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The News:
Boston Marathon Bombing: Our focus as a nation has been on the Boston Marathon bombings. Two brothers, Tamerlan Tsarnaev and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, led a seemingly normal life until the older brother, Tamerlan, travelled to Russia (Chechnya) for six months and was influenced by a Muslim cleric while there to hate Americans. That influence overflowed into the younger brother's life and the two of them purposed to kill many at the Boston Marathon. The spirit of Allah won out in these two young men's lives to kill infidels, considered by Islamists as anyone outside of Islam who will not convert. America is viewed by Islam as a Christian people, thus infidels. Our country cannot seem to be able to accept this as a truth. II Thessalonians 2:10-11 states that God will send strong delusion to those who will not accept truth in the end days. We are there! Middle East: Syria: The civil war continues to rage in Syria. One of the latest developments is the war is spilling over into Lebanon. The Sunni Lebanese are sympathetic with the rebels, the Shiites with the Syrian government. Hezbollah (supported by Iran) is siding with the Syrian Shiites. How this war will affect Damascus is still in question. Prophecy teachers are watching this conflict with the destruction of Damascus in mind as is called for in Isaiah 17:1. Jordan has just given Israel permission to use their skies to fly to Syria if necessary. The world has been hoping that Israel can stay out of the conflict. Israel is glad that the Arabs are fighting each other this time. Iran: The Iranians continue to be defiant about a nuclear program. Israel is still keeping close watch. The United States surprisingly has made statements of support of Israel should she find it necessary to strike Iran. Also, the US will provide Israel with tilt-rotor V-22 Osprey aircraft - the first time it is being sold to a foreign military - and KC-135 refueling planes as well as advanced missiles for Israeli warplanes. Israel: While all the trouble is brewing, Israel is preparing to become a major force in the energy business. She is scheduled to start exporting natural gas by 2014. (She is sitting on the three largest natural gas wells in the world). Recently, it was estimated that Israel is also sitting on an estimated 250 billion barrels of oil. God said that He would bring back the "fortunes of Judah" to Israel in the last days (Ezekiel 29:14, Joel 3:1). He is doing this very thing. Egypt: A cabinet reshuffle is going on in Egypt as the Egyptian justice minister resigns. For the time being, this makes Egypt a bit preoccupied. Deception: One of the best ways to describe the world right now is "deceived"! Things are not making sense! Why? Because so much we are observing is based on lies. As I have written before, this is one of the major conditions of the world just before the return of Jesus that is forecast in the Bible. II Thessalonians 2:10-11 is very much in play today. It says, "...because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. For this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false". The Mission of Lion of Judah Ministry: Righteous people must stand against the lies. And the ultimate truth that we should stand for is that Jesus is alive, sitting at the right hand of God the Father, and coming again. He is the only way to salvation and we need to proclaim Him and His soon return in the time we have left. Thank you for standing with us with your prayers and financial support as we continue!
Important Bible
Prophecy Developments There has been so much news that many are having a hard time processing all that is being thrown at us through the Media! My attempt to make it all understandable is to reduce it down to the most important issues that face us. These issues all indicate that the return of the Lord is near. Here goes. The US presidential election: This election takes us to a turning point in this country. There are three most important issues at hand: 1). Abortion on demand: To date we have legalized the killing of 50 million babies. God hates hands that shed innocent blood. (Proverbs 6:17). 2). Same sex Marriage: God forbids homosexuality. (Leviticus 18:22, 20:13, Romans 1:24-28, and I Corinthians 6:9).
3). Support for Israel: Most governments around the world have bought into the idea that Israel occupies land that does not belong to them. The U.S. State Department has joined in this error and each Administration gets more aggressive in its opposition toward Israel occupying the land that God promised to Abraham, Isaac, then Jacob. (Genesis 27:29, Psalm 102:13, and Romans 9, 10, & 11). God has specifically warned the nations not to divide His land (Joel 3:2).
Lest some think I am being political here, note that these were Bible, moral issues long before the United States was ever heard of. These are great moral issues of our day! How we as a people continue to vote for those who represent us on these issues will determine our standing with God as a nation. Libya: As you all know by now, our consulate was attacked by Al-Qaeda linked terrorists on September 11, 2012 and four Americans killed including our ambassador. We will keep a watch on Libya. They are listed as one of the allies in Ezekiel 38:5 that God will destroy when they will join Russia and Iran to come against Israel. Egypt: On September 11, 2012 protesters breached the security walls of the US embassy. Anti-American sentiment continues to grow in Egypt. Our influence on the Egyptian peace treaty with Israel is sure to decline as a result. Mohammed Morsi, Egypt’s first democratically elected president and a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, has taken office. The Muslim Brotherhood has had a long standing hatred for Israel. Psalm 83 and Ezekiel 35 identify Egypt among the nations that come against Israel in the last days motivated by hatred toward Israel. We will stay tuned. Syria: Another country named in the Psalm 83/Ezekiel 35 conflict. Civil war continues in Syria. At this writing, fighting rages over the second largest city, Aleppo and Damascus. It is still unclear where this conflict will end up. The future to the stockpiles of chemical and other weapons in Syria are in question. Into who’s hands will they fall? Will this current conflict lead us to the fulfillment of Isaiah 17:1 that calls for the destruction of Damascus? We shall see. Iran: Thirty nations have joined the naval force that has moved into the Persian Gulf to challenge Iran’s threat to close the Gulf. There is enough fire power in the Gulf to disable Iran’s military very quickly. This doesn’t seem likely since Iran’s military move toward Israel comes later in Ezekiel 38. Also, we are keeping watch on the nuclear development in Iran. Israel cannot afford a nuclear armed Iran. Will Israel attack? We will see. It is possible that this would result in Iran’s eventual Ezekiel 38 challenge to Israel. Interesting times! World Economy: The world economy continues to be very stressed! Debt is causing the problem. What will be the outcome? I believe a temporary fix is close. I believe more credit will be extended and more money printed and the “party” will resume. Why do I say this? Because the Bible says that in the last days (Matthew 24:37-39), “As it was in the days of Noah”, they were eating, drinking, giving in marriage, partying in other words, before destruction came upon them. Verse 38 declares that the party lasted clear up until the day that Noah entered the ark (that day representative of the Rapture), then the flood (representing the Tribulation) came. Deception: Deception is sweeping through the earth. Love for truth is disappearing. This is a prophesied condition of the world just before the return of Jesus. II Thessalonians 2:10-11 states “... because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. For this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false”. According to a new Gallup poll, 60% of Americans do not believe the media can be trusted to report the news “fully, accurately, and fairly”. Those who love truth are feeling out of place and isolated, especially the ones who speak up for the truth, preachers and politicians included. Jesus said that the truth will make you free (John 8:32). Of course, He is the ultimate truth. In our world of lies and deceptions, He, the ultimate Truth, is still findable today. He promises, "You will seek Me and find Me when you search for me with all your heart". Make peace with Him today, time is short!
Israel’s Undersea Gas Bonanza May Spur Mideastern Strife - Bloomberg View - May 21, 2012 - ...Discoveries of large underwater gas fields in the eastern Mediterranean, however, have changed Israel’s energy prospects almost overnight. In 2009, a consortium of U.S. and Israeli companies discovered the Tamar field about 50 miles off the Israeli coast, with an estimated 8.3 trillion cubic feet of gas. A year later, a similar consortium discovered Leviathan, a huge field nearby estimated to hold 16 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.
These finds, and the prospect of more in adjacent waters, could be strategic game-changers for Israel. A 2010 U.S. Geological Survey study estimated that the Levant Basin off the coast of Syria, Lebanon, Israel and the Gaza Strip could hold about 1.7 billion barrels of recoverable oil, 122 trillion cubic feet of recoverable gas and 5 billion barrels of natural gas liquids. If true, Israel could meet its own electricity needs in the future and possibly become a net exporter to a gas-thirsty region. This would bring economic and political benefits as well as regional clout at a time when Israel’s regional standing is more uncertain than it has been for decades. But, because nothing is simple in the Middle East, there is also a real threat that these gas discoveries could serve as a spur for conflict rather than economic growth. Gazprom execs mull Leviathan cooperation - www.globes-online.com -May 15 2012 - Senior executives from Gazprom (Nasdaq: OZGPY; LSE: OGZD; DAX: GAZ; RTS: GAZP) have been in Israel over the past few days to examine possible cooperation over the large offshore gas fields discovered off Israel's coast. Representatives of the Russian energy giant have met with top executives from Delek Group Ltd....Gazprom's aims are still unclear. The major concern in Israel's gas exploration sector is that the Russian energy company wants to block possible gas exports to Europe. Even if Israel's Leviathan is a relatively minor player in the European gas market compared with the Russian giant, the prices agreed upon and types of contracts signed by Israeli companies could create unwelcome precedents from Gazprom's point of view. Gazprom is the world's largest natural gas producer. Other big energy companies like Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM) and Royal Dutch Shell (LSE: RDSA; RDSB) are reluctant to become involved in the Israeli market for fears of a backlash from the Arab world, but Gazprom is not bothered about potential boycott threats...As the main natural gas supplier to the EU, Gazprom has no difficulties in marketing gas and building the necessary infrastructures for natural gas transportation which could cost up to $6 billion. That said, Gazprom's entry into the Israeli market would have far reaching political and strategic significance because Gazprom is not only an energy giant but also a company controlled by the Russian government. Comment: Of course Russia wants to get involved with the natural gas and oil business in Israel! When all is said and done, lots of money will be made. Ezekiel predicted Russia's interest in Israel's wealth 2500 years ago. In fact, Russia will come with allies named in Ezekiel 38:5 & 6 to Israel in the future to take the wealth (spoil) by force. Among them are Iran. It is nor surprise to see these countries allied together today. Ezekiel said it this way, "Have you come to capture spoil? Have you assembled your company to seize plunder, to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to capture great spoil? (Ezek 38:13). Be watching for more of Russia's interest in Israel.
Debt crisis: Spain and Italy to be bailed out in £600bn deal - The Telegraph - June 20, 2012 - Speaking before the meeting, François Hollande, the French president, said: 'It’s not on growth. It will be more on mechanisms that allow us to fight speculation.' Two rescue funds are to be used to buy the debts of the troubled economies, the cost of which have reached record highs in recent weeks. It is hoped that the move, which represents a substantial shift in policy for Germany’s chancellor, Angela Merkel, will send a strong signal to financial markets that Europe’s biggest economy is finally prepared to back its weaker neighbors.
Comment: Jesus said about His return, "For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark.." Looks like they are going to print money and the party Jesus talked about will resume until He breaks through the clouds to call out His own. Today would be fine with me!
Brian McLaren Leads Commitment Ceremony At Son's Same-Sex Wedding - Christianity Today - Sept. 12, 2012 - Brian McLaren, author of A New Kind of Christian and a prominent Christian speaker, led a non-traditional marriage commitment ceremony this weekend, according to The New York Times. Held at the Audubon Naturalist Society in Chevy Chase, Maryland, this ceremony included "traditional Christian elements," but no bride. And the groom—one of them—was McLaren's son, Trevor McLaren. The Times reports that Trevor McLaren wed Owen Ryan Saturday in Washington, D.C., followed by the afternoon commitment ceremony. Brian McLaren, who formerly was chair of the board for Sojourners, is among a minority of evangelical progressives who advocate that the church should abandon heterosexism and move toward reconciliation with homosexuals.
Episcopal Church approves same-sex blessing rite - Associated Press - July 10, 2012 - The Episcopal Church has approved a churchwide ceremony for blessing same-sex unions. The Episcopal General Convention gave final approval to the liturgy Tuesday during a meeting in Indianapolis. It's the latest Episcopal step toward accepting gay relationships. The church elected the first openly gay bishop in 2003. Other liberal-leaning Protestants ordain gays or allow individual congregations to celebrate gay or lesbian unions. However, only one major Protestant group, the United Church of Christ, has endorsed same-sex marriage outright. Obama endorses same-sex marriage initiatives in three states - Reuters - October 25, 2012 - President Barack Obama on Thursday endorsed state ballot initiatives to legalize same-sex marriage in Washington state, Maryland and Maine as he sought to galvanize gay and lesbian enthusiasm for his re-election bid. Statements issued by the Obama campaign in those three states urging voters to approve the gay-marriage measures on their respective November 6 ballots came five months after Obama became the first U.S. president to express support for the right of same-sex couples to wed. Dems move to include gay marriage support in official party platform - Associated Press - July 30, 2012 - Democrats are moving, for the first time, to include support for same-sex marriage in the official party platform at their national convention. The decision comes after President Obama became the first sitting U.S. president to voice support for gay marriage, and as party officials try to build the anticipation ahead of the convention set for early September in Charlotte, N.C. Democrat platform committee endorses 'gay marriage' - Associated Press - Aug. 12, 2012 - The national Democratic Party's platform committee endorsed homosexual "marriage" this weekend and called for the repeal of a federal law that recognizes marriage as between a man and a woman...Scott Dibble, a committee member and a state senator from Minnesota, said support for homosexual marriage can attract new voters. "Young people are looking for a political home right now. This has become a defining moral question of our time," said Dibble, who is homosexual...In May, President Barack Obama said he personally supported homosexual marriage. Comment: If young people today prefer the same-sex platform, then I am surprised and very much feeling out of touch! The Church endorsing same-sex marriage is even more of a surprise! There is one good thing this stance the Dems and the church (or part of it) have taken. All of the guesswork about where the parties and churches mentioned stand on this issue is over. The march toward Sodom and Gomorrah is now a political party platform and voters have a clear choice.
Muslim Brotherhood's Supreme Leader Calls for Jihad on Israel - IsraelNationalNews.com - July 9, 2012 - The supreme leader of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood – and of its president elect Mohammed Morsi – has called for jihad on Israel. The website Jihad Watch cited a report in last Thursday’s Egypt-based Al Wafd newspaper. The report said that, during his weekly sermon, “Muhammad Badi, the Muslim Brotherhood’s Supreme Guide, confirmed the necessity for every Muslim to strive to save al-Quds [Jerusalem] from the hands of the rapists [Israelis] and to cleanse Palestine from the clutches of the occupation, deeming this an individual duty for all Muslims.”
Comment: Reminiscent of the Bible verses that states, "Behold, I am going to make Jerusalem a cup that causes reeling to all the peoples around; and when the siege is against Jerusalem, it will also be against Judah. It will come about in that day that I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples; all who lift it will be severely injured. And all the nations of the earth will be gathered against it." (Zech 12:2-3). God says He is "exceedingly jealous" for Jerusalem (Zechariah 8:2). The nations that are messing with Jerusalem are playing with fire! They are going to find themselves fighting against God Himself. Wonder who is going to win the fight (tongue in cheek)!
Dems move to include gay marriage support in official party platform - Associated Press - July 30, 2012 - Democrats are moving, for the first time, to include support for same-sex marriage in the official party platform at their national convention. The decision comes after President Obama became the first sitting U.S. president to voice support for gay marriage, and as party officials try to build the anticipation ahead of the convention set for early September in Charlotte, N.C.
Democrat platform committee endorses 'gay marriage' - Associated Press - Aug. 12, 2012 - The national Democratic Party's platform committee endorsed homosexual "marriage" this weekend and called for the repeal of a federal law that recognizes marriage as between a man and a woman...Scott Dibble, a committee member and a state senator from Minnesota, said support for homosexual marriage can attract new voters. "Young people are looking for a political home right now. This has become a defining moral question of our time," said Dibble, who is homosexual...In May, President Barack Obama said he personally supported homosexual marriage.
Obama endorses gay marriage, says same-sex couples should have right to wed - Washington Post - May 9, 2012 - President Obama announced Wednesday that he believes same-sex couples should be granted the right to marry, becoming the first U.S. president in history to fully embrace that level of civil rights for gays.
Obama, touting gay marriage stance, calls for repeal of Defense of Marriage Act - Associated Press - May 15, 2012 - President Obama openly spoke of repealing the Defense of Marriage Act at a fundraiser Monday, as he defended his personal view that gay couples should have the right to marry.
Comment: The Unites States is rapidly becoming a modern-day Sodom and Gomorrah! According to Genesis 19, God destroyed the ancient one. Many hold their breath wondering what He has in store for this one!
Putin wants to show he is key player in region - Jerusalem Post - June 22, 20102 - Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose support for Syrian President Bashar Assad is straining his ties with the West, is scheduled to visit Israel on Monday for a short trip one diplomatic official said is designed to send a clear message to the world: Russia is a key player in the region that needs to be taken into account. While the official purpose of the 24-hour visit will be to dedicate a memorial in Netanya to the Red Army defeat of the Nazis, talks between Putin and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu will center on Russia’s policy of propping up Assad in Syria and on the talks with Iran. Russia is a member of the P5+1 group – which also includes the US, China, France, Britain and Germany – negotiating with Tehran.
Comment: Of course he wants to be involved. He has to be! Why? Ezekiel 38 says that the leader from the Land of Magog (Russia) will ally the forces mentioned in Ezekiel 38 5-6 and lead a force with thes allies against Israel. God has a serious surprise for them when they do however! Those armies will be destroyed on the mountain heights of Israel. See the last few verses of Ezeliel 38 for detail.
Israel’s Undersea Gas Bonanza May Spur Mideastern Strife - Bloomberg View - May 21, 2012 - Egypt’s decision last month to stop selling natural gas to Israel could be a harbinger of increasingly confrontational Egyptian-Israeli relations, an indication of a worsening Egyptian economy, or both...Discoveries of large underwater gas fields in the eastern Mediterranean, however, have changed Israel’s energy prospects almost overnight. In 2009, a consortium of U.S. and Israeli companies discovered the Tamar field about 50 miles off the Israeli coast, with an estimated 8.3 trillion cubic feet of gas. A year later, a similar consortium discovered Leviathan, a huge field nearby estimated to hold 16 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.
These finds, and the prospect of more in adjacent waters, could be strategic game-changers for Israel. A 2010 U.S. Geological Survey study estimated that the Levant Basin off the coast of Syria, Lebanon, Israel and the Gaza Strip could hold about 1.7 billion barrels of recoverable oil, 122 trillion cubic feet of recoverable gas and 5 billion barrels of natural gas liquids. If true, Israel could meet its own electricity needs in the future and possibly become a net exporter to a gas-thirsty region. This would bring economic and political benefits as well as regional clout at a time when Israel’s regional standing is more uncertain than it has been for decades. But, because nothing is simple in the Middle East, there is also a real threat that these gas discoveries could serve as a spur for conflict rather than economic growth.
Israel Strikes Oil Off Tel Aviv Coast - Israelnationalnews.com - March 13, 2012 - Israel has struck oil again, this time off the Tel Aviv coast. Developers maintain the find includes 100 million barrels of oil, worth $10 billion. Modiin Energy and Adira Energy discovered an estimated 128 million barrels of oil and 1.8 trillion cubic feet of gas in shallow water less than 15 miles northwest of Tel Aviv...The amount of oil is estimated to meet Israel’s needs for 18 months, in addition to other energy finds in the Tamar and Leviathan fields off the Haifa coast. Companies developing those fields say there is enough gas and perhaps oil to turn Israel into an exporter.
Comment: This is huge news!!! Why? Ezekiel 38-39 describe a future Israel that is considered by Russia, Iran, and other allies listed in verse 5&6, as worthy to come against to "capture spoil" (38:12). This has confused Bible prophecy students in the past. The restoration of Israel has included astounding developments in agriculture and technology, but who would risk an army to come and seize agricultural produce? Today, with such growing energy demands, the world is looking at an Israel that now has the three largest natural gas wells in the world and are also finding oil.
Comment: Russia and Iran along with other allies mentioned in Ezekiel 38:5, will come against Israel to "take a spoil". The spoils sure are taking shape! Russia and her allies who caome against Israel will die on the mountains heights of Israel. God will supernaturally judge the armies according to the last part of Ezekiel 38. This could come together fairly quickly and could happen soon.
Debt crisis: Spain and Italy to be bailed out in £600bn deal - The Telegraph - June 20, 2012 - Speaking before the meeting, François Hollande, the French president, said: 'It’s not on growth. It will be more on mechanisms that allow us to fight speculation.' Two rescue funds are to be used to buy the debts of the troubled economies, the cost of which have reached record highs in recent weeks. It is hoped that the move, which represents a substantial shift in policy for Germany’s chancellor, Angela Merkel, will send a strong signal to financial markets that Europe’s biggest economy is finally prepared to back its weaker neighbors.
Comment: This is not a surprising move. The Bible indicates there will be a united economy from the old Roman Empire. This move will move us one more step to the global economy mentioned in Revelation 13:18.
Israeli Company to Dig for Uranium in the Negev - Israelnationalnews.com - Dec. 22, 2011 - Studies say that there is uranium under the Negev - and Gulliver Energy intends to dig it up. The Water and Energy Ministry (formerly the National Infrastructures Ministry) is set to grant a license to Gulliver Energy to search for uranium in the Negev...The uranium search will center on an area in the southern Negev, where oil exploration is being conducted by the Zerach exploration company. That exploration is taking place near the Dead Sea, at the Maya exploration site, south of Tzuk Tamrur, another exploration site near Arad.
Comment: Israel continues to find natural resources the world had no clue existed until recently. This is in keeping with the Scriptures that God would bless the Land when the Jewish people returned to it. (See Isaiah 60:5 & 11, Ezekiel 34-36). The way things are going, Israel is on the road to becoming a very wealthy nation. In this regard, here are some of Israel's accomplishments: 1). The cell phone was developed in Israel. 2). Israel is ranked #2 for venture capital funds. 3). Besides the U.S. and Canada, Israel has the largest number of NASDAQ listed companies. 4). Israel's $200 billion plus economy is larger than all combined immediate neighbors. 5.) Microsoft has its largest research & development center outside the U.S. in Israel. 6). Israel has the fourth largest Air Force in the world. 7). Israel has the most per-capita rates of patents filed. 8). Israel has the largest number of start-up companies. 9). Israel - highest average living standards in the Middle East. 10). Israel absorbs more immigrants than any other nation. 11). Israel - highest number of scientists in her workforce. Note: All of the above while engaged in regular wars, facing an enemy seeking her destruction, and an economy under continuous strain having to spend more money on her own protection than any other country. Obama to U.S. Jews: My administration has done more than any other to support Israel - www.haaretz.com - December 16, 2011- U.S. President Barack Obama gave the keynote address at the Union for Reform Judaism conference in Maryland on Friday, where he said that his administration has done more than any other to support Israel. "It's hard to remember a time when the [U.S.] administration gave more support to the security of Israel. Don't let anyone to tell you otherwise. It's a fact," said Obama, who received a standing ovation and enthusiastic applause from the thousands of attendees at the conference. Comment: It takes a lot of imagination for those in the Obama Administration to believe this! Actually the Obama Administration has done more of the opposite than any other U.S. Administration. The unprecedented shunning of Israel for building in the so-called settlements and in Jerusalem, and various speeches Obama has given have emboldened the Arab stance against Israel more than ever. Not having dinner with Benjamin Netanyahu while a guest at the White House and having him enter through an employee entrance sent signals to the world that the Administration is not happy with Israel. Obama has apologized to Muslims repeatedly during his administration and has put pressure on Israel to return to pre-1967 borders, both isolating Israel more than ever. Israel does not feel that Obama "has her back" as he has claimed. Obama has done less than any other president to earn the trust of Israelis or American Jews.
Russia: Attack on Tehran is Attack on Moscow - Israelnationalnews.com - January 15, 2012 - Russia has given Iran its bear hug and warns Israel and the West that an attack on Tehran would be considered an attack on Moscow. The threat heightens the prospect of World War III in the event of a military strike on Iran. “Iran is our neighbor,” Russia's outgoing ambassador to NATO, Dmitry Rogozin, told reporters in Brussels. “And if Iran is involved in any military action, it’s a direct threat to our security.”
Russia Protecting Iran from West - Israelnationalnews.com - January 18, 2012 - Russia reached out to protect Iran from the West on Wednesday, warning that sanctions would "stifle" the Iranian economy. Comment: In Ezekiel 38:7, God speaks to Russia about her relationship to Iran and the other allies listed in Ezekiel 38:5&6, to be a "guard for them". That is exactly what Russia has become. Russia has allied with Iran. Soon, they will come together to challenge Israel according to Ezekiel. Coming against Israel will be a mortal mistake for God will destroy these agressors as is described in Ezekiel 38:18 - 39:7. As He destroys the armies, it will be one of the greatest displays of God's power in the history of the world! In this event, God says "He will make Himself known in the sight of many nations" (38:23). If the Church is still present on earth, it will be one of the greatest evangelistic opportunities that the Church has ever been afforded! Rick Warren: Christians, Muslims worship same God - onenewsnow.com - February 29, 2012 - A Messianic Jewish leader says it's a tragedy that mega-church pastor Rick Warren is ignoring the Great Commission as he reaches out to Muslims in southern California. The Orange County Register reports that Warren, senior pastor of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California, is part of an effort called "King's Way" that is attempting to build a bridge between evangelical Christians and Muslims. According to that report, Warren wants to heal divisions by partnering with area mosques through a proposed set of principles that includes acknowledging that Christians and Muslims worship the same God. Comment: This is a growing deception that is sweeping through especially the Western World. Namely, that Muslims and Christians worship the same God. If the Christian God Jehovah, and the Muslim God Allah, are the same, why is that Jehovah wants to restore Israel and Allah wants to destroy it. Why does Allah claim that He has no son and that Mohammed is his prophet, while Jehovah claims He has a Son, whose name is Jesus? Destroy all churches in Gulf, says Saudi Grand Mufti - Arabianbusiness.com - March 15, 2012 - The Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia has said it is “necessary to destroy all the churches of the region,” following Kuwait’s moves to ban their construction. Speaking to a delegation in Kuwait, Sheikh Abdul Aziz bin Abdullah, stressed that since the tiny Gulf state was a part of the Arabian Peninsula, it was necessary to destroy all of the churches in the country, Arabic media have reported. Saudi Arabia’s top cleric made the comment in view of an age-old rule that only Islam can be practiced in the region. Comment: Again, Jehovah wants Christian worship houses and Allah wants to destroy them. What would happen if the world told Muslims they cannot have mosques where churches or synagogues are the norm?
Preacher Who Got Date of Apocalypse Wrong Tries Again - Associated Press - May 23, 2011 - As crestfallen followers of a California preacher who foresaw the world's end strained to find meaning in their lives, Harold Camping revised his apocalyptic prophecy Monday, saying he was off by five months because the Earth actually will be obliterated on Oct. 21. Camping, who predicted that 200 million Christians would be taken to heaven Saturday before global cataclysm struck the planet, said he felt so terrible when his doomsday message did not come true that he left home and took refuge in a motel with his wife. His independent ministry, Family Radio International, spent millions -- some of it from donations made by followers -- on more than 5,000 billboards and 20 RVs plastered with the Judgment Day message...Through chatting with a friend over what he acknowledged was a very difficult weekend, the light dawned on him that instead of the Biblical Rapture in which the faithful would be swept up to the heavens, May 21 had instead been a "spiritual" Judgment Day, which places the entire world under Christ's judgment, he said. The globe will be completely destroyed in five months, he said, when the apocalypse comes. But because God's judgment and salvation were completed on Saturday, there's no point in continuing to warn people about it, so his network will now just play Christian music and programs until the final end on Oct. 21.
Comment: Jesus said that "no man knows the day or the hour". Matthew 25:13 & Mark 13:32 both say this. He meant what He said! Think of all the heartbreak and dissapointments that could be avoided if folks would just take Jesus at His word! We can know the season of the Lord's return by watching the signs, but not the day or hour. Will we learn a lesson from this? Michigan Minister Opens Tattoo Parlor in His Church - Associated Press - January 7, 2012 - A Michigan pastor who says he's doing everything he can to reach out to people who don't feel comfortable at a traditional house of worship has opened a tattoo parlor inside his church. Rev. Steve Bentley of The Bridge, a church located inside a Flint Township shopping center, said his ministry is built on the belief that mainstream religion has become ineffective and irrelevant to most people. To that end, he opened Serenity Tattoo. Tattoo artists Ryan Brown and Drew Blaisdell work by appointment or from noon until 8 p.m., Monday-Saturday, at the county-licensed tattoo shop that sits not far from Bentley's office as well as the watering trough that he uses for baptisms. Bentley, who has two tattoos, said he understands some don't like the idea of Serenity Tattoo inside the church, but the pastor considers tattooing a "morally neutral" practice that he likens to getting one's ears pierced. Comment: "Morally neutral"? God said in Leviticus 19:28, "You shall not make any cuts in your body for the dead or make any tattoo marks on yourselves: I am the Lord". Interesting that the Antichrist (Revelation 13:16) will require all to take a "mark" in their right hand or forehead in the days ahead. Will this be a tattoo?
Recent News
and Bible Prophecy Devastating Weather and the Israel Connection T he U.S. State Department continues to insist that Israel give up land to facilitate a new Palestinian State inside the present borders of Israel. God made a covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob about this land being restored in the last days and the Jewish people restored back to it after being dispersed all over the world. That promise of restoration is in progress. In keeping with God's promise, the Land of Israel today is a land of plenty and over 7 million Jewish people are living there. God promises that He will retaliate against any that "divide" His Land (Joel 3:2). Dividing the Land is exactly what the U.S. State Department is insisting on. As we do so, 2011 has seen some of the most devastating weather events on record. There have been fires, drought, tornadoes, floods, hurricanes, and a very challenged economy! It would be a good time for us to consider getting out of the peace-brokering business in the Middle East and concentrate on our problems here at home! It would also be a good time to understand that God and Israel can take care of Israel. God doesn't need our help!
Population hits 7.8 million on eve of Jewish New Year - Jerusalem Post - September 26, 2011 - Israel’s population on the eve of the Jewish New Year 5772 stands at 7,797,400, continuing a steady population growth of 1.9 percent after surpassing the 7.5 million mark two years ago, according to figures released Monday by the Central Bureau of Statistics. In terms of ethnic divisions, Israel’s Jews now count for some 5,874,300 of the population; Arabs 1,600,100 people and the remaining 323,000 are those not registered as Jews or Arabs by the Interior Ministry.
Vatican Calls for New World Economic Order - Associated Press - October 24, 2011 - The Vatican called Monday for radical reform of the world's financial systems, including the creation of a global political authority to manage the economy. A proposal by the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace calls for a new world economic order based on ethics and the "achievement of a universal common good." It follows Pope Benedict XVI's 2009 economic encyclical that denounced a profit-at-all-cost mentality as responsible for the global financial meltdown.
World faces years of social unrest as economies falter - The Independent - November 1, 2011 - The international economy is on the brink of a deep new economic crisis that could cost millions of jobs around the globe and trigger mass social unrest, the world's most powerful nations were warned yesterday. As the leaders of the G20 countries prepare for emergency talks on averting a return to worldwide recession, the United Nations' International Labor Organization (ILO) issued a grim forecast of the social effects of the continuing economic crisis. The UN agency warned that it could take until 2016 for global employment to return to the levels of three years ago – and that anger could erupt on the streets of Europe and other continents as a result.
Oklahoma's largest quake in decades buckles highway; rattles residents - CNN - November 06, 2011- Central Oklahoma continued to experience dozens of aftershocks Sunday, nearly 24 hours since the state's strongest earthquake since 1952 was felt throughout the region. More than ten aftershocks measuring at east 3.0 magnitude were reported Sunday, in the hours after a 5.6-magnitude earthquake took residents by surprise Saturday night.
Rights Activists: Syrian Army Defectors Kill 8 Troops in Retaliatory Attack - VOA News - December 14, 2011 - Gunmen thought to be army defectors killed at least eight Syrian troops Wednesday in a retaliatory attack after security forces killed a group of civilians...The United Nations human rights office says it has received credible reports from a variety of sources showing the Syrian death toll at more than 5,000 since March, when the unrest first began.
Muslim Brotherhood's First Demand for US: Drop Israel - Israel Today Magazine - July 05, 2011 - US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at the weekend publicly announced the Obama Administration's desire to reestablish ties with Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood.The Brotherhood responded this week by thanking Clinton, and issuing its first demand of its new American friends: drop support for the "Zionist regime." In an email response quoted by Bloomberg, Muslim Brotherhood spokesman Mahmoud Ghozlan stated that if America wants solid relations with the group, it should "stop supporting the corrupt and tyrannical regimes, backing the Zionist occupation and using double standards."...The Muslim Brotherhood sees all of Israel as a cancerous growth that must be eradicated. The group supports returning Egypt to a state of war with Israel, and wants to see the entirety of the region become an Islamic Caliphate.
Comment: Supoport for Israel has been a salvation for the USA. It has been in keeping with God's promise to Abraham to bless those who bless him. The US doesn't have much going for her right now in the God department! As talks of making Israel return to her 1967 borders this past spring, we have had in the US the worst outbreak of tornadoes in the history of the US. The US economy is also challenged more than we are all comfortable with! Unemployment is up to almost 10%. We are headed in the wrong direction! God only knows what will happen if we cease supporting His Land and His chosen people!
From Iran to Senegal, Protests Dominate - CBS News - February 18, 2010 - As thousands of Egyptians packed Cairo's Tahrir Square to celebrate the one-week anniversary of former President Hosni Mubarak's ouster, protests they helped inspire continued to rage throughout the Middle East and North Africa. Violent clashes between anti-government demonstrators and security forces broke out in Bahrain, Yemen and Jordan Friday; In Senegal, a man in a military uniform set himself on fire near the presidential palace; In the tiny East African nation of Djibouti, thousands gathered calling for their president to step down; Iraqis protested for better public services and jobs; And in Iran and Libya, pro-government rallies were held in contrast to recent opposition demonstrations.
Comment: The Middle East is in turmoil. It is too early to accurately assess things happening there. Ultimately, according to Bible prophecy (Psalm 83 and Ezekiel 35), there will emerge an Arab coalition that will be judged by God for coming against Israel. Migrating Birds - eTeacherHebrew Official Newsletter (Issue #101 - 09/10) - ...The land of Israel functions as a bridge, or a flight corridor. Our location creates a tube-like wind channel, a natural flyway that funnels birds into the country’s airspace. Hundreds of thousands of birds stop here to refresh themselves and refuel, after flying thousands of kilometers...The migrating birds also damaged the Israeli agriculture – eating the crops in the fields and the fish in the ponds. This was partially taken care of by creating alternative feeding areas for the birds. Comment: According to the Jewish Virtual Library, "Israel, located at the junction of three continents, is crossed by migrating birds on a scale unparalleled anywhere". This definitely has prophetic implications. Why? The Bible predicts a day when Russia comes with a coalition of nations including Iran (Eze. 38:5) to threaten Israel in Ezekiel 38 and 39. In Ezekiel 39:4, Scripture says that God will supernaturally kill the armies and feed the dead soldiers to the birds. We are at the place in history when the countries of Ezekiel 38 are all in place, hostile against Israel, and now the birds are showing up (about 500 million to 1.5 billion each year). Many of these are birds of prey. They are getting ready for Ezekiel 38 and 39. Nasrallah: Throw the Jews Out - www.israelnationalnews.com - December 16, 2010 - Hizbullah chief Hassan Nasrallah said in a speech Thursday that the removal of Jews from the Land of Israel and conquering the land by Arabs was a principle that the Arab world could not surrender on. Speaking at a Shi'ite religious event, Nasrallah said that “we will bring thousands of martyrs” to kill Jews in Jerusalem. “We will never recognize Israel. We will not surrender a grain of Palestine's sand.” Abbas Demands that PA State be Jew-Free - israelnationalnews.com - December 25, 2010 - Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas said Friday that there would be no Jewish presence in any future state run by the Western-backed PA in Israel's Judea and Samaria regions. "When a Palestinian state is established it will be empty of any Israeli presence." Abbas also rejected the possibility that an IDF presence would be positioned along the borders of such a state. Turkish document defines Israel as 'central threat' - Jerusalem Post - Oct.-30-2010 - The Turkish National Security Council approved a few days ago significant changes in a document which contains threats against Turkey claiming that Israel is now a major threat to the country, Turkish media reported Saturday...At the same time the Council decided to remove Syria, Bulgaria, Georgia and Armenia from the list of countries that pose a threat to Turkey. Iran, which was previously a major threat to Ankara was also removed from the list of countries. Comment: A more hostile Arab world toward Israel is definitely emerging as is in keeping with Ezekiel 35 and Psalm 83! Turkey, Iran Open new border gate, declare ‘eternal friendship’ - todayszaman.com - April 18, 2011 - Iranian and Turkish officials opened a new border crossing over the weekend, as the Turkish side highlighted the presence of a friendship for eternity between the peoples of the two countries... Said foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu, "We are declaring to the world that Turkey and Iran will remain friends for eternity". Comment: Turkey and Iran are listed as allies in the coming Ezekiel 38 battle (Ezekiel 38:5). Their "friendship" is no surprise. Israel Eyes Iran Warships in Suez With Worry- Associated Press - February 21, 2011 - Iran's first attempt in decades to send warships through the Suez Canal into the Mediterranean... could further destabilize the Middle East, a region already reeling from an unprecedented wave of anti-government rebellions. Egypt's new military rulers, who took power from ousted Hosni Mubarak a little more than a week ago, have granted two Iranian warships passage through the strategic waterway -- something Israel has made clear it views as a provocation..."Iran wants to say to the world, to the U.S., Israel and other countries in the Mideast that it has reach not only in areas close to it but also farther away, including in the Mediterranean," said Ephraim Kam of the Institute for National Security Studies in Israel. He said Iran is also signaling to Israel that it is prepared to protect its allies Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon on Israel's northern and southern flanks. Comment: Considering Iran is one of the allies to threaten Israel in Ezekiel 38:5, it is sobering to see her flexing her military muscles and sending warships so close to Israel's border. Also, Arab hatred for Israel is nothing new, but to see the mentioned Arab alliances coming together, we know that the war of Psalm 83/Ezekiel 35 and the battle of Ezekiel 38-39 are both drawing near. How Israel Could Revolutionize the Global Energy Sector - Jerusalem Post - March 11, 2011 - New data suggests Israel may not only have much larger gas resources than believed, but also the 3rd largest deposit of oil shale in the world...First, the gas discoveries in the Eastern Mediterranean, which began to produce commercial quantities of natural gas in 2004, are generally well-known. The Tamar field, which should begin production in 2013, is expected to supply all of Israel’s domestic requirements for at least 20 years. The Economist suggested in November 2010 that the recently discovered Leviathan field, which has twice the gas of Tamar, could be completely devoted to exports...What is less well-known, but even more dramatic, is the work being done on this country’s oil shale...A new assessment was released late last year by Dr. Yuval Bartov, chief geologist for Israel Energy Initiatives, at the yearly symposium of the prestigious Colorado School of Mines. He presented data that our oil shale reserves are actually the equivalent of 250 billion barrels (that compares with 260 billion barrels in the proven reserves of Saudi Arabia)... Israel is uniquely situated by its geographical position and is able to direct its energy exports to either Europe or China and India. Comment: In the coming Ezekiel 38-39 battle, a question is asked to the invaders, "have you come to capture spoil"? An oil strike of the magnitude described would certainly provide incentive! Quake in New Zealand kills at least 65, traps more - Associated Press - February 21, 2010 - A powerful earthquake struck one of New Zealand's biggest cities Tuesday at the height of a busy workday, toppling tall buildings and churches, crushing buses and killing at least 65 people in one of the country's worst natural disasters. It was the second major quake to hit Christchurch, a city of 350,000, in five months, though Tuesday's 6.3-magnitude temblor caused far more destruction than a stronger September quake that struck before dawn on a weekend. Japan’s earthquake shifted balance of the planet - Yahoo News - March 14, 2011 - Last week's devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan has actually moved the island closer to the United States and shifted the planet's axis. The quake caused a rift 15 miles below the sea floor that stretched 186 miles long and 93 miles wide, according to the AP. The areas closest to the epicenter of the quake jumped a full 13 feet closer to the United States, geophysicist Ross Stein at the United States Geological Survey told The New York Times. The 9.0 magnitude quake (the fourth-largest recorded since 1900) was caused when the Pacific tectonic plate dove under the North American plate, which shifted Eastern Japan towards North America by about 13 feet. The quake also shifted the earth's axis by 6.5 inches, shortened the day by 1.6 microseconds, and sank Japan downward by about two feet. As Japan's eastern coastline sunk, the tsunami's waves rolled in. Aftershock Rattles Japan on One-Month Mark - CBN.com - April 11, 2011 - Another strong aftershock rattled northeast Japan Monday, exactly one month to the day when a massive 9.0 earthquake and resulting tsunami devastated the island nation. It was the second major aftershock in less than a week. The 7.0 quake triggered a tsunami warning for the already crippled coast... Comment: As the old Jerry Lee Lewis song goes, "there's a whole lotta' shakin' goin' on"! The U.S. Geological Survey report on their website that there were 22,256 total earthquakes recorded for the year 2000. They report 31,777 earthquakes for the year 2008. Earthquakes are definitely on the rise and Jesus said they would be before His return (Matthew 24:7). Amazon Backing Down? 'Pedophile Guide' Listing Unavailable After Outrage - FoxNews.com - November 11, 2010 - An e-book for sale on Amazon.com entitled "The Pedophile's Guide to Love and Pleasure," was no longer available from the retailer late Wednesday after shocked consumers across the nation called for a boycott. Comment: The sadness of this story is that this was allowed at Amazon to start with!. Our country has lost its moral direction! After Controversy, Christian University Changes Gay Policy - Religion News Service - January 31, 2011 - A Christian university in Nashville, Tenn., has amended its nondiscrimination policy to include sexual orientation after a recent controversy involving a lesbian former soccer coach. "We are a Christian community that is welcoming, loving and inclusive of everyone," said Belmont University President Bob Fisher in a Wednesday (Jan. 26) statement. The change comes a month after the university's soccer coach, Lisa Howe, left her position after revealing that she and her lesbian partner were expecting a child. In his announcement, Fisher said that sexual orientation was not a consideration in "hiring, promotion, salary or dismissal decisions" during the 11 years he has been president. Howe hailed the policy change in a statement reported by The Tennessean. Comment: The Bible's position is that you are welcome to the church as you are, but you cannot stay as you are. This is what the Bible means in 1 Cor. 6:10-11 where it gives a list of those who will not inherit the Kingdom of God. It concludes that such "were some of you" the key word being "were". The Bible predicts a day when "they will not tolerate sound doctrine" (I Tim. 4:1). That day evidently has arrived. Obama Administration Drops Legal Defense of 'Marriage Act' - ABC News - Feb. 23, 2011 - President Obama has instructed the Justice Department to stop defending the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act, which has since 1996 banned federal recognition of same-sex unions. Obama signs repeal of 'don't ask, don't tell' policy - CNN.com - December 22, 2010 - President Barack Obama brought the long political struggle over the military's controversial "don't ask, don't tell" policy to a close Wednesday, signing legislation that will bring an end of the ban on openly gay men and women serving in the armed forces. Comment: It is not only so surprising to have a sitting president who refuses to uphold an existing law of the land, but is working hard and fast to recreate Soddom and Gomorrah. Military indoctrinated on gays kissing, behavior - WashingtonTimes.com - March 23, 2011 - Four branches of the military have begun sending training material to 2.2 million active and reserve troops as a prelude to opening the ranks to gays, with instructions on, for example, what to do if an officer sees two male Marines kissing in a shopping mall. Comment: Our country has stooped to a new low as our Federal Government and the U.S. Military seek to legitimize a life-style that the Bible calls sin! Do we hate homosexuals? No! We do see them caught in a lifestyle that will destroy them not only in this life, but in the one to come. The Bible states that no homosexuals will inherit the Kingdom of God (I Cor. 6:9). I believe God means what He says. More tornadoes expected on top of April record - USA Today - Apr 25, 2011 - A severe weather forecast this week is expected to heap more tornadoes into a month that already has seen a record number of twisters that have wrecked an airport, destroyed homes and killed scores of people... The 292 confirmed tornadoes so far this month are more than the previous April record of 267 in 1974 and almost twice the April average of 163, says severe weather expert Greg Forbes of The Weather Channel. Monster Storm Kills 43 Across U.S. - Foxnews.com - April 17, 2011 - A devastating storm that spawned tornadoes, flash floods and hail as big as softballs has claimed at least 43 lives across the U.S. while roaring through the South and gaining steam in North Carolina and Virginia. Emergency crews searched for victims in hard-hit swaths of North Carolina, where 62 tornadoes were reported from the worst spring storm in two decades to hit the state. Texas Wildfires Continue Widespread Destruction, Evacuations - Associated Press - April 15, 2011 - Wildfires sweeping across hundreds of thousands of acres in parched Texas killed a firefighter, forced hundreds of evacuations -- including an entire town -- and destroyed dozens of homes on Friday, officials said. Strong winds were fueling fires that spanned about 655 square miles, according to the Texas Forest Service. Some of the fires have been burning for a week or more, including three in West Texas that have charred a combined 400,000 acres. Plains states endure a season of weather extremes - USA Today - April 13, 2011 - What Bob Dillard of Fort Davis, Texas, saw last weekend when a wildfire broke out was “unbelievable, just horrific. There were horses on fire, buildings on fire, houses on fire.” Meanwhile, hundreds of miles to the north, North Dakota Gov. Jack Dalrymple described the floods in the eastern part of his state on Monday: “The area from Harwood to Argusville is under siege, more than it probably has been in history.”...While parts of the northern Plains this week slog through what the National Weather Service called “unprecedented” flooding — with flood warnings posted in nine states — hundreds of miles to the south, the southern Plains have been scorched with raging wildfires and bone-dry conditions not seen since the Dust Bowl of the 1930s. Mississippi River Flooding - HuffingtonPost.com - May 17, 2011 - As a massive surge of water continues to make its way down the Mississippi River from intense rainfall and snowmelt, the southern U.S. is being inundated with historic floods, the likes of which haven't been seen since 1937 in some areas...Heavy rains have left the ground saturated, rivers swollen, and have caused widespread flooding in Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Arkansas. Comment: Amos 4 makes it very clear that God uses natural disasters and specifically drought and flood, to get the attention of a nation. The USA has kicked God out of the schools, courtrooms, and public life. Why should He not remove His hand of protection? Also, it is very redeeming to know that the Bible promises that one day soon, when Jesus reigns on this earth (see Zechariah 14), all the power that is on display in nature today will be released in blessing. What an incredible day it will be! All are welcome! Japan earthquake, tsunami kill hundreds - CBS News - March 11, 2011 - A ferocious tsunami spawned by one of the largest earthquakes ever recorded slammed Japan's eastern coast Friday, killing hundreds as it swept away boats, cars and homes while widespread fires burned out of control. Tsunami warnings blanketed the entire Pacific, as far away as South America, Canada, Alaska and the entire U.S. West Coast. The magnitude 8.9 offshore quake unleashed a 23-foot tsunami and was followed by more than 80 aftershocks greater than magnitude-5 -- a number that scientists say is normal for a quake this size.Comment: We at Lion of Judah Ministry are stunned at the magnitude of the destruction of this earthquake! We have great grief for the victims, many that are yet discovered. Jesus said there would be earthquakes as birth pangs upon a woman with child (Matthew 24:7). These earthquakes will become more frequent and more intense as we grow closer to the return of Jesus. Is there any hope? Yes! Place your faith in Yeshua (Jesus of Nazareth) while there is time. See Romans 10: 9. Middle East: Fighting continues in Libya. The outcome is uncertain. There are still problems brewing in Lebanon, Iran, violent protesting in Syria, the U.S. military is still in Iraq to maintain "peace", Yemen has had an overthrow of its leader, and Jordan is having protests of her own. The future of Egyptian leadership is uncertain. The question: What is happening in the Middle East? It is too early to assess details but generally, all of the countries listed have one thing in common, hatred for Israel. Will the current stirring result in an Arab coalition that finds itself able to unite under the common cause outlined in Psalm 83 and Ezekiel 35. Both Scriptures reveal an Arab world that hates Israel and that God supernaturally judges for all the world to see (Ezekiel 35:14). Those of us trained in the prophetic Scriptures are watching for more detail to develop with earnest. Meanwhile, it is a good time to be right with God!
Egypt: February 7, 2011 - What is going on in Egypt is hard to call at present. Fear is stirring that Mubarak (current president) will be replaced by someone more sympathetic with causes of Islam. If this happens, Israel will be looking at a country that more than likely will not honor the peace treaty that currently exists between Egypt and Israel. Also Jordan, like Egypt has had protests concerning government. It seems that for now, things in Jordan are under more control than Egypt. Should Egypt and Jordan's governments both fail, giving rise to a more Muslim sympathetic government, this will raise the stakes in the Middle East tremendously! Israel would be surrounded by those who would desire to destroy her. We will wait and see.
Weather: 2010 and 2011 have produced some very unusual weather! Record rainfall, record snowstorms, floods, tornadoes, cyclones, etc., etc,. etc. The Bible makes it very plain in Amos chapter 4 that God usues weather to call the people to return to Him. Are we listening?
Associated Press - August 3, 2006 - Iranian President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad said Thursday the solution to the Middle East crisis is to destroy Israel. In a speech during an emergency meeting of Muslim leaders, Ahmadinejad also called for an immediate halt to the fighting in Lebanon between Israel and the Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah."Although the main solution is for the elimination of the Zionist regime, at this stage an immediate cease-fire must be implemented," he said. Ahmadinejad, who has drawn international condemnation with previous calls for Israel to be wiped off the map, said the Middle East would be better off "without the existence of the Zionist regime." Comment: This news piece tends to tie together the two great prophetic items, Israel and Islamic Iran. It reveals the hatred Iran has toward Israel and is making it more believable that Iran will eventually be part of an Israel-hating coalition that will come against her. A list of the armies are provided to us in Ezekiel 38:1-6. Iran (known as Persia until 1935 AD) is listed among several others in verse 5. Russia is the main leader, of the land of Magog. Ezekiel reveals that God will destroy the armies by an earthquake, torrential rain with hailstones, fire, and brimstone (Ezekiel 38:19-22). That Russia is strongly allied with Iran today, even helping her build her nuclear program, is a clue that this prophecy is soon to be fulfilled. 1.5 billion barrels of oil discovered near Rosh Ha'Ayin - Ynetnews.com - August 17th, 2010 - Israeli public must wait until September to see if country is sitting on profitable oil reserve, but statement to TASE gives peek into extent of Megged reserve. Question remains: How much of it is recoverable? Could the State of Israel be sitting on an oil reserve that can provide energy, cash flow, and international political influence? This is the question that everyone is waiting to be answered in the engineering report ordered by Givot Olam Oil, overseeing the drilling at the Megged 5 site, next to Rosh Ha'Ayin. The final report will be submitted on September 5. However, a preliminary report was already issued to Tel Aviv Stock Exchange on the oil reserves on the site. The amount of oil in place in Rosh Ha'Ayin plot is estimated at 1.525 billion barrels of oil. In previous reports, the quantity was appraised at only a few hundred barrels of oil a day. Comment: Israel now has the two largest natural gas wells in the world. A large amount of oil will probably be discovered soon. Several oil exploration companies are involved. Will this be the "spoil" mentioned in Ezekiel 38:12-13 that brings Russia and her allies against Israel? Only time will tell and it will probably be very soon.
Two Very Significant Prophecy Items: Israel: Israel continues to be the greatest indicator of how close we are to the return of Jesus! This is especially true with all the international interest in Israel right now that centers around the “peace talks”. As has been stated many times before, God is in the process of restoring the Land of Israel and the Jewish people back to it. His ultimate goal is to send Jesus, the Messiah, back to that Land to rule and reign. The U.S. State Department is working hard to pressure Israel to divide the Land and give part of the Land to those who are sworn to never recognize an Israel. The policy continues to place the U.S. and the other countries involved on the wrong side of God! God has promised that He will retaliate against such a policy in Joel 3:2. This explains why we continue to have so many fires, floods, other disasters, weakened economy, etc. We cannot afford to continue down this path of offending God! Seemingly, God will tolerate all kinds of immorality and rebellion, but He will not tolerate those who would touch Israel! He even warns that those who meddle with Jerusalem will be severely injured (Zech. 12:2). We would do well in this November’s elections, to send representatives to Washington that support Israel and vote in favor of her keeping the Land that God has set aside for the Jewish people! Ezekiel 36:24 makes it plain that God is bringing the Jewish people back to their own land, not to someone else’s! Islam: Many have asked in our conferences if the Bible mentions Islam in the last days. I do not see Islam mentioned specifically. However, I do note that many Islamic countries are mentioned as allies to Russia (Ezekiel 38:5-6) including Iran, as they come together on the Golan Heights to challenge Israel and to “take a spoil”. God will miraculously destroy the armies as is recorded in Ezekiel 38 and 39. This will mean that the Muslim world and Russia will be left with no armies. I believe that this great event will happen soon. This will change the politics of the Middle East, and even the world, tremendously! It will leave a political vacuum that could be easily stepped into by Europe (the West) and China (the East). This is logical considering that these are the major power players mentioned in Revelation (chapters 13 & 16) for the time of the Tribulation. Also, if this event happens before the Rapture of the Church, it will also change the consideration that the Antichrist will be Muslim, seeing that he will have no Muslim armies to command.
Note: The Nashville, Tennessee flooding started in the Gulf of Mexico on Friday, March 30, 2010 when strong winds stirred up blowing the oil slick from the leaking BP oil platform toward the Gulf beaches. Those strong winds also brought with them the moisture that created the flooding in Tennessee on May 1st & 2nd. what happened on Friday when the strong winds first stirred? The Obama administration told Israel to abandon 23 settlements in the West Bank, return to the peace talks, negotiate on Jerusalem, and make way for the new Palestinian state inside the borders of Israel.
Comment: Again, God will not be mocked. (Galatians 6:7). Joels 3:2 is the Scripture where God declares that He will retaliate against anyone who divides His Land. God is speaking today. He is telling all who will listen, "Get Your Hands Off Of My Land!"
Israel at 62: Population of 7,587,000 - Ynetnews.com - April 18, 2010 - Two days before Independence Day, the population of the State of Israel stands at 7,587,000 people, data from the Central Bureau of Statistics revealed Sunday. According to the CBS, the Jewish population in Israel numbers some 5,726,000 residents (75.7% of the entire population). The Arab population numbers some 1,548,000 residents (20.4% of the population).
Comment: One of the most prolific prophecies in the Bible is the one that God says He will take the Jewish people from all over the world and bring them into their own land in the last days. He is!
Deadly storm sparks headaches for commuters - MSNBC - March 15, 2010 - A torrential rainstorm that brought heavy winds to the Northeast, causing damage and flooding, created some minor headaches for commuters Monday. At least eight people died in storm-related accidents over the weekend, and nearly half a million people were without electricity in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York and Connecticut at the peak of the storm.
Northeast Pounded by Deadly Storm Leaving Many Powerless - Foxnews.com - March 15, 2010 - A torrential rainstorm that brought heavy winds to the Northeast, downing trees, flooding roadways and knocking out power, continued to pour rain on New England on Monday. At least nine people died in storm-related accidents, and nearly half a million people were without electricity in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York and Connecticut at the peak of the storm. The ferocious storm led to near-record numbers of 911 calls in New York. New York City experienced the second-highest volume of 911 calls ever. It got 65,000 calls between 11 p.m. Friday and 11 p.m. Saturday, second only to the 96,000 calls made during the 2003 blackout. While the rain tapered off south of New York on Monday morning, wind-whipped precipitation continued to fall in New England.
Jerusalem named top travel destination - Jerusalem Post - May 14, 2010 - Jerusalem has been named one of the world's top 10 travel destinations for culture and sightseeing. The TripAdvisor Travelers' Choice award for Jerusalem, the only city in the Middle East and Africa to receive the honor, was announced Wednesday. TripAdvisor lists several sites in Jerusalem as must-see for travelers, including the Western Wall, Temple Mount, Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial and the City of David. About 317,000 visitors entered Israel in April, a 26 percent increase over the same month last year.
Comment: Tourism to Israel is predicted in the Bible in Ezekiel 36: 35. The passersby (tourists), will say "this land has become like the Garden of Eden , and the waste, desolate, and ruined cities are fortified and inhabited. This is what we see in Israel today. We are the only generation in 2,000 years that has seen it develop.
USGS Says Israel Has 1.7 Billion Barrels of Oil - April 12, 2010 - The United States Geological Service released a report last week on Israel’s Levant Basin, stating that the area contains 1.689 billion barrels of undiscovered oil and 122.4 trillion cubic feet of undiscovered natural gas. The Levant Basin lies both onshore and offshore and includes most of middle and northern Israel and coastal Lebanon and Syria. The basin includes the exploration areas of Noble Energy offshore and Zion Oil & Gas onshore. Although the USGS released its report just last week, most of the data it contained came from research conducted between 2000 and 2008 by Dr. Michael Gardosh, a researcher at the Geophysical Institute of Israel, and Dr. Yehezkel Druckman, who until a few years ago was Petroleum Israel’s Commissioner. Dr. Druckman now serves on the Zion Oil & Gas Board of Directors.
Comment: Isaiah 60: 5 & 11 say that in the end times, God will bring Israel the wealth of the nations. What a better way than to place oil in the ground in Israel. Also, has God kept the oil hidden unitl now? If oil had been discovered before 1948, Israel would never have been founded as a nation.
Israel set to become gas exporter - Jerusalem Post - June 3, 2010 - A consortium led by billionaire Yitzhak Tshuva announced on Thursday that it has struck natural gas in a field called 'Leviathan' off the coast of Israel. The field is estimated to contain 15 trillion cubic feet of gas and is the second large scale gas find in a month. Last month's find, in a field called 'Tamar', is thought to contain enough gas to supply Israel for the next twenty years. Speaking to Channel 2 news, Uzi Landau, Minister of National Infrastructure said that "we have enough gas to supply all our needs for the next 50 to 70 years". Mr Yitzhak Tshuva is the owner of the Delek Group and a major player in the consortium which made the latest find. Other partners include Noble Energy and Razio. Noble Energy are based in Houston, Texas and say the neighboring Tamar field probably contains more then previously estimated, about 8.4 trillion cubic feet, a 33 percent increase in the earlier estimate. Tshuva also says there may be an oil field beneath the gas.
Oil in Israel - Signs of Oil at Meged 5 Site - Haaretz.com - May 27, 2010 - The Givat Olam oil exploration company said Thursday that they had found signs of oil in the Meged 5 oil well near Rosh Ha'ayin. The company said that liquid had flowed for three hours, and that oil was expected to flow in the aftermath of the first liquid release. The company said that the current results were not indicative of what they believed the full potential of the well to be. Comment: The two largest natural gas wells in the world were discovered off the coast of Israel in January of 2009. There are also several companies drilling for oil on the mainland of Israel. They believe the oil will be found and they know that wherever natural gas is found, oil is present. This news comes at an interesting time! At present, the U.S. is experiencing the largest oil spill in history in the Gulf of Mexico. The spill has raised more than concern about future drilling. Here is some food for thought: 1.) If Israel discovers the largest oil well in the world, with Israel being a faithful U.S. ally, would our need for local drilling even be necessary? 2.) During Russia's future invasion of Israel, Russia is asked in Ezekiel 38:13 if she has come to "take a spoil". Wealth brought to Israel through this oil discovery would certainly be an attractive "spoil"! 3.) Isaiah 60:5 & 11 call for Israel to receive the wealth of the nations in the end times. What a better way for God to accomplish this than to have kept the oil hidden until now. 4.) If oil had been discovered in Israel before 1948, would she have ever been founded as a nation?
Not just Zionism: Lousy economy pushes more U.S. Jews to move to Israel - Haaretz.com - 02/03/2010 - When Nisan and Gilan Gertz stepped off the plane at Ben-Gurion International Airport with their children last August, they were seven of almost 4,000 North Americans to make aliyah in 2009 - the largest number to do so in a single year since 1983. There were a lot of reasons that the Gertzes chose to move their new home in Beit Shemesh, some 25 miles west of Jerusalem, from their home in Passaic, N.J. There was "inspiration and spirituality," as Nisan describes it. "For the first time in 2,000 years, we can live in a sovereign nation that's Jewish."
Comment: One of the most prolific prophecies in the Bible is the one that says the children of Israel and Judah would come back to their land in the end times. Ezekiel 37: 21-22 is classic. "This is what the Sovereign LORD says: I will take the Israelites out of the nations where they have gone. I will gather them from all around and bring them back into their own land. I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel".
U.S. ups pressure on Israel - Assocoiated Press - March 15, 2010 - The U.S. is pressing Israel to scrap a contentious east Jerusalem building project whose approval has touched off the most serious diplomatic feud with Washington in years, American and Israeli officials said Monday. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, however, gave no indication he intended to cancel construction of the 1,600 housing units, despite condemnation from a string of U.S. officials. Netanyahu offered a defense of his country's building in the city's eastern sector, which the Palestinians want as their future capital, and noted that Israel has been building there for more than 40 years. "The building of those Jewish neighborhoods did not hurt in any way the Arabs of east Jerusalem and did not come at their expense," he said Monday.
York City experienced the second-highest volume of 911 calls ever. It got 65,000 calls between 11 p.m. Friday and 11 p.m. Saturday, second only to the 96,000 calls made during the 2003 blackout. While the rain tapered off south of New York on Monday morning, wind-whipped precipitation continued to fall in New England.
Comment:God is honoring His promise of Joel 3:2 concerning those that would divide His Land.
Netanyahu: Ezekiel 37 Fulfilled in Israel - CBN News - February 03, 2010 - Speaking on the 65th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi concentration camp at Auschwitz in Poland last week, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu proclaimed the fulfillment of the prophet Ezekiel's vision of the valley of dry bones. "The Jewish people rose from ashes and destruction, from a terrible pain that can never be healed," Netanyahu said at the ceremony. "Armed with the Jewish spirit, the justice of man, and the vision of the prophets, we sprouted new branches and grew deep roots. Dry bones became covered with flesh, a spirit filled them, and they lived and stood on their own feet, as Ezekiel prophesized: "Then He said to me, 'Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They indeed say, 'Our bones are dry, our hope is lost, and we ourselves are cut off!' Therefore prophesy and say to them, thus says the Lord God, 'Behold, O My people, I will open your graves and cause you to come up from your graves and bring you into the land of Israel. Then you shall know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves, O My people, and brought you up from your graves."
Comment: It is wonderful that Israel has a Prime Minister that understands that God is involved in the the gathering of the Jewish people back to Israel! Ezekiel's prophecy is not fulfilled, making it sound in the past tense, but rather, it is in progress. The present generation is the only one in nearly 2,000 years that has seen the millions of Jewish people moved, and moving back to Israel. This is a major sign that the Jewish Messiah Y'shua (Jesus) is about to appear. According to Zechariah 12 through 14, the Jewish people have to be gathered back to the Land of Israel before the Messiah returns. They are! Look up - exciting things are happening in our day! Jesus is coming!
Moscow to build nuke plant in Turkey - Jerusalem Post - May 13, 2010 - While Jerusalem lashed out against Moscow on Wednesday for wanting to include Hamas in the diplomatic process, it took a much more low-key approach to news that Russia would build a nuclear reactor in Turkey, and was considering doing the same in Syria...Turkey and Russia signed 17 cooperation agreements on Wednesday, including one for the construction of Turkey's first nuclear power plant near the Mediterranean coastal town of Akkuyu. The construction was expected to take seven years, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said. Russia plans to build four reactors at the plant at a cost of about $20 billion.
Report: Russia signs arms deal with Syria - Reuters - May 14, 2010 - Russia has signed deals with Syria under which it will sell it warplanes, anti-tank weapons and air defense systems, Itar-Tass news agency quoted a senior Russian arms trader as saying on Friday. Mikhail Dmitriyev, head of the Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation, said Russia would supply Syria with MiG-29 fighters and truck-mounted Pantsir short-range surface-to-air missiles and anti-aircraft artillery systems. Comment: Russia is busy in the Middle East neighborhood making allies of these nations. Foretold 2,500 years ago, Ezekiel 38 records a future destruction of the Russian and Turkish ("Beth-togarmah") armies together on the Golan Heights (very close to Syria) when they come against Israel. Other allies listed in Ezekiel 38:6 include Iran, Libya, Gomer (probably the Muslim break-away nations of the old Soviet Union), and the Muslim north-African nations. The destruction of Damascus is also recorded in Isaiah 17:1. It is very possible that the destruction for all will occur at the same time. To see them allied together and engaged in activity that is hostile to Israel is no surprise and suggests that their Biblical fate draws near.
US Mideast envoy: 2 years or less for peace talks - YNETnews.com Jan. 6, 2010 - George Mitchell, the US Middle East envoy, said on Wednesday that Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations should take no longer than two years and could be finished sooner than that...Israel, Egypt and the United States want Abbas to reopen talks, but he refuses as long as Israel refuses to agree to a permanent freeze on construction in Jewish settlements on the West Bank and in east Jerusalem.
Mitchell: Mideast stagnation endangers US aid - YNETNews.com - Jan. 8, 2010 - On the eve of his visit to the Middle East, US special envoy George Mitchell threatened that his country would freeze its aid to Israel if the Jewish state failed to advance peace talks with the Palestinians and a two-state solution...According to American law, Mitchell said, the US can freeze its support for aid to Israel. He added that all options must remain open and that the sides must be convinced about what their important interests are. Record Cold in Miami as South Turns Icebox - Associated Press - January 11, 2010 - Freakish cold weather continued to grip the southern United States, with snow flurries spotted around Orlando and a record low set for Miami, and forecasters said Sunday that more of the same was expected...The National Weather Service issued a hard freeze warning for South Florida from Sunday night to Monday morning. A freeze watch will continue through Tuesday. Northern Florida residents will feel temperatures drop to the lower 20s and mid-teens...On Saturday night, a temperature of 35 degrees set a record that had stood since 1970, said Joel Rothfuss with the National Weather Service in Miami. He said a record low of 37 degrees on Monday, which was set in 1927, could also be broken, with the forecast saying it would drop to 35 degrees again. Comment: Interesting that YNET and George Mitchell kept using the word "freeze" in talking about Israel giving up land and ceasing building in the West Bank and Jerusalem. Interesting because while these announcements were being made by Mitchell, the United States was and is experiencing one of the worst deep freezes on record. God said He would retaliate against those who would "divide His Land". (Joel 3:2). Also, isn't it interesting that the global warming people sure have been quiet?!
Huckabee: There Can Be No Palestinian State Here - Israeltoday.com.il - August 19, 2009 - Wrapping up his visit to the Holy Land on Tuesday, former US presidential candidate Mike Huckabee said it was “unrealistic” to propose establishing a sovereign Palestinian Arab state alongside the Jewish state of Israel. Huckabee suggested that the small sliver of land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea is simply too small to support two sovereign states, especially when many of the citizens of one seek the eradication of the other. “There is going to be nothing but conflict” if the international community insists on layering two governments and two nations so often at odds with each other, he said. Huckabee’s recommendation is that the international community honor its decision made at the San Remo Conference in 1920 to return the entirety of the land to Jewish control, and to find a different place for the Palestinians to call their national home. While he didn’t go into specifics, many Israelis to the right of the political spectrum have noted that at San Remo, the international community also ceded to Jewish control all of what is today the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. When the territory east of the Jordan River was separated to make room for another Arab state, that should have satisfied past and present calls for a Palestinian national homeland. In fact, 70 percent of Jordan’s population are “Palestinians.”
Comment: If only the world could heed this advice! Unfortunately, this issue won't be settled until Jesus returns to settle it.
56 Muslim Nations, One Jewish - Jerusalem Online - January 15, 2010 - There are 56 Muslim nations, 21 of them Arab... There exists only one tiny Jewish democracy now in danger of being subdivided again by the "Saudi Two State Solution"! Is there no room in the Arab or Muslim world to relocate the Palestinian Arabs just as Palestinian Jews absorbed their own refugees in the '40s?
Comment: Good Question!
3 Malaysian churches attacked in 'Allah' dispute - Associated Press - January 8, 2010 - Three churches in Malaysia were attacked with firebombs, causing extensive damage to one, as Muslims pledged Friday to prevent Christians from using the word "Allah," escalating religious tensions in the multiracial country. "We will not allow the word Allah to be inscribed in your churches," one speaker shouted into a loudspeaker at the Kampung Bahru mosque. About 50 other people carried posters reading "Heresy arises from words wrongly used" and "Allah is only for us. Islam is above all. Every citizen must respect that," said Ahmad Johari, who attended prayers at the National Mosque. "I hope the court will understand the feeling of the majority Muslims of Malaysia. We can fight to the death over this issue."
Comment: This article makes the point very plainly that the Muslims do NOT believe that Allah and Jehovah are the same God. Amazing that western politicians can't seem to understand this point!!!
Russia to Start Iran Nuclear Plant in 2010 - Reuters - Nov. 30, 2009 - Russia plans to start up Iran's first nuclear power station in March 2010 to coincide with the Iranian New Year, two sources closely involved with the project told Reuters. Russia agreed in 1995 to build the 1,000 megawatt nuclear power plant at Bushehr on the Gulf coast in southwestern Iran, but delays have haunted the $1 billion project and diplomats say Moscow has never used it as a lever in relations with Iran.
Comment: It is no surprise that Iran and Russia are allied together in anything! They will be allied together in coming against Israel sometime in the future according to Ezekiel 38.
Tornado Hits Minneapolis - myfoxtwincities.com - Aug. 19, 2009 - A tornado touched down just south of downtown Minneapolis on Wednesday, according to several reports...The Minneapolis Convention Center has sustained approximately 1,800 square feet of roof damage and has some water damage. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America was holding its national convention at the center at the time of the storm. About 2,200 people were registered for the convention. People inside the Convention Center were taken to a safe location, and there were no reports of injury... Storm came out of nowhere - No sirens sounded and no tornado warnings were issued in the city before the storm hit. Rain had been falling most of the day in the Twin Cities metro, but the storm came as a major surprise to everyone in the area.
Lutherans to allow gay clergy in committed relationships - USA Today - Aug. 21, 2009 - Leaders of the nation’s largest Lutheran church voted Friday to allow sexually active gays and lesbians in committed relationships to serve as clergy. Gays and lesbians are currently allowed to serve as ministers in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America only if they remain celibate. The proposal to change that passed with 68% approval. At 4.7 million members and about 10,000 congregations in the United States, the ELCA is one of the largest U.S. Christian denominations yet to take a more gay-friendly stance on clergy. Comment: The great question is: Was God speaking through this tornado? Isn’t it more than coincidence that with no serious weather predicted, this tornado struck at precisely the time a vote was being taken to allow homosexuality in the Lutheran Clergy? Jesus predicted a wave of homosexuality in the last days in Luke 17, comparable to the “days of Lot”. We are racing toward that day! By the way, even a casual reading of the story of Lot in Genesis 19 reveals how God feels about homosexuality. Genesis does not reveal that God is against the homosexual. He is against homosexuality! District approves same-sex marriage - washingtonpost.com - December 4, 2009 - The D.C. Council voted Tuesday to legalize same-sex marriage, bringing the District closer to allowing gay couples to marry. The council passed the bill 11 to 2, with Council members Marion Barry (D-Ward 8) and Yvette M. Alexander (D-Ward 7) dissenting. It still must take a second vote in two weeks before the measure can go to Mayor Adrian M.Fenty (D), who has indicated that he will sign it.
Obama backs marriage act repeal - Washington Times - August 18, 2009 - The Obama administration continued its half-a-loaf approach to gay rights issues Monday by filing documents claiming that federal laws banning same-sex marriage are discriminatory, even as the federal government continues to defend them. In its nine-page brief, the Justice Department stated that the Obama administration opposes the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act as discriminatory and supports its repeal. Yet the motion also calls for the dismissal of a lawsuit filed by a gay California couple seeking to overturn the federal marriage law. “This brief makes clear, however, that my Administration believes that the [Defense of Marriage] Act is discriminatory and should be repealed by Congress,” President Obama said in a statement, noting that the Justice Department “traditionally” files briefs defending the law “when acts of Congress are challenged.”
Comment: Our generation has lost all logic! Fact: All laws are by necessity discriminatory. The law that posts a 25 mile speed zone discriminates against the guy who believes he has the right to go faster. A law that says one must be sixteen to get a driver’s license discriminates against those who want one at an earlier age. A line has to be drawn somewhere! Laws are designed for the good of the majority of the people. They cannot accomodate everyone! What’s next? Will someone sue for the right to marry his dog, or sister, or etc? Education with no wisdom is the cause of this nonsense! Winding down the road with little morality is exactly where the Bible says that man will wind up in the last days and he is well on the path! “But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,...” II Timothy 3:1-4.
Iraq oil deal auction a “success,” sees huge output - Reuters - Decemer 12, 2009 - Iraq, emerging from the shadow of war, expects to boost its oil output to rival the level of top producer Saudi Arabia after awarding some of its most attractive oil fields to global oil companies this week. By the end on Saturday of a two-day bidding round for 10 oil contracts — the second auction since the 2003 U.S. invasion — Iraq had received pledges from oil firms to boost its output by 4.765 million barrels per day, almost double its current output. If all deals from a first auction in June, the second this weekend and others being negotiated are added to national production, Iraq will have a capacity of 12 million barrels per day, overtaking Russia and challenging Saudi Arabia’s 12.5 million bpd, Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani said.
Comment: Revelation 18 predicts a day when a city called Babylon will be a banking and cultural center for the world in the end times. It is no surprise to think that all the oil money in Iraq will eventually go to this cause. It is interesting that we are the first generation in 2,000 years that could even consider this. It will be very interesting to see how this issue develops!
Israeli company finds oil beneath Rosh Ha’ayin - Ha'aretz.com - Dec. 24, 2009 - An Israeli oil exploration company on Thursday announced that it had found a huge amount of oil and gas during drilling below the city of Rosh Ha’ayin this week. Givot Olam Oil Exploration Limited Partnership said that more than 60 percent gas was measured in the drill, indicating the first such find in Israel. The company said it was too soon to determine what significance the find would bring to Israel, but added that it would become clear over the next few months of drilling whether it could be used for commercial purposes. Givat Olam began drilling at the Megged 5 well beneath Rosh Ha’ayin last June. Its shares rose 123 percent upon news of the find.
Comment: Oil in Israel will help fulfill the Scriptures that call for Israel to be a very prosperous nation in the end times. Isaiah 60:5, & 11 are examples. They say that God will bring Israel the wealth of the world. Keep your attention on oil exploration in Israel.
G-20 Leaders Pledge New System of Global Economic Cooperation - AP - September 25, 2009 - World leaders on Friday issued sweeping promises to fix a malfunctioning global economic system in hopes of heading off future financial meltdowns. President Obama said actions taken so far “brought the global economy back from the brink.” “We leave here today confident and united,” Obama said at the conclusion of a two-day gathering of the world’s 20 top economies to deal with the worst financial crisis since the 1930s.
Comment: Notice the words in this article "global economic system”. God said there would be a world economic system in the last days in Revelation 13 and man is working as fast as he can go to create one.
Tough on Israel - Washington Post - Jul 29, 2009 - One of the more striking results of the Obama administration`s first six months is that only one country has worse relations with the United States than it did in January: Israel. The new administration has pushed a reset button with Russia and sent new ambassadors to Syria and Venezuela; it has offered olive branches to Cuba and Burma. But for nearly three months it has been locked in a public confrontation with Israel over Jewish housing construction in Jerusalem and the West Bank...By making plain his disagreements with Mr. Netanyahu on statehood and Jewish settlements, Mr. Obama hoped to force an Israeli retreat while building credibility with Arab governments...Mr. Obama chose to insist on an absolutist demand for a settlement "freeze."
Comment: The United States has its problems, but this one of meddling with Israel has the potential to bring her down! God has warned the countries and individuals of the world not to meddle with Israel, especially Jerusalem! (See Zechariah 12:2 & Joel 3:2). God, through current events (storms, hurricanes, floods, drought, etc.), has been speaking about this issue, to the United States especially in the last few years, but it seems few are paying attention! He has now touched our money, but even that warning is not being respected. Now, we arrogantly insist that Israel not build apartments for her own people in Jerusalem? God says, that He would make Jerusalem a "heavy stone and all who try to lift it will be severely injured" (Zechariah 12:2). Who knows what is in store for the United States as she leads the charge in this challenge to Israel and to God?
Natural Gas Field Off Haifa Coast Bigger than Thought - IsraelNN.com - Aug/11/09 - The amount of natural gas reserves at the "Tamar I" drilling site, 80 kilometers (50 miles) off the coast of Haifa, is 16 percent bigger than previously thought, according to a Tuesday report by the companies involved in the drilling. Tests undertaken by an outside consultant show 207 billion cubic meters of gas. The previous estimate of 178 billion, made a month ago was already 30 percent bigger than original estimates. A statement by the companies says that the discovery frees Israel from dependence on foreign sources, and that local exploration will continue.
Comment: Discovery of natural gas in such amounts is huge news! Why? Because usually wherever natural gas is found, oil is present. Discovery of oil in Israel will have huge prophetic implications! It will change the dynamics of Middle East politics! It will bring into interesting focus a prophecy found in Isaiah 60: 5 and 11. They both say that God will bring Israel the wealth of the nations. Oil would do that! Also, there is a prophecy in Deuteronomy 33:24 that says that Asher, the eighth son of Jacob, would "dip his foot in oil". Believing that this is a reference to oil in the ground, Zion Oil and Gas is today drilling for oil at the location of the Tribe of Asher's land allotment in Israel. It is interesting that Asher's land allotment is shaped like a foot and Zion Oil is drilling at its southernmost point, the toe. Wouldn't it be interesting if they discovered the largest oil well in the world in Israel! Isn't it also interesting that it is only now that oil in Israel is being seriously sought after. Think of this. If oil had been discovered in Israel before 1948, Israel would have never been founded as a nation, a Biblical prerequisite for the end times. Has God prevented discovery of oil there until now?
'Israel soon to be larger than Diaspora' - Jerusalem Post - Aug 4, 2009 - Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu welcomed a planeload of olim on Tuesday at Ben Gurion Airport, telling them "we're close to a tipping point."According to the prime minister, "for the first time in 2,000 years, there are going to be more Jews in Israel than outside it." Tuesday's flight, carried out in conjunction with the Jewish Agency and the ministries of the interior and immigrant absorption, contained a cross-section of American Jewish society, from religious to secular, from bearded rabbis to 55 young singles slated to join the IDF in the coming weeks.
Comment: Definitely in keeping with end-time Bible prophecy! Here is what God has promised: "For I will take you from the nations, gather you from all the lands and bring you into your own land." (Ezekiel 36:24). In keeping with this promise, the Jewish people have been coming to Israel from all over the world for the last 60 years especially, but not many from the United States. Good jobs and prosperity has kept the Jewish people attracted to the United States. Now that is changing as the moving of God on these people overwhelms the desire to stay. God has an appointment for the Jewish people. When He has gathered them to Israel, He will send their Messiah and they will turn to Him in faith (Zechariah 12:10). The Jewish people gathering in the land is necessary for that Messiah to come to earth. They are gathering! The Messiah is close at hand! Temple Institute to Build Sacrificial Altar on Tisha B'av - IsraelNN.com - August 8, 2009 - The Temple Institute will begin building the sacrificial altar on Thursday, Tisha B’av, a fast day when Jews mourn the destruction of the Temple some 2,000 years ago...The Temple Institute, which has already built many of the vessels for the Holy Temple, such as the ark and the menorah, has now embarked on a project to build the altar. Construction begins Thursday in Mitzpe Yericho (east of Jerusalem) at 5:30 p.m. “Unfortunately, we cannot currently build the altar in its proper place, on the Temple Mount,” Temple Institute director Yehudah Glick said. “We are building an altar of the minimum possible size so that we will be able to transport it to the Temple when it is rebuilt." Can Third Temple be built without destroying Dome of the Rock? - Jerusalem Post - June 21, 2009 - A new Jewish interfaith initiative launched last week argues building the Third Jewish Temple in Jerusalem would not necessitate the destruction of the Dome of the Rock."God's Holy Mountain Vision" project hopes to defuse religious strife by showing that Jews' end-of-days vision could harmoniously accommodate Islam's present architectural hegemony on the Temple Mount. "This vision of religious shrines in peaceful proximity can transform the Temple Mount from a place of contention to its original sacred role as a place of worship shared by Jews, Muslims and Christians," said Yoav Frankel, director of the initiative. Comment: According to Revelation 11:1, there is going to be a rebuilt Temple in Jerusalem during the coming time of Tribulation. With the regathering of the Jewish people to Israel for the first time in 2,000 years, and the obvious zeal to rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem today, tells us that those days must be very close!
Islamic Supremacist Group Holds First U.S. Conference - Foxnews.com - July 17, 2009 - The Khilafah Conference 2009 is scheduled to be held July 19, 2009 at the Hilton Oak Lawn hotel. A group committed to establishing an international Islamic empire and reportedly linked to Al Qaeda is stepping up its Western recruitment efforts by holding its first official conference in the U.S. Hizb ut-Tahrir is a global Sunni network with reported ties to confessed 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and Al Qaeda in Iraq's onetime leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. It has operated discreetly in the U.S. for decades. Now, it is coming out of the shadows and openly hosting a July 19 conference entitled, "The Fall of Capitalism and the Rise of Islam," at a posh Hilton hotel in a suburb of Chicago.
Comment: America is choosing to tolerate Islam, a religion proven to be hostile to others, especially to Judaism and Christianity. It's as if a spirit of blindness has come over the country, not allowing us to see those operating under Islamic dictates, flying planes into buildings, beheading journalists, calling for the destruction of Israel, calling for the fall of capitalism, etc. A spirit of deception is sweeping the world concerning Islam. Some are maintaining it is a religion of peace when reality says exactly otherwise. Some are even maintaining that Allah, the god of Islam, and Jehovah, the God of the Bible, are the same. Simple logic should be applied here! If Allah and Jehovah are the same, why does Allah want to restore Israel, and Allah want to destroy it! If Allah and Jehovah are the same, why does Islam maintain that Allah has no son while Jehovah has a son? His name is Jesus. Wake up America! Think! 'Child Bride' Says Sex With Pastor Began at Age 9 - Foxnews.com - July 17, 2009 - A 9-year-old girl was considered too young to answer the office phone at evangelist Tony Alamo's compound, but old enough for frequent sex with the ministry leader, she alleged at his federal trial on child-sex charges...The teenage witness said Alamo "married" her when she was 8, and groped her after their wedding. She said he began having sex with her when she was a 9-year-old third-grader. He also took explicit photographs of her that year with an instant camera and, upon looking at them, called her a "whore." She said she didn't understand, but Alamo told her it was a good thing. Comment: A tragedy in this country is not only that a nine-year-old girl be robbed of her innocence as described, but that it would be done at the hands of someone calling himself a "pastor"! A pastor should be the last person with questionable moral conduct, but many of these are "giving heed to seducing spirits" (I Tim. 4:1) in these last days!
Vermont Legalizes Gay Marriage, With Override of Governor's Veto - Associated Press - April 07, 2009 - Vermont has become the fourth state to legalize gay marriage. The state legislature voted Tuesday to override Gov. Jim Douglas' veto of a bill allowing gays and lesbians to marry. The vote was 23-5 to override in the state Senate and 100-49 to override in the House. Under Vermont law, two-thirds of each chamber had to vote for override. The vote came nine years after Vermont adopted its first-in-the-nation civil unions law. It's now the fourth state to permit same-sex marriage. Massachusetts, Connecticut and Iowa are the others.
Iowa Gay Couples Begin Seeking Marriage Licenses - Associated Press - April 27, 2009 - Same-sex couples in Iowa began filing marriage license applications Monday after a state Supreme Court ruling legalizing gay unions took effect, and the first marriages were expected within hours. Tony Blair tells the Pope: you're wrong on homosexuality - www.timesonline.co.uk - April 8, 2009 - Tony Blair has challenged the entrenched attitudes of the Pope on homosexuality, and argued that it is time for him rethink his views. Speaking to the gay magazine Attitude, the former Prime Minister, himself now a Roman Catholic, said that he wanted to urge religious figures everywhere to reinterpret their religious texts to see them as metaphorical, not literal, and suggested that in time this would make all religious groups accept gay people as equals. Comment: Metaphorical, not literal? Maybe the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah was just an allegory. Maybe the story of creation is metaphorical. Maybe the story of the resurrection was just metaphorical. Was there really a real Jesus? The questions could go on and on, ad nauseam! If the Scriptures don't mean what they say about homosexuality, how would we know they mean what they say about anything? Tony Blair's politics can be debated, but it is clear, he is a terrible theologian! An old interpretation rule would apply here: When the plain sense makes, seek no other sense, lest you wind up with nonsense. Jesus said there would be a wave of homosexuality in the world just "as it was in the days of Lot" in the last days (Luke 17:28). The days of Lot are recorded in Genesis 19. The predominate sin on record is homosexuality. Jesus said homosexuality would reemerge just before His return. It is!
U.N. Wants To Repair Babylon- Associated Press - November 13, 2008 - It was one of the world's first, greatest cities - a place where astronomers mapped the stars millennia ago and kings created an early code of law and planted what became known as the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. Yet little remains of the ancient capital, as seen by The Associated Press during a trip to Babylon last month...Now, for the first time, global institutions led by the U.N. are thoroughly documenting the damage and how to fix it...The U.S. also says it will help rehabilitate Babylon, funding an effort by the World Monuments Fund and Iraq's State Board of Antiquities and Heritage...
Comment: This is huge news!!! In Revelation 18, the Apostle John looked into the end times and saw a city named Babylon that would serve as a cultural and financial center for the world. Because Babylon laid in ruins for centuries, Bible scholars had the tendency to spiritualize the name "Babylon" as it referred to end times. Now there is discussion about rebuilding and revitalizing the real city of Babylon. The question remains, how could this same Babylon become a cultural and financial center? Would developing such a project take a long time? Actually, with the technology we have available today, it would not take long at all. The nuclear research facility at Oak Ridge, Tennessee was up and running with a 75,000 population in about 20 months and that was in 1942-1945. Likewise, new roads and buildings of all sorts could be built at the Babylon site today. World banking in the new Babylon could be set up in a matter of months. It would not surprise this author if we hear more plans about this and that Babylon start to look and sound like what John saw in Revelation 18, one more indicator that we are living in the end times and close to the return of Jesus. There is some poetic justice in my writing this comment. I was raised in a denomination that, for a long time, lacked the luxury of seeing a physical Israel in place. Because they did not see that physical Israel in place, they spiritualized the prophecies about Israel in the end times, believing those prophecies must be about the church. However, in 1948 A.D., a physical Israel was re-established. Since then, this denomination insists on tradition rather than reality to believe the prophecies about Israel being re-established apply to the church and not about Israel. In like manner, there has not been a physical Babylon being restored until recent history. The prophecies about it being this great cultural and financial center in the end times were thusly spiritualized by many. However, a real, physical Babylon is being restored today. Could not the prophecies about it come true as revelation predicts, just as the prophecies about Israel have literally come true?
Google Earth Lets You Tour Ancient Rome - Foxnews.com - November 12, 2008 - The glory that was Rome is to rise again. Visitors will once more be able to visit the Colosseum and the Forum of Rome as they were in A.D. 320, this time on a computer screen in 3D. The rendering of the ancient city in Google Earth lets viewers stand in the center of the Colosseum, trace the footsteps of the gladiators in the Ludus Magnus and fly under the Arch of Constantine. The computer model, a collection of more than 6,700 buildings, depicts Rome in the year A.D. 320. Then, under the emperor Constantine I, the city boasted more than a million inhabitants, making it the largest metropolis in the world. It was not until Victorian London that another city surpassed it.
Comment: A bit eerie because Rome, according to Daniel 2 and Daniel 7 is due to rise again and be the major power on earth when Jesus comes to establish His Kingdom. Why this sudden interest in Rome? This will certainly make many more friendly with the idea of a restored Rome. 'Why Believe in a God?' Ad Campaign Launches on D.C. Buses - Foxnews.com - November 12, 2008 - Ads proclaiming, "Why believe in a god? Just be good for goodness' sake," will appear on Washington, D.C., buses starting next week and running through December. The American Humanist Association unveiled the provocative $40,000 holiday ad campaign Tuesday. Under God' pastor dead at 97 - Associated Press - Nov. 30, 2008 - The Rev. George M. Docherty, credited with helping to push Congress to insert the phrase "under God" into the Pledge of Allegiance, has died at 97...Docherty, then pastor of the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington, just blocks from the White House, gave a sermon in 1952 saying the pledge should acknowledge God...There was little effect from that initial sermon, but he delivered it again on Feb. 7, 1954, after learning that President Dwight Eisenhower would be at the church. The next day, Rep. Charles G. Oakman, R-Mich., introduced a bill to add the phrase "under God" to the pledge, and a companion bill was introduced in the Senate. Eisenhower signed the law on Flag Day that year. Comment: The champions for Godly principles are getting old and dying. They are disappearing from America's landscape. A new landscape is emerging. It is a humanistic landscape that is making attempt to establish a society that has no official allegiance or recognition of the God of the universe. It is one that mocks at the Bible and does not want to be regulated by its principles. America is changing, but not for the better! She is slipping down a slippery slope toward corruption and immorality at a wholesale level. The outcome will not be pretty! Majority think heaven is open to other faiths - Associated Press - December 18, 2008 - Most American religious believers, including most Christians, say eternal life is not exclusively for those who accept Christ as their savior, a new survey has found. And 80 percent of people with this open view of heaven's gates listed at least one non-Christian group — Jews, Muslims, Hindus, atheists — who may also be saved, according to the survey, released today by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life. Comment: This is part of the end-time deception that the Bible speaks of (II Thess. 2:11-12). Anyone familiar with the Bible knows that Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man can come to the Father except through me". (John 14:6).
NYC Facing Lossnce of Status in World of Finance - Foxnews.com - December 07, 2008 - The New York City comptroller's chief economist, Frank Braconi, warned in October that the meltdown had "sped up the process of financial dispersion that was already under way," adding that "in coming years, New York will have to share the financial stage."...At the same time, places like London, Tokyo and Hong Kong have become global financial centers on a scale that some believe already rival New York...the financial sway of cities such as London has been growing faster than New York's. From 1997 to 2007, the new capital raised yearly in New York dropped by nearly one-quarter while in London the figure almost quadrupled, according to the World Federation of Exchanges.
Foreign economists urge 'global plan' - Washington Times - October 1, 2008 - Leaders and economists from Western Europe to East Asia Tuesday urged the United States to go beyond reviving a failed domestic bailout and start working on a new global financial system...The Americans don't have a choice” they must absolutely have a global plan," Christian Noyer, head of the French central bank, said in Paris. ..The 27-nation European Union said Tuesday that the crisis "has become a global problem" and Washington has a "special responsibility" to resolve it. Comment: The new global financial system that John foresaw in Revelation 13 becomes more of a reality each day. Eventually, everyone will be required to take a "mark" in order to participate. (Revelation 13:17). Stay tuned. Target Israel? Iran Tests New Long-Range Missile - Foxnews.com - November 12, 2008 - Iran test fired a new, more accurate surface-to-surface missile, the country's defense minister said Wednesday, in a fresh effort to enhance Tehran's military might...A senior defense official at the Pentagon told FOX News that the missile suffered an in-flight problem, a possible engine failure, during the test, and the missile only traveled about 180 miles out. Comment: The failure of this missile is reminiscent of the Scripture that says of Israel that "no weapon formed against you will prosper" (Isaiah 54:17). God has a huge surprise for Iran! God is going to wipe out her army supernaturally when she makes the mistake of coming against Israel! Ezekiel 38-39 tells us that Russia will be in this great assault on Israel as well. God will rain down fire on the armies and feed the dead soldiers to the birds. For the first time in twenty centuries, those birds are gathering in Israel for this event. (See the Lion of Judah WEB Site article - http://lionofjudahministry.org/cm/content/view/41/1/). All the saber-rattling that is buzzing in the news among those listed in Ezekiel 38:6 (Russia, Iran, Libya, Ethiopia, and others), tells us that this great event is close at hand! Iran insists that Israel will be "wiped off the map". Actually, it is Israel that will be untouched and these evil armies that come against her will cease to exist. God declared through Ezekiel that He would make Himself "known in the sight of many nations" in this great event. This has become possible for the first time in history, through satellite television. How do you think the world will react? Imagine a political world with the armies of Russia, Iran, and the others listed in Ezekiel 38:6 removed from the scene! A political vacuum will be left. The power bases left will be the West and the East. These are the powers listed as the major players in the Book of Revelation for the end times. A good time to be right with God!
From Zion Shall Grow Forth Produce -Isrealnationalnews.com - October 27, 2008 - Preparations for Agritech 2009 - Israel's International Agricultural Exhibition - are well underway. In anticipation of the upcoming fair, scheduled for May of next year, a delegation of 40 journalists will arrive in Israel next month to meet with the directors of agricultural and water companies...Among the visiting journalists will be print and TV media representatives from countries that are among Israel's best potential customers for exports of agricultural products and knowledge. These include China, India, Turkey, Russia, Vietnam, Thailand, France, Ethiopia, South Africa, Brazil, Peru, Tanzania, Senegal, and others..."Agritech Israel has become a well-known brand name for showcasing the worldwide reputation of Israel's agriculture. Agritech Israel is regarded as one of the most important agro technological exhibitions in the world, a fact proved by the thousands of visitors from around the world at previous exhibitions."
Comment: Over and over in the Old Testament Scriptures, there is the recurring theme that the Land of Israel would be restored from being a dry and parched land to an agriculturally thriving one. Amos 9: 13-15 reads, "Behold, days are coming," declares the LORD, "When the plowman will overtake the reaper and the treader of grapes him who sows seed;... "Also I will restore the captivity of My people Israel, and they will rebuild the ruined cities and live in them; They will also plant vineyards and drink their wine, and make gardens and eat their fruit. "I will also plant them on their land, and they will not again be rooted out from their land which I have given them," says the LORD your God". Ezekiel writing about the same subject says, "And I will multiply the fruit of the tree and the produce of the field; that you may not receive again the disgrace of famine among the nations". (Ezekiel 36:30). Ezekiel 36:34-36 states, "And the desolate land will be cultivated instead of being a desolation in the sight of everyone who passes by. And they will say, This land has become like the garden of Eden; and the waste, desolate , and ruined cities are fortified and inhabited. Then the nations left round about you will know that I, the Lord, have spoken and will do it". Did you get that last part? God is restoring Israel today to let the nations know that He is involved in restoring Israel and that He is able to do what He says. Thusly, God is in the process of sending the world a message today. It is so unfortunate that there are so many today who are ignorant about that message! There are others who have been theologically taught that Israel has become irrelevant, so in their minds, there is no message. There are others who just don't care about this major move of God in our world today. (Most in this category don't care about anything except making sure they keep cable TV and cell phones turned on and have plenty of security, prosperity, and entertainment). However, for those of us who understand, God bringing the Jewish people home to Israel and restoring the Land of Israel is a major sign that the Lord is about to do something BIG! (Ezekiel 36:22). Included in that "BIG" will be the appearing of Jesus, Israel's Messiah. For those of us who are looking forward to His return with great anticipation, it would be the greatest Christmas present of all!
California Attorney General Asks State Supreme
Court to Void Gay Marriage Ban - Foxnews.com - December 19, 2008 - California Attorney General Jerry Brown changed course on the state's new same-sex marriage ban Friday and urged the state Supreme Court to void Proposition 8. In a dramatic reversal, Brown filed a legal brief saying the measure that amended the California Constitution to limit marriage to a man and a woman is itself unconstitutional because it deprives a minority group of a fundamental right. Comment: In the Old Testament we have a record of how God dealt with homosexuality. Genesis 19:5 records that the men of Sodom wanted to "know" Lot's guests. God destroyed the cities, Sodom and Gamorrah for this sin and wickedness in general. In the New Testament, Romans 1 records more of how God feels about homosexuality. Here is what is recorded in Romans 1:26-27: "For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error". We are marching toward the world that Jesus said would exist just before His return, like the days of Lot. (Luke 17:28). UK's Brown: Now is the time to build global society - Reuters - November 9, 2008 - The international financial crisis has given world leaders a unique opportunity to create a truly global society, Britain's Prime Minister Gordon Brown will say in a keynote foreign policy speech on Monday. In his annual speech at the Lord Mayor's Banquet, Brown -- who has spearheaded calls for the reform of international financial institutions -- will say Britain, the United States and Europe are key to forging a new world order. "The alliance between Britain and the U.S. -- and more broadly between Europe and the U.S. -- can and must provide leadership, not in order to make the rules ourselves, but to lead the global effort to build a stronger and more just international order," an excerpt from the speech says..."...And if we learn from our experience of turning unity of purpose into unity of action, we can together seize this moment of change in our world to create a truly global society." Comment: According to Daniel 2 and Daniel 7, the great power base of the world of the end-time will be the Roman Empire in its revived form, Europe. That final empire will extend to become worldwide. Its leader, according to Revelation 13, will regulate money all over the world. Notice who Brown believes are key to "forging a new world order", Europe and the United States. The world order that Daniel spoke of is very close to being organized! Daniel also asserted that it would be this revived Roman government that would be in place when the Messiah came to this earth to replace it with His own Kingdom. His Kingdom is therefore starting to come into view! The citizenship of His Kingdom is being built and has been for a long time. However, the days of adding to that citizenship are nearing their prophesied end! If you are not a citizen of His Kingdom, now would be a good time to become one! Jesus told a man named Nicodemus one night that "unless one is born again" he will not "see the Kingdom". (John 3:1-3). How does one become born again? By turning in faith to Jesus and believing in Him with your heart (Romans 10:9). Ask Him into your heart and life today! Time is short!
God is Speaking
to the USA! Joel 3:2 warns retaliation for dividing His Land! Bush Prepares for Hurricane Gustav - Fox News - August 31, 2008 - President Bush, faced with the prospect of a second monster hurricane striking the still-battered Gulf Coast on his watch, checked in with governors and federal officials Saturday to make sure Washington was doing all it can...The president called state leaders in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Texas in the early morning ...Those states are in the potential path of the hurricane, which has been cutting a deadly route through the Caribbean and picked up even more power Saturday, probably en route to a terrifying Category 5 designation. U.S. to 'guarantee' Palestinian state - Letter intended to bind Israel, PA, next administration in Washington - World Net Daily - September 11, 2008 - The U.S. is planning to issue a letter guaranteeing the country will back agreements reached during current Israeli-Palestinian negotiations aimed at creating a Palestinian state before President Bush leaves office in January...The move is intended to ensure any agreements reached by the Israelis and the Palestinian Authority, and spelled out in a joint document, will be recognized by the next U.S. administration and binding for Israel and the PA. The information comes as Jacob Walles, the U.S. consul-general, stated in an interview with a major Palestinian newspaper yesterday that Israel and the PA agreed to negotiate Jerusalem and the Jordan Valley area leading to the Dead Sea. June 2008 Midwest floods - Wikipedia - The June 2008 Midwestern United States floods were flooding events which affected portions of the Midwest United States. After months of heavy precipitation a number of rivers overflowed their banks for several weeks at a time and broke through levees at numerous locations. Flooding continued into July. States affected by the flooding included Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, and Wisconsin. Treasury, Congress ramp up bank bailout talks - Reuters - September 21, 2008 - The Bush administration and Congress on Sunday ramped up talks on an unprecedented $700 billion bank bailout as they battled the clock to prevent further financial market turmoil that risks hurtling the economy into a deep and damaging recession. The plan for the largest-ever bank rescue would give sweeping powers to the U.S. Treasury to buy up toxic mortgage-related debt from financial firms, including U.S. subsidiaries of foreign banks. Comment: God gives a general warning to those who claim to know Him but not living for Him about sending floods, famine, and trouble in general in Amos 4. The United States has definitely been experiencing these troubles in general! Unfortunately, in spite of all the warnings so far (floods, fires, hurricanes, and the like), there are few who would associate these natural disasters with the way our country is treating God. Additionally, God has specifically warned long ago in Joel 3:2, against those who would divide His Land. The policy of influencing Israel to give up her land and even divide Jerusalem in the interest of making so-called peace has mainly been spearheaded by the United States since 1991, but has been unprecedented recently in the Bush Administration, even to the point of asking Israel to divide Jerusalem! In this author's opinion, the politics of forcing Israel to cede land to her enemies is a dangerous policy! It has pushed the issue over the edge with God and has caused the Lord to make good on His promise in Joel 3:2 to retaliate against those who "divide My Land". God is speaking today to the USA and He is saying, "USA, -- get your hands off of MY LAND"! Temple Institute Announces: High Priest's Crown is Ready! - israelnationalnews.com - February 17, 2008 - The Temple Institute in Jerusalem announces the completion of the Tzitz, the High Priest's headplate - now ready for use in the Holy Temple. The tzitz is made of pure gold, was fashioned over the course of a more than a year by the craftsmen of the Temple Institute, and is ready to be worn by the High Priest in the rebuilt Holy Temple in Jerusalem. 120 Sets of Linen Garments for Lay Priests is Presently Underway - March 13, 2008-www.templeinstitute.org/garment_manufacture.htm - For the first time in 1,938 years the linen garments of the lay priests are being produced in preparation for the rebuilding of the Holy Temple and the renewal of the Divine service. The last priestly garments to have been worn were those worn by the priests who were martyred by the Roman legions who brutally invaded and destroyed the Holy Temple on the ninth day of the month of Av, in the year 70 CE. Comment: Incredible! No other generation for almost 2,000 years has seen these developments. Zeal to rebuild the Temple tells us that the Antichrist, who takes his seat in it (II Thess. 2:4) is close at hand. It also tells us that the Lord who comes to stop Him (II Thess. 2:8) is close at hand. Maranatha, come Lord Jesus! 'Extraordinary' number of fires forces California firefighters to pick their battles - Associated Press - July 1, 2008 - Cool, damp weather returned Tuesday to the area around a huge wildfire close to Big Sur, one of hundreds of blazes firefighters have struggled to contain because of hot weather, rough terrain and lightning storms...This year is extraordinary for the number of active fires, Kirchner said. The weekend of June 21 had 1,200 fires; a number Forest Service officials said appeared to be an all-time record in California. More than 1,400 fires burning in California - KSBY.com - June 30, 2008 - More than 1,400 fires scorch a path of destruction across the state. One of the biggest of those fires is burning in Monterey County near the town of Big Sur. Here is the latest on the Basin Complex Fire: More than 35,000 acres have burned since the fire began June 21. Fire crews say it's only 3 percent contained. More than 1,000 firefighters are working to get it under control. 16 structures have been destroyed, more than a thousand others are still threatened. Comment: All of these disasters were taking place in California as the State was announcing seemingly an all-out campaign to challenge traditional marriage, to make it legal for homosexuals to marry in the State. It was God who established traditional marriage between man and woman in the book of Genesis (see Genesis 2:18-25). Saudis to Christians: Get out! - World Net Daily - August 12, 2008 - More than a dozen Christians in Saudi Arabia who were accused by government officials of worshipping in their homes have been ordered deported...The report from the Washington-based human rights group said 15 Christians will be deported. Sixteen had been arrested April 25 when a dozen Saudi Arabian police officers raided a home during a prayer meeting. "The first officer to enter the house after breaking down the main gate pointed a pistol at the Christians and ordered them to hand over their resident permits and mobile phones," the report said. "The other 11 police followed quickly and started searching the entire house. They confiscated an electronic drum set, an offering box with 500 Saudi Riyal in it ($130), 20 Bibles, and a few Christian books." Comment: We have heard much about Allah and Jehovah being the same God of late. If this is true, why are Christians getting this treatment in Saudi Arabia, a Muslim State? II Thessalonians 2:11-12 make a case that in the end-times, truth would be not be received by many. It says, "...because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. For this reason, God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false..." Jehovah and Allah are not the same God and this news story stands as evidence. Comment: The following is what the Bible says about the selecting of Bishops: "It is a trustworthy statement: if any man aspires to the office of overseer (bishop), it is a fine work he desires to do. An overseer (bishop), then, must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, prudent, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not addicted to wine or pugnacious, but gentle, peaceable, free from the love of money. He must be one who manages his own household well, keeping his children under control with all dignity, but if a man does not know how to manage his own household, how will he take care of the church of God?, and not a new convert, so that he will not become conceited and fall into the condemnation incurred by the devil. And he must have a good reputation with those outside the church, so that he will not fall into reproach and the snare of the devil." (1 Tim 3:1-7). One would get the impression that Bishops are supposed to be masculine, at least, from the Bible's perspective. I guess this doesn't mean much to the Church of England. Texas school district to let teachers carry guns - Reuters News Service - August 15, 2008 - A Texas school district will let teachers bring guns to class this fall, the district's superintendent said on Friday, in what experts said appeared to be a first in the United States...Teachers who wish to bring guns will have to be certified to carry a concealed handgun in Texas and get crisis training and permission from school officials. Comment: Incredible that it has come to this! The Bible declares that in the last days violence and "lawlessness" will increase (Matthew 24:12). Amazing that school teachers have to defend themselves at school! Top Russian general names Israel as Georgian arms supplier - Jerusalem Post - Aug 19, 2008 - Russian Deputy Chief of General Staff Col.-Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn accused Israel in a Moscow press conference on Tuesday of arming the Georgian military with mines, explosive charges, special explosives for clearing minefields and eight kinds of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV). "In 2007, Israeli experts trained Georgian commandos in Georgia and there were plans to supply heavy weaponry, electronic weapons, tanks and other arms at a later date, but the deal didn't work out," Nogovitsyn said. Comment: The Russian bear is flexing her muscles. Interesting that this story indicates new hostility between Russia and Israel! Since Russia is predicted by Ezekiel 2500 years ago to militarily come against Israel in the last days (see Ezekiel 38 & 39). South African Olim Arriving in First-Ever Group Flight - israelnationalnews.com - July 21, '08 - Ninety-six South African are scheduled to land in Israel Monday night, the first time a group of new olim, (immigrants to Israel) has been organized from the country by the Jewish Agency. Their arrival precedes by several hours a North American flight of 210 new olim. Comment: God keeps bringing the children of Israel home as He promised He would in the last days (see Isaiah 11:12, and Isaiah 43:6). Comment: As this article suggests, there are no "lost tribes of Israel". Man may not have known for twenty centuries where they all were, but God has!!! He said He would preserve them (Jeremiah 31:35-37) and then gather them back to Israel in the end times from the "ends of the earth" (Isaiah 43:6). He is! The gathering of the children of Israel back to the Land is something God said He would do in the last days to prove to the nations that He is God (Ezekiel 36:23). As of this writing, some 5.6 million have been gathered back to the Land of Israel and most of them since 1948. God is at work! Temple Institute Tailors Kohanims’ Garments - IsraelNationalNews.com - July 2, '08 - Since Monday, the Temple Institute in the Old City of Jerusalem has opened a workshop for the tailoring and production of the Priestly Garments to be used by Kohanim (priests) in the Temple service. Priestly garments have not been worn since the destruction of the Second Temple almost 2000 years ago. Each set has a turban, tunic pants and belt which must be individually tailored at a cost of NIS 2,500 per Kohen. At the inauguration ceremony on Monday, Efrat Chief Rabbi Shlomo Riskin, himself a Kohen, was measured for a set of the garments. The garments are the fruits of a worldwide search. Special flaxen thread from India and Turkish mountain worms for the correct shade of crimson are two examples of the necessary materials . "The Temple is not a message (to only) the Jewish people. It reunites the world all around one central prayer house… all the nations will be coming to Jerusalem" Temple Institute Director Rabbi Yehuda Glick said. Comment: Huge News!!! The Bible anticipated a new Temple to be in operation in the last days. II Thessalonians 2:4 says that a future leader will "take his seat in the Temple of God" to display himself as God. According to Daniel 9:27, three and one half years later, Jesus will return to this earth to rule and reign as "King of Kings" and "Lord of Lords". There hasn't been a Temple for almost two thousand years since the Romans destroyed it in 70 A.D. and scattered the Jewish people all over the world. Now there are almost six million Jewish people living in the land of Israel and there is a zeal to restore Temple worship. The return of the Jewish people to the Land of Israel and putting a Temple in place are prerequisites to the Return of Jesus to this earth. His return is drawing very NEAR!!! Comment: The rate at which technology is moving is astounding!!! No surprise however. Daniel 12:4 states that knowledge will increase in "the time of the end". This is exactly what we all are observing. G7 nations welcome U.S. bank bailout - Reuters - Sep 22, 2008 - Group of Seven nations welcomed the $700 billion U.S. markets bailout plan on Monday but there was no sign that other governments saw any need to follow Washington in setting up rescue packages of their own...U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said on Sunday he was "aggressively" encouraging other countries to put in place similar schemes to the plan announced on Friday which sent global stock markets soaring. The world's big central banks have already joined in a coordinated move with the U.S. Federal Reserve to pump hundreds of billions of dollars in extra funding into markets to prevent the world financial system from seizing up in a credit freeze. Comment: Amazing that the current economic crisis we are facing brings us to consider a global solution! According to Revelation 13, we are going to have a system in the future that will be global in scope. A leader from Europe that God calls "Antichrist", will cause all to receive a mark, or they cannot participate (see Revelation 13:16-17). With this present crisis bringing the world's big banks to cooperate, the world banking system is becoming more believable. Britain Takes Up Islamic Law - Foxnews.com - September 15, 2008 - Islamic law has been officially adopted in Britain, with sharia courts given powers to rule on Muslim civil cases. The government has quietly sanctioned the powers for sharia judges to rule on cases ranging from divorce and financial disputes to those involving domestic violence. Rulings issued by a network of five sharia courts are enforceable with the full power of the judicial system, through county courts or the country's High Court, a part of its Supreme Court system. Comment: This is a product of the deception that Jesus and Paul prophesied for the end times!!! Jesus predicted that the deception He spoke of would sweep the earth before His return and be so powerful that "if possible, even the elect would be deceived" (Matthew 24:24). Paul, writing on the same subject, said this, "because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. For this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false..." (2 Thess 2:10-11). The deception, in spite of all the evidence otherwise, is that Islamic law can peacefully coexist alongside any law for long. Presbyterian Assembly votes to drop homosexual clergy ban - AP - 6/28/2008 - The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)...set up another confrontation Friday over its ban on ordaining non-celibate gays and lesbians. The denomination's General Assembly...voted 54 percent to 46 percent Friday to drop the requirement... Comment: Jesus predicted days just as it was in the days of Lot in Luke 17: 28-30. We are approaching those days rapidly! Grassley Probes Televangelists' Finances - CBS News - November 7, 2007 - Acting on tips about preachers who ride in Rolls Royces and have purportedly paid $30,000 for a conference table, the top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee said Tuesday he's investigating the finances of six well-known TV ministers. Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa said those under scrutiny include faith healer Benny Hinn, Georgia megachurch pastor Creflo Dollar and one of the nation's best known female preachers, Joyce Meyer. Grassley sent letters to the half-dozen Christian media ministries earlier this week requesting answers by Dec. 6 about their expenses, executive compensation and amenities, including use of fancy cars and private jets. Comment: Jeremiah 5:30 & 31 deals with this tragic issue. They say, "An appalling and horrible thing has happened in the land: The prophets prophesy falsely, And the priests rule on their own authority; And My people love it so! But what will you do at the end of it"? Also, the same atmosphere existed among the spiritual leaders in Micah's day. Micah warned, "Her heads judge for a bribe, Her priests teach for pay, And her prophets divine for money. Yet they lean on the LORD, and say, "Is not the LORD among us? No harm can come upon us. Therefore because of you Zion shall be plowed like a field, Jerusalem shall become heaps of ruins, And the mountain of the temple Like the bare hills of the forest" (Micah 3:11). A day of reckoning is coming because "judgement begins at the house of God" (1 Peter 4:17). God will hold all accountable for what is done in His name, including what was done with His money!
More than 40 nations invited to Annapolis - YnetNews.com - November 20, 2007 - The United States issued formal invitations to some 40 nations and organizations on Tuesday ahead of the upcoming Annapolis peace conference...The list of confirmed invitees also includes the Arab League and Arab countries such as Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, Yemen, Kuwait, Iraq, Libya, Mauritania, Oman and the United Arab Emirates. Members of the international diplomatic quartet have also been given invitations. These include the UN, The EU, Russia, and Mideast envoy Tony Blair.
Rabbis Warn US of Disasters to Follow Annapolis -israelnationalnews.com - November 6, 2007 - The SOS Israel organization dispatched a letter to US President George W. Bush warning him that American pressure for Israel to withdraw from parts of the Land of Israel and divide Jerusalem at the upcoming Annapolis Conference is liable to lead to disasters befalling America. The rabbi pointed out that they had made a similar prediction in 2005, prior to the US-backed Disengagement from Gaza and northern Samaria...Hurricane Katrina formed on August 23rd, 2005 – on the day the Disengagement was completed. "This time the Almighty is warning the US in advance: if the plague of water was not enough now he shall send flames. While hundreds of thousands of families have already fled the terrible fires in California, and we ask you, will you really forge ahead with this malevolent plan?" the letter said. Former N.J. Gov. McGreevey Confirms Reports of Three-Way Sex With Wife and Aide - FoxNews.com - March 17, 2008 - It's now a case of he said, he said, she said. Both former New Jersey Gov. James McGreevey and his one-time driver insist that they engaged in three-way sex with McGreevey's wife, Dina Matos McGreevey, who is in the midst of a nasty divorce from from the now openly gay ex-governer. Comment: Scandal and corruption continue to plague a people who are in rebellion against God. God said in the last days man's morality would grow from worse to worse (II Timothy 3:13). Birthrate up for Jews, down for Muslims - Jerusalem Post - Nov 6, 2007 - The country's fertility rate continues to rise; the average number of babies born to Muslim women is falling; having babies before the age of 20 is less common, and the average age when women have their first child is up. These are some of the findings of the report on Patterns of Fertility in 2006 released this week by the Central Bureau of Statistics. A total of 148,170 babies came into the world last year: 71 percent of them were born to Jewish mothers and 23% to Muslims; 3% to women of undetermined religion; 2% to Druse; and 1% to Christians (81% of those Arabs). Comment: Isaiah 44:3&4 - "For I will pour out water on the thirsty land And streams on the dry ground; I will pour out My Spirit on your offspring And My blessing on your descendants; And they will spring up among the grass Like poplars by streams of water.' Deut 7:13 - "He will love you and bless you and multiply you; He will also bless the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground..." Canada orders ministry by Christians shut down - World Net Daily - March 21, 2008 - The Canadian government has ordered a Christian ministry that teaches doctrine and the differences between Christians and cults shut down because its reference materials were "critical" of the beliefs of those who are not Christian, WND has learned. "When a group such as Jehovah's Witnesses said of our doctrine we're worshipping a freakish three-headed God (the Trinity), we should be able to respond," she said. "We say, 'Here's the doctrine of the Trinity and here is where it is in the Scripture.'" That, however, violates Canada's hate crimes laws, and the ministry was ordered to either make wholesale changes in its presentations, or shut down. Comment: At press time for this newsletter, many of the details were missing about this story. If time proves that the story stands as printed by World Net Daily, then it is consistent with the expectation that truth will become greatly contested in the last days. II Thessalonians addresses this issue when it says, "because they receive not the love of the truth...God will send them strong delusion". (II Thessalonians 2:10-11). If the story stands, then it is very alarming and unfortunate that standing for truth in our developing world would amount to "violating a hate crime law"! Comment: Our world is in turmoil as the Lord said it would be in the days before His return. Look up, redemption is drawing near (Luke 21:28)! <> |