The Pastor's Views on The News
 

By PATRICK QUINN, Associated Press Writer Thu May 8, 7:30 PM ET

BAGHDAD - Iraqi police commandos captured the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq in a raid in the northern city of Mosul, Iraqi officials said Thursday, in what could mark a significant blow to the Sunni insurgency in its last urban stronghold.

Iraqi Defense Ministry Spokesman Mohammed al-Askari said the arrest of Abu Ayyub al-Masri — also known as Abu Hamza al-Muhajir — was reported by the Iraqi commander in Mosul, where insurgents have sought to establish a foothold after being widely uprooted from Baghdad and surrounding areas last year.

The U.S. military in Baghdad said it was "checking with Iraqi authorities to confirm the accuracy of this information."…..

From the Pastor.

The news is great if it is the truth.  There have been false reports of top leaders of Al-Qaida being captured before.  This Muslim extremist organization is so wicked and violent that it sends the world into rejoicing to hear that one of their leaders could be captured and some of their terrible plots of destruction might be ruined.  I have no doubt that Jesus is coming again soon because of the violence and hate that these people and many more like them have cast upon the world around them. 

2 Tim. 3:1-3 This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. [2] For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, [3] Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,

          The world is going to get worse and the violence will increase and the wickedness will be more widely accepted as right and the norm of society as we see the days just prior to the coming of the Lord Jesus.  He is coming to get His own and take us with him to heaven.

Rev. 22:20 He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.

By EDUARDO GALLARDO, Associated Press Writer Thu May 8, 4:47 PM ET

SANTIAGO, Chile - Police and soldiers cleared the last remaining people from the shadow of a Chilean volcano on Thursday after a strong, overnight explosion spewed glowing-hot rocks from its crater.

The week-old eruption at the Chaiten volcano has scattered ash across a wide swath of South America, closing regional airports and driving more than 7,000 people from their homes. Volcanologist Luis Lara warned things could get worse.

"The worst that could happen is that the seismic activity begins to increase, the explosions become greater and large domes form that could collapse and produce pyroclastic flows," said Lara, an expert with the government's Geological and Mining Service.

Pyroclastic flows are blasts of volcanic material that can move at great speed, destroying everything in their path.

Armed with a court order for people to leave an area within a 30-mile (50-kilometer) radius of the mountain, authorities forcibly removed about 130 holdouts, mostly small farmers, who had refused to abandon their livestock.

Defense Minister Jose Goni said the government requested the court order "because the danger is clear, as the volcano remains very active."

Geologists reported that explosions around midnight on Wednesday hurled hot rock from the volcano.

On Thursday, Argentina's weather service said volcanic ash had reached the capital of Buenos Aires and was turning the sky "a grayish color," but not coating the ground. Such conditions were expected to persist there and in several southern provinces.

Two Argentine airlines, Austral and Aerolineas Argentinas, canceled flights in a half-dozen cities as drifting ash and smoke obscured visibility.

Chile's government said it has earmarked some US$10.6 million (euro6.8 million) in initial disaster funds to help victims in the coming month. Officials are also helping to move hundreds of head of livestock from the disaster zone, and promise to compensate farmers for animals that are killed.

By MARGIE MASON, AP Medical Writer Thu May 8, 3:44 PM ET

Health experts are scrambling to prevent widespread illness after reports of malaria outbreaks and diarrhea surfaced in areas of Myanmar hardest hit by a cyclone, U.N. health officials said Thursday.

Early estimates indicate 20 percent of children in the most devastated areas are suffering from diarrhea, and the situation could worsen, said Osamu Kunii, UNICEF's chief of health and nutrition in Yangon, Myanmar's largest city.

"Most of the area is covered by dirty water," he said. "There's a lot of dead bodies and they have very poor access — sometimes no access — to clean drinking water or food."

Water purification tablets are unlikely to help because much of the water supply has been contaminated by saltwater, he said.

It was unclear how many people may have malaria, but the mosquito-borne disease is endemic to Myanmar's Irrawaddy delta, said Poonam Khetrapal Singh, deputy director of the World Heath Organization's Southeast Asia office in New Delhi. She said 10,000 mosquito nets were being sent in.

"Safe water, sanitation, safe food. These are things that we feel are priorities at the moment," Singh said.

Cyclone Nargis lashed Yangon along with the country's major rice-growing region Saturday, killing tens of thousands.

The WHO team in Myanmar is working to assess the situation, and a few international technical experts are making their way into the country, Singh said.

"It reminds me of the tsunami when every day the figures kept rising, and that's really the pattern here," she said, referring to the 2004 Asian tsunami, which killed nearly 230,000 people.

Kunii said the situation in Myanmar is worse in some ways because more people suffered severe injuries from strong winds, high tides and flooding. And he noted that after the tsunami, food and water could be obtained from inland areas that were not hit by the killer waves.

"This time it is quite difficult because most of the areas are quite remote and difficult to access," Kunii said. "We are trying our best."

Tens of thousands of people die every year in Myanmar, also known as Burma, from tuberculosis, AIDS and diarrhea. Malaria alone kills about 3,000 people annually in the country.

In 2000, WHO ranked Myanmar's health system as the world's worst after war-ravaged Sierra Leone. There are hospitals, but most people cannot afford treatment because about 90 percent of the population lives on just $1 a day.

Pastor’s Views:

This story makes my heart hurt with the terrible suffering and death of these people.  In the United States we have so much wealth and leisure that we cannot really understand the kind of horrible suffering and sorrow that these people have experienced.

When I think of thousands of people dying in a catastrophe I am concerned most of all about their eternity.   It is too late to do anything about their eternity now, but they all either went to heaven or hell.  Those who are left alive still have a chance to seal their future if they will put their trust in Jesus Christ.  I wonder are there missionaries to give these people the truth.  Are there any Bible centered, Bible preaching churches available to reach them with the wonderful message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  The News media reports on the lack of food and water that is leaving these people sick and dying, but it doesn’t tell of their greatest need.  The greatest need for these people and all people around the world is the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  The Lord Jesus gave us the truth about our need.

Mark 8:36 For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?

          It is too late for those who have already died, but we need to pray and plead with God to send someone to give these dying people the gospel before it is too late.  When we pray we also need to be ready to make ourselves available for God to send.  Remember what happened when Isaiah heard of the need presented to him from God.

Isaiah 6:8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.

          God may not send us to bring the gospel to these people in such great sorrow and suffering, but we must make sure that we are ready and truly willing to go to any place that God would have us to carry the wonderful message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.