Brief Period of Euphoria

I will post a link to a new video released today called MELTUP. It is released by the National Inflation Association which is "dedicated to preparing Americans for hyper inflation."

Yes, it's true this video is saying a lot of the things we have talked about in adult ed and at prophecy luncheon.

Yes, it's true that a lot of what this video says is based on common sense...which seems to have vanished from our country.

Yes, it's true that the video is about 54 minutes of VERY UNSETTLING INFORMATION....information that is very difficult to deny, yet very difficult to watch.

See it here; http://inflation.us/videos.html

About 18 minutes into the video the narrator says that today we are living in a "brief period of euphoria"...congratulating ourselves that we have maneuvered our way away from the brink of financial collapse. But it is only an illusion. The damage has already been done.

When the world soon realizes that America has $72,000,000,000,000 of debt and obligations....and even if we paid 100% of everything we made into taxes we still can't service the interest on that debt....no one will want to be paid in dollars anymore because the confidence in that paper will have vanished. The government will have no choice but to print money faster than it is falling in value....and that game can NEVER be won.

When you really get your arms around how fragile this world is...and how delusional we have become to believe we have any control over it....your perception of who you are may change drastically.

Your perception of what God is currently doing on earth may also change drastically.

Baffled

Have you noticed that mankind has been "baffled" quite a bit as of late?

Last week they were baffled over the sudden 1000 point drop in the stock market. Over the past years they have been baffled over where all the bees have gone. The news this morning is that the oil industry is baffled over how the fail safe system on the oil rig failed and now there are thousands of barrels of oil pouring into the sea every day....and they are baffled at how to fix it.

They are baffled over droughts, baffled over Mideast peace, baffled over earthquakes hitting populace zones, baffled over global temperatures, baffled over suicide bombers, baffled over the global economy, baffled over how to bail out Greece.....the list is simply too long and all this baffling really has us baffled.

But today unleashes a very serious baffle with this headline;
Jupiter loses one of its stripes and scientists are stumped as to why

Jupiter has lost one of its iconic red stripes and scientists are baffled as to why.

The largest planet in our solar system is usually dominated by two dark bands in its atmosphere, with one in the northern hemisphere and one in the southern hemisphere.

However, the most recent images taken by amateur astronomers have revealed the lower stripe known as the Southern Equatorial Belt has disappeared leaving the southern half of the planet looking unusually bare.

The band was present in at the end of last year before Jupiter ducked behind the Sun on its orbit. However, when it emerged three months later the belt had disappeared.

See it here; http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1277734/Jupiter-loses-stripes-scientists-idea-why.html#ixzz0noegpjc2

OK friends....here is a news flash....this belt is HUGE!!! It went all the way around the largest planet in our solar system!! It's not like losing a pair of socks or your car keys!!! It's a belt around Jupiter for crying out loud!!

WHO TOOK IT!!!

Just remember, the Bible is VERY clear that there will be strange signs in the skies during the Tribulation on earth. Those strange signs will become TERRIFYING to those left behind.

Is it possible we are seeing the foreshadowing of those prophesied strange signs?

Russia/Turkey Pact

Today there is more news about what Russia and Turkey were talking about a few days ago in Damascus, and the headline is this;
Turkey’s Pact With Russia Will Give It Nuclear Plant

In addition to the agreements, the leaders pledged greater diplomatic efforts toward a resolution of the dispute over Iran’s nuclear program and called for stability in the Caucasus, acknowledging the delicate nature of the conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia over the Nagorno-Karabakh region, which both Turkey and Russia are closely monitoring.

Turkey has been a supporter of Iran’s right to develop nuclear energy but strongly opposes nuclear weapons in the region and has been critical of Israel on the matter.

See it here; http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/13/world/europe/13turkey.html

So we now know for certain that the Ezekiel 38 coalition is tightening its bonds. And of course they are going to be critical of Israel. The Bible is clear that criticism will turn to coveting and pretty soon they will get an evil idea that they WANT what Israel has and will gather their armies to TAKE it from them.

Of course...they will not be successful.

And one more time can I say....most watchers believe the rapture will happen BEFORE this Ezekiel 38 event transpires....so if we are seeing the coalition gather for the first time in human history....could the rapture be far away? Are we ready to meet our Lord in the air? Are we excited to meet Him? Have we been using our talents for the kingdom so the master will be pleased with us when He returns?

All good questions that have ETERNAL ramifications.

20 Things to Survive a Collapse

Yesterday at prophecy lunch, we were talking about the reality that few of us could survive a day or two if the grocery store closed and the lights went out.

We are SADLY unprepared to care for ourselves.

The last generation to go through a collapse during the 1930's was much more prepared. Most lived in rural areas without electricity and had gardens, chickens, cellars filled with canned goods and well water brought up from the ground by a hand pump.

Those who didn't have those things roamed the countryside looking to split wood, bail hay or serve as a handy man in exchange for some food.

Those days are LONG gone!

Today if the lights went out...Cub would be empty in an hour, the city faucets would be dry, and the hungry folks may not offer to work for food. What kind of work would we offer them to do anyway?

With all this in mind, I ran across an article that spells out the 20 things we should all have even to make it a handful of days until the power can be restored.

He ends his article with some pretty serious questions;

It is important to be flexible and to be ready with backup plans when disaster strikes.

You don't want to end up like the folks in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. You don't want to have to rely on the government to take care of you if something really bad happens.

Right now the U.S. strategic grain reserve contains only enough wheat to make half a loaf of bread for each of the approximately 300 million people in the United States.

How long do you think that is going to last?

Now is the time to get ready.

Now is the time to prepare.

The United States economy is going to collapse and incredibly hard times are coming.

Will you be able to survive when it happens?

See it here; http://www.stevequayle.com/News.alert/06_Prep_tips/100512.10.things.4collapse.html

When the welfare checks bounce in Los Angeles at the same time police and firefighter paychecks bounce....do you think that chaos could break out and spread pretty fast across the country?

If a major earthquake shakes apart Kansas to New Orleans and the interstates and pipelines are all shut down.....do you have enough in your cupboards to last until the infrastructure gets repaired?

Remember, we are not called by Christ to go hole up in a cave waiting for Jesus....but what if you could offer food, shelter and comfort to some other lost soul who doesn't know Jesus...and by being the hands and feet of Jesus you "snatch someone from the fire"....

Wouldn't that be a good reason to set aside some food?

Obama Tells Spain to Trim Spending

It's being reported that Obama called the President of Spain and suggested they cut even more spending in an attempt to bring their budget under control...so confidence in Europe and the Euro can stabilize.

How funny is that?

If I was the President of Spain I would probably send Obama a mirror and tell him to call me back after he has looked into it.

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – US President Barack Obama on Tuesday asked Spain for "resolute action" to stem its widening deficit, in order to regain market confidence in the eurozone and avoid a spill-over effect from Greece.

"President Obama and Spanish President Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero ... discussed the importance of Spain taking resolute action as part of Europe's effort to strengthen its economy and build market confidence," the White House said in a statement.

EU leaders last weekend pressed Madrid for even deeper cuts, saying that these plans are not tough enough to calm markets, but Spanish finance minister Elena Salgado managed to resist the pressure, El Pais reported.

She argued that the meeting was called to discuss bail-out mechanisms, not Spanish austerity, and to plead for more time for her government to come up with additional measures.

Cutting social benefits will be tough for Spain's centre-left government as the country's unemployment rate has recently surpassed 20 percent and the economy is expected to shrink by 0.4 percent.

See it here; http://euobserver.com/9/30064

Cutting social benefits (programs like free housing, free food, free health care, free money) will be tough for Spain, says the article. It's going to be tough for the USA too! And for Germany, France, Japan and every other Western country who has spent more than they had for the past decades.

Expect more serious unrest as the "Free" stuff gets eliminated.

Magog Warns of Mideast Catastrophe

This article has "prophecy" written all over it.

We have Russia, (Magog) warning from Damascus that the current Mideast tensions building between Iran (Persia), Arabs and Israel....could result in a catastrophe.

DAMASCUS, Syria — Russia's president said Tuesday that Israeli-Arab tensions threaten to draw the Middle East into a new catastrophe, adding Moscow's weight to a diplomatic push to ease antagonism between Israel and Syria.

The Russian and Syrian presidents, meeting in Damascus, also affirmed ally Iran's right to develop a peaceful nuclear energy program, as world powers press for new economic sanctions to try to stop what they say is really a drive for an atomic weapons capability.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, whose country has been building up its influence as a Middle East mediator, pledged its assistance in pushing the region toward peace.

"Tensions in the Middle East threaten to lead to a new explosion or even a catastrophe," he said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu charged Tuesday that Iran is trying to provoke a conflict between Israel and Syria.

NOW PAY CLOSE ATTENTION TO THIS NEXT PARAGRAPH:

In a joint statement issued after their talks, Assad and Medvedev called for a nuclear weapons free Middle East and urged Israel to join the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and open up its nuclear facilities to the U.N. monitoring agency.

See it here; http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gE02Uowd2e3spVZq8a3WN8xjH6WAD9FKQ8OG0

As we have talked about already...the evidence is continuing to build that the world will use the NPT to force Israel into a corner and DEMAND that she sign the NPT...which Israel will never do.

The pressure will become intense...and if President Obama stomps his foot on Israel's neck and throws his hat in with the rest of the world....life in the USA will get even more interesting for all all of us.

Another Problem With Islam

99.99% of suicide bombers have one thing in common...they would call themselves Muslims and would claim to love Allah and the Koran.

Bible readers understand this is because Satan is currently using this false religion to wreak chaos on earth...because he knows his time is short and he has lots of things to destroy and lots of souls to harvest before the Lord returns.

But what does the secular world have to say about why these folks are blowing themselves up? Why are they so angry?

We used to believe it was because the poor Muslims had had such a tough time living in poverty that they were susceptible to intense brain washing by religious zealots. But now that doesn't jibe with the Times Square attempted bombing by a Pakistani. He was educated, good looking, had a great job and seemed well on his way to being Americanized. So what gives?

Author and Johns Hopkins Prof, Fouad Ajami, has some great insight into what the world is facing off with in it's battle with Islam.

'A Muslim has no nationality except his belief," the intellectual godfather of the Islamists, Egyptian Sayyid Qutb, wrote decades ago. Qutb's "children" are everywhere now; they carry the nationalities of foreign lands and plot against them. The Pakistani born Faisal Shahzad is a devotee of Sayyid Qutb's doctrine, and Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, the Fort Hood shooter, was another.

Qutb was executed by the secular dictatorship of Gamal Abdel Nasser in 1966. But his thoughts and legacy endure. Globalization, the shaking up of continents, the ease of travel, and the doors for immigration flung wide open by Western liberal societies have given Qutb's worldview greater power and relevance. What can we make of a young man like Shahzad working for Elizabeth Arden, receiving that all-American degree, the MBA, jogging in the evening in Bridgeport, then plotting mass mayhem in Times Square?

The Islamists are now within the gates. They fled the fires and the failures of the Islamic world but brought the ruin with them. They mock national borders and identities. A parliamentary report issued by Britain's House of Commons on the London Underground bombings of July 7, 2005 lays bare this menace and the challenge it poses to a system of open borders and modern citizenship.

This is a long twilight war, the struggle against radical Islamism. We can't wish it away. No strategy of winning "hearts and minds," no great outreach, will bring this struggle to an end. America can't conciliate these furies. These men of nowhere—Faisal Shahzad, Nidal Malik Hasan, the American-born renegade cleric Anwar Awlaki now holed up in Yemen and their likes—are a deadly breed of combatants in this new kind of war. Modernity both attracts and unsettles them. America is at once the object of their dreams and the scapegoat onto which they project their deepest malignancies.

See it all here; http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703338004575230142684329162.html?mod=WSJ_hp_mostpop_read

What's Happening in Turkey

We know that Turkey has recently changed course and is now running into the arms of Iran and Russia. This has happened VERY suddenly and Bible watchers are unanimous in realizing that Ezekiel 38 consists of a coalition made up of Russia, Iran, Turkey and others leading the charge to destroy Israel.

Friends, you almost can't make this up...but the Wall Street Journal has an article in today's paper talking about Turkey running into the arms of Iran...and running away from Israel. So clearly, the secular reporters are seeing the same things as us....they just have no idea that what they are reporting is tied to Biblical prophecy.

Last week I asked Bernard Lewis where he thought Turkey might be going. The dean of Middle East historians speculated that in a decade the secular republic founded by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk might more closely resemble the Islamic Republic of Iran—even as Iran transformed itself into a secular republic.

Today, Mr. Erdogan (Turkish Prime Minister) has excellent relations with Syrian strongman Bashar Assad, whom the prime minister affectionately calls his "brother." He has accused Israel of "savagery" in Gaza and opened a diplomatic line to Hamas while maintaining good ties with the genocidal government of Sudan. He was among the first foreign leaders to congratulate Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on his fraudulent victory in last year's election. He has resisted intense pressure from the Obama administration to vote for a new round of Security Council sanctions on Iran, with which Turkey has a $10 billion trade relationship. And he has sabotaged efforts by his own foreign ministry to improve ties with neighboring Armenia.

The more serious question is how far it all will go. Some of Mr. Erdogan's domestic power plays smack of incipient Putinism. The estrangement from Israel is far from complete, but an Israeli attack on Iran might just do the trick. And it's hard to see why Mr. Erdogan should buck public opinion when it comes to Turkey's alliance with the U.S. when he's prepared to follow public opinion in so many other matters. (Only 14% of Turks are pro American. The worst report ever...and Obama has made it worse)

Most importantly, will the Erdogan brand of Islamism remain relatively modest in its social and political ambitions, or will it become aggressive and radical? It would be wrong to pretend to know the answer. It would be insane not to worry about the possibility.

See it here; http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703674704575235141350028342.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_BelowLEFTSecond

Did you catch that sentence where the author asked, "The more serious question is how far it will all go?"

I believe I may contact him and point him to Ezekiel 38...so the author Brett Stephens, will also be plugged into the Word of God....so that he can quit fretting about the possibility of Turkey turning on Israel and The West.

BIBLE READERS KNOW WITHOUT A DOUBT THAT TURKEY WILL TURN ON ISRAEL...ONLY TO BE SUPERNATURALLY DESTROYED BY GOD HIMSELF!

The World's Dollar Drug

How long can the USA keep printing money? How come we aren't in the same trouble as Greece and Spain even though we have overspent? If creating money is as easy as printing it, how come the U.S. government doesn't print enough to then give everyone $1 million dollars so we can all pay off our debts and start vacationing again?

Those are all good questions. Sadly most of us have simply assumed that there are REALLY SMART people who have all these things figured out. We haven't a clue...but we surely hope that someone does.

What if you found out that the REALLY SMART people are the one's who got us into this financial mess...and are continuing to do things that will sink us? Should that concern us??

Today in the Wall Street Journal we have a very well written article about WHY the USA dollar is the world's reserve currency and WHY we can't print money forever without repercussions.

For all the talk about the problems of Greece and their implications for the euro zone, there is another currency that presents equally profound problems: the U.S. dollar. The dollar is, as everyone knows, the world's reserve currency, and it widely seen as a boon and an anchor for the emerging global economic system. It is also the only thing standing between the United States and its own moment of reckoning, and that is not a good thing.

Then, in 1971, President Richard Nixon ushered in the era of fiat currency when he announced that the U.S. government would no longer allow foreign nations to redeem their U.S. dollars for gold.

The move came in response to rising inflation in the U.S. It also came in response to competitive pressures from Germany and Japan, which were beginning to undermine American manufacturing—a decline that has continued unabated since and can only be laid at China's door by a willful forgetting of the legacy of a host of lower-cost competitors over the past 40 years. By the early 1970s, the U.S. was importing heavily from new manufacturing centers outside America (though not yet running trade deficits) and being forced to redeem ever larger amounts of dollars for rapidly dwindling reserves of gold.

The U.S. government uses its dollars—and the ability to print them and borrow them—poorly. Large amounts of debt fund consumption of goods and health care. While today's needs are important, without sufficient investment those dollars will dissipate. You'd lend someone money to open a business or invent a new energy source, but not for dinner and a movie. Yet because of the dollar, America tends to get the money it wants. And so the dollar as an anchor of the global system forestalls fiscal crisis in the U.S. while allowing for gradual decay of the American economy.

This can go on for many years. The world needs a reserve currency to reduce costs and allow market players to assess value across different countries and economies. But that need for the dollar shouldn't be confused for American strength.

See it here; http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704342604575222701291563876.html

So the GOOD NEWS folks is that our financial system and U.S. dollar may stay solvent for some time....even though it will be in constant decline as we spend all our wealth on health care and have moved most of our manufacturing overseas.

Of course at the rapture of the church, America's fate will be sealed and you won't be able to give away a U.S. dollar because there will be only a shell of the "full faith and confidence" that currently backs our money.

The REALLY GOOD NEWS is that none of us who have trusted in Christ for our salvation will be left behind to watch America crumble. We will be at the wedding feast of the Lamb...and what a day that will be!

Good News in Euro Land!

After last week's uncertainty surrounding the financial markets...today the stock market shot straight up. Why??

Because the European Central bankers unveiled their own version of an Obama bailout! They have now agreed to print $1 Trillion dollars (in Euros of course) themselves to make available to all the countries that use the Euro as money and are in danger of default! (Greece, Italy, Spain, Portugal)

Will this latest shuffling of paper be the right medicine to prop up the falling god of Mammon?

Let's watch and see.

If I was a betting man, I would go out on a limb here and make a prediction simply based on human nature and history. I predict that the Germans and French will NOT be happy with this bailout because they are a few of the more financially responsible countries and they will start to GREATLY resent having to be on the hook for a bunch of lay-in-the-sun, retire-at-53-with full pension, party like it's 1999...Greeks.

Also just one other thing to watch as interesting. Rome once ruled the world and seriously beat up on the Jews...and today Italy (Rome is in Italy) is one the most bankrupt countries in the Euro.
Greece once ruled the world and beat up on the Jews....and today they are one of the most bankrupt countries in the Euro.
Spain once ruled the world and they also seriously beat up on the Jews and today are one of the most bankrupt countries in the Euro.

Hmmmmm......????? I wonder if that could be a coincidence?

Alien Invasion

The world's smartest man, Stephen Hawking, set off discussion last week in the scientific community of what might happen if aliens visited earth.

Remember, most watchers believe that what the world will believe are aliens from another planet are actually the fallen angels who left their first estate and rebelled with Satan. This would most certainly line up with what scripture says.

Hawking speculated that such aliens would likely be nomads, living in ships after sucking their own planet dry of resources, and hopping from one interstellar refueling station to the next. Earth, he said, shouldn't do anything to encourage their visit.

"If aliens ever visit us, I think the outcome would be much as when Christopher Columbus first landed in America, which didn't turn out very well for the Native Americans," he said.

Blair Csuti, a biologist at Oregon State University, defended Hawking's trepidation, arguing that the principles of evolution would have shaped those beings just as they did life on Earth, selecting for self-preserving behavior. "Aliens visiting newly discovered planets, like Earth, would place their own interests above those of unsophisticated indigenous residents."

Robert Ehrlich, a physicist at George Mason University agreed, further imagining that the aliens would be "adaptable robots whose mental processes reflect those of their senders."

See it here; http://www.latimes.com/news/science/la-sci-hawking-aliens-20100508,0,757774.story?track=rss

The fact that scientists are now openly discussing the possibility of visitors from other planets joining us on planet earth....should give all of us pause. How much have we been conditioned by Hollywood to accept strange visitors from other dimensions?

"The Spirit clearly says that in later times (near the end of the Last Days?) some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits (channeling and deep meditation?) and things taught by demons (aliens?)" 1 Timothy 4:1

Hat tip Dave G.

Kill the Messenger

Problems are continuing to grow in Greece....and here is the human nature reason why;

Greece ignored it's bankruptcy-bound spending for years. Now that it is at the end of it's rope, the International Monetary Fund has come in and told them what they HAVE to do today to avoid even more unpleasant results in the future.

And the Greeks will have none of it....so of course instead of blaming their parents, grandparents, themselves, and the folks running the governments for the past decades....they are going to blame the folks who are trying to tell the truth and help them.

Do you think this could happen in California, Illinois, Arizona and Florida...and ultimately affect the entire United States?

Deep inside the august halls of Athens University, the renowned political commentator Paschos Mandravelis will deliver a message this week that until very recently was lost on most Greeks.

His speech will focus on a single fact: that the country in the centre of the storm of Europe's worst crisis since the creation of the common market, missed the biggest story ever – its own looming bankruptcy. "Everyone," he says, "starting with the Greek media, was in an incredible state of denial."

Last week escapism was no longer an option as Greece's debt drama claimed its first lives and the nation, teetering on the brink of economic collapse, erupted into violent protests over unprecedented austerity measures.

But for those on the left, leading the protests with flags emblazoned with the hammer and sickle, the intervention of the IMF has been the tipping point. The majority of Greeks not only see it as the harbinger of harsh economic reforms but the symbol of foreign occupation. For the abundance of conspiracy theorists on both the left and right, its involvement is part of a grander, but seemingly no less implausible, plan to subjugate Greece after draining the country of its resources.

See it here;http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/may/09/greece-debt-crisis-euro-imf

Friends...make a list of the Western and Eastern countries that you KNOW have been ignoring their balance sheets for years...refusing to make the necessary cuts to bring spending in line with income. They invented new ways to borrow money and when that wasn't enough, they "created" it out of thin air. How long do you think that can go on?

We are about to find out.

Also remember what history CLEARLY shows us....when countries refuse to take blame on themselves for the problems they created....they will start to blame someone else. It won't matter who they blame, the Jews, Gypsies, Arabs, Muslims, Christians, Blacks, Latinos, foreign countries, foreign banks, etc... It won't matter who they choose...as long as they aren't forced to look in the mirror.

And when the blame reaches a fevered enough pitch....they will go to war against their perceived enemy. And yes, the USA will go through the same cycle.

Can we see the writing on the wall?

"There will be wars and rumors or wars....", says Jesus.