America's Charade

Counterfeit Christianity and a counterfeit economy; perhaps the best summation of America's affairs as it stands this seemingly final hour.  America's economic peril is no different than peril faced by other empires.  The freedom experiment started in 1776 is in no way guaranteed success through the generations, rather it must be fought, paid for, and understood by each new generation.  The culture though has changed to the point, as author Metaxes' interview points out, that the very ideas of self governance and dependence on God that this country was built on, have been lost and with that has brought a very real potential that the idea that founded this country may be permanently lost.

God is patient, but just, in time.

Excerpt from Interview with Eric Metaxes

At the National Prayer Breakfast, you talked about dead religion, which is the subject of your new book.What does the phrase "dead religion" mean to you?

Dead religion is the default mode of fallen human beings. Since the fall, mankind has tried to find a way to God that avoids God. We want to find a way to Heaven that avoids the cross. Dead religion is any religion, including bastardized counterfeit Christianity, of which there has always been plenty, in which we, through our own acts, can earn our way to Heaven.

Moreover, what that does is it inevitably sets up a pecking order where some of us are morally superior to others. That is not true Christianity. True Christianity is where we recognize we are fundamentally unable to get to Heaven, to connect with God. Therefore, we must humbly ask Him to come to us. We must ask Him to do what He wants to do, which is to bridge the gap between humanity and the divine. So dead religion is any time you have something that is counterfeit. I would say that which is counterfeit of God's real desire for us is opposed to humbling ourselves and asking Him to save us.

From Jesse's Cafe:

The almost frenetic preoccupation and adherence to the Nazi ideology in the latter stages of the war, when it was obvious to any rational observer that they could not win, is remarkable. I had been particularly struck in my reading some time ago with the 'wolf packs' of Nazis who had raged through Berlin, rounding up old men and even boys who had not joined the Volkssturm, and hanging them, even while the Russians were shelling the Reichstag. It never made sense to me until today.

"The radio announced that Hitler had come out of his safe bomb-proof bunker to talk with the fourteen to sixteen year old boys who had 'volunteered' for the 'honor' to be accepted into the SS and to die for their Fuhrer in the defense of Berlin. What a cruel lie! These boys did not volunteer, but had no choice, because boys who were found hiding were hanged as traitors by the SS as a warning that, 'he who was not brave enough to fight had to die.'

When trees were not available, people were strung up on lamp posts. They were hanging everywhere, military and civilian, men and women, ordinary citizens who had been executed by a small group of fanatics. It appeared that the Nazis did not want the people to survive because a lost war, by their rationale, was obviously the fault of all of us. We had not sacrificed enough and therefore, we had forfeited our right to live, as only the government was without guilt."

Dorothea von Schwanenfluegel, Eyewitness account, Fall of Berlin 1945

This is an almost perfect illustration of the credibility trap. One cannot allow the illusion to falter, even a little, to the bitter end. And as the fraud fades, the force intensifies, becoming almost rabid in its deflection. Because that illusion has become the center of a hollowed person's being, their raison d'être, a mythological justification for their existence.

If the ideology had been a lie, then they are not heroes and gods on earth, but monsters and criminals, and their life has been self-serving and meaningless, without significance and honor. And that is the credibility trap.

And this is the US financial system today. 

Mark (Zuckerburg) of the Beast-Facebook Style?

 ¹⁶ And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:

¹⁷ And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.

Revelation 13:16-17

And we thought it would have to be done by force!  The preceding picture and article below displays a technology that should alarm anyone who realizes the potential of this face recognition software technology would have in the wrong hands.  The ability of technology has dramatically changed the face of our existence in the 21st century in how we interact with each other, but that amazing benefit has also created a similarly monumental and easy way to target and police mankind--especially if the sheeple consent to being watched.  

The latest technology allows people to sign up to receive special offers from a business by just walking in the store.  How?  By having their face read by a camera, matched against their online facebook profile, and then having a special offer sent to their phone.  

Sure, this may not be a major threat to our privacy now--during times of relative peace, but is it not too difficult to imagine a scenario where cameras like these match our faces to a national database to track our whereabouts in times of crises?  We do live in the nuclear age after all, 9/11/2001 type attack with suit case bombs could after all happen at any moment.  Can you imagine then the calls for police 1984 Big brother security then after such an attack?

Perhaps in the end, the mark of the beast prophecy, like the late Roman empires decline, will come from within.  Perhaps we will submit almost voluntarily at first to this technology long before its ultimate deadly use against mankind.  For those of us with common sense in this technology age, perhaps we should tread more carefully, assuming that just because it is easier does not mean it is good and that just because we live in a democracy now does not mean we always will.

For more on the Mark of the Beast: Finger printing, retina scans, liquid tattoos and other prophetic technologies that could be used check out this Mark of the Beast: Liquid Tattoo.

The Facebook camera that can recognise you every time you walk into a shop

Shoppers could soon be automatically recognised when they walk into a shop using a controversial new camera.
Called Facedeals, the camera uses photos uploaded to Facebook to recognise people as they walk in.
Shoppers who agree to use the system, which has not been developed with Facebook, will be offered special deals.

Scroll down for video

Facedeals - a new camera that can recognise shoppers from their Facebook pictures as they enter a shop, and then offer them discounts

A promotional video created to promote the concept shows drinkers entering a bar, and then being offerend cheap drinks as they are recognised.
'Facebook check-ins are a powerful mechanism for businesses to deliver discounts to loyal customers, yet few businesses—and fewer customers—have realized it,' said Nashville-based advertising agency Redpepper. 

They are already trialling the scheme in firms close to their office.
'A search for businesses with active deals in our area turned up a measly six offers.
'The odds we’ll ever be at one of those six spots are low (a strip club and photography studio among them), and the incentives for a check-in are not nearly enticing enough for us to take the time.
'So we set out to evolve the check-in and sweeten the deal, making both irresistible.
'We call it Facedeals.'

The Facedeal camera can identify faces when people walk in by comparing Facebook pictures of people who have signed up to the service

Facebook recently hit the headlines when it bought face.com, an Israeli firm that pioneered the use of face recognition technology online.
The social networking giant uses the software to recognise people in uploaded pictures, allowing it to accurately spot friends.

The software uses a complex algorithm to find the correct person from their Facebook pictures

The Facebook camera requires people to have authorised the Facedeals app through their Facebook account.

This verifies your most recent photo tags and maps the biometric data of your face.
The system then learns what a user looks like as more pictures are approved.

This data is then used to identify you in the real world.

EMT Bomb: 90% of USA wiped off the map and Revelation 6

¹⁴ The heavens receded like a scroll being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place. ¹⁵ Then the kings of the earth, the princes, the generals, the rich, the mighty, and everyone else, both slave and free, hid in caves and among the rocks of the mountains. ¹⁶ They called to the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! ¹⁷ For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can withstand it?” 

Revelation 6:14-17 

'The Heavens receded like a scroll'--I find it difficult to interpret the passage any other way than by reading nuclear bomb.  The only question is just how that bomb will be unleashed upon the earth in the earth's final hours.  According to this article, a 2004 study estimated that an EMP (Electronic Magnetic Pulse) attack could wipe out 90% of America within 1.5 years due to the radiation from the blast. 

One day the blast will happen, from whom and where, no one knows.  The effects of this blast however fit right in line with Biblical prophecy of 2000+ years ago.  This was never a possibility until the 20th century.  As each century has become bloodier and bloodier, and war and bloodshed become more frequent, I find it difficult to believe that the 21st century will escape the powerful and deadly effect of this weapon. 

Get your soul prepared to meet God, before you get to the point that you cry to the rocks and mountains to 'fall on us.'

EMP attack: '90% of Americans would be dead'

Just think. A nuclear device carried aloft by an Iranian rocket somewhere near the Gulf of Mexico and a blinding flash in the skies.
Within 12 to 18 months, experts predict, 90 percent of Americans would be dead.
 
That’s the catastrophic threat from the resulting electromagnetic pulse signal, or EMP, that an upcoming conference will address.

The group says it is “dedicated to defending and advancing Western Civilization against the kinetic and cultural onslaught of Shariah Islam.”

Featured speakers are former CIA Director R. James Woolsey, CIA Covert Operative and WND contributor Reza Kahlili, House Armed Services Committee Chairman Rep. Roscoe Bartlett, “One Second After” author William Forstchen, former Director of Strategic Defense Initiative Organization Henry Cooper, former National Intelligence Council Chairman Fritz Erdmarth and William Graham, President Reagan’s science adviser and chairman of the EMP Commission.

Founded by Tom Trento, United West began in 2007 as the Florida Security Council. Trento’s team created a national footprint through speaking, writing, video presentations and investigative reporting. As the organization took on more issues, including the encroachment of Islamic law in the United States, it expanded to become The United West as an umbrella to oversee a wide range of efforts.
It was Forstchen who described the impact of a nuclear bomb exploding somewhere in the skies over the U.S. Electronics would simply be disintegrated, he said.

Computers would cease functioning, and every system that relies on those components – food and fuel deliveries, communications, production, manufacturing, travel and everything associated – would halt.

Forstchen cited a 2004 study on the impact of such an assault on America.

“Testimony in that study said 90 percent, let me repeat that, 90 percent of all Americans would die within 12-18 months of an EMP attack,” he said.

Kahlili warns that Iran already has been practicing with missile launches from ships that simply put the payload straight up and high in the sky.

“That is the signature … of training for an EMP launch.”

Kahlili confirmed it would take only 60 seconds for such a warhead to be launched, and the result would “destabilize the infrastructure of America within hours.”

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.”

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.

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

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

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.

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

 

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

² Jesus answered, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? ³ I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. ⁴ 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? ⁵ 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.

Mushroom Cloud Warns Beijing

And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their place


Revelation 6:14

A revelation of perhaps the ultimate revelation that will occur at the end of time, a foreshadowing of future events like Abraham's act of sacrifice of his son foreshadowing the future sacrifice of God's son, Jesus, later in history.  Questions seem to be plentiful over how this developed, but no answers. 

Natural or Man-Made? Giant Mushroom Cloud Appears Over Beijing

A couple days after residents in central Chinese provinces received warnings they should stay inside due a mysterious yellow-grey haze, a giant mushroom shaped cloud has also been spotted in the sky over Beijing.

(Related: Is this mysterious, yellow haze in China really from burning straw?)
Officials said last week the haze was the result of burning straw — an illegal but still practiced activity. The June 14 cloud on the other hand is reported to be a natural phenomenon created by clouds typically associated with thunderstorms.
Here are a few photos of the cloud from China Daily:

An enormous mushroom cloud formed in the sky over Beijing late last week, sparking fears that a cataclysmic, Armageddon-like event was underway.

Alas, it was not the end of the world—or worse, the beginning of a real-life movie starring Will Smith: It was just nature.

The giant cumulonimbus—which spanned several miles—was accompanied by lightning, swallowing up the capital's skyline for an hour, according to the Daily Mail.

Photographers and videographers captured images of Thursday's ominous-looking formation, which "gradually took the shape of an explosion from an atomic bomb."

According to the National Center for Atmospheric Research, a giant cumulonimbus is a thunderstorm cloud that forms from a towering cumulus, which "resembles the head of a cauliflower."

Here's some video of the cloud over Beijing:
from Yahoo

 

 

Shanghai stock market Drops 64.89 Points on Tiananmen 6/4/89 Anniversary: Coincidence?

Conspiracy: Shanghai

On the anniversary of the most famous communist crackdown on free speech over the last 25 years, the market just happens to fall the exact number of the date of the famous massacre.  Perhaps someone, natural or supernatural, is sending a message to those that oppose freedom?   I don't prescribe that the figure had to be rigged, but do find it peculiar to say the least.

Shanghai Conspiracy

China stocks fall bizarre 64.89 on 6/4/89 anniversary

'Whoa, these figures are too freaky! Very cool!'

(REUTERS) — China’s censors blocked access to the term “Shanghai stock market” on popular microblogs on Monday after the index fell a bizarre 64.89 points on the anniversary of the bloody June 4, 1989, crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Tiananmen Square.
In another twist, the Shanghai Composite Index opened at 2346.98 points on the 23rd anniversary of the killings. The numbers 46.98 are June 4, 1989, backwards.

“Whoa, these figures are too freaky! Very cool!” said a microblogger. “The opening figure and the drop are both too creepy,” said another.


For China's ruling Communist Party, the 1989 demonstrations that clogged Tiananmen Square in Beijing and spread to other cities remains taboo, all the more so this year as the government prepares for a tricky leadership handover.

Terms related to the anniversary, such as "six four" for June 4, "23", "candle" and "never forget", were blocked on Sina Weibo, the most popular of China's Twitter-like microblogging platforms. Users encountered a message that said the search results could not be displayed "due to relevant laws, regulations and policies".

"It's that day again and once more numerous posts are being deleted," a Sina microblogger wrote. Sina was not immediately available for comment.

The anniversary of the date on which troops shot their way into central Beijing in 1989 has never been publicly marked in mainland China.

The government has never released a death toll of the crackdown, but estimates from human rights groups and witnesses range from several hundred to several thousand.

U.S. State Department deputy spokesman Mark Toner urged the Chinese government on Sunday "to provide a full public accounting of those killed, detained or missing".

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin said the U.S. habit of issuing a statement on each June 4 anniversary amounted to "crude meddling in domestic Chinese affairs".

While state media made no direct mention of the anniversary, the top military newspaper warned the armed forces to be on guard for attempts to sow unrest ahead of the party congress which will handle the leadership transition.

"Enemy forces at home and abroad are going to start something again and use the opportunity for destruction and trouble, and are upping their strategy to westernise and split our country," the Liberation Army Daily said in a front-page commentary.

The government is grappling with the biggest political scandal since the 1989 crackdown, after Chongqing police chief Wang Lijun's flight to the U.S. consulate in Chengdu on February 6 triggered a crisis that toppled the muncipality's party chief, Bo Xilai.

"TRAGEDY THAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN AVERTED"
Microbloggers decried the overzealous rash of censorship, complaining that their posts had been "harmonised" - a euphemism for censorship - within minutes.

Censors also prevented microbloggers from changing their display photos in an apparent attempt to prevent them from posting any photo commemorating the anniversary.

Yet some people did manage to beat the censors, and a few pictures of the 1989 protests did find their way on to Weibo.

"There can be no social stability if people cannot speak out and must live in terror of punishment," a microblogger commented on one of the photographs.

Yao Jianfu, author of a new book of interviews with Chen Xitong, the Beijing mayor at the time of the crackdown, told Reuters that Chen had said "this was a tragedy that should have been averted but wasn't".

"I never foresaw there would be shooting, because Mao Zedong said that ordinary people should not be shot at and suppressing student protests comes to no good," said Yao.

The government has restricted the movements of dozens of dissidents, former prisoners and petitioners during the anniversary period and warned them against speaking to journalists or organising activities, said Songlian Wang of rights group Chinese Human Rights Defenders.

A coalition of lawyers and rights activists began a one-day fast in their homes on Monday to commemorate the anniversary, said a Shandong-based lawyer, Liu Weiguo.

"Even though the Chinese government has pledged to reform the political system in China, not much has been done," Fang Zheng, who was run over by a tank during the crackdown and lost both legs, said in Hong Kong. "They should stop the repression of mainland dissidents and activists and reassess June 4."

Blind legal activist Chen Guangcheng, who arrived in New York two weeks ago to study, wrote in a letter: "No one can stop the wheels of history. I believe that this will prove true for the June 4th Democracy Movement.

Chen escaped in late April from 19 months of illegal house imprisonment and took temporary refuge in the U.S. embassy in Beijing in a drama which made him a symbol of resistance to China's shackles on dissent.

Tens of thousands of people are expected to attend a candlelight vigil in Hong Kong, said organisers, who had erected a replica of the Goddess of Democracy that was built in Tiananmen Square in 1989.

Chinese tourists stopped on Tiananmen Square shook their heads and appeared mystified when asked about the anniversary. There were no obvious signs of extra security on the already well-guarded square.

But a trinket vendor said he was well aware what day it was.

"Do foreigners also know about June 4?" he asked a Reuters reporter in a hushed tone, looking around to make sure nobody heard him. "I think it is important we remember, but nobody will talk about it now."

(Additional reporting by Chris Buckley in Beijing, Melanie Lee in Shanghai and James Pomfret and Clarie Lee in Hong Kong; Editing by Nick Macfie)