Beijing Wins Bid for 2008 Olympics
In awarding the People's Republic of China with the 2008 Olympics, the IOC today rewarded one of the worlds only remaining communist totalitarian governments, a government with a terrible and well documented record of human rights abuses, including torture, religious persecution, slave labor, and repression of dissent. Today's action by the IOC represents a fundamental betrayal of the Olympic ideal. The Olympics were founded in ancient Greece, home of Plato and Aristotle, pillars of the Western tradition. Todays international world system is based on that Western tradition, based on the notion that there are fundamental absolute values, and it is upon these values that civilizations rests. The concept of universal human values is enshrined the U.S. Declaration of Independence, the Rights of Man, the Charter of the United Nations, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. China explicitly rejects the notion that there are universal human rights, and asserts it's own brand of nationalist moral relativism. What may be considered wrong by one country is perfectly acceptable in another. This path leads to anarchy and simply can't be tolerated or condoned by the international community. If the term "rogue state" has any meaning, it is only because we have achieved at the dawn of the 21st century, a global moral consensus. World civilization can only exist on the basis of shared moral values. The IOC has rewarded a county that stands in opposition to the fundamental values of the modern international world system. Today then is a sad day for the international community, and a sad day for lovers of freedom and liberty everywhere.

State Department Condemns Human Trafficking Across Globe
An item for your Wickedness Increases files, a report on the trade in humans. That's right, in the 21st Century, people are still sold into slavery.

U.S. Fast-Tracks Missile Defence
An item for your Rumor of War files, the U.S. pushes ahead with missile defense, while Russia warns it will spark a new arms race.

Nepal Installs Young Girl As New Living Goddess
Nepal has a new goddess, just chosen. You have to wonder about the selection process, how fair and impartial is it, does favoritism play a role? After all, it would hardly do to have a corrupt process for choosing goddesses. On a lighter note, the benefits seem nice and the retirement package is attractive, though apparently the ex-goddesses seldom marry, as men are intimidated with the idea of marrying an ex-goddess. So, I'm assuming this means that Nepal has a whole gaggle of retired goddesses just sitting around with nothing much to do, which seems like a terrible waste of ex-godhood. Really.

Please note that Prophecy News Page was unavailable for some time today, due to an AOL server outage. Fortunately, NewsBlogger is back online, so I will try to update this blog more often, and hopefully AOL Hometown will be back online soon.

Dozens Injured in Turkish Quake
An item for your quake files, a 5.4 mag quake has struck eastern Turkey.

Tanaka, Straw Meet Ahead of G-8
An item for your Ten Kings files, some pre-summit G8 news, the English and Japanese foreign ministers consult on the summit agenda.

Strange Cluster Reveals Star Secrets
An item for your Signs In The Stars files, Hubble continues to bring us some amazing images.

Israel On Alert for Suicide Bombings
An item for your Rumor of War & Battle for Jerusalem files. Things are getting a bit tense in the Mideast. It's not a war yet, but it is certainly not peace.

UFO Cult May Sue U.S. FDA Over Human Cloning
The Raelians are really serious about cloning a human and are prepared to go to court in order to do it. If you have never heard of Rael or his cult, check them out, I think you will be very surprised at what you find. Submitted for your False Prophet files.

Jab Campaign to End Polio Across Central Africa
An item for your Pestilence files, some news about polio and the launch of a massive vaccination effort in Africa.

Tampa Scans the Faces in Crowds for Criminals
An item for your mark of the beast files. As America celebrates freedom today, a sobering report on just how tenuous those freedoms are. Calling the Greatest Generation, we need you again, fascism is alive and well in the United States. Are citizens really presumed to be criminals merely by being in public? Is this the freedom patriots died to defend? God bless America, God save America.

Giant world detected in deep space
An item for your Signs in the Heavens files, astronomers have found a very large object at the edge of the solar system. It's orbit is beyond Neptune and the scientists think there may be other large objects out there, as large or larger than Pluto.

Violence Shakes Mideast Truce
More violence in the Mideast. When is a truce not a truce?

First Case of Mad Cow Disease Hits Greece
An item for your Pestilence files, it seems we have not heard the last of those mad cows.

Father Stabs Three Young Sons
An item for your Wickedness Increases files, AP is reporting yet another case of a parent killing their children. Is this a copycat crime? If so, this is one trend we could do without.

Israeli Planes Attack Syrian Positions

And so it begins. Israel strikes back at Syrian supported Hezbollah positions inside Lebanon in response to Hezbollah attacks days ago. How will Syria respond?

WMD To Be Used in the Next Mideast War

Submitted for your Rumor of War files, this report from the Middle East Newsline states that American defense planners are now actively anticipating the use of weapons of mass destruction in the next Middle East war. It would seem that the region is now at a crossroads. Powell has left without securing his seven day ceasefire, the Tenet accord is still not implemented, same for the recommendations of the Mitchell report, and the low level of violence (meaning people are killed every day) continues.

Hubble Finds Mysterious Saturn-Sized Objects

An interesting item for your Signs in the Stars (Luke 21:25) files. Astronomers have spotted objects that are not stars and don't appear to be regular planets since they don't orbit stars. Is that cool, or what?

World's Poor Face Rising Risk of Flood And Famine

An item for your Famine files (Matthew 24:7), just to let you know that famine did not end with Live Aid. This article is also of note because it indicates that the number of natural disasters have been increasing in the last few years.

UN Council Re-Elects Annan's for Top UN Post

An item for your Ten Kings files (Rev 17:12-14), the Security Council voted today to give Kofi Annan a second term as Secretary General. No, I don't think the UN is evil, but I do see the Security Council, presently at 15 members (5 with the veto power) as a potential fulfillment of prophecy, pending structural reform, of course.

Retool Delays Hackers' Free-Speech App

This application will be a must have for your Tribulation Force toolkit. The designers hope that it will allow dissidents in authoritarian countries to speak out online without fear that their identities will be compromised.

Allied Warplanes Strike Iraq

An item for your War files (Matthew 24:6), AP is reporting that U.S. and British warplanes struck targets in southern Iraq on Wednesday, in response to Iraqi "hostile acts." Iraq is claiming to have hit one of the planes, Allies forces deny that.

Electronic Signature Law Working Well, FTC Says

The FTC reported today that the electronic signature law, passed last year, is not a burden on businesses or a privacy risk for consumers. In the report, the FCC cheers, ``The provision facilitates e-commerce and the use of electronic records and signatures while enhancing consumer confidence.'' Perhaps it was just the one-sided reporting of this article, but I would have appreciated reading a bit about what consumer privacy advocates have to say about how the law is doing.

Ok, I have changed the template for this blog in an effort to get the archives restored. So, this is the first post to the new Prophecy News blog. This blog is all about the unfolding of Bible prophecy in current events. If you are not interested in eschatology or in current events, you probably won't find much of interest here. This blog will offer links to news items related to the unfolding of Bible prophecy and usually a short comment or two from me. For a more complete listing of the weeks news, see the Prophecy News home page

It seems that the archives for this blog are missing, and as I've investigated, I've found that archives are a problem on Blogger. I had started with a different template and switched to the one you now see, and that apparently did something to the archives. I've played with the code, and changed the archive settings, but nothing seems to work. So, I am going to change templates, again, and hope that restores the archives. This means I will temporarily lose the changes to the code that I've made in order to personalize this blog (the nice menu of items you see to your left, the wallpaper from Prophecy News). I will keep a copy of the old code and hope to restore those features in the next few days. Because I know that many of you follow events on a daily basis, as I do, archives are particularly important for this blog, so I do hope it will be worth the hassle of changing templates.

Quake Kills At Least 31 In Peru

AP is reporting that a major quake has struck Peru and that region of South America.

Threat Scrambles U.S. Troops in Mideast

And for your Rumor of War files, it looks as if the threat level for American forces in the Mideast has been raised. If you are an American abroad, be warned, be wary, be alert.

Supermarkets Tell Shoppers 'Do It Yourself'

An item for your Mark of the Beast files. No, it does not have to do with biometric technology or m-commerce, but it does say a lot about improvements in scanner tech. This is so easy to do, I saw it today for the first time in my local grocery store. Buy it, bag it, and begone. I feel sorry for all the cashiers and baggers, whose days, apparently, are numbered. Pun intended.

Zoroastrians Gather In Central Iran

An item for your False Christs files: AP reports that thousands of Iranian Zoroastrians have gathered at the mountainous Chakchak temple in central Iran for a five-day pilgrimage to celebrate one of the world's oldest religions.

Christ Picture Defaced

An item for your Wickedness Increases files: this article from the AP reports that vandals stuck axes in a picture of Jesus Christ and sprayed anti-Semitic slogans on the walls of a building next to the former Nazi death camp of Auschwitz, police said on Monday.

Well, it seems that NewsBlogger is still down. If you are not aware of this part of the Blogger empire, check it out, once it is back up, that is. It's a great service, and certainly made updating this blog much easier. More prophecy news updates to follow, as soon as NewsBlogger is back online.

CDC: Tuberculosis Cases Drop to Record Low

An item for your Pestilence files, some good news for a change.

Israel, Palestinians OK Peace Plan

Hey, we all agree on the cease-fire, sort of, except for these few, small, really insignificant details. Not that this will stand in the way of business as usual, of course.

Pentagon: Were Under Heavy Attack

An item for your Rumor of War files, or at least, cyberwar.

Israel Hits Back With Warplanes

Go Israel! I love Sharon's tit-for-tat strategy where every car bombing and suicide bomb attack is met with an immediate reply. Actions have consequences and it's time the PLA learned this lesson.

No Damage Reported in 3.9-Magnitude Quake

An item for your Quake files, another one in CA.

China Beats India By A Head in Buddha Wars

An item for your False Christs files. Build a better Buddha and they will come.

Dow Closes Above 11,000 Mark

An item for your Sign of Noah files, some good news for our commerical and consumerist society. Spend on, happy campers!

Bloodshed on Israel Anniversary

An item for your Rumor of War & Covenant With Many files, the cycle of violence continues in Israel.

Annan in Washington to Seek AIDS Funds

An item for your pestilence files, the UN wants money to fight AIDS on a global scale.

Mobile Commerce Confidence Drops

An item for your Mark files, it looks like m-commerce is not quite ready for prime time.

Flare-up As Israel Buries Slain Boys

This may be a turning point in the war process, I think.

Pentagon to Put General in Charge of Space

An item for your Rumor of War and/or Signs in the Heavens files, it seems the U.S. is making the necessary administrative changes to prepare for war in the heavens.

Improving Our Asteroid Alarm System

And for your Signs In The Heavens files, a report on the threat posed by Near Earth Objects (NEOs).

Report: Pentagon To Abandon Two-War Strategy

An item for your Rumor of War files, it seems that the U.S. is now confident that major war could not break out in two places at the same time. I am relieved to know that my fears regarding the Russian and Chinese "anti-American hegemony" strategy are not well founded. I'm also relieved to know that even though the Korean War is still not formally over, the Defense Department does not expect it to ever resume, even as we maintain thousands of American troops on the DMZ. It's also good to know that even though the Gulf War never officially concluded with a peace treaty, Iraq is not expected to instigate any major conflicts in the near future. In short, we should regard this as very good news and proof of an unprecedented standardization of history and events: one war at a time, please.

Dalai Lama to Start U.S. Visit Next Week

An item for your False Christs files, the spiritual leader of Tibet (and a living god, don't you know) will visit the U.S. next week. Hello Dalai.

Peres urges Bush to condemn Palestinian violence and terrorism

An item for your Covenant With Many files, now that Peres has burned his bridges in the Arab world, he runs to Bush for cover. Somehow, I don't think it will be enough.

UN Removes U.S. From Rights Panel

An item for your Wickedness Increases files, nations that ignore human rights now sit on a panel that investigates abuses, while the U.S. (often critical of human rights abuses, including religious persecution) has been voted off.

Online consumer spending to hit $65 billion this year

An item for your Mark files, it looks as if e-commerce is going fine. Next up, m-commerce.

Israel Anxious for Peace Talks

An item for your Covenant With Many files, it looks as if Peres is going to press for greater American involvement in the peace process. But, is Peres acting on his own, or does he have Sharon's backing?

Astronomers Find Spinning Black Hole

For your Signs in The Stars files, scientists report detecting the first spinning black hole, and it's only 10,000 light years away.

Religious Rights Worsen

And for your persecution files, another news story on the latest U.S. report on religious freedom, this one focused on religious freedom in China.

Schroeder EU Vision Causes Stir

I'd vote for a two speed Europe with an inner core of say, oh I don't know, maybe ten countries?

Government Web sites attacked by hackers

What do you call a Chinese hacker? What, are you waiting for the punchline?

Mid-East blasts cloud peace hopes

And another item for your Rumor of War files, or perhaps your Covenant with Many files, about the latest developments in the Mideast war process, er, no, I mean, peace process. The latest bomb attack was probably planted by the Palestinians and targeted at Israelis, but ended up killing a Palestinian who was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. Friendly fire in an unfriendly peace.

Bush Calls for Missile Shield, Saying ABM Pact Is Outdated

An item for your rumor of war files, not that NMD will cause a war, but it will almost certainly cause an arms race. This is good news for arms manufacturers, but bad news for those who hope for reduced conflict in the future.

U.S. Report Details Global Religious Persecution

An item for your persecution files, a U.S. commission has releases a report on violations of religious freedom in many countries, particularly China and Sudan. Yes, the usual suspects.

First Strike: Chinese Hackers Hit U.S. Sites

I'm not sure if this would fall under Rumor of War or not, since it is more than a rumor. It has been confirmed that USGOV sites have been attacked by Chinese hackers. Of course, the reporting and other similar news stories make it sound like the hackers are not associated with the PRC government, as if China has a large civilian computer industry with lots of indie hackers. I'm not sure that is really the case.

Russia and China to Sign Deal

Those of you monitoring the Jerusalem Strategic Area, specifically with regard to the "king of the north" and "kings of the East" may be interested in this report of a new treaty of friendship and cooperation between Russia and China. Yes, the treaty does call for expanded military cooperation, in case you were wondering.

G7 Signals Commitment to Global Free Trade

Another item for your Ten Kings files: the G7 supports free trade. Wow, there's a real news flash.

Jerrold Kessel: Israel, Palestinians at diplomatic crossroads

Some Q&A with CNN's star reporter in Jerusalem. He offers a more balanced analysis of the situation here than he usually does in his on-air reporting, IMHO.

EU force may plan apart from Nato

It now seems clear the EU officials are determined to forge ahead with the new rapid reaction force regardless of the consequences for NATO. And they worry about American unilateralism? Anyway, this item will no doubt be of interest to those of you watching the Jerusalem Strategic Area (JSA).

Protesters plan rally against space weapons

There is going to be war in the heavens, folks, you might as well get used to the idea. After all, someone has to make space safe for democracy.

Search for the Right Church Ends at Home

An item for your Gospel Preached to All files, it seems that house churches are catching on. No, not just in rural China, but in the USA. Imagine that.

Arabs push Mid-East peace plan

An item for your Covenant With Many files, it looks as if there may be a little (stress on the little) movement in the Middle East peace process.

Chinese, American hackers declare war in cyberspace

Can war in cyberspace lead to actual war? We may be about to find out. Submitted for your Rumor of War files.

The Sun Also Rises

One of the greatest military powers of the 20th Century is back on the road to militarization. Japan has pledged to boost military spending, while at the same time attempting to reassure neighbors that they are still pacifists.

Iraq Says One Killed, Two Hurt in Western Air Raid

An item for your Rumor of War files, Iraq is claiming that U.S. and British planes bombed targets in Iraq, no confirmation yet from the allied powers. Way to go Allies!

G7 To Address Global Economy

An item for your Ten Kings files, Reuters is reporting that finance officials from the world's leading industrial nations were expected to seek a solution on Saturday for a global economic slowdown while still providing help to embattled emerging countries. It's worth noting that the G7 finmin summits usually also include representatives from Russia and the EU. It's not formally the G10, but could easily become that in the future.

Solar Flare Reported

An item for your Signs In The Sun files: SpaceWeather is reporting that a giant sunspot 9393 unleashed a powerful solar flare and hurled a coronal mass ejection (CME) into space on Thursday, April 26. The CME will probably hit Earth's magnetosphere on Saturday or, perhaps, early Sunday. NOAA forecasters estimate a 10% chance of a major geomagnetic storm at middle latitudes.

Cell Phone Giants to Promote Wireless IM

Three of the four largest cell phone handset makers have announced a plan to promote a common standard that will allow users to send instant messages to each other, regardless of what model cell phone is being used. This will take point of presence to the next level, allowing people to contact one another in a new way at any time at any place. No longer will you have to be in front of the computer to receive an IM. This sort of technology also magnifies the immediacy of events, allowing people to react instantly to events far outside the normal scope of their life. I think this is going to be big. For the prophetic implications of this, see Rev 11:9. IM me and let me know what you think, portents2 on AOL/AIM and Yahoo IM.

Astronomers View Violent World of Planet Formation

An item for your "signs in the heavens" files. I really love these. I've been an astronomy buff for a long time and it seems clear to me that Luke 21:11 has really come to the fore with the latest advances in astronomy. Thank you Mr. Hubble.

Human Mad Cow Disease Claims Oldest Victim

Hey, almost forgot about mad cow disease, but it claimed another victim today in Great Britain. There have been 95 cases so far. Mad cows and Englishmen. An item for your pestilence files, of course.

Warpdrive Underwater

Scientific American reports that we may be on the verge of a new generation of marine warfare in which "supercavitating systems could alter the nature of undersea warfare, changing stealthy cat-and-mouse stalking contests between large submarines into something resembling aerial combat, featuring noisy high-speed dogfights among small, short-range "subfighters" shooting underwater bullets at one another after having been launched from giant 'subcarriers'." Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water.

Meningitis Outbreak Kills Thousands

While health minded types are focused on Europe and foot-and-mouth disease (which has actually killed few humans), there is an outbreak of meningitis in Africa that has already killed thousands of people. Guess which one gets the most press coverage?

Who Let the Blogs Out

I'm inspired. After reading an article about the proliferation of blogs in Yahoo Internet Life, I've decided to devote a bit more time to this blog. It seems blogs are very big now. I may change the format a bit or maybe change the coding, background, etc. Big changes, coming soon.

What A Week!

Well, that was one amazing week. For your "rumor of war" files we had, and continue to have, a contest of wills between two nuclear powers, the U.S. and China, and the U.S. and Great Britain again bombed Iraq; for your pestilence files we had news of the foot and mouth epidemic in Europe and an outbreak of tuberculosis in the UK; in the "signs in the sun" department, the solar flare reported in the last entry was the largest ever recorded and produced spectacular auroral displays; in the quake department, India struggles to rebuild; and, famine and persecution continues to be reported in the Sudan, and these are only the highlights of the weeks events. Stay tuned for the events of the new week.

Monster Solar Flare Headed Towards Earth

A "monster" solar flare is headed towards Earth and could affect power systems, satellites and some radio transmissions this weekend, a top space weather forecaster said. "Signs in the sun" are one of the key signs mentioned by Jesus Christ as heralding His return to Earth. This is an odd sign, many did not know what to make of it in the past, but I would suggest that massive solar flares associated with Solar Max could be a fulfillment of this sign. This solar flare resulted from the biggest sunspot scientists have seen in the past decade.

Back Again

I've decided to give this web log another try. I had hoped to make this an adjunct to the Prophecy News web page, but ended up spending so much time on that, that I neglected this space. A web log sounds like a good idea, just a short blurb, a thought, a news link, whatever. So, that is what this space will be, just a short note, nothing major or deep, a nice clean and simple paragraph about the unfolding of Bible prophecy.

Massive Jerusalem Rally For Temple Mount?

Hi all. I've been away and on extended winter break and I'm just starting to catch up. I just updated the Prophecy News Page for the first time in weeks. Thanks for all the encouraging e-mails letting me know that you were impatient for me to do that. I have been going over some of the events I missed while I was away (and totally unwired, by the way, that really felt odd) and found that there was a massive public rally in Jerusalem in support of Israeli sovereignty over the Temple Mount. Wow. What can I say except WOW. This should be a red flag for everyone. When the Temple Mount becomes an issue, when it becomes an issue at the top of the international political agenda, that is a major newsflash from God. Red alert, shields up, man battle stations. Really. Pay attention folks. The one plot of land on Earth that God calls His own is now in play.

Quick Recap

Ok, I admit it, I've been pretty busy lately and have again neglected this blog. I could blame it on the pace of events, there's so much going on, it's difficult to single one even out for clever commentary. In just the last few days we have had (1) a series of major earthquakes in the Pacific; (2) a dramatic increase in tensions between the Israelis and Palestinians, with the U.S. Defense Secretary warning that the conflict could spread to the entire region; (3) a senior Chinese military official said that he believes there will be war over Taiwan in the next five years and they are preparing for it; (4) the Ebola outbreak in Uganda continues, as does the cholera outbreak in South Africa and in Europe, people are getting a bit mad about mad cow disease; (5) and finally, the Leonid meteor shower peaks this weekend. I've probably left out some other major events, but that is a quick recap of some of the latest news of prophetic significance.

Left Behind Movie News

I'm starting to get some initial word of mouth from those who have seen the video version of the Left Behind movie. I don't want to ruin it for anyone, so if you want to know what I've heard, e-mail me. Otherwise, you will just have to wait until February like the rest of us. No, I still have not seen it. I may post a review when I do, but I will probably wait until it's realeased.

Israeli Tells U.S. That Mideast Violence Could Spread

While the U.S. remained fixated on ballot counting in the state of confusion, er.., I mean Florida, the Deputy Defense Minister of Israel warned today that the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians could lead to full-scale confrontation in the Middle East, dragging in Iran, Iraq and Syria. A regional war in the Mideast is a real possibility at this point. On the Arab side, there continue to be renewed calls for holy war, for a jihad to liberate Jerusalem. Great, another crusades, just what the world needs. But, of course, none of that really matters because it has nothing to do with Florida.

Clinton Meets Barak As Violence Rages On

So, the meeting between Clinton and Barak finally did happen. It looked for a while like it would be delayed because of the hijacking. Fortunately, that ended well and Barak proceeded to Washington. No real details yet on how the meeting went, but will keep you posted.

Barak To Meet With Clinton Against Backdrop of Violence

So, as the U.S. media give us all election news all the time, there is an important meeting coming up between Barak and Clinton regarding the stalled Middle East peace talks. The U.S. is in an interesting position, since we have already pushed Israel into concessions many thought were impossible. Arafat though, does not seem to be offering any compromises of his own. If anything, he seems intent on undermining the U.S. role by seeking a great UN or European role in the peace talks. It will be interesting to see if this meeting yields any new developments.

Election Free Zone

This blog is officially an election free zone. There will be no discussion of the American electoral system or how absurd it is to have the election process hijacked by voters too stupid to punch the correct hole on the ballot next to the black arrow indicating the correct hole to punch. Instead, I'll probably focus on the Middle East and the potential for war there, perhaps on Iraq's success in undermining international sanctions, or on the Ebola outbreak that refuses to be contained. There is so much going on in the world, and though you may not pick up on this from the major news media, very little of it has to do with the state of Florida.

Two Die of Haemorrhagic Fever In Pakistan

Here is an item for your pestilence files. Just as the World Health Organization is saying that the Ebola outbreak in Uganda has been contained, there has been another outbreak, this time in Pakistan. Two people have already died. So, the question is, are these outbreaks related, or are they separate incidents?

Officials Suspect New Ebola Case in South Uganda

It looks as if the Ebola virus continues to spread in Uganda. They thought they had it under control. I wonder how do you place an entire country under medical quarantine?

Two Dead, Gun Battle Rages Despite Mideast Truce

New fighting between Palestinians and Israelis broke out near Bethlehem today, despite the ceasefire agreement that was supposedly reached between Peres and Arafat. So much for the latest period of peace in this "peace process." Check out this photo of people fleeing from the fighting, it's positively surreal. It looks like it was staged, like something out of Hollywood.

Bomb Rocks Jerusalem Market; Truce Announcement Delayed

Well, I was debating whether or not to send news of the latest Middle East truce to the updates list, but I held off. I'm glad I did, because it looks like there is no truce at all. I have to admit, I was skeptical about the latest truce from the very start. I expected Peres to emerge from his meeting yesterday with Arafat, waiving a signed paper and saying "peace in our time." There is a new status quo now, and it's not peace.

People Get Ready: A Musical Collection Inspired by the Left Behind Series

I received the cd I ordered today called "People Get Ready." I had low expectations. This isn't the soundtrack to the Left Behind movie, it's a compilation of songs relating to or inspired by the popular book series. What can I say? Wow! There's not a bad song on the cd. It's an eclectic mix of styles and I usually don't like that, but in this case it works. Even if you are not familiar with the Left Behind series, or if you don't subscribe to that particular view of eschatology, it's still great Christian music. The lead song, "People Get Ready" by Crystal Lewis is a wonderful anthem that will have you singing along in no time. "Come Quickly Lord" is so upbeat and memorable is should be played on Top 40 pop stations, really, it could be a hit. Personally, I really like "New Body" by Audio Adrenaline, though you would probably find that on a college music station and not a pop station. The producers did a great job of assembling a diverse group of artists representing various styles of music who are joined together by one common theme: their faith in Jesus.

Wireless Tracking Device Coming Soon

The age of pervasive computing is about to begin, enabled by the wireless Internet, cell phones, digital implants and secure e-commerce. It will be revolutionary. Of course, these things tend to start small, usually with a novelty application, but the killer application is just around the corner, it will do for the wireless web and m-commerce what e-mail did for the Internet. The day is coming when you will have an invisible datasphere surrounding you, it can contain as much personal data as you like and as permeable as you like, but it will be there, surrounding your body like a wireless ethereal cloud of bits and bites, ready to interact with others and the net at large. Imagine going into a restaurant and placing your order, eating your meal, and leaving, all without reaching into your wallet. Your purchase, from initial order to final payment is conducted seamlessly over the wireless Internet using your previously established direct debit settings. Don't want to authorize that restaurant for direct wireless debit anymore (the service was terrible!), just change your system settings. Or, meet a new person at a business meeting and exchange personal contact info wirelessly all without those annoying PDAs that you actually have to hold in your hand. Forget yor palm, we are talking your body here. You are your data. That day is almost here. It's not the "mark of the beast" but it's a necessary step in the evolution of the technology.

Granny Arrested for Organ Sales

It's hard to measure the scope of human wickedness. It's one thing to say that wickedness will increase in the end times (Matthew 24:12) and that the love of most will grow cold, but how do you measure that? I don't think that the true measure is found in the acts of dictators and despots, but in the acts of ordinary people, or at least people who appear to be ordinary. I read recently about a Russian grandmother who was arrested for trying to sell her grandkid, or more specifically, sell his internal organs. She told him that they were going on a little trip to Disneyland, when instead they were going to meet his executioner. How can a grandmother do that? What sort of cold and inhuman heart can even think of such things?

There is so much going on in the world, I suppose it has always been that way. Some thing just seem to fall beneath the radar. Or perhaps it is just that the American public is preoccupied with the approaching presidential election. For whatever the reason, it seems our media has ignored several major stories in the last few weeks. For example, in the area of pestilence, I'm sure you have noticed a sudden increase in the frequency of disease outbreaks, particularly the extremely dangerous and contagious diseases that used to be considered rare. For example, just this weekend, there was a major outbreak of cholera in South Africa. Add to that the outbreak of Ebola in Uganda, Rift Valley Fever in Saudi Arabia and the worldwide spread of West Nile virus, you have some major outbreaks at roughly the same time. The public awareness of this seems to be minimal. Perhaps the media is trying to downplay these events so as not to cause a panic? Still, there is no denying that these outbreaks seem to be increasing in frequency and severity.

Well, it's been a while since my last post. I think I will change my strategy for this blog. I had intended to post a brief paragraph about a prophetic event in the news, and follow that with the link to the news article. I may still do that, from time to time, but posting the link was not easy, I have to put the actual HTML coding in for it to appear correctly on the page. So much easier to not post a link. Besides, I post plenty of links on the news page, that's where the real news is. So, anyway, just a small change in format, and hopefully I'll be posting more often. Blogs are supposed to be brief snippets of random thoughts anyway.

Well, this daily web log is turning into more of a weekly web log. I've just been so busy lately, and sometimes it seems like I'm lucky just to have time to update the news links on the prophecy news page. There is so much going on right now in the world, so much related to prophecy, that it would be difficult to comment on all of it. However, I don't have to, because it all comes down to Jerusalem. Anyone doubting that we are living near the end of the age needs only look to Jerusalem. Old and New Testament prophets agree, there is one and only one real news story at the end of the age, and that is, the battle for Jerusalem.

I should probably be paying attention to the Middle East and the nice little war that is about to break out there, but my attention was captured by a recent story that speaks volumes about the scope of modern wickedness and our desensitization to it. I'm speaking of a recent press report about a pregnant woman in Ohio who was murdered by another woman, who then cut open the victim and removed the child that she then hoped to pass off as her own. I can't even imagine the kind of cold blooded mind and cold heart the perpetrator of this crime must have had. Nor can I understand why such a heinous crime was not page one news in every newspaper and TV news show. That there shall be an increase in wickedness is a prophecy that is hard to measure, though in this case, I think we may have set a new benchmark.


Missing Pregnant Woman Found Dead

So, they are killing each other again in the streets of Jerusalem. I wonder how one would explain this to people not steeped in prophecy and Biblical history? After all, Jerusalem is not a strategic city from a military or economic standpoint, not a major port city, not the capital of a superpower, no real wealth to speak of, in short, no real reason to fight over it, no reason the Israelis and Palestinians can't just share the land. It's only in the religious and spiritual context that the conflict even begins to make sense. This recent quote from Dave Hunt sums things up nicely:

"The very fact that Jerusalem is mentioned more than 800 times in the Bible makes it worthy of special attention. This unique city is the only one upon which God has bestowed His distinctive blessing and protection (Ps132:13-14), and the only city for whose peace we are commanded to pray (Ps 122:6). God says He has chosen Jerusalem as the place where He has put His name forever (2 Chr 6:6; 33:7; Ps 46:4; 48:1-8; 87:3). The new heavens and new earth will contain "the city of my God...new Jerusalem" (Rv 3:12; 21:2). That there will be a "heavenly Jerusalem" (Heb 12:22) but no "heavenly" New York, Paris, London, Damascus, Cairo, etc. speaks volumes."

Anyone interested in how state sanctioned persecution might come to pass need only look to present day China and their treatment of Falun Gong. First, they arrested the leaders of that exercise/meditation group, then when that didn't work, they banned the group, called it a dangerous cult, and started rounding up and imprisoning members. Some members have died in prison under conditions which cause some to suspect torture. Meanwhile, the Church in China continues to meet secretly in house churches, while other join the officially sanctioned "patriotic churches." Pray for the Church in China, it is a dangerous time for them.


Banned Sect Stages Protest in Beijing on Holiday