LUKE 21:25-26
25 And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity;(MASS CONFUSION) the sea and the waves roaring;(FIERCE WINDS)
26 Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.
Cyclone to hit Bangladesh and Myanmar coast: official MAY 1,08
DHAKA (AFP) - A cyclone in the Bay of Bengal is expected to slam into the coast of southeast Bangladesh and Myanmar within a day, a government meteorologist warned Thursday, as officials met for urgent talks.The warning came less than six months after cyclone Sidr caused massive devastation in southern Bangladesh, leaving more than 3,000 people dead.Cyclone Nargis is intensifying and is heading towards the coast, said Shah Alam, assistant director of the Meteorological Department, adding it was likely to hit the coast of Bangladesh's Cox's Bazar district and neighbouring Myanmar from Friday afternoon.Disaster management ministry officials had been summoned to an urgent meeting to assess the potential danger, an official told AFP.Alam said the cyclone was moving at a maximum speed of 115 kilometres (71 miles) per hour, about half the speed of Sidr.We think it will hit about 150 kilometres (93 miles) of the Bangladesh coastline and 150 kilometres of the Myanmar coast, he added.The department had issued warning signal four for Cox's Bazar and Chittagong coastal districts, indicating that a storm was expected but that extreme precautionary measures were not yet required.Fishing crews have already been told to stay close to the shore and not to venture into the Bay of Bengal.Half a million people perished in a cyclone in 1970. Some 138,000 died in 1991 in a tidal wave caused by a cyclone.
No need to declare state of emergency, N.B. officials say MAY 1,08
NEW.BRUNSWICK (CBC) - As water levels in the St. John River approach record highs, New Brunswick safety officials say declaring a state of emergency would not change the assistance already being provided to residents in the soggy province.Dick Isabelle, the executive director of police, fire and emergency services for the Department of Public Safety, explained during a public briefing Wednesday that the purpose of declaring a state of emergency is to force a reaction if governments or organizations are not working together to address a situation.In this case, he said, public safety, the government and emergency organizations are all working together to help those in need without a declaration.As long as people are reacting appropriately ... there is really no need to enact [a state of emergency], he said.Andy Morton, deputy director of the province's Emergency Measures Organization, said a state of emergency is meant to be used in response to a sudden catastrophic event. Officials all said the floods, while an emergency, were not unexpected. Morton noted there is no need to have a state of emergency declared for EMO to enact measures to ensure the safety of New Brunswickers.
He also said that declaring a state of emergency would do little to change the level of emergency response already being provided.We are consistently monitoring the response to the event, he said.
Earlier Wednesday, as water lapped near the legislature, the opposition called for the government to declare a state of emergency.Before the legislature was closed for the weekend due to the water, Public Safety Minister John Foran said, We're certainly not at a state of emergency level, but noted the province is in an emergency situation.Declaring a state of emergency would allow the province to move people out of their homes against their will if necessary. Tory MLA Wayne Steeves, who called for the declaration, later said he would not want to force anyone to move.Heavy rainfall earlier this week in parts of northern New Brunswick, Maine and southern Quebec has put more than 1,300 Fredericton area homes at risk from the surging St. John River. More than 460 people had registered with the Red Cross by Thursday morning after voluntarily leaving their homes.New Brunswick's Emergency Measures Organization has issued a major flood warning for all people living along the basin.Maine declared a state of emergency on Tuesday night and more than 100 homes were evacuated in the Fort Kent area.
Hundreds evacuated in Maine amid record flood Thu May 1, 10:17 AM
BOSTON (Reuters) - A river swollen by heavy rain and melting snow overflowed its banks along the U.S.-Canadian border, forcing hundreds of people to flee homes and businesses in Fort Kent, Maine, and closing two border crossings.The St. John River rose 30 feet and spilled into the town leaving stores and homes on Main Street under seven to eight feet of water, said John Bannen, Fort Kent's director of Community Development. Police and Border Patrol blocked off downtown Fort Kent on Thursday morning.Less than 24 hours earlier about 600 people were forced to leave the town in a hurry when the river threatened to rise above a 30-foot dike built to protect the area. The town is 430 miles north of Boston.Town and state officials called it the worst flood in 80 years of record keeping.We have never seen anything of this magnitude, Bannen said, adding that the town is virtually cut off with only one road open.
The Fort Kent and Van Buren border crossings between the United States and Canada were also closed after the 78-year-old steel truss Clair-Fort Kent bridge spanning the St. John River, was submerged, Lynette Miller, a spokeswoman for the Main Emergency Management Agency said.(Reporting by Svea Herbst-Bayliss, editing by Jackie Frank)
Flooding, landslide fears ease in parts of Quebec Thu May 1, 8:07 AM
MONTREAL (CBC) - Dozens of people forced from their homes by landslides in the town of La Malbaie northeast of Quebec City are waiting for soil test results to find out whether they can return home.Three apartment buildings and a hotel were evacuated after a series of mudslides caused by nearly 60 millimetres of rain in the area this week.Authorities are testing soil on the hill to verify its stability, explained civil security spokeswoman H?l?ne Chagnon.
I think [the soil] could move a little bit again because the rain was very strong, and the type of soil is very specific in this area, she said Thursday.Meanwhile residents in the small Eastern Townships community of Weedon are still waiting for word from officials about flooding.More than 250 permanent and summer homes were ordered evacuated this week after water levels in nearby Lake Louise rose following Tuesday's rainfall.Concerns about possible flooding in the Quebec City and Mont?r?gie regions subsided after officials confirmed water levels remained fairly stable, despite the rain.Officials in Quebec City issued more than 80 voluntary evacuation notices after some basements flooded. Authorities in western Quebec are still monitoring the Petite-Nation River in Saint-Andr?-Avellin, where 14 homes were evacuated Monday night as a precaution.A wall of sandbags was erected to protect the community's main road.The rain moved east Wednesday, dumping 110 millimetres on Baie-Comeau before pushing toward the Maritimes, where a major flood warning is in effect in New Brunswick after the St. John River spilled its banks, submerging several roads.Heavy rainfall and high waters forced authorities in Maine to declare a state of emergency earlier his week.
JESUS RETURNS TO EARTH BODILY TO RULE AND REIGN FROM DAVIDS THRONE FOREVER AND WE COME BACK WITH HIM ON WHITE HORSES.
ACTS 1:10-11
10 And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel;
11 Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.
ZECHARIAH 14:4
4 And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south.
REVELATION 19:11-16
11 And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war.
12 His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself.
13 And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God.
14 And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.
15 And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.
16 And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.
JUDE 14-16
14 And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints,
15 To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.
16 These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaketh great swelling words, having men's persons in admiration because of advantage.
NOW THIS IS ABSOLUTLY AMAZING BECAUSE I BELIEVE THE 7 YEAR PEACE TREATY SIGNING OF DANIEL 9:27 WILL OCCUR ON ROSH-HASHANA IN THE FUTURE AND THEN 3 1/2 YEARS LATER ON PASSOVER I BELIEVE THE EU DICTATOR WILL HAVE THE FALSE RESURRECTION. AND THESE LUNAR AND SOLAR ECLIPSES OCCUR ON PASSOVER AND ROSH-HASHANA APSOLUTLY AMAZING.
TESTING THE FAITH Blood moon eclipses: 2nd Coming in 2015?
Minister uses NASA forecasting to study signals of Jesus' return
April 30, 2008 11:49 pm Eastern By Joe Kovacs 2008 WorldNetDaily
Total lunar eclipses often make the moon appear red
Will Jesus Christ return to Earth in the year 2015?
And can studying NASA's website provide evidence for such a scenario?
A minister who promotes the Old Testament roots of Christianity suggests a rare string of lunar and solar eclipses said to fall on God's annual holy days seven years from now could herald what's come to be known as the Second Coming of Jesus.God wants us to look at the biblical calendar, says Mark Biltz, pastor of El Shaddai Ministries in Bonney Lake, Wash. The reason we need to be watching is [because] He will signal His appearance. But we have to know what to be watching as well. So we need to be watching the biblical holidays.In a video interview on the Prophecy in the News website, Biltz said he's been studying prophecies that focus on the sun and moon, even going back to the book of Genesis where it states the lights in the sky would be be for signs, and for seasons.It means a signal, kind of like one if by land, two if by sea. It's like God wants to signal us, he said. The Hebrew word implies ... not only is it a signal, but it's a signal for coming or His appearing.
Biltz adds the word seasons implies appointed times for God's feasts and festivals.When we hear the word feast, we think food. But the Hebrew word has nothing to do with food. It has to do with a divine appointment, as if God has a day timer, and He says, 'OK, I'm gonna mark the day and the time when I'm going to signal My appearance.In the Old Testament, the prophet Joel states, The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.(Joel 2:31)
In the New Testament, Jesus is quoted as saying, Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light ... And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.(Matthew 24:29-30).Gary Stearman of Prophecy in the News noted, When we think of the sun being darkened and the moon not giving her light, we usually think of some astronomical catastrophe – perhaps the sun sputtering and the moon being affected by all this. But maybe it's time to rethink this a little bit and think of it as a natural cycle, the cycle of the eclipses.Phases of lunar and solar eclipses on NASA's eclipse website .Thus, Biltz began focusing on the precise times of both solar and lunar eclipses, sometimes called blood moons since the moon often takes on a bloody color. He logged onto NASA's eclipse website which provides precision tracking of the celestial events.
He noted a rare phenomenon of four consecutive total lunar eclipses, known as a tetrad.He says during this century, tetrads occur at least six times, but what's interesting is that the only string of four consecutive blood moons that coincide with God's holy days of Passover in the spring and the autumn's Feast of Tabernacles (also called Succoth) occurs between 2014 and 2015 on today's Gregorian calendar.The fact that it doesn't happen again in this century I think is very significant, Biltz explains. So then I looked at last century, and, believe it or not, the last time that four blood red moons occurred together was in 1967 and 1968 tied to Jerusalem recaptured by Israel.He then started to notice a pattern of the tetrads.What's significant to me is that even before 1967, the next time that you had four blood red moons again was right after Israel became a nation in 48, it happened again in 1949 and 1950 ... on Passover and Succoth. You didn't have any astronomical tetrads in the 1800s, the 1700s, the 1600s. In the 1500s, there were six, but none of those fell on Passover and Succoth.When checking the schedule for solar eclipses, Biltz found two – one on the first day of the Hebrew year and the next on the high holy day of Rosh Hashanah, the first day of the seventh Hebrew month. Both of these take place in the 2014-2015 year.
The sun's corona becomes visible during a solar eclipse
Biltz says, You have the religious year beginning with the total solar eclipse, two weeks later a total lunar eclipse on Passover, and then the civil year beginning with the solar eclipse followed two weeks later by another total blood red moon on the Feast of Succoth all in 2015.If you think that this is a coincidence, I want you to know that it's time! exclaimed Prophecy in the News host J.R. Church. There are no more of these for the rest of the century.
The prospect of eclipses pinpointing the time of Jesus' return is getting mixed reaction in Christian circles.After seeing Biltz's interview, Jim Bramlett, an author and former vice president for the Christian Broadcasting Network, expressed excitement. I have just watched the program two times and do not think I have ever been more encouraged or excited about the soon return of the Lord! Bramlett said.But Hal Lindsey, a well-known biblical analyst and author of The Late Great Planet Earth, says while he hasn't heard of Biltz's theory, he called it pure speculation.In my 50-something years of studying prophecy, to me the greatest indication of the time of Christ's return is based around the general things of prophecies coming together in the same time frame.He mentioned not only Israel's birth as a political state in 1948, but the increase in tensions with Muslims, the rise of Russia, China and the European Union, which he says is even calling itself the revived Roman Empire.I see the whole sweep and panorama spinning together in a precise scenario, he said.During a second video interview, Biltz was presented with Bible quotes that many think suggest Jesus' return will be a complete surprise, or at least not specifically known.The 25th chapter of Matthew features a parable where Jesus likens His kingdom to ten virgins all waiting for the arrival of their bridegroom.Jesus said in the story, ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh. (Matthew 25:13) Biltz says people need to examine the quote in its proper context.
When He says you don't know the day or the hour, He's speaking to the foolish virgins, not the wise virgins, he explained.Biltz was also asked about the famous statement in Matthew 24:36 when Jesus was discussing the signs of His coming, and of the end of the world: But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.(Matthew 24:36)He responded by referring to the annual Feast of Trumpets holiday, saying Israelites never knew the precise moment it began, because it was based on the sighting of the new moon.When He (Jesus) says you won't know the day or the hour, He's telling you it's the Feast of Trumpets because that was known as the feast where no one knew the day or the hour that it would begin, said Biltz. So it's kind of like if I told you, I'm not going to tell you when I'm coming, but Gobble, gobble, gobble,[pointing to] Turkey Day.Church stressed despite the information suggesting 2015 could be a pivotal time, We don't know that that will be the concluding year of the tribulation period ... so we're not setting a date and saying this is a warning. We're introducing the possibility of a watch.
FIRES AND EXPLOSIONS
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.
Fire near rim of Grand Canyon keeping state firefighters busy 2,000-acre fire 60% contained; no evacuations likely
Lindsey Collom The Arizona Republic May. 1, 2008 12:00 AM
Fire crews hope a forecast of lighter winds proves true today as they continue to battle a roughly 2,000-acre wildfire burning outside Grand Canyon National Park.Despite wind gusts of up to 50 mph Wednesday, firefighters kept the X Fire from consuming little more than an additional 30 acres of Kaibab National Forest.Smoke from the fire, one of the largest that has broken out in Arizona so far this year, produced a haze noticeable to Grand Canyon visitors.
The blaze was 60 percent contained by Wednesday afternoon. It remained 3 miles east of the Tusayan community and more than a mile away from the southern end of Grand Canyon National Park.Officials did not expect any evacuations because winds were driving the fire northeast away from structures.Sean Murphy, a fire-information officer for the U.S. Forest Service, said the fire has been useful for land management. The flames helped clean out material that fuel fires, such as grass and brush, while sparing most trees. There wasn't a whole lot at stake, fortunately, Murphy said. The X Fire was spotted about noon Tuesday and is believed to have originated from a campfire that wasn't extinguished. There were reports that several people had been arrested in connection with the blaze, but neither forest officials nor the U.S. Attorney's Office would confirm it.
The fire was named after the Ten-X Campground, which remains closed because of fire activity. It was scheduled to open today. Nearly 140 firefighters are battling the blaze, with support from 10 fire engines, three bulldozers, five hotshot crews and two air tankers. The young wildfire season has already been a busy one for crews in Arizona, with a handful of human-caused fires dominating the landscape.Just days after Gov. Janet Napolitano called on Congress to create a fund for fighting wildland fires, crews worked to put out the Kansas Settlement Fire, a blaze that broke out south of Willcox in mid-April and quickly spread through the area's dry grass, consuming more than 750 acres.A few days later, hundreds of firefighters amassed in a remote area near the U.S.-Mexican border to battle the Alamo Fire, a human-caused blaze that grew larger than 4,000 acres before crews got it under control late last week. By then, crews were tending to another human-caused fire in southern Arizona that charred about 325 acres west of Nogales. Fire administrators expect to have the blaze fully contained this week.
Also this week, fire officials warned of potential disaster in southeastern Arizona because of dry conditions. Analysts with the Eastern Arizona Incident Management Team said the potential for extreme fire conditions in that portion of the state is the worst it has been in 23 years.The X Fire has been somewhat of an anomaly. Murphy said. The Tusayan area rarely sees fires of this magnitude; most are quickly contained. Also, fire activity typically doesn't pick up until late May or early June.Little more than a month ago, snow was still covering parts of the Kaibab, including newly charred areas. Murphy said high winds and lack of precipitation that followed in April quickly dried out any vegetation.Tinder-dry conditions and high winds made for quite a show Tuesday, Murphy said. By Wednesday, much of the flame activity had died down. Firefighters paced the blackened landscape to seek out hotspots and ensure that fire hadn't crossed a boundary forged by bulldozers.
The smoke stayed close to the ground Wednesday, and much of it had funneled into the Grand Canyon. Some tourists seemed not to notice. A couple from the Netherlands were happy with the view.Maria and Louis Silverio said they noticed bright-orange signs warning of smoke on the drive into Grandview Point, a popular South Rim overlook, but no actual smoke.Karen Williams of Beaumont, Texas, was disappointed by the haze.I'm a photographer, and I'd like to get better shots, Williams said. It took me 60 years to get here, and I don't know how long it will take to get back.Staff reporter JJ Hensley contributed to this article.
N.M. fire jumps containment line in Manzano Mountains
Updated 56m ago By Cathleen Allison, Nevada Appeal, via AP Fire crews discuss how to protect the homes along Highway 395 on Washoe Hill, between Carson City and Reno on Tuesday, April 29, 2008, as the Skinner Fire raced through the area. The Associated Press
A second consecutive day of fierce wind is hampering firefighters battling a blaze that more than doubled in size within hours in central New Mexico's Manzano Mountains.The Trigo Fire had been 95% contained at 4,500 acres before a spot fire flared on the north side Wednesday afternoon and wind gusting to more than 50 mph drove the flames about 3 miles to the northeast.By early Thursday morning, fire officials estimated the acreage at 11,368, or almost 18 square miles.We're pretty much going to have a carbon copy of yesterday again today, Peter D'Aquanni, a U.S. Forest Service public information officer, said Thursday.Residents of the small communities of Torreon and Tajique and surrounding areas were asked to evacuate, he said. The request affects roughly 400 to 500 people, D'Aquanni said.A shelter was set up for residents at the community center in Estancia.Firefighters' top priority will be protection of structures, he said.A couple of air tankers were dropping fire retardant on the blaze Thursday morning, when wind was already blowing at a sustained 30 mph, D'Aquanni said.The wind, which was shifting from the south-southwest to the north-northwest, grounded a pair of helicopters which had been used to drop buckets of water on the blaze, he said.
Dropping water at this point would be fairly ineffective. By the time it hits the ground it would evaporate or wind up in another county, D'Aquanni said.The fire threatened a University of New Mexico observatory and a fire lookout on Capilla Peak.There was no word on any damage, but D'Aquanni said a Forest Service employee who had been at the lookout was able to wait out the flames and was fine Wednesday night.The human-caused fire began April 15 in the Cibola National Forest. Strong wind fanned the fire April 20, sending it racing toward Manzano and Torreon before firefighters were able to catch it.The blaze burned nine weekend or summer homes and several outbuildings last week.Before Wednesday's flareup, crews had been working on rehabilitating some of the burned areas on the east and west ends of the fire.On Thursday, we'll be trying to just put in some line anywhere we can along the eastern side of the fire before the wind shift happens because when it happens, we can't have our people in front of the fire, D'Aquanni said.There were 182 people assigned to the blaze, but more firefighters have been ordered in, he said.The strong wind was caused by a dry cold front sweeping across New Mexico.Nothing would have happened had we not had those kinds of winds, D'Aquanni said. But that's Mother Nature.Wind gusting to 45 mph also pushed a fire that scorched some 45 square miles of grassland Wednesday in southeastern New Mexico, 15 miles northwest of Tatum.Flames sped toward the New Mexico-Texas line before firefighters stopped it at N.M. 125, said Dan Ware, state Forestry Division spokesman.The fire burned one structure, which was not a house, Ware said.Crews were mopping up hot spots Thursday, he said.
Investigators are trying to determine a cause of the fire, Ware said.Elsewhere in the Southwest, fire crews in Arizona that initially feared hot, windy weather would inflame a wildfire that burned lazily on the edge of Grand Canyon National Park expressed confidence that the blaze, one of several dotting the West, would not grow.Firefighters were able to hold their 3.2-square-mile blaze behind containment lines despite wind gusts as high as 30 mph on Wednesday; it was 60% contained.It's looking good, U.S. Forest Service spokeswoman Susan Brown said. The winds weren't as bad as what they were predicting.Gusts as high as 45 mph had been predicted, and a wind advisory had been issued. The 2,030-acre fire has been burning ponderosa pine and has come within a mile of the park's southern boundary.Crews felt confident the fire would not grow any further, Brown said.The blaze was about 10 miles southeast of the Grand Canyon Village but was moving away from the popular tourist site. No homes were threatened, and businesses and freeways remained open.The fire was spotted Tuesday afternoon and grew rapidly. Authorities believe it was caused by humans and were investigating.Firefighters reported progress against wildfires near Reno, and in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains northeast of Los Angeles.Diminished wind and temperatures near freezing during the night helped firefighters working on a brush and grass blaze south of Reno. On Tuesday, the fire had closed a highway and led to evacuation of an elementary school.With lower temperatures the fire cooled down really well, Steve Frady, spokesman for the Reno Fire Department, said early Wednesday.The fire was estimated at 962 acres, about 1.5 square miles, and was 75% contained, Frady said. It was moving away from homes after burning right around four hillside houses Tuesday when the flames were fanned by wind gusting to 70 mph.Busy U.S. 395, the main thoroughfare between Reno and Carson City, was briefly closed during Tuesday's evening rush hour, but by daybreak Wednesday no flames or smoke were visible from the highway.In Southern California, which also had higher humidity and lower temperatures, the wildfire that threatened hundreds of homes in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains was reduced to mostly embers and was nearly contained, fire officials said Wednesday.
It is looking real good, said Cliff Johnson, a fire information officer with the U.S. Forest Service. He estimated containment at 88%, with the blaze expected to be fully surrounded by Friday.The last evacuation orders were lifted Tuesday for the 1,000 people forced from homes in Sierra Madre, a small city about 15 miles northeast of Los Angeles.Another 700-acre blaze burned uncontained in the San Jacinto Wilderness of the San Bernardino National Forest. The fire was on the remote Apache Peak near Pacific Crest Trail, about 6 miles east of the Riverside County community of Mountain Center, according to the U.S. Forest Service.Only hand crews were fighting the fire, which erupted Tuesday 100 miles southeast of Los Angeles.
Firefighters gain upper hand on wildfire
www.chinaview.cn 2008-04-30 01:31:12
LOS ANGELES, April 30 (Xinhua) -- Firefighters have gained an upper hand on a wildfire burning since the weekend in northeastern Los Angeles, authorities said on Tuesday. The fire was 57 percent contained as of Tuesday, and about 700 of the 1,000 evacuated residents have been allowed back into their homes, officials said.
Authorities expect to have full containment of the 218-hectare blaze by Friday, said Barbara Croonquist of the Angeles National Forest. Firefighters planned to take advantage of cooler temperatures and increased humidity to tame the wildfire. It will be a much better day for the firefighters, National Weather Service Meteorologist Andrew Rorke said. Things will shift from an offshore flow to a more typical onshore flow, lowering temperatures by about 15 degrees.An increase of humidity to about 20 percent will also improve conditions for containing the blaze, he added. Rorke noted that marine area clouds were expected to roll in Wednesday along with increased humidity, cooling temperatures considerably for the remainder of the week. Early Monday, fiery debris threatened some homes along the western perimeter of the fire, that were nearly scorched, said Robert Brady, fire information officer with the U.S. Forest Service.
Croonquist said Tuesday morning that the fire, which started along a popular trail and creek in Santa Anita Canyon Saturday, was 57 percent contained, and the number of scorched acres had not increased. About 1,000 people in 400 homes in the canyon were evacuated over the weekend as the fire scorched vegetation that had not burned in 30 years. Late Monday, mandatory evacuation orders were lifted for residents living in the area. By Tuesday morning, about 300 people were still evacuated from their homes, Croonquist said. More than 1,000 personnel from city, county, state and federal fire agencies were battling the blaze, Croonquist said. Four firefighters have suffered heat fatigue and other injuries considered minor. One outbuilding was damaged. It was unclear how the fire started, but stricken area is popular with picnickers and weekend hikers.
HOARDING OF GOLD AND SILVER
DOCTOR DOCTORIAN FROM ANGEL OF GOD
then the angel said, Financial crisis will come to Asia. I will shake the world.
JAMES 5:1-3
1 Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.
2 Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.
3 Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.
REVELATION 18:10,17,19
10 Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.
17 For in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off,
19 And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate.
EZEKIEL 7:19
19 They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be removed: their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the LORD: they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels: because it is the stumblingblock of their iniquity.
REVELATION 13:16-18
16 And he(FALSE POPE) causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:(CHIP IMPLANT)
17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.(6-6-6) A NUMBER SYSTEM
Official says Iran quits using US dollar for oil deals
By ALI AKBAR DAREINI The Associated Press MAY 1,08
TEHRAN, Iran — Iran, OPEC's second-largest producer, has stopped conducting oil transactions in U.S. dollars, a top Oil Ministry official said Wednesday, a concerted attempt to reduce reliance on Washington at a time of tension over Tehran's nuclear program and suspected involvement in Iraq.Iran has dramatically reduced dependence on the dollar over the past year in the face of increasing U.S. pressure on its financial system and the fall in the value of the American currency.Oil is priced in U.S. dollars on the world market, and the currency's depreciation has concerned producers because it has contributed to rising crude prices and eroded the value of their dollar reserves.The dollar has totally been removed from Iran's oil transactions, Oil Ministry official Hojjatollah Ghanimifard told state-run television Wednesday. We have agreed with all of our crude oil customers to do our transactions in non-dollar currencies.Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called the depreciating dollar a worthless piece of paper at a rare summit last year in Saudi Arabia attended by state leaders from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.
Iran put pressure on other OPEC countries at the meeting to price oil in a basket of currencies, but it has not been able to generate support from fellow members — many of whom, including Saudi Arabia, are staunch U.S. allies.Iran has a tense relationship with the U.S., which has accused Tehran of using its nuclear program as a cover for weapons development and providing support to Shiite militants in Iraq that are killing American troops. Iran has denied the allegations.The U.S. is sending a second U.S. aircraft carrier to the Persian Gulf, a deployment that Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Tuesday could serve as a reminder to Iran. But he said it's not an escalation of force.Speaking to reporters after meeting with Mexican leaders, Gates said the number of ships there rises and falls continuously. He said he doesn't expect there to be two carriers there for a long time.Asked if the carrier move went hand in hand with the rising U.S. rhetoric against Iran, Gates said, I don't see it as an escalation. I think it could be seen, though, as a reminder.Iranian oil officials have said previously that they were shifting oil sales out of the dollar into other currencies, but Ghanimifard indicated Wednesday that all of Iran's oil transactions were now conducted in either euros or yen.In Europe, Iran's oil is sold in euros, but both euros and yen are paid for Iranian crude in Asia, said Ghanimifard.Iran's central bank has also been reducing its foreign reserves denominated in U.S. dollars, motivated by the falling value of the greenback and U.S. attempts to make it difficult for Iran to conduct dollar transactions.
U.S. banks are prohibited from conducting business directly with Iran, and many European banks have curbed their dealings with the country over the past year under pressure from Washington.However, the U.S. has been wary of targeting Iran's oil industry directly, apparently worried that such a move could drive up crude prices that are already near record levels.Iranian analysts say Tehran can withstand U.S. pressure as long as it can continue its oil and gas sales, which constitute most of the country's $80 billion in exports.2008 The Seattle Times Company.
FAMINE
REVELATION 6:5-6
5 And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand.
6 And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.(A DAYS WAGES FOR A LOAF OF BREAD)
Soaring prices for food, gas push consumer spending higher By MARTIN CRUTSINGER, AP Economics Writer MAY 1,08
WASHINGTON - Soaring prices for food, gas and other everyday needs pushed consumer spending to a faster pace than expected in March. The Commerce Department reported Thursday that consumer spending was up 0.4 percent, double the increase that economists had forecast.However, once inflation was removed, spending edged up a much slower 0.1 percent. The March figures represent the fourth straight lackluster performance as consumers have been battered by record gasoline prices, a deep slump in housing and rising job layoffs.In other economic news, construction spending dropped by 1.1 percent in March. That was the fifth decline in the past six months and was led by a record 4.6 percent plunge in spending on housing.Housing construction had fallen for 23 straight months before a small 0.2 percent increase in February. But it remains in a steep slump as builders are still struggling to reduce record inventories in the face of the worst housing downturn in more than two decades.Meanwhile, a closely watched gauge of manufacturing activity posted a reading of 48.6 for April, unchanged from March. That was a slightly better showing than economists had been expecting for the Institute for Supply Management index.
The Labor Department reported that claims for unemployment benefits rose by 35,000 to 380,000 last week. That was a much bigger increase than the 18,000 that private economists had expected, and it highlights the strains that the weak economy is putting on the labor market.The report on jobless claims came a day ahead of a report on unemployment for April. Economists expect that report will show that the unemployment rate edged up to 5.2 percent, from 5.1 percent in March. The economy is expected to lose 70,000 jobs, for the fourth straight month of job losses.The White House said the weekly jobless claims are a volatile marker of the economy's health.The bottom line is that they're higher than we'd like to see them, White House deputy press secretary Tony Fratto said. He added that a slight rise in the Gross Domestic Product for the first quarter was modestly encouraging news, and was in the range of what the administration had expected.Consumer spending is being carefully watched out of concerns that too big of a slowdown will push the country into a recession, since two-thirds of economic activity comes from consumers.The government reported Wednesday that the overall economy, as measured by the gross domestic product, eked out a tiny 0.6 percent growth rate in the first three months of this year as consumer spending slowed to the weakest pace since the second quarter of 2001, when the country was slogging through the last recession.Despite the slightly positive GDP performance, many economists believe that the economy has fallen into a recession and it will be reflected by a negative GDP figure in the current April-June quarter.The Federal Reserve on Wednesday cut a key interest rate for the seventh time in the past eight months, although it signaled the quarter-point move may be the last for awhile.The Fed, worried about rising inflation pressures, is hoping that its previous moves, combined with 130 million rebate payments that started going out this week, will be enough to keep the country from tumbling into a deep recession.On the inflation front, a price gauge tied to consumer spending rose by 0.3 percent in March, triple the 0.1 percent rise in February. Much of that jump reflected higher food and energy costs. Core inflation, which excludes those categories, rose by 0.2 percent in March and is up 2.1 percent over the past 12 months, higher than the Fed's 1 percent to 2 percent comfort zone.Personal incomes rose by 0.3 percent in March, slightly slower than the 0.5 percent rise in February.The personal savings rate, savings as a percent of after-tax income, slipped to 0.2 percent in March from 0.4 percent in February.
Israel minister rejects Gaza truce as Hamas chief killed by Beth O'Connell MAY 1,08
JERUSALEM (AFP) - A senior Israeli minister rejected on Thursday a proposed truce in the Gaza Strip, as the air force killed a Hamas commander suspected of involvement in the 2006 capture of an Israeli soldier. Interior Minister Meir Sheetrit insisted that Israel could not accept an Egyptian-brokered proposal on Gaza, claiming it would only give the Islamist movement Hamas the opportunity to boost its military capabilities.No deal whatsoever should be reached with Hamas because this terrorist movement would exploit any truce to gain strength, perfect its weapons and prepare for the next confrontation, the security cabinet member told public radio.Sheetrit's comments came as the air force targeted and identified hitting Nafiz Mansur, a Hamas terror operative who was involved in terror attacks against Israel, the military said.The military said Mansur had been involved in the capture of Israeli Corporal Gilad Shalit, seized by Palestinian militants in a cross-border raid from Gaza claimed by Hamas and two other militant groups.
It said Mansur was also responsible for the killing of two Israeli soldiers in a July 2006 attack, and took part in setting up a suicide assault on a border post on April 19.Hamas confirmed Mansur's death and said it would respond to this crime at the appropriate time and place.Mansur, 40, was killed near his home in Rafah, according to Muawiyah Hassanein, who heads the Gaza emergency services. Three more people, including a child, were wounded in the air strike, he said.Following the strike, Gaza militants retaliated, firing at least eight rockets and three mortar rounds at southern Israel. The attacks caused some damage to property but no casualties, a military spokeswoman said.Sheetrit, who is also a deputy prime minister, said Israel's goal should be to break up Hamas, which European Union and the United States join with Israel in blacklisting as a terror group.We must break Hamas, not hold negotiations with them, because their demands are unacceptable, he said. The armed forces must attack those terrorists night and day to break their arms and their legs.Public radio said several other ministers had also opposed a Gaza truce at Wednesday's security cabinet meeting.In the face of the near-daily violence on its doorstep, Egypt has again stepped in as a mediator in the impoverished Palestinian territory.
It brought together Hamas, the Fatah party of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas and nearly a dozen other factions, hammering out with them a proposal for a comprehensive, simultaneous and reciprocal period of calm to be applied progressively, first in Gaza and then in the West Bank.The pointman in the talks, intelligence chief Omar Suleiman, is expected to deliver the offer to Israel in the coming days.Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev has already said that to be sustainable and real, the calm must contain three vital elements -- total absence of fire from Gaza against Israel, complete cessation of terrorist attacks and the end of arms smuggling into the Gaza Strip.Hamas has insisted that, as part of any truce, Israel must lift the blockade it imposed after the Islamists seized power in Gaza in June.Israel allows only very limited humanitarian supplies to enter Gaza. It says the blockade is intended to put pressure on the Hamas authorities to stop militants firing rockets on its territory. In another Israeli military operation in Gaza on Thursday, a Palestinian civilian in his sixties, Mohammed Abu Daqqa, was killed and three other people wounded, Palestinian medics said. The deaths brought to 447 the number of people killed since Israel and the Palestinians relaunched peace negotiations at a US-hosted conference in November, according to an AFP tally.
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.(TRADE 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).
Med states can compete with Asia together -Sarkozy
Tue 29 Apr 2008, 16:15 GMT
TUNIS, April 29 (Reuters) - Europe should work with its southern Mediterranean neighbours to challenge Asia economically, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said on a visit to Tunisia on Tuesday.
Sarkozy told a gathering of 500 French and Tunisian business people that European and southern Mediterranean countries should harness their complementary strengths as Asian states had done, rather than opposing and excluding each other.Combining European know-how and North African manpower would be mutually beneficial, he said, adding there could be no decent future for Europe if North Africa does not develop.Together -- with your workforce, with our schools and universities, with what we exchange -- we can create a model that will triumph throughout the entire world, he said.
More than 1,000 French firms have operations in Tunisia, a former French colony and one of France's closest Arab world allies. Textiles and industrial components businesses have provided new jobs in North Africa but many have struggled in recent years as lean Asian competitors muscle into their traditional European markets.Sarkozy was forced last month to water down a plan for a full Mediterranean Union linking neighbours from the north and south after fierce resistance from Germany, which feared the new body would split the European Union and siphon off common funds.
Last month, EU leaders agreed to a limited form of union involving a regular summit between EU and Mediterranean leaders with a joint presidency and a small secretariat. The new union is due to be launched at a summit in Paris on July 13.Sarkozy and his Tunisian counterpart Zine al Abidine Ben Ali oversaw on Monday the signing of accords on nulcear cooperation, migration and aid.State airline Tunisair reached a $1.57 billion deal to buy 19 planes from Airbus, a unit of French-German aerospace and defence group EADS
Professor: EU works well even without Lisbon Treaty
Published: Monday 28 April 2008
The EU continues to function just as well as before enlargement, according to Professor Anand Menon from the European Research Institute at the University of Birmingham. Speaking to EurActiv.sk in an interview, he said an important innovation of the Lisbon Treaty is the yellow card procedure, which would give national parliaments a say on draft Commission proposals. Professor Anand Menon has worked on various aspects of European politics for some 15 years. He is the author of a recently published book entitled Europe: The State of the Union.
What is the most important innovation of the Lisbon Treaty compared to the current institutional setting?
There are some important innovations, but we cannot be sure how they'll work. Nobody knows how the permanent Presidency of the European Council will work. The external service could be an important innovation, if it is professional, recruited on the principle of the merit, without regard to nationality. For me the most interesting innovation is the so-called yellow card procedure, whereby national parliaments get a say, however limited, on draft Commission proposals. I do not know how the system will work, but I think it is a welcome step in connecting national politicians with what is going on in the EU. This is an idea that could be developed over the years and could provide a much-needed link between the national and the European level. You also mean Europeanising the national political debates?
Yes, partly to Europeanise national political debates but also partly to make it clear to the national politicians and their publics that the European Union is something that they are very much involved in shaping, that national politicians are very much involved in the EU decision-making. In other words, there is no centre that imposes things on member states but, rather, the Union is organically linked to national political systems. In an age when people are very skeptical about Europe, this kind of link is very important. If you look at the political debate in the EU, often you see that the European institutions are likened to the national ones – sometimes with fears, sometimes with expectations. Don't you think that this just does not fit? I think that a lot of people fundamentally misunderstand the nature of the European Union and fundamentally misunderstand the limits of this sort of co-operation between the nation states. And that I think is dangerous. Ultimately, one of the problems we have is a lack of faith in the supranational institutions. If you listen to political rhetoric in the member states, you find lots of things said about the undemocratic nature of the European Central Bank or the European Commission. But the principal thing is that the central institutions of the European Union have to be trusted by all members and seen as impartial by all members. Otherwise the things that the EU had already achieved - notably the market - will be put under threat. It is a unique system – it is not like a nation state and it is not like a traditional international organisation – which blends national interests and the European interest.
Sometimes we hear that without a Lisbon Treaty, the only alternative is some kind of disintegration to the core and periphery, the creation of a multi-speed Europe or some kind of catastrophe. How would you comment? I was one of the people writing and arguing against the enlargement to Central and Eastern Europe because I thought it would lead to gridlock. I was totally wrong. Even under the procedures of the Nice Treaty, the enlarged European Union is functioning fine. Insofar as there have been disputes about specific pieces of legislation, these have been between old member states. There would have been rows about Iraq even without enlargement. The same goes for the Services Directive. These were debates dividing the old member states, not dividing old and new. For me, what the figures about voting in the Council indicate is that the EU has not slowed down at all. It is producing the legislation with the same speed as before. There isn't an institutional crisis to be addressed. Or at least there isn't an institutional crisis that is more serious than what existed prior of enlargement. Still there are some areas where there is a clear conflict between those who want to integrate more, and those who want to keep power on the national level. Take defence policy, as an example? I don't think that there are many member states that want defence policy to be more supranational. There are several that want ESDP to be more effective and efficient. There is a provision in the Lisbon Treaty that would allow some states to move ahead in the defence policy. As of now we have a situation whereby the EU assembles missions comprising of those nation states that want to participate. So we have that to some degree already.
I think what has been striking on the ESDP is the extent to which all member states want to contribute something. I think all member states have pledged to contribute something to one of the new battle groups. While there is a potential for a smaller group of member states to take a lead, no member state is particularly keen on being left on the sidelines. Certainly, there is a tension in the ESDP between the bigger member states - particularly France and the UK who want to take a lead - and the smaller member states who oppose that kind of leadership. That is a debate that we will have to have. But as the situation stands now, everybody has committed, everybody has a say on whether to take on a mission, and ultimately everybody can decide to participate in a mission. But let's take another example. The other big issue from the British perspective has always been the Eurogroup - to what extent it will develop to some kind of a leadership group in the Union. That has been one fear quite often expressed. The UK is, I would argue, doing quite well in the European Union now in terms of shaping its nature, but that might cease to be the case if non-membership of the Eurozone leads to a loss of influence over key debates. As of yet I see no signs of this happening. And one of the reasons why it is not happening is because the Eurogroup itself is internally divided. As long as that is the case, Britain can rest easy.
Let's go back to enlargement. How has it affected the EU?
Diversity is good, especially if you view the EU in instrumental terms. If you see the EU as some kind of a homogenising project that tries to become some kind of a nation state, then diversity may be bad. And what is the impact of enlargement? Well, take the simple fact that since enlargement EU GDP has become larger than US GDP. That matters in the sense that it increases EU influence in, for example, international trade negotiations. In terms of decision-making, there is no evidence that it has slowed down.
Interestingly, evidence from systems such as the United States suggests that when a system enlarges, more power tends to migrate to the centre. The central institutions play a greater role – albeit just an informational or coordination role. Let me give you one example. British Presidencies have traditionally not relied much on the Brussels institutions for support. During the 2005 Presidency, there was far more contact between London and the Council Secretariat General. The reason? Because in an EU of 25, even large member states struggle with the complexity of the work. It just became too complicated to co-ordinate so many member states, or to anticipate their positions on all dossiers. And the Secretariat General is an important source of such information.
In this sense, even without Treaty changes you might see that the member states will start to lean more towards the central institutions. Consequently, the system will continue to function. That might be a hopelessly optimistic point of view, but it seems to me that this is the way the system reacts. It might also mean that the long-fought battle over the Lisbon Treaty was not as necessary as we thought.
FROM WND'S JERUSALEM BUREAU Obama adviser: Israel must give up its nukes.Calls nonsense U.S. claims Jewish state struck Syrian nuclear reactor May 01, 2008 12:15 am Eastern By Aaron Klein
2008 WorldNetDaily
Joseph Cirincione
JERUSALEM – Israel should give up its nuclear weapons to ensure Iran halts its illicit nuclear program, argues an adviser on nuclear issues to Sen. Barack Obama.Joseph Cirincione, director of nuclear policy at the Center for American Progress, also previously dismissed reports Israel's Sept. 6 airstrike targeted a Syrian nuclear reactor as nonsense and called Damascus' nuclear program miniscule.Immediately following Israel's air raid, Cirincione listed Israelis [who] want to thwart any dialogue between the U.S. and Syria as among those spreading rumors Syria was constructing a nuclear facility.Cirincione was commenting on a Sept. 13 Washington Post story about possible links between Syria and North Korea.
His statements have been circulating around the blogosphere the past few days after the U.S. government last week released what it said was photographic evidence Syria was constructing a nuclear reactor with the help of North Korea.Once again, this appears to be the work of a small group of officials leaking cherry-picked, unvetted intelligence to key reporters in order to promote a pre-existing political agenda, Cirincione wrote in September on the blog of Foreign Policy magazine.If this sounds like the run-up to the war in Iraq, it should. This time it appears aimed at derailing the U.S.-North Korean agreement that administration hardliners think is appeasement, Cirincione wrote.In a September interview with National Public Radio, Cirincione stated certain hard-line Israelis who are aimed at preventing a U.S.-Syrian or an Israeli-Syrian dialogue were using the Syrian nuclear story to affect talks with Damascus.He called reports Israel struck a Syrian nuclear site the most overblown story I've seen since before the buildup to the war in Iraq.There's precious little information available, but it hasn't stop people with political agendas from spinning it at such an absurd level as if these claims are facts, Cirincione said.
The Obama adviser characterized Syria's nuclear program as not amount[ing] to much. Begun almost 40 years ago, the Syrian program is a rudimentary research program built around a tiny 30-kilowatt research reactor that produces isotopes and neutrons.Syria does not have the financial, technical or industrial base to develop a serious nuclear program anytime in the foreseeable future. Cirincione's assessment and his claims about false leaks to the media directly contradict a U.S. government briefing to select congressional committees last week on some details of the Sept. 6 Israeli airstrike.The U.S. released video of the targeted Syrian building showing what the CIA said was a soon-to-be completed nuclear reactor similar to one in Yongbyon, 55 miles north of the North Korean capital, Pyongyang.Also, the U.S. released photographs that show what appears to be the inside of the nuclear reactor and a picture of a Syrian official standing with a well-known nuclear engineer for the North Korean government.White House press secretary Dana Perino issued a statement last week explaining the Syrian regime was building a covert nuclear reactor in its eastern desert capable of producing plutonium.We are convinced, based on a variety of information, that North Korea assisted Syria's covert nuclear activities. We have good reason to believe that reactor, which was damaged beyond repair on Sept. 6 of last year, was not intended for peaceful purposes.
The U.S. statement accused Syria of hiding the reactor from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and said after the Israeli airstrike, Damascus moved quickly to bury evidence of the reactor's existence.Even after the U.S. briefings last week, Cirincione held strong to his conspiracy theories.We should learn first from the past and be very cautious about any intelligence from the U.S. about other country's weapons, he told the Guardian newspaper last Friday.Cirincione has been described in media reports as a top nuclear advisor to Obama. But he characterizes his role as writing occasional memos to Obama's campaign.Cirincione did not return phone call requests for an interview with WND.Ed Lasky of American Thinker notes Cirincione outlines in his book, Bomb Scare: The History and Future of Nuclear Weapons, that he favors Israel giving up its nuclear weapons to ensure Iran doesn't obtain nukes.Cirincione is optimistic that Israel with its vast and superior conventional forces could be encouraged to incrementally reduce or even eliminate its nuclear capability, perhaps starting by shutting down its production reactor at Dimona, one reviewer of Cirincione's book notes.Circincione has argued in papers the U.S. should have an evenhanded approach toward a nuclear-free Middle East and that Israel should make public its nuclear weapons program as part of nuclear negotiations.The Obama adviser was also quoted in 2006 calling Israel's 1981 raid on Iraq's nuclear reactor a failure.The raid was widely credited with completely halting deposed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein's nuclear programs.Of Cirincione's views toward Syria, Gabriel Schoenfeld writes on the Commentary Magazine blog, Cirincione sounds remarkably similar to Syria's ambassador to the United Nations. There was no Syria-North Korea cooperation whatsoever in Syria. We deny these rumors,' Bashar Ja'afari said.
* * * * FLASH TRAFFIC: WASHINGTON UPDATE * * * *
MY CONVERSATION WITH CNN'S GLENN BECK
Is there an intersection between geopolitical events and Bible prophecy? By Joel C. Rosenberg
(Washington, D.C., April 29, 2008) -- Well, it was a fascinating week. Hard to summarize, but fascinating, to say the least. Glenn Beck of CNN Headline News had me on his program every night last week to discuss geopolitical events in light of Bible prophecy. Then on Friday, he had me on for a one-hour, prime time special entitled, Honest Questions About The End of Days. He asked great questions -- tough, but fair. He admitted he would probably be a lot more popular if he had me on his show to mock me. But he was honestly curious. I think he, like many in the U.S. and around the world, increasingly sees events accelerating in the Middle East that simply do not make sense if they are viewed only through political or economic lenses. He wants answers. And there aren't many around offering the Bible as a credible sources of answers. There are certainly others more knowledgeable and academically trained to discuss Mideast events in light of Bible prophecy than me. But it was an honor to answer Glenn's questions as best I could. For those who watched, I hoped it was as intriguing and fun for you as it was for Glenn and me. For those who weren't able to see the broadcast, here are excerpts. The full transcript is available on my weblog.
TRANSCRIPT FROM THE GLENN BECK SHOW
CNN Headline News Honest Questions about the End of Days
April 25, 2008
GLENN BECK, HOST (voice-over): Hillary Clinton says she will retaliate with force against Iran if they attack Israel. Then Russian President Vladimir Putin embraces one religion. Jimmy Carter meets with Hamas to forge Middle East peace.
JIMMY CARTER, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If there is success between Abu Mazen and the prime minister of Israel...
BECK: Could these current world events be signs that we`re closer to the end of days? Author Joel Rosenberg, hailed as a modern Nostradamus, has a new book out. It`s called Dead Heat. It takes you inside a presidential race and asks what role, if any, does the U.S. play in the last days? It may be fiction, but tonight it will seem a little more real. Tonight, honest questions about the end of days, with Joel Rosenberg for the full hour. (END VIDEOTAPE)
BECK: Well, hello, America. I -- it`s one of these shows that -- I mean, this puts me into Crazytown. It really does. I want to spend a full hour with you talking about stuff that people just don`t talk about. You know? Because the people who talk about it and think, jeez, some of these things look familiar in the news today. Could we be at the end of the day? You know, or end of days? The chaos in the world looks eerily familiar. And somebody who has written about current events in his novels and knows how it relates to Bible prophecy is Joel Rosenberg. He is the founder of The Joshua Fund and author of Dead Heat, a work of fiction that veers scarily close to fact, I think. In fact, let me just give some of the -- some of the things that you have not really -- you wouldn`t call these predictions. I mean, you`re not Nostradamus.
JOEL ROSENBERG, AUTHOR, DEAD HEAT: No.
BECK: Yes, you`re just -- you`re writing about them because they make sense, right?
ROSENBERG: Right.
BECK: You have written -- about nine months before 9/11, you said -- you wrote a story that had a kamikaze plane attack on a U.S. city. Five months before there was actual war with Iraq, you had a story line that included war with Saddam. Arabian leader vowing to annihilate Israel and Russia and Iran forming an unprecedented military alliance, this one happened the date of publishing the book. Right?
ROSENBERG: Right.
BECK: And I know what books are like. I mean, I`ve got a book coming out this Christmas. It`s due next week.
ROSENBERG: Absolutely.
BECK: The death of Yasser Arafat, radical Islamic terrorist, trying to seize the West Bank and Gaza. Thirteen months later, Arafat was dead and that`s exactly what they did. Does it ever spook you that...?
ROSENBERG: It does. I don`t know what you`re going to say. But yes.
BECK: You know, it must spook you that you -- you feel like, this is the logical thing. If I know prophecy and, this should happen. And you write about it. And then it does.
ROSENBERG: Yes. Because when people say, You`re basing your political thrillers on Bible prophecy. But, Yasser Arafat isn`t mentioned in Bible prophecy.
BECK: Right.
ROSENBERG: Saddam Hussein isn`t; kamikazes aren`t. No, that`s true. So I start with end-times Bible prophecies and I say, OK, these are things we know. Now let`s back them up and say what`s a plausible geopolitical scenario that gets us from where we are today...
BECK: Sure.
ROSENBERG: ... to where these prophecies are? And then I just do some guess work. I mean, I`m not trying to predict it. This is the way it`s going to happen. I`m just saying this is a way it could happen. Because I think a good political thriller starts with what if? What if these events the Bible says will happen, happens in our lifetime?
BECK: I don`t know if you`ve ever heard of a guy named Vilakovsky, but he was a discredited scientist, you know, some of it wrongly so, back in the 30s and 40s. And what he did was he said, Let`s stop dismissing the Bible. Why don`t we look at the scriptures, sacred scriptures from all over the world. Instead of saying, he couldn`t have parted the Red Sea, why don`t we look for natural causes that may have caused those things? Was there anything else that was happening on the planet at the same time in somebody else`s religious scripture that might tie into these things? And I think that`s the problem with scriptures. So many people just dismiss it. Oh, well that`s nothing but, you know, spooky stuff or whatever. They dismiss it. Instead of saying, OK, I read Revelations, I read Ezekiel, they were describing it in the terms that they understood at the time.
ROSENBERG: Right.
BECK: So what could cause those things today? And unfortunately, today there`s a lot of those things.
ROSENBERG: There certainly are.
BECK: That are coming our way. And it`s the -- is it the first time really -- people have been talking about this for 2,000 years. The first time, really, that we can say -- a lot of the big ones are now in play?
ROSENBERG: Absolutely. You know, we say on Passover, why is this night different from all other nights? And people ask me, Joel, why is this period of history different from all other periods of history? I mean, Jesus said, In the last days there will be wars, rumors of wars, earthquakes, famine. We`ve had that for all of the last 2,000 years. So why is this period different? And the answer is Israel. The only document on the face of the planet that said Israel would be reborn as a country in the last days and Jews would re-gather into the holy land after centuries of exile, was the Bible. And this Bible prophecy, most people in the world didn`t believe it. Actually, many Christians didn`t even believe it. It`s a whole replacement theology that got developed. God was done with the Jews. But May 14, 1948, almost exactly 60 years ago, Israel was reborn. And now we`ve got a situation that makes this period of history different, because Israel is what Bible scholars call the super sign. The fact that it has been reborn sets into motion all of the other prophecies.
BECK: Right. You know the reason why I like you, Joel, is you`re normal. You`re a political guy. Your background was much more political. You`re not a Bible-thumping preacher or anything like that, right? What made you turn? What...
ROSENBERG: It wasn`t easy. I mean, first of all, failure. I had helped a lot of political candidates lose their elections. Helped Steve Forbes lose twice. You know, I was on former Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu`s, comeback campaign team in 2000.
BECK: You were good.
ROSENBERG: Oh, yes. I worked for Natan Sharansky, the former deputy prime minister of Israel. He got so frustrated with politics he just retired completely. So after that, I said to myself, All right. I need to do something else with my life. I had two tracks in my life, and I kept them separate. I had my political track. And I had my interest as an evangelical Christian studying Bible prophecy. My father`s family was orthodox Jewish and escaped out of Russia. My mother`s side is Gentile, English. But because of that Jewish background, because of my interest in the scriptures, and because Saddam Hussein in 1990 was invading Kuwait, and Babylon, that country was suddenly in the news again after thousand of years of not being in the news, all of these things were happening in two separate tracts. Once I kind of got -- went through political detox -- I`m out, I`m clean. I`m going to do something else with my life.
BECK: Right.
ROSENBERG: I said, what do I really love? What I really love or I`m fascinated with is Bible prophecy and how it could come true in my lifetime. Since we`ve seen Israel come true -- come to pass, and since Jews are returning to the holy land. And I thought, you know what? People say write the novel that you know. That`s not really true. I think you should write the novel where you live in your mind. Where I lived in my mind was what if? What if in my lifetime or the lifetime of my children this could happen? What would it look like? What would it feel like? Would I and my wife and kids have the courage to go through it?
BECK: When you first started writing it, then, was it more of a what if -- was it fiction? And now it`s more of -- don`t want to put words in your mouth -- more of a watchman on the wall kind of a Ezekiel 34 kind of thing?
ROSENBERG: It has accelerated into the second point, for sure. What happened was this prophecy of Ezekiel 38 and 39, where Russia will form an alliance with Iran and Libya and these other countries in the last days. I`d always been fascinated with that. But I was on a plane from Washington, D.C., to New York City in the fall of 2000 with Natan Sharansky, the former deputy prime minister of Israel. And while we were chatting, I said to him -- we got chatting, and he said -- he started telling me the story of how, when Benjamin Netanyahu was the prime minister and Sharansky was a cabinet minister, Netanyahu sent him to Russia to meet with then KGB chief Vladimir Putin to talk about the threat of Russia selling nuclear technology and weapons to countries like Iran and Iraq. And that Netanyahu as prime minister was worried about a Russian-Iranian alliance, in particular. Well, here is my political track. I`m just helping Sharansky get his message out. But now suddenly my prophetic side kind of clicked in. And I don`t mean I`m a prophet. I mean that -- my interest in prophecy. And I thought, Wait a minute. Did he just say that the prime minister of Israel is getting worried about a Russian-Iranian military alliance? Because that has never happened in 2,500 years. And when that...
BECK: That`s Gog and Magog.
ROSENBERG: That`s Gog and Magog. That`s Ezekiel 38 and 39, which I thought for many years, I believe it`s going to be true. But that must be 1,000 years off. I mean, it`s not close to happening back in the 1990s when the Soviet Union was collapsing. And that moment on that plane on the way to New York City, I began to think, Wait a minute.
BECK: OK.
ROSENBERG: I might be living in a time where this could accelerate. I want to write a novel that looks at how this could play out.
BECK: OK. When we come back, we`re going to do a couple of things. We`re going to take you through the news of the day. We`re going to talk to you all about, you know, food and crisis, and political leaders, and what things might actually be coming our way. And what plays into the end of days. All this week, by the way, Joel has been writing exclusive articles for the end of days, only available in my free daily e-mail newsletter. You can go over to GlennBeck.com and sign up. Get your free copy today at GlennBeck.com. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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MORE HEADLINES TO TRACK:
* CIA director: Syrian site could have produced fuel for 1 or 2 nuclear weapons in a year
* Bush to visit Israel, Saudi Arabia, Egypt in May
* Israeli Cabinet Minister: 'Land-for-peace will put Iran in Golan'
* Musharraf, Ahmadinejad hold talks: Islamabad, Apr 28: Pakistan and Iran today agreed to sign an agreement to kick-start the multi-billion gas pipeline project, as Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad held talks with his Pakistani counterpart Pervez Musharraf.
* Ahmadinejad's visit to take Indo-Iranian ties to a new heights
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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D-NY), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, the question was, if Iran were to launch a nuclear attack on Israel, what would our response be? And I want the Iranians to know that, if I`m the president, we will attack Iran. We would be able to totally obliterate them. That`s a terrible thing to say, but those people who run Iran need to understand that. Because that perhaps will deter them from doing something that would be reckless, foolish and tragic. (END VIDEO CLIP)
BECK: Continuing our conversation on end of -- on the end of days. And, you know, I know a lot of people are like, Oh, jeez. This is really something you should listen to. Author Joel Rosenberg grounds his stuff in reality that is important and accurate. And that statement, Joel, we talked earlier this week -- that statement by Hillary Clinton is -- it shows, it demonstrates what so many people don`t understand. Ahmadinejad -- correct me if I`m wrong -- and the leadership, not the people but the leadership of Iran would almost welcome us to vaporize all of Iran, because it would fulfill their end-times prophecy that the Great Satan, known as us, just slaughters Muslims wholesale, right?
ROSENBERG: And vice versa. The -- Ahmadinejad is not a Soviet or Chinese leader who is a megalomaniac, maniacal dictator, but who wants to preserve his own skin because he doesn`t believe in an afterlife.
BECK: Right.
ROSENBERG: No. Ahmadinejad is a Shiite, Islamic fascist. He`s a Shiite Islamic fanatic. And what he believes is that....
[This is just a portion of the one-hour special. To read the full transcript -- or watch the video clips on YouTube -- please visit my weblog at www.joelrosenberg.com]
