The Weeping Eagle

Radical Marxist Dolores Huerta Preaches Anti-Americanism To High School Students

2012-06-02T11:00:00.000-05:00

Outrageous, disgusting and pathetic doesn't begin to convey my feelings in hearing these lies told to school children, not in Cuba, not in Venezuela, not in Russia...but in the United States. She sings the praises of Venezuela's Chavez and then says twice, "Republican's hate latino's, okay?" -W.E.

lawjared

"The End Game: 2012 And 2013 Will Usher In The End" - The Scariest Presentation Ever?

2012-06-02T10:00:00.000-05:00

Sorry to lay heavy stuff on you all. But of course this is the 8000 lb. gorilla that just won't go away. Even the mainstream media can't ignore the collapse of the EU economy. This will and is triggering more collapse. The U.S. dollar is fiat currency, and like ALL fiat currency from history, it will likely go into hyperinflation, and then have to be "reset". The reset will come around the world, and I believe we will see electronic money introduced, a cashless world economy, just what the elites want to see, and that which has been foretold will occur, and it is coming quickly. -W.E.

ZeroHedge

If Raoul Pal was some doomsday spouting windbag, writing in all caps, arbitrarily pasting together disparate charts to create 200 page slideshows, it would be easy to ignore him. He isn't.

The founder of Global Macro Investor "previously co-managed the GLG Global Macro Fund in London for GLG Partners, one of the largest hedge fund groups in the world. Raoul came to GLG from Goldman Sachs where he co-managed the hedge fund sales business in Equities and Equity Derivatives in Europe... Raoul Pal retired from managing client money in 2004 at the age of 36 and now lives on the Valencian coast of Spain, from where he writes."
It is his writing we are concerned about, and specifically his latest presentation, which is, for lack of a better word, the most disturbing and scary forecast of the future of the world we have ever seen....

And we see a lot of those.

Consider this:

We are here...
We don’t know exactly what is to come, but we can all join the very few dots from where we are now, to the collapse of the first major bank…
With very limited room for government bailouts, we can very easily join the next dots from the first bank closure to the collapse of the whole European banking system, and then to the bankruptcy of the governments themselves.
There are almost no brakes in the system to stop this, and almost no one realises the seriousness of the situation.
The problem is not Government debt per se. The real problem is that the $70 trillion in G10 debt is the collateral for $700 trillion in derivatives…
Yes, that equates to 1200% of Global GDP and it rests on very, very weak foundations
From an EU crisis, we only have to join one dot for a UK crisis of equal magnitude.
And then do you think Japan and China would not be next?
And then do you think the US would survive unscathed?
That is the end of the fractional reserve banking system and of fiat money.

It is the big RESET.

It continues:

Bonds will be stuck at 1% in the US, Germany, UK and Japan (for this phase).
The whole bond market will be dead.
Short selling on bonds - banned
Short selling stocks – banned
CDS – banned
Short futures – banned
Put options – banned

All that is left is the Dollar and Gold

It only gets better. We use the term loosely:

We have around 6 months left of trading in Western markets to protect ourselves or make enough money to offset future losses.
Spend your time looking at the risks of custody, safekeeping, counterparty etc. Assume that no one and nothing is safe.
After that…we put on our tin helmets and hide until the new system emerges

And the punchline

From a timing perspective, I think 2012 and 2013 will usher in the end.

Enjoy:

The End Game

Why is Heaven Silent?

2012-06-02T00:44:00.000-05:00

BereanBibleSociety

After the tragic event of September 11th, 2001 we often heard the question "Where was God?" or "Why did God allow this to happen?" The believer knows that God is still on His eternal throne, that He is sovereign, and nothing happens apart from His direct or permissive will, but for a season He has withdrawn from this earthly scene. He does indeed work on behalf of His own, and otherwise as well, but He acts covertly and His action is seen only with the eye of faith. Bloody wars take place among the nations, thousands perish from famine, flood, earthquake and storm, but no voice or action is heard from above. In one of Sir Robert Anderson's books the opening words are: "A silent heaven is the greatest mystery of our existence."

What is the answer to this mystery? For two thousand years the heavens have been silent and this is strange when we compare it with Old Testament times. God was then dealing with the Hebrew nation and they saw marvelous displays of His person and power. He brought them out of slavery, making a path through the sea, and for forty years He fed them and led them and brought them into the land of promise with mighty victories over all their foes. Isaiah saw the Lord; Daniel fell at His feet; angels walked to and fro in the land; God fought for His people; heaven was not silent.

When Israel is enjoying the favor of God the heavens are open, but when Israel is in disfavor with God the heavens are silent. Between the two testaments, when Israel was being judged for their sins, there was a period of time which is often referred to as "the four hundred silent years." God spoke His last word through Malachi and then 400 years of silence. This silence was finally broken by the appearance of the angel Gabriel to Zacharias announcing the birth of John the Baptist. Then Gabriel spoke to Mary, telling her of that Holy One which should be born of her, even the Son of God. Later the angel of the Lord appeared to the shepherds, announcing the birth of the Christ-child, and from the opened heavens they heard the heavenly host praising God.

Heaven was not silent during the earthly ministry of Christ, when He was presenting Himself to Israel as their Messiah, nor was heaven silent after His resurrection...when Israel was given opportunity to repent. There were miracles, wonders, signs, angelic visitations, jail deliverances, sudden judgments, etc....However....Israel no longer stands as a nation before God. They are set aside for a reason and a season. The reason was their rejection of Christ both in His incarnation and in His resurrection. The season is this present dispensation of the Mystery....

We find a great man of God sitting in the Roman prison, but no angel comes to liberate him. An age of silence has begun. A silent God. A silent heaven. This silence has already lasted two millenniums.

The nations rage and we see war, sin, suffering and sorrow on every hand. The people of God oft suffer at the hands of their enemies, and we see the ever-increasing and God-defying masses sinning and sinning and sinning. And yet in the midst of it all, God remains silent.

When God turned away from Israel, that nation through which His earthly purposes are to be realized, He then and there withdrew from this earthly scene. C. H. Mackintosh wrote "So long as there was any ground of hope in connection with Israel, the heavenly mystery was held back; but when earth had been abandoned and Israel set aside, the apostle of the Gentiles...writes to the Church, and opens out all the glorious privileges connected with its place in the heavens." God has for a season abandoned earth but we are here as His ambassadors in enemy land and we are asked to walk by faith and not by sight. God is allowing man's day to run its course and is permitting the full development of the mystery of lawlessness. The mystery of iniquity is working. Soon the whole will be leavened. Man's day will be replaced by the Lord's Day. Then....

THE SILENCE TO BE BROKEN!

This is promised everywhere in Scripture. The psalmist declared: "Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence!" Just as the silence of the 400 years was broken by His first coming, so the present silence will be broken by His second coming. But before He manifests Himself to the world, He will manifest Himself to His own. This is the bright and blessed hope of the Church, the rapture, and it will be the opening rift in the silent heavens. After the Body of Christ has been removed from the scene God will begin to deal again with Israel and the nations. The silence will be broken and God will speak again, not then in grace, but in wrath. The heavens will be opened, not to pour out blessing, but disaster. The judgments of the Apocalypse will be visited upon the world, when the seals will be broken, the judgment trumpets sounded, and the vials of God's wrath poured out.

Finally, the heavens will be fully opened and the blessed Lord Jesus Christ will return. The Apostle John saw Him as the rider on a white horse, followed by the heavenly armies, and He wrote: "He hath on His vesture and on His thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS." The silence will be broken. The King will return and have His rightful place upon the throne, with all beneath His feet. Every eye shall see Him and the earth will be filled with His glory. And never again will there be silence, for the lines of communication will always be open between heaven and earth, both as to the millennial earth and on into the new earth.

Pastor John D. Lavier retired in 1992, but has continued his ministry through the written page.

Saturday Morning Praise- All The Way My Savior Leads Me

2012-06-02T00:24:00.000-05:00

I cried, no, that's not right. I wept the night I was driving down River Road in North Port Florida and the DJ came on the radio and spoke of the death of Rich Mullins, so many years ago now. Of all the music, secular or sanctified, no one has ever moved me the way Rich Mullins music has, how I miss Rich. Hope I get to meet him, and thank him one day. I bet I do. Lyrics of this hymn, written by Fanny Crosby are below the video. -W.E.

beanscot

All the way my Savior leads me
What have I to ask beside?
Can I doubt His faithful mercies?
Who through life has been my guide
Heavenly peace, divinest comfort
Ere by faith in Him to dwell
For I know whate'er fall me
Jesus doeth all things well

All of the way my Savior leads me
And He cheers each winding path I tread
Gives me strength for every trial
And He feeds me with the living bread
And though my weary steps may falter
And my soul a-thirst may be
Gushing from a rock before me
Though a spirit joy I see

And all the way my Savior leads me
Oh, the fullness of His love
Perfect rest in me is promised
In my Father's house above
When my spirit clothed immortal
Wings it's flight through the realms of the day
This my song through endless ages
Jesus led me all the way

CNN Reaches All-Time Lows Again

2012-06-01T23:23:00.000-05:00

Maybe the best news story of the month! Yes, more and more people are getting their news from the internet, and social media. No doubt. But another month like May, and CNN will have zero viewers. Oh we can only hope! -W.E.

NYPost

Forget April — May was the cruelest month for CNN.

The third-place cable news network hit a 20-year prime-time ratings low last month, averaging only 390,000 viewers — down 51 percent from May 2011.

Those were also CNN’s lowest numbers, in prime time, since October 1991.

While prime-time numbers for all the cable news networks were off from May of last year — MSNBC was down 19 percent and Fox News Channel dropped 9 percent — CNN was hit the hardest.

In addition to its prime-time woes, CNN also had its second-lowest-rated month in 20 years in the “money” news demo of adults 25-54, according to thewrap.com.

BETTER DAYS: Morgan

All three networks were also down in total-day ratings — but, again, CNN was hardest-hit, down a whopping 52 percent from May 2011, according to the report.

MSNBC was down 19 percent in total-day ratings, while FNC was down 6 percent.

Particularly notable for CNN were the poor numbers for Larry King’s replacement, Piers Morgan — whose show, “Piers Morgan Tonight,” delivered the lowest 9 p.m. numbers for CNN in 20 years (in total viewers and adults 25-54), according to thewrap.com.

The report noted that ratings for all three networks were down, in part, because last month was a relatively slow news month — while May 2011 saw the killing of Osama bin Laden, which boosted numbers for everyone.

'Far From Clear Leaders Ready For Impending Catastrophe'

2012-06-01T21:08:00.005-05:00

Warning: Robert Zoellick said Europe is heading to the 'danger zone'

This really is a very serious situation, it's not just Europe, the collapse will be world-wide, with resulting civil unrest, food shortages, and desperate politicians. Not a good scenario. Today is the day to prepare. -W.E.

Mailonline

The head of the World Bank yesterday warned that financial markets face a rerun of the Great Panic of 2008.

On the bleakest day for the global economy this year, Robert Zoellick said crisis-torn Europe was heading for the ‘danger zone’.

Mr Zoellick, who stands down at the end of the month after five years in charge of the watchdog, said it was ‘far from clear that eurozone leaders have steeled themselves’ for the looming catastrophe amid fears of a Greek exit from the single currency and meltdown in Spain.

The flow of money into so-called ‘safe havens’ such as UK, German and US government debt turned into a stampede yesterday.

In Berlin the two-year government bond yield fell below zero for the first time, with the bizarre result that jittery international investors are now paying – rather than being paid – for lending to Germany.

There was a raft of dismal economic news from around the world, with manufacturing output falling in Britain and Europe, unemployment jumping in the eurozone and America, and fast-emerging economies such as Brazil and China showing signs of running out of steam.

The FTSE 100 index fell 60.67 points to a new 2012 low of 5260.19 in London and the pound tumbled against the US dollar to $1.5234 – a level not seen since January.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed more than 200 points in New York, wiping out all its gains this year.

Borrowing costs in Spain and Italy have soared back above 6 per cent towards the 7 per cent level that triggered bailouts in Greece, Ireland and Portugal.

Mr Zoellick warned that the coming months could be as bad as the collapse of US investment bank Lehman Brothers in 2008.

Plunging: The Dow Jones (top) opened down this morning and the FTSE 100 (bottom) hit a year-long dip today

Desperate: European leaders scrambled to stop the financial crisis in Spain spiralling out of control and infecting other countries such as Italy

He said: ‘Events in Greece could trigger financial fright in Spain, Italy and across the eurozone. The summer of 2012 offers an eerie echo of 2008.

‘If Greece leaves the eurozone, the contagion is impossible to predict, just as Lehman had unexpected consequences.’

Fears are mounting that Spain will be crippled by its banking sector and will be the next domino to fall.

Mr Zoellick said: ‘Eurozone leaders need to be prepared to recapitalise banks. In the eurozone, the guarantees of some national sovereigns are unlikely to be sufficient and only that of the “euro-sovereign” will suffice.

‘It is far from clear that eurozone leaders have steeled themselves for this step. Eurozone leaders need to be ready.

'There will not be time for meetings of finance ministers to discuss the outlook and debate the politics.

'In panicked markets, investors flee to safe assets, sparking other flames.’

Yesterday investors scrambling for lifelines piled into German, US and UK government debt.

Not only did the German two-year bond yield fall below zero for the first time, but also the yield on ten-year UK gilts – the benchmark borrowing cost for the British Government – hit a record low of 1.44 per cent.

The yield on the equivalent US treasuries fell to 1.46 per cent – the lowest in over 200 years of records.

‘People’s objective is the return of their capital, not the return they get on their capital,’ said Sam Hill, a strategist at Royal Bank of Canada.

÷ Ireland has accepted tough new budget controls, as stipulated under the European fiscal treaty, in a referendum which saw 60 per cent of voters backing the deal.

Crisis: Spain's government nationalised major bank Bankia earlier this month, and now says it needs to inject $23.6billion in public money into the bank

'EUROZONE JOBLESS HITS RECORD HIGH AND WILL KEEP ON RISING'

Eurozone unemployment has hit a record high and job losses are likely to keep climbing as the debt crisis eats away at businesses' ability to hire workers while indebted governments continue to cut staff.

Around 17.4million people were out of work in the 17-nation eurozone in April (11 per cent of the working population) - the highest level since records began in 1995, the EU's statistics office Eurostat said today.

'This 11 percent level is going to continue edging up in the coming months and probably until the end of the year,' said Francois Cabau, an economist at Barclays Capital who sees the eurozone's economy contracting 0.1 per cent this year.

'The economic activity situation tells you the story of the labour market. There's been basically no economic growth since the fourth quarter of last year and indicators are pointing to very weak growth momentum for the second quarter,' he said.

ING economist Martin van Vliet said he sees the unemployment rate reaching slightly above 11.5 per cent if the economy starts to recover later this year. But if the downturn worsens, 'the risk is for an even higher peak in unemployment,' he said.

As the debt crisis intensifies, companies in the euro zone are trying to keep their labour costs low as they struggle with falling demand and profits, while a German-led drive to cut deficits and debt is pressuring governments to shrink spending.

But some economists say austerity policies in an economic downturn are self-defeating because governments receive less tax receipts as unemployment grows and must pay out more money in jobless benefits.

Eligibility Activist Visited By Secret Service Agents (VIDEO)

2012-06-01T16:20:00.000-05:00

Obamareleaseyourrecords

Eligibility Activist LoneStar1776(Rudy Davis) Visited By Secret Service Agents:

Agent Asks If He Will Be On Youtube; Agent Now On Youtube!

Filmed on 5/31/2012. Hats off to Rudy Davis!
.Full Video Here.

You can visit Rudy's Youtube channel here: http://www.youtube.com/user/LoneStar1776

WATCH THE COMPLETE SHERIFF JOE PRESS CONFERENCE ABOUT OBAMA'S FORGED IDENTITY DOCUMENTS HERE: http://www.art2superpac.com/joe.html

SHERIFF JOE TEA-PARTY PRESENTATION VIDEO HERE: http://www.art2superpac.com/arizonavideo.html

-ARTICLE II ELIGIBILITY FACTS HERE: http://www.art2superpac.com/issues.html

EVANGELIZING MOSQUES! BOLD EVANGELIST (VIDEO)

2012-06-01T15:09:00.002-05:00

This reminds me of a frequent caller on a radio show that I sometimes co-host who called in to give a testimony. She lives in Holland and went into a mosque to share her love for the Lord. She was wearing an "I love Israel" sweater. That certainly drew the attention of the Imam. As they began to talk, she found common ground. "We both believe in Abraham, and the God of Abraham", she told the Imam. "Why don't we both pray and ask "the God of Abraham" to show us which of us are correct" she said. The Imam agreed.

The long and the short of the story is that after a few days the Imam called her and said that he could not stop thinking of Jesus...and he couldn't understand why but would she come back and tell him more about Jesus. She did. She called the show the following week and told us how not only did the Imam accept Christ, but so did his whole family.
Our God is a God who reaches the lost, of whom I was once one, and no one is beyond His love.
It has occurred to me that the Muslim nations, once so far away geographically, to hear the gospel, have been brought to this country, and have been given technology in the countries where they live, in order to hear about the love of Christ, most for the first time. The question isn't, are the "fields white for harvest", for we know they are, but who will go tell them? -W.E.

CBNonline

In Syria, one courageous evangelist demonstrates God's desire to reach people in even the most difficult countries.

NC Church Supports Pastor Who Made Anti-Gay Remarks

2012-06-01T14:00:00.000-05:00

I chose not to put of the video on this blog. When I watched it a few days ago, after a my FB friend (Nicky) sent it to me, I was shocked and grieved. Shocked that any person, but especially a supposed Christian speaking FROM A PULPIT uttered these disgusting words. This is obviously a man that does not understand grace, but only has a "form of godliness". Sinners like me, understand that it is only by the Grace of Almighty God that I don't stand condemned of my own wretchedness by a holy God...and I want to introduce every other sinner from the fate that awaits them to the salvation found only in the redemptive work of Jesus Christ. Be they gay, straight, black, white, rich, poor, old, young, liberal or conservative, American or Chinese...everyone needs God's Grace, including the Pastor that repeated those ugly, reprehensible, Westboro Baptist like words. -W.E.

L.A.Marzulli

NC Church Supports Pastor Who Made Anti-Gay Remarks

“Build a great big large fence 50 or 100 miles long. Put all the lesbians in there. Fly over and drop some food. Do the same thing with the queers and the homosexuals. Have that fence electrified so they can’t get out. You know what, in a few years, they’ll die out. You know why? They can’t reproduce,” Worley said, according to a YouTube video of his sermon.

Recently a pastor in North Carolina made national news when he sated that gays and lesbians should be rounded up, put in a fenced in area and left to die out. Sounds like the new Auschwitz to me. Not a lot of grace and mercy there. I want to walk through this as the media jumped all over this story and because of it some will lump all Christian together. The Bible is a love story about redemption. The crux of it has to do with the propensity of all people, due to our fallen state, to do “stuff” that is wrong and the man who came to rescue us from that “stuff.”

OK, so some of you are shaking your heads and saying there are no absolutes that what is wrong for one person is right for another. How about the recent murder and cannibalism in Miami? What about kidnapping an innocent boy and then killing him? How about the murder of children in Syria? What about the rape of women in Afghanistan? These examples are, in my opinion absolutes. This “stiff” is all sin and it is repugnant and devastating to all who commit it and will eventually lead to death. However, we have someone who came to remove our sin and lift us from the bondage of it, creating a new life for us. Jesus did this by shedding His blood on the cross at Calvary 2000 years ago, and by believing in Him and asking for forgiveness we have eternal life and we are freed from the sin that puts us in bondage. That’s the deal and the back-story.

Now lets look at the specifics. Which “sin” is more repugnant, adultery or incest? Look at what those actions do as they leave entire families devastated. I believe that incest is far more prevalent than homosexuality and in fact can lead a person to a gay lifestyle as their sexuality was violated by a family member. What about a child who is raped by someone? How does that affect their sexuality?

What about pornography, where the porn stars and the viewer are both in bondage. I have heard porn called the barbed-wire of the mind and watching it is highly addictive. How many pastors are in bondage to it? How many men are held captive by it?

Gays and Lesbians and everyone else need to know about the love of Jesus and the life changing grace that He can extend to their lives. Who amongst us came to Him without sin? Who amongst us is not guilty of breaking what was written down and declared on Mount Sinai, the law of God? Who has not broken these commandments?

In closing today’s post: All of us had a moment where grace and mercy was extended to us. Why do we single out the gay and lesbian? If grace and mercy does not apply to them then what? Let me put it straight here, no pun intended, that while I do not condone Gay marriage, the gay life style, or teaching that homosexuality is an alternative life style, these folks need the same grace and mercy that all of us were given. The position of this pastor is nothing more than a modern day witch-hunt.

What he should have done is said something like, for the next three months I want this congregation to fast and pray for the gay and lesbians in our community. I want us to target our prayers and ask Father God for miracles. Isn’t that what we are supposed to do? Our weapons are not carnal, therefore prayer is our greatest weapon. Sadly those who sat in the congregation gave the pastor an ovation.

Pray and we will see lives change. Pray and the lost will become found. Pray and He who died for us will extend his grace and mercy.

I was a fornicating, drug taking, occult practicing, Guru worshiping, hippie, and He got me. He changed my life and I am forever grateful. I’m glad I wasn’t rounded up with all the other Hippies and put in a compound. Amazing Grace how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me….

Debt Crisis: A $46 Trillion Problem Comes Sweeping In

2012-05-31T23:19:00.000-05:00

Telegraph

Bad stuff, they say, comes in threes. We've already got the banking and the eurozone sovereign debt crises. Next comes the corporate funding crisis.

In its analysis of the refinancing challenge, S&P concedes that it might just about be possible for the banking system to cope with the wave of corporate debt maturities, assuming no further deepening of the eurozone crisis. But providing the $13 trillon to $16 trillion of new money to spur growth is going to be a much bigger ask, especially in Europe. Photo: © Peter Stone / Alamy

Just as you thought things couldn't get any worse, credit markets are about to be hit by a veritable tsunami of maturing corporate debt. Standard & Poor's estimates that companies in Europe, the US and the major Asian economies require a combination of refinancing and new money to fund growth over the next four years of between $43 trillion and $46 trillion. The wall of maturing debt is unprecedented, raising the prospect of further, extreme difficulties in credit markets.

With the eurozone debt crisis still at full throttle, the Chinese economy slowing fast and a still tepid US recovery, it's not clear that the banking system is in any position to deal with this incoming wave of demand.

As if the refinancing problem wasn't already challenging enough, into it all stumbles the European commissioner for internal markets, Michel Barnier, to prove the old saw that there is no mess quite so bad that official intervention won't make even worse.

A traditionalist French socialist by background, Mr Barnier positively revels in his job as the EU's top financial services regulator. In a recent interview, he said that he liked the term "shareholder spring" because it implied "a regulation spring, a rule making spring". Yes, indeed, Mr Barnier likes very much rules and regulations. He wants to regulate everything from pay to solvency. The financial crisis has given him a wide open canvass on which to paint.

After a crisis of the magnitude we've just seen, it's perfectly right and proper, and certainly very human, to want to take immediate steps to fix the system, so as to ensure that this kind of nonsense can never happen again. There is also something to be said for striking while the iron is hot. Leave things too long, and the political will to act melts away.

Even so, it's not clear that right now, with the crisis self evidently approaching some kind of fresh denouement, is the time to be buttressing the system against the once in a hundred year event of the present maelstrom. Nor in any case can the sort of extreme regulatory overkill we are seeing at the moment ever be seen as appropriate.
As far as I know, Mr Barnier is well intentioned enough. He wants to protect us all from the calamities of the past. But in attempting to regulate away all future risk, he also threatens to undermine growth and further reduce already wanting European competitiveness.
To be fair, it's not all Mr Barnier's fault. He's only part of a posse of international regulators riding furiously off in the wrong direction long after the horse has bolted. If even a fraction of the time spent on trying to protect us against a crisis that's already happened was devoted to finding a way out of it, then we might actually be getting somewhere. As it is, almost every part of the reform agenda is making matters worse, not better.
In its analysis of the refinancing challenge, S&P concedes that it might just about be possible for the banking system to cope with the wave of corporate debt maturities, assuming no further deepening of the eurozone crisis. But providing the $13 trillon to $16 trillion of new money to spur growth is going to be a much bigger ask, especially in Europe.
"Much will depend on the continued ability of banking system regulators to pilot a path through the minefield that lies ahead", S&P observes. Well that appears to be that, then. Abandon all hope, for at the moment these very same regulators seem to be blundering their way forward as if entirely unaware of what lies beneath their feet. Ever more onerous capital and liquidity requirements have steepened the refinancing challenge, even with highly supportive central bank funding on hand.
European banks, still grappling with high leverage and a worsening sovereign debt crisis, are particularly badly affected. Because of the escalating European banking crisis, they face intense pressure to meet new capital and liquidity requirements more quickly. With new equity virtually impossible to raise, this has only further exaggerated the de-leveraging problem. Enforced recapitalisation from governments which are themselves insolvent scarcely helps matters.
In the US, there is at least a highly developed corporate bond market to act as an alternative to bank funding. That's not the case in Europe, where to the contrary, the regulatory agenda seems determined to put as many obstacles in the way of a viable bond market as possible.
Standard & Poor's calculates that if corporate issuers in Europe were to tap the bond market for 50pc of their new funding requirements (up from 15pc historically), it would imply net new yearly issuance of $210bn to $260bn. In only two years in the last decade has net new European issuance exceeded $100bn.
You might think this a significant growth opportunity, but Mr Barnier's new solvency directive threatens to snuff that one out too, by requiring that only the most credit worthy and liquid bonds count for capital purposes.
The new solvency requirements virtually outlaw bundling together corporate loans and issuing them as asset backed securities, or rather, they prevent financial institutions from providing a viable source of demand for such bonds. Instead, finance is pushed by regulation ever more aggressively into sovereign bonds, even though many of them are now less than credit worthy.
The rules also threaten to stymie Government hopes of the private sector substituting for the public infrastructure spending being cut as part of the austerity drive. Many long dated infrastructure bonds don't meet the investment grade deemed necessary to qualify as a "safe" investments for insurers.
A more nonsensical piece of regulation is hard to imagine.

Public investment in infrastructure is being cut almost everywhere to meet deficit reduction targets, leaving EU member states highly reliant on private sector funding for essential investment in the future.
Governments could of course do as the CBI suggests in a new report on infrastructure spending, and either guarantee the bonds or enhance their credit rating by entering into first loss agreements, but this is just off-balance sheet window dressing, where the private sector takes the upside, and taxpayers the downside. Governments might as well spend the money themselves.
Europe desperately needs growth, but it seems determined to stifle the credit needed to provide it. How stupid can you get?

Egypt’s Leading Candidate: Christians must convert to Islam, pay the jizya tax, or leave.

2012-05-31T21:52:00.001-05:00

JoelsTrumpet

Behold the wonders of the Facebook Revolution. Behold the Change that we’ve all been waiting for.

When pondering the prophecy concerning the Mark of the Beast, and the fact that believers will not be able to buy or sell without accepting this religio-economic mark of identification, could it have something to do with what is now beginning to take shape in the Middle East? A friend from Egypt, who lives in Cairo says that she is regularly greeted in Muslim places of business with “lā ilāha illà l-Lāh, Muḥammadun rasūlu l-Lāh” (There is no God other than Allah, and Muhammad is his messenger). If she does not respond in kind, she is asked to leave.
Of course, we do not know exactly what the Mark of the Beast will be, though this certainly does cause one to wonder what the future holds for believers in Egypt and other nations that fall to radical Islamists. As darkness creeps over Egypt and slowly engulfs much of the region, what kinds of laws will inevitably follow, and how will it affect non-Muslims?

From the Gatestone Institute

According to the popular Egyptian website, El Bashayer, Muhammad Morsi, the Muslim Brotherhood presidential candidate, just declared that he will “achieve the Islamic conquest (fath) of Egypt for the second time, and make all Christians convert to Islam, or else pay the jizya,” the additional Islamic tax, or financial tribute, required of non-Muslims, or financial tribute.

Wait! According to the Associated Press, Mursi will guarantee the rights of Christians.

The presidential candidate for Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood wooed Christians, women and supporters of the ruling military Tuesday in a bid to expand his base of support and he also played up the stigma attached to his challenger, a senior figure in the old regime whose headquarters was burned down by angry protesters overnight.
The Islamist candidate Mohammed Morsi made the new campaign promises in a news conference, vowing to ensure the full rights of the Christian minority and women if he is elected. He also tried to reassure the pro-democracy youth groups who drove the last year’s popular uprising by promising to protect the right to stage peaceful protests and sit-ins.

The Gatestone Institue article Continues:

In a brief report written by Samuel al-Ashay and published by El Bashayer on May 27, Morsi allegedly made these comments while speaking with a journalist at the headquarters of the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party, adding “We will not allow Ahmed Shafiq [his contending presidential candidate] or anyone else to impede our second Islamic conquest of Egypt.”

After his interviewer pointed out that the first Muslim conquest of Egypt was “carried out at the hands of Amr bin al-As [in 641],” he asked Morsi, “Who will the second Islamic conqueror be?” Morsi, replied, “The second Muslim conqueror will be Muhammad Morsi,” referring to himself, “and history will record it.”

When asked what he thought about many Christian Copts coming out to vote for his secular opponent, Ahmed Shafiq, Morsi reportedly said, “They need to know that conquest is coming, and Egypt will be Islamic, and that they must pay jizya or emigrate.”

If this interview is accurate, certainly Morsi would not be the first political Islamist in Egypt to say he wants to see the nation’s Christians subjugated and made to pay jizya.

However, considering that the English language media are currently reporting that Morsi is trying to woo Egypt’s Christians and women to win more votes, it is difficult to imagine that he actually made those comments: one does not doubt that he favors the idea of a “second Islamic conquest” and the subjugation of Christians; one doubts that he would be so foolish as to reveal his mind now, publicly, and thereby jeopardize his chances of winning the presidency.

Then again, his remarks are reported in the context of a private meeting at the headquarters of the Brotherhood’s political party. Perhaps Morsi thought he was speaking to a fellow Islamist who would not expose him? Perhaps he was frustrated at having to win Copts over and was “venting”? Stay tuned.

Eight African Nations on Brink of Starvation

2012-05-31T21:37:00.000-05:00

If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit?- James 2:15-16

CBN

The United Nations is asking the world to help millions of West Africans who are facing a crisis of epic proportions. The people in eight nations are on the brink of starvation. At least three million of them are children.

A tiny village in Niger is the starkest example of the hunger that grips eight African countries bordering the Sahara Desert. Families in this area depend on farming, but severe drought has resulted in crop failure.

Huts normally used to store grain are empty, leaving mothers like Mariama struggling to feed their families. On this day, she's left to pick wild leaves from trees.

"I don't think any of us can accept that this mother had to go and pick wild food for her children to eat," Denise Brown, with the World Food Program, said. "If she doesn't go and do it every day, then they don't have anything to eat."

Aid agencies are doing what they can to deliver food to the region, but so far they have not been able to raise even half the money needed to help the millions in need.

Even more people could run out of food before the next fall harvest.

A little girl named Nafissa is being treated at a health clinic where doctors weigh, measure, and monitor the nutritional survival of the children here. She's a year old, but she weighs just eight pounds - about the size of a newborn baby in the United States.

A red armband on one of these children means severe malnutrition. Doctors say they are seeing more and more red bands every day. Three million children are already on the brink of starvation, and 18 million people are in danger.

Brown urged the people of the world to get involved, saying, "These people, these women, these children, they deserve our attention, they deserve our time."

Media Obsess About Trump and Find Nothing Controversial on the Left

2012-05-31T00:22:00.001-05:00

This IS a double standard of course, but the question really is, WHY THE DOUBLE STANDARD? It is assumed it is because the left protects the left, both having the same agenda. But there is more to it than that. This is about the left, actively participating in the cover up of Obama's ineligibility. It is as plain as day. No one is purposefully this deft. The evidence is substantial, and the cover up is on using Alinsky tactics of ridicule those telling the truth to protect the guilty. We The People must not allow that to stop us, but expose the darkness to the day, and it will come to light.
Plain as day. -W.E.

TrevorLoudon

On a day that Barack Obama was giving the Presidential Medal of Freedom to a socialist, Dolores Huerta, who has praised Hugo Chavez; and just days after left-wing activist Al Sharpton was comparing Republicans to Hitler, the media were consumed with the horror of projected Republican nominee Mitt Romney sharing a stage with Donald Trump, who has raised questions about President Obama’s birth certificate and place of birth.

The usual double standard is on open display.

On nearly every hour of programming on MSNBC and CNN the theme has been the same. How can Mitt Romney agree to hold a fundraiser with Donald Trump, who has continued making comments about Obama’s birth certificate?

Yet how many times have these same networks, particularly MSNBC, overlooked Obama’s past and current associations, with everyone from unrepentant terrorist Bill Ayers, to “comedian” Bill Maher, to the preacher of hate, Jeremiah Wright, to self-described communist Van Jones?

The point is, as far as the mainstream media are concerned, almost no one on the Left is controversial, no matter how crazy or radical they are. The media’s use of the “birther” issue is really a smokescreen to cover up a number of issues that have nothing to do with the authenticity of Obama’s birth certificate or the place where he was born.

Roger Kimball, the Editor and Publisher of The New Criterion and head of Encounter Books, has written an excellent piece for Pajamas Media titled “Who Is Barack Obama? The Question that Won’t Go Away,” in which he questions his radical ties from the past, his sealed records on everything from college transcripts to why he gave up his law license, to the current controversy that the mainstream media won’t touch: the biographical pamphlet circulated by his literary agent, which said that he was born in Kenya. It remained that way for 17 years, undergoing several revisions, including that he became a U.S. senator, but it never changed his place of birth as Kenya, until just before he decided to run for president. The explanations have been that it was a fact-checking error, or a typo, neither of which makes any sense. Are we to believe that they pulled that fact out of thin air, that someone was confused when writing it, that Obama never saw it and asked to correct it? And maybe it wasn’t true, but he wanted people to believe it was, having no intention at the time to run for president. Who knows?

And what about the latest Jeremiah Wright scandal? Edward Klein, former editor of The New York Times Magazine, revealed in his book, The Amateur, that Wright was offered $150,000 to remain quiet during the Obama presidential campaign in 2008. More specifically, he was offered the money in an email “if he would shut-up and not criticize Obama anymore,” Klein told Sean Hannity on his radio show.

He named the person who made the offer as Dr. Eric Whitaker, the vice president of the University of Chicago Medical Center and “member of Obama’s very tight inner circle.” Klein pointed out that “Whitaker’s hospital is the same one that paid first lady Michelle Obama $316,962 a year to handle community affairs for the University of Chicago Medical Center while her husband served in the U.S. Senate.”

Here are a couple of examples from the MSNBC shows on Tuesday:

On MSNBC, on the 11 a.m. ET hour, hosted by Thomas Roberts, was this exchange:

Hogan Gidley, National Committee Director, Santorum Campaign:
“Earlier on a show on MSNBC when one of your anchors said, ‘How can Mitt Romney stand next to a guy who could embarrass him at any moment? I’m thinking to myself Barack Obama can be embarrassed at any moment by a guy he made vice president…You can’t be held accountable for everything people who support you say.
Thomas Roberts:
Are you really going to throw Joe Biden under the bus? Are you really comparing Joe Biden, one of this country’s most dignified and greatest political leaders, that can cross the bridge getting to both sides of the aisle and compare him to a Donald Trump? Do you really want to say that? You would compare him to the gaffe-tasticness of Donald Trump?

One of the “most dignified and greatest political leaders?” As far as his being incredulous about comparing his gaffes to those of Trump’s, Joe Biden has of course been a gaffe machine, but worse than that, a plagiarist who was forced out of the 1988 presidential race for that transgression.

Martin Bashir said that Donald Trump’s comments were “racist rubbish…nonsensical, ludicrous nonsense.” Then he added, “We know that Mitt Romney is a spineless individual. But shouldn’t he really cancel this event. Would that be the right thing to do?

The issue here is a complete double standard, wherein Obama is given a pass on almost any of his associations, especially those on the far-left. And when legitimate questions are raised, they are dismissed under the umbrella of birtherism.

Roger Aronoff is the Editor of Accuracy in Media, and can be contacted at roger.aronoff@aim.org.

BBC Uses a 2003 Picture from Iraq to Incite War Against Syria

2012-05-30T22:18:00.000-05:00

Deception through propaganda is how the game is played these days. For the elite, the ends always justify the means. -W.E.

VigilantCitizen

When it is time to justify the invasion of a country that is of no threat to Allied forces, mass media deception kicks into high gear to sway public opinion.

Only a few years after the “Watch-out-Saddam-is-gonna-nuke-us-all-with-weapons-of-mass-destruction” fabrication, mass media is now being flooded with horrible stories from Syria to incite people in Western countries to think “I hope we go in there and clean up this mess”. However, as it is often the case in war propaganda, lies, fabrications and deceit are used to justify military action.

A recent example of this is the BBC using a horrifying picture from 2003 in Iraq to illustrate an alleged massacre that happened in Houla, Syria. When a “reputed” news source such as BBC gets caught using fake pictures to demonize a country, one can wonder what other fabricated BS appears in the news and goes unnoticed. Here’s an article on BBC’s “mistake”.

Oops, BBC: Iraq photo to illustrate Houla massacre?
With the shock of the Houla tragedy ringing across the world, the BBC has released a story with a harrowing picture of rows and rows of children’s bodies awaiting burial… But isn’t that post-Saddam Iraq?
Photographer Marco di Lauro who took the shot grabbed by the BBC says he nearly “fell off his chair” after finding the picture on the network’s website with a caption reading: “Photo from Activist. This image – which cannot be independently verified – is believed to show bodies of children in Houla awaiting funeral.”
The picture was actually taken on March 27, 2003; it depicts an Iraqi boy jumping over dozens of white body bags containing skeletons found in a desert south of Baghdad. The image, which is published on Marco di Lauro’s website, is part of his story Iraq, the Aftermath of Saddam.
Marco di Lauro takes photographs for Getty Images picture agency, his works have been published across Europe and the US. But the indication that the BBC picked his image from the internet, not from official stock worries him somewhat.
“What I am really astonished by is that a news organization like the BBC doesn’t check the sources and it’s willing to publish any picture sent it by anyone: activist, citizen journalist or whatever. That’s all,” the photographer told The Daily Telegraph.
“Someone is using someone else’s picture for propaganda on purpose,” he added.
A BBC spokesman says the picture, illustrating Sunday night’s story “Syria Massacre in Houla Condemned as Outrage Grows,” was taken down “immediately” when the source was identified.
“We were aware of this image being widely circulated on the internet in the early hours of this morning following the most recent atrocities in Syria. We used it with a clear disclaimer saying it could not be independently verified,” he added.
These words about information “which cannot be independently verified” have become a trademark of media coverage of the 14-month conflict in Syria. Before UN special envoy Kofi Annan brought his peace plan to the troubled Arab country, the Syrian government had remained reluctant to open borders to most international journalists.
But even now the bulk of information comes from people calling themselves opposition activists – via amateur videos uploaded to YouTube or eyewitness reports.
But sometimes it looks that the mantra “cannot be independently verified” serves as a disclaimer to publish information which wouldn’t stand a chance of ever being verified.
- Source: RT

Jesus’s Language Resurrected

2012-05-30T00:05:00.000-05:00

An ancient Aramaic inscription (photo credit: Abir Sultan/Flash 90)

TimesofIsrael

Jesus’s Language Resurrected

Christian communities in the Holy Land are teaching Aramaic and reviving the ancient dialect

JISH, Israel (AP) — Two villages in the Holy Land’s tiny Christian community are teaching Aramaic in an ambitious effort to revive the language that Jesus spoke, centuries after it all but disappeared from the Middle East.

The new focus on the region’s dominant language 2,000 years ago comes with a little help from modern technology: an Aramaic-speaking television channel from Sweden, of all places, where a vibrant immigrant community has kept the ancient tongue alive.

In the Palestinian village of Beit Jala, an older generation of Aramaic speakers is trying to share the language with their grandchildren. Beit Jala lies next to Bethlehem, where the New Testament says Jesus was born.

And in the Arab-Israeli village of Jish, nestled in the Galilean hills where Jesus lived and preached, elementary school children are now being instructed in Aramaic. The children belong mostly to the Maronite Christian community. Maronites still chant their liturgy in Aramaic but few understand the prayers.

“We want to speak the language that Jesus spoke,” said Carla Hadad, a 10-year-old Jish girl who frequently waved her arms to answer questions in Aramaic from school teacher Mona Issa during a recent lesson.

“We used to speak it a long time ago,” she added, referring to her ancestors.

During the lesson, a dozen children lisped out a Christian prayer in Aramaic. They learned the words for “elephant,” ”how are you?” and “mountain.” Some children carefully drew sharp-angled Aramaic letters. Others fiddled with their pencil cases, which sported images of popular soccer teams.

The dialect taught in Jish and Beit Jala is “Syriac,” which was spoken by their Christian forefathers and resembles the Galilean dialect that Jesus would have used, according to Steven Fassberg, an Aramaic expert at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

“They probably would have understood each other,” Fassberg said.

In Jish, about 80 children in grades one through five study Aramaic as a voluntary subject for two hours a week. Israel’s Education Ministry provided funds to add classes until the eighth grade, said principal Reem Khatieb-Zuabi.

Several Jish residents lobbied for Aramaic studies several years ago, said Khatieb-Zuabi, but the idea faced resistance: Jish’s Muslims worried it was a covert attempt to entice their children to Christianity. Some Christians objected, saying the emphasis on their ancestral language was being used to strip them of their Arab identity. The issue is sensitive to many Arab Muslims and Christians in Israel, who prefer to be identified by their ethnicity, not their faith.

Ultimately, Khatieb-Zuabi, a secular Muslim from an outside village, overruled them.

“This is our collective heritage and culture. We should celebrate and study it,” the principal said. And so the Jish Elementary School become the only Israeli public school teaching Aramaic, according to the Education Ministry.

Their efforts are mirrored in Beit Jala’s Mar Afram school run by the Syrian Orthodox church and located just a few miles (kilometers) from Bethlehem’s Manger Square.

There, priests have taught the language to their 320 students for the past five years.

Some 360 families in the area descend from Aramaic-speaking refugees who in the 1920s fled the Tur Abdin region of what is now Turkey.

Priest Butros Nimeh said elders still speak the language but that it vanished among younger generations. Nimeh said they hoped teaching the language would help the children appreciate their roots.

Although both the Syrian Orthodox and Maronite church worship in Aramaic, they are distinctly different sects.

The Maronites are the dominant Christian church in neighboring Lebanon but make up only a few thousand of the Holy Land’s 210,000 Christians. Likewise, Syrian Orthodox Christians number no more than 2,000 in the Holy Land, said Nimeh. Overall, some 150,000 Christians live in Israel and another 60,000 live in the West Bank.

Both schools found inspiration and assistance in an unlikely place: Sweden. There, Aramaic-speaking communities who descended from the Middle East have sought to keep their language alive.

They publish a newspaper, “Bahro Suryoyo,” pamphlets and children’s books, including “The Little Prince,” and maintain a satellite television station, “Soryoyosat,” said Arzu Alan, chairwoman of the Syriac Aramaic Federation of Sweden.

There’s also an Aramaic soccer team, “Syrianska FC” in the Swedish top division from the town of Sodertalje. Officials estimate the Aramaic-speaking population at anywhere from 30,000 to 80,000 people.

For many Maronites and Syrian Orthodox Christians in the Holy Land, the television station, in particular, was the first time they heard the language outside church in decades. Hearing it in a modern context inspired them to try revive the language among their communities.

“When you hear (the language), you can speak it,” said Issa, the teacher.

Aramaic dialects were the region’s vernacular from 2,500 years ago until the sixth century, when Arabic, the language of conquering Muslims from the Arabian Peninsula, became dominant, according to Fassberg.

Linguistic islands survived: Maronites clung to Aramaic liturgy and so did the Syrian Orthodox church. Kurdish Jews on the river island of Zakho spoke an Aramaic dialect called “Targum” until fleeing to Israel in the 1950s. Three Christian villages in Syria still speak an Aramaic dialect, Fassberg said.

With few opportunities to practice the ancient tongue, teachers in Jish have tempered expectations. They hope they can at least revive an understanding of the language.

The steep challenges are seen in the Jish school, where the fourth-grade Aramaic class has just a dozen students. The number used to be twice that until they introduced an art class during the same time slot — and lost half their students.

Radioactive bluefin tuna carried contamination from nuclear plant in Japan

2012-05-29T23:54:00.002-05:00

Workers harvesting bluefin tuna from Maricultura's tuna pens near Ensenada, Mexico in March 2007.

NYDailyNews

Levels of radioactive cesium were 10 times higher than amount measured in previous years

LOS ANGELES -- Across the vast Pacific, the mighty bluefin tuna carried radioactive contamination that leaked from Japan's crippled nuclear plant to the shores of the United States 6,000 miles away - the first time a huge migrating fish has been shown to carry radioactivity such a distance.

"We were frankly kind of startled," said Nicholas Fisher, one of the researchers reporting the findings online Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The levels of radioactive cesium were 10 times higher than the amount measured in tuna off the California coast in previous years. But even so, that's still far below safe-to-eat limits set by the U.S. and Japanese governments.

Previously, smaller fish and plankton were found with elevated levels of radiation in Japanese waters after a magnitude-9 earthquake in March 2011 triggered a tsunami that badly damaged the Fukushima Dai-ichi reactors.

But scientists did not expect the nuclear fallout to linger in huge fish that sail the world because such fish can metabolize and shed radioactive substances.

One of the largest and speediest fish, Pacific bluefin tuna can grow to 10 feet and weigh more than 1,000 pounds. They spawn off the Japan coast and swim east at breakneck speed to school in waters off California and the tip of Baja California, Mexico.

Five months after the Fukushima disaster, Fisher of Stony Brook University in New York and a team decided to test Pacific bluefin that were caught off the coast of San Diego. To their surprise, tissue samples from all 15 tuna captured contained levels of two radioactive substances - ceisum-134 and cesium-137 - that were higher than in previous catches.

To rule out the possibility that the radiation was carried by ocean currents or deposited in the sea through the atmosphere, the team also analyzed yellowfin tuna, found in the eastern Pacific, and bluefin that migrated to Southern California before the nuclear crisis. They found no trace of cesium-134 and only background levels of cesium-137 left over from nuclear weapons testing in the 1960s.

The results "are unequivocal. Fukushima was the source," said Ken Buesseler of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, who had no role in the research.

Bluefin tuna absorbed radioactive cesium from swimming in contaminated waters and feeding on contaminated prey such as krill and squid, the scientists said. As the predators made the journey east, they shed some of the radiation through metabolism and as they grew larger. Even so, they weren't able to completely flush out all the contamination from their system.

"That's a big ocean. To swim across it and still retain these radionuclides is pretty amazing," Fisher said.

Pacific bluefin tuna are prized in Japan where a thin slice of the tender red meat prepared as sushi can fetch $24 per piece at top Tokyo restaurants. Japanese consume 80 percent of the world's Pacific and Atlantic bluefin tuna.

The real test of how radioactivity affects tuna populations comes this summer when researchers planned to repeat the study with a larger number of samples. Bluefin tuna that journeyed last year were exposed to radiation for about a month. The upcoming travelers have been swimming in radioactive waters for a longer period. How this will affect concentrations of contamination remains to be seen.

Now that scientists know that bluefin tuna can transport radiation, they also want to track the movements of other migratory species including sea turtles, sharks and seabirds.

MSNBC “Uncomfortable” Calling Fallen Veterans “Heroes”

2012-05-29T23:45:00.000-05:00

WesternJournalism

I guess it is safe to say that I feel uncomfortable calling anyone at MSNBC a journalist.

Pro-Marriage YouTube Video Banned

2012-05-29T23:36:00.002-05:00

Sixteen-year-old Madeleine McAulay brought tears to my eyes simply because she is what is right about America, and why we must keep fighting the far left. I am almost glad You Tube felt like she didn't meet their (leftist agenda) "guidelines", I would never have seen this...and incidentally, Madeleine is too good for You Tube. -W.E.

WesternJournalism

The following video produced by sixteen-year-old Madeleine McAulay has been banned by YouTube because it did not meet their “community guidelines.”

Be patient, video may take a few seconds too load.

Drone Strikes Continue Thanks to Obama's 'Kill List'

2012-05-29T22:54:00.000-05:00

Drones are perfect for the President who likes to think he is God.

Coming soon to a neighborhood near you. -W.E.

AtlanticWire h/t Commieblaster

Memorial Day weekend brought news of more U.S. drone attacks in Pakistan and Afghanistan as The New York Times raises new questions about President Obama's so-called "Kill List" of terrorists targeted for assassination.

An extensive report in Tuesday's paper looks at the use of targeted attacks to take out terrorism suspects in other parts of the world, an increasingly important part of the government's anti-terrorism policies that Barack Obama himself has taken personal responsibility for. According to the story, the President approves every name on the list of terrorism targets, reviewing their biographies and the evidence against them, and then authorizing "lethal action without hand-wringing."

As the president has slowly drawn down American forces in Afghanistan and Iraq, the use of drone attacks to take out senior leaders of al-Qaeda and the Taliban has become the primary tactic for fighting terrorism overseas. However, it raises a lot of legal and ethical questions about extra-judicial killings of individuals, particularly those who happen to be American citizens.

And there's no doubt that that strikes are continuing. NATO announced that a "precision air strike" killed Sakhar al-Taifi over the weekend, who is described as al-Qaeda's "second most senior figure in Afghanistan." Then on Monday, three separate strikes by unmanned drones killed 12 people in Pakistan, where air strikes have strained relations between the two nations.

The Times story is a mix of good and bad news for the President, who wants to be seen as tough on national security, but not as one who makes cynical political calculations about bombing raids. It does show the President taking an unusual amount of interest — and personal responsibility for — key life and death decisions made by his administration. However, it also shows a continuation and an increase in many of the policies of the Bush administration that so enraged Obama's most liberal supporters. Trading rendition and indefinite detentions for messy drone strikes and assassinations is made to seem like simply swapping one bad idea for another.

Yet the administration’s very success at killing terrorism suspects has been shadowed by a suspicion: that Mr. Obama has avoided the complications of detention by deciding, in effect, to take no prisoners alive.

It also suggests that some former members of his staff, like former Director of National Intelligence Dennis C. Blair, objected to the reliance on targeted killings in lieu of forming a more comprehensive policy on fighting terrorism. The criticism is that he's sacrificed strategy for tactics, playing “Whack-A-Mole” with terrorists instead of rooting out the cause, with the death of Sakhar al-Taifi becoming just the latest in a long-line of al-Qaeda's "Number Two" guys to be killed and immediately replaced.

DOJ TO TRAIN BLACK PASTORS TO CAMPAIGN FOR OBAMA

2012-05-29T21:25:00.002-05:00

Obama is ARDENTLY PRO ABORTION

Obama is ARDENTLY PRO LGBT AGENDA

Obama is ARDENTLY ANTI BIBLICAL

Why are any "Pastors" of any skin color voting for any man that is so destructive?

Are these Pastors in the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ....or the Church of messiah Obama?

The bible says:

"There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus."- Galatians 3:28

Why is there then a "white church" and a "black church" in America?

-W.E.

LibertyNews

Just when you think you’ve seen it all… Obama’s dictatorship style DOJ drops a new level of shock on us all. Swallow your drink and then read this.

Attorney General Eric Holder, the IRS, and the liberal lawyers at the ACLU will brief several hundred pastors in the African American community on how to participate in the presidential election — which the Congressional Black Caucus chair expects will help President Obama’s campaign.
“We will have representatives from nine denominations who actually pastor somewhere in the neighborhood of about 10 million people, and we’re going to first of all equip them with the information they need to know about what they can say and what they cannot say in the church that would violate their 501c3 status with the IRS,” Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, D-Mo., told MSNBC today.
“In fact, we’re going to have the IRS administrator there, we’re going to have the Attorney General Eric Holder there, we’re going to have the lawyers’ organization from around the country, the ACLU — all giving ministers guidance about what they can and cannot do,” he noted.

If I read this correctly, it appears as though the IRS and DOJ are going to teach black churches how to skirt the law on campaigning as a non-profit entity. Surely the act of the training in and of itself is illegal, no?

Lloyd's of London Preparing For Euro Collapse

2012-05-29T15:49:00.003-05:00

Test of Fire: Election 2012 -Will the Catholic Church Change the Election? (VIDEO)

2012-05-29T13:09:00.001-05:00

creativelab7

The Battle Plan (VIDEO)

2012-05-28T22:58:00.000-05:00

China, Russia, Iran, Turkey all spoken of with big roles in the last days according to bible prophecy, and Hal's been on it since the 1950's. I really loved these insights by Hal showing that the clock it ticking. It is time to prepare. -W.E.

TerryBBurton

Obama's "Peace" Partner, The Taliban, Vows To Continue To Wage Jihad

2012-05-28T18:52:00.000-05:00

AtlasShrugs

As Obama sniffs up the robes of the Taliban, they spit in America's face. Obama begs and the Taliban laughs.

Afghan Group's Resolution Calls For Resistance Against U.S. Occupation of Afghanistan, Rejects Afghan-U.S. Strategic Partnership Agreement

Taliban Statement Vows To Continue Jihad, Says: 'The Occupation Of Afghanistan By America And Its Allies Is The Fundamental Problem'

After NATO Summit, Taliban Statement Demands That All Foreign Troops 'Withdraw As Quickly As Possible'

Pakistani Terror Group Advocates Continuing The Blockade Of NATO Supplies, States: 'Among The War Strategies Of The Prophet Muhammad... One Successful Strategy Is Not To Let The Enemy's Economy Prosper'

The legacy of Obama. The Taliban have been warring against US troops in Afghsnistan, slaughtering our soldiers, poisoning girls' schools, beheading anyone and everyone who does not adhere to pure Islam and no matter how monstrous the war crimes, Obama pursues these misanthropes with a blind religious fervor. Last week, Barack Obama used the NATO summit to press the Afghan leader Hamid Karzai to engage with greater urgency with the Taliban about a political settlement in Afghanistan...

Any American who is not appalled, profoundly embarrassed and disgusted by this president does not know what it means to be an American ( a result, no doubt, of the left hijacking public education.)

MEMRI reports: Afghan Group's Resolution Calls For Resistance Against U.S. Occupation Of Afghanistan, Rejects Afghan-U.S. Strategic Partnership Agreement
The National Unity and Anti-Foreign Military Base Front, a coalition of former Afghan jihadi leaders who fought against the USSR during the 1980s, has called upon the Afghan people to resist the U.S. occupation of Afghanistan, saying that the recently signed Afghan-U.S. Strategic Partnership Agreement would prolong the war in Afghanistan, according to an Afghan media report.
The Front is led by Engineer Ahmad Shah Ahmadzai, who is the leader of Iqtidar-e-Islami party in Afghanistan. Ahmadzai previously worked with former Afghan president Burhanuddin Rabbani and Ustad Abdul Rab Rasool Sayyaf. Formed about a year ago, the Front has organized conferences and seminars in Afghanistan.
On May 18, 2012, in Kabul, the National Unity and Anti-Foreign Military Base Front held a public meeting against foreign military bases in Afghanistan. The rally was addressed by Engineer Ahmad Shah Ahmadzai, leader of the National Unity and Anti-Foreign Military Base Front; Muhammad Zaman Muzamel, the deputy chief of the Front; Haji Muhammad Farid, a former member of Wolesi Jirga (the Afghan parliament); and others. The speakers strongly rejected the Afghan-U.S. Strategic Partnership Agreement, saying that the presence of foreign forces would provide the neighboring countries with an opportunity to interfere in Afghanistan's affairs. A resolution was later read aloud at the meeting.
To read the full report, go here..

Special Dispatch No. 4792
Taliban Statement Vows To Continue Jihad, Says: 'The Occupation Of Afghanistan By America And Its Allies Is The Fundamental Problem'
In a statement about the May 20-21 NATO Summit in Chicago, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (the Taliban's shadow government) has said that the U.S. military presence in Afghanistan is the country's "fundamental problem," and that the Taliban will continue to wage jihad until the country is liberated.
The Taliban statement also lauded French President Francois Hollande for saying that all French troops will be removed from Afghanistan by the end of 2012. "We call upon all of the other NATO member countries to avoid working for the political interests of American officials and to answer the call of your own people by immediately removing all of your troops from Afghanistan," it said.
The Islamic Emirate also left an open the possibility for resuming peace talks with the U.S., saying: "The Islamic Emirate has left all military and political doors open. It wants to secure the rights of the Muslim Afghan nation through all possible ways and as a responsible force, [and] is prepared to accept everything it announces..."
To read the full report, tgo here.

Special Dispatch No. 4791
After NATO Summit, Taliban Statement Demands That All Foreign Troops 'Withdraw As Quickly As Possible'
In a statement, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (the Taliban's shadow government) says that the NATO Summit in Chicago - which was held on May 20-21, 2012 - failed to make headway in resolving the Afghan problem.
The Taliban statement noted that "disappointment was echoed in all statements" made at the Chicago Summit and that all coalition partners ultimately reiterated previously known positions about the Afghan issue.
To read the full report, go here..

Special Dispatch No. 4790
Pakistani Terror Group Advocates Continuing The Blockade Of NATO Supplies, States: 'Among The War Strategies Of The Prophet Muhammad… One Successful Strategy Is Not To Let The Enemy's Economy Prosper'
Amid the continuing deadlock between the United States and Pakistan over the Pakistani blockade of U.S./NATO supplies to international troops in Afghanistan, Pakistani terrorist organization Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM) has stressed the importance of using an economic blockade to defeat the infidels, as practiced during the times of the Prophet Muhammad.
In the article, titled "Ulema And Jihad – Cut The Enemy's Economic Jugular," radical militant cleric Maulana Mohammad Zahid, writing in the JeM's Urdu-language weekly magazine Haftroza Al-Qalam, cited a number of examples of economic ambush and blockades used by military leaders during the early Islamic era. The JeM operates out of its headquarters in the Pakistani city of Bahawalpur.
The article comes at a time in which the U.S. and Pakistan have repeatedly failed to agree on the terms for the resumption of NATO supplies through Pakistani territory – most recently at the May 20-21, 2012 NATO summit in Chicago. Earlier reports indicated that the U.S. may still be using Pakistani air space to transport supplies to Afghanistan.

To read the full report, visit http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/6406.htm.

50 Reasons Why we are living in the end times.

2012-05-28T16:40:00.001-05:00

LambLionMinistries

The Bible says we cannot know the time of the Lord's return (Matthew 25:13). But the Scriptures make it equally clear that we can know the season of the Lord's return (1 Thessalonians 5:2-6):

"You yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night... But you brethren, are not in darkness, that the day should overtake you like a thief; for you are all sons of light and sons of day. We are not of night or darkness; so then let us not sleep as others do, but let us be alert and sober."

This passage asserts that Jesus is coming like "a thief in the night." But then it proceeds to make it clear that this will be true only for the pagan world and not for believers. His return should be no surprise to those who know Him and His Word, for they have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit to give them understanding of the nature of the times.

Furthermore, the Scriptures give us signs to watch for — signs that will signal that Jesus is ready to return. The writer of the Hebrew letter referred to these signs when he proclaimed that believers should encourage one another when they see the day of judgment drawing near (Hebrews 10:25-27). Jesus also referred to the end time signs in His Olivet Discourse, given during the last week of His life (Matthew 24 and Luke 21). Speaking of a whole series of signs which He had given to His disciples, He said, "When you see all these things, recognize that He [the Son of Man — that is, Jesus] is near, right at the door" (Matthew 24:33).

A Personal Experience

Every time I think of "Signs of the Times," I am reminded of a great man of God named Elbert Peak. I had the privilege of participating with him in a Bible prophecy conference held in Orlando, Florida in the early 1990's. Mr. Peak was about 80 years old at the time.

He had been assigned the topic, "The Signs of the Times." He began his presentation by observing, "Sixty years ago when I first started preaching, you had to scratch around like a chicken to find one sign of the Lord's soon return."

He paused for a moment, and then added, "But today there are so many signs I'm no longer looking for them. Instead, I'm listening for a sound — the sound of a trumpet!"

The First Sign

One hundred years ago in 1907 there was not one single, tangible, measurable sign that indicated we were living in the season of the Lord's return. The first to appear was the Balfour Declaration which was issued by the British government on November 2, 1917.

This Declaration was prompted by the fact that during World War I the Turks sided with the Germans. Thus, when Germany lost the war, so did the Turks, and the victorious Allies decided to divide up both the German and Turkish empires.

The Turkish territories, called the Ottoman Empire, contained the ancient homeland of the Jewish people — an area the Romans had named Palestine after the last Jewish revolt in 132-135 AD.

In 1917 Palestine included all of modern day Israel and Jordan. In the scheme the Allies concocted for dividing up the German and Turkish territories, Britain was allotted Palestine, and this is what prompted the Balfour Declaration. In that document, Lord Balfour, the British Foreign Secretary, declared that it was the intention of the British government to establish in Palestine "a national home for the Jewish people."

The leading Evangelical in England at the time was F. B. Meyer. He immediately recognized the prophetic significance of the Declaration, for he was well aware that the Scriptures prophesy that the Jewish people will be regathered to their homeland in unbelief right before the return of the Messiah (Isaiah 11:11-12).

Meyer sent out a letter to the Evangelical leaders of England asking them to gather in London in December to discuss the prophetic implications of the Balfour Declaration. In that letter, he stated, "The signs of the times point toward the close of the time of the Gentiles... and the return of Jesus can be expected any moment."

Before Meyer's meeting could be convened, another momentous event occurred. On December 11, 1917 General Edmund Allenby liberated the city of Jerusalem from 400 years of Turkish rule.

There is no doubt that these events in 1917 marked the beginning of the end times because they led to the worldwide regathering of the Jewish people to their homeland and the reestablishment of their state.

Since 1917

Since the time of the Balfour Declaration, we have witnessed throughout the 20th Century the appearance of sign after sign pointing to the Lord's soon return. There are so many of these signs today, in fact, that one would have to be either biblically illiterate or spiritually blind not to realize that we are living on borrowed time.

I have personally been searching the Bible for years in an effort to identify all the signs, and it has not been an easy task to get a hold on them. That's because there are so many of them, both in the Old and New Testaments.

I have found that the best way to deal with them is to put them in categories, and in doing that, I have come up with six categories of end time signs.

1) The Signs of Nature

"...and there will be great earthquakes, and in various places plagues and famines; and there will be terrors and great signs from heaven." (Luke 21:11)

This category of signs has always been the least respected, even among believers. The mere mention of it usually evokes a sneer accompanied by the words, "Come on, what else is new? There have always been earthquakes and tornadoes and hurricanes." But those who have this attitude forget that Jesus said the signs would be like "birth pangs" (Matthew 24:8). That means they will increase in frequency and intensity the closer we get to the Lord's return. In other words, there will be more frequent natural disasters and more intense ones.

And that is exactly what has been happening. For example, between October of 1991 and November of 2004 — a period of 13 years — the United States experienced:

9 of the 10 largest insurance natural disasters in history.
9 of the 10 greatest disasters as ranked by FEMA relief costs.
5 of its costliest hurricanes in history.
3 of its 4 largest tornado swarms in history.

And keep in mind that these statistics were complied before the Hurricane Katrina disaster in August of 2005!

2) The Signs of Society

"Realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God..." (2 Timothy 3:1-4)

This passage sounds like a typical evening newscast today! Notice the three things it says people will love in the end times: self, money, and pleasure.

The love of self is Humanism — the belief that Man can accomplish anything on his own. The love of money is Materialism. When Humanism is your religion, your god will always be money. The love of pleasure is the third love that is mentioned. This is Hedonism, the lifestyle that is always produced by Humanism and Materialism.

But God cannot be mocked (Galatians 6:7). He therefore sees to it that when people chose Humanism, Materialism, and Hedonism, the payoff is always Nihilism — which is a fancy philosophical word for despair.

Need I emphasize that our world is wallowing in despair today? We live in a society plagued by abortion, homosexuality, domestic violence, child molestation, blasphemy, pornography, alcoholism, drug abuse and gambling.

Like the days of the Judges in the Old Testament, people are doing what is right in their own eyes, and the result is that people are calling evil good and good evil (Isaiah 5:20).

3) The Spiritual Signs

There are more signs in this category than any other. Many are evil in nature, but there are also some very positive ones. Concerning the negative signs, a typical passage is the following one found in 2 Timothy 4:3-4:

"The time will come when they [professing Christians] will not endure sound doctrine, but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires; and will turn away their ears from the truth, and will turn aside to myths."

Some of the negative spiritual signs that are specifically prophesied include the following: false christs, cultic groups, heresies, apostasy, skepticism, deception, occultism, and persecution.

The one that Jesus mentioned most frequently was false christs and their cultic groups (Matthew 24:5, 11, 24). And in fulfillment of these prophecies, we have experienced an explosion of cults since 1850.

But, praise God, we are told that there will be some very positive spiritual signs in the end times. The most important one that is prophesied in many places is a great outpouring of the Holy Spirit (Joel 2:28-29).

This outpouring began at the dawn of the 20th Century, and proved to be one of the greatest spiritual surprises — and blessings — of the century. You see, when that century began, the prevailing viewpoint among both Catholics and Protestants regarding the Holy Spirit was Cessationism. This view held that the gifts of the Spirit ceased when the last Apostle died. In effect, it was a belief that the Holy Spirit had retired in the First Century.

The 20th Century had hardly gotten started when a Holy Spirit revival broke out at a small Bible college in Topeka, Kansas in 1901. Three years later, a similar Holy Spirit revival swept Wales and began to spread worldwide. Then, in 1906, the Spirit fell with great power on a humble Black preacher in Los Angeles named William J. Seymour. The Azuza Street Revival, as it came to be called, continued for four years and gave birth to the Pentecostal Movement.

The Bible prophesies two great outpourings of the Spirit and symbolically pictures them as the "early and latter rains" (Joel 2:23), based on the two rainy seasons of Israel. The early rain occurred at Pentecost in the First Century when the Church was established. The latter rain was prophesied to occur after the Jewish people had been re-established in their homeland (Joel 2:18-26).

The latter rain began with the Pentecostal Movement, just as God began to regather the Jews to their homeland under the visionary leadership of Theodore Herzl. But the rain did not become a downpour until after the re-establishment of the state of Israel in May of 1948, just as prophesied by Joel.

First came the anointing of Billy Graham's ministry in 1949, followed by the Charismatic Movement of the 1960's. Today, most of Christianity, whether Pentecostal, Charismatic, or Traditional, fully recognizes that the ministry of the Holy Spirit is alive and well in Spirit-led worship, the continuing validity of spiritual gifts, the reality of spiritual warfare, and the importance of a Spirit-filled life in winning that warfare.

In addition to the rediscovery of the Holy Spirit, there are other positive spiritual prophecies being fulfilled today — like the preaching of the Gospel worldwide (Matthew 24:14), the revival of Davidic praise worship (Amos 9:11) and the emergence of Messianic Judaism (Romans 9:27).

Another remarkable positive sign is the understanding of Bible prophecy. You see, the Hebrew prophets often did not understand the end time prophecies that the Lord gave to them. A good example can be found in Daniel 12:8-9 where the prophet complains to the Lord that he does not understand the prophecies that have been entrusted to him. The Lord's response was, "Don't worry about it. Just write the prophecies. They have been sealed up until the end times."

In other words, the Bible teaches that many of the end time prophecies will not be understood until the time comes for them to be fulfilled. And that is exactly what has been happening in the past 100 years. Historical developments and scientific inventions are now making it possible for us to understand end time prophecies that have never been understood before.

Take Israel for example. All of end time prophecy revolves around the nation of Israel. But how could those prophecies be understood as long as Israel did not exist and there was no prospect that the nation would ever exist again?

This is the reason that Hal Lindsey's book, The Late Great Planet Earth, became such a phenomenal bestseller in the 1970's. For the first time it explained the events prophesied in the book of Revelation in natural terms that people could easily understand.

4) The Signs of World Politics

"You will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars... for nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom..." (Matthew 24:6-7)

I taught international politics for 20 years before I entered the ministry full time, so this is an area that is particularly fascinating to me.

The Bible prophesies a very specific end time configuration of world politics. Israel is pictured as being re-established (Ezekiel 37:21-22) and surrounded by hostile Arab neighbors intent on its destruction (Ezekiel 35:1 - 36:7). This, of course has been the situation in the Middle East since the Israeli Declaration of Independence in May of 1948.

Daniel prophesied that the Roman Empire would be revived (Daniel 2:36-41), something many men — like Charlemagne, Napoleon, and Hitler — tried to do through force. But the prophecy had to await God's timing for its fulfillment, and that came after World War II, with the formation of the European Common Market that has since morphed into the superpower called the European Union.

The Bible pictures a great power located in the land of Magog in the "remote parts of the north." This nation will menace Israel in the end times and will ultimately lead an invasion of Israel together with specified allies, all of which are modern day Muslim states (Ezekiel 38:1 - 39:16). Russia with all its Muslim republics and its Muslim allies fits this description precisely.

All the nations of the world are prophesied to come together against Israel in the end times over the issue of the control of Jerusalem (Zech. 12:2-3) — a prophecy being fulfilled today.

The magnitude of warfare in the 20th Century is another fulfillment of end time prophecy related to world politics. The 20th Century was one of unparalleled war. Like birth pangs, the frequency and intensity of war increased exponentially. It is now estimated that more people died in wars during the 20th Century than in all the previous wars throughout all of recorded human history.

5) The Signs of Technology

"Men will faint from fear over the expectation of the things which are coming upon the world; for the powers of the heavens will be shaken." (Luke 21:26)

The development of nuclear weapons seems to be foreshadowed by this prophecy in Luke 21 that speaks of people "fainting from fear" due to the "powers of the heavens being shaken." The incredible carnage of the Seal and Trumpet Judgments portrayed in chapters 6 and 8 in the book of Revelation indicates that the Antichrist will conquer the world through the use of nuclear weapons. We are told that one-third of the earth will be burned and that one-half of humanity will be killed. Further evidence that this is a nuclear holocaust is found in Revelation 16 where we are told that at the end of the Tribulation the survivors will be covered with sores that will not heal (Revelation 16:11).

As I pointed out earlier, there are many end time prophecies that simply cannot be understood apart from modern technological developments. Consider the prophecy in Revelation 11 about the two witnesses who will call the world to repentance during the first half of the Tribulation. When they are killed by the Antichrist, we are told that their bodies will lie in the streets of Jerusalem for three and a half days, and the whole world will look upon them (Revelation 11:9). How could anyone understand such a prophecy before the development of satellite television in the 1960's?

Likewise, how could the Antichrist control all buying and selling worldwide (Revelation 13) without the aid of computer technology? How could the False Prophet create the illusion of giving life to a statue (Revelation 13) without the technology of holograms, virtual reality, and robotics? How could an army of 200 million come out of the Far East (Revelation 9) before the population explosion that was produced by modern medical technology? How could the Gospel be proclaimed to all the world (Matthew 24) before the invention of motion pictures, radio, television, and the Internet? The list goes on and on.

6) The Signs of Israel

"And it shall come about in that day that I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples; all who lift it will be severely injured. And all the nations of the earth will be gathered against it." (Zechariah 12:3)

The signs that relate to Israel are the most important of all because the Jews are God's prophetic time clock. What I mean by this is that the Scriptures will often tie a prophesied future event with something that will happen to the Jews. We are told to watch the Jews, and when the prophesied event concerning them occurs, we can be sure that the other prophesied event will also occur.

An example can be found in Luke 21:24 where Jesus prophesied that the Jews would be dispersed from Jerusalem and be led captive among the nations. But then He added that one day they would return to re-occupy Jerusalem, and when this happens, the end time events will occur that will lead to His return.

There are many prophecies concerning the Jews in the end times, many of which began to be fulfilled in the 20th Century, but there are four key ones. The first is their worldwide regathering in unbelief (Isaiah 11:11-12). In 1900 there were only 40,000 Jews in Palestine. By the end of World War II that number had risen to 800,000. Today, there are more than 5.7 million who have come from all over the world. Very soon there will be as many Jews in Israel as died in the Holocaust. The prophet Jeremiah says twice that when history is completed, the Jewish people will look back and conclude that their worldwide regathering was a greater miracle than their deliverance from Egyptian captivity (Jeremiah 16:14-15 and 23:7-8). We are truly living in momentous times!

The second key prophecy concerning the Jews is a natural consequence of their regathering. It is the re-establishment of their state which occurred on May 14, 1948 (Isaiah 66:7-8). The third key prophecy is the re-occupation of Jerusalem which occurred on June 7, 1967 during the miraculous Six Day War (Zechariah 8:4-8).

The fourth key prophecy is the one whose fulfillment we are witnessing today — the re-focusing of world politics upon the nation of Israel (Zechariah 12:2-3). All the nations of the world, including the United States, are coming against Israel over the issue of the control of the nation's capital — the city of Jerusalem. The Vatican wants the city put under its control. The United Nations wants it to be internationalized. The European Union is demanding it be divided between the Arabs and the Jews. The Arabs want all of it.

Summary

And so you have it — six different categories of signs, each category containing many prophecies concerning the end times, all of which are being fulfilled before our very eyes. Let me conclude by specifically listing 50 of those prophecies.

1) Increasing instability of nature.
(Matthew 24:7 & Luke 21:11)

2) Increasing lawlessness and violence.
(Matthew 24:12)

3) Increasing immorality.
(Matthew 24:37)

4) Increasing materialism.
(2 Timothy 3:2)

5) Increasing Hedonism.
(2 Timothy 3:4)

6) Increasing influence of Humanism.
(2 Timothy 3:2)

7) Depraved entertainment.
(2 Timothy 3:4)

8) Calling evil good and good evil.
(2 Timothy 3:3 & Isaiah 5:20)

9) Increasing use of drugs.
(2 Timothy 3:3)

10) Increasing blasphemy.
(2 Timothy 3:2)

11) Increasing paganism.
(2 Timothy 3:1-4)

12) Increasing despair.
(2 Timothy 3:1)

13) Signs in the heavens.
(Luke 21:11,25)

14) Increasing knowledge.
(Daniel 12:4)

15) Increasing travel.
(Daniel 12:4)

16) The explosion of cults.
(Matthew 24:11)

17) The proliferation of false christs.
(Matthew 24:5)

18) Increasing apostasy in the Church.
(2 Timothy 4:3-5)

19) Increasing attacks on Jesus.
(Romans 1:18-19)

20) Increasing attacks on the Bible.
(Romans 1:18-19)

21) Increasing persecution of Christians.
(Matthew 24:9)

22) Increasing occultism.
(1 Timothy 4:1)

23) Wars and rumors of wars.
(Matthew 24:6)

24) Weapons of mass destruction.
(Luke 21:26)

25) Increasing famine.
(Luke 21:11)

26) Increasing pestilence.
(Luke 21:11)

27) Computer technology.
(Revelation 13:7)

28) Television.
(Revelation 11:8-9)

29) Satellite technology.
(Revelation 11:8-9)

30) Virtual reality.
(Revelation 13:14-15)

31) Unification of Europe.
(Daniel 2 & 7)

32) Far Eastern military powers.
(Revelation 9:16 & 16:12)

33) Movement toward world government.
(Daniel 7:23-26)

34) Regathering of the Jews.
(Isaiah 11:10-12)

35) Re-establishment of Israel.
(Isaiah 66:7-8)

36) Reclamation of the land of Israel.
(Ezekiel 36:34-35)

37) Revival of Biblical Hebrew.
(Zephaniah 3:9; Jeremiah 31:23)

38) Re-occupation of Jerusalem.
(Luke 21:24)

39) Resurgence of the Israeli military.
(Zechariah 12:6)

40) Re-focusing of world politics on Israel.
(Zechariah 12:3)

41) Russian threat to Israel.
(Ezekiel 38 and 39)

42) Arab threat to Israel.
(Ezekiel 35 and 36)

43) Denial of the Second Coming.
(2 Peter 3:3-4)

44) Denial of creation by God.
(Romans 1:18-22)

45) Outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
(Joel 2:28-29)

46) Translation of the Bible into many languages.
(Matthew 24:14)

47) Preaching of the Gospel worldwide.
(Matthew 24:14)

48) The revival of Messianic Judaism.
(Romans 9:27)

49) The revival of Davidic praise worship.
(Amos 9:11)

50) The understanding of Bible prophecy.
(Daniel 12:8-9)

This list could be greatly expanded, but the 50 examples above should be sufficient to show that we are living in the season of the Lord's return.

The Bible clearly teaches that God never pours out His wrath without warning for He is a just and loving God who does not wish that any should perish (2 Peter 3:9). That's why He has provided so many signs to alert us to the fact that we are living on the threshold of the Tribulation.

The Message

The bottom line message of the signs is that we are living on borrowed time. And the crucial question for every human being is "Are you ready?" Are you ready for the return of Jesus? Will He come as your Blessed Hope or your Holy Terror?

It will be one or the other, for God is determined to deal with sin, and He does so with either grace or wrath (John 3:36). If you have put your faith in Jesus as your Lord and Savior, then you are under God's grace. Your sins have been forgiven and forgotten, and you can look forward with confidence to that glorious day when Jesus will appear in the heavens.

But if you have never received Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you are under the wrath of God, and you have nothing to look forward to except the terror of His wrath.

The choice is yours. I personally cannot understand why anyone would turn their back on God's free gift of grace through faith in His Son. I have placed my faith in Jesus, and I therefore am able to look forward to His soon return with great anticipation and expectation. All that is within me cries out, "Maranatha! Comequickly Lord Jesus" (1 Corinthians 16:22).