Quote: "Twenty MPs from all parties, including Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond, signed the Commons motion a day after the BBC correspondent's release. It says Hamas's "pivotal role" in ending his kidnap shows it should join Palestinian reconciliation efforts.

According to former Palestinian Authority Prime Minister, Ismail Haniyeh, the British government's contacts with the terrorist organization in regards to the BBC reporter's incarceration, was what really tipped the balance in favour of Johnston's release. This whole story reminds me of the abduction of the British naval patrol by the Iranian coastguard, and subsequent release by President Ahmadinejad - which was presented as a "gift" to the British people. That was a propaganda exercise aimed at weakening Britain's resolve to stop the Iranian nuclear programme. Far from moderating his ideologies, the President has continued his threats against the Jewish state. And despite talk of peace agreements, like their Iranian masters, I believe Hamas will ultimately re-embark on its stated goal, the destruction of the "Zionist regime".

Source BBC, Haaretz

Americans’ confidence in organized religion and other institutions is down across the board compared to last year, a recent Gallup poll found.

Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;”
— 2Thessalonians 2:3

North American Aliyah (immigration to Israel) will reach a 25-year record high this year, with immigrants arriving on twelve flights this summer.

Al-Zawahiri says in the message that the defeat of the West is imminent, and that "the enemy" is trying to forestall the inevitable, Mansfield said. "The good omens of the new dawn of victory have begun to loom on the horizon, with Allah's permission and will," he says.

My favourite Christian hymn is the King's Business. That's what I call it anyway, as I don't know its proper title. It gives me such hope and encouragement when I feel down and discouraged, for it reminds me that as a Christian, I serve another King and am a representative of another Country. Of course that Country is heaven, as the Bible states in Philippeans 3:20 and Hebrews 11:16. The words of that hymn are as follows.

I am a stranger here, within a foreign land;
My home is far away, upon a golden strand;
Ambassador to be of realms beyond the sea,
I'm here on business for my King.

This is the message that I bring,
A message angels fain would sing:
"Oh, be ye reconciled,"
Thus saith my Lord and King,
"Oh, be ye reconciled to God."

The theme of the song is taken from 2nd Corinthians 5:20, which states that we are ambassadors for Christ. That is, we have been sent by the Lord Jesus Christ into the world to be witnesses in His place, and as Paul states, the message that we bring is "be ye reconciled to God". I hope that the Lord would help me to be a greater witness and more faithful ambassador for Him, for I fall so far short of what that should be. But today I felt like drawing a picture on the computer of what goes through my head when listening to the first verse of that chorus being sung. It's not really that good, as I haven't spent a lot of time on it. But it's a picture of the heavenly country, to which I now belong, a land beyond the sea, where there is no night and where the King of that place wipes away all tears from their eyes.

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