Headline News

Arab Spring Is Now Targeting Algeria

Algeria’s Islamists, in the political wilderness since their last attempt to win power dissolved into civil war, are now trying again, galvanized by the success of their brethren elsewhere in north Africa in the wake of the Arab Spring.

Published

14 years ago

December 8, 2011

Geoffrey Grider

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(Reuters) – Algeria’s Islamists, in the political wilderness since their last attempt to win power dissolved into civil war, are now trying again, galvanized by the success of their brethren elsewhere in north Africa in the wake of the “Arab Spring”.

Riot policemen clash with university students from marching during a demonstration in which they demand political change in Algiers May 2, 2011. Credit: Reuters/Zohra Bensemra

Most Islamists in Algeria have been excluded from political life since the conflict, but in the past few months they have shown renewed signs of activity, much of it conducted from exile to dodge the attentions of the Algerian state.

They have set up a satellite television station based in Europe, sent delegations to Arab countries that saw revolutions this year, and made tentative forays into anti-government protests.

Their chances of success are slim: they are divided into rival ideological camps, hemmed in by the powerful Algerian security apparatus, and, most importantly, discredited in the eyes of many people by a conflict in which they took part and which killed an estimated 200,000 people.

But they see an opportunity in the upheavals of the “Arab Spring,” which have this year unseated entrenched secularist leaders. In neighboring Tunisia, a previously outlawed Islamist movement has come to power, while in Egypt Islamists have taken a strong early lead in multi-stage parliamentary elections.

“Tunisia was an example and launcher of this (Arab Spring) revolution,” said Abdullah Anas, a London-based member of the leadership council of the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS), which is banned in Algeria.

“It could be a very good example for Algeria.”

LEGACY OF VIOLENCE

Any Islamist revival in Algeria, an OPEC member and supplier of about a fifth of Europe’s imported gas, would have first to shed the burden of the country’s bloody history.

Twenty years ago, FIS was poised to win a legislative election, called after street protests forced the authorities to loosen their grip on power. FIS said it would impose an Islamic state.

The military-backed government stepped in to annul the election. The Islamists took up arms and Algeria slipped into a conflict of horrific violence. Civilians had their throats slit in the street; in the mornings, people woke up to find their towns littered with bodies.

A rump of Islamists, now operating under the banner of al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, is still fighting. They periodically ambush security forces in the countryside, kidnap Westerners and stage suicide bombings.

But the violence has subsided considerably. A huge security crackdown has rounded up thousands of insurgents. Others have laid down their arms and been granted an amnesty, in exchange for an undertaking to stay out of politics.

This legacy is the biggest obstacle to any comeback by Algeria’s Islamists.

“Since then (the conflict), the Islamist was no longer seen as a hero who stands up against tyranny,” said Soheib Bencheikh, a theologian who used to be the chief cleric at the mosque in Marseilles, France, where there is a large Algerian community.

“On the contrary, he became, in the eyes of public opinion, accountable for the pain and suffering of the people,” Bencheikh told Reuters.

A fear of a return to violence helps explain why Algeria has this year remained relatively calm while neighboring countries have been convulsed by unrest.

TV STATION

But the Islamists still believe that Algeria is ripe for change, and are beginning to take practical steps.

Starting in November, a group of exiled Islamists with links to FIS set up a Europe-based television station, called Rachad TV. Carried by the Atlantic Bird 7 and Nilesat satellites , the station can be picked up in Algeria, where most homes have a dish.

It broadcasts political and social programs where opposition leaders and activists — most of them harshly critical of the government — are invited to comment on Algeria.

At the top of the station’s homepage on the Internet, there is a link to show viewers “how to free your country”, and a second link to help them “organize and participate in unrest.”

The exiles say they are also building contacts with other countries where “Arab Spring” revolts have propelled Islamists into a position of power.

Rachad says on its website that it sent a delegation to Libya in late September to meet officials in the new government, in which Islamists have a prominent role.

Abdullah Anas, the exiled Islamist in London, said there had also been contacts with Rachid Ghannouchi, the head of the moderate Islamist Ennahda party. Since an election in October his party leads Tunisia’s coalition government.

Tunisia’s experience had proved that it is possible to open up the political space in north Africa, said Anas.

“Everyone in Algeria must understand that Algeria has room for all … no matter what opinions you have,” he said, calling for a lifting of political curbs and the possibility of power-sharing between previously antagonistic groups.

SALAFISTS STIRRING

Inside Algeria, the most influential Islamist force are the Salafists, followers of an ultra-purist interpretation of Islam. Unlike the FIS, they are tolerated by the Algerian state because their creed forbids participation in politics.

When Algeria was shaken at the beginning of this year by protests sparked by a spike in food prices, the spiritual leader of the Algerian Salafists, Abdelmalek Ramdani, who lives in Saudi Arabia, issued a religious decree.

It said: “As long as the commander of the nation is a Muslim, you must obey and listen to him. Those who are against him are just seeking to replace him, and this is not licit.”

Nevertheless, there are stirrings of political activity by some Salafist preachers.

Sheikh Abdelfateh Zeraoui, a former FIS member and now a well-known Salafist preacher in the Algerian capital, issued a declaration in October saying the government had to enact urgent reforms.

“Political reforms allowing us to have free political activity are key to the stability of the country. Without reforms the country may explode,” the declaration stated.

The preacher has also tried to organize protest marches in the capital, but these have been blocked by the security forces. “We have been barred from politics,” he told Reuters.

The fact that Algerian Islamists are divided dilutes their ability to stage a comeback, said Mohamed Mouloudi, an editor and specialist on Islam.

“They are no longer speaking with one voice,” Mouloudi told Reuters.

“You have the Salafists, the Muslim brotherhood, and the Djaz’airists,(who give priority to Algerian religious traditions) among others,” he said. “You have those who are for a political action, and those who consider political action as illicit.”

SUCCESSION DEBATE

Even so, a debate is now under way in earnest within the Algerian ruling elite, for the first time since the conflict began 20 years ago, about giving Islamists a role in politics.

The focus for that debate — which, like much of Algerian politics, is conducted behind closed doors — is the question of who will succeed President Abdelaziz Bouteflika when his final term ends in 2014.

One camp within the elite is backing Abdelaziz Belkhadem, a former prime minister and secretary general of the ruling FLN party. He is a secularist but is trusted by the Islamists. Opposing him is a camp of hardline secularists who have backing from the powerful security forces.

Friction spilled out into the open when a group of Belkhadem opponents inside the FLN launched a campaign to have him removed from the party leadership.

“It will be wise to promote a man like Abdelaziz Belkhadem who has good ties with Islamists as well as with decision makers inside the regime,” said Mohamed Lagab, a secularist academic at Algiers university.

“Decision makers should take into account that North Africa will be ruled by Islamists ,” said Lagab. source – Reuters

Related Topics:Algeria arab Islamists spring

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Free Bible Program

Chaplain Marshall At The Leon County Detention Facility Says The Need For Bibles Is Urgent As Inmates Are Being Turned Away From Lack Of Supply

Published

2 days ago

February 14, 2026

Geoffrey Grider

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The Leon County Detention Facility in Florida is struggling with an inability to keep their inmates supplied with Bibles as the need is great but the supplies are few

As many of you know, our whole family was hit with the Subclade K super flu this week, and all activity here at NTEB basically stopped. Lori and I want to thank everyone for your fervent and effectual prayer for our recovery. This is why we are a praying people, so thank you, everyone. Well, while I am not yet fully recovered, I thought I had better dust off the keyboard and write about something. Nothing in the news really interested me, and then I saw an email come over from Chaplain Marshall at the Leon County Detention Facility in Florida. What he had to say snapped me right to attention. Time to write.

“If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.” John 8:36 (KJB)

Dr. Marshall’s email says “We really need your help. We are struggling with constant requests for the bible. We have over 1000 inmates. I am reaching out because we should never have to turn an inmate away who is seeking Gods word. The need is urgent so please send us as many bibles as possible on an ongoing basis. May God Bless You. We can only accept PAPER Bibles.” This is the very reason for which Bibles Behind Bars was raised up for, to send God’s preserved word into as many jail and prison cells as possible. They need a thousand Bibles are quickly as possible, and with your help we can do it. The cost to send these Bibles out is $4,550, please pray about joining with us to get this done. Bibles Behind Bars is the chaplain’s lifeline that allows them to do the work God has called them to do. Help us to keep the gospel supply lines open!

HOW TO DONATE: Click here to view our WayGiver Funding page

If God has prospered you, please take a moment to click on the donate button to help us in this monumental task of providing King James Bibles, New Testaments, scripture portions, gospel tracts as well as Spanish Bibles to inmates in jails and prisons from Florida to Alaska, and every state in between. We need your prayers, we need your generous financial support, and we need you to stand with us in the closing days of the Church Age. Thank you so very much, TO THE FIGHT!!!

NOTE: If you need a 501 C3 Letter of Donation for tax purposes, please send your donation to:

NTEB Ministries
1340 N Great Neck Rd.
Ste. 1272-129
Virginia Beach, VA 23454.

Now The End Begins is your front line defense against the rising tide of darkness in the last Days before the Rapture of the Church

HOW TO DONATE: Click here to view our WayGiver Funding page

When you contribute to this fundraising effort, you are helping us to do what the Lord called us to do. The money you send in goes primarily to the overall daily operations of this site. When people ask for Bibles, we send them out at no charge. When people write in and say how much they would like gospel tracts but cannot afford them, we send them a box at no cost to them for either the tracts or the shipping, no matter where they are in the world. We have a Gospel Billboard program. We are now broadcasting Bible studies, Podcasts and a Sunday Service 5 times a week, thanks to your generous donations. All this is possible because YOU pray for us, YOU support us, and YOU give so we can continue growing.

But whatever you do, don’t do nothing. Time is short and we need your help right now. The Lord has given us an open door with a tremendous ‘course’ for us to fulfill that will create an excellent experience at the Judgement Seat of Christ. Please pray for our efforts, and if the Lord leads you to donate, be as generous as possible. The war is REAL, the battle HOT and the time is SHORT…TO THE FIGHT!!!

“Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;” Titus 2:13 (KJB)

“Thank you very much!” – Geoffrey, editor-in-chief, NTEB

Headline News

Super Bowl Sunday LX 2026 Is An Excellent Illustration Of The ‘Falling Away’ Complete With Games Played In A Roman Colosseum Under An Egyptian Obelisk

Published

1 week ago

February 8, 2026

Geoffrey Grider

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No matter which Super Bowl LX 60 you pick today, or which Halftime Show you watch, you will be celebrating that which God hates

America is not a Christian nation, and it is filled with professing Christians who know less about Bible doctrine than most industrialized countries. They will go to a stadium and “bang their heads for the Lord” for hours on end, and yet spend not a fraction of that time in God’s preserved word. If you watch any of the Super Bowl XL 2026 proceedings today, and I do not recommend you do, what I am telling you will become instantly apparent if your know your Bible.

“The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.” Psalms 19:7-10 (KJB)

We had no Sunday Service this morning due to the fact that the Type A flu has hit me and my family pretty hard, and your prayers for a speedy recovery for all of us is very much appreciated. But after 17 years of reporting on the ‘woke’ Super Bowl and the Christian Nationalist Super Bowl, I would be remiss in my duties if I didn’t once again throw the NTEB end times hat into the ring. Now, the ‘woke’ Super Bowl is sad, pathetic, and instantly connects you to Romans 1 in your King James Bible. The Christian Nationalist Super Bowl, while ideologically better, instantly connects you to Acts 20, 28, and 2 Thessalonians 2:3. This year we have a treat! The NFL is providing a highly LGBTQIA-friendly Halftime show while Turning Point USA gives us the ‘let’s drink whiskey and set stuff on fire for the LORD’ Halftime Show’. We get both. If you think that the choice is an “easy one”, you’d be quite mistaken. They both lead you away from God and away from the Bible, and to the Vanity Fair found in The Pilgrim’s Progress.

“This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.” Matthew 15:8 (KJB)

Before we go further, let’s pull off to the side and see what the NFL and their Super Bowl actually represents. First and foremost, the Super Bowl is played on a Sunday, the day Jesus rose from the dead. Secondly, the players are called “stars” and “idols”, two expressions found in the Bible connected with idol worship. The Lombardi Trophy is an Easter egg on top of an Egyptian obelisk. Come on, now, you knew that the football represents the Easter egg from the Roman Catholic Church and ancient Babylon, right? Why do you think the NFL uses Roman numerals? Why does the NFL show you the Roman Catholic Church in all their marketing? Stay with me now, the water only gets deeper. Third, the hundreds of millions of viewers will be bombarded with just about everything that God hates. Immorality, drugs, alcohol, homosexuality, gambling, and lust just to name a few. Why do you think that the same corporations we claim to hate pay between $8-10 million dollars for a 30-second commercial. You know what that makes you? A sitting duck. You know what that makes your children? Groomed. Everything I just told you will be exactly the same no matter which Super Bowl you watched or which Halftime show you support today.

FUN FACT: Kid Rock is no better than Bad Bunny, he just sins with the stuff the Laodicean Church approves of. All sin is equally offensive and damning in the eyes of God, and requires a payment.

You know why your pastor doesn’t preach against all this, or any of this? They’re afraid of the pushback they would get. Gotta keep that Building Program going, even if it means selling out your congregation to do it. We have forgotten that God, according to the Bible, is not on the side of the great and mighty America. He is on His Side. I am 100% against abortion, but ask yourselves this. If you “stand for the unborn”, which is a good thing, and at the same time go to the bars with Kid Rock, John Rich, Joel Webbon, Doug Wilson, and all the others far too numerous to mention, is God somehow fooled?. Billy Sunday was a great preacher, and many got saved, but Prohibition did nothing but create a massive cash economy for the Mafia. Which destroyed peoples lives for generations and is still doing it. You say that we have to “Make America A Christian Nation Again”, right? Go ahead and try, and all you do is advance the kingdom of the coming Antichrist through the 7 Mountains Mandate.

“For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.” Galatians 5:13

I’m not preaching to the choir, I am preaching to sinners, saved or lost, and calling you to pick a side before it all comes down. You have Christian liberty if you’re saved, but let me suggest you use it to preach the gospel. The LORD is watching, choose carefully.

Now The End Begins is your front line defense against the rising tide of darkness in the last Days before the Rapture of the Church

HOW TO DONATE: Click here to view our WayGiver Funding page

“Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;” Titus 2:13 (KJB)

“Thank you very much!” – Geoffrey, editor-in-chief, NTEB

End Times

The Opening Ceremony Of The 2026 Winter Olympics Featured A Burning Cauldron With Everlasting Flames In The Middle Of The All-Seeing Eye In Hell

Published

1 week ago

February 7, 2026

Geoffrey Grider

SHARE NOW THE END BEGINS:

The opening ceremony for the 2026 Winter Olympics was ripped right from the pages of end times events laid out in the book of Revelation

The world just can’t help themselves, can they? At the opening ceremony to the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy last night, what was intended to be a beautifully designed version of the ‘Olympic Cauldron’ representing the ‘eternal flame’ for the duration of the games was actually a hellish depiction of the all-seeing eye of Horus coming out from the eternal fires of Hell. Ever see ‘Stranger Things’? They created the Olympic Cauldron as the Demogorgon come to life for our entertainment.

“The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:” Revelation 14:10 (KJB)

A massive triumphal arch, a blazing, suspended centerpiece. The entire scene drenched in blood-red light with fire raining down from the heavens like a victory celebration for something ancient, pagan, and proud. Whether the designers intended “the all-seeing eye” or not, the effect is the same: a global spectacle built on awe, fear, and worshipful attention—centered on fire. The very same Hell fire now being mocked and denounced by people like Kirk Cameron. Christian, wake up!

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The modern world doesn’t merely tolerate darkness—it packages it. Stylizes it. Sells it as culture. Then tells you you’re “negative” or “conspiratorial” if you notice the tone. But Bible believers aren’t called to applaud the production. We’re called to reprove it. Reprove things like the wicked NFL Super Bowl and their Sodomite Half Time Show, and yes, the Turning Point All-American Halftime show promoted openly by Laodicean preacher Franklin Graham. It is nothing but wickedness everywhere you look, and that’s exactly as your King James Bible says it will be. Fill your pockets with gospel tracts and go out into the ‘highways and hedges’ and tell them about Jesus. Time is almost gone, make the most of it for the Lord, and get ready for the Judgment Seat of Christ. Amen? TO THE FIGHT!!!