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July 23, 2012

2012: December Doomsday: Are you Ready?

2012:   The year perhaps that brings in the beginning of the end?  The most fascinating prophecy listed below I find is the St. Malachy prophecy, which has been proven right with every pope since the 12th century.  Adding to prophecy list here is a couple new ones, underlined below.  Apparently, beyond Catholic (Malachy) and Aztec (Mayan Calender), there are Chinese beliefs in the Book of Changes and Hindu beliefs within the Kali Yuga that also forecast strange occurrences late in 2012.

He says the Kali Yuga calendar of the Hindus forecasts global changes around 2012, and China’s “Book of Changes,” also known as the “I-Ching,” predicts the end for the same year.

 Luke 12:40  for at what hour you think not, the Son of man will come

2012 Doomsday: It's not just Mayan claim

Countless cultures predict end-time scenario this year

An author investigating ancient prophecies is again sounding the alarm about numerous predictions suggesting 2012 could be the beginning of the “end of the age” spoken of in the Holy Bible.
Last year, WND reported on Tom Horn’s efforts to let everyone to know calendars besides the ancient Mayan one predict the demise of human civilization in 2012, and he claims a demonic plot bringing about the end date could be hiding in plain sight inside the U.S. Capitol.

He’s now continuing his effort to publicize the matter with speeches across the nation, providing more possible clues into when apocalyptic prophesies of the Bible might be fulfilled with the “Second Coming” of Jesus to administer the kingdom of God on Earth.

In his latest book titled “Petrus Romanus: The Final Pope Is Here,” Horn sheds light on ancient non-biblical prophecies from St. Malachy concerning the Catholic Church, and provides evidence the next pope, the one following Benedict XVI, is to be the final pontiff before the return of Jesus.
“As the legend goes,” says Horn, “Malachy experienced what is today considered a famous vision commonly called ‘The Prophecy of the Popes.’ The prophecy is a list of Latin verses predicting each of the Roman Catholic popes from Pope Celestine II to the final pope, ‘Peter the Roman,’ whose reign would end in the destruction of Rome.”

While the prophecy itself does not mention the year 2012, Horn says the Vatican’s Jesuit mathematician and codebreaker Rene Thibaut wrote 61 years ago it would be fulfilled in 2012, and he adds current events at the Vatican “certainly point to the soon fulfillment of this prophecy.”
When translated from Latin to English, the final segment of the prophecy reads: “In the extreme persecution of the Holy Roman Church, there will sit Peter the Roman, who will nourish the sheep in many tribulations; when they are finished, the City of Seven Hills will be destroyed, and the dreadful judge will judge his people.”

Horn also points to 19th century collection titled “Lectures on the Revelation” by Rev. William J. Reid, pastor of First United Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh, Pa., which were given over a period of time ending in March 1876.

An excerpt from one of the lectures published in 1878 attempts to determine the official start of the papal system, combining both temporal and spiritual authority, and states: “If it began in the year 752, and if it is to continue for one thousand two hundred and sixty years, then it is to be destroyed in the year 2012.”

“Keep in mind this was published in 1878!” exclaimed Horn. “What is it about this period of time we have entered? What is it about this period of time inaugurated in 2012 that has caught the attention of so many divergent traditions?”

The revelations about the final pope come in addition to Horn’s exhaustive research into the Mayan and other calendars in his previous book “Apollyon Rising 2012.”

He says he never actually had an interest in the Mayan calendar, which comes to a cyclical end on Dec. 21, 2012. But then he became aware of numerous unrelated calendars and prophecies spanning many centuries, all predicting the end of the current human age at this year’s winter solstice.
“I started finding that it wasn’t just the Maya,” Horn told WND, noting prognostications from Jewish mystics, as well as the ancient Chinese, Hindus, Cherokee Indians, and even artwork among famous American symbols that all point to the same time frame.

Despite not having telescopes, the Mayan people of Central America were extremely accurate observers of celestial movements, with the zenith of their civilization occurring between A.D. 250 and 900.

Tom Horn’s “Petrus Romanus” and “Apollyon Rising 2012″ are both available in WND’s Superstore.
“The Maya understood this procession of the equinox, basically not to end, but to roll over, to start over,” in December 2012, Horn explained.

He says their prophets coupled that date “with prophecies of unrest on Earth after which a new form of man appears on Earth, plus the return of their dragon god, a flying serpent who has the power of air.”

“The Aztec saw the same thing, a flying serpent, Quetzalcoatl,” Horn said, adding, “their calendar ends in 2012.”
He says the Kali Yuga calendar of the Hindus forecasts global changes around 2012, and China’s “Book of Changes,” also known as the “I-Ching,” predicts the end for the same year.

A timeline graph created in 1973 based on China’s Book of Changes, or I-Ching, shows the line plunging entirely off the graph precisely on Dec. 21, 2012.
Horn says 39 years ago, when scientists Terrence and Dennis McKenna created a stock-market-like linear graph based on the “I-Ching,” the timeline abruptly plunged off the graph into infinity on precisely Dec. 21, 2012.

“This finding is all the more astonishing given that McKenna’s research was published in 1973 independent of any knowledge of the ending date in the Mayan calendar,” Horn noted.

Meanwhile, the Zohar, a collection of books in the mystical Jewish Kabbalah that first debuted in Spain in the 13th century, talks about the coming of the Messiah at the same general time the other calendars forecast the end.

It predicts in late 2012, “All the kings of the world will assemble in the great city of Rome, and the Holy One will shower on them fire and hail and meteoric stones until they are all destroyed, with the exception of those who will not yet have arrived there. These will commence anew to make other wars. From that time the Mashiach (Messiah) will begin to declare himself, and round him there will be gathered many nations and many hosts from the uttermost ends of the Earth.”
Horn says, “Given the rejection of Jesus by orthodox Jews as Messiah, this coming could herald the coming of Antichrist in 2012.”

What’s perhaps most fascinating is Horn’s discussion of what could be the mother of all conspiracy theories, dating back to the Bible’s Book of Genesis, involving Noah’s great grandson Nimrod, who not only built the famous Tower of Babel, but is the “mighty hunter” who scholars believe became worshipped as the sun god, with names such as Osiris in Egypt and Apollo in Greece.
Horn says from deepest antiquity, a plot involving pagan sun-worshippers, America’s Founding Fathers, Masons and Freemasons has apparently been in the works, culminating in the end time with the return or resurrection of an evil, supernatural being. That character may actually be pictured as the all-seeing eye on top of the uncapped pyramid on the Great Seal of the United States, found on the back of a $1 bill.

Does the image on the back of the $1 bill have anything to do with the Second Coming of Jesus?
Others have speculated the eye on top of the pyramid could be a representation of Jesus Christ, since the Bible notes, “The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone.” (Psalm 118:22 New International Version).

The date at the base of the pyramid is 1776, which is not only the year the Declaration of Independence was signed, but also the beginning of a new Mayan “katun,” a time period of 19.7 years. If each of the 13 levels of the pyramid on the Great Seal represents one of these time periods, the top level would mark the year 2012.

The Latin phrase “Novus ordo seclorum” is part of the American seal, and translates to “New order of the ages,” which some fear is what many U.S. presidents, including George Herbert Walker Bush, allude to when they use the phrase, “New World Order.”

Other strange connections to the United States include the Frieze of American History, a painted panorama at the U.S. Capitol.

Among the artwork is “Cortez and Montezuma at Mexican Temple” by Italian artist Constantino Brumidi.

Montezuma is shown gesturing to the sacred fire with a serpent wrapped around it. According to the Aztec calendar, the fire is predicted to burn out on Dec. 21, 2012.
It depicts Spanish explorer Hernando Cortez, the conqueror of Mexico, entering the Aztec temple in 1519. He’s welcomed by Emperor Montezuma II, who thought Cortez was a god.
“Montezuma’s hand is pointing directly down at the sacred fire, which, in point of fact, goes out … Dec. 21, 2012, the end of the calendar,” Horn noted.

Also featured in the frieze is the Aztec calendar stone, and the sun god Tonatiuh, to whom pagan priests had 80,000 people sacrificed in the year of 1487 alone.
“Hiding in plain sight is the god who demands human sacrifice,” said Horn.

He says another high-profile piece that may hold end-time clues is the famous painting in the Rotunda of the Capitol, titled “The Apotheosis of George Washington.” The word “apotheosis” means to deify or elevate to divine status, and Washington is depicted being resurrected and becoming divine.

The U.S. Capitol Rotunda features “The Apotheosis of George Washington,” with America’s first president becoming glorified as a god, along with numerous pagan gods.
But Horn notes in “Apollyon Rising 2012″:
Those who believe the United States was founded on Christianity and visit the Capitol for the first time will be surprised by the stark contrast to historic Christian artwork of the ascension of Jesus Christ compared to the “heaven” George Washington rises into from within the energized Capitol Dome/womb of Isis. It is not occupied by angels, but with devils and pagan deities important to Masonic belief. These include Hermes, Neptune, Venus (Isis), Ceres, Minerva, and Vulcan (Satan), of course, the son of Jupiter and Juno to which human sacrifices are made.
Horn says the symbolism in the painting associated with the deeply rooted idea that chosen humans are selected by supernatural forces, and their earthly kingdoms are formed and guided by these pagan gods.

Washington was himself a Mason, and, according to the book “The Age of Washington” by George W. Nordham, the president was dressed in Masonic attire as he laid the cornerstone of the U.S. Capitol on Sept. 18, 1793.

When it comes to biblical references to the end, a central theme is that Jesus Christ will be returning to Earth in what is often referred to as the “Second Coming” to administer the kingdom of God. While Scripture does not provide a specific date for “the day of the Lord” as it’s often called, it does suggest everyone be ready at all times, because His return would come suddenly, like “a thief in the night,” and Jesus Himself warned to “be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.” (Matthew 24:44 New King James Version)

The 24th chapter of the Gospel of Matthew features Jesus answering his apostles’ questions about signs of His coming and the end of the current age, and Jesus provides a laundry list of events including wars and rumors of wars, false Christs, famines, pestilences, earthquakes and great tribulation, with many believers being slain.

Jesus noted, “And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.” (Matthew 24:14 King James Version)
He also said: “The day is coming when you will see what Daniel the prophet spoke about – the sacrilegious object that causes desecration standing in the Holy Place.” (Reader, pay attention!) “Then those in Judea must flee to the hills.” (Matthew 24:15-16 New Living Translation)
This reference to the “Holy Place” has many believing that a new temple of God will have to be constructed in Jerusalem before Jesus’ return.

Some Christians, such as Noel Hornor of the Good News Magazine, think the 2012 prognostications are the result of misplaced fears and reliance on pagan systems rather than the Bible itself.
Hornor writes: “Yes, Dec. 21, 2012, will come and go, Dec. 22 will arrive, and the Earth will go on. And so will new theories regarding new exact dates for the end of the world. The cry has been shouted by strident voices for millennia, and you can be sure it will continue.”
As for Tom Horn, he says he never places any pagan prophecy ahead of the Bible, but just wonders why so many different and unrelated civilizations talk about the end of days in December 2012.
“I would not say that I’m yet convinced that 2012 will be anything more than the next Y2K,” he said, referring to the misplaced hysteria about the world coming to an end when 1999 turned into 2000.
“It’s very easy to take extraordinary circumstances to interpret in Bible prophecy, and then it doesn’t develop. There were lots of reasons to believe Hitler was the Antichrist. He wasn’t. He was an antichrist, but not the Antichrist.”

July 22, 2012

Empire of Illusion: Triumph of the Spectacle

As all these traditional impediments have been erased, we have had this effect where the crimes of the corporate state came increasingly egregious and harder to ignore.  They have done a good job with spectacle, entertainment, tawdry.  The collapse of empires, whether it is the Austrian-Hungarian empire, the Ottoman empire, or even the Roman empire all descend into these twilight periods, which Cicero writes about, where it's all about spectacle, violence, and sex.  Cicero writes this period in Roman times when we saw the rise of the leaders Nero and Caligula.  This time was when Romans would just go to the Colliseum and invest their emotional and intellectual life in entertainment which became vaster and vaster such as 2000 slaves battling to the death to replicate the battle of Carthage. 

Cicero became a hated figure of the state for speaking these truths, so much so that he was beheaded and his hands severed.  His head and hands were then brought to the Colosseum where is was said that he would never speak or write these things again, and the 40,000 member audience roared its approval.

That's what happens when societies die.
                       Chris Hedges in Empire of Illusion


America has long since passed its turning point, as we have now begun to run away from honest intellectual curiosity to selfish, glamorized sexual prowess and entertainment fancy.  What do we celebrate in our culture?  We spend our days at the theater, cinema, and bar.  The lecture halls have been replaced with propaganda and debate has been silenced on some of the most important topics of our time.  We vote for the same corrupt politicians year in and year out and most recently let off punishing those responsible of some of largest criminal act(s) of our time.  Think that after this banking crisis, not one perpetrator of the largest fraud in our lifetimes has gone to jail.  Rather, those in power pillaged the middle class even further to fund even more of the same speculative, fraudulent behavior that created the crisis in the first place.

 The decline in our culture has not happened overnight and if America's heart is return to God, neither will it happen in an instant.  However, to address culture's decline, we will have address its fundamental core, its rotting core that has transformed love into lust and removed all shame.  Voting out our politician at the next election will not solve the problem, rather an address of our own heart's sin and the culture of sin that has permeated our thinking and acting will have to be changed first.

July 11, 2012

Apocalypse Dam: China's giant man-made waterfall

A display of political will as much as a display of economic achievement.  Will China fulfill biblical prophecy of military superiority in Revelation 9? Only time will tell.

From China:
16The number of the mounted troops was two hundred million. I heard their number.
Only one nation in the world right now has a big enough population to fulfil this prophecy. China currently has 1.3 BILLION people and the largest military in the world with 7 MILLION active, reserve, and paramilitary forces. Should the military need to mobilize, they have a communist regime that has strident power to coerce a population that has 800 MILLION people living in poverty and dependent upon their communist leaders for even basic needs.
From the DailyMail:

It is an scene of almost apocalyptic proportions.
Bystanders are dwarfed as they stand watching a tremendous rush of water gushing through gaps in a dam in China, part of a carefully-choreographed operation to remove silt from the Yellow River in Luoyang, in the Henan province.
This annual operation sees more than 30 million tonnes of silt sent downstream a year, with more than 390 million tonnes shifted this way over the last 13 years.
A resident takes a picture as the fierce waters plunge through three open slits in the dam during the controlled operation
A resident takes a picture as the fierce waters plunge through three open slits in the dam during the controlled operation
Floods in China: A paramilitary policeman watches water carrying silt gushing out of three specialised holes in the dam of the Xiaolangdi Reservoir on the Yellow River during the annual silt-washing operation
Floods in China: A paramilitary policeman watches water carrying silt gushing out of three specialised holes in the dam of the Xiaolangdi Reservoir on the Yellow River during the annual silt-washing operation
The lone soldier stands guard as sediment-laden flood water gushes through the Xiaolangdi Dam, unleashing tons of water
The lone soldier stands guard as sediment-laden flood water gushes through the Xiaolangdi Dam, unleashing tons of water

Umbrellas at the ready: Local residents turn out to watch the annual event - and try to avoid a drenching
Umbrellas at the ready: Local residents turn out to watch the annual event - and try to avoid a drenching
The silt-carrying water gushes out of three specialised holes in the dam of the Xiaolangdi Reservoir on the Yellow River during the annual silt-washing operation.

July 2, 2012

Historical Repetition

Progress, far from consisting in change, depends on retentiveness. When change is absolute there remains no being to improve and no direction is set for possible improvement: and when experience is not retained, as among savages, infancy is perpetual.  Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.
-George Santayana

 

July 1, 2012

God and Weather: Weather Caused by God?

 DC Storms 6-29-12

  CO Fires 6-26-12

While not all natural disasters are the result of Divine Providence, there is a clear scriptural backing for Acts of God used by God to bring about punishment via the weather. 

NO:   Not all storms are God's doing:  In Luke 13: 2-5  God and Weather
Jesus answered, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.”
 We all live in a fallen world and bad things do happen to good people.  No one deserves God's grace based on our works, we've all sinned.  This is the basis for this passage in Luke and the punishment sin demands can fall on anyone anytime, whether by a falling building or by a lightening strike

YES:  Storms though can though be the cause of God's doing:  In Genesis 6: 7.
So the Lord said, “I will wipe from the face of the earth the human race I have created—and with them the animals, the birds and the creatures that move along the ground—for I regret that I have made them. ”
Most obviously, God destroyed humanity with a flood because of their wickedness.  Another famous passage in the Old Testament is found in Numbers 16
28 Then Moses said, “This is how you will know that the Lord has sent me to do all these things and that it was not my idea: 29 If these men die a natural death and suffer the fate of all mankind, then the Lord has not sent me. 30 But if the Lord brings about something totally new, and the earth opens its mouth and swallows them, with everything that belongs to them, and they go down alive into the realm of the dead, then you will know that these men have treated the Lord with contempt. ”
31 As soon as he finished saying all this, the ground under them split apart 32 and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them and their households, and all those associated with Korah, together with their possessions.
God can use weather to get our attention preciously because he made it.  That's not to say he won't use other subtle means such as a word from a Pastor or that he won't get our attention in less dramatic ways, but he DOES use the weather at times to send a message.  The key is discerning when that event is from God.

Other commentary is available from ChristianAnswers.

Some have concluded that suffering occurs because it is beyond God's control. This is incorrect. God has indeed established certain laws and principles that govern nature, but he remains sovereign over these laws. Psalm 148:8 declares that storms “do his bidding.” Concerning Jonah, it was the Lord who "sent out a great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest in the sea" (Jonah 1:4 KJV). Old Testament writers did not hesitate to attribute the forces of nature to God: "thy waterspouts … thy waves … thy billows" (Psalm 42:7 KJV). Today, God's creation is too often depersonalized. He is in control, and has His reasons for all kinds of weather, both fair and stormy.