2012 Alerts: January 22, 2010
In This Issue:
Haiti Update
The Coming Peace Treaty
God Is in the Details
Toward a Cashless World
U.S. Economy
U.S. – Israel Relations
Iran: The Ticking Clock
Apocalypse 2012 Update
Haiti Update
To be honest, I was not planning to do a follow-up on the Haiti situation—since it did not seem to fit with the focus of this e-letter. However, three articles I accessed this morning changed my mind.
Each of the three articles deal with Israel’s response to the cataclysmic tragedy in Haiti. The first, from Time magazine online, states that the Israeli hospital is "the paramount medical center operating in Haiti" in the aftermath of the January 12 earthquake. The second article describes that this Israeli-run field hospital “has operating rooms, an intensive care unit, a pediatric ward, and even a pharmacy” and contains equipment “as sophisticated as most Western hospitals”—such as x-ray equipment, respirators, monitors and incubators. The third article, from the Miami Herald, announced that "within moments of the quake, Israelis were on their way to Haiti" with planes loaded with medical personnel and equipment—an incredible response. In addition, the personnel have had an amazing success rate, treating more than four hundred victims by January 19, with only eight deaths among the casualties.
The Israel response to the Haiti tragedy has only been matched by the U.S. response. In contrast, does anyone know how the twenty-one Arab countries responded?
This brings up this question: Why the disparity in the responses? That can be answered by answering another question: In general, what do the two best responders to this tragedy have in common? They both have populations that have been influenced by Scripture, authored by the God of generosity, which, I believe, makes them far more generous than other nations of the world.
The Coming Peace Treaty
In Apocalypse 2012: The Ticking of the End Time Clock, the case is laid out that the Bible predicts Israel will enter into a seven-year treaty with ten other nations, all of which will be countries from the boundaries of the old Roman Empire. This treaty (which will involve an allowance for Israel to rebuild the Temple on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem and to begin, once again—after more than 1900 years!—to offer sacrifices and offerings in the Temple) will start the clock ticking on the final seven years before the return of Christ to the earth. In addition, Apocalypse 2012 lays out the evidence that the signing of this treaty may not be far away. For these reasons (and others), I do not believe Israel will confirm a treaty with the Palestinians—no matter how much effort the U.S. puts into trying to attain it.
An article reported an official statement from Hamas this week emphasizing that Hamas denies the right of Israel to exist. Hamas is one terrorist arm of the Palestinians which is ruling over the Gaza strip. As I stated in last week’s “Alerts,” unless the Palestinians can get Hamas to go along with peace talks with Israel (and this recent statement indicates they are not ready to do that), then the talks either will not happen or will not have any beneficial results.
This week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu presented his frustration publicly that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas refuses to negotiate. (It seems difficult to arrive at a peace treaty with one who refuses to talk or to make any concessions at all. Or maybe I am looking at this wrong?) In addition, in his upcoming visit to the region, U.S. Middle East envoy George Mitchell will not bring Palestinian demands to the Israelis simply because he knows the demands are too great for the Israelis to accept (and, as mentioned, the Palestinians refuse to make any concessions themselves). As a result of what the Israelis see as Palestinian obstinacy, the Israelis declared they will make no further peace overtures toward the Palestinians. Thus, one writer asked this week, with this scenario, why even consider resuming this peace process?
With that said, I just saw an article at Israel National News, outlining George Mitchell’s new five-point peace plan in which he plans to press Israel to give up more land with the thought this will get the Palestinians to the table to talk. This sounds like more of the same (again and again!). I am sure you have heard the definition of insanity—doing the same thing and expecting different results. Hmmm.
This same old approach seems incredible, especially since in a Time magazine interview with President Obama, published yesterday, the President admitted to a mistake in his approach to the peace process. However, it seems he believes his real mistake was raising everyone’s expectations. So as long as expectations are low, the same approach which brought no previous results can be used?
One could see this as bad news, but I see it as good news. It tells me that, since we are clearly seeing no progress in this process—and no new approach to bring any progress—it may be approaching the time of an entirely new approach—one with ten nations and Israel involved. I believe this is not far off; in fact, the environment for this new approach could arrive very suddenly with an attack upon Iran by Israel. (See past “Alerts” on this.)
God Is in the Details
Before moving from this subject, I want to cite an article on this week’s election of new Massachusetts senator, Scott Brown, which indicated that this indication of voter backlash will change President Obama's approach to the Middle East peace process. The author of the article believes that the result of this election will cause the President to have to rely more on input from Republicans on this issue whose approach is less inclined to force more concessions from Israel.
We will see, but if so, that means that God used this election to change the approach toward a regional peace treaty. After all, God announces in the Bible that no one attains any kind of position of authority without Him putting that person in power. In other words, God is in control.
Thus, God may have used that election to back off of pressuring Israel which could encourage Israel to back off, entirely, from dealing with the Palestinians—ever—and wait for the right environment, which will bring about the seven-year treaty predicted in the Bible. In fact, God used more than the election to accomplish that; he used Joe Kennedy’s influence (which God provided for him) to get his son, Jack, the senate seat, which was handed to Teddy when JFK was elected President; and He used the timing of Teddy’s death, along with a number of factors that have building over the years, to bring about Scott Brown’s election at this time. And, of course, we could back up much farther than that to see how God guided to bring the U.S. to this point. Speaking of “points,” the point I am trying to make here is that God is in the details. Indeed, this includes all of the details of your life, as well.
Toward a Cashless World
Interestingly, this week I accessed two articles that dealt with going cashless. One reported that Australia is going cashless as an example of what is happening worldwide. The second presented the concept that the world will go cashless because cash is "too expensive". Why is this significant? Based on what is described in Revelation 13, it seems the world will one day (in the near future?) be based on a cashless society, controlled, essentially, by one man. Revelation 13 predicts that in the last three and a half years before Christ’s return, people will only be able to buy or sell if they have a “mark,” either on the forehead or on the right hand, containing a numerical code. This code is apparently read electronically at which point one’s account experiences either a subtraction or addition, depending on the kind of transaction. In other words, that the economy is globally going cashless seems to be a preparation for the last, very brief, era before the return of Christ.
U.S. Economy
According to David Roche, global strategist at Independent Strategy told CNBC, the euro will become the world's reserve currency “because Europe has a better growth strategy than the US”. This change in reserve currency is also due to the falling dollar which is likely to fall even more due to the massive amount of debt taken on by the U.S. As reported in a past “Alerts,” this country’s debt exceeded $12 trillion at the end of 2009. (To begin to picture that amount, we need to realize that one [not twelve!] trillion seconds is equivalent to 32,000 years!!) But the debt is projected to get worse—much worse! The Congressional Budget Office has announced that within two generations, the U.S. debt will be 600 percent of the Gross Domestic Product! (It is already at 50 percent of GDP, and will likely be 80 percent of GDP by 2019—if we make it that long.) But this is unsustainable and will lead to the decline of America as a world leader.
The article cited immediately above also mentioned a study, entitled, “Choosing the Nation's Fiscal Future,” which said that spending was far outpacing tax revenue. In fact, according to the study, “Unless action is taken immediately, the study warned, the U.S. "faces the risk of a disruptive fiscal crisis.”
Since there is no visible role for the U.S. in Bible prophecy, it seems God may use this nation’s economic woes as one way to move the country out of the prophetic picture, preparing for a and a one-world government with one-world economy controlled by one-man rising from the boundaries of the old Roman Empire. Stay tuned.
Might Terrorists Take U.S. Out of the Prophetic Picture?
One other possible factor which could move the U.S. out of the prophetic picture might be future terrorists attacks against the country which stem from the State Department’s “diversity visa” lottery.
The State Department is planning to welcome thousands of immigrants from terror-watch list countries into the United States this year through a “diversity visa” lottery—a giant legal loophole some lawmakers say is a “serious national security threat”. Thus, as Fox News reported, members of Congress are concerned that terrorists could use this visa lottery as a way of getting into the U.S. This is one more concern, mounted on a myriad of other concerns, regarding terrorists potentially attacking the U.S.
For the past eight plus years, God has protected the U.S. from another terrorist attack. But if He decides to allow attacks from within to move this country from a focus on the Middle East to dealing with its own wounds and fears as a result of terror attacks, we can’t say we were not warned.
U.S. – Israel Relations
Elliott Abrams, a senior fellow for the Middle East at the Council on Foreign Relations and a deputy national security adviser in the George W. Bush administration, wrote this week that in Israel, there is now a "deep suspicion of the Obama administration" both at official levels and among the population at large. We have cited in past “Alerts” that U.S. – Israel relations have markedly deteriorated under the Obama administration, and this article is one more piece of evidence for that. But this had to happen at some point, since the U.S. will not one of the co-signers of the treaty between Israel and ten other nations and will not even be in the prophetic picture, even though Israel will be front and center. So it seems this is part of God’s plan to prepare for His coming kingdom.
Iran: The Ticking Clock
In an interview this week, Israeli spokesperson, Mark Regev, announced that the obtaining of nuclear capability for Iran would be the end of the Middle East. For sure, Israel views the Iranian race toward nukes as a ticking clock that has to be dealt with soon! But what to do? The U.S. has tried in every way possible to get Iranian leadership to sit down and talk, but without success. As I have reported in past “Alerts,” it appears sanctions against Iran will not motivate the Iranian leadership to abandon “the bomb”—for a number of reasons.
One of those was repeated this week when China balked at sanctions. But not only is China not on board with sanctions, neither is Russia, and neither are some European countries whose private industries continue to do millions of dollars of business with the rogue nation.
Fortunately, the Israeli Mossad (the CIA of Israel) has helped out. This week, the Jerusalem Post reported that had it not been for the Mossad, the Iranian nuclear program would have been completed years ago. The Mossad’s methods have included assassinations and covert attacks against nuclear facilities.
But this week, Iran's successful test of a medium-range missile, which put most Arab countries and parts of Europe within its range, has brought concern to U.S. Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates. If Iran were able to put a nuke on that missile, well, we do not want to think of the ramifications.
I have been predicting that Israel will eventually launch an attack against Iran, which may very well come this summer. If so, it will likely create a coup within the Iranian population that will bring about regime change for that country. In fact, the seedbed for that revolution has already begun. According to the L.A. Times this week, this revolution is growing and strengthening. An example of this came this week when a senior Iranian envoy quit in disgust over the current regime; in addition, twenty-seven Iranian diplomats have recently resigned.
Apocalypse 2012 Update
The Christian Post recently ran an article citing the targeting of mega-retailers (such as Amazon.com, WallMart, and Target) by Christian bookstores for "predatory pricing" of books and other items they carry in an apparent attempt to monopolize the market. I can relate, since it affects someone like myself. On May 1st, when Apocalypse 2012 is officially released, Amazon.com will be selling it for a price I cannot match because of the price the publisher is charging me for books and shipping. The upside in purchasing copies from me at this time is two-fold. First, you can receive your copies much earlier (as the publisher has promised I will receive my thousand copies by the end of February) than if you ordered through Amazon.com. Second, by purchasing from me you are supporting a fledgling author so that he might be able to afford to write another book or two (which is the current plan). So I want to thank, from the bottom of my heart, those of you who have ordered—or will order—copies of the book from me. Because in doing so, you are showing your generous support of my efforts to impact people eternally by the presentation of God’s word.
As I mentioned in the last “Alerts,” the manuscript of the book was typeset, and the galley emailed to me. Corrections were cited and emailed back to the publisher. Once those corrections are made, it will be emailed to me for one last look; then it goes to print! We are almost there!
We are at the point where promotion of the book needs to begin. This week, I was in contact with three local media outlets—two newspapers and a Shreveport, LA TV station. I will attempt to set up articles and local interviews (radio & TV), and I would appreciate your prayer on this. Also, if you have any media contacts, please let me know. In addition, you could refer them to my website (www.2012apocalypsebook.com), where they can learn more about the book (and the author).
This weekend, I plan to work on a new “script” for a video shoot. This new video will be put on the website to generate interest among media and readers, and it will be submitted to youtube.com.
Another way you could help is to refer this e-letter to friends and family, and encourage them to subscribe. And why wouldn’t they? After all, the price is right (free!).
Please continue to pray that God would put a copy of the book into the hands of all who are open to His truth. I believe the material in the book has the potential of preparing people for the return of Christ and impacting them for eternity.
Thank you for your support! And keep looking up!
John