I was also born again at an early age. I was 8 yrs old.

I have posted this on here before but I would like to post it here again.

_______________________

Testamonies are such a wonderful thing. I know that it helps me to see what God has done and is doing for other Christians. We tend to start taking for granted the many wonderous things that God does for us. Through testamonies we can be reminded that God does not forget us nor does He leave us (Heb 13:5).

I was raised in a Christian family. The Bible was my first reader. I came to accept Jesus as my Saviour at the early age of 8 years. I served the Lord along with my parents and 7 other siblings through our local church. Following the examples of Jesus, my parents set an example for all of us kids.Being poor and a large family, we did not have much, but we always had what we needed. Food on the table, clothes and a warm home to live in with lots of love to go around.

One day a group of young children came to our church without their parents. Their clothes were ragged, just jeans and a white t-shirt, and some with out shoes or socks. All of them were dirty. My Dad picked up the youngest one and carried him into the church. As usual for us back then we had a potluck dinner after services. Those visiting kids ate just about everything in sight to point of actually getting sick and then coming back to eat more.

My Dad, being raised in the old Swedish traditions, was not lent to showing his emotions. When we got home from church that day I saw him crying for the first time. He didn't say a thing but went about collecting things into a box. Potatoes, carrots, home canned vegetables, Grandmas home made soap, clothes. He told us kids to pack them in the car then took us with him to this family.

We went to the local dump. There was a small lean-to built out of old lumber taken from wood crates. Holes in the walls everywhere. He took the boxes, left them at the door and we drove off.

The next day my Dad went to talk to a local farmer. The farmer went to this family and hired the father right away and moved them into a farm house on his farm.

The following Sunday the whole family came to church and eventually all of them accepted Jesus as their Saviour.

I learned many lessons that day that have helped me in my walk with Jesus.

At the age of 19 I joined the U. S. Navy. Within a year I was placed in the Viet Nam war. During this time I slipped away from the service of the Lord. It was not the Navy influence nor was it the war. It was simply my fault. I started doubting my faith. I even got to point that I doubted the existance of God. Thank God that he did not forsake me nor did He leave me. God opened my eyes up wide and I do mean wide. He showed Himself to me in so many, many ways. I saw His hand all around me, not just in Viet Nam, but throughout my entire 20+ yrs in the Navy. Unfortunately I blinded myself to Him. Now that I look back at those times I know it was Him for no one has the power to do what He did.

Just one example of the many (If the opportunity arises I will try to share many others with you);

During Desert Storm I was stationed in Bahrain with a hospital unit. The entire hospital including our berthing was all tents. Our compound fence was made of sea vans ( a metal box that fits on the frame of a semi-truck trailer that can be removed and placed on ships). These sea vans were stacked two high around us. There was a military air base about 10 - 15 miles south of us. Every night scud missiles that were aimed at the air base were blown up by patriot missiles above our heads. When Desert Storm was declared over we started dismantling the hospital. As we took the sea vans down to pack the tents and supplies into them we discovered scud/patriot schrapnel all over the tops of them yet not one piece was ever found inside the compound. Many of this schrapnel was large enough and sharp enough to have easily gone through a tent.

The base Chaplain pointed this out to us and thanked God for placing His hand over us.

I was reaching a point in my life where I started assessing my own life. What have I done with it, where was I going from here, what was it all worth? I was also being placed under conviction for my lack of faith. I could feel that God was asking me why I was not faithful to Him. I answered, but Lord I have read my Bible, I have prayed to you when the times got rough, I have even gone to church occassionally. I shrugged it off still.

I left the Navy at that time and worked my way from an electrician journeyman up to an electrical contractor in just a few short years.In 1997 I suffered a heart attack that put me in the hospital. It was minor and in a few weeks I was back at work. In 2000 I had another heart attack, emergency surgery requiring a a quadruple bypass. At this time I also found out that I had another heart attack back in 1991 cause by a blocked vein to the heart that had been corrected by a natural bypass. (A natural bypass is one that is not done by man).  On top of this the Gulf War Illness took me over. I was suffering from this and did not know it until the trauma of the surgery made it worse bringing it out full blown.

This time I lost my business, my homes (three of them), all my trucks, my car, everything but my family. Praise God I still had them. I was on my knees and couldn't get up. I asked God why, I am going to church regularly. I read my Bible every day. I got my answer....

I heard a sermon that Sunday titled "Give Your All To Him" and on the radio that afternoon a song. I don't remember the song. The only words of it that stood out and stick with me today are "give your all unto Jesus".

It was not enough. He wanted my all, not just a part of me. Now I spend everyday with Him and for Him.

Have you given your all to Jesus?