Pestilence

Wed Jun 28, 2006 7:07 pm (PST)
<http://www.cbc.ca/cp/health/060627/x062730.html> Dangerous superbug taking off in Canada, moving beyond high-risk groups
18:51:59 EDT Jun 27, 2006
HELEN BRANSWELLTORONTO (CP) - A dangerous strain of a superbug that can be caught outside hospital settings has moved beyond the boundaries of the high-risk groups it first plagued in Canada, causing illness in healthy adults and children in a number of provinces across the country, researchers reported Tuesday. In a special series of articles, rushed to print by the Canadian Medical Association Journal, they reported on the spread of the strain ofmethicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus called USA300, which can cause severe illness and occasionally even death in previously healthy individuals. "It's sweeping across the nation, no doubt about it," said Dr. John Conly,senior author of one of the papers and a leading researcher on the scope of Canada's problem with community-acquired MRSA. "I think this is a pan-Canadian problem." Historically, antibiotic-resistant strains of Staph aureus were infections caught in hospitals, where the heavy use of antibiotics has allowed a variety of drug-resistant bacteria to flourish. But over the last decade or so, U.S. researchers have reported the troubling emergence of a couple of strains of MRSA that seem to have developed in the community, in people who hadn't been hospitalized. Often the superbugs cause only hard-to-treat skin and soft-tissue infections, weeping wounds that will not heal. But in some cases, the bugs invade the lungs, causing life-threatening pneumonias. Some groups in the community have been known to be at high risk - the homeless or residents of homeless shelters, intravenous drug users, crack cocaine smokers and prison inmates. But in the United States, where the problem is more advanced than it has been to date in Canada, infections have been cropping up in day-care centres and on sports teams, both professional and amateur. Conly, chair of the Canadian Committee on Antibiotic Resistance, said Calgary has already seen 300-plus cases of community-acquired MRSA,including four or five deaths. And while that city's outbreak seemed to predate others in the country,communities in southwestern British Columbia, Saskatchewan and beyond are seeing an upswing in cases, he said. But Conly worries Canadian physicians may still not recognize the problem,believing community-acquired MRSA is still rare in Canada. "I think it's under-recognized and hopefully this series of articles will actually help to bring it to the fore for all the 60,000-plus Canadian physicians," he said from Calgary, where he teaches medicine at theUniversity of Calgary. "It's here, it's upon us now and it's sweeping the country."

My Way News - Israeli Planes Buzz Home of Syria Leader
AP is reporting the latest developments in the latest Mideast crisis:

Israel said its warplanes buzzed the summer residence of President Bashar Assad Wednesday in a bold warning to the country that shelters the political leader of Hamas, the Islamic militant group holding an Israeli soldier captive in the Gaza Strip. [...] The United States accuses Damascus of harboring groups Washington labels "terrorist" including Hezbollah, Hamas and other radical Palestinian factions.

Israel appears to be taking a very restrained and calculated swipe at Syria in an effort to prod Assad into ordering the release of the hostage soldier. As host to the militant Palestinian factions, Assad is in a position to either end the hostage crisis or escalate tensions. Bible prophecy students see Damascus as a tripwire, it has the distinction of being the subject of one of the most explicit and yet to be fulfilled prophecies of the Bible (Isaiah 17:1). Those who doubt the accuracy of Bible prophecy should take careful note of the fate of Damascus. If you doubt, then doubt, but revisit your skepticism when Damascus is destroyed.

Yahoo News - Huge Asteroid to Fly Past Earth July 3
Space.Com reports, “An asteroid possibly as large as a half-mile or more in diameter is rapidly approaching the Earth. There is no need for concern, for no collision is in the offing, but the space rock will make an exceptionally close approach to our planet early on Monday, July 3, passing just beyond the Moon's average distance from Earth.” [Signs & Wonders in the Heavens, Luke 21:11]

Breaking News - Israeli Planes Attack Two Gaza Bridges
MyWay News/AP is reporting:

Israeli planes attacked two bridges and a power station, knocking out electricity in most of the Gaza Strip early Wednesday and stepping up the pressure on Palestinian militants holding captive a 19-year-old Israeli soldier.

It's not clear if this is part of a rescue operation or a wider military operation to hit back at the terrorist leadership of Hamas. I also wonder if Israel will seek to punish the Palestinian militant leader who ordered the initial attack earlier in the week, he is currently under the protection of Syria and believed to be living in Damascus.

*Perilous Times, Witchcraft and The Occult
Couple held over human sacrifice
*From: Agence France-Presse From correspondents in New Delhi
June 25, 2006
A COUPLE have been arrested in southern India for sacrificing a seven-year-old boy on the advice of a mystic faith healer who said it would ensure the marriages of their five sons.The boy was strangled to death by the faith healer and the couple and their son in Tamil Nadu state, the Press Trust of India said quoting police officials. All four were arrested.The faith healer had recommended the human sacrifice to the couple to ward off "evil spirits" which were making it difficult for them to find marriage partners for their five sons, the news agency said.The pair found the boy alone at his house, put him in a steel box and took him to a temple where the healer joined them in killing him, the news agency said.The boy's blood was then sprinkled at their house, the news agency said.Human sacrifices are reported occasionally in rural India where many people put faith in occult practices to ward off evil or gain prosperity.
Robyn Cavalera
robyajesusfreak@bellsouth.net

My Way News - N.Korea may have fuel for 13 nuclear weapons: study
AP reports, "During President George W. Bush's administration, North Korea has gone from having enough plutonium for one or two nuclear weapons to having enough for as many as 13, a study released on Monday said." [Rumors of War, Matthew 24:6]

My Way News - Israeli Leader Vows 'Broad' Gaza Offensive
AP reports, "With troops poised to invade Gaza, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Monday ruled out bargaining with the captors of an Israeli soldier and promised a 'broad and ongoing' military offensive."

SFGate - The Last Days of Privacy
The San Francisco Chronicle reports:

Within the next four months, a major Bay Area supermarket chain plans to introduce a payment system that uses biometric fingerprint authentication to verify customers' identities. Under this system, shoppers in checkout lines won't need to use cash, checks, debit cards or credit cards. Instead, they can place their fingers on scanners that read fingerprints, and once the device links to their bank or credit card accounts, they can buy groceries, get cash back and do everything else shoppers do.

This report is about a biometric payment technology called Pay By Touch and it also discusses ID theft and the trade-off between privacy and convenience. While this system is not the Biblical "mark of the beast" (Rev 13:16-18) it is a reflection of the wider trend in making payments and identity verification more secure.

My Way News - Japan to Get U.S. PAC-3 Missiles
AP reports, "Japan has agreed to a U.S. deployment of advanced Patriot interceptor missiles on American bases by the end of the year, officials said Monday, amid concerns that North Korea may be about to test-fire a long-range ballistic missile." [Rumors of War, Matthew 24:6]

My Way News - Israel Blames Hamas in Deadly Sneak Attack
AP reports, "Palestinian militants sneaked into Israel underneath a Gaza border crossing Sunday, killed two Israeli soldiers and captured another, raising the threat of an all-out conflict in the Gaza Strip just a year after Israel's pullout."

Comment: This will be followed by the usual spectacle of the Palestinian leader deploring the attack perpetrated by other Palestinians and finding some way to blame Israel for the entire thing.

My Way News - Slight Mutation Found in Bird Flu Virus
AP reports, "The World Health Organization has detailed the first evidence that a person likely caught the bird flu virus from a human, then passed a slightly mutated version to another person. But experts said Friday the genetic change does not increase the threat of a pandemic." [Pestilence, Luke 21:11]

My Way News - U.S., Japan Expand Missile-Defense Plan
AP reports, "The United States and Japan agreed Friday to strengthen cooperation on missile defense amid concerns of a possible long-range rocket launch by North Korea." [Rumors of War, Matthew 24:6]

Yahoo News - U.S. Finishes War Games in the Pacific
AP reports, "The largest U.S. military exercise in the Pacific in decades ended Friday after showing North Korea and other nations that the United States can swiftly muster a huge combat force in the region, officials said." [Rumors of War, Matthew 24:6]

LA Times - 'End Times' Religious Groups Want Apocalypse Soon
The LA TImes reports, "For thousands of years, prophets have predicted the end of the world. Today, various religious groups, using the latest technology, are trying to hasten it. Their endgame is to speed the promised arrival of a messiah."

Comment: This was an interesting article that mostly gets it right, except for focusing on the role of human agency in bringing about the Second Coming. God has a timetable and it will not be rushed by anything humans do. We are called to be watchful, but don't be under the impression that these future events are under our control.

My Way News - Earth Hottest It's Been in 2,000 Years
AP reports, "The Earth is running a slight fever from greenhouse gases, after enjoying relatively stable temperatures for 2,000 years. The National Academy of Sciences, after reconstructing global average surface temperatures for the past two millennia, said Thursday the data are 'additional supporting evidence ... that human activities are responsible for much of the recent warming.'" [Fear for the Future, Luke 21:26]

Comment: The scientific community has reached a consensus that global warming caused or accelerated by human activities is indeed taking place. Consequences of global warming include rising sea levels, coastal flooding, and severe storms. Watch out for those roaring waves (Luke 21:11).

My Way News - Official: 7 Arrested in Sears Tower Plot
AP reports, "Seven people were arrested Thursday in connection with the early stages of a plot to attack Chicago's Sears Tower and other buildings in the U.S., including the FBI office here, a federal law enforcement official said." [Rumors of War, Matthew 24:6]

News.com - Facing biometrics' limits
CNET reports, "It may be championed as the highest level of security, but biometrics isn't ready for wide deployment as a consumer application, a new report says. According to Financial Insights, a subsidiary of research company IDC, biometric deployment will grow significantly over the coming years, but its upward climb will be limited for use within a bank's internal security network." [Mark of the Beast/ID tech news, Rev 13:16-18]

Comment: I'm the first to admit that I don't know what the mark of the beast will be, I only know on faith that at some point in the future there will be a mark that will be required for commerce. Many of us in the Bible prophecy community have focused on the rise of biometric identification technology as one possible fulfillment of the mark prophecy. The above report tells us that biometrics is not yet at the stage where it could be easily implemented on a national level, much less on a global level. Things could change, of course, so keep watching.

CNN - Strong waves slam Central American coast
AP reports, "Big waves generated by a storm 2,000 miles away battered a long stretch of the Pacific coast, wrecking homes, hotels and restaurants from Peru to Central America, civil defense officials said Tuesday." [Roaring Waves, Luke 21:11]

Yahoo News - Norway to house seeds in doomsday vault
AP reports, "It sounds like something from a science fiction film — a doomsday vault carved into a frozen mountainside on a secluded Arctic island ready to serve as a Noah's Ark for seeds in case of a global catastrophe. But Norway's ambitious project is on its way to becoming reality Monday when construction begins on the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, designed to house as many as 3 million of the world's crop seeds." [Fear for the Future, Luke 21:26]

Comment: It has been said that every generation finds reason to fear the future, Bible prophecy says that one generation will have more reason that those that came before, they will fear for the fate of the entire planet. Luke 21:26 is a prophecy about such fear given in the context of cosmic signs, but the sentiment is that a future generation will look at the things that are happening in the world and in the heavens and fear for the future. This news report is interesting because it reflects a real fear that the world may suffer a major catastrophe and therefore steps are needed to prepare for such an eventuality.

New US church leader says homosexuality no sin

This new Presiding Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church of the United States of America is a woman--and a prime example of why Paul said that he "never allowed a woman to teach or to exercise un-gainsayable authority over a man." [I Timothy 2:12] As far as I can tell, she is not a homosexual herself. But her blithe dismissal of the clear text of the Bible against homosexuality bespeaks, at best, a profound ignorance of a subject on which she is supposed to be an expert; and at worst, a reprobate mind similar to that against which Jesus warned the Church in Thyatira [Revelation 2].

The message must now be quite clear: "Come out of her, My people!" [Revelation 18:4-5ff]