Living Journey

UN Rights Council to Absolve Cuba and Belarus; Israel Facing Permanent Indictment:

Dictators Fidel Castro of Cuba and Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus will be celebrating the UN Human Rights Council’s likely adoption tomorrow of a new reform package that will see both regimes dropped from a blacklist, while Israel is placed under permanent indictment.

Contrary to all the promises of reform issued last year, the proposal released today by Council President Luis Alfonso de Alba targets Israel for permanent indictment under a special agenda item: “Human rights situation in Palestine and other occupied Arab territories,” which includes “Human rights violations and implications of the Israeli occupation of Palestine and other occupied Arab territories“; and “Right to self-determination of the Palestinian people.” No other situation in the world is singled out — not genocide in Sudan, not child slavery in China, nor the persecution of democracy dissidents in Egypt and elsewhere. Moreover, the council’s one-sided investigative mandate of “Israeli violations of international law” is the only one without a set term, to be renewed “until the end of the occupation.” @UN Watch

Meanwhile…

Sadly, despite having some promise on paper, the new Council has not been an improvement over the much-derided Commission. In some ways, it has even been worse. Members are supposed to be elected based on their human rights records, yet the Council includes persistent violators, and after the upcoming elections is expected to include several more. It is supposed to objectively and non-selectively promote and protect human rights worldwide, yet it has ignored the world’s worst abusers while repeatedly condemning only one country in the entire world—Israel. It is supposed to strengthen the UN’s human rights mechanisms, yet threatens now to erode the system and eliminate many of the independent experts.

In this report, we assess the 2006-2007 Council’s record by considering those votes and actions that were the most significant to Council stakeholders. These include most prominently resolutions addressing specific countries, as well as other resolutions implicating bedrock democratic principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Our analysis shows that, although slightly more than half of the Council’s 47 members are free democracies, only a minority of these countries—about a dozen—have consistently voted in defense of the values and principles that the Council is supposed to promote. Instead, the body has been dominated by an increasingly brazen alliance of repressive regimes seeking not only to spoil needed reforms but to undermine the few meaningful mechanisms of UN human rights protection that already exist. Their goal is impunity for systematic abuses. @UN Watch

So therefore…

Libya Candidate to Head UN Anti-Racism Panel:

The government of Libya was chosen for the 15-member governing bureau of a UN anti-racism conference to be held in Geneva later this month, and is a candidate to be its Chair. The Human Rights Council’s five regional groups also named Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Russia to the bureau of the conference charged with preparing a 2009 gathering that will follow up on the controversial Durban conference of 2001. Also declaring its candidacy for the Chair position is Armenia—hardly a paragon of virtue, except by comparison. Simply put, choosing Colonel Kaddafi to head a world anti-racism conference would be like appointing a pyromaniac to be town fire chief. How can a regime that consistently ranks as one of the most notorious violators of human rights—that sentenced to death five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor only because they were foreigners and therefore easy scapegoats—be charged with promoting fundamental principles of human dignity and equality? @UN watch

The Hypocrisy continues…

And now some a calling for the UN Headquarters to be allocated to somewhere else…

How does Iraq (Old Testament Babylon) sound to you? Now if that doesn’t raise some prophetic alarm bells… Keep a very close eye on this!

Having the UN headquarters in Iraq, and considering how much the UN is against Israel, opens up a can of worms for that tiny state. The city of Babylon could very well be the center of a world system which will be supported by a world religious system of some sort, this would truly be amazing to the whole globe.

Iraq was a part of the ancient world and was represented by the image of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream. This image will be standing is some form again when Christ comes. When the stone strikes the image on its toes, the whole image crumbles. (Read Daniel)

To see what kind of king ruled Babylon, you must read Daniel. Nebuchadnezzar was one of the kings that ruled Babylon and this king is an anti-type of the anti-Christ. Anti, meaning in place of. When we read about this king it gives us an insight to the rise of unified world power and an insight to what kind of kingdom will be set up and what kind of king will rule this unholy man-made kingdom. Nebuchadnezzar made an image of Gold that was 6 cubits high and 6 cubits broad, all were to bow down and worship this image, Daniel and two others did not bow down (See Daniel 3). Not only that but this king had a dream of a statue that resembled all the kingdoms of the earth.

I am not going to debate about who or what this “Mystery Babylon” represents as many well known scholars that I have great respect for have different views. But I will say this… I know that prophecy will be fulfilled exactly as the scriptures dictate, and when it does come to pass, the world will be amazed and in wonder at the rise of this “Mystery Babylon”, that will include my own amazement and the amazement of others who have studied this “Harlot”. (see Revelation 17)

For my part, I will sit and wait for the revealing, as it will become abundantly clear as time continues to prophetically unfold before our very eyes.

And talking about unfolding….

There is an alliance being formed as we speak, one that Ezekiel predicted. Iran and Russia.

Interestingly, Russia being described as Gog in the Ezekiel prophecy, seems to be pulled into this unusual alliance by being hooked in by its jaw.

Eze 38:3-5 And say, So says the Lord Jehovah: Behold, I am against you, O Gog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal.
And I will turn you back and put hooks into your jaws. And I will bring you and all your army out: horses and horsemen, all of them clothed most perfectly; a great assembly with buckler and shield, all of them swordsmen. Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya are with them, all of them with shield and helmet;
I never really understood this but some are saying that this relationship between Russia and Persia — Modern day Iran — is an unwitting one at that. Russia being pulled into it by the hooking of its jaws. For more on this coming battle from the North see the website called “The Global Vision Channel” and from there go to the menu options and a title called ‘Bible Prophecy and the End Times’ then click on ‘War in the Middle East’ by J J Prasch.

Update: Just thought that the following was interesting

BABYLON IN BIBLE PROPHECY
The subject of “Babylon” in Bible prophecy is indeed a fascinating study. Babylon is mentioned 286 times in the Bible of which 12 usages are found in the New Testament - six of those in the Book of Revelation. The word “Babel” is used twice in Genesis 10:10 and 11:9. Most of the references in the Bible (definitely not all!) refer to the massive and beautiful city of the neo-Babylonian period (625-539 BC). With its “Hanging Gardens” and massive walls it has been regarded as one of the “Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.”

The Greek historian Herodotus (484-425 BC) reported upon visiting the site that its splendor surpassed any city of the known world. It was also the capital of the 18th century BC King Hammurabi, and was known throughout history as a great center of culture and religion. It was Nebuchadnezzar II (605-562 BC) who brought Babylon to its glory as it was called “The Palace of Heaven and Earth, the Seat of Kingship.” In Daniel 4:30 we read of Nebuchadnezzar’s boasting: “Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of my kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honor of my majesty?” Of course, he was judged by God for that arrogance!

Ancient Babylon covered an area of over 1000 acres making it the largest city of the ancient world, some 15% larger than the great Assyrian city Nineveh. Babylon had 1179 temples and a population of over 100,000 people but could have easily handled over 250,000 people. The famous “Ishtar Gate” was 70 feet high and its arched opening 15 feet wide.

Babylon’s most significant temple was Esagila (”the temple that raises its head”) and was supposedly the home of the god Marduk. According to cuneiform documents the temple was surrounded by an enclosure of about 1410 feet by 720 feet and housed over 50 other temples and shrines. It is interesting to read Jeremiah’s comment in Jeremiah 50:38: “It is a land of graven images, and they are mad upon their idols.” Over 6000 figures (idols) were uncovered in the excavations of ancient Babylon with over 10 major altars in the city. There were 180 open-air shrines for Ishtar (goddess of sex and fertility) and 200 identifiable places for other deities.

Adjacent to the Temple of Esagila was the tower or ziggurat named Etemenanki - called “the foundation house of heaven and earth.” It measured about 300 feet square at the base and rose in seven stages to a height of 300 feet. It could very well have been reconstructed and restored from the original “Tower of Babel” mentioned in Genesis 11. The Babylonians believed it was built by the gods. From the air, about 24 of these ziggurats are visible across the Mesopotamian Valley.

The interesting thing about this ancient city of Babylon is that it pictures or illustrates a global empire of politics and religion that will infiltrate all the nations of the world. In Bible prophecy, there is usually a “near and far” aspect to what is being said. That is, a “near” prophecy about the historical time being presented by the biblical passage, but within it, predictions about a “far” future, often connected with the phrase “the Day of the Lord” - a phrase used 25 times and referring to the future tribulation coming to planet earth.

Revelation 17 and 18 pictures “Babylon the Great” has a woman riding a beast with seven heads, and ten horns on the 7th head. The “woman” is called a “mystery” and a “mother” of all kinds of abominations and harlots. Bible prophecy teachers have continued throughout church history to disagree over the meaning and interpretation of the term “Babylon the Great.” Is it referring to a literal rebuilt city at the same location? Or is it an allegorical term referring to a global religious system that will dominate the end time events? Time will tell! God bless you. @Hope For Today