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Chuck Missler Koinonia House P.O. Box D Coeur d’Alene, ID 83816-0347 1-800-KHOUSE-1 www.khouse.org
The Origins of Islam Islam did not begin with Muhammad; it began with the worship of Al-Ilah, the Moon God, The Lord of the Ka’aba and of 360 idols. Followers are known as “Muslims” from the active participle of “islam” (which means “submission”). The pre-Islamic deities of Arabia were astral deities, especially the triad of the moon god, the sun goddess, and the god associated with the planet Venus. The moon god (Ilah) was the chief and was protector of the cities. These deities were given various names; however, the moon god was evidently originally the Babylonian moon god Sin; in Arabic Al-Ilah. We find early evidence of these practices in the Book of Judges (in Judges 8:21, “ornament” = !Arh]f; saharon, “moon,” “crescent”; as an ornament). Islam is occultic and openly hostile to the West—both Jews and Christians. It is the biggest challenge to the West in the world today. Abu al-Qasim Muhammad ibn ‘Abd Allah ibn ‘Abd al- Muttalib ibn Hasim was persecuted in Mecca and fled to Medina in 622 a.d. (the Hijrah). His teachings established the emergent community-state of Islam: a combination of beliefs and a legal system of Shariah law. The Goals of Islam: Islam divides the universe into two parts: Dar Al Islam, the domain of the faithful; and Dar Al Harb, those with whom they are at war until the Judgment Day. With an irrevocable commitment to conquer the West, and now with nuclear weapons, their agenda can no longer be ignored. The Qur’an: A Warrior Code consisting of 114 Suras (chapters). The Hadith: Six collections of the sayings of Muhammad compiled in the 9th century a.d., regarded as authoritative by the Sunni Muslims; Shi’ah Muslims have a different set of sayings in their Hadith. Is This Fanaticism? Could one call the spiritual leader of an entire major country a “fanatic,” a man universally recognized as properly representing his religion? Who would know his religion better than the spiritual leader himself? Such was Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini when he declared, “The purest joy in Islam is to kill and be killed for Allah.” [Source: David Lamb, The Arabs: Journey Beyond the Mirage, Vintage Books, 1987; page .287.] Global Hypocrisy Since its inception, jihad has been waged by Islamic warriors to spread their religion of violence and hatred. Islam does not change: Rioting Muslim mobs invariably chant in their “fanaticism,” “Allah is greater! Allah is greater!” (“Allah Ackbar” is a comparative: Greater than Who?) A Unique Doctrine of Islam Abu-Bakr, the first Caliph to succeed Muhammad (and one of the few to whom Muhammad promised Paradise without martyrdom), declared that even if he had one foot in Paradise he could not trust Allah to let him in: “The only sure way in Islam of achieving Paradise is to sacrifice one’s life in jihad...Suicide is forbidden as self-murder; But to sacrifice one’s life in killing infidels carries the highest reward.” A Religion of Peace? There are more than 100 verses in the Qur’an advocating the use of violence to spread Islam. In the Qur’an, Allah commands Muslims, “Take not the Jews and Page 4 Page 5 Christians as friends....Slay the idolaters [non-Muslims] wherever ye find them.... Fight against such...as believe not in Allah...” (Surah 5:51; 9:5,29,41, etc.). This is official Islam: it cannot change without admitting that Muhammad was a false prophet and murderer. The Defining Truth Terrorists are not “fanatics,” but devout fundamentalist Muslims who are earnestly following their religion. This candid recognition should bring fresh sympathy for all Muslims who are tragically trapped in that system. A Crucial Caveat We all need to understand the origin, nature, and agenda of Islam. We do not suggest that the rank and file Muslims are guilty of the extremism characterizing the terrorist leadership, but we do need to understand what we are really up against, and not be blinded by politically correct propaganda. Show me a moderate Muslim, and I will show you someone who is not following the dictates of the leadership. The Five Myths of Islam 1) Islam is a religion of Love: Nowhere is Unconditional Love commanded (cf. Deut 6:4 and Lev 19:18). 2) Islam is a religion of Peace: It is based on a militant agenda of conquest. 3) “Allah” = The God of the Old Testament: They are opposites! 4) The Qu’ran is a “holy book.” 5) They accept Jesus as a “prophet.” We are dealing with a theological conflict, not traditional geopolitical or economic goals. Islamic Eschatology Both Sunni and Shiite (the two houses of Islam) allude to the return of Jesus and the Mahdi and the killing of al-Dajjal (the Antichrist). Shiite traditions emphasize the role of the Mahdi as the actual descendant of Muhammad, the 12th Imam, who did not actually die in 873 a.d., but was “occulted” and will appear at the end time… Islamic End-Game One can thus shudder at the serious conviction of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that he is destined— and committed—to cause the appearance of the 12th Imam by ushering in the “Last Days”… Islam is not just a religion: It is a complete, total system of life. Islam has religious, legal, political, economic, social, and military components. Islamization Islamization begins when there are sufficient Muslims in a country to agitate for their religious privileges. When politically correct, tolerant, and culturally diverse societies agree to Muslim demands for their religious privileges, some of the other components tend to creep in as well. As long as the Muslim population remains around or under 2% in any given country, they will, for the most part, be regarded as a peace-loving minority, and not as a threat to other citizens. This is the case in: United States Muslim 0.6% Australia Muslim 1.5% Canada Muslim 1.9% China Muslim 1.8% Italy Muslim 1.5% Norway Muslim 1.8% At 2% to 5%, they begin to proselytize from other ethnic minorities and disaffected groups, often with major recruiting from the jails and among street gangs. This is happening in: Page 6 Page 7 Denmark Muslim 2% United Kingdom Muslim 2.7% Germany Muslim 3.7% Spain Muslim 4% Thailand Muslim 4.6% From 5% on, they exercise an inordinate influence in proportion to their percentage of the population. For example, they will push for the introduction of halal (clean by Islamic standards) food, thereby securing food preparation jobs for Muslims. This is occurring in: Switzerland Muslim 4.3% Philippines Muslim 5% Sweden Muslim 5% The Netherlands Muslim 5.5% Trinidad & Tobago Muslim 5.8% France Muslim 8% When Muslims approach 10% of the population, they tend to increase lawlessness as a means of complaint about their conditions. In Paris, we have already seen car burnings. Any non-Muslim action offends Islam, and results in uprisings and threats, such as in Amsterdam, with opposition to Mohammed cartoons and films about Islam. Such tensions are seen daily, particularly in Muslim sections, in: Guyana Muslim 10% Kenya Muslim 10% India Muslim 13.4% Russia Muslim 15% Israel Muslim 16% After reaching 20%, nations can expect hair-trigger rioting, jihad militia formations, sporadic killings, and the burnings of Christian churches and Jewish synagogues, such as in: Macedonia Muslim 30% Ethiopia Muslim 32.8% At 40%, nations experience widespread massacres, chronic terror attacks, and ongoing militia warfare, such as in: Bosnia Muslim 40% Chad Muslim 53.1% Lebanon Muslim 59.7% From 60%, nations experience unfettered persecution of non-believers of all other religions (including non-conforming Muslims), sporadic ethnic cleansing (genocide), use of Shariah Law as a weapon, and Jizya, the tax placed on infidels, such as in: Malaysia Muslim 60.4% Albania Muslim 70% Sudan Muslim 70% Qatar Muslim 77.5% After 80%, expect daily intimidation and violent jihad, some state-run ethnic cleansing, and even some genocide, as these nations drive out the infidels, and move toward 100% Muslim, such as has been experienced and, in some ways, is on-going in: Bangladesh Muslim 83% Egypt Muslim 90% Gaza Muslim 98.7% Indonesia Muslim 86.1% Iran Muslim 98% Iraq Muslim 97% Jordan Muslim 92% It is also important to understand that in some countries (with under 100% Muslim populations such as France), the minority Muslim populations live in ghettos, within which they are 100% Muslim, and within which they live by Shariah Law. Page 8 Page 9 The national police do not even enter these ghettos. There are no national courts, nor schools, nor non- Muslim religious facilities. Therefore, in some areas of certain nations, Muslim Imams and extremists exercise more power than the national average would indicate. [Adapted from Dr. Peter Hammond’s book: Slavery, Terrorism and Islam: The Historical Roots and Contemporary Threat, Christian Liberty Books, 2005.] 666? And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. Revelation 13:16,17 Whose Number? Insertable chips, RFID, bar codes, etc. for implementation? Remember: it is His number and name that are the critical identity issues. Woe to the idol shepherd that leaveth the flock! the sword shall be upon his arm, and upon his right eye: his arm shall be clean dried up, and his right eye shall be utterly darkened. Zechariah 11:17 Islamic Shahadatan: a declaration of allegiance to Allah and Muhammad worn by millions on the forehead or right arm. Greek dexios: right arm or right side; Charagma: badge of servitude. The number of his name, or multitude? • sofi,a sophia, wisdom, broad and full of intelligence; used of the knowledge of very diverse matters • yhfi,zw psephizo, to count, reckon, decide by voting • avriqmo,j arithmos, a definite number; an indefinite number, a multitude. • a;nqrwpoj anthropos, a human being; a man. • e`xako,sioi e`xh,konta e[xÅ six hundred sixty six. Manuscript Evidence The newest volume of Oxythynchus Papyri (P.Oxy LVI 4499) contains a fragmentary papyrus of Revelation which is the earliest known witness to some sections (late 3rd, early 4th century). Chi, iota, stigma (hexakosiai deka hex) is in the third line. Codex Vaticanus seems to reveal some subtle suggestions: John “wrote what he saw.” If this is Arabic, it flows from right to left. (Many centuries before Mohammad.) If you lay the ξ on its belly you get the word Allah. Bis’m Allah: “In the Name of Allah” is written at an upward angle; two swords are a traditional symbol of Islam. Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding decide [who] the multitude of the beast [is]: for it is the multitude of a man [that is, Muhammad]; and his multitude are “In the name of Allah.” Revelation 13:18 Page 10 Page 11 Yemen Crisis There is now another Middle East crisis flaring up… Yet, here is an excellent example of the necessity of a valid (larger) perspective…bear with me…After the leading revolutions in Egypt and Tunisia, the Muslim Brotherhood is extending its reach into Yemen. In March, Yemeni soldiers fought against rebel forces to drive them out of the southern part of the country. What made this clash different is that Gen. Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar, the half-brother of the President Ali Abdullah Saleh and the commander of the Yemani forces, turned against the government and joined the protesters. In the meantime, more than one thousand people have been killed or injured by regime’s security forces. Many in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa want President Saleh to be tried for crimes committed against the people. Earlier this month the Yemeni President went to Saudi Arabia, supposedly for emergency medical treatment following an assassination attack, and most analysts agree that he will not return to his country. His departure did not end the struggle, it only marked a breather in the continued battle, and signaled further complications in the revolution. The Saudi royal family is attempting to force Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s family from power now that events seem to be moving against him; his son and nephews appear willing to fight on his behalf. Alarmed by the overthrow of its allies in Egypt and Tunisia, the Saudi regime knows that the developments in Yemen will affect Riyadh much more because of the geographical proximity and socio-cultural relations. Now, Saudi Arabia is pushing for a plan by the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council regarding a transition of power in Yemen. Riyadh is attempting to manage this crisis and force a regime change with attacks against President Saleh’s closest relatives. At the same time, Gen. Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar is positioning himself to fill a power vacuum in Sanaa, the capital. There are many distinct groups all vying for control of the country: People who want a democratic country; others who want a Islamic Republic; still others who have aligned themselves with tribal warlords, elements of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, and elements of the Muslim Brotherhood…all in the same country. The army is starting to fragment because some believe that the President is joining forces with Al Qaeda. Some have left to join Al Qaeda and others are continuing to fight them. It is well known that President Saleh has been flirting with Al Qaeda to gain political and financial leverage with the United States and Saudi Arabia. While playing radicals against the U.S. and Saudi Arabia, President Saleh has been accused by the United States of pocketing substantial amounts of foreign aid coming into the country. Yemen is of particular interest to the United States and Saudi Arabia and may join Iraq, Afghanistan, and Libya as the 4th Middle East war for the United States. This is because Yemen has been home to Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula since 2009, when pieces of Al-Qaeda in Saudi Arabia settled in Yemen and began a reign of terror by killing scores of diplomats and domestic officials. With President Saleh in Riyadh, Vice-President Abed Rabbo Mansour al-Hadi was named interim president and has brought renewed hopes to Al Qaeda and the other rebel forces. Yemen meets the definition of a failed state and may signal yet another victory for Muslim radicals in the region. Yet, there may be a far more threatening perspective to those who understand the real undercurrents… 1400-Year War “The most dominant threat on the near horizon.” Yet, nobody in the Pentagon will talk openly about it. Nobody in the White House knows what to do. As many Page 12 Page 13 as eight key Islamic countries are presently heading toward a bloody “new” war—with each other—that’s been fourteen centuries in the making! A fatal dinner that echoes still… This all began at a lamb dinner, served up one evening in the year 629 a.d. Nobody could have known that the dinner they were about to eat would one day change all history. Some say it was goat. Others say it was lamb. Either way, it was poisoned. And the guest of honor was Mohammed, the controversial founder of Islam. It was just one bite, that’s all it took. He tasted the poison and immediately spit it out. But it was too late. He would soon die, sparking a bitter and deadly division within all of Islam. The Sunni/Shiite Split Ali is the central figure at the origin of the Shia / Sunni split, which occurred in the decades immediately following the death of the Prophet in 632. • Sunnis regard Ali as the fourth and last of the “rightly guided caliphs” (successors to Mohammed as leader of the Muslims) following on from Abu Bakr 632-634, Umar 634-644 and Uthman 644-656. • Shias feel that Ali should have been the first caliph and that the caliphate should pass down only to direct descendants of Mohammed via Ali and Fatima, They often refer to themselves as ahl al bayt or “people of the house” [of the prophet]. On the one side, you’ve got the Sunni Muslims. They’re the ones that run Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, and many of the other countries in the Middle East. On the other, you’ve got the Shia Muslims. It’s the Shia that run Iran. And now also run Iraq, as well as Yemen, Lebanon and Syria. This Sunni-Shia split has built up pressure now for over 1,350 years. To understand the undercurrents within the House of Islam one needs to understand that these two Houses hate each other (almost) as much as they hate the Jews. But it’s only now that this pressure has found its ultimate release—with Iran driving a new Shia uprising right in the middle of the most dangerous place on Earth—the oil-soaked Middle East. The 200 Million Man March Nobody knows exactly how many Shia there are right now in the Middle East. That’s because in all but four Middle Eastern countries, Sunni leaders don’t bother to count. Sunni schools teach that Shiites aren’t real Muslims. Shias don’t get a seat in government. They can’t become judges or even testify in high courts. In Sunni-run Saudi Arabia, Shias and Sunni can’t even marry. For over 13 centuries, the Shia have been the underclass. For over 200 million Shia, spread from Pakistan to Lebanon, and Azerbaijan to Yemen, there is a hidden river of revenge running through the entire Middle East. This is another reason Iran wants “the Bomb!” Iran was Persia Persia was once the biggest and most powerful empire in history! Iraq, Syria, Turkey, Egypt, Afghanistan and Pakistan—even Israel—the Persians once controlled them all, including most of the oil-rich coast of the Caspian. For 300 years, Persian armies held off the Roman Empire. Their scholars walked with Aristotle and Plato. They influenced Greek art. It was the Persians who invented chess. And the windmill. Not to mention algebra, trigonometry, and, apparently, even wine. The bottom line is... No Empire forgets its past glory. The Iranians resent losing theirs. But now they see a chance to get it back. Page 14 Page 15 For eight years back in the 1980s, Saudi Arabia helped Iraq wage a bloody war against Iran. Along with other Sunni governments, the Saudis even gave Saddam Hussein over $47 billion to launch missiles and nerve gas attacks over the Iranian border. Iran hasn’t forgotten, or forgiven. Iran’s Shia influence has spilled across the border into southern Iraq. Southern Iraq is where you’ll find six of Iraq’s eight “Supergiant” oil fields. It’s also a key border with Shia Islam’s mortal enemy Saudi Arabia; which is Sunni. With total control of the Hormuz “oil chokepoint” in the Persian Gulf and new power in “liberated” Iraq, the Iranians have a brand new foothold for kicking off the long-awaited “Shia Revolution.” Iran has almost total control over the Strait of Hormuz. Hormuz is the tight waterway that connects the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean. Over 17 million barrels of oil have to pass through Hormuz every day. That’s 40% of all the oil shipped in the world. and 90% of all the daily oil shipments from the entire Middle East. With Hormuz alone, Iran could cripple the world overnight. Today, Iran backs Shia militants in Iraq. They give them money and guns…Why? Because gaining control in Iraq takes the Iranians one step closer in their ambitions for revenge. For the next one of those steps, just look further south... to Yemen. Yemen The Pentagon has just tripled its budget on Yemen. Even ABC News called Yemen the next “top target” in the terror war and a “near-perfect haven for terrorists.” Obama just sent Yemen U.S. troops, ships, and weapons. Yemen might be a failed country... with a collapsing government, a shrinking oil supply, an exploding population and not much of anything else but lawlessness and chaos. But what Yemen does have is position. It sits just on the tip of the Arab peninsula... south of another key Saudi border and on the coast of another key oil strait called Bab-el-Mandeb. That name means the “Gate of Tears.” And like Hormuz, most oil states on the Red Sea can’t get a drop of oil out without shipping it through the Bab-el-Mandeb. Over 3.3 million barrels go through it every day. Iran’s Proxies For the last six years, Yemen has fought a vicious and bloody war with Shia rebels.... no doubt with Iranian support. Tehran now “donates” $1 billion every year to Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon. They gave billions to Syria’s Shia president to build cement factories, car factories, power plants, and storage silos. In return, Iran gets Hezbollah’s Arabic-speaking terrorists to run militant Shia training camps in Iraq. And it gets Syria to distribute Iran’s money and weapons to others in the Shia network. The secret money Iran sends to Shia rebels in Yemen could soon have a payoff too — by opening up another route for “backdoor” Shia access into Saudi Arabia. Yemen’s rebels have already hit towns across the Saudi border. And the Saudis have hit back, losing dozens of troops in the process. We’re just in the first innings of this one. But even a nuclear bomb is just a beginning. Even if the go ahead to build a nuke never comes from Iran’s top cleric, the more immediate danger is a wildfire of Shia-Sunni unrest... starting in Iran’s new hotbeds of Shia support... and spreading across the rest of the Sunni-run oil states... with the richest oil fields in the world’s richest oil nation as the final battleground: Saudi Arabia! Page 16 Page 17 As we talk, big and small Gulf states are piling up weapons, stocking anti-missile batteries, and sandbagging their oil terminals, ports, and water desalinization plants...Abu Dhabi alone has already bought $17 billion worth of U.S. anti-missile hardware, and the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia just splurged on weapons, to the tune of $25 billion. As we talk, U.S. F-16 fighter jets, Patriot missile systems, giant cruisers and several thousand more U.S. troops are quietly digging in for an epic fight... that could spread past Iraq and Yemen... and even into Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain. Leaders in all three of America’s biggest Middle East allied countries—Egypt, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia—all claim that the epic Sunni-Shia showdown is in the cards. But no matter how it starts, Saudi Arabia will be a key focus: Not only is Saudi Arabia home to Mecca, Islam’s holiest place... but it’s also home to the corrupt and U.S.-allied Royal House of Saud, considered an insult to all Islam. Iran is getting ready to assert its place in the world. (Think Japan or Germany in the 1930s.) The threat is there, it’s large, and it’s not going away…We need to be aware of the significant changes that are occurring on our horizon; myopia can be painfully deceitful. Strategic Trends 2011: Volume 1 Session 2: America’s Challenge & Natural Disasters A Lesson in Quantities • How much is a million seconds? 12 days • How much is a billion seconds? 32 years! • How much is a trillion seconds? 32,000 years! How Much is “a Trillion”? If you had gone into business on the day Jesus was born, and your business lost a million dollars each day, 365 days a year, it would take you until October 2737 to lose $1 trillion. The Most Significant Day This year promises to be the most challenging opportunity of our lifetimes. Non-linearities are compounding on our personal and national horizons that will test our preparations and our commitment to our callings… The prevailing “Normalcy Bias”—the conviction that “it can’t happen here…”—results in the fact that most Americans are oblivious to a forthcoming day which may be the most significant day of 2011… Enigmatic Horizon Gold, the anti-dollar, has been telling us for 10 straight years that the crisis is coming. Gold was around $252 an ounce in the summer of 1999. It’s now around $1,600. Gold is up six-fold against the U.S. dollar. That’s not a great statement of confidence in the world’s reserve currency. Let’s review some basic background… The Industrialization of America It was America that was at the forefront of the industrial revolution. It was America that showed the world how to mass produce everything from automobiles to televisions to airplanes. It was the great American manufacturing base that crushed Germany and Japan in World War II. The Deindustrialization of America The United States has lost approximately 42,400 factories since 2001. About 75% of those factories employed Page 18 Page 19 over 500 people when they were still in operation. Unemployment in America is now over 20%, despite the “official” 10% after statistical chicanery of the government figures. One in five is out of work! (The “real world” estimate is closer to 22%, according to Shadow Government Statistics.) Have you wondered why unemployment in America refuses to go away or get better in spite of all the government/ Fed/Wall Street propaganda and disinformation about a “recovery in progress” with trillions of dollars in bailout/stimulus funds? This Is Why There Are No Jobs in America Aside from the charts and figures, Porter Stansbury dramatized this well: Here’s the deal. You’re going to start a business or expand the one you’ve got now. It doesn’t really matter what you do or what you’re going to do. I’ll partner with you no matter what business you’re in—as long as it’s legal. But I can’t give you any capital—you have to come up with that on your own. I won’t give you any labor—that’s definitely up to you. What I will do, however, is demand you follow all sorts of rules about what products and services you can offer, how much (and how often) you pay your employees, and where and when you’re allowed to operate your business. That’s my role in the affair: to tell you what to do. Now in return for my rules, I’m going to take roughly half of whatever you make in the business, each year. Half seems fair, doesn’t it? I think so. Of course, that’s half of your profits. You’re also going to have to pay me about 12% of whatever you decide to pay your employees because you’ve got to cover my expenses for promulgating all of the rules about who you can employ, when, where, and how. Come on, you’re my partner. It’s only “fair.” Now... after you’ve put your hard-earned savings at risk to start this business and after you’ve worked hard at it for a few decades (paying me my 50% or a bit more along the way each year), you might decide you’d like to cash out—to finally live the good life. Whether or not this is “fair”—some people never can afford to retire—is a different argument. As your partner, I’m happy for you to sell whenever you’d like... because our agreement says, if you sell, you have to pay me an additional 20% of whatever the capitalized value of the business is at that time. I know... I know... you put up all the original capital. You took all the risks. You put in all of the labor. That’s all true. But I’ve done my part, too. I’ve collected 50% of the profits each year. And I’ve always come up with more rules for you to follow each year. Therefore, I deserve another, final 20% slice of the business... I’m sure you’ll think my offer is reasonable and happily partner with me... but it doesn’t really matter how you feel about it because if you ever try to stiff me—or cheat me on any of my fees or rules—I’ll break down your door in the middle of the night, threaten you and your family with heavy, automatic weapons, and throw you in jail. That’s how civil society is supposed to work, right? This is Amerika, isn’t it? That’s the offer Amerika gives its entrepreneurs. And the idiots in Washington wonder why there are no new jobs... Obamacare (Attributed to Donald Trump): Let me get this straight: We’re going to be “gifted” with a health care plan we are forced to purchase and fined if we don’t, which purportedly covers at least ten million more people, without adding a single new doctor, but provides for 16,000 new IRS agents, written by a committee whose chairman says he doesn’t underPage 20 Page 21 stand it, passed by a Congress that didn’t read it, but exempted themselves from it, and signed by a President who smokes… with funding administered by a treasury chief who didn’t pay his taxes, for which we’ll be taxed for four years before any benefits take effect, by a government which has already bankrupted Social Security and Medicare, all to be overseen by a surgeon general who is obese, and financed by a country that’s broke! Is there something wrong with this picture? But let’s leave the politics, and look at the hard facts: The U.S. is not immune from the results of its current fiscal policies. The worst day for Americans will be the day the dollar is vetoed as the world’s reserve currency. When the Federal Reserve can no longer simply print more money to bail out private institutions and pay its debts, the cost of everything, especially oil, will go up. Although large in its own right, TARP is only a part of the combined efforts of the Federal Government to address the financial crisis. Approximately 50 initiatives or programs have been created by various Federal agencies since 2007 to provide potential support totaling more than $23.7 trillion (and the American people were led to believe no one saw this coming…). An overview of the Government’s new potential support relating to the financial crisis is listed by Federal agency. Total Potential Related to the Crisis = $23.7 trillion! To obtain a debt of $27.3 Trillion it would require losing, from the day that Christ was born, over $32 million per day! Current U.S. Debt At the end of the Q1, the U.S. had: $ 6.8 trillion in Treasury debt, $ 8.2 trillion in government agency debt, $ 2.7 trillion in municipal debt, $11.6 trillion of corporate debt, $14.6 trillion in mortgage debt, $ 2.5 trillion in consumer debt, plus $ 6.5 trillion in other debts. $52.9 trillion TOTAL (…largest in history) Source: Flow of Funds Accounts of the United States U.S. Future Obligations Moreover, the U.S. government has future obligations to Social Security, Medicare, and pensions that exceed $60 trillion...while U.S. banks now hold derivatives obligations exceeding $202 trillion, according to Office of the Controller of Currency. Government debt is not $13.5 trillion, but 14 times higher at $200 trillion (840% of GDP). Let’s get real, the U.S. is bankrupt. Prof. Laurence Kotlikoff, Boston University economist (quoted by the IMF monthly journal, Finance and Development) Debt Crisis We are in a debt crisis that is now impacting nearly half of all U.S. states and thousands of our counties, cities and towns: • Police, fire and other emergency services are being cut. • Health care services are being limited or eliminated altogether. • Schools and universities are losing funding and being forced to raise tuition costs. • Maintenance of roads, bridges and even electrical grids is being curtailed. • Thousands of state, county and city jobs are being cut. And to add insult to injury, state and local taxes are being raised. All because state and local governments can’t pay their bills! Prominent Wall Street analysts are now warning that up to 100 major U.S. cities and states will go bust in this year. Page 22 Page 23 “Quantitative Easing”? Fed Chairman Bernanke’s new money printing makes all those prior money printing episodes look like tiny hiccups by comparison. The horrific truth is that the United States Federal Reserve is now engaged in the greatest money-printing scheme since the Weimar Republic in Germany. Constitutional Crises • War Powers Act: Libya war not authorized; impeachable offense? • The Birth Certificate? “Long Form” finally released: apparently a faked document. • Secrecy surrounding entire prior history: According to a new scientific poll (June 16-19), half of all Americans want to see Congress investigate Barack Obama’s eligibility for the presidency. SSN 042-68-4425 Jean Paul Ludwig, born in France in 1890, emigrated to the United States in 1924, and was assigned, in or about March, 1977, SSN 042-68-4425. Ludwig lived most of his adult life in Connecticut. His SSN begins with the digits 042, which are among those reserved for Connecticut residents. (Obama never lived or worked in that state, so there is no reason for his SSN to start with the digits 042). Ludwig spent the final months of his life in Hawaii, where he died. Obama’s grandmother, Madelyn Payne Dunham, worked part-time in the Probate Office in the Honolulu Hawaii Courthouse, and therefore had access to the SSNs of deceased individuals. The Social Security Administration was never informed of Ludwig’s death, and because he never received Social Security benefits there were no benefits to stop and no questions were raised. The suspicion is that Dunham, knowing her grandson was not a U.S. citizen—either because he was born in Kenya or became a citizen of Indonesia upon his adoption by Lolo Soetoro—merely scoured the probate records until she found someone who died who was not receiving Social Security benefits, and “selected” that SSN for Obama. The use of a false SSN is a felony. Selective Service registration number 61-1125539 was issued to Barack Obama using SSN 042-68-4425 Sept 4 1980. Also a felony: $250,000 and 5 years in prison. Mayan Calendar? According to the fabled Mayan Calendar, the world will come to an end on December 21, 2012. There appears to be a 45-day error in the Mayan Calendar… the world appears to be scheduled to come to an end on the 2nd Tuesday in November, 2012 (The Federal Elections in the United States). Just a joke...and yet... Our Present Predicament America is in a moral free fall. We are victims of spiritual warfare: we have a media masking truth. We have courts perverting justice. We have schools deliberately “dumbing down” our youth. We have replaced our traditional heritage with “multiculturalism,” revisionism, Page 24 Page 25 and values relativism. Thus, traditional patriotism has now been relegated as a form of obsolete idol worship. [Source: David Breese’s Seven Men Who Rule the World From Their Graves.] Have you ever wondered why governments always seem to tend toward corruption? Why are we surprised: Governments have always loved crises: they provide the rationale for: a) Increasing budgets and bureaucracies, and b) Subjugating the liberties of the population. Most new dictators create external crises to consolidate their internal powers. In America, we long ago learned that social crises serve just as well as military ones. Here is one insight that supplies a key missing link: Immorality results in social crises. The Wraths of God Appositional Wrath (Against Sin) Catastrophical Wrath (Flood of Noah) Eschatological Wrath (Rev 6 – 19) Abandonment Wrath Samson (Judges 16:20) Northern Kingdom (Hosea 4-14) Southern Kingdom (Habakkuk 1, 2) America? Natural Disasters: Birthpangs or False Labor? The largest earthquake on record was the 9.5 Chilean earthquake of May 22, 1960. The third largest earthquake ever recorded on a seismograph took place at Sumatra, Indonesia, on December 20, 2004, with a magnitude of 9.1, which lasted some 8-10 minutes and killed over 230,000 people in 14 countries. The earthquake off the coast of Japan on March 10, 2011, with a magnitude of 9.0, resulted in 28,000 killed. The vast majority of deaths attributed to the Japan earthquake were not caused by the quake itself, but by the ensuing tsunami that resulted from the offshore epicenter some 100 miles east of northern Japan at a depth of 32 kilometers (19 miles). Adding to the tragedy, of course, was the tsunami’s destruction of the three Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plants on a scale equal to that of Chernobyl that melted down in 1986. The area of the meltdown may be uninhabitable for hundreds of years. The largest death toll resulted from the earthquake at Tangshan, China, 7.8 magnitude of July 28, 1976. The official death toll of 255,000 is believed to be far short of the estimated 830,000 dead. The disparity in count is due to China’s secretive approach at news control. Yet even the most conservative “official” count far outstrips those of most recorded earthquakes. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) lists earthquakes with 50,000 or more deaths as far back as a.d. 856. We have included them in the following list along with a number of other significant earthquakes that resulted in fewer deaths primarily because of their remote locations. Page 26 Page 27 Significant Earthquakes 2 in the 9th century 1 in the 12th century 2 in the 13th century 1 in the 16th century 3 in the 17th century 3 in the 18th century 1 in the 19th century 14 in the 20th century 9 in the (first 11 years of) the 21st century. The recording of earthquakes goes back only as far as the second century when Chinese scientist Chang Heng invented the first known seismograph. The first mentioned is that in 1 Kings 19:11-12 in which we are told YHWH was not in the earthquake, but in the still, small voice. Amos 1:1 mentions “the earthquake,” the details of which are unknown; it occurred two years after Amos received a prophecy regarding Israel and concerning Uzziah, king of Judah, and Jeroboam, king of Israel. Zechariah referred back to that same earthquake in Zech 14:5. Only three other earthquakes are recorded in Scripture: 1) Upon the death of Jesus, whereby the graves of the saints were opened allowing for those saints to be resurrected after He was (Mt 27:54); 2) When the angel of the Lord descended from Heaven to roll back the stone from the Lord’s tomb (Mt 28:2); 3) In Philippi, which caused the foundations of the prison to be shaken in which Paul and Silas were being held (Acts 16:26). The only other mentions of earthquakes are to be found in the Book of Revelation’s prophecies of the days just prior to the Lord’s return (Rev 6:12; 8:5; 11:13-19; 16:18). Tornadoes The outbreak of tornadoes that ravaged the U.S. South in April 2011 was the largest in recorded history. The National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) estimates that 362 twisters touched down with a record 312 within the 24-hour period, April 27-28. This was more than twice the previous 24-hour record of 148. It was also the single deadliest day for tornadoes since 1925 with more than 300 dead from Alabama to Kentucky. Residents were given a scant 24 minutes warning, but the twisters were too wide and too powerful to allow for escape. Is there a pattern here? Following Barack Obama’s pledge to return Israel to pre-1967 borders, we saw the U.S. hit with a series of deadly superstorms: Just days after Obama insisted Israel must give up the lands it won through military victory with its enemies, some 200 people were killed by a tornado in Joplin, Mo. We saw it in Katrina, when George Bush forced Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza. In fact, as everyone from Israeli rabbis to U.S. senators have noted, it seems to happen every single time that the U.S. pressures Israel to divide the land. This phenomenon has been documented by Bill Koenig, author of “Eye to Eye: Facing the Consequences of Dividing Israel.” Bill points out that nine of the 10 costliest insurance events in U.S. history followed dramatic calls by U.S. officials for Israel to make land concessions in bids for peace with its neighbors. He points out in detail how six of the seven costliest hurricanes in U.S. history followed such events. He points out how three of the four largest tornado outbreaks in U.S. history followed such developments. Earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, even terrorist attacks have hit America often within 24 hours of calls by Page 28 Page 29 U.S. officials for Israel to withdraw from Jewish land. It seems to go right back to Genesis and God’s pledge to bless those who bless the children of Israel and curse those who curse them (Gen 12:3). That is a prophecy that has seen every empire of the world come and go—yet Israel remains. It may be chastened by God. It may be dispersed. But God has punished every nation that has come against Israel. E ach one has been judged. Conclusions: Koenig: Eye to Eye: correlation with policy? Impressive, but not conclusive…? Katrina and Gaza: most disturbing. This “Koenig hypothesis” is going to be tested by the current fundamental change in U.S. policy! (I don’t worry about Israel: I do worry about America!) Does God Use Weather? • Noah’s Flood (the first rain! Gen 6-8). • He allowed Paul to be driven by a great storm to be shipwrecked at Malta (Acts 27). • God used hailstones to kill most of the Ammorites when Joshua fought them (Josh 10). • God used hailstones against Egypt (Ex 9). • In the Tribulation, the Two Witnesses have the power to shut up the sky (Rev 11:6). • And later, 100 pound hailstones devastate the earth (Rev 16:21). Does God Use Famine? • He used famine to get a family of 70 to Egypt, and subsequently, to come out a nation (Ex 19:6). • He used a famine to get Naomi to Moab, and, thus, a Gentile bride for Boaz (Ruth 1). • It will also be a major sign: the Black Horseman (Rev 6:5,6). • He used famine to warn (1 Kgs 17:1); to correct (2 Sam 21:1); and, to punish (Jer 14:12, 15). Does Satan Use the Weather? When Jesus dealt with stormy weather on the Sea of Galilee, He used the word “rebuke.” .... [Jesus] rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, “Peace, be still.” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. Mark 4:39 The Greek word for rebuke, “epitimao,” used in the above verse is the same Greek word used when He rebuked demons while He was on the earth—confirming that the bad weather was not originally from God, but He was in control. Thus, Satan requires permission… But he that touches the apple of God’s eye will pay a price: For thus saith the LORD of hosts; After the glory hath he sent me unto the nations which spoiled you: for he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye. Zechariah 2:8 And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning of [birthpangs]. Matthew 24:6-8 Non-Signs? Braxton Hicks Contractions? A Braxton Hicks contraction is defined by Taber’s Medical dictionary as an intermittent (painless?) contraction that may occur every 10 to 20 minutes after the first trimester of pregnancy. These contractions were first described in 1872 by British gynecologist John Braxton Hicks. Page 30 Page 31 “...but the end is not yet.” Read The Olivet Discourse (Matthew 24; Mark 13), in opposition to the “Temple Discourse” (in Luke 21). T he “Beginning of Sorrows” Mt Lk Rev False Christs 24:4-5 21:4 6:1-2 Wars 24:6 21:9,10 6:3-4 Famines 24:7a 21:11 6:5-6 Pestilences 24:7b-8 21:12 6:7-8 Earthquakes 24:9 21:24 6:12 It’s Time to Review our True Citizenship... For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. Hebrews 11:10 Your Challenge We are being plunged into a period of time about which the Bible says more than it does about any other period of time in history . . . Two Basic Challenges Find out what the Bible says • Not to be delegated to others (Mt 5:17) • Our unique environment of Today Advanced Information Appliances Internet Resources Role of small groups • Find out what is really going on “What is truth?” The Age of Deceit… Koinonia Institute “For such a time as this…” Are you saved? Well, then, have you discovered your calling? Are you in a fellowship committed to help preparing you for that calling? What have you invested in that preparation? Your Time? Your Priorities? The Koinonia Institute is a volunteer “think tank” for Christians in a worldwide lifetime fellowship that is non-denominational but very fundamental. It is a supplement, not a replacement, for your local church. A transnational fellowship committed to support your personal calling—whatever it turns out to be…“on your own clock” and schedule… How Can You Get Involved? • Undertake a life-long learning program • Volunteer to serve as a: Area Representative Teaching Assistant Research Assistant or IDB Folio Specialist • Sponsor special programs to support: Student prizes and incentives Practicums and Internships Establish or facilitate Leadership Training Centers Endowments for course development, etc. Your Action Plan? What is God calling YOU to do? “Raise the bar” on your personal walk with Him. Commit to a systematic program to really learn your Bible. Join (or start) a weekly Small Study Group. Respond to His calling…NOW! Monitor The Strategic Trends Perspective is our most valuable asset! We need to understand the trends underway to make intelligent decisions. http://www.khouse.org/strategic_trends/ http://studycenter.com/strategictrends/ * * * Page 32 |
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