Friday, October 03, 2014

"an angel of God coming in to him" - A Suicide Bombing Analysis




Around the National Diet Bldg. and the Imperial Palace, Tokyo




A Suicide Bombing Analysis

The world is crazy to just helplessly watch so many suicide bombing attacks in the Middle East.
A Report on Suicide Bombings in 2013

INSS Insight No. 507, January 14, 2014
Yotam Rosner , Einav Yogev , Yoram Schweitzer
Between the start of suicide bombings in the recent past, carried out by Hizbollah in Lebanon in the early 1980s, and the beginning of the twenty-first century, some 200 suicide attacks took place around the world. A dramatic increase in suicide terrorism around the world began in early 2000, and overall some 3,500 suicide attacks have taken place over the last three decades.

http://www.inss.org.il/index.aspx?id=4538&articleid=6408

Suicide Bombings in Afghanistan, Pakistan Have Soared in Decade Since 9/11
September 7, 2011 - 4:37 AM

According to the ICM data the decade’s total for Pakistan is 4,681 people killed in 289 suicide attacks.

Afghanistan has followed a similar trend: Between 2001 and 2004, six suicide attacks occurred, at the cost of 12 lives; in 2005 the number of attacks climbed to 17 (39 fatalities) and in 2006 it soared to 136 attacks (272 people killed).

One hundred and eighty-three people were killed in 116 suicide attacks in 2007; 725 died in 146 attacks in 2008: 140 attacks in 2009 killed 1,054 people; and in 2010, 1,141 people were killed in 140 attacks.

The first eight months of this year have brought 35 suicide attacks, and 329 deaths, with July and August particularly deadly months. The latest such attack, targeting a private security firm in Kandahar province, took place on Sunday.

The total for Afghanistan over the decade since 9/11 is 736 suicide attacks, and 3,755 lives lost.

http://cnsnews.com/news/article/suicide-bombings-afghanistan-pakistan-have-soared-decade-911

16/09/2014 13:37
Statistical security: more than 2000 Arabic blew himself up in Iraq

BAGHDAD / obelisk: a senior security source revealed on Tuesday that the statistical security readied for a number of suicide bombers who blew themselves Arabs in Iraq, confirming they were in 2145, among the ten countries they represent.
The source said in an interview for "obelisk", "The number of Palestinians who Fajjua their bodies in Iraq 1201 Palestinians, while the total number of Saudis who Fajjua their bodies 300 Saudis in Iraq." 
The source, who asked not to be named, said that "the Syrians Bulbg 200 bombers Syria, while the total number of Yemenis who Fajjua their bodies in Iraq 250 Yemenis."
He continued, "either from Tunisia, the number of suicide bombers, 44 people, while a suicide bomber blew himself up 90 Egyptian nationals."
He also said, "as a suicide bomber blew himself up 40 Libyan nationals, while the statistical security showed that 20 bomber carrying nationalities and the United Arab Emirates and Qatar Bahrain".
The source added that "these statistics include the number of Arab suicide bombers who blew themselves up in different areas in Iraq in 2014," noting that "suicide bombers, representing ten Arab countries."

http://dinarvets.com/forums/index.php?/topic/186818-statistical-security-more-than-2000-arabic-blew-himself-up-in-iraq/


List of terrorist incidents in Iraq since 2003 
2003: 25 suicide bombings[edit]
In 2003, the United States military invaded Iraq. There were 25 suicide bombings executed by 32 attackers over the course of the year. 
2004: 140 suicide bombings[edit]
In 2004, the number of suicide bombings increased dramatically. Iraq saw heavy combat at the violent First and Second Battles of Fallujah. 
2005: 478 suicide bombings[edit]
In 2005, Iraq held its first elections since the fall of the Saddam Hussein regime. Meanwhile, suicide bombings spiked, with 478 suicide bombings over the course of the year. 
2006: 297 suicide bombings[edit]
In 2006, sectarian strife dominated Iraq, although the overall number of suicide bombings fell. The deadliest attack of the war to that point occurred on November 23 in Sadr City. 
2007: 442 Suicide Bombings[edit]
In 2007, the United States executed the Iraq War troop surge of 2007. Meanwhile, 442 suicide bombings occurred, one of the highest yearly total since the war began. 
2008: 257 Suicide Bombings[edit]
In 2008, following the troop surge, the number of suicide bombings dropped somewhat, with 257 attacks occurring. 
2009: 76 Suicide Bombings[edit] 
In 2009, 76 suicide bombings occurred – the fewest since 2003. On June 30, 2009, American troops formally withdrew from Iraqi cities and towns, handing over control to Iraqi security forces. The United States is now the only foreign nation with troops in Iraq, following Australia's July 2009 withdrawal.
2010: 44 Suicide Bombings[edit]
In 2010, 44 suicide bombings have occurred.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_terrorist_incidents_in_Iraq_since_2003#Post_American_pull-out
But it is not only due to the American War on Terror that has brought about this crazy incidents, but also due to the Israeli policy to defend itself from some Arabs.
Suicide and Other Bombing Attacks in Israel Since the Declaration of Principles (Sept 1993)

http://www.mfa.gov.il/mfa/foreignpolicy/terrorism/palestinian/pages/suicide%20and%20other%20bombing%20attacks%20in%20israel%20since.aspx

However, even the situation in Israel seems to be influenced and aggravated by the 9/11 Terror and the subsequent War on Terror.

Indeed, so ominously the 21st century or the third millennium began with the 9/11 Terror on the US, though the causes of it could be traced back to the 1990 to 1991 Gulf War or further to the Soviet War in Afghanistan (1978-1989) and the Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988).

Otherwise, it could be traced back to the wars having been fought by Israel in 1948, 1956, 1967, and 1973.

In a future history textbook, these suicide bombings could be interpreted as an ill omen to a large scale of tragedy that is to fall on mankind.

We have to stop them for real.  The God must be highly angry.

So, at least all the Judaists, Christians, and Muslims should be called to account.



*** *** *** ***




Act 10:3 He saw in a vision evidently about the ninth hour of the day an angel of God coming in to him, and saying unto him, Cornelius.
Act 10:4 And when he looked on him, he was afraid, and said, What is it, Lord? And he said unto him, Thy prayers and thine alms are come up for a memorial before God.
Act 10:5 And now send men to Joppa, and call for one Simon, whose surname is Peter:

Thursday, October 02, 2014

"The first, Simon, who is called Peter" - After Exiting from the Financial Crisis



Tokyo



After Exiting from the Financial Crisis

In September 2008, the US economy plunged into a kind of Great Depression triggered by a large scale of illegal sub-prime loan frauds, involving economies all over the world.

However, CIA has analyzed that the crisis is virtually going to end eventually; the US is exiting the Financial Crisis.

United States Economy 2014
Page last updated on January 31, 2014
Economy - overview:
The US has the largest and most technologically powerful economy in the world, with a per capita GDP of $49,800.
...
 
The sub-prime mortgage crisis, falling home prices, investment bank failures, tight credit, and the global economic downturn pushed the United States into a recession by mid-2008. GDP contracted until the third quarter of 2009, making this the deepest and longest downturn since the Great Depression. To help stabilize financial markets, in October 2008 the US Congress established a $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). The government used some of these funds to purchase equity in US banks and industrial corporations, much of which had been returned to the government by early 2011. In January 2009 the US Congress passed and President Barack OBAMA signed a bill providing an additional $787 billion fiscal stimulus to be used over 10 years - two-thirds on additional spending and one-third on tax cuts - to create jobs and to help the economy recover. In 2010 and 2011, the federal budget deficit reached nearly 9% of GDP. In 2012 the federal government reduced the growth of spending and the deficit shrank to 7.6% of GDP. Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan required major shifts in national resources from civilian to military purposes and contributed to the growth of the budget deficit and public debt. Through 2011, the direct costs of the wars totaled nearly $900 billion, according to US government figures.
...

 In late 2013, the Fed announced that it would begin scaling back long-term bond purchases to $75 billion per month in January 2014 and reduce them further as conditions warranted; the Fed, however, would keep short-term rates near zero so long as unemployment and inflation had not crossed the previously stated thresholds. Long-term problems include stagnation of wages for lower-income families, inadequate investment in deteriorating infrastructure, rapidly rising medical and pension costs of an aging population, energy shortages, and sizable current account and budget deficits.


GDP (purchasing power parity):
$16.24 trillion (2012 est.)
country comparison to the world: 1

$15.81 trillion (2011 est.)
$15.52 trillion (2010 est.)
note: data are in 2012 US dollars
[see also: GDP country ranks ]
 
GDP (official exchange rate):
$16.02 trillion (2012 est.)

GDP - real growth rate:
2.8% (2012 est.)
country comparison to the world: 116

1.8% (2011 est.)
2.5% (2010 est.)
 
GDP - per capita (PPP):
$51,700 (2012 est.)
country comparison to the world: 13

$50,700 (2011 est.)
$50,100 (2010 est.)
note: data are in 2012 US dollars
 
Gross national saving:
12.5% of GDP (2012 est.)
country comparison to the world: 118

11.4% of GDP (2011 est.)
11% of GDP (2010 est.)
 
GDP - composition, by end use:
household consumption: 68.6%
government consumption: 19.5%
investment in fixed capital: 14.8%
investment in inventories: 0.4%
exports of goods and services: 13.5%
imports of goods and services: -16.9%
(2012 est.)

http://www.theodora.com/wfbcurrent/united_states/united_states_economy.html
Indeed, at the start of 2000s, when Mr. W. Bush was elected as president, the US was not suffering the War on Terror and the Financial Crisis.  With Mr. Obama assuming office of presidency, the two crises started to look like being conquered and controlled.

However, during these 15 years, the international landscape has changed clearly.  In the economic aspect, China has become a major player internationally; concerning global security, the Arab Spring is now turning to fear for ISIS.  In addition, the old concerns about Russia and Israel have gravely surfaced again.  Moreover, Ebola can be a new global threat.

Everything changes, but the words of God remain unchanged.  But, we may really enter the era of  the Apocalypse, though the US is not likely going to ruin economically or militarily.

Nonetheless, spiritually we, the humankind, might be proceeding to a decisive juncture.  




*** *** *** ***





Mat 10:2 Now the names of the twelve apostles are these; The first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother;
Mat 10:3 Philip, and Bartholomew; Thomas, and Matthew the publican; James the son of Alphaeus, and Lebbaeus, whose surname was Thaddaeus;
Mat 10:4 Simon the Canaanite, and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him.
Mat 10:5 These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not:

Wednesday, October 01, 2014

"the same is a thief and a robber" - Status of US Poverty




A Shinto Shrine around Tokyo



Status of US Poverty

Let's check conditions of poor people in the US:
35 Statistics About The Working Poor In America That Will Blow Your Mind
 By Michael Snyder, on January 15th, 2013

The following are 35 statistics about the working poor in America that will blow your mind...
#1 According to the U.S. Census Bureau, more than 146 million Americans are either "poor" or "low income".
 
#2 According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 57 percent of all American children live in a home that is either "poor" or "low income". 
#3 Back in 2007, about 28 percent of all working families were considered to be among "the working poor".  Today, that number is up to 32 percent even though our politicians tell us that the economy is supposedly recovering. 
#4 Back in 2007, 21 million U.S. children lived in "working poor" homes.  Today, that number is up to 23.5 million. 
#5 In Arkansas, Mississippi and New Mexico, more than 40 percent all of working families are considered to be "low income". 
#6 Families that have a head of household under the age of 30 have a poverty rate of 37 percent. 
#7 Half of all American workers earn $505 or less per week. 
#8 At this point, one out of every four American workers has a job that pays $10 an hour or less. 
#9 Today, the United States actually has a higher percentage of workers doing low wage work than any other major industrialized nation does. 
#10 Median household income in the United States has fallen for four consecutive years. 
#11 Median household income for families with children dropped by a whopping $6,300 between 2001 and 2011. 
#12 The U.S. economy continues to trade good paying jobs for low paying jobs.  60 percent of the jobs lost during the last recession were mid-wage jobs, but 58 percent of the jobs created since then have been low wage jobs. 
#13 Back in 1980, less than 30% of all jobs in the United States were low income jobs.  Today, more than 40% of all jobs in the United States are low income jobs. 
#14 According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the middle class is taking home a smaller share of the overall income pie than has ever been recorded before. 
#15 There are now 20.2 million Americans that spend more than half of their incomes on housing.  That represents a 46 percent increase from 2001. 
#16 Low income families spend about 8.6 percent of their incomes on gasoline.  Other families spend about 2.1 percent. 
#17 In 1999, 64.1 percent of all Americans were covered by employment-based health insurance.  Today, only 55.1 percent are covered by employment-based health insurance. 
#18 According to one survey, 77 percent of all Americans are now living paycheck to paycheck at least part of the time. 
#19 Millions of working poor families in America end up taking on debt in a desperate attempt to stay afloat, but before too long they find themselves in a debt trap that they can never escape.  According to a recent article in the New York Times, the average debt burden for U.S. households that earn $20,000 a year or less "more than doubled to $26,000 between 2001 and 2010". 
#20 In 1989, the debt to income ratio of the average American family was about 58 percent.  Today it is up to 154 percent. 
#21 According to the Economic Policy Institute, the wealthiest one percent of all Americans households on average have 288 times the amount of wealth that the average middle class American family does. 
#22 In the United States today, the wealthiest one percent of all Americans have a greater net worth than the bottom 90 percent combined. 
#23 According to Forbes, the 400 wealthiest Americans have more wealth than the bottom 150 million Americans combined. 
#24 The six heirs of Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton have a net worth that is roughly equal to the bottom 30 percent of all Americans combined. 
#25 Sadly, the bottom 60 percent of all Americans own just 2.3 percent of all the financial wealth in the United States. 
#26 The average CEO now makes approximately 350 times as much as the average American worker makes. 
#27 Corporate profits as a percentage of GDP are at an all-time high.  Meanwhile, wages as a percentage of GDP are near an all-time low. 
#28 Today, 40 percent of all Americans have $500 or less in savings. 
#29 The number of families in the United States living on 2 dollars a day or less more than doubled between 1996 and 2011. 
#30 The number of Americans on food stamps has grown from 17 million in the year 2000 to more than 47 million today. 
#31 Back in the 1970s, about one out of every 50 Americans was on food stamps.  Today, about one out of every 6.5 Americans is on food stamps. 
#32 More than one out of every four children in the United States is enrolled in the food stamp program. 
#33 Incredibly, a higher percentage of children is living in poverty in America today than was the case back in 1975. 
#34 If you can believe it, the federal government hands out money to 128 million Americans every single month. 
#35 Federal spending on welfare has reached nearly a trillion dollars a year, and it is being projected that it will increase by another 80 percent over the next decade.

http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/35-statistics-about-the-working-poor-in-america-that-will-blow-your-mind

Conversely, as poor people are kinder and more humane than the rich.  The spiritual environment in the US must be improved along with an increase of the ratio of poor people.  The more the US has poor citizens, the better their society will be.

However, does this trend of an increase in poor people in the US contribute to improvement of the world?  Has it only contributed to enrichment of some Chinese and Indians?

Or as long as some African Americans and Hispanics are getting rich due to expansion of poverty among European Americans, President Obama can secure his position and popularity well?

We may hope that someday poor Muslims in the world will be saved and rescued from their economic and political plights along with further expansion of poverty in the US as well as the EU.




*** *** *** ***



Joh 10:1 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.

Tuesday, September 30, 2014

"down to Caesarea, and sent him forth to Tarsus" - Mysteries in the Gospel of Thomas




Tokyo



Mysteries in the Gospel of Thomas


Some expressions in the Gospel of Thomas really sound true:

The Gnostic Society Library
The Nag Hammadi Library
The Gospel of Thomas
Translated by Thomas O. Lambdin

...
 

(110) Jesus said, "Whoever finds the world and becomes rich, let him renounce the world."

(108) Jesus said, "He who will drink from my mouth will become like me. I myself shall become he, and the things that are hidden will be revealed to him."

(99) The disciples said to him, "Your brothers and your mother are standing outside."
He said to them, "Those here who do the will of my father are my brothers and my mother. It is they who will enter the kingdom of my father."

(96) Jesus said, "The kingdom of the father is like a certain woman. She took a little leaven, concealed it in some dough, and made it into large loaves. Let him who has ears hear."

(95) Jesus said, "If you have money, do not lend it at interest, but give it to one from whom you will not get it back."

(94) Jesus said, "He who seeks will find, and he who knocks will be let in."

(93) "Do not give what is holy to dogs, lest they throw them on the dung-heap. Do not throw the pearls to swine, lest they [...] it [...]."

(91) They said to him, "Tell us who you are so that we may believe in you."
He said to them, "You read the face of the sky and of the earth, but you have not recognized the one who is before you, and you do not know how to read this moment."

(90) Jesus said, "Come unto me, for my yoke is easy and my lordship is mild, and you will find repose for yourselves."

(89) Jesus said, "Why do you wash the outside of the cup? Do you not realize that he who made the inside is the same one who made the outside?"

(86) Jesus said, "The foxes have their holes and the birds have their nests, but the son of man has no place to lay his head and rest."

(82) Jesus said, "He who is near me is near the fire, and he who is far from me is far from the kingdom."

(79) A woman from the crowd said to him, "Blessed are the womb which bore you and the breasts which nourished you."
He said to her, "Blessed are those who have heard the word of the father and have truly kept it. For there will be days when you will say, 'Blessed are the womb which has not conceived and the breasts which have not given milk.'"

(78) Jesus said, "Why have you come out into the desert? To see a reed shaken by the wind? And to see a man clothed in fine garments like your kings and your great men? Upon them are the fine garments, and they are unable to discern the truth."

(73) Jesus said, "The harvest is great but the laborers are few. Beseech the Lord, therefore, to send out laborers to the harvest."

http://www.gnosis.org/naghamm/gthlamb.html

But there are some paragraphs we cannot easily understand without knowing contexts in which they were written.

The Gospel of Thomas is regraded as secondary material in relation to the Gospels of Mark, Luke, Mathew, and John.  But, the former seems to include reliable words as much as the so-called Q source, the possible underlying document for the latter four Gospels.

(The Vatican should have checked all the paragraphs to recommend some as true words of Christ Jesus.  But, if the Pope lost holy ability to find holy words of their Lord, it is no wonder that the Vatican has simply neglected the Gospel of Thomas.)

But, would anybody write this Gospel, including some strange or crazy paragraphs, to harm Christianity or dupe people in days as early as the second century?  For example, who today can accept the following one as holy: (105) Jesus said, "He who knows the father and the mother will be called the son of a harlot."

There are still mysteries in the Gospel of Thomas.

(Was there any need for the author or Thomas to put in the Gospel confusing and made-up words of Christ Jesus to secure something important from his enemies?)



*** *** *** ***


Act 9:29 And he spake boldly in the name of the Lord Jesus, and disputed against the Grecians: but they went about to slay him.
Act 9:30 Which when the brethren knew, they brought him down to Caesarea, and sent him forth to Tarsus.
Act 9:31 Then had the churches rest throughout all Judaea and Galilee and Samaria, and were edified; and walking in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost, were multiplied.

Monday, September 29, 2014

"his raiment was white and glistering" - A Japanese Sightseer in Israel



Around Tokyo



A Japanese Sightseer in Israel

Once a Japanese youth, a graduate student in Tokyo, traveled to Israel just before leaving a university and starting to work in an engineering company.

It was just before the 9/11 Terror of 2001.

He arrived at Israel via Istanbul and secured an accommodation of a dormitory style in a cheap hotel in Tel Aviv (tough he later moved to a dormitory inn in Jerusalem).  Then he started sight-seeing.

The reason for his decision to visit Israel so suddenly is a book written by a Japanese Catholic author.  He was magically impressed with a story flavored with Christianity in which he had had no interest before reading the book.  By then, he had a plenty of experiences of traveling abroad; during his days in the university he made an overseas trip many times, mostly with his friends.  But this time he was alone.

He went around Jerusalem, Jericho, Masada, the Dead Sea, Gethsemane, the Mount of Olives, and so on.  He occasionally happened to meet and communicate personally with a young couple from New Zealand, a medical student of Germany, young men from North Europe, in addition to a Japanese married couple and even a Japanese female student.  He also encountered a sly guide and a wily taxi driver.

Though his stay around Jerusalem was almost coincident with the visit to Israel by the Pope, he did not observe any ceremonial and welcome atmosphere in the street of Jerusalem and some historic churches.

Finally he entered a restaurant before leaving the holy land.  He found that a waitress there was South Korean.  Indeed, he sometimes saw a few groups of South Korean Christians while he was doing sightseeing here and there.  A manager of the restaurant realized that he was Japanese, and said, "I know a Japanese learning Hebrew here.  If you don't mind, I can call him."

So, a strange Japanese came to the restaurant with the Bible in the hand.  He said, "I am learning Hebrew here to be a priest.  My mentor in Japan, who is a priest, sent me here.  I am expected to master Hebrew to be a kind of scholar.  As I live near here, the master calls me when a Japanese guest visits this shop as a kind of hospitality for us."

The Japanese sightseer confessed that he came to Israel because he had read a book of a certain famous Catholic author, which he had never revealed to anybody since he came to Israel.  And he asked the young scholar why he was learning Hebrew only to become a priest while he graduated from the School of Divinity of a Japanese university.

During such a conversation, the young Hebrew learner from Japan said humbly that it was love of Christ that had moved him the most strongly.  And when they were about to get apart, this future priest said to the traveler from the same country, "Please read the Bible sometime."
     
Then, the Japanese graduate student left for an airport of Tel Aviv to finally put an end to his five or six-day stay in Israel.   But it would take about 18 hours to get back to Japan.  He wanted something to read in jet planes.  After poking around a book corner in the airport, he finally selected a book titled "The Children's Bible."
     
He graduated from the graduate school to start to work in an engineering company.  But he spent two months, while working, to write his memory of his last traveling abroad in his university days, namely the sight-seeing trip to Israel.  He eventually posted it on the Internet.


Around 2002 when the US air force was bombing Afghanistan, he was stationed in an overseas office of the company in Pakistan.  He wrote something on the Internet in English about how he was opposed to the American bombing.  As the US wanted to capture or kill Osama bin Laden, American military planes should not involve and kill Afghan civilians by air raids, but should use only ground troops to chase Osama, he also wrote.  

I don't know if he has visited Israel again.





*** *** *** ***


Luk 9:29 And as he prayed, the fashion of his countenance was altered, and his raiment was white and glistering.
Luk 9:30 And, behold, there talked with him two men, which were Moses and Elias:
Luk 9:31 Who appeared in glory, and spake of his decease which he should accomplish at Jerusalem.