Showdown Time with Iran?

April 8….(Jerome Corsi) Author Jerome Corsi warns that events are unfolding that likely will lead to a showdown with Iran this year. The United States and Europe are working toward peaceful change, but President Bush has said he will not accept another promise from Tehran to not build nuclear weapons unless it's accompanied by specific actions." "That will probably produce a confrontation." Corsi said President Bush's approach is that if Iran is serious about not producing nuclear weapons, it will destroy its centrifuges, heavy water plant and missiles that can deliver nuclear warheads, much as South Africa did. But the author believes an agreement with Europe is not likely, sending the issue to the UN Security Council.

    Then, Corsi foresees Israel launching a pre-emptive strike. "I call it the 'Samson option' in the book ['taking down the temple around you'], because Israel cannot afford to wake up one day and find out Iran has nuclear weapons by seeing a mushroom cloud over Tel Aviv," he said. "They won't tolerate that risk." Responding to a question, Corsi acknowledged the Iranians "have made it extremely difficult" for Israel, with more than 300 nuclear-related facilities. "The government of Israel, from everything I can detect, has no enthusiasm for attacking Iran," Corsi said. "If it comes to it, it will be because the government is convinced that someday, in the lying and cheating the mullahs have done, they can no longer risk that Iran has reached the point of no return where they have everything necessary to make a bomb." If Israel does attack, he said, it probably would target about 10 facilities in an air strike carried out in conjunction with the United States. "We'd probably support it," Corsi said. "We've stated, the president has stated repeatedly, that Israel has a right to defend itself, and I believe we would accommodate Israel in that right." What Iran would do in retaliation is not clear. "It could be an extremely volatile situation," he said. "We ourselves have troops in the area that could be attacked even with conventional missiles by Iran." Obviously no one wants a military solution, Corsi said, but if Iran gets nuclear weapons, it is distinct from other armed nations because of its history of "suicidal terrorism." "If they do get nuclear weapons, you can count on it, just count the days down, there will be a nuclear war in our time, and the explosions will include Tel Aviv and cities in the United States."

    In his speech, Corsi argued Iran's insistence that its nuclear program is only for its energy needs is implausible. "Iran is sitting on approximately one-fourth of the world's proven reserves of natural gas and oil," he pointed out. "Nuclear energy is a more expensive form of energy; one that the country does not need to go into the development of." Even the U.N.'s International Agency for Atomic Energy has admitted that for 25 years Iran has been lying about its nuclear technologies capability. Last week, it was reported the Iranian Republic secretly had purchased cruise missiles from the Ukraine capable of holding nuclear warheads. Iran also has tested its Shahab-3 missile, which can fly 1,700 fast and accurately, more than enough range to reach Tel Aviv. "They have constantly been lying about their enrichment of uranium," Corsi said. "They have got one of the largest abilities to enrich uranium in the Middle East, including a heavy water plant whose main purpose is to produce plutonium." Corsi pointed out the cleric-led regime has said it's willing to take 200 million casualties in the world as long as a nuclear conflagration ultimately destroyed the state of Israel. They mean it when they say "death to Israel" and "death to the United States," he said. "Their rabid anti-Semitic Jewish hatred is almost identical to what we saw from Hitler, and with Hitler we had a holocaust that killed 6 million Jews and a World War that killed at least another 60 million." Meanwhile, Corsi said, the mullahs are operating as a Mafia and living in luxury. "They have offshore contracts where they're raking off oil profits and sharing them in many cases with their friends in Europe," he said. "They've bought for themselves and their families and their adult children high-rise luxury apartments in the United Arab Emirates. They have their bank accounts, private bank accounts stacked away in Syria or in Europe. At the same time, the average person in Iran is living on less than a dollar a day." Corsi said, "$200 million a day to these mullahs are going to their personal enrichment, the development of nuclear weapons, and putting money into the United States in the various ways it gets here to buy legitimacy, to have our politicians say that we can work with them, to argue that they should be given nuclear fuel because it's their right as a nation."   

Islam Factor May Decide Pope Pick

On one of Pope John Paul II's last major trips four years ago, he stood in the ancient Omayyad Mosque in Syria and appealed for Christians and Muslims to seek common ground rather than confrontation. "May the hearts of Christians and Muslims turn to one another with feelings of brotherhood and friendship," urged the pontiff, the first pope to enter a Muslim place of worship. The words, spoken just four months before the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, now stand as a challenge for his successor. Just as the Cold War defined the beginning of John Paul's 26-year papacy, the rifts between the West and Islam will likely influence how the next pope measures his priorities. Relations with Islam, and who is best equipped to handle the delicate question, is emerging as one of the factors that will shape the decision of the cardinals when they gather this month to pick the 265th pontiff. "We have to learn to live with Islam," said Cardinal Theodore McCarrick of Washington, speaking to reporters Tuesday in Rome. "We have to learn how to dialogue with Islam." Chicago Cardinal Francis George added: "The history between Catholicism and Islam is not a happy one. We want to live at peace in a global society, so a dialogue with Islam is particularly important." At least two cardinals could receive extra attention at the conclave in discussions about Islam. Cardinal Francis Arinze of Nigeria has been based at the Vatican for decades, but spent his youth amid the country's mix of Christian and Muslims. The Vatican is also alarmed about inter-religious clashes in Nigeria that have claimed thousands of lives since the late 1990s. But Arinze would require a history-shaping act by the generally conservative College of Cardinals: naming the first African pope in modern times. Cardinal Godfried Danneels of Belgium also is seen as having a deft diplomatic touch, but his liberal-minded views could alarm some conservative cardinals. The concerns about Islam are particularly pressing to the 11 American cardinals who will join the conclave. Unlike Europe and elsewhere, there are few high-profile Muslim leaders in the United States to conduct serious interfaith contacts. The Vatican, as both a diplomatic entity and religious power, becomes an important forum for outreach. The Holy See also sees more immediate worries in the rise of radical Islam. Christians have been targeted by Muslim guerrillas in the Philippines, Iraq and elsewhere in recent years. The Vatican also has a stake in maintaining the sensitive religious balance in Jerusalem, where Christians often must carefully tread between the bigger forces of Judaism and Islam. "The Christians are often between the hammer and the anvil," said Daniel Rossing, who heads a Jerusalem-based group that promotes inter-religious dialogue. During the late pope's historic trip to Syria, he silently listened as Syria's President Bashar Assad denounced Jews for trying to "kill the principles of all religions." The Vatican refused to comment on the diatribe, apparently concerned any reaction would upset years of carefully crafted relations with the Muslim world. The difficulty for the new pope is to further cultivate rapport with Muslims in the highly charged post-Sept. 11 politics. "The new pope will have a different task ahead," said Daniel Thompson, director of religious studies at Fordham University in New York. "Who do you talk to? Who represents the Muslim population? How do you properly engage Islam with the contemporary situation?" The new pontiff will inherit a reservoir of good will. John Paul II received considerable praise in the Muslim world for his calls to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and his opposition to the U.S.-led war in Iraq. The outpouring following his death Saturday reflected his standing - and the challenges for the next pontiff to even approach the achievements. "Muslims and Christians alike have lost the pope," said Syria's prominent Islamic cleric, Sheik Salah Keftaro. The pope's death "is a big loss for the Catholic Church and the Islamic world," said Sheik Sayed Tantawi, the head of Egypt's Al-Azhar, Sunni Islam's most prestigious center of learning. The list of dignitaries from the Islamic world for the pope's funeral on Friday is already impressive and continues to grow: Syria's Assad, President Mohammad Khatami of Iran and Religious Minister Alwi Shihab of Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation. Amid the sea of pilgrims moving toward St. Peter's Basilica to view the pope's body, a small knot of Nigerian Muslims held a banner: the Islamic crescent and the Christian cross were intertwined.

The End Times Church: Of Popes, False Prophets And The Anti-Christ

April 7….(by Bill Wilson) The media coverage of the death of Pope John Paul II will be seen on television by over two billion people, nearly 1/3 of the world’s population, positioning the deceptive doctrine of the Catholic Church as true “Christianity” and ushering in the end-time church that may well give rise to the anti-Christ and the false prophet as prophesied in the Bible. By virtue of the false doctrine of the Catholic Church and its promotion as “the” Christian Church, the next pope shall sit in the seat of a false prophet and may be uniquely positioned to become either the false prophet or the anti-Christ as the world enters into the end-times. For example, the basic tenet of Christianity is salvation by grace through Jesus Christ. The famous Bible verse known the world over is John 3:16 in which Jesus said, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believe in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” And Jesus said in John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” The Catholic Doctrine does not deny salvation through Christ, but promotes other ways to salvation such as prayers through the Virgin Mary, mother of the Christ, and by absolution of sins by priests. The Catholic Catechism, which is the doctrine and statement of faith of the Catholic Church, states that “Only priests who have received the faculty of absolving from the authority of the Church can forgive sins in the name of Christ.” And Mary, the mother of Christ, is the “the cause of salvation for herself and for the whole human race." Further the new Catechism, which was endorsed by Pope John Paul II on October 11, 1992, seems to deify the blessed mother in several places. One of them says, “Mary is the perfect Orans (pray-er), a figure of the Church. When we pray to her, we are adhering with her to the plan of the Father, who sends his Son to save all men. Like the beloved disciple we welcome Jesus' mother into our homes, for she has become the mother of all the living. We can pray with and to her. The prayer of the Church is sustained by the prayer of Mary and united with it in hope.” “Roman Catholic dogma is at great odds with the Scripture. And it does not take a Priest to see it. The Bible’s central teachings are simple and clear,” said Hal Lindsey, Christian author and commentator. “I know that many Catholics have come to true faith in Jesus Christ as Savior, in spite of the teaching of their Church. But let us never loose sight of the fact that there is great error in the central dogma of the Church, an error powerful enough to blind someone to the simplicity of simple faith in Christ as our only atonement for sin.” The Roman Catholic doctrine promoting many ways to heaven with Christ being one of them plays well with other religions such as Unitarians, Buddhists, Hindus, and even some of the more liberal Christian denominations. Islam and Judaism would believe in one God, but neither believes that Jesus Christ is the only way to eternal life. And the Catholic Church under Pope John Paul II has made great inroads in promoting ecumenicalism between the various religions, especially Islam. In January 2002, John Paul II hosted a worldwide Day of Prayer for Peace in Assisi, Italy where testimonies were offered by representatives from the Orthodox Churches, the Anglican Communion, the Churches originated by the Reformation, Hinduism, the traditional African religions, Buddhism, Hebraism and the Islamic world. Prior to this, a similar meeting occurred at Assisi in 1986, in which 160 representatives of the world's religions were gathered at the behest of the Vatican. Lesser known but similar events occurred at Kyoto in 1987; Rome in 1988; Warsaw in 1989; Bari in 1990; Malta in 1991. These events were the first in the history of the Catholic Church that other religions were asked to pray alongside Catholic leadership for a single world concern, placing the pagan and false gods on equal footing with God the Father and Jesus Christ. Theologically, the Catholic Church taking the lead to pray for peace by inviting hundreds of representatives from other religions to participate could be a type and shadow of the one world religion as prophesied in Revelation and Daniel. Indeed, the anti-Christ initially will rise to power as a peace broker between Israel and the rest of the world as prophesied in Daniel 9:27, “Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week (7 years); but in the middle of the week (3 ½ years) he shall bring and end to sacrifice and offering.” Revelation 13:7-8 says, “And authority was given him over every tribe, tongue and nation. All who dwell on earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” Politically, the Catholic Church is also actively pursuing grounds of peaceful agreement with faiths other than Christianity. Pope John Paul II has consistently supported the Palestinian movement at Israel’s expense, bringing favorable responses from leaders of Islam. In February 2000, the Pope met with terrorist leader Yasser Arafat which resulted in an agreement between the Vatican and the Palestinian Liberation Organization. The Vatican agreed that Jerusalem's holy sites should be shared equally by Christianity, Judaism, and Islam; it called on Israel to give up its land to pre-1967 borders; and it declared “that an equitable solution for the issue of Jerusalem, based on international resolutions, is fundamental for a just and lasting peace in the Middle East, and that unilateral decisions and actions altering the specific character and status of Jerusalem are morally and legally unacceptable." These acts were not lost on Islamic terrorist organizations, which in a rare display of human decency, commemorated the Pope upon his death. Hamas officially mourned the Pope as a “great man of peace.” Palestinian Authority President Mohmaud Abbas and Prime Minister Ahmad Qurei said the Pope supported the establishment of a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital city. All this said to underscore the point that no modern church rivals the political power, the ecumenical base or the vast membership of the Roman Catholic Church which promotes a false Christianity and ostensibly stands in the stead of Jesus Christ. The Pope is called the Vicar of Christ. Vicar is defined as “one serving as a substitute.” Jesus said in Matthew 24:5, “For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many.” The Catholic Church, its doctrine, its Pope and its politics certainly bear a watchful eye as the world marches toward the end-times.

Cardinal Conclave to Select Next Pope Set April 18

April 7….(Fox News) The College of Cardinals will meet April 18 to begin the process of electing a new pope, the Vatican said Wednesday as final funeral arrangements for Pope John Paul II continued. Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said the late pope did not release the name of the cardinal he secretly appointed. He said the cardinals read John Paul's 15-page testament, written in Polish, and would release the text on Thursday. In preparation for the conclave, Navarro-Valls said cardinals would celebrate Mass at 10 a.m. on April 18, then be sequestered in the Sistine Chapel in the early afternoon. According to church law, prelates are expected to hold one ballot on the first day of a conclave. The date for the conclave was set on the third day of meetings of cardinals who have flocked to Rome for Friday's funeral and burial of John Paul. Navarro-Valls ruled out that the late pope's body might be brought to St. John Lateran basilica, across Rome, before it is buried, as was done for Pope Pius XII when he died in 1958. John Paul's spiritual testament, read Wednesday, was a 15-page document written in his native Polish over the course of his pontificate starting in 1979, a year after he was elected. It did not name the mystery cardinal he created in 2003, Navarro-Valls said, ending speculation that a last-minute cardinal might join in the April 18 start of the conclave. The reading of John Paul's testament was unlikely to influence the choice of the 117 cardinals who will cast ballots for the next head of the 1 billion-strong church. The number of cardinal electors under 80 and thus eligible to vote is 117, but only 116 will enter the conclave after the Philippines Embassy to the Holy See confirmed that Cardinal Jaime Sin, 76, was too ill to attend. Sin had been one of only three cardinal electors who also took part in the 1978 conclave to elect John Paul. The documents also did not reveal the name of a cardinal John Paul said he named in 2003 but never publicly identified, ending speculation that a last-minute cardinal might join the conclave. The name of the cardinal was held "in pectore," or "in the heart" — a formula that has been used when a pope wants to appoint a cardinal in a country where the church is oppressed. Navarro-Valls also said that with huge crowds already converging on Rome, the Vatican could not meet the requests — "by Romans and non-Romans" — for a viewing at what is Rome's cathedral. Instead, John Paul will be buried immediately after the funeral in the grotto under St. Peter's Basilica. In a major change to a centuries-old practice of electing a new pope, the Vatican has said it planned to ring bells in addition to sending up white smoke to announce that a new pope has been chosen. Black smoke coming from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel signals no decision has been made after a papal ballot, while white smoke means a pope has been elected.In the past, it has sometimes been hard to tell whether the smoke from the Vatican chimney was white or black. "This time we plan to ring the bells to make the election of the pope clearer," Archbishop Piero Marini said Tuesday. In another change from past papal elections, cardinals voting in the conclave will have access to all of Vatican City during the election, as opposed to being sequestered in the Sistine Chapel, Marini said.

Terror Cover-up in Texas City Oil Blast?

April 6….(WND) Within hours of the explosion of the Texas City oil refinery that killed 15 and injured more than 100, FBI officials were ruling out terrorism as a cause. While terrorism may have played no role in the March 24 BP plant blast, law-enforcement officials familiar with investigations of this kind tell Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin it would have been impossible to make such a snap determination based on facts. In fact, they point out that it was not until eight days after the deadly explosion that the first federal chemical and safety investigators even visited the blast site. Even local police have conducted little in the way of a probe – leaving all of the primary forensic investigation to BP officials, reports the premium, online, intelligence newsletter published by the founder of WND. Texas is a "federalized" state, meaning local law enforcement leaves investigations of this kind to federal agencies such as the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board, Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency. Local police say they don't have the expertise to investigate something like this explosion and they trust BP and other petrochemical companies to do the right thing up front. And yet, with so little scientific evidence available on the day of the explosion FBI agents ruled out terrorism as a cause, while admitted it would take federal regulators months to determine the cause. "How do you rule out one possibility when you don't have any idea what the cause is?" asked one federal investigator familiar with such disaster probes. The rush to deny terrorism as a possibility is reminiscent of FBI tactics surrounding the downing of TWA Flight 800 and the Oklahoma City bombing during the Clinton administration, said G2 Bulletin law enforcement sources. "That unwillingness to examine terrorism as a possibility back then may have contributed to the disaster of Sept. 11," said one source. At least two Islamic terrorist groups have attempted to take responsibility for the BP explosion in Texas City. But the FBI denies they had any involvement in the blast.

Greenspan: 'Price Frenzy' for Oil a Concern

April 6….(Financial Times) The strain of satisfying the world's appetite for energy is the worst in a generation and is creating a "price frenzy" with important effects on the economy, Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said yesterday. Record high prices for oil, gasoline and natural gas are forcing businesses and consumers to find ways to be more efficient and conserve fuel. Successful adjustments, particularly by the nation's 200 million drivers who consume 11 percent of the world's oil, will be critical to the health of the economy, he said in an address to the National Petrochemical and Refiners Association. The Fed chairman held out hope that oil prices will come down some as businesses increase their stockpiles of crude oil, in comments that helped to lower the price of premium crude by nearly $1 to $56.04 in New York trading yesterday.
    But he said that "inexorable" forces are driving prices higher as supplies have failed to increase in line with growing demand in the United States, China and elsewhere.
    Mr. Greenspan noted an array of sometimes disturbing developments that has conspired to constrain supplies. While for years improved technology enabled energy companies to get more oil and gas out of existing deposits, such techniques no longer suffice to raise supplies in the United States, he said. Meanwhile, oil-producing nations and corporations have been slow to invest the billions of dollars needed to open up new oil reserves and increase supplies, leading to a razor-thin cushion of surplus that has become a principal force in driving up prices, he said. Most of the world's remaining oil reserves are in countries that prohibit or tightly restrict development by Western oil companies, and where "major geopolitical uncertainties" have bottled up expansion of supplies in recent years, he said. While not mentioning them by name, Mr. Greenspan was referring to the insurgency in Iraq, which has blocked repair and expansion of Iraq's vast oil resources for the past two years, as well as political developments in Russia and Venezuela, which have slowed or stopped development of major reserves located there.
    The failure of these countries to make the needed investments is a major reason for elevated prices, he said. "Besides feared shortfalls in crude oil capacity, the status of world refining capacity has become worrisome as well," he said. Too few refiners are able to convert crude oil that is heavy with sulfur, about 80 percent of world oil supplies, into the clean, desulphurized gasolines required by environmental laws, he said. As with oil, efforts to find new supplies of natural gas in the United States and Canada are coming up dry, he said, making it necessary to create a global market for superfrozen liquefied gas imports that currently does not exist.

Bush to Pressure Israel Over West Bank Settlement Plan

April 6….(AP) President Bush has demanded Israel stop expanding Jewish settlements, as a plan to extend the largest West Bank settlement threatened to cloud his upcoming meeting with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. "Our position is very clear, that the road map is important. And the road map calls for no expansion of the settlements," Bush told reporters in Washington ahead of a meeting next Monday with Sharon at his ranch in Crawford, Texas. He said he would press Sharon to abide by a U.S.-backed peace plan which calls for "no expansion" of Jewish settlements. But Bush, who has backed Sharon's intention to retain large West Bank settlement blocs in a future peace deal with the Palestinians, stopped short of criticizing the Israeli leader. Sharon heightened White House concern over the plan to build 3,500 homes between the West Bank settlement of Maale Adumim and Jerusalem by telling a parliamentary committee on Monday that Maale Adumim should be linked to the holy city.  Palestinians fear the project would cut them off from the eastern part of the holy city which they want as the capital of their future state.

Iran: Pope Was too Close to 'Evil' Jews

April 6….(WND) Iran's government-sponsored media yesterday blasted Pope John Paul II for what it perceived as his closeness with Israel and the Jewish people, saying Israel should be considered an enemy of the church and not just of the Tehran regime. "Not only did the pope never condemn the crimes of the 'Zionist regime' in the territories, the Vatican officially recognized its existence," the official Jomhuri Islami newspaper said in an editorial. The paper claimed the worldwide expansion of Islam had been "a constant worry" for a pope who had been "compromised by the 'Zionist regime.'" Another Iranian newspaper, Hamshahri, accused John Paul of "caving in to pressure from the Jewish lobby" despite "Jewish responsibility for the death of Christ." Arab leaders have in the past expressed mixed feelings about the pontiff, who frequented the Middle East and was credited for galvanizing Christian minority communities in several Mideast countries, including Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, Syria, Israel and the Palestinian areas between 1997 and 2001. Egypt's Copts used John Paul's visits in part to demand equal rights and an end to targeted violence against their community. Copts, who constitute between 8 and 15 percent of Egypt's population, have long clashed with Muslim extremists. Analysts say Syrian and pro-Damascus Lebanese leaders were uneasy about the pontiff reaching out to Lebanon's large Maronite Catholic minority. Lebanese Christians and Muslims fought in the 1975-90 civil war. In 1995, John Paul invited Lebanese bishops to the Vatican where they called on Syria to withdraw its nearly 20,000 troops from their country. And the pope was blasted by Arab leaders when he traveled to Israel on a millennium pilgrimage, meeting survivors of the Nazi Holocaust at the Yad Vashem museum in Jerusalem and putting a prayer note into the Western Wall. But some Muslims have praised John Paul's outreach to the Islamic world. In 2001, he became the first pope to enter a Muslim place of worship, visiting the revered Omayyad Mosque in Damascus. He also met with leaders of Syria's non-Catholic churches. Although Israel and the Vatican have in the past had a stormy relationship, with many faulting Pope Pius XXII for not speaking out against Nazi war crimes, Israeli figures yesterday praised Pope John Paul II as a principled religious leader whose efforts helped bring Jews and Catholics together. Many pointed to his visit to the Holy Land in 2000 as an historic reconciliation between the two faiths. "The pope was a man of peace, a friend of the Jewish people, the world has lost one of the most important leaders of our time," said Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Meanwhile, alongside Iranian media criticisms, Iran's President Mohammed Khatami Monday described the pontiff as "a disciple of religious mysticism, philosophic deliberation and thought, and artistic and poetic creativity." Khatami said he felt a sense of "loss" from the pope's death, and recalled meeting with the pope in 1999 in the Vatican and talking about "world politics and (international) cooperation." Iran's anti-Israel eulogy of the pope has some concerned. As the US and Israel work to increase international pressure regarding Iran's nuclear ambitions, many are worried the Tehran regime might use pressure tactics against its Jewish community to ward off any upcoming action against Iran's suspected nuclear facilities. Iran has recently been increasing the level of anti-Israel and anti-Semitic incitement broadcast on its state-controlled media, monitors say. A television series ran in Iran in January depicting "evil" Jews eagerly stoning crucified Christians during the decline of the Roman Empire. The series, translated by Palestinian Media Watch, shows "stereotypically evil-looking Jews wearing prayer shawls who notice Christian crucifixions and bribe a Roman officer to permit them to stone Christians," reported PMW.

Americans Expect Nuclear Attack

April 6….(WND) While a new national poll finds 52 percent of Americans think a nuclear attack is likely by 2010, the author of a new book on the Iranian bomb says the threat posed by that regime is imminent. The survey, conducted by AP-Ipsos, found two-thirds of Americans believe no nation should have nuclear weapons – including the United States. The poll found 44 percent said they frequently or occasionally worry about a terrorist attack using nuclear weapons, while 55 percent said they rarely or never do.

World Net columnist Jerome Corsi, author of the newly released book, Atomic Iran: How the Terrorist Regime Bought the Bomb and American Politicians, published by WND Books, says he is "pushing the alarm button" as the nuclear threat posed to the United States and Israel is "imminent." Corsi believes that the greatest nuclear threat is posed by the Iranian regime. "Iran continues to display the characteristics of a rogue regime actively pursuing nuclear weapons, willing to both defy and deceive attempts at international control," he said. "Clearly stated, Iran has been playing the world for a fool."

Muslims Hail Pope's Efforts to Build Ties with Islam

April 4….(Reuters) Muslims around the world on Sunday praised the late Pope John Paul's drive to build bridges with Islam, saying his compassion and leadership changed their view of the Catholic Church. The Pope led a campaign over the past two decades to help turn conflict between the world's 1.1 billion Catholics and 1.2 billion Muslims into cooperation and visiting Syria in 2001 he became the first Pope officially to set foot in a mosque. "His role was vital in gathering people in the dialogue between Christians and Muslims," said Ali el-Samman, an adviser to the grand sheikh of Egypt's al-Azhar mosque and university. Palestinian and Afghan leaders commended the Pope's support of their people's desire for freedom, and clerics in Indonesia, Malaysia and Bangladesh hoped his successor would build on the Pope's efforts to strengthen ties of understanding with Islam. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called the Pope "a great religious figure who devoted his life to defending the values of peace, freedom, justice and equality for all races and religions, as well as our people's right to independence." Afghan President Hamid Karzai said: "We remember that during the years of Afghanistan's occupation by the Soviet Union, the Pope raised his voice of support to the Afghan people." President Hosni Mubarak of predominantly Sunni Muslim Egypt praised the Pope's "long journey of giving, during which he remained a symbol of love and peace and one who called for dialogue between religions." Iranian President Mohammad Khatami (FOJ Note: a man who has called for the destruction of Israel) said the Pope had commanded the three paths of religious learning, philosophical thought and poetic and artistic creativity. Muslims hope the Pope's successor will continue to tread the path of understanding between the two religions that he chalked out. A key event along this route was the Pope's 1986 invitation to Muslims and adherents of other faiths to pray together at Assisi for world peace. In Kuala Lumpur, Azizan Razak, a cleric and senior leader of the opposition Parti Islam-se Malaysia, said: "We hope his successor will follow his footsteps to increase understanding between Muslims and Christians." In Bangladesh, home to nearly 140 million Muslims, Moulana Obaidul Haque of the Baitul Mokarram national mosque, said the world had lost a great religious leader. "We hope his successor will also work for world peace," the cleric added. The Pope's vigorous opposition to the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 was widely appreciated in the Islamic world, Malaysian political analyst Chandra Muzaffar said. "

Rev. Gene Robinson: Jesus 'might be 'gay''

April 4….(WND) Episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson, the first openly homosexual bishop of his denomination, has angered traditionalist Anglicans by suggesting that Jesus Christ might have been homosexual. Robinson, who left his wife, and mother of his two daughters, to cohabit with his male lover, Mark, made his inflammatory remarks during an address titled, "Homosexuality and the Body of Christ: Is There a New Way?" at Christ Church of Hamilton and Wenham, Massachusetts. The bishop was asked by a congregant how Christians could both accept homosexuality and the Bible's emphasis on redemption for sins. "Interestingly enough, in this day of traditional family values," answered Robinson, "this man that we follow was single, as far as we know, traveled with a bunch of men, had a disciple who was known as 'the one whom Jesus loved' and said my family is not my mother and father, my family is those who do the will of God. None of us likes those harsh words. That's who Jesus is, that's who he was at heart, in his earthly life. "Those who would posit the nuclear family as the be all and end all of God's creation probably don't find that much in the gospels to support it," he concluded. "Rubbish," responds David Virtue who operates VirtueOnline, a website that bills itself as "the voice for global orthodox Anglicanism." "It is appalling deconstructionism from the liberal lobby which will spin even the remotest thing to turn it into a hint that Biblical figures are gay," says Virtue. "It is so utterly preposterous to imply that Jesus' relationship with John was homo-erotic, but twisting the truth is the only way these people can get scriptural justification for their lifestyles. Those of us who put scripture as a priority are called on to obey the scripture even when that is in conflict with our culture. Bishop Robinson is saying that the culture has moved in his direction and that it's all becoming accepted, so he's looking for ways to interpret scripture to support that instead of realizing that scripture asks us to do the unpopular thing and stand against the prevailing culture." Robinson's 2003 consecration created a schism in the Anglican church between liberals and traditionalists, causing some to suggest he should be "struck down by thunder and lightning bolts." In some cases, traditional congregations have sought to shift their affiliation with the worldwide Anglican communion from liberal American bishops to bishops in Africa where a conservative understanding of Biblical morality still dominates. Robinson, however remains undaunted by the criticism, saying he has reconciled his homosexuality and his faith. "God's light and God's life ooze over me like warm butter," he declares.

Pope John Paul II Dies

April 2….(Fox News) Pope John Paul II, the bold, humanitarian leader of the Roman Catholic Church, has died at 84. A tireless and outspoken campaigner for world peace and humanitarian causes, Pope John Paul II was the most traveled pontiff in history, criss-crossing the globe on missions that were often as political as they were religious. In his overseas journeys, the pope visited communist Cuba, Muslim Syria, India and war-torn Bosnia. A native of Poland, he played a crucial role in the downfall of communism in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. In the most significant papal trip, John Paul II became the first pope in history to officially visit Israel when he fulfilled a lifelong dream to tour the Holy Land and walk in the steps of Jesus Christ. The March 2000 pilgrimage through the Middle East broke down long-standing religious barriers and was a crowning moment in the pope's quest, throughout his 26-year papacy, to reconcile Christians and Jews. During his visit to Jerusalem, the pope spoke at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial before an audience that included then Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak. "I have come to pay homage to the millions of Jewish people who, stripped of everything, especially human dignity, were murdered in the Holocaust," the pope said. In 1998, the Vatican had formally apologized for the Roman Catholic Church's inaction during the Holocaust under Pope Pius XII. Pope John Paul II also visited and prayed in many Islamic mosques, and reached out to both Muslims and Jews, recalling the common thread they have in Abraham.

   Born Karol l Wojtyla in Wadowice, Poland on May 18, 1920, the future pope's early years were marked by personal suffering and tragedy. The son of a poor Polish soldier, he lost his mother at age 8, his brother at age 12 and his father at age 20. Following the 1978 death of Pope John Paul I after only 32 days as pontiff, Karol Cardinal Wojtyla was narrowly elected pope on October 16, 1978 and was officially installed on October 22, 1978 at age 58. Having taken the name John Paul II to honor his predecessor, he was the church's 264th pope and the first non-Italian pope in 455 years.

FOJ Note: It will be very interesting to see whom the Vatican selects as the next Pope. The identity of the next Pope may have a serious impact on the events of these Last Days. Many people have speculative ideas bout whether or not the next Pope will be the Antichrist. We will have to watch and see how these things play out in the coming weeks and months. Personally, I believe Rome will look to someone as the next Pope who can impact the Middle East, and the Israeli-Arab Conflict in the same fashion that John Paul II had in impacting the fall of the Soviet Communist system.

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