The Name of the Antichrist?

For the record, I do not believe that our president is the Antichrist. On this my wife and I agree to disagree.

I believe that he might be a foreshadowing of the Antichrist, most likely unknowingly. There have been others.

If you but take President Barack Hussein Obama at face value, he is certainly an enemy of capitalism and of the U.S. Constitution as it is written. That, in my opinion, is enough to cause great damage.

But a viral video on Youtube is certainly worth throwing into the ruminative mix, as an American Christian, a preacher I would guess, has done some research into the old Hebrew words for Lightning from the Heavens, as in Luke 10:18 where Jesus remarks, "I beheld Satan as lightning falling from Heaven."

The result?

Baraq UBamah

Coincidence?

I link; you decide.

Was the Ark of the Covenant Unveiled Today?

At the risk of diverting your attention from that important phone call to your congressman to inform him that he should vote no on Waxman-Markey (Cap'n Tax) later today, there is this story out of Ethiopia:

Holy Ark Announcement Due on Friday (today)

(IsraelNN.com) An Ethiopian church leader says Friday, June 26, marks the right time to unveil the Biblical Ark of the Covenant, which he says has been hidden in his church for centuries.

Abuna Pauolos, Patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, was in Rome this week to meet with Pope Benedict XVI. While there, he told reporters that the time had come to reveal before the world the Holy Ark. He said that the holy container has been in the custody of his church for hundreds of years.

Paulous said he would make the full announcement this Friday, June 26, 2 PM local time (3 PM Israel time, 8 AM New York time) at a press conference in Rome.

That means that about 7 a.m. our time "something" was unveiled. But let's hope it wasn't the real McCoy.

Why?

Because the return of the real Ark of the Covenant appears in various prophecies of the time of the Antichrist, where it will be revealed by Enoch and Elijah, the two "witness" patriarchs. (Neither Enoch nor Elijah died, as they were taken away to a special place on God's command.) This pair will enrage Antichrist, who will kill them. They will rise again with the whole world watching which will trigger Antichrist's attempt to duplicate Jesus' Ascension. This will end badly for Antichrist.

Since Antichrist isn't here yet -- with apologies to all those who think Obama qualifies -- this can't be the real thing.

Unless the prophecies are wrong.

I would spend more time worrying about Waxman-Markey ("Cap'n Tax").

Bad Times in Guatemala City

Every once in awhile someone gets the headline wrong.

The headline on Drudge Sunday was, "Guatemala in Uproar After Lawyer Predicts Own Murder." That happened to be the headline on the linked article as well.

But the headline should have read:

Guatemala in Uproar After Lawyer Correctly Predicts Own Murder

His allegations that drug money was being laundered through the presidential offices of the First Lady may have struck a raw nerve with someone.

Rodrigo Rosenberg, a middle-aged Guatemalan lawyer, has become an unlikely YouTube star in macabre circumstances. In a video recorded last Friday at the offices of a friend, he sits behind a desk and talks at the camera for 15 minutes.

"If you are hearing this message," Rosenberg begins, "unfortunately, it is because I have been murdered by the president's private secretary, Gustavo Alejos, and his partner, Gregorio Valdez, with the approval of Álvaro Colom and Sandra de Colom [Guatemala's president and first lady]."

Two days later, on Sunday, Rosenberg was shot while riding his bicycle in Guatemala City. He died on the street.

Apparently this happened a week ago, by the way. If you are wondering what this guy was doing riding a bicycle in Guatemala City under the circumstances, you are not alone. Of course, there are a lot of bicycle riders in Ciudad de Guatemala; maybe he thought he could blend in with the crowd. Plus, you eliminate the possibility of a car bomb, something not entirely unknown in this beautiful but corrupt city.

And maybe he figured he was marked for death anyway. Why not make it easy?

I've been to Guatemala a couple of times, and love the place, though I prefer the mountain villages. Notwithstanding its reputation as a hotbed of rebellion and drug running, the vast majority of Guatemalans are wonderful, friendly people who would like nothing better than for the hell-raisers to leave town, or get buried in the next inevitable earthquake or mudslide.

I do have a quibble with this story, however, in that the reporter states that "after a brutal military dictatorship lasting nearly 40 years to 1996 ..." That is pure B.S. The people have elected their presidents every four years pretty much most of the second half of the 20th century until today. Some of those presidents have been military men, true, but they had the votes. What happened in 1996 is that the government finally signed a peace agreement formally ending a 36-year war with Marxist insurgents. I guess that's the excuse the Brit reporter needed to declare everything before that "brutal."

The problem with Guatemala is that it is in between the drug-producing nations of South America and the United States, and the drug cartels are increasingly flexing their muscles over the government and social life of several South American countries.

The one thing you can count on is that left-leaning presidents, popularly elected or not, would rather cooperate with the drug lords than fight with them. There's more money in it that way, plus it's healthier than bicycling.

Prophecy Fulfilled -- Food Supply Threatened

This prophetic word was given to one who wishes to remain anonymous on Dec. 22, 2004. It was a followup word to the famous 1990 prophecy to the same man:

"The world is now seriously out of conformance with the Will of God and what He created and intended. There are those who would reconfigure the very creatures He has formed, and who meddle with the texture of life. For this reason, the Lord will allow a huge reorientation. If not for the action of Heaven, what God has created on earth will soon be damaged beyond recovery. A very dramatic effect already is in progress as regards the support structures of what man calls nature. Such cannot be allowed to take the final realization of total realignment when it comes to the very way elements and life forces interact."

Did you know that a great deal of the food products on store shelves today contain genetically modified ingredients? (For shorthand we will call them GM.)

Did you know that in some parts of the world the soil is becoming sterile because GM plants that produce their own weed killers and bug killers are also killing the helpful bacteria in the dirt in which they are planted? (The very definition of "Soil" includes the presence of living organisms.)

Author and webmaster Mike Brown today posts an eye-popping, fact-filled analysis of what is happening to our food supply. If you care about your health, and that of your family, you need to read this.

We have long wondered what that could be, and now are looking at a dramatic effect that indeed is in progress: the genetic alteration of our crops and food supply.

Unbeknownst to most Americans, scientists at some of the same chemical companies that gave us dangerous substances like dioxin and PCBs are now patenting and producing large volumes of genetically-altered seed, especially soy, corn, and cotton.

So widespread is genetically-modified food -- which does not have to be labeled as such -- that it is in much of the popcorn, soy sauce, and candy in the U.S

This is not food from hybrid plants; this is food from crops that have been fundamentally altered -- often with genes not only from other plants but from animals. The boundaries between what God created -- the species boundaries -- have been breached.

"With biotechnology, roses are no longer crossed with just roses," frets one natural food website. "They are mated with pigs, tomatoes with oak trees, fish with donkeys, butterflies with worms, orchids with snakes."

Read carefully.

Are we, as our president now proclaims, "restoring science to her rightful place," or are we elevating science to the rightful province that belongs to Nature's God alone?

Some bullet points:

-- In the span of one three-year period, according to a report, seventy million acres of American land were converted to raise genetically-altered crops. This was all occurring in the precise time period of the alleged prophecy (the evaluation went to 2005 -- a month after the alleged "word").

-- Ten corporations now control companies supplying 55 percent of the planet's commercial seeds.

-- genetically-altered pollen has wafted from significant distances, contaminating organic crops. Support structures indeed: 12,000 years of sustainable agriculture is on the brink of changing overnight.

-- According to the Grocery Manufacturers of America, between seventy and seventy-five percent of processed grocery products will soon have genetically-modified products. Anything derived from corn, canola, soy, or cottonseed is suspect.

"All you can say is that a lot of these processed foods are suspect," says Andrew Stocklinski --- Ph.D. in pharmaceutical chemistry, former professor at the University of Georgia, former researcher for a major drug company and a self-made organic farmer, gesturing with a box of corn dogs. "There is no way any shopper can tell for certain whether genetically modified material is present in any of these products. There's nothing on the label to tell you, so all we can do is make an educated guess."

These are just the highlights of the article, and of the problem facing us. Forget global warming, the nationalization of the auto and health care industries, the takeover of the banking system. If our food system collapses because of big corporations and their scientists meddling for profit, you won't have to worry about any of the other.

What can you do? First, inform yourself. Then pray. Then get active.

This is an issue that transcends politics and party. There is no left and right when it comes to eating.

There is only right or wrong; survival or disaster.

An Evangelist's Prophetic Warning

I would be remiss not to pass along links to David Wilkerson's recent blog posts detailing a message of warning that God's justice is about to the visited upon the sins of America.

Wilkerson is the author of "The Cross and the Switchblade," and is a well-known evangelist.

What I find intriguing in his warning, and an update, is it's correlation in detail with several Catholic predictions. I also appreciate Wilkerson's acknowledgment that he does not know the exact timing when the things he has been told will come to pass, only that they will come to pass "soon." In prophetic terms, the word "soon" can mean tomorrow, next week, or ten years from now. The conundrum for the person who only sort of wants to pay attention, is that procrastination could well mean getting the timing wrong. The prudent act now.

In his initial post, Wilkerson said:

AN EARTH-SHATTERING CALAMITY IS ABOUT TO HAPPEN. IT IS GOING TO BE SO FRIGHTENING, WE ARE ALL GOING TO TREMBLE - EVEN THE GODLIEST AMONG US.

For ten years I have been warning about a thousand fires coming to New York City. It will engulf the whole megaplex, including areas of New Jersey and Connecticut. Major cities all across America will experience riots and blazing fires—such as we saw in Watts, Los Angeles, years ago.

There will be riots and fires in cities worldwide. There will be looting—including Times Square, New York City. What we are experiencing now is not a recession, not even a depression. We are under God’s wrath. In Psalm 11 it is written,

“If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?” (v. 3).

God is judging the raging sins of America and the nations. He is destroying the secular foundations.

There is more but you get the idea. If you are a secular humanist calculating the effects of a greater depression in urban areas, you would probably find yourself nodding agreement on the results, if not the cause.

In his update, Wilkerson provided a more hopeful (and perhaps helpful) guideline for the faithful:

" ... How should the righteous respond to such a word?”

I can only answer by sharing what the Holy Spirit is speaking to my own heart and what I am to do. I shared that I was led in a practical way to lay aside a month’s supply of food — because I have witnessed the panic in the wake of terrorism. That has to be a personal word for every individual.

This is what I hear the Holy Spirit speaking to my heart concerning my own spiritual response to impending calamity. It is simply this —STAND STILL AND SEE THE SALVATION OF THE LORD.

“And Moses said to the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will show you today…The Lord shall fight for you, and you shall hold your peace” (Exodus 14:13-14).

This is the attitude of faith in the face of calamity. [SNIP]

Beloved, my warning is just one voice among many who are saying the same thing. We may all tremble for a season, but those who truly know God’s Word will be quickly comforted by the Holy Spirit. We will be baptized with a great peace — a supernatural quietness — which will be a tremendous witness to the fearful multitudes.

As Wilkerson says, and as I say again, discernment is yours.

Reliance on Prophecy an Excuse for Laziness?

Is your belief in the imminent return of Jesus keeping you from doing your patriotic duty to save your country from collapse into socialism? Are you so convinced, for instance, that you will be Raptured out of here before the Antichrist that you don't feel it's worth lifting your voice to protest the slide into a one-world economic order?

I read an interesting article by Baptist pastor Chuck Baldwin that deals with this subject, and I think it's worth passing along because the issue is something I've worried about as well. A couple of excerpts, and then some thoughts:

I, too, believe in the imminent return of Jesus Christ to earth. But, then again, so did Christians from every generation over the last two millennia. In fact, the Apostle Paul was looking for the return of Christ while he lived (Philippians 3:20). But does anticipation of Christ's Second Coming excuse personal neglect, indifference, and downright laziness? Of course not.

Had pastors and Christians of colonial America believed and acted as most Christians believe and act today, this country would still be a Crown colony and we would never have known the freedoms and liberties that our forebears bequeathed to us. Christians of that era, however, believed that it was their duty and obligation to fight for right and do everything within their power to resist tyranny. They also believed that God would honor and bless their efforts, which He certainly did!

... millions of Christians across America are trying to play God. They talk as if they know when Christ will come. It's actually worse than that. They have the attitude that they have no personal responsibility to defend freedom and resist despotism. They seem to look at God as some kind of glorified fireman, who is obligated to rush in at the last minute to rescue them from a burning fire--a fire that they helped ignite, or at least, refused to put out themselves when they had the opportunity to do so. It's the old, "God would not let that happen in America" syndrome. How arrogant can we be?

... What if Jesus doesn't come for another 100 years? Another 200 years? What are we going to say to our grandchildren when they ask us what we were doing when our freedoms and liberties were being stolen?

This is good stuff, and there's so much more to it than I can justify "lifting." It's a must read.

I think Mr. Baldwin hits a home run with his analysis. He and I may have different ideas as to which prophecies are unfolding, but our conclusions are similar. As a Roman Catholic who is well versed in Scripture and in volumes of prophetic revelations from Church-approved (and some not-yet approved) sources through the centuries, I believe we are indeed living in "interesting" times. We are taught that while we cannot know the exact hour or day that certain events will take place, Jesus Himself tells us that we are supposed to study the "signs of the times" and be ready. He also warns us that we are not shirk our responsibilities lest "the master return" and find that his servants are ill prepared. We are, in short, to live each moment as if Jesus could appear instantly, and to work at spreading His message as if He were a thousand years away from a return.

It's a tough line to walk, but then that's Christianity for you. Jesus never said it would be a cakewalk, just that it was "doable" and He would give you the spiritual strength to achieve the goal, while giving you a peace of mind that differs from the so-called peace that the world offers. Too many people today choose from a different gospel, one that says being a Christian is easy, and that all your wants and desires will be met if only your faith is strong enough. Baldwin touches on this:

Ask believers from despotic regimes around the world what they think about God letting tribulation come, and they will quickly tell you, "We are already in tribulation." Are Christians in the United States really that arrogant as to believe that God loves them more than He loves believers in other countries? If not, can we not see that if believers around the world have suffered (and still suffer) the heavy hand of tyranny and oppression, it is certainly possible for tyranny and oppression to come to our land? The fact is, the only reason that Christians in America have not (for the most part) suffered tyranny and oppression is because of the hard work and sacrifice of our forefathers. We are simply enjoying the fruit of their labor.

Amen, Brother Baldwin.

I admit there are times when events cause me to look to Heaven and say, "Lord Jesus, come quickly, and put a stop to this madness! Give the evildoers what they deserve." But then I think about my own sinfulness, and the fact that there are so many today who are un-churched, who need to hear the Gospel, who would be lost if judgment fell upon us, and compassion moves me to ask that we be given a bit more time to repent, and to do the Lord's work.

Ultimately, the big picture isn't up to me, thank God for that. But the little picture of my own life is, and where it intersects with others is where Jesus expects me to be His faithful representative. He does not need me bearing false witness of His word by acting worldly, but by being a true witness through fidelity to Christ's message of faith, hope and love. Sadly, I fail at this too often. But I'm trying.

Whether you believe that you are already and irrevocably saved or, conversely, that you are to "work out your salvation with fear and trembling," the issue isn't personal salvation so much as it is the salvation of others who need our witness.

How much time do we have left? Even if it's only an hour, it's enough to do some good.

Gas Cutoff is a Real Cold War

Russia is waging "cold war" on some of its European neighbors by cutting off natural gas supplies. This is how you lose friends but still influence people.

Large parts of Europe woke up today to find that Russian gas supplies had been cut off on the coldest day of the year as a dispute between Moscow and Ukraine over payment rates took a dramatic turn for the worse.

Six countries reported a complete shut-off and Bulgaria – where midwinter temperatures are reaching minus 15C – said that it had enough gas "only for a few days". "We are in a crisis situation," the Bulgarian economy ministry said in a statement.

Also cut off were Greece, Macedonia, Romania, Turkey and Croatia, which said that it was temporarily reducing supplies to industrial customers.

You can believe whom you wish in terms of who's in the right in the dispute between Moscow and Ukraine. In a time of falling prices for commodities like oil and gas, Russia is finding its economy badly shaken with inadequate income, so it attempted a price hike. Officials with Ukraine's utilities companies objected, Russia threatened to turn off the pipeline, and Ukraine countered with a "that's okay, we've got plenty of supply" (which had better be true, it's a remarkably cold winter this time around).

So the spigots were turned off. Russia says Ukraine is twisting the knob, and Ukraine says it's Russia. Since the pipelines through Ukraine also go to a lot of other places - where preparations were not so astute - there is sudden misery, and these people don't care who's at fault, they just want the heat back on.

Russia needs high oil/gas prices in order to keeps is economy afloat. If the markets, depressed by a receding world economy, aren't cooperating, then it is likely someone will attempt to alter the supply/demand curve.

So far no one is rattling any sabers but this is the kind of dispute that can turn a cold war into a hot one. It doesn't take a Henry Kissinger to figure that one out. Considering that there is a body of prophecy, most of it unofficial and privately revealed, of longstanding that points to another major war in Europe in which the Russians play a major role as aggressor, it seems reasonable to pay attention.