1-Moderate earthquake hits Mexico coast. 2-UN wants European troops in Lebanon. 3-Olmert, Peres: Yesha Withdrawal - Not For Now. 4-30 missing after Ecuador volcano erupts. 5-The Hezbollah-Israel Conflict: By the Numbers. 6-The seven feasts are God’s blueprints.(John Hagee)
MATTHEW 24:7-8
7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.
Moderate earthquake hits Mexico coast, felt in city Sat Aug 19, 3:04 AM ET
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - A moderate earthquake rocked Mexico's Pacific coast early on Saturday close to the popular beach resort of Huatulco and was felt as far away as Mexico City, but no damage was reported.
The epicenter of the 5.5 magnitude quake was close to the surfing hotspot Puerto Escondido, but also shook the capital 240 miles to the northwest, Mexico's national seismological service said.People have called to say they felt it but we haven't received any reports of damage,said Yanet Antayhua at the monitoring center.A strong tremor rattled Mexico City last week without causing major damage, but brought back memories of a devastating 1985 quake that killed thousands.Huatulco and Puerto Escondido are both in the state of Oaxaca.
EUROPEAN UNION ARMY
DANIEL 7:23-25
23 Thus he said, The fourth beast (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.(TRADING
BLOCKS)
24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings(10 NATIONS) that shall arise: 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 NATIONS)
25 And he (EU PRESIDENT) shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.(3 1/2 YRS)
DANIEL 8:23-25
23 And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king (EU DICTATOR) of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences,(FROM THE OCCULT) shall stand up.
24 And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power:(SATANS POWER) and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practise, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people.
25 And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes;(JESUS) but he shall be broken without hand.
DANIEL 11:36-39
36 And the king (EU DICTATOR) shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvellous things against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished: for that that is determined shall be done.
37 Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers,(THIS EU DICTATOR IS JEWISH) nor the desire of women, nor regard any god: for he shall magnify himself above all.(CLAIM TO BE GOD)
38 But in his estate shall he honour the God of forces:(WAR) and a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honour with gold, and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant things.
39 Thus shall he do in the most strong holds with a strange god,(DESTROY TERROR GROUPS) whom he shall acknowledge and increase with glory: and he shall cause them to rule over many,(HIS ARMY LEADERS) and shall divide the land for gain.
REVELATION 19:19
19 And I saw the beast,(EU LEADER) and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse,(JESUS) and against his army.(THE RAPTURED CHRISTIANS)
UN wants European troops in Lebanon By Evelyn Leopold go
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) The United Nations appealed on Friday for Europeans to contribute to a U.N. force in Lebanon so a balance would be created between Western and Muslim troops acceptable to Israel and Lebanon.
The United States urged France, which has offered only 200 new troops, to increase its contingent.The objective of the U.N. force is to help the Lebanese army control the south, now dominated by Hizbollah militia, which on Friday began handing out bundles of cash to people whose homes were wrecked by Israeli bombing.
The Hizbollah action consolidated the Iranian-backed group's support among Lebanon's Shi'ites, embarrassing the Beirut government.People already had faith in Hizbollah. This will strengthen their faith,said Ayman Jaber, 27, with a wad of $12,000 in bank notes Hizbollah had given him.
Israeli and U.S. officials have voiced concern that Hizbollah will entrench its popularity by moving fast -- with Iranian money -- to help people whose homes were destroyed or damaged in the 34-day conflict with Israel.At least 1,183 people in Lebanon and 157 Israelis were killed in the war that erupted after Hizbollah captured two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid on July 12.
At the United Nations, Deputy Secretary-General Mark Malloch Brown welcomed promises from Italy and Finland to deploy troops and firm commitments from Nepal and Muslim nations Indonesia, Malaysia and Bangladesh.
ISRAEL WANTS EXCLUSIONS
Still, Israeli officials have said that countries that do not have relations with the Jewish state should not be in the force. Indonesia and Malaysia are among them.You want a force which is broadly acceptable in its composition to both sides, which is why we have talked about this European-Muslim core to the force, Malloch Brown told reporters. I think the issue is balance.
The particular appeal I want to make today is that Europe comes forward with troops for this first wave,he said.The United Nations wants to field an advance force of 3,500 troops by September 2 and hopes to have the entire complement in place by November 4. The U.N. Security Council on August 11 authorized up to 13,000 troops in addition to the current 2,000-strong U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon, UNIFIL.
But France's reticence to contribute more troops has disappointed U.N. and U.S. officials, who expected Paris to take a lead role. The French military has hesitated following a loss of 58 paratroopers to a suicide bomb attack in Beirut in 1983 and some 84 soldiers in Bosnia in the early 1990s.Malloch Brown said France's representative had affirmed that new rules of engagement were very acceptable and correct and a reflection of the resolution that France had obviously been an author of. U.S. State Department spokesman Tom Casey said France was still studying the rules distributed to dozens potential troops contributors on Thursday.
After they have done so, I am sure they will come back with a more complete and final response as to what their ultimate contributions will be,Casey said. I suspect we haven't heard the last from them.
BUSH APPEALS TO FRANCE
Even President Bush appealed to France from the Camp David presidential retreat. There's been different signals coming out of France,he told reporters. We hope they send more. In Lebanon, Hizbollah has not said where the funds are coming from to
compensate people for an estimated 15,000 destroyed homes. The plans appears likely to cost at least $150 million and the Beirut has yet to launch anything similar.
Lebanon's reconstruction chief said Israeli bombardment had inflicted a disastrous $3.6 billion worth of physical damage on Lebanon from which it could take years to recover. Al-Fadl Shalaq, head of the Council for Development and Reconstruction, said the devastation from the 34-day conflict exceeded that caused by Lebanon's 1975 1990 civil war. Trying to bolster a five-day-old truce, Lebanese troops moved deeper into the south and about 600 deployed in Shebaa village, near the Israeli-occupied Shebaa Farms enclave.
The Shebaa Farms is a small patch of land claimed by Lebanon, but occupied by Israel since it captured the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 war. The United Nations deems the territory Syrian until Syria cedes it to Lebanon. On Thursday, the Lebanese army began deploying a force that will eventually number 15,000 soldiers south of the Litani River, about 13 miles from the border with Israel. Hizbollah fighters have melted away as the Lebanese army arrived, but they have not left the south or given up the rocket launchers they used to bombard Israel during the conflict. (Additional reporting by Beirut, Jerusalem, Paris, Rome and Washington
bureaux)
JOEL 3:2
2 I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.
Olmert, Peres: Yesha Withdrawal - Not For Now
By Hillel Fendel(INN)
PM Olmert told Kadima party colleagues this week he realizes that his unilateral withdrawal plan is irrelevant for now. Shimon Peres, in U.S., says the Lebanese war has lowered the plan's chances. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told Kadima members that he cannot ignore the fact that something very basic has changed in Israel over the past few weeks, and that he must now adapt his government's agenda accordingly.
Speaking with leading Kadima Party officials, Haaretz reports, Olmert said he cannot ignore the situation in Judea and Samaria, but that rebuilding the north will now take up most of the government's time and resources.
Vice Prime Minister Shimon Peres, too, does not see Olmert's unilateral withdrawal plan occurring in the near future and possibly not at all. Speaking with American Jews in New York Thursday night, Peres said that the war in Lebanon lowered the chances for a unilateral Disengagement-like retreat from Judea and Samaria. He said that Israel must now focus on bilateral negotiations.The Kadima Party - founded by Ariel Sharon, headed by Ehud Olmert, and joined by Shimon Peres after many decades in the Labor Party - has based itself chiefly on one concept: a unilateral withdrawal from most of Judea and Samaria. If the idea is now shelved, Kadima will have to reformulate its agenda.
Several Kadima members have been quoted, and a few have even gone on record, as opposing Olmert's plan. MK David Tal, formerly of Shas and Labor-One Nation, recently said that in light of the two-front war forced upon Israel, there is nothing to talk about now regarding further expulsions and unilateral moves. The whole idea of unilateralism has been shown to be worthless.
Minister Meir Sheetrit said, even before the Lebanese war, that he opposes the concept of a retreat from Judea and Samaria. A long-time supporter of the Disengagement ever since his days in the Likud, Sheetrit said six weeks ago that a unilateral withdrawal is liable to endanger Israel. The reality has shown that an Israeli retreat with no coordination with the other side is a mistake, Sheetrit said, and could bring the threat of Kassam rockets right to the center of Israel.Meanwhile, another Kadima member, Justice Minister Chaim Ramon, announced today (Friday) that he will resign his post on Sunday. This follows the decision announced last night by Attorney General Menachem Mazuz to indict him on charges of sexual harassment. Ramon left the Labor Party and joined Kadima just days after Ariel Sharon founded it last November, and strongly supported the retreats from Lebanon and Gaza, as well as a unilateral withdrawal from Judea and Samaria. If Olmert appoints a replacement for Ramon, it is said that he will choose from among Minister Sheetrit, Interior Minister Roni Bar-On, or - a long shot - former Justice Minister Dan Meridor.
GENESIS 6:11-13
11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.(WORLD TERRORISM,MURDERS)
12 And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.
13 And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence (TERRORISM) through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.
30 missing after Ecuador volcano erupts By DOLORES OCHOA, Associated Press Writer 51 minutes ago
BANOS, Ecuador - Rescuers searched Friday for 30 people missing after the devastating explosion of a volcano killed at least one person and forced tens of thousands to flee and appeared poised for a new eruption. Ecuador's Geophysics Institute urged residents and tourists who may be tempted to witness the spectacle to stay away from the 16,575-foot Tungurahua volcano in the nation's central Andes.There is more potential for it to do very big things. We see that there is a fault in the volcano and it is very unstable, institute head Hugo Yepes said. There is great activity inside.The volcano is now quiet, but geology professor Theofilos Toulkeridis, of Quito's San Francisco University, warned: It is not good news that the volcano is calm. That is not a good sign.If Tungurahua remained plugged up at the upper part of the chimney it would start to accumulate gas and magma, he told The Associated Press.
The more time that passes with it capped, the worse it is.Volcanic ash rained down about 140 miles west of Tungurahua, which exploded before dawn Thursday and smothered its lush green slopes in a dull gray blanket of ash. Trees were singed bare by fiery volcanic flows.Authorities had ordered the evacuation of a dozen
hamlets on the volcano's slopes.
Ecuador's Civil Defense said about 4,500 people were able to escape the rivers of fire — a horrific sight to villagers in the middle of the frigid Andean night. A dozen people were hospitalized Friday for injuries and burns.It was the 14th time Tungurahua has sent hot lava and ash onto villages on its flanks since its first recorded eruption in the Spanish colonial era in 1534. After remaining dormant for eight decades, Tungurahua rumbled back to life in 1999 and has been active ever since.
Carlos Puente, governor of Chimborazo province, said 30,000 to 40,000 people had inhabited the western slopes, the most damaged of the volcano, before the eruption, but that now no one is left.At least a dozen villages on the volcano's western slopes were seriously damaged or destroyed, and televised images showed the tops of electricity poles jutting from the smoldering flow that smothered more than 100 homes in the village of Juibe Grande. Authorities said the village's 600 residents escaped in time.
They were less sure about the many holdouts who refused to answer evacuation orders Wednesday in three hamlets high on the slopes of the volcano, which is some 85 miles south of the capital of Quito.A doctor said about 50 people from the village of Penipe were treated for burns caused by lava flows and incandescent rocks that burned them as they tried to flee.
They were also burned by vapor and the elevated heat in the zone. It was a scene of chaos, a Dantesque situation,Dr. Hernan Ayala told Ecuador's Channel 4 from a medical center in Riobamba, where many of the victims were taken.Rescuers recovered the body of a 50-year-old man in Penipe who was burned to death when he tried to return to his home to retrieve a television set, Puente said.
Hortensia Chicaiza and her husband searched desperately through an ash-covered field for food for her livestock.Does God do this in other places or does this only happen here? she said as she pulled up fistfuls of ashy vegetation.Pyroclastic flows — superheated material that shoots down the sides of volcanos at up to 190 mph — damaged access roads and blocked three rivers and forced the shutdown of a hydroelectric. Four jungle provinces were without power for hours until energy officials were able to rerouted lines.
18 August 2006
The Hezbollah-Israel Conflict: By the Numbers
The conflict between Hezbollah and Israel began on July 12 when Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed Shiite terrorist organization, killed eight Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers and kidnapped two others on Israel’s side of the border with Lebanon. Hezbollah coordinated the kidnapping scheme to coincide with massive rocket and mortar shell attacks on IDF positions and Israeli villages. In response, Israel retaliated with an operation on southern Lebanon aimed at disarming Hezbollah and to rescue the abducted IDF soldiers. Hezbollah’s daily barrage of rocket attacks has taken a heavy toll on Israel’s civilian population, including its economy and its environment.
Since the conflict began:
159 Israeli citizens have been killed by Hezbollah rocket fire; of those 43 were Christian, Jewish, and Muslim civilians 116 were IDF soldiers killed in rocket attacks as well as in combat.
4,262 civilians were treated for injuries in hospitals; of those, 33 were seriously wounded, 68 were moderately wounded, and 1,388 were lightly wounded. Another 2,773 suffered from shock and anxiety.
Over 2 million people - a third of Israel’s population - were within Hezbollah rocket range.
300,000 - 500,000 Israelis have been displaced.
More than 1 million residents were forced to live in bomb shelters.
6,000 homes were hit by rockets.
7,600 damage claims have been filed.
A Snapshot of Hezbollah’s Rocket Attacks:
13,000 rockets are in Hezbollah’s arsenal
3,970: The number of rockets Hezbollah has fired into Israeli cities and towns; 901 landed in urban areas Of the missiles Hezbollah has fired at Israel:
Over 1,000 have hit the Kiryat Shmona area
808 have hit near Nahariya
471 have hit near Tzfat (Safed)
176 have hit near Karmiel
106 have hit near Akko
93 rockets have hit the Haifa area
81 rockets have hit the Tiberias vicinity
1,800buildings used by Hezbollah have been destroyed by Israeli forces
530 Hezbollah guerrillas have been killed by the IDF
309 Hezbollah rocket launchers have been destroyed by the IDF
33 Hezbollah-built tunnels have been destroyed by the IDF
Economic Losses to Israel:
$1.6 billion: The estimated cost of damage to the economy
$5.3 billion: The cost of the war
$335.4 million: The estimated compensation to be given to the population of northern Israel
$460 million: The amount of aid that will be given to local governments and emergency services in northern Israel
20 percent: The amount of decrease in tourism
$27 million: The amount of money hotels in northern Israel lost in one month of fighting [20]25,000 hotels in the north of Israel were empty
$222 million: The total expected loss to the tourism industry
630: The number of factories in northern Israel that were closed
$1.4 billion: The amount of money businesses in northern Israel lost
1.5 percent: Estimated loss in GDP
Environmental Loss:
50 - 60 years: Time it will take for forests to recover
6,178: The number of acres of grazing land burned
618: The number of acres of natural or planted forest burned
Humanitarian Assistance into Lebanon:
At least 70,000 foreign nationals were assisted by the IDF in the coordination efforts to evacuate Lebanon
57 airplanes with humanitarian goods for Lebanese civilians were permitted to land and unload at Beirut International Airport
The IDF allowed 213 passenger ships, 123 ground convoys and 196 helicopters to travel through Lebanon to evacuate expatriates and tourists.
GENESIS 1:14
14 And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:(ISRAELS HOLY DAYS AND SABBATH STARTS AT 6PM) And for SIGNS (PROPHECY SIGNS TO HAPPEN IN THE FUTURE, OUR DAY)
Vol. 16, No. 1 Publications Agreement No. 40032588,january/february 2004
The seven feasts are God’s blueprints.
To Order Call 1-800-854-9899 In Canada Call 1-416-447-4000
http://www.jhm.org/mag-pdfs/jan-feb04mag.pdf
In the series, Prophecy of the Seven Feasts, Pastor Hagee teaches about the marriage of the Church as the Bride of Christ.
The contract written on our hearts is the original document represented by the ketubot which are written for earthly wedding ceremonies.The ketubah (Jewish marriage contract) is an ancient and beautiful element of the Jewish marriage ceremony. In its most traditional form, the ketubah is a prenuptial agreement, outlining the responsibilities of the groom to his bride.
There is evidence that early Christians (until the sixth century A.D.) continued to follow this Jewish tradition,stipulating the ordinary obligations of a what a husband should provide for his wife,adding the words to love, cherish,and honor. Though this marriage contract was a great advance for its time (dating back to the end of the first century, A.D.), today most couples choose wording which expresses their mutual love and commitments to one another.
Judaism has a precept known as hiddur mitzvah (literally: beautification of the commandment,) which states that if an object is required for ritual purposes, it should be made as beautiful as possible—hence the custom of highly illuminated ketubot. A ketubah is one of the few parts of the wedding that actually endures beyond the wedding day and is traditionally the first decorative item in a newly-wed couple’s home.
Prophecy of the Seven Feasts by Pastor John Hagee , JHMagazine
Leviticus 23 is one of the key chapters to unlocking the prophetic mysteries of the Bible. The seven feasts found in Leviticus 23 give us a divine blueprint for the future of the world. The word feast in Hebrew is mo-ed and it means a set time or an appointed time.
Another Hebrew word connected to the feast is mikrah, which means rehearsal or recital. The point is that God is showing us through the seven feasts, a rehearsal of the future at a set time.
Christians falsely assume these feasts are exclusively Jewish feasts. The Bible says,these feasts are the Lord’s…The New Testament church celebrated the seven feasts. St. Paul wrote to the church in Corinth,therefore let us keep the feast…
(1 Corinthians 5:8). The feasts are clearly the revelation of Jesus and of thing to come.
The seven feasts reveal God’s seven thousand year plan for man. Psalm 90:4,For a thousand years in thy sight is as but yesterday.
The point is that at the end of 6,000 years, the world as we know it will end and the seventh day will dawn.Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.Satan will be bound in hell in chains. The Lion of Judah has destroyed the roaring lion who came to rob, kill and destroy.
The first feast is the Passover. The events leading up to the Passover are the most dramatic in Scripture. The Jewish people were enslaved in Egypt for over 400 years and they desperately needed a deliverer. God spoke to Moses from within a burning bush and revealed His plan.Each Jewish father was to take a spotless oneyear-old male lamb and tie it to the doorpost for four days, so the family could get to know the lamb. It was not just a lamb, but it was their lamb. The same way, Christ desires to be your personal Savior.
The second feast is that of unleavened bread. The thing that makes leavened bread puff-up is yeast. Yeast in the Bible is the type of sin born through pride. First Corinthians 5:6 says,purge out therefore the old leaven…We should look for every manifestation of pride and get it out of our lives, because if not, it will destroy our souls.Pride is rooted in idolatry. You worship yourself and don’t need God. Proverbs 16:5,Everyone who is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord… none will go unpunished.The Jewish people at Passover purge the leaven out of their houses. They go through their houses to search for every particle of leavened bread.
The reason for doing so is in Exodus 12:15. God said anyone who ate leavened bread during the Passover week was to be put to death. God has zero tolerance for sin or pride.The Passover meal is served on a plate with three pieces of unleavened bread, that we as Christians can look at to represent the Father,Son and Holy Spirit. The Jewish tradition is for one piece of bread to be hidden in the home.The child who finds it receives a gift. Jesus Christ is longing to be found by all people to give the gift of eternal life, along with so many more blessings.
The prophecy of the feast of first fruits prophesied the resurrection of Jesus. St Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15:20-22, But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep. For as in Adam all die, so also, in Christ, all shall be made alive.Jesus rose from the dead on the 17th of Nisan,the exact day of the feast of first fruits. His resurrection guarantees resurrection for those who believe in Him.Israel was God’s firstborn. In Exodus 4:22,God told Moses, And you shall say unto Pharaoh, thus saith the Lord, Israel is my son,even my firstborn. Why does the Bible say,The first shall be last and the last shall be
first”? Because the Gospel was preached to the Jew first and then to the Gentiles, but the Gentiles were the first to accept Christ as Messiah.We are all commanded to seek first the kingdom of God (Matthew 6:33).
Is Christ first in your life? First fruits is the wave offering praising God for the coming harvest. Revelation 23:11 says,And you shall wave the sheaf of grain before the Lord. On Sunday mornings, when you hold your tithe in your hand, this is your wave offering. You are thanking God for his provision and for the harvest He will send you. In the Old Testament, people were not permitted to eat the bread they had made,until they had given the first fruits of it. The point is that God will not let you enjoy the abundance of harvest until you have given the first fruits.
There are four things that determine your harvest. First you must plant your seed before you can expect a harvest. Second, the size of your harvest depends on how much you sow.Your prosperity gives God pleasure. According to Psalm 35:7,Let the Lord be magnified which has pleasure in the prosperity of His servant.Thirdly, you must wait patiently for the harvest.Lastly, you can kill your harvest by murmuring.Murmuring sounds like this,Where is God when you really need him? I have waited long enough, God is not coming through this time.By doing this, God cancels your harvest.
The fourth feast found in Leviticus is the feast of Pentecost. The first Pentecost occurred at Mount Sinai, 50 days after God had delivered Israel from Pharaoh. They are there to receive the written word of God, in the Ten Commandments. Celestial shofars blew louder and louder and God said, I am the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt. This was the first day of Pentecost recorded in Scripture.Remember, it is an elaborate rehearsal for the day of Pentecost recorded in Acts chapter two…Now when the day of Pentecost was fully come... meaning it was exactly the fiftieth day after Jesus rose from the dead.The Pentecost of Acts chapter two was the birth of the church. It was the marriage of God and His church in the upper room. Pentecost was the pouring out of the Holy Spirit. Out of that upper room came a people who went into the streets of Jerusalem speaking in every known language on the earth. Why? So that the world could hear the Gospel, so the church could be married to the living God, so that there would be a contract written in our hearts by God the Holy Spirit and so that the church of Jesus Christ could receive the Baptism of the
Holy Spirit.
The seven feasts are God’s blueprints. The message and mystery of these feasts is for every generation. It is God’s will for you to preview what He has in store for us in eternity. God is showing us through these feasts a glimpse of the future. They are a shadow of the glorious things to come.This unique and stirring prophetic devotional explores the feasts of Israel. His Glory Revealed will help you understand not only the meaning of each of the seven feasts, but the prophetic significance of each festival. These daily readings will also give you a better appreciation for the incredible complexity and majestic simplicity of God’s divine seventhousand-year plan for mankind.
B-54 Hardback Book,$12 US/$16 CAN
ORDER TODAY!
1-800-854-9899 US
1-416-447-4000 CAN
or purchase online www.johnhagee.net
Saturday, August 19, 2006
Friday, August 18, 2006
ISRAEL HANDS CONTROL OVER
1-Report: North Korea to test nuclear bomb. 2-Sakhalin island, Kamchatka peninsula hit by strong tremors. 3-Another earthquake felt in southern Oklahoma. 4-Heavy rain pounds Japan, storm makes landfall. 5-Pakistani flood toll at least 15. 6-Vietnam evacuates thousands as floods kill 19. 7-Floods wreak havoc in Chumphon. 8-Japan heat wave to continue in many areas next week. 8-African region commits to customs union by 2010. 9-Israel Hands Control of Southern Lebanon Areas to UN.
NUCLEAR WEAPONS WILL BE USED.
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 ARE JUDGEMENT SCRIPTURES,NOT THE RAPTURE IN THESE 2 VERSES)
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,not birds eating their flesh,thats why these verses are judgement,not rapture scriptures).
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.
Report: North Korea to test nuclear bomb
WASHINGTON, Aug. 17 (UPI) -- Evidence has been found that North Korea is getting ready to test a nuclear weapon, ABC News reported Thursday. Sources in the U.S. military and the State Department said intelligence turned over to the White House showed large reels of cables being unloaded at an underground facility in P'unggye-yok that analysts believe could connect the test site to distant instruments. The activity comes six weeks after North Korea launched seven test missiles, including a long-range vehicle that broke up in flight. ABC said its sources cautioned the evidence was not conclusive that Pyongyang was about to become a nuclear nation. It said suspicious activity was detected by spy satellites last year, but no test took place.
MATTHEW 24:7-8
7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.
Sakhalin island, Kamchatka peninsula hit by strong tremors Thu Aug 17, 8:43 PM ET
MOSCOW (AFP) - Strong earthquakes shook the Russian island of Sakhalin north of Japan and the Kamchatka peninsula, Russian news agencies reported quoting local seismological centres. A tremor measuring 6.1 on the Richter scale hit Sakhalin, Itar-Tass said. The epicentre of the quake was located some 20 kilometres (13 miles) southwest of Sakhalin, an island that is in a zone of strong seismic activity.One person was injured by a falling wardrobe, Nevelsk Mayor Vladimir Pak was quoted as saying.Two aqueducts in the southern Sakhalin town of Nevelsk were damaged and cracks appeared in the walls of many buildings.
Residents of the region rushed out of their buildings and were spending the night outdoors for fear of further shocks, Pak said.In 1995 a quake measuring 7.6 wiped out the village of Neftegorsk in the north of Sakhalin, killing more than 2,000 people.Meanwhile a powerful earthquake measuring 5.9 on the Richter scale shook the eastern side of Kamchatka, a sparsely populated region more than 1,000 kilometres (650 miles) northeast of Sakhalin on the other side of the Okhotsk Sea. No damage was reported, Ria-Novosti news agency said.
Another earthquake felt in southern Oklahoma
ELMORE CITY, Okla. For the fifth time in the past two weeks a small earthquake struck in southern Oklahoma.The Oklahoma Geological Survey says a magnitude two-point-six earthquake shook the Garvin County town of Elmore City shortly before 8:15 this morning.The epicenter for the quake was about eight miles south of Elmore City in southwestern Garvin County.Garvin County is the most active spot in the state for earthquakes with about 320 recorded there since 1977.(From KTUL) Associated Press.
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;
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.
Heavy rain pounds Japan, storm makes landfall Thu Aug 17, 8:35 PM ET
TOKYO (Reuters) - Heavy rain pounded southwestern Japan as tropical storm Wukong moved slowly across its southernmost main island on Friday after making landfall, threatening floods and landslides. Wukong -- meaning Monkey King, a legendary Chinese hero was about 40 km (25 miles) south-southwest of the city of Kumamoto as of 7:55 a.m. (2255 GMT), some 900 km (560 miles) southwest of Tokyo in a largely rural area of the island of Kyushu.The storm was moving northwest at 15 km (9 miles) an hour, with winds near its center of up to 83 km (52 miles) an hour. It made landfall on Kyushu shortly after midnight.
Parts of Shikoku island were expected to get up to 500 mm (19.6 inches) of rain by Saturday morning, while Kyushu was likely to be hit by 400 mm (15.75 inch) of rain, swelling rivers and threatening landslides.The extreme slowness of this storm means that rain will be falling in the same places for an extended period of time, and caution must be taken about flooding,an official at the Japan Meteorological Agency said.Some ferry and train services were canceled in Kyushu, along with a handful of domestic flights and two international flights, NHK public television said.The Tropical Storm risk (www.tropicalstormrisk.com) Web site predicted that Wukong would weaken to a tropical depression on Friday, but the Meteorological Agency official said that was uncertain.After crossing Kyushu, the storm is expected to keep heading north to the Korean peninsula.
Pakistani flood toll at least 15 Fri Aug 18, 2:51 AM ET
KARACHI (Reuters) - Pakistan's biggest city declared a public holiday on Friday as it cleaned up from heavy flooding that killed at least 15 people and more rain was expected, officials said. Banks and the stock market in Karachi would remain open despite the holiday declared by the provincial government.Most of the 15 people killed in the floods on Thursday were electrocuted while some were killed in traffic accidents during heavy downpours, an emergency service official said.I can confirm 15 casualties in the last 24 hours but the number could be higher as many cases go unreported,said Rizwan Edhi, a senior official of the Edhi Trust, which runs the country's largest ambulance service.Thunder storms and heavy rain hit across Sindh province but a provincial government spokesman said there were no reports of damage to crops.The flood situation is also under control so far,the spokesman said.
Weather officials said more rain was expected in Karachi and across southern Sindh province by Friday evening.
Vietnam evacuates thousands as floods kill 19 Fri Aug 18, 1:59 AM ET
HANOI (Reuters) - Vietnam ordered the evacuation of thousands of people on Friday in the central and northern regions to avoid flash floods and landslides triggered by prolonged rains that have killed at least 19 people. Floods after torrential rains since last Friday hit the Central Highlands key coffee-growing region and four central coastal provinces, killing at least eight people in Binh Thuan province and four in Nghe An province, a government report said.Six others drowned in four provinces and one died in the Mekong delta province of Dong Thap. The floods also displaced thousands of people, inundated 5,000 houses, submerged nearly 40,000 hectares (100,000 acres) of mainly rice and corn crops and also blocked traffic.
The rains, which in the past weeks have triggered landslides and floods causing human deaths and property damage, are expected to continue in the coming days in the country's north and central north,the National Flood and Storm Prevention Center said in a message on Friday.The center ordered provincial authorities to move people out of low-lying areas.More than 1,600 households in the central highland provinces of Dak Nong, Daklak and Lam Dong have been evacuated, the center said. Rice and instant noodles have been sent to the Central Highlands that produces 80 percent of Vietnam's coffee.Natural disasters, especially floods and storms, kill several hundred people in Vietnam each year, mainly during the storm season between May and October.This year's rains and floods did not damage the region's coffee crop as coffee trees are planted on higher ground. But rains have delayed several deliveries to Saigon Port as exporters temporarily stopped processing, traders said.Further to the south, seasonal floods are forecast to rise quickly in the next five days in the Mekong delta rice basket, which generates half of Vietnam's grain output.
However, most of the summer-autumn rice crop has been harvested in key growing provinces bordering Cambodia.
Floods wreak havoc in Chumphon
By Jutarat Tongpiam 17 August 2006 12:37
Heavy flooding has persisted in southern Chumphon province due mainly to continuous rainfall which has inundated low-lying areas of Tha Sae and Muang districts.Some low-lying areas in Muang district are under three to four meters of floodwater, which has reached almost to the rooftops of one-storey houses and to the second floor of two-storey houses,Chumphon Deputy Governor Weera Sriwathanatrakul told ThaiDay.
Weera said floodwaters have inundated six sub-districts in Muang district and have also affected more than 1,000 people in six sub-districts in Tha Sae district.People in some villages had to escape the heavy floods to camp on higher land, including on the roads. Local officials, community leaders, the military and the police as well as local charity groups have cooperated to help evacuate and provide food and necessities to those villagers, he said.There is also concern that the rising level of Muang district’s Tah Tapao canal may exacerbate the flooding if the rain continues. The canal has already overflowed into Chumphon municipality, inundating businesses and residential areas and forcing the closure of schools.
Weera said the canal usually acts as a reservoir for water from Ta Sae and other canals in Chumphon and has prevented flooding for years.Rain fell across Chumphon province yesterday, but its intensity has eased compared to the previous two days. Floodwaters have also begun to recede in higher areas of Pathiu, Sawi and Lang Suan districts.The floods have inundated Pathiu and Tha Sae hospitals, forcing them to transfer critically ill patients to Chumphon and other nearby hospitals.
The floods have caused suffering for more than 10,000 households, said a provincial disaster report to the Interior Ministry.Chumphon Meteorological Station Chief Teerawat Teeraratpol said the rain will probably continue during the coming days, but will ease from more than 100 millimeters a day to 30 to 40 millimeters a day.The rainfall will continue due to the season and the influence of the southwest monsoon, but the flooding and rainstorms should lessen within the next few days,he said.Teerawat said that rain and storms this year have been stronger and more frequent than last year. But, bad weather and severe disasters are occurring in other parts of the world as well, and mainly stem from enormous changes in the world’s environment caused, especially, by deforestation and pollution,he said.
Meanwhile, the Meteorological Department warned of more rain in Chumphon and in the other southern provinces of Prachuap Khiri Khan, Ranong and Phang Nga.Although the storms will start dissipating today, fishermen in the Andaman Sea and the upper part of the Gulf of Thailand should beware of storms and choppy seas.The department also warned that heavy rain is expected in the North and the upper regions of the Northeast due to the influence of the southwestern monsoon. Possible areas to be affected include Mae Hong Son, Tak, and Nan provinces in the North and the Northeast’s Nong Khai, Sakon Nakhon, and Mukdahan provinces.
Downpours in the East’s Chanthaburi and Trat provinces will end today. However, residents on hill slopes near waterways or in low-lying areas should beware of flash floods.Meanwhile, a flash flood from the Tanaosri Mountains has submerged Prachuap Khiri Khan province’s Bang Saphan district under 1.3 meters of water because of persistent rain since Monday.Caretaker Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said that he already ordered the Irrigation Department to seek sustainable long-term measures to prevent heavy floods in the province.The flood problem in Prachuap Khiri Khan will be quickly solved and the situation will return to normal very soon,Thaksin said.
Following the Meteorological Department’s warning, Trat Governor Boonchuay Kerdsukon yesterday ordered provincial and local officials to be ready around the clock to help residents affected by flash or heavy floods and storms. The warning came as torrential rain and storms continued across the province.
ISAIAH 30:26-27
26 Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day that the LORD bindeth up the breach of his people, and healeth the stroke of their wound.
27 Behold, the name of the LORD cometh from far, burning with his anger, and the burden thereof is heavy: his lips are full of indignation, and his tongue as a devouring fire:
MATTHEW 24:21-22,29
21 For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
22 And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened (Daylight hours shortened)
29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:
REVELATION 16:7-9
7 And I heard another out of the altar say, Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are thy judgments.
8 And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire.
9 And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him glory.
Japan heat wave to continue in many areas next week Fri Aug 18, 3:35 AM ET
TOKYO (Reuters) - The current heat wave will continue in many areas of Japan for at least another week from Saturday, and then start cooling down, the official forecaster said on Friday. The Japan Meteorological Agency forecast that all regions will have hot weather next week similar to this week, with temperatures rising above 30 degrees Celsius (86 Fahrenheit).Temperatures will then ease in line with the seasonal average for August recorded from 1971 to 2000.The weather has been warmer than normal in most areas of Japan recently. In particular, the northernmost main island of Hokkaido has seen average temperatures in the past two weeks 2.9 degrees higher than the normal 22 degrees Celsius for August, boosting daily peak electricity demand to record levels in the area.
Temperatures in Hokkaido have risen to almost 33 Celsius (91.4 F), almost matching temperatures in the southernmost main island of Kyushu.Kyushu's local daily electricity demand has also hit record levels this month, with temperatures rising as high as 35 Celsius (95 F). The average temperature in the past week was 2 degrees higher than the area's average of 27.6 Celsius for August.
The average temperatures in the capital Tokyo, in eastern Japan, was 0.6 degrees higher than the area's normal at 27.1 Celsius (80.8 F) in the past week.
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.(TRADING
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).
African region commits to customs union by 2010
Thu Aug 17, 2006 8:31 AM GMT ,By Ntsau Lekhetho
MASERU (Reuters) - The 14-member Southern African Development Community (SADC) trade bloc is committed to becoming a customs union within five years, officials said on Wednesday.Top SADC officials meeting in Lesotho endorsed a programme on the
region's integration, which foresees a free trade union by 2008, a customs union by 2010, common market by 2015 and a single currency in the mould of the euro by 2018.
The officials are preparing for a heads of state and government summit in the
mountainous kingdom on Friday.Most SADC leaders will attend, Lesotho officials say, but add that a notable absentee will be Democratic Republic of Congo President Joseph Kabila who is awaiting the result of a historic presidential election in the huge central African country.Western donors, on the sidelines of the meeting, said they were concerned with what they see as a slow pace towards integration and a lack of political commitment to SADC targets.The European Union was concerned that some of SADC's members still belonged to the rival Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), slowing the momentum and raising questions of political commitment to SADC's agenda, one EU official said.SADC comprises Angola, Botswana, Democratic Republic of Congo, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
The EU was also concerned about reluctance among SADC governments to allow free movement of people and goods across the region to bolster trade.Lesotho Finance Minister Timothy Thahane, emerging from meetings with EU representatives, said economic partnerships under negotiation by SADC and the EU depended on the region being integrated within the set time-frame, and Western governments were keen that Africans meet that agenda.Multiple membership of regional groupings, discouraged by the World Trade Organisation, was also an issue -- but that can only be determined by individual SADC members, Thahane said.
SADC's chief executive told reporters that he wanted members to accelerate the pace of building infrastructure -- from roads and railways to telecommunications -- to encourage regional integration and spur foreign direct investment.We cannot facilitate trade, free movement of people and free movement of goods if we don't have the necessary infrastructure,SADC Executive Secretary Tomaz Salamao said.SADC's secretariat has proposed a single visa for the region, known as a univisa, which officials expect to have been adopted by 2010, boosting tourism by allowing visitors planning to attend the FIFA soccer World Cup to tour any country in the region without seeking separate visas.© Reuters 2006.
REVELATION 19:19
19 And I saw the beast,(EU LEADER) and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse,(JESUS) and against his army.(THE RAPTURED CHRISTIANS)
Israel Hands Control of Southern Lebanon Areas to UN
Aug. 17 (Bloomberg) -- Israel transferred control of 50 percent of southern Lebanon to a United Nations force as Lebanese soldiers entered the region three days after a cease-fire halted fighting between Israel and Hezbollah. The UN will hand over to Lebanon's army once the Lebanese force is ready to disarm Hezbollah, the Israeli military said. Lebanese troops, backed by tanks and armored personnel carriers, crossed the Litani River early today. The cease-fire agreement is generally being maintained; we have no reports of serious incidents this morning. It seems that the parties are determined to uphold the agreement, Milos Strugar, a spokesman for the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, or UNIFIL, said in a telephone interview from Beirut. A United Nations Security Council resolution, approved unanimously Aug. 11, demanded an end to fighting between Israel and Hezbollah and the withdrawal of Israeli troops from southern Lebanon after UN and Lebanese forces are deployed.
The UN, which is trying to persuade members to join a 15,000-strong peacekeeping force, holds a first meeting in New York today, seeking pledges from countries to contribute soldiers. The UN has yet to receive any commitments, Stephane Dujarric, a spokesman, said yesterday. The conflict began after Hezbollah, a Lebanese Shiite Muslim group sponsored by Iran and Syria, abducted two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border attack on July 12. Israeli air strikes were followed by a ground offensive. The conflict left about 1,200 Lebanese dead and 4,500 wounded, Lebanese Interior Minister Ahmad Fatfat said yesterday.
Hezbollah Rockets
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Aug. 14 that 159 Israelis were killed, and 2,015 Israelis were injured according to Israeli police. The fighting cost the Israeli economy at least $1.6 billion, according to Finance Minister Avraham Hirschson, and Lebanon's economy as much as $7 billion, according to Fatfat. The UN resolution is intended to create a zone free of Hezbollah forces that fired roughly 4,000 rockets at northern Israeli towns during a month of fighting. Hezbollah, whose name means Party of God, has been linked to scores of terrorist attacks on Israelis and Americans, including rocket assaults on Israeli towns, bombings in Beirut
in 1983 that killed 241 U.S. servicemen and 58 French soldiers, and the 1994 attack that killed 85 people at a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires. The U.S. and Israel designate Hezbollah as a terrorist organization.
Lebanese Army
Lebanon's Council of Ministers yesterday agreed to send the army into the towns of Arqoub, Hasbaya and Marjayoun. The Lebanese army said 15,000 Lebanese troops would be deployed by tomorrow. The deployment of the army is aimed at prohibiting the existence of any outside authority except for the authority of the Lebanese state, according to a statement read yesterday by Information Minister Ghazi Aridi in Beirut. Strugar, the UNIFIL spokesman, said the Lebanese army was facing logistical problems crossing the Litani because of destroyed bridges.Getting heavy equipment across is difficult,he said. Hezbollah has agreed that Lebanese soldiers may take possession of any weapon that is found in the area, the Associated Press cited Aridi as saying. The UN resolution passed last week demands that the border area be free of militias and their arms. Hezbollah controls forces independent of the army.
Ensure Stability
The group has 14 seats in the country's 128-member parliament and two members in the cabinet and has defied UN Resolution 1559 approved in 2004, which calls for the disarming and disbanding of militias in Lebanon.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in an USA Today interview published yesterday that the expanded UN force will not be expected to disarm Hezbollah, only to support Lebanese army efforts to do so. The international community is banking on the UN force to ensure stability. Countries will be reassured and make their offers to the force after today's meeting, said Emyr Jones Parry, the U.K.'s ambassador to the UN.
They will discuss a clear concept of operations and rules of engagement. You will find that after that a lot of things will happen. The UN wants to boost UNIFIL by about 3,500 soldiers within two weeks. The force has been based in the region since 1978. It currently has 1,990 soldiers and 50 military observers, according to the UN.
French Command
France is ready to command the expanded force until February, Defense Minister Michele Alliot-Marie said yesterday. A French general heads the existing UN contingent in Lebanon. The real question is whether the international community has the ability to implement its own goals, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said in New York after meeting UN Secretary General Kofi Annan. The situation is explosive. U.S. Ambassador John Bolton wouldn't say what the U.S. would contribute to the expanded UN force, saying only that Washington would like to help and steps are under way to see if that can be done. The U.S. resisted any push for a cease-fire as it held out for a political framework to be put in place to disarm Hezbollah and end the group's control of southern Lebanon. Rice left Israel July 31 after failing to broker an agreement. French diplomats insisted on a cease-fire in Lebanon, a former
French protectorate.
Internally Displaced
The UN said 200,000 Lebanese have returned to their homes since Aug. 13, including 60,000 from Syria, leaving 700,000 still internally displaced. As many as 15,000 homes were destroyed in the fighting, according to the world body. Thousands of Israelis who fled rocket attacks returned to their homes this week. Israel estimates that one million Israelis were confined to shelters or forced to relocate by the rocket attacks. British Airways Plc, Europe's third-largest airline, said it will be the first commercial airline to resume flights to Beirut after Israeli forces bombed Rafiq Hariri International Airport July 13 and imposed a flight ban.
To contact the reporters on this story:Janine Zacharia in Jerusalem at jzacharia@bloomberg.net;Bill Varner at the United Nations at
wvarner@bloomberg.net
NUCLEAR WEAPONS WILL BE USED.
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 ARE JUDGEMENT SCRIPTURES,NOT THE RAPTURE IN THESE 2 VERSES)
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,not birds eating their flesh,thats why these verses are judgement,not rapture scriptures).
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.
Report: North Korea to test nuclear bomb
WASHINGTON, Aug. 17 (UPI) -- Evidence has been found that North Korea is getting ready to test a nuclear weapon, ABC News reported Thursday. Sources in the U.S. military and the State Department said intelligence turned over to the White House showed large reels of cables being unloaded at an underground facility in P'unggye-yok that analysts believe could connect the test site to distant instruments. The activity comes six weeks after North Korea launched seven test missiles, including a long-range vehicle that broke up in flight. ABC said its sources cautioned the evidence was not conclusive that Pyongyang was about to become a nuclear nation. It said suspicious activity was detected by spy satellites last year, but no test took place.
MATTHEW 24:7-8
7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.
Sakhalin island, Kamchatka peninsula hit by strong tremors Thu Aug 17, 8:43 PM ET
MOSCOW (AFP) - Strong earthquakes shook the Russian island of Sakhalin north of Japan and the Kamchatka peninsula, Russian news agencies reported quoting local seismological centres. A tremor measuring 6.1 on the Richter scale hit Sakhalin, Itar-Tass said. The epicentre of the quake was located some 20 kilometres (13 miles) southwest of Sakhalin, an island that is in a zone of strong seismic activity.One person was injured by a falling wardrobe, Nevelsk Mayor Vladimir Pak was quoted as saying.Two aqueducts in the southern Sakhalin town of Nevelsk were damaged and cracks appeared in the walls of many buildings.
Residents of the region rushed out of their buildings and were spending the night outdoors for fear of further shocks, Pak said.In 1995 a quake measuring 7.6 wiped out the village of Neftegorsk in the north of Sakhalin, killing more than 2,000 people.Meanwhile a powerful earthquake measuring 5.9 on the Richter scale shook the eastern side of Kamchatka, a sparsely populated region more than 1,000 kilometres (650 miles) northeast of Sakhalin on the other side of the Okhotsk Sea. No damage was reported, Ria-Novosti news agency said.
Another earthquake felt in southern Oklahoma
ELMORE CITY, Okla. For the fifth time in the past two weeks a small earthquake struck in southern Oklahoma.The Oklahoma Geological Survey says a magnitude two-point-six earthquake shook the Garvin County town of Elmore City shortly before 8:15 this morning.The epicenter for the quake was about eight miles south of Elmore City in southwestern Garvin County.Garvin County is the most active spot in the state for earthquakes with about 320 recorded there since 1977.(From KTUL) Associated Press.
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;
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.
Heavy rain pounds Japan, storm makes landfall Thu Aug 17, 8:35 PM ET
TOKYO (Reuters) - Heavy rain pounded southwestern Japan as tropical storm Wukong moved slowly across its southernmost main island on Friday after making landfall, threatening floods and landslides. Wukong -- meaning Monkey King, a legendary Chinese hero was about 40 km (25 miles) south-southwest of the city of Kumamoto as of 7:55 a.m. (2255 GMT), some 900 km (560 miles) southwest of Tokyo in a largely rural area of the island of Kyushu.The storm was moving northwest at 15 km (9 miles) an hour, with winds near its center of up to 83 km (52 miles) an hour. It made landfall on Kyushu shortly after midnight.
Parts of Shikoku island were expected to get up to 500 mm (19.6 inches) of rain by Saturday morning, while Kyushu was likely to be hit by 400 mm (15.75 inch) of rain, swelling rivers and threatening landslides.The extreme slowness of this storm means that rain will be falling in the same places for an extended period of time, and caution must be taken about flooding,an official at the Japan Meteorological Agency said.Some ferry and train services were canceled in Kyushu, along with a handful of domestic flights and two international flights, NHK public television said.The Tropical Storm risk (www.tropicalstormrisk.com) Web site predicted that Wukong would weaken to a tropical depression on Friday, but the Meteorological Agency official said that was uncertain.After crossing Kyushu, the storm is expected to keep heading north to the Korean peninsula.
Pakistani flood toll at least 15 Fri Aug 18, 2:51 AM ET
KARACHI (Reuters) - Pakistan's biggest city declared a public holiday on Friday as it cleaned up from heavy flooding that killed at least 15 people and more rain was expected, officials said. Banks and the stock market in Karachi would remain open despite the holiday declared by the provincial government.Most of the 15 people killed in the floods on Thursday were electrocuted while some were killed in traffic accidents during heavy downpours, an emergency service official said.I can confirm 15 casualties in the last 24 hours but the number could be higher as many cases go unreported,said Rizwan Edhi, a senior official of the Edhi Trust, which runs the country's largest ambulance service.Thunder storms and heavy rain hit across Sindh province but a provincial government spokesman said there were no reports of damage to crops.The flood situation is also under control so far,the spokesman said.
Weather officials said more rain was expected in Karachi and across southern Sindh province by Friday evening.
Vietnam evacuates thousands as floods kill 19 Fri Aug 18, 1:59 AM ET
HANOI (Reuters) - Vietnam ordered the evacuation of thousands of people on Friday in the central and northern regions to avoid flash floods and landslides triggered by prolonged rains that have killed at least 19 people. Floods after torrential rains since last Friday hit the Central Highlands key coffee-growing region and four central coastal provinces, killing at least eight people in Binh Thuan province and four in Nghe An province, a government report said.Six others drowned in four provinces and one died in the Mekong delta province of Dong Thap. The floods also displaced thousands of people, inundated 5,000 houses, submerged nearly 40,000 hectares (100,000 acres) of mainly rice and corn crops and also blocked traffic.
The rains, which in the past weeks have triggered landslides and floods causing human deaths and property damage, are expected to continue in the coming days in the country's north and central north,the National Flood and Storm Prevention Center said in a message on Friday.The center ordered provincial authorities to move people out of low-lying areas.More than 1,600 households in the central highland provinces of Dak Nong, Daklak and Lam Dong have been evacuated, the center said. Rice and instant noodles have been sent to the Central Highlands that produces 80 percent of Vietnam's coffee.Natural disasters, especially floods and storms, kill several hundred people in Vietnam each year, mainly during the storm season between May and October.This year's rains and floods did not damage the region's coffee crop as coffee trees are planted on higher ground. But rains have delayed several deliveries to Saigon Port as exporters temporarily stopped processing, traders said.Further to the south, seasonal floods are forecast to rise quickly in the next five days in the Mekong delta rice basket, which generates half of Vietnam's grain output.
However, most of the summer-autumn rice crop has been harvested in key growing provinces bordering Cambodia.
Floods wreak havoc in Chumphon
By Jutarat Tongpiam 17 August 2006 12:37
Heavy flooding has persisted in southern Chumphon province due mainly to continuous rainfall which has inundated low-lying areas of Tha Sae and Muang districts.Some low-lying areas in Muang district are under three to four meters of floodwater, which has reached almost to the rooftops of one-storey houses and to the second floor of two-storey houses,Chumphon Deputy Governor Weera Sriwathanatrakul told ThaiDay.
Weera said floodwaters have inundated six sub-districts in Muang district and have also affected more than 1,000 people in six sub-districts in Tha Sae district.People in some villages had to escape the heavy floods to camp on higher land, including on the roads. Local officials, community leaders, the military and the police as well as local charity groups have cooperated to help evacuate and provide food and necessities to those villagers, he said.There is also concern that the rising level of Muang district’s Tah Tapao canal may exacerbate the flooding if the rain continues. The canal has already overflowed into Chumphon municipality, inundating businesses and residential areas and forcing the closure of schools.
Weera said the canal usually acts as a reservoir for water from Ta Sae and other canals in Chumphon and has prevented flooding for years.Rain fell across Chumphon province yesterday, but its intensity has eased compared to the previous two days. Floodwaters have also begun to recede in higher areas of Pathiu, Sawi and Lang Suan districts.The floods have inundated Pathiu and Tha Sae hospitals, forcing them to transfer critically ill patients to Chumphon and other nearby hospitals.
The floods have caused suffering for more than 10,000 households, said a provincial disaster report to the Interior Ministry.Chumphon Meteorological Station Chief Teerawat Teeraratpol said the rain will probably continue during the coming days, but will ease from more than 100 millimeters a day to 30 to 40 millimeters a day.The rainfall will continue due to the season and the influence of the southwest monsoon, but the flooding and rainstorms should lessen within the next few days,he said.Teerawat said that rain and storms this year have been stronger and more frequent than last year. But, bad weather and severe disasters are occurring in other parts of the world as well, and mainly stem from enormous changes in the world’s environment caused, especially, by deforestation and pollution,he said.
Meanwhile, the Meteorological Department warned of more rain in Chumphon and in the other southern provinces of Prachuap Khiri Khan, Ranong and Phang Nga.Although the storms will start dissipating today, fishermen in the Andaman Sea and the upper part of the Gulf of Thailand should beware of storms and choppy seas.The department also warned that heavy rain is expected in the North and the upper regions of the Northeast due to the influence of the southwestern monsoon. Possible areas to be affected include Mae Hong Son, Tak, and Nan provinces in the North and the Northeast’s Nong Khai, Sakon Nakhon, and Mukdahan provinces.
Downpours in the East’s Chanthaburi and Trat provinces will end today. However, residents on hill slopes near waterways or in low-lying areas should beware of flash floods.Meanwhile, a flash flood from the Tanaosri Mountains has submerged Prachuap Khiri Khan province’s Bang Saphan district under 1.3 meters of water because of persistent rain since Monday.Caretaker Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said that he already ordered the Irrigation Department to seek sustainable long-term measures to prevent heavy floods in the province.The flood problem in Prachuap Khiri Khan will be quickly solved and the situation will return to normal very soon,Thaksin said.
Following the Meteorological Department’s warning, Trat Governor Boonchuay Kerdsukon yesterday ordered provincial and local officials to be ready around the clock to help residents affected by flash or heavy floods and storms. The warning came as torrential rain and storms continued across the province.
ISAIAH 30:26-27
26 Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day that the LORD bindeth up the breach of his people, and healeth the stroke of their wound.
27 Behold, the name of the LORD cometh from far, burning with his anger, and the burden thereof is heavy: his lips are full of indignation, and his tongue as a devouring fire:
MATTHEW 24:21-22,29
21 For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
22 And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened (Daylight hours shortened)
29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:
REVELATION 16:7-9
7 And I heard another out of the altar say, Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are thy judgments.
8 And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire.
9 And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him glory.
Japan heat wave to continue in many areas next week Fri Aug 18, 3:35 AM ET
TOKYO (Reuters) - The current heat wave will continue in many areas of Japan for at least another week from Saturday, and then start cooling down, the official forecaster said on Friday. The Japan Meteorological Agency forecast that all regions will have hot weather next week similar to this week, with temperatures rising above 30 degrees Celsius (86 Fahrenheit).Temperatures will then ease in line with the seasonal average for August recorded from 1971 to 2000.The weather has been warmer than normal in most areas of Japan recently. In particular, the northernmost main island of Hokkaido has seen average temperatures in the past two weeks 2.9 degrees higher than the normal 22 degrees Celsius for August, boosting daily peak electricity demand to record levels in the area.
Temperatures in Hokkaido have risen to almost 33 Celsius (91.4 F), almost matching temperatures in the southernmost main island of Kyushu.Kyushu's local daily electricity demand has also hit record levels this month, with temperatures rising as high as 35 Celsius (95 F). The average temperature in the past week was 2 degrees higher than the area's average of 27.6 Celsius for August.
The average temperatures in the capital Tokyo, in eastern Japan, was 0.6 degrees higher than the area's normal at 27.1 Celsius (80.8 F) in the past week.
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.(TRADING
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).
African region commits to customs union by 2010
Thu Aug 17, 2006 8:31 AM GMT ,By Ntsau Lekhetho
MASERU (Reuters) - The 14-member Southern African Development Community (SADC) trade bloc is committed to becoming a customs union within five years, officials said on Wednesday.Top SADC officials meeting in Lesotho endorsed a programme on the
region's integration, which foresees a free trade union by 2008, a customs union by 2010, common market by 2015 and a single currency in the mould of the euro by 2018.
The officials are preparing for a heads of state and government summit in the
mountainous kingdom on Friday.Most SADC leaders will attend, Lesotho officials say, but add that a notable absentee will be Democratic Republic of Congo President Joseph Kabila who is awaiting the result of a historic presidential election in the huge central African country.Western donors, on the sidelines of the meeting, said they were concerned with what they see as a slow pace towards integration and a lack of political commitment to SADC targets.The European Union was concerned that some of SADC's members still belonged to the rival Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), slowing the momentum and raising questions of political commitment to SADC's agenda, one EU official said.SADC comprises Angola, Botswana, Democratic Republic of Congo, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
The EU was also concerned about reluctance among SADC governments to allow free movement of people and goods across the region to bolster trade.Lesotho Finance Minister Timothy Thahane, emerging from meetings with EU representatives, said economic partnerships under negotiation by SADC and the EU depended on the region being integrated within the set time-frame, and Western governments were keen that Africans meet that agenda.Multiple membership of regional groupings, discouraged by the World Trade Organisation, was also an issue -- but that can only be determined by individual SADC members, Thahane said.
SADC's chief executive told reporters that he wanted members to accelerate the pace of building infrastructure -- from roads and railways to telecommunications -- to encourage regional integration and spur foreign direct investment.We cannot facilitate trade, free movement of people and free movement of goods if we don't have the necessary infrastructure,SADC Executive Secretary Tomaz Salamao said.SADC's secretariat has proposed a single visa for the region, known as a univisa, which officials expect to have been adopted by 2010, boosting tourism by allowing visitors planning to attend the FIFA soccer World Cup to tour any country in the region without seeking separate visas.© Reuters 2006.
REVELATION 19:19
19 And I saw the beast,(EU LEADER) and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse,(JESUS) and against his army.(THE RAPTURED CHRISTIANS)
Israel Hands Control of Southern Lebanon Areas to UN
Aug. 17 (Bloomberg) -- Israel transferred control of 50 percent of southern Lebanon to a United Nations force as Lebanese soldiers entered the region three days after a cease-fire halted fighting between Israel and Hezbollah. The UN will hand over to Lebanon's army once the Lebanese force is ready to disarm Hezbollah, the Israeli military said. Lebanese troops, backed by tanks and armored personnel carriers, crossed the Litani River early today. The cease-fire agreement is generally being maintained; we have no reports of serious incidents this morning. It seems that the parties are determined to uphold the agreement, Milos Strugar, a spokesman for the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, or UNIFIL, said in a telephone interview from Beirut. A United Nations Security Council resolution, approved unanimously Aug. 11, demanded an end to fighting between Israel and Hezbollah and the withdrawal of Israeli troops from southern Lebanon after UN and Lebanese forces are deployed.
The UN, which is trying to persuade members to join a 15,000-strong peacekeeping force, holds a first meeting in New York today, seeking pledges from countries to contribute soldiers. The UN has yet to receive any commitments, Stephane Dujarric, a spokesman, said yesterday. The conflict began after Hezbollah, a Lebanese Shiite Muslim group sponsored by Iran and Syria, abducted two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border attack on July 12. Israeli air strikes were followed by a ground offensive. The conflict left about 1,200 Lebanese dead and 4,500 wounded, Lebanese Interior Minister Ahmad Fatfat said yesterday.
Hezbollah Rockets
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Aug. 14 that 159 Israelis were killed, and 2,015 Israelis were injured according to Israeli police. The fighting cost the Israeli economy at least $1.6 billion, according to Finance Minister Avraham Hirschson, and Lebanon's economy as much as $7 billion, according to Fatfat. The UN resolution is intended to create a zone free of Hezbollah forces that fired roughly 4,000 rockets at northern Israeli towns during a month of fighting. Hezbollah, whose name means Party of God, has been linked to scores of terrorist attacks on Israelis and Americans, including rocket assaults on Israeli towns, bombings in Beirut
in 1983 that killed 241 U.S. servicemen and 58 French soldiers, and the 1994 attack that killed 85 people at a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires. The U.S. and Israel designate Hezbollah as a terrorist organization.
Lebanese Army
Lebanon's Council of Ministers yesterday agreed to send the army into the towns of Arqoub, Hasbaya and Marjayoun. The Lebanese army said 15,000 Lebanese troops would be deployed by tomorrow. The deployment of the army is aimed at prohibiting the existence of any outside authority except for the authority of the Lebanese state, according to a statement read yesterday by Information Minister Ghazi Aridi in Beirut. Strugar, the UNIFIL spokesman, said the Lebanese army was facing logistical problems crossing the Litani because of destroyed bridges.Getting heavy equipment across is difficult,he said. Hezbollah has agreed that Lebanese soldiers may take possession of any weapon that is found in the area, the Associated Press cited Aridi as saying. The UN resolution passed last week demands that the border area be free of militias and their arms. Hezbollah controls forces independent of the army.
Ensure Stability
The group has 14 seats in the country's 128-member parliament and two members in the cabinet and has defied UN Resolution 1559 approved in 2004, which calls for the disarming and disbanding of militias in Lebanon.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in an USA Today interview published yesterday that the expanded UN force will not be expected to disarm Hezbollah, only to support Lebanese army efforts to do so. The international community is banking on the UN force to ensure stability. Countries will be reassured and make their offers to the force after today's meeting, said Emyr Jones Parry, the U.K.'s ambassador to the UN.
They will discuss a clear concept of operations and rules of engagement. You will find that after that a lot of things will happen. The UN wants to boost UNIFIL by about 3,500 soldiers within two weeks. The force has been based in the region since 1978. It currently has 1,990 soldiers and 50 military observers, according to the UN.
French Command
France is ready to command the expanded force until February, Defense Minister Michele Alliot-Marie said yesterday. A French general heads the existing UN contingent in Lebanon. The real question is whether the international community has the ability to implement its own goals, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said in New York after meeting UN Secretary General Kofi Annan. The situation is explosive. U.S. Ambassador John Bolton wouldn't say what the U.S. would contribute to the expanded UN force, saying only that Washington would like to help and steps are under way to see if that can be done. The U.S. resisted any push for a cease-fire as it held out for a political framework to be put in place to disarm Hezbollah and end the group's control of southern Lebanon. Rice left Israel July 31 after failing to broker an agreement. French diplomats insisted on a cease-fire in Lebanon, a former
French protectorate.
Internally Displaced
The UN said 200,000 Lebanese have returned to their homes since Aug. 13, including 60,000 from Syria, leaving 700,000 still internally displaced. As many as 15,000 homes were destroyed in the fighting, according to the world body. Thousands of Israelis who fled rocket attacks returned to their homes this week. Israel estimates that one million Israelis were confined to shelters or forced to relocate by the rocket attacks. British Airways Plc, Europe's third-largest airline, said it will be the first commercial airline to resume flights to Beirut after Israeli forces bombed Rafiq Hariri International Airport July 13 and imposed a flight ban.
To contact the reporters on this story:Janine Zacharia in Jerusalem at jzacharia@bloomberg.net;Bill Varner at the United Nations at
wvarner@bloomberg.net
12 EU CONTRIBUTE TO FORCE
1-Iranian cataclysm forecast Aug. 22. 2-Olmert's Support Falls as Israelis Back War Probe, Poll Shows. 3-US peace plan good first step to lasting peace: Rice. 4-US space commander predicts satellite attacks. 5-Dozen EU states ready in principle for Lebanon force. 6-Cosmology of the Cycles. 7-A Year After: No Consensus on the Expulsion.
NUCLEAR WEAPONS WILL BE USED.
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 7 YR TRIBULATION.
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.
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.
NUCLEAR WAR-FEAR
Iranian cataclysm forecast Aug. 22
Islamists seeking heaven could spark apocalypse, Princeton expert warns
Posted: August 8, 2006,5:00 p.m. Eastern,© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com
Bernard Lewis (courtesy Princeton University)
A top expert on the Mideast says it is possible Iran could pick Aug. 22, the anniversary of one of Islam's holiest events, for a cataclysm Shiite Muslims believe will forever resolve the battle between good and evil. Princeton's Bernard Lewis has written an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal advising that the rest of the world would be wise to bear in mind that for those who believe the end of the world is imminent and good, there is no deterrent even to nuclear warfare.
As WorldNetDaily has reported, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has urged his people to prepare for the coming of an Islamic messiah, raising concerns a nuclear armed Islamic Republic could trigger the kind of global conflagration he envisions will set the stage for the end of the world.
He's also said, in a WND report, that Islam and its followers must prepare to rule the world, because it is a universal ideology that leads the world to justice.
Now comes Lewis, who notes that the world must be concerned about a leader for whom the possibility of death is not a deterrent.
In this context, mutual assured destruction, the deterrent that worked so well during the Cold War, would have no meaning, Lewis wrote. At the end of time, there will be general destruction anyway. What will matter will be the final destination of the dead – hell for the infidels, and heaven for the believers. For people with this mindset, MAD is not a constraint, it is an inducement,he said.
Lewis noted that Ahmadinejad has referred to Aug. 22 several times, including when he rejected until that date – United Nations requests for nuclear program information. Lewis, joining several other Mideast experts who have expressed similar concerns, said Aug. 22 corresponds to the 27th day of the month of Rajab of the year 1427.
This, by tradition, is the night when many Muslims commemorate the night flight of the prophet Muhammad on the winged horse Buraq, first to 'the farthest mosque,
usually identified with Jerusalem, and then to heaven and back,Lewis wrote. In Islam, as in other religious, certain beliefs describe the cosmic struggle at the end of time. For Shiite Muslims, Lewis wrote, this will be the long awaited return of the Hidden Imam, ending in the final victory of the forces of good over evil.
The significance, he said, is that there's a radical difference between Iran and other governments with nuclear weapons. This difference is expressed in what can only be described as the apocalyptic worldview of Iran's present rulers, he wrote. Iran's leaders now clearly believe that this time is now, and that the terminal struggle has already begun and is indeed well advanced. As for intent, a passage from the Ayatollah Khomeini, quoted in an 11th-grade Iranian schoolbook, reveals priorities: I am decisively announcing to the whole world that if the world-devourers (i.e., the infidel powers) wish to stand against our religion, we will stand against their whole world and will not cease until the annihilation of all them. Either we all become free, or we will go to the greater freedom which is martyrdom.
Lewis wrote, This might well be deemed an appropriate date for the apocalyptic ending of Israel and if necessary the world. It is far from certain that Mr. Ahmadanejad plans any such cataclysmic events precisely for Aug. 22. But it would be wise to bear the possibility in mind. Lewis, the Cleveland E. Dodge professor emeritus of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University, specializes in Muslim history and interaction between Muslims and the West. His comments echoed those made just a few days earlier by Robert Spencer, another scholar of Islamic history, theology and law and the director of Jihad Watch. In an article for Front Page Magazine.com, he wrote that Farid Ghadry, president of the Reform Party of Syria, noted the commemoration of Muhammad's ascent to heaven from the Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.
Spencer said the Night Journey, or Miraj, is what makes Jerusalem a holy site for Islam, and Islamic tradition believes Muhammad, along with the angel Gabriel, went to the Temple Mount, and then to heaven in a bathing of light over Jerusalem. Spencer reported that Ghadry talked of Ahmadinejad's plans for an illumination of the night sky over Jerusalem to rival the light of that Islamic belief.
Ghadry said what the Iranian president is promising the world by August 22 is the light in the sky over the Aqsa Mosque,Spencer said. He said a nuclear attack on Jerusalem, or even a conventional attack, would be consistent with the references that have been made, including Ahmadinejad's talk that Israel pushed the button of its own destruction by returning fire for Hezbollah's rocket barrage. Also, Atomic Iran author Jerome Corsi notes that it's less significant whether Hezbollah survives, but it's really the first chapter in the play for Iran and the Shiite Islam nation to come to ascendancy in the Muslim world. First is the battle against Israel and the United States, he said, then against Sunni Islam. Where that group is more dominant, he said, is in Saudi Arabia and Egypt, where group members are not unhappy to see Iran contained.
They may launch an attack, but I still think if they had a weapon they would just go ahead and use it,Corsi said.Terrorists don't brag about things they're going to do until after they do it. He said the recent comments are more typical of terrorists' efforts to get attention. When Ahmadinejad is capable of taking action he will do it without any warning or bravado; he'll just do it, Corsi said. In the updated edition of Atomic Iran: How the Terrorist Regime Bought the Bomb and American Politicians, now available in paperback from WND Books, Corsi discusses many of the disturbing developments related to Iran. Meanwhile, Tanzanian customs officials have uncovered an Iranian smuggling operation transporting large quantities of bomb-making uranium from the same mines in the Congo that provided the nuclear material for the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima 61 years ago, according to a recent report in the London Sunday Times.
A United Nations report, outlining the interception last October, said there is no doubt the smuggled uranium-238 came from mines in the Democratic Republic of the Congo's mineral-rich Katanga province. The smuggled uranium discovered by Tanzanian customs agents was hidden in shipment of coltan, a rare mineral used to make chips in mobile telephones. According to the manifest, the coltan was to be smelted in the former Soviet republic of Kazakhstan after being shipped to Bandar Abbas, Iran's largest port. Uranium-238, when used in a nuclear reactor, can be used to create plutonium for nuclear weapons.
Olmert's Support Falls as Israelis Back War Probe, Poll Shows
Aug. 16 (Bloomberg) -- Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's job- approval rating fell to 40 percent, according to a poll published today in Ma'ariv newspaper, compared with 78 percent on July 19, a week after hostilities erupted between Israel and Hezbollah. More than two-thirds of those questioned, or 67 percent, said there should be an investigation into the way the war was handled. Sixty-seven percent said they would support a resumption of fighting if it meant killing Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. The poll of 500 Israeli Jewish adults was conducted yesterday, and the margin of error was plus or minus 4 percent.
Though Olmert's rating fell, the poll showed that if elections were held now, the Kadima party he heads would retain its 29 seats out of 120 in the Knesset, Israel's Parliament. The Likud party, headed by Benjamin Netanyahu, would post the largest gains, rising from 12 seats to 20. A majority of Israelis, 63 percent, said the country should bomb Iranian nuclear facilities.
Israel has accused Iran of providing weapons and funds to Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shiite Muslim group that triggered the conflict with Israel when it abducted two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid July 12. Fighting halted with the implementation of a UN-mandated cease- fire on Aug. 14. The U.S. and Israel classify Hezbollah, which been linked to scores of terrorist attacks on Israelis and Americans, as a terrorist organization.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Janine Zacharia in Jerusalem at jzacharia@bloomberg.net
Last Updated: August 16, 2006 04:03 EDT
ISAIAH 28:14-19
14 Wherefore hear the word of the LORD, ye scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem.
15 Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves:
16 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.
17 Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place.
18 And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it.
19 From the time that it goeth forth it shall take you: for morning by morning shall it pass over, by day and by night: and it shall be a vexation only to understand the report.
US peace plan 'good first step' to lasting peace: Rice Wed Aug 16, 11:07 AM ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) - The UN peace plan for Lebanon will be difficult to implement,
but is a good first step to a lasting peace in the Middle East, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice reportedly said in a letter. Rice said UN Resolution 1701 passed on Friday that has led to a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, would also represent, once implemented, a strategic setback for Syria and Iran, who sought to prolong and intensify the war the world tried to stop, according to The Washington Post.Unlike 10 years ago, said Rice referring to the last ceasefire that was brokered over the heads of the Lebanese ... the international community is helping the Lebanese government create the conditions of lasting peace, full independence, complete sovereignty, effective democracy and a weakened Hezbollah with fewer opportunities to rearm and regroup.
Crucial for the short-term success of the peace plan, Rice said, was full cessation of hostilities ... the unconditional release of the abducted Israeli soldiers and the sevenfold increase of peacekeepers in southern Lebanon.The peace plan lays out the political principles to secure a lasting peace: no foreign forces, no weapons and no authority in Lebanon other than that of the sovereign Lebanese government.And for the first time the international community has put its full weight behind a practical political framework to help the Lebanese government realize these principles, including the disarmament of all militias operating on its territory.
The agreement we reached last week is a good first step, but it is only a first step, said Rice, adding that the United States would help to lead relief efforts
for the people of Lebanon, and we will fully support them as they rebuild their country.She said Washington had increased our immediate humanitarian assistance to 50 million dollars.
As to Hezbollah's claim to victory in the month-long conflict, Rice said the militant group only achieved the blame of the world for causing this war.
In a separate interview with USA Today also published Wednesday, Rice said any political benefit Hezbollah derived from its fight with Israel would be very short lived, and denied that its leader Hassan Nasrallah had emerged with a new standing.Nasrallah is going to have to face what has become of those populations in the south and the great devastation that Hezbollah brought on,she said.On disarming the militant group, she said it was up to the Lebanese and not the United Nations, but that to the degree that support is needed for that, the international forces can help.Militias, she pointed out, are disarmed by a plan under political agreement and then support can be given to the Lebanese in doing that.In case Hezbollah refuses to disarm, Rice said the militant group would find itself increasingly isolated from Europe and other nations, and the weapons embargo would prevent them from being rearmed by its sponsors in Syria and Iran.One would have to assume that there will be others who are willing to call Hezbollah what we are willing to call it, which is a terrorist organization, Rice said.
REVELATION 12:7-17
7 And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels(ISRAELS WAR ANGEL) fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels,(SATAN AND HIS DEMONS)
8 And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven.(SATAN GETS BOOTED TO EARTH) (AND INCARNATES IN THE EU DICTATOR, WHO DIES AND COMES BACK TO LIFE AND THEN CLAIMS TO BE GOD, ISRAELIS REALIZE HES BEEN A FALSE MESSIAH AND FLEE TO PETRA IN JORDAN) THE ONES THAT DON'T LEAVE GET PERSECUTED BY THE EU DICTATOR.
9 And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.
10 And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.
11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb,(SALVATION) and by the word of their testimony;and they loved not their lives unto the death.
12 Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.
13 And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman(ISRAEL) which brought forth the man child.
14 And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle,(AIR PLANE) that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent.(3 1/2 YRS OF PROTECTION)
15 And the serpent cast out of his mouth water(TSUNAMI) as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood.
16 And the earth helped the woman,(ISRAEL) and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth.
17 And the dragon was wroth with the woman,(ISRAEL) and went to make war with the remnant of her seed,(PERSECUTION) which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.
US space commander predicts satellite attacks By Jim Wolf
Tue Aug 15, 8:05 PM ET
HUNTSVILLE, Alabama (Reuters) - The Air Force's new top commander for space predicted on Tuesday future attacks on U.S. satellites and called for greatly expanded tracking and identification of payloads launched by other countries. Currently, U.S. efforts are focused on determining if an overseas launch is a ballistic missile or designed to put an object in orbit, then cataloging it over a
period that can take weeks, said Air Force Gen. Kevin Chilton, who heads the Air Force Space Command at Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado.I say those days are over,he told an annual conference here on the fledgling, multibillion-dollar U.S. anti-missile shield. If it's a space launch, we can't afford to relax.We need to know what the intent of that launch is, he said, including whether an object could jam or otherwise harm satellites or spread micro-satellites that could do so.Chilton said his goal was to learn all this in the object's first orbit of the Earth so the United States could take unspecified actions before an adversary can cripple us.
The increased situational awareness he had in mind could be achieved largely through improved computer work that would present information in easy-to-understand displays, he said.Foes would be foolish not to be thinking of how to deny the United States the advantages of space, on which it relies heavily for military and commercial purposes, said Chilton, who took over the space command a month and a half ago.And in the future, I'm convinced they'll strike at these capabilities, if nothing else to attempt to level the playing field, he said.Chilton said the United States had a duty to secure the entire space domain not just for our own military but for our allies and for the benefit of the free world.In other remarks to the missile-defense conference, Gil Nolte of the code-making Information Assurance Directorate at the Pentagon's National Security Agency said his agency believed unspecified foreign intelligence agencies had been behind attacks on U.S. computer networks.He said there had been insufficient investment in cyber security at all levels of the U.S. government while attackers were very well financed and used a wide range of tradecraft.
EUROPEAN UNION ARMY
DANIEL 7:23-25
23 Thus he said, The fourth beast (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.(TRADING
BLOCKS)
24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings(10 NATIONS) that shall arise: 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 NATIONS)
25 And he (EU PRESIDENT) shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.(3 1/2 YRS)
DANIEL 8:23-25
23 And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king (EU DICTATOR) of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences,(FROM THE OCCULT) shall stand up.
24 And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power:(SATANS POWER) and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practise, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people.
25 And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes;(JESUS) but he shall be broken without hand.
DANIEL 11:36-39
36 And the king (EU DICTATOR) shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvellous things against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished: for that that is determined shall be done.
37 Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers,(THIS EU DICTATOR IS JEWISH) nor the desire of women, nor regard any god: for he shall magnify himself above all.(CLAIM TO BE GOD)
38 But in his estate shall he honour the God of forces:(WAR) and a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honour with gold, and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant things.
39 Thus shall he do in the most strong holds with a strange god,(DESTROY TERROR GROUPS) whom he shall acknowledge and increase with glory: and he shall cause them to rule over many,(HIS ARMY LEADERS) and shall divide the land for gain.
REVELATION 19:19
19 And I saw the beast,(EU LEADER) and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse,(JESUS) and against his army.(THE RAPTURED CHRISTIANS)
Middle East News
Dozen EU states ready in principle for Lebanon force
Aug 16, 2006, 16:06 GMT
Brussels - One dozen of the 25-member nations of the European Union (EU) declared Wednesday their readiness in principle for their countries to contribute troops
to a UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon, diplomats in Brussels said. But the diplomats, commenting on talks by the EU political and security committee deliberations on the Lebanon, said no formal decision was taken.
The 12 nations which gave fundamental agreement to participating in a UN force included Belgium, Germany, France, Britain, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Poland, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden and the Czech Republic, the diplomats said. Earlier, EU policy chief Javier Solana urged the EU to look not only at sending an international peacekeeping force to Lebanon but to provide long-term political, economic and humanitarian aid to the country. The EU political and security committee has gathered following a three-day trip by Solana to Lebanon and Israel. Representatives of the 25 EU governments are discussing preparations for deployment.
Diplomats said Solana wants the committee to look not only at military help but the reconstruction of the country and discuss the EU's long-term 'political, economic and financial contribution. It was still unclear how large a part EU states would take in the UN force but a considerable contribution was planned, diplomats said earlier in the week. The planned international force would police the ceasefire that came into effect Monday after more than a month of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah guerrillas.
© 2006 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur
WEEKLY COMMENTARY Monday, August 14, 2006 2:37 GMT
Weekly Report ,By Clif Droke,http://www.clifdroke.com
Cosmology of the Cycles
In the past few months we've been subjected to a constant barrage of bad news from the Middle East and around the world. We've witnessed plagues, pestilence and natural disasters of biblical proportions: tsunamis, earthquakes, floods and of course, ceaseless warfare, serving as a constant reminder that these are times of great tribulation.
On top of all this comes the recent explosion of violence in the Mid-East region. In the past we've seen how the peaks and troughs of the Kress cycles have coincided not only with periods of strength and weakness in the market but also with manifestations of violence. We witnessed, for instance, the bottom of the dominant interim cycle in 2001 occur at the same time as the 9/11 bombings in New York and Washington. We saw last July's bombings in London coincide with the bottom of the Master weekly sub-cycle. And with the approach of the 4-year/8-year cycle bottom this September, we've seen additional oubreaks of violence in the Middle East and elsewhere.
One such recent outbreak occurred last week when more than 100 bombings took place in a single day -- a record. The fighting between Israel and Lebanon is another
such manifestation as this dominant yearly cycle comes down hard. What is it about the cycles that produces such acts of cruelty? Is there a cosmological aspect to the cycles during the times of cycle peaks and troughs, as yet uncovered, that extends beyond the purely monetary realm and extends into other areas of human affairs? Or is the explanation to be found in the world controllers fomenting military strife for the purpose of cushioning the blows of the cycle bottoms? The answers to these questions are not easily discovered but hopefully our investigation can shed a little more light on the problem.
As the headline to this essay suggests, there is a cosmology, or interconnectiveness between the affairs of man and sundry acts of God. Instances of this may be found in past years as, for example, the terrible series of storms that battered the East and Gulf costal areas of the U.S. in the summer of 2005. During one of the worst hurricanes last August the stock market found a temporary bottom to a minor decline that had been underway that summer. Yet within a few weeks the S&P 500 broke down to its low for the year. Soon thereafter the weather disasters ceased: East coast barometric pressure averages returned to normal and the broad market enjoyed a 7-month recovery period.
Going further back in 2004 we saw the hurricanes and foul weather associated with the 10-year cycle bottoming process. This was capped off with an event of truly biblical proportions as the Tsunami wreaked utter devastation to Indonesia. This was followed shortly thereafter by a peak in the stock market's fourth quarter rally of 2004 and a decline into May 2005. Other examples could be given, but suffice it to say that acts of God normally produce market tops while the orchestrated violence of man most often has the effect of producing market bottoms.
Following are a few additional observations that can be made in regard to the cosmology of the cycles:
* The percentage of violent crimes committed in major cities tends to increase during the hard down phase (i.e., final 10%) of a dominant yearly cycle.
* The rate of sickness and death around the country and in developed nations expands when the major cycles are coming down hard.
* Global terrorism and bombings always increase in the "hard down" phase of a major cycle.
* Bankruptcy among individuals and corporations increase during these cyclical down phases (e.g., the previous 8-year cycle bottom saw the demise of Long-Term Capital Management while the current 8-year cycle bottoming process has seen the bankruptcy of the Russian oil giant Yukos.)
To further our study of cycle cosmology let's examine the following graphs in comparison to each other.
JOEL 3:2
2 I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people (ISRAELIS) and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.
A Year After: No Consensus on the Expulsion
By Hillel Fendel(INN)
Exactly a year has passed since the expulsion from Gush Katif, and despite the suffering of the expelled and the Hizbullah War, there is still no national consensus on the matter. One year ago today, on August 17, 2005, tens of thousands of Israeli soldiers and policemen descended upon the residents of Gush Katif the northern Shomron was targeted a week later) and began forcibly removing them from their homes.
An article in on the Ynet Hebrew news site depicting the suffering of the expelled over the past year including family breakups, suicide attempts, unemployment, and more - has aroused a wave of comments. Despite the sympathetic nature of the article towards the former residents, the talkbacks show that Israeli society is still very divided over the issue.
Dozens of couples have begun divorce proceedings, and many others are suffering various difficulties between spouses, with children, and among themselves. Quoting a psychologist who has treated many Gush Katif couples, the article tells the plight of men 50 years old and over who were used to working hard their whole lives and who now can't get out of bed... Another psychologist talks of a woman who constantly relives the trauma of not being allowed to go to the bathroom for 30 hours while on the bus out of the Gush, and the resulting humiliation, and others who cannot remove from their minds the sight of long columns of black-uniformed soldiers coming to take them from their homes.
Their gentle struggle against the evacuation created a situation in which the extent of their fury never found its true expression, one psychologist said. A man's home is his castle - this is very instinctive. Think what type of fury erupts from a person whose home is destroyed yet they never expressed it... Then their long hotel stays greatly hurt the family cell, with the children far away from the parents' room, and the families not eating together for months - one of the most important aspects of religious family life... Then they put them into these caravillas, and now they are reduced to prowling back and forth there like lions in a cage.
The grave situation depicted in the article did not particularly move all its readers, however. One particularly hostile commenter, who evoked many objections by later talk-backers, wrote, I feel only derision towards you. Get divorced, leave the country, become poor... I heard that some rich farmers who were expelled from Gush Katif are doing good business in Ethiopia; go there it's good for all of you. And
make room there for the new expellees from the West Bank; you can build settlements in Ethiopia.
A typical response to this writer was: You are so full of hatred. Another one wrote, I have trouble believing you are Jewish.Most of the writers had some form of empathy for the settlers, even if they did not agree with them.The disengagement was a correct move, one wrote, it's just too bad that the evacuated residents are in such a bad state. In my opinion, it's both their fault and the government's fault. It seems strange to me that people who announced that they had lost all confidence in the country, waited for that very country to save them.Others criticized them for not having anticipated the expulsion in advance, and for not raising their children properly.
In response to many of the more negative comments, one wrote the following: I have read all the comments up until now and I am shocked at what I see. Every argument, as far as you are concerned, has only to do with politics? Every time the word settler is mentioned, it arouses your glands of [self] hatred and fury? Can't you simply read the article as it's written a description of tremendous emotional distress of an entire public...? Where does this incessant hatred come from? Every single one of you, if you would sit face-to-face with one of these families and hear their story, would feel empathy and even sadness regardless of your political opinions. Enough of this unending hatred!
Another comment, signed by Man of the Left,was entitled, When I started reading the article, I felt nothing.It then continued, There's this unspoken feeling we have that it's not our fault, but rather theirs [the expelled residents]. Those who feel that the settlers never should have been there, and that it was wrong for them to build communities there, cannot identify with the pain of being uprooted.
Automatically the well-known phrases of wasted money and soldiers who were killed there start jumping up in our heads. But in the middle of the article, I had another thought that something is not right if I am closed to what is being described here. It describes not a disengagement but a collapse. The collapse of genuine life. And to be honest, it's not totally their fault, because the State is that which decided on the direction of settlement as something that is justified. The State encouraged them and the Stated crushed them. I still think we had to leave Gaza - but maybe if it was in the framework of real peace... perhaps the idea that their loss gave us something significant would have changed something. Furthermore: The State knew that the disengagement would happen; it was not right that alternate communities were not prepared... They were not only expelled from their homes but from their lives... For
this, I admit guilt.One commenter wrote that the residents often treated the army as if the army owes them something.
Largely in response to that, one young soldier wrote, I was there and evacuated Shirat HaYam, Kfar Yam, and some others... So first of all, [the above commenter] is either an idiot or has no idea what he is talking about. The large majority of the residents behaved in a way that cannot but be admired. They love every piece and stone of this country, more than what most of us can even comprehend, and are willing to sacrifice so much for concepts such as faith, common decency, and love of the Land... To call them lawbreakers is simply stupidity and a misunderstanding of the reality and the facts... The lack of support that the government and some parts of the country showed our brothers (!!!) whom we removed from their homes - that is what widened the gap between us and created the crisis, no less than the process of the evacuation itself... The high percentage of elite army fighters, officers and
fighters in various IDF units among them is almost illogical.
I talked to officers who lost their soldiers and people who were wounded in war or by terrorism in Gush Katif. Try, please, just to understand them, instead of hating them for nothing... I am a secular youth, aged 20, from central Israel, who was sent at such an early age to defend and sacrifice for the country in which we all live...One philosopher summed up the situation by reminding his fellow-countrymen that at least we're home.He wrote: Whenever an El Al flight takes off from Tel Aviv, after five minutes everyone starts complaining about the service, etc. But when they're on British Airways or Lufthansa, those same Israelis sit quietly, without making a peep, and even praising the airline. What's the conclusion?
That if you move abroad you will be like Jews who are detached and scared, planning where to run to when the persecutor comes and thinking how to prevent your children from assimilating. Therefore, I'm not impressed with your cries for a second. You're just like the El Al passengers...Others said that the government had truly done them an injustice. One wrote very succintly, Sharon, Sharon! Too bad you're not around to see what you have caused! Another one summed up by noting the just-ended war in Lebanon and quoting Joseph's brothers in the Bible who said, But we are at fault for seeing his suffering when he pleaded to us but we did not listen and therefore this suffering has come upon us.
NUCLEAR WEAPONS WILL BE USED.
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 7 YR TRIBULATION.
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.
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.
NUCLEAR WAR-FEAR
Iranian cataclysm forecast Aug. 22
Islamists seeking heaven could spark apocalypse, Princeton expert warns
Posted: August 8, 2006,5:00 p.m. Eastern,© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com
Bernard Lewis (courtesy Princeton University)
A top expert on the Mideast says it is possible Iran could pick Aug. 22, the anniversary of one of Islam's holiest events, for a cataclysm Shiite Muslims believe will forever resolve the battle between good and evil. Princeton's Bernard Lewis has written an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal advising that the rest of the world would be wise to bear in mind that for those who believe the end of the world is imminent and good, there is no deterrent even to nuclear warfare.
As WorldNetDaily has reported, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has urged his people to prepare for the coming of an Islamic messiah, raising concerns a nuclear armed Islamic Republic could trigger the kind of global conflagration he envisions will set the stage for the end of the world.
He's also said, in a WND report, that Islam and its followers must prepare to rule the world, because it is a universal ideology that leads the world to justice.
Now comes Lewis, who notes that the world must be concerned about a leader for whom the possibility of death is not a deterrent.
In this context, mutual assured destruction, the deterrent that worked so well during the Cold War, would have no meaning, Lewis wrote. At the end of time, there will be general destruction anyway. What will matter will be the final destination of the dead – hell for the infidels, and heaven for the believers. For people with this mindset, MAD is not a constraint, it is an inducement,he said.
Lewis noted that Ahmadinejad has referred to Aug. 22 several times, including when he rejected until that date – United Nations requests for nuclear program information. Lewis, joining several other Mideast experts who have expressed similar concerns, said Aug. 22 corresponds to the 27th day of the month of Rajab of the year 1427.
This, by tradition, is the night when many Muslims commemorate the night flight of the prophet Muhammad on the winged horse Buraq, first to 'the farthest mosque,
usually identified with Jerusalem, and then to heaven and back,Lewis wrote. In Islam, as in other religious, certain beliefs describe the cosmic struggle at the end of time. For Shiite Muslims, Lewis wrote, this will be the long awaited return of the Hidden Imam, ending in the final victory of the forces of good over evil.
The significance, he said, is that there's a radical difference between Iran and other governments with nuclear weapons. This difference is expressed in what can only be described as the apocalyptic worldview of Iran's present rulers, he wrote. Iran's leaders now clearly believe that this time is now, and that the terminal struggle has already begun and is indeed well advanced. As for intent, a passage from the Ayatollah Khomeini, quoted in an 11th-grade Iranian schoolbook, reveals priorities: I am decisively announcing to the whole world that if the world-devourers (i.e., the infidel powers) wish to stand against our religion, we will stand against their whole world and will not cease until the annihilation of all them. Either we all become free, or we will go to the greater freedom which is martyrdom.
Lewis wrote, This might well be deemed an appropriate date for the apocalyptic ending of Israel and if necessary the world. It is far from certain that Mr. Ahmadanejad plans any such cataclysmic events precisely for Aug. 22. But it would be wise to bear the possibility in mind. Lewis, the Cleveland E. Dodge professor emeritus of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University, specializes in Muslim history and interaction between Muslims and the West. His comments echoed those made just a few days earlier by Robert Spencer, another scholar of Islamic history, theology and law and the director of Jihad Watch. In an article for Front Page Magazine.com, he wrote that Farid Ghadry, president of the Reform Party of Syria, noted the commemoration of Muhammad's ascent to heaven from the Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.
Spencer said the Night Journey, or Miraj, is what makes Jerusalem a holy site for Islam, and Islamic tradition believes Muhammad, along with the angel Gabriel, went to the Temple Mount, and then to heaven in a bathing of light over Jerusalem. Spencer reported that Ghadry talked of Ahmadinejad's plans for an illumination of the night sky over Jerusalem to rival the light of that Islamic belief.
Ghadry said what the Iranian president is promising the world by August 22 is the light in the sky over the Aqsa Mosque,Spencer said. He said a nuclear attack on Jerusalem, or even a conventional attack, would be consistent with the references that have been made, including Ahmadinejad's talk that Israel pushed the button of its own destruction by returning fire for Hezbollah's rocket barrage. Also, Atomic Iran author Jerome Corsi notes that it's less significant whether Hezbollah survives, but it's really the first chapter in the play for Iran and the Shiite Islam nation to come to ascendancy in the Muslim world. First is the battle against Israel and the United States, he said, then against Sunni Islam. Where that group is more dominant, he said, is in Saudi Arabia and Egypt, where group members are not unhappy to see Iran contained.
They may launch an attack, but I still think if they had a weapon they would just go ahead and use it,Corsi said.Terrorists don't brag about things they're going to do until after they do it. He said the recent comments are more typical of terrorists' efforts to get attention. When Ahmadinejad is capable of taking action he will do it without any warning or bravado; he'll just do it, Corsi said. In the updated edition of Atomic Iran: How the Terrorist Regime Bought the Bomb and American Politicians, now available in paperback from WND Books, Corsi discusses many of the disturbing developments related to Iran. Meanwhile, Tanzanian customs officials have uncovered an Iranian smuggling operation transporting large quantities of bomb-making uranium from the same mines in the Congo that provided the nuclear material for the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima 61 years ago, according to a recent report in the London Sunday Times.
A United Nations report, outlining the interception last October, said there is no doubt the smuggled uranium-238 came from mines in the Democratic Republic of the Congo's mineral-rich Katanga province. The smuggled uranium discovered by Tanzanian customs agents was hidden in shipment of coltan, a rare mineral used to make chips in mobile telephones. According to the manifest, the coltan was to be smelted in the former Soviet republic of Kazakhstan after being shipped to Bandar Abbas, Iran's largest port. Uranium-238, when used in a nuclear reactor, can be used to create plutonium for nuclear weapons.
Olmert's Support Falls as Israelis Back War Probe, Poll Shows
Aug. 16 (Bloomberg) -- Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's job- approval rating fell to 40 percent, according to a poll published today in Ma'ariv newspaper, compared with 78 percent on July 19, a week after hostilities erupted between Israel and Hezbollah. More than two-thirds of those questioned, or 67 percent, said there should be an investigation into the way the war was handled. Sixty-seven percent said they would support a resumption of fighting if it meant killing Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. The poll of 500 Israeli Jewish adults was conducted yesterday, and the margin of error was plus or minus 4 percent.
Though Olmert's rating fell, the poll showed that if elections were held now, the Kadima party he heads would retain its 29 seats out of 120 in the Knesset, Israel's Parliament. The Likud party, headed by Benjamin Netanyahu, would post the largest gains, rising from 12 seats to 20. A majority of Israelis, 63 percent, said the country should bomb Iranian nuclear facilities.
Israel has accused Iran of providing weapons and funds to Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shiite Muslim group that triggered the conflict with Israel when it abducted two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid July 12. Fighting halted with the implementation of a UN-mandated cease- fire on Aug. 14. The U.S. and Israel classify Hezbollah, which been linked to scores of terrorist attacks on Israelis and Americans, as a terrorist organization.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Janine Zacharia in Jerusalem at jzacharia@bloomberg.net
Last Updated: August 16, 2006 04:03 EDT
ISAIAH 28:14-19
14 Wherefore hear the word of the LORD, ye scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem.
15 Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves:
16 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.
17 Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place.
18 And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it.
19 From the time that it goeth forth it shall take you: for morning by morning shall it pass over, by day and by night: and it shall be a vexation only to understand the report.
US peace plan 'good first step' to lasting peace: Rice Wed Aug 16, 11:07 AM ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) - The UN peace plan for Lebanon will be difficult to implement,
but is a good first step to a lasting peace in the Middle East, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice reportedly said in a letter. Rice said UN Resolution 1701 passed on Friday that has led to a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, would also represent, once implemented, a strategic setback for Syria and Iran, who sought to prolong and intensify the war the world tried to stop, according to The Washington Post.Unlike 10 years ago, said Rice referring to the last ceasefire that was brokered over the heads of the Lebanese ... the international community is helping the Lebanese government create the conditions of lasting peace, full independence, complete sovereignty, effective democracy and a weakened Hezbollah with fewer opportunities to rearm and regroup.
Crucial for the short-term success of the peace plan, Rice said, was full cessation of hostilities ... the unconditional release of the abducted Israeli soldiers and the sevenfold increase of peacekeepers in southern Lebanon.The peace plan lays out the political principles to secure a lasting peace: no foreign forces, no weapons and no authority in Lebanon other than that of the sovereign Lebanese government.And for the first time the international community has put its full weight behind a practical political framework to help the Lebanese government realize these principles, including the disarmament of all militias operating on its territory.
The agreement we reached last week is a good first step, but it is only a first step, said Rice, adding that the United States would help to lead relief efforts
for the people of Lebanon, and we will fully support them as they rebuild their country.She said Washington had increased our immediate humanitarian assistance to 50 million dollars.
As to Hezbollah's claim to victory in the month-long conflict, Rice said the militant group only achieved the blame of the world for causing this war.
In a separate interview with USA Today also published Wednesday, Rice said any political benefit Hezbollah derived from its fight with Israel would be very short lived, and denied that its leader Hassan Nasrallah had emerged with a new standing.Nasrallah is going to have to face what has become of those populations in the south and the great devastation that Hezbollah brought on,she said.On disarming the militant group, she said it was up to the Lebanese and not the United Nations, but that to the degree that support is needed for that, the international forces can help.Militias, she pointed out, are disarmed by a plan under political agreement and then support can be given to the Lebanese in doing that.In case Hezbollah refuses to disarm, Rice said the militant group would find itself increasingly isolated from Europe and other nations, and the weapons embargo would prevent them from being rearmed by its sponsors in Syria and Iran.One would have to assume that there will be others who are willing to call Hezbollah what we are willing to call it, which is a terrorist organization, Rice said.
REVELATION 12:7-17
7 And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels(ISRAELS WAR ANGEL) fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels,(SATAN AND HIS DEMONS)
8 And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven.(SATAN GETS BOOTED TO EARTH) (AND INCARNATES IN THE EU DICTATOR, WHO DIES AND COMES BACK TO LIFE AND THEN CLAIMS TO BE GOD, ISRAELIS REALIZE HES BEEN A FALSE MESSIAH AND FLEE TO PETRA IN JORDAN) THE ONES THAT DON'T LEAVE GET PERSECUTED BY THE EU DICTATOR.
9 And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.
10 And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.
11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb,(SALVATION) and by the word of their testimony;and they loved not their lives unto the death.
12 Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.
13 And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman(ISRAEL) which brought forth the man child.
14 And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle,(AIR PLANE) that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent.(3 1/2 YRS OF PROTECTION)
15 And the serpent cast out of his mouth water(TSUNAMI) as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood.
16 And the earth helped the woman,(ISRAEL) and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth.
17 And the dragon was wroth with the woman,(ISRAEL) and went to make war with the remnant of her seed,(PERSECUTION) which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.
US space commander predicts satellite attacks By Jim Wolf
Tue Aug 15, 8:05 PM ET
HUNTSVILLE, Alabama (Reuters) - The Air Force's new top commander for space predicted on Tuesday future attacks on U.S. satellites and called for greatly expanded tracking and identification of payloads launched by other countries. Currently, U.S. efforts are focused on determining if an overseas launch is a ballistic missile or designed to put an object in orbit, then cataloging it over a
period that can take weeks, said Air Force Gen. Kevin Chilton, who heads the Air Force Space Command at Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado.I say those days are over,he told an annual conference here on the fledgling, multibillion-dollar U.S. anti-missile shield. If it's a space launch, we can't afford to relax.We need to know what the intent of that launch is, he said, including whether an object could jam or otherwise harm satellites or spread micro-satellites that could do so.Chilton said his goal was to learn all this in the object's first orbit of the Earth so the United States could take unspecified actions before an adversary can cripple us.
The increased situational awareness he had in mind could be achieved largely through improved computer work that would present information in easy-to-understand displays, he said.Foes would be foolish not to be thinking of how to deny the United States the advantages of space, on which it relies heavily for military and commercial purposes, said Chilton, who took over the space command a month and a half ago.And in the future, I'm convinced they'll strike at these capabilities, if nothing else to attempt to level the playing field, he said.Chilton said the United States had a duty to secure the entire space domain not just for our own military but for our allies and for the benefit of the free world.In other remarks to the missile-defense conference, Gil Nolte of the code-making Information Assurance Directorate at the Pentagon's National Security Agency said his agency believed unspecified foreign intelligence agencies had been behind attacks on U.S. computer networks.He said there had been insufficient investment in cyber security at all levels of the U.S. government while attackers were very well financed and used a wide range of tradecraft.
EUROPEAN UNION ARMY
DANIEL 7:23-25
23 Thus he said, The fourth beast (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.(TRADING
BLOCKS)
24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings(10 NATIONS) that shall arise: 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 NATIONS)
25 And he (EU PRESIDENT) shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.(3 1/2 YRS)
DANIEL 8:23-25
23 And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king (EU DICTATOR) of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences,(FROM THE OCCULT) shall stand up.
24 And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power:(SATANS POWER) and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practise, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people.
25 And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes;(JESUS) but he shall be broken without hand.
DANIEL 11:36-39
36 And the king (EU DICTATOR) shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvellous things against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished: for that that is determined shall be done.
37 Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers,(THIS EU DICTATOR IS JEWISH) nor the desire of women, nor regard any god: for he shall magnify himself above all.(CLAIM TO BE GOD)
38 But in his estate shall he honour the God of forces:(WAR) and a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honour with gold, and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant things.
39 Thus shall he do in the most strong holds with a strange god,(DESTROY TERROR GROUPS) whom he shall acknowledge and increase with glory: and he shall cause them to rule over many,(HIS ARMY LEADERS) and shall divide the land for gain.
REVELATION 19:19
19 And I saw the beast,(EU LEADER) and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse,(JESUS) and against his army.(THE RAPTURED CHRISTIANS)
Middle East News
Dozen EU states ready in principle for Lebanon force
Aug 16, 2006, 16:06 GMT
Brussels - One dozen of the 25-member nations of the European Union (EU) declared Wednesday their readiness in principle for their countries to contribute troops
to a UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon, diplomats in Brussels said. But the diplomats, commenting on talks by the EU political and security committee deliberations on the Lebanon, said no formal decision was taken.
The 12 nations which gave fundamental agreement to participating in a UN force included Belgium, Germany, France, Britain, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Poland, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden and the Czech Republic, the diplomats said. Earlier, EU policy chief Javier Solana urged the EU to look not only at sending an international peacekeeping force to Lebanon but to provide long-term political, economic and humanitarian aid to the country. The EU political and security committee has gathered following a three-day trip by Solana to Lebanon and Israel. Representatives of the 25 EU governments are discussing preparations for deployment.
Diplomats said Solana wants the committee to look not only at military help but the reconstruction of the country and discuss the EU's long-term 'political, economic and financial contribution. It was still unclear how large a part EU states would take in the UN force but a considerable contribution was planned, diplomats said earlier in the week. The planned international force would police the ceasefire that came into effect Monday after more than a month of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah guerrillas.
© 2006 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur
WEEKLY COMMENTARY Monday, August 14, 2006 2:37 GMT
Weekly Report ,By Clif Droke,http://www.clifdroke.com
Cosmology of the Cycles
In the past few months we've been subjected to a constant barrage of bad news from the Middle East and around the world. We've witnessed plagues, pestilence and natural disasters of biblical proportions: tsunamis, earthquakes, floods and of course, ceaseless warfare, serving as a constant reminder that these are times of great tribulation.
On top of all this comes the recent explosion of violence in the Mid-East region. In the past we've seen how the peaks and troughs of the Kress cycles have coincided not only with periods of strength and weakness in the market but also with manifestations of violence. We witnessed, for instance, the bottom of the dominant interim cycle in 2001 occur at the same time as the 9/11 bombings in New York and Washington. We saw last July's bombings in London coincide with the bottom of the Master weekly sub-cycle. And with the approach of the 4-year/8-year cycle bottom this September, we've seen additional oubreaks of violence in the Middle East and elsewhere.
One such recent outbreak occurred last week when more than 100 bombings took place in a single day -- a record. The fighting between Israel and Lebanon is another
such manifestation as this dominant yearly cycle comes down hard. What is it about the cycles that produces such acts of cruelty? Is there a cosmological aspect to the cycles during the times of cycle peaks and troughs, as yet uncovered, that extends beyond the purely monetary realm and extends into other areas of human affairs? Or is the explanation to be found in the world controllers fomenting military strife for the purpose of cushioning the blows of the cycle bottoms? The answers to these questions are not easily discovered but hopefully our investigation can shed a little more light on the problem.
As the headline to this essay suggests, there is a cosmology, or interconnectiveness between the affairs of man and sundry acts of God. Instances of this may be found in past years as, for example, the terrible series of storms that battered the East and Gulf costal areas of the U.S. in the summer of 2005. During one of the worst hurricanes last August the stock market found a temporary bottom to a minor decline that had been underway that summer. Yet within a few weeks the S&P 500 broke down to its low for the year. Soon thereafter the weather disasters ceased: East coast barometric pressure averages returned to normal and the broad market enjoyed a 7-month recovery period.
Going further back in 2004 we saw the hurricanes and foul weather associated with the 10-year cycle bottoming process. This was capped off with an event of truly biblical proportions as the Tsunami wreaked utter devastation to Indonesia. This was followed shortly thereafter by a peak in the stock market's fourth quarter rally of 2004 and a decline into May 2005. Other examples could be given, but suffice it to say that acts of God normally produce market tops while the orchestrated violence of man most often has the effect of producing market bottoms.
Following are a few additional observations that can be made in regard to the cosmology of the cycles:
* The percentage of violent crimes committed in major cities tends to increase during the hard down phase (i.e., final 10%) of a dominant yearly cycle.
* The rate of sickness and death around the country and in developed nations expands when the major cycles are coming down hard.
* Global terrorism and bombings always increase in the "hard down" phase of a major cycle.
* Bankruptcy among individuals and corporations increase during these cyclical down phases (e.g., the previous 8-year cycle bottom saw the demise of Long-Term Capital Management while the current 8-year cycle bottoming process has seen the bankruptcy of the Russian oil giant Yukos.)
To further our study of cycle cosmology let's examine the following graphs in comparison to each other.
JOEL 3:2
2 I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people (ISRAELIS) and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.
A Year After: No Consensus on the Expulsion
By Hillel Fendel(INN)
Exactly a year has passed since the expulsion from Gush Katif, and despite the suffering of the expelled and the Hizbullah War, there is still no national consensus on the matter. One year ago today, on August 17, 2005, tens of thousands of Israeli soldiers and policemen descended upon the residents of Gush Katif the northern Shomron was targeted a week later) and began forcibly removing them from their homes.
An article in on the Ynet Hebrew news site depicting the suffering of the expelled over the past year including family breakups, suicide attempts, unemployment, and more - has aroused a wave of comments. Despite the sympathetic nature of the article towards the former residents, the talkbacks show that Israeli society is still very divided over the issue.
Dozens of couples have begun divorce proceedings, and many others are suffering various difficulties between spouses, with children, and among themselves. Quoting a psychologist who has treated many Gush Katif couples, the article tells the plight of men 50 years old and over who were used to working hard their whole lives and who now can't get out of bed... Another psychologist talks of a woman who constantly relives the trauma of not being allowed to go to the bathroom for 30 hours while on the bus out of the Gush, and the resulting humiliation, and others who cannot remove from their minds the sight of long columns of black-uniformed soldiers coming to take them from their homes.
Their gentle struggle against the evacuation created a situation in which the extent of their fury never found its true expression, one psychologist said. A man's home is his castle - this is very instinctive. Think what type of fury erupts from a person whose home is destroyed yet they never expressed it... Then their long hotel stays greatly hurt the family cell, with the children far away from the parents' room, and the families not eating together for months - one of the most important aspects of religious family life... Then they put them into these caravillas, and now they are reduced to prowling back and forth there like lions in a cage.
The grave situation depicted in the article did not particularly move all its readers, however. One particularly hostile commenter, who evoked many objections by later talk-backers, wrote, I feel only derision towards you. Get divorced, leave the country, become poor... I heard that some rich farmers who were expelled from Gush Katif are doing good business in Ethiopia; go there it's good for all of you. And
make room there for the new expellees from the West Bank; you can build settlements in Ethiopia.
A typical response to this writer was: You are so full of hatred. Another one wrote, I have trouble believing you are Jewish.Most of the writers had some form of empathy for the settlers, even if they did not agree with them.The disengagement was a correct move, one wrote, it's just too bad that the evacuated residents are in such a bad state. In my opinion, it's both their fault and the government's fault. It seems strange to me that people who announced that they had lost all confidence in the country, waited for that very country to save them.Others criticized them for not having anticipated the expulsion in advance, and for not raising their children properly.
In response to many of the more negative comments, one wrote the following: I have read all the comments up until now and I am shocked at what I see. Every argument, as far as you are concerned, has only to do with politics? Every time the word settler is mentioned, it arouses your glands of [self] hatred and fury? Can't you simply read the article as it's written a description of tremendous emotional distress of an entire public...? Where does this incessant hatred come from? Every single one of you, if you would sit face-to-face with one of these families and hear their story, would feel empathy and even sadness regardless of your political opinions. Enough of this unending hatred!
Another comment, signed by Man of the Left,was entitled, When I started reading the article, I felt nothing.It then continued, There's this unspoken feeling we have that it's not our fault, but rather theirs [the expelled residents]. Those who feel that the settlers never should have been there, and that it was wrong for them to build communities there, cannot identify with the pain of being uprooted.
Automatically the well-known phrases of wasted money and soldiers who were killed there start jumping up in our heads. But in the middle of the article, I had another thought that something is not right if I am closed to what is being described here. It describes not a disengagement but a collapse. The collapse of genuine life. And to be honest, it's not totally their fault, because the State is that which decided on the direction of settlement as something that is justified. The State encouraged them and the Stated crushed them. I still think we had to leave Gaza - but maybe if it was in the framework of real peace... perhaps the idea that their loss gave us something significant would have changed something. Furthermore: The State knew that the disengagement would happen; it was not right that alternate communities were not prepared... They were not only expelled from their homes but from their lives... For
this, I admit guilt.One commenter wrote that the residents often treated the army as if the army owes them something.
Largely in response to that, one young soldier wrote, I was there and evacuated Shirat HaYam, Kfar Yam, and some others... So first of all, [the above commenter] is either an idiot or has no idea what he is talking about. The large majority of the residents behaved in a way that cannot but be admired. They love every piece and stone of this country, more than what most of us can even comprehend, and are willing to sacrifice so much for concepts such as faith, common decency, and love of the Land... To call them lawbreakers is simply stupidity and a misunderstanding of the reality and the facts... The lack of support that the government and some parts of the country showed our brothers (!!!) whom we removed from their homes - that is what widened the gap between us and created the crisis, no less than the process of the evacuation itself... The high percentage of elite army fighters, officers and
fighters in various IDF units among them is almost illogical.
I talked to officers who lost their soldiers and people who were wounded in war or by terrorism in Gush Katif. Try, please, just to understand them, instead of hating them for nothing... I am a secular youth, aged 20, from central Israel, who was sent at such an early age to defend and sacrifice for the country in which we all live...One philosopher summed up the situation by reminding his fellow-countrymen that at least we're home.He wrote: Whenever an El Al flight takes off from Tel Aviv, after five minutes everyone starts complaining about the service, etc. But when they're on British Airways or Lufthansa, those same Israelis sit quietly, without making a peep, and even praising the airline. What's the conclusion?
That if you move abroad you will be like Jews who are detached and scared, planning where to run to when the persecutor comes and thinking how to prevent your children from assimilating. Therefore, I'm not impressed with your cries for a second. You're just like the El Al passengers...Others said that the government had truly done them an injustice. One wrote very succintly, Sharon, Sharon! Too bad you're not around to see what you have caused! Another one summed up by noting the just-ended war in Lebanon and quoting Joseph's brothers in the Bible who said, But we are at fault for seeing his suffering when he pleaded to us but we did not listen and therefore this suffering has come upon us.
Thursday, August 17, 2006
VOLCANO WIPES OUT 3 VILLAGES
Thursday August 17,2006 1:30 PM
1-Volcano wipes out 3 villages in Ecuador. 2-Mild quake in Pakistan injures 4 people. 3-Tropical storm nearing Japan, landfall likely. 4-Aid officials from NKorea and South to meet amid huge flood damage. 5-More than 600 dead in Ethiopia floods. 6-Rare floods leave hundreds homeless in northern Niger desert.
GENESIS 6:11-13
11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.(WORLD TERRORISM,MURDERS)
12 And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.
13 And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence (TERRORISM) through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.
Volcano wipes out 3 villages in Ecuador By GONZALO SOLANO, Associated Press Writer 14 minutes ago
QUITO, Ecuador - A volcanic eruption in Ecuador's Andes mountains destroyed three villages, killed at least one man and left more than 60 others missing, the mayor of a village on the volcano's slope said Thursday. One body was recovered after the overnight eruption of lava from Tungurahua, in the country's high Andes, and four others were believed to be under the rubble, Penipe Mayor Juan Salazar said.Salazar told Channel 4 television that the villages of Chilibu, Choglontuz and Palitagua no longer exist. Everything is wiped out.This is an indescribable catastrophe, Salazar said. The houses have collapsed. The rocks that fell caused injuries and burns in the city of Riobamba and in Penipe.Salazar said there were 60 other people on the high flanks of the volcano whom officials could not get to Thursday morning.
Choglontuz, Penipe and another village were ordered evacuated on Wednesday hours before the 16,575-foot volcano unleashed gas and ash some 5 miles into the sky, according to a report by Ecuador's Geophysics Institute.Salazar said 3,200 people were evacuated Wednesday from the three communities. He did not say how many remained in the villages.Dr. Hernan Ayala told Channel 4 TV that about 50 people from Penipe were treated at a medical center in Riobamba for burns caused by lava flows and incandescent rocks that burned them as they tried to flee.They were also burned by vapor and the elevated heat in the zone. It was a scene of chaos, a Dantesque situation,he said. "There are six whom we consider the most grave, one of them with burns over 85 percent of the body.The death reported Thursday was the first reported from a Tungurahua eruption since the volcano rumbled back to life in 1999 after staying dormant for eight decades.
MATTHEW 24:7-8
7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.
Mild quake in Pakistan injures 4 people Wed Aug 16, 2:47 PM ET
QUETTA, Pakistan - A magnitude 4.4 quake rattled parts of southwestern Pakistan on Wednesday, injuring four people and damaging several homes, an official said. Panicked people came out of their homes after feeling the quake in Sibi and Dhandar, two remote towns about 90 miles east of Quetta, said Mohammed Nafay, a government official in the area.He said the injured had been transported to a hospital, but gave no further details.Last year, a magnitude 7.6 quake killed 80,000 in northern Pakistan and its part of Kashmir, and since then many quake survivors have been living in tents donated by the world community.Quetta is the capital of Baluchistan province.
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;
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.
Tropical storm nearing Japan, landfall likely Thu Aug 17, 3:05 AM ET
TOKYO (Reuters) - Tropical storm Wukong hung nearly stationary off southwestern Japan on Thursday, threatening prolonged heavy rains and landfall overnight. Wukong -- meaning Monkey King, a legendary Chinese hero -- was 130 km (81 miles) southeast of Miyazaki at 2:45 p.m. (0545 GMT), nearly unchanged from its morning position.It had slowed slightly and was heading west at 15 km an hour, the Japanese Meteorological Agency said, warning that its slowness meant heavy rains would linger in one area for a long time, increasing the chance of flooding.The storm maintained winds of up to 83 km (52 miles) an hour at its center and was expected to bring up to 300 mm (12 inches) of rain to some parts of Kyushu, Japan's southernmost main island, by Friday morning.
Landfall on southern Kyushu was likely on Thursday night or possibly early on Friday, a Meteorological Agency official said, but added that the storm appeared to be shifting direction.The storm is likely to head in a more northern direction than previously expected, but its movements are extremely difficult to predict right now so almost anything is possible,he said.The northerly shift means the storm is now likely to head up the Korean peninsula, according to the Tropical Storm Risk (www.tropicalstormrisk.com) Web site, which also predicted it would weaken to a tropical depression on Friday.The Web site had earlier shown the storm heading toward the eastern Chinese provinces of Shandong and Jiangsu.
Aid officials from NKorea and South to meet amid huge flood damage report by Jun Kwanwoo Thu Aug 17, 7:08 AM ET
SEOUL (AFP) - Red Cross officials from North and South Korea will hold weekend talks on aid for the North after severe floods, officials have said, but international organisations cast doubt on one report of tens of thousands dead or missing. The Unification Ministry said in a statement Thursday that Pyongyang had agreed to Saturday's working-level talks at the North's Mount Kumgang, which would focus on Seoul's proposal to supply rice and construction materials.The aid talks are taking place amid varying reports on the scale of flood damage in North Korea, which was hit hard by torrential rain in mid-July.Good Friends, a Seoul-based aid group and long-term aid partner for North Korea, reported Wednesday the floods left 54,700 people dead or missing and 2.5 million homeless.
The figure is far worse than the damage reports by the communist state's official media or the Red Cross.The official (North) Korean Central News Agency reported last month hundreds of people dead or missing but gave no follow-up reports.On Thursday the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, which has provided assistance following the floods, said it believed Pyongyang's official figures were more credible.The North Korean government tally shows 150 people were killed and 12,500 people were made homeless, with 23,000 houses destroyed or damaged, said Helena Laatio, the Red Cross spokeswoman in Beijing.The more recent figures we've seen or reported from the government now speak of several hundreds dead or missing, rather than what this organization is quoting,said Alistair Henley, head of the Red Cross regional delegation office in Beijing.
We would like to get updated figures from the government but I just find it incredible that there are these figures of more than 54,000.Henley also cast doubt on the figure of 2.5 million homeless, saying the floods did not badly affect densely populated cities such as Pyongyang.A spokesman for the UN's World Food Programme office in Beijing also expressed surprise at the Good Friends' assessment.We went to a couple of affected areas and did see quite a lot of damage. It's impossible for us to extrapolate from that but certainly 54,000 is a huge number,said Gerald Bourke.South Korea last week decided to provide 10 billion won (10.4 million dollars) to civic groups to help buy aid such as rice, flour, medicine and construction equipment.The Seoul government said it would also send its own shipment of rice, reportedly 100,000 tonnes, and equipment to the North through the Red Cross.
The South had suspended rice aid and other humanitarian assistance for the North in protest at its July 5 missile tests.But the North last week appealed to South Korean groups for help and the Seoul government said it would assist civic groups offering aid.
North Korea is suffering from flood damage. The (South Korean) government's assistance for civilian aid will help create favorable situations in relations with North Korea,Foreign Minister Ban Ki-Moon said. Serious flooding helped trigger a famine in the mid-1990s in which aid groups estimate some two million North Koreans died. A decade later the country is still unable to feed all of its 23 million people and depends heavily on outside food aid. Decades of reckless deforestation have stripped North Korea of tree cover that provides natural protection from catastrophic flooding, leaving the soil vulnerable to landslides on a massive scale.
Energy-starved residents have used every scrap of wood from the countryside to cook food or heat homes through the bitter winters.
More than 600 dead in Ethiopia floods By LES NEUHAUS, Associated Press Writer Wed Aug 16, 3:05 PM ET
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia - Flooding from 11 days of heavy rain has killed at least 626 people across Ethiopia, and authorities Wednesday braced for a rising death toll as overwhelmed rescuers struggled to locate missing villagers. Rivers in southern, northern and eastern Ethiopia burst their banks but forecasters predicted even more rain. The death toll in southern Ethiopia was at 364, and police there said it could reach 1,000 while another 256 were killed in the east and six in the north.According to the U.N., 300 people are still missing in the east and police said they are calling off the search for bodies in the region while continuing their search and rescue in the south.
Things are getting out of control,said Inspector Daniel Gezahenge, a spokesman for the southern regional police. We need additional helicopters and boats for rescuing.The country's rescue efforts have been bolstered by the United Nations and other international agencies, but officials say it's not enough.We are appealing to aid agencies and the international community for medical supplies, food, clean water, blankets and anything that can help, Daniel said. "There are dead bodies and animals in the water making the likelihood for a disease outbreak very high.Sisay Tadesse, spokesman for the government-run Disaster Preparedness and Prevention Agency, said some countries are preparing to send search and rescue teams, but he did not name the countries.Daniel said workers were burying most bodies immediately to prevent a disease outbreak. The nearest morgue was more than 124 miles away from the flood area.
Daniel said the water level is rising along River Kibish, near the Omo Valley in the south, where as many as 10,000 people have been stranded.Sisay said the government is planning emergency evacuations of villages that are threatened.The situation is very alarming on the ground, he said. For the time being we have 14 boats in the rescue effort. We are doing our best to rescue people in the threatened areas.Abnezer Ngowi, the U.N. World Food Program's acting country director in Ethiopia, said the floods are an unprecedented disaster,in the country.It is a terrible situation, children are being orphaned and residents in the communities are undergoing a horrible event, the loss of life due to the floods is terrible,said Ngowi.Rescuers fear a cholera outbreak among survivors because it is transmitted through contaminated water and is linked to poor hygiene, overcrowding and bad sanitation. Symptoms include diarrhea and vomiting, which can kill unless treated quickly.
The rains, which usually fall between June and September, are some of the heaviest seen in a country that frequently suffers severe drought and where millions depend on international aid for food.Ethiopia's weather agency predicted more heavy rains in the coming days, prompting the government to issue flood warnings along the country's longest river, the Awash, which stretches 746 miles.
Rare floods leave hundreds homeless in northern Niger desert Wed Aug 16, 3:37 PM ET
NIAMEY (AFP) - Torrential rains have left about a thousand people homeless over the past month in Ingal, a Tuareg region in the heart of the Sahel desert in Niger, a local governor said. Many houses have been damaged and almost a hundred families, totalling a thousand people, have found themselves homeless Abba Malam Boukar, the governor of the nearby town of Agadez, said in a telephone interview with AFP.Neighbouring Libya Tuesday dispatched by air humanitarian aid including tents, medicines and clothes to the disaster victims.The Niger government and mining companies exploiting uranium in the north of the country have also distributed food and medicinal drugs.Rain is quite rare in the northern desert of Niger, and a few tens of millimetres of rain are sometimes enough to crumble the houses built with clay mortar.Located about 100 kilometres (60 miles) from Agadez, Ingal hosts a popular annual stock breeders' festival, whose 2006 edition is due next month.
1-Volcano wipes out 3 villages in Ecuador. 2-Mild quake in Pakistan injures 4 people. 3-Tropical storm nearing Japan, landfall likely. 4-Aid officials from NKorea and South to meet amid huge flood damage. 5-More than 600 dead in Ethiopia floods. 6-Rare floods leave hundreds homeless in northern Niger desert.
GENESIS 6:11-13
11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.(WORLD TERRORISM,MURDERS)
12 And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.
13 And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence (TERRORISM) through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.
Volcano wipes out 3 villages in Ecuador By GONZALO SOLANO, Associated Press Writer 14 minutes ago
QUITO, Ecuador - A volcanic eruption in Ecuador's Andes mountains destroyed three villages, killed at least one man and left more than 60 others missing, the mayor of a village on the volcano's slope said Thursday. One body was recovered after the overnight eruption of lava from Tungurahua, in the country's high Andes, and four others were believed to be under the rubble, Penipe Mayor Juan Salazar said.Salazar told Channel 4 television that the villages of Chilibu, Choglontuz and Palitagua no longer exist. Everything is wiped out.This is an indescribable catastrophe, Salazar said. The houses have collapsed. The rocks that fell caused injuries and burns in the city of Riobamba and in Penipe.Salazar said there were 60 other people on the high flanks of the volcano whom officials could not get to Thursday morning.
Choglontuz, Penipe and another village were ordered evacuated on Wednesday hours before the 16,575-foot volcano unleashed gas and ash some 5 miles into the sky, according to a report by Ecuador's Geophysics Institute.Salazar said 3,200 people were evacuated Wednesday from the three communities. He did not say how many remained in the villages.Dr. Hernan Ayala told Channel 4 TV that about 50 people from Penipe were treated at a medical center in Riobamba for burns caused by lava flows and incandescent rocks that burned them as they tried to flee.They were also burned by vapor and the elevated heat in the zone. It was a scene of chaos, a Dantesque situation,he said. "There are six whom we consider the most grave, one of them with burns over 85 percent of the body.The death reported Thursday was the first reported from a Tungurahua eruption since the volcano rumbled back to life in 1999 after staying dormant for eight decades.
MATTHEW 24:7-8
7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.
Mild quake in Pakistan injures 4 people Wed Aug 16, 2:47 PM ET
QUETTA, Pakistan - A magnitude 4.4 quake rattled parts of southwestern Pakistan on Wednesday, injuring four people and damaging several homes, an official said. Panicked people came out of their homes after feeling the quake in Sibi and Dhandar, two remote towns about 90 miles east of Quetta, said Mohammed Nafay, a government official in the area.He said the injured had been transported to a hospital, but gave no further details.Last year, a magnitude 7.6 quake killed 80,000 in northern Pakistan and its part of Kashmir, and since then many quake survivors have been living in tents donated by the world community.Quetta is the capital of Baluchistan province.
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;
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.
Tropical storm nearing Japan, landfall likely Thu Aug 17, 3:05 AM ET
TOKYO (Reuters) - Tropical storm Wukong hung nearly stationary off southwestern Japan on Thursday, threatening prolonged heavy rains and landfall overnight. Wukong -- meaning Monkey King, a legendary Chinese hero -- was 130 km (81 miles) southeast of Miyazaki at 2:45 p.m. (0545 GMT), nearly unchanged from its morning position.It had slowed slightly and was heading west at 15 km an hour, the Japanese Meteorological Agency said, warning that its slowness meant heavy rains would linger in one area for a long time, increasing the chance of flooding.The storm maintained winds of up to 83 km (52 miles) an hour at its center and was expected to bring up to 300 mm (12 inches) of rain to some parts of Kyushu, Japan's southernmost main island, by Friday morning.
Landfall on southern Kyushu was likely on Thursday night or possibly early on Friday, a Meteorological Agency official said, but added that the storm appeared to be shifting direction.The storm is likely to head in a more northern direction than previously expected, but its movements are extremely difficult to predict right now so almost anything is possible,he said.The northerly shift means the storm is now likely to head up the Korean peninsula, according to the Tropical Storm Risk (www.tropicalstormrisk.com) Web site, which also predicted it would weaken to a tropical depression on Friday.The Web site had earlier shown the storm heading toward the eastern Chinese provinces of Shandong and Jiangsu.
Aid officials from NKorea and South to meet amid huge flood damage report by Jun Kwanwoo Thu Aug 17, 7:08 AM ET
SEOUL (AFP) - Red Cross officials from North and South Korea will hold weekend talks on aid for the North after severe floods, officials have said, but international organisations cast doubt on one report of tens of thousands dead or missing. The Unification Ministry said in a statement Thursday that Pyongyang had agreed to Saturday's working-level talks at the North's Mount Kumgang, which would focus on Seoul's proposal to supply rice and construction materials.The aid talks are taking place amid varying reports on the scale of flood damage in North Korea, which was hit hard by torrential rain in mid-July.Good Friends, a Seoul-based aid group and long-term aid partner for North Korea, reported Wednesday the floods left 54,700 people dead or missing and 2.5 million homeless.
The figure is far worse than the damage reports by the communist state's official media or the Red Cross.The official (North) Korean Central News Agency reported last month hundreds of people dead or missing but gave no follow-up reports.On Thursday the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, which has provided assistance following the floods, said it believed Pyongyang's official figures were more credible.The North Korean government tally shows 150 people were killed and 12,500 people were made homeless, with 23,000 houses destroyed or damaged, said Helena Laatio, the Red Cross spokeswoman in Beijing.The more recent figures we've seen or reported from the government now speak of several hundreds dead or missing, rather than what this organization is quoting,said Alistair Henley, head of the Red Cross regional delegation office in Beijing.
We would like to get updated figures from the government but I just find it incredible that there are these figures of more than 54,000.Henley also cast doubt on the figure of 2.5 million homeless, saying the floods did not badly affect densely populated cities such as Pyongyang.A spokesman for the UN's World Food Programme office in Beijing also expressed surprise at the Good Friends' assessment.We went to a couple of affected areas and did see quite a lot of damage. It's impossible for us to extrapolate from that but certainly 54,000 is a huge number,said Gerald Bourke.South Korea last week decided to provide 10 billion won (10.4 million dollars) to civic groups to help buy aid such as rice, flour, medicine and construction equipment.The Seoul government said it would also send its own shipment of rice, reportedly 100,000 tonnes, and equipment to the North through the Red Cross.
The South had suspended rice aid and other humanitarian assistance for the North in protest at its July 5 missile tests.But the North last week appealed to South Korean groups for help and the Seoul government said it would assist civic groups offering aid.
North Korea is suffering from flood damage. The (South Korean) government's assistance for civilian aid will help create favorable situations in relations with North Korea,Foreign Minister Ban Ki-Moon said. Serious flooding helped trigger a famine in the mid-1990s in which aid groups estimate some two million North Koreans died. A decade later the country is still unable to feed all of its 23 million people and depends heavily on outside food aid. Decades of reckless deforestation have stripped North Korea of tree cover that provides natural protection from catastrophic flooding, leaving the soil vulnerable to landslides on a massive scale.
Energy-starved residents have used every scrap of wood from the countryside to cook food or heat homes through the bitter winters.
More than 600 dead in Ethiopia floods By LES NEUHAUS, Associated Press Writer Wed Aug 16, 3:05 PM ET
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia - Flooding from 11 days of heavy rain has killed at least 626 people across Ethiopia, and authorities Wednesday braced for a rising death toll as overwhelmed rescuers struggled to locate missing villagers. Rivers in southern, northern and eastern Ethiopia burst their banks but forecasters predicted even more rain. The death toll in southern Ethiopia was at 364, and police there said it could reach 1,000 while another 256 were killed in the east and six in the north.According to the U.N., 300 people are still missing in the east and police said they are calling off the search for bodies in the region while continuing their search and rescue in the south.
Things are getting out of control,said Inspector Daniel Gezahenge, a spokesman for the southern regional police. We need additional helicopters and boats for rescuing.The country's rescue efforts have been bolstered by the United Nations and other international agencies, but officials say it's not enough.We are appealing to aid agencies and the international community for medical supplies, food, clean water, blankets and anything that can help, Daniel said. "There are dead bodies and animals in the water making the likelihood for a disease outbreak very high.Sisay Tadesse, spokesman for the government-run Disaster Preparedness and Prevention Agency, said some countries are preparing to send search and rescue teams, but he did not name the countries.Daniel said workers were burying most bodies immediately to prevent a disease outbreak. The nearest morgue was more than 124 miles away from the flood area.
Daniel said the water level is rising along River Kibish, near the Omo Valley in the south, where as many as 10,000 people have been stranded.Sisay said the government is planning emergency evacuations of villages that are threatened.The situation is very alarming on the ground, he said. For the time being we have 14 boats in the rescue effort. We are doing our best to rescue people in the threatened areas.Abnezer Ngowi, the U.N. World Food Program's acting country director in Ethiopia, said the floods are an unprecedented disaster,in the country.It is a terrible situation, children are being orphaned and residents in the communities are undergoing a horrible event, the loss of life due to the floods is terrible,said Ngowi.Rescuers fear a cholera outbreak among survivors because it is transmitted through contaminated water and is linked to poor hygiene, overcrowding and bad sanitation. Symptoms include diarrhea and vomiting, which can kill unless treated quickly.
The rains, which usually fall between June and September, are some of the heaviest seen in a country that frequently suffers severe drought and where millions depend on international aid for food.Ethiopia's weather agency predicted more heavy rains in the coming days, prompting the government to issue flood warnings along the country's longest river, the Awash, which stretches 746 miles.
Rare floods leave hundreds homeless in northern Niger desert Wed Aug 16, 3:37 PM ET
NIAMEY (AFP) - Torrential rains have left about a thousand people homeless over the past month in Ingal, a Tuareg region in the heart of the Sahel desert in Niger, a local governor said. Many houses have been damaged and almost a hundred families, totalling a thousand people, have found themselves homeless Abba Malam Boukar, the governor of the nearby town of Agadez, said in a telephone interview with AFP.Neighbouring Libya Tuesday dispatched by air humanitarian aid including tents, medicines and clothes to the disaster victims.The Niger government and mining companies exploiting uranium in the north of the country have also distributed food and medicinal drugs.Rain is quite rare in the northern desert of Niger, and a few tens of millimetres of rain are sometimes enough to crumble the houses built with clay mortar.Located about 100 kilometres (60 miles) from Agadez, Ingal hosts a popular annual stock breeders' festival, whose 2006 edition is due next month.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)