MUSLIM CONVERTS TO CHRISTIANITY

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.

Giant waves break up Caribbean coral Sun Mar 23, 4:19 PM ET

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - Unusually large waves churned by an Atlantic storm system have littered the beaches of Barbados with broken coral in what could be a sign of damage to reefs across the region, a scientist said Sunday. The amount of rubble on the island's west coast suggests the coral took a heavy pounding, said Leo Brewster, director of Barbados' Coastal Zone Management Unit, who was organizing dives later this week to survey the damage.We think it's going to be pretty extensive, Brewster said. I think we're going to see it across the Caribbean.The waves, reaching as high as an estimated 30 feet, lashed coastlines from Guyana to the Dominican Republic last week as a large low-pressure system idled off the northeastern United States.At their peak on Thursday morning, a buoy north of the U.S. Virgin Islands recorded swells of 15 feet — the highest since 1991, said Shawn Rossi, a meteorologist with the U.S. National Weather Service in San Juan. Several countries reported flooding in coastal areas.In Barbados, the white coral washed up in chunks as heavy as seven pounds, generally healthy but with their polyps rubbed away by the rough surf, Brewster said.Reef-building coral provide a habitat for thousands of marine creatures but have been dying off across the Caribbean due to coastal pollution, overfishing and disease blamed on rising sea temperatures.

Quebec town takes in stranded travellers after storm forces highway closures Sat Mar 22, 12:21 PM By The Canadian Press

MONTREAL - A Quebec town took in hundreds of stranded motorists Friday night after a snowstorm forced the closure of two major highways. Riviere-du-Loup city spokeswoman Joanne Levasseur says some 600 travellers took refuge in emergency shelters at a local high school and military hall. Levasseur says many residents also volunteered to open their homes to about 100 of the marooned travellers. She says local hotels had little vacancy because of a weekend hockey tournament in the town, about 200 kilometres northeast of Quebec City. Levasseur says the roadways, part of the Trans-Canada Highway linking Quebec City with New Brunswick, were reopened Saturday morning. The storm system Friday brought powerful winds and heavy snowfall across much of eastern Quebec.

Forecasters warn of flooding in Ark. By JON GAMBRELL, Associated Press Writer MAR 23,08

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - High water pouring down the White River could cause historic flooding in cities along its path in eastern Arkansas, forecasters warned Sunday. The river, one of many out of its banks across wide areas of the Midwest, could top levels recorded in a devastating flood 25 years ago, National Weather Service meteorologist John Robinson warned.There will be water going into areas where people have not seen it before, and may not be expecting to see high water, Robinson wrote in an e-mail to reporters Sunday.A tributary of the White River, the Black River, ruptured a levee in two places Saturday near Pocahontas, said Renee Preslar, a spokeswoman for the Arkansas Department of Emergency Management. That stream has been bloated by water pouring downstream from hard-hit southeastern Missouri.Preslar said the levee breaks allowed flooding in outlying areas but she did not have details on what might have been damaged.The Army Corps of Engineers worked through the night to plug the breaks with sandbags, and that work appeared to be holding as of Sunday afternoon, Preslar said.Right now, it's kind of a wait-and-see game, she said.Corps of Engineers spokesman P.J. Spaul said the levee near Pocahontas was built in the 1940s. The levee district charged with its maintenance dissolved in the 1960s, leaving it to sag and have trees to grow up in its banks over the last 40 years, Spaul said.There were two, 24-inch pipes that cut through the levee. At one time, they had closure gates on them, but they couldn't be closed Saturday, Spaul said. Everything was rusted out on them.

Arkansas emergency management officials have said early estimates for statewide damage to homes, businesses and infrastructure was at $2 million, though that figure was expected to grow. Forecasts show it likely will be the middle of this week before rivers statewide see significant drops.Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe has declared 35 counties disaster areas.Last week's torrential rainstorms also caused flooding in parts of Ohio and southern Illinois and in wide areas of Missouri.At least 17 deaths have been linked to flooding, wet roads and other weather effects over the past week, and one person is missing in Arkansas. Thousands of Missouri residents have had fled to Red Cross shelters or to the homes of friends or relatives.In southern Missouri, water poured through several breaches in levees and led authorities to evacuate towns west of Cape Girardeau. At least 200 homes and 13 businesses had been evacuated in Cape Girardeau County, said emergency management director Dick Knaup.The Mississippi River at Cape Girardeau was 40.9 feet Sunday, 9 feet above flood stage, and was expected to crest at 41.5 feet Monday morning.Towns south of where the Mississippi and Ohio rivers meet in Cairo, Ill., braced for flooding expected in the next couple of days.They're not going down yet, said John Campbell, operations chief at Missouri's State Emergency Management Agency. They're still rising.The Mississippi at Cairo, Ill., was expected to crest at 54 feet Tuesday morning, 14 feet above flood stage.Moderate flooding was forecast for New Madrid, where the river was expected to crest at 42 feet Wednesday evening. The river will crest at 41 feet in Caruthersville Friday morning, the National Weather Service said.

Missouri watching flood waters as spring snowstorm hits Upper Midwest Sat Mar 22, 1:52 PM By The Associated Press

VALLEY PARK, Mo. - Flood-weary residents of Missouri, Arkansas and Ohio are fighting to save their homes following this week's heavy rains. But the news has been good for residents of Valley Park, Missouri. That community's new levee held up as the river crested at 11.5 metres - about half a metre shy of the record. The owner of a bar a few hundred metres from the levee says she was never worried. As she poured beer for customers, she said she hadn't even bothered to lift her computer up off the floor. Some 70 Missouri counties have reported flooding this week. At least 200 homes have been evacuated in southern Missouri as water poured through breaches in levees. Meanwhile, snow has blanketed parts of the upper Midwest. Up to 30 centimetres has fallen in parts of Wisconsin and Minnesota.

Floods sweep central U.S. Fri Mar 21, 1:20 PM
By Ros Krasny

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Swollen rivers flooded parts of the central United States on Friday and threatened to engulf a major interstate highway in Missouri, after violent rainstorms caused at least 16 deaths, according to reports on Friday.Further north, a winter of severe weather stretched into the second day of spring as a storm bore down on the Midwest, dropping heavy snow and delaying flights.

Many rivers were swollen beyond their banks, leaving houses under water, from parts of Texas north to Ohio after inundating rains this week -- in some cases on the heels of record snowstorms earlier in the month that left soils saturated.Reports across the region said some 16 people had died, either swept away by rushing waters or in traffic accidents blamed on the heavy storms.Traffic was being held to one lane on Interstate 44 west of St Louis, as workers frantically sandbagged against advancing waters on the Meramec River in Fenton, Missouri.This could rival and in some places top the flood of 1982, said Jeff Ranieri, forecaster at NBC's weatherplus.com, speaking from Fenton.I-44 tracks the path of the legendary Route 66, running southwest from St. Louis southwest to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.The Missouri Department of Transportation showed dozens of roads closed by floods across the southern one-third of the state. Parts of the state received upwards of 10 inches of rain this week.

Skies are expected to be mostly clear for the next few days, providing relief to parts of the region. But rivers flowing northeast toward St. Louis are not expected to peak until late on Friday or Saturday.At Eureka, Missouri, the Meramec was forecast to crest at 42.8 feet, just below the 42.9 feet reached in 1982, according to the National Weather Service.To the north, a heavy late-season snowstorm was hitting the upper Midwest, cutting a swathe from North Dakota southeast to Indiana and Ohio.Southern Wisconsin and northern Illinois braced for 6 to 12 inches of snow by Saturday.Flights at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport were already subject to lengthy ground delays, according to the Federal Aviation Administration's Web site. Some flights arriving at O'Hare were being delayed by more than three hours.(Editing by Sandra Maler)

Storm keeps pounding Newfoundland Wed Mar 19, 7:06 AM

CALGARY (CBC) - Newfoundland continued to receive a battering Wednesday morning as the tail end of a winter storm moved across the island, bringing freezing rain and high winds to eastern regions and blizzard conditions to the northeast coast.Environment Canada issued warnings for blizzard, winter storm, blowing snow and freezing rain on Wednesday morning for the island.Many schools in the the Eastern School District outside the St. John's area remained closed Wednesday because of treacherous road and highway conditions.The Trans-Canada Highway on the Avalon Peninsula is slippery with snow-covered, slushy sections.More than 50 centimetres of snow fell in the central region during the two-day blizzard over Monday and Tuesday, and almost 40 cm hit eastern Newfoundland.

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.

NUMBER 6 THAT NOW RATIFIED THE LISBON TREATY. THE CLOSER WE GET TO 27, THE CLOSER WE GET TO THE FUTURE (EU) ROMAN DICTATOR.

Barroso hails Bulgaria's ratification of Lisbon Treaty
www.chinaview.cn 2008-03-21 22:37:57

BRUSSELS, March 21 (Xinhua) -- European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso on Friday welcomed Bulgarian parliament's approval of the Lisbon Treaty. I would like to congratulate Bulgaria on the successful approval of the Treaty of Lisbon by the Parliament today, Barroso said in a statement. The first year of membership of the European Union (EU) has brought significant benefits to Bulgaria, he said. Bulgaria is the sixth member state to approve the Lisbon Treaty, after Hungary, Slovenia, Malta, Romania and France. The Lisbon Treaty, signed by EU heads of state and government last December, will make EU's much needed institutional reforms possible. The entry into force of the treaty requires the ratification of all 27 EU member states. Editor: Mu Xuequan.

European Union now has world's biggest economy MAR 22,08

The European Union has overtaken the U.S. as the world's No. 1 economy due to the continued dramatic fall of the dollar, according to a Reuters report.The U.S. Gross Domestic Product, or GDP, for 2007 is officially estimated at $13,843,800 billion. The 2007 GDP for the 15 EU countries is estimated at 8,847,889 billion euros, the report said.That means when the euro yesterday topped $1.56, the EU officially became the largest economy in the world.In a Financial Times commentary published Monday, former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan declared the current financial crisis in the U.S. is likely to be judged in retrospect as the most wrenching since the end of World War II.Greenspan further concluded the U.S. financial crisis will not end until home prices stabilize and with them the value of equity in homes supporting troubled mortgage securities.

Dollar in crisis

WND has reported the Federal Reserve is in a dilemma. As the Fed continues to lower rates to stimulate the sagging economy, the dollar is increasingly abandoned, hitting new lows almost every day against other major currencies.If the Fed were to raise rates to prop up the dollar, most Wall Street experts would expect a broad sell-off of U.S. stocks across the board.Today, before the opening of the New York Stock Exchange, the dollar was trading at a new low, $1.5787 against the euro.Just yesterday, the dollar hit a new all-time low in foreign currency exchange markets, closing at 71.44 on the U.S. Dollar Index.

Home equity foreclosures hit bank assets

Meanwhile, the crisis in the home equity market is spreading to impact major financial institutions.Over the weekend, the Federal Reserve and the Treasury intervened, guaranteeing J.P. Morgan Chase's bargain basement purchase for a mere $2 per share of then in free-fall Bear Stearns, the 85-year-old Wall Street investment bank that had survived the Depression and two world wars.Today, Wall Street is pressuring the Federal Reserve's Open Market Committee to drop rates on federal funds as much as 1 percent, a nearly unprecedented one-time adjustment.Fed Funds rates, now at 3 percent, reached a high of 5.25 percent in January 2007.Since September, the Fed has been engaged in a series of rate cuts, trying to keep ahead of the developing financial crisis and economic slowdown that began with the downturn in the mortgage markets in the middle of last year.The real estate bubble developed as Greenspan kept fed funds rates at a historical low of 1 percent throughout much of 2003 and 2004.The resulting liquidity pumped funds into home equity markets, stimulating dramatic price increases that continued throughout much of 2006.

That resulted in abundant cash for mortgage lenders to fund the risky sub-prime market where typically unqualified home buyers were being offered unconventional loans with artificially low mortgage payments in the initial few months.The nation is now experiencing the fallout of collateralized mortgage obligations in which mortgages packaged as securities and sold to banks as assets were allowed to count in the banks' legal reserve calculations.A wave of home foreclosures across the nation has caused a resulting failure in the collateralized mortgage securities held by banks.When the collateralized mortgage obligations are marked to market, many banks across the country are finding they do not have adequate non-borrowed reserves to continue operations under current reserve requirements.Again, the Federal Reserve has stepped in, providing multiple facilities in which struggling banks can borrow on a short-term basis the reserves needed to continue operating.In a series of unprecedented moves over the weekend, the Federal Reserve has now made many of these same borrowing facilities available to securities and investment brokerage firms as well as commercial banks.As WND reported, for the first time since the Federal Reserve has published the data, bank non-borrowed reserves have begun to turn negative, reflecting the increased borrowing banks are utilizing to continue operating.

France Adds Nuclear Sub and Vows to Cut Warheads
By STEVEN ERLANGER March 22, 2008

PARIS — Dedicating France’s fourth nuclear-armed submarine, President Nicolas Sarkozy on Friday defended his country’s arsenal as vital to deter a range of new threats, including the prospect of a nuclear-armed Iran with intercontinental missiles.Chirac Hints at Nuclear Reply to State-Supported Terrorism (January 20, 2006) The security of Europe is at stake, he said, conflating the Continent’s interests with those of France.Countries in Asia and the Middle East are rapidly developing ballistic capacities, he said. I am thinking in particular of Iran, which is increasing the range of its missiles while serious suspicions weigh on its nuclear program.

Mr. Sarkozy, stung by defeats in local elections in some large French cities, stuck to traditional presidential themes of national security and defense. His sudden divorce and remarriage, and his tendency to flit from one scheme to another, have made him seem slightly unserious, contributing to his party’s losses.His mood on Friday was somber, as he inaugurated a new generation of nuclear submarine of the Triomphant class, this one named Le Terrible, which could be best translated as The Fearsome. It will be equipped with a new, nuclear-tipped missile, the M-51, whose range is secret but is understood, according to Le Monde, to be some 4,970 miles, able to reach Asia.Clearly trying to balance nuclear modernization with gestures toward a European population more interested in eliminating nuclear weapons than improving them, Mr. Sarkozy said France would continue to reduce the number of warheads on airplanes, bringing its total nuclear force to fewer than 300 warheads, half the number during the cold war.The actual number of warheads France possesses is secret. This year, the Federation of American Scientists, which tracks nuclear arsenals, said France had 348 warheads — 288 on submarines, 50 on air-launched cruise missiles and 10 bombs.Mr. Sarkozy also called for all nuclear powers to sign and ratify the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, as France had done, and he proposed talks on a treaty banning nuclear-armed short- and medium-range ground-to-ground missiles, a category that includes Scud-type missiles, and an idea likely to go nowhere in a world of Hezbollah, Hamas and the like. He also called for an immediate moratorium on the production of fissile material for nuclear weapons and a treaty banning its production, similar to an American proposal of 2006.

Mr. Sarkozy has been criticized, especially by Germany, for leaping ahead without consultation with European allies on major initiatives, like the Mediterranean Union, a looser grouping than the European Union and modified after Berlin’s protests. On Friday, he offered a dialogue on the role of French nuclear weapons in Europe’s collective defense.Regarding Europe, it is a fact that France’s nuclear forces by their very existence are a key element in its security, he said. Let’s together draw the logical conclusions: I propose to begin, with those of our European partners who wish to, an open dialogue on the role of deterrence and its contribution to our common security.Britain also has nuclear weapons, the main reason that Britain and France remain permanent members of the United Nations Security Council. Neither country has been willing to cede its seat to the European Union. The United States provides most of Europe’s nuclear deterrence through NATO and its doctrine of collective defense.At the same time, Mr. Sarkozy described the French force de frappe as a weapon of self-defense. He was vaguer about France’s national interests than his predecessor, Jacques Chirac, who made a similar speech in January 2006, in which he appeared to broaden the list. Then, Mr. Chirac delivered an unexpected and controversial warning to rogue states sponsoring terrorism by threatening to use nuclear weapons against any state that supported attacks on his country or considered using unconventional weapons.The leaders of states who use terrorist means against us, as well as those who would consider using, in one way or another, weapons of mass destruction, must understand that they would lay themselves open to a firm and adapted response on our part, Mr. Chirac said. This response could be a conventional one. It could also be of a different kind.Mr. Sarkozy, an aide told Le Monde, wanted to return to the fundamentals of deterrence.

HOARDING OF GOLD AND SILVER

DOCTOR DOCTORIAN FROM ANGEL OF GOD
then the angel said, Financial crisis will come to Asia. I will shake the world.

JAMES 5:1-3
1 Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.
2 Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.
3 Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.

REVELATION 18:10,17,19
10 Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.
17 For in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off,
19 And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate.

EZEKIEL 7:19
19 They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be removed: their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the LORD: they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels: because it is the stumblingblock of their iniquity.

REVELATION 13:16-18
16 And he(FALSE POPE) causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:(CHIP IMPLANT)
17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.(6-6-6) A NUMBER SYSTEM

FAMINE

REVELATION 6:5-6
5 And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand.
6 And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.(A DAYS WAGES FOR A LOAF OF BREAD)

US ponders: How deep is economic abyss? By RACHEL BECK and ERIN McCLAM, Associated Press Writers MAR 23,08

NEW YORK - For months, Americans have been subjected to a sort of economic water torture — a maddening drip of bad news about jobs, gas prices, sagging home values, creeping inflation, the slouching dollar and a stock market in bumpy descent. Then came Bear Stearns. One of the five largest U.S. investment banks nearly collapsed in a single day before the government propped it up by backing emergency loans and a rival stepped in to buy it for a paltry $2 per share.

To the drumbeat of signs that seemed to foretell a traditional recession, this added a nightmarish specter — an old-style run on the bank, customers clamoring to pull their cash, a stately Wall Street firm brought to its knees.The combination has forced the economy to the forefront of the national conversation in a way it has not been since the go-go 1990s, and for entirely opposite reasons.As economists and Wall Street types grope for historical perspective — which is another way of saying a road map out of this mess — Americans are nervously wondering about retirement savings, interest rates, jobs that had seemed safe.They are surveying the economic landscape and asking: Just how bad is it?They are peering over the edge and asking: How far down?And the scariest part of all? No one can say for sure.Even before the crippling of Bear Stearns, the U.S. economy was acting as a slowly tightening vise — an interconnected web of factors combining to squeeze Americans from all sides.Take Jaci Rae of Salinas, Calif. She runs a company, Luco Sport, that sells golf bags and accessories. The merchandise is made with foam, which is based on petroleum, so record oil prices have taken a heavy toll.On the other end, her clients are feeling the pinch, too, and cutting back. Sales to retail clients are an eighth of what they were a year ago. So Rae had to cut five of her 20 employees loose.

Now the company isn't buying products as far in advance. With gas prices running high, she waits for shipping companies to pick up products from her headquarters instead of having an employee drop them off.She is nickel-and-diming expenses at home, too. She eats in every night, has stopped going on road trips to visit her family, dropped her satellite dish and canceled her monthly Blockbuster movie rental.I want to make sure I have enough money to feed my family, Rae says.

Signs of the pinch are showing up everywhere:

By the end of 2007, 36 percent of consumers' disposable income went to food, energy and medical care, a bigger chunk of income than at any time since records were first kept in 1960, according to Merrill Lynch.People are treating themselves less often. The National Restaurant Association says 54 percent of restaurants reported declining traffic in January, and the government says eating at home increased last year for the first time since 2001.

Financial planners say that more than ever, parents are calling for advice on how to deal with grown children who have moved back in with Mom and Dad after losing a job or just to save money. Less trash is being set on the curbs of Mesa, Ariz., where surging home foreclosures are leaving more houses empty. That means fewer homeowners paying the city $22.60 a month for pickup. And William Black, the city's solid-waste management director, says people aren't throwing out as many appliances and bulk items, like furniture. They're sticking with what they have. On top of an economy that was already groaning under the weight of a downturn, Bear Stearns came down like an anvil. It tied together so much of what's wrong with today's economy — the housing crash, the credit crunch and a loss of confidence among investors and consumers alike. Understanding how things got so bad means rewinding to the start of the housing boom. Wall Street and the banks made it far easier for people with shaky credit to get a mortgage — known as a subprime loan. Investors wanted a piece of the fast-growing mortgage pie, so there was plenty of money sloshing around the market to pay for the loans. Financial firms sliced up the mortgages and sold them as complex investments, finding eager buyers among pension funds, hedge funds and more who were chasing higher returns and willing to overlook risks. As long as housing prices went up, the strategy worked. When they began to crumble, so did financial stability. The same people who made a financial stretch to buy their homes are now defaulting on the loans at alarming rates. Many are upside down on their loans, meaning they owe more on their mortgages than their homes are worth.

Nearly 9 million households now have upside-down mortgages, and for the first time ever, aggregate mortgage debt is bigger than the total value of homeowner equity — bigger by $836 billion, according to research by Merrill Lynch. The housing problem set off the dominoes: Surging defaults meant the mortgage-backed securities plunged in value. That dried up the money to fund new home loans, and lenders everywhere became tighter with credit. Bear Stearns found itself in the cross hairs. Market rumors began to swirl about the size of its exposure to mortgage securities, whether it had ample reserves to cover potential losses. Clients and investors began to demand their money back. This problem begins with the fact that we underwrote mortgages sloppily, which means no one really knows what those assets are worth, said Lyle Gramley, a former Federal Reserve governor and now an analyst with Stanford Financial Group. That makes bankers very leery, and has resulted in a significant contraction in the availability of credit.The credit crunch means corporations can't borrow as easily, so they are delaying big projects, which cuts into the job market. And many of the same companies were already smarting from the downturn in housing, which has made many Americans uneasy about their household wealth and caused them to scrimp on spending. The last time the U.S. economy tilted into recession was 2001. And it was an entirely different animal. Investors bore the brunt of that downturn as the stock market shook off the excesses of the late-90s technology boom. Encouraged by their government — and fortified with tax rebates in their pockets — Americans kept spending. Perhaps most importantly, there was no reason for anyone to doubt the stability of the financial system. There was no credit crisis to speak of, and the housing boom had yet to begin. This time around, no one has declared a recession just yet: By the generally accepted rule, that takes two consecutive quarters of shrinking economic activity. The economy came close to stalling late last year but eked out small growth. But the lack of an official declaration makes the pain no less real.

I think the current financial crisis looks to me like the worst one since we got into the Depression, says Richard Sylla, who teaches the history of financial institutions at New York University's Stern School of Business. Which is not to say this time will be anywhere near as bad — partly because, economists note, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is a student of the Depression and appears to be steering the Fed toward avoiding the mistakes of back then. That may be why the Fed moved quickly to back up JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s lifeline loan to Bear Stearns when it neared collapse. The Fed dusted off other Depression-era tools, too. It allowed securities dealers to borrow directly from the Fed, a privilege once restricted to commercial banks. And it announced it would lend up to $200 billion to investment banks in exchange for the banks' beaten-up mortgage-backed securities. The idea is to maintain confidence in the American banking system. If that fails — if more Bear Stearns episodes emerge — it could gum up the entire economy, historians note. No one would trust anybody else, no one would be willing to do business, said Charles Jones, a finance professor at Columbia Business School. And if that happens, the economy would feel that right away. So the Fed is doing what it can.
Another key difference: Today, the United States is just one piece of a complex global economy. A century ago, an American financial crisis was America's problem. Today, emerging economies provide an extra layer of insulation.

People are still going to eat in China and India. They're going to be buying clothes and cars and airplanes, says Robert A. Howell, a distinguished visiting professor of business administration at Dartmouth. So I think it's a whole different ballgame.A better comparison might be the economic downturn that gripped the United States in the early 1970s, a time now widely remembered for long lines at the pump. Today gas is plentiful, but summer drivers face the scary prospect of paying $4 a gallon. And as David Rosenberg, chief North American economist for Merrill Lynch, pointed out in an analysis this week, the parallels to the 1970s go much deeper than just the shock of record oil prices, which tripled during the 1973-1975 recession and have seen a similar rise in recent years. Then as now, food prices rose along with energy. Then as now, declining home prices gave homeowners ulcers over equity. And the dollar, which held up fine in the 2001 recession, is falling now even more than it did in the early 70s — 9 percent then on a trade-weighted basis, 14 percent in the last year, according to the Federal Reserve. One other interesting difference: In the downturns between the '70s and today, the baby boomers used their massive buying power to help spend the nation out of the slump. In the 1970s, they were too young. Today, they are focusing on retirement. The mid-1970s is the best template, Rosenberg wrote, if there is any.If the 1970s truly are a guide, there's a lot farther to fall. Back then, the Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 36 percent from its peak to its trough. Right now, the S&P 500 has only lost 15 percent from its record highs of October 2007.

Finding shelter from this downturn isn't as easy as you might think. So-called private label products — no-name cereal or crackers usually far cheaper than brand names — are less of a deal because of soaring commodity prices. Nearly 90 percent of chief financial officers of global public companies don't see an economic recovery coming until 2009, according to a new survey by Duke University/CFO Magazine. And that's more than just crystal-ball gazing: If companies see a sluggish recovery, they won't be taking any steps to build their payrolls soon and will remain cautious in how they allocate capital.

So what's the way out?

Former Fed chair Alan Greenspan wrote in the Financial Times last week that the financial crisis — which he said would likely be the most wrenching in the United States since World War II — would end only when housing prices stabilize. Already, the Fed has slashed interest rates. It has cut the closely watched federal funds rate, the overnight lending rate for banks, six times since September, from 5.25 percent to 2.25 percent — two-thirds of the cut coming in the last two months alone. But the Fed can't work alone. Upcoming tax rebates for millions of people and tax breaks for businesses may give a little relief, but economists think that something will have to be done soon to slow down the number of foreclosures, a cornerstone of the economy's woes. We can't have financial institutions not providing credit to the economy, said Eugene White, a professor of economics at Rutgers University. We have to stop that if we want to avoid a deep recession.Economists and market historians seem to agree that this is more than a typical, cyclical slump. And the X-factor that sets it apart — determining how deep the wounds from the mortgage mess really are — also makes it impossible to map the path of the downturn. Financial crises happen, but they always do blow over, Sylla says. It's a question of how long.So in the meantime, Americans like Monica Nakamine are planning for a long road ahead. The 37-year-old took a higher-paying job at a Los Angeles architectural firm, but has been putting the difference in her earnings right into savings. These days she's dyeing her own hair, picking through sales racks when she shops and washing her dog herself, rather than getting him groomed. And she's considering some drastic actions in case things get worse — like moving to a cheaper city such as Austin, Texas, and getting rid of her gas-guzzling SUV for a hybrid sedan. Certainly I don't want it to get any worse, Nakamine said, but I know it can.

Pope rejoices over conversions on Easter By FRANCES D'EMILIO, Associated Press Writer Sun Mar 23, 3:19 PM ET

VATICAN CITY - Pope Benedict XVI rejoiced over conversions to Christianity in an Easter Sunday Mass on the steps of St. Peter's Basilica a day after he baptized a prominent Muslim newspaper editor. A white canopy protected the 80-year-old pontiff from a downpour while thousands of pilgrims, tourists and Romans braved thunder and wind-whipped rain.The faithful were celebrating their belief in the resurrection of Jesus after he was crucified. Thanks to the apostles' preaching about the resurrection, thousands and thousands of persons converted to Christianity, Benedict said.

And this is a miracle which renews itself even today, the pope said, hours after a Saturday night Easter vigil service in which he baptized seven adults. The converts included Magdi Allam, a prominent journalist and commentator in Italy who has received death threats for his denunciations of Islamic fanaticism.Allam, 55, deputy editor of Corriere della Sera newspaper, was born a Muslim in Egypt, but was educated by Catholics and says he has never been a practicing Muslim.He wrote in a front-page letter published Sunday in Corriere that he was now taking on the middle name Cristiano — Christian in Italian.He expressed his gratitude to Benedict, calling Saturday the most beautiful day of my life.The miracle of the resurrection of Christ reverberated in my soul, freeing it from the shadows of a preaching where hate and intolerance toward he who is different, toward he who is condemned as an enemy, prevailed over love and respect for your neighbor, Allam wrote.His criticism of Palestinian suicide bombings prompted the Italian government to provide him with a sizable security detail in 2003 after Hamas singled him out for death, Allam has said in an interview.The pope himself has come under verbal attack from Islamic militants.

Al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, in a new audio message posted last week, accused Benedict of playing a role in what he called a new Crusade against Islam. The Vatican has described the accusation as baseless.Security during papal public appearances was stepped up in 2001 after the Sept. 11 attacks, and there has been no noticeable increase in protective measures since the new message surfaced.In a speech at the end of the Mass, Benedict said that on the joyous day of Easter, in particular, how can we fail to remember certain African regions, such as Darfur and Somalia, the tormented Middle East, especially the Holy Land, Iraq, Lebanon and finally Tibet, all of which I encourage to seek solutions that will safeguard peace and the common good.Benedict singled out the Middle East and Tibet among places most in need of peace and denounced selfishness, injustice, hatred and violence between individuals and peoples.

These are the scourges of humanity, open and festering in every corner of the planet, although they are often ignored and sometimes deliberately concealed, wounds that torture the souls and bodies of countless of our brothers and sisters, the pontiff said, speaking over the sound of heavy rain in the square.At times, thunder drowned out a paramilitary band playing in the square and the voices of a choir singing Alleluja.

Cheney hears Palestinian complaints By DEB RIECHMANN, Associated Press Writer MAR 23,08

RAMALLAH, West Bank - Palestinian leaders asked Vice President Dick Cheney on Sunday to pressure Israel to halt settlement construction and voiced other complaints that deflated Cheney's hopeful words about Mideast peace. Palestinians had little expectation their meetings with Cheney, a strong defender of the Jewish state, would produce anything concrete. While that was the case, the Bush administration did get another chance to nudge the two sides toward an agreement before President Bush leaves office in January. The Palestinians, too, had another shot at expressing their frustrations.The vice president said neither side should pass up this latest opportunity for an accord despite rancor over Israeli settlements and the retaliatory attacks from each that have disrupted negotiations intended to lead to Palestinian statehood.

This can be done, and if all concerned stay at the work, success will be achieved, Cheney said, striking a hopeful tone on Easter Sunday during his first vice presidential visit to the Palestinian territory.After talks with Israeli officials in Jerusalem, Cheney flew to the West Bank by helicopter, touching down at Mahmoud Abbas' presidential compound near the grave of longtime Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, who died in 2004.Abbas met Cheney at the end of a long red carpet and they walked between two rows of presidential guards. Palestinian officials said there were no breakthroughs in Cheney's talks with Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, and that Cheney essentially paid a courtesy call, repeating U.S. positions.Saeb Erekat, an Abbas aide, said Abbas cited the need for calm in the West Bank and Gaza, and said Israel must halt settlement expansion.I can't say that Mr. Cheney brought anything new in his visit, but he reiterated President Bush's vision and commitment to having an independent Palestinian state, Erekat said.

Cheney's visit was part of the administration's strategy to keep the pressure on negotiators. Bush visited the region in January and returns in May, while Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice came this month and is back in April.Israel has pursed peace with Abbas, a moderate Palestinian in control of the West Bank. Hamas militants wrested control of the Gaza Strip in June from Abbas-allied forces. Hamas has pounded southern Israel with rockets; Israel has retaliated with attacks in Gaza.Peace and stability will not be achieved through a settlement expansion or the setting up of checkpoints around towns and villages, and the military escalation against Gaza, nor the incursions, continuous incursions into West Bank villages and towns, as well as the arrest which led to more than 11,000 prisoners in the Israeli jails, Abbas said, detailing Palestinian complaints.We also reiterate our condemnation and rejection for the firing of missiles being launched from Gaza against Israel, he said after meeting Cheney.Cheney said a peace deal will mean painful concessions by both sides, and require the will to defeat those who are committed to violence and refuse to accept the other side's right to exist.Terror and rockets do not merely kill innocent civilians, Cheney said. They also kill legitimate hopes and aspirations of the Palestinian people.

In an apparent response to Cheney, a Hamas leader in Gaza, Mahmoud Zahar, said: This is part of the American policy and this is part of the war crimes committed by this administration. ... Sooner or later the criminals will be punished.On Cheney's 10-day trip to the Mideast, talks with leaders have focused on oil, Iraq, Afghanistan and Iran.Before his diplomatic mission, Cheney began Easter Sunday with a peaceful prayer and the singing of Amazing Grace at a tiny chapel in Jerusalem with an arched ceiling of stones.Heading into a meeting with Israeli President Shimon Peres, Cheney said the U.S. was dedicated to doing all it could to advance the peace process. He said the administration also was actively involved in dealing with the threats that we see emerging in the region — not only threats to Israel, but threats to the United States as well.It was clear that Cheney was referring to Iran. Peres was more specific, saying declarations that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has made against Israel cannot be ignored. Late Sunday, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak told Cheney that Iran's military buildup is endangering the stability of the region and the entire world and that no option should be taken off the table concerning Tehran's nuclear program, according to a statement from Barak's office. Associated Press writers Amy Teibel in Jerusalem and Mohammed Daraghmeh in the West Bank contributed to this report.

17 Adar Bet 5768, March 24,08
Barack Obama.Published: 03/23/08, 10:03 PM
Arab-American Activist Says Obama Hiding Anti-Israel Stance
by Gil Ronen

(IsraelNN.com) Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama is currently hiding his anti-Israel views in order to get elected, according to a well-known anti-Israel activist. The activist, Ali Abunimah, claimed to know Obama well and to have met him on numerous occasions at pro-Palestinian events in Chicago.In an article he penned for the anti-Israeli website Electronic Intifada, Abunimah wrote:The last time I spoke to Obama was in the winter of 2004 at a gathering in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. He was in the midst of a primary campaign to secure the Democratic nomination for the United States Senate seat he now occupies. But at that time polls showed him trailing.

As he came in from the cold and took off his coat, I went up to greet him. He responded warmly, and volunteered, Hey, I’m sorry I haven’t said more about Palestine right now, but we are in a tough primary race.Hey, I’m sorry I haven’t said more about Palestine right now, but we are in a tough primary race.I’m hoping when things calm down I can be more up front. He referred to my activism, including columns I was contributing to the The Chicago Tribune critical of Israeli and US policy [and said:] Keep up the good work!

Barack, Michelle, Edward and Mariam
Abunimah's report included a photo of Obama with his wife Michelle seated at a table with virulently anti-Israeli Professor Edward Said and his wife Mariam, in what Abunimah said was a May 1998 Arab community event in Chicago at which Said gave the keynote speech.

In an interview earlier this year for the leftist radio show Democracy Now!, a daily TV and radio news program hosted by Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez, Abunimah said he knew Obama for many years as his state senator when he used to attend events in the Palestinian community in Chicago all the time.I remember personally introducing him onstage in 1999, when we had a major community fundraiser for the community center in Deheisha refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, he recounted. And that's just one example of how Barack Obama used to be very comfortable speaking up for and being associated with Palestinian rights and opposing the Israeli occupation.

About face to get elected
Abunimah's report included a photo of Obama with his wife Michelle seated at a table with virulently anti-Israeli Professor Edward Said and his wife Mariam.The Arab-American activist went on to say: In 2000, when Obama unsuccessfully ran for Congress I heard him speak at a campaign fundraiser hosted by a University of Chicago professor. On that occasion and others Obama was forthright in his criticism of US policy and his call for an even-handed approach to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.Obama's about-face is not surprising, Abunimah wrote. He is merely doing what he thinks is necessary to get elected and he will continue doing it as long as it keeps him in power.When Obama first ran for the Senate in 2004, the Chicago Jewish News interviewed him on his stance regarding Israel's security fence. He accused the Bush administration of neglecting the Israeli-Palestinian situation and criticized the security fence built by Israel to prevent terror attacks: The creation of a wall dividing the two nations is yet another example of the neglect of this Administration in brokering peace,Obama was quoted as saying.

Netanyahu: J'lem Withdrawal Will Bring Iran to Capital
by Avi Tuchmayer MAR 23,08

(IsraelNN.com) Opposition leader Benyamin Netanyahu warned Sunday that an Israeli withdrawal from any part of Jerusalem would lead to the creation of an Iranian base in the heart of Israel. The Iranian threat (must be neutralized) before it arms itself with a nuclear bomb. In addition, Iran must be prevented from building its main bases in the region, from Gaza to Lebanon, and particularly in Jerusalem, he said. Netanyahu has been warning about Iran's nuclear ambitions for more than a decade. His 1995 book Fighting Terrorism contains a chapter entitled The Specter of Nuclear Terrorism that focuses largely on the Islamic Republic, and outlines the history of Iran's nuclear installations at Bushehr and Isfahan and concludes with a chilling warning about terrorist groups and states obtaining nuclear weapons: (They will) invariably deploy them in the service of their aggressive purposes.

In addition to security issues, Netanyahu told US Vice President Dick Cheney that basic religious freedoms for non-Muslims would be endangered by ceding parts of the capital to Iran and its latest prodigy, the Hamas terrorist organization. Hamas, Iran and other forces affiliated with them will take control of it. They will threaten Jerusalem's wellbeing, Israel's security and the freedom of worship for millions of pilgrims and members of the different religions who visit the city today, he said. Cheney replied that the US administration understood the situation. Netanyahu also reiterated his call to the Shas Party to quit the government over ongoing negotiations over Jerusalem with the PA, which Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni confirmed on Friday. Earlier this month, the Shas party received some 185 million shekels in government funding for its institutions as part of its coalition agreement.

Pilgrims flock to Jerusalem despite troubles MAR 22,08
By Donald Macintyre in Jerusalem Saturday, 22 March 2008

The thousands of Christians who converged on Jerusalem's Old City on Good Friday could help to make 2008 the busiest year for pilgrimages to the Holy Land since the millennium, church officials said. Pilgrims from all over the world, some carrying large wooden crosses, crowded the cobblestoned alleys of the Via Dolorosa, or Way of Suffering – the route Jesus is said to have walked as he dragged the cross on which he was later crucified by the Romans. Their destination was the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, traditionally regarded as the place of Christ's crucifixion, burial and resurrection. Police sent hundreds of reinforcements to prevent any incidents in the Old City, which Israel claims to have annexed along with the rest of Arab east Jerusalem after capturing it in the 1967 war. Despite what some believe is a potentially dangerous lack of progress in peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, this weekend's pilgrims are likely to be followed by equally large numbers of worshippers from the Eastern Christian churches which celebrate Easter in five weeks' time. Father Athanasius, a spokesman for the Roman Catholic Franciscan Order in Jerusalem, said altars at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre were fully booked by visitors wanting to celebrate Mass, with up to 25 groups per day visiting over the Easter weekend. He said that at the height of the Palestinian uprising we were lucky if we had one.

He said there had been a few cancellations since a Palestinian gunman shot dead eight students at a Jewish yeshiva school on 6 March – the worst such attack in the city in four years. But in general, he said, pilgrims had been persuaded that this was untypical and about 80 Catholic tour groups were present in the Holy Land at any one time. Some estimates have put the numbers of pilgrims higher than at any time since 2000 – the year of the Pope's jubilee visit. Most of the hotels are full and we don't really have the infrastructure for more, said Fr Athanasius. It's good news but it is a crowded place.Israel has allowed the usual number of Christian Palestinians from West Bank communities in and around Bethlehem to enter Jerusalem for Easter. Palestinians with permits for religious worship are being allowed through, despite the closure of the border with the West Bank to coincide with the Jewish Purim holiday, which also falls this weekend. As Mass was celebrated in the packed Sepulchre church yesterday, a first-time pilgrim to Jerusalem, Raquel Deshaverez, 65, of Sterling Heights, Michigan, said: It is very moving to be here at Easter. It is indescribable.She said she was not worried about the risk of violence, adding: It is in the hands of the Lord. The priest leading her tour group, Monsignor Chuck Kosanke from Detroit, said there had been concerns after the yeshiva attack but added: I contacted a priest I know here and he said things were fine.

However, the fear that this could be the best Easter – not only of previous years but also future ones – was hard to dispel. Did Fr Athanasius worry that conflict could drive pilgrims away again? Everybody worries about that, he said.

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.

Russia to supply Abbas with armored vehicles, no guns Fri Mar 21, 5:12 PM ET

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - After months of delay, Russia agreed to Israeli conditions regarding the delivery of armored vehicles to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's security forces, Israeli officials said on Friday. Israel agreed in November to allow the Palestinians to receive up to 50 lightly armored vehicles but a dispute emerged over a Palestinian demand that they have guns mounted on them.Israeli officials said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert during a meeting on Thursday that Russia agreed to shipping the vehicles without mounted guns.It was unclear when the vehicles would be delivered to Abbas's forces.We have been hearing about these armed vehicles for more than a year, said a Palestinian security official. Hopefully we will be able to receive the shipment.Russian foreign ministry officials were not immediately available to comment.

Israel had agreed to an initial delivery of 25 armored trucks and said an additional 25 could be authorized if Abbas's forces make progress exerting greater security control in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.The vehicles were offered to the Palestinians by Russia several years ago but the transfer was put on hold after the Hamas Islamist group won elections in January 2006.(Additional reporting by Haitham Tamimi)(Writing by Ari Rabinovitch; editing by Philippa Fletcher).

NUCLEAR WEAPONS WILL BE USED.

REVELATION 14:18-20
18 And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire; and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe.
19 And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God.
20 And the winepress was trodden without the city,(JERUSALEM) and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs.(200 MILES) (THE SIZE OF ISRAEL)

ISAIAH 66:15-18
15 For, behold, the LORD will come with fire, and with his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire.
16 For by fire and by his sword will the LORD plead with all flesh: and the slain of the LORD shall be many.
17 They that sanctify themselves, and purify themselves in the gardens behind one tree in the midst, eating swine's flesh, and the abomination, and the mouse, shall be consumed together, saith the LORD.
18 For I know their works and their thoughts: it shall come, that I will gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come, and see my glory.

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.

Fact or Fiction? World leaders raise new concerns over possible coming nuclear attacks BY joelrosenberg

Dead Heat launched yesterday and became the #1 thriller on Amazon. But while it's fiction, the threat of rogue states and/or terrorist groups trying to launch nuclear attacks against the U.S. and our allies is all too real. Indeed, in the last twenty-four hours, the leaders of Germany and Great Britain have expressed new concerns over possible coming nuclear attacks. Neither suggested having intelligence indicating such attacks were close at hand, but their warnings turned heads on several continents. They also echoed concerns raised by American national security leaders over the past year, including Vice President Dick Cheney, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, and former CIA Director George Tenet.

On a tour through the Middle East this week, Sen. John McCain also warned of the growing nuclear threat from Iran and further warned that Hamas, Hezbollah and other terror groups could be planning to strike not only the Israel but the U.S. and Europe as well. For starters, consider this morning's headline out of London: Britain faces a rising threat of nuclear attack, says Gordon Brown.Gordon Brown faces accusations of scaremongering today with claims that Britain faces a rising threat of nuclear attack, reports the Mirror. The Prime Minister will tell the Commons that an increasing number of rogue states are getting nuclear weapons. And he will warn there are more and more terrorist groups trying to get dirty bombs, which can spread radioactive material over vast areas....He will also say the chance of a pandemic flu, which could kill millions, is high and problems of droughts and floods from global warming will rise. He will add that protecting electronic systems from the threat of computer warfare will be a priority. Mr Brown is also expected to announce plans to set up a US-style National Security Council.Then consider this headline: Merkel: Ahmadinejad's Nuclear Ambitions a Major Threat To The World.

Speaking in the Israel Parliament, German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's nuclear ambitions pose a major threat not only to Israel, but to the world as well, according to news reports out of Jerusalem. Merkel, who became the first German Chancellor to address Israel's parliament, the Knesset on Tuesday....It is not the world that has to prove that Iran is building a bomb, rather, Iran has to prove to the world that it does not want the nuclear bomb, Merkel told Israeli leaders. The German Chancellor also denounced Ahmedinejad's challenge to Israel's right to exist as a sovereign nation. She also made it clear that Germany would support further sanctions on Iran if it fails to provide clear evidence supporting Ahmadinejad's assertion that his country's nuclear program is intended for peaceful purposes only. Merkel, leader of a nation that was responsible for kill! ing 6 million Jews during World War II, said in a tone of confession that the Holocaust fills us with shame....I bow my head before the survivors and I bow my head before you in tribute to the fact that you were able to survive, Merkel said. She vowed to battle any flare-ups of anti-Semitism, racism and xenophobia in Germany or in Europe.Then came this headline: John McCain: Israel's enemies threaten us all.

I think Iran is a threat to the region, said Sen. McCain, noting that Iran is obviously pursuing nuclear weapons....At the end of the day, we can still not afford to have Iran with nuclear weapons...We know they have ambitions that are not just aimed at the State of Israel. He added that these ambitions included destabilisation of the entire region upon which the United States' national security interests rest.What's more, McCain warned that, If Hamas and Hizbollah succeeds here in Israel, they are going to succeed everywhere, not only in the Middle East, but everywhere. Israel isn't the only enemy.Meanwhile, there is this headline out of Geneva: North Korea, U.S. Fail to Reach Accord on Nuclear Declaration.

Nuclear disarmament talks with North Korea remain deadlocked after U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill failed to persuade the communist nation to disclose its atomic program, reported Bloomberg News. We did not reach an agreement that will allow us to move forward, Hill told reporters in Geneva late yesterday after about eight hours of talks with his North Korean counterpart Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan. There is no question that we need to move faster. Hill said he and Kim hadn't scheduled further talks and must report back to their governments. International negotiations, also involving South Korea, Russia, China and Japan, have been stalled since Kim Jong Il's regime missed a Dec. 31 deadline to provide a complete and accurate declaration of its atomic programs and materials.Such international concerns over possible nuclear attacks echo warnings issued by several U.S. security officials over the past year or so, including:

Cheney: Nuclear attack a very real threat (April 16, 2007)
Chertoff: We're Preparing for Nuclear Attack (September 10, 2007).
Tenet: Al-Qaida's Nuclear Threat Real (April 30, 2007)

The point is not that such apocalyptic attacks against the U.S., Europe, Israel or elsewhere are imminent or necessarily destined to come to pass. The point is that a growing number of world leaders believe such threats are real and significant. We should not take their warnings lightly. Dead Heat is a fictional scenario, looking at how such horrors could unfold. Let's pray they never do. Hopefully, our nation's political, military, intelligence and law enforcement leaders will have the necessary wisdom, courage, and sense of urgency to counter and neutralize these threats, and many others like them, in time.

David's Comment: Purim 2008 - The Spirit of Haman is Still at Work

As the Jewish world once again prepares to remember the exploits of a beautiful young Jewess, Hadassah or Esther as she is more commonly known, the same spirit that was at work through the wicked Haman, is still at work in 2008. As the Jewish people celebrate this Purim, the spirit that controlled Haman, is controlling most of the world's leaders, and using them to bring about the weakening and then destruction of the 60 year old Jewish state.Of course most western politicians would deny that they want to see the disappearance of Israel from the world stage, but left unchecked, their pro Palestinian, pro Islam policies would ultimately bring about Israel's demise at the hands of the Satanically driven, hate filled Islamic fundamentalists. The once Christian western nations have not only rejected God and replaced Him with science, money, sex, new age philosophy and occultism, but it seems to have embraced Allah, who is in reality, none other than Satan or at least a very high level demon. At schools in both the UK & USA, it is prohibited to pray to YHVH, the Judeo / Christian God, but Muslims are allowed to pray to Allah.

Lets go back to the original Purim .... it is Persia, now known as Iran. Haman absolutely hates the Jews of Persia and wants to destroy them. He deceives the king into hanging Mordecai who is absolutely innocent. Our heroine, Esther, finds out about Hamans evil plans to kill not just Mordecai, but all of the Jews of Persia. Even though Esther has great favour with the King, she could lose her life if she goes into the King without being summoned. Esther was desparate to save her people, so with no concern for her own life, she went to the King to intercede for Mordecai and the Jewish people of Persia. The Lord was with her and the King spared Mordecai and the Jews, instead hanging Haman on the very gallows he had erected for Mordecai. And the Jewish people have recounted that event ever since.

Back to 2008 - modern Israel is 60 years old this May. Six and a half million Jews are living in just a small portion of the land that YHVH promised to Abraham as an everlasting homeland. Sadly our Arab cousins,the descendants of Ishamel have deceived by Satan / Allah to despise the very existence of Israel, anywhere in the Middle East. They hate the Jews with every fibre of their being; They are taught to hate us from the cradle. They train their children to become terorrists and suicide bombers. Just like Haman, they are committed to Israel's destruction. And they dont try to hide the fact. Hamas & Hizbollah refuse to acknowledge the right of Israel to exist. Iran's president, definately a modern day Haman, publicly proclaims the imminent destruction of Israel. They won't rest until they achieve their goal - but like Haman and all of the others who tried to destroy the Jews, it is they who will be destroyed by the all powerful God of Israel.

Now lets add one more dynamic into the situation - OIL. The gasoline hungry western world is intoxicated by the fumes of Middle East oil. When someone is under the influence of intoxicating substances, they are more open to demonic possession

This must be the explanation for the behavior of George Bush & Condalesa Rice. They both claim to be Bible believing Christians, but both show no respect whatsoever for God's decision as to what land Israel occupies. In fact both of them are flying directly into the face of the Almighty with their no-hope, wrong way anti-Semitic Road Map. Both of them are acting as if they are being controlled by the spirit of Haman.

Yes I am picking on them - they deserve to be picked on ! And yes there are many other politicians conspiring with them, but claiming to be Christians Bush, Rice & Blair should be supporting Israel, not conspiring against Israel and the God of Israel. Bush is sending Rice back to the Middle East next week to apply even more pressure on Israel to adhere to their demands, while the Palestinians carry on with their terrorism.

One Purim is enough - we dont need a 21st century repeat ! We don't want you here Condi - stay home! You are not Kosher. Keep her in Washington George. Give up on your lame brain scheme to keep your oil soaked Islamic buddies pumping the black gold your way. Stand with Israel and the God of Israel will bless you. But be warned - you keep trying to give YHVH's precious land away and you and your nation will pay a very high price.

As for the real Christians out there - be an true Esther and stand up for Israel - pray, intercede, speak up, do whatever you can to defend God's land & God's first born sons & daughters right to live in the land YHVH has given to them. Our future depends on it ...... because Jerusalem, the undivided capital city of Israel is where Yeshua is coming back to, to establish the Kingdom and rule over the whole from the Temple.

Esther 4:14 - 15 For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place and you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not attained royalty for such a time as this?

The Lord bless you as you bless Israel by standing in defense of her right to exist on the land given to the Jewish people by the God of Israel . Lets pray that Israel will turn back to their God. Do not be silent, but share this with your fellow Christians, share it with your pastors, and with anyone you have a chance to speak to. Lets also pray for that breakthrough to the Muslims, and please remember to pray for our son Jordan, and all of his fellow soldiers in the IDF.

Please make your voice heard by signing the petition to save Jerusalem www.savejerusalem.org

Shabbat Shalom ... David & Josie

A Purim Lesson in Standing up to Evil March 23, 2008
Dear Friend of Israel,

Tomorrow an important Jewish holiday and an important Christian holiday coincide. As Christians solemnly observe Good Friday - and anticipate Easter, the most joyous day in the Christian year - Jews will be celebrating Purim, which begins tonight at sundown.

Purim recalls the deliverance of the Jewish people from their enemies nearly 2,400 years ago. The Purim story, found in the biblical book of Esther, is one of the most memorable in the entire Bible, one that Jews will hear read in synagogue during Purim services.

The King of Persia chooses a beautiful young woman named Esther to be his queen, unaware that she is Jewish. Esther hears from Mordecai, her uncle, that the King has entrusted the fate of Persian Jews to Haman, the King's top adviser. Haman hates the Jews, and issues an order to kill them all.

At great risk to her own life, Esther reveals to the King that she is Jewish and pleads with him to save her people. He agrees to do so, and, in a fitting twist, hands down to the evil Haman the death sentence Haman himself had planned to give the Jews.

Even if Esther's story is familiar to you, I urge you today to re-read it and reflect upon its timeless message. Esther's bravery and obedience to God -- her willingness to put her own life on the line to save her people -- teaches us a valuable lesson about self-sacrifice and purpose that is as true and meaningful today as it was thousands of years ago.

Haman, too, is more than just a historical figure. Looking around, we can see that there are plenty of Hamans in the world today. We hear echoes of Haman in Iranian president Ahmadinejad's frequent calls to destroy the Jewish state… in the pronouncement by Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal that, Before Israel dies, it must be humiliated and degraded… in radial Muslim clerics who preach that Jews are the descendants of apes and pigs.

One of the messages of Purim — a message that applies to Jews and Christians alike — is that in a world with no shortage of Hamans, we need more Esthers committed to standing humbly before God and seeking to defend His people in the face of all difficulties. I thank you, my friend, for being one of those Esthers through your support of The Fellowship's lifesaving work.I wish a festive Purim holiday to my fellow Jews and, to my Christian friends, a joyous Easter. And, to all, prayers for shalom, peace,

Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein
President International Fellowship of Christians and Jews.

A MESSAGE OF HOPE FROM DR. JACK VAN IMPE

Beloved, this study we are about to embark upon may shock you. It may even anger some of you. The story of alcohol's impact on our nation is chilling . . . frightening. Nevertheless, the story must be told; the facts must be given. When people are informed, they can act responsibly. And public action on America's alcohol problem is long overdue.

During the last century, churches spoke out against the use of beverage alcohol, and many joined in the battle that finally outlawed its sale, for a time. Today, such opposition is fading in many churches. In others, it has long since disappeared. Many former abstainers now imbibe, claiming Christian liberty. What is the proper position on this issue? Does the Bible forbid the use of alcohol as a beverage? Did Jesus make intoxicating wine at the wedding in Cana? Was fermented wine used in the first Communion service? Is social drinking right for some and wrong for others? Can convictions in this area differ and still be biblical? Does Paul's... use a little wine for thy stomach's sake .. . sanction moderate drinking?

Readers may find the information on the Prohibition Era of special interest. Did prohibition cause increased drinking, as is so commonly believed? Was gangsterism the rule of the day during the dry years? Was the Great Depression brought on by prohibition?

Christian response is long overdue.

The Long Night

Headlight patterns dance across the bedroom wall, telling of cars passing in the night. But each one is the wrong one. She has watched this all-night movie hundreds of times during her twenty-year marriage.

Momentarily, the fast-moving lines remind her of the brief periods of peace she has known when her man has laid off the bottle. Her attempts to make the good times last have been like trying to capture one of those moving beams on the wall. The light always slips through her fingers, leaving only darkness. She struggles to maintain hope.

Glancing toward the luminous digital clock on the nightstand, she sighs as the numbers change, clunking to a new hour. It is three in the morning. At twelve she could fall asleep hoping for the best. But at three, she awakes to reality.

She's alone.

His place is empty.

The sinking feeling that was under the surface when he walked out the door refuses to be contained.

Questions that have been asked on other long nights return: Where is he? How long will he be out this time? Who is he with? Has he been injured or killed? What will he be like when he returns? Why does he keep doing this to me? Why do I put up with it?

Years ago, she would have been beside herself, weeping uncontrollably. Remembering those breaking experiences, she thinks about the rainbow of emotions she has gone through as the wife of an alcoholic.

Anger.

Frustration.

Despair.

Hope.

Anger again.

She's not sure which reaction is best for her own well-being.

Nothing seems to make much of an impact on him ... at least not for very long. When the children were younger, she packed a suitcase one long night and left him. Let him have his drinking friends, she had thought. The children and I will make it without him.

But he had lured her back with promises that seemed sincere. Maybe the toughest part of that temporary separation was her discovery that she still loved him and didn't really want to strike out on her own.

Funny how love can take a heating and endure.

With the sudden changing of the headlight patterns, she is out of bed and at the window.

Flashing lights . . . the police.

But they're not stopping.

Relief.

Strange how the butterflies had come just when she thought she didn't care all that much about what happened to him.

The view at the window holds her.

Where are all these people going at this hour?

How many dark windows shield anxious watchers like herself? Do all her neighbors sleep peacefully? Is hers the only home besieged by booze?

She knows better.

Barry and Madge, just two doors down the street, have been this route. But Madge was different. She decided to fight fire with fire. If Barry could escape into the bottle, so could she. Why miss out on all the excitement of his night life? They began making the rounds together. But Madge got hooked. Soon she had to have a bottle at home to get through the day.

Madge was no wait-at-home. Now she's waiting it out in a hospital ... drying out again. And Barry's on the prowl .. . he says Madge embarrassed him too many times.

Lights appear in houses here and there. Early risers. Shift workers. And her worker isn't even home yet .

But he is a worker. She has to give him that. His ambition had been one of the reasons for her attraction to him. And his gentleness... there was something tender about this guy that had made her feel safe. She had been sure he would never harm her. And she'd been right. Even liquor hadn't made him mean. She was thankful for that.

Sue, in the next block, had appeared at neighborhood club meetings many times with visible bruises. Her explanations always sounded hollow. Everyone knew Rod had beaten her after another night of drinking.

But something had happened to Rod. After everything else failed, he had decided to get religious. They say someone at work invited him to church and that he and Sue are going every Sunday. Some say Rod's a new man. Sue hasn't been wearing any bruises lately...

I'll have to talk to her about it. If someone's passing out miracles that work on alcoholics, it's time to get in line.

Getting her man in line would be something else. Enough of this window gazing... better get some sleep... only a few hours now until rising time.

She moves toward the bed, then hesitates. She's too tense to sleep.

Maybe a snack. Warm milk has relaxed her before.

Making her way quietly down the stairs in the darkness so as not to disturb her sleeping teen-age daughter, she finds her way into the kitchen. How many times has she stood warming milk while few others were stirring?

A glance at the frying-pan clock brings a surprise. Four-thirty... and still waiting. Her window gazing had lasted longer than she had imagined.

There's something about a warm cup in one's hand before daybreak that stimulates thinking. As if I needed any more thinking time. I've had enough solitude to last a lifetime.

Who would have thought it?

Before they married, he had wanted to be with her all the time. And in those early years they had so much going for them: his good job, their home, a new car, plans for a family , and optimism galore. Where had they slipped off the track?

Was it my fault? Did I drive him to drink? Had I nagged too much, wanted too many things? Had I not been supportive enough? Had my love failed?

Had she overreacted the first time he drank too much? Had her scolding and crying triggered some get-even mechanism inside him that now made him unwilling to give up this habit that was draining the life out of their marriage?

I'll have to end this guilt trip. No profit in it.

But how had the problem started?

Beer. First they had enjoyed a few beers together as pick-me-ups and to cool off on hot summer afternoons.

Then beer had become a regular item on the weekly grocery list.

Nobody gets drunk on beer, he had said.

Nobody? She was too bitter to laugh.

Before long, beer belonged. It was present for every evening of television watching; it was part of every cookout; it became the drink to serve when friends dropped in.

When he had begun to climb in the company, there was entertaining to be done. And entertaining meant drinking-wine at meals for gracious dining , sandwiched between cocktail times. Social drinking.

For some reason, she had sensed danger approaching and had cut down on her drinking. Finally she had quit.

His drinking had increased. Liquor helped him through the rough spots, he said. It allowed him to relax when the pressure was on.

When he wanted to stop drinking, he couldn't.

Some said he was sick. She wasn't sure .

She knew that she was sick of his drinking. Sick of his alibis. Sick of his lies. Sick of his broken promises. Sick of alcohol breath in tender moments-and those were getting few and far between.

Oh, please, no tears. Not now. She had thought that well was dry. What if he came home and found her this way? She had promised herself never to break down in front of him again. A woman has to hold on to some dignity.

And then there's my age. That Life begins at forty business doesn't work when alcoholism is involved. What's the use? C'mon now, not the doldrums again . Got to have hope. Depression doesn't help. Have to think it through to find answers.

If only they could start over ... without booze.

Who manipulates public opinion, creating the illusion that drinking is the inseparable companion of the good life? Hasn't anyone told them about the casualties of that lie?

Lifting her cup, she drinks the last drop of milk. One fist is clenched tightly and resting on the table. She's been through that circle of emotions again: anger, tears, depression, anger.

The sky is beginning to lighten. Maybe that's a good sign.

Her face goes blank at the sound of a tire hitting the chuckhole in the drive. She hears the purr of a familiar motor.

A car door slams. There is a rasping growl of a man clearing his throat; keys jingle; the lock clicks. She watches the doorknob turn.

Which story will he use this time? What will he be like? Apologetic or sarcastic? Stumbling or somewhat in control? Ashamed or arrogant? How long will this go on?

More than ever, she is determined to find the answers needed to enable the two of them to live again.

The Long Night is imaginary, yet it is a tale too true. Thousands wait long nights for mates who drink and for others caught in alcohol's cruel trap. With the increase of alcoholism among women, more men are experiencing the agony of witnessing the slow destruction of the ones they love. Often, parents are also members of the waiting brigade.

What are the causes of this growing social problem?

Are there any solutions?

What remedies have been tried in the past?

Is there any hope for alcoholics?

Why is man so susceptible to the ravages of beverage alcohol? Why does he persist in carrying on a love affair with this enemy of body and soul?

Should total abstinence or responsible drinking be our goal?

FROM THE HEART OF DR. REXELLA VAN IMPE

The Night God Took Off His Mask

The ancient Greeks loved the theater. Their writers created elaborate stories -- both comedies and tragedies -- in the form of plays to be acted out in their amphitheaters.

Greek actors, skilled at playing many roles, switched from one character to another by going backstage and changing masks. When an actor returned to the stage with a new face he became another person.

The Greek word for one of these people of many faces was hypokrite -- or hypocrite in English. It has come to mean one who acts out a part or pretends to be what he is not.

In the New Testament Jesus chided the religious elite of His day, the scribes and Pharisees who were more concerned with the traditions and ceremonies of serving God than the meaning and purpose of God's laws. He said, Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me (Mark 7:6).

Today so many who call themselves Christians have an extensive collection of masks they can put on and take off at will. They wear many different faces, depending on where they are, who they are with, and what they are doing.

Don't misunderstand me -- I'm not talking about being able to perform different functions as a person. A man may be a husband, father, businessman, sports enthusiast, handyman, scholar, and spiritual leader. A woman may be a wife, mother, counselor, chef, chauffeur, seamstress, designer, musician, gardener, etc. But in both examples, the individual can remain the same person while performing various functions.

Hypocrisy comes from attempting to be completely different people according to the environment or situation in which we find ourselves. And all of us are tempted to try our hand at role playing at one time or another.

The real you!

Do you ever find yourself acting one way at church, another way at home, and still another at work? Have you ever considered allowing your values, appearance, vocabulary, personality, and behavior to change dramatically from Sunday to Monday... from your work place to your home... from public to private life?

Are there times when you wonder who -- and what -- is the real you?

Several years ago, Dr. Van Impe and I knew of a young evangelist who had enormous ability. He was handsome, knowledgeable, and articulate. He spoke with eloquence, diction, and power. It seemed certain that he would become one of the most effective ministers in America.

I remember especially his strong messages about the evils of alcohol and how the devil was using strong drink to cause untold misery and destroy countless lives.

Then, in the prime of his life, this young minister suddenly died! In an instant he was gone. Later, it was revealed that he had fought an unending personal battle with liquor. Many nights after his evangelistic services he drank himself into an alcoholic stupor. How tragic that he proclaimed the life-changing, transforming power of Christ's salvation to multiplied thousands, yet never accepted God's deliverance from the satanic bondage that enslaved him.

Mixed signals

One troubled young man in California came to as after a service and said, I don't understand my dad's religion. He's a deacon in the church and he seems so pious and so holy. But when he comes home, he yells and swears at my mother. This boy was troubled at the mixed signals he was receiving from his father's behavior. He realized that something was dreadfully wrong.

The Apostle James asked, Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter? Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear olive berries? (James 3:11,12).

Of course not! Then why is it that we often see entire casts of characters wrapped up in a single individual? Sometimes we're not quite sure which face they will show us next. How can this happen?

I believe it may be explained by noting that man loses the awareness of his true identity when he loses sight of who God is! When man -- either deliberately or accidentally -- loses sight of God the Father, he soon loses his way in the resulting darkness.

The Bible tells how in the beginning the Lord God himself came into the Garden of Eden to have fellowship with Adam and Eve. He knew them personally... and they knew Him.

Then they sinned by disobeying God. Immediately Adam and Eve changed the way they acted -- they hid themselves from the presence of the Lord. Ultimately they were driven out of the Garden... and out of fellowship with God.

From that day on, the human family began to lose sight of God -- to forget who He was and what He was really like.

Putting a mask on God

As the years and centuries went by, man created a picture of God that was so distorted and mistaken that very few really understood His divine plan and His tender lovingkindness.

In the eloquent words of Paul the apostle: When they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man (Romans 1:21-23).

I like the way The Living Bible expresses verse 21 -- And after a while they began to think up silly ideas of what God was like and what He wanted them to do.

In effect, man created a mask -- grotesque and corrupt -- and used it to cover the face of God. And darkness again covered the earth and the lives of men.

It was then that God chose to reveal himself afresh and anew to all mankind. Paul Scherer described the night of all nights when God came down the stairs of heaven with a child in his arms.

Throwing aside the crude mask that man had placed upon Him, the Father sent His Son, Jesus, from heaven to earth -- to once again walk among men and show them who God is and what He is like. So Jesus came, ministering to the poor, healing the sick, pouring out boundless love to all men. Do you see me and my works? He asked. Then understand that this is the nature of God. For when you see me, you see the Father.

Identify with God

Oh, my friend, the joy of seeing the Father... of having fellowship with God! This is the secret of true self-discovery. For as you find out who God is and your eternal relationship with Him through Christ, you will suddenly see yourself in a new light.

And then, you can strip away all your masks and faces and go forth in your new identity -- as a child of God.

Join me in giving thanks for that first Christmas, when God took off His mask and revealed himself to us again. If you have not yet received Him, I urge you now to --Turn your eyes upon Jesus, Look full in His wonderful face; And the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.