Spencer: Obama Does Things His way - to the Benefit of Islam

A terrorism expert says Barack Obama didn't seem to care about violating the law earlier this year when he authorized the swap of five Taliban leaders for an Army sergeant who had been held prisoner in Afghanistan for five years.

In May, the White House released five senior Taliban terrorists from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in exchange for Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl, who had disappeared in 2009. Under exchange terms, the terrorists are supposed to remain in Qatar for a year.

Now the Government Accountability Office says the Defense Department's failure to notify the relevant congressional committees at least 30 days in advance of the exchange broke the law. The GAO also says the Pentagon's use of funds to conduct the transfer, when no money was available, was a violation of the Anti-Deficiency Act, legislation that bars spending by agencies above the amount of money that Congress has obligated.

Robert Spencer, director of Jihad Watch, says President Obama doesn't seem to have any concern for the proper procedures.

"When it's something that is in favor of Islam and in favor of the global jihad, Barack Obama does not hesitate to disregard established procedures ... to disregard rights of the legislative branch, and to do everything he needs to do to give the jihadis what they want," he observes.

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How a Muslim in Canada is Working with Jews to Save Christians in the Middle East

Kasim Hafeez understands hate. Growing up with a father who believed “Hitler was a great man whose one mistake was that he did not kill enough Jews,” the British-born Muslim of Pakistani descent has experienced firsthand how an innocent child becomes an Islamist dedicated to the death and destruction of those who are different.

Hafeez, who intended to become a Jihadist, was “saved” after reading The Case for Israel by Alan Dershowitz and then taking a trip to the Jewish State to justify his life by proving the Harvard professor wrong.
“I’m standing with my head against the Western Wall, and for me it was like a moment of silence in my own mind,” he said.  “I experienced this moment of clarity.  I’ve met people of all colors, races and religions who are happy here, who are content here.  And for years I’ve spread poison about wanting to murder these people. How wrong have I got it, how much have I messed up!”
Hafeez is now a self-proclaimed “Muslim Zionist” on a mission to tell his story and work to save his Jewish brothers and sisters, as well as all minorities under attack in the Middle East. With the support of the pro-Israel education group StandWithUs, Hafeez travels the country telling his story, educating anyone who will listen about the realities the civilized world faces from radical Islam.
But for Hafeez, that isn’t good enough.

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Islamic State More Dangerous than Nazism

A displaced Yazidi woman looks out from an abandoned house where she is taking refuge in the Turkish town of Silopi 

CHRISTIANS are being murdered, tortured, raped, beaten, burnt alive in their homes and churches, killed in bomb attacks, imprisoned and driven from their homes on a daily basis.

They are being subjected to the greatest persecution in the history of their faith, but the world continues to treat this epic attack on human rights as a story of small importance.

A booklet was sent to me the other day by an organisation called Church in Chains. A map of the world in the booklet shows that Christians are being persecuted, with varying degrees of brutality, in roughly half of Africa and most of Asia.

It is not just Christians who are being persecuted, of course. So are other religious minorities. North Korea, which is officially atheistic, will crack down on Buddhists and Christians with equal ferocity.

However, it is generally accepted that Christianity is now the most persecuted religion on the planet, but the chronic under-reporting of what is happening means almost no one knows.

Christians in places such as Pakistan, northern Nigeria, Syria and - of course - Iraq are twice over victims of being associated with the West.

In those countries, they are seen as agents of the West and therefore as deeply suspect. And we in the West also associate them with Western Christianity, and therefore refuse to see them as oppressed minorities because Christianity ruled the West for so long.

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It’s Time for Muslim Leaders to Speak up

AUSTRALIA has been forced to rapidly recalibrate its response to the threat of Islamist terrorism over the past few months. International intelligence failed to predict the speed with which the extremist Islamic State has swept through parts of Syria and Iraq.
Forces from the US, the UK, France, Australia, Kurds and some Iraqis are racing to prevent the Islamist psychopaths slaughtering the remnant 30,000-member Yazidi community on Mt Sinjar in northern Iraq in an act of genocide.
It is estimated as many as 150 young Australians have joined the ranks of the Islamic State murderers. They thrive on publicity and will certainly not be named here, despite their notoriety.
US President Barack Obama’s decision to withdraw all troops from Iraq was undoubtedly the major contributing factor to this humanitarian catastrophe.

Continued.

Is Jesus Unique? Ravi Zacharias on How to Answer the 'Are All Religions the Same' Question

Jesus was always being asked questions. He also answered people with questions. And questions about whether Jesus is unique are not new.

For example, when faced with Jesus on trial, Pilate the Roman governor represents all the political and religious tension of the time in his question in John 18:33: "Are you the king of the Jews?"
Pilate is in this immense conflict within himself. Something within him is prompting him to say that this trial is a charade. But he's trapped between the political manoeuvring of Rome and the Jewish authorities he's subjugating. And he asks the crucial question: Who is Jesus? Is he unique?

We often hear that all religions are the same, but this is not true. They are superficially the same, but they are fundamentally different.

How is Jesus different? There are a number of ways:
Fundamental is Jesus' description of the human condition. He talks of the alienation of the human heart by being separated from God. He says that the heart is in rebellion against God: so deep is this, that morality alone cannot solve it. It goes beyond mere good vs bad. The heart is in need of something greater than just pulling ourselves up by our moral bootstraps.

Second, Jesus offers a unique solution to the problem. The provision he gives for you and me is absolutely unique, and it is not cheap. It is the cross. That's why you will find an Easterner, when they come to Jesus Christ, literally sobbing and sobbing and sobbing, because they have felt the anguish of what sin is. Their recognition of the graciousness of forgiveness is very, very unique. Islam says, to get to heaven your good deeds will have to outweigh your bad. In other words, you pay. When Christ comes and says to you and me that he is offering forgiveness and doing so through the payment of his life on the cross, it is an extraordinary truth. The Bible says that we need a Saviour and we need forgiveness.

There is only one place in the world where love, forgiveness and justice come together: justice was being revealed, love was being demonstrated and forgiveness was being offered. That is on the cross of calvary. Jesus Christ claimed to be the way, the truth and the life because he is what the absolute truth really is. Repentance is an anguished moment, but your tears are wiped away with the joy of forgiveness. This truth of Christ's grace is unique.

Thirdly, Jesus was unique in that he had no sin. Even Pilate said, "I find no fault in this man".

Finally, the resurrection is the ultimate demonstration of his uniqueness. Jesus shows that he is the Son of God through his rising from the dead. And, through his death and resurrection, Jesus conquered through evil, not in spite of it. It shows that there is a hope that comes from beyond the grave.

This is a precis of a talk given to the Keswick Convention 2014. The audio is available free here and will be summarised in a BBC Radio 4 broadcast on 24 August.
Keswick's mission is to unite with Christians around the world to commit to three big priorities for our lives and churches – hearing God's Word, becoming like God's Son, and fulfilling God's mission.

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