Let's Talk Some More

It will be interesting to see what the "we can talk our way around any war" crowd will do when a bully steps forward who is looking for a fight...and has absolutely nothing to play with but weapons and an army. That's exactly what is happening with North Korea.

North Korean state media issued a statement on Thursday saying that relations between the two countries (South Korea) had reached the "phase of catastrophe" and that the Kaesong complex had been "thrown into a serious crisis".

But hey, the UN can always come to the rescue and issue another sanction or write another letter. But maybe even the UN is realizing that they have to do something more?;

The UN resolution, passed on Friday, banned all weapons exports from North Korea and authorised member states to inspect sea, air and land cargo, requiring them to seize and destroy goods that violate the sanctions.

North Korea is saying that if their ships are seized they will consider it an act of war...so this could get very interesting....and yes,...it will affect us here in the U.S. if a new Korean War breaks out. Remember we have a thousands of U.S. troops sitting right on the border just as they have been since 1953 when a peace agreement was signed.

Read full article here; http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia-pacific/2009/06/2009614035051320.html

"....there will be wars and rumors of wars...." says Jesus when referring to the Last Days.

Porn Like a Flood

Not too long ago, a man (or woman) had to go looking for perversion. Today, perversion seeks us out...like a hungry lion, waiting to devour. Evidence this attached article that pornographers have hidden porn clips inside children's videos on Youtube.

See article here; http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8061979.stm

So now our poor children have porn clips on their cellphones, they talk dirty to each other on text messaging and they have access to every perverted image they should never imagine seeing...and they never have to leave their home.

Even more perverted, the porn industry is working hard on robotic women so men can buy "sex machines" and have interactive sex with women from all over the world. Certainly it will take adultery to a whole new level. Now I ask...do you think such perversion will be GOOD for traditional marriage? Will it help build an intimate relationship with Christ?

And I ask again...what is it going to take to make things better for this decadent, broke, apathetic, world in which we live? Or is it becoming obvious to everyone that things WON'T get better. They are decaying and coming to an end right before our very eyes.

Quickly...come Lord Jesus.

Ezekiel's War

We have talked much about the unfulfilled prophecy of Ezekiel 38...so I won't go into the whole story again. Needless to say, it is something that we are watching closely as all the players for this epic battle come on stage...and this is the first time in human history that an alliance like this has shown up. Most importantly, please remember that most prophecy watchers believe that the rapture of the church may have already happened when Ezekiel's war is fulfilled.

The key players are Magog (Russia and ex-soviet states) Persia (Iran, parts of Iraq, Turkey, Syria) Beth Togarmah (Turkey, Northern Iraq) and others.

So when this headline came out today, you have to wonder how close we are to Jesus' coming for his bride, the church;
Turkey, Iraq sign military cooperation agreement

Read article here; http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-06/10/content_11522667.htm

I have also linked a map to the ancient Persian empire. The map shows what the Persian empire would have encompassed during the time of Ezekiel's writing. You can see that it had Iran, Turkey, parts of Iraq, Syria, and even Jerusalem as part of the Persian empire.

http://ancienthistory.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?zi=1/XJ&sdn=ancienthistory&cdn=education&tm=13&gps=79_60_1003_567&f=00&tt=13&bt=1&bts=1&zu=http%3A//www.fsmitha.com/h1/map10per.htm

Remember to keep praying for Iran. They had elections today and are probably now counting votes.

California Meltdown

We have wondered in previous blogs if California may be foreshadowing what will be the fate of the rest of the country. California's finances are close to collapse and today's headlines are still trumpeting that fact;
California nears financial "meltdown" as revenues tumble

He warned California's state government is speeding toward a financial disaster unless officials act urgently to balance its books.
"Without immediate solutions from the governor and legislature, we are less than 50 days away from a meltdown of state government," Chiang said in a statement.

And just like the Federal government, California is proposing selling paper as a way to try and come up with cash to keep their state running. But really, who wants to exchange cash for paper from a state government that many are realizing will probably default?

That would increase confidence among investors that California has cash to pay the $7 billion to $9 billion in short-term debt notes that Lockyer's office assumes the state will need to sell, Dresslar said.

Read full article here; http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE55974820090610?pageNumber=2&virtualBrandChannel=0

Is this what is coming for the Federal government as they desperately attempt to sell paper (Treasury bonds) to other countries in exchange for their hard earned cash? Remember, our bonds say right on them, "Backed by the full faith and confidence of the U.S. Government". When the confidence and faith dry up....what will we be left with??

Who knows...we might soon be forced to put our full faith and confidence solely in our savior and Lord, Jesus Christ. What a day that will be! Pray that many will come to the Lord through the current and future hardships that this country will endure.

What if Israel Strikes?

On Sunday's adult ed class, we put up maps of the middle east. We talked about the Strait of Hormuz and how Iran could easily plug up that narrow strait and potentially interrupt 40% of the earth's oil supply....which could have devastating effects on oil prices...which could devastate the U.S. economy if we are forced to pay $6 a gallon (or worse) for gasoline.

Today in the Wall Street Journal, John Bolton, ex Ambassador to the UN, is also talking about the Strait of Hormuz, in an article titled WHAT IF ISRAEL STRIKES IRAN?

1) Iran closes the Strait of Hormuz. Often cited as Tehran's knee-jerk answer -- along with projections of astronomic oil-price spikes because of the disruption of supplies from Persian Gulf producers -- this option is neither feasible nor advisable for Iran. The U.S. would quickly overwhelm any effort to close the Strait, and Iran would be risking U.S. attacks on its land-based military. Direct military conflict with Washington would turn a bad situation for Iran -- disruption of its nuclear program -- into a potential catastrophe for the regime. Prudent hedging by oil traders and consuming countries (though not their strong suit, historically) would minimize any price spike.

I sure hope that the oil traders have figured out a way to keep nasty spikes from crushing or economy. But the outcome for Israel if they attack Iran sounds dicey;

5) Iran launches missile attacks on Israel. Because all the foregoing options risk more direct U.S. involvement, Tehran will most likely decide to retaliate against the actual attacker, Israel. Using its missile and perhaps air force capabilities, Iran could do substantial damage in Israel, especially to civilian targets. Of course, one can only imagine what Iran might do once it has nuclear weapons, and this is part of the cost-benefit analysis Israel must make before launching attacks in the first place. Direct Iranian military action against Israel, however, would provoke an even broader Israeli counterstrike, which at some point might well involve Israel's own nuclear capability. Accordingly, Iran's Revolutionary Guards would have to think long and hard before unleashing its own capabilities against Israel.

Read this VERY interesting article here; http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124467678369503997.html

One thing for sure....what happens in Israel WILL affect every single one of us on planet earth....just as the bible says. Also, be encouraged that the bible says Israel WILL NOT be totally destroyed again.

Pray for Israel. Pray for Iran.

Print the Money! Hurry!!

Yes, we have talked about the U.S. financial predicament quite a bit in the past few years. It is truly amazing (interesting?) to watch the smartest men in the world pull their power levers in an attempt to keep their global-paper-money-tower, from tipping over. And it may be that the U.S. powers have just pulled the last big lever they have...and now just have to sit and wait to see what happens....because that lever has NEVER been pulled before. The lever controls the printing presses than print U.S. dollars, and the pulled lever put those presses into ultra-high speed.

The percentage increase in the monetary base is the largest increase in the past 50 years by a factor of 10 (see chart nearby). It is so far outside the realm of our prior experiential base that historical comparisons are rendered difficult if not meaningless.

Interpretation; "We have no prior history to understand what pulling this lever actually does."

Now, as we have said numerous times....you can't simply print copious amounts of money because in reality, it is only paper and if there is too much of it...it becomes worthless, kind of like Monopoly money.

It's difficult to estimate the magnitude of the inflationary and interest-rate consequences of the Fed's actions because, frankly, we haven't ever seen anything like this in the U.S. To date what's happened is potentially far more inflationary than were the monetary policies of the 1970s, when the prime interest rate peaked at 21.5% and inflation peaked in the low double digits. Gold prices went from $35 per ounce to $850 per ounce, and the dollar collapsed on the foreign exchanges. It wasn't a pretty picture.

There's that word, "ever", showing up again. The translation on the above paragraph is; "It's possible that we could be the next banana republic like Venezuela, Zimbabwe or Nigeria...where they need to come up with a new currency....because 1$ won't even buy a gumball."

But hey?....can't all the smart people we have elected pull us out of this mess? Can't we soon go back to our carefree spending days when everyone could buy anything they want and just put it on a monthly payment? When jobs were so plentiful that even if you wore your pants down below your butt-crack...you could still be hired? Days when EVERYONE could have a 5 bedroom house that literally turned into a huge piggy bank of bottomless equity??

Alas, I doubt very much that the Fed will do what is necessary to guard against future inflation and higher interest rates. If the Fed were to reduce the monetary base by $1 trillion, it would need to sell a net $1 trillion in bonds. This would put the Fed in direct competition with Treasury's planned issuance of about $2 trillion worth of bonds over the coming 12 months. Failed auctions would become the norm and bond prices would tumble, reflecting a massive oversupply of government bonds.

Translation; we can't have the Fed selling bonds trying to take money OFF the street...at the very same time the Treasury is trying to sell bonds to finance the operating budget of the Federal government....the bond auctions would fail...and the world might then realize that the U.S. is going to start defaulting on it's promises. That would mean....collapse.

Read full article here; http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124458888993599879.html

Please notice that this article was written by Art Laffer. He is the author of, "The End of Prosperity: How Higher Taxes Will Doom the Economy--If We Let it Happen." Mr. Laffer has been a purveyor of doom and the world's economists have largely dismissed some of his findings.

What's interesting to me is that the world largely dismissed all of the OT prophets, calling them purveyors of doom, as well. They simply refused to believe that anything would ever change to bring them off their high horse. Today, it seems we simply refuse to believe that God is in control.

North Korean Nuclear Offensive

The fiery threats keep coming from North Korea. Last week they renounced the Armistice they signed to end the Korean war....that effectively puts them back at a state of war with the U.S. and with South Korea. The only thing they HAVEN'T done to provoke us is to invade South Korea....otherwise they have pushed all our buttons.

Now they are saying that they will use their nukes not only for defensive reasons but also for offensive reasons;

"Our nuclear deterrent will be a strong defensive means...as well as a merciless offensive means to deal a just retaliatory strike to those who touch the country's dignity and sovereignty even a bit," said the commentary, carried by the official Korean Central News Agency.

So they will nuke anyone who touches their dignity....wow...I should probably be careful about referring to their supreme leader as a "gopher in a pantsuit"....or I may spark Armageddon.

Read full article here; http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/north-korea-would-use-nuclear-weapons-in-a-merciless-offensive-1700590.html

So what should we do? It's not like we want to send 500,000 troops over there to fight a nasty war. We don't like war....right?? We want to just keep turning that other cheek and send more diplomats over there to talk to everyone from the North that we can. Plus maybe we can send them some more money, fruit baskets, and barges of grain. Certainly then they will finally like us and play nice with us in the sandbox....right??

Wrong. It's time for the silent treatment.

When there is no diplomatic recognition to be traded in exchange for concessions, diplomats assume that talking is always a good idea because words cost nothing but can produce tangible results.

This (talking and concessions) must now stop. The North Korean regime never yielded anything of significance in past negotiations, which have served nobody but them. This time, provocation must not be rewarded. Evidently, the North Korean aim is to evoke more attention, more offers of concessions, more gifts. They must receive nothing at all. Talking has failed utterly. Silence might yet persuade the North Koreans to improve their behavior.

Read full article here; http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124458954432899843.html

Friends, it's becoming VERY obvious that the spirit of the world is looking for a fight. We must be very careful how we respond to this bully. If we just keep offering up our lunch money and begging him not to punch us...the end result is that we empower him to keep bullying us and others. The best answer is to just shut your mouth and get ready for offensive action. As President Roosevelt said, "Speak softly and carry a big stick."

Iran's Election

We would like to believe that when Iranian's go to the polls in a few days that they would be able to, "throw the bums out!"....kind of like we do in America every so often. Sadly, that will not be the case. According to the Wall Street Journal article, only candidates approved by the Mullah's were allowed to stand for election. So your choice for president will be; a) Ahmadinejad, b) someone exactly like Ahmadinejad, or c) someone almost exactly like Ahmadinejad.

Mr. Ahmadinejad is widely expected to win. But the guy running in second, Razaie, doesn't sound like a prince either.

Mohsen Rezaie, 55, is a former commander of the Revolutionary Guards. He is subject to an international arrest warrant issued by the Argentine government in connection with the 1994 bombing of a Jewish cultural center in Buenos Aires which killed 85 people and injured 151.

Sounds like another guy who doesn't like Jews!

Read full article here; http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124458910646499883.html?ru=yahoo&mod=yahoo_itp

Obama might still be hopeful that his charm in charisma and smooth words will help to turn the corner concerning Iranian relations....but it sounds like he should plan for more rude behavior coming from Iran...no matter who wins.

Cyber War

As we talked about in class on Sunday, the enemies of the U.S. know our Achilles heal...it's our dependence on electricity. Without our cell phones, text messaging, computers and refrigerators, our lives would literally become unhinged.

Last year we had an eerie foreshadowing of what happens when our cell phones go down. A cell tower was knocked out so no one had service in our neighborhood. Parents came out of their houses and looked around like they were lost. They couldn't get a hold of their children so didn't know if they were going to be on the bus, or if they needed to get picked up. They couldn't figure out if there were evening activities and they certainly couldn't figure out if their husbands would be late coming home. To make matters worse, a lot of us have disconnected our land-line phones, so without our cells....we were totally cut off from the rest of the world. Now imagine if that happened for weeks or months.

We have all experienced power outages during a storm, but thankfully they only last a few hours. What if they lasted a week? What would the cities do? How would the wells pump water? How would your toilets flush? How would you pump gas for your car? How would Cub Foods keeps it's freezers running? Quite honestly, we would be taken back to the 19th century in a matter of days. And to make matters even worse, very few of us know how to split wood, clean chickens, cook over a fire or gather food from a garden...all of which EVERYONE knew how to do 100 years ago.

Some may ask, "So Dennis,...why do you talk of such things? That is NEVER going to happen!!" I certainly hope not....but NEVER is an awfully long time. What makes us so arrogantly confident to think that the world won't hit the "reset" button as it has MANY times in the past...and on many different advanced civilizations of the day?

And in more foreshadowing of what will come, today we get this;

Massive attacks are under way against U.S. government institutions, the Pentagon, our financial institutions, your bank, and thousands of infrastructure systems — including our electrical power grid.

Already Homeland Security planners are worrying about terrorists and adversaries seeking to attack the United States - not with bombs and guns but with sophisticated computer tactics that could send America back to the dark ages.

So who would want to do this to us??

These attacks are coming largely from China and Russia.

Read full article here; http://w3.newsmax.com/a/jun09/

Interesting!...the bible mentions these players during the Tribulation. Russia is currently a collapsing society that aborted 60% of it's pregnancies last year so currently has no hope for the future....unless they seek military conquest....which already started last year when they invaded Georgia. And they may soon invade the Ukraine.

China also has little long term hope as they have been aborting and killing all the baby girls in an attempt to control their population explosion. That has left them with millions of young men who have no hope of ever finding a wife, settling down and raising a family. History clearly shows us that young men with no hope usually pick up guns and bombs and go looking for hope in other lands....hoping to find some eligible young women to answer nature's unquenchable call.

The book of Revelation mentions an army of 200,000,000 coming from the East and crossing the dried up Euphrates river in a military conquest. The book of Ezekiel mentions Russia coming down to plunder Israel and seek wealth. Is this beginning to play out before our very eyes? Ask the Lord for wisdom and discernment. Ask Him to speak to you from His Living Word. See what the Holy Spirit says.

Iran's Election

The elections for President of Iran are going to happen on June 12. And there are some very interesting events happening as the election heats up.

First off, there seems to be a real positive, grassroots democracy that is springing forth in Iran. Iranians are listening to live debates on TV between the candidates. And just like in America, the candidates are ripping each other apart with accusations of lying, cheating and stealing money to benefit their families. That appears to be a huge step toward democracy....which may be a huge step towards peace and prosperity.

Mr. Ahmadinejad's statements below are to be expected;

Mr. Ahmadinejad has shocked the public with what he calls "courageous revelations" alleging that his rivals and some of the highest-ranking clerics are corrupt and that their children and associates benefit from embezzlement and fraud.

But what his opponents are saying is very encouraging...because it is the truth;

Messrs. Mousavi and Karroubi have countered by calling the president and his circle "delusional fanatics" who have ruined Iran's economy and international standing.
"We are up against a person who says black is white and four times four equals five. He looks into the camera and lies with self-confidence," said Mr. Mousavi, alluding to the president's appearance in a live televised debate Sunday night with Mr. Karroubi. "There is nothing worse than when a government lies to its own people."

However, this paragraph struck me as potentially prophetic;

"We are tired of insecurity and tension," said Sheyda Javaheri, 25-year-old who turned up for Mr. Mousavi's rally in the city of Karaj, waving green flags and posters. "Like the American people, we want change."

Read full article here; http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124442253092992803.html

Did you catch that? They want change....just like Obama has delivered to us. But what if the change is actually a change for the worse?....just as it has been for America...?

Syrian Uranium

In this little blurb we find that a UN watchdog has found traces of man made uranium at a second site in Syria.

The U.N. nuclear watchdog has discovered traces of "man made" uranium at a second site in Syria, FOX News has confirmed, causing fresh concern about possible undeclared atomic activity in the Arab state.

Read article here; http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,525233,00.html

This is worth watching because the bible says that Syria's capital will one day be laid waste and uninhabited. Could this be fulfilled if Israel finally gets to the point where they will decide they can no longer exist with their ancient enemies the Assyrians? I believe the Syrians will never rest until they have the Golan Heights back in their possession...and Israel will never let that happen. So it seems the stage has already been set and well in place for continual conflict....until Damascus, one day, is no more.

Hat tip to Julie E.

Obama is Sort of God

As the foreshadowing of the anti-christ continues...it is reaching a whole new level with the editor of Newsweek.

Newsweek editor Evan Thomas brought adulation over President Obama’s Cairo speech to a whole new level on Friday, declaring on MSNBC: "I mean in a way Obama’s standing above the country, above – above the world, he’s sort of God."

or this;

Thomas elaborated on Obama as God, patronizingly explaining: "He's going to bring all different sides together...Obama is trying to sort of tamper everything down. He doesn't even use the word terror. He uses extremism. He's all about let us reason together...He's the teacher. He is going to say, ‘now, children, stop fighting and quarreling with each other.’ And he has a kind of a moral authority that he – he can – he can do that." In response, Matthews wondered: "If there's a world election between him and Osama Bin Laden, he's running a good campaign." Thomas agreed: "Yes, he is."

Read the full article here; http://newsbusters.org/blogs/kyle-drennen/2009/06/05/newsweek-s-evan-thomas-obama-sort-god

Friends, it sure appears that the mainstream media has already drunk the kool-aid. They may have fallen under the spell...because the lack of what they are doing to hold the Obama administration accountable for what it is saying and doing...is so illogical that it must be supernatural.

Hat tip Mike G.