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COGwriter

In a move that what not unexpected, US President Barack Obama has called for the Pentagon to figure out how to deeply cut the USA’s nuclear arsenal:

Barack Obama ready to slash US nuclear arsenal

Pentagon told to map out radical cuts as president prepares to chair UN talks

Guardian, UK – Sept 20, 2009  by Julian Borger

Barack Obama has demanded the Pentagon conduct a radical review of US nuclear weapons doctrine to prepare the way for deep cuts in the country’s arsenal, the Guardian can reveal.

Obama has rejected the Pentagon’s first draft of the “nuclear posture review” as being too timid, and has called for a range of more far-reaching options consistent with his goal of eventually abolishing nuclear weapons altogether, according to European officials.

Those options include:

• Reconfiguring the US nuclear force to allow for an arsenal measured in hundreds rather than thousands of deployed strategic warheads.

• Redrafting nuclear doctrine to narrow the range of conditions under which the US would use nuclear weapons.

• Exploring ways of guaranteeing the future reliability of nuclear weapons without testing or producing a new generation of warheads.

The review is due to be completed by the end of this year, and European officials say the outcome is not yet clear. But one official said: “Obama is now driving this process. He is saying these are the president’s weapons, and he wants to look again at the doctrine and their role.”

The move comes as Obama prepares to take the rare step of chairing a watershed session of the UN security council on Thursday. It is aimed at winning consensus on a new grand bargain: exchanging more radical disarmament by nuclear powers in return for wider global efforts to prevent further proliferation…

The US nuclear posture review is aimed at clearing the path for a new round of deep US-Russian cuts to follow almost immediately after that treaty is ratified, to set lower limits not just on deployed missiles but also on the thousands of warheads both have in their stockpiles.

The Obama strategy is to create disarmament momentum in the run-up to the non-proliferation treaty review conference next May, in the hope that states without nuclear weapons will not side with Iran, as they did at the last review in 2005, but endorse stronger legal barriers to nuclear proliferation, and forego nuclear weapons programmes themselves.

“The review has up to now been in the hands of mid-level bureaucrats with a lot of knowledge, but it’s knowledge drawn from the cold war. What they are prepared to do is tweak the existing doctrine,” said Rebecca Johnson, the head of the Acronym Institute, a pro-disarmament pressure group. “Obama has sent them it back saying: ‘Give me more options for what we can do in line with my goals. I’m not saying it’s easy, but all you’re giving me is business as usual.'”

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/sep/20/barack-obama-us-nuclear-weapons

Americans need to realize that Russia is not the real threat to the USA.  The Europeans of the near future are.

While attempts at peace can be admirable, once the USA has significantly reduced its nuclear arsenal, then players such as the Europeans will be relatively stronger potential threats.  And these are threats that will be more real than 90+% of Americans seem to realize.

Several articles of possibly related interest may include:

Prophecies of Barack Obama? Are there biblical and non-biblical prophecies about Barack Obama. Did Nostradamus predict Barack Obama dealing with the Antichrist?  Might Barack Obama set the stage for the kings of the North and South as his timing and at least one Shiite prophecy suggests?  This is the longest and most detailed of the articles here at COGwriter related to prophecy and Barack Obama.
Barack Obama, Prophecy, and the Destruction of the United States Some claim that Barack Obama is the prophesied “son of Kenya”. Might Bible prophecy be fulfilled since he is to be the USA president?
Russia: Its Origins and Prophesied Future Where do the Russians come from? What is prophesied for Russia? What will it do to the Europeans that supported the Beast in the end?
Who is the King of the North? Is there one? Do biblical and Roman Catholic prophecies point to the same leader? Should he be followed? Who will be the King of the North discussed in Daniel 11? Is a nuclear attack prophesied to happen to the English-speaking peoples of the United States, Great Britain, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand? When do the 1335 days, 1290 days, and 1260 days (the time, times, and half a time) of Daniel 12 begin? When does the Bible show that economic collapse will affect the United States?
Europa, the Beast, and Revelation Where did Europe get its name? What might Europe have to do with the Book of Revelation? What about “the Beast”? What is ahead for Europe?

Ancient Mayan City of Palenque

COGwriter

Wallace Smith of the Living Church of God reported the following:

2012 DVD shoot went very well!

…The DVD shoot went very well, and, as usual, my hat is off to the remarkable team at “Tomorrow’s World Studios” for their professionalism and patience with me!…

I was a bit more nervous than usual about this particular shoot — not that nervousness is necessarily a bad thing. In high school my theater teacher frequently said that as long as it is not overwhelming nervousness isn’t a bad thing: it’s evidence that you care deeply about your performance and it helps your body to generate a helpful bit of extra adrenaline.

In this case, shooting a possibly hour-long DVD versus the usual half-hour (actually, less) television program was, admittedly, daunting. While I am very happy with how well it went, at the same time I tend to be fairly self-critical and I look back at how I handled certain portions and think to myself that I wish I had done a better job. Still, that’s what we pray about — that God will take our efforts, magnify them, and make them more effective and powerful than they would otherwise be! And I do appreciate how many of you told me that you you were praying about this taping; it makes such a difference, and I can’t thank you, enough.

The topic of my program — the origins of the growing “2012 hysteria” and what the Bible has to say about it — has the potential to be a very helpful topic, I think. Every time I bought books on the topic during my research, the person behind the counter seemed to have an opinion (which they happily expressed, unsolicited). One girl mentioned that she was fascinated by the topic and plans to throw and “end of the world” party on December 20, 2012. Another — a professing Christian who goes on mission trips — said that she has wondered if there was anything to it.

For the record, my involvement with the “2012 hysteria” on behalf of the church was a bit of an accident. A church member and his wife — that would be MS & AS in Arkansas (howdy, guys!) — had gone to the movies and had seen the trailer (or teaser, perhaps) to the upcoming Roland Emmerich 2012 movie and lamented that so many of his acquaintances (not in the church) were caught up in it (that is, the date and the so-called “Mayan prophecies” about it, not the movie) as opposed to actual Bible prophecy, which points to God, the truth, and the need to repent of sin. After MS wrote to me about it, I e-mailed Mr. Ames to say that I was interested in doing a telecast about it and wanted his opinion. He wrote back to tell me that not only did he think it would be a fine idea, but that it just so happened that the next program I was due to tape was already scheduled to open the exact same weekend as the 2012 movie (funny how many things “just so happen”).

So, before you know it, I had one telecast taped, an internet commentary written (“2012: The Hype and the Truth”), and, now, a Tomorrow’s World article, as well (the article should be out in the Nov-Dec 2009 issue). This particular effort, though — the DVD — came out of a dinner discussion with Mr. and Mrs. Meredith. The research I had done on the topic was much more than could be presented on one Tomorrow’s World telecast, and he thought that it might be profitable to take advantage of that research to create a larger presentation.  http://wallacegsmith.wordpress.com/2009/09/20/2012-dvd-shoot-went-very-well/

The DVD is a bit different in some ways than anything we’ve done before, and I must say that making it was a real learning opportunity. If there is a future opportunity to do something along these lines, I suspect that the things we’ve learned with this one will make the next one all the better. And I can say that those who watch the DVD may learn some things about the sources of the 2012 hysteria that should give them pause and help them desire to look to a “more sure word of prophecy” as opposed to what is offered by McKenna, Pinchbeck, Argüelles, Jenkins, and their cohorts in the 2012 “Pantheon of the Pseudomaya.” The truth certainly is so much better than the lie!..

In fact, finding actual, scholarly research on the ancient Maya and writings by real Mesoamerican authorities was much more difficult than finding 2012-related stuff. (And this was important, too, because the fact that something is publically called “Mayan” doesn’t mean that it actually is.)

Richard Ames and I first discussed the idea of LCG doing a telecast and having an article in Tomorrow’s World magazine last November.  I am pleased that LCG has done both of those as well as a DVD on it.

On a possibly related note, later this morning I am supposed to be interviewed by Robby Kendall of WTXY 1540 related to 2012 and end time prophecies.  He hosts an afternoon talk show out of the Myrtle Beach area.  I believe that the interview is to air within the next few days and I plan to announce the specific date and time once I have it.

For more information on 2012, please visit www.thesecretsect.com or read the following article:

End of Mayan Calendar 2012–Might 2012 Mean Something? Are there Mayan calendar predictions for change in 2012? Changes were centuries ago predicted by the Hopi Native Americans. Do Mayan/Hindu/Hopi/Buddhist/New Age/Nostradamus prophecies have any value here? Why might Satan have inspired this date? Does the Dresden codex show destruction of the earth by flood? Can the great tribulation start before 2012? How might Barack Obama be involved in 2012? What does the upcoming Sony movie attempt to portray?

COGwriter

In a report that comes to a logical conclusion, HSBC claims that the sun is setting on the US dollars role in the world:

HSBC bids farewell to dollar supremacy

The sun is setting on the US dollar as the ultra-loose monetary policy of the US Federal Reserve forces China and the vibrant economies of the emerging world to forge a new global currency order, according to a new report by HSBC.

Telegraph, UK – Sept 20, 2009  by Ambrose Evans-Pritchard

“The dollar looks awfully like sterling after the First World War,” said David Bloom, the bank’s currency chief.

“The whole picture of risk-reward for emerging market currencies has changed. It is not so much that they have risen to our standards, it is that we have fallen to theirs. It used to be that sovereign risk was mainly an emerging market issue but the events of the last year have shown that this is no longer the case. Look at the UK – debt is racing up to 100pc of GDP,” he said

Crucially, China and rising Asia have reached the point where they can no longer keep holding down their currencies to boost exports because this is causing mayhem to their own economies, stoking asset bubbles. Asia’s “mercantilist mindset” of recent decades is about to be broken by the spectre of an inflation spiral.

The policy headache was already becoming clear in the final phase of the global credit boom but the financial crisis temporarily masked the effect. The pressures will return with a vengeance as these countries roar back to life, leaving the US and other laggards of the old world far behind.

A monetary policy of near zero rates – further juiced by quantitative easing – is completely incompatible with circumstances in most of Asia, the Middle East, Latin America, and Africa. Divorce is inevitable. The US is expected to hold rates near zero through 2010 to tackle its own crisis.

What is occurring is an epochal loss in the relative wealth and economic power of the old G10 bloc of rich countries compared to rising regions of the world. The euro, yen, sterling, Swiss franc and other mature currencies will be relegated along with the dollar in this great process of rebalancing, but the Greenback will bear the brunt.

The Fed’s super-loose policy is turning the dollar into the key funding currency for the next phase of the global “carry trade”, taking over the role of Japan during its period of emergency stimulus.

Mr Bloom said regional currencies would emerge as the anchor for their smaller trading partners, with China, Brazil, or South Africa substituting the role of the US. Australia is already linking its fortunes to China through commodity ties.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/ambroseevans_pritchard/6211858/HSBC-bids-farewell-to-dollar-supremacy.html

This, of course, comes as no surprise to readers of the COGwriter page as I have long been writing that the end of the USA’s world economic dominance is prophesied in the Bible, and will likely end in the next decade.

While national repentance could still change that, it looks less and less likely.

Some articles of possibly related interest include:

End of Mayan Calendar 2012–Might 2012 Mean Something? Are there Mayan calendar predictions for change in 2012? Changes were centuries ago predicted by the Hopi Native Americans. Do Mayan/Hindu/Hopi/Buddhist/New Age/Nostradamus prophecies have any value here? Why might Satan have inspired this date? Does the Dresden codex show destruction of the earth by flood? Can the great tribulation start before 2012? How might Barack Obama be involved in 2012?
Europa, the Beast, and Revelation Where did Europe get its name? What might Europe have to do with the Book of Revelation? What about “the Beast”? What is ahead for Europe?
Mexico, Central America, South America, and Brazil in Prophecy [Español: México, America Central, Suramérica, y el Brasil en profecíal] [Português: México, América Central, Ámérica do Sul, e Brasil na profecia] What will happen to those of Latin America? Will they have prosperity? Will they cooperate with Europe? Will they suffer in the future? What rule might the various Caribbean nations/territories play?
Asia in Prophecy What is Ahead for Asia? Who are the “Kings of the East”? What will happen to nearly all the Chinese, Russians, Indians, and others of Asia? China in prophecy, where? Who has the 200,000,000 man army related to Armageddon?
Anglo – America in Prophecy & the Lost Tribes of Israel Are the Americans, Canadians, British, Scottish, Welsh, Australians, Anglo-Southern Africans, and New Zealanders descendants of Joseph? Where are the lost ten-tribes of Israel? Who are the lost tribes of Israel? Will God punish the U.S.A., Canada, United Kingdom, and other Anglo nations? Why might God allow them to be punished first?
Prophecy Obama: Prophecies of Barack Obama? Eight reasons why Barack Obama is apocalyptic and eight reasons why Barack Obama is not the Antichrist. This article includes many biblical and non-biblical prophecies, from around the world, that seem to discuss Barack Obama. Did Nostradamus predict Barack Obama dealing with the Antichrist?  Might Barack Obama set the stage for the kings of the North and South as at least one Shiite prophecy suggests?  This is the longest and most complete article on this page on Barack Obama prophecies. Read it and decide for yourself if President Obama seems to be fulfilling various prophecies.
Barack Obama, Prophecy, and the Destruction of the United States Some claim that Barack Obama is the prophesied “son of Kenya”, based up an early 20th century writing.

COGwriter

I have no comment about whether it is true or not, but the United Nations is claiming that unless 1-2 billion USD are given to poorer countries, the swine flu will apparently kill millions:

Swine flu ‘could kill millions unless rich nations give £900m’

UN report says pandemic may result in anarchy unless western world pays for antiviral drugs and vaccines

The Observer, UK – Sept 20, 2009

The swine flu pandemic could kill millions and cause anarchy in the world’s poorest nations unless £900m can be raised from rich countries to pay for vaccines and antiviral medicines, says a UN report leaked to the Observer.

The disclosure will provoke concerns that health officials will not be able to stem the growth of the worldwide H1N1 pandemic in developing countries. If the virus takes hold in the poorest nations, millions could die and the economies of fragile countries could be destroyed.

Health ministers around the globe were sent the warning on Thursday in a report on the costs of averting a humanitarian disaster in the next few months. It comes as officials inside the World Health Organisation, the UN’s public health body, said they feared they would not be able to raise half that amount because of the global downturn.

Gregory Hartl of WHO said the report required an urgent response from rich nations…

The UN’s request for the money comes as the virus begins to establish itself in some of the world’s most vulnerable countries. On Wednesday, health officials told one website that the African continent had recorded 8,187 confirmed cases of swine flu and 41 deaths.

Swine flu was declared a pandemic in June and has since been identified in 180 countries. Pandemic experts believe that the western world, including Britain, is facing a second wave of the virus.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/sep/20/swine-flu-costs-un-report

As I stated about the Chikungunya virus (Chikungunya Virus: The Next Pestilence?),  I am not yet convinced that the “swine flu” is as bad as the worst case scenarios that the mainstream media sometimes have hyped, the above did catch my attention.

But relatively soon, serious pestilences are prophesied as we are prophetically at/near the point Jesus called “the beginning of sorrows”–which includes pestilences (Matthew 24:7-8).

Some articles of possibly related interest may include:

Can the Great Tribulation Begin in 2009, 2010, or 2011? Can the Great Tribulation begin today? What is the “beginning of sorrows”?  When is the earliest that the Great Tribulation can begin? What is the Day of the Lord?
The New Testament Church and Unclean Meats Are foods considered to have been unclean in the Old Testament considered to be food in the New Testament? This article discusses this from the perspective of the New Testament. It also has a list of clean and unclean animals. It also answers the question, is pork healthy or is pork dangerous?
Anglo – America in Prophecy & the Lost Tribes of Israel Are the Americans, Canadians, British, Scottish, Welsh, Australians, Anglo-Southern Africans, and New Zealanders descendants of Joseph? Where are the lost ten-tribes of Israel? Who are the lost tribes of Israel? Will God punish the U.S.A., Canada, United Kingdom, and other Anglo nations? Why might God allow them to be punished first?
Mexico, Central America, South America, and Brazil in Prophecy [Español: México, America Central, Suramérica, y el Brasil en profecíal] [Português: México, América Central, Ámérica do Sul, e Brasil na profecia] What will happen to those of Latin America? Will they have prosperity? Will they cooperate with Europe? Will they suffer in the future? What rule might the various Caribbean nations/territories play?

Chinese Soldiers

COGwriter

One ex-Chinese government official is claiming that the China is planning on invading the USA and killing multiple-millions:

Ex-Chinese Official Details Plan for World Domination

NewsMax – Sept 17, 2009  by Lev Navrozov

No ancient empire became physically global — the outside world was too distant and vague owing to the lack of later-day communications. Nor were slave empires rare. Even in the first half of the 19th century, Russia was an empire, while “serfdom” — slavery — dominated agriculture. Most inhabitants of cities were also slaves, except they did not have private owners, for whom they would be obliged to work without pay. Today China observes the entire world, a world that might become part of the Chinese slave empire. Such an empire would be global for the first time. Such a scenario hasn’t transpired because over time free (or freer) countries developed science and engineering — and the most advanced weapons. On the other hand, in the first half of the 20th century, China was “backward,” and hence could well be grateful it was not conquered by Japan before the United States dropped two atomic bombs on Japan during World War II.

During the June 4, 1989, massacre of unarmed Tiananmen seekers of freedom, Chi Haotian was the chief of staff of the People’s Liberation Army and supervised the massacre. Yet President Bill Clinton received him in Washington with a 19-gun salute in his honor.

Until 2003, Chi, 80, was the minister of Chinese national defense. In 2005 he was vice chairman of China’s Military Commission.

On June 24, Chi’s speech of December 2005 was posted on Yahoo! under the heading “Speech by Comrade Chi Haotian, Vice-Chairman of China’s Military Commission.” The speech was delivered to the audience of top officers and generals of the People’s Republic of China.

Chi said that he was “very excited today” because in answering, “in the large-scale survey,” the “question ‘Will you shoot at women, children, and prisoners of war’ [in the U.S. and other enemy countries], more than 80 percent of the respondents answered in the affirmative.”

Why was Chi “very excited” about it?

“If China’s global development will necessitate massive deaths in enemy countries, will our people endorse that scenario? Will they be for or against it? The fact is, our ‘development’ refers to the great revitalization of the Chinese nation, which of course, is not limited to the land we have now, but also includes the whole world.”

Chi does not consider German Nazism evil. He considers the Germans insufficiently superior as a race and hence a failure. “Our Chinese people are wiser than the Germans because, fundamentally, our race is superior to theirs.”

Yet Chi advises to avoid the use of the German word Lebensraum “too openly” in order to “avoid the West’s association of us with Nazi Germany, which could in turn reinforce the view that China is a threat.” Chi prefers to use Britain and the U.S. as negative examples (and not to praise Nazi Germany):

“. . . if we refer to the 19th century as the British Century and to the 20th century as the American Century, then the 21st Century will be the Chinese Century! (Wild applause fills the auditorium.)”

How to deal with America?

”America was first discovered by the ancestors of the yellow race, but Columbus gave credit to the white race. We the descendants of the Chinese nation are ENTITLED to the possession of that land!”

However: “Only by using special means to ‘clean up’ America will we be able to lead the Chinese people there.”

Fortunately for the owners of China, these “special means” are known as biological weapons, and Chi devotes a long paragraph to describe for how long biological weapons have been developed in the People’s Republic of China.

In conclusion, Chi presents his usual excuse. “It is indeed brutal to kill one hundred or two hundred million Americans. But this is the only path that will secure a Chinese century, a century in which the CCP [Chinese Communist Party] leads the world.”

What is the purpose of making this official top-level speech known to the West? Traditionally, attackers make their war intentions as unexpected as possible. Here Chi explains to Chinese generals and officers (and to the world, including the U.S.) how China will kill by biological weapons one-third or two-thirds (or three-thirds?) of the U.S. population in order for the Chinese to settle in “clean America.” Mass robbery via mass murder.

It seems to the rulers of China that its strategy should not be concealed but, on the contrary, should scare a potential victim. The United States has freedom, not slavery. The result of slavery in China is the conversion of population into slave soldiers ready to die if necessary. The result of freedom, according to Chinese like Chi, is the people’s search for private happiness and, especially, safety. Therefore, free countries should be terrorized to make them surrender, which Chi has been doing for years.

At the same time, Chi declares the Chinese to be the superior race, and promises them American property, the murder of Americans and other inferior races by Chinese biological weapons, and the People’s Republic of China a truly global empire in history.

http://www.newsmax.com/navrozov/china_biological_russia/2009/09/17/261263.html

The views of one former government official are not necessarily the views of the current Chinese government.  But the fact the someone with such Chinese military connections endorses such plans to destroy most Americans should raise concerns among those that live in the USA.

Now, as I have long written, it will be the European Beast power with Middle East support (and likely other allies), that will be responsible for the invasion of the USA.

However, as I posted last month, there is an ancient Chinese prophecy that might indicate that China may invade Australia and New Zealand (Might an Ancient Chinese Prophecy Involve Australia and New Zealand?). And the fact that some in China are apparently looking for an additional land for Chinese people to settle in should raise serious concerns for those in Australia and New Zealand.

Some articles of possibly related interest may include:

Anglo – America in Prophecy & the Lost Tribes of Israel Are the Americans, Canadians, British, Scottish, Welsh, Australians, Anglo-Southern Africans, and New Zealanders descendants of Joseph? Where are the lost ten-tribes of Israel? Who are the lost tribes of Israel? Will God punish the U.S.A., Canada, United Kingdom, and other Anglo nations? Why might God allow them to be punished first?
Can the Great Tribulation Begin in 2009, 2010, or 2011? Can the Great Tribulation begin today? What happens before in the “beginning of sorrows”? What happens in the Great Tribulation and the Day of the Lord? When is the earliest that the Great Tribulation can begin? What is the Day of the Lord?
End of Mayan Calendar 2012–Might 2012 Mean Something? Are there Mayan calendar predictions for change in 2012? Changes were centuries ago predicted by the Hopi Native Americans. Do Mayan/Hindu/Hopi/Buddhist/New Age/Nostradamus prophecies have any value here? Why might Satan have inspired this date? Does the Dresden codex show destruction of the earth by flood? Can the great tribulation start before 2012? How might Barack Obama be involved in 2012?
Europa, the Beast, and Revelation Where did Europe get its name? What might Europe have to do with the Book of Revelation? What about “the Beast”? What is ahead for Europe?
China, Its Biblical Past and Future, Part 1: Genesis and Chinese Characters This article provides information showing that the Chinese peoples must have known about various accounts in the Book of Genesis up until their dispersion after the Tower of Babel.
China, Its Biblical Past and Future, Part 2: The Sabbath and Some of God’s Witness in China When did Christianity first come to China? And is there early evidence that they observed the seventh day sabbath?
Asia in Prophecy What is Ahead for Asia? Who are the “Kings of the East”? What will happen to nearly all the Chinese, Russians, Indians, and others of Asia? China in prophecy, where? Who has the 200,000,000 man army related to Armageddon?

Asian Tiger Mosquito

COGwriter

There may be a new pestilence brewing:

Mosquito-borne African virus a new threat to West

Reuters – Sept 18, 2009   By David Morgan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States and Europe face a new health threat from a mosquito-borne disease far more unpleasant than the West Nile virus that swept into North America a decade ago, a U.S. expert said on Friday.

Chikungunya virus has spread beyond Africa since 2005, causing outbreaks and scores of fatalities in India and the French island of Reunion. It also has been detected in Italy, where it has begun to spread locally, as well as France.

“We’re very worried,” Dr. James Diaz of the Louisiana University Health Sciences Center told a meeting on airlines, airports and disease transmission sponsored by the independent U.S. National Research Council.

“Unlike West Nile virus, where nine out of 10 people are going to be totally asymptomatic, or may have a mild headache or a stiff neck, if you get Chikungunya you’re going to be sick,” he said.

“The disease can be fatal. It’s a serious disease,” Diaz added. “There is no vaccine.”

Chikungunya infection causes fever, headache, fatigue, nausea, vomiting, muscle pain, rash and joint pain. Symptoms can last a few weeks, though some suffers have reported incapacitating joint pain or arthritis lasting months.

The disease was first discovered in Tanzania in 1952. Its name means “that which bends up” in the Makonde language spoken in northern Mozambique and southeastern Tanzania.

The virus could spread globally now because it can be carried by the Asian tiger mosquito, which is found in Asia, Africa, Europe, the Americas, Australia and New Zealand.

In the United States, the mosquito species tends to live in southern regions east of the Mississippi but has been found as far afield as western Texas, Minnesota and New Jersey.

Health officials are greatly concerned about the appearance of Chikungunya in the islands of the Indian Ocean — Mauritius, Seychelles and Reunion — which have beach resorts frequented by European tourists.

“It is hyper-endemic in the islands of the Indian Ocean,” Diaz told the meeting.

“Travel by air will import the infected mosquitoes and humans,” he added. “Chikungunya is coming.”

Diaz warned of possible double-infections involving Chikungunya and dengue fever or malaria, which are also carried by the Asian tiger mosquito.

The spread of the disease could be greatest in so-called mega-cities such as Mumbai and Mexico City, which have large and impoverished populations, poor health controls and water systems that provide ready breeding grounds for mosquitoes, Diaz said.

West Nile, spread by a different mosquito species, first appeared in New York in 1999 and now can be found in most of North America.

http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE58H60320090918?feedType=RSS&feedName=healthNews&rpc=22&sp=true

Whether it will be the swine flu, the Chikungunya virus, or some “superbug”, Jesus foretold of pestilences as part of the beginning of sorrows:

7…And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of sorrows (Matt 24:7b-8).

The Asian tiger mosquito (also known as the “forest day mosquito”) lives in Central Africa, the South-east of the USA (Texas to Florida to at least part of New Jersey), India, and southern Asia.  Thus, it is not just a threat to the West.  And of course, modern travel means that it can affect people pretty much everywhere.

An article of possibly related interest may include:

Can the Great Tribulation Begin in 2009, 2010, or 2011? Can the Great Tribulation begin today? What is the “beginning of sorrows”?  When is the earliest that the Great Tribulation can begin? What is the Day of the Lord?

COGwriter

Today is the Feast of Trumpets.  And although the news media tends to emphasize a different aspect of it, the Feast of Trumpets (often referred to as Rosh Hoshanah) is associated with the Book of Life by the Jews.

According to current Jewish tradition,

After Rosh Hashanah services, as the congregants leave the synagogue they say to each other… “May you be inscribed in the Book of Life“” (The Jewish Holiday of Rosh Hashanah. High Holy Days on the Net. http://www.holidays.net/highholydays/rosh.htm verified 9/12/07).

Is there any relevance between the Feast of Trumpets, the Book of Life, and Christianity?

The seventh month is called Tishri in Hebrew and the Feast of Trumpets is referred to as the first of Tishri in some Jewish literature. Although the Jews now call it Rosh Hoshana, that was probably not its original name:

“Rosh Hashana, which literally means head of the year” {it was} “not called Rosh Hashanah until Talmudic times” (Kramer, Amy J. Rosh Hashana Origins. Copyright © 1998-1999 Everything Jewish, Inc. http://www.everythingjewish.com/RoshH/RH_origins.htm 9/16/04).

Since the terms ‘head’ and ‘year’ are not in the Old Testament passages about it, it appears that the COG term for it (Feast of Trumpets) appears to be more biblically-based that the relatively-new Jewish term ‘Rosh Hashanah’ (which has numerous spellings).

It is not totally clear how or when the Jews tied together the “Book of Life” and the Feast of Trumpets (a Talmud quote later in this article shows that they did some time ago), but they did.

From my reading in the Talmud, it appears that since many Jewish leaders believed that God created the world on the Feast of Trumpets (certain Jewish teachers taught that the creation was most likely in the Fall, rather than in the Spring because in Genesis 1:11 when God states, “Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit”, this would be the Fall, for that is when there is both grass and fruit on trees), that the Feast of Trumpets symbolized the beginning of creation, and hence by, inference, life.

The Talmud itself essentially concludes that the fact of the three different trumpet blasts in Numbers 10:1-10, represents three books, one of them being the Book of Life.

The first biblical allusion to the Book of Life appears to be Exodus 32:32-34,

“Yet now, if You will forgive their sin–but if not, I pray, blot me out of Your book which You have written.”

And the LORD said to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against Me, I will blot him out of My book. Now therefore, go, lead the people to the place of which I have spoken to you. Behold, My Angel shall go before you. Nevertheless, in the day when I visit for punishment, I will visit punishment upon them for their sin.”

Moses knew that he was mentioned in this book. It also appears from the above passage that God is speaking both about a book and a day of punishment.

The apparently same book is mentioned in Psalm 69:27-28 where both concepts are also discussed,

Charge them with crime upon crime; do not let them share in your salvation. May they be blotted out of the book of life and not be listed with the righteous (NIV).

Furthermore, the same book may be mentioned in two other Psalms:

You number my wanderings; Put my tears into Your bottle; Are they not in Your book? (Psalm 56:8, NKJV).

Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, The days fashioned for me, When as yet there were none of them (Psalm 139:16, NKJV).

In Malachi 3:16 it states,

Then those who feared the LORD spoke to one another, And the LORD listened and heard them; So a book of remembrance was written before Him For those who fear the LORD And who meditate on His name.

These verses show that those that fear the LORD are mentioned in a book, but those that are not righteous are not in it.

In Isaiah 27:13 it is written:

So it shall be in that day: The great trumpet will be blown; They will come, who are about to perish in the land of Assyria, And they who are outcasts in the land of Egypt, And shall worship the LORD in the holy mount at Jerusalem.

These passages appear to be referring to the last trumpet-the one signalling the return of Christ and the establishing of the Kingdom of God.

Perhaps it should be mentioned that the type of trumpet involved with the Feast of Trumpets in the Old Testament, as well as with most alarms for battle and judgments is usually the Hebrew term, showphar, more commonly spelled shofar. This type of trumpet is some type of animal horn (normally some type of ram).

The New Testament frequently mentions the blowing of trumpets (though it does not clearly appear to distinguish between shofar trumpets and other trumpets)–though shofars are probably the type most likely being referred to when prophetic matters of judgment are involved.

Jesus taught,

…and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other (Matthew 24:30-31).

This is similar to what Paul taught,

For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17).

So both Jesus and Paul taught that the saints would be gathered when a particular trumpet sound goes forth. And that Jesus will come with a trumpet blast.

Which trumpet?

The last trumpet,

Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed– in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed (1 Corinthians 15:51-52).

Because this is referring to the last trumpet, scripture clearly does not support the concept of a pre-tribulation rapture, like many evangelicals believe in.

Although his writings are not part of the New Testament, Polycarp was a disciple of the Apostle John and looked forward to the fulfillment of this trumpet as he wrote:

Wherefore, girding up your loins,” “serve the Lord in fear” and truth, as those who have forsaken the vain, empty talk and error of the multitude, and “believed in Him who raised up our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead, and gave Him glory,” and a throne at His right hand. To Him all things” in heaven and on earth are subject. Him every spirit serves. He comes as the Judge of the living and the dead. His blood will God require of those who do not believe in Him. But He who raised Him up from the dead will raise up us also, if we do His will, and walk in His commandments, and love what He loved (Polycarp. Letter to the Philippians, chapter II. Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 1 as edited by Alexander Roberts & James Donaldson. American Edition, 1885.)

This last trumpet is in 1 Corinthians 15 is apparently the seventh trumpet in Revelation 11:15,

Then the seventh angel sounded: And there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!”

Whose names are in the Book of Life?

Paul writes,

And I urge you also, true companion, help these women who labored with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the Book of Life (Philippians 4:3).

John recorded,

He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life; but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels (Revelation 3:5).

Thus it appears that the saints are the ones who are written in the Book of Life. And the saints are those that are resurrected at the last trumpet.

Other passages in the Book of Revelation mention that those that worship the beast (13:1,8;17:8), those that are involved with abominations (21:27), and those who take away words from Revelation (22:19), will not be among those whose names are written in the Book of Life.

The Jewish Talmud teaches,

R. Kruspedai said in the name of R. Johanan: Three books are opened [in heaven] on New Year, one for the thoroughly wicked, one for the thoroughly righteous, and one for the intermediate. The thoroughly righteous are forthwith inscribed definitively in the book of life; the thoroughly wicked are forthwith inscribed definitively in the book of death; the doom of the intermediate is suspended from New Year till the Day of Atonement; if they deserve well, they are inscribed in the book of life; if they do not deserve well, they are inscribed in the book of death.

Said R. Abin, What text tells us this? — Let them be blotted out of the book of the living, and not be written with the righteous. ‘Let them be blotted out from the book — this refers to the book of the wicked. ‘Of life — this is the book of the righteous. ‘And not be written with the righteous’ — this is the book of the intermediate.

R. Nahman b. Isaac derives it from here: And if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written, ‘Blot me, I pray thee’ — this is the book of the wicked. ‘Out of thy book’ — this is the book of the righteous. ‘Which thou has written’ — this is the book of the intermediate. It has been taught: Beth Shammai say, There will be three groups at the Day of Judgment — one of thoroughly righteous, one of thoroughly wicked, and one of intermediate. The thoroughly righteous will forthwith be inscribed definitively as entitled to everlasting life; the thoroughly wicked will forthwith be inscribed definitively as doomed to Gehinnom, as it says. And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life and some to reproaches and everlasting abhorrence. The intermediate will go down to Gehinnom 17b and squeal and rise again, as it says, And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried. They shall call on my name and I will answer them.

Of them, too, Hannah said, The Lord killeth and maketh alive, he bringeth down to the grave and bringeth up. Beth Hillel, however, say: He that abounds in grace inclines [the scales] towards grace, and of them David said, I love that the Lord should hear my voice and my supplication, and on their behalf David composed the whole of the passage, I was brought low and he saved me. Wrongdoers of Israel who sin with their body and wrongdoers of the Gentiles who sin with their body go down to Gehinnom and are punished there for twelve months. After twelve months their body is consumed and their soul is burnt and the wind scatters them under the soles of the feet of the righteous as it says, And ye shall tread down the wicked, and they shall be as ashes under the soles of your feet. But as for the minim and the informers and the scoffers, who rejected the Torah and denied the resurrection of the dead, and those who abandoned the ways of the community, and those who ‘spread their terror in the land of the living’, and who sinned and made the masses sin, like Jeroboam the son of Nebat and his fellows — these will go down to Gehinnom and be punished there for all generations, as it says, And they shall go forth and look upon the carcasses of the men that have rebelled against me etc. Gehinnom will be consumed but they will not be consumed, as it says, and their form shall wear away the nether world. Why all this? Because they laid hands on the habitation [zebul], as it says, that there be no habitation [zebul] for Him, and zebul signifies the Temple, as it says, I have surely built thee a house of habitation [zebul].

Of them Hannah said, They that strive with the Lord shall be broken to pieces. R. Isaac b. Abin said: And their faces shall be black like the sides of a pot. Raba added: Among them are the most handsome of the inhabitants of Mahuza, and they shall be called ‘sons of Gehinnom’” (Talmud – Mas. Rosh HaShana 16b, 17a). Note: ‘R.” stands for “rabbi”.

Both the Bible (the Living Church of God position) and Jewish tradition state that the righteous have their names written in the Book of Life and that they will be rewarded on Tishri 1.

The Bible (and the Living Church of God) also agree with the Jewish position that others will be also have their names in it later: Revelation 20:11-15,

Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books. The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works. Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.

Jewish tradition also teaches that those that are not truly wicked (the intermediate) will not be saved or destroyed at that time, but that they will have a ten day period until the Day of Atonement (which they call Yom Kippur) for judgment.

While this time of judgment is mentioned in Revelation 20:11-15, the COG (Church of God) position has tended to be that those who have not rejected God (blasphemed the Holy Spirit), will have an opportunity for salvation later, the period of which may last 100 years (Isaiah 65:20, and is discussed more in the article Hope of Salvation), and that this is shown by the last Holy Day, the Last Great Day, which happens on the twenty-second day of Tishri.

Revelation 20:4-5 states,

“Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.”

Because of this, the COG position is (and has been) that there is at least 1,000 years between when the righteous (those whose names are now written in the Book of Life) and the others being resurrected, thus the New Testament disagrees with the Jewish idea that the wicked are handled on the same Feast of Trumpets that the righteous are (it also disagrees with the 10 day position for those the Jews called ‘intermediate’–not righteous, not wicked).

Actually, one of the most significant ways that the COGs differ from the Protestant world is that the COG’s believe that nearly all will be saved and that the biblical holy days (which Protestants tend to teach are done away) picture this. (More information is found in the article, Hope of Salvation: How the COGs Differ From Protestantism.) Those who do not observe God’s Holy Days simply do not fully understand God’s plan of salvation.

Some articles of possibly related interest may include:

Universal Offer of Salvation: There Are Hundreds of Verses in the Bible Supporting the Doctrine of True Apocatastasis Do you believe what the Bible actually teaches on this? Will all good things be restored? Will God call everyone? Will everyone have an opportunity for salvation? Does God’s plan of salvation take rebellion and spiritual blindness into account?
Hope of Salvation: How the Living Church of God differ from most Protestants How the Living Church of God differs from mainstream/traditional Protestants, is perhaps the question I am asked most by those without a Church of God background.
Did Early Christians Observe the Fall Holy Days? Did they? Did Jesus? Should you?
The Book of Life and the Feast of Trumpets? Are they related? Is so how? If not, where not?
The Day of Atonement–Its Christian Significance The Jews call it Yom Kippur, Christians “The Day of Atonement”. Does it have any relevance for Christians today?
The Feast of Tabernacles: A Time for Christians? Is this pilgrimage holy day still valid? Does it teach anything relevant for today’s Christians? What is the Last Great Day? What do these days teach?
Holy Day Calendar This is a listing of the biblical holy days through 2012, with their Roman calendar dates. They are really hard to observe if you do not know when they occur

An animal horn trumpet.

COGwriter

The Fall holy day season is upon us.  Tonight at sunset begins the month of Tishri, and the first day of this month is observed by the Living Church of God as the Feast of Trumpets.

Jews also have an observation, but they normally use the term Rosh Hoshanah.

We in the Living Church of God believe that the holy days on the Old Testament all have applications for Christians in the New Testament.

There is partial agreement of this even amongst Catholic and Protestant theologians as they accept that Christ was the Passover lamb and that Christians are to be unleavened (which is what the Bible teaches in 1 Corinthians 5:7).  They also accept that God gave the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1-4).

These dates occur in the Spring.

However, many of Catholic and Protestant theologians seem to have a different view of the Fall holy days.  And most fail to grasp the prophetic significance of them.

But all do realize that the New Testament is full of references to trumpets being blown.

We in the Living Church of God believe that two of the many things that the Feast of Trumpets pictures is the return of Jesus Christ and the resurrection of His people when the last trumpet is blown.

Notice the following scriptures:

16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore comfort one another with these words
(1 Thessalonians 4:16-18).

51 Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed– 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed (1 Corinthians 15:50-52).

These verses will be fulfilled.  And they reflect doctrines that the Christian observance of the Feast of Trumpets teaches.

For more on the Feast of Trumpets and the Fall holy days, please check out the following articles:

Did Early Christians Observe the Fall Holy Days? Did they? Did Jesus? Should you?
The Book of Life and the Feast of Trumpets? Are they related? Is so how? If not, where not?
The Day of Atonement–Its Christian Significance The Jews call it Yom Kippur, Christians “The Day of Atonement”. Does it have any relevance for Christians today?
The Feast of Tabernacles: A Time for Christians? Is this pilgrimage holy day still valid? Does it teach anything relevant for today’s Christians? What is the Last Great Day? What do these days teach?
LCG 2009 Feast of Tabernacles’ Information Here is information on many Feast of Tabernacles locations for this year.
What Does the Catholic Church Teach About Christmas and the Holy Days? Do you know what the Catholic Church says were the original Christian holy days? Was Christmas among them?
Holy Day Calendar This is a listing of the biblical holy days through 2012, with their Roman calendar dates. They are really hard to observe if you do not know when they occur 🙂

COGwriter

Just received a telephone call from Ron Muhammad, host of Gary Indiana’s 1370 am The Talk Connection.  Ron Muhammad is a Muslim and wishes to speak with me about end time prophecies.

The show is supposed to be live at 8:00 p.m. CDT (9:00 p.m. EDT, 7:00 p.m. MDT, 6:00 p.m. PDT).  He told me that they stream the broadcast simulanteously on the internet, so people who are not in the Gary, Indiana area (such as most of the visitors at the COGwriter.com website) can listen to it.

This is the first of three radio interviews that I am scheduled to do within the next week (the others are on different stations).

The connection to their website is at http://www.wlth1370.com/ (it seems to take a while to load).

Recreations of Da Vinci Inventions at an Exhibit in Venice (May 2009)

COGwriter

Last night’s episode on the History Channel’s Nostradamus Effect was about writings that the channel indicated were predictions by Leonardo da Vinci related to a coming great deluge (flood).

The program showed the following translation from Leonardo da Vinci:

Seawater will rise above the high peaks of the mountains towards the sky and will fall down again onto the dwellings of men.

The announcer on that program then stated:

Leonardo called these writings his riddles.  Many call them his prophecies.

The program also presented various writings suggesting some type of flooding.  It also called a serious of black on white drawings/paintings by Leonardo da Vinci as “the deluge”  Additionally, the program looked at certain famous paintings by Leonardo which included water in the background (this aspect was similar to The Da Vinci Code).

The implication of the program was that Leonardo da Vinci, possibly because he experienced a terrible flood in his younger days, somehow was predicting that a future flood would occur.

But one thing that the program did not seem to try to do was to tie this directly in with the flooding that the Mayan’s predicted related t0 2012.

Perhaps I should mention that while according to the Bible the Mayan type flood prediction cannot come to pass, the Bible does seem to foretell a time of major flooding as it indicates that after a massive earthquake there will be no more islands (Revelation 16:17-21).

Some articles of possibly related interest may include:

The Da Vinci Code: Some Good, Most Bad Does The Da Vinci Code properly discuss Christianity? What does it have right and what does it have wrong about early Christianity and other gospel accounts?
Islands and Bible Prophecy What’s ahead for islands? What does the Bible prophesy about them?  Will there be any major flooding?
End of Mayan Calendar 2012–Might 2012 Mean Something? Are there Mayan calendar predictions for change in 2012? Changes were centuries ago predicted by the Hopi Native Americans. Do Mayan/Hindu/Hopi/Buddhist/New Age/Nostradamus prophecies have any value here? Why might Satan have inspired this date? Does the Dresden codex show destruction of the earth by flood? Can the great tribulation start before 2012? How might Barack Obama be involved in 2012?