Friday, September 27, 2019

Rumors of War

Pakistani leader Imran Khan warns U.N. of 'bloodbath' in India-controlled Kashmir
UPI reports: "In his address at the United Nations General Assembly Friday, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan warned of a potential "bloodbath" in Kashmir -- when the curfew is lifted and millions of Muslims clash with hundreds of thousands of Indian troops."

Comment: When two nuclear neighbors who have already been at war three times in the past start to edge toward another conflict, the world should take notice.

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

Gospel Preached to All Nations

Church, synagogue, mosque planned together for Arabian Peninsula - UPI.com
UPI reports: "The three houses of worship, collectively known as the Abrahamic Family House, will stand together as a symbol of the kind of religious tolerance that the UAE wants to be known for and is meant to be seen as a sign of hope. [...] The church, the temple and the mosque are not going to be museum pieces or tourist attractions but are instead aimed at serving the religiously diverse population of the UAE, where the huge influx of migrant workers means there are hundreds of thousands of Christians -- mostly Catholics -- as well as members of other religions, including an active Jewish community that numbers about 3,000."

Comment: I think this is hugely significant. First, for the spread of the Gospel. As we know, the Arab world is not welcoming to the good news of salvation in Jesus Christ. Did you know that there is not a single church in Saudi Arabia? Not one. If one is caught with a Bible it will be confiscated. So, it is indeed significant the the UAE is not afraid to build a Christian house of worship on their soil.

Second, this report was also recommended to me as a sign of apostasy, of the kind of creeping relativism that suggests all religions are equally valid and all paths lead to God. I understand how this report could suggest that narrative and time will tell if this effort does indeed water down the three Abrahamic faiths into a kind of "Chrislam" as some have called it, but that is not where I would find fault. Rather than these three compromising their faiths, I see this more as a PR stunt, one that will not have wider implications for global religious culture. Note that this is to be built on an island, which is by definition remote and hard to access.

I suspect that is something designed to make a statement of toleration but will work out in practice to be nothing more than a PR stunt and not a living breathing site of worship that become a global movement. Time will tell and we will be watching.

Saturday, September 21, 2019

Earthquakes

5.6-magnitude earthquake in Albania injures 68 - UPI.com
UPI reports: "A 5.6-magnitude earthquake hit Albania on Saturday about 4 miles north of the city of Durres, the U.S. Geological Survey said. The temblor injured 68 people and damaged 46 buildings, Albanian Minister of Defense Olta Xhacka said. The quake struck around 4 p.m., followed by a weaker aftershock. It was the country's strongest earthquake in the past 30 years."

Comment: Note the location (not on the "ring of fire") and note as well that it was largest in that country in the past 30 years.

Signs and Wonders in the Heavens

AP - ‘What is that, man?’ Navy confirms videos of flying objects
The AP reports: "The Navy isn’t offering an explanation — at least not publicly — for exactly what that object was. But the service is confirming the authenticity of that video and two others taken from its planes in 2004 and 2015. The release of the videos, which have been circulating online and in news reports, was not authorized, Navy officials said. But the footage has prompted the Navy to publicly discuss an ongoing investigation into sightings by its pilots of what it describes as 'unidentified aerial phenomena' or UAPs in U.S. airspace on both coasts."

Comment: I remember the news reports about the videos from earlier this year, maybe in April or May? Interesting that they are back again. I can't help but wonder why, after all, it's old news. Note the new and apparently trendy designation (or re-definition) of UFOs as “unidentified aerial phenomena” or UAPs. I really like that because it ties in directly with scripture and Satan's title and description as the prince and power of the air (Eph. 2:2), ie. the aerial power. We have always speculated that the rapture will be attributed to a mass-abduction and I think this would be underscored if Satan and the fallen angels put on a light show in the air right after the rapture. Nothing physical, just some lights or UAPs (LOL) zipping around, just to be deceptive and lend credibility to the abduction narrative. I think the "UFO threat" idea has a tremendous propaganda value and will have a 9/11-size impact, it will unite the countries of the world to fight against this new ET threat, immediately giving momentum to the beast A/C and changing the entire tenor of world affairs.What do you think?

Saturday, September 14, 2019

War

Saudi Arabia cuts oil output after Houthi drone attack; Pompeo blames Iran - UPI.com
UPI reports: "Saudi Arabia cut its oil output in half Saturday after Yemen's Houthi rebels claimed responsibility for a drone attack on two oil facilities in eastern Saudi Arabia. A Yemeni military spokesman told the Houthi-run Al-Masirah news agency it was a "large-scale" attack with 10 drones that hit its targeted Saudi Aramco oil facilities in Abqaiq and Khurais. [...] Though the rebels claimed responsibility, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo placed the blame squarely on Iran. "

Comment: The proxy war for regional dominance between Saudi Arabia and Iran is getting serious. Score one for Iran. 

Friday, September 13, 2019

Pestilence

WHO: Ebola funds not enough to fight virus through end of 2019 - UPI.com
UPI reports: "The World Health Organization is running low on funding it needs to fight a deadly outbreak of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the United Nations health agency said Friday. [...] The money it has received so far is projected to run out by the start of October. [...] More than 3,100 people have contracted Ebola among three DRC provinces -- and about 2,100 have already died, the WHO said. "

Comment: Let's hope they secure the funding they need to contain the spread of this deadly virus. 

Saturday, September 07, 2019

Covenant With Many

Trump Mideast envoy to leave job before peace plan released
The AP reports, "The architect of the Trump administration’s delayed Mideast peace plan is leaving the White House in the face of widespread skepticism about the viability of the as-yet unseen proposal and questions about whether the vision for a resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will ever be released."

Comment: This can either mean the plan is finished and he is handing it off to Trump to close the "deal of the century" or the plan is in such disarray that he is leaving to avoid the fallout of an epic failure. Time will tell.

Friday, September 06, 2019

Mark of the Beast

China says new digital currency will be similar to Facebook's Libra - Reuters
Reuters reports: "China’s proposed new digital currency would bear some similarities to Facebook’s Libra coin and would be able to be used across major payment platforms such as WeChat and Alipay, a senior central bank officer said. [...] Mu said China’s digital currency would strike a balance between allowing anonymous payments and preventing money-laundering. It would also bear some similarities to Libra in design but would not be a direct copy, he said without elaborating."

Comment: If half the world transitions to a digital currency, can the other half be far behind? 

Tuesday, September 03, 2019

Rumors of War - Persia

Rouhani: Iran will further pull out of nuclear deal Thursday unless Europe buys Persian oil - UPI.com
 UPI reports: "Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Tuesday that if European nation signatories to an Obama-era multinational nuclear deal don't agree by Thursday to buy Persian oil, Iran would further separate itself from commitments aimed at preventing it from acquiring a nuclear weapon."

Comment: The situation with Iran  continues to remain on a slow boil even as if fades from the mainstream news radar.