Jonah's Warning

We all know the story of Jonah and the whale. God was going to destroy Ninevah and sent Jonah to tell the people they had 40 days to turn from their evil, God-less ways or they would be gone.

One comment I hear from from people today is that they really would prefer to be ignorant of the gloom that is fast spreading around the world. They don't really want to know the details or warning signs. Why would that be? Maybe it's because they don't want to be convicted by all the warnings that God is sending. Maybe we don't want to repent because it would mean we would have to realize that our wealthy, excessive, ungrateful lifestyles of the past 25 years would be exposed for what they are...worthless and not God-honoring.

I will post an article below that talks of Jonah and his message of warning. This paragraph hits it head on;

"Warnings abound, they are all around us. The Bible points out many but, since most people aren’t much into reading the Bible anymore, God had to resort to a more extreme method to get His warning across. Sure, in the past He has used natural disasters, weather anomalies, wars and rumors of wars. Today God used Satan to bring to America what might just be our final warning.What’s coming to the shores of America won’t be pretty and it won’t be anything softies will want to deal with, or even be able to deal with in their current state. Americans voted to take the easy way out of the problems confronting this nation. Little do they understand, that the problems facing this nation aren’t going away; they’ve just begun. Progression is the name of the game today, a progression of intensifying calamities befalling a once Christian nation that’s turned into followers of Satan. God can’t be happy with us and He’s no doubt going to express His lack of joy in ways we’ve yet to experience. “Because they forsook the LORD God of their fathers…, and embraced other gods, and worshiped them and served them; therefore He has brought all this calamity on them.” 2 Chronicles 7:22.

Our "other gods" in this country happen to be the god of Mammon...otherwise known as the god of wealth and possessions. Read the full article here; http://raptureready.com/featured/graham/g44.html

“if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” 2 Chronicles 7:14.

If most Americans don't want to know the warnings ("It's so depressing!")...how are we ever going to know to repent, pray and seek His face?

Financial Meltdown

Citigroup has laid out two grim possiblities for how this financial mess will end...one of them doesn't sound good and the other sounds catasrophic. One paragraph from the article says;

"This gamble was likely to end in one of two extreme ways: with either a resurgence of inflation; or a downward spiral into depression, civil disorder, and possibly wars. Both outcomes will cause a rush for gold."

As we have talked about, you simply can't keep printing money to fix things because it makes the money worthless. Zimbabwe has tried that and their inflation rate is now over 5,000,000%...which means their money is worthless.

The posted article mentions that gold might end up being the asset that the world tries to grab hold of as the paper money shows less and less value.

Read it here; http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/ambroseevans_pritchard/3526645/Citigroup-says-gold-could-rise-above-2000-next-year-as-world-unravels.html

A Day of Thanksgiving

This is a great article and was found in the Wall Street Journal today. It talks about some of the history behind the Holiday of Thanksgiving.

Read it here; http://sec.online.wsj.com/article/SB122765806822958269.html

Anyone who denies America's Christian heritage is simply refusing to read history.

Radical Power Grab

We know that the world is already clamoring for centralized authority...the United Nations would be a precursor to what "the World" would like to see as a governing body. And the call to conform to world opinions is going to grow stronger and stronger as the worlds problems (and perceived problems) grow larger and larger.

The article below talks about a UN convention called the Rights of the Child. The convention was passed in 1989 and only the U.S. and Somalia have failed to ratify it. The fear of conservatives is that the UN court could potentially strip the power from states and the federal government on child rights right here in the USA. That would be alarming if the UN had the power to tell Minnesota that we HAD to expose our children to a "Gay Rights" day at school. What if they put together a UN sexuality class and struck down any U.S. state that refused to use it?

The UN is full of corruption and liberal thinkers who have disdain for biblical principals...a recipe for disaster. I hope we will continue to refuse to sign this legislation. Our kids already have enough rights...we don't need a UN watchdog telling us something we haven't asked for.

Read the article here; http://www.cnsnews.com/public/Content/article.aspx?RsrcID=39799

Also, pay special attention to what President elect Obama has said regarding this issue; "When asked about the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the campaign trail, President-elect Barack Obama expressed a willingness to consider sending the treaty to Congress for ratification. “It is embarrassing to find ourselves in the company of Somalia, a lawless land,” Obama said. “I will review this.”

Doomsayer

Some of you may remember when I spoke in adult ed last year that I was concerned about the U.S. Government losing it's AAA credit rating...which would be catastrophic. So when I saw this column in Market Watch, it caught my interest. Columnist Paul Farrell sees a depression coming and lists 30 reasons why. Here is a sampling;

-- America may lose its AAA credit rating; it already exists in name only;
-- growing numbers of companies need bailouts;
-- "Treasury sneaks corporate tax credits into bailout giveaway, shifts costs to states;"
-- sinking state revenues and rising debts signal trouble;
-- "state, municipal, corporate pensions lost hundreds of billions on derivative swaps;"
-- "consumer debt way up, now at $2.5 trillion; next area for credit meltdowns;"
-- Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, AIG, the big banks and other companies are bleeding cash and want more taxpayer dollars;
-- bailout costs will be in the many trillions;
-- all asset classes are sinking and signal a global meltdown;
-- retailers are failing; "mall sales (are) in free fall;"
-- unemployment (is) skyrocketing; and
-- "government policy is dictated by 42,000 myopic, highly paid, greedy lobbyists" - exceeded only by Wall Street's level of greed and corruption.

I certainly hope he is wrong, but if God decided to cast down our false idol of money and wealth then...thy will be done.

Give Gaza to Egypt

Everyone wants to know what the answer is for middle east peace. Further, the world seems to think it has EVERYTHING to do with forming a Palestinian state, so the good people of Gaza can simply go about their business unfettered by Israeli aggression. (Excuse me if I don't believe that line of thought.)

Daniel Pipes has a great idea which sounds like it is based in a fair amount of logic...give Gaza to Egypt. The Gazans share much culture with Egypt and have many relatives and family there. This may also solve the looming war between Hamas in Gaza and Fatah in the West Bank.

Read the article here; http://www.jewishworldreview.com/0108/pipes012908.php3

The Perils Ahead

As many of you know, we believe that the blessings of America have been given by God largely because of our direct support for the Jews and Israel. "I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you." Genesis 12:3

That being said, let's pay careful attention to what happens if we start to pressure the Jews and/or get involved in dividing Israel and/or Jerusalem. I believe that if that happens you will continue to see America fall into decline...just like so many nations before us that cursed the Jews.

I've attached an article by Caroline Glick who is a well know conservative writer in Israel. Again, we are seeing the continued build up of conversation about Israel needing to act against Iran...since the world community simply doesn't seem willing to go there. Here is a very telling paragraph from her article;

" The Obama team's pre-inaugural signals indicate strongly that Israel's next government will need to strike Iran's nuclear installations before two rapidly approaching deadlines. The strike will have to occur before the mullahs enrich sufficient quantities of highly enriched uranium to produce nuclear bombs. And Israel will need to neutralize Iran's nuclear program before the Obama administration begins implementing America's new foreign policy. "

Read the full article here; http://www.jewishworldreview.com/1108/glick111408.php3

Hat tip to Barb.

Nuclear Terrorism

Today, the Wall Street Journal has an article titled WHAT A SINGLE NUCLEAR WARHEAD COULD DO. It's written by Mr. Kennedy who happens to work on U.S. missile defense, so he would be classified as an expert. Mr. Kennedy tells us that the U.S. is totally vunerable to a nuclear missile attack from terrorists. Even worse, if this attack happens to be an EMP (Electro Magnetic Pulse) nuclear attack...all things electrical could quit working. Anarchy and chaos would be the immediate result.

Mr Kennedy says;
"This is what is referred to as an EMP attack, and such an attack would effectively throw America back technologically into the early 19th century. It would require the Iranians to be able to produce a warhead as sophisticated as we expect the Russians or the Chinese to possess. But that is certainly attainable. Common sense would suggest that, absent food and water, the number of people who could die of deprivation and as a result of social breakdown might run well into the millions."

We also know what Iranian president Ahmadinejad has been saying, "Is it possible for us to witness a world without America and Zionism? But you had best know that this slogan and this goal are attainable, and surely can be achieved."

As far as I'm concerned, if America has even a slim chance that our country could be put back to horse and buggy days in the flash of an eye...then I would believe missile defense should be our number one priority. More important than the financial crisis, more important than global warming, more important than a General Motors bailout!

Read the full article here; http://sec.online.wsj.com/article/SB122748923919852015.html

Prepare for Global Cooling

It may be that the tide is turning and the panic alarms shouting "GLOBAL WARMING" are about to shut off. In the article posted below, there are some good facts that are forcing their way out. One big lie is that the hottest decade of the century was the 1990's...when if fact it was the 1930's...long before there were Hummer's and Chevy Suburbans to spew carbon into the atmosphere.

Says the author;
It's clear now that the earth has been cooling for the past decade, to the sorrow of the special pleaders and despite everything Al can do about it. The solar cycle peaked, the sun is quieter, the sunspots have faded and everybody but Al is cooling off.
Even the United Nations says so. The director of the U.N.'s panel on climate change concedes that nature has overwhelmed everything man can do and it might even be another decade before man can rally and the warming resumes. Until then, like it or not, nature rules the cosmos.

Read the full article here; http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/nov/21/the-killer-frost-for-global-warming/

It's concerning to me that Mr Obama and many in his democratic majority congress have already announced that the fight against global warming will be a centerpiece of their platform. With all the problems that need our time and money...they want to solve a problem that doesn't exist.

U.S. Needs New Nukes

I guess I hadn't really thought much about our nuclear arsenal. I assumed we had plenty to destroy the world or destroy any countries we needed to. But General Kevin Chilton is sounding the alarm that we need to upgrade and modernize...and do it fast. He compares our current program to a 1957 Chevy, which was a great car in it's day, but nothing like what you can buy in today's showroom.

Here is a paragraph from the article that hilights the General's concern;

Gen. Chilton pulls out a prop to illustrate his point: a glass bulb about two inches high. "This is a component of a V-61" nuclear warhead, he says. It was in "one of our gravity weapons" -- a weapon from the 1950s and '60s that is still in the U.S. arsenal. He pauses to look around the Journal's conference table. "I remember what these things were for. I bet you don't. It's a vacuum tube. My father used to take these out of the television set in the 1950s and '60s down to the local supermarket to test them and replace them."

It does seem a little surreal that we have thousands of warheads that could destroy us and the entire world...and they have 60 year old light bulbs involved in their detonation system. Just one other thing that the U.S. is going to have to spend $$ Billions on upgrading...and we will need to borrow that money from someone as well.

Read full WSJ article here; http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122731227702749413.html

Olmert Visiting Bush

The official headline is that Israel's Olmert is coming to visit President Bush so they can say goodbye to each other...but that may not be the whole story. Some speculate that the reason for the visit is to discuss possible military action against Iran's nuclear facilities.

As we know, Israel is set to have elections on February 10 and some believe it would be highly unlikely that Israel will engage in a war until they have a strong cental government in place. On the flip side, some rumor has it that Iran is hinting at a pre-emptive attack on Israel since the rumors of an attack against them is getting them jittery. So rumors are building on all sides.

The nuclear experts are now saying that Iran has enough nuclear material to build a bomb about the same size as the U.S. dropped on Nagasaki, Japan. If you were Israel with a tiny border and only 7 million people concentrated in a few large cities...even a small nuclear bomb in the hands of a suicidal regime who is calling for the destruction of Israel...would be unacceptable.

Read the full article here; http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/128499