End Times and Current Events

General Category => Israel => Topic started by: Psalm 51:17 on January 22, 2015, 08:59:14 pm



Title: Saudi King Abdullah dies, new ruler is Salman
Post by: Psalm 51:17 on January 22, 2015, 08:59:14 pm
Saudi King Abdullah dies, new ruler is Salman
1/22/15
http://news.yahoo.com/saudi-tv-cuts-koranic-verses-often-signifies-royal-231552854.html

RIYADH (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah died early on Friday and his brother Salman became king, the royal court in the world's top oil exporter and birthplace of Islam said in a statement carried by state television.

King Salman has named his half-brother Muqrin as his crown prince and heir.

"His Highness Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and all members of the family and the nation mourn the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz, who passed away at exactly 1 a.m. this morning," said the statement.

Abdullah, thought to have been born in 1923, had ruled Saudi Arabia as king since 2006, but had run the country as de facto regent for a decade before that after his predecessor King Fahd suffered a debilitating stroke.

At stake with the appointment of Salman as king is the future direction of the United States' most important Arab ally and self-appointed champion of Sunni Islam at a moment of unprecedented turmoil across the Middle East.

Abdullah played a guiding role in Saudi Arabia's support for Egypt's government after the military intervened in 2012, and drove his country's support for Syria's rebellion against President Bashar al-Assad.

King Salman, thought to be 79, has been crown prince and defense minister since 2012. He was governor of Riyadh province for five decades before that.

By immediately appointing Muqrin as his heir, subject to the approval of a family Allegiance Council, Salman has moved to avert widespread speculation about the immediate path of the royal succession in the world's top oil exporter.

LONG TERM CHALLENGES

Abdullah pushed cautious changes in the conservative Islamic kingdom including increased women's rights and economic deregulation, but made no moves towards democracy and was a hawk on policy towards rival Iran.

King Salman has been part of the ruling clique of princes for decades and is thought likely to continue the main thrusts of Saudi strategic policy, including maintaining the alliance with the United States and working towards energy market stability.

During his five decades as Riyadh governor he was reputedly adept at managing the delicate balance of clerical, tribal and princely interests that determine Saudi policy, while maintaining good relations with the West.

In the long term Saudi rulers have to manage the needs of a rapidly growing population plagued by structural unemployment, and an economy that remains overly dependent on oil revenue and undermined by lavish subsidies.

Saudi Arabia, which holds more than a fifth of the world's crude oil, also exerts some influence over the world's 1.6 billion Muslims through its guardianship of Mecca and Medina, Islam's holiest sites.

Most senior members of the ruling al-Saud family are thought to favor similar positions on foreign and energy policy, but incoming kings have traditionally chosen to appoint new ministers to head top ministries like oil and finance.

In a country where the big ministries are dominated by royals, successive kings have kept the oil portfolio reserved for commoners and insisted on maintaining substantial spare output capacity to help reduce market volatility.


Title: Re: Saudi King Abdullah dies, new ruler is Salman
Post by: Psalm 51:17 on January 23, 2015, 07:37:51 pm
http://www.prophecynewswatch.com/2015/January19/191.html
1/19/15
Death Of Saudi King Could Set Stage For Islamic End Times Frenzy In 2015

In the last two years, media outlets have published conflicting reports on Saudi King Abdullah's health. Just last week, Saudi Arabia's Royal Court announced that the king has pneumonia and is temporarily using a breathing tube.

In fact, every time the king's health deteriorates, news agencies speculate on what will become of the Saudi dynasty and its leadership after the king's death. But some Shiite scholars think differently about the matter, believing that Abdullah's death will mark the beginning of a chain of great events that will shock the world.

Some Shiite scholars believe that the Saudi king's death will signal the resurrection of the Mahdi and the beginning of the end-times.


Abdullah, the 10th son of King Abdulaziz, was born Aug. 1, 1924. His mother, Fahda bint Asi Al Shuraim, was a member of the Al Rashid family, longtime rivals of the Al Saud family and a historic dynasty in the Arabian Peninsula that ruled the emirate of Jabal Shammar. Abdullah ascended to the throne in 2005 following the death of his half-brother King Fahd, though power was already in his hands.

According to Shiite hadiths, after the death of a king named Abdullah in the Hijaz — a western region of present-day Saudi Arabia — no successor to the throne would be accepted, and disagreements would escalate and persist until the rise of Imam Mahdi.

The Shiites believe that divine Imams are heirs to the political and religious Ummah, or Islamic nation. These 12 imams are successors to the Prophet Muhammad and to the head of the caliphate, with Mahdi being the final Imam who disappeared, or went into occultation. Mahdi will be revealed only in the end-times, along with Jesus, to deliver peace to the world.

According to the book "250 Signs Until the Appearance of Imam Mahdi," Prophet Muhammad said: “On doomsday, a man who is carrying the name of an animal ascends to the throne, after which a man named Abdullah comes to the power. Whoever informs me of his death, I will inform him of the rise [of Mahdi]. After Abdullah passes away, for several days and months, the government will appear.”

A seminary teacher based in Qom told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity, "The animal-named man can be King Fahd because one meaning of Fahd’s [name] is rapacious animal and cheetah, which matches what Prophet Muhammad said."

The Bahar al-Anvar, a book of hadiths, quotes the sixth Shiite Imam Sadegh as saying: "When Abdullah dies, people will agree on no one, and this issue will be kept alive till the rise of Imam [Mahdi]. An age of a hundred-year reign comes to an end, and an age of a [kingdom lasting] a few days and months arrives."

The Shiite scholar in Qom said, "Currently, there is a possibility of a power struggle in Saudi Arabia, as King Abdullah has tried to make up the new post of deputy crown prince. Actually, with regard to [this], if Prince Salman becomes the king and Muqrin bin Abdulaziz is named the crown prince, the next deputy crown prince will be Mutaib bin Abdullah, so we can expect tensions between King Abdullah's sons and Salman's brothers to escalate after Abdullah passes away."

In 2012, Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud was named crown prince, and two years later, Muqrin bin Abdulaziz was introduced as deputy crown prince.

According to Al-Akhbar newspaper, past tradition dictated that the interior minister would be the most likely candidate for second deputy prime minister, and after that, the post of crown prince. But after upgrading the status of the National Guard, which is chaired by Mutaib bin Abdullah, and turning it into a ministry on par with the ministries of defense and interior, King Abdullah’s wing in the royal family is well-positioned to be a strong contender for the throne.

The Qom seminary teacher said that according to some hadiths, leaders in the Hijaz will hide news of the king's death for 40 days. Based on Abdullah's deteriorating health situation, this could have happened by now.

Some believe that the rise of terrorist groups in the Levant, along with their black flags, is another sign of Mahdi's resurrection.

The Nahj al-Balagh, a collection of the first Shiite Imam Ali's sayings, quotes the imam as saying: “When you witness black flags, don’t move, because their calls are void and null and you shouldn’t help them. Their heart is like iron fillings, and they don’t honor their promise. Their names and monikers are taken from the names of cities.”

The Qom-based scholar explained the quotation, “Black flags can suggest the Islamic State, which is killing hundreds of innocent people in the region with brutality, and [regarding people named after cities], I can mention Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi or Omar al-Chechen.”

He added, “Many in the seminary of Qom believe that the rise of Imam Mahdi is imminent. Even important figures in the seminary have expressed their hope for this event to happen and has called for our readiness to help him.”

“What’s happening in the region is very similar to what our Imams have predicted about preconditions for the rise of Imam Mahdi, so the moment of truth may have come.”

Historian Muhammad Hossein Rajabi Davani told an Iranian newspaper: “With respect to promises in Shiite hadiths, we are certainly experiencing doomsday, but doomsday has no time frame and it’s not known when it begins and ends.”

Yet, certain Shiite narratives and hadiths contradict the aforementioned narratives, suggesting different signs for the rise of Imam Mahdi. Today, however, many are speculating about the events that will follow the Saudi king's death, as well as its impact on global developments. With the death of King Abdullah, according to some analyses, stability in Riyadh may come to an end, setting off a chain of prophecies and the resurrection of Mahdi.


Title: Death of Saudi King Abdullah brings uncertain new era for US in Middle East
Post by: Psalm 51:17 on January 23, 2015, 08:37:12 pm
FYI - gas prices in my area went up 20 cents after the Monday MLK holiday.

Death of Saudi King Abdullah brings uncertain new era for US in Middle East
1/23/15
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/01/23/death-saudi-king-abdullah-brings-uncertain-new-era-for-us-in-middle-east/

The death of Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah early Friday has launched an uncertain new era for U.S. officials to negotiate amid the spreading influence of Iran and the ongoing battle to roll back gains made by the Islamic State terror group in Iraq and Syria.

A former U.S. diplomat close to the Saudi royal family told Fox News Thursday that the death of the 90-year-old King, along with this week's collapse of the U.S.-supported government in Yemen, was a "worst-case scenario" because it removed another obstacle to Iran expanding its reach in the region. The former diplomat said that Tehran's influence could now be seen in four Middle Eastern capitals -- Sana'a in Yemen, as well as Baghdad, Damascus, and to a lesser extent, Beirut.

Abdullah, a Sunni Arab, made one of the main priorities of his rule countering mainly Shiite Iran whenever it tried to make advances in the region. He also backed Sunni factions against Tehran's allies in several countries, but in Lebanon, for example, the policy failed to stop Iranian-backed Hezbollah from gaining the upper hand. And Tehran and Riyadh's colliding ambitions stoked proxy conflicts around the region that enflamed Sunni-Shiite hatreds — most notably and terribly in Syria's civil war, where the two countries backed opposing sides. Those conflicts in turn hiked Sunni militancy that returned to threaten Saudi Arabia.

With the death of Abdullah, decision-making in Riyadh is likely to be more cautious on issues like Iran and Syria, former U.S. diplomat Dennis Ross told the Wall Street Journal.

Citing Saudi officials, the paper reports that King Abdullah became less fond of the U.S. in the final years of his reign. The king repeatedly pushed Obama to lend stronger backing to the rebels against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, against whom he bore a personal animus, and was reportedly furious when airstrikes threatened against Damascus by Obama in the summer of 2013 did not come to pass.

The officials also said that the late king took a dim view of ongoing talks between the U.S. and Iran over the latter nation's nascent nuclear program, seeing it as a sign that Washington was more than willing to work behind its ally's back.

King Abdullah's death may also open up a bigger power vacuum in Riyadh than first believed. His successor, 79-year-old half-brother Prince Salman, had recently taken on some of the ailing Abdullah's responsibilities. However, the Journal reports that U.S. officials do not consider him to be a strong or healthy ruler in his own right, which raises the possibility that others in the royal family could come to the forefront.

The Journal reports that one of the first and biggest questions to face the Saudi king is what to do about the ongoing unrest in Yemen, where gains by Shiite Houthi rebels forced the resignation of the country's president and entire government Thursday.

There is also the question of what to do about the ongoing U.S.-led bombing campaign against the Islamic State, better known as ISIS. The late King Abdullah was so fearful of the group's growing power that he committed Saudi airpower to strike the Sunni insurgency.

Among the other decisions facing Salman is whether he will continue the country's ongoing strategy of increased levels of oil production. The country produced 9.6 million barrels a day in January, according to Platts, the energy information division of McGraw Hill. That's enough to satisfy 11 percent of global demand, despite a global price drop of nearly 60 percent since June.

The price of U.S. crude was up 88 cents, or 1.9 percent, to $47.19 a barrel in after-hours trading Thursday.


Title: Re: Saudi King Abdullah dies, new ruler is Salman
Post by: Boldhunter on January 23, 2015, 11:06:44 pm

Muslims believe the death of King Abdullah is a trigger to the return of Mahdi...

Though this Islamic prophecy itself is nonsensical, belief in it by many zealous Shiites is potentially significant.


Twelvers say Mahdi will only reappear during a time of global calamity and chaos. During an apocalyptic time of war, he will reappear in order to bring justice to the world—by converting all people to Shia Islam. Chaos, they say, is a prerequisite to Madhi’s return, and many believe that by stirring up chaos, they can hasten the return of their messianic figure.

As Joel Rosenberg, former aide to Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said, “n order to bring about this Islamic messiah, the Mahdi, the 12th imam, Islamic leaders need to hasten his coming by destroying little Satan, Israel, and the great Satan, the United States. … [T]he leaders actually believe they need to create bloody carnage, the death of millions of people in order to create the conditions for the Mahdi to bring peace.”

Most Twelvers are in Iran. The CIA World Factbook says 90 to 95 percent of Iran’s 81 million people identify as Shiite, and around 85 percent of those adhere to Twelver Shiism. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the patriarch of Iran’s Islamic Revolution, was a Twelver, as is Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the current supreme leader. In 2012, Khamenei told the people of Iran: “We must prepare for the coming. Since we consider ourselves the warriors of the 12th imam, WE MUST FIGHT. Under the leadership of God, and with his invisible Power, we will restore the glory of Islamic Civilization.”

Meanwhile, Iran’s centerfuges are spinning as the nation steadily works toward the development of a nuclear arsenal.

Could some Shiites who believe that the death of King Abdullah is a trigger to the return of Mahdi now be more motivated to stir up chaos? Could they now have renewed impetus to “pave the way” for their messiah’s return? Should the United States continue sitting idly by as Iran works toward the development of nuclear weapons?

Since many Shiites are deeply, even fanatically, sincere in their beliefs, these are questions worth considering. ▪

http://www.thetrumpet.com/article/12373.19.0.0/religion/islam/king-abdullahs-death-fulfills-end-time-prophecies-say-shiites




Title: Re: Saudi King Abdullah dies, new ruler is Salman
Post by: Boldhunter on January 23, 2015, 11:28:16 pm

According to Shiite hadiths, after the death of a king named Abdullah in the Hijaz — a western region of present-day Saudi Arabia — no successor to the throne would be accepted, and disagreements would escalate and persist until the rise of Imam Mahdi.

The Shiites believe that divine Imams are heirs to the political and religious Ummah, or Islamic nation. These 12 imams are successors to the Prophet Muhammad and to the head of the caliphate, with Mahdi being the final Imam who disappeared, or went into occultation. Mahdi will be revealed only in the end-times, along with Jesus, to deliver peace to the world.

Read more: http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2015/01/iran-saudi-arabia-king-abdullah-end-times.html##ixzz3Pi0MiEB9

*it is very clear that everyone's eyes are on the lookout for the false antichrist savior - I truly believe the next period of months
will be extremely important.  Stay in the word and pray without ceasing!






1 Thessalonians 5:14-24 KJV

Now we exhort you, brethren, warn them that are unruly, comfort the feebleminded, support the weak, be patient toward all men.  See that none render evil for evil unto any man; but ever follow that which is good, both among yourselves, and to all men.  Rejoice evermore.  Pray without ceasing.  In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.  Quench not the Spirit.  Despise not prophesyings.  Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.  Abstain from all appearance of evil.  And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it.


Title: Re: Saudi King Abdullah dies, new ruler is Salman
Post by: Psalm 51:17 on January 24, 2015, 09:51:32 am
FYI - Israel elections are on 03/17, and there's a chance that Netenyahu won't get re-elected - but his opponent(Livi) is supporting dividing the land and giving into this "peace process".

Bibi is not a born-again believer, and he hasn't been perfect during his term as Israel PM - however, he's done an outstanding job in terms of taking a stand for the land of Israel. I've been impressed how he really didn't budge in terms of dividing the land, and giving into Obama and other "peace negotiators" like Tony Blair.

With that being said - whoever wins this election, it's in God's will. If Livi does - well, will say that look how the whole world is coming against Israel now. Livi will be the straw that breaks the camel's back.

Daniel 2:21  And he changeth the times and the seasons: he removeth kings, and setteth up kings: he giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding: