An interesting article from http://www.ucg.org/ about Spring Break. This follows this post about the Madrid bombings anniversary.For a free magazine subscription or to get the books recommended for free click HERE! or call 1-888-886- 8632.
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Spanish and More

article by Emily Quant

I thought I knew exactly what I was doing, but my trip to Spain yielded some unexpected results.

It was my junior year at Baylor University, and I thought I had my college career comfortably under control. I had completed most of my requirements with the exception of one Spanish class. Three years had elapsed since I had read, studied or spoken Spanish; and with this small fact I knew that I was going to struggle.
It was tougher than I thought. After one week, I was hopelessly behind and dropped the class. Considering my alternatives, I had the brilliant idea that studying abroad in Madrid would be the perfect way to learn the language and fulfill my college requirement. Little did I know that I was about to learn more than just Spanish.
With my suitcase in one hand and a metro map in the other, I began to roll my belongings through the streets of Madrid. After 12 hours of travel, having flown from Dallas, Texas, I was more than ready for a shower and settling into my new apartment.
As I walked up Calle Manuel and found the apartment that would be my new home, I was greeted by an older woman with dark eyes. Her name was Carmen, and being a native Spaniard she greeted me with a double kiss and rapidly asked questions in Spanish. At that moment I began to think back to my Spanish classes in high school, wishing I had paid more attention! Not knowing much English, she welcomed me in with hand gestures and pointed down a long hallway to where I would be staying for the semester.
This seemed less frightening when I saw that my three other roommates were American students who had the same stunned and overwhelmed look on their faces. We talked about our flights, our expectations and our initial impressions of Spain. We shared the reasons we decided to study abroad for a semester, and they were shocked to find that I was not majoring in the language. To be completely and humbly honest, I did not hold a candle to these girls who seemed to be comfortable holding a conversation in Spanish. My first challenge soon arrived.

Calamari for dinner

Our first night, Carmen made us fried calamari (squid), and in my fractured Spanish, I politely explained that I could not eat the meal she'd prepared. Then, with Spanish-English dictionary in hand, I made a list of the other meats that I couldn't eat. What a way to make a first impression—rejecting her first meal! I was sure Carmen must have thought I was rude, and she soon learned that I was different in more respects than just my diet.
Every Friday night Carmen noticed how I never went out partying with my other roommates. She also inquired about the "movies" I watched on Saturdays. They were not the typical forms of entertainment the other students watched!
I explained that my church had sermons online that I could watch or listen to regardless of my location or country. Spain, a country rich in religious history and predominately Catholic, did not have many who shared in my beliefs. It was difficult to keep the Sabbath alone, and I knew that this feeling of loneliness would grow with time. I had never considered how much my church was actually a family. Being away from my family brought on a feeling of homesickness.

Road trip!

It was finally time for spring break, and although many of my school friends had planned trips outside Spain, I wanted to stay and fully experience the culture. For centuries, this area has been famous for richly unique qualities of food, dancing and landscape.
A year before, I had traveled through Europe and started a friendship with Claire and Jako Kasper, a couple who attend the United Church of God in Germany. After I told them that I was moving to Spain, we quickly planned a road trip together through the Iberian Peninsula (on which Spain and Portugal are located).
It had been months since I had spent time with other young adults who shared my beliefs, so I was really looking forward to our time together. The first weekend of our camping/road trip excursion, we had a nice Friday night meal, shared in deep conversation and enjoyed listening to a sermon from a small MP3 player on the Sabbath.
I had started to forget the importance of being with people who believe, think and feel the same way I do. They invited me to spend the Passover and week-long Feast of Unleavened Bread with them in Germany, and I knew that it would be an amazing opportunity to enjoy time with fellow Church members.
So the spring festival period came, and I remember stepping off the high-speed German train with a hiking backpack, wondering how long it had been since I had sung hymns. Now was my opportunity to wear Sabbath clothes, sing hymns with fellow believers, give an offering and not worry about explaining my beliefs to people in Spanish! Claire and Jako greeted me with hugs and chocolate. We rode to the Passover service together, and when we arrived at the building I was overwhelmed with an unusual feeling.
In scanning the room it seemed that people were from rather diverse cultural backgrounds. Everything was different, including the personalities, senses of humor and, of course, languages. Yet as I sat there listening to the Passover service in German, something occurred to me. Even with these differences, we were all there that night for the same reason. Each of us had been called into this belief, and we were partaking of the Passover as a unified body.

More than Spanish

This is when it dawned on me that I was learning more than Spanish. I had moved to Europe to master a language and to take part in a different culture. However, while in Europe I learned that the important thing was not whether we spoke the same language or had the same opinions about the things of this world, but that we were all fluent in understanding God's truth and purpose for our lives.
In observing the Passover together, we shared the same solemn, repentant and humbled mind-set. I saw that God has the ability to call anyone, no matter where a person lives or how he or she was raised. And He has called a very diverse group of people. In fact, it is through our diversities that we can see the importance of His plan. If we were all alike, how would we be able to challenge one another and grow?
In the week that followed, I was delighted to spend time with a smorgasbord of people with similar beliefs. The evening after Passover, the group of us keeping the Night to Be Much Observed (which begins the Feast of Unleavened Bread), consisted of people from Holland, Belgium, New Zealand and England, and yours truly from Texas. As we sat around the table discussing how we keep the Sabbath and handle day-to-day Christian living, I also considered the fact that many European Church members are used to living in an environment where they can rarely spend time with other believers.
(Those unfamiliar with observing the weekly Sabbath, the annual Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread may wish to request our free booklets Sunset to Sunset: God's Sabbath Rest and God's Holy Day Plan: The Promise of Hope for All Mankind .)
God's people in parts of Europe are so spread out, and yet they have not given in to the ways of the world. They have continued to stand firm and practice their beliefs, even if they are alone in their country. Here I had been, practically spoiled in attending with a few hundred Church members each weekend in Texas. It took my own lonely solitude in Spain to realize the importance of staying committed to what I believe, no matter how alone I might feel.
This lesson was a surprise. I had put such an emphasis on learning a human language that I had temporarily overlooked the more powerful lesson of God—that He is calling people from all backgrounds. I went to Spain to learn Spanish. I came home with a deeper appreciation of the fact that He is calling people of all nations to His way of life. VT

• Peer Pressure
• Passover
• Unleavened Bread
• Baylor University
• Christian Living
• God's Holy Days
• Madrid
• School
• Relationships
• Vertical Thought
• Youth

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An interesting article from http://www.ucg.org/ about the Madrid bombings anniversary. This follows this post about the king of Jordan.For a free magazine subscription or to get the books recommended for free click HERE! or call 1-888-886- 8632.
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The Madrid Bombings: A Wake-Up Call for Europe

A commentary by Scott Ashley

Posted March 18, 2004

The 10 bombs that shattered commuter-packed rail cars in Madrid last week, killing more than 200 and injuring another 1,600, should have shattered Europeans' illusions about the War on Terror.

Instead, as the terrorists apparently hoped, it shattered a close alliance between Spain and the United States as allies in that cause, ushering in an appeasement-minded government in national elections held only three days later. The incoming socialist leader promptly announced that he would withdraw the 1,300 Spanish soldiers stationed in Iraq , troops sent there earlier in spite of the fact that the war was hugely unpopular with the Spanish public.
What motivated the Spanish response-and what motivated the terrorist attack in the first place?
The evidence relating to the attack-a stolen van found near the bombings containing explosive detonators and recordings in Arabic of a voice reading from the Koran, plus a videotaped claim of responsibility from an al-Qaeda-related group-apparently convinced many Spaniards that the attack was in retaliation for Spanish support for the U.S. invasion of Iraq and overthrow of Saddam Hussein.
Indeed, the claim of responsibility for the bombing stated expressly that. Thus the voters chose a new government leader who promised to end Spanish involvement in Iraq. Apparently voters hope this will protect them from future terror attacks by Islamic extremists.
Simply put, the Spanish appear to have been coerced by terrorist blackmail-give in to our demands, disassociate yourselves from the United States and we won't kill you. The strategy appears to be effective, as other European countries immediately began bracing themselves for the possibility of similar attacks.
What motivated the terrorists? Assuming the mass murderers of Madrid were Islamic extremists-and the recent bombing-related arrests of several Moroccan and Indian Muslims with ties to al-Qaeda surely indicates they were-this is where things get interesting.
A little lesson in Islamic theology and history is in order.
In Islamic theology, the world is divided into two great spheres of influence. One is Dar al-Salaam, meaning "Land of Peace," a term used to describe Muslim-controlled lands (sometimes also called Dar al-Islam, meaning "Land of Islam").
The other is Dar al-Harb, meaning "Land of Struggle" or "Land of War." This term is used to denote all other lands. By this very terminology, all non-Muslim lands are defined as areas where Islam must struggle or war so that these areas may be converted to Dar al-Islam, lands ruled by Islam.
It's important to understand that, in the thinking of millions of the world's 1.3 billion Muslims, it is an abomination for land that was once Dar al-Islam, land controlled by Muslims, to become Dar al-Harb, "land of struggle" in which Muslims have lost control and seen it revert back to rule by non-Muslims (infidels).
Because these concepts are so foreign to Western thinking, these distinctions are lost on most Westerners-and, tragically, particularly on their governments and leaders. Yet it explains why, in more than a dozen areas across the globe, Muslims are waging war along the edges of the Islamic world to convert more lands to Dar al-Islam (think of Chechnya, Kashmir, Indonesia, the Philippines, Sudan, Somalia, Ethiopia, etc.).
It also explains why most Muslims in general, and Arabs in particular, are fundamentally opposed to the existence of the Jewish state of Israel . They don't want a two-state solution, unless it is only as a temporary measure. They want a single Palestinian state "from the sea to the sea" as they define it-from the Dead Sea to the Mediterranean Sea, with no place for Israel at all.
Israel, you see, is an infidel country sitting on land that was once Dar al-Islam, the land of Islam, and thus its existence is an abomination. This is why Israel has had to fight five wars for survival in barely 50 years of existence. This is why Israel, taking into account its small population (just over 6 million), has experienced the equivalent of nine Sept. 11 attacks since 9/11/01 .
What does this have to do with Spain? In the first great wave of Islamic expansion from its birthplace in the Arabian Peninsula, Muslim warriors spread the new religion throughout the Middle East to Central Asia, India, North Africa and Spain .
Spain remained under Islamic control for several centuries until the Islamic Moors were driven out, a process completed in 1492. But remember that it is considered an abomination for land that was once Dar al-Islam, land controlled by Muslims, to become Dar al-Harb, land controlled by non-Muslims. An al-Qaeda spokesman, explaining why America deserved the 9/11 attacks, cited as one reason "the tragedy of al-Andalus"-the expulsion of the Islamic Moors from Andalusia, their name for their kingdom in southern Spain .
But what did America have to do with events in Spain more than five centuries ago? That's part of the point. In their thinking, America = Spain = Britain = France = Canada = Australia = Israel = Dar al-Harb, the land of struggle that must be converted to Dar al Islam. All are one and the same, part of one continuous, ongoing struggle of Islam against its foes.
Simply put, the Islamic terrorists want Spain back-and they're clearly saying so in their Arabic-language pronouncements.
The wave of Islamic expansion that took Spain also advanced into the heart of France, where the Muslim warriors were defeated in the Battle of Tours in 732. Had the Muslims won, all of Europe might be speaking Arabic today. Even with their defeat, a second wave of Islamic expansion in the 12th century spread Islam into Eastern Europe before its advance was halted at Vienna in 1683. They want that area back, too, which is why we have seen bloody wars in the Balkans in recent years.
The United States received a tragic wake-up call on 9/11/01 . Europe received its own bloody wake-up call on 3/11/04-exactly 911 days later. If the West doesn't learn from the lessons of the past, it's likely we'll hear many more.

• Land of Struggle
• Madrid
• Middle East
• terrorism
• World Regions
• News and Prophecy

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Madrid Bombing: 6 years later

This is an interesting article from www.jihadwatch.org about something to read on the anniversary of the Madrid bombing which occured on March 11, 2004 go ahead and click through and get some of the recommended books. This follows this post about current events in Iran and follows the importance of domestic offshore oil drilling to dry up funding to terrorist rogue states. For more posts like this click here.


Fitzgerald: Obama needs book-learning, not real-life experience
A commenter at Jihad Watch has written of Barack Obama’s "utter lack of real life experience as most of us know it in every facet of life..."
He's had plenty of "real life experience." What he hasn't had is plenty of book-learning, of hours in the library, familiarizing himself with the texts and tenets of Islam, so much so, so repeatedly, that he thoroughly understands and assimilates the Total Belief-System, understands the politics and geopolitics of it, and comes to understand the inculcated division between Believer and Infidel.
And even more book learning is necessary: the kind of learning you can acquire from Bat Ye'or's "The Dhimmi: Jews & Christians Under Islam " and "The Decline of Eastern Christianity Under Islam: From Jihad to Dhimmitude" and from a dozen other books. Unless he had spent years in a Muslim country, he has to do this. And even that would not be a guarantee of anything were he not able to sink below the surface of life, knowing the local language, able to penetrate the barriers to mental entry -- not merely the obvious deliberate deceptions practiced on all foreign non-Muslims, the taqiyya and kitman, but also the everyday deceptions practiced, each upon each, in societies suffused with Islam.

I'll settle for book-learning, so that he can know about Islam, and know something of the history of Islamic conquests and subjugation of many different kinds of non-Muslims, over 1350 years, from Spain to the East Indies. That would be fine by me. That would be enough.
And then because he is intelligent, he could begin to make sense of the observable behavior of Muslims, begin to grasp the reasons -- to be sought in Islam itself -- for the difficulty of developing a democratic ethos in Muslim countries, or the difficulty of encouraging industry and entrepreneurship among those held in thrall to inshallah-fatalism, or the intellectual problems of a society where the Believer is encouraged to be a "slave to Allah" and discouraged from exercising independent moral choice (for "Allah Knows Best" and one must follow what the ulema tell you) and free and skeptical inquiry. All of this inhibits the development of human freedom and the enterprise of science.
Obama is a naif, but he's intelligent, and if he set his mind to it, he could find all this out, and he could make it his. And then he could, or would, agree that the squandering of this nation's wealth in Pakistan and Afghanistan, or for other Muslim states or polities, makes no sense, and that instead the two goals of American policy should be to 1) make sure that no Muslim state or group or groupuscule acquires the means -- the weaponry -- to inflict catastrophic damage on any Infidel nation-state or people and 2) make sure that the instruments of Jihad that do not receive enough attention -- the Money Weapon, campaigns of Da'wa, and demographic conquest -- are recognized, and greatly constrained or even halted, especially in the countries of Western Europe. There, the large-scale presence of Muslims has created a situation that is far more expensive, unpleasant, and physically insecure, than it would be without such a large-scale presence.
I hope he will start to educate himself on this, and promote those younger officers who have, in Iraq and Afghanistan, begun themselves to ponder what Islam teaches and what makes Islamic societies tick, or fail to. The Yesterday's Men (Robert Gates comes to mind) whose mental set leads them to endorse appeasing Arab and Muslim leaders, and to continue with the wasteful policies in Pakistan and Afghanistan instead of focusing on the potential danger to the European members of NATO, need to be replaced by those with an understanding of Islam, and of all the instruments of Jihad, and a recognition that since the war of self-defense against Jihad has no end, since it is not a "Long War" but a war that goes on as long as the texts of Islam inspire and guide more than a billion people, a husbanding of resources by the Infidel powers is necessary. No more throwing trillions away on such a vain and vainglorious effort as that in Iraq, which cannot conceivably, if the goals sought are the goals somehow attained, help the Camp of Infidels, or damage the Camp of Islam.
In Iraq that can only be achieved if, upon an American withdrawal, the sectarian and ethnic fissures not only simmer, but widen, and result in some kind of unpatchable-up hostilities -- not necessarily full-scale war, but just a steady drip-drip-drip of attack and counterattack.
Posted by Hugh