Saturday, 16 May 2009

Prophetic Trends & Headline News

Click any of the headlines below to read the full article

1. Where is America in Bible Prophecy?

Are the people who 'really run the world' meeting this weekend?
From today until May 17, approximately 150 of the most influential members of the world's elite will be meeting behind closed doors at a hotel in Greece. They are called the Bilderberg Group or the "Bilderbergers," and you have probably never heard of them. The group, co-founded by Prince Bernard of the Netherlands, has been meeting in secret every year since 1954. The individuals at the meeting come from such power houses as Google and the Wall Street Journal, the U.S. Senate and European royalty. Governments, the banking industry, big oil, media and even the world of academia are amongst the Bilderberg ranks. There is no official list of who's who in Bilderberg and there are no press conferences about the meetings. This is because the group operates under the "Chatham House Rule," and no details of what goes on inside are released to the press. This secrecy has led to many claims that the Bilderberg Group are the world's real "kingmakers," and, some even suggest, behind the global financial crisis. ............................ read more

Is Obama puting Israel at risk?
The May 18 meeting between President Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is critical for both nations. US-Israeli relations are in danger of deteriorating to the lowest point since Dwight Eisenhower ordered Israeli troops to evacuate Sinai in 1956 – an event that contributed to the 1967 Six-Day War. The summit may define relations between these two democracies for the duration of the Obama administration and beyond................................ read more

Australia prepares for U.S. decline
Since World War II, U.S. military dominance has underpinned the Asia-Pacific region's prosperity and relative peace. So it's cause for concern when one of America's closest allies sees that power ebbing amid unstable nuclear regimes such as Pakistan and North Korea and the expanding military power of China. In the preface to a sweeping defense review released Saturday, Australian Defense Minister Joel Fitzgibbon writes: "The biggest changes to our outlook . . . have been the rise of China, the emergence of India and the beginning of the end of the so-called unipolar moment; the almost two-decade-long period in which the pre-eminence of our principal ally, the United States, was without question.".............................. read more

China's yuan 'set to usurp US dollar' as world's reserve currency
The Chinese yuan is preparing to overtake the US dollar as the world's reserve currency, economist Nouriel Roubini has warned. Professor Roubini, of New York University's Stern business school, believes that while such a major change is some way off, the Chinese government is laying the ground for the yuan's ascendance. ............................. read more


2. Israel - God's Timepiece

Obama warns Netanyahu: Don't surprise me with Iran strike
U.S. President Barack Obama has sent a message to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu demanding that Israel not surprise the U.S. with an Israeli military operation against Iran. The message from the American envoy to the prime minister reveals U.S. concern that Israel could lose patience and act against Iran. It is important to the Americans that they not be caught off guard and find themselves facing facts on the ground at the last minute. It may be assumed that Obama is disturbed by the positions Netanyahu expressed before his election vis-a-vis Tehran - for example, Netanyahu's statement that "If elected I pledge that Iran will not attain nuclear arms, and that includes whatever is necessary for this statement to be carried out." .....
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Some truths about Palestinian Christians
Palestinian and other Arab Christians are a perennial political football, especially with Pope Benedict XVI's visit to the Holy Land. Seen by some as the epitome of what happens to minorities under Islamist rule (when their shops are firebombed in Hamas-run Gaza), they are also continually used by the Western media to show how the Israeli security fence divides those in Bethlehem from Jerusalem. Even as their community shrinks they seem to get more and more attention. It is worthwhile therefore to consider a little about their recent history and dispel some of the myths that have grown up about them. .......................... read more

IAF practicing MIG-29/F-16 dogfights
Israel Air Force test pilots are flying MIG 29 jets and conducting dogfights against the IAF's F-16 fighters, Channel 2 revealed Wednesday evening. The MIG 29, developed by the soviets in the 1970s, is one of the best fighter jets used by eastern and Arab countries, as well as by Syria and Iran. It was developed to counter American-made jets such the F-16 or F/A-18. ............................... read more

U.S. statement on nukes pact stirs concerns in Israel
Given the delicate state of relations between the new administrations in Washington and Jerusalem, an American statement last week about the need for Israel to sign the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, or NPT, touched a raw nerve. The worst-case scenario is that it portends a "grand bargain" with Iran at Israel's expense. In this nightmare development, the American side will say to Tehran: Abandon your nuclear weapons program and we will lean on Israel to dismantle its alleged nuclear arsenal. Few Israeli officials believe it will come to that. However, there is genuine concern at the hint of a more subtle political linkage: That the U.S. could press Israel on the nuclear issue if it continues to resist a solution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on the basis of two states for two peoples............................ read more


4. The Gog/Magog War

Putin plotting return as Russia's President: Report
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is plotting to stage a comeback as the president of that nation by stripping the judiciary's right to elect the head of the powerful constitutional court, a media report said on Thursday. Although he is legally allowed to run as president in the year 2012, the loss of the judiciary's last "quasi-independent" position would remove any "lingering potential" for a legal challenge should Putin make an early presidential comeback, 'The Daily Telegraph' reported........................... read more

Report: Iran deploys missiles in Persian Gulf
Iran's Revolutionary Guards have begun deploying mobile launchers for surface-to-air and surface-to-sea missiles in the Strait of Hurmuz and other areas in the Gulf, it has been revealed........................... read more

Russia plays up its international role – especially in Mideast peace
Russia is moving to reassert its role in the Middle East – and in particular in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process – as President Obama prepares to receive principal leaders in the conflict at the White House in the coming weeks. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov chaired a special meeting Monday of the United Nations Security Council that endorsed the idea of holding a Middle East peace conference in Moscow this year. In a presidential statement, the Security Council also called on all parties to honor past international accords – a clear nudge to a wavering Israeli government to embrace the concept of a two-state solution, in which a new Palestine would exist next to Israel........................... read more


5. Apostate Christianity

When heretics meet the apostate church
Rev. Carlton Pearson is no stranger to controversy, and his arrival to Chicago brings a new storm. Pearson, once regarded as one of the nation's most influential Pentecostal preachers, was denounced as a heretic for his teaching that everyone goes to heaven: Muslims, Buddhists, gays, even the devil. He lost his followers, his friends and his Oklahoma church. After being shunned as an outcast, Pearson continued preaching his controversial "gospel of inclusion" and built a new following that raised his profile again. Now, Pearson faces a different battle as he assumes leadership of the 6,000-member Christ Universal Temple, one of the city's largest congregations. Several hundred members of the congregation are protesting Pearson's appointment as senior minister, saying he lacks the theological training to lead a New Thought church like Christ Universal. The movement uses a metaphysical interpretation of the Bible and focuses on healing, meditation and thinking positive thoughts to improve one's life........................... read more

Abandoning Christ's Call - Catholic Church will cease all missionary activity among Jews
After meeting the grand mufti of Jerusalem, Muhammad Ahmad Hussein, and praying at the Western Wall on Tuesday, Pope Benedict XVI arrived for a historic meeting with the chief rabbis at Heichal Shlomo, next to the capital's Great Synagogue, and agreed that the Catholic Church will cease all missionary activity among Jews........................... read more

Evangelical Left Follows Secular Culture, Endorses 'Hate Crimes' Bill
Members of the Evangelical Left are endorsing a bill before Congress that would add sexual orientation and gender identity as official categories to "hate crimes" law. Liberal evangelist Tony Campolo joined a Capitol Hill rally this week organized by the Human Rights Campaign, a gay advocacy group, which also distributed supportive statements by Christian ethicist David Gushee, Sojourners' Jim Wallis and Florida megachurch pastor Joel Hunter. The rally additionally touted legislation that would protect transsexualism in the work place........................... read more


6. The Rise of Islam

Al Jazeera Channel Coming to U.S. Cities
The Al Jazeera English news channel — an offshoot of the Arabic al-Jazeera network — will soon be available to TV viewers in many American cities.......................... read more

Pro-Muslim Brotherhood Candidate Eyes Public Office In Virginia
In an April 2004 speech at a Muslim American Society conference in Overland Park, Kansas, Dr. Esam Omeish stated that either Islam will "become the dominant religion of the next century" or "we may be forcibly rejected from the West because of forces of intolerance, racism, and bigotry." In 2006, the Muslim American Society made a bold statement at their regional conference in Los Angeles, California, encouraging Muslims to redirect their traditional career paths as doctors, lawyers, and engineers to taking on key roles in media and politics. Speakers hailed media and the political arena as the new battlegrounds where power could be united to forge a Muslim agenda for the United States. One such speaker was Dr. Esam Omeish. Present at this conference, I found it interesting that while several speakers from the Muslim American Society spoke of a dual identity, being American and Muslim, Omeish's charged rhetoric was distinctly Islamist. Islamists believe Islam is not merely a private faith, but a religious-political movement that should be the basis for governing society. Fast forward to 2009. Omeish is now a candidate for the 35th district of the Virginia House of Delegates............................ read more

Senate approves bill to mark 'Islam Day'
Hawaii's state Senate overwhelmingly approved a bill Wednesday to celebrate "Islam Day" — over the objections of a few lawmakers who said they didn't want to honor a religion connected to Sept. 11, 2001........................... read more


7. Increase in Knowledge/New Technologies

Wisconsin court upholds GPS tracking by police
Wisconsin police can attach GPS to cars to secretly track anybody’s movements without obtaining search warrants, an appeals court ruled Thursday........................... read more

Census GPS-tagging your home's front door - Coordinates being taken for every residence in nation
According to an online Yahoo program, the Global Position System coordinates for the White House, probably one of the best-known publicly owned buildings in the world, are 38.898590 Latitude and -77.035971 Longitude. And since you know that, it's no big deal for the White House to know the coordinates for your front door, is it? Some people think it is, and are upset over an army of some 140,000 workers hired in part with a $700 million taxpayer-funded contract to collect GPS readings for every front door in the nation. The data collection, presented as preparation for the 2010 Census, is pinpointing with computer accuracy the locations and has raised considerable concern from privacy advocates who have questioned why the information is needed. The privacy advocates also are more than a little worried over what could be done with that information. .. ................. read more


8. Christian Worldview/Issues

Credit Crunch Prompts 3 in 4 Adults to Search for 'Meaning of Life'
New research out this week has revealed that three in four adults are rethinking their core values and big issues like "the meaning of life." Out of 2,500 adults interviewed by U.K.-based Christian Research in April, 70 percent said they were searching because of the credit crunch, or worries about personal finances and job security.. ........................ read more

Signs Point Toward ‘Cataclysmic’ War in Middle East
A former top American intelligence official agrees with a Messianic pastor that major and possibly calamitous events will unfold in the Middle East in the coming year. “I think within 12 months something is going to happen, one way or another,” said retired Lt. Gen. William Boykin, who served as deputy undersecretary of defense for Intelligence from 2003 to 2007. His concerns are echoed by best-selling novelist Joel C. Rosenberg, whose works have uncannily foreshadowed real events including 9/11. I don’t know how much time we have. I believe a cataclysmic war is coming in the Middle East,” he said. Messianic pastor Mark Biltz of El Shaddai ministries in Puyallup, Wash., garnered attention last year with his announcement of the discovery of a rare sequence of lunar and solar eclipses, a “tetrad,” all falling on key feast days on the Jewish calendar over a two-year period. The last time that happened, the Jews recaptured Jerusalem, Biltz said. “The time before that was 1949, 1950, right after they became a nation. But both times it was tied around a major war.” .. ................. read more

Mideast’s Christians Losing Numbers and Sway
Christians used to be a vital force in the Middle East. They dominated Lebanon and filled top jobs in the Palestinian movement. In Egypt, they were wealthy beyond their number. In Iraq, they packed the universities and professions. Across the region, their orientation was a vital link to the West, a counterpoint to prevailing trends. But as Pope Benedict XVI wends his way across the Holy Land this week, he is addressing a dwindling and threatened Christian population driven to emigration by political violence, lack of economic opportunity and the rise of radical Islam. A region that a century ago was 20 percent Christian is about 5 percent today and dropping.. .................. read more

Sweden allows sex-selective abortions
Sweden, which legalized abortion in 1938, has taken its abortion extremism one step further by legalizing “gender based” abortion which allows a mother to decide to abort her baby solely due to his or her sex. .................. read more

More Americans “Pro-Life” Than “Pro-Choice” for First Time
A new Gallup Poll, conducted May 7-10, finds 51% of Americans calling themselves "pro-life" on the issue of abortion and 42% "pro-choice." This is the first time a majority of U.S. adults have identified themselves as pro-life since Gallup began asking this question in 1995. The new results, obtained from Gallup's annual Values and Beliefs survey, represent a significant shift from a year ago, when 50% were pro-choice and 44% pro-life. Prior to now, the highest percentage identifying as pro-life was 46%, in both August 2001 and May 2002.. .................. read more


9. Other Events To Watch

Russia warns of war within a decade over Arctic oil and gas riches
Russia raised the prospect of war in the Arctic yesterday as nations struggle for control of the world’s dwindling energy reserves. The country’s new national security strategy identified the intensifying battle for ownership of vast untapped oil and gas fields around its borders as a source of potential military conflict within a decade. ............................... read more

ElBaradei warns of new nuclear age
The number of potential nuclear weapons states could more than double in a few years unless the major powers take radical steps towards disarmament, the head of the UN's nuclear watchdog has warned. In a Guardian interview, Mohamed ElBaradei said the threat of proliferation was particularly grave in the Middle East, a region he described as a "ticking bomb". ElBaradei, the outgoing director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said the current international regime limiting the spread of nuclear weapons was in danger of falling apart under its own inequity. He predicted that the next wave of proliferation would involve "virtual nuclear weapons states", who can produce plutonium or highly enriched uranium and possess the knowhow to make warheads, but who stop just short of assembling a weapon. They would therefore remain technically compliant with the NPT while being within a couple of months of deploying and using a nuclear weapon................................ read more