Babylon

As we know, Babylon, (a city in Iraq) will be at the forefront of the End of Days and the fufillment of yet to be fufilled prophesies. With that in mind, it is interesting to watch how this ancient city has entered the news in the past years since the US led invasion of Iraq. Here is one article from the NYT; http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/18/world/middleeast/18babylon.html

Notice in the article how the United Nations is mentioned. Since many watchers believe that the one world gov't prophesied will have much to do with the UN, it is interesting to note how that connection may be coming into focus.

Here also is another great Babylon article that was in the Washington Post in 2007. Notice how the article suggests MOVING THE UN to Babylon and how that could be a good step towards stabalizing Iraq. I don't disagree with this assumption...it's just AMAZING to see how God is moving in the world. Read on; http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/postglobal/needtoknow/2007/04/want_middle_east_stability_mov.html

The Threat to Israel builds

As the Israeli government continues to shake...will Olmert be forced to step down as corruption charges grow? The enemies of Israel can smell blood in the water. Ahmadinejad steps up his rhetoric that Israel will soon be gone and the typical Arab and Persian on the street starts to believe the rhetoric as it is repeated over and over. Here is a good artcle from David Dolan who is a definite insider to the feelings that are taking over in Israel; http://www.ddolan.com/updates.asp?updateid=135

Book of Jude

You may have heard me mention Chuck Missler in the past. He is a favorite prophecy watcher of mine and you can see his website at; www.khouse.org Today in his weekly newsletter he makes mention of the book of Jude and why it is so relevent for us today, in the times we are in. If you haven't read the short book of Jude for a while, take 20 minutes and do it today. Here is what Missler has to say about it;


THE BOOK OF JUDE -
This smallest book of the New Testament is also, in many ways, the most provocative. The Epistle of Jude is a tiny book, tragically neglected by students, yet overflowing with fascinating Old Testament references and allusions: lessons from Israel in the Wilderness, the angels that sinned, the strange events in Sodom and Gomorrah, Michael and Satan's contention over the body of Moses, and other insights from Cain, Balaam, Korah, as well as the mysterious person known as Enoch. It is surprising to learn of allusions to events in the Old Testament that are only found in the New Testament: the Second Coming prophecy of Enoch, that Noah was a preacher of righteousness, the names of the two magicians in Egypt, that Elijah prayed to stop rain for 3 1/2 years, and that the Pharaoh of the Exodus was not Egyptian. Why study the book of Jude? Because it is written for us today. It is written for the end times, for the end of the Church Age. The beginning of the Church Age was, of course, the Acts of the Apostles. However, the end of the Church Age might be called the Acts of the Apostates. Jude is the only book devoted entirely to the great apostasy. "Shall the Son of Man find faith on the Earth?" Jude is the "vestibule" to the book of Revelation. It includes the oldest prophecy uttered by a prophet: of the Second Coming of Christ, declared before the flood of Noah! There are four facts emphasized: 1) We know the Lord's coming is sure; 2) We know who will accompany the Lord; 3) We know the purpose of His coming; 4) We know the result of the Lord's coming. This letter was written by the "brother of James," one of four brothers of Jesus. (James was the head of the church in Jerusalem; neither James nor Jude were among The Twelve; they didn't believe at first.) Why did Jude write this letter? James' epistle deals with good works as evidence of saving faith; Jude's letter deals with evil works as evidence of apostasy. Why must we contend for the faith? Because there are tares among the wheat, false brethren have stolen into the church, and the saints are in peril, all due to the "doctrines of demons." It was an 11-day journey from Horeb to Kadesh-Barnea, yet it took Israel 38 years! Over a million left Egypt, but only two Israelites (over 20 years of age) who left Egypt ever reached Canaan! Why? (Despite the common reckoning, Canaan is not representative of heaven; the Jordan is not representative of death. We are to leave behind the wilderness of doubt, defeat, and failures, and enter victory!) We live in exciting and challenging times, and there is much we can learn from this little book that can be applied to our lives today.

God's Megaphone

I received this email from Jan Markell of Olive Tree Ministries. She believes that all the natural disasters are God's wakeup call to mankind in an attempt to get our attention. I've posted her words (which I agree with) below;



DISASTERS: A MEGAPHONE OF GOD?
Chaos hit my neck of the woods May 25. A killer tornado wiped out a part of the St. Paul suburb of Hugo, Minnesota, killing one and injuring many. When it's up close and personal, the heartache is great and there are always legions of people asking "Why?" Did God cause this? He surely allowed it. Or is it just this sinful, fallen planet where tragedy abounds daily? Clearly, 2008 is the "year of the tornado" with new records being set weekly. God is in charge of nature and nature seems out of control. Keep your TV off if it bothers you as cameras span tornadoes, earthquakes, cyclones, hurricanes, fires, and more. The Bible says that the earth is cursed by sin and all creation groans (Romans 8:20-22). It groans to be liberated! A news agency sent out an article headlined, "Who's to blame for weather?" and the answer is no one. Al Gore wanted to blame the Burma cyclone on global warming but meteorological experts say that it was due to poor people living in a low delta region. Storms follow tracks, not global warming. New terms are popping up such as "donor fatigue" and "disaster fatigue." They occur when disasters become uncontrollable and overwhelming. People stop donating and even stop watching. The most sympathetic can turn away with hearts growing cold rather than warm. In the case of Burma and China, donors also wonder how many of their donor dollars will even get through to victims. "Faraway disasters" generate fewer American dollars than disasters within the U.S. such as Hurricane Katrina. In a sentence, one disaster can be galvanizing and several in a row can be paralyzing. Disasters are a megaphone from God reminding us of lessons the world should take note of including the brevity of life. Not one person in Hugo woke up Sunday morning, May 25, expecting to die at 5:30 PM when the funnel-cloud leveled their home. Life can end abruptly. Eternity never ends and that should be our focus and our hope. Jesus said about the calamities that befell some in His day, "Unless you repent, you shall likewise all perish" (Luke 13:3).

I believe God is trying to get the world's attention. When we are more preoccupied with "American Idol" and other pastimes that rule Him out, He is trying to send a message. Is the Ark door about to close? And is anyone paying attention or even listening?

On this earth, suffering will either be your master or your servant, depending on how you handle the crises of life. A crisis doesn't make a person -- it reveals what a person is made of.

As Spurgeon said, "I owe more to the fire, hammer, and chisel than to anything else in my Lord's worskshop." And though the world is filled with suffering, it is also filled with people overcoming it.

So we are in fearful and perilous times. As I say in my book Waiting for a Miracle, "Fear motivates Satan the way faith motivates God."If you have not repented of your sins and named Jesus Lord of your life, I encourage you to do so today. Who knows what tragedy could befall you today or tomorrow? As a matter of fact, tomorrow may be too late. Do it now. If you do, you have an eternity waiting for you with no tears, no sorrow, and no sighing. I recommend Randy Alcorn's book simply titled Heaven for the full picture of what is ahead for believers. Get it in any Christian bookstore. Eternity is a long time. Spend it in the right place.

Bush Begs the King

I don't know about you, but I thought it was strange that Pres. Bush flew to Saudi Arabia to ask if they could pump some more oil and sell it to us in hopes the price of gasoline would go down. If we haven't figured it out already, the Saudis don't like the U.S. They spend enourmous amounts of money advocating the Wahabi version of Islam and rule using Islamic law, pretty much the opposite of our system. Our "special" relationship with the Saudis has been based on needs that we provided for each other...they sold us oil and we provided them military protection from all the despots that threaten the region. But now that they are gathering in $billions of oil money and realize that they could literally shut the U.S. down by refusing to sell us oil, this "special" relationship is in the process of getting rebalanced. Sadly, it may be the balance is going to shift towards them and away from us. Until we get our own energy independence and figure out electric or hydrogen cars, we will not be in control of our own destiny. This could take years, not months, to get figured out...and during that time it could have VERY PAINFUL ramifications to the independence that we Americans have prided ourselves on. This could be a period of introspection and national soul searching...maybe exactly what we need to turn towards our Creator.

From Horses to Mars

The prophet Daniel told us that in the last days that "knowledge shall increase". For thousands of years mankind pretty much stayed in the same sphere of knowledge. He tilled a garden, he rode a horse and usually died pretty young. It has only been in the last generation that things have changed so drastically because of technology. My grandpa, who is 95, went from riding a horse to school to seeing a space ship land on mars. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,358027,00.html

This is the first generation that has seen such a rapid change. When you combine this with the fact that they also saw Israel re-formed as a nation and the increase in strange weather and severe weather and the shakings of the earth...you have to entertain the idea that Jesus may have been talking to us when he said, "When you see all these things, you know that He is near, at the very gates". Matthew 24:33

How then shall we live?