Timothy Geithner: “Raise Debt Limit to Infinity”
CNSNews.com wrote on November 19:
“Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said Friday that Congress should stop placing legal limits on the amount of money the government can borrow and effectively lift the debt limit to infinity… Geithner’s Treasury Department quietly warned at the end of October that the Treasury would reach current legal limit on the federal government’s debt by about the end of the year.
“In August 2011, President Barack Obama and Congress agreed to lift the legal debt limit by another $2.4 trillion–allowing the government to borrow up to $16.394 trillion. However, as of the close of business on Thursday, the Treasury had only $154.3 billion of that $2.4 trillion in new borrowing authority left. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid… said last week that the Senate stands ready to increase the debt limit by another $2.4 trillion…”
Of course, lifting any debt ceiling would mean that the incredible, foolish and ungodly borrowing habits of the US government could continue unabated, until the whole house of cards, that the USA has created, will come crumbling down and burying everybody with and under it.
“We Have Turned Our Backs on God”
Newsmax wrote on November 15:
“Franklin Graham charged in an exclusive Newsmax TV interview that America is in a deep economic quagmire because ‘we have turned our backs on God.’ ‘The more we turn our backs on God, the bigger our problem becomes,’ Graham, the son of world-renowned evangelist Billy Graham, tells Newsmax in a wide-ranging interview. “I didn’t hear any of the candidates say that we needed to call our nation to prayer. I didn’t hear any of the candidates say that we needed to ask God for help. We still think that we can work our way out of this problem – and I don’t think we can,’ Graham added. ‘I don’t have confidence in the Republican Party right now, and I don’t have confidence in the Democratic Party. I don’t believe there is leadership in Washington that can solve this problem. We just deal with it as issues for the day, and it kicks the can further and further down the road. We need God’s help to solve this problem – we can’t go without God.’ Last week’s election results, which sent President Barack Obama back to the White House for another four years, put the nation further along a ‘path of destruction,’ Graham said.
“’There is no question that America has been a nation that has been blessed by almighty God. There is no other nation in the history of mankind that has done what this nation has done – and it’s because of God’s hand and his blessing… What has happened is we have allowed ourselves to take God out everything that we do – and I believe that God will judge our nation one day.’ And, ‘maybe God will have to bring our nation to our knees – to where that we just have a complete economic collapse’ to do that, Graham said. ‘Maybe at that point, people will again call upon the name of almighty God.’
“Graham is the president and CEO of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. The association’s tax-exempt status is under threat from a complaint filed with the Internal Revenue Service by the Freedom From Religion Foundation… The move by the Wisconsin group, Graham said, reflected a broader push by the far left. ‘They want to shut the mouths of evangelicals. They want to shut the mouths of Christians. One hundred years ago, political leaders in every community were the pastors. They were the voices that were heard. They were the voices that had the influence. Politicians know that and the government knows that – and they are trying to shut the mouths of especially evangelicals. I’m going to continue to speak out,’ Graham vowed. ‘I’m not afraid. I’m not worried.’”
That the USA has turned its back on God—and that for quite some time now—is without any doubt. God blessed this country because of the faith and obedience of Abraham, so that God promised him unconditionally that He would bless his descendants—and the USA are part of the modern descendants of Abraham. But the fate of the USA is much worse than mere economic downfall. The Bible shows that the USA will be defeated in a nuclear war, and survivors will be brought into captivity. It is then, while in that miserable state, but sadly not before then, that some will begin to repent.
Petraeus: Benghazi Was Terrorist Attack
Newsmax wrote on November 16:
“[The former CIA chief] David Petraeus is telling lawmakers he believed all along that the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. Consulate in Libya was a terrorist attack… Lawmakers say Petraeus told them that CIA talking points written after the attack in Benghazi that killed four Americans referred to it as a terrorist attack. But Petraeus says that reference was removed by other federal agencies that made changes to the CIA’s draft…
“Petraeus’ comments are a challenge to the Obama administration’s timeline of events which indicated the attack on the Libyan consulate were spontaneous, caused by an angry mob upset at an anti-Muslim video… the fact that talking points were changed as information made its way through various agencies is sure to spark another round of controversy for the Obama administration…”
The problems for the US Government don’t seem to diminish, but just to increase constantly.
Loss of Another Sea Gate?
National Review wrote in its November 2012 edition:
“On June 27, a plane carrying Wen Jiabao made a ‘technical’ stop on the island of Terceira, in the Azores. Following an official greeting by Alamo Meneses, the regional secretary of environment of the sea, the Chinese premier spent four hours touring the remote Portuguese outpost in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Wen’s Terceira walkabout, which followed a four-nation visit to South America, largely escaped notice at the time, but alarm bells should have immediately gone off in Washington and in European capitals. For one thing, Wen’s last official stop on the trip was Santiago, the capital of Chile. Flights from Chile to China normally cross the Pacific, not the Atlantic, so there was no reason for his plane to be near the Azores…
“Terceira, however, has one big attraction for Beijing: Air Base No. 4. Better known as Lajes Field, the facility where Premier Wen’s 747 landed in June is jointly operated by the U.S. Air Force and its Portuguese counterpart. If China controlled the base, the Atlantic would no longer be secure. From the 10,865-foot runway on the northeast edge of the island, Chinese planes could patrol the northern and central portions of the Atlantic and thereby cut air and sea traffic between the U.S. and Europe. Beijing would also be able to deny access to the nearby Mediterranean Sea. And China could target the American homeland. Lajes is less than 2,300 miles from New York, shorter than the distance between Pearl Harbor and Los Angeles.
“Lajes is certainly the reason Wen went out of his way to win friends in Terceira. For years his country has been trying to make inroads into the Azores and waiting for opportunities to pounce. There is nothing the Chinese can do if the U.S. stays, but Pentagon budget cutters, according to some observers, are planning to make Lajes a ‘ghost base.’…
“In recent years, Beijing has identified Portugal as its entry point into Europe, and Chinese officials now know their way to Lisbon. It is in this context that the Portuguese are already thinking about the planned closure of Lajes Field. They don’t want to invite the Chinese in, but they have quietly indicated they will have no choice if the U.S. Air Force decides to leave the base…
“We will, as a longtime ally, need to work closely with Lisbon over an especially thorny issue, but in the interim, there are things that can be done. For instance, it’s not entirely clear why the U.S. Africa Command should be based at Kelley Barracks, outside Stuttgart. A transfer of the approximately 1,500 staff there to Lajes, which is much closer to Africa, would solve the problem overnight, and the move might actually improve Africom’s effectiveness. There are undoubtedly other stopgap solutions that the Pentagon could implement. None of them will be perfect, but all of them would be better than having Beijing’s red flag flying over the Atlantic — and permitting Chinese aircraft to patrol the waters connecting America to Europe.”
The Bible has prophesied that the USA and the UK will lose all its strategic sea gates. They have already lost most of them, and it seems that another one is about to fall into the hands of the Chinese.
“Outrageous” Decision by England’s Charity Commission Against Churches
Mail on Line wrote on November 16:
“MPs are demanding an inquiry into the Charity Commission after the watchdog banned a Christian group from charitable status on the grounds that religion is not always for ‘public benefit’. More than 50 MPs from all the main parties have signed a Commons motion calling on the charity regulator to think again, amid fears that hundreds of religious groups could be stripped of their tax-exempt status, threatening their very existence.
“They accuse the Charity Commission of ‘politically correct bias’ against faith groups after it ruled that the Preston Down Trust of the Plymouth Brethren Church – which has 16,000 members across Britain – is not entitled to charitable status because it does not do enough good works in the community…
“Tory MP Robert Halfon said: ‘There is something rotten in the Charity Commission. I cannot understand why the Brethren, good people who do so much in their communities, have been singled out. I believe an inquiry is needed into the role of the Charity Commission, to consider how it came to make the decision. What has happened is unjust and is creating fear in many churches across the country.’
“Garth Christie, an elder in the Plymouth Brethren… said that he and the other members had spent hundreds of thousands of pounds on trying to prove their charitable status, and they would appeal all the way to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg if necessary. The group has already appealed to the Charity Tribunal in what is seen as a test case that could threaten the charitable status of hundreds of small religious groups.
“Several MPs are threatening to table amendments to the Small Charitable Donations Bill before Parliament later this month in a bid to protect faith groups… The threat to amend the Small Charitable Donations Bill seeks to overturn measures in the 2006 Charities Act which removed the presumption for charities that education, religion, or poverty relief are for the public benefit.
“In a ruling that sent shockwaves through even the established church, the Charity Commission ruled that its decision ‘makes it clear that there was no presumption that religion generally, or at any more specific level, is for the public benefit, even in the case of Christianity or the Church of England’. The commission’s decision will have a huge impact on the Brethren’s tax relief…”
This decision is just another example of a development in Europe severely limiting the rights of religious freedom and free exercise of religion… and this move is of course directed at the smaller churches.
Israel’s Coming Wars at Several Fronts
Stratfor Global Intelligence wrote on November 17:
“While Hamas is preparing for an Israeli ground assault into Gaza, Hezbollah’s movements on Israel’s northern frontier bear close watching. Iranian Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi on Nov. 17 called on the Muslim world to retaliate against Israeli actions in Gaza. Naturally, many are looking in the direction of Lebanon, where Hezbollah, Iran’s most capable militant proxy, could open a second front against Israel.
“Though Iran would welcome the opportunity to demonstrate the spectrum of its militant proxy strength, especially after supplying Hamas with the long-range Fajr-5 rockets that have been targeting Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, Hezbollah will likely be extremely cautious in deciding whether to participate in this war. The group’s fate is linked to that of the embattled regime of Syrian President Bashar al Assad; should Syria fracture along sectarian lines, Lebanon is likely to descend into civil war, and Hezbollah will have to conserve its strength and resources for a battle at home against its sectarian rivals. Indeed, Hezbollah has already been preparing for such a scenario by seizing control of villages along the Orontes River Basin in order to maintain connectivity with Syria’s Alawite community.
“At the same time, if Hamas is able to bog down Israeli ground forces by drawing them into a war of attrition in densely populated Gaza City, Hezbollah may see a political opportunity to burnish its credentials as the region’s leading ‘resistance’ movement. In this case, Hezbollah would likely monitor the situation until it could be assured that Israeli forces are sufficiently constrained on the Gaza front before it begins attacks on the northern front… Israel is already preparing for a two-front contingency…”
Ultimately, Israel will be attacked from all fronts, and there will be nobody there to help. Note the next article as well.
Turkey Condemns Israel
CBS wrote on November 19:
“A top Turkish official has claimed that Israel is committing acts of terrorism by bombing Hamas targets in Gaza. Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan told the Eurasian Islamic Council conference in Istanbul that the Jewish state is systematically mass-killing Muslims. ‘Those who associate Islam with terrorism close their eyes in the face of mass killing of Muslims, turn their heads from the massacre of children in Gaza,’ Erdogan said, according to Reuters. ‘For this reason, I say that Israel is a terrorist state, and its acts are terrorist acts.’…
“Obama reiterated U.S. support for Israel’s right to self-defense and discussed possible ways to scale back the conflict, the White House said. It did not offer specifics. Separately, Obama called Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi on Friday and praised Egypt’s efforts to ease tensions in the region, the White House said. Obama expressed hope that Egypt’s efforts would be successful, officials said. In both calls, Obama expressed regret for the loss of Israeli and Palestinian civilian lives and underscored the importance of resolving the situation as quickly as possible.”
President Obama wants to please both sides, and won’t please either. Egypt and Turkey are turning against Israel to become strong enemies of Israel, as the Bible predicted. Note also the next article.
Egypt Turns Against Israel
The New York Times wrote on November 19:
“While holding itself out as an honest broker for truce talks between Israel and Hamas over the Gaza conflict, Egypt’s new government sought on Monday to plunge into the battle over international public opinion on behalf of the Palestinian cause — an arena where the Israelis, more experienced in the world of the free press and democratic politics, have historically dominated.
“In Egypt’s most concerted effort to win more global public support for the Palestinians, advisers to Egypt’s President Mohamed Morsi, a former leader of the Muslim Brotherhood who has been an outspoken supporter of Hamas, invited foreign correspondents in Cairo to a background briefing at which a senior Egyptian official sought to blame Israel for the conflict while at the same time maintaining Egypt’s role as an intermediary pressing both sides for peace…
“Speaking on condition of anonymity to avoid upsetting the talks with the Israelis, the Egyptian official argued that the West, which supports Israel’s right to defend itself against rocket attacks from Gaza, was essentially blaming the victim… He implicitly compared the leaders of Hamas to George Washington in America or Charles de Gaulle in France: Heros because they resisted foreign occupation by armed force…”
The negative outcome of the Arab Spring for Israel becomes more and more obvious. But the liberal press is still refusing to admit it, and everyone’s praise for President Morsi’s accomplishment of a ceasefire arrangement between Israel and Hamas is shortsighted and premature at best. Even in the unlikely event that it holds, it did not and will not change a thing. Note the next two articles.
“Tenuous Truce”
The Washington Times wrote on November 21:
“The tenuous truce between Israel and Hamas militants after eight days of savage fighting now relies on Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi to guarantee the cease-fire he spent days crafting. Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, who once suggested bombing the Aswan Dam and flooding the Nile Valley in Egypt, went out of his way Wednesday to praise Mr. Morsi, a member of the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood…
“Mr. Morsi played a delicate diplomatic role as a leader of the Brotherhood, which sided with Hamas in the conflict. Last week, Mr. Morsi called Israelis the ‘aggressors’ after they retaliated for months of Hamas rocket attacks on Israeli communities. He even threatened Israel, claiming they will ‘pay a heavy price if they continue this aggression.’
“However, Mr. Morsi balanced his support for Hamas — an offshoot of the Brotherhood that is dedicated to Israel’s destruction — with his need for support from the United States, which sided with Israel and defended the Jewish state’s right to defend itself from terrorist attacks…President Obama ‘thanked President Morsi for his efforts to achieve a sustainable cease-fire and for his personal leadership in negotiating a cease-fire proposal,’ the White House said. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who rushed to the region Tuesday to help with the peace talks, also praised Mr. Morsi, saying Egypt is ‘assuming responsibility and leadership’ in the Middle East.
“She warned, however, that this ‘is a critical time for the region.’ Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak also cautioned about the reliability of a cease-fire with Hamas. ‘We expect the agreements to be fully honored, but from past experience we are aware it might be short-lived,’ he said. Although Israel agreed to a cease-fire, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned of ‘severe military action’ if Hamas or Islamic Jihad, another designated terrorist group in Gaza, breaks the truce…
“Israel insisted that the agreement announced in Cairo deal only with a cessation of hostilities. Negotiations on other substantive issues will begin in a few days after Israel confirms that the Palestinians are honoring the cease-fire. Mr. Obama also applauded Mr. Netanyahu and expressed his ‘appreciation for the prime minister’s efforts to work’ the Egyptian government, the White House said…
“Mr. Obama promised the Israeli leader additional U.S. funding for Israel’s Iron Dome missile-defense system that shot down incoming rockets. The system destroyed at least 360 Palestinian rockets and deflected others… Israel flew more than 1,500 airstrikes, killing 161 Palestinians. Israeli officials said most of those killed were Hamas terrorists, although others were civilians… Mr. Netanyahu left open the option for a ground invasion of the Gaza Strip if the cease-fire fails…
“The Cairo agreement requires Israel to end airstrikes and targeted assassinations of suspected terrorists in Gaza and for Hamas to stop shelling Israel and trying to send terrorists across the border. Future talks will deal with Hamas’ demands for Israel to lift the embargo imposed on the territory five years ago, when Hamas seized power and started attacking Israel. Israel also is demanding an end to the flow of weapons into the Gaza Strip. Iran has been Hamas’ chief arms supplier…”
Fragile Ceasefire
The Times of Israel wrote on November 21:
“The absence of a ground operation speaks to the vulnerabilities that both sides prefer to conceal. Israel, though it states publicly that it has the right to defend itself, knows that Hamas rockets cannot be silenced without a prolonged house-to-house ground offensive, which could claim thousands of lives and erode further Israel’s public standing in the world.
“Moreover, as King Abdullah of Jordan reportedly made clear Tuesday afternoon to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, such an operation could threaten the stability of the entire region — that was a nice way of the king saying that Jordanian Hamas members could topple the Hashemite throne, leaving Israel’s eastern border open to Islamist regimes and chaos all the way through to India…
“Iran and its proxy Hezbollah sat remarkably still during the days of warfare between Israel and Gaza. But surely the silence from Tehran and the Dahieh is not to be interpreted as a lack of concentration. Quds Force leaders will chart where the rockets fell, how Israelis responded, and which salvos proved most difficult for Iron Dome to handle. They will readjust their smuggling routes as necessary and make every attempt to keep Hamas — in essence, the first Sunni Islamist revolutionaries of the Arab Spring — within its Shiite sphere of influence.
“In agreeing to an Egypt-brokered ceasefire, Israel, too, can learn a perhaps unpleasant lesson about its ongoing and looming struggle with Iran… both Iran and Hamas have arduously amassed weapons — whether by tunneling through the sand or moving the chess pieces of a military nuclear program forward in a masterful way… On both fronts, as even the ceasefire appears to indicate, Israel will have to consider making painful concessions.
“Finally, as relates to the conflict with Hamas, the real test will be not so much in the immediately disputed provisions of the agreement, but in the reality that ensues… If, in several months, the flow of weapons resumes its pace, then lsrael’s accomplishments will be quickly forgotten and all too swiftly challenged.”
Germany Wants Strategic Partnership with Arab League
German-Foreign-Policy.com wrote on November 16:
“The German foreign minister is pleading for a ‘strategic partnership’ between the European Union and the Arab League. During a meeting of foreign ministers of the two organizations, yesterday in Cairo, Guido Westerwelle noted that lately, the association of Arab states has been ‘assuming a growing amount of regional responsibility,’ which is why cooperation should be reinforced. Observers have been pointing out for quite some time that following the overthrow of the secular regimes in Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya, the dictatorships on the Arabian Peninsular have seized leadership of the Arab League, and are using their newly acquired margin of maneuver to reinforce Islamist forces throughout the Arab world – including those among Syrian insurgents. They are cooperating closely with the West – which hopes to set them against Iran and uses Islamist associations in other countries, for example in Egypt. The losers are the secular forces, which, since 2010, have been in rebellion to overthrow their repressive, western-collaborating, secular regimes and who are now confronted with repressive, Islamist allies of the EU and USA…
“At the EU/Arab League foreign ministers’ meeting in Cairo yesterday, the German Foreign Minister demanded that cooperation between these two regional organizations be significantly enhanced. ‘I would like to see the Arab League become a strategic partner of the European Union’ proclaimed Westerwelle, and pointed to the League’s substantial increase in activity since the beginning of the transformation process in the Arab world in early 2011…
“The plans for cooperation are flanking the unrelenting intensification of German cooperation with Islamist forces in North Africa, as well as in the Middle East. For example, Berlin had already expanded its links to the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood before Islamist President Muhammad Mursi took office. German authorities are also cooperating with Syrian Muslim Brotherhood militants, in their efforts to overthrow Syria’s president. In Morocco, Tunisia and Libya, from the standpoint of the German government, a pronouncedly closer cooperation with the respective dominant Islamist networks is indispensible[sic]. Therefore, this development has been observed by experts and think tanks for quite a while. The CDU-affiliated Konrad Adenauer Foundation had recently published a study on this subject. According to the paper on North African Islamist sectors, which, up to now, the West had only confronted militarily within the framework of the so-called war on terror, but is now being sought as allies, ‘detailed information’ is currently lacking on major aspects of these milieus, which are ‘not very transparent to the outside world.’…
“Social concepts pursued by the new Islamist rulers are currently of little interest to the West. ‘The only sectors that are relatively immune to constant reference to Islam are the economic and foreign policy sectors,’ writes the Adenauer Foundation… The Gulf dictatorships, which have taken over leadership in the Arab League, throughout the past few years, have proven themselves to be the most trustworthy Western allies throughout the Middle East – in spite of, or perhaps because of, their repression of any democratic movement within their respective borders. Under their influence, the Sunnite-Islamist form of worshiping Islam is becoming the force of social cohesion throughout the entire region, enabling them to oppose, in a consolidated front, those forces considered a threat by the West – Shiite Iran, as well as its allied Shiite associations elsewhere in the Middle East…”
This perceptive article is in total line with the prophecies of the Bible. We read in Psalm 83:3-8 that a confederacy of Arab nations will try to wipe Israel off the map, and modern-day Assyria (i.e. Germany) will be part of it. Shiite nations, however, such as Iran and Syria, are not mentioned in the context. In this regard, the next article should not come as a surprise.
EU Warns Israel
Haaretz reported on November 19:
“[The] White House and European countries, including Britain, France and Germany express strong opposition to ground operation… Both Netanyahu and Barak are said to be reluctant to launch a ground operation, believing it should be ordered only if Hamas rebuffs all of Egypt’s mediation efforts. The two fear the diplomatic fallout that a ground operation would have on Israel’s relationships with Egypt and Jordan, as well as the blow such an operation would deliver to Israel’s image in the west.
“Strong messages against launching a ground invasion have been issued by the White House and European countries, including Britain, France and Germany… On Sunday, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius arrived to tell Netanyahu that a ground invasion of Gaza would gravely endanger Palestinian civilians and make it difficult for the international community to continue giving the current Operation Pillar of Defense its backing… The EU ministers Monday expressed support for Israel’s right to defend itself and condemned the rocket fire from Gaza, but in the same breath called for a cease-fire and demanded that Israel act proportionately and avoid harming innocent civilians…
“It’s unlikely, however, that many of the demands made by both Israel and Hamas will be readily accepted by other parties. For example, Israel is demanding that any cease-fire remain in place for a period of several years. Israel is also demanding an Egyptian commitment to prevent the smuggling of weapons from Sinai into Gaza, and that Hamas or other terror group members be kept 500 meters from the border fence. Israel also wants international assurance that, if necessary, it would be allowed to operate over the border to foil terror attacks.
“Hamas, for its part, wants the naval blockade of Gaza removed, and the full opening of all the border crossings to and from Israel – particularly the regular opening of the Rafah crossing with Egypt for the passage of people and goods. Hamas also wants international assurances that Israel will stop the assassination of senior members of the Palestinian factions.”
Merkel Ahead Only Because of Lack of Competition
Der Spiegel Online wrote on November 19:
“With less than a year to go before Germans head to the polls for the 2013 general election, a quick glance at public opinion surveys would seem to indicate that Chancellor Angela Merkel has little to fear from her center-left challenger Peer Steinbrück. Her party holds a comfortable lead of 39 percent to 30 percent and some 53 percent would prefer to see Merkel remain chancellor, compared to just 38 percent backing Steinbrück.
“Such numbers, however, don’t tell the whole story. In reality, German voters are not at all impressed with the job her government is doing… an overwhelming majority believes that Merkel’s governing coalition… is not focused on the public good… close to seven out of 10 Germans think that Merkel’s coalition only pursues special interests, with just 24 percent believing that the public good is her administration’s priority. Furthermore, 65 percent of respondents believe the Merkel’s government is ‘not at all’ or ‘not very strongly’ focused on problems of the future…
“Not surprisingly, Merkel’s key coalition partner, the FDP, has emerged as the greatest drag on her government’s popularity… the party remains below the 5 percent hurdle necessary for representation in German parliament… Ironically, despite voters’ apparent frustration with the work of Merkel’s government, her own popularity remains high and most tend to believe that she is cutting a good figure in the euro crisis. The chancellor is, in fact, the most popular politician in Germany at the moment according to a separate survey conducted last week. Right behind her, Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble, with 67 percent surveyed valuing his performance as ‘very good.’”
All personal favoritism aside—the growing discontent of the German people with the German government will lead to a surprising rise of a powerful charismatic figure, who will enter the political arena and the occupation of the highly esteemed leadership role through flattery. Once in power, his mind will change, and he will become dictatorial and even demonically possessed. Biblical descriptions in the book of Daniel of certain “kings of the North” — leaders of the ancient Roman Empire and its revivals — are striking and very relevant today. A famous figure of the very distant past, i.e. Antiochus Epiphanes—and another figure of the not-too-distant past—Adolf Hitler–serve as historical example and forerunner of what the Bible predicts to happen very soon.
Powerful Solar Storms Coming
About.com wrote in its current November edition:
“NASA is predicting that the coming solar maximum could produce very energetic solar flares and coronal mass ejecta. These events have the potential to cause significant damage to our power grid as well as our orbiting satellites. But how do we know what to expect?… Should a solar storm erupt in the coming years, it will release a massive amount of high energy charged particles streaming toward Earth. Such a storm occurred in 1859.
“Shortly after the Sun reached solar maximum in 1859, the Sun experienced a significant increase in sun spot activity as well as a sequence of intense solar flares. The largest solar flare on record during the maximum was then observed by British astronomer Richard Carrington. The result of the flare was a coronal mass ejection that sent charged particles streaming toward Earth, reaching the atmosphere only 18 hours after the ejection. This is startlingly quick given that the trip normally takes several days.
“Once the particles reach the Earth they caused a series of phenomena to occur, the likes of which the Earth has not experienced since. First of all, charged particles are usually captured by the Earth’s magnetic field, and primarily get funneled to the poles. There, they interact with the Earth’s atmosphere creating brilliant colors known as aurorae. In this case, however, the flux of particles was so high that the magnetic field could not shield the Earth from them all. So instead of aurorae only being created near the poles, they came into existence throughout the Earth. Reports of aurorae were common over the Caribbean, as well as the central United States. At one point the glow in the Rocky Mountains was such that it awoke the sleeping miners, causing them to begin getting prepared for the day, believing that it was in fact dawn.
“Another, and perhaps more significant, problem was that the charged particle flux began to reek [sic] havoc on electronic systems. Specifically, failure of telegraph systems worldwide were reported. Knowing that such an event has happened in our worlds history would surely lead the world’s leaders to prepare for another such event, right? With all of today’s advanced technology we must be prepared.
“Well, no. In fact a report commissioned by the office of the President showed that… such a storm would not only cause problems for electronic devices, but could potentially bring down the entire power grid. And not just here, but around the world. The kind of damage that would be caused could take months or, more likely, years to repair. Could you imagine? No electricity for years? No phones, no computers, no internet? That is the possibility that we are facing. However, this would take a massive storm like the one in 1859 to even approach such cataclysmic events, but it is something that we need to be aware of…”
Cosmic disturbances will occur. The Bible refers to most of them as the heavenly signs—the fifth seal of the seven seals in the Book of Revelation.
Christ Born Several Years before 1 AD and Christmas Derived From Paganism
The Telegraph wrote on November 22:
“The entire Christian calendar is based on a miscalculation, the Pope has declared, as he claims in a new book that Jesus was born several years earlier than commonly believed… ‘The calculation of the beginning of our calendar – based on the birth of Jesus – was made by Dionysius Exiguus, who made a mistake in his calculations by several years,’ the Pope writes in the book, which went on sale around the world with an initial print run of a million copies. ‘The actual date of Jesus’s birth was several years before.’
“The assertion that the Christian calendar is based on a false premise is not new – many historians believe that Christ was born sometime between 7BC and 2BC [Actually, He was born in 4 BC]. But the fact that doubts over one of the keystones of Christian tradition have been raised by the leader of the world’s one billion Catholics is striking…
“John Barton, Professor of the Interpretation of the Holy Scripture at Oriel College, Oxford University, said most academics agreed with the Pope that the Christian calendar was wrong and that Jesus was born several years earlier than commonly thought, probably between 6BC and 4BC. ‘There is no reference to when he was born in the Bible – all we know is that he was born in the reign of Herod the Great, who died before 1AD,’ he told The Daily Telegraph. ‘It’s been surmised for a very long time that Jesus was born before 1AD – no one knows for sure.’
“The idea that Christ was born on Dec 25 also has no basis in historical fact. ‘We don’t even know which season he was born in. The whole idea of celebrating his birth during the darkest part of the year is probably linked to pagan traditions and the winter solstice.’”
The Financial Curse of Christmas
CNBC reported on November 19:
“Despite a whittling away of consumer debt that has been underway since the recession, many Americans are still entering the holiday season unprepared to cope with the expenses that crop up around this time of year… Some 45 percent… said the holiday season brings so much financial pressure, they would prefer to skip it altogether. Almost half said their level of stress related to holiday expenses is high or extremely high. That’s probably because nearly the same amount — some 45 percent — say they do not expect to have enough money set aside to cover holiday expenses… the financial anxiety may be more widespread than it had been in prior years…
“Half of the consumers polled in the survey who make between $75,000 and $99,999, said they would put items on layaway, and 32 percent who earn more than $100,000 said they did. Think Finance CEO Ken Rees said the fact that consumers of all income levels are using layaway shows there is a demand for financial options beyond just credit cards… ‘everyday Americans are still working hard to cover expenses making holiday spending particularly stressful,’ Rees said.
“It’s easy to understand why the holidays are a source of worry when you consider how many Americans are living paycheck to paycheck. About 41 percent said they would only be able to get by for two weeks without a paycheck, while an additional 25 percent say they could only survive a month. The holidays are expected to only make the situation worse. About 59 percent of those in the survey expect to carry debt with them into the New Year, including more than half — some 54 percent — of those who earn more than $100,000 a year.”
But they still are willing to keep a pagan Feast which has nothing to do with true Christianity. For our readers outside the USA, we might want to explain the concept of “layaway.” The Wikipedia Encyclopedia says the following: “Layaway (lay-by in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa) is an agreement in which the seller reserves an item for a consumer until the consumer completes all the payments necessary to pay for that item. Rather than taking the item home and then repaying the debt on a regular schedule…, the layaway customer does not receive the item until it is completely paid for. There is sometimes a fee associated, since the seller must ‘lay’ the item ‘away’ in storage until the payments are completed. Because there is little risk involved for the seller, layaway can be readily offered to those with bad credit. If the transaction is not completed, the item is returned to stock and the customer’s money is returned minus a fee. The main advantage of layaway is that no interest is charged.”
