By Hussein Hajji Wario | Yahoo! Contributor Network – Fri, Jan 27, 2012

http://news.yahoo.com/father-son-ousted-trinity-bible-translations-003300519.html

A controversy is brewing over three reputable Christian organizations, which are based in North America, whose efforts have ousted the words “Father” and “Son” from new Bibles. Wycliffe Bible Translators, Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL) and Frontiers are under fire for “producing Bibles that remove “Father,” “Son” and “Son of God” because these terms are offensive to Muslims.”

Concerned Christian missionaries, Bible translators, pastors, and national church leaders have come together with a public petition to stop these organizations. They claim a public petition is their last recourse because meetings with these organizations’ leaders, staff resignations over this issue and criticism and appeals from native national Christians concerned about the translations “have failed to persuade these agencies to retain “Father” and “Son” in the text of all their translations.”

Biblical Missiology, a ministry of Boulder, Colorado-based Horizon International, is sponsoring the petition.

The main issues of this controversy surround new Arabic and Turkish translations. Here are three examples native speakers give:

First, Wycliffe and SIL have produced Stories of the Prophets, an Arabic Bible that uses an Arabic equivalent of “Lord” instead of “Father” and “Messiah” instead of “Son.”

Second, Frontiers and SIL have produced Meaning of the Gospel of Christ , an Arabic translation which removes “Father” in reference to God and replaces it with “Allah,” and removes or redefines “Son.” For example, the verse which Christians use to justify going all over the world to make disciples, thus fulfilling the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19) reads, “Cleanse them by water in the name of Allah, his Messiahand his Holy Spirit” instead of “baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” Rev. Bassam Madany, an Arab American who runs Middle East Resources, terms these organization’s efforts as “a western imperialistic attempt that’s inspired by cultural anthropology, and not by biblical theology.”

Third, Frontiers and SIL have produced a new Turkish translation of the Gospel of Matthew that uses Turkish equivalents of “guardian” for “Father” and “representative” or “proxy” for “Son.” To Turkish church leader Rev. Fikret Böcek, “This translation is ‘an all-American idea’ with absolutely no respect for the ‘sacredness’ of Scripture, or even of the growing Turkish church.”

SIL has issued a public response stating “all personnel subscribe to a statement of faith which affirms the Trinity, Christ’s deity, and the inspiration of Scripture.” However, in the same statement, which is similar to Wycliffe’s, it claims “word-for-word translation of these titles would communicate an incorrect meaning (i.e. that God had physical, sexual relationships with Mary) [sic],” thus justifying substituting “Father” and “Son” in new translations. Calls and emails to Wycliffe and SIL to clarify their positions were not returned. Frontiers responded to calls with articles that critics have already dismissed as skirting omissions of “Father” and “Son” in new Bible translations.

Gabi Ashkenazi says Israel needs to do all it can to operate under the radar against Tehran, but stresses that military option must be on the table.

Published 17:20 26.01.12
By Barak Ravid and DPA

http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/former-idf-chief-israel-must-prepare-for-possible-attack-on-iran-1.409349

Former IDF chief Gabi Ashkenazi said Thursday that Israel must operate under the radar against Iran, but it should also prepare for a possible strike against the Islamic Republic’s nuclear facilities.

During a lecture at the Institute for National Security Studies, Ashkenazi stressed that Israel’s strategy on Iran must be a combination of several approaches.

“Israel must do all it can under the radar and combine that with paralyzing sanctions, but at the same time keep a reliable military option on the table with the willingness to use it if necessary,” Ashkenazi said.

“When the moment comes I don’t know if we won’t be alone, and for this reason Israel must also rely on itself,” he said.

During his term as IDF chief, Ashkenazi was considered a supporter of a more moderate approach on Iran, in which all diplomatic options must be exhausted before any attack is launched.

Earlier Thursday, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said the new round of economic sanctions by the European Union will be “futile,” and added that his country was ready to resume nuclear talks with the six world powers – the U.S., China, Russia, Britain, France and Germany.

Ahmadinejad appeared to downplay the impact of a new round of EU sanctions on Iran, including a ban on oil imports, saying that trade with EU states made up only $23 billion of Iran’s $200 billion annual trade volume.

“Aren’t you ashamed to get together and make such statements. Where do you think you can get with these steps?” Ahmadinejad said.

“They are saying they (EU) do not want to harm the Iranian people, but the steps they take and the language they use are all against the people,” he added.

The EU sanctions, as well as similar measures taken by the United States to force Iran to curb its nuclear activities, are believed to have already had an impact on the Iranian economy, with the national currency, the rial, falling drastically in recent days.

Kim Sengupta
Wednesday 25 January 2012
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/uk-ready-to-send-more-warships-into-gulf-in-clear-signal-to-tehran-6294112.html

Britain could send military reinforcements to the Gulf in the escalating confrontation with Iran, the Defence Secretary said yesterday as the Tehran regime declared it would “defend the nation” against the threat posed by an EU oil embargo.

Philip Hammond said contingency plans were in place to send extra warships, aircraft and troops to the region if it became necessary. He said the decision to send a flotilla led by the American aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln through the Strait of Hormuz – which Iran had threatened to block – sent “a clear signal about the resolve of the international community to defend the right of free passage through international waters.”

A British frigate, HMS Argyll, and a French warship were part of the convoy, which sailed within a few miles of the Iranian coast. The UK has about 1,500 naval personnel in the Indian Ocean serving on four minesweepers, two frigates, three support ships, a survey vessel and a hunter-killer submarine. A Response Force Task Group of Royal Marines, helicopters and naval vessels set up last year could also be deployed at short notice.

HMS Daring, a destroyer with specialist air-defence capabilities, is already sailing toward Suez on a six-month mission against piracy and drug smuggling and could be diverted in an emergency. HMS Westminster, a frigate used during the Libya campaign last summer, left Portsmouth in southern England on Monday and could reach Hormuz within a week.

The French frigate, La Motte Picquet, which took part in the Hormuz exercise, had departed and there were no plans for further forces to be sent, a spokesman at the Defence Ministry in Paris, Colonel Thierry Burkhard, said yesterday. But he stressed that an infantry battalion of about 650 troops and six Rafale fighter-bombers based in the United Arab Emirates would be available if hostilities break out.

The US has augmented its 5th Fleet at Manama Bay in Bahrain with a second aircraft-carrier, USS Carl Vinson, joining USS Abraham Lincoln. The Pentagon said the enhanced presence would continue and is considered to be adequate for whatever mission is required.

There has been no discernible Iranian military reaction to the Western manoeuvres. Yesterday, the Danish ambassador was summoned to the Foreign Ministry in Tehran to be told of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s displeasure with the sanctions, which are intended to pressure Tehran into resuming talks on the country’s controversial nuclear program.

“Elements within the European Union, by pursuing the policies of the US and adopting a hostile approach, are seeking to create tensions with the Islamic Republic of Iran,” Ali Asghar Khaji, a senior Foreign Ministry official, said. “The behaviour of the EU is irrational and will not stop the Islamic Republic of Iran from defending its national interest.”

A senior official of the Oil Ministry, Alireza Nikzad Rahbar, said the embargo may end up by helping Tehran by creating a shortage in supplies. “Europe will be the loser and we will earn more because of high prices,” he said.

Select fighters being described as ‘Soldiers of Imam Mahdi’

Published: 13 hours ago
By Reza Kahlili
http://www.wnd.com/2012/01/iran-preparing-now-for-armageddon/

Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has held several secret meetings with his economic and military advisers in recent days to prepare for the possibility of war with the United States.

Sources report the preparations are to include the execution of those Iranians who oppose the regime.

Khamenei has been heard to say that the coming of the last Islamic Messiah, the Shiites’ 12th Imam Mahdi, is near and that specific actions need to be taken to protect the Islamic regime for upcoming events.

Mahdi, according to Shiite belief, will reappear at the time of Armageddon.

Selected forces within the Revolutionary Guards and Basij reportedly have been trained under a task force called “Soldiers of Imam Mahdi” and they will bear the responsibility of security and protecting the regime against uprisings. Many in the Guards and Basij have been told that the 12th Imam is on earth, facilitated the victory of Hezbollah over Israel in the 2006 war and soon will announce publicly his presence after the needed environment is created.

According to SepahOnline, sources within the Vali’eh Amr, the revolutionary forces in charge of the supreme leader’s protection, report that Khamenei held several meetings in recent days at which the leader instructed his advisers to tighten the grip on anyone who opposes or might oppose the regime in case of war.

These actions include investigations of every person or group that was pro-regime but now hold opinions contrary to regime policies. Also being created is a list, to be presented to Khamenei, to decide the fate of any opponents.

It also was decided that those political prisoners who will not repent will be executed, the sources said.

This action also was taken by the founder of the Islamic regime in 1988, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

In the book, “A Time to Betray,” it is documented when Khomeini announced the campaign, he said, “If the person at any stage or at any time maintains his (or her) support for the opposing groups, the sentence is execution. Annihilate the enemies of Islam immediately.”

The fatwa led to the execution of thousands of innocent men and women of all ages in a very short period.

The list of actions by Khamenei includes investigation of private business owners. If records show that at any time in the past they have not supported the Islamic regime, their businesses and belongings could be confiscated.

Journalists, writers and publishers who are deemed to be against the regime would be arrested and punished. Even high religious authorities who do not fully support Khamenei will be put under surveillance and dealt with if they become outspoken about the direction of the country.

Several journalists already have been arrested in the past week. In a recent speech, Khamenei hinted of a warlike environment and warned those clerics who might doubt his direction of the country that their survival is tied to the survival of the Islamic regime. Many Iranians who resent the regime resent the religion it promotes, so even opposition clerics might not fare well should the regime fall.

The plan by the leader calls for total control of Tehran, the capital where the presence of the Basij and Hezbollah militias would be quite visible so that no one would dare to challenge the regime.

This news comes in light of the formation of the “Removal Committee,” which secretly would eliminate all deemed as opponents, even within the military and the government.

Khamenei’s extraordinary measures are based either on an understanding that war could be imminent or that the regime has decided to announce it has nuclear capability and is getting ready for a possible reaction from Israel or America.

Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi, an influential cleric and a radical Twelver, previously had stated that Khamenei ascends to the sky every year to take direction from Imam Mahdi, and sources close to the cleric have disclosed that Khamenei has been ordered by Imam Mahdi to continue with the nuclear program despite worldwide objection as it will facilitate his coming.

Last March, a Iranian secret documentary, “The Coming Is Upon Us,” was revealed to depict Khamenei as the mythical figure who creates the environment for the reappearance of Mahdi by leading Iran to destroy Israel.