Showing posts with label #bloodmoon. Show all posts

Friday, September 25, 2015

Are the Blood Moons indicating the end of the world?

An interesting article from http://www.ucg.org/ about Blood Moons. This follows this post about the struggle with immigrants. This follows this post about Pope Francis's stand against capitalism. For a free magazine subscription or to get the books recommended for free click HERE! or call 1-888-886- 8632.
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Are the Blood Moons indicating the end of the world?

1 comment Estimated reading time: 7 minutes

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Photo illustration of a blood moon. — Are the Blood Moons indicating the end of the world?

The short answer appears to be “No.” While there are many signs that we are in the last days, this does not appear to be one of them.
Several evangelical ministries teach that four upcoming lunar eclipses in 2014-2015 that coincide with biblical festivals—along with two solar eclipses—could signify that important prophetic events are imminent. The idea emerged from thinking that the prophecy in Joel 2:31 of the sun being darkened and the moon turning to blood before the end-time Day of the Lord perhaps denoted solar and lunar eclipses.
A lunar eclipse occurs only at the time of the full moon, when the moon's orbit places it on the opposite side of the earth from the sun. Usually the moon at this time is above or a below direct alignment with the earth and sun, but sometimes it is in alignment so that the earth's shadow is cast over the moon, either completely in a total lunar eclipse or only partially. A solar eclipse occurs only at the invisible new moon, when the moon is between the earth and the sun, at times of direct alignment.
In a lunar eclipse, light from the sun passing around the earth is filtered through the earth's atmosphere as it travels toward the moon. Many colors of the light spectrum are more readily filtered out than red. The term “blood moon” comes from the copper- or reddish-colored appearance of the moon during some lunar eclipses. But depending on atmospheric conditions, the eclipsed moon can have a range of colors, so there is no way to really know if any of the upcoming eclipses will be blood moons.
Lunar eclipses are actually rather common. There were 229 in the 20th century—81 of them total eclipses (as recorded at NASA's eclipse site, eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov ). So in trying to find some significance among them, attention was turned to a relatively rarer occurrence—a lunar tetrad, a series of four total lunar eclipses spanning two years, with six lunar months from one eclipse to the next. And it was noted that, even more rarely, the eclipses in such tetrads at times correspond to the spring feast of Passover and the autumn feast of Tabernacles.
Yet this is perhaps not so remarkable as it sounds. Biblical months begin at the new moon, when solar eclipses can occur. And the festivals of Passover and Tabernacles always occur at the time of the full moon, when lunar eclipses can occur. Indeed, many lunar eclipses fall at the time of Passover and Tabernacles every century. And these feasts are exactly six lunar months apart, just as needed for tetrads to fall (of course, tetrads of eclipses can fall across any months that are six months apart).
In the 20th century there were five lunar tetrads—two coinciding with the biblical feasts. However, some centuries have more or less or even none. Between the years A.D. 1 and 2000, there were 54 tetrads, of which seven corresponded to the feasts. While that might sound extremely rare, 7 out of 54 is about 13 percent—close to what random average would yield.
The seven tetrad periods corresponding to the feasts from years 1 to 2000 were A.D. 162-163, 795-796, 842-843, 860-861, 1493-1494, 1949-1950, 1967-1968. Some have seen a tie-in here to major events in the history of the Jewish people. They note that in 1492 the Jews were expelled from Spain and Columbus discovered the New World, which would later become a haven for them. In 1948 the Jewish state of Israel was born. And in 1967 the Israelis defeated their enemies in the Six-Day War. However, note that the associated tetrads followed these events, sometimes by a year or more. So how did they herald these things?
Moreover, there were no monumental events attached to the first four tetrads. Consider also that the most significant events in Jewish and world history have no tetrads associated with them. From 100 B.C. to A.D. 100 there were no lunar tetrads, feast-related or otherwise, and it was in this period that Jesus Christ lived and died and was resurrected, the New Testament Church began and Jerusalem was destroyed.
We should also note that these feast eclipses don't always exactly correspond to the biblical festivals. Sometimes they fall a day or two off from the festivals as they fall on the Hebrew calculated calendar.
As for the two solar eclipses in 2015, the first, a total one on March 20, is supposed to correspond to the first day of the sacred year, Nisan 1 on the Hebrew calendar. But it actually comes the day before on Adar 29. The second eclipse, a partial one on Sept. 13, comes not on Tishri 1, the Feast of Trumpets, but the day before, Elul 29. This is to be expected since a solar eclipse comes at the exact conjunction of the sun and moon, when the moon is invisible to us because its dark side is facing us, while the new moon or new month on the Hebrew calendar comes shortly after when the first crescent is visible.
The March 20 solar eclipse will be visible in clear skies only in the far North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, while the Sept. 13 one will be visible only in the area around Antarctica, with the sun not much dimmed because it is not a total eclipse. Neither will be visible from the focal point of Bible prophecy, Jerusalem.
In fact, of the lunar eclipses in the 2014-2015 tetrad, the first three will not be visible from Jerusalem at all. Only the last will be visible from there if the skies are clear—less than half of it as the moon sets on the horizon.
As to Joel 2:31, it mentions the sun being darkened and the moon turned to blood, but nothing about this happening four times in a row. Indeed, the passage must refer to more than mere eclipses. The previous verse mentions “blood and fire and pillars of smoke”—which seems a logical way for the sky to be obscured and the moon to be reddish-colored. Verse 10 shows devastation darkening the sun and moon as well as the stars—the latter of which would not be darkened by eclipses (Joel 2:10).
In Matthew 24:29, Jesus said that these heavenly signs would occur immediately after the Great Tribulation (Matthew 24:22-29)—and Revelation 6:12-13 shows them following that time of martyrdom of God's people as well (Revelation 6:9-11) and immediately preceding the Day of the Lord (Revelation 6:17). And so the solar eclipses and lunar tetrad of 2014-15 cannot fulfill these prophecies of the sun being darkened and the moon turned to blood—because the Great Tribulation has not even started, much less concluded.
Some, admitting this, still maintain that the tetrad must indicate something big. Yet the first four feast eclipses of those listed above did not seem to indicate anything. And those claimed to be associated with major events concerning the Jewish people came, for the most part, after those events—which in parallel would mean that big events associated with the 2014-15 tetrad would have already happened (though the Six-Day War came between the first two eclipses of the coincident tetrad).
The world is poised for major events, so significant events might well happen in 2014-2015. But there is no way to know what they would be, if anything, on the basis of the lunar tetrad.
For clearer, biblical indicators of the end time, please read the Bible study aid Are We Living in the Time of the End? .

Video: March 21, 2014 — Are the Blood Moons Indicating the End of the World?- There is a lot of interest in blood moons and what that might mean in Bible prophecy. What do you need to know?

Video: April 10, 2014 - Blood Moons and Alignment- The first of the “Blood Moons” is next week. Is there a spiritual alignment we may want to pay close attention to?

What do Bible prophecies of the future mean?blood moons End Times News and Prophecy God's Holy Days

Questions and Answers: Are the four "blood moon" eclipses falling on biblical feast days in 2014-15 an indicator of end-time events, as some say?

While there are many signs that we are in the last days leading up to Jesus...

BT Daily: Are The Blood Moons Indicating the End of the World?

Are the Blood Moons Indicating the End of the World?

There is a lot of interest in blood moons and what that might mean in Bible...

Friday, September 18, 2015

Lightning Struck the Vatican when Benedict XVI resigned - What Does This Mean?

An interesting article from http://www.ucg.org/ about the previous pope's resignation. This follows this post about movies. This follows this post about anti-Americanism. This follows this post about Syria and western weakness. For a free magazine subscription or to get the books recommended for free click HERE! or call 1-888-886- 8632.
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Lightning Strikes Vatican - What Does This Mean?

Feb 12, 2013 by Darris McNeely Listen

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Lightning strikes St Peter's Basilica hours after Pope announces his resignation. A heavenly sign?

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[Darris McNeely] Lighting striking Saint Peter’s Basilica in Rome just hours after Pope Benedict XVI announced that he would be resigning the papacy and the leadership of the Roman Catholic Church. You know, lightning strikes the earth thousands of times every day all over the world. It is rather interesting and that’s why it has drawn the attention in just hours after the Pope announced that he’s going to resign that something like this takes place. The resignation of a Pope is a very significant event as we’ve already talked about. There’s going to be a great deal of speculation and other questions about various aspects of this whole drama that is once again unfolding within the Catholic Church and in Rome and at Vatican City. I’ve also seen some contrary headlines as people have noted the Pope has according to one headline wimped out. Another headline even said, "Good riddance," regarding the Pope’s resignation because of the problems within the Catholic Church and the inability of not only the Pope but the hierarchy to take care of things.
Catholic theology is interesting because when a Pope is selected, according to Catholic theology, this is the decision of God being revealed through the College of Cardinals, and that Pope is in a sense elected for life. Now we have a Pope resigning. They will select another Pope. You will have a retired Pope and a setting Pope. Which one is God’s choice? Interesting questions. I’ll leave that for the other people to figure out and they can explain that in itself. Why this has drawn a lot of interest and perhaps other matters regarding this whole scenario is probably because in Revelation 13:13 it talks about a political and religious figure to come on the scene prior to the coming of Jesus Christ. One of those figures is a religious figure. In verse 13 it says of this individual, "He performs great signs so that he even makes fire come down from heaven and the earth in the sight of men."
And so you’ve got fire, lightning coming down upon Saint Peter’s Basilica. Signs and wonders performed by this particular religious figure that is described in Revelation 13. And so is this part of that? I’m not saying that it is. I’m saying that it’s a very interesting picture and it leads to speculation. But the entire drama as it unfolds in the coming weeks is going to be very instructive and very interesting to watch for those who are interested in religion, politics, world history, and certainly Bible prophecy. We’ll be covering a lot more of this in detail as we go along.
That’s BT Daily . Join us next time.

Thursday, September 10, 2015

9/11 and the Apparent Miracles on that Day

An interesting article from http://www.ucg.org/ about 9/11 miracles. This follows this post about the "King of the South." This follows this post about Turkey and the refugees coming from there. This follows this post about gay marriage. For a free magazine subscription or to get the books recommended for free click HERE! or call 1-888-886- 8632.
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9/11 and the Apparent Miracles on that Day

by Don Hooser Estimated reading time: 7 minutes

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The terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001, resulted in almost 3,000 people losing their lives and about 3,000 children under the age of 18 losing a parent. Plus countless injuries, great physical and financial devastation, excruciating anguish and trauma and national humiliation. Many effects of that nightmare are still with us ten years later.
What happened that day was a monumental tragedy, but it could have been much worse. The facts that follow are not meant to downplay that catastrophe but to serve as a reminder of the bad things that could have happened but did not happen.
We need to keep reminding ourselves that the Creator God rules the universe and is always in control. “He’s got the whole world in His hands.” God “works all things according to the counsel of His will” (Ephesians 1:11). Jesus said, “not one (sparrow) falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will” (Matthew 10:29). Amos wrote, “If there is calamity in a city, will not the LORD have done it?” (Amos 3:6).
God allowed the attacks, but we won’t know until Christ returns what calamities He prevented. While we reflect and grieve we should also give God our profuse thanksgiving for the mercy He has shown in limiting the death and destruction on 9/11—and every other day for that matter.
In fact, God may have provided miracles of protection every day in the last 10 years! Although the U.S. federal and state governments have worked hard to provide “homeland security,” our defenses are extremely porous and puny. With so many enemies wanting to harm the United States and with so many possible methods of causing death and destruction, it is amazing that the terrorists have not been a lot more successful than they have been in causing harm to this country.
God certainly doesn’t protect us from all tests, trials and tribulations. He allows them to occur (and sometimes causes them to occur) so He can use them to teach lessons, bring people to repentance, or bring about other good results. He not only is the Master at making lemonade from lemons, He often provides the lemons to begin with. In Romans 8:28, Paul tell us, “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” The attacks of 9/11 definitely triggered many beneficial consequences, although some of them were only temporary. But the Romans 8:28 principle is a big subject for another article. We’ll now focus on how 9/11 could have been much worse.
The targets of the attacks
Had the jetliners crashed into the lower portion of the twin towers, the buildings would have fallen sooner and many more persons in the buildings and on the ground would have been trapped and killed. The buildings may have toppled like falling trees, destroying many other important buildings. (As it was, several other buildings were severely damaged.) A domino effect of falling buildings could have resulted in the loss of life of hundreds of thousands.
The hijackers of the other two planes may have intended to fly those planes into the U.S. Capitol and the White House. Both houses of Congress were in session on that day, and surprise attacks could have wiped out much of the executive and legislative leadership of the United States.
We don’t know what was the hijacker’s original plan for American Airlines flight 77, but the tragedy at the Pentagon could have been much worse. Had the plane’s trajectory been a little higher, it could have hit the inside rings on the opposite side of the Pentagon where are located the offices of the Secretary of Defense, the Joint Chiefs of Staff and many other high-ranking military officials. With one blow, the world’s most powerful military could have lost its top leaders. As it was, the plane smashed into a recently remodeled and reinforced section that was not yet fully occupied. That kept the death toll from being much higher.
The fourth plane, United Airlines 93, was delayed 41 minutes in its departure from Logan Airport in Boston. That delay made it possible for the passengers while in flight to receive cell phone calls reporting the attacks in New York and to realize the probable reason for their hijacking. As a result, some passengers heroically fought the hijackers, which brought the plane down in Pennsylvania before it could be used as a bomb on a strategic target.
The number of people in the Twin Towers and the number of plane passengers
Thankfully, at the time of the attacks, many who worked in the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center had not arrived at their jobs. Whereas about 22,000 employees worked in each tower, it is estimated that less than 10,000 were in each tower at time of impact.
Remarkably, both the number of employees who decided they could not go to work that day and the number of employees who were delayed or running late in getting to work were unusually high!
In the days and weeks that followed 9/11, we heard many stories of all kinds of strange circumstances that kept employees from getting to work or getting to work on time. We wonder how many of those “circumstances” were orchestrated by God!
It’s also fascinating that the number of passengers on the four planes was far less than capacity . AA 11 had only 92 people on board, and UA 175 was carrying only 65 people, but those two Boeing 767’s each had a capacity of 351. AA 77 had only 64 people on board, and UA 93 was carrying only 45, but those two Boeing 757’s each had a capacity of 289. The deaths of 266 people on those planes is tragic, but the number could have been as high as 1,280!
Greater tragedies that could have happened
Terrorists had their big opportunity for surprise attacks when the United States was lax in security and preparedness. In hindsight, we can imagine many scenarios with much greater destruction and loss of life. We can be thankful not only that they didn’t hit the Capitol or White House, but also that they didn’t detonate nuclear bombs, blow up nuclear plants, spread massive biological infection, or cripple our communications capabilities. The terrorists may have been so determined to humiliate America by attacking symbols that they failed to do more strategic harm.
Similarly, the Japanese failed to accomplish their primary objective when they bombed Pearl Harbor in 1941. They wanted to destroy the aircraft carriers, but the carriers were all at sea away from the port at the time. Those carriers were critically important in the ensuing war against Japan. Quite likely, God allowed the Pearl Harbor bombing to awaken America to join the war against Japan and Germany, and at the same time protected the aircraft carriers.
God has been merciful to all peoples in all places in all times, but it should be clear that He has truly showered His blessings on Britain and the United States. Many miracles have been especially obvious during many of their wars. It is primarily because of God’s providence that these nations have prospered and that they have even survived!
Why has God bestowed special blessings on these nations? That is explained in our free booklet, The United States and Britain in Bible Prophecy . That booklet also points out the prophecies of how these nations would collectively and increasingly turn their backs on God and will suffer catastrophic consequences as a result. And it points out a plethora of spiritual lessons that all of us need to focus on and apply.
What can we do as individuals?
This article is accompanied by a companion article, “Thoughts on the Anniversary of 9/11: Relying on God to Defend and Protect You.”
“With God, all things are possible,” including incredible miracles of protection (Matthew 19:26). But each of us wonders: How likely is it that God will protect me —even when I’m threatened with grave danger? What does the Bible have to say about this? Please read the companion article.
We’ve reviewed a few facts as evidence that 9/11 could have been much worse. To those who believe in a miracle-working God, the facts of that day are evidence of countless miracles.

Friday, August 28, 2015

Does the Bible Predict Storms Like Katrina for the End Time?

An interesting article from http://www.ucg.org/ about Katrina and storms like it. This follows this post about Israel and Iran. For a free magazine subscription or to get the books recommended for free click HERE! or call 1-888-886- 8632.
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Does the Bible Predict Storms Like Katrina for the End Time?

by Scott Ashley Estimated reading time: 3 minutes

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We have certainly seen devastating earthquakes in recent years. The December 2004 earthquake off Indonesia was the most powerful in decades, unleashing a massive tsunami that took some 300,000 lives—the greatest number of casualties from an earthquake in more than 500 years.
But this word translated “earthquakes” in Matthew 24:7 deserves a closer look. The Greek word is seismos, from which we derive such English words as “seismic” and “seismology,” referring to earthquake activity and the study of earthquakes. Strong's Lexicon defines it as “a commotion, i.e. (of the air) a gale, (of the ground) an earthquake—earthquake, tempest” (Strong's No. 4578).
Seismos encompasses a broader meaning than just the earth shaking. Matthew 8, for example, records the famous story of how a violent storm overtook Jesus and His disciples on the Sea of Galilee, threatening to capsize their fishing boat and drown them—until Jesus miraculously calmed the winds and waves.
The word used in verse 8 for this sudden, powerful storm is seismos, here translated “great tempest.” The parallel account in Mark 4:37 calls it a “great windstorm.” Therefore, seismos can also refer to violent storms involving wind and water, and isn't limited strictly to earthquakes as we might assume.
When Jesus Christ foretold “famines, pestilences and earthquakes in various places,” His words encompass natural disasters that include earthquakes, but also can apply to hurricanes, typhoons, tornadoes and other such violent storms in the air.
As the world recently saw with Katrina's devastation of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, hurricanes can be enormously destructive. Katrina took more than 1,000 lives and caused an estimated $200 billion in damage. In 1998, rainfall from hurricane Mitch generated more than a million landslides in Honduras alone, wiping our roads and burying towns and farmland.
Are such natural disasters increasing as Jesus foretold?
The Sept. 16 issue of Science magazine reports on research by scientists at the Georgia Institute of Technology and the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado. They concluded that while the number of hurricanes and cyclones had not increased, “the researchers did find a sharp increase during the past 35 years in the number of category 4 and 5 tropical cyclones, the most intense storms that cause most of the damage on landfall” (Richard Kerr, “Is Katrina a Harbinger of Still More Powerful Hurricanes?”, p. 1807).
Specifically, they found that the frequency of the most dangerous and damaging storms—those rated category 4 and 5— increased by 80 percent from the 1970s to the last decade. Their conclusions mirrored findings by a Massachusetts Institute of Technology meteorologist reported in the Aug. 4 issue of Nature.
Such findings should certainly make us sit up and take notice. Later in that same prophecy of the end time, as recorded in Luke 21:25-28 (New International Version), Jesus says: “There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars. On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea.” This appears to be not just a reference to massive storms, but also to more devastating tsunamis like the Indian Ocean tsunami from last December.
Here we also find Jesus using an interesting Greek word. Salos, translated “tossing,” means “the tossing motion of large waves on a body of water—'surging waves'” ( Louw-Nida Lexicon ). A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament defines its meaning as “a rolling or tossing motion, surge, esp. of the waves in a rough sea . . .” Both of these definitions mention surging of waves. The huge storm surges produced by hurricanes are perhaps their most damaging aspect.
Jesus continues: “Men will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken. At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”

Thursday, August 27, 2015

Will Israel Attack Iran?

An interesting article from http://www.ucg.org/ about Israel and Iran. This follows this post about Chinese weapons. This follows this post about recession. For a free magazine subscription or to get the books recommended for free click HERE! or call 1-888-886- 8632.
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Will Israel Attack Iran?

by Jerold Aust Estimated reading time: 6 minutes

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Can you hear the time bomb ticking in the Middle East? If you flinch under the weight of the escalating price and humiliating dependence on foreign oil, if you hear the threats from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad against Israel and the West and if you hear Ahmadinejad's defiant rejection of the West's oft-repeated demands for Iran to cease and desist from enriching uranium, then you do indeed hear the Iranian bomb ticking in the Middle East. Could it go off in the not-too-distant future?
Israelis cannot just wait for the bomb to go off; they live next door. Will Israel attack Iran and if so, when? Recently, Israel conducted an obvious military exercise over the Mediterranean Sea near Greece. The idea of this military exercise was to show that Israel's planes would fly the distance necessary to mount a mission to knock out Iran's nuclear facilities. Israel's implied threat is simple and direct: If enrichment continues, we could strike!

Israeli military exercises over the Mediterranean

Putnam Media Managing Editor Rick Pedraza wrote an insightful article for Newsmax.com titled “Bolton: Israel Will Strike Iran if Obama Is Elected.” It addressed a recent Fox News interview of former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton. Pedraza commented on Israel's massive air force exercise over Greece, which the Greek, Israeli and U.S. forces later confirmed was a test run for a strike on Iran's main uranium enrichment plant.
The ordinary person may not have considered Israel's determined, strategic and geopolitical defense against Iran's covert and overt threats of nuclear warfare. Bolton has: “'I think if they are to do anything, the most likely period is after our elections and before the inauguration of the next President.' They'd have to make a judgment whether to [strike] during the remainder of President Bush's term in office or wait for his successor” (www.newsmax.com ).
Remarkably, and counterintuitive to what might be considered a public norm, “Bolton believes Arab countries will support an Israeli strike, effectively ending Iran's nuclear ambitions, while publicly denouncing it”(ibid., emphasis added).
Former Ambassador Bolton thinks that if Senator John McCain wins the presidential race, the Israelis might postpone the attack, offering, “McCain's stance on Iran 'is far more realistic than that of the Bush administration'” (ibid.). Mr. Bolton thinks that Iran would not respond immediately to a strike since they would fear an American reprisal.

Israel, a very tiny nation

With all the saber rattling, Israel has little recourse but to take a very strong military stand, no matter the threat. This small nation is surrounded by overwhelming numbers of Arab states. Israel occupies a pitiful pinch of real estate blanketed by its Arab neighbors, many within its own borders. Every inch of Israel's territory is seen as critical to its safety.
It's easy to discover why Israel is in such a precarious and highly dangerous geopolitical position, a tempting prize for its larger neighbors. Israel, with an area of about 8,000 square miles, is ½0th the size of California. Israel is 260 miles long with a 120-mile coastline and is 70 miles across at its widest point. Israel is surrounded by more than 20 Arab nations equal to more than 630 times its size, more than 50 times its population—and the surrounding nations currently hold all the oil.

U.S. presidential influence in the mix

With only a few months until the American presidential elections, Israel should and likely will give the Bush administration one more chance to stop Iran's rush to enter the atomic and nuclear age. If nothing concrete happens before January 2009, it's possible that Israel will wait no more.
Will or can the United States do more than offer veiled threats to Iran, considering the U.S. involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan? The surge is working in Iraq, but Iraqi police alone aren't yet able to keep the peace. Taliban fighters are attempting to regain a foothold in Afghanistan. There is speculation that the United States may transfer troops from Iraq to Afghanistan to quell the Taliban surge.
The perplexing entanglement in the Middle East brings to mind Winston Churchill's 1939 radio broadcast in which he referred to forecasting the reaction of Russia to German aggression: “It is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma [i.e., a puzzle, difficult to solve]; but perhaps there is a key. That key is Russian national interest.”
Perhaps the key to the Iranian threat, counterintuitively, might just be the Arab nations' fear of Iranian hegemony right next door. Though they are overwhelmingly Muslim, the majority of Iranians are ethnically Persians rather than Arabs. The Iranians are also predominately Shiite Muslims (like the majority in Iraq), which makes the Sunni Muslims who control the rest of the Middle East's oil quite nervous.
If there's a military strike on Iran, either from Israel or the West, oil could spike to over $200 a barrel, further alienating the West from unsympathetic oil cartels. Gasoline could rise to $6 a gallon if not more.
It is clear that any U.S. intrusion into Iranian affairs would provoke a strong reaction from surrounding Arab countries, at least verbally. But would they do more? Consider that Iran's neighbors would not like Iran to have the bomb. Privately they would like a leveling of the playing field. An Iran with nuclear weapons would be a threat to the Arab nations, as well as to Israel. So don't assume that threatening rhetoric from nearby Arabic nations means that they are in league with Iran on this hot topic.
The U.S. presidential race is being weighed in the balance by both Iran and Israel. Both Iran and Israel will play out their hands based on how tough they think the next U.S. president will be on Middle Eastern geopolitics.

Will Israel survive?

Will Israel strike at Iranian nuclear facilities? If they conclude they need to, they probably will. It's a matter of self-preservation. With the recent announcement that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will step down after September elections, that seems more likely. Olmert has generally been viewed as a weak and ineffective leader, particularly in military matters.
What will be the outcome of all this? It won't be what most people would expect. Ironically, the Bible shows the Middle East and Israel being invaded by a European-based power described by Daniel as the king of the North (Daniel 11:40-41). Zechariah describes a terrible attack on Jerusalem, with half the city going into captivity (Zechariah 14:1-3).
But after all this, the inhabitants of the Middle East—Jews, Arabs and Iranians alike—will not be thinking about bombs but plowshares (Isaiah 2:4)!
To understand these prophetic events better, request or read online our free booklet The Middle East in Bible Prophecy . WNP

http://www.ucg.org/world-news-and-prophecy/will-israel-attack-iran

Tuesday, May 12, 2015

Lourdes, Fatima and Medjugorje Show Modern Attraction of Signs

An interesting article from http://www.ucg.org/ about apparitions of "Mary." This follows this post about Nimrod and Semiramis. For a free magazine subscription or to get the books recommended for free click HERE! or call 1-888-886- 8632.
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Lourdes, Fatima and Medjugorje Show Modern Attraction of Signs

by World News Estimated reading time: 2 minutes

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In today's skeptical world, and on the most secular continent, there is still evidence of man's innate attraction to signs and miracles. Consider three European sites that attract millions of visitors.
Lourdes, a small town in the foothills of the Pyrenees in southern France, attracts some 5 million tourists and pilgrims a year because of the visions seen by a 14-year-old girl nearly 150 years ago. Bernadette Soubirous first saw visions of a woman in white at a remote grotto on Feb. 11, 1858.
Within months, visitors were claiming healing from the waters of the grotto, and of approximately 7,000 who have felt they were healed and sought confirmation, nearly 70 have been declared scientifically inexplicable miracles by the Lourdes Medical Bureau and by the Catholic Church.
In Fatima, Portugal, three shepherd children saw six visions of “Our Lady of Fatima” between May 13 and Oct. 13, 1917. They told of three secrets that were revealed to them, and the second has been seen as predicting World War II and the “immense damage that Russia would do to humanity by abandoning the Christian faith and embracing Communist totalitarianism” (www.vatican.va ).
Speculation abounded about the third secret, which was not released by the Vatican until Pope John Paul II's visit to Fatima May 13, 2000. There, the third secret's description of a bishop clothed in white making his way among corpses of those who were martyred and being shot himself was explained as being fulfilled in the May 13, 1981, assassination attempt on John Paul II.
Then there is Medjugorje in Bosnia-Herzegovina, where six people began seeing visions 25 years ago on June 24, 1981. Since then, some say more than 30,000 messages have come and more than 30 million people have visited the site, though these pilgrimages are not encouraged by the Vatican.
With such interest in visions and secrets seen by a few, is it any wonder that millions more will be convinced by incontrovertible miracles seen with their own eyes? WNP

Friday, March 27, 2015

Who is Peter Schweizer?

A timely post about from www.yaf.org about Peter Schweizer. This follows this post about discrimination claims. This follows this post about March Madness.
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http://www.yaf.org/forms/campusactivismguide2015.html

Peter Schweizer

Peter Schweizer is a Young America's Foundation alumnus and has served as a member of the Foundation's staff. He is currently a best-selling author and research fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University. His most recent work is Architects of Ruin (Harper, 2009). Other books include Makers and Takers (Doubleday, 2008), Do As I Say (Not As I Do): Profiles in Liberal Hypocrisy (Doubleday, October 2005), The Bushes: Portrait of a Dynasty (Doubleday, 2004/Ancor, 2005) and Reagan’s War: The Epic Story of His Forty-Year Struggle and Final Triumph Over Communism (Doubleday, 2002/Anchor 2003).
Peter is also executive producer of In the Face of Evil —an award-winning documentary based on his book, Reagan’s War. He resides in Florida with his wife, Rochelle, and their two children.

Friday, September 25, 2015

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Friday, September 18, 2015

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Lightning strikes St Peter's Basilica hours after Pope announces his resignation. A heavenly sign?

Transcript

Thursday, September 10, 2015

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Friday, August 28, 2015

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Thursday, August 27, 2015

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Israeli military exercises over the Mediterranean

Israel, a very tiny nation

U.S. presidential influence in the mix

Will Israel survive?

Tuesday, May 12, 2015

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Friday, March 27, 2015

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