N KOREA TESTS SHORT RANGE MISSLES

1-WORLD QUAKES LAST 2 DAYS. 2-SoCal community rattled by small quake. 3-4.7-magnitude quake shakes Hawaii island. 4-Spain evaluating scale of flood damage. 5-Possible Aztec offerings found in Mexico 6-This Week with Rabbi Eckstein 7-Vietnam confirms human bird flu case 8-Hamas: Islam Will Rule the World, Destroy Israel and the Jews. 9-Fatwa Against Hamas for Having Jewish Characteristics. 10-Sabbath-Sunday Bill Survey Shows Support. 11-Eurozone outracing US on economic growth. 12-Pentagon worries about China weapon test. 13-Iran: no halt to nuclear program. 14-N. Korea test fires short-range missiles.

EARTHQUAKES

MATTHEW 24:7-8
7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.

MARK 13:8
8 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom:(ETHNIC GROUP AGAINST ETHNIC GROUP) and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows.

LUKE 21:11
11 And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.

WORLD QUAKES LAST 2 DAYS (USGS)

Update time = Sat May 26 9:00 PM EDT

MAY 26,07
MAP 2.7 KENAI PENINSULA, ALASKA
MAP 2.5 CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
MAP 3.3 CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
MAP 2.5 GULF OF ALASKA
MAP 2.5 CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
MAP 3.3 CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
MAP 2.5 NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
MAP 2.8 ISLAND OF HAWAII, HAWAII
MAP 2.8 KODIAK ISLAND REGION, ALASKA
MAP 4.4 VANCOUVER ISLAND, CANADA REGION
MAP 5.6 SALTA, ARGENTINA
MAP 5.2 FIJI REGION
MAP 4.3 GULF OF CALIFORNIA
MAP 3.0 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
MAP 3.3 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
MAP 2.7 CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
MAP 5.2 BANDA SEA

MAY 25,07
MAP 3.9 ISLAND OF HAWAII, HAWAII
MAP 2.5 ISLAND OF HAWAII, HAWAII
MAP 3.3 ISLAND OF HAWAII, HAWAII
MAP 5.2 BONIN ISLANDS, JAPAN REGION
MAP 2.5 ISLAND OF HAWAII, HAWAII
MAP 4.1 ISLAND OF HAWAII, HAWAII
MAP 3.6 CENTRAL ALASKA
MAP 2.6 ISLAND OF HAWAII, HAWAII
MAP 4.7 ISLAND OF HAWAII, HAWAII
MAP 2.5 BAJA CALIFORNIA, MEXICO
MAP 2.7 MOUNT ST. HELENS AREA, WASHINGTON
MAP 3.3 NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
MAP 2.9 NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
MAP 5.2 CHUKOTKA, RUSSIA
MAP 3.1 ANDREANOF ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN IS., ALASKA
MAP 2.5 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
MAP 3.9 GREATER LOS ANGELES AREA, CALIFORNIA
MAP 3.9 GREATER LOS ANGELES AREA, CALIFORNIA
MAP 5.5 SUMBAWA REGION, INDONESIA

SoCal community rattled by small quake Thu May 24, 3:54 AM ET

DEVORE, Calif. - A light earthquake followed by a slightly stronger aftershock rattled part of Southern California, according to a preliminary report from the U.S. Geological Survey. The initial magnitude 3.8 temblor struck at 11:11 p.m. Wednesday and was centered two miles southeast of Devore, about 50 miles northeast of downtown Los Angeles.The magnitude 3.9 aftershock hit at 11:15 p.m. in the same area, the U.S.G.S. reported.There have been no reports of structural damage or injuries.

4.7-magnitude quake shakes Hawaii island Thu May 24, 9:01 PM ET

HILO, Hawaii - The largest earthquake to hit a part of Volcanoes National Park in nearly 50 years shook up visitors Thursday, but no injuries or damage were reported, officials said. The earthquake was centered near the Kilauea volcano, on Hawaii's Big Island, where lava flows to the ocean.

The U.S. Geological Survey's Hawaiian Volcano Observatory said the temblor was the largest in that area for at least 50 years. Since 1998, only a few earthquakes with magnitudes greater than 4.0 have occurred there, at shallow depths.The park is warning visitors to be careful near Halemaumau Crater, at the summit of Kilauea. The earthquake widened cracks and existing fractures, leading to dangerous conditions near the rim, said Mardie Lane, park spokeswoman.The area is one of the most popular parts of the park and is revered by Native Hawaiians as the home of Pele, goddess of the volcano.

A 6.7-magnitude earthquake struck in October near the Big Island, causing millions of dollars in damage but no deaths or serious injuries.

STORMS HURRICANES-TORNADOES

LUKE 21:25-26
25 And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity;(MASS CONFUSION) the sea and the waves roaring;(FIERCE WINDS)
26 Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.

Spain evaluating scale of flood damage Fri May 25, 3:05 PM ET

MADRID (AFP) - The Spanish government on Friday said it had agreed a process to calculate the extent of severe flood damage and get emergency aid to the areas worst affected after several days of heavy rain in much of the country. Six regions in south, central including Madrid and southeast Spain were badly hit and the cabinet approved an immediate evaluation of the damage and formulated measures to provide financial aid.

However, First Deputy Prime Minister Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega said it was too early to put a figure on such aid.Spain's agricultural sector has borne the brunt of the damage with flooding swamping 100,000 hectares (247,000 acres) of vineyards in the central region of Castille-La Mancha.On Friday, agricultural unions estimated some 500,000 hectares (1.3 million acres) of crops had been affected.The rain also caused travel misery for thousands of commuters Wednesday and Thursday with mainline rail services between the capital and the major southeastern cities of Valencia and Murcia interrupted all day while some roads were closed.On the plus side, the rains fell after three years of intensive drought affecting much of the country.

Possible Aztec offerings found in Mexico By MARK STEVENSON, Associated Press Writer MAY 25,07

MEXICO CITY - Archaeologists diving into a lake in the crater of a snowcapped volcano found wooden scepters shaped like lightning bolts that match 500-year-old descriptions by Spanish priests and conquerors writing about offerings to the Aztec rain god. The lightning bolts — along with cones of copal incense and obsidian knives — were found during scuba-diving expeditions in one of the twin lakes of the extinct Nevado de Toluca volcano, at more than 13,800 feet above sea level.

Scientists must still conduct tests to determine the age of the findings, but the writings after the Spanish conquest in 1521 have led them to believe the offerings were left in the frigid lake west of Mexico City more than 500 years ago.

Lightning bolt scepters were used by Aztec priests when they were doing rites associated with the god Tlaloc, said Johan Reinhard, an anthropologist and explorer-in-residence for National Geographic Society who took part in more dives Thursday at the Lake of the Moon. We think it is pretty clear that the Aztecs considered this one of the more important places of Tlaloc.The research, which also involves the volcano's Lake of the Sun, is being led by Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History.

Stanislaw Iwaniszewski, an archaeology professor at the institute, said Aztec iconography often associates Tlaloc with lightning bolts.They were left in the lake to bring rain storms, Iwaniszewski said. Copal incense was burned to form clouds, and sharp spines from the maguey cactus which does not grow at that altitude indicated worshippers brought them there to draw blood from themselves as part of the sacrifice.Luis Alberto Martos, the institute's director of archaeological studies, said other artifacts found in the clear 32-degree waters of the lake indicate the ritual may have started about 100 B.C. long before the Aztecas settled in the area in 1325.

This Week with Rabbi Eckstein
May 25, 2007

Dear Friend of The Fellowship,

Yesterday began the observance of the Jewish festival of Shavuot, a holiday with dual significance.

The Bible states, From the day after the Sabbath … count off seven full weeks. Count off fifty days up to the day after the seventh Sabbath, and then present an offering of new grain to the Lord(Leviticus 23:15-16) Thus, on Shavuot, which falls fifty days after Passover, Jews commemorate the time, in ancient days, when the first fruits were harvested and brought to the holy Temple in Jerusalem as an offering to God.The second event commemorated on Shavuot is the giving of the Torah (the first five books of what Christians call the Old Testament) to Moses on Mount Sinai. God’s law, as expressed in the Torah, is the source of the unique character, faith and destiny of the Jewish people.

It also forms the moral foundation of Western civilization and its institutions, which makes it of critical importance not just for Jews, but for Christians and indeed the entire world.

There is an added historical dimension to Shavuot this year. As I discussed last week, Israel has just marked the 40th anniversary of the liberation of the city of Jerusalem during the Six Day War. Shavuot that year fell just six days after the Holy City was reclaimed, and on that holiday thousands of grateful Jewish pilgrims were able to see the holy sites they had so long been denied access to. One Israeli
magazine described the extraordinary scene on Shavuot, 1967:For the first time since the Dispersion in the year 70 C.E. a pilgrimage numbering two hundred thousand persons moved under the Flag of Israel through the streets of King David’s City to the last surviving relic of the Second Temple. Every section of the population was represented, kibbutz members and soldiers in tallitot (prayer shawls) rubbing shoulders with ultra-orthodox rabbis. Mothers came with children in prams, and old men trudged steeply up Mount Zion, supported by youngsters on either side, to see the Wall of the Temple before the end of their days … Some wept, but most faces were wreathed in smiles.Every year now on Shavuot people from all over Jerusalem stream to the Western Wall in early morning to pray at a sunrise service. It is a fitting way to observe this significant Jewish festival, to honor their biblical commitment, and to give thanks to God for the gift of his Law.

Today, I ask you to please say a prayer for the peace of Jerusalem. Pray that the Jewish people will always be able to celebrate the festival of Shavuot in Jerusalem, the holiest city of all Judaism and the capital of the sovereign Jewish State. And, if you have not already, please respond to our action alert by signing our petition in support of the resolutions pending in the House and Senate requiring the U.S. to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

With prayers for shalom, peace,
Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein
President International Fellowship of Christians and Jews.

DISEASES

REVELATION 6:7-8
7 And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see.
8 And I looked, and behold a pale horse:(CHLORES GREEN) and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword,(WEAPONS) and with hunger,(FAMINE) and with death,(INCURABLE DISEASES) and with the beasts of the earth.(ANIMAL TO HUMAN DISEASE)

Vietnam confirms human bird flu case MAY 25,07

HANOI (AFP) - Health officials in Vietnam on Friday confirmed a farmer has been infected with the deadly bird flu virus, the first human case in the country since late 2005. Two recent tests for the 30-year-old man from Vinh Phuc province showed that he was positive to the H5N1 virus, said a doctor from the National Institute of Epidemiology in Hanoi who refused to be named.State-run Vietnam News Agency also quoted deputy head of the ministry's Preventive Healthcare department Nguyen Van Binh confirming the test results.The ministry of health has not directly confirmed the case and the World Health Organisation (WHO) said it was still waiting for confirmation from its own laboratory tests.The man, who is in critical condition in a Hanoi hospital, helped slaughter chickens for a wedding about a month ago from a neighbouring farm, where several birds later died.

This is the first human infection since November 2005 in Vietnam, which was one of the countries hardest hit by the virus with 42 human fatalities between 2003 and November 2005.

The virus has remained endemic to wild and domestic bird populations, and struck again this month with several outbreaks of the H5N1 strain in eight provinces killing thousands of unvaccinated ducks and some chickens.Bird flu outbreaks have now been reported in provinces from the far north of the country to the Mekong river delta in the south, according to the latest online report from the national animal health department.Vietnam says it has vaccinated more than 120 million poultry in 60 provinces in efforts to combat the virus.The News newspaper quoted Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung as criticising on Thursday local authorities for their lack of responsibility in monitoring the situation.

He also urged them to apply all possible measures to prevent the spread of the epidemic to both poultry and humans.The WHO representative in Vietnam, Hans Troedsson, said the new developments were not surprising.The virus was pushed back by the measures Vietnam has taken, with the mass vaccinations and cullings, he said, but it has never been eradicated.However, the Vietnamese authorities are doing the right things, he said, adding the situation was not alarming.

According to World Health Organisations figures, the H5N1 strain of bird flu has infected at least 306 people worldwide and killed about 185 of them, mostly in southeast Asia.

Hamas: Islam Will Rule the World, Destroy Israel and the Jews
by Hana Levi Julian MAY 25,07 (INN)

The Hamas terrorist organization is conducting a simultaneous battle against Israel and its coalition partner, Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas Fatah faction, but not without a higher purpose. According to the Palestinian Media Watch, the Hamas charter specifically mandates the murder of Jews in compliance with what it believes is Divine will. Violence and terror, which Hamas refers to as resistance, are considered legitimate tools to be used for this purpose. Hamas has worked hard to promote this ideology and to train the current and future generations toward this end, using a Mickey Mouse-like character to teach the precepts to PA Arab children and other TV and radio programs to reach the adults. The PA population has, for the most part, responded enthusiastically to this campaign. Others who are frightened by the fanaticism and culture of murder are doing their best to flee. Branch offices of foreign ministries from various Arab countries report they have been besieged with tens of thousands of applications by PA Arabs who are desperate to take their families out of the madness.

Islamic clerics, meanwhile, exhort them to remain, resorting even to religious legal rulings that it is forbidden to leave the Palestinian Authority territories and abandon what they insist is their land. It is clear that Hamas has no intention of ever recognizing the State of Israels right to exist. Nor does it intend to end its terrorism, regardless of international mandates to do so. We will liberate Palestine, all of Palestine... Palestine will not be liberated by negotiations, committees and decisions. It will only be liberated by the rifle and the al-Kassam [rocket -ed.]. Therefore, prepare yourselves, declared Hamas spokesman Dr. Ismail Radwan in an April interview with the Hamas-controlled Al-Risalah newspaper.

Ultimately, states former Foreign Minister and Hamas leader Mahmoud Al-Zahhar in a March interview with the Arabic Al-Ayyam newspaper, Our position is the liberation of Palestine, all of Palestine. This is the final and strategic solution for us. Anyone who denies it must check his faith and his Islam.

Fatwa Against Hamas for Having Jewish Characteristics
by Nissan Ratzlav-Katz (INN) MAY 25,07

A Muslim cleric, apparently from the Palestinian Authority, has released a fatwa (religious ruling) permitting the killing of members of the Hamas terrorist organization. In support of his position, the heretofore unknown sheikh declared Hamas to have Jewish characteristics, but added that the Jews have more mercy on the Arabs than Hamas. You should kill them cold-bloodedly. Sheikh Al-Hiran The fatwa and accompanying argumentation appeared in two articles, one in the Saudi newspaper Al-Watan and the other published on the website of the Fatah terrorist organization, headed by Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas. According to a report and translation of the articles provided by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), the Islamic cleric, identified as Sheikh Shaker Al-Hiran, labeled Hamas Khawarij. This term is a reference to a group of Muslims that rebelled against the leadership of seventh-century Islam.

Among other affronts, the Fatah-backed sheikh declared, Hamas is willing to ally itself with non-Muslims and to battle co-religionists. Al-Hiran then said that Hamas-backed scholars should be confronted about the activities of their organization. If the scholars say that what they [Hamas members] do is prohibited, then you should kill them cold-bloodedly, [and you will] be rewarded by Allah for ridding Muslims of their influence and evil. Jews have more mercy towards our nation than [Hamas]. If the scholars The article is titled The Common Characteristics of Hamas and the Jews.
say that their conduct is permitted, then kill their scholars.... They are all the same.

In his article entitled The Common Characteristics of Hamas and the Jews, Al-Hiran wrote that the Islamist group has Jewish characteristics. For the PA sheikh, this means hypocrisy and a lack of trustworthiness, including breaking agreements reached with the Fatah leadership of the PA. MEMRI analysts noted, The articles triggered condemnation, such as a statement by Palestinian Authority Mufti Sheikh Muhammad Hussein, who labeled Al-Hiran's articles as a clear call for fitna (civil strife). In particular, MEMRI reported that the article comparing Hamas to the Jews triggered harsh reactions and prompted online messages from readers questioning Al-Hiran's existence.

Sabbath-Sunday Bill Survey Shows Support
by Hillel Fendel (INN) MAY 25,07

MK Zevulun Orlev (NRP) has announced the findings of a poll showing a 56% support rate for his proposed legislation making Sunday a day of rest and allowing some public transportation and entertainment on the Sabbath. Orlev's bill would change the official approach to Sabbath as the country's day of rest. Though businesses and government offices would continue to be closed, places of entertainment would be permitted to open - and public transportation, now banned in most cities on the Sabbath, would be available for that purpose. The bill stipulates that such transportation and entertainment would be carried out with maximum sensitivity to the religious public. A survey commissioned by Orlev finds that 56% of the public support his initiative, while 30% object. The poll was carried out by Brain Base (Maagar Mochot) Institute, headed by Prof. Yitzchak Katz.

Orlev's bill, which he proposed last week, also calls for a second day of rest during the week - Sunday - during which businesses and offices would be closed. This would enable Sabbath observant families to spend more time together, Orlev explains. Work hours lost to Sunday would be made up largely by increasing the workday on Mondays through Fridays from 8 to 9 hours. The survey divides the respondents into religious categories, such as secular, hareidi-religious, etc.

However, it lumps together the religious-Zionist public with those who consider themselves traditional, i.e., minimally observant. The poll finds that 64% of this joint sector supports the new bill. The two groups were combined in the poll, despite the expectation that the two would not have similar views of the issue. Other findings of the poll show, in fact, that support for the bill increases as
level of religious observance decreases. For instance, 64% of the secular public supports the bill, compared to only 6% of the hareidi-religious public. Asked to explain, Orlev's spokesman Moshe Inbar told Arutz-7 that the breakdown was determined by the pollster, in consultation with me. Inbar said that lumping the two sectors together is in keeping with the NRP's new policy of opening its gates to the traditional community. Arutz-7: But information is missing from the poll, in that we do not know how many of the mainstream NRP voters - the religious-Zionist public - supports this bill.

In response, Inbar first suggested that you can commission your own poll, but then added, You can extrapolate from the other findings...Orlev said his bill was formulated with the help of leading religious-Zionist rabbis, and does not openly permit activities that are forbidden by the Torah, but rather does not mention them.MK Yitzchak Levy of the National Union party said the bill paves the way for further deterioration in the character of the Sabbath in the State of Israel. The National Union and the NRP joined forces for the last national election, merging into one electoral list.

DANIEL 7:23-24
23 Thus he said, The fourth beast(THE EU,REVIVED ROME) shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth,(7TH WORLD EMPIRE) which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.(TR BLOCKS)
24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise:(10 NATIONS) and another shall rise after them;(#11 SPAIN) and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.(BE HEAD OF 3 KINGS OR NATIONS)

Eurozone outracing US on economic growth
24.05.2007 - 17:20 CET | By Andrew Rettman

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The eurozone will in 2007 take over from the US as the driver of world economic growth, according to Paris-based think tank the OECD, with a strong performance by Germany giving Europe the edge.

The 13-state strong European currency union will see 2.7 percent GDP growth this year compared to 2.1 percent in the US, the OECD predicted in a report out Thursday (24 May). Last year the euro states lagged 0.5 percent behind the US. Europe [is] taking over the baton from the United States, OECD chief economist Jean-Philippe Cotis said. A vibrant German-led recovery has remained on track...[and] the so-far lagging Italian economy has been sharing in the upswing.The bounce-back stems from a gradual increase in household and corporate spending, as well as robust exports. Falling unemployment - from 7.8 percent last year to 7.1 percent this year - is another noticeable bright spot, the study says. By contrast, US results are being held back by problems in the housing market, which is suffering from an excess of supply. But the OECD predicts a progressive return to economic normality that should see America again nose ahead of the eurozone in 2008.

The European upswing could spell good news for political projects, such as Germany's attempt to revive the EU constitution - at the time of the EU's 50th birthday in March, some analysts said stagnating economies had contributed to euroscepticism in recent years.

But the European picture is not entirely rosy: unemployment still remains much higher than in the US; inflation risks are likely to see the European Central Bank hike rates again this year and an ageing population is increasing pressure on the public purse. The balance of risks to inflation is towards the upside, the OECD says, recommending another 0.5 percent increase in the cost of borrowing in two tranches of 0.25 percent by the end of the year. Looking at the economic dangers of ageing, the think tank forecasts that Belgium, Greece, Ireland, Luxembourg, Portugal and Spain will all be spending over 10 percent of their GDP on pensions and geriatric health care by 2050.

2ND WAVE CHINA AND KINGS OF THE EAST MARCH TO ISRAEL

REVELATION 16:12
12 And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared.(THIS IS THE ATATURK DAM IN TURKEY,THEY CROSS OVER).

DANIEL 11:44 (2ND WAVE OF WW3)
44 But tidings out of the east(CHINA) and out of the north(RUSSIA, MUSLIMS WHATS LEFT FROM WAVE 1) shall trouble him:(EU DICTATOR IN ISRAEL) therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many.( 1/3RD OF EARTHS POPULATION)

REVELATION 9:12-18
12 One woe is past; and, behold, there come two woes more hereafter.
13 And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God,
14 Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates.(IRAQ-SYRIA)
15 And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men.(1/3 Earths Population die in WW 3 2ND WAVE)
16 And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand:(200 MILLION MAN ARMY FROM CHINA AND THE KINGS OF THE EAST) and I heard the number of them.
17 And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone.(NUCLEAR BOMBS)
18 By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.(NUCLEAR BOMBS)

Pentagon worries about China weapon test By ROBERT BURNS, AP Military Writer MAY 25,07

WASHINGTON - China is improving its capacity for launching surprise military attacks along its border areas, reflecting its view that preemption is necessary when confronting a more powerful enemy, the Pentagon said Friday. In its annual report to Congress on Chinese military developments, the Pentagon also said China's recent success at destroying a satellite in low-Earth orbit is a threat to the interests of all space-faring nations and posed dangers to human space flight.In a section titled Is China Developing a Preemptive Strategy? the report cited as evidence the fact that the People's Liberation Army has been acquiring long-endurance submarines, unmanned combat aircraft, additional precision-guided air-to-ground missiles, and long-distance military communications systems.Attempting to capture the essence of China's strategy, the report quoted former supreme leader Deng Xiaoping's guidance, known as the 24-character maxim, which says in part, hide our capacities and bide our time; be good at maintaining a low profile.

It suggests both a short-term desire to downplay China's capabilities and avoid confrontation, and a long-term strategy to build up China's power to maximize options for the future, the Pentagon report said.

Peter Rodman, who until early this year was the Pentagon's top Asia policy official, said in an interview Friday that there is reason for concern that China's long-range aim is to revise the existing balance of power in the world, but they are patient and they are just doing this quietly; they think long term.Rodman added that because U.S. officials are carefully and closely monitoring China's growing military strength and sophistication, We can handle this, we're no slouches ourselves at maintaining our capability. Rodman is now a foreign policy fellow at the Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank.

The report said China's near-term focus is on preparing for a military crisis in the Taiwan Strait, where it continues to emplace more short-range ballistic missiles.However, analysis of China's military acquisitions and strategic thinking suggests Beijing is also generating capabilities for other regional contingencies, such as conflict over resources or territory, the report said.Chinese military training that focuses on no-notice, long-range air strikes could also indicate planning for preemptive military options in advance of regional crises, the report said.The Pentagon highlighted its concern about Beijing's anti-satellite test in which a missile was used to destroy one of China's old weather satellites in low-Earth polar orbit; the January test was China's first.The test put at risk the assets of all space-faring nations and posed dangers to human space flight due to the creation of an unprecedented amount of debris, the report said, adding that this is an important expansion of China's pursuit of weaponry and strategies that are designed to deny U.S. forces access to areas in Asia.

Rodman said the Bush administration knew in advance that China planned to conduct the January test but it chose not to address it with the Chinese because U.S. officials were convinced Beijing would go ahead with it regardless.The anti-satellite capability demonstrated in the test is only one element of a multidimensional program to develop a capability to deny other nations access to outer space, the Pentagon asserted.China has purchased UHF-band satellite communications jammers and is developing other technologies and concepts for weapons with anti-satellite missions, the report said.

It also is improving its ability to identify and track satellites, a prerequisite for effective, precise physical attacks, the report added.The report was presented to Congress on Friday, just days before Defense Secretary Robert Gates travels to Singapore to address an international conference on Asian security issues, where China is likely to be a key topic.In previewing the report's release, Gates told
reporters on Thursday that some of China's new capabilities are of concern to the United States but he did not provide details.We wish that there were greater transparency, that they would talk more about what their intentions are, what their strategies are, Gates said. It would be nice to hear firsthand from the Chinese how they view some of these things.

MUSLIM NATIONS

EZEKIEL 38:1-12
1 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, set thy face against Gog,(RULER) the land of Magog,(RUSSIA) the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW)and Tubal,(TOBOLSK) and prophesy against him,
3 And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW) and Tubal:
4 And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws,(GOD FORCES THE MUSLIMS TO
MARCH) and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords:
5 Persia,(IRAN,IRAQ) Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet:
6 Gomer,(GERMANY) and all his bands; the house of Togarmah (TURKEY)of the north quarters, and all his bands:(SUDAN,AFRICA) and many people with thee.
7 Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them.
8 After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them.
9 Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy bands, and many people with thee.(RUSSIA-EGYPT AND MUSLIMS)
10 Thus saith the Lord GOD; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought:
11 And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates,
12 To take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land.

ISAIAH 17:1
1 The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.

PSALMS 83:3-7
3 They (ARABS,MUSLIMS) have taken crafty counsel against thy people,(ISRAEL) and consulted against thy hidden ones.
4 They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.
5 For they have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee:(TREATIES)
6 The tabernacles of Edom,and the Ishmaelites;(ARABS) of Moab, and the Hagarenes;
7 Gebal, and Ammon,(JORDAN) and Amalek;(SYRIA) the Philistines (PALESTINIANS) with the inhabitants of Tyre;(LEBANON)

EZEKIEL 39:1-8
1 Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy against Gog,(LEADER OF RUSSIA) and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech (MOSCOW) and Tubal: (TUBOLSK)
2 And I will turn thee back, and leave but the sixth part of thee, and will cause thee to come up from the north parts,(RUSSIA) and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel:
3 And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand.
4 Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands,( ARABS) and the people that is with thee: I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be devoured.
5 Thou shalt fall upon the open field: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.
6 And I will send a fire on Magog,(NUCLEAR BOMB) and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that I am the LORD.
7 So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel; and I will not let them pollute my holy name any more: and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel.
8 Behold, it is come, and it is done, saith the Lord GOD; this is the day whereof I have spoken.

JOEL 2:3,20,30-31
3 A fire(NUCLEAR BOMB) devoureth before them;(RUSSIA-ARABS) and behind them a flame
burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.
20 But I will remove far off from you the northern army,(RUSSIA,MUSLIMS) and will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face toward the east sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost sea, and his stink shall come up, and his ill savour shall come up, because he hath done great things.(SIBERIAN DESERT)
30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.(NUCLEAR BOMB)
31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.

Iran: no halt to nuclear program By NASSER KARIMI, Associated Press Writer
Thu May 24, 11:00 PM ET

TEHRAN, Iran - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad ruled out even a brief halt in Iran's nuclear program, saying Thursday it would hand a victory to the country's enemies and undercut the Islamic state's goal of becoming a world power. Ahmadinejad's latest salvo apparently aimed at Washington and Western allies ollowed Wednesday's report by the U.N. nuclear watchdog that said Iran has expanded its uranium enrichment program in defiance of U.N. demands for a suspension. The finding could set the stage for a third round of Security Council sanctions.The enemy wants Iran to surrender so it won't have any say in the world, Ahmadinejad told a gathering of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards. If we stop for a while, they (Iran's enemies) will achieve their goals.

Iran insists its nuclear program seeks only to develop energy, and has touted it as a sign of technological prowess. The United States and allies contend Iran is secretly aiming to develop nuclear arms.But there are international divisions on how to handle the standoff.The current rumblings have reached Mohamed ElBaradei, the head of the U.N. nuclear agency, after he suggested that Iran be allowed to keep some elements of its uranium enrichment program.

The United States has lodged a complaint against ElBaradei, and Britain and France are expected to follow suit, said diplomats familiar with proceedings at the Vienna-based agency. The diplomats demanded anonymity because their information was confidential.The United States and others worry that ElBaradei's comments could undermine efforts to pressure Iran into scrapping the program.In Washington, President Bush said Thursday he would work with allies to beef up sanctions on Iran.

He told a Rose Garden news conference that Iran's leaders continue to be defiant as to the demands of the free world.Bush's remarks came against a mixed backdrop: new tensions but also groundbreaking diplomatic overtures.

The Pentagon has moved two aircraft carriers and seven other ships into the Persian Gulf in a show of force. Iran, meanwhile, has detained at least two prominent American-Iranian citizens On Monday, however, U.S. and Iranian diplomats are scheduled to hold direct talks in Baghdad on efforts to stabilize Iraq. The meeting offers a very rare one-on-one diplomatic forum between the nations, which broke off formal relations after Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution.The agenda of the talks is limited to Iraqi affairs and should not spill over into the nuclear impasse. But it hangs over any interplay between Iran and the United States.Ahmadinejad again drove home Iran's message. He said opponents of Iran's nuclear program want to hit at the source of the (Iranian) regime's progress in attempting to thwart Iran's exploitation of peaceful nuclear technology.The Security Council has demanded Iran suspend enrichment because it can produce both reactor fuel and — at higher levels weapons-grade material. The council first imposed sanctions on Iran on Dec. 23 for rejecting its demands, then modestly increased them in March.

Experts from the United States and five other powers plan to meet within the week to consider the next steps after ElBaradei's report Wednesday. The talks will focus on how to bring Iran back to negotiations and what the Security Council could do if Tehran doesn't budge, said China's deputy U.N. ambassador, Liu Zhenmin.ElBaradei said Thursday that Iran can only be kept away from nuclear arms through a comprehensive dialogue.One way to do that, rather than to continue the rhetoric, is to ... sit down together, he said in Luxembourg, while also agreeing with U.S. intelligence estimates that Iran is three to eight years from being able to make nuclear arms.

ElBaradei's report detailed the expansion of Iran's enrichment program and for the first time noted that the agency's knowledge of Iran's nuclear activities is shrinking. Tehran's has blocked inspections of a heavy water reactor under construction at Arak and facilities linked to it. Once completed, the Arak complex will produce plutonium, which, like enriched uranium, can be used to make nuclear weapons.

ElBaradei has said he feels it is too late to force Iran to abandon enrichment and has argued instead for implementing inspection safeguards to prevent an expansion of the program. But U.S. , French and British diplomats at the International Atomic Energy Agency are apparently concerned ElBaradei's statements could exacerbate their divisions with the other two permanent Security Council members, Russia and China. Both nations have watered down previous measures against Tehran over its nuclear
defiance.

In Moscow, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mikhail Kamynin urged Iran to take a constructive approach to the nuclear dispute and called on other nations to step up diplomatic efforts with the aim of producing a balanced approach.Russia has close economic and political ties with Tehran and, over objections from the United States and others, is helping to build the country's first nuclear power plant. Iran's top nuclear inspector, Ali Larijani, defended Iran's imposing limits on IAEA inspections.

He said Iran had entered voluntarily into the agreement allowing the inspections at Arak, and so it has right to revise that decision to bar the inspections. Larijani and Javier Solana, the EU's top foreign policy official, are to meet May 31 to explore whether there's room to resume negotiations over Iran's nuclear program. Also Thursday, Ahmadinejad — known for his 2005 comment that the Jewish state should be wiped off the map — criticized Israel for its attacks on Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip.

If you think that by bombing and assassinating Palestinian leaders you are preparing ground for new attacks on Lebanon in the summer, I am telling you that you are seriously wrong, Ahmadinejad said. Ocean of nations of the region will get angry and will cut the root of the Zionist regime from its stem.

Israeli experts have been talking for months about the possibility of another war with Lebanon in the summer; officials have denied planning such a conflict. After the inconclusive outcome of last summer's war, when Hezbollah guerrillas fired almost 4,000 rockets at Israel, the Israelis are seen as unlikely to launch another one unless they felt they could emerge clearly victorious.

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said that Ahmadinejad funds, trains and arms the most extreme anti-peace elements in the region if there is any real threat to regional security it comes from an expansionist fundamentalist Iran. Associated Press writers Terence Hunt in Washington, George Jahn in Vienna and Ian Deitch in Jerusalem contributed to this report.

NUCLEAR WEAPONS WILL BE USED.

ISAIAH 26:21
21 For, behold, the LORD cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.(WW3,1/2 earths population die).

ISAIAH 13:6-13 KJV
6 Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.
7 Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man's heart shall melt:(FROM FRIGHT)
8 And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth: they shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be as flames.
9 Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.
10 For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine.
11 And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.
12 I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir.
13 Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the LORD of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger.

ISAIAH 24:17-23 KJV
17 Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth.
18 And it shall come to pass, that he who fleeth from the noise of the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that cometh up out of the midst of the pit shall be taken in the snare: for the windows from on high are open, and the foundations of the earth do shake.
19 The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly.
20 The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not rise again.
21 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth.
22 And they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be visited.
23 Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the LORD of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously.

2 TIMOTHY 3:1
1 This know also, that in the last days perilous (DANGEROUS) times shall come.

JOEL 2:20,30
20 But I will remove far off from you the northern army,(RUSSIA,MUSLIMS) and will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face toward the east sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost sea, and his stink shall come up, and his ill savour shall come up, because he hath done great things.(SIBERIAN DESERT)
30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.(NUCLEAR BOMB)
31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.

ZECHARIAH 14:12-13
12 And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.
13 And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great tumult from the LORD shall be among them; and they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbour, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbour.

EZEKIEL 20:47
47 And say to the forest of the south, Hear the word of the LORD; Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour every green tree in thee, and every dry tree: the flaming flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north shall be burned therein.

ZEPHANIAH 1:18
18 Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD'S wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.

MALACHI 4:1
1 For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.

REVELATION 8:7
7 The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.

REVELATION 9:18
18 By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.

HALF OF EARTHS POPULATION DIE DURING THE 7 YR TRIBULATION.(THESE VERSES ARE JUDGEMENT SCRIPTURES NOT RAPTURE SCRIPTURES)

LUKE 17:34-37
34 I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left.
35 Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
36 Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
37 And they answered and said unto him, Where, Lord? And he said unto them, Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together.(Christians have new bodies,this is the people against Jerusalem during the 7 yr treaty)(Christians bodies are not being eaten by the birds).

MATTHEW 24:37-51
37 But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
38 For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,
39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
40 Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
41 Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
42 Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.
43 But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up.
44 Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.
45 Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season?
46 Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing.
47 Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods.
48 But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming;
49 And shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken;
50 The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of,
51 And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

N. Korea test fires short-range missiles By JAE-SOON CHANG, Associated Press Writer MAY 26,07

SEOUL, South Korea - North Korea test fired several short-range guided missiles Friday into the sea that separates it from Japan, South Korean officials and media reports said.

Analysts and media reports said the North's test was in response to South Korea's launch of its first destroyer equipped with high-tech Aegis radar technology developed by the U.S. South Korea is now one of only five countries armed with the technology, which will make it easier to track and shoot down North Korean aircraft and missiles. This shows North Korea, whose navy is rather small, is extremely alarmed, said Toshimitsu Shigemura, an expert on North Korean issues at Japan's Waseda University.South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff confirmed the missile launches.

The short-range missile launches are believed to be part of a routine exercise that North Korea has conducted annually on the east and the west coasts in the past, the statement said.The missiles were fired from the communist country's east coast into the sea between Japan and the Korean peninsula, a Joint Chiefs official said on condition of anonymity, citing official protocol.Japan's public broadcaster and other media, citing Japanese and U.S. sources, reported the missiles were surface-to-ship. Japan's Defense Ministry and Foreign Ministry could not immediately confirm the reports.North Korea's missile program has been a constant concern to the region, along with its pursuit of nuclear weapons.The hard-line regime test-fired a series of missiles in July last year, including its latest long-range model, known abroad as the Taepodong-2, which experts believe could reach parts of the United States. The North rattled the world again in October by conducting its first-ever test of a nuclear device. However, experts believe it does not have a bomb design advanced
enough to be placed on a missile.

In Washington, White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said the United States sees the test as a routine exercise that they do from time to time. U.S. officials, eager to make progress on a nuclear disarmament accord with the North that has been stalled over a financial dispute, have been hesitant to criticize Pyongyang.European Union officials said they were concerned North Korea's short-range missile tests posed a further risk to stability in Asia and urged the isolated nation to seek dialogue to
ease tensions with its neighbors.

In Japan, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called the tests extremely regrettable, but added: We do not consider (the missile firing) as a serious threat to Japan's national security.South Korea's Yonhap news agency cited an unidentified Unification Ministry official as saying the tests would not strain ties because they were apparently part of regular exercises. North and South Korea are planning Cabinet level talks on reconciliation efforts next week in Seoul.

Japanese public broadcaster NHK said the missiles were shorter-range, and were not North Korea's existing Rodong or Taepodong I ballistic missiles.Kyodo News agency said the missiles were launched from Hamgyong Namdo on the east coast of the Korean Peninsula and are considered modified silkworm or miniaturized Scuds with a range of 60-125 miles.Mobile missile carriers, communication equipment and personnel were seen in the area before the launch, but they left after the missiles were fired, Kyodo said.Last month, North Korea displayed a newly developed ballistic missile capable of reaching the U.S. territory of Guam during a military parade, the South Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo reported, citing an unidentified South Korean government official familiar with an analysis of U.S. satellite images.Associate Press Writer Mari Yamaguchi contributed to this report from Tokyo.

NO ONE IS STOPPING IRAN , ISRAEL

1-WORLD QUAKES LAST 2 DAYS. 2-Undersea quake strikes Indonesia. 3-Rain puts parts of Kansas under water 4-WILDFIRES UPDATE. 5-Body found in Iraq is Calif. soldier. 6-Israel grabs Hamas leaders in West Bank. 7-Are you ready Book to buy. 8-Catholic League blasts HBO's Bill Maher for his comments about Falwell. 9-North American union plan headed to Congress in fall. 10-Concern in Israel: No One is Stopping Iran!

EARTHQUAKES

MATTHEW 24:7-8
7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.

MARK 13:8
8 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom:(ETHNIC GROUP AGAINST ETHNIC GROUP) and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows.

LUKE 21:11
11 And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.

WORLD QUAKES LAST 2 DAYS (USGS)

Update time = Fri May 25 10:00 PM EDT

MAY 25,07
MAP 3.9 ISLAND OF HAWAII, HAWAII
MAP 2.5 ISLAND OF HAWAII, HAWAII
MAP 3.3 ISLAND OF HAWAII, HAWAII
MAP 5.2 BONIN ISLANDS, JAPAN REGION
MAP 2.5 ISLAND OF HAWAII, HAWAII
MAP 4.1 ISLAND OF HAWAII, HAWAII
MAP 3.6 CENTRAL ALASKA
MAP 2.6 ISLAND OF HAWAII, HAWAII
MAP 4.7 ISLAND OF HAWAII, HAWAII
MAP 2.5 BAJA CALIFORNIA, MEXICO
MAP 3.3 NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
MAP 2.9 NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
MAP 5.2 CHUKOTKA, RUSSIA
MAP 3.1 ANDREANOF ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN IS., ALASKA
MAP 2.5 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
MAP 3.9 GREATER LOS ANGELES AREA, CALIFORNIA
MAP 3.9 GREATER LOS ANGELES AREA, CALIFORNIA
MAP 5.5 SUMBAWA REGION, INDONESIA

MAY 24,07
MAP 4.7 GULF OF CALIFORNIA
MAP 5.0 SOLOMON ISLANDS
MAP 2.5 NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
MAP 5.6 GULF OF MEXICO
MAP 4.8 FIJI REGION
MAP 2.9 NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
MAP 2.6 KENAI PENINSULA, ALASKA
MAP 3.6 SOUTH OF ALASKA
MAP 3.2 VIRGIN ISLANDS REGION
MAP 3.4 NORTHERN ALASKA
MAP 5.4 MARIANA ISLANDS REGION
MAP 2.8 SOUTHERN ALASKA
MAP 4.6 NEAR ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS, ALASKA
MAP 2.9 CENTRAL ALASKA
MAP 3.3 NORTHERN ALASKA
MAP 3.4 NEW MEXICO
MAP 2.8 ANDREANOF ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN IS., ALASKA
MAP 5.7 NORTHERN MID-ATLANTIC RIDGE
MAP 2.8 PUERTO RICO REGION
MAP 2.5 CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
MAP 2.7 NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
MAP 3.4 RAT ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS, ALASKA
MAP 4.4 GULF OF CALIFORNIA
MAP 3.1 FOX ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS, ALASKA

Undersea quake strikes Indonesia
POSTED: 0221 GMT (1021 HKT), May 24, 2007

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) -- A strong undersea earthquake struck off eastern Indonesia on Thursday, briefly triggering a tsunami alert, the country's meteorological and geophysics agency said. Indonesian scientists gave the quake a preliminary magnitude of 6.5. The United States Geological Survey said its initial estimate was a more modest 5.5. Such discrepancies are common in the immediate aftermath of a quake.

There were no immediate reports of damage as a result of the quake 160 kilometers (100 miles) southeast of Sumbawa island, said Muhammad Yusuf, a staffer at Indonesia's meteorological and geophysics agency.The agency initially said the quake had the potential to cause a tsunami and issued a warning to coastal towns close to the epicenter. It lifted the warning an hour later, saying no waves had hit shorelines.

Indonesia, the world's largest archipelago, is prone to seismic upheaval due to its location on the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire, an arc of volcanos and fault lines encircling the Pacific Basin.In December 2004, a massive earthquake struck off Sumatra island and triggered a tsunami that killed more than 230,000 people in a dozen countries, including 160,000 people in Indonesia's westernmost province of Aceh alone. A tsunami off Java island last year killed nearly 5,000.

STORMS HURRICANES-TORNADOES

LUKE 21:25-26
25 And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity;(MASS CONFUSION) the sea and the waves roaring;(FIERCE WINDS)
26 Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.

Rain puts parts of Kansas under water Thu May 24, 11:28 AM ET

HUTCHINSON, Kan. - Torrential rainfall hit parts of the Plains and Midwest, flooding towns in Kansas Thursday, toppling trees and power lines and pelting the countryside with hail. Some central Kansas towns recorded as much as 7 inches of rain in some places up to 2 inches per hour starting Wednesday.The deluge closed dozens of roads, some flooded for the second time in three weeks, said Dean Speaks, deputy emergency management director for Saline County.It's taken out the roads that we fixed (after the first flooding), Speaks said. Numerous government facilities, homes and businesses in the Salina area were flooded.

Everyone in the Saline County towns of Bavaria and Hedville — about 80 people — evacuated their homes overnight. Fifty homes in Ogden, near Fort Riley, were being voluntarily evacuated as area creeks rose.In Hutchinson, many motorists had to be helped from their cars as water flooded streets.

In some places, there are people with water up to their porches, Hutchinson Fire Chief Kim Forbes said. Fire trucks were used to help move people to higher ground or to shelters.The storms also spawned tornadoes and funnel clouds, but no significant tornado damage was reported. Toppled trees and power lines were reported in Minnesota and Wisconsin.The National Weather Service posted a flood warning for the Big Nemaha River in southeastern Nebraska. It was expected to crest three feet over flood stage late Thursday evening or night, and rain was forecast through midafternoon.

May 24, 2007 WILDFIRES UPDATE

Firefighters continue to make progress on the 14 large fires in Georgia and Florida. Fire crews in Florida are working to improve fireslines and mop-up within the perimeter. In Georgia, wildland fires have burned more than 571 square miles, an area more than four times the size of Atlanta. Current information about road closures in Georgia is available through the Georgia Department of Transportation (404-656-5267). In Florida, dial 511 from a cell phone or visit the Florida Highway
Patrol web site. Weather Discussion: Gusty winds and low relative humidity will continue over southern Georgia and northern Florida. Winds will decrease across northern California with generally warmer and drier weather across California, Arizona and the Great Basin. Central Alaska will be partly cloudy and not as windy.

Daily statistics 5/23/07
Number of new large fires 4 States currently reporting large fires:
Number of active large fires 18 California (1)
Florida (7)
Georgia (7)
North Carolina (1)
Nevada (1)
Tennessee (1)
Acres from active fires 574,028
Number of Wildland Fire Use (WFU) fires 0
Number of Wildland Fire Use (WFU) acres 0
Fires contained on 5/22/07 2
Year-to-date large fires contained 314
Year-to-date statistics
2007 (1/1/07 - 5/23/07) Fires: 34,314 Acres: 1,087,696
2006 (1/1/06 - 5/23/06) Fires: 40,732 Acres: 2,503,742
2005 (1/1/05 - 5/23/05) Fires: 22,189 Acres: 348,163
2004 (1/1/04 - 5/23/04) Fires: 30,893 Acres: 499,319
2003 (1/1/03 - 5/23/03) Fires: 20,206 Acres: 384,685
2002 (1/1/02 - 5/23/02) Fires: 29,512 Acres: 715,875
2001 (1/1/01 - 5/23/01) Fires: 32,038 Acres: 611,178
2000 (1/1/00 - 5/23/00) Fires: 40,297 Acres: 1,026,401
8-year average
2000 - 2007 Fires: 31,007 Acres: 828,614

Source: National Interagency Coordination Center

REVELATION 9:14-18
14 Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates.
15 And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men.
16 And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand:(200 MILLION MAN ARY) and I heard the number of them.
17 And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone.
18 By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.(NUCLEAR BOMBS)

THE BIBLE SAYS THAT WW3 BEGINS AT THE EUPHRATES RIVER. WHETHER IT WAS THE US INVASION OF IRAQ. THE MOSQUE BOMBING LAST YEAR NEAR THE EUPHRATES OR MAYBE THIS MURDER IN THE EUPHRATES THAT MIGHT BE THE KICKOFF TO WW3. ONLY GOD KNOWS BUT THE BIBLE SAYS 1/3 OF EARTHS POPULATION DIE IN WW3 STARTED AT THE EUPHRATES RIVER.

Body found in Iraq is Calif. soldier By RAVI NESSMAN, Associated Press Writer MAY 24,07

BAGHDAD - Thousands of U.S. and Iraqi troops fanned out across the fields of southern Iraq in scorching temperatures Thursday as the military said it remained determined to find two missing U.S. soldiers after the body of a third was pulled from a river. Also Thursday, a car bomb targeting a funeral procession in the turbulent city of Fallujah killed at least 26 people, police and medical officials
said.The military confirmed that the body found Wednesday in the Euphrates River south of Baghdad was that of Pfc. Joseph Anzack Jr., of Torrance, Calif., who had been missing since militants ambushed his unit nearly two weeks ago.

A commanding officer identified the remains recovered from the river, but DNA tests were still pending, military officials told Anzack's family.They told us, 'We're sorry to inform you the body we found has been identified as Joe, said the soldier's aunt, Debbie Anzack. I'm in disbelief.Anzack, 20,vanished along with the two other soldiers after their combat team was ambushed May 12 about 20 miles outside Baghdad. Five others, including an Iraqi, were killed in the ambush, subsequently claimed by al-Qaida.The attack triggered a massive search operation in the area south of Baghdad known as the triangle of death for the insurgent activity there.On Thursday, soldiers proceeded with their mission, despite Anzack's death. One unit searched chicken coops and trudged through mud, canals and tall reeds in the brutal heat.The search continues, said Lt. Col. Christopher Garver, a U.S. military spokesman.

Members of Anzack's platoon choked back tears at news of his death and said they would not stop looking for the other two missing soldiers.We can't leave them behind. I just hope that they have enough faith to keep them going. What they're going through right now, I can't imagine, said Pfc. Sammy Rhodes, 25, of Albuquerque, N.M.Spc. Daniel Seitz, 22, of Pensacola, Fla., said he was trying to stay strong and push ahead with the search.It just angers me that it's just another friend I've got to lose and deal with, because I've already lost 13 friends since I've been here and I don't know if I can take any more of this, he said.Lt. Col. Josslyn Aberle denied reports that a second body had been found and was being examined to determine if it was that of another of the missing soldiers. The reports of a second set of remains being found is a false report, the spokeswoman said.

The U.S. military also said two U.S. soldiers were killed Wednesday during combat operations in Iraq's volatile Anbar province. Those deaths, along with the deaths of nine other troopers announced Wednesday, brought the American death toll for the month to at least 82.

Last month, 104 U.S. troops were killed in Iraq.The increase in U.S. deaths come at a difficult moment for Washington, where the Bush administration and congressional Democrats have been wrangling for weeks on how long American troops should stay.On Thursday, President Bush said he supports a $120 billion Iraq war spending bill on track to pass Congress later in the day. The bill funds the war through September as Bush wanted and does not set a date for troop withdrawals. In exchange for dropping restrictions on the military, Bush agreed to some $17 billion in spending added by Democrats to fund domestic and military-related projects.By voting for this bill, members of both parties can show our troops and the Iraqis and the enemy that our country will support our service men and women in harm's way, Bush said in a Rose Garden news conference.

While the measure does not include a timetable on the war, it does threaten to withhold U.S. aid dollars for Iraq if Baghdad fails to make progress on political and security reforms. The president, however, could waive that restriction. Bush said Iraq's ability to meet the benchmarks outlined in the bill would be difficult. It's going to be hard work for this young government, he said. After all, the Iraqis are recovering from decades of brutal dictatorship.In other violence, a parked car bomb exploded Thursday morning in Fallujah, 40 miles west of Baghdad, as a funeral procession passed by for a man who worked against al-Qaida in Iraq. The blast killed 26 people and wounded 45 others, police and medical officials said. The funeral was being held for Alaa Zuwaid, a 60-year-old restaurant owner who was part of a tribe that had formed an alliance with other tribal leaders against al-Qaida.

Zuwaid was killed earlier Thursday when unknown militants shot him in front of his house, police said. His 25-year-old son was killed by militants nearly a month ago as he walked down the street. On the outskirts of Baghdad, gunmen ambushed a minibus near the Shiite-dominated district of al-Hussainya, killing 11 passengers, police said. The attackers then planted a bomb on the bus, which blew up when police arrived, injuring four of them, police said. A suicide bomber detonated a bomb aboard another minibus driving through Baghdad, killing three civilians and injuring eight others, police said. In Sulaiman Bek, 75 miles south of the northern city of Kirkuk, a roadside bomb an Iraqi police convoy killed six police officers Thursday morning, Iraqi police said. Nationwide, at least 104 people were killed in sectarian violence or found dead Wednesday, including 32 who died in suicide bombings.

Insurgents in Baghdad also attacked a convoy of U.S. diplomats and their military escort with small arms fire on Wednesday, the U.S. military said. Apache helicopters fired at several of the armed attackers, the military said. U.S. troops then arrived to secure the area and allow the convoy to leave, the military said.

Thousands of U.S. and Iraqi forces have been involved in the search for the soldiers ambushed and captured May 12. Maj. Gen. William Caldwell, the chief U.S. military spokesman in Iraq, said the remains, later identified as those of Anzack, were recovered by Iraqi police. Witnesses said police using civilian boats searched for other bodies on the river in Musayyib, about 40 miles south of Baghdad, and U.S. troops intensified their presence on a nearby bridge as helicopters flew overhead, witnesses said. Hassan al-Jibouri, 32, said he saw the body with head wounds and whip marks on its back floating on the river Wednesday. He and others then alerted police. The remaining missing soldiers are Spc. Alex R. Jimenez, 25, of Lawrence, Mass., and Pvt. Byron W. Fouty, 19, of Waterford, Mich. At Jimenez's father's home, a yellow ribbon also was tied on the front door. Ramon Jimenez, who speaks Spanish, said through a translator in a cell phone conversation that he has been helped by the support of friends and family. The hope is very high that God is going to give Alex back to him, said Wendy Luzon, a family friend who translated and has been serving as a spokeswoman. AP writers Maya Alleruzzo in Youssifiyah, Iraq, Lolita Baldor in Washington, Glen Johnson in Lawrence, Mass., David Aguilar in Commerce Township, Mich., and Jeremiah Marquez in Torrance, Calif., contributed to this report.

Israel grabs Hamas leaders in West Bank By ALI DARAGHMEH, Associated Press Writer MAY 24,07

NABLUS, West Bank - Israel rounded up a Palestinian Cabinet minister and 32 other Hamas leaders in the West Bank before dawn Thursday, trying a new tactic in its campaign to pressure the Islamic militant group into halting rocket barrages from the Gaza Strip. The Palestinian president condemned the arrests, saying they would hinder his efforts to restore a truce with Israel, while Hamas threatened to retaliate with attacks inside the Jewish state.The arrests reflected an Israeli decision to target the Hamas political leadership — but not necessarily with the lethal airstrikes it has staged over the past week on Hamas targets.On Thursday, Israel carried out several airstrikes in Gaza, all directed at Hamas training bases and command posts. A huge plume of black smoke rose over Gaza City after an afternoon attack, but there were no serious injuries, Palestinian medics said.At sundown, two mortar shells fired from Gaza exploded at Erez, the main crossing for people between the Palestinian territory and Israel. No was hurt, but there was considerable damage to two of the processing lanes, and Israel closed the crossing, the military said.

More than 40 Palestinians died in Israeli air raids over the past 10 days, and a rocket killed an Israeli woman Monday. The rocket barrages have severely disrupted life in the southern Israel area near Gaza, and thousands of frightened residents have fled.Israeli Defense Minister Amir Peretz said the arrests in the West Bank were part of Israel's attempt to neutralize Hamas and lessen the bloodshed.

Arrests are better than shooting, he told Israeli Army Radio. The arrest of these Hamas leaders sends a message to the military organizations that we demand that this (rocket) firing stop.But Hamas remained defiant: We will chase the occupation soldiers and the settlers in every inch of our occupied land, and we announce that we give free hand to our cells to strike against the enemy in every place in Palestine a term the Islamic group uses to include Israel.The office of Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, a member of Hamas, demanded the immediate release of the detainees and urged the United Nations and European Union to impose sanctions on Israel.

The EU's foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and called for both sides to halt the violence. The rockets and the Israeli response have to stop, he told reporters after the meeting.Abbas, a moderate in the Fatah movement, said that the arrests by Israel hurt peace efforts and that airstrikes weren't stopping the rocket salvos.But he also condemned what he called the absurd rocket fire by Palestinian extremists and said he was trying to persuade militant groups to halt. They must stop so we can reach a truce with Israel, Abbas said.Just after the meeting, Israeli aircraft carried out two more attacks, hitting an empty Hamas base in Gaza City and a base in central Gaza, Palestinian security officials said. The Israeli military said only that it struck Hamas emplacements. Four civilians suffered slight injuries from flying glass and debris in the Gaza City attack, medics said. No one was hurt in the second strike.

The most prominent Hamas leader arrested overnight was Education Minister Nasser Shaer, considered a pragmatist. His wife, Huda, said soldiers knocked on the door of their home in Nablus and took him away, along with his computer. Israel also detained Shaer for a month last year, before a judge ordered his release.Israel already held 40 Palestinian lawmakers from Hamas, including parliament speaker Abdel Aziz Duaik. They were detained after Hamas-linked gunmen abducted an Israeli soldier last June. The idea was to trade the lawmakers for the soldier, but no deal took place.

Also among those rounded up Thursday were former Cabinet minister Abdel Rahman Zeidan, legislators Hamed Bitawi and Daoud Abu Ser, the mayors of the towns of Nablus, Qalqiliya and Beita, and the head of the main Islamic charity in Nablus. Israel has failed to quell rocket fire over the years, despite large-scale ground offensives that caused multiple casualties and widespread damage in areas used by militants. Abbas' security forces have made few visible efforts to halt rocket salvos.

Instead, the rocket attacks diminish when Palestinian militants decide to lower the flame. Intentionally or not, the latest flare-up with Israel stopped a month of bloody internal clashes between Hamas and Fatah security forces in Gaza. Israel's military said Hamas fired six rockets into Israel on Thursday, though Hamas claimed firing 14, still less than previous days. Alone Ben-David, military analyst for Israel's Channel 10 TV, said the decrease in rocket fire was a hint that Hamas might have achieved its goals and was ready to wind down the crisis. Ben-David added, however, that firing would likely escalate if Israel killed a top Hamas commander in an airstrike.

Are you ready Book to buy MAY 25,07

Dear Friend,

The horror of that terrible day -- the day we have come to call 9/11 who saw it coming? Illegal aliens? The media isn’t telling you the whole story. The U.S. dollar is on its way out. Coming next: the amero that’s what you’ll spend after the unification of Canada, the USA, and Mexico. Who has the facts? Someone in President Bush’s inner circle is reported to be promoting Israel-Palestinian policies that contradict biblical prophecy. What’s going on behind closed doors?

Beloved, I want to send you an amazing new book that reveals the answers to these and innumerable other fascinating questions of our day -- and of your future -- entitled: ARE YOU READY?

Truly one of the finest books I’ve read in years, ARE YOU READY? by Paul McGuire, reveals astonishing inside facts about Al Qaeda’s nuclear war plans for America ... an electromagnetic pulse weapon that could wipe out all electric and communication systems in the U.S. and starve millions ... the banning of the book of Revelation in China ... and much more!

Do you realize there are secret Executive Orders on the books right now which allow the government to declare martial law and take over all modes of transportation, food resources and farms, health education and welfare functions, electrical power and fuel resources, all airports and airplanes, and the flow of money including salaries? What could this mean? This book answers the questions! Do you realize the Postmaster General is authorized to conduct a national registration of all people? What prophecy does this sound like? This book shows you the truth!

Do you realize that weapons existing today could create a nuclear winter? Revelation 16:21 is at hand: And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent: and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail; for the plague thereof was exceeding great.

ARE YOU READY? offers an astounding array of inside facts:

7,000 U.S. nuclear warheads pointed at Russia
Russia’s early warning computer systems crumbling and imprecise
Modern plagues, such as sexual immorality and child pornography, fulfilling prophecy today
The intertwining of Israel’s future with America’s
Modern evangelical preachers straying from the historical Gospel of Jesus Christ and the book of Revelation (Why? Because it confronts mankind with self-destructive sin!)
Multitudes of Christians now biblically illiterate!
America emerging as the Laodicean Church of Revelation 3:15,16,20
The Satan’s Seat, reproduced by Hitler, moving from Russia to Germany in our lifetime!

Most crucial of all, ARE YOU READY? paints a picture of the future of North America -- and I guarantee you, this is a picture you have never imagined! As you give a gift of $20 (U.S.), $25 (Canada) or more, I want to send you this shocking book. I urge you to give even more generously, request two copies, and share one with a friend. They will thank you for the incredible experience of absorbing this fascinating, fast-paced volume.Meanwhile, your generous gift will help Rexella and me to press ahead in this soul-winning work around the entire world, leading multitudes to faith in Christ before it’s eternally too late!

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Yours in world evangelism,
Jack Van Impe

P.S. Your gift will help me be there for you and for your unsaved loved ones. Thank you again!

JUDE 14-16
14 And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints,
15 To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them (Bill Maher, Rosie Odonnell) of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.(JESUS)
16 These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaketh great swelling words, having men’s persons in admiration because of advantage.

THIS BILL MAHER IS THE GODLESS OF THE GODLESS LEFT. GET HIM OFF THE AIR.

Catholic League blasts HBO's Bill Maher for his comments about Falwell
Chad Groening OneNewsNow.com May 25, 2007

A Catholic civil rights organization is absolutely outraged at recent comments made by entertainer Bill Maher following the death of Dr. Jerry Falwell. During his May 18 broadcast of HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher, the host said, Now I know you're not supposed to speak ill of the dead, but I think we can make an exception. Kiera McCaffrey with the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights notes, The absolute hate that Bill Maher shows is just unbelievable. I mean, it's not surprising that just a couple days after Jerry Falwell's death, [Maher] goes on and is mocking his death, laughing about it, saying he's glad about it.McCaffrey says following his comments about Falwell, Maher launched into a vile assault on Catholicism, including mocking and profane references to the Virgin Mary, Mass, and the Eucharist. She believes Maher would never have said such things about Muslims.

Absolutely this would not happen to Muslims because there would be a violent reaction, the Catholic spokeswoman insists. And it would not happen to other groups, she asserts, because with Jews and blacks, there would be a quicker outcry from people saying, That's not fair. In the United States, however, most people don't even react when this happens to Christians.The really unfortunate thing, however, is that a lot of Christians don't react either, McCaffrey observes. They think, 'Oh well, it's Christian to turn the other cheek. But Christians should not have to tolerate this sort of behavior, she insists. McCaffrey says her organization has sent letters to all 14 board members of Time Warner, HBO's parent company, asking whether Bill Maher's highly offensive attack on Jesus Christ merits the same punishment afforded Don Imus for his racist remark about the Rutgers University women's basketball team.American Family News Network

North American union plan headed to Congress in fall
Powerful think tank prepares report on benefits of integration between U.S., Mexico, Canada May 24, 2007 - WorldNetDaily.com

WASHINGTON – A powerful think tank chaired by former Sen. Sam Nunn and guided by trustees including Richard Armitage, Zbigniew Brzezinski, Harold Brown, William Cohen and Henry Kissinger, is in the final stages of preparing a report to the White House and U.S. Congress on the benefits of integrating the U.S., Mexico and Canada into one political, economic and security bloc.

The final report, published in English, Spanish and French, is scheduled for submission to all three governments by Sept. 30, according to the Center for Strategic & International Studies. CSIS boasts of playing a large role in the passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement in 1994 – a treaty that set in motion a political movement many believe resembles the early stages of the European
Community on its way to becoming the European Union.

The results of the study will enable policymakers to make sound, strategic, long-range policy decisions about North America, with an emphasis on regionalintegration, explains Armand B. Peschard-Sverdrup, director of CSIS' Mexico Project.

Specifically, the project will focus on a detailed examination of future scenarios, which are based on current trends, and involve six areas of critical importance to the trilateral relationship: labor mobility, energy, the environment, security, competitiveness and border infrastructure and logistics.

The data collected for the report is based on seven secret roundtable sessions involving between 21 and 45 people and conducted by CSIS. The participants are politicians, business people, labor leaders and academics from all three countries with equal representation.

All of this is described in a CSIS report, North American Future 2025 Project.The free flow of people across national borders will undoubtedly continue throughout the world as well as in North America, as will the social, political and economic challenges that accompany this trend, says the report. In order to remain competitive in the global economy, it is imperative for the twenty-first century North American labor market to possess the flexibility necessary to meet industrial labor demands on a transitional basis and in a way that responds to market forces.As WND reported last week, the controversial Secure Borders, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Reform Act of 2007, which would grant millions of illegal aliens the right to stay in the U.S. under certain conditions, contains provisions for the acceleration of the Security and Prosperity Partnership, a plan for North American economic and defense integration with remarkable similarities to the CSIS plan.

The bill, as worked out by Senate and White House negotiators, cites the SPP agreement signed by President Bush and his counterparts in Mexico and Canada March 23, 2005 – an agreement that has been criticized as a blueprint for building a European Union-style merger of the three countries of North America.

It is the sense of Congress that the United States and Mexico should accelerate the implementation of the Partnership for Prosperity to help generate economic growth and improve the standard of living in Mexico, which will lead to reduced migration, the draft legislation states on page 211 on the version time-stamped May 18, 2007 11:58 p.m. Since agreement on the major provisions of the bill was announced late last week, a firestorm of opposition has ignited across the country.

Senators and representatives are reporting heavy volumes of phone calls and e-mails expressing outrage with the legislation they believe represents the largest amnesty program ever contemplated by the federal government.

Meanwhile, while many continue to express skepticism about a plot to integrate North America along the lines of the European Union, WND reported last week that 14 years ago, one of world's most celebrated economists and management experts said it was already on the fast track – and nothing could stop it. Peter F. Drucker, in one of his dozens of best-selling books, Post Capitalist Society, published in 1993, wrote that the European Community, the progenitor of the European Union, triggered the attempt to create a North American economic community, built around the United States but integrating both Canada and Mexico into a common market. So far this attempt is purely economic in its goal, wrote the Presidential Medal of Freedom honoree. But it can hardly remain so in the long run.Drucker describes in his book the worldwide trends toward globalization that were evident back then – the creation and empowerment of transnational organizations and institutions, international environmental goals regarding carbon dioxide and agreements to fight terrorism long
before 9/11.

Concern in Israel: No One is Stopping Iran!
by Hillel Fendel (MAY 24,07 INN)

The International Atomic Energy Commission (IAEA) released a report on Wednesday showing that not only has Iran not fulfilled its international demands, but it has also expanded the scope of its uranium enrichment. Iran is speeding towards a nuclear bomb, lamented an unnamed senior Israeli diplomatic figure, and no one is stopping her. So reported Maariv. Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni responded to the report with a show of diplomatic concern: The international community must concentrate on preventing Iran from attaining nuclear weapons. The report shows that the time element is critical, and the entire world must be united in understanding that we must not stray from this goal.Prime Minister Ehud Olmert assumed a more undaunted pose. Iran's continued uranium enrichment is a source of concern, according to a statement from Prime Minister Olmert's Bureau, even though it is insufficient to indicate that Iran has already achieved an industrial-level enrichment capability.The statement expressed Israel's regret at Iran's systematic and open violation of the resolutions of the UN Security Council and the IAEA... We view with utmost gravity the continuing deterioration in the level of Iranian cooperation with the IAEA's inspectors.

IRNA, the Iranian press agency, reported today that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that Iran, backed by its nation, has no fear of enemies' hue and cry and psychological warfare. We have got closer to our final goals with the grace of Allah, he told commanders of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps. The report reveals that instead of freezing the uranium enrichment program, Iran has widened its scope, with 1,300 centrifuges in operation in various nuclear facilities
throughout the country. Less than a year ago, an Iranian opposition group warned that hundreds of centrifuges could be operative by the following year [2007] if steps were not taken by the international community. We believe they pretty much have the knowledge about how to enrich, IAEA chief Mohammed El-Baradei told The New York Times almost two weeks ago. From now on, it is simply a question of perfecting that knowledge. People will not like to hear it, but thats a fact. Today, however, he backed off a bit, saying that Iran is still three to eight years away from achieving nuclear arms.Transportation Minister Sha'ul Mofaz, formerly Israel's Defense Minister, is scheduled to begin a round of talks in Washington on the matter in two weeks' time. A UN-imposed ultimatum demanding that Iran suspend its nuclear plans expires tomorrow, Friday.

A REMARKABLE 40TH ANNIVERSARY

1-WORLD QUAKES LAST 2 DAYS. 2-Offshore oil and hurricanes: Deeper may mean riskier. 3-Two-speed Europe would solve constitution deadlock, Prodi says. 4-European Union Calls for Calm in Lebanon. 5-Fatah Al-Islam Explained. 6-Navy Stages Show of Force Off Iran Coast. 7-A Remarkable 40th Anniversary

EARTHQUAKES

MATTHEW 24:7-8
7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.

MARK 13:8
8 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom:(ETHNIC GROUP AGAINST ETHNIC GROUP) and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows.

LUKE 21:11
11 And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.

WORLD QUAKES LAST 2 DAYS (USGS)

Update time = Thu May 24 10:00 PM EDT

MAY 24,07
MAP 4.7 GULF OF CALIFORNIA
MAP 5.0 SOLOMON ISLANDS
MAP 2.5 NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
MAP 5.6 GULF OF MEXICO
MAP 4.8 FIJI REGION
MAP 2.9 NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
MAP 2.6 KENAI PENINSULA, ALASKA
MAP 3.6 SOUTH OF ALASKA
MAP 3.2 VIRGIN ISLANDS REGION
MAP 3.4 NORTHERN ALASKA
MAP 5.4 MARIANA ISLANDS REGION
MAP 2.8 SOUTHERN ALASKA
MAP 4.5 SOUTH OF THE ALEUTIAN ISLANDS
MAP 2.9 CENTRAL ALASKA
MAP 3.3 NORTHERN ALASKA
MAP 3.3 NEW MEXICO
MAP 2.8 ANDREANOF ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN IS., ALASKA
MAP 5.7 NORTHERN MID-ATLANTIC RIDGE
MAP 2.8 PUERTO RICO REGION
MAP 2.5 CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
MAP 2.7 NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
MAP 3.4 RAT ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS, ALASKA
MAP 4.4 GULF OF CALIFORNIA
MAP 3.1 FOX ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS, ALASKA

MAY 23,07
MAP 3.1 ANDREANOF ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN IS., ALASKA
MAP 4.9 LEYTE, PHILIPPINES
MAP 2.6 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
MAP 4.5 LAKE TANGANYIKA REGION, TANZANIA
MAP 5.0 LOYALTY ISLANDS
MAP 4.5 EAST OF THE KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 4.7 AZORES ISLANDS REGION
MAP 4.6 BANDA SEA
MAP 2.8 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
MAP 4.7 VANUATU
MAP 3.1 VIRGIN ISLANDS REGION
MAP 3.4 RAT ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS, ALASKA
MAP 3.2 OFFSHORE NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
MAP 4.0 CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
MAP 2.5 NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
MAP 3.1 DOMINICAN REPUBLIC REGION
MAP 4.7 MARIANA ISLANDS REGION
MAP 2.8 ISLAND OF HAWAII, HAWAII
MAP 3.4 SOUTHERN ALASKA
MAP 3.5 VIRGIN ISLANDS REGION
MAP 2.8 BAJA CALIFORNIA, MEXICO
MAP 3.4 DOMINICAN REPUBLIC REGION
MAP 2.6 CENTRAL ALASKA
MAP 2.9 CENTRAL ALASKA
MAP 4.9 SIMEULUE, INDONESIA
MAP 2.8 PUERTO RICO REGION

STORMS HURRICANES-TORNADOES

LUKE 21:25-26
25 And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity;(MASS CONFUSION) the sea and the waves roaring;(FIERCE WINDS)
26 Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.

Offshore oil and hurricanes: Deeper may mean riskier By Bruce Nichols
Wed May 23, 11:50 AM ET

HOUSTON (Reuters) - As oil companies working in the Gulf of Mexico prepare for an active hurricane season, experts say more drilling in deeper waters farther out to sea has made the United States more vulnerable to energy disruptions. Forecasters have predicted that as many as 17 named storms, five of which could be major hurricanes, will form this season in the Atlantic Basin, which includes the gulf. The season starts June 1 and runs through November 30.

Companies have shored up offshore rigs with additional mooring lines and higher decks and added sophisticated equipment to monitor operations during storms and immediately afterward.But experts say the quest for oil and natural gas in deeper waters has put more drilling rigs, producing platforms and pipelines in the path of storms intensified by the warm loop current in the middle of the Gulf.

The theory is that storms get over the warmer loop current and intensify -- not all of them, but some, said Andy Radford of the American Petroleum Institute. The problem is, as we have gone deeper into the Gulf, we're getting farther offshore, and we're feeling the effects.The Gulf of Mexico is the source of 30 percent of U.S. domestic oil production and 20 percent of its natural gas output. Refineries supplying the nation with fuel dot the Gulf Coast. Gas pipelines run from the Gulf across the country.

Seventy percent of the gulf's oil and 40 percent of its gas come from waters deeper than 1,000 feet, even though 1 percent of the 3,800 platforms are there, the U.S. Minerals Management Service says.

Thus, storm damage to one has a big impact.

In 2005, Hurricanes Katrina and Rita knocked out a quarter of U.S. crude and fuel production, toppling offshore platforms, destroying undersea pipelines, flooding coastal refineries and sending energy prices to then-record highs.This year, refining and pipeline companies have stocked up on generators, food and trailers to keep operations running in the event of a major storm.Offshore operators have increased the number of mooring lines on most mobile drilling rigs from eight to 12 to keep them from breaking free during a storm.Jackup rigs -- which float out, lower legs and stand on the bottom to drill -- are setting decks higher to avoid storm waves. And better planning is expected to keep them out of undersea mudslide areas and minimize risks to pipelines.

BETTER PREPARED

The first named storm of 2006, Andrea, formed in May, before the start of the season, boosting companies' concern.Having already seen a storm, they're working frantically to make sure everything is ready, BP Plc spokesman Neil Chapman said.Officials have put particular emphasis on keeping oil and gas flowing by using backup pipeline routes and barges or ships to move oil if pipelines break.

We're working with other operators to come up with options for flow assurance, said Shell spokesman Fred Palmer.To improve future preparedness, companies have installed more data-gathering equipment on rigs and platforms.When we see the next big storm, we'll have more data and will probably make more refinements to our standards, said API's Radford.

Meanwhile, the hope is to avoid the record disruptions of 2005, a season in which Katrina killed at least 1,300 people and did an estimated $81 billion in damage, a U.S. record. We feel pretty confident at this point, but you never know what could happen, said Bill Holbrook, spokesman for the National Petrochemical and Refiners Association.

Two-speed Europe would solve constitution deadlock, Prodi says
22.05.2007 - 17:43 CET | By Renata Goldirova

EUOBSERVER / STRASBOURG – In the run up to the decisive EU summit on finding a way out of the constitutional impasse, the pro-European camp has started to sound the drum, with Italy's prime minister calling to preserve as much as possible of the draft EU treaty. In the last two years, almost only eurosceptic views have been listened to. It is time to listen to those who ratified the 2004 treaty, Italian prime minister Romano Prodi told MEPs in Strasbourg on Tuesday (22 May). Mr Prodi –
claiming to speak on behalf of 18 EU states which have largely ratified the original text – rejected radical changes to the foreseen institutional reforms. He listed the EU foreign minister, a lengthier presidency, the extension of qualified majority voting, the union's legal personality and the abolition of its three-pillar structure as elements which must be preserved.If the compromise does not convince
us, we will not sign it, he warned, clearly stating that a multi-speed Europe could bring about the long-sought breakthrough on the controversial issue.

At this point, a vanguard of countries could…be the best way to proceed towards a more integrated union, on condition that door remains always open to those countries willing to join later, he said.

Referring to sceptical EU governments in Warsaw, London and The Hague which want the new text to be scaled down considerably - the former European Commission president added that he hoped this approach would overcome any temptation of veto.Going on to talk about the 21-22 June summit, the Italian politician said that EU leaders should agree a precise and selective mandate for the intergovernmental conference (IGC) that is supposed to hammer out the treaty in the second half of this year. If the negotiation terms for the IGC are too wide, he warned, there is unlikely to be an agreement within the strict timetable envisaged by the German EU presidency. With an open mandate, the conference can be hardly closed by late 2007, and the time necessary to pass the new agreement at national level would make it impossible to complete the process by early 2009, he said.

MEPs' red lines

Meanwhile, members of the European Parliament have also laid down their red lines, saying they will reject any outcome of the negotiations, which – if compared to the constitutional treaty – would lead to a diminution of the protection of the rights of citizens…as well as less democracy, transparency and efficiency in the functioning of the union.According to German conservative MEP Elmar Brok and Spanish socialist MEP Enrique Baron Crespo – both in charge of the constitutional dossier in the run up to the EU summit in June – the European Charter of Fundamental Rights, the legal personality for the bloc and a greater EU role in foreign policy are non-negotiable and must remain part of the compromise treaty.

The referendum should not be used as blackmail, Mr Brok said, referring to the UK's opposition to the rights charter, with London sometimes accused of hanging a Damocles sword over the rest of the EU by saying that a treaty that has too many elements will have to be put to a referendum - unlikely to be passed a sceptical British population.

A similar warning was issued to Warsaw which opposes the new system of voting in the rejected constitution. The word veto is not part of the treaty. We must negotiate in the best will, not use threats, said Mr Baron Crespo.

At the same time, MEPs hinted that Poland's hardline approach on the EU decision-making mechanism could come at a price, affecting Warsaw's call for an energy solidarity clause to be included in the constitution.Mr Crespo also suggested Warsaw focuses on the so-called Ioannina clause, a compromise adopted in the mid-1990s which suggests that if a decision is only narrowly reached by member states and others remain strongly opposed then the issue will continue to be discussed to try and find a compromise solution.This could be a way forward for Poland, he said.

European Union Calls for Calm in Lebanon
Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: MAY 23,07

Palestinians are protesting against the Lebanese army's action The EU's foreign policy chief has visited Lebanon, expressing his support for the government. Javier Solana said the EU wanted to help establish a political dialogue for the country once the bloodshed is halted.

In the latest international call for restraint from all sides in Lebanon, the European Union's foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, has appealed for a halt to the bloodshed.I am hoping very much for calm, Solana told a press conference after meeting Lebanon's Prime Minister Fuad Siniora late Tuesday in Beirut. He said political dialogue was necessary to solve the crisis.This is the only solution, Solana said.The Lebanese army had been locked in fierce fighting with extremists in the north since Sunday. But both sides agreed on a truce on Tuesday.

Solana defends Lebanese government's action

Solana said the fighting only involved some hundred extremists.Bildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: Thousands of Palestinians are fleeing from the troubled region in the north. I don't think that there would be any difficulties from a military point of view for the Lebanese armed forces to control the situation, Solana said. He defended the military campaign and said the government was fighting a terrorist group. Yet he called on the Lebanese army to respect the safety of civilians. We hope that the actions of the army will be in conformity with the values and high standards of protecting civilians, Solana said.

EU to help Lebanon tackle the crisis

The EU official's visit, part of a regional tour, was meant to show support for the western-backed Siniora and his government, which have been locked in a months-long dispute with the Syrian-backed opposition.Bildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: Solana says Lebanon can count on the EU's support Earlier, Solana had said the European Union wanted to help Lebanon resolve the crisis and tackle its economic woes once the bloodshed is halted.

We want to help calm the situation and see if its possible to move in establishing a political dialogue, he told reporters in Israel, the first stop of his tour.The visit comes as the UN Security Council works to impose the establishment of an international court to try suspects in the 2005 murder of former Lebanese premier Rafiq Hariri. A draft resolution has been circulated at the request of the Western-backed government despite resistance from the opposition.Solana continued to Cairo on Wednesday. After visiting Egypt, he will go to the Gaza Strip and then wind up his mission by returning to Israel.

Fatah Al-Islam Explained (By Ayman El-Masry) Wednesday , 23 May 2007

BEIRUT — The previously little known Fatah Al-Islam, a militant group battling the Lebanese army, is different from all other groups based in Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon. Unlike Palestinian groups it comprises a throng of wanted Syrian, Lebanese and people from the Gulf, a well-kept Palestinian figure in Lebanon told IslamOnline.net, requesting anonymity. Fatah al-Islam announced its creation last November after breaking away from Fatah Al-Intifada, a splinter group of the mainstream Fatah movement.In its foundation statement, it introduced itself as an Islamic group seeking to liberate Palestine and restore Muslim sanctities captured by Israel.Fatah al-Islam said it would fight Israelis and their supporters.

Experts believe the group is ideologically but not operationally linked to Al-Qaeda and is played by Lebanese and Arab parties to achieve political gains.Its leader Shaker Abssi, a Palestinian born in Areha in 1955, is a former colonel pilot.He joined Fatah Al-Intifada in Libya after its defection from the umbrella Fatah movement in 1983.He then moved to Damascus where he became close to Fatah Al-Intifada's no. 2 Abu Khaled Al-Omla.

Syrian authorities arrested Abssi in 2000 and sentenced him to three years in prison on charges of smuggling weapons, ammunition to Jordan and vice versa.No sooner had he been released than he went to Iraq following the US-led invasion.In Iraq, Abssi fought along with groups loyal to Al-Qaeda and made friends with a number of Al-Qaeda leaders there.He later returned to Syria where he once again hocked up with Omla who helped him relocate to Lebanon and set himself up in the headquarters of Fatah Al-Intifada in the village of Helwa, the Western Beqaa.

Splinter

Abssi went to Lebanon in 2005 with a group of youths he met in Iraq and stayed there around a year before getting into trouble with the Lebanese army in May 2006.An armed clash with Lebanese soldiers and Abssi's small group in Western Beqaa led to the killing of one young Syrian wanted by Damascus for fighting in Iraq.Syrian intelligence services smelled a rat and summoned Omla to ask him about the nature of this small group led by Abssi.

The investigation unmasked the close coordination between Omla and Abssi which were kept from the pro-Damascus Secretary General of Fatah Al-Intifada, Abu Moussa, and consequently the Syrian authorities.Omla then ordered Abssi to leave the Western Beqaa, which is close to the borders with Syria, and head for refugee camps in northern Lebanon.In November 2006, the security committee in Al-Badawi refugee camp handed over two of Abssi's small group to the Lebanese military intelligence. Palestinian groups handle security inside the 12 refugees camps across Lebanon, where the country's over-stretched army of 40,000 may not enter under a 1969 Arab accord.An infuriated Abssi immediately decided to break up with Fatah Al-Intifada and establish his own Fatah Al-Islam group.

Al-Qaeda Ideology

The new splinter group seized the locations of Fatah Al-Intifada in Nahr Al-Bared camp.It attracted Lebanese and people from the Gulf who subscribe to Al-Qaeda ideologies.The Palestinian sources said Fatah Al-Islam is morally and financially supported by Jihadist groups in Lebanon.Experts agree that the group has no organizational link to Al-Qaeda but share its takfiri (calling others unbelievers)
and violent mindset.The group's members believe, for instance, that parliamentary or government work is unlawful under Islam.They rapped the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas for signing the Makkah agreement with Fatah last February, accusing Hamas of making concessions on Palestinian rights.The group further sent some of its fighters to Iraq to help establish the self-declared Islamic Republic of Iraq.Abssi has denied any organizational links to Al-Qaeda but recognized that both groups share the aim of fighting infidels.Abssi was sentenced to death in Jordan for killing a US diplomat in 2002.The slain leader of al Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, received a similar sentence for the same crime.

Penetrated

Experts believe that Fatah Al-Islam is nonetheless penetrated by Lebanese and Arab parties that use it as a front to achieve political gains.The Palestinian politician, who requested anonymity, said the Future movement of MP Saad Al-Hariri had tried in vain to buy the loyalty of the group in its power struggle with Shiite Hizbullah.But the director of the Lebanese Center for Information, Ahmed Al-Ayoubi, believes that a major section of Fatah Al-Islam is directed by the Syrian regime.The Syrian strategy to face UN Security Council Resolution 1701 is based either on provoking a Hizbullah-UNIFIL conflict, which is an unlikely scenario, or pitting an armed group against UNIFIEL troops or the Lebanese army, he told IOL.Ayoubi insists that the group picked Nahr Al-Bared camp as a stronghold because the coastal camp, according to him, is a haven for pro-Syria groups.Lebanese authorities have accused Fatah al-Islam of working for the Syrian intelligence services.

It said four Syrian members of Fatah Al-Islam confessed to bombing two buses in February in a Christian area near Beirut.The group had denied any involvement in the bombings and accused the government of framing it to justify a crackdown on Palestinian camps.Syria, which withdrew its troops from Lebanon in 2005 after an outcry over the assassination of former Lebanese premier Rafik Hariri, has denied any links with Fatah Al-Islam.By Ayman El-Masry May 23, 2007 Islam Online

Navy Stages Show of Force Off Iran Coast
May 23, 10:31 AM (ET) By BARBARA SURK

(AP) This image provided by the US Navy shows (from top to bottom) the USS Nimitz (CVN 68), the USS..DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) - The U.S. Navy staged its latest show of military force off the Iranian coastline on Wednesday, sending two aircraft carriers and landing ships packed with 17,000 U.S. Marines and sailors to carry out unannounced exercises in the Persian Gulf.

The carrier strike groups led by the USS John C. Stennis and USS Nimitz were joined by the amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard and its own strike group, which includes landing ships carrying members of the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit.The Navy said nine U.S. warships passed through the narrow Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday. Merchant ships passing through the busy strait carry two-fifths of the world's oil exports.

Aircraft aboard the three carriers and the Bonhomme Richard were to conduct air training while the ships ran submarine, mine and other exercises.The maneuvers came just two months after a previous exercise in March when two U.S. carrier groups carried out two days of air and sea maneuvers off the Iranian coast.

Before the arrival of the Bonhomme Richard strike group, the Navy maintained around 20,000 U.S personnel at sea in the Gulf and neighboring waters.U.S. warships have frequently collided with merchant ships in the busy shipping lanes of the Gulf.

A Remarkable 40th Anniversary - By Gary Stearman MAY 24,07

On June 5, 1967, Israel entered perhaps the most significant war in its modern history. Egypt, Syria and other Arab countries were poised to attack. Israel pre-empted their move and won the day, capturing the Golan Heights, Gaza and all of Israel west of the Jordan. Israeli soldiers stood on the Holy Mountain. At this historic moment, Israel was charged with a great responsibility. Their miraculous victory gave them a sacred trust, in effect, a trial to determine whether they could keep that which the Lord had given them.Now, as we draw near the fortieth year of this great experiment, we watch an Israel that totters on the brink of catastrophe, surrounded by voracious predators who believe that Israel is within their grasp. It is no secret that their enemies' long-held wish is to bring Israel and the Jews to extinction. As we watch in suspense, we ask, Will Israel pass the test? In the Bible, the number forty carries a strong complex of meanings, both negative and positive.

Symbolically, it marks a period of immersion into the fast-flowing stream of God's will. When we compare the many instances of this span, we find that they offer us a strong interpretive tool in the study of prophecy.When forty occurs in connection with individuals, groups or nations, it suggests a time of testing. It also carries the idea of probation … a supervised period, during which the object of God's will is allowed to demonstrate spiritual maturity.For the past forty years -- since Israel's miraculous victory in the Six-Day War -- Christians have watched Israel with a mixture of hope, expectancy, curiosity and disappointment. We have witnessed victories, defeats, assassinations and spiritual milestones. Most of all, we have seen the building scenario that is quickly thrusting us into the end-time era so clearly expounded by the ancient prophets.

The view of modern Israel as God's prophetic timepiece is well understood by Christians who observe events in the Middle East through the lens of dispensational interpretation. Israel is now moving through a series of actions on a timetable that will lead it to a series of cataclysmic events, each of which is designed to restore the broken world system and place Israel at the head of the nations.Israel watchers are about to experience a most interesting confluence of dates, all clustered about this amazing number. At this time of the year, we have just passed through the spring festivals of the Jews … Passover, Unleavened Bread and Firstfruits. Now, in the month of May, Pentecost arrives, with its promise of spiritual renewal. The feasts commemorate transactions between God and Israel. Each of them is freighted with meaning.It is forty years since Israelis stood victorious upon their Temple Mount. Since we have arrived at such a significant epoch, it is well worthwhile to revisit the significance of the number forty.

Bullinger Defines Forty

In 1894, E. W. Bullinger wrote a groundbreaking book, entitled Number in Scripture. This book documents the statistical connection between biblical events and any numerical contexts that may appear with them. Concerning the number forty, he writes: Forty has long been universally recognized as an important number, both on account of the frequency of its occurrence, and the uniformity of its association with the period of probation, trial, and chastisement – (not judgment, like the number 9, which stands in connection with the punishment of enemies, but the chastisement of sons, and of a covenant people). It is the product of 5 and 8, and points to the action of grace (5), leading to and ending in revival and renewal (8). This is certainly the case where forty relates to a period of evident probation. But where it relates to enlarged dominion, or to renewed or extended rule, then it does so in virtue of its factors 4 and 10, and in harmony with their signification [p. 266].Four, the number of the kingdom and ten, the number of ordinal perfection, speak of the future period of Christ's rule on earth. Thanks to men like Bullinger and many who followed in his footsteps, it is common for us to look at forty as a period of testing that leads to failure. But many forget that in testing, there is grace.

An integral part of testing is renewal and enlargement. Thus, the final state of testing is the enhancement of the general spiritual condition. Notice, also, that Bullinger breaks the number forty down into the smaller numbers, which constitute its basic factors. He pioneered this method of analyzing Scripture and, to this day, it adds to the array of techniques that allow us to discern scriptural meaning. Before looking at the current example of forty, let us look at a few past illustrations.

Moses and the Great Test

At the top of Bullinger's list is the life of Moses. The last forty years of his life were spent guiding the twelve tribes through the wilderness. As he spoke to the people, he reminded them to remember the Law and the Lord's command to conquer Canaan. He also urged them to acknowledge all that the Lord had done for them. In so doing, he mentions the forty years and the fact that they were both a test and a blessing:All the commandments which I command thee this day shall ye observe to do, that ye may live, and multiply, and go in and possess the land which the LORD sware unto your fathers.

And thou shalt remember all the way which the LORD thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no.

And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live.Thy raiment waxed not old upon thee, neither did thy foot swell, these forty years.Thou shalt also consider in thine heart, that, as a man chasteneth his son, so the LORD thy God chasteneth thee (Deut. 8:1-5).

Here, Moses speaks to the new generation of the Lord's people near the end of their wilderness march. He reminds them of the forty-year challenge that God had laid before them, and that they are still to think of themselves as the inheritors of the Promised Land. He reminds them that God humbled them in order that they might examine themselves and confirm to themselves that their heart's motivation was pure.He repeats to them that which they already knew, that the Lord had fed them with heavenly food, in order that they might learn of His Word … more sustaining than mere physical food. And could it have been a surprise to them that even their clothing was preserved during the period of wandering? Finally, Moses reminds the people that the Lord chastens with love, as a Father chastens his son. In other words, testing is not designed to destroy the people, but strengthen them.
Forty years before, the generation that sinned heard quite a different message. Here, God speaks in judgment, promising death.

To them the forty years is a sentence, not a promise: Say unto them, As truly as I live, saith the LORD, as ye have spoken in mine ears, so will I do to you: Your carcases shall fall in this wilderness; and all that were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward, which have murmured against me,Doubtless ye shall not come into the land, concerning which I sware to make you dwell therein, save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun.But your little ones, which ye said should be a prey, them will I bring in, and they shall know the land which ye have despised.But as for you, your carcases, they shall fall in this wilderness.And your children shall wander in the wilderness forty years, and bear your whoredoms, until your carcases be wasted in the wilderness.After the number of the days in which ye searched the land, even forty days, each day for a year, shall ye bear your iniquities, even forty years, and ye shall know my breach of promise.I the LORD have said, I will surely do it unto all this evil congregation, that are gathered together against me: in this wilderness they shall be consumed, and there they shall die(Num. 14:28-35).Only a short while prior to this dark decree, twelve spies had been commissioned to investigate the Land, for the specific purpose of conquering it. As is well known, ten of them denied the possibility of defeating the Canaanites. Their faith was lost. Only Joshua and Caleb proclaimed that the Lord would bring them to their inheritance.

Significantly enough, the twelve scouted out the Land over a forty-day period! Once again, we see the solid and predictable biblical pattern. When the Lord commissions His people to accomplish something, forty is written upon their actions.

In this case, the spies' majority report was in the negative, ten to two. Doubting the Lord's power to bring them through, they failed the test. However, the two faithful men, Joshua and Caleb were rewarded and enlarged by their show of faith.Nor was this the only significant period of probation marked by forty days. Perhaps the most noteworthy example of this time span is found in the account of Moses' ascent into the smoke and fire of Mount Horeb. Twice, he climbed the mountain to receive the tables of the Law, each time for forty days.

Later, while recounting Israel's spiritual failures, Moses emphasizes the Lord's grace in not destroying the disobedient nation: Remember, and forget not, how thou provokedst the LORD thy God to wrath in the wilderness: from the day that thou didst depart out of the land of Egypt, until ye came unto this place, ye have been rebellious against the LORD (Deut. 9:7).Then, he recounts his two ascents of Horeb, both of which involved a forty-day period of time. Note in the following verses that Moses places himself in the narrative as an advocate for people gone tragically wrong.Also in Horeb ye provoked the LORD to wrath, so that the LORD was angry with you to have destroyed you.

When I was gone up into the mount to receive the tables of stone, even the tables of the covenant which the LORD made with you, then I abode in the mount forty days and forty nights, I neither did eat bread nor drink water:And the LORD delivered unto me two tables of stone written with the finger of God; and on them was written according to all the words, which the LORD spake with you in the mount out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly.

And it came to pass at the end of forty days and forty nights, that the LORD gave me the two tables of stone, even the tables of the covenant.And the LORD said unto me, Arise, get thee down quickly from hence; for thy people which thou hast brought forth out of Egypt have corrupted themselves; they are quickly turned aside out of the way which I commanded them; they have made them a molten image.Furthermore the LORD spake unto me, saying, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people:Let me alone, that I may destroy them, and blot out their name from under heaven: and I will make of thee a nation mightier and greater than they (Deut. 9:8-14).

At this point, the account in Exodus 32 tells us that Moses argues Israel's case before the Lord, saying that the Egyptians would rejoice at a God who allowed Israel to escape from slavery, only to destroy them in the wilderness. Furthermore, he asks the Lord to remember His covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, that their seed would be multiplied, and that they would inherit the great land grant given to Israel.After that, Moses descended with the two tablets, only to smash them to pieces.So I turned and came down from the mount, and the mount burned with fire: and the two tables of the covenant were in my two hands.And I looked, and, behold, ye had sinned against the LORD your God, and had made you a molten calf: ye had turned aside quickly out of the way which the LORD had commanded you.And I took the two tables, and cast them out of my two hands, and brake them before your eyes (Deut. 9:15-17).

His action initiated yet another forty-day period, this time to fast and pray that the Israelites might be spared from absolute destruction.And I fell down before the LORD, as at the first, forty days and forty nights: I did neither eat bread, nor drink water, because of all your sins which ye sinned, in doing wickedly in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger.For I was afraid of the anger and hot
displeasure, wherewith the LORD was wroth against you to destroy you. But the LORD hearkened unto me at that time also (Deut. 9:18,19).Lest we fail to make the point, Scripture pointedly repeats time and again the significance of the number forty. Rebellion and testing are specifically tied to it in a way that is unmistakable. God desires that His people be tested in order that they may prove themselves in the crucible of this world.Ye have been rebellious against the LORD from the day that I
knew you.

Thus I fell down before the LORD forty days and forty nights, as I fell down at the first; because the LORD had said he would destroy you.I prayed therefore unto the LORD, and said, O Lord GOD, destroy not thy people and thine inheritance, which thou hast redeemed through thy greatness, which thou hast brought forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand (Deut. 9:24-26).

Three Times Forty

Moses lived to be one hundred and twenty years of age, or three times forty. His life is an amazing illustration of the number forty, since it is divided into thirds, each of which involves a different test.

First, he was born in Egypt, under extraordinary circumstances -- a supreme test. Israel had fallen into slavery and Pharoah had ordered that all Israelite sons be killed at birth. In the famous narrative, Moses' parents placed him in a reed boat, where he providentially floated into the custody of Pharaoh's daughter. She raised him as her own.According to the history of Flavius Josephus, the royal household recognized the young Moses as an exceptional child, intelligent, athletic and handsome. As a young man, he demonstrated authority, and quickly rose to leadership in the Egyptian military. As it happened, the Ethiopians were regularly invading Egypt at the time. The Lord used these circumstances to bring Moses to the forefront.Josephus writes, The Egyptians, under this sad oppression, betook themselves to their oracles and prophecies: and when God had given them this counsel, to make use of Moses the Hebrew and take his assistance, the king commanded his daughter to produce him, that he might be the general of their army (Antiquities, II, x, 1).

General Moses led an avenging army into the land of the Ethiopians. There, he successfully led the Egyptian forces to victory. In the same campaign, the daughter of the Ethiopian monarch witnessed him in battle and was so impressed by his bearing that she fell in love with him. He returned a hero, who had developed valuable political liaisons with the Ethiopians. Still, because they discovered his Hebrew roots, the Egyptians feared and suspected him. Concerning this fact, Josephus writes, Now the Egyptians, after they had been preserved by Moses, entertained a hatred to him, and were very eager in compassing their designs against him, as suspecting that he would take occasion, from his good success to raise a sedition, and bring innovations into Egypt; and told the king he ought to be slain (Antiquities, II, xi, 1).Thus, in the opening segment of his life, Moses rose to prominence.

History shows that he was a rejected figure -- powerful, yet isolated and hated. It was under these circumstances that he slew the Egyptian slave-master whom he found cruelly abusing one of his Hebrew brethren. Here, his test was that of loyalty to his own people, rather than the wealth and power of the Egyptians.The second forty-year period of his life was spent in faraway Midian, where he was a shepherd in the desert country, today called Arabia. Now, he was truly isolated, but Divine Providence had sent him to the territory of the mountain of God, called Horeb. There, at the burning bush, he was commissioned by the Lord to return to Egypt. There, he would deliver his people from bondage.The third and final forty years of Moses' life brought him to leadership in the wilderness march with the twelve tribes of Israel. Though we don't often consider it, Moses became the subject of a great New Testament discourse.

Stephen's Sermon Upon Forty

Upon the occasion of his martyrdom, given in the book of Acts, Stephen gave one of the most powerful sermons in all history. The theme of his preaching was the repeated failure of the twelve tribes to obey God. He reviews their history from Abraham forward, recalling their pattern of repeated moral breakdowns. It is fascinating that he built the sermon around the number forty.In particular, he refers to the life of Moses, dividing it into three periods of forty years, each one featuring a specific test. There could not be a better illustration of how forty is used by the Lord as He deals with His chosen people. The first forty recalls the young Moses, leader of the people:And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and in deeds.And when he was full forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren the children of Israel.And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended him, and avenged him that was oppressed, and smote the Egyptian (Acts 7:22-24).

The climactic act of this first period was to avenge his enslaved people, even at the cost of losing his Egyptian wealth and power. As mentioned earlier, this was a test of loyalty that divided him from the royal house of Egypt. As Stephen relates the account, Moses is surprised to learn that even though he stood up for them, the Israelites still did not trust him. Without allies, he is forced to flee: For he
supposed his brethren would have understood how that God by his hand would deliver them: but they understood not.And the next day he shewed himself unto them as they strove, and would have set them at one again, saying, Sirs, ye are brethren; why do ye wrong one to another?

But he that did his neighbour wrong thrust him away, saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge over us? Wilt thou kill me, as thou diddest the Egyptian yesterday? Then fled Moses at this saying, and was a stranger in the land of Midian, where he begat two sons (Acts 7:25-29). In Midian, forty more years passed, where Moses lived as a simple shepherd, in the vicinity of Mt. Horeb, where the Law would soon be given. This, it turns out, was the location from which the Lord would speak to Moses on several occasions, beginning with the burning bush:And when forty years were expired, there appeared to him in the wilderness of mount Sina an angel of the Lord in a flame of fire in a bush.

When Moses saw it, he wondered at the sight: and as he drew near to behold it, the voice of the Lord came unto him (Acts 7:30, 31).

Now, the final forty-year period of Moses' life began with a test of faith that took him before Pharoah with a demand that has rung down through the ages as the rallying cry of the oppressed, Let my people go! After a slow start, Moses brought the ten plagues upon Egypt, and led the people into the wilderness:He brought them out, after that he had shewed wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, and in the Red sea, and in the wilderness forty years.This is that Moses, which said unto the children of Israel, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear (Acts 7:36, 37) Stephen's powerful sermon is grounded in the principle that the Lord is patient and gracious concerning his people. Especially in the case of Moses, we find that not one, but three periods of forty years are laid out as an illustration of the way God plans key events. It is as natural as breathing to say that forty is the Lord's testing ground. Having used the life of Moses as the key element of his discourse, Stephen then mentions another forty-year period, this time quoting the prophet Amos:

Then God turned, and gave them up to worship the host of heaven; as it is written in the book of the prophets, O ye house of Israel, have ye offered to me slain beasts and sacrifices by the space of forty years in the wilderness? (Acts 7:42).Amos was called to the dark task of calling down judgment upon Israel in the eighth century, B.C. Israel had fallen into the idolatry of astrology, worshipping the false gods of the heavens. He cites Israel's forty-year lapse as a test, which Israel had miserably failed.

From the Resurrection to A.D. 70

Now, just before he is stoned to death, Stephen calls down the same judgment upon the Pharisees and the Idumean kings who manipulated them like puppets. It is historically interesting that his death comes shortly after the ascension of Christ in A.D. 30. At this time, another forty-year period is being initiated.From Christ's crucifixion to the destruction of Herod's Temple and the city of Jerusalem was forty years! During this time, the Jerusalem church grew, even as sacrifices continued to be carried on at the Temple complex. Doubtless, the Jews believed that their normal pattern of events would continue on into the foreseeable future.As the fortieth year of this period drew closer, the book of Hebrews was penned. Most authorities date its authorship to A.D. 68, as the Romans' plans for conquest neared completion. Soon, as Jesus predicted, the Temple would be completely destroyed, right at the end of this forty-year period, a test that involved the relationship between the Jerusalem church and the Temple authorities. The third chapter of Hebrews warns the Jews not to turn back from Christian faith to the lure of Temple worship:Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness:When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years (Heb. 3:8,9).

Then, later in the same chapter, the writer to the Hebrews concluded his argument, likening his Hebrew contemporaries to the wilderness generation. Quite plainly, he is saying that it will not be long before judgment falls upon Jerusalem and Israel. And in A.D. 70, at the end of the forty-year period, those Jews who depended upon the old ways of festivals and priestly intercession, came to the end of their resources. Those who were not killed, fled into the far corners of the Roman Empire. There was no rest for them, only persecution and diaspora:But with whom was he grieved forty years? was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness? And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief. Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it (Heb. 3:17-4:1).

Fast Forward:

The Twentieth Century

Since Israel's statehood on May 14, 1948, surrounding Arab nations continually agitated for the destruction of the new country, and of all the Twelve Tribes. Wars, insurrections and terrorism became a way of life for the Jews. After a period of relative peace in the late 1950s and early 1960s, Syria began to bombard Israel.In 1963, at the direction of the Arab League, Syria attempted to cut off the headwaters of the Jordan, leaving Israel without water resources.

In 1964, Israel replied with artillery, destroying Syrian earthmoving equipment. Hostilities between the two countries escalated. On May 24, 1966, Hafez Assad, then Syrian defense minister, stated, We shall never call for nor accept peace. We shall only accept war. We have resolved to drench this land with your blood, to oust your aggressors, to throw you into the sea.During the first half of 1967, Syria fired upon farming communities in northern Israel, and even planted mines there. Many settlers were seriously wounded and some were killed.At the same time, Egyptian forces mobilized on Israel's southern flank, along with Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Kuwait, Syria, Lebanon and Iraq. In May of 1967, Israel had just over 250,000 troops, 800 tanks and 300 combat jets. Combined Arab forces had about 550,000 troops, 2,500 tanks and over 900 combat jets. Islamic forces felt that they had arrived at the historical moment of their dreams.

By the end of May, these forces had moved their troops to Israel's borders. Egypt launched a massive naval blockade. Cairo radio repeatedly announced that Israel was trapped, with no alternative but surrender. During the period of May 31 through June 1, Egypt added to the enemy strength by moving over 100,000 troops, 1,000 tanks and 500 artillery pieces into the so-called buffer zone of the Sinai Peninsula.On June 5, in a pre-emptive strike, Israel wiped out all these enemies in a miraculous six-day campaign. By June 10, Israel controlled the Sinai, Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and the Golan Heights. Many books have commemorated the astonishing series of victories, won against such overwhelming odds that the Lord's intercession is the only way to explain them.On this date, Israel accepted the UN Security Council's demands for a cease-fire. Israel had captured East Jerusalem, including the Old City.This, of course, included the Temple Mount. Among religious Jews, there was exultation at the prospect of a united Jerusalem and plans for building the Third Temple. Sadly, this
lasted only about twenty-four hours.

Following World War II, the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan was placed in charge of the Mount, its Dome of the Rock and the Al Aqsa Mosque. Through the Arab trust called the Waqf, they were the official caretakers and custodians of this area. Because of this, and pressure from certain rabbinic groups which believe that Jews should be forbidden access to the Mount because of its sacred nature, the Israeli Army, under General Moshe Dayan, quickly returned the Mount to Arab occupation. What a failure of steadfastness and faith! From that day to this, the Arabs have been busily engaged in a program to eradicate any trace of Jewish history on Mount Zion. They now officially deny that there ever was a Solomonic Temple there. Most infamously, the late Yasser Arafat boldly proclaimed that there never was a Jewish Temple of any kind there. Today, Islamists of every stripe shout this message from the housetops. Many have referred to their actions as Temple Denial.

Forty years have passed since that 1967 victory. We have taken the time to document the biblical perspective that is woven into and through this number. Given what we now know, we should examine the last forty years as yet another test of Israel's faith.

A Complex Fortieth Anniversary

This brings us to a series of dates that are now coming to our attention. As mentioned earlier, the war started on June 5, 1967. The fortieth anniversary of this event is obviously June 5, 2007. Likewise, the fortieth anniversary of the capture of Jerusalem will occur on June 10, 2007.At first glance, the anniversary would seem straightforward. That is, if we mark the moment when those Israeli troops first set foot on the Temple Mount, then June 10 of this year will mark the end of a forty-year test period for Israel.However, the picture is complicated, if we also consider the anniversary from the Jewish perspective, using the Jewish calendar. On this calendar, the Six-Day war began on the 26 of Iyar, 5727, and ended on the 2 of Sivan, 5727.On that same Jewish calendar, our current year is 5767.

This year, the 26 of Iyar and the 2 of Sivan arrive a little over three weeks earlier than the Gentile anniversary dates.To put it simply, the fortieth anniversary of the war comes about 22 days earlier on the Jewish calendar than it does on the Gentile calendar.

Pentecost: Awaiting a

New Dispensation

As the Bible clearly demonstrates, the fortieth year usually marks a radical departure from what has gone before. In the current case, Israel has repeatedly been tested on the issue of maintaining a unified Jerusalem, and a unified Israeli state. Having given up on custody of the Temple Mount, the Israelis provided Islamic forces a toehold, which has since been parlayed into a series of increasing demands for a Palestinian state.This, of course, would include a divided Jerusalem, with east Jerusalem becoming the capital of Palestine. The test has included two wars; one in 1973 and another in 2006. Israel has endured bombings and the continued onslaught of the two Intifadas (Arabic for uprising).

The first was in the 1980s, the second began in 2000, and has continued to the present. More correctly, these actions should be called terrorist insurgencies.Can we say that all this has been a forty-year test for Israel? This seems a logical conclusion, if not an obvious fact. The test is focused upon an ancient question: Can the modern leaders of Israel continue to maintain their presence in the Holy Land?

At the moment, their grip seems to be slipping. Gaza has been relinquished in a unilateral pull-out. After forty years, it has fallen into the hands of Fatah and Hamas, who are using it as a base of operations in their further attempts to wrest the entire Land from Israel. Ehud Olmert has demonstrated his reluctance to fight an effective battle to maintain Israel's borders. Last year, the rockets of Hezbollah showered all of northern Israel.The enemy was so effective (and Israel's military
leaders so ineffective) that heads rolled. Major General Yiftah Ron-Tal openly criticized Israel's military blunders, blaming Lieutenant General Halutz for Israel's weak response. Last October witnessed a significant shake-up in the Israeli military. As the test proceeds, Israel seems increasingly ineffectual in matters of security and national solidarity. It must also be added that they have succumbed to increasing pressure from the U.S. government for a Palestinian state.In a final note, we would point out that the two days of Pentecost are positioned between the Jewish and Gentile fortieth anniversary dates of the Six-Day War. On the Jewish calendar, the 2 of Sivan (May 19) falls four days prior to Pentecost, which falls on the 6 of Sivan (May 23). Eighteen days later on the Gentile calendar, we find the latter fortieth anniversary, on June 10.In the past, we have often pointed out the important meaning of Pentecost. To the Jews, it symbolizes the marriage contract between God and Israel at Sinai. On this date, Moses received the two tablets written in the Lord's own hand. This act initiated the Dispensation of Law. On Pentecost, religious Jews stay up all night studying Scripture, hoping for the blessing of a revelation from the Lord.

This is exactly what the Apostles did on that most famous of all Pentecosts. Early the next morning, their revelation came, marking the birth of the church and the coming of the new Dispensation of Grace:And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.

And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting (Acts 2:1,2).Since the initiation of the dispensations of Law and Grace are both celebrated on this date, it should not be a stretch of logic to expect that the next change of dispensation will fall on Pentecost, as well.Falling as it does on the fortieth anniversary of the Six-Day
War, this year's Pentecost may be the harbinger of great change. We should carefully observe this passing moment in history. It could well be of great importance.