What it FEELS like to be falsely accused, controlled and dominated by someone who "says" they love you!

My mother accused me of sleeping with her boyfriend many years ago. She came out with this accusation on my birthday of all days when I turned 23. She demanded that I stay with her and admit to sleeping with her boyfriend and interrogated me like the CIA does with a terrorist. She took away my car keys so I could not leave and pulled my clothes as tight as she could threatening me to keep me there. I tried to tell her that the best thing that both of us can do right now is separate because it is impossible to have rational communication when both people are extremely upset. She would NOT accept that and still demanded I stay there and admit to something I did not do. It was not until I had to actually pull a knife out to defend myself so she would take me seriously and let me leave. Finally she did, but not until I endured hours of verbal accusation and interrogation. My mother convinced my brothers that I went ballistic and threatened her with a knife and made me appear to my brothers as though I was the out of control psycho and she was the victim. What she did was very skilled........and when I reacted to her abusive behavior which any normal sane person would do, I was the one painted as completely out of control. She was very manipulative and every one felt sorry for her and I was treated like a death row criminal.

After I moved out I was able to stay briefly with a friend in a nearby state and I guess because my mom felt guilty (which she should have), she put a couple hundred dollars in my bank account because she was "concerned" about me! But maybe perhaps I think she did so only to appease her own guilty conscience.

I ended up moving back with my brother Scott who had a house. Prior to my moving back with Scott, my other brother Tim was previously sharing the house with Scott but had moved back into my mothers house. Unfortunate for me (or I should say fortunate for me because I got the heck away from them), it did not work out because Tim took my mothers side and started attacking me and demanded I leave. Scott did not have a problem with me staying there because he took a neutral position between Tim/ mom and me. He was telling Scott what to do even though Scott was paying the rent. Tim and mom basically dominated Scott and I and Lorded over me.

During the time that I was staying with my brother Scott, both Tim and my mom continued in their relentless harassment of me. They both ganged up on me, especially my brother TIm and insisted that I go to a gyno to prove my virginity because they were absolutely certain I was "shacking" up with her boyfriend. Even when I agreed to go ( which I SHOULD HAVE told them to shove it up their ass because they are disgusting ), the gyno said to my mother that I was indeed a virgin, but she STILL did not believe me. I, to this day, can not believe the torture I endured from these people.....the heartless and abusive behavior towards me that I did not deserve. They basically made me feel worthless, like I had no value. Even when I tried to stand up for myself, I was always made to feel like my will and my feelings had absolutely no importance whatsoever.........the relationships were basically reduced to extremely controlling and dominating behavior and I was the one being completely controlled and dominated. I look back now and know that I allowed myself to be dominated and controlled for the sake of restoring the relationship and to show Christlike humility and submission, but unfortunately, it seemed to make things worse. God did not create us to be dominated and controlled by other people, in particular Christians who are supposed to know better, that is if they are genuinely born-again.

Moving out was indeed the best therapy for me. It allowed me to start filling my mind with the Truth of God's Word and what He says about me. I got away from all that abusive, controlling behavior and verbal assult and began renewing my mind with the Truth and God began to slowly heal my extremely damaged emotions. But this could only be done when I was away from my family on my own and they were not in my life. It was the greatest freedom and healing I had ever received and because of this, I started to gain tremendous confidence in my God that He was with me and that HE LOVED ME even when my family forsook me.

I really believe that all this happened to me because of the way I looked. In a previous post ( a subversive world view), I mentioned how everyone kept nagging me including my family about loosing weight (and mind you I was hardly overweight because according to the BMI charts my weight was fine). This world is programmed to think everyone is supposed to look like a barbie doll, especially if you are attractive. At that time, I never cared about what I looked like because I have always believed it is not what you look like but rather how you treat people that matters. But everyone kept focusing on my outward appearance and since the pressure became unbearable I finally decided I would loose weight. But once I lost weight that is when the crap hit the fan so to speak because suddenly I became very attractive and was now considered a threat by my mother. She openly admitted to me that she was extremely jealous of me. And I know that she never would have believed I was "shacking up" with her boyfriend if I was 200 lbs with acne all over my face or if I was a plain jane. People often aspire to be beautiful and assume that beautiful people have perfect lives or that they are rich or conceited. Some say beauty is a blessing but I can assure you it is a curse, an absolute curse because no matter how hard you try, people will ALWAYS judge you by your outward appearance! I have been trying to overcome this all my life and have often wondered how different my life and relationships would be if I was a plain jane.


I have also often thought at what point do you stop allowing yourself to be controlled and dominated by another person(s)? Perhaps you never should have allowed it to begin with in the first place. But what if the people controlling and dominating you are the very people you are dependent upon? This is why so many people EXPLOIT those weaker people (children as well) who they know are dependent upon them and it makes them feel powerful. I think it is disgusting for any human being to behave in such a manner because they themselves by their own behavior have reduced themselves to wild animals with no moral conscience and no rational thinking.

What is a Generation?

continued from previous post...........
credits.....Douglas Hamp


We have determined what the fig tree represents and now what we must determine is just what is a generation. “Assuredly, I say to you, this generation [genea γενεά] will by no means pass away till all these things take place,” (Matthew 24:34). When considering this question we might first of all do well to remember that Jesus was not speaking Greek to His disciples but Hebrew, which is documented in my book Discovering the Language of Jesus. Not only was Jesus speaking Hebrew to the Jews of His day, which most certainly included His disciples, but according to what are known as the fragments of Papias, the book of Matthew was first written in Hebrew and then later translated to Greek.

Papias was one of the early Church Fathers who lived from 70 to 155 AD. The early church historian Eusebius notes that he “had the privilege of association with Polycarp, in the friendship of St. John himself, and of ‘others who had seen the Lord.’” (Eusebius 3.39.15) […] He says about Matthew (fragment VI) “Matthew put together the oracles [of the Lord] in the Hebrew language, and each one interpreted them as best he could.” (Eusebius, III, 39, 1) (Hamp, 2005 Discovering the Language of Jesus).

Given that Jesus was speaking Hebrew, the word that we ought to be truly considering is the Hebrew word dor (דּוֹר), which underlies the Greek word genea (γενεά) (the Greek Septuagint translates dor as genea). Dor is defined by Gesenius’ Hebrew Lexicon as “(1) an age, generation of men, as if the period and circuit of the years of life.” Brown Driver Briggs defines it primarily as “1. period, age, generation, mostly poet.: a. of duration in the past, former age(s)” and also as “2. of men living at a particular time (period, age).” Based on my own research where I examined the 79 times that word is used in the Hebrew Bible, the word should be defined as the period of a person’s life. In other word, generation is defined both as period of time and a group of people which cannot be separated. The Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (TWOT) explains the meaning of generation as it relates to the entirety of a person’s life:

Occasionally there is a Hebrew word wherein etymology, as a route to discovery of ancient thought patterns, is all-important in discovering the true life-situation in which the word must be understood. Such is the case here. Authorities all agree that dor, the noun, is derived from dur, the verb. The simple primitive sense, not expressly found in any biblical text, is to move in a circle, surround. […] In this manner an original meaning of “go in a circle” […] provide[s] the basis for a word of important theological meaning. […] By a thoroughly understandable figure, a man’s lifetime beginning with the womb of earth and returning thereto (Gen 3:19) is a dor, (TWOT Dor).

While it is true that a new generation begins with the birth of one’s offspring, that still does not negate the fact that the length of a particular generation is the total lifespan. In reality, the Hebrew or Greek word is not that different from their English equivalent. If we talk about my parents’ generation it is the people group born around the similar time as them. I am not in my parents’ generation – I am the second generation. In fact, I was born some thirty years into my parents’ life. However, we should not define the length of a generation as the interval between the two but rather as the lifetime of a given person. After all, my mother is still alive and many people in her generation are too. Some people in her generation, like my father, have already passed on. However, there will be some that will live into their eighties and even a few into their nineties.

Let’s consider the following verses that show that the people group of a certain period of time all died: “And Joseph died, all his brothers, and all that generation,” (Exodus 1:6 emphasis mine). The verse clearly was not talking about people in Abraham’s day or people in Moses’ day. It was the people group of a particular time that died – that is a generation. The Psalmist demonstrates a similar usage wherein he is exhorting those living at his time to not be like the generation (time of) their fathers: “And may not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation that did not set its heart aright, And whose spirit was not faithful to God.” (Psalms 78:8). Notice that generation is being used as both a people group (fathers) and also a time period (since fathers necessarily come before their progeny). Therefore, when the psalmist says “a generation that did not set its heart aright” he is talking about a specific group of people who lived at a specific time.

This is reinforced by Deuteronomy 2:14 where Moses discusses the time that was spent in the desert as punishment against the generation that rebelled against the Lord. “And the time we took to come from Kadesh Barnea until we crossed over the Valley of the Zered was thirty-eight years, until all the generation of the men of war was consumed from the midst of the camp, just as the LORD had sworn to them,” (Deuteronomy 2:14). The generation was the lifetime (forty years plus twenty) of a group of men as derived from the book of Numbers in which God gives the minimum time of a generation [Hebrew: dor דּוֹר Greek: genea γενεά] as sixty years (twenty and above plus wandering forty years):

Surely none of the men who came up from Egypt, from twenty years old and above, shall see the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, because they have not wholly followed Me… So the LORD’s anger was aroused against Israel, and He made them wander in the wilderness forty years, until all the generation [LXX reads: genea γενεά] that had done evil in the sight of the LORD was gone, (Numbers 32:11, 13 emphasis mine).

Thus the minimum age of a generation is sixty years (forty years is never a generation in Scripture contrary to what many have claimed). However, there is another verse that provides a more average lifespan of a human being which is also the key to see approximately when the Lord will return for the second time, (a fact pointed out to me by Dr. Kenton Beshore, Sr.).

The days of our lives are seventy years; And if by reason of strength they are eighty years, Yet their boast is only labor and sorrow; For it is soon cut off, and we fly away, (Psalms 90:10).

The fullness of a generation being 70 or 80 years is striking when one considers that Moses, the author of this Psalm, lived to be 120 years old. Bible commentator Thomas Constable points out:

It is interesting that he said the normal human life span was 70 years. He lived to be 120, Aaron was 123 when he died, and Joshua died at 110. Their long lives testify to God’s faithfulness in providing long lives to the godly as He promised under the Mosaic Covenant, (Constable, Psalm 90)

It would seem that the Holy Spirit guided Moses to write of what a typical lifetime is, versus his (and other ancients’) lifetime.[10] We find further biblical evidence that a generation is a lifetime which is equivalent to 70 (or 80) years in Isaiah 23:15 which correlates: “seventy years like the days of one king.”

Modern Research Confirms Psalm 90:10

According to the CIA World Fact Book[11] the longest average life expectancy (by country) for 2009 was 84.36 years in the country of Macau. The Swiss had the 10th longest life expectancy of 80.85. Israelis ranked 12th in the world and on average lived to be 80.73 years old, Americans ranked 49th with an expectancy of 78.11 years and Guatemalans ranked 143rd with an expectancy of 70.29. People in only 38 countries (out of 224) live less than 60 years on average.

Psalm 90:10 therefore provides a very realistic picture of how long a generation is. The vast majority of people (by nationality) on the planet live until they are sixty (185/224 or 82.5%). Fewer, though a majority still, live into their seventies (144/224 or 64.2%). However, only a fraction live on average into their eighties (22/224 or 9.8%).

Matthew provides our last clue in the beginning of his Gospel when discussing the number of generations from Abraham until Christ thereby demonstrating that generation (genea γενεά – the same word used in Matthew 24:34) signifies the lifetime of a person:

So all the generations [genea γενεά] from Abraham to David are fourteen generations [genea γενεά], from David until the captivity in Babylon are fourteen generations [genea γενεά], and from the captivity in Babylon until the Christ are fourteen generations [genea γενεά], (Matthew 1:17, emphasis mine).

Here we see that a generation was the lifetime of a person and not the specific amount of years though we have learned that the duration of a generation is anywhere from sixty years to eighty. We need to understand that generations overlap one another. When a father and mother have children a new generation is born, but so long as all the people born around their birthdates are living, their generation has not passed away. Think of it this way: the Baby Boomer generation (born between 1946 and 1964) has not yet passed away. In fact, the oldest members would just now be reaching their mid 60’s. Certainly some of its members have passed away already, but the majority can expect to make it well into their 70’s and some into their 80’s. In the same way, the generation spoken of by Jesus will not pass away until all the things he mentioned take place. The following diagram depicts how generations overlap one another. The 1st generation could be likened to the Baby Boomer generation. Generation X (2nd Generation) was born toward the beginning of a Baby Boomers life (generation) but they are not of the Baby Boomer generation. Considering all the evidence we explored, I’d like to propose that the Baby Boomer generation is the generation that will not pass away until the Lord comes back.

1st Generation (Total lifespan)
2nd Generation (Total lifespan) overlaps 1st
3rd Generation (Total lifespan) overlaps 1st and 2nd

Which Generation?

So you also, when you see all these things, know that it is near – at the doors! Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place, (Matthew 24:33-34, emphasis mine).

The generation spoken of here must be the generation that would see all of the things that Jesus spoke of when the disciples questioned Him and specifically it would be the generation that would see the “fig tree budding”. Since we have seen that the fig tree was Israel in both the prophets and according to Jesus, then “this generation” must be the one that began at the commencement of the new state of Israel.[12]

The Fig Tree Has Budded

Thus we see Israel was a dried tree for about 1900 years and then miraculously the branch put forth leaves in one day on May 14, 1948. Jesus told us that when this happens His return is at the doors. He said that the generation that saw this would by no means pass away. A generation is the lifetime of a person and that is on average between seventy or eighty years. Thus, according to the above considerations we could write out our equation in the following manner:

1948 + 70 ≈ 2018

OR if by reason of strength

1948 + 80 ≈ 2028

The parable of the fig tree was the answer to the disciples’ original question at the beginning of the chapter:

As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the close of the age?” (Matthew 24: 3).

The observant student of the Word has noted that this reference to when the end of the age will be is in seeming contradiction to Jesus’ own words in Acts 1:6-8.

Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, ‘Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?’ And He said to them, ‘It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth,’ (Acts 1:6-8).

This apparent contradiction is resolved however, when we consider just who Jesus was talking to – the disciples that He was speaking to in Acts were the same men who, only some forty days earlier, He had told what to look for at the end of the age. And the sign that He told them would definitively mark the beginning of the generation that would see the end was nothing less than the fig tree putting forth its branch and becoming tender. Thus, the solution is the fig tree. They asked a question which he had already answered for them – look for the revival of the fig tree (which Jesus had pronounced cursed). In other words, there was no point in looking for the end of the age so long as Israel was a dried tree! There was no point in looking for the second coming so long as the fig tree remained cursed (that is: not a nation). Only when it would become tender could the restoration of the kingdom occur. That is why Jesus told the disciples of what they would receive in the meantime (“but you shall receive power”) and what their task was to be (“and you shall be witnesses to Me”) until the revival of the fig tree and ultimately His coming. Therefore, until the fig tree (Israel) was revived, there would be no restoration of the kingdom to Israel – which is of course only logical: Israel cannot have the kingdom if they do not exist as a national entity (a dried tree). But within a generation (lifetime of a person) of the revival of the fig tree (Israel) the kingdom will be restored in the millennial/messianic era.

All the Trees

continued from previous post......

We have seen that the fig tree represents Israel in the parable that Jesus told His disciples. No less than three prophets clearly used the fig tree as a representation of Israel. Jesus also did so in the parable of the land owner and the fig tree, He then cursed a fig tree and told the parable of the fig tree concerning the last days. However, when we read in Luke’s Gospel that Jesus also mentioned “all the trees” – just what are we to make of this? Jesus said to learn the parable of the fig tree and all the trees. We learned what is the Scriptural meaning of the fig tree, but what do “all the trees” represent? Sometimes when Jesus would tell a parable He would then give its interpretation. For example in Matthew 13:18, Jesus interpreted the meaning of the parable of the sower in which each ground represented a type of person and their particular spiritual condition. So it is with our parable and for the answer, we need to go to God’s Word.

Since the fig tree represents Israel as a nation, then we should expect that “all the trees” would represent nations as well. Looking in the pages of God’s Word we find this to indeed be the case. In fact, we find that trees are often used to represent people and especially nations in at least eight passages of the Tanakh (Old Testament) alone. We first encounter a parable of trees in Judges 9:7-16 where Jotham, a son of Gideon, addresses the men of Shechem who had just killed seventy of his brothers in order to follow his other brother Abimelech.

The trees once went forth to anoint a king over them. And they said to the olive tree, ‘Reign over us!’ But the olive tree said to them, ‘Should I cease giving my oil, With which they honor God and men, And go to sway over trees?’ “Then the trees said to the fig tree, ‘You come [and] reign over us!’ But the fig tree said to them, ‘Should I cease my sweetness and my good fruit, And go to sway over trees?’ “Then the trees said to the vine, ‘You come [and] reign over us!’ But the vine said to them, ‘Should I cease my new wine, Which cheers [both] God and men, And go to sway over trees?’ “Then all the trees said to the bramble, ‘You come [and] reign over us!’ And the bramble said to the trees, ‘If in truth you anoint me as king over you, [Then] come [and] take shelter in my shade; But if not, let fire come out of the bramble And devour the cedars of Lebanon!’ Now therefore, if you have acted in truth and sincerity in making Abimelech king, and if you have dealt well with Jerubbaal and his house, and have done to him as he deserves, (Judges 9:8-16).

In Isaiah 10:33 God refers to chopping off “the tops of trees” as to those who are arrogant and will be “hewn down”. Similar imagery is used in the book of Ezekiel. God in Ezekiel 15:2-6 likens the wood of the vine to the inhabitants of Jerusalem which will be burned in the fire because they are useless (that is idolatrous). God uses the tree motif to speak of Judah being taken into captivity in chapter 17 as well. “Thus says the Lord GOD: ‘A great eagle with large wings and long pinions, Full of feathers of various colors, Came to Lebanon And took from the cedar the highest branch. He cropped off its topmost young twig And carried it to a land of trade; He set it in a city of merchants,’” (Ezekiel 17:3-4). In 606/5 BC Nebuchadnezzar took some of the leadership of Judah into captivity – thus Judah is likened to the cedar of Lebanon and the highest branch represents the leadership, which probably included Daniel. We know this to be the case because God gives the interpretation “Say now to the rebellious house: ‘Do you not know what these things mean?’ Tell them, ‘Indeed the king of Babylon went to Jerusalem and took its king and princes, and led them with him to Babylon,’” (Ezekiel 17:12).

God later in the chapter tells what He is going to do with the highest branches in contrast to what King Nebuchadnezzar had done. Whereas King Nebuchadnezzar made it a “spreading vine of low stature” (Ezekiel 17:6) God would set up a king and a kingdom that would be great among the nations. “On the mountain height of Israel I will plant it; and it will bring forth boughs, and bear fruit, and be a majestic cedar. Under it will dwell birds of every sort; in the shadow of its branches they will dwell.“ (Ezekiel 17:23). God then makes reference to all the trees of the field, which represent the nations. Whether all the trees represent all the nations of the world or just the nations of the area is not clear. “And all the trees of the field shall know that I, the LORD, have brought down the high tree and exalted the low tree, dried up the green tree and made the dry tree flourish; I, the LORD, have spoken and have done it,” (Ezekiel 17:24).

Ezekiel 20:46-48 contains another example of nations represented as trees. However, perhaps the most telling of all is Ezekiel 31:3-15. There Assyria is likened to a cedar of Lebanon that was greater than all the other trees (which is to say nations). “Therefore its height was exalted above all the trees of the field […] and in its shadow all great nations made their home,” (Ezekiel 31:5, 6). God describes how Assyria, the cedar of Lebanon was greater than other kinds of trees though God would send another to cut it down.

‘The cedars in the garden of God could not hide it; the fir trees were not like its boughs, And the chestnut trees were not like its branches; No tree in the garden of God was like it in beauty. I made it beautiful with a multitude of branches, So that all the trees of Eden envied it, That were in the garden of God’. Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: ‘Because you have increased in height, and it set its top among the thick boughs, and its heart was lifted up in its height, therefore I will deliver it into the hand of the mighty one of the nations, and he shall surely deal with it; I have driven it out for its wickedness,’ (Ezekiel 31:8-11).

Daniel 4:10-11 and Zechariah 11:2 also offer more examples of rulers and nations represented as trees. With the background of the Old Testament, we can now turn back to the New Testament and find Jesus’ use of seed (Matthew 13:6, 40), vine branches (John 15:6) and trees (Luke 3:9; 21:29) to represent people or nations not surprising but very much in keeping with the Scriptures. Therefore, let’s look again at Luke 21:29 “Then He spoke to them a parable: ‘Look at the fig tree, and all the trees.’” The fig tree is Israel and therefore all the trees are other nations. The question then becomes which nations was He referring to?

The answer comes from the comparison with the fig tree; it was dried and then sprouted again. Israel was dried for many years and then came back to be a nation. It would appear therefore that Jesus was referring to other nations close to Israel which would also be reborn. What is astounding to discover is that all of the countries that border Israel came back to be independent nation states around the same time as Israel. The CIA World Fact Book discusses how Lebanon, Jordan, Syria and Egypt gained their independence all between the years 1943 and 1952 – all within five years of the birth of Israel.

Lebanon

Following World War I, France acquired a mandate over the northern portion of the former Ottoman Empire province of Syria. The French separated out the region of Lebanon in 1920, and granted this area independence in 1943.

Jordan

Following World War I and the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire, the UK received a mandate to govern much of the Middle East. Britain separated out a semi-autonomous region of Transjordan from Palestine in the early 1920s, and the area gained its independence in 1946; it adopted the name of Jordan in 1950.

Syria

Following World War I, France acquired a mandate over the northern portion of the former Ottoman Empire province of Syria. The French administered the area as Syria until granting it independence in 1946.

Egypt

Following the completion of the Suez Canal in 1869, Egypt became an important world transportation hub, but also fell heavily into debt. Ostensibly to protect its investments, Britain seized control of Egypt’s government in 1882, but nominal allegiance to the Ottoman Empire continued until 1914. Partially independent from the UK in 1922, Egypt acquired full sovereignty with the overthrow of the British-backed monarchy in 1952, (CIA World Fact Book, emphases mine).[9]

These countries, like Israel, did not exist as independent countries until 1943 and after. They were simply parts of the Ottoman Empire and then parts of the British Empire or a colony of the French. Their birth around the birth of Israel strengthens the significance of 1948.

Are we the final generation? - A lesson from the Fig Tree........

http://www.douglashamp.com/

As a boy I remember feeling the rush of the wind strike my face, the sky grow dark as ominous clouds rolled in and covered the sun. Then the sounds of the thunder could be heard in the distance and the sky flashed. It was a time of great anticipation and excitement. Even though the storm was several miles away, it was clear to all that it was coming. The end times can be likened a great deal to a coming storm. We can see the storm coming and feel its effect even though it has not yet arrived fully. So it is with the Lord’s return, the signs are evident even though the event itself has not yet arrived.

Concerning the time of the Lord’s return, Jesus’ disciples asked him: “what will be the sign of your coming and of the close of the age?” (Matthew 24:3b ESV). Jesus then began to describe the many things that would precede His second coming – many of which are being fulfilled before our eyes. Jesus said “For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many,” (Matt 24:5). Since 1900 there have been many dozens who have either claimed to be Jesus or the Christ in one form or another. Some of the most notable are Sun Myung Moon, founder of the Unification Church and David Koresh of the Branch Davidian religious sect, Ariffin Mohamed from Malaysia and Sergei Torop from Russia.

He then spoke of wars, rumors of war and nation against nation.

And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of sorrows, (Matthew 24:6-8).

Only in the twentieth century have we seen the entire world at war not just once but twice. The projected death toll for the Second World War alone is upwards of fifty million people – a number unheard of before in human history. The past century could easily be classified as wars, rumors of wars, nation against nation and kingdom against kingdom.

There are many signs of the Lord’s second coming just as there were for his first coming and the Lord rebuked the leaders of his day for not picking up on the revealed signs that were evident of his first coming.

When you see a cloud rising in the west, you say at once, ‘A shower is coming.’ And so it happens. And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, ‘There will be scorching heat,’ and it happens. You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time? (Luke 12:54-56, emphasis mine).

Just as the signs of the coming storm were obvious to me as a boy, so should those leaders have known that their Messiah was coming. Jesus noted that they could easily and successfully forecast the weather by simply looking at the sky yet failed to see (or at least to accept) the Messiah in front of them. We too see the last days’ signs that Jesus spoke about are either happening or about to happen in our day.

Knowing the Times and Seasons

Paul, in his letter to the Thessalonians wrote that believers could and should know the times and seasons of the Lord’s (second) coming since they were not in the darkness like others.

Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you. For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief. For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness,” (I Thessalonians 5:1-5, emphasis mine).

Birth Contractions

Jesus likened all of the events mentioned above to birth pains by saying: “All these are but the beginning of the birth pains,” (Matthew 24:8). Just like for a woman in labor, the contractions will get closer and closer until finally the child is born, so it is if we were to consider today’s events in terms of giving birth, we might say that prophetically all that is left is to push the baby out. All that the Lord had said so far (discussed above) was a response to the disciples’ question “what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”

The Fig Tree is the Sign of His Coming

Jesus then gave an important sign to look for concerning his coming: the fig tree. The sign of his coming and the end of the age is the fig tree:

Now learn this parable from the fig tree: When its branch has already become tender and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near. So you also, when you see all these things, know that it is near–at the doors! Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place, (Matthew 24:32-34, emphasis mine).

The Fig Tree Is Israel

There are two obvious questions concerning this parable: who or what is the fig tree and how long is a generation? The answer to the first question is unmistakably Israel. God clearly compares Israel with a fig tree. The following verses are given in chronological order.

I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness; I saw your fathers as the firstfruits on the fig tree in its first season, (Hosea 9:10, emphasis mine).

Here God compares Israel to grapes and the fathers to fruits of the fig tree. Then in Joel He speaks of “my land” as being comparable to “my fig tree” again showing that Israel (both ethnically/nationally and geographically) is symbolized as a fig tree.

For a nation has come up against My land, strong, and without number; His teeth are the teeth of a lion, and he has the fangs of a fierce lion. He has laid waste My vine, And ruined My fig tree; He has stripped it bare and thrown it away; Its branches are made white, (Joel 1:6-7, emphasis mine).

Next God shows Jeremiah a vision of baskets of good figs and bad figs. Note that both the good and the bad are representative of Israel (Judah). The “good” are taken out of the land, that is, out of danger, and the “bad” are left to be judged.[1]

One basket had very good figs, like the figs that are first ripe; and the other basket had very bad figs which could not be eaten, they were so bad. Then the LORD said to me, “What do you see, Jeremiah?” And I said, “Figs, the good figs, very good; and the bad, very bad, which cannot be eaten, they are so bad.” “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: “Like these good figs, so will I acknowledge those who are carried away captive from Judah, whom I have sent out of this place for their own good, into the land of the Chaldeans. “And as the bad figs which cannot be eaten, they are so bad’–surely thus says the LORD–”so will I give up Zedekiah the king of Judah, his princes, the residue of Jerusalem who remain in this land, and those who dwell in the land of Egypt, (Jer 24:2, 3, 5, 8 emphasis mine).

Jesus continues the correlation of Israel with a fig tree during the final stage of His ministry. Keep in mind that Jesus had been ministering in Israel for about three years when He gave this parable. Just like the illustration of God seeking good fruit from His vineyard and finding none in Isaiah 5:1-7, so too Jesus, had come in person expecting to find some good fruit and found little or none.

He also spoke this parable: A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. Then he said to the keeper of his vineyard, ‘Look, for three years I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree and find none. Cut it down; why does it use up the ground?’ But he answered and said to him, ‘Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and fertilize it. And if it bears fruit, well. But if not, after that you can cut it down,’ (Luke 13:6-9, emphasis mine).

That Jesus had Israel in mind is confirmed at the end of the chapter when Jesus laments over Jerusalem because of their unwillingness to receive their Messiah and declares that their house is left desolate. Furthermore, the Jewish leaders of Jerusalem could in no way say “blessed is He…” so long as they were not living in the land of Israel (during the time of their exile).

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you were not willing! See! Your house is left to you desolate; and assuredly, I say to you, you shall not see Me until the time comes when you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!’ (Luke 13:34-35).

The Cursed Tree

Jewish men were to present themselves before the Lord three times a year. Jesus came up to Jerusalem via Jericho on a number of occasions during the three plus years of His ministry in order to celebrate the feasts. There was a fig tree by the road (Matt 21:19) that He invariably must have seen on a number of occasions as He went up to Jerusalem. The day of the triumphal entry, when He came up from Jericho on His way to Jerusalem, Jesus must have seen the tree noting that there was not any fruit on it – just as the land owner in the parable found none. Coming into Jerusalem, He was hailed as the Messiah by the masses. He then drove out the money changers from the temple foreshadowing his coming pronouncement that Israel, like the fig tree, was barren. In the evening He set out for Bethany to spend the night with His friends Mary, Martha and Lazarus (Bethany was on the same road which came up from Jericho). Returning to Jerusalem in the morning, Jesus passed by the fig tree, noted that there was no fruit on it when there should have been at least some early fruit. Seeing that the tree was unfruitful, He then cursed it.

And seeing a fig tree by the road, He came to it and found nothing on it but leaves, and said to it, “Let no fruit grow on you ever again.” Immediately the fig tree withered away. (Matt 21:19)

Thus, just like His parable of the fig tree, He had come looking for fruit from the Jewish leadership for over three years finding none. They were like the barren fig tree with no fruit was to be found and so He then pronounced judgment on the worthless tree causing it to die immediately which symbolized the nation. With all of that as our backdrop, we then come to the time markers that He gave us during the Olivet discourse, this time reading Luke’s account:

Then He spoke to them a parable: “Look at the fig tree, and all the trees. When they are already budding, you see and know for yourselves that summer is now near, (Luke 21:29- 30).

When Jesus commanded them to learn a parable from the fig tree, they must have had swirling in their minds the recent events of the parable and the cursed fig tree. The Hebrew Bible (OT) background makes it clear that Jesus is likening Israel to the fig tree and just as the fig tree withered, so too would Israel soon be destroyed by the Romans.

Israel was destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD and then again in 135 AD. After the second Jewish revolt they were warned not to return to Jerusalem upon the pain of death. They were then dispersed to the four corners of the earth – without a home land for nearly 1900 years. Furthermore, the curse appears to apply to the land itself as well. Rabbi Menachem Kohen of Brooklyn discovered that the land of Israel “suffered an unprecedented, severe and inexplicable (by anything other than supernatural explanations) drought that lasted from the first century until the 20th – a period of 1,800 years coinciding with the forced dispersion of the Jews.” [2] Journalist Joseph Farah, prompted by the research of Rabbi Kohen, later discovered that only after the Jews returned did the rain begin to come:

For 1,800 years, it hardly ever rained in Israel. This was the barren land discovered by Mark Twain. So-called “Palestine” was a wasteland – nobody lived there. There was no indigenous Arab population to speak of. It only came after the Jews came back. Beginning in A.D. 70 and lasting until the early 1900s – about 660,000 days – no rain.

I decided to check this out as best I could and examined the rainfall data for 150 years in Israel beginning in the early 1800s and leading up to the 1960s. What I found was astonishing – increasing rainfall almost every single year – with the heaviest rainfall coming in and around 1948 and 1967.[3]

Then after those many years and just as Isaiah had foretold, Israel was born in one day:

Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things? Shall the earth[4] be made to give birth in one day? Or shall a nation be born at once? For as soon as Zion was in labor, She gave birth to her children, (Isaiah 66:8).

On May 14, 1948 Israel (the fig tree) declared independence and then was ratified as a nation by edict of the United Nations and literally was born in one day. 1948[5] becomes the year by which a generation can be measured against.

Early Christian Commentary Confirms Israel is the Fig Tree

Getting a “second opinion” is always advisable when there is a lot riding on a decision or when contemplating a new perspective. Thus investigating what early Christians thought about the fig tree parable would seem prudent. An early Christian writing, the Apocalypse of Peter, clearly identifies the fig tree as Israel and the time of its budding as the time of the end.[6] While we do not consider extra-biblical sources to be Scripture, they can occasionally serve as a type of commentary from early Christians. Scholars generally accept a date of composition[7] around A.D. 135. This is a significant date because the early Christians had seen Israel destroyed once in AD 70 under Titus who destroyed the Temple, killed upwards of a million Jews and took the rest as slaves. However, not all of the Jews were taken away and those that remained made a comeback.

Caesar Hadrian visited the city in AD 130 and had intimated that he might rebuild the city as a gift to the Jews. When he changed his mind and also outlawed circumcision, the Jews found themselves once again in a deadly conflict with the Romans a mere 62 years after the destruction of the temple. The Jews rallied behind a man named Simon Bar Koseba. Rabbi Akiva would later declare him to be the messiah at which point the Christians who had been helping in the battle left the non-believing Jews to fight for themselves. Hadrian squashed the rebellion in AD 135. He was so angry that he changed the name of the land from Judea to Syria Palestina and salted the land so that nothing would grow. Jerusalem was renamed Aelia Capitolina and a temple to Zeus would eventually be built on the ruins of the Temple mount. Hadrian also banished all Jews from the city on pain of death. With this in mind, to find a text that declares that Israel, which had been utterly decimated, would one day flourish again is truly incredible.

This text, which again, we are treating like a commentary on the Scripture (and not equal to Scripture), clearly states that when the fig tree has budded, the end of the world would come. The text has interpreted Jesus’ parable of the fig tree to be speaking of Israel. When Israel comes back as a nation, then the last days would come:

(learn a parable) from the fig-tree: so soon as the shoot thereof is come forth and the twigs grown, the end of the world shall come. […] Hast thou not understood that the fig-tree is the house of Israel? […] when the twigs thereof have sprouted forth in the last days, then shall feigned Christs come and awake expectation saying: I am the Christ, that am now come into the world. […] But this deceiver is not the Christ. And when they [Israel] reject him [the deceiver] he shall slay with the sword, and there shall be many martyrs. Then shall the twigs of the fig-tree, that is, the house of Israel, shoot forth: […] Enoch and Elias shall be sent to teach them that this is the deceiver which must come into the world and do signs and wonders to deceive.[8]

The correlation of the fig tree being Israel in the text is unequivocal. According to this text, Israel, likened to a fig tree, was cut down (twice in fact) and exiled (in agreement with the parable of the land owner in Luke 13:6-9). Thus the author clearly saw Israel removed from her land and the people no more. But the author firmly believed that they would come back as a nation: “when the twigs thereof have sprouted forth in the last days” and then the end will come in the days of their sprouting. Notice also that the two witnesses (Enoch and Elias) will come back in the days of their shooting forth and be killed by the false Christ (Antichrist). This text certainly proves that some in the ancient church interpreted the end times in a very literal fashion. However, it also demonstrates that Israel was considered to be the fig tree and that the shooting forth of its branches would happen in the time of the end and more specifically, at the time of the Lord’s coming. Thus we have ancient testimony that Jesus’ mention of the fig tree was a reference to Israel. Her putting forth branches and becoming tender was a reference to her rebirth in the last days which would also be the time of the two witnesses and the Antichrist.

Time is short.......Eternity is forever!

It is amazing that 15 years has passed already! No wonder the Bible says in James that your life is a fleeting vapor........it appears for a moment and vanishes away!

Can not wait until Eternity where age can not alter your appearance, nor disease destroy your body! No more IRS, no more greedy jerks and no more rude a-holes!

It is amazing what people believe!

By Juliet Eilperin

With United Nations climate negotiators facing an uphill battle to advance their goal of reducing emissions linked to global warming, it's no surprise that the woman steering the talks appealed to a Mayan goddess Monday.

Christiana Figueres, executive secretary of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, invoked the ancient jaguar goddess Ixchel in her opening statement to delegates gathered in Cancun, Mexico, noting that Ixchel was not only goddess of the moon, but also "the goddess of reason, creativity and weaving. May she inspire you -- because today, you are gathered in Cancun to weave together the elements of a solid response to climate change, using both reason and creativity as your tools."

She called for "a balanced outcome" which would marry financial and emissions commitments from industrialized countries aimed at combating climate change with "the understanding of fairness that will guide long-term mitigation efforts."

"Excellencies, the goddess Ixchel would probably tell you that a tapestry is the result of the skilful interlacing of many threads," said Figueres, who hails from Costa Rica and started her greetings in Spanish before switching to English. "I am convinced that 20 years from now, we will admire the policy tapestry that you have woven together and think back fondly to Cancun and the inspiration of Ixchel."

Delegates from 193 countries are gathered in Cancun for the two-week meeting, which kicked off today at 10:20 a.m. local time, or 11:20 a.m. Eastern. Mexican President Felipe Calderon, a major proponent of action on climate change, attended the opening.
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/post-carbon/2010/11/cancun_talks_start_with_a_call.html

Winter Wonderland.......

The lake effect snow machine has begun! Being that I live near Buffalo and Lake Erie, we get plenty of snow and we will get another 3 months of this! If you are a child, the winter is great! But if you have to deal with frozen doors and key locks in your car and tons of ice, than that can be a real pain in the butt. So pretend you are 10 years old again and go sledding, cross-country skiing or go hiking on the trails and enjoy the peace and quiet out there. But by all means, get out this winter and take some pics.

The joys of childhood!

I think of my childhood more often now that I am getting older. I have such fond memories, perhaps that is why. My brothers and I played all the time, even inventing games. We were best friends. We were outside so much mostly due to dad taking us in the car to the park. He always had his camera out and took plenty of pics.






I know that is why I truly enjoyed my childhood and that is why I am an outdoor lover..........it was the way I was raised. Dad always had us in the car going to a new park or doing an outdoor hobby.

We grew up in Illinois, just 3 hours south of Chicago in Bloomington and surrounding areas. We did move a lot though but each new place was a chance to explore.
Mom would always decorate the house for Thanksgiving and Christmas and always had our stockings filled with goodies that each one of us loved. She even sewed our huge stockings
Spanky, our companion was the household mascot for over 15 years. She endured so much torture from us children, but bore with it.

Scott and I playing in the back yard in the wheel barrel and loved to go fishing and catch frogs in the lake that was part of our property. Dad caught a large mouth bass one day and he made me hold it in my Sunday dress for a picture before we went to church. I was only 8 years old.

Mom used to make such good chow.........sloppy joes were my favorite and sometimes I could not help but laugh while I was eating and spitting food out on the floor!

Those were the good old days and oh how I remember how much fun I had in the simple things in life.........just like a kid! It's too bad that things have to change, but I am still a kid! As you get older, you truly start to think more and more about your childhood! So here's to childhood and the simple things in life.

So what gives a man/woman purpose?

I watched a movie the other night called "about Schmidt". It is a movie that I am sure many can relate to, at least I know I can....perhaps that is why I have watched it a couple times. It is a human interest movie, so it brings out the deep emotional part of Warren Schmidt and others as well. The acting is fantastic and so real that you will no doubt laugh thinking of yourself. There are some crude scenes when he meets his soon to be son-in-law's family that I personally would edit and omit, but I guess to keep it real, it was written that way..........after all, who has not met some eccentric people before? We all have met people who have left a "lasting" (whether good or bad) impression on us, right? The director did an excellent job drawing out the actors ability in raw emotion and making the scenes incredibly real and natural. At the end of the movie in the special features, there is a section on deleted scenes and the director explains why he deleted those scenes and why it was important to the authenticity of the movie. Clearly this director knew what he wanted to create in this movie.

It is about a man named Warren Schmidt who is retiring from a company that he worked at his whole life selling insurance policies. He is about to be replaced by an up and coming "youngster" who thinks he is hot stuff and Warren Schmidt must allow this young "punk" to take over his job and give a speech at his retirement party. As if retirement for many is a new challenge to deal with and quite a big change, Warren seeks to mitigate his identity crisis with an RV he buys for his wife so they can spend their retirement traveling America. His plans however unexpectedly change when his wife of 42 years dies and now he is confronted with 2 big challenges that threaten to drown him. Seeking to absolve his misery, he puts on a "happy" face and a positive attitude in front of others, all the while trying to understand what his life is all about and what he truly has accomplished with his life in 66 years. Has he truly inspired anyone? Has he left his mark in the world? Will anyone remember him? Or will he go down into the grave like another piece of dust and ash long forgotten and remembered by none?

While looking for purpose he comes across a TV ad to help an orphan child with food, clothing, medicine and education. He decides to give monthly to this child while writing letters as a commitment to his newfound purpose. He writes to this Tanzanian foster child about his daily adventures on the road and his life. His only daughter whom he did not and does not have much of a relationship with, is getting married to a man he considers "underachieving", so he sets out with determination to stop her wedding to find another purpose for his life.........perhaps he could prevent her from making a terrible mistake.

Before he sets out on his road trip in his RV, he discovers some love letters in the closet of his deceased wife.......love letters to his wife from his best friend! One minute he is lamenting and grieving over his wife and the next minute he is throwing all her stuff away in a fit of rage. He confronts his best friend before leaving and then sets off on his road trip. So clearly Warren is surrounded by much difficulty and emotion......probably feeling like a ship with no rudder......directionless!


After his road journey on self-discovery, he realizes that he can not stop his strong-willed and stubborn daughter from getting married, so he supports her anyway at her wedding and gives a very transparent and moving speech. He leaves feeling like a failure and that he has nothing to show for his life! When he gets back to his home, he gets a letter from his new orphan who drew a picture for Warren Schmidt that shows him and Warren holding hands..........like father and son! And he cries because now he feels like he IS doing something good and he IS making a difference in another person's life.

The moral of the movie is self-discovery I suppose but looking at it from a Christians perspective, it is only the Living God who can give purpose, not yourself. "The Lord hath made ALL things for Himself; yea even the wicked for the day of evil".....Proverbs 16:4 and Ephesians 2:10......"For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them". It is unfortunate that many people still go down into their grave wondering if their life REALLY had meaning......perhaps that is why so many of them do not care! And the ones who do care are finding meaning and purpose in themselves, not Christ. But those who are in Christ KNOW right now that their life does have REAL and tangible purpose because it is CHRIST who died for them and that alone gives their life significant meaning and purpose.

When I look at my own life and at my age, I can relate to a man like Warren Schmidt. I know what it feels like to have to plow through one difficulty after another and to face some extremely challenging times, especially when it all comes to you at once. And then trying to understand and somehow make sense of all the nonsense.

But through every difficulty, God was there for me, seeing me through, giving me the wisdom I needed to make the right decisions. Did I always make the right decisions? No but at least I tried and did my best. But the greatest purpose I found, whether I was serving burgers in a chain restaurant or working as a case-coordinator for a home care agency, was the time I spent alone with God! Because everything else seemed so insignificant compared to Him!



"For by Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers; ALL things were created by Him and for Him. And He is before ALL things, and by Him ALL things consist"..............Colossians 1:16,17

Suburbs or rural living?

Well I came down here to Pittsburgh to see Dr. David Jeremiah talk about the economic collapse as it relates to Bible Prophecy. The event was held at the new Console "Energy" Center. Unfortunately I did not go. Part of me wanted to, but the other part that saw all the people everywhere and all the traffic wilted my energy immediately.

I do not know if its my age or that I have changed but I just can not stand the traffic (waiting 5-10 mins for a light to change.....at every light), the crowds (just trying to find a parking space is daunting enough), and a mass exodus of people everywhere. Some people are energized by large crowds, others are energized by being alone. I enjoy being alone now but when I was in my early twenties, I loved the suburbs and large cities. I used to go to Manhattan several times a year when I lived on the Jersey shore and getting out and about and meeting people was fun and quite an adventure, probably because I had much more energy then.

When I was 27, I relocated to Atlanta to go to a large Southern Baptist church to meet new people, and to meet Dr. Charles Stanley and see another part of the country.....to explore, but my life ended up being the topic of church gossip.......any new friend I met would without a doubt repeat everything I said and this was long before I had a computer and did any kind of internet activity. My life became so scrutinized and sometimes overtly with a mean spirited tone, that at times it became unbearable. I never in a million years thought that once I was thrust into the limelight that it would create such stress that frankly it was not worth it. I remember before I moved down there, an older woman whom I had befriended, gave me some advice........I guess because she saw a naive young girl. She said to me, "Cindy, do not expect people to embrace you the way you embrace people" (that was back in the day when I trusted just about anyone). She was right because she was older and wiser, but unfortunately I did not heed her advice and was met with much disappointment and hurt. But you get over it and get on with your life and learn the lesson that you can not trust everyone and you should not because thats just prudent. But to be fair, not all of it was bad because I did meet some wonderful people.

When I was 31, this yankee left Confederate territory and moved back north to the suburbs of Philly. There I had my car stolen and was involved in a hit and run..........a young black kid slammed my rear end and took off while I was waiting at a red light. Philly no doubt has its pluses.......it is so much easier to navigate than Pittsburgh!

When I was 35, I moved to rural northwest Pennsylvania to be near my dad who has health issues and it was difficult at first trying to adjust to rural living when I was used to living in the suburbs. Rural living is so much more relaxed and perhaps now I have gotten used to it. There are disadvantages of course..........no cultural activities such as museums and arts, no sporting events and not much shopping, but the outdoor adventures far exceed your lack of things to do. I have always been an outdoor person, enjoying running, hiking and biking. I have been a runner for about 18 years now and run about 12 miles every other day, although my stamina obviously has changed because of my age. So when I run out on my woody trails I am more likely to see a wild turkey, porcupine, or a black bear than I am to see a mass sea of people or a naked person! The hiking trails and camping are everywhere and fresh spring water is available too. There are a lot less people around and most, although not all, are not in a BIG hurry! More laid back and at ease!

I stayed there for about 2 years but felt the rural living was getting to me so I moved back east to Allentown Pennsylvania. Not long after I moved there my car window was smashed to pieces and my handbag stolen. I thought about getting tickets to go to the US OPEN because I have been tennis fan for years now, but the whole idea of going to Flushing Meadows and crowds of people and the traffic turned me off immediately. I would rather watch it on TV. Eventually I moved back here to rural NW PA and have come to really enjoy the slower pace of life.

But that is me right now and I believe that we change through life. I know I have!

Like I said before in my previous post that privacy and space are essential to peoples well being. And solitude is understated in todays world of consumerism. Living in the suburbs is tantamount to living in a sardine can, no wonder people are STRESSED out to the max! Understand, I am not trying to paint a bad picture of people who live in the suburbs or cities.

So which is better.........the suburbs or the rural areas? I guess it depends on your prerogative right? But it may also determine how severe the economic collapse will be or if a major quake were to hit a big city. Scientists are saying that Los Angeles is way overdue for a major quake and remember how bad hurricane Katrina was in New Orleans?

How is your privacy?

Imagine if someone was watched while taking a dump on the toilet? Preposterous right? But actually this happens so much more than we realize. In this exploding age of technology, anyone can have access to your privacy with one push of a button all the while your unassuming mind fossilizes in the local morgue.

Every cell phone has a GPS tracking device........do you really NEED a cellphone? Would you ever be able to disappear even if you WANTED to go incognito? And what about your laptop or computer? Your computer has an address with cookies that are used specifically to collect information about you and your surfing habits. I wonder how many people who have pornographic addictions actually think they are surfing the net in privacy.......you know, hiding their "sin" from their unsuspecting, deficient spouse? Perhaps their jealous and paranoid spouse is keeping tabs on them. And what about your car? Has it ever occurred to you that you may have a GPS tracking device on it without your knowledge? Or that anyone could quietly slap one onto your car to follow you via satellite........perhaps your dominating, overbearing, controlling spouse or a stalker who has no life but thinks yours is more exciting even though you sit home every night counting bee bees and collecting bottle caps?

And what about these new scanners at the airports that reveal your naked bodies? We may as well be walking around naked (I have already seen this on many occasions when I lived in the suburbs of Philly.......naked men communing with nature while I was TRYING to enjoy a run). You can choose not to fly, but with all the other technology out there, one way or another your privacy is going to be exploited to the max. Talk about Orwellian and Big Brother......global police state. I find it interesting that George Orwells "1984" was banned from the Amazon book store!

Businesses are now adopting in droves this RFID (radio frequency identification) technology used for the purposes of efficiency in mass production. Walmart is the leader in this global supply chain and they advocate RFID microchips in each and every product or unit that is shipped. One day however, this technology will take a nefarious turn and they will be implanting humans with these microchips to keep track of everyone. So you will not be able to escape or hide anywhere.

And what about your email? Or when your post a comment on a blog? Even if you use a moniker, do not think for a second that no one knows who you are or that you are not vulnerable because your stalker is waiting to pounce on you the first chance they get. And we ALL know about facebook, my space and twitter users. Even when you set those so-called privacy settings, you are still fair game.

Even walking into a store anymore is dangerous. I can not tell you the number of times a stranger has, like a bulldozer and with such aggression, invaded my space. Many times I have been left with my jaw hanging wide open. I have had strangers whip out their cell phone cameras and take a picture of me without my consent and on another occasion while perusing books a middle aged woman, who I had never met before in my life, runs up to me, pushes down my book to see what I was reading and then demands to know what I was reading. Was this really any of her business? (I should have said to her "Einsteins theory of relativity"), Or other people who stare you down in personal growth. Perhaps that is why I am a recluse. People have no respect for your privacy/space or your will for that matter.

I do not know about you and who is watching you but I can assure you that someone is lurking in YOUR shadows. How much of a price do you put on your privacy? Is it worth a million dollars? Is it worth your very life? In this age of television and media and these reality shows and CCTV, is it any wonder why we have such an alarming suicide rate? People will begin to go insane when their privacy is stolen. Privacy and solitude keep you mentally stable. It helps you to stay focused and it allows you to feel as though you have SOME power and control in your life, even when everything else in your life is falling spectacularly to pieces.



But the worst part of all this technology is that many will become victims and will be exploited without their consent and they will be powerless to stop it!

Big Brother needs an enema!

So what would you do if you felt you were being watched 24 hrs. a day and controlled by another person?

What would do if you knew you were being stalked everywhere and everything you did was under tight surveillance?

How about your apple laptop? What if someone was monitoring every website you visited and every e-mail you sent?

What would you do if this person purposely tried to discredit you or judge your motives? What would you do if you knew you could not even take a crap in private............you know sit on the jon and read a paper!

What would you do if you felt like you were on a reality TV show but did not get the compensation for it? Would you feel exploited and used? What would you do if someone was literally controlling just about everything you did and harassed you?

Europe leads, America follows......

America is looking more and more like the European model of socialism. British people are watched 24 hours a day, 7 days a week on CCTV and European citizens are under tight restraint.

America is starting to look more and more like Europe. Forget all the men who fought in the Revolutionary War to become independent from British control. We may as well have the Red Coats marching back to seize control of America.

If you think you are voting for an "American" president, you may as well believe that Daffy Duck will be on the ticket in 2012! Any man who gets in office will be working for the New World Order, irrespective of political affiliation. When people who supposedly live in a democracy vote for a leader, they assume they are voting for a leader who will reflect their values of their country. But any leader today in reality reflects what the elite want, not what the common lay person desires.

Just like Hitler who gained control of Germany in the 30's. He had his own idea of what he wanted and he sucked millions of unsuspecting people down the sewer with him.

Obama is no more our leader of America than Daffy Duck is. He is a globalist, like the rest, working in collaboration with the United Nations, the Vatican and the super elite to unite all of us whether we want it or not......that is precisely why I do not waste my time voting!

These groups such as the Council of Foreign Relations, Bilderbergers, Club of Rome, Trilateral Commission, World Trade Organizaton, G20, World Bank...IMF, etc., all, are global organizations all working in cohesive fashion to bring to fruition a global government complete with a global religion and a global economy...........all under Satan's inspiration!

Just can't wait to see what the future holds (I say this facetiously). Perhaps more people will begin to take Bible Prophecy more seriously!

Lets hope so because mans only hope is Christ!

Black Gold?

Brazil has begun selling off its "gift from god".............billions of barrels of undersea oil. As you might recall, this undersea oil was discovered off Brazil's coast back in 2007. President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (mouthfull, if you can pronounce it), credited it to divine providence stating "God is Brazilian".

Let that not deceive you.........not all discoveries are serendipitous (my thoughts). This oil in the Tupi field that has been discovered is like so many other oil patches undersea. They are drilling as much as 5 miles down to extract oil that has been lying dormant under sheets of ice or salt as much as 1 mile thick. The risks involved may not even be worth the effort. But man will continue in his quest even if the risks are monumental.

This oil in the Tupi field could indeed boast Brazil as one of the top oil-producing countries. It will make fortunes for those involved so you know that corruption will be lurking deep within and man's greed and quest for money and power will bring enormous risks for all involved.

When the crude begins to flow, some experts are saying that Brazil has understated those risks, many of which we saw played out by the deep sea drilling off the Gulf coast of Mexico this past summer and the oil spill. Those oil rigs that were leased by BP were drilling 5 miles below the water and extracting it required multiple feats of engineering..........shifting ocean currents, near-freezing temperatures and crushing pressure on the sea floor. Not to mention miles of sand, stone, mud and salt which stand between the drillers and the oil.

The Tupi fields are known as the "pre-salt" region because the bulk of the oil is locked beneath a formation of hardened salt as much as 6,500 feet thick. That is over 1 mile (5,280 feet) thick. The closest part of the field is about 200 miles southeast from the beaches of Rio de Janeiro on a patch of sea floor where the water is already more than a mile deep. The mile thick salt layer is smashed between nearly 9,800 feet of rock and other sediment, which obviously creates special challenges for drill bits. A petroleum engineer said the hardness of salt could be comparable to the hardness of granite and that extracting it could be safely surmounted but would be as difficult as those challenges presented by deepwater drillers in the Gulf of Mexico.

No one knows for sure how many barrels of oil are locked deep down there but based on test wells drilled so far, the Brazilian government is betting tens of billions, which COULD, but unlikely I think, put them on par with Iraq @ 5.5 million bpd. Before this discovery, Brazil did not even rank in the top ten oil-producing countries but in 25 years (if we have not had a nuclear holocaust yet), Brazil will be up there in neon lights!

But this is why I believe in peak oil. Many people think that those who believe in peak oil think the earth is running out of oil. Obviously I do not believe that. What I do believe is that the we are clearly running out of cheap, quick, abundant oil that is easily extracted-all of the oil that is close to the surface of the earths crust has already been extracted. The earths crust looks like swiss cheese and the oil that is being extracted now is so far down below the earths surface that it is costing billions and billions and billions of dollars to extract, with no guarantees that the oil can be extracted or can even be found for that matter, even with sophisticated technology like sonar. We get a large import from the tar sands in Canada for oil consumption here in America, however it needs to be refined and that costs much more money and it is not nearly as beautiful as light, sweet crude from the Middle East that is pure in body and needs no further refinement.

M. K. Hubbert, a former shell geologist, predicted peak oil theory in 1956. He predicted the U.S. would peak at around 1965-1970 @ 10.2 million barrels per day, to which we did (we have been on a production slide since and now produce roughly 5-6 million barrels per day). We exported all our production years ago but to our peril because now we are dependent upon Mid East oil. The oil embargo of the 70's over the Arab-Israeli war pushed back global oil production to about 2005 when gas prices spiked, although Hubbert predicted global peak production in 2000. Hubberts theory of peak oil was mocked and laughed at by most so-called educated leaders and scientists.......but who's laughing now!

The most favorable oil obviously comes from the Middle East. But this is why we have such global instability (ongoing conflict between the Arabs and the Jews)! Most nations have stated outright that oil is the lifeblood to their economies and that it is a matter of national security. Men/Nations go to wars over such resources. In fact, most wars have been fought over oil! So how does oil play a role in the future? And how does it effect you and your family? Well I can tell you that most folks do not even know that ALL our plastics and polyester clothing (synthetics), from medicinal items and pharmaceuticals, to so much more comes directly from a portion of a barrel of oil after it undergoes more refinery. Just think about that.........every time you pick up a plastic bottle and where polyester clothing, or put on makeup to doll up you face to look glamourous, you are actually wearing black gold!!!!


If you are interested in understanding how oil in created (quite fascinating indeed), read a good book by Kenneth Deffeyes called "Beyond Oil". He delves into the creation of sediment and rock and goes into the chemical chain and molecular structure of black gold from its genesis. Deffeyes is a former geologist and also believes in peak oil. You can also go through my oil posts from previous years about the tough barrels in oil production and a brief adaptation from Kenneth Deffeyes book.

I am a book lover and I sure hope that we never get rid of books. Forget Amazon kindle...........there is nothing more pleasurable than reading a good, insightful, thought provoking and educational book!




*******update and correction to this post. The U.S. peak production was actually 10.2 million bpd, not 25 million bpd.**********

An economic collapse may bring some to Christ.

So who watches C-Span on a Friday night? Well I do, I guess because I have such a boring mundane life but in reality I wonder how many people act as though it were business as usual meanwhile the Titanic is sinking!

Folks assume that just because Republicans gained back many seats in the House, although not in the Senate, that this country will get back on track. Do you REALLY think so? Don't you think that is a little naive'? Is our political structure of democrates and republicans and some independents really running policy? Or could it be the AL COPONES and BUGS MORANS of the FED RESERVE? With QE2, the dollar that is already decimated will be obliterated. So your stash of cash will be WORTHLESS!!! And your loaf of bread will be $100 bucks!!! May as well stash chocolate candy bars.....twix, 1000 grand....my favorite!

Britian has got serious financial problems as does France. Do we really think that positive thinking will prevent the ship from sinking? That is like believing that your good works will earn you brownie points with a Holy God and you will be given a secured place in Heaven because of your "goodness".........which by the way is filthy rags juxtaposed to God's Holiness (Isaiah 64:6,7 ;Romans 3:10-12). God's way is to submit to the righteousness of Christ through the gospel, not man's way through his works (Romans 3:20,21). But man will continue doing things his way until.........."For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.........Romans 10:3,4.


The Ship Sinks!

All the Republicans can do is filibuster. So will things go anywhere with the national debt? Will things go anywhere with our trade deficit? Will the underworld gangsters at the Fed ever be audited? Probably not, so what makes people think things will change? Ignorance I suppose. Or perhaps it is positive thinking? Well the Hour of Power Church in California which specializes in positive thinking is no longer the Hour of Power but rather the Hour of NO power due to its $44 million dollar debt it listed in bankruptcy. Folks can not positively think their way out of a soon to be $16 trillion dollar debt.............more than our GDP! It is mathematically impossible to sustain such nonsense. Hey look, you do not have to be a Harvard graduate or even a college graduate to understand basic math. It is like the law of physics........what goes up, must come down.

Why are these problems ignored by the masses? My heart goes out to people who blindly go along with the masses because one day they will wake up and wonder what the heck happened or some will just go along with the political and financial changes considering it to be simply much to do about nothing. You wonder if these people have any convictions!



News Flashes!


Dollar at Risk of Crashing, Triggering Inflation: Strategist

http://www.cnbc.com/

Federal Reserve policies have put the US dollar the risk of crashing, which will hammer consumers through higher prices, strategist Axel Merk told CNBC.

Investors should brace for a much weaker dollar by diversifying out of the greenback and into currencies of other countries, said Merk, chairman and chief investment officer of Merk Investments, of Portland, Maine.

Merk spoke the day after the Fed said it will be embarking on a program to buy $600 billion in Treasurys in an effort to pump up the economy by increasing liquidity. Critics say the program, also known as quantitative easing, will further devalue the dollar and ultimately create inflation.

"It's with the best of intentions but I think it's a very, very wrong policy," Merk said in an interview.

Consumers should prepare for another turn of events like the spring of 2008, when oil prices soared to $147 a barrel and gas at the pump was more than $4 a gallon, he said.

"One of the key things here is a weaker dollar has traditionally not been inflationary because Asian exporters like to absorb the higher cost of doing business," Merk said. "There comes a breaking point when Asian exporters can no longer absorb that higher cost of doing business. They'll raise prices and guess what? They will stick.

"So we will have a cost-push inflation. We're going to get inflation but not where Bernanke wants to have it. We're not going to get wages to go up. We'll get the price at the gas pump to go up instead."

The current climate of low inflation has spurred comparisons to Japan's "lost decade" where deflation prevailed.

But Merk said the difference in monetary policy between the two countries will guarantee different outcomes.

"We won't be like Japan because we finance our deficits externally. So our fate will be different," he said. "We'll have a dollar that may crash in that process. The issue here is that (Fed Chairman Ben) Bernanke wants to have a weaker dollar. This is the first Fed chairman who is seeking to have a dialogue about the dollar."

Merk said forex investors still can navigate a difficult environment but need to be diversified and should focus on countries that will be looking to clamp down on inflation by boosting rates and backing their currencies.

"There's no such thing anymore as a safe asset. Cash is no longer safe," he said. "Do what central banks do, they diversify to baskets of currencies. That's what we try to do. It's a pity for any savers out there, but we'll survive. We'll get through this."


The age of the dollar is drawing to a close

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/

Right from the start of the financial crisis, it was apparent that one of its biggest long-term casualties would be the mighty dollar, and with it, very possibly, American economic hegemony. The process would take time – possibly a decade or more – but the starting gun had been fired.

At next week's meeting in Seoul of the G20's leaders, there will be no last rites – this hopelessly unwieldy exercise in global government wouldn't recognise a corpse if stood before it in a coffin – but it seems clear that this tragedy is already approaching its denouement.

To understand why, you have to go back to the origins of the credit crunch, which lay in the giant trade and capital imbalances that have long ruled the world economy. Over the past 20 years, the globe has become divided in highly dangerous ways into surplus and deficit nations: those that produced a surplus of goods and savings, and those that borrowed the savings to buy the goods.

It's a strange, Alice in Wonderland world that sees one of the planet's richest economies borrowing from one of the poorest to pay for goods way beyond the reach of the people actually producing them. But that process, in effect, came to define the relationship between America and China. The resulting credit-fuelled glut in productive capacity was almost bound to end in a corrective global recession, even without the unsustainable real-estate bubble that the excess of savings also produced. And sure enough, that's exactly what happened.

When politicians see a problem, especially one on this scale, they feel obliged to regulate it. But so far, they've been unable to make headway. This is mainly because the surplus nations are jealous defenders of their essentially mercantilist economic models. Exporting to the deficit nations has served them well, and they are reluctant to change.

Ironically, one effect of the policies adopted to fight the downturn has been to reinforce the imbalances. Fiscal and monetary stimulus in the US is sucking in imports at near-record levels. The fresh dose of quantitative easing announced this week by the Federal Reserve will only turn up the heat further.

What can be done? China won't accept the currency appreciation that might, in time, reduce the imbalances, for that would undermine the competitiveness of its export industries. In any case, it probably wouldn't do the trick: surplus nations have a habit of maintaining competitiveness even in the face of an appreciating currency.

Unable to tackle the problem through currency reform, the US has turned instead to the idea of measures to limit the imbalances directly, through monitoring nations' current accounts. This has already gained some traction with the G20, which has agreed to assess the proposal ahead of the meeting in Seoul. As a way of defusing hot-headed calls in the US for the imposition of import tariffs, the idea is very much to be welcomed, as a trade war would be a disaster for all concerned. China, for one, has embraced the concept with evident relief.

Unfortunately, the limits as proposed would be highly unlikely to solve the underlying problem. Similar rules have failed hopelessly to maintain fiscal discipline in the eurozone. What chance for a global equivalent on trade? With or without sanctions, the limits would be manipulated to death. And even if they weren't, the proposed 4 per cent cap on surpluses and deficits would only marginally affect the worst offenders: for a big economy, a trade gap of 4 per cent of GDP is still a massive number, easily capable of creating unsafe flows of surplus savings.

No, globally imposed regulation, even if it could rise above lowest-common-denominator impotence, is unlikely to solve the problem, although it might possibly stop it getting significantly worse. But what would certainly fix things would be the dollar's demise as the global reserve currency of choice.

As we now know, dollar hegemony was itself a major cause of both the imbalances and the crisis, for it allowed more or less unbounded borrowing by the US from the rest of the world, at very favourable rates. As long as the US remained far and away the world's dominant economy, a global system based on the dollar still made some sense. But America has squandered this advantage on credit-fuelled spending; with the developing world expected to represent more than half of the global economy within five years, dollar hegemony no longer makes any sense.

The rest of the world is now openly questioning the merits of a global currency whose value is governed by America's perceived domestic needs, while the growth that once underpinned confidence in its ability to repay its debts has never looked more fragile.

Already, there are calls for alternatives. Unwilling to wait for one, the world's central banks are beginning to diversify their currency reserves. This, in turn, will eventually exert its own form of market discipline on the US, whose ability to soak the rest of the world by issuing ever more greenbacks will be correspondingly harmed.

These are seismic changes, of a type not seen for a generation or more. I hate to end with a cliché, but we do indeed live in interesting times.

A depraved world.....

Just yesterday I walked into a Borders bookstore to peruse their new books. I was utterly shocked when I saw Meine Kampf by Adolf Hitler on the shelf! I have never seen this before! All those jihadists love that book! But yet we have problems in this country saying Merry Christmas (it is not politically correct) because of the word Christ in Christmas and we have problems displaying the Ten Commandments! The Ten Commandments that set a moral barometer for behavior would only serve to point man in the right direction and create a somewhat civilized society in which to live and yet more and more people want nothing to do with God or any moral code! They do not want TRUTH!

When Jesus (not the Hollywood version of a pathetic Jesus, but a Holy Omniscient God manifested in the flesh........I Timothy 3:16) walked this earth 2000 years ago, he did nothing but good for people, healing them of their diseases, providing for not only their physical needs, but their spiritual needs as well. He blessed people with encouraging words and messages of love and forgiveness and He spoke Truth because He is TRUTH and yet man in his utter depravity sought to destroy Him and get rid of Him. That is a very lucid indication of how depraved man is and desperately wicked his soul is. He can not appreciate goodness when it is before him everyday, he does not want it but rather seeks to destroy goodness instead.

In Isaiah 53, God made know long beforehand the treatment His Son would receive when He became incarnate. The prophecy of Isaiah was in the hands of the Jews 700 years before Jesus was born in Bethlehem, yet exactly what was prophesied that which would befall Him did indeed happen. This is one of the incontrovertible proofs of the divine inspiration of scriptures, for only One who knew the end from the beginning could have written this history beforehand............Jesus Christ, the Alpha and the Omega.

It might have supposed that the coming to earth of the Lord of glory would meet with warm welcome and reverent reception, and more so in view of His appearing in human form and His going about doing good. Since He came not to judge, but to save; since His mission was one of mercy and grace; since He ministered to the needy and healed the sick, would not men gladly receive Him? Many would naturally think so, but in so doing they overlook the fact that the Lord Jesus is "the Holy One". None but those who have the principle of holiness in their hearts can appreciate ineffable purity. Such an assumption as just mentioned ignores the solemn fact of human depravity; the heart of fallen man is "desperately wicked" (Jeremiah 17:9). How can the Holy One appear attractive to those who are full of sin? Nothing so clearly evidences the condition of the human heart, nor so solemnly demonstrates its corruption, as its ingratitude (or attitude in general) toward Christ.

Jesus upheld God's Law. In it is the divine authority expressed, and complete subjection to it is required from the creature; thus Christ pressed the demands of God's Law upon man. "Think not that I am come to destroy the Law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill".....Matthew 5:17. "All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them; for this is the Law and the prophets"...(vs. 7:12 in Matt.) But fallen men resent restraints and want to be a law unto themselves. Because the Lord Jesus enforced the requirements of the Law, He was despised and rejected of men.

The carnal mind is enmity against God.....Romans 8:7. Never was this so frightfully evident as when Jesus was manifested in the flesh. The appearing of Christ fully exposed man and brings to light as nothing else the desperate wickedness of his heart. Consider this.......Who was and still is despised and rejected of men? Why is He so grievously slighted? And why is He so scorned?

Do not be deceived, the U.N. is a Satanic organization!

The Lucis (Lucifer) Trust and Brainwashing Propaganda

The Lucis Trust is the Publishing House which prints and disseminates United Nations material. It is a devastating indictment of the New Age and Pagan nature of the UN. Lucis Trust was established in 1922 as "Lucifer Trust" by Alice Bailey as the publishing company to disseminate the books of Bailey and Blavatsky and the Theosophical Society. The title page of Alice Bailey's book, 'Initiation, Human and Solar' was originally printed in 1922, and clearly shows the publishing house as 'Lucifer Publishing CoIn 1923.'

Bailey changed the name to Lucis Trust, because Lucifer Trust revealed the true nature of the New Age Movement too clearly. (Constance Cumbey, The Hidden Dangers of the Rainbow, p. 49). A quick trip to any New Age bookstore will reveal that many of the hard-core New Age books are published by Lucis Trust.

At one time, the Lucis Trust office in New York was located at 666 United Nations Plaza and is a member of the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations under a slick program called "World Goodwill". In an Alice Bailey book called "Education for a New Age"; she suggests that in the new age "World Citizenship should be the goal of the enlightened, with a world federation and a world brain." In other words - a One World Government New World Order.

Luci's Trust is sponsored by among others Robert McNamara, former minister of Defense in the USA, president of the World Bank, member of the Rockefeller Foundation, and Thomas Watson (IBM, former ambassador in Moscow). Luci's Trust sponsors among others the following organizations:
United Nations
Greenpeace International
Greenpeace USA
Amnesty International
UNICEF

The United Nations has long been one of the foremost world harbingers for the "New Spirituality" and the gathering "New World Order" based on ancient occult and freemasonic principles. Seven years after the birth of the UN, a book was published by the theosophist and founder of the Lucis Trust, Alice Bailey, claiming that,

"Evidence of the growth of the human intellect along the needed receptive lines [for the preparation of the New Age] can be seen in the "planning" of various nations and in the efforts of the United Nations to formulate a world plan... From the very start of this unfoldment, three occult factors have governed the development of all these plans"
[Alice B. Bailey, Discipleship in the New Age (Lucis Press, 1955), Vol. II, p.35.]

Although she did not spell out clearly the identity of these 'three occult factors', she did reveal to her students that,
"Within the United Nations is the germ and seed of a great international and meditating, reflective group - a group of thinking and informed men and women in whose hands lies the destiny of humanity. This is largely under the control of many fourth ray disciples, if you could but realize it, and their point of meditative focus is the intuitional or Buddhic plane - the plane upon which all hierarchical activity is today to be found"
[Ibid. p.220.]

To this end, the Lucis Trust, under the leadership of Foster and Alice Bailey, started a group called 'World Goodwill' - an official non-governmental organization within the United Nations. The stated aim of this group is,
"to cooperate in the world of preparation for the reappearance of the Christ"
[One Earth, the magazine of the Findhorn Foundation, October/November 1986, Vol. 6, Issue 6, p.24.]

But the esoteric work inside the UN does not stop with such recognized occult groupings. Much of the impetus for this process was initiated through the officership of two Secretary-Generals of the UN, Dag Hammarskjöld (held office: 1953-1961) and U Thant (held office: 1961-1971) who succeeded him, and one Assistant Secretary-general, Dr. Robert Muller. In a book written to celebrate the philosophy of Teilhard de Chardin (and edited by Robert Muller), it is revealed,
"Dag Hammarskjöld, the rational Nordic economist, had ended up as a mystic. He too held at the end of his life that spirituality was the ultimate key to our earthly fate in time and space"
[Robert Muller (ed.), The Desire to be Human: A Global Reconnaissance of Human Perspectives in an Age of Transformation (Miranana, 1983), p.304.]

Sri Chinmoy, the New Age guru, meditation leader at the UN, wrote:
"the United Nations is the chosen instrument of God; to be a chosen instrument means to be a divine messenger carrying the banner of God's inner vision and outer manifestation."
William Jasper, author of "A New World Religion" describes the religion of the UN:
"...a weird and diabolical convergence of New Age mysticism, pantheism, aboriginal animism atheism, communism, socialism, Luciferian occultism, apostate Christianity, Islam, Taoism, Buddhism, and Hinduism".
At http://www.lucistrust.org you can find out much more about them and how they're involved with the work of the United Nations by following their link "World Goodwill" at the top of their home page.


The Aquarian Age Community

This Website is sponsored by the United Nations and the whole NWO philosophy is there. The page which explains the work of the Aquarian Age Community, as they call themselves, has this proud quote at the header of their page:
Such a grandeur is ahead!
Such a great step awaits a fiery affirmation.
Our teaching and the affirmation of the Higher
Principles will reveal so much that is great to humanity!
A great period is drawing near: Thus we do create together.
Fiery World
Vol. III, par. 149

Amongst the many 'enlightening' pages in this website, you can easily find 'fascinating' articles entitled:
"The New World Order and the Work of the UN"
"The World Spiritual Teacher, the Esoteric Community and the United Nations"
"Preparing the Way for the Reappearance of the World Spiritual Teacher, the Work of the United Nations and the World-Wide Esoteric Community" and many more articles.

THIS IS NOT CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY, but New Age paganism. You can also read the NWO quotes I posted, further down this page. Here's another by Curtis Dall, FD Roosevelt's son in law as quoted in his book, My Exploited Father in Law:
"For a long time I felt that FDR had developed many thoughts and ideas that were his own to benefit this country, the United States. But, he didn't. Most of his thoughts, his political ammunition, as it were, were carefully manufactured for him in advanced by the Council on Foreign Relations One World Money group...

Brilliantly, with great gusto, like a fine piece of artillery, he exploded that prepared "ammunition" in the middle of an unsuspecting target, the American people, and thus paid off and returned his internationalist political support.

The UN is but a long range, international banking apparatus nearly set up for financial and economic profit by a small group of powerful One World Revolutionaries, hungry for profit and power.

The depression was the calculated 'shearing' of the public by the World Money powers, triggered by the planned sudden shortage of supply of call money in the New York money market... The One World Government leaders and their ever close bankers have now acquired full control of the money and credit machinery of the U.S. via the creation of the privately owned Federal Reserve Bank."
SOURCE: http://www.freemasonrywatch.org/lucistrust.html

Alice A. Bailey Married to 33rd Degree Freemason, Foster Bailey

Another 33rd Degree Freemason, Foster Bailey, sponsored his wife, Alice A. Bailey, into Co-Masonry, where she became a key leader. Alice was also the top leader of the House of Theosophy from the 1920's to the early 1950's; she was a prolific writer, admittedly a channeler for a spirit by the name of Master D.K. She had significant revelations to add to this subject of Inner, Invisible Freemasonry.

"There is no dissociation between the One Universal Church, the sacred inner Lodge of all true Masons, and the inner-most circles of the esoteric societies. [Bailey, Externalisation of the Hierarchy, p. 513]

Bailey is saying here that, once you get into the Inner, Invisible part of Freemasonry, there is no distinction possible between this heart of Masonry, the true Universal Church [which we know to be the church of Antichrist], and of the similar inner-most circles of the other secret societies throughout the world.

But, then, Bailey makes an even stronger statement revealing the Inner, Invisible Masonic fraternity. "The Masonic Movement ... is the custodian of the law; it is the home of the Mysteries, and the seat of initiation. It holds in it symbolism the ritual of Deity, and the way of salvation is pictorially preserved in its work. The methods of Deity are demonstrated in its Temples, and under the All-seeing Eye the work can go forward. It is a far more occult organisation than can be realised, and it is intended to be the training school for the coming advanced occultists." [Bailey, Externalisation of the Hierarchy, p. 511]

Since the meaning of the word, "occult", is "hidden", or "invisible", we know that Bailey is here speaking of the Inner, Invisible part of Freemasonry. And, not only is does this Invisible Fraternity exist, it is intended to be the training ground for the coming advanced occultists!!

SOURCE: http://www.cuttingedge.org/free001a.htm

The United Nations, which was created and is controlled by The Council On Foreign Relations, is highly involved in bringing to fruition a One World Religion...

U.N. plans to bring together 1,000 world religious leaders

By Larry Witham, THE WASHINGTON TIMES, July 14, 2000

A global summit bringing 1,000 religious leaders to the United Nations will disclose some participants next week, good news to U.N. officials eager to plan security and protocol for the unprecedented Aug. 28-29 event. The "working list" to be issued Tuesday will not include personages such as Pope John Paul II and probably not the Dalai Lama, who reports no invitation. But the Vatican's Cardinal Francis Arinze, a Nigerian, will make the trek to New York City as will spiritual leaders from countries such as Peru who have never before left their native soils.

"The leaders we've met in Africa, and Europe and Asia and Russia understand the opportunity," said Dena Merriam, a vice chairman of the summit. "The challenge is to have so many top leaders, and they all have something to say," she said. Miss Merriam, who has traveled with the summit's Secretary-General Bawa Jain to enlist participants, noted that even heads of state are given no more than five minutes to make remarks at the United Nations.

The Millennium World Peace Summit of Religious and Spiritual Leaders is organized by an "independent coalition" of interfaith leaders, and is being held in a year when nongovernmental organizations, or NGOs, are seeking use of the General Assembly chamber more than usual.
"We're hoping in the next two weeks that their program will begin to gel," a U.N. official said.
"Any event that takes place in the General Assembly room requires major concern for security, protocol, the political [aspects], and making sure the program is compatible with the work of the United Nations," he said.

NGO use of the chamber averages about four times a year, but this year it will be roughly 10 times.
The Millennium World Peace Summit of Religious and Spiritual Leaders opens Aug. 28 with an afternoon procession into the General Assembly and sessions all the next day. It moves for two more days to the nearby Waldorf Astoria hotel. The summit was announced last October after "conversations" between media mogul Ted Turner and U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who will address the session of "the world's pre-eminent" spiritual leaders.

One casualty of the inevitable political delicacies may be the Dalai Lama, spiritual leader of Tibet. China holds one of five permanent seats on the U.N. Security Council and long has opposed his speaking at the United Nations. "His Holiness has not been invited to the summit," an Office of Tibet spokeswoman in New York said Thursday.

The religious leaders are expected to issue a Declaration for World Peace and agree to some form of a permanent International Advisory Council of Religious and Spiritual Leaders. Mr. Turner, the summit's honorary chairman, has promised full live coverage by CNN. The chairman of the top advisory board is Canadian businessman Maurice Strong, who ran the U.N. Earth Summit in 1992, and a vice president of the summit's executive counsel is former Sen. Timothy Wirth, Colorado Democrat, who now heads Mr. Turner's grant-giving United Nations Foundation.

Other vice presidents are Gillian Sorenson, assistant to Mr. Annan, and the Rev. James Morton, an Episcopal priest with the Interfaith Center of New York. A midtown Manhattan office near the United Nations has been the hub of the yearlong effort inviting notable people from 12 world traditions, from the monotheistic faiths to Zoroastrianism, indigenous religions and Confucianism. Funding comes from 11 sponsors, which include the Better World Fund of Mr. Turner and the Templeton, Carnegie and Rockefeller Brothers foundations. Summit organizers would not yet disclose a budget.

SOURCE: http://www.washingtontimes.com/

The organization, SHARE INTERNATIONAL, falsely states that Jesus is already here as the New Age teacher Maitreya:

"Many now expect the return of their awaited Teacher, whether they call him the Christ, Messiah, the fifth Buddha, Krishna, or the Imam Mahdi. Millions now know that the Teacher who fulfills all these expectations is already living among us.

Maitreya, the World Teacher, has not come alone, but with a group of wise Teachers who have long guided humanity from behind the scenes."

SOURCE: http://www.share-international.org/

The Bible warned us that these imposters would come... "And then if any man shall say to you, Lo, here is Christ; or, lo, he is there; believe him not" (Mark 13:21).


Conclusion

Satan is the god of this world (2nd Corinthians 4:4), who's ultimate goal is to lead the world once again in rebellion against God. The heathen masses will worship the Antichrist... "Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God" (2nd Thessalonians 2:4). In order for Satan to achieve this, he must redefine the way people think. This wasn't possible before the advent of modern technology. We are truly living in the last days.

The world is getting smaller every day, i.e., mass communication via the internet, television, cable TV, and cell phones are rebuilding a modern day Tower of Babel so-to-speak (Revelation 18:10). Global governmental control is making it virtually impossible to escape modern civilization. As at Babel in Genesis 11, the world is once again uniting in rebellion against God Almighty.

As the world grows smaller, so will it continue to join the New Age Movement of the New World Order. The Lucis Trust is just one of hundreds of Satanic organization committed to leading the world to follow Lucifer, i.e., the Devil, who appears as an angel of light (2nd Corinthians 11:13-14).

By David J. Stewart..........source.....www. Jesus-is-savior.com






**********It is really sad to see how many people, particularly Hollywood celebrities, who are deceived by this Satanic organization. I wonder how many of these people actually care about TRUTH. So many just blindly follow what these world organizations promote and jump on the bandwagon. Just like the World Trade Organization........appearing like a noble organization designed to help poorer nations get out of poverty, but in reality has only served to destroy nations, like America! Just read this recent article........

Is a Global Tax on Financial Transactions Imminent?
Globalism - Ecumenism
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Ed DeShields
The United Nations remains determined to rob from wealthy countries to redistribute this wealth to its pet projects across the globe. Its new focus proposes to collect and send new global tax revenues to the poor countries -- after taking a big cut for itself.

I almost missed it. And you probably did too. President Barack Obama and other heads of state this week made it a priority to meet at the UN Summit to promote its progress in meeting the “Millennium Development Goals”. MDG’s are a wish list of grand social projects aimed at goals like eliminating proverty, or controlling the climate – mostly in poor countries in Africa. And, the UN is its grand promoter.

Basically, it all boils down to a grand bargain: while developing countries would have primary responsibility for achieving the MDGs, developed countries would be obliged to pay for it. But, historically there’s been difficulty in financing it.

The UN’s MDG as been under development since 2000. However, progress hasn’t lived up to the lofty goals of the UN. At the G-8 summit at Gleneagles and the UN World Summit in 2005, donors committed to increasing their aid by $50 billion at 2004 prices, and to double their aid to Africa from 2004 levels by 2010. But official development assistance (ODA) last year amounted to (a mere?) $119.6 billion, or just 0.31% of the developed countries’ GDP – not even half of the UN’s target of 0.7% of GDP.

So the UN wants more.

This year’s MDG’s capstone is Goal 8, which calls for a “global partnership for development.” This includes some fuzzy language pledging “an open, rule-based, predictable, non-discriminatory trading and financial system” which is code for a new global tax on financial transactions, or a so-called Tobin Tax named after the Nobel prize winner of the same name.

It works like this. The world’s largest financial institutions regularly buy and sell massive amounts of world currencies seeking to make a profit. A tax on these transactions would raise billions of dollars to invest in key domestic and global priorities, such as fighting disease, climate change mitigation and adaptation, and protecting our children from poverty and reviving global warming initiatives. It would also “curtail some of the irresponsible behavior that contributes to global economic instability and market volatility”.

The logic goes that since many of these financial transactions made by the largest financinal insitutions in the world are purely speculative and made for profit, this activity must be worthy of a new and special global tax. Note that this same group of UN Goal 8 proponents failed to convince the Congress to add a tax to the bonuses Wall Street executives receive so it could redistribute it to the poor countries of its choice.

Make no mistake that most of this money will go to the very dictators whose reckless policies have impoverished their citizens. The UN global tax plan resurrects the long-held dream of the 'Tobin Tax' and adopting it would set a dangerous precedent. Most democratics in Congress support a Tobin Tax including the powerful Ways and Means Committee members who could slide this tax through by approving it as a Treaty among nations.

Even worse yet, the idea that the UN possesses legitimate taxing authority to fund its operations is a frightening concept.