Presidential Election 2000 was unique in a number of ways: it was the closest presidential election in America's history; it was more than a month after the election before a winner was determined; and, the outcome rested in the hands of the judiciary rather than just those of the voters - all firsts.

The election of Ariel Sharon as prime minister of Israel has left everyone involved in Middle Eastern politics wondering what the future will bring - many fear that his very election will precipitate a war. It is no wonder that people are not sure what to expect;  Sharon himself is a man who projects conflicting images.

Every seventh year, Israeli farmers are faced with a sabbatical year for the land (called Shmitta in Hebrew):

With an election coming next month - and one that may prove to be a "watershed" for the future of the Republic - it is an appropriate time to review the realities we are facing.

As this issue goes to press, the entire world is wondering what is going to happen to Jerusalem. About 2,500 years ago, the prophet Zechariah recorded God's predictions regarding this troubled city:

This has been an active year for the Middle East peace process. Beginning with the Oslo Accord in the early 90s, the Middle East may not have achieved a permanent peace, but it did enjoy a stable condition of "no war." Prior to this, there had been decades of strife, riots and terrorist activities.

Over the last decade, the United Nations has unabashedly been reinventing itself into a global government, striving to obtain the legal teeth and financial resources to implement its policies. Government reinvention is frequently an effort to avoid the consequences of failed policies in the past, or to justify a government's continued expansion by posing solutions to the problems it has created.

The past several months have witnessed the emotional media controversy surrounding the fate of six-year-old Cuban refugee Elin Gonzlez in Miami. A debate raged - even among conservatives and Christians - as to whether or not Elin should be sent back to live under a communist dictatorship or be allowed to stay with relatives in the U.S.

Whenever some tragedy involving a teenager occurs, immediately the media's how-could-this happen hand wringing begins grinding through the broadcast and newspaper mills.

Well, the FBI has been at it again.  Examining documents with cutting-edge computer technology, they've deciphered blacked-out text and lost messages.  And what their investigation reveals is scandalous.

Highlights from recent radio broadcasts of The Missler Report with Chuck Missler, host John Loeffler, and guests Dave Noebel and Rabbi Daniel Lapin on the subject of "How Far Has America Slipped?"

The move by the world's governments to number, track and spy upon their citizens is arousing serious concern on several continents.

After a decade of negotiations, assassinations and terrorism (i.e., life as usual in the Middle East), this year will most likely see the peace process wind down to its conclusion.  Its final outcome is laced with many uncertainties, but what is certain is that when it ends, both sides will realize that everything possible by means of peaceful negotiation has already been achieved.

Excerpts from recent radio broadcasts of The Missler Report with Chuck Missler, host John Loeffler and guest Leone Podles, author of The Church Impotent, concerning THE OVER-FEMINIZATION OF CHRISTIANITY.

One of the more perplexing areas for the Christian is our responsibilities as a citizen. Especially in an election year, it is a good time to review our obligations to the Throne of our King.

Excerpts from recent broadcasts of The Missler Report with Chuck Missler, John Leoffler and guest Joel Skousen (editor of World Affairs Brief) concerning CHINA AND RUSSIA and nuclear war against America.

Two thousand is the year that the "Piece Process" is scheduled to be resolved. It will be a most difficult year; all the tough issues remain - Jerusalem, the water rights, the "final" borders, etc.

The "Piece Process" grinds on as the world continues to align itself against Israel and our government continues to stiff our only ally in the Middle East. As politicians continue to meddle in the region, we need to remember the Biblical basis of Israel's right to the land. It doesn't belong to the Palestinians... or to the UN...or to the U.S...or even Israel! It is the Lord's.

The Panama Canal is once again a point of controversy in Congress. Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott has called for a congressional investigation into allegations that the operations of the Panama Canal will, by the end of this year, come under the control of a company which is said to be closely tied to the Chinese government.

The performance was called "Showtime." It lasted 51 days and when it was over, more than three score Branch Davidians lay dead in their church home in Waco, Texas: dead from gunfire, smoke inhalation, fire and cyanide poisoning - dead by their own hand according to the federal government.

Hosea was a prophet (or seer) who was called to declare God's indictment against the Northern Kingdom.

I remember my son when he was five, explaining to his kindergarten class what his father did for a living. "My Daddy," he said, "pretends to be people."

The undeclared war NATO is pursuing in Yugoslavia raises a fundamental legal and moral issue that demands an explanation, particularly from the United States and the Clinton administration that regularly cites international law to validate its policy decisions: are the current combat operations legal according to the standards established under international law?

On April 24, 1999, an event occurred that may prove to be one of the most prophetically significant of our time.

In Part One last month, we focused on the history of executive orders and the potential for abuse when these instruments are used to illegitimately further the international agenda expressed in UN treaties.

What do we call a government where a single individual has the power to create laws merely by uttering a few words or issuing some sort of written decree? Most of us would respond that this describes a monarchy. The founders of our nation clearly wanted to depart from the kind of despotic control that can be imposed by a royal ruling class and established a republic to achieve that.

Intelligence experts are warning that 1999 is likely to be a year of serious upheaval in the Middle East. King Hussein of Jordan is suffering from lymph cancer, and a major conflict between Turkey and Cyprus over the issue of the delivery of S-300 missiles has been postponed only temporarily until the end of the year.

"This is America. That can't happen here." It's a popular phrase among Christians who have been warned about the rapidly deteriorating protections in this country and the possibility of oncoming persecution. In Jeremiah's time, the Israelites chanted a similar mantra: "The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord."

As of January 1, 1998 over 350,000 Americans will be dead; another 200,000 will be in terminal stages and an additional six hundred thousand to a million more will be HIV infected. Barring the possibility that protease inhibitors can permanently block HIV-induced immunosuppression, almost all those currently infected will progress to terminal stage illness and death.

The most recent 1997 Los Angeles Times Poll finds that a wide majority of Americans believes that TV language, sex and violence is getting worse. Four of every five parents think popular culture such as music, television and movies negatively affects children.