Tourists Flock to Bethlehem

A few thousand years ago, pregnant Mary and Joseph headed to Bethlehem because a census was being taken. In fact, the town was so full that they couldn't find anyplace to stay...and we all know the rest of the story.

The little baby Jesus delivered to Mary didn't promise to bring peace to the earth....yet. In fact he said he would cause division between families and the world would hate anyone who worshiped him.

Today we find this headline regarding Bethlehem. How amazing that the world is still buzzing about this tiny little town.

With break in violence, tourists again flocking to Bethlehem for Christmas

Officials said the turnout was shaping up to be the largest since 2000. Unseasonably mild weather, a near halt in Israeli-Palestinian violence, and a burgeoning economic revival in the West Bank all added to the holiday cheer. By nightfall, a packed Manger Square was awash in Christmas lights.

Bethlehem used to attract tens of thousands of tourists from around the world for Christmas celebrations, but attendance dropped sharply after the outbreak of the Palestinian uprising in 2000.

As the fighting tapered off over the past five years, attendance steadily climbed. The town’s 2,750 hotel rooms were booked solid for Christmas week, and town officials say more hotels are under construction.

Israeli officials have said they expect about 90,000 visitors in Bethlehem during the current two-week holiday season, up from 70,000 last year. But visitors entering the town must cross through a massive security gate in the separation barrier Israel built between Jerusalem and Bethlehem during a wave of Palestinian attacks last decade.

See it here; http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2010/12/25/with_break_in_violence_tourists_again_flocking_to_bethlehem_for_christmas/

When Jesus comes next time...he will bring peace. He will sit on the throne of David. He will rule with justice. He will lay low the kings of the earth. He will throw Satan into the abyss so he will stop tempting man and accusing us before God. And we (all believers from the age of grace) will rule and reign with him.

Thank you Jesus for humbling yourself to the lowliest position on earth. Thank you for coming as a suffering servant. Thank you for doing something so amazing for us that we will marvel at your actions and strength for all of eternity.

Even so...Come Lord Jesus.

North Korea Ready for Sacred War

We have wondered if WWIII would start in the Middle East...as it seems such a likely spot. But with all this bluster by China and the fact that they are now a creditor to the world...and the USA is a debtor to the world....we have begun to wonder if the flash point between East and West that sparks WWIII may be on the Korean peninsula or somewhere close by involving Taiwan, Japan and the U.S. promise to protect them from Russia and/or China.

Today's headline makes me wonder a little bit more;

North Korea 'ready for sacred war' with the South

North Korea is ready for a "sacred war of justice" using a nuclear deterrent, its armed forces minister has said.

Kim Yong-chun accused South Korea of making preparations for war by holding live-fire exercises near the border.

The drills are one of the largest in South Korea's history, involving tanks, helicopters and fighter planes.

North Korea shelled a Southern island last month killing four people - the first time Northern shells had killed civilians since the 1950-53 war.

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak has promised immediate retaliation to any further Northern attack.

The BBC's John Sudworth says people on the Korean peninsula are used to fiery rhetoric from Pyongyang, but as the tension escalates, the danger is that one side will feel forced to act on its threats.

See it here; http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12067735

Remember, we continue to watch the Kings of the East because the Bible says they will be here during the Tribulation and will be involved in the battle of Armageddon at Jesus' return. We also continue to wonder what may seal the fate of the USA....because we can't find any reference in scripture to them anywhere during the Tribulation.

We believe the USA's demise will be sealed when The Church is raptured. The USA, unlike any other country on earth, will probably lose the largest percentage of citizens....and the shock to our financial condition from mortgage, credit card and car payment defaults and the shock to our infrastructure will just be too great to overcome. Also, how would our military survive??....as it is a fact that our military is filled with many Christ-following soldiers who will disappear in the twinkling of an eye.

Something Interbred With Early Humans

This top headline was posted on BBC News;

Ancient humans, dubbed 'Denisovans', interbred with us

Scientists say an entirely separate type of human identified from bones in Siberia co-existed and interbred with our own species.

The ancient humans have been dubbed Denisovans after the caves in Siberia where their remains were found.

There is also evidence that this group was widespread in Eurasia.
A study in Nature journal shows that Denisovans co-existed with Neanderthals and interbred with our species - perhaps around 50,000 years ago.

See it here; http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-12059564

Now pat attention to this paragraph;
"It could be just 50 Denisovans interbreeding with a thousand modern humans. That would be enough to produce this 5% of those archaic genes being transferred," he said.

"It is fascinating to see direct evidence that these archaic species did exist (alongside us) and it's only for the last few tens of thousands of years that is unique in our history that we are alone on this planet and we have no close relatives with us anymore," he said.

The Bible tells us in Genesis 6 that created beings of God (obviously not humans...I believe they were fallen angels) went to women and had sex with them. The resultant offspring were different beings and obviously not 100% human....the Bible refers to them as Nephilim.

The Book of Enoch also talks about this strange event. You will need to be a Berean and figure out what you believe as scripture and the Holy Spirit meet in you...but this headline may add to the evidence of "strange flesh" and/or "corrupted flesh" spoken of in the Bible...if you are a Bible believer....and it also may add to the arsenal for atheistic beliefs....who are convinced this whole existence was some sort of random, cosmic accident, that took place over billions of years.

A Few More Notable Quakes

In the last few days we have a few major quake headlines we noticed.

A 6.3 just rocked Japan and that followed a 7.4 the day before.

See those here; http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsww/Quakes/usc0000rxc.php and here; http://www.foxnews.com/world/2010/12/22/earthquake-hits-southern-japan/

And Iran had a sizable 6.5 quake a few days ago.

See that here; http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12047911

Maybe it's all just a coincidence....but all these quakes, on top of all the floods, droughts, tornadoes, hurricanes, volcano eruptions, biggest ever rainfall, record breaking snowfall, coldest temperature ever, hottest temperature ever and Israel in the news every single day......it makes one wonder if God isn't trying to get our attention?? You think??

New Zealand Releases UFO Files

We have watched this story of UFO's and aliens over the past years. In just the past few years the reports of aliens, UFO's, crop circles and other "out of this world" information has increased exponentially.

Yesterday the New Zealand military released some of it's UFO files.

New Zealand's military has released hundreds of documents detailing claims of sightings of unidentified flying objects (UFOs).

The files, dating from 1954 to 2009, include drawings of flying saucers and alleged samples of alien writing.

The files include details of New Zealand's most famous UFO sighting when strange lights were filmed off the South Island town of Kaikoura in 1978.

The files - which run to about 2,000 pages - include accounts by members of the public, military personnel and commercial airline pilots describing close encounters, mostly involving moving lights in the sky.

See it here; http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12057314

While we make no claims as to what is real vs. what is imagined, we do know that a whole raft of movies, TV shows, articles and interviews about the subject of aliens has flooded the media in just the past few years. The belief in aliens coming to earth from other planets now includes a majority of folks on planet earth.

If the Prince of the power of the air (Satan) is planning some sort of mass deception...he certainly has prepped the ground for it.

One more time, just for the record....we believe that what people are seeing are Satanic manifestations.

Israel-Gaza War...Just a Question of When?

We remember what King Abdullah from Jordan said earlier this year....if there is no peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinian arabs by the end of 2010, war will break out.

Well....2010 will end in a few weeks and there certainly is no peace agreement....so should be no surprise to read this in today's news;

A senior Israeli army officer has told the BBC that as long as Hamas remains in control of the Gaza Strip, another war is "a question of when, not if".

He said the Palestinian Islamist group had rearmed so much since the Israeli offensive two years ago that it was now in a stronger position militarily.

There has been an increase in rocket fire coming from Gaza in the past week.

Now pay attention to what the VERY LIBERAL BBC felt necessary to state in this article;

The UN has said at least 62 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli action in Gaza so far this year. Over the same period, one Thai farm worker has been killed by rockets fired from the coastal territory into Israel.

See it here; http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12064775

It's so stupid when the UN and other liberal organizations try and make a point about excessive retaliation by Israel. Here's the deal Hamas and Palestine.....you quit lobbing rockets over the border and onto kindergartens and Israel won't kill one of you. However, everytime you lob a homemade missile into Israel...even if it's a souped-up bottle rocket.....we are going to drop a 500 lb bomb on a Hamas building...and if people die, the blood will be on YOUR hands.

Why can the liberals not understand such a simple concept? Do they believe that if Palestine shoots a bottle rocket that Israel should only return fire with a bottle rocket? That strategy would never work with Muslim extremists because they would play that game forever. Estremists in Gaza value death and believe that dying in jihad is the only sure way to paradise and the 70 virgins. They name their streets after suicide bombers...for Allah's sake! The only language they totally understand is an utter and complete crushing.

Anyway....war continues to brew in the region and Iran is arming Hezbollah in the north and Hamas in the south. It's only a matter of time.

Remember to pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Remember to pray for the Muslims....because without Christ, they will be banished to hell for eternity. And lest we should boast of our salvation, let's remember that before Christ saved us...that's also where we were all going.

Greece Blames the Jews

One of the leading priests in Greece went on mega-TV to explain that Greece's financial problems have been caused by the Jews.

ATHENS, Greece -- A high-level priest on the morning show of the largest television station in Greece blamed world Jewry for Greece's financial problems on Tuesday.

The Metropolite of Piraeus Seraphim also blamed world Jewry for other ills in the country during his appearance on Mega TV.

Mixing Freemasons with Jewish bankers such as Baron Rothschild and world Zionism, the Metropolite said that there is a conspiracy to enslave Greece and Christian Orthodoxy. He also accused international Zionism of trying to destroy the family unit by promoting one-parent families and same-sex marriages.

Thirteen minutes into the program the Greek host asked the Metropolite, "Why do you disagree with Hitler's policies? If they are doing all this, wasn't he right in burning them?"The Metropolite answered, "Adolf Hitler was an instrument of world Zionism and was financed from the renowned Rothschild family with the sole purpose of convincing the Jews to leave the shores of Europe and go to Israel to establish the new Empire."

Jews such as "Rockefeller, Rothschild and Soros control the international banking system that controls globalization," the Metropolite also said.

See it here; http://www.jpost.com/JewishWorld/JewishNews/Article.aspx?id=200538

Could any of this be true? Did the Rothschild family finance Hitler? Is liberal Zionism promoting one-parent families and same-sex marriage? Is George Soros and other Jewish bankers trying to shove the world into a globalized currency? Could God be allowing Satan to work through a few powerful Jews in this season of Last Days? Did God allow Satan to work through a few powerful Jews while Christ was on earth, like Pharisees and Sadducee?

We don't know the answer to these questions...but may have an opinion or hypothesis. : )

What we do know is that the world is going to turn on Jews and turn on Israel in the very last days. Broadcasting a speech like this across Greece will certainly help to raise anti-Jewish feelings. Remember, people who bankrupted themselves by overspending, (like Greece has) don't want to look in the mirror and blame themeselves for their stupidity.....they want to find someone else to blame. It looks like they might start by blaming some Jews.

South Korea Lights Christmas Tree

Take a look at the Christmas tree that South Korea just lit up at the demilitarized zone on the border with North Korea.

It's a huge light display with a cross of Jesus Christ brightly lit at the very top.

How interesting that Christianity and Christian symbols seems to be flourishing in South Korea....where the USA fought to give them freedom.....and in the USA we can no longer have a cross on top of our public Christmas trees.

See picture here; http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23909157-christmas-tree-lights-korea-border-as-south-drills-army.do

Everyone Goes to Heaven?

Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth and the life. No man comes to the Father but through me."

Do you believe that? No....really...do you REALLY believe that?

Sadly, a recent survey shows that most Evangelicals don't believe that Jesus was telling the truth when he clearly uttered those words.

The majority of Protestants and evangelicals believe that good people and people of other religions can go to heaven, according to author David Campbell.

Campbell, who co-wrote American Grace, How Religion Divides and Unites Us, contends that surveys of 3,000 Americans, used to write the book, show that American people of faith, though devout, are very tolerant. So much so that most believers also believe that good people, despite their religious affiliation, can go to heaven.

Among the faiths, 83 percent of evangelical Protestants agreed that good people of other religions can go to heaven. Ninety percent of black Protestants also believe good people can go to heaven.

When prodded further, more than half – 54 percent – of evangelical Protestants said yes, people of religions other than Christianity can go to heaven. Sixty-two percent of black Protestants agreed with the statement.

See it here; http://www.christianpost.com/article/20101217/author-most-evangelicals-believe-good-people-are-heaven-bound/

Jesus said there will be a great apostasy in the Last Days....when even people who we believe to be our brothers and sisters in faith....will simply not believe what Jesus said.

Sounds like this "Universalism" belief that all "good" people go to heaven....may be another big sign that we are living in the Last Days.

Iraqi Business Boom

Revelation tells us that we can expect the Last Days economy to have a big presence in Babylon, Iraq. So as we approach the rapture and then The Tribulation, we should expect to see the global economy start to lean towards Iraq.

Today's Wall Street Journal has an article that is eerily prophetic as it talks about the coming business boom which is exploding in Iraq.

The expected announcement of Iraq's new government marks the culmination of a remarkable process. The former bully-boy of the Arab neighborhood has become its only functional democracy. What may be the world's richest resource economy, once the closed shop of a murderous clique, is today wide open for business.

Driven by what many geologists consider the world's largest oil reserves, Iraq will probably be the world's biggest crude oil producer within a decade. The country currently ranks second to Saudi Arabia in official reserves, with 143 billion barrels. With much of Iraq's exploration still to come after a three-decade hiatus, and with Saudi Arabia's reserves substantially inflated and already in decline, Iraq could take the mantle as No. 1 in fairly short order.

Oil, people and history are not Iraq's only advantages. One of the important food-exporting countries of world history, watered by the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, Iraq possesses abundant agricultural potential. Located at the head of the Persian Gulf, Iraq is poised to regain its ancient role as a trade link between East and West. A modern rail system linking the Gulf to Europe via Turkey will provide Asian exports a faster, safer and cheaper alternative to the Suez Canal and the Horn of Africa.

Iraq's greatest resource is its famously resourceful, tough, educated and enterprising people. Whereas the capitals of the Gulf oil monarchies did not have paved streets a generation or two ago, Baghdad and Basra are ancient capitals of commerce, ideas and global finance.

See it here; http://www.investorsiraq.com/showthread.php?151534-The-Coming-Iraqi-Business-Boom

Holy Cow!! Do we remember that the Tower of Babel was in Iraq and the Jews were hauled to Babylon, Iraq after the Babylonians destroyed Solomon's temple in Jerusalem? Do we remember that the Bible is full of stories where things come full circle? Do we remember that many of earth's Satanic religions have their foundation in Babylon?

Is it possible that the U.S. military was used to clear the way for Babylon to rise out of the ashes and become the world's financial capital?

Is it a coincidence that many Muslims believe that their savior, the 12th Imam, will rule from Iraq after he comes?

Is it a coincidence that ALL OF THESE SIGNS SEEM TO BE HAPPENING AT THE VERY SAME TIME??

Be a Berean and figure it out.

Ready or Not...Jesus is Coming

There was a great new article posted today on Rapture Ready. It goes through many of the signs Christ told us to watch for...signs that would let those of us who are watching for them, know that Jesus is getting very close to the day when he will re-enter human history.

Remember the childhood game hide and seek. Remember how the person who was it called out at the end of his count to one hundred, “Ready or not, you shall be caught. Here I come.” Jesus voiced a similar warning when he said, “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day that your Lord will come . . . So you must be ready, because the Son of man will come at an hour when you do not expect him” (Matt. 24:42, 44 NIV emphasis mine). In Luke’s account Jesus says, “Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with dissipation, drunkenness and anxieties of life, and that day will close on you unexpectantly like trap. For it will come upon all those who live on the face of the whole earth. Be always on the watch, and pray that ye may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of man (Luke 21:34-36 NIV).

An article in the October 2006 issue of Christianity Today posted what 114 Evangelical leaders thought the focus of the Church would be for the next fifty years. Not one of them mentioned the possibility that Jesus could return and that we should be ready. Is this a trend throughout the whole Church? Are we to assume that they think we have at least fifty years left before he comes? Do we? Or are we just repeating what happened to the Jews at Christ’s first coming when he wept over Jerusalem because they didn’t know the time of their visitation (Luke 19:41-44)? He told the people they could discern the signs of the weather and accurately predict them but he said, “Ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky and of the earth; but how is it that ye discern not this time?” (Luke 12:56).

See it here; http://www.raptureready.com/soap/becker1.html

Please read this entire article as he goes on to discuss some of the other lesser known signs, like the Jews preparing for a third temple and their search for a red heifer. These are events that you will NEVER see reported on the Today Show.

It is simply amazing to read the news going on in the world and to then understand that for the first time in human history everything is poised and set to welcome our King.

I can say one thing here with 100% certainty.....when the trumpet blows and the loud voice says, "Come up here!"....you won't care how much money you have in the bank, what kind of car you drive, whether your kid made the traveling hockey team, how much money you lost in the stock market, or how much you dislike your job. At that moment only one thing will be eternally important....DO YOU KNOW JESUS AND DOES HE KNOW YOU?

Floating Currencies

There is an article in today's Wall Street Journal that confirms a lot of what we have said in the past in regards to printing money....money that is based on nothing of value.

It is ironic that the international monetary system of floating currencies is based on a theory called the "Optimal Currency Area" that celebrates the freedom of central banks to print money at will. The idea is that total freedom to create money would promote global progress and employment, smooth out business cycles, and prevent bubbles and their associated crises.

The irony is that the system is obviously suboptimal. It goes against the grain of globalization, the process that is defining our economic times. To accommodate the central bankers' wishes to control their own currencies, the floating system requires splitting the world's monetary markets into as many currency areas as there are countries.

Worse, as happened in the mid-1930s, when currencies also floated, countries are engaging in currency wars that nobody can possibly win. The objective of all warriors is to depreciate their currency more than the rest of the world.

Did you catch that? The central bankers of the biggest currencies are now trying to debase their currencies faster than the other central bankers in hopes we can make our products cheaper to the rest of the world. As we have said in other posts....history shows us that currency wars lead to trade wars, and trade wars lead to real wars.

Now pay close attention to this sentence;

This failure should lead us back to the drawing board to re-design the international monetary system, reversing the trend that prevailed during the 20th century. We started that century with a fundamental international currency, gold, which kept its value through time and was widely accepted around the world. We ended the century with more than 150 currencies that change their value constantly and at different rates from each other, in such a way that most currencies are not accepted in most countries.

There is that talk again about the need to have an one-world-currency.

See it here; http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703493504576007962677071424.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEADTop

Friends, the table is being set for the major currencies of the world, including the US dollar, to fall from value so that the world can then embrace a new global financial system.

Our lives, as we have known them, may be getting ready for a major shift. Are we hanging on tight to The Rock? Are our lives built on the Firm Foundation? Jesus tells us that if they aren't...they will not survive the coming storms.

Earth Strikes Back

Readers of the Bible may be prone to title this article, "Birth Pangs." Some of us might look at this and say, "Yep....the world is groaning, that's for sure."

But for most of the world that believes nothing coming from the Bible....2010 was the year that Mother Earth struck back...some would say because we weren't caring for her enough.

This was the year the Earth struck back.

Earthquakes, heat waves, floods, volcanoes, super typhoons, blizzards, landslides and droughts killed at least a quarter million people in 2010 - the deadliest year in more than a generation. More people were killed worldwide by natural disasters this year than have been killed in terrorism attacks in the past 40 years combined.

"It just seemed like it was back-to-back and it came in waves," said Craig Fugate, who heads the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency. It handled a record number of disasters in 2010.

"The term '100-year event' really lost its meaning this year."

And we have ourselves to blame most of the time, scientists and disaster experts say.

No one had to tell a mask-wearing Vera Savinova how bad it could get. She is a 52-year-old administrator in a dental clinic who in August took refuge from Moscow's record heat, smog and wildfires.

"I think it is the end of the world," she said. "Our planet warns us against what would happen if we don't care about nature."

HEY VERA....MAYBE IT'S GOD WARNING US THAT HIS SON IS SOON RETURNING....SO GET READY!!

See it here; http://apnews.myway.com/article/20101219/D9K734E81.html

For those of us who have been watching the increase of crazy weather, along with the illogical focus on Israel, along with the formation of the Magog coalition, along with the total lack of fear of the Lord....this all just goes along with the earthquakes, floods, famines, wars and rumors of wars that our Master told us to watch for so the WE WOULD NOT BE SURPRISED WHEN WE HEAR THE TRUMPET BLOW!