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Take your Bible now and let's look at 1 Corinthians Chapter 15 again. This wonderful Chapter on resurrection. You might as well get comfortable. You might as well determine your mind you're going to be here a while. There's 58 verses. We're just in verse 20 today and following. And we're just going to have a great time nailing down this whole theme of resurrection.
This is one section where I feel very frustrated, because I don't feel that my puny little mind can grasp the grandeur of it and even less, can my limited vocabulary express the grandiose concepts that are here in this passage. I...I wish there was some way to visualize, some way to get a grip on thrust of this section, verses 20 to 28. We're going to be looking at this morning.
Now, this is just part of our continuing study of Corinthians. We'll soon be done as we go through 16, that's it. But God has blessed us so much in the years that we've been studying together here. Eric Sauer, great theologian said this, "The present age is Easter time. It begins with resurrection of the redeemer and ends with the resurrection of the redeemed. Between lies the spiritual resurrection of those called into life through Christ. So we live between two Easters and in the power of the first Easter, we go to meet the last Easter."
The last Easter, what is the last Easter? It's what's fulfilled when we all get to heaven. We sang about it this morning. And there are four great promises connected with the last Easter in the Bible. There are many, many details, but four major elements. Let me remind you what they are. The last Easter will first of all involve what Paul calls the judgment seat of Christ.
Jesus says, "Behold I come quickly and my reward is with me to give to every man according as his works shall be." So that's going to be part of it, and we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ says Paul in 2 Corinthians 5:10. The judgment seat of Christ where we receive rewards for our service.
The second element of the last Easter is what you might simply call the marriage supper of the lamb. After we have been rewarded by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Bible tells us in Revelation 19, "that we'll be called to a great supper, we who are the bride, the church, joined together with the bridegroom who is Jesus Christ consummating the spiritual marriage and we'll have a marriage supper that'll end all." Great glorious time. That's Revelation 19.
So the last Easter promises the judgment seat of Christ, the marriage supper of the lamb. Thirdly, the coming earthly kingdom. In 1 Corinthians 6, we studied some months ago that we will rule with Christ in His kingdom. And so we anticipate that, a time of rewards, a time of great fellowship with Christ, and a time to return to earth to reign with Him in His kingdom.
But there's one more event. The fourth event is really the key to it all, and that's what the Bible calls the resurrection. That's got to come first, before the judgment seat of Christ, before the marriage supper of the lamb before the coming earthly kingdom for us, there's going to be a wonderful resurrection.
This is the climax of redemptive history, and it is also the theme of 1 Corinthians 15. Now remember some among the Corinthians were denying the resurrection of the body. They had bought the Greek philosophy that dead people don't rise. In fact, verse 12, Paul confronts them with that. "How say some among you that there is no resurrection of dead men." Some were saying the dead don't rise.
But Paul tackles that here and he gives us the greatest chapter ever penned on bodily resurrection. And he inextricably ties two together, the resurrection of Jesus and the resurrection of the believer. Both are really one in the same. Now, you'll remember that his argument follows a very logical procedure. He begins in the first 11 verses without even announcing the problem that he's discussing. Without even discussing what they said about dead men don't rise. He just begins with the first 11 verses by reminding them that they already received, believed in, stood on, and were saved by the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ.
He just reminds them that they are already believers in bodily resurrection, at least the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ. You already believe that he says. And they were all probably saying, "Amen, brother, amen." And then the point is in verse 12, "Now if Christ has preached that He rose from the dead and the assumption being and you already believe that, why are some of you saying there is no resurrection from the dead when you already believe Christ rose from the dead." That's the beginning of his argument.
Well, one of the responses to that might be well, we do believe Christ rose from the dead, but that doesn't have anything to do with us. That was unique. That was a one time deal. That was a one shot effort. Christ rose from the dead, right, amen. Physically? Oh yeah. Literally? Oh yeah. Bodily? Right. But it just really doesn't have anything to do with us.
Oh? That's what Paul attacks in verses 20 to 28. It doesn't? Watch verse 20, "Now is Christ risen from the dead?" That's an affirmation of what he said back in verses 1 to 11. And it doesn't stop there, "He is the first fruits of them that slept." In other words, he's saying, you can't just say oh yes, Christ rose, we believe that, but it has no impact on us. His bodily, literal, physical resurrection was believable, but that doesn't mean we will rise.
Paul says, listen, "Not only is Christ from the dead, but He is also the first fruits of them that slept." In other words, he is the first fruits of resurrection, you will be the following harvest of resurrection. Now that's what he goes into in verses 20 to 28. He says, If you deny the resurrection of the body, you are really in trouble. If you deny the resurrection of the body, then Christ isn't risen, the gospel is useless, faith is empty, apostles are liars, we're all in our sins, dead men are damned, and Christians are the most pitiful people in the world.
So you don't want to do that. So I know you want to believe Christ is risen. So in verse 20 he says, "Now we know Christ is risen, but don't stop there and say it has no impact. His resurrection is just the first fruits of a whole harvest of resurrection yet to come." You see you've got to have that, he says. You can't just stop with Christ. He was raised to be the first fruits of all us in resurrection life.
Now with that in mind, let's look at the text. We find here simply three things. Three major elements of the impact of resurrection. First he deals with redeemer, secondly with the redeemed, and thirdly with the restoration. The redeemer, the redeemed, and the restoration.
Now, the resurrection of Jesus Christ was very, very, very unique. And that's where he begins. Let's look at point, the redeemer. "Now as Christ risen from the dead and become the first fruits of them that slept." Now he affirms again that Christ has risen. That's a fact they already believe from verses 1 to 11, he reminded them they believed it. In verses 12 to 19, he showed them they better believe it or they've lost everything. So now reaffirming Christ is risen from the dead. Now you drop out the words and become because they don't appear in a better manuscript. "Now as Christ risen from the dead, the first fruits of them that slept." Now what were the first fruits.
Leviticus Chapter 23:10 required at Passover that before the harvest could be made, before you could harvest your whole field and bring your crop in, you had to cut down the first fruits of barley in that case, and you had to bring it in a sheaf all wrapped up, present it to the priests. That was before you could harvest. Before the harvest could be made, the first fruits had to be given.
Now when you planted your crop, you usually planted your crop in somewhat of a progression, so that when your fields of grain came in, it would come in a little like this, because what you had planted earliest would come in first. And this was one way to hedge against problems. You might be a storm by planting a little early. You might gain some rain by coming a little later. So very frequently they would plant in a slower way so that the crop might come in at little different times and hedge a little bit against what might be the elemental involvement.
So what happens here is that the first crop that comes in, you know that's good, that's there. And to show your love to God, you take the first part rather than stashing it away in case the rest doesn't come, you give it to God as an act of faith. You've given right off the top the very best you have. And you can't harvest the rest until you've done that at Passover, Leviticus 23:10. And the whole point that he's making here is just as the full harvest could never be made until the first fruits was given so we will never rise until Christ has risen. That's his point.
It is the resurrection of Christ and He comes out of the grave and He offers Himself to God and then in that offering He secures for us our resurrection. First fruits was a sign, mark it down in your mind, first fruits was a sign or symbol of the coming harvest. And the resurrection of Christ was a sign or a symbol of the coming resurrection of believers. That's what he's saying.
In other words, now watch people, you can't have Christ being raised and it have no impact or no effect. Christ is raised not in isolation, He is not a piece of grain grown in a special garden, He is not a piece of grain, a seed that falls into the ground and dies and grows up in a greenhouse. He is just a part of the whole harvest resurrection and He was thrown into the ground in terms of the seed that dies. He springs forth to life and becomes the guaranty of the rest of us who fall into the ground and die and shall also rise in life.
You can't isolate that. They must go together. Now, here we see the first fruits. People say well does that mean that Christ is the first to ever rise from the dead? No, no, it doesn't say He is the first to ever rise from the dead. Some people in the Old Testament, right, rose from the dead. Elijah brought a boy back to life. You have resurrection. Jesus Himself.
The New Testament records that He brought back to life three different people. Gyrusdaughter, the son of the widow, and Lazarus. He is not the first out of the grave. He is the first fruits. He is the guarantee of resurrection harvest. By the way, let me give you an interesting footnote. Every other person in the Bible who was ever raised from the dead, died again, except Jesus. Okay?
So His resurrection was the only one where He was raised to glory. You say what about Enoch and Elijah? Well, they never died any time. They just took off one day. Took a walk with God and walked right up into heaven, but they never died. Of those that died, only one has risen never to die again and that's Christ. And that's because He was the first fruits. He was the unique one whose resurrection was a resurrection of life that could never be killed which is passed on to the rest of the field of grain, the rest of us who will be raised in the days to come.
So Christ had a unique resurrection. You say well, John, what about Colossians 1:18 where it says "He's the first born from the dead." Or what about Revelation 1:5 where it says "He's the first begotten of the dead." The word first born and first begotten in the Greek is prototokos. It doesn't mean first in terms of one, two, three, four, five. It means the primary one. It means the best one. It means the greatest one.
Christ is not the first person to rise from the dead. He is the greatest person whoever rose from the dead. That's what Paul is saying. He is the...He is the prototokos of all of whoever risen. The greatest, the best. And He is the first fruits, that is He is the guaranteer of the ultimate resurrection harvest. Those are the uniquenesses. Now he says then look Christ rose and He is the first fruits or the guaranty of them that slept. Now who are those that are sleeping?
Now, this is not talking about soul sleep, and it's not talking about the folks that are taking a nap, it's talking about death. But it's talking about the body. They referred to death from the physical as the sleep of the body. The soul went right to be with the Lord. When any Christian dies, now mark this, since Jesus' death and resurrection on through history, when a Christian dies, the moment he dies, he's in the presence of Jesus Christ. "Absent from the body, present with the Lord," 2 Corinthians 5:8.
Paul says in Philippians 1:23, he says, "I'd like to stay with you far better to depart and be with Christ." The believer goes immediately to be with Christ in his spirit, but his body sleeps in the grave awaiting resurrection. It's really a beautiful term. It's better than saying and become the first fruits of them that rotted in the ground.
It's just a nice way of saying it. They were sleeping waiting resurrection. Now you say oh my. The argument's going to be what are you...you're saying that resurrection of one person can have such an effect on all other people, that everybody who ever slept in Christ, everybody who ever was a believer who died, every body ever put in the grave that belonged to somebody who loved God, they're all going to come out of the grave just because of what Jesus did? How can the resurrection of one man have such an impact on all those other people.
Glad you asked. Verse 21 and 22 answers it. He says, let me give you a principle. "For since by man came death. By man came also the resurrection of the dead." Now stop there, there's a principle. Who was the one man whose one act brought death on human race? Who was it? Adam. Do you realize that one man doing one thing...Adam...simple man. God created man, Adam. God created woman, Eve. Said don't do that. Eve said, I think I'll do that. Adam says, you did it, I'll do it too. They did it. You know what happen? The whole pile of us went.
That's right, we were all bound up in the loins of Adam. When Adam sinned, we all fell. When Adam died, we all died and everyone of us born in the seed of Adam, everyone of us with humanity, everyone of us with humanness, whoever came into the world came into this world as sinners because we were in the loins of Adam. And when he did his one thing, we all went right down the drain with him. And the death principle passed on all men. Romans 5, "For that all have sinned in Adam."
Now, the one act of one man at one time in one point, in one place, in history effected every human being that ever lived. That's Paul's point. Now, if one man can do one thing and cause death to pass on all men, then why can't one other man do one thing and cause life to pass on all men? See his point?
You can't isolate the resurrection any more than you can isolate the act of Adam. This is an analogy that Paul uses in Romans 5 verses 12 to 20 and develops it fully and beautifully. And it's an analogy that every Christian ought to read and understand. Sometime today or whenever you get a chance, study Romans 5 and see that great analogy.
By the way, this is the first use of it, because this was written before the book of Romans in Paul's chronological life span. So this is the first use of this analogy. But he says, look one man brought death, and you know no Jew would argue that. Do you know that the Jews actually believe that in what is called racial solidarity that's very...that's a very common belief. They believe that everybody is in the loins of everybody who was the progenitor.
They believe the race was all in Adam's loins. They don't have any problem with that. They believe in solidarity of guilt. We're all sinners and we all have the death principle because we all sinned in Adam. We were all there in his loin. And he's just playing on that same concept and saying the same is true of Christ.
Now, he goes to verse 22 and he gets very specific. He says, "For as in Adam all die even so in Christ shall all be made alive." He says, you don't have a problem with the concept that we all die do you? No, we can't fight that. We know that. The earth is pot-marked with proof of that. Graves all over everywhere. No question about it, we all die. Why? One man did one thing and we all died. Why can't one man do one other thing and we all live?
That's his point. You see it all depends on who that man is, isn't it? Adam stood in a very unique place in human history and so did Jesus Christ. And so Paul says, you can't say I believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, but I don't think it has any effect on anybody else's resurrection. No, no, no, you can't say that.
It does. Now people get kind of choked up at verse 22 and they say that "For as in Adam all die, even in Christ all be made alive." And they always ask this question, does that mean ultimately everybody gets saved? And their thinking is this, it's a parallel. How many died in Adam? All. Then how many are going to live in Christ? All. And so you know what? This drives people to what is known in theology as universalism. And universalism is the idea that everybody's going to get saved in the end.
Everybody's going to get saved in the end. In fact, it's like the head of the American Baptist Convention Evangelism Department said, we don't need to go around the world telling people to be saved. We simply need to announce to them that they already are. See, they get mixed up on the alls.
Now, let me show you what it's saying. Now, we know from other Scriptures that all are not going to be saved, don't we? We know that, because the Bible talks about Hell and it says "it's a broad road and many there be that go in there at." And it's eternal. So we know that. Well, you say what's it saying John? It's simply saying this, by one man all died. By one man all are made alive.
Now watch, it depends upon the link with the man. That's the point. Who died? All who are in Adam. Who live? All who are in Christ. You see the all has to be connected to the individual and his work. Listen by natural descent from Adam, we all die and all who are naturally descendent from Adam will die. And all who are supernaturally descendent from Christ will live. That's the point. It is the all of who...who you're in. All in Adam die. All in Christ live. If you're not in Christ, you're still in Adam, you die. You see?
The first all includes all who are in Adam by the common factor of sin. The second all includes all who are in Christ by the common factor of faith. All who are in Adam die. All who are in Christ live. So Paul's first point is the impact of the resurrection. It deals with the resurrection of the redeemer and it is the first fruits, the guaranty, the source, as Adam was the first fruits and source of death, so Christ is the source of life.
And by the way, the main emphasis he's making here is physical...physical life. There is a spiritual part of it because when Adam sinned, we not only die physically, we die spiritually. And when Christ lives we not only live spiritually, we live physically in a glorified body. But the emphasis he's making here is on the body part of it. Bodies die because of Adam's sin. Bodies live because of Christ's resurrection.
Now, he moves from there from the redeemer to the redeemed, point two in verse 23. As he traces the impact of resurrection. Verse 23, "Following this, he looks to the future now, to the harvest, the first fruits being Christ, later on comes the harvest." And here's the harvest. Every man. Every man? Every man, of course, who is in Christ. Every man in the all of verse 22 and the all are those in Christ.
Every man in his own order. Christ the first fruits, now here is very clear. "Afterward, they that are Christ." Do you see? It isn't everybody, and that's the phrase that qualifies the all of verse 22. The all are they that are Christ's. Not everybody in the world. First Christ and then that's the first fruits, and afterward, there's a time gap, the word afterward is an unresolved time gap. We don't know how long a period. It refers to a time separation, but at a later time "they that are Christ." And when is this going to happen? At, what? His coming.
So Jesus rose from the dead as the first fruits. And when He rose out of that grave, He guaranteed that after a time gap, they that are Christ would also come out of the grave. And when is that going to be? At His coming. When Jesus comes. The word incidentally coming is parousia. In the Greek it means presence. At His presence when He arrives. When Jesus arrives, resurrection will take place.
There's coming a resurrection and that resurrection is tied to the resurrection of Christ as death is tied to the sin of Adam. Now the Scripture speaks about this resurrection again and again and again, many places. Let me...let me remind you of something. Don't try to follow but you can jot this Scripture down. Luke 14:13, Luke 14:13 says this, "But when thou givest a feast call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind." The verse 14 says, "And thou shalt be blessed for they cannot recompense thee for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just."
Now, there's an interesting word by our Lord. He says, look when you see somebody who is poor and crippled and lame and blind, and you're blessed...you know, the implication is give them what they need even though they can't pay you back, the Lord will pay you back. When? At the resurrection of the just. There's coming a special resurrection. It's harvest time folks. A special resurrection of the just. The righteous. They that are Christ's.
In further Scriptures, John Chapter 5, verse 28, we read these words. "Marvel not at this for the hour is coming in which all that are in the graves shall here His voice and shall come forth. They that have done good unto the resurrection of life and they that have done evil to the resurrection of damnation." So you have the resurrection of just and the resurrection of life. This is the harvest time.
In Philippians Chapter 3 and verse 10, most interesting Scripture, Paul talks about the power of the resurrection, the fellowship of the sufferings. And then he says, "If by any means I might attain unto," the Greek says, "the out resurrection of the dead." The dead are coming out. Sort of a coming out. Graves will unload the righteous dead.
So it is the resurrection of the just, it is the out resurrection of the dead. It is the resurrection of life in John 5. In Hebrews 11:35, further it says, "That they might obtain a better resurrection." It's called a better resurrection. And finally, in Revelation Chapter 20, in verse 6, "Blessed and holy is he that has part in the," what, "first resurrection."
So the Scripture very generally talks about the resurrection of the just, the resurrection of life, a better resurrection, the out resurrection from the dead, and it calls the first resurrection. Now watch this, the first resurrection...there's only two resurrections, the first and the second. The first resurrection is the resurrection of the just, the redeemed. The second is the resurrection of the unjust, the condemned.
The first resurrection the just, the second resurrection the condemned. The first resurrection, now hang on to your hat has four parts. All right, the first resurrection which is the resurrection of the just has four parts. Part one is the resurrection of whom? Christ. Part two is the church resurrected at the rapture. 1 Thessalonians Chapter 4, verse 16, "The Lord shall descend from heaven with a shout, the voice of the arch angel, the trumpet of God, the dead in Christ shall rise." First, the resurrection.
So we have the resurrection of Christ, the resurrection of the church. Later on you have the tribulation time. And during the tribulation time, there's judgment and slaughter and all kinds of horrible things on and a lot of people die in the tribulation don't they? A lot of Godly people die.
At the end of the tribulation, they will be raised and that's part three. If you want to read about that, read the 20thChapter or Revelation, verses 3 to 5. It says "There was a resurrection of the souls beheaded for the witness of Jesus and they were raised to live and reign with Christ."
So you have then the resurrection of Christ, part one of the first resurrection. The resurrection of the church, which occurs at the rapture at the beginning the seven year tribulation. The resurrection of the tribulation saints at the end of the seven years, and the fourth part is the resurrection of the bodies of the Old Testament saints. And that occurs at the end of the tribulation simultaneous with the tribulation saints' resurrection. You got that?
You say why are you going through all of that? Well, because it says in verse 23, I've got to be faithful to the text. "Every man in his own order." In other words, there was a sequence. Tagma in the Greek is the word order. It means sequence. It originally had to do with military lines. And it is...there is a sequence to resurrection. Christ, the church, the tribulation saints, and the Old Testament saints. That makes the first resurrection.
The second resurrection, the resurrection of the ungodly and the condemned occurs 1,000 years later at the end of the kingdom when God gets all the rebels from all over and gathers them together and casts them to Hell.
By the way, the resurrection of the Old Testament saints is promised in Daniel 12:1 and 2 in a very beautiful way. And I might take just a moment to...to share that with you very quickly. Daniel 12:1, "At that time," and that's talking about the tribulation, "At that time, shall Michael stand up, the great prince who stands for the children of the people and there shall be a time of trouble," tribulation, "such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time and at that time thy people shall be delivered, everyone that shall be found written in the book. Israel be delivered."
Now watch, "And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake some to everlasting life and some to shame and every lasting contempt. So, Christ is already raised from the dead. That's phase one, right? Phase two is the rapture. We're looking for that, right? Then at the end of the tribulation come the tribulation saints and the Old Testament saints out of the grave. And you know what? That's the first resurrection, that finishes it folks. Resurrection has happened.
Tribulation saints, Old Testament saints, church saints were all alive. And it doesn't need to be any more resurrection. That's it. But there's one more, of course, the second resurrection at the end of the kingdom. John 5:29, the resurrection of damnation.
Discussed in Revelation 20 where it talks about the great white thrown. And so Paul says, look the redeemer, He doesn't come out of the grave in isolation. He is simply the taste, the symbol, the guaranty of the full harvest that's going to come later when the church is raised, when the trib saints are raised, and when the Old Testament saints are raised.
And that leads to the third and last stage. The final impact of resurrection, this is great. I call it the restoration. Because it takes everything back to where it began. It restores everything. Paradise restore. Verse 24, "Then the end." "Then the end." Now for most of us we see, The End. We say oh that's it folks go home. The end of a movie. Lights come on, it's all over, The End. That's not what it means. Telasin the Greek means then the fulfillment or the culmination or the purpose or the goal.
Then the thing which God has been pointing to all along, the end. And what is the end? Well, let's find out. When He shall have delivered up the kingdom to God. The end is when we go right back to God, right where we started in the beginning God, then the end God. And everything goes right back to restoration and is restored to God.
The kingdom is given to God. That's the...that's the goal of everything. God created a paradise. Paradise lost. God calls the paradise back. Paradise restored. In the end it will be as it was in the beginning. No sin. God reigning.
Let's go on and see what the verses say. "Then comes..." or then literally the goal or the purpose, "When He shall have delivered," and He there is Christ, "When Christ shall have delivered up the kingdom to God even the Father, when Christ shall have put down all rule and all authority and power, for Christ must reign til Christ hath put all enemies under His feet and the last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. For God the Father," that's the He there to help you understand it, "For God the Father has put all things under Christ's feet." Stop right there.
Now, do you see what's going to happen here. Now watch this, I'll give it to you in a nutshell, real quick. Christ takes the kingdom. Christ subdues all other kingdoms, all other rule, all other authority, all other power. He establishes the kingdom, He builds the kingdom, He squashes all rebellion, and then in the end He takes the kingdom and does what with it? Presents it to the father. That's what these verses are saying.
Now, follow this great, great truth here. This is the consummation of everything people, everything. And you have Christ reigning here. First, Christ has to come. Then there's resurrection, and when the resurrection happens then Christ begins at the end of verse 24 to rule the earth. And He puts down all rule and authority and power.
Now it takes Him a while to do this. First phase of the resurrection in the future is what? The church, right? And after the church is raptured, then Christ begins to work on this world. Read what happens in Revelation Chapter 5, Christ takes the title deed, the scroll. You know the seven sealed scroll? He takes the title deed to the earth in His hand and He begins to unroll the scroll. And what it is it's the title deed to the earth, and as He unrolls it and breaks the seals, it pictures Him taking back the earth, back to God, back from the usurper.
And you read Revelation 5 through 19 through Chapter 20 and that whole thing discusses how Christ takes the earth back and begins to establish His rule and how He subdues all authority and all power and all dominion and all rule. How He squashes all rebels. How He crushes all rebellion. And even at the end of the kingdom Satan is loose for a little time, he brings a worldwide rebellion. Christ puts that rebellion out and all rebels are finished and all dominion is broken and He reigns supreme. And that's what verse 25 says. "He will reign continually through that 1,000 years, until all enemies are put under His feet."
Putting under the feet is a term that came to do with subjection because kings were always elevated on high seats and subjects always came and were below their feet when they bowed to them. And so Christ will be the king and all others will be broken and bowed and there will be no other rule and other authority and no other power. In other words, the world will be totally ruled by one person, Jesus Christ.
And we will be co-regents with Him as we carry out His orders. And He'll...He'll go all through the tribulation, gaining that role of king. All through and then finally when the kingdom begins after He crushes the end of the tribulation, after He wins the battle of Armageddon, He returns to earth, He wipes out the enemies, He begins to reign and even during that 1,000 years there will be rebellion. We know it. Why? Because He has to rule it with what? A rod of iron. Which means there's got to be rebellion going on, but He puts it down and puts it down and finally Satan, who has bound for the 1,000 years, is released at the end. Read the 20thof Revelation and it explains it all. And He then squashes that rebellion and all enemies are subject to Him. There are no more enemies.
And the last enemy, verse 26, "to be destroyed is death itself." He destroys death. What a great thing. He squashes every enemy. He already won the victory over death in the grave didn't He? Hebrews 2:14 and 15 says, "That He already destroyed him who had the power of death, Satan, on the cross. And when He came out of the grave he broke the shackles of death." So He's already gained the victory over death, but ultimately He will destroy death. There will be no more death. And in Revelation 21 it says there will be no more crying, there'll be no more pain. There'll be no more sorrow. There'll be no more death.
The last enemy. Christ will rule. This is talking about the 1,000 year marvelous millennial kingdom on earth. Now watch, you say but after He rules, what does He do? Verse 24, "Then the end He will deliver that kingdom to God the Father." Now watch, That is the millennial kingdom phasing into the eternal state. The 1,000 year millennial kingdom then phases into the eternal state. The new heaven and the new earth.
In Chapter 5 of Revelation, John is looking at the vision in heaven and he's looking around somebody says, "Who is worthy to take back the earth?" And they look around and they can't find anybody. And all of a sudden the lamb comes forth and they begin to cry, "He is worthy. He is worthy."
And Jesus Christ takes the assignment from the Father to redeem the earth and He goes about and does it and when He's all done, when He's all finished, He's finished coming as a baby, He's finished living as a man, He's finished dying, rising, coming back, He's finished fighting the enemies of Satan and all the other world enemies. He's finished with all the rebellions. He's squelched all the enemies. He's crushed all the foes. It's all done and He reigns as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And He's got all the redeemed and they're all gathered together and all the ones who are unbelieving are gone and they're judged and they're all away and all that's left are the redeemed, then He gives it all to God and says here. I did my task.
He gives it to the Father and that's what the Bible calls the eternal state, the new heaven and the new earth. No more rebels, gives it all to God. All things in the kingdom are under His feet.
There's an interesting footnote in verse 27 I'll call your attention to. He says, "God the Father's going to put all things under His feet in that kingdom, but He has one thing, but when God the Father says all things are put under Christ, it is obvious," manifest means obvious, "it is obvious that He," that is God the Father, "is an exception."
In other words, somebody might say well, when He puts all things under Christ, does that mean God the Father goes under Christ? No, no, that's...that's an exception. That's just a little footnote so you're clear on that. God is not subject. But all other things. So in the kingdom Christ rules. Matthew 28:18, Jesus said, "All authority has been given to me in heaven and earth."
And that's right. In John 5 He talked about the fact that God the Father gave Him the authority and the right to reign and judge. And He will reign. Psalm 2:6 said it. Psalm 8:6 said it. Psalm 110:1 said He will reign until He put all enemies under His feet. Those are all Messianic quotes right there in verse 27 and verse 25.
And so He squashes every enemy, and everything is subject to Him except God Himself, verse 27. And then He gives it all to the Father, verse 24. At the end of it all, He gives it all to the Father. And what is the kingdom that He gives to the Father? Listen beloved, what is the kingdom that He gives to the Father? I'll tell you what it is. It's people, that's all. Redeemed people.
Now listen to me, if there is no resurrection, then Christ didn't rise. If Christ didn't rise, then He cannot take the earth and give it to the Father, right? Then you say, but He did rise. It's the rest of us who don't. If we don't rise, there are no subjects for the kingdom. That's His point.
You see resurrection is that which makes the whole finale a reality. As all died spiritually and physically in Adam, so all live spiritually and physically in Christ. And if there's no physical life, then there's no millennial kingdom. And if there's no millennial kingdom, there's no restored earth. And if there's no restored earth, the God lost it in the garden and never got it back again.
Can't be, can't be. And so you see, the resurrection of Christ has ramifications. We rise and that means that He can reign and we can reign with Him in the earthly kingdom and then when it's all done and all enemies are destroyed, He can give us all the Father as a glorified humanity in resurrection form.
And when He does that, verse 28 describes it. "And when all things shall be subdued to Him, then shall the Son also Himself be subject to Him," that is to the Father, "that put all things under Him in order that God may be all in all." You know what's so beautiful about that people? Christ in His incarnation form even in that day acts out the role of humility in submitting Himself to the Father.
Always the servant from the time He was given a body and He came into the world til the time He presents it back to God. He is the servant fulfilling His tasks. And then He gives it back to God and you say oh, and then God is all in all. Doesn't Christ reign anymore? Oh yes. You say, Christ is going to keep on reigning? Yeah, because when he was born in Luke Chapter 1, it said, "Fear not Mary, for thou hast favor with God and behold thou shalt conceive in thy womb and bring forth a son. Shall call His name Jesus. He should be great. Be called the Son of the Highest, and the Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of His Father, David," now listen to this, "and He shall reign over the house of Jacob forever and of His kingdom there shall be," what, "no end."
He will reign forever, forever. In Revelation Chapter 11, verse 15, it says, "He will reign forever and ever." You know what I love? I'll illustrate it. Revelation 3, He says, "To him that overcometh will I grant to sit down with me in my thrown and whereas my throne, my throne is in the Father's throne." Do you see what Jesus is saying? Ultimately, my throne and the Father's throne is your throne. In other words, all things return to God as in the beginning we were all coming out of God. In the end we all return to God and we reign with Him in common life.
No wonder Jesus said, "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I made everything and all things resolve in me." That's where history's going. It came from God, it goes back to God. And resurrection makes it happen. When God made a humanity, He made a humanity of righteousness with a plan that they would dwell with Him forever. When they lost that righteousness, He didn't give up the plan. He will raise them to a new humanity of righteousness and gain them back into His presence.
That's history. That's history. That God may be all in all. Everything goes back to Him. And not in a mystical Greek, philosophical way are we...do we float back into some deity, but we are united with God by the common life that flows through us. And we sit with Him on His throne with Christ who is in the same throne and the Holy Spirit no doubt is there as well.
Great, great reality. Well, let's pray. Thank you Father for showing us today that history is going where it's going, and that all those things that were once promised as man came out of your very essence. And then lost in sin will be regained and the restoration when all things are given back to you. Father, we long for the day when God is all in all, when the Son and all that the Son has won the kingdom itself shall be given to you and we shall be lost in your presence forever.
Thank you that You're in control and You made it and you will restore it. The plan will come to fulfillment. Father, as we think about it in general, we can't help but thing about it in specific and realize that there might be some dear folks here who've never known Jesus Christ. Who've never put their faith in Him. Who consequently are not a part of the plan. They're not going to be in the first resurrection, they're not going to be in the kingdom, they're not going to be in that great host of people given back to the Father. They're going to be in the resurrection of the damned, because they've not put their faith in Jesus Christ.
Oh Father, may this be the day they put their faith in Him. For those of us who are Christians, help us to live like kingdom citizens. Help us to be worthy of the calling to which we're called. Amen.
This sermon series includes the following messages:
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by Amir Taheri
August 28, 2004
|Iran says it has achieved effective deterrent power
|www.chinaview.cn 2004-08-29 07:02:35
TEHRAN, Aug. 28 (Xinhuanet) -- Iranian Defense Minister Ali Shamkhani said Saturday that Iran has achieved an "effective deterrent power" to confront its enemies in the region, the official IRNA news agency reported.
"Today by relying on our defense industry capabilities, we have been able to increase our deterrent capacity against the military expansion of regional enemies," Shamkhani was quoted as saying.
"The Defense Ministry has put its capabilities in the ground, air, sea and missile domains in the three categories of fire, maneuver and precision into a race with its foreign rivals," Shamkhani added.
Iran said earlier this month it carried out a successful test firing of an upgraded version of its Shahab-3 medium-range ballistic missile.
Military experts said the missile is capable of striking Israel or any other enemy target in the region.
Tensions between Iran and Israel as well as the United States have been accelerated recently.
The United States and Israel, accusing Iran of developing nuclear weapons secretly, threatened to launch a surprising attack upon Iran's atomic power plant in Bushehr.
On Aug. 18, Brigadier General Mohammad Baqer Zolqadr, deputy commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, warned that Iran would strike Israel's nuclear reactor at Dimona if Israel's threat were materialized. Enditem
Tehran seeking role in Mid-East
Mr Khatami was responding to questions from reporters about American policies in the region.
He also said that Iran was willing to provide any guarantee to the International Atomic Energy Agency that it was not developing nuclear weapons.
Pressure is building on Iran ahead of a fresh round of discussions on Teheran's nuclear programme at the IAEA.
Iran accused
Speaking in Tehran, President Khatami said despite its many problems with the US, Iran would not let these effect its policies towards Iraq.
Mr Khatami said if the Americans had trusted Iraq's neighbours and countries in the region, instead of continuing their occupation, the problems in Iraq could have been solved.
American officials and some members of the Iraqi interim government have accused Iran of causing trouble in Iraq.
A visit to Tehran by the Iraqi deputy prime minister to try and ease relations between the two neighbours is expected soon.
US call
Mr Khatami also talked about what he described as Iran's natural and legal right to develop peaceful nuclear power.
Speaking positively about the negotiations with the IAEA, Mr Khatami said if the agency recognised Iran's right to enrich uranium and accepted it as a member of the nuclear club, all problems would be solved.
He then called for the IAEA board of governors to take Iran's case off the agenda by next month's meeting. He added that he believed this was unlikely, however.
The US has been lobbying the agency to report Iran to the United Nations Security Council.
Washington believes Tehran is secretly developing nuclear weapons, a charge that Iran denies.
Iraq minister set for Iran visit
Relations have become increasingly tense between the two neighbours.
Earlier this week Iraqi interim Vice-President Ibrahim Jaafari made a surprise visit to Iran.
The official Iranian news agency says Mr Saleh's trip is aimed at preparing for a later visit to Iran by Iraq's interim Prime Minister, Iyad Allawi.
Shia Iran has been fiercely critical about the use of military force against Shia militiamen in the holy Iraqi city of Najaf.
Earlier, Iraq's defence minister accused Iran of arming insurgents close to the radical Iraqi cleric Moqtada Sadr, allegations which Tehran denied.
"There is a real uncertainty within the Allawi government," says Paul Rogers, Professor of Peace Studies at Bradford University.
"It did not manage to control the insurgency in Najaf as it had hoped and possibly expected - as a result there's a slight degree of paranoia that things could get worse again."
US issue
Baghdad continues to be concerned about Iran's attempts to increase its influence in Shia areas of Iraq.
But some experts say that Tehran may actually have less influence than it would like over some of Iraq's independently minded Shi'ite clerics.
Paul Rogers says Baghdad's current close ties with Washington make a radical improvement in relations difficult.
"The Iranians would like to see a circumstance in which Iraq was pretty determinedly independent and far less under American influence," he says.
"The Iranians don't want permanent [American] bases in Iraq."
On Friday, Baghdad released an Iranian reporter arrested in Iraq earlier this month in an apparent goodwill gesture ahead of this visit.
But there is still no firm news about an Iranian diplomat abducted in Iraq.
Iranian scribe released after three weeks
Web posted at: 8/28/2004 6:46:38
Source ::: AFP
TEHRAN: The Baghdad bureau chief of Irans state news agency Irna was released by authorities yesterday after being held for nearly three weeks, the agency said.
Mostafa Darban, who was detained by police on August 9 and held by the interior ministry, was turned over to Iranian officials at the Khosravi border crossing between the two neighboring states, Irna said. I do not know why I was arrested, Darban was quoted as saying after his arrival in Iran. I think it was all the result of a misunderstanding. I thank everyone who worked to obtain my freedom.
Two other Irna journalists, Mohammad Khafaji and Mohsen Madani, were arrested at the same time, according to Irna, but the news agency did not say if they were still being detained.
Darbans liberation comes on the eve of a visit to Iran by Iraqs interim vice prime minister, Barham Saleh, as the neighbours try to mend fences after a certain tension in recent weeks.
Irna said on Thursday that Saleh had promised during a meeting with the Iranian charge daffaires that the journalists would be released before his visit. The Iraqi government has never explained the arrests, although Tehran stands accused of meddling in the affairs of the new US-installed government.
Iraqi officials have joined the Americans in accusing Iran of getting involved in the Shiite rebellion and even of arming rebels. Shiites are the majority of the population in both countries. An Iranian diplomat also disappeared on the road between Baghdad and Karbala and has been presumed kidnapped.
Fereydun Jahani went missing on August 4 on the road leading from Baghdad to Karbala, in central Iraq, where Tehran was set to open a consulate. His kidnapping was claimed by the Islamic Army of Iraq, which was reported to have issued threats against him but is not known to have carried them out. Iraqi Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazi said yesterday that Jahani was in good health, but he did not provide any details.
Iran awards $120,000 to judo champ for not fighting Israeli
Web posted at: 8/29/2004 2:10:6
Source ::: AFP
TEHRAN: Irans official sporting body has awarded $120,000 to its world judo champion Arash Miresmaeili for refusing to fight an Israeli during the Athens Olympics, a newspaper report said yesterday.
Miresmaeilis act was extremely valuable, and therefore we are awarding him the gold medalist award, the head of the Iranian Physical Education Organisation, Mohsen Mehralizadeh, was quoted as saying in the official daily Iran. The sum is the same amount awarded to Hossein Rezazadeh, who won a gold medal in weightlifting.
The paper said the Iranian National Olympics Committee had also given Miresmaeli its gold medalist cash payout of $5,000 for what they also termed as a valuable action. Miresmaeilis move was praised by Irans President Mohammad Khatami, who said the snub was a great act of self-sacrifice and a protest against massacre, terrorism and usurpation.
Miresmaeili, who was bidding to become the first Iranian to win an Olympic judo medal, said he was refusing to fight an Israeli as a gesture of support for the Palestinians. The 23-year-old, twice a winner of the flyweight world title, opted not to take on first round opponent Ehud Vaks of Israel.
But he was later eliminated from the competition when he failed to make the weight for the planned contest in Athens. He was two kilograms (4.4 pounds) overweight. Although he was suspected of intentionally gaining body weight to avoid fighting an Israeli opponent, the International Judo Federation (IJF) said he will not be punished.
The IJF also said that the 23-year-old Iranian, who carried his countrys flag in the opening ceremony, had denied suggesting he would boycott his opening match.
By Safa Haeri
Posted Saturday, August 28, 2004
PARIS, 28 Aug. (IPS, with reports from Haaretz and agencies) The man FBI suspects as having spied for Israel has met Manouchehr Qorbanifar, an Iranian arms dealer involved in the Iran-Contra deal scandal of the 1980s.
The American TV network CBS reported Friday that the Federal Bureau of Investigations has been conducting an ongoing investigation into the matter and is convinced the spy has conveyed highly sensitive information to the Israeli government via two representatives of AIPAC.
The CBS report only identified the suspected mole as a senior analyst who works in the bureau of Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. He was also said to be closely associated with two senior Pentagon officials, Paul Wolfowitz and Undersecretary of Defence for Policy Douglas J. Feith.
"The FBI has a full-fledged espionage investigation under way and is about to... roll up someone [who] agents believe has been spying, not for an enemy, but for Israel, from within the office of the secretary of defence", CBS reported.
The network said that the mole, whom it described as a "trusted analyst of the Pentagon", had last year passed on "secret White House deliberations on Iran".
But the Web site of The Washington Post on Saturday quoted two sources who identified the alleged Pentagon spy as Larry Franklin, a desk officer in the Defence Department's Near East and South Asia Bureau.
In late 2001, Franklin and another Defence Department official, Harold Rhode, met Qorbanifar in Paris in order to get information on the situation in the Islamic Republic and possible ways of destabilising the regime.
A senior U.S. official, however, said on condition of anonymity that two other Iranians were present at the meeting who the Bush administration had been told had information useful to the U.S. in its then-fledgling global war on terrorism, Haaretz added from Washington.
Questioned about the meeting in August 2003, Mr. Rumsfeld said it was "absolutely not" the case that the meeting with Qorbanifar was intended to be part of any other ongoing, unofficial talks with Iranians.
Alongside with Colonel Oliver North, Robert McFarlane, President Roland Reagans Chief security adviser and Israeli intelligence specialist Amiran Nir, Qorbanifar helped the newly established Islamic Republic that was attacked by Iraq and under sanctions from Washington, to get much needed sophisticated anti aircraft missiles Tow and Hawk in exchange for the money going to the Nicaraguan rebels under what became known as the Irangate scandal.
A person who refused to identify himself told IPS on Saturday that Mr. Qorbanifar was not available until Monday.
Israel immediately denied that it had any agents operating on American soil and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) vehemently rejected its involvment after it was revealed that the FBI has launched a probe into allegations that an official in the Pentagon has been passing intelligence information concerning Iran to Israel via AIPAC, the most influential and powerful of all American Jewisah lobbies in the United States.
"We deny carrying out any intelligence activity. It is a strange story", said the government official, who declined to be identified. "Israel, for many years, has not carried out intelligence activity in the United States".
Iranian and Israeli analysts where also baffled, observing that as far as it is known, not only the Bush Administration lacks a clear cut policy on Iran, but is also shares information with Israel about Iran.
Israel has a special unit working day and night on the situation in Iran and is believed to be well informed. Besides, some Israeli specialising on Iran are routinely in contact with the White House and Defence Department, an informed source told Iran Press Service on condition of anonymity, adding that while Israel might be involved, AIPAC is certainly not.
AIPAC issued a statement said, "We would not condone or tolerate, for a second, any violation of U.S. law or interests. We are fully cooperating with the governmental authorities and will continue to do so".
Any allegation of criminal conduct by AIPAC or our employees is false and baseless. Neither AIPAC nor any of its employees has violated any laws or rules, nor has AIPAC or its employees ever received information they believed was secret or classified, the organisation stated, adding that it would fully cooperate with the FBI in its investigations.
The New York Times reported the analyst worked for Feith, who created a special intelligence unit before the Iraq war that had sought to build a case that Baghdad had ties to Al-Qaeda - a position that has been criticised by intelligence professionals.
Asked by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz whether the suspect worked under Feith, the number three Pentagon official, and William Luti, a senior official in the Pentagon's policy section, Pentagon spokesman Lawrence Di Rita declined comment.
"It's a criminal matter and we don't comment on criminal matters", he said.
CBS also reported that FBI investigators are concerned that Israel may have used him in an effort to influence U.S. policy on the war in Iraq, but the Defence Department said Saturday that the mole would not have had any influence on decision-making at that level.
Shortly after the September 11, 2001 attacks, Feith and Luti set up the intelligence unit, which ended up finding a close relationship between Al-Qaeda and Iraq that later became an important element for invading Iraq.
The FBI has notified Rumsfeld about the investigation and has asked AIPAC to provide it with information about the two representatives in the organization who are suspected of involvement in the affair.
In a statement released Friday, the Pentagon said that it was cooperating with the Justice Department in the investigation, and downplayed the possibility that the suspect had sought to sway U.S. policy in the Gulf or Middle East.
"The investigation involves a single individual at the Department of Defence at the desk officer level who was not in a position to have significant influence over U.S. policy", it said.
"Nor could a foreign power be in a position to influence U.S. policy through this individual. To the best of the Department of Defence's knowledge, the investigation does not target any other Department of Defence individuals".
In November of 1985, U.S. naval intelligence analyst Jonathan Pollard was arrested at the gates of the Israeli embassy in Washington, on espionage charges. He was tried, convicted and handed a life sentence for spying for Israel.
Israel apologised for the incident and disbanded the intelligence cell of which Pollard was a part, but all its efforts and pressures to have Mr. Pollards sentence reduced were rejected by successive American administrations.
Europe's Iran Fantasy
Weekly Standard - By Leon de Winter
Sep 9, 2004
Europeans are from Venus, Mullahs are from Mars
ON OCTOBER 22, 2003, the Guardian, a leading British newspaper, carried no fewer than three articles about the remarkable events in Tehran the day before. The foreign ministers of the three leading European Union countries--Britain's Jack Straw, France's Dominique de Villepin, and Germany's Joschka Fischer--had flown to Iran to try to persuade its Shiite leaders to conclude an agreement about Iran's nuclear program.
The first was a news story, under the headline, "E.U. ministers strike Iran deal." The lead began, "Three European foreign ministers claimed a diplomatic coup yesterday, securing an agreement from Iran over its nuclear program which could defuse a brewing crisis with the U.S." Central to the agreement was a commitment "to suspend [Iran's] uranium-enrichment and reprocessing activities"--in other words, to halt production of materials for nuclear weapons.
The second article was by Guardian commentator Ian Black, who wrote: "The agreement marks a significant victory for the European Union's policy of 'conditional engagement' and the use of carrots and sticks, in contrast to threats from the United States against the Islamic republic, part of President George Bush's 'axis of evil.' . . . 'We often find ourselves on the defensive, being told we are appeasers for engaging with regimes like this,' an E.U. diplomat said last night. 'This agreement gives the lie to that argument. Clearly the Iranians did not do this because they feared E.U. military action. They did it because they want a relationship with us and want to keep channels open.'"
The Guardian's third piece about
this triumph of European diplomacy opened as follows: "Iran's agreement to allow unlimited U.N. inspections of its nuclear facilities and to suspend its uranium enrichment program marks a tremendous success for European diplomacy. . . . Mr. Straw played down the significance of the achievement. He should not be so modest. . . . Iran will doubtless remain an axis-of-evil rogue state in George Bush's florid lexicon. But Washington must not try to undermine this accord. To date, [Washington's] polarizing, aggressive pressure tactics have mostly made a difficult problem worse. Europe demonstrated yesterday that there is a different, more effective way. And it is not the American way."
These articles were typical of those then appearing in the European press about the success of European soft power. Few commentators could resist the opportunity to malign Bush, even though many realized that Iran had no intention of adhering to the agreement. The warnings and reports by the International Atomic Energy Association, then and since, make it clear: Everything that happened on that fall day in Tehran was fiction and deception. Yet Europe's leading politicians chose to deceive and debase themselves rather than recognize Iran's play-acting for what it was. For them, the illusion of soft power was infinitely preferable to the suggestion that they should be prepared to prevent Iran from becoming a nuclear power at all costs. The Iranians knew perfectly well that the Europeans would not back up their demands with force--the only language tyrants building nuclear arsenals understand. The mullahs are quite familiar with Europe: The life-loving Europeans of the third millennium would never have sent their children into the minefields of Iraq.
All but a handful of Europe's politicians, obsessed by the specter of electoral defeat, refuse to take a stand if doing so could force them to sacrifice lives. Post-historical and post-religious Europe, born in the shadow of the Holocaust, does not see sacrifice as legitimate. Of course, considering that Europe has nurtured some of the world's cruelest ideologies, the dread of scenarios that might require sacrifice is hardly surprising. The problem is that much of the world, especially the Arab Islamic parts of it, is simply not interested in the moral and ethical implications of Europe's bloody past.
Since Auschwitz--the benchmark of ideological and political developments in Europe--the miracle of European prosperity and freedom has not led to the conviction that this prosperity and freedom must be defended, if necessary by force; on the contrary, the miracle has given birth to an attitude of cultural relativism and pacifism. It is as if modern Europe had divested itself of its idealistic and historical context, as if many Europeans saw the miracle of a prosperous and free Europe as an ahistorical, natural, and permanent state of affairs--as if Auschwitz had been wiped from their memory.
But anyone who is ignorant of, or ignores, the fact that tens of millions of Europeans died in the twentieth century in the struggle between good and evil--and it seems most Europeans have simply forgotten this--will fail to appreciate that the continued existence of Europe's system of liberal moral and ethical values is the result of conscious choices by courageous Europeans (and many others).
It may be something worse than amnesia: Today's Europeans may see the history of the twentieth century as scarred only by an abstract process known by the ancient Germanic word "war," a concept that for them represents some monstrous destructive force beyond good and evil that blindly spews out victims, like a flood or a hurricane. Most Europeans no longer regard Auschwitz as the disastrous result of evil ideas and the evil decisions of human beings. Instead, they see it as the consequence of something more like a natural disaster.
Perfectly expressing this concept of war were the huge demonstrations in Europe against the war in Iraq. In these rituals, the term "war" was taken out of its historical, political, and cultural context, and no justification for fighting was deemed acceptable. The high priest of this antihistorical creed is Michael Moore, who, 59 years after the end of the Second World War, in a discussion with TV talk show host Bill O'Reilly, would not state categorically that only a devastating war could have saved Europe from something far worse, namely Nazism. By these lights, war is bad whatever the historical or political circumstances.
Another manifestation of the same kind of thinking is the antihistorical view of the suffering caused by the Allied bombing of Nazi Germany: Germans increasingly see themselves as victims of "the war," as if the conflict were not a consequence of the German people's national obsessions with race and purity. A recent German novel about the Allied bombing enjoyed a succès de scandale because it purposely left out any reference to historical context. Everyone is a victim in war, was the message, and the difference between good and evil disappears when the dogs of war are unleashed. "Ordinary Germans" were victims too.
The European landscape is littered from north to south and east to west with monuments to battles and massacres. Many of them commemorate distant conflicts that now are hard to understand, but some mark the struggle against the most recent European evils: the right-wing totalitarian fascism of Nazi Germany and the left-wing totalitarian fascism of the Soviet Union. Although carved in stone, their lessons have not been learned. For most Europeans, the monuments no longer speak to Western civilization of the essential choice between good and evil. Instead, the memorials to the millions who died, from American soldiers to murdered civilians, stand for a faraway world that today's European, safe in his postmodern cultural relativism, thinks he has long since left behind: a world as distant as the Ice Age, plagued by an abstract phenomenon called "war."
It was only logical, therefore, that the implosion of Yugoslavia in the 1990s, which threatened to generate yet more massacres and monuments, left Europe paralyzed. Europe had to bring an end to the mass killings of Europeans by other Europeans in the Balkans, but it lacked the ability to take the necessary action. For that, Europe needed the detested United States.
Of course the horrors of war are beyond comparison, and it is a mark of civilization to deploy military force only with extreme caution. But most Europeans no longer realize that to avoid taking a path that may in the end lead to violent conflict--to avoid opposing totalitarian ideologies--can result in even greater suffering and more casualties. Today's Europeans seem unable to accept the idea that bowing to tyranny is sometimes worse than going to war to resist it. Indeed, to judge from the way European appeasers have handled the threat of a potential Iranian nuclear bomb, it seems that Europe would rather accept its own demise than sacrifice its sons to the dogs of war, which make no distinction between good and evil.
Last month the Brookings Institution hosted a conference of former American and European politicians and bureaucrats on the danger of the Shiite bomb. Newsweek quoted Madeleine Albright as commenting: "Europeans say they understand the threat but then act as if the real problem is not Iran but the United States."
It is remarkable that current developments in Iran do not dominate our headlines. The media are obsessed by Abu Ghraib, by those "liars" Sharon and Bush, by Halliburton and the neocons. And their obsession extends to conspiracy theories, although they fail to realize that something must be wrong when a radical pacifist like Michael Moore can receive the best film award at Cannes from Quentin Tarantino, a man who has done more than anyone to glamorize violence. In the meantime, a terrifying danger looms on the horizon, set to transform the geopolitical map of the Middle East within two years and so the map of the entire world: the Iranian nuclear bomb.
The mullahs are quite frank about why they want nuclear weapons. On December 14, 2001, the de facto dictator of Iran, Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, spelled out his dream in a sermon at Tehran University. "If one day the world of Islam comes to possess the [nuclear] weapons currently in Israel's possession," Rafsanjani said, "on that day this method of global arrogance would come to a dead end." This, he said, is because the use of a nuclear bomb on Israel would entirely demolish the Jewish state, whereas it would only damage the Islamic world. Iran's leaders have made dozens of similar statements.
Last week Israel's senior commentator Zeev Schiff wrote in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz: "There is an impression that Iran has no fears of any United Nations Security Council action. If its audacity succeeds, Iran will gain another period of unhindered nuclear development. Even though the Iranians have been caught out in the lies they have been weaving for 18 years, it is possible the ayatollahs' regime in Tehran believes that time is on their side."
What happened in Tehran on October 21, 2003, was not proof of the viability of soft power, but the opposite--proof of its impotence. The Guardian and the rest of the European media were fooling themselves and us, blinded by their hatred of Bush's hard power. "Washington sought to persuade Western allies to take a tougher line on Iran," Haaretz wrote last week, concluding dryly, "But Britain, Germany, and France say they prefer to try and persuade Tehran to cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency." They never learn.
Leon de Winter is a Dutch novelist and columnist for Elsevier magazine, Holland's premier political weekly. He is also a contributor to German publications like Die Zeit, Der Spiegel, and Die Welt, as well as an adjunct fellow at the Hudson Institute.
Iran nuke program near point of no return
WorldNet Daily - From Geostrategy-Direct
Aug 28, 2004
U.S.: 'If we permit . . . deception to go on much longer, it will be too late'
JERUSALEM Israeli military intelligence has concluded Iran is preparing to accelerate uranium enrichment in violation of Tehran's pledge to the European Union, reports Geostrategy-Direct, the global intelligence information service.
The assessment anticipates an Iranian effort to complete the acquisition of nuclear expertise and technology and produce fissile material.
In an Aug. 17 briefing to the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Brig. Gen. Yossi Kuperwasser said Iran would spend the next few months acquiring the expertise and technology to produce fissile material and weapons assembly.
Kuperwasser said the Iranian effort would be completed in 2005 and Teheran would then be prepared for accelerated uranium enrichment.
Kuperwasser said Iran plans to acquire enough enriched uranium to assemble its first nuclear weapons in 2007. Iran intends to produce enough nuclear material and expertise to ensure the continuation of Tehran's weapons program in case of a halt in foreign assistance.
Iran has procured about 1,000 gas centrifuges and has been preparing to operate up to 5,000 such systems. The International Atomic Energy Agency has determined that Teheran has already enriched uranium to a level of 54 percent.
"If we permit Iran's deception to go on much longer, it will be too late," U.S. Undersecretary of State John Bolton told the Hudson Institute on Aug. 17. "Iran will have nuclear weapons."
Bolton said Tehran has told Britain, France and Germany that Iran could enrich enough uranium for a nuclear weapon within a year. The undersecretary did not elaborate, but the U.S. intelligence community believes Iran could assemble a nuclear arsenal by 2007.
In July, Israel's intelligence community told the Cabinet that Iran encountered a three-year delay in nuclear weapons development. The Israeli intelligence assessment asserted that Iran would acquire indigenous nuclear weapons capability in 2007 and produce its first atomic bombs in 2008.
The delay in Iran's nuclear program was attributed to a series of IAEA inspections in 2004. The inspections halted uranium enrichment and forced the Iranians to transfer facilities to closed military bases.
Sunday 29th August, 2004
Five U.S. War Planes Reportedly Enter Iran Air Space
|Five U.S. war planes have trespassed Iranian air space and may have been testing its air defenses, Iran's official news agency said Friday.
The five planes entered Iranian air space late Aug. 19 from the southwestern Shalamcheh border and flew over the city of Khorramshahr, the official Islamic republic news agency said, citing reports earlier this week in the Tehran press.
The daily Seday-e Edalat reported the fighter jets flew at high speed and altitude, then headed to the Arvand river. They flew at a height of 10 kilometers (more than 30,000 feet) and maneuvered over Khorramshahr for a while.
While the objective behind the fighters' violation of the Iranian air space is not known yet, some military specialists believe such moves are aimed at assessing the sensitivity of the Islamic Republic's anti-aircraft defense system, Seday-e Edalat said.
EHRAN, Aug. 28 - President Mohammad Khatami, in a rare news conference, said Saturday that Iran would not give up its right to have a nuclear program and that it was willing to guarantee it was seeking nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.
"We have suggested that the Middle East should be cleaned of all kinds of nuclear weapons," he said.
"On the other hand, we want to be able to master nuclear technology," he added, to enable Iran to manufacture uranium as fuel for its nuclear plants. "We want it and no one can deprive us of having it."
In return, Mr. Khatami said that Iran was willing to "provide any guarantee" to prove that its nuclear program was for peaceful purposes.
"We do not welcome tension," he said. "We do not welcome our case to be sent United Nations Security Council."
"We will do our best to resolve our differences through negotiations with the International Atomic Energy Agency and the international community," he added, referring to the United Nations international monitoring agency for nuclear programs.
Iran has allowed tougher inspections of its nuclear sites since October, but this is the first time the government has said publicly that it would provide a guarantee to ease international concerns.
The United Nations nuclear agency is expected to release its report about Iran's nuclear activities during the first week of September.
The United States has accused Iran of trying to develop nuclear weapons and has urged the United Nations agency to send Iran's case to the Security Council, which could impose sanctions.
The agency concluded in its report in June that Iran had secretly begun its uranium enrichment program in the mid-1980's. That finding has raised concerns over Iran's nuclear ambitions.
President Khatami brushed off claims by John R. Bolton, the American under secretary for arms control, who said Iran had informed three European Union countries - Germany, Britain and France - that it could produce weapons-grade uranium within a year.
"We do not consider Mr. Bolton as fair and do not accept his claims," Mr. Khatami said. "If the United States really had any proof or documents against Iran, it would have made more noise rather than just claims. This shows that they do not have real proof."
Relations have become tense between Iran and neighboring Iraq as well. The Iraqi defense minister has accused Iran of arming militia forces close to Moktada al-Sadr, the Iraqi cleric whose militia has battled American and Iraqi forces in Najaf.
Ibrahim Jafari, deputy president of Iraq, made a surprise visit to Iran on Tuesday, and the deputy prime minister of Iraq, Barham Saleh, came to Iran on Saturday. The trip was aimed at preparing for a visit by Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, Iran's official news agency, IRNA, reported.
Mr. Khatami denied accusations that Iran was stirring chaos in Iraq, and said that his country wanted stability and security in Iraq.
He further warned the United States, saying that America must know it should not repeat "the unsuccessful experience" of invading Iraq and attack Iran, contending that the result would be even worse in the case of Iran.
Iran bans display of lingerie in showroom
29 August 2004
TEHERAN - Window shoppers in Iran will no longer have the pleasure of looking at womens lingerie or buying a variety of pets, according to new police rules reported yesterday and criticised by President Mohammad Khatami.
According to the student news agency Isna, shops have been barred from displaying lingerie in their windows - with the display ban also applying to unveiled mannequins with noticeable curves.
In addition, men have also been banned from employment as salesmen in womens underwear stores - with offending shop owners facing the loss of their licences.
In other measures reported by Isna, commercial centers and restaurants have also been told not to keep or sell dogs, and monkeys - animals. The measures are contained in a new manual for police, Isna said. Another rule includes women being banned from taking driving lessons with male instructors unless they are accompanied by an immediate male relative.
Israelis Fear Fallout from Pentagon Spy Probe
Sun Aug 29, 2004 08:27 AM ET
By Matthew Tostevin
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel's image in the United States may be tarnished and relations with its main ally suffer even if suspicions a Pentagon analyst gave secrets to the Jewish state prove false, Israeli officials said Sunday.
Israel has strenuously denied spying after U.S. government sources said the FBI was investigating whether an analyst fed classified documents dealing with bitter foe Iran via a powerful pro-Israel lobby group.
But Israelis voiced fears that just a hint of scandal may hurt links that have rarely been so close or so vital.
"Even if this is nonsense, it could still harm relations because of the damage in public opinion," said a senior Foreign Ministry official. "It will be very difficult to correct it."
Timing could be critical as Israel counts on Washington for backing over a unilateral plan to break from conflict with the Palestinians, to trump growing pressure over its West Bank barrier and to address fears that Iran could build an atom bomb.
Israeli officials insist that Israel has not spied on the United States since being caught red-handed two decades ago in a scandal involving U.S. Navy analyst Jonathan Pollard -- jailed for life in a case that is still an irritant in relations.
The powerful American Israel Public Affairs Committee also denied serving as a conduit for documents from the analyst connected to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's office.
Official intelligence cooperation tends to be close, though, with both countries sharing fears of Islamic militancy and whether Iran will develop nuclear weapons. Tehran denies trying to build bombs to rival Israel's presumed nuclear arsenal.
The Washington Post said the investigation focused on an Iran specialist at the Defense Intelligence Agency who had once served in Israel. It was unclear whether the case would result in espionage charges or lesser charges, the report said.
Some Israeli officials suggested the leak of the Pentagon probe, just before the Republican party convention in New York, looked like a pre-election attempt to soil Jewish, pro-Israel "neo-conservatives" in President Bush's camp who championed war in Iraq.
"What should be asked is who had a vested interest ... And that's where this gets serious -- the effect it could have on the relations of the Jewish community in the United States," said Uzi Arad, a former official of spy agency Mossad.
Any dip in ties could be damaging for Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who has highlighted his warm relations with Bush and visited the White House nine times since taking office.
Unprecedented assurances from Bush that Israel could expect to keep some occupied West Bank land forever are vital for Sharon as he tries to implement his plan for "disengagement" from conflict with the Palestinians.
In another apparent break with long-standing policy to help Sharon get his initiative past right-wingers, the White House recently signaled a softer stance on limited expansion of some Jewish settlements -- drawing Palestinian ire.
Israel also needs U.S. help to defeat an international campaign against a barrier it is building inside the West Bank in the name of keeping out suicide bombers. Palestinians call the structure a land grab and the International Court of Justice has ruled it is illegal and should be torn down.
"If the (espionage accusation) turns out to be substantive it is at a time that Israel really can't afford ... Israel's lifeline right now is its relations with the United States," said historian Michael Oren, a fellow of the Shalem Center.
"Even if the charges are proven groundless, it still leaves Israel in the defendant's box," he said.
Iran Hosts Iraqi Official, Eyes Better Relations
Sun Aug 29, 2004 09:32 AM ET
TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iraqi deputy Prime Minister Barham Salih said Sunday he brought a message of friendship to Iran, which has been angered by charges it is stirring up tension in Iraq, the official IRNA news agency said.
Shi'ite Muslim Iran has cautiously welcomed Iraq's interim government as a step toward full democracy and sovereignty. But Tehran has been irked by accusations it was involved in the recent Shi'ite uprising centered on Najaf.
"I am carrying a message of friendship from the Iraqi government and nation for the Iranian government and nation," IRNA quoted Salih as saying during a meeting with Iran's Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi.
Salih's visit is aimed at paving the way for Iraq's interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi to travel to Iran.
Iran, which fought a bloody 1980-1988 war with Iraq, has also been angered by the kidnapping earlier this month of one of its diplomats in Iraq.
"We are neighbors and have a lot of issues to talk about. The case of the kidnapped Iranian consul is one of the main issues," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told a weekly news conference Sunday.
Asefi said no specific date had yet been set for Allawi's Iran visit.
New attacks on Internet freedom deplored
Reporters Without Borders strongly criticised the Iranian authorities today for blocking access to three pro-reformist Internet websites and arresting some of their contributors. It also denounced continuing harassment by the judiciary of the staff of the website Naqshineh and the shutting down of three cybercafés in the southern city of Bushehr.
"This is a new step in the cowing of the Iranian media," the worldwide press freedom organisation said. "After closing down many daily newspapers and filtering out blogs (websites where people comment on the news), they are now directly targeting website staff and contributors."
Three websites blocked
Access to the news websites Baamdad (www.baamdad.com), Emrooz (www.emrooz.ws) and Rouydad (www.rouydad.info) has been blocked since 21 August.
The Teheran prosecutor's office has also summoned and arrested half a dozen people working for Internet service providers (ISPs) or as webmasters for the targeted sites.
The three websites are close to the country's main reformist party, the Islamic Iran Participation Front, whose secretary-general, Mohammad Reza Khatami, has protested to the deputy head of the judicial affairs section of the prosecutor's office about pressure by morality police on ISPs to block websites deemed "undesirable."
Summoning of boss of Naqshineh website
Hamid Motaghi, head of the news website in the southern city of Qom, Naqshineh (www.naqshineh.com), which has been blocked since March, was summoned to appear on 21 August before the 14th division of the city court. He was allowed to go free a few hours later after posting bail of 100 million rials (9,500 euros). He said he was being harassed and threatened by court officials, who he accused of being under the orders of the country's Supreme Guide, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Naqshineh is being prosecuted for articles it carried about the parliamentary elections in February. A student at the Qom Koranic school, Mojtaba Lotfi, who has written articles for the site, was given a prison sentence of three years and 10 months on 14 August for posting "lies" on the Internet.
Three cybercafés shut down
Three Internet cafés in the city of Bushehr were closed on 25 August by the morality police, who are close to the intelligence services. The manager of one of them, who tried to resist, was beaten up by police.
Egyptian officials postpone visit to Israel and PA
By Aluf Benn, Haaretz Correspondent, Haaretz Service and Agencies
29/08/2004 18:56
Egypt's intelligence chief, General Omar Suleiman, and Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit have postponed their visit to Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
The two officials are now due in the West Bank city of Ramallah next Sunday to meet with PA Chairman Yasser Arafat and discuss Israel's planned withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.
German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer said Sunday that a complete Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip is a necessary condition for progress in the stalled Middle East peace process.
Speaking during a visit to the Jordanian capital Amman, Fischer said a "genuine breakthrough" was possible if the unilateral Israeli withdrawal goes ahead.
He also said the region needs a "fair compromise" on the basis of "two independent states".
While in Jordan the German foreign minister held talks with his Jordanian counterpart Marwan Muasher and King Abdullah II on the situation in Iraq and the Middle East.
The German minister is due in Israel on Monday.
Labeling Europe and Middle East countries "direct neighbors", Fischer insisted on a European Union role alongside the United States in working out any settlement between Israel and the Palestinians.
"I don't believe this can be done alone by the United States, because we are direct neighbors ... and developments there will affect our security," Fischer told a joint press conference with Muasher.
"The EU sticks to the road map [peace plan] and the relevant Security Council resolutions and we think the region needs a fair compromise solution based on two states," he said.
He said the Europeans were "ready to engage themselves in a constructive way" in efforts aimed at moving forward the Palestinian- Israeli peace negotiations provided that the Gaza withdrawal was "done in the proper way".
Fischer said the Gaza pullout should lead to the evacuation of the rest of occupied Palestinian territories.
Fischer also warned Sunday that an Iranian nuclear arms buildup would be a "nightmare." He said that saying Europe is looking to head off any dangerous confrontation with Tehran.
Fischer said an Iranian nuclear challenge only adds to Middle East problems that include bringing security and stability to postwar Iraq, resolving the Arab-Israeli conflict and introducing democratic reforms. The United States accuses Iran of using a nuclear energy program to hide nuclear weapons production, an accusation the Iranians deny and that has concerned Europe.
"It would be a nightmare for the region ... if there'd be the beginning of an arms race - a nuclear arms race - in the region," Fischer told reporters. "We are in intensive talks with Iran, and we hope the leadership in Tehran would not miscalculate the situation."
Fischer also indicated Germany, France and Britain were near an understanding with Tehran on supplying Iran with nuclear energy technology - a prospect the European have held out if their suspicions about a nuclear weapons program are alleviated.
"We think we have reached an agreement, and we are ready to fulfill our part step by step and word by word," Fischer said. The Iranians accused the Europeans of backing out on a previous commitment.
Fischer did not elaborate, but said: "We are really very serious to find a way out of a very dangerous, possible confrontation."
Washington has been lobbying for the International Atomic Energy Agency to refer Iran's nuclear dossier to the UN Security Council, which could impose sanctions on Iran.
Fischer, who arrived from neighboring Syria on Saturday, was also scheduled to hold talks with Jordan's King Abdullah II. The German minister is on a regional tour that will include Israel, the Palestinian territories and Egypt. He already has visited Lebanon.
On Iraq, Fischer said Germany still had a different perspective from that of the United States: "The U.S. is our close friend and ... most important ally, but I think we have a different view."
Fischer said Germany remained opposed to sending troops to Iraq, but that its contribution to rebuilding the war-ravaged country included humanitarian aid, debt relief and training Iraqi police.
Ghaith Abdul-Ahad / Getty Images
Sept. 6 issue - Six months ago, Abu Sajjad was rolling in cash. His cloth shop is right in front of the Imam Ali shrine, a great location to attract pilgrims visiting this holiest of Shiite sanctuaries. The faithful who flocked into Najaf from Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan bought hundreds of yards of fabric to take home as souvenirs. Now Abu Sajjad looks at his storefront, riddled with bullets and shrapnel, and shakes his head. "Why did this happen?" he asks. The area surrounding the shrine is a burned-out shell. Entire buildings look like they've been sliced in half. Broken telephone poles lean awkwardly across narrow streets, and tangled electrical wires droop down like old tinsel. Mosaics on the outer walls of the gold-domed shrine have been stripped away by shrapnel and stained with black soot. And still the young toughs loyal to rebel cleric Moqtada al-Sadr are nearby, manning a barricade behind a shot-up ambulance.
"We prayed for God to come and strike down these gangsters," says Abu Sajjad. But neither the U.S. Marines nor troops of the U.S.-approved Iraqi government finished the job. And many Iraqis are asking: Why? How is it that al-Sadr could lead two insurrections in five months and still be alive, much less negotiating a new truce through Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani? Who is backing the round-faced young mullah? Who is protecting him? The most common answerat once the simplest and the most complicatedis "Iran."
"Everyone is telling us that Iran is everywhere," says a senior Western diplomat in Baghdad. "It has become an obsession with Iraqis." And with Washington, too. U.S. intelligence and defense officials tell NEWSWEEK they have ample information pointing to Iranian support for al-Sadr. "He's clearly their guy," says one. But hedging their bets, "the Iranians are putting their chips down on red and black, even and odds," says another official in Washington. "At some point a winner will emerge on the political scene, and they just want to be sure they have leverage."
Iran and Iraq, in fact, have a ferocious, intimate enmity that dates back thousands of years. Especially in the holy precincts of the Shiite shrines, Persian and Arab populations have warred and mingled, embraced and intrigued against each other for generations, creating webs of relationships that challenge American comprehension. To give one striking example, Moqtada al-Sadr, the symbol of resistance and suspected collaborator with Iran, is of Arab blood. Ayatollah Sistani, who's seen by the Americans as their great white-bearded hope, and whose return to Najaf restored calm after three weeks of fighting, is of Iranian origin.
The Iranian leadership publicly cheers on the Iraqi rebels, even as it sometimes supports peacemaking efforts. At Friday prayers in Teheran last week, Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani likened the resistance in Najaf to the Russians' stand against the Nazis at Stalingrad. Such statements infuriate Washington's allies in Iraq, who see Iran as their natural strategic rival. "Iran is intervening to slaughter democracy in Iraq," Defense Minister Hazim Shaalan said recently. "It controls border points and sends spies and saboteurs to Iraq and infiltrated the new Iraqi government, including my ministry."
Some U.S. officials argue that Iran was always a bigger threat than Iraq. Former terrorism adviser Richard Clarke notes that Iran "funded and directed" Hizbullah organizations that blew up 242 American Marines in Beirut in 1983, and 19 U.S. military personnel at the Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia in 1996. "Al Qaeda regularly used Iranian territory for transit and sanctuary prior to September 11," as Clarke wrote and the 9/11 Commission confirmed, and many of Al Qaeda's top leaders "moved across the border into Iran after U.S. forces finally invaded Afghanistan." Iran's nuclear program, meanwhile, continues on-again-off-again progress toward development of atomic weapons.
Faced with such challenges, Washington appears unable to decide whether confrontation or accommodation is the best response. Clarke says the Clinton administration looked at the possibility of all-out war against Iran after Khobar, but finally decided against it and sought ways to use covert action or limited military strikes instead. The Bush administration may have reached the same conclusion. Yet the presence of U.S. forces on the ground in Iraq has made them vulnerable to an Iranian-backed guerrilla war of attrition in a way they never were before.
The situation grows more convoluted every day. Even without Iranian meddling, the ill-prepared U.S. occupation has helped radicalize many young Shiites and push them toward leaders like al-Sadr. "Iraqi Shiites wouldn't naturally gravitate toward Iran," says Seyed Abbas al Modarrisi, a leading cleric in Karbala who spent nearly two decades exiled in Iran. "We're Arabs. They are Persians. And there are cultural differences. But many Shiites have lost faith in the Americans."
The fact that Iran's own government is badly divided might be some consolation to Washington, but it's also a source of confusion. Who can the Bush administration or Allawi's government talk to? Moderate reformist President Mohammed Khatami is almost completely marginalized. Rafsanjani and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the country's two main power brokers, don't always see eye to eye, while rich religious foundations and factions of the Iranian security services often have their own agendas. Some of the unrest in Iraq is traced to a special unit of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards known as the Quds Brigade. Its supposed leaders, Mohammed Agha Mohammadi and Mohammad Reza Naghdi, are both of Iraqi origin and could be looking to set up an independent power base.


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Joseph Opinel began making knives in 1890 in Savoie, France as a simple working man's or peasant's knife. It proved popular with the local farmers, herdsmen, and paysans-vignerons (peasant winemakers) of the area. In 1897, a series of twelve sizes, numbered 1 to 12, was developed. From 1901–1903, Joseph Opinel built his first factory in Pont de Gévoudaz and produced a machine for mass production of the knife's wooden handles.
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"The new Motorola starts today," the phone maker's chief executive, Dennis Woodside, said Wednesday at a press event with Google and Verizon. "If you want the best Android device available, you should be looking at a Motorola device."
By now you have probably read about Motorola's new devices that were announced today, but I bet most of you were not able to watch the live stream of the event. Thankfully the Google-owned Motorola has placed the entire show on YouTube for all to see. The video is just under an hour long, but you can skip the first 20 minutes as they are just music.
After you watch the event let us know what you think. Do you like what the new Motorola had to say?