The Palestinian Papers

[trottigy]

They will put that fire out, just like Iran did.

[mustardSeed]

I don't know whether or not this has anything to do with progress towards the last days - I won't speculate as the brothers have advised - but even so I believe this will spark renewed and increased violence against Jews in various parts of the world (in the US Jews are on the receiving and of over half of all hate crimes according to the FBI)

...yep, same ole same ole. been this way for way to long...!"

[Dages]

I do not think that to study the Muslim world is really useful.

We know that the prophecy are connected with the governments of this world (The beast, the king of the north, etc...), not the religions (Babylon is just going to be destroyed).

So, all this trouble about Islam, now, is, IN MY OPINION, connected with the fact that, at one moment, the world will be fed up with religion.

[Poly Ester]

I do not think that to study the Muslim world is really useful.

We know that the prophecy are connected with the governments of this world (The beast, the king of the north, etc...), not the religions (Babylon is just going to be destroyed).

So, all this trouble about Islam, now, is, IN MY OPINION, connected with the fact that, at one moment, the world will be fed up with religion.

Yes I agree completely, this is just setting the scene and will add fuel to the fire..........all adding up to the time when Babylon the Great is destroyed.

It is unhealthy to study Islam etc too deeply, we should instead be probing into the deep things of God and strengthening ourselves for the future onslaught that will come our way soon.

[Corvus]

Well I am going to have to disagree with quite a few of you and I do so with the utmost respect - I do not consider it a good on my part to be uninformed of what is happening out there in the world. We are told by Jesus that we must stay awake and be on the watch for his return and, in my opinion, we cannot do that by burying our heads in the sand and saying "it will soon be destroyed, I don't need to know about them". That may be fine for you brothers, and I respect your decision to do so and do not criticise you for it, but I cannot do that I need to see what is happening. We are in the last days and each day brings us closer to the time when Christ will return and judge the peoples of the earth and we are in the darkest part of the night.

As for the book Mankind's Search for God the Society provided us with a well researched tome, but it is not a comprehensive study of any given religion and it is not sufficient to provide accurate details about these religions. It is a good place to start but it is a bad place to finish, not because the Society is wrong but because, as I said, it is not a comprehensive study.

The Society may not think that Islam plays a large part in the end and that they are merely another false religion but I cannot shake the niggling feeling that they will play a much bigger part in Babylon the Great as time goes on while at the same time Christendom will continue to decline in the very countries that were once its stronghold. Islam is not merely another pagan religion, it claims to believe in Jesus and all the prophets of the Bible but denies that Jesus is the Son of God and that he died for our sins and it denies that the Bible is the true word of God and instead substitutes a new revelation, the Qur'an. It therefore stands beside Christendom and the unfaithful Hebrews as corrupters of God's word by claiming to follow Jesus and Jehovah but denying what God commanded through his Son. For this very reason I believe we need to know and understand what it teaches in the same way that we have observed and understood Christendom because unlike the pagans who have never claimed to follow Jehovah, Christendom and Islam are both claiming to serve Jehovah but are corrupting his truth and twisting it.

I do have full respect your decision not to study Islam in depth and I hope you will have respect for my wanting to understand what they are about and what they teach. I do not think Islam is irrelevant and I do think that they will play a far bigger part in the future than we have given them credit for and I believe this because they claim to follow and worship the same God we do and are not pagans. I am not running ahead of the Society on this, I am merely keeping an eye on a part of Satan's system that claims to follow Jehovah and will soon comprise over a quarter of the world's population.

[bohemian]

West London is an amazing mix of races/religions/languages and it can present a real challenge in the ministry.

Our congregation has attached to it an Arabic language group (not far from being another congregation) and you will readily appreciate that as they preach to Arabic-speakers, they encounter many of the Islamic faith. One of my neighbours is a Muslim, many local taxidrivers are also Muslim, and there is a large Somali Muslim community.

It is important to have an idea of their beliefs if we are to be able to engage with them in conversation and attempt to witness to them. In fact, I would welcome suggestions along those lines. My recent discussions with my neighbour have shown that they misinterpret the Bible and then assume that Christians believe their misinterpretation - ergo Christians are in error! He had never spoken to a Witness before, so was shocked when many of his statements as to my belief did not match my beliefs. He still took exception to the phrase "only-begotten", insisting that this has reference to some sort of sexual relationship resulting in Christ's birth.

I certainly do not feel that I need a detailed history of Islam and its schisms (any more than the schismatic history of Christendom) in order to carry out Jesus' commission to preach the good news to them.

[jeremy]

True what Christopher says about having some understanding on other beliefs, and I think there is a fair amount of that research material available in our publications. And our publications do reference secular works so, by all means if one feels like learning more, then go ahead. With care!! True also what Christopher says about their misunderstandings of our religion as I think they lump us with Christendom. When talking to these ones in the field and day to day conversation over here, they are literally shocked and confused when I tell them I don't believe in a trinity, christmas etc etc.

As far as making deeper study of history goes, I've never had a personal interest in this area of history. I like local history more as a personal interest. Some may like to research about the pyriamids, coins and so on. We all have our particular interests, and particular levels too. For me, what our publications give as historic background on the Caliphs etc is good enough for me, but some enjoy making a deeper study of these things and good for them. In a sense I envy them because I just battle to get my head around half of it like a mental block, but, I have no doubt in my mind that the faithful and discreet slave has made a very careful study of the history and current status of all things going on in this world and what they have provided in the publications is what they think is best for the majority of its readers up till now. And we know they only do what is best for us. So with that in mind, and if the conversation is to continue, lets all please keep it tidy as far as the organisation goes.

[Dages]

I do not forget that the SLAVE gives us the food at the good time... so, if we do not have this kind of food about Islam, there is maybe no real NEED for it by NOW. ;)

We received a brochure, at the last DC, about Islam and the way we can preach with them : nothing about Coran/Bible difference... all the point was about the BIBLE and its message. :bible:

But... indeed... nothing prevent us to do more personnal research...

[sianrose]

Turmoil in Egypt Could Bolster Hamas

RAMALLAH, West Bank—The turmoil in Egypt looks set to bolster the militant Islamic group Hamas in its rivalry with the U.S.-backed Palestinian Authority, especially if Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood gains influence as part of a future government in Cairo.

President Hosni Mubarak, whose 30-year hold on power is teetering after a week of mass demonstrations, has been a key regional patron for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. He has helped mediate negotiations with Israel, and served as an important ally against Hamas since it took control of the Gaza Strip three years ago.

If the wave of protests against Mr. Mubarak ends up strengthening the Muslim Brotherhood, some predict it will create a significant shift in the balance in favor of Hamas–-an offshoot of the Egyptian Islamic group—potentially consolidating its control in Gaza and helping it to gain more support in the West Bank. It could also give Hamas an upper hand in talks to reconcile its split with the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank.

full article

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703439504576116012749401834.html

[Corvus]

It's not just Hamas that would be benefited here - all of the terrorist groups and terror supporting nations will win greater power if Mubarack falls. We see here that the Muslim Brotherhood, the granddaddy of all modern terror groups is calling for Egypt to cut off gas to Israel and to prepare their army for war against Israel. If they gain any power in a new government they may be restrained from starting a war but an Egypt with Muslim Brotherhood in government even as a minor party would be unstable and make the region highly unstable. What is interesting is that this ElBaradei is deeply involved in the mess there and he has strong ties to Iran, it is alleged that he often turned a blind eye to what Iran was doing and told the UN that they were doing nothing when it was quite clear they are pursuing a nuclear weapons programme (Iran sits atop a vast sea of gas that would provide fuel for gas driven power plants for many decades.

Meanwhile in Yemen the protests are continuing as are small protests in Jordan and Anonymous who helped spark these protests in Egypt and Tunisia have turned their attention to Algeria (they call it Operation Algeria) and hope to force the Algerian government to remove all censorship or be overthrown so we could see unrest over there in the near future. The danger of this is that there is a large and fairly powerful Al Qaeda branch calling itself Al Qaeda in the Islamic Margreb operating over there, they have kidnapped and executed a number of people over the years and would benefit immensely from the current government falling, perhaps gaining yet another stronghold to join Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia.

[Corvus]

Here's a video of protesters in Egypt telling us why they want the current government of Egypt gone:

They say it is because Mubarack has made peace with Israel and with him gone they believe they can declare war on Israel and "free" the "Palestinians".

As a matter of interest, we can see the same thing being called for in the US by groups such as unionists, Code Pink and other leftist organisations:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVknXIVMp80&feature=player_embedded

[trottigy]

It's not just Hamas that would be benefited here - all of the terrorist groups and terror supporting nations will win greater power if Mubarack falls. We see here that the Muslim Brotherhood, the granddaddy of all modern terror groups is calling for Egypt to cut off gas to Israel and to prepare their army for war against Israel. If they gain any power in a new government they may be restrained from starting a war but an Egypt with Muslim Brotherhood in government even as a minor party would be unstable and make the region highly unstable. What is interesting is that this ElBaradei is deeply involved in the mess there and he has strong ties to Iran, it is alleged that he often turned a blind eye to what Iran was doing and told the UN that they were doing nothing when it was quite clear they are pursuing a nuclear weapons programme (Iran sits atop a vast sea of gas that would provide fuel for gas driven power plants for many decades.

Meanwhile in Yemen the protests are continuing as are small protests in Jordan and Anonymous who helped spark these protests in Egypt and Tunisia have turned their attention to Algeria (they call it Operation Algeria) and hope to force the Algerian government to remove all censorship or be overthrown so we could see unrest over there in the near future. The danger of this is that there is a large and fairly powerful Al Qaeda branch calling itself Al Qaeda in the Islamic Margreb operating over there, they have kidnapped and executed a number of people over the years and would benefit immensely from the current government falling, perhaps gaining yet another stronghold to join Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia.

Who knows maybe that is the very spark needed to start a small scale war - so afterwards the world can finally declare "Peace and Security"! It does seem highly unlikely that Israel is going to do anything without some MAJOR prompting to agree to any peace deal.

Or perhaps, this will move them to get rid of all Religions the very center of most of these conflicts. And then declare Peace and Security. Well, no matter what, we live in exciting times!