2010 In Review

January: 

January 12 - A 7.0 magnitude earthquake hit Haiti. During the next 12 days at least 52 aftershocks were recorded measuring 4.5 or greater. An estimated 230,000 people were killed and another million were made homeless. It was one of the deadliest earthquakes in recorded history.

February: February 8 - The Boy Scouts of America celebrated its one-hundredth anniversary.

March:
March 20 - The Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajökull began to erupt in the form of a fissure vent in the high neck between Eyjafjallajökull and the neighboring icecap, Mýrdalsjökull.

April:
April 10 - Polish President Lech Kaczyński, his wife, and 94 others perished in a plane crash near Smolensk-North Airport in Russia. There were no survivors.

April 14 - Eyjafjallajökull resumed erupting after a brief pause, causing the closure of airspace over parts of Europe on several days in April and May as volcanic ash in the atmosphere made air travel dangerous.

April 14 – A 6.9 magnitude earthquake hit Yushu, Qinghai, China, killing 2,700 people.

April 20 - The Deepwater Horizon drilling rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico, starting the largest marine oil spill in the history of the petroleum industry. Eleven men were killed in the explosion and 17 others were injured. Crude oil began to gush unimpeded into the Gulf.

May: May 1-2 – Torrential rains caused 1000-year floods in middle and western Tennessee, southern Kentucky and northern Mississippi. In Nashville, the Cumberland River crested at 51.86 feet, it's highest since 1937. The flooding broke all-time records in several places along the Cumberland River, Duck River, Buffalo River, Red River and Harpeth River.

May 11 – David Cameron was appointed Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, at age 43 becoming the youngest British Prime Minister in 200 years. His Ministry is the UK's first coalition government since WWII.

May 31 - Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) commandos raided and seized the MV Mavi Marmara in international waters after warning the Turkish flotilla that they were enforcing a naval blockade of the Gaza area. Nine activists and seven IDF soldiers were killed in the clashes that followed.

June: June 7 - Long-time White House Press Corps member and columnist Helen Thomas retired following the negative reaction she received after saying on May 27 that the Jews should get out of Palestine and go back to Poland and Germany. She was 89-years-old.

July: July 2 – The FAA officially approved a car, the Terrafugia Transition, that can be converted into an airplane in less than a minute.

July 11 - A total eclipse of the sun occurred over the southern Pacific Ocean.

July 15 - The Deepwater Horizon gushing wellhead was finally capped, stopping the leak. The disaster had released about 205.8 million gallons of crude oil into the ocean over the course of three months.

Throughout July - Flooding suffocated Pakistan so that, at one point, one fifth of Pakistan's total land was underwater. The floods directly affected close to 20 million people, with almost 2000 deaths reported.

August:
August 5 - A cave-in at the San José copper-gold mine near Copiapó, Chile trapped 33 men 2,300 feet below ground. The men would remain there for over two months.

August 7 - Elena Kagan began to serve as the US Supreme Court's 112th justice. She is the fourth female and eighth Jewish justice.

August 10 - The World Health Organization declared the swine flu pandemic over.

August 17 – All but one of 131 passengers aboard a "miracle" Colombian jet escaped death when their plane crash-landed on the Caribbean island of San Andres. The Boeing 737 split into three sections, but its engines shut down on impact and its fuselage did not catch fire. Only one woman died - of a heart attack on her way to the hospital.

August 21 – Iran held an official ceremony to launch the loading of fuel cells at the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant near the Persian Gulf.

September: September 19 - Moms International succeeded in kicking off the first annual Bless Our Schools Sunday, to remind churches of the importance of praying for their local schools.

September 28 - The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to permanently lift the injunction against federally funded embryonic stem-cell research and allow the National Institutes of Health to continue the controversial research.

October:
October 13- Every one of the trapped 33 Chilean miners were successfully rescued after a record 69 days underground. According to estimates, more than 1 billion people around the world watched the rescue live.

October 26 - Iran announced it was finally loading its controversial Bushehr nuclear reactor (for real). If all goes as planned, the 1000-megawatt nuclear plant will start producing energy by early 2011.

November: November 15 - NASA announced that astronomers using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory had found evidence that a supernova discovered in 1979 had indeed developed into a black hole. It offered scientists the opportunity to watch a black hole develop from "infancy."

December: December 20 – A total lunar eclipse hung blood-red in the black sky on the darkest night of the year in the Northern Hemisphere. It had been 372 years since a total eclipse of the moon coincided with the winter solstice.

Between earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, floods, and one particularly unpleasant oil rig explosion, there were certainly a number of tragedies in 2010.  Yet, some precious miracles took places as well.  The freeing of the 33 Chilean miners, or the Colombian airplane that split into three parts without a single person dying in the crash, offer tremendous pictures of mercy this past year.  May 2011 do so even more.

Welcome 2011!!  

Related Links:

• Monitor The Strategic Trends »
  - Koinonia House

Should Billy the Kid be Pardoned?

I don’t know about you, but I am glad to know that Billy the Kid is still an outlaw. I guess you are probably award that New Mexico governor was thinking about issuing a pardon for the notorious William Bonney, who was killed by lawmen 130 years ago, but he decided against it. 

The granddaughter of equally legendary sheriff Pat Garrett, who brought Billy the Kid down, had “expressed outrage over the proposal” according to Fox News. She explained, “It’s ridiculous to pardon a murderer.  Hollywood has turned him into some sort of a folk hero.”  

The descendants of New Mexico Governor Lew Wallace also were not amused either. Granting a pardon now would rewrite New Mexico’s history to make Lew Wallace “a dishonorable liar,” in the words of his great-grandson. 

But, this seems to the the norm that so many are taking, rewriting history.

The larger question is why New Mexico’s current governor would be wasting time and resources on such a frivolity anyway.  He’s not the only one, as Florida’s outgoing governor, Charlie Crist, frittered away his last days in office by working on a pardon for long-dead Doors frontman Jim Morrison, convicted of indecent exposure in 1969 for opening a door that should have remained closed, in front of a Miami concert audience.  Crist called the pardon an acknowledgement of Morrison’s “enduring body of work.”  I’ve lived in Florida for most of my life, and never before realized the state government essentially runs itself, leaving the Governor plenty of time to work on salutes to the legacy of long-dead rock stars.

Every level of government wastes time and money on these symbolic gestures, which politicians are hopelessly addicted to.  

At the national level, we get stuff like the ritual White House pardon of the Thanksgiving turkey.

These symbolic gestures are not exactly harmless good fun.  They take up time and money – pardon requests must be processed and researched.  When they’re official attempts to rewrite the past, as the Billy the Kid pardon would have been, they tarnish the reputation and legacy of people like Governor Lew Wallace and Sheriff Pat Garrett. 

They also test the patience of a public grown increasingly exasperated by government offices that have much more important things to do. The wasteful spending just add to all the frustration of the people toward a government that has "no clue" as to what is happening.

The Rapture

Folks, I know I keep saying this to you, but each time I repeat it, it's even more true: Get ready! Jesus is coming soon! You see, the 'man of lawlessness' that will lead the one-world government cannot be revealed until the One who restrains him has been removed from the earth. 'The restrainer' is the Holy Spirit. And since the Holy Spirit dwells in all true believers, to remove Him from the earth means we must be removed, also. That's what we call the 'Rapture.' 

Because we see the Antichrist's government now being created by the nations of the world; because we see the world plunged into financial chaos and desperately searching for a solution (which is precisely how the Antichrist will achieve worldwide control); and because we have a blow by blow blueprint of these final days provided us by the ancient prophets, I can say with authority that time is short. Make sure you've accepted the pardon that Jesus died to purchase for you. Make sure your friends and family have the opportunity to accept this pardon, too. It's the best Christmas present they will ever receive! 

Don't ask, don't tell?

The President said that the law will “strengthen our national security and uphold the ideals that our fighting men and women risk their lives to defend,” Obama said during a signing ceremony this morning at the Interior Department. Members of the armed forces make numerous sacrifices to serve, he said. “None of them should have to sacrifice their integrity as well.”

Repeal of the policy known as “don’t ask, don’t tell” was a political victory for the president, who as a candidate campaigned to end the 1993 law because he regarded it as a civil rights issue.

The change won’t happen immediately. The Defense Department must draft a plan for putting new regulations into place and the president and military leaders must certify that allowing gays to serve openly won’t hurt the nation’s war efforts. The president vowed that the transition will be made “swiftly and efficiently.”

The president encourages those who were discharged under the policy to re-enlist. “We will be honored to welcome you into the ranks” of the military once again, he said. “You will serve as role models for all who come after you,” he said to members of the audience.

Since when did “sin” ever serve as a role model, unless you have Sodom and Gomorra.

A former Army chaplain who now recruits military chaplains says by repealing the ban, Congress has redefined morality, with uncertain consequences. Retired Brig. Gen. Doug Lee tells The Associated Press that chaplains from the churches he represents could be forced to choose between their career and their calling to teach and counsel what the Bible says about homosexuality. Lee notes that the Bible says, "Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil."

Sin is a reproach to any nation. Sin has brought the judgement of God on many nations before us. What makes one think that our nation is any different?

God In a Manger

The power of the Messiah’s humility might be the most surprising thing about Christmas.

Christmas has become such a monumental event that it’s almost too big to define. If you set in the mall long enough, you might wonder if anyone really knows what Christmas is all about. I don’t believe that the average person really understands what the ‘incarnation’  really means.

In theological terms, we use the word “incarnation” to describe this event. Or we try to simplify the phenomenon the season commemorates by merely saying, “This is when God became a man.” Then we turn from the manger, thinking, Ah, now I understand—and go on with our 

But we don’t understand, not even a little.

Unless you understand who “little baby Jesus” was and what He was up to before the day of His birth, you’ll never understand what Christmas is all about.

The apostle Paul wrote some amazing Christmas commentary that often flies under our Advent radar, yet tells us more about the real meaning of Christmas than many verses more commonly associated with the season:


Philippians 2:5-7 (KJV) 5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: 7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: 

The word “incarnation” comes from the Greek word keno (from which we get the theological term Kenosis), which refers to an “emptying.” It describes someone of great position who is brought low, voluntarily laying aside his high rank and becoming as nothing in comparison with his prior dignity. Compare this to the President of the United States or another leader of a wealthy country leaving behind all authority, rank, power, and bodyguards, and moving to an impoverished Third-World country as an unknown homeless vagrant. In choosing to subsist in near-starvation and subjecting himself to the perils of roving bands of thieves and murderers, he would be “emptying” himself.

But this analogy doesn’t even be close to what Paul is talking about. When he says that Jesus “existed in the form of God,” he uses the Greek word morphe. It means that what you look like on the outside corresponds perfectly to what you really are. You are in essence what you are in appearance. Jesus didn’t just look like God; He was always God. As Paul tells us, before that amazing day when everything changed—before becoming a tiny fetus within a young woman—Jesus was in every way and eternally God.

The Baby in the manger was a Being of another kind and place who took on a new nature—a human one—yet without changing who He was innately and eternally.

And that is what Christmas is really all about.

What Is Christmas?

I am setting here, looking out the window, and even though it is breezy outside today (Sunday 19) and the sun is shinning, it is Christmas 2010. It doesn't feel like Christmas. My thoughts of Christmas , I guess from my childhood, is "SNOW." Now to some of you, you're probably glad there isn't any snow, and others wish we had some of the white stuff that they have.

But I have been doing some reflection about what Christmas is. Even though there are those, and a minority at best, who are trying their hardest to do away with Christmas, the truth is that it is Christmas.

Christmas is the pivotal event on which all of human history hangs. It is the physical birthday in which the Son of God became the Son of man so that sons of men could become sons of God. I wonder if we really realize what that says to us.

For you see, long before you and I were, God was planning what it would take for you and me to be able to know Him. And that is what Christmas is all about. The one who would take my place because of my sin, and make it possible to call God, my "Father," Jesus, became my "Savior."

Christmas is the day that holds all time together; eternity past, eternity present, and eternity future.

Christmas is when light came into our world; John 8:12 (NKJV)  Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, "I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life."

During this Christmas season, it is proper that we keep our eyes, our voices, and our hearts lifted upward as we offer our profound thanksgiving to God for His matchless gift through our worship and our praise to Him.

Merry Christmas and a blessed new year.

Nazism and Islam: Two peas in a pod

Nazism and Islam share common values and, more importantly, a common enemy in the Jews, World War II-era Palestinian Arab leader Haj Amin al-Husseini is cited as telling his German benefactors in the latest survey of declassified US wartime documents.

Prepared by the UN National Archives, the report titled “Hitler’s Shadow” references thousands of declassified intelligence and diplomatic reports in detailing Husseini’s active cooperation with the Nazi leadership in its quest to rid the world of the Jewish people.

According to the report, Husseini was paid an enormous salary for fomenting hatred of the Jews in “Palestine” and for helping to recruit Muslims as Nazi soldiers. His contract with the Nazis also promised Husseini rulership over Palestine at the successful conclusion of the war.

One document cites Adolf Hitler as telling Husseini that Nazi Germany’s only aim in conquering Palestine was to eradicate the Jewish presence there. After that, the country would be Husseini’s to rule as he saw fit.

During a later recruitment trip to a Muslim-dominated part of Croatia, Husseini praised new Muslim recruits to the Nazi military, and stated that “the entire Muslim world ought to follow their example.”

Amazingly, or perhaps no so amazingly, as the war came to a close and it was clear the Nazis were going to lose, the British authorities in the Middle East were actually open to letting Husseini return and lead the Palestinian Arabs there.

One of the diplomatic cables has the British head of Mandatory Palestine’s Criminal Investigation Division telling the US assistant military attache in Cairo that Husseini could unite the regions Arabs and “cool off the Zionists. Of course, we can’t do it, but it might not be such a damn bad idea at that.”

The report concludes by noting that despite the mountain of evidence against him, the Allied powers allowed Husseini to flee to Syria after the war and did not pursue a criminal investigation. Husseini died in Beirut in 1974 as a hero among his people.

The international community’s lenient treatment of Husseini even though he had openly collaborated with modern history’s most brutal and criminal dictatorship was again repeated when the world decided to take the most blood-soaked terrorist in history, Yasser Arafat, and reward him by making him a head of state.

Have We Quit Thinking?

Adolf Hitler had it right when he said, "How fortunate for governments that the people they administer don't think."

Dr. Thomas Sowell, in "Dismantling America," said in reference to President Obama, "That such an administration could be elected in the first place, headed by a man whose only qualifications to be president of the United States at a dangerous time in the history of the world were rhetoric, style and symbolism – and whose animus against the values and institutions of America had been demonstrated repeatedly over a period of decades beforehand – speaks volumes about the inadequacies of our educational system and the degeneration of our culture."

Obama is by no means unique; his characteristics are shared by other Americans, but what is unique is that no other time in our history would such a person been elected president. That says a lot about the degeneration of our culture, values, thinking abilities and acceptance of what's no less than tyranny. As Sowell says, "Barack Obama is unlike any other president of the United States in having come from a background of decades of associations and alliances with people who resent this country and its people." In 2008, Americans voted for Obama's change. Let's look at some of it.

Our society has become one who let others think for them. Have you noticed that those who seem to be doing the thinking, are now telling us how we are to live, and because they feel that certain things that we have done for many years are offensive to them [Nativity scenes, Christmas, ten commandments, prayer, etc.] that they can have it removed from our society.

What we are seeing is exactly what happened in Germany with Hitler, only this time, I believe that we are seeing the beginning of the end, as related to this world’s system, and the Rapture of the Church and the tribulation period.

Are you ready?

GIVING THANKS

Even though we have come through the Thanksgiving season, there are some scripture verses that come to my mind as I think toward the Christmas season. I hope you will find comfort in them as we enter this time of celebration of the birth of Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

 

1Chronicles 16:34 - "O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever."

Psalm 18:46-50 - "The LORD liveth; and blessed be my rock; and let the God of my salvation be exalted.  It is God that avengeth me, and subdueth the people under me.  He delivereth me from mine enemies: yea, thou liftest me up above those that rise up against me: thou hast delivered me from the violent man. Therefore will I give thanks unto thee, O LORD, among the heathen, and sing praises unto thy name. Great deliverance giveth he to his king; and sheweth mercy to his anointed, to David, and to his seed for evermore." 

Psalm 30:11-12 - "Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing: thou hast put off my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness;  To the end that my glory may sing praise to thee, and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give thanks unto thee for ever." 

Psalm 75:1 -  "Unto thee, O God, do we give thanks, unto thee do we give thanks: for that thy name is near thy wondrous works declare. 

Psalm 106:1-2 - "Praise ye the LORD. O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever. Who can utter the mighty acts of the LORD? who can shew forth all his praise?" 

Psalm 106:48 - "Blessed be the LORD God of Israel from everlasting to everlasting: and let all the people say, Amen. Praise ye the LORD." 

1Corinthians 15:57-58 - "But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord." 

2 Corinthians 2:14 - "Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place." 

1Thessalonians 5:16-18 - "Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you." 

1Timothy 2:1 - "I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men;"

1John 3:1 - "Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God:"  

Rev 11:15-17 -  "And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever. And the four and twenty elders, which sat before God on their seats, fell upon their faces, and worshipped God, Saying, We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come; because thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and hast reigned." 

1John 4:19 -  "We love him, because he first loved us."

Will the world end in 2012

You can't miss it.


It seems that everywhere you look, there is a growing interest in the future and the year 2012... Nostradamus, the Mayan calendar, St. Malachy, Edgar Cayce, 2012.


It seems that people everywhere sense that something is about to happen. They're nervous and they're searching for answers.


In the last part of the 20th century and into the 21st, it seems an entire industry sprang up to publish the "amazing" prophecies of Nostradamus. Amazing? At best, his quatrains are so nebulous that they can be interpreted myriad ways. Just the law of averages proves him "right" occasionally!


But if you want to talk about truly "amazing" prophecies, you have to talk about the predictions of the ancient Bible prophet Ezekiel. And unlike Nostradamus and the others, he wasn't afraid to name names! Ezekiel's prophecies pinpoint an exact time, place, and the precise historical conditions of a future world catastrophe. He names the peoples and nations involved in an intricate convergence of history. Out of a spectacular chain of eleven specific prophecies, we have witnessed ten come to exact fruition. And we see the eleventh taking unmistakable shape today. What's more, Ezekiel predicted all of these things more than 2,600 years ago!
There is still that sector that doesn't believe that we are that close to the future events that are predicted in Ezekiel and Daniel's prophecies.


Here are just a few headlines that deal with these last days:


WikiLeaks Cables Present An America in Decline
Russia Moving Nukes Closer To Europe
China Calls North Korea A 'Spoiled Child
Pakistani Woman Condemned For Insulting Muhammad

These are just a few of the many headlines one can read every day. Truly, we are living in the last days. Are you ready to meet the Lord? Is your family ready? Are your neighbors ready?
Something to think about today!