Pat’s Blog

I received this today from Jan Willem van der Hoeven, Director of the International Christian Zionist Center in Jerusalem. He has a REAL passion for Israel and the Chosen Ones. His writings are straightforward and don’t mince any words. Sometimes, the truth hurts, yet here is a very timely message for us, today.

When one observes what is happening in today’s world things look very, very, serious indeed.

On one side we see the rise of the exceedingly sly and ruthless dictator, Vladimir Putin, who although he has allowed Dmitry Medvedev — his former trusted chief aide — to become president, remains virtually Russia’s sole ruler as prime minister and also as chief of the ruling party. He now threatens the whole free world with his Soviet-like aggressive designs - much in accordance with Putin’s former KGB past.

So, as Putin has just brutally invaded pro-western and pro-Israel, Christian Georgia, and threateningly holds out the possibility of an attack on peace-loving, democratic Poland — in wily response to the just-signed agreement between Poland and the U.S. to have a defensive missile shield placed on Polish soil - it all looks very much like it was at the beginning of the Second World War.

On the other side we see in America, unbelievably, the rise of presidential forerunner Barack Obama, a former Muslim and a man who - like British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain on the eve of World War Two — promises wonderful change in our times, much as Chamberlain promised Britain peace in his time.

Obama is no match for Putin or for the new radicalized Muslim leadership that is springing up all around Israel: Ahmadinejad in Iran, Nasrallah in Lebanon, Iranian-backed Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Gaza, and the new radical Muslim leader who will likely replace the pro-Western Pervez Musharraf as President of Pakistan — all gearing up against the West and little Israel.

The Bible tells us this would all happen: an evil prince or leader of Rosh to Israel’s far north who would make an alliance with nations like Persia, Libya etc — as indeed Putin is now doing. And now as I write these lines, Syrian President Bashar Assad is with Putin and Medvedev in Moscow on a two day visit - believing he will receive from the Russians his extensive shopping list for military hardware in case of a war with Israel.

As all this unfolds, Israel is mainly caught up with internal political bickering and maneuvering that may well lead to upcoming general elections — just as the United States is in the thralls of its election campaign, unable or unwilling to pose much of a problem either to Putin or to Assad’s and Ahmadinejad’s evil and most dangerous designs.

One would think the Europeans would do everything to see a Churchill-like president brought to power on the other side of their ocean. But no — fully despising the legacy of President George W. Bush, most Europeans in their utter blindness would prefer a weak, Chamberlain-like Obama, who will rather talk to the warlike Russian and the Muslim dictators than courageously face up to them.

The world, then, is going down — and that quite quickly — unable or unwilling to defend its own fading freedoms and democracies. While Israel is the only nation still prepared to fight and withstand this joint onslaught, she will have to look higher — than to trust in the weak and failing western nations who increasingly are afraid to stand up for her — for a miracle of divine intervention as her own God, the God of Israel, promises in His word.

“Therefore, son of man, prophesy and say to Gog, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “On that day when My people Israel dwell safely, will you not know it? You will come up against My people Israel like a cloud, to cover the land. It will be in the latter days that I will bring you against My land, so that the nations may know Me, when I am hallowed in you, O Gog, before their eyes.” “And it will come to pass at the same time, when Gog comes against the land of Israel,” says the Lord God, “that My fury will show in My face. I will call for a sword against Gog throughout all My mountains,” says the Lord God. “Every man’s sword will be against his brother. And I will bring him to judgment with pestilence and bloodshed; I will rain down on him, on his troops, and on the many peoples who are with him, flooding rain, great hailstones, fire, and brimstone. Thus I will magnify Myself and sanctify Myself, and I will be known in the eyes of many nations. Then they shall know that I am the Lord.”  (Ezekiel 38:14, 16, 18, 21-23)

We seem to come closer and closer to these, already centuries ago, prophesied scenarios and this to the shock of the nations, but to the Glory of God of Israel.

Jan Willem van der Hoeven, Director
International Christian Zionist Center

Don Wildmon and the “American Family Association” sent out the following Action Alert:

Hallmark Greeting Cards has announced it will begin selling same-sex wedding cards, even though same-sex marriage is legal in only two states. The purpose, they say, is to satisfy consumer demand. It appears that their purpose is also to push same-sex marriage. Last year Hallmark began offering “coming out” cards - as in “coming out of the closet” — a euphemism for announcing homosexuality.

We’ve all given or received Hallmark Cards – remember their slogan – “when you care enough to send the very best.” But promoting same-sex marriage for profit is not the very best for families or our nation.

Hallmark is a private company obviously driven by greed. Let them know you do not appreciate Hallmark promoting a lifestyle which is illegal in 48 states. American Greeting Cards, Hallmark’s competitor, does not offer same-sex marriage cards.

I’m Sandy, Pat’s Personal Assistant. He asked me to post the following to his blog. It touched him sooo deeply, and he knew it would touch you, too…

http://www.pbnradio.com/special/ifyouthink.html

The Cables Hold

Some of you wondered why Claudia and I weren’t On The Air, today. Actually, I was on the treadmill with 3 minutes left in my workout (I am trying to get some exercise). It was about 10 minutes to 4pm, and I needed to get a shower and head on out to the Studios.

Claudia came in with the phone with this solemn look on her face and said, “Stop the treadmill right now.” She NEVER talks like this. I saw the phone in her hand, and I knew something HAD to be amiss.

It was Jonathan on the phone. He was all right. He was on Hwy 220, coming home from work. He was about 5 minutes from Asheboro. A stray rain shower was pouring down on the road. He was going under the speed limit due to the weather, and was moving over to the inside lane, letting the merging cars on the freeway. All of a sudden his little Chevy S10 truck hit a puddle in the road and started a 360 spin. The truck spun onto the median, hitting the wet grass, and shot across, hitting the cables in the middle.

Jonathan's Windshield Shatters

I quickly put a previous program on for Praise Until Dawn, and headed out to help him.

Jonathan said he felt he was going to go through to the opposite side of the road, and that his life was over. Yet, the cables held, and pulled him back. As you can see the windshield shattered, and he had glass all over him. One man who is licensed through the Department of Transportation stopped to see if he was ok. He told me that he has seen many vehicles that had their tops taken off by the cables. If that would have happened, Jonathan would have been decapitated.

As it was, the only cut Jonathan received was on his leg, as he tried to get out of the car. His door was caught shut, so he had to go through a lot of glass to get to the passenger door, and out.

We are very, very thankful for Jonathan’s safety. Thank you to all of you who continually keep Claudia, myself and our entire family in your prayers.

There was definitely a reason for Claudia and me not being here, today.

Casey has been a friend of Claudia’s and mine, and PBN for many years. He first contacted us when we were on a station in Coos Bay, Oregon many years ago. He was always on fire for Jesus. At first we thought he might be another religious “Nut case”… we all have seen those. But, having followed Casey for many years, Claudia and I saw that his heart was genuine, and his passion was real.

He now carries an 8 foot cross into the heart of New York City, and witnesses down the street from the Empire State Building. Please pray for our friend, Casey, and his work for Yeshua down in the Lion’s Den.

The following was sent to Claudia and me from Byron Pederson, who is in Saudi Arabia, trying to make a living for his wife and family, who live in the United States, half a world away. Byron is a precious friend of Claudia’s and mine, and he is President of a Mission called Mercy Express.

Some years ago, on a hot summer day in South Florida, a little boy decided to go for a swim in the old swimming hole behind his house. In a hurry to dive into the cool water, he ran out the back door, leaving behind shoes, socks, and shirt as he went. He flew into the water, not realizing that as he swam toward the middle of the lake, an alligator was swimming toward the shore.

His father, working in the yard, saw the two as they got closer and closer together. In utter fear, he ran toward the water, yelling to his son as loudly as he could.

Hearing his voice, the little boy became alarmed and made a U-turn to swim to his father. It was too late. Just as he reached his father, the alligator reached him.

From the dock, the father grabbed his little boy by the arms just as the alligator snatched his legs. That began an incredible tug-of-war between the two. The alligator was much stronger than the father, but the father was much too passionate to let go.

A farmer happened to drive by, heard his screams, raced from his truck, took aim and shot the alligator.

Remarkably, after weeks and weeks in the hospital, the little boy survived. His legs were extremely scarred by the vicious attack of the animal. And, on his arms, were deep scratches where his father’s fingernails dug into his flesh in his effort to hang on to the son he loved.

The newspaper reporter, who interviewed the boy after the trauma, asked if he would show him his scars. The boy lifted his pant legs. And then, with obvious pride, he said to the reporter, ‘But look at my arms. I have great scars on my arms, too. I have them because my Dad wouldn’t let go.’

You and I can identify with that little boy. We have scars, too. No, not from an alligator, but the scars of a painful past. Some of those scars are unsightly and have caused us deep regret. But, some wounds, my friend, are because God has refused to let go. In the midst of your struggle, He’s been there holding on to you.

The Scripture teaches that God loves you. You are a child of God. He wants to protect you and provide for you in every way. But sometimes we foolishly wade into dangerous situations, not knowing what lies ahead. The swimming hole of life is filled with peril — and we forget that the enemy is waiting to attack. That’s when the tug-of-war begins — and if you have the scars of His love on your arms, be very, very grateful. He did not and will not ever let you go.

Have our leaders lost their minds?
Thursday, July 24, 2008
By: Newt Gingrich

Humanevents.com

I have two grandchildren, ages 5 and 7. If you’re a parent or grandparent yourself, I challenge you not to think about a child you love when you read what I’m about to tell you.

I challenge you not to share my disgust with the barbarians who use the blood of innocents to further their political agendas.

And I challenge you not to share my contempt for the bureaucrats who think they can appease them. For the governments that think their actions don’t have consequences.

For the politicians who think that something - anything - good can come from allowing the killers of children to walk free.

Smadar Haran, her husband Danny, and their two daughters, ages two and four, were at home in their apartment in northern Israel on the night of April 22, 1979. They were asleep in their beds around midnight when they awoke to gunfire and grenades exploding. Terrorists, sent by terrorist leader Abu Abbas to protest the signing of the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty at Camp David the year before, were breaking into their building.

Desperate to hide, Smadar carried her two-year-old into a crawl space above their bedroom. So terrified was she that her baby girl would cry out and alert the terrorists to their hiding place that Smadar held her hand tightly over the girl’s mouth. Too tightly. By the time they were rescued hours later, the little girl was dead. Smadar had accidentally smothered her own child.

But the horror doesn’t end there.

While Smadar and her child hid in the crawlspace, Danny and the four-year-old ran out of the apartment for the safety of an underground shelter. They didn’t make it. The terrorists took Danny and the little girl down to the beach where one of them, Samir Kuntar, shot Danny in front of the girl. His goal, according to Smadar, was that the sight of her father being killed “would be the last sight she would ever see.”

Then Kuntar smashed the little girl’s skull against a rock until she was dead.

Last week, in a deal brokered by the Israeli government with the terrorist group Hezbollah, Samir Kuntar, a cowardly child killer, walked out of an Israeli prison.

The deal the Israeli government made with Hezbollah included the exchange of the remains of two Israeli soldiers killed by Hezbollah in return for five live terrorists in Israeli prisons, including Kuntar.

And Kuntar was no ordinary terrorist prisoner. Abu Abbas was so impressed with Kuntar’s savage child-killing tactics that Abbas masterminded the hijacking of the cruise ship Achille Lauro in 1985 - including the killing and dumping into the ocean of the defenseless, elderly, wheelchair-bound Leon Klinghoffer - to secure Kuntar’s release.

Israel didn’t cave into terrorists in 1985, but it did last week. And the deal it struck with Hezbollah will have disastrous consequences for Israel and the world.

The concession, writes the Jerusalem Post’s Caroline Glick “will cement Iran’s control of Lebanon through Hizbullah. It also all but guarantees that any future Israeli soldiers taken hostage by Hizbullah will be killed on the spot. Why care for hostages when you can murder them and expect to receive the same payoff you would get if you kept them alive?”

But possibly even more disappointing than the Israeli government’s willingness to make deals with terrorists is the reception that greeted the release of Samir Kuntar in parts of the Middle East last week. Columnist Mona Charen reports that Kuntar literally received a red carpet reception in Beirut. Charen writes: The government closed all offices and declared a national day of celebration. Tens of thousands of Lebanese cheered, waved flags, threw confetti, and set off fireworks as Hezbollah staged a rally to celebrate their “victory” over Israel.

Mahmoud Abbas, the “moderate” leader of the Palestinian Authority, sent “blessings to Samir Kuntar’s family.” PA spokesman Ahmad Abdul Rahman sent “warm blessings to Hezbollah on the return of the heroes of freedom . . . headed by the great Samir Kuntar.”

This barbaric display enrages me and it should enrage all Americans.

Both the Palestinian Authority and the Lebanese government are recipients of U.S. taxpayers’ money through foreign assistance. Political leaders - and the people they lead - who cheer the release of despicable child murderers are unworthy recipients of our assistance.

Congress should insist that the Lebanese government and the Palestinian Authority retract their support for Kuntar or it should cut off U.S. assistance to them.

As if the news from Israel weren’t bad enough, the seemingly irresistible urge among some foreign policy elites to appease our worst enemies came home to America last week.

The State Department sent its third most senior official to sit in on nuclear “negotiations” with Iran, even as Iran continues its relentless pursuit of a nuclear weapon.

In the past, President Bush had a label for such a move. He called it “appeasement.” Last week, his own State Department succeeded in taking the first steps in a futile attempt to appease a dictator who has called for the destruction of Israel and defeat of the West. His stated goal? A world without America.

And so I ask again: Have our leaders lost their minds?

As a historian, I look for clues for how to manage our present from how we’ve managed our past.

One thing history shows is that some elites have a dangerous and unexplainable desire to lie to themselves.

A case in point: In 1924, Adolph Hitler was released from a German prison after serving time for conspiracy to overthrow the German government. Nine years before he took power and led Germany on an irrevocable course toward world war and a campaign of systematic genocide against Jews, Gypsies, Catholics and others, the headline in the New York Times was:
“Hitler Tamed By Prison”

Read closely. The article concludes on this deluded note: “[Hitler's] behavior during imprisonment convinced the authorities that [he], like his political organization, known as the Volkischer, was no longer to be feared. It is believed he will return to private life and return to Austria, the country of his birth.”

As America looks ahead to the swearing in of a new president next January, we need now, more than ever, leaders who resist the temptation to delude themselves about the nature of our enemies.

As a young Senator with little foreign policy experience, Barack Obama faces a unique challenge. As I write this, Senator Obama is traveling abroad seeking to convince the American people that he has the leadership ability to be commander in chief.

Senator Obama has also repeatedly assured us that he, too, will negotiate with regimes like Iran. But the question we owe to ourselves is to ask Senator Obama and our current State Department:

When negotiations don’t work, what are you prepared to do?

Talking isn’t a policy, it’s a process. And talking to people who have vowed your destruction is at best a futile and at worst a dangerous process.

Just ask the Israelis. After greeting Samir Kuntar with a hug and a kiss when he returned to Lebanon last week, Hezbollah leader Sheikh Nasrallah declared, “The time of defeat is long gone. Today is the time of victory.”

Tony Snow, former Press Secretary for President Bush, and host on Fox News Channel, recently succumbed to Colon Cancer. His mild manner and engaging smile endeared him to many in the “business” and around the world. He was loved, and will be missed. He was known as a devout Christian and Family man.

In the midst of his bout with his terminal cancer, he penned the following. I knew it would bless you, as it did me.

There is NO fear in death!!!
By Tony Snow
Christianity Today

Blessings arrive in unexpected packages—in my case, cancer.

Those of us with potentially fatal diseases—and there are millions in America today—find ourselves in the odd position of coping with our mortality while trying to fathom God’s will. Although it would be the height of presumption to declare with confidence What It All Means, Scripture provides powerful hints and consolations.

The first is that we shouldn’t spend too much time trying to answer the why questions: Why me? Why must people suffer? Why can’t someone else get sick? We can’t answer such things, and the questions themselves often are designed more to express our anguish than to solicit an answer.

I don’t know why I have cancer, and I don’t much care. It is what it is—a plain and indisputable fact. Yet even while staring into a mirror darkly, great and stunning truths begin to take shape. Our maladies define a central feature of our existence: We are fallen. We are imperfect. Our bodies give out.

But despite this—because of it—God offers the possibility of salvation and grace. We don’t know how the narrative of our lives will end, but we get to choose how to use the interval between now and the moment we meet our Creator face-to-face.

Second, we need to get past the anxiety. The mere thought of dying can send adrenaline flooding through your system. A dizzy, unfocused panic seizes you. Your heart thumps; your head swims. You think of nothingness and swoon. You fear partings; you worry about the impact on family and friends. You fidget and get nowhere.

To regain footing, remember that we were born not into death, but into life—and that the journey continues after we have finished our days on this earth. We accept this on faith, but that faith is nourished by a conviction that stirs even within many nonbelieving hearts—an intuition that the gift of life, once given, cannot be taken away. Those who have been stricken enjoy the special privilege of being able to fight with their might, main, and faith to live—fully, richly, exuberantly—no matter how their days may be numbered.

Third, we can open our eyes and hearts. God relishes surprise. We want lives of simple, predictable ease—smooth, even trails as far as the eye can see—but God likes to go off-road. He provokes us with twists and turns. He places us in predicaments that seem to defy our endurance and comprehension—and yet don’t. By his love and grace, we persevere. The challenges that make our hearts leap and stomachs churn invariably strengthen our faith and grant measures of wisdom and joy we would not experience otherwise.

‘You Have Been Called’

Picture yourself in a hospital bed. The fog of anesthesia has begun to wear away. A doctor stands at your feet; a loved one holds your hand at the side. “It’s cancer,” the healer announces.

The natural reaction is to turn to God and ask him to serve as a cosmic Santa. “Dear God, make it all go away. Make everything simpler.” But another voice whispers: “You have been called.” Your quandary has drawn you closer to God, closer to those you love, closer to the issues that matter—and has dragged into insignificance the banal concerns that occupy our “normal time.”

There’s another kind of response, although usually short-lived—an inexplicable shudder of excitement, as if a clarifying moment of calamity has swept away everything trivial and tinny, and placed before us the challenge of important questions.

The moment you enter the Valley of the Shadow of Death, things change. You discover that Christianity is not something doughy, passive, pious, and soft. Faith may be the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. But it also draws you into a world shorn of fearful caution. The life of belief teems with thrills, boldness, danger, shocks, reversals, triumphs, and epiphanies. Think of Paul, traipsing though the known world and contemplating trips to what must have seemed the antipodes (Spain), shaking the dust from his sandals, worrying not about the morrow, but only about the moment.

There’s nothing wilder than a life of humble virtue—for it is through selflessness and service that God wrings from our bodies and spirits the most we ever could give, the most we ever could offer, and the most we ever could do.

Finally, we can let love change everything. When Jesus was faced with the prospect of crucifixion, he grieved not for himself, but for us. He cried for Jerusalem before entering the holy city. From the Cross, he took on the cumulative burden of human sin and weakness, and begged for forgiveness on our behalf.

We get repeated chances to learn that life is not about us—that we acquire purpose and satisfaction by sharing in God’s love for others. Sickness gets us partway there. It reminds us of our limitations and dependence. But it also gives us a chance to serve the healthy. A minister friend of mine observes that people suffering grave afflictions often acquire the faith of two people, while loved ones accept the burden of two people’s worries and fears.

Learning How to Live

Most of us have watched friends as they drifted toward God’s arms not with resignation, but with peace and hope. In so doing, they have taught us not how to die, but how to live. They have emulated Christ by transmitting the power and authority of love.

I sat by my best friend’s bedside a few years ago as a wasting cancer took him away. He kept at his table a worn Bible and a 1928 edition of the Book of Common Prayer. A shattering grief disabled his family, many of his old friends, and at least one priest. Here was a humble and very good guy, someone who apologized when he winced with pain because he thought it made his guest uncomfortable. He retained his equanimity and good humor literally until his last conscious moment. “I’m going to try to beat [this cancer],” he told me several months before he died. “But if I don’t, I’ll see you on the other side.”

His gift was to remind everyone around him that even though God doesn’t promise us tomorrow, he does promise us eternity—filled with life and love we cannot comprehend—and that one can in the throes of sickness point the rest of us toward timeless truths that will help us weather future storms.

Through such trials, God bids us to choose: Do we believe, or do we not? Will we be bold enough to love, daring enough to serve, humble enough to submit, and strong enough to acknowledge our limitations? Can we surrender our concern in things that don’t matter so that we might devote our remaining days to things that do?

When our faith flags, he throws reminders in our way. Think of the prayer warriors in our midst. They change things, and those of us who have been on the receiving end of their petitions and intercessions know it.

It is hard to describe, but there are times when suddenly the hairs on the back of your neck stand up, and you feel a surge of the Spirit. Somehow you just know: Others have chosen, when talking to the Author of all creation, to lift us up—to speak of us!

This is love of a very special order. But so is the ability to sit back and appreciate the wonder of every created thing. The mere thought of death somehow makes every blessing vivid, every happiness more luminous and intense. We may not know how our contest with sickness will end, but we have felt the ineluctable touch of God.

What is man that Thou art mindful of him? We don’t know much, but we know this: No matter where we are, no matter what we do, no matter how bleak or frightening our prospects, each and every one of us, each and every day, lies in the same safe and impregnable place—in the hollow of God’s hand.

The following was sent to Claudia and me from a brand new listener. It is put together so beautifully, I knew I had to put it here so that you can read it, as well.

Remember, God is talking to His Precious Chosen Ones, the Jews. He is NOT addressing Christians. We were no where around when most of this was written. It is through the Chosen Ones, and the Cross and Resurrection that we have been invited to join in with the blessings of the Chosen Ones… and be recipients of these Words along with the Jews, NOT in place of the Jews.

There is a REASON why The Star Spangled Banner is the National Anthem of the United States, and NOT “America the Beautiful”, “The Black National Anthem” or “This Land Is Your Land”!!! There are some of us in the United States who have not forgotten our purpose for being here… the Land of the FREE, and the Home of the Brave.

Steven Millhorn, a very good friend of mine, sent this to me. Now, I proudly share the story with you.

Story of The Star Spangled Banner