The Tabernacle & History

Above is a depiction of Moses' Tabernacle from http://www.tabernacleofmoses.org/ .

I was considering this in relation to the last blog about the 4K years of biblical history, and realized there are essentially 3 departments in this tabernacle: the Outer Court, the Inner Court, and the Holy Place, which moves to the Most Holy Place.

With regard to the reasoning of the Rabbis about 3 ages of history, these seem to correspond to the sections of the Tabernacle. The Outer Court would be synonymous with the first "age" or 2K years of biblical history, the one the rabbis called the "Age of Chaos" or "Void."

The Inner Court would then point to the second age, the "Age of the Law", or the age of the Jews. And, of course, their third "Messianic Age" would be represented then by the Holy Place.

This leaves, in my mind, the Most Holy Place as being the same as the Sabbath (or some might call the "Sabbath Millennium", which is not 2K but 1K.

This is a blog, so I won't try to go into detail here, but I may consider it in the future.

The Tabernacle of Moses was given to him as a copy of "the pattern in the heavens."

Exodus 25:
9 Make the holy tent and everything that belongs to it. Make them exactly like the pattern I will show you.

Hebrews 9: 8 The Holy Spirit was showing by this that the way into the Most Holy Place had not yet been disclosed as long as the first tabernacle was still standing.

9This is an illustration for the present time, indicating that the gifts and sacrifices being offered were not able to clear the conscience of the worshiper.

10They are only a matter of food and drink and various ceremonial washings—external regulations applying until the time of the new order.

The Tabernacle is one of the richest studies in the Bible, as are the feasts (which I am sure I will touch on some other time). The interwoven symbolism of the Bible is actually mind-boggling in its scope, but it always points to Christ.

One way of looking at the "pattern in the heavens" is to see it as God's order. That is, He has expressed His will in the universe and it will proceed the way He set it up. Biblical history fits this pattern, like a code. The Creation Week, The Law, the Tabernacle, the Feasts are all a code, pointing to the full revelation of the mind of God, helping us to understand where we are now and where we are going.

How Long Is An "Age?"

From a study on the Jewish Calendar (URL below) this Talmud quote:
"In the words of the Babylonian Talmud: "The world as we know it(earth) will exist solely for 6,000 years (beginning with Adam andEve). The first 2,000 years will be defined by chaos. The second 2,000years will mark the years of Torah. The final 2,000 years will includethe Messianic Age."

Mystics explain this cryptic passage as an amazingly prescient script not only for the past but for the future as well. The first 2,000 years -- called simply chaos -- are the years before monotheism made its appearance on earth. Abraham was 52-years-old when he intuited that there had to be one God responsible for the creation of a carefully designed and incredibly intricate world. The date on the Hebrew calendar marking this great discovery, an insight that would decidedly alter the history of civilization, was exactly 2,000."(SOURCE: Benjamin Blech, "Y2K, Jewish Perspective", AISH)<http://www.aish.com/societywork/society/Why_2K$.asp>).

And why was 3761 B.C set as the year of creation? "3760 was calculated by adding up the ages of people in the Bible back to the time of creation. However, this does not necessarily mean that the universe was created less than 6000 years ago as the definition of "years" has not been a constant throughout history." (SOURCE: Lisa Katz, "Q. Whatis the Hebrew Calendar?", About.com,<http://judaism.about.com/cs/hebrew/f/calendar_lunar.htm>).

"It is worth noting that the Talmud, in the tractate Avodah Zarah, page 9A, states that this world as we know it will only exist for six thousand years:"...The Tanna Debey Eliyahu taught: The world is to exist six thousand years; the first two thousand are to be "void" [of Torah], the next two thousand are the period of the Torah [from Abraham until the completion of the Mishna - the first part of the Talmud], and thefollowing [last] two thousand are the period of the Messiah [i.e., theMessianic Age could commence during this time]; through our [the Jews'] sins a number of these [times for the Messiah's coming] have already passed [and the Messiah has not come yet]."" (SOURCE:Wikipedia, End of the World,<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/End_of_the_world_(religion)>).

http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=539757

My comment: What these ancient Jews believed was that there would be three 2,000-year-long ages ~
First 2,000 ~ Age of Chaos, void of the Law (Adam to Abraham);
Second 2,000 ~ Age of Torah (or of the Semite or Jew); and
Third 2,000 ~ Age of the Messiah.

When we paste together the chronologies in the Bible, we always come up with the figure of 4,000 years from Adam until Christ. This may not jibe with other timelines (for instance, archaeological estimates) but it is the record of the Masoretic text of the Old Testament. This is where these ancient rabbis drew up this code. If we use the biblical chronologies, this timeline fits.

What is particularly interesting to me is that the history of the Jews from Abraham to Jesus is indeed 2,000 years. So we can then conclude that a biblical "age" is 2,000 years.

The next age, the rabbis said, would be the "Messianic Age." This, too, is very interesting. Jesus died and rose again around the year 30AD. In just fifty days (Pentecost), the church was born. The church was the vehicle used by God to proclaim the advent of the Messiah (or that a Messianic Age had begun with the incarnation of Christ). 2,000 years from 30AD would be, of course, 2030AD, less than 23 years away.

Another name for this age is "the times of the Gentiles" or "the last days." Both names are true, because the Holy Spirit was given to the Gentiles and the last days of the plan of God began.

Many rabbis missed the fact that Jesus was the promised Messiah prophesied by their own prophets. Many Jews still await their Messiah, and guess at how he will return. But we who follow Christ know who he is and have identified the One who sent his Spirit to the Gentiles until that age is over.

It is easy to see, by the way, that the present Jewish calendar is not the same as the one used by the Gentiles. There are a number of possible reasons for this that are discussed in the article above. But if we subtract 4,000 years from the crucifixion year 30AD, we come up with 3970BC, which is exactly 209 years different than the present Jewish calendar.

My point is not that we have to come up with exact dates, but that we have a general picture of the big story, the one that surrounds the Christ by and through whom it was made, and of which we are a part. It is a picture symbolized by a "week." And the Sabbath is the day when it all ends in rest. Furthermore, that day may not be far off.

Faith and Prayer

While "The Secret" has become a pop culture phenomenon, it also has drawn critics who are not quiet about labeling the movement a fad, embarrassingly materialistic or the latest example of an American propensity of wanting something for nothing.
Some medical professionals suggest it could even lead to a blame-the-victim mentality and actually be dangerous to those suffering from serious illness or mental disorders.
"It's a triumph of marketing and magic," said John Norcross, a psychologist and professor at the University of Scranton in Pennsylvania who conducts research on self-help books. He believes some are very useful when backed by science and focused on specific problems, such as depression.

From: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070623/ap_en_ot/books_the_secret

I touched on "The Secret" phenomenon in an earlier blog and felt compelled to mention this again. It's the old "mind over matter" thing regurgitated: and it always brings the regurgitators fame and fortune. The reason is that people want to control their own worlds, which are usually out-of-control. It is the ultimate magical power: just think it and it will exist. There is no small hint of Hinduism being employed here, either.

I'm not opposed to positive-thinking. Paul said:

Phillipians 4:
8Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

But in Christian circles, too, doctrines have been popularized that are based on a kind of faith-magic. People are taught that words have power: and indeed they do. Words can build up and they can tear down, and a word from God can change things. But our own words, hatched out of our own inner being and linked up with the name Jesus, do not have that power.

If I am lousy sick and go around saying, "I'm not sick", ad-infinitum, that will not make me well. I can ask God for healing and He can say "Yea" or "Nay", and that's that. No point in begging until I'm blue in the face. Or just repeating a mantra won't heal me either. (While I have heard testimonies to the contrary, I have not seen this to work in my experience.)

And it isn't how great my faith is that makes the difference. Faith is faith. Faith says God can. He can do anything. But that doesn't mean He will, or that He can be coerced by nagging, or has given us the power to heal or do miracles.

We can try it. It is an option to ask for it. After all, Jesus said, "You have not because you ask not." The prayer of faith can heal the sick and even save the person who asks. But beyond that it is not a method for getting whatever you want out of life.

John 14:14 You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.

Sounds like magic. But what Jesus was really talking about was not some cart-blanche heavenly credit card, which would be nice, to be sure. He and the apostles taught about the potential that there is in faith in Jesus. But God is not our heavenly butler.

How many people in Christian history have moved a physical mountain by prayer, or cast a sycamine tree into the ocean? And what would be the point? At God's command, Moses stretched the rod over the Red Sea and voila.... But Moses couldn't go down there any time he got the notion and do that.

Teaching faith-magic is potentially devastating and an abuse of sheep. But it sure attracts money into the faith-teacher's coffers. And that is because people have not learned to recognize their own greedy motives. Be sure, God is not the servant of human greed.

It is true that faith in God has unlimited potential. But faith is not a means to our selfish ends.

We have a tendency to "ask amiss," sort of like blessings-consumers going through the heavenly grocery store.

Rather, prayer is more effective when it is linked to the will of God which is learned through "praying in the Spirit", or through the Spirit.

Romans 8:

26In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.

27And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will.

Who searches our hearts when we pray? The Spirit. It is when He is praying through us that we are praying in alignment with His desires. Then we will not be asking as consumers.

Newton's Apocalypse

Newton set 2060 for end of world
By Jonathan Petre Religion Correspondent

http://www.isaac-newton.org/newton_2060.htm

Sir Isaac Newton, Britain’s greatest scientist, predicted the date of the end of the world — and it is only 53 years away.

His theories about Armageddon have been unearthed by academics from little known handwritten manuscripts in a library in Jerusalem.

The thousands of pages show Newton’s attempts to decode the Bible, which he believed contained God’s secret laws for the universe.

Newton, who was also a theologian and alchemist, predicted that the Second Coming of Christ would follow plagues and war and would precede a 1,000-year reign by the saints on earth — of which he would be one.

The most definitive date he set for the apocalypse, which he scribbled on a scrap of paper, was 2060.

Newton’s fascination with the end of the world, which has been researched by a Canadian academic, Stephen Snobelen, is to be explored in a documentary, Newton: the Dark Heretic, on BBC2 next Saturday.

“What has been coming out over the past 10 years is what an apocalyptic thinker Newton was,” Malcolm Neaum, the producer, said.
“He spent something like 50 years and wrote 4,500 pages trying to predict when the end of the world was coming. But until now it was not known that he ever wrote down a final figure. He was very reluctant to do so.”

Thousands of Newton’s papers, which had lain in a trunk in the house of the Earl of Portsmouth for 250 years, were sold by Sotheby’s in the late 1930s.

John Maynard Keynes, the economist, bought many of the texts on alchemy and theology. But much of the material went to an eccentric collector, Abraham Yahuda, and was stored in the Hebrew National Library. It was among these documents that the date was found.

The BBC certainly got their free publicity.

7K says ~ Newton is thought by many to be the greatest scientist of all time. It is less well-known that he was an avid Bible researcher with what he considered a mandate from God to reveal prophecy. He was also a holy man ~ a virginal eunuch who sincerely believed in Christ. Some of his scientific thinking unhinged the world.

But his passion was Bible prophecy, and he considered it diligently, bringing light to it from history. His perfectionistic approach yielded many papers on the subject, especially dealing with Daniel's prophecies.

He is only recently famous for predicting this date 2060, as the conceivable return of Christ. He did this to dispel the constant, irritating date-setting by teachers of his time.

Augustine was also irritated by the date-setters of his day and countered the problem by presenting a symbolic interpretation of prophecy that many still go by today.

Many theologians and scholars of all stripes take seriously the biblical admonition from Christ himself: "No man knows the day or the hour of the coming of the Son of Man (the Messiah)."

The reference of "the day or the hour" is recognized by Jews as coming from the fact that they could not predict from year to year the exact day to celebrate Rosh Hashana. Not predicting is a sure way to avoid embarassment. History is replete with failures in this regard.

But Newton's semi-prediction is interesting in that he had pushed it off into our time. 2060 is still in a time-frame that could fall within the scope of a 6,000-year "plan" suggested by the biblical text itself. But more on this in later posts.

Which Path Is True?

I don't follow Jesus because I think Christianity is the best religion. I follow Jesus because he leads me into ultimate reality. He teaches me to live in tune with how reality is. When Jesus said, "No one comes to the Father except through me," he was saying that his way, his words, his life is our connection to how things truly are at the deepest levels of existence. For Jesus then, the point of religion is to help us connect with ultimate reality, God. I love the way Paul puts it in the book of Colossians: These religious acts and rituals are shadows of the reality. "The reality...is found in Christ."
~ Rob Bell http://www.marshill.org

In an informational, shrinking world, religion too begins to compress. Religious ideas tend to merge in the matrix, with the result that no single faith seems to stand out. Increasingly, we are confronted with that old concept: All paths lead to God.

While this is a comfortable idea for many pantheists, it grates against most monotheists and Christians. There is an exclusivity to our faith that is very important. Jesus is not just another one of the boys in the pantheon of history's messiah-parade. He is the exclusive gateway to God, the only real Messiah.

That said, how do we as exclusive believers in the uniqueness of Christ and the superiority of our faith dialog with other religions. I think Rob Bell (quoted above) is onto something about truth being truth no matter where you find it. And he backs it up with quotes from Paul. Bell goes on to say:

Truth is everywhere, and it is available to everyone.

But Paul takes it further, because for him truth is bigger than his religion. Notice what he says in the book of Titus. He is referring to the people who live on the island of Crete when he writes that even one of their own prophets has said, "`Cretans are always liars, evil brutes, lazy gluttons.' He has surely told the truth."

So Paul quotes one of the Cretan prophets and then affirms that this guy was right in what he said. "This testimony is true." What the prophet said was true, so Paul quotes him.

For Paul, anybody is capable of speaking truth. Anybody, from any perspective, from any religion, from anywhere. And these words from the book of Titus, the quote from a Cretan prophet, are in the Bible. So the Word of God contains the words of a prophet from Crete. Paul affirms the truth wherever he finds it.

For humanity in history, religion has been the means to connect to whatever men perceived as the Divine, or the creative force, or the Prime Mover, or God. Shall we suppose that God never reciprocated by giving them information that was true?

Those of us who know the truth that is in Christ have the privilege of understanding the plan of God, even the will of God as it is revealed in the only Son. But we should not act like we are superior or better. We should, instead of trying to brutalize those who seek God through other means, show humility and mercy to everyone, hoping to help them to a better understanding of the God they desire to know.

The Father and the Son

John 14: 6 Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
7If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him."
8Philip said, "Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us."
9Jesus answered: "Don't you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'?
10 Don't you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me?"

To me, this is the single most important piece of information, not just in the Bible, but in all of the world, in all of history, in all of the cosmos.

It is not about matriarchy vs. patriarchy, or the "gender" of God. It is about the identity of a man named Jesus, who is called the Christ.

Whether homo sapiens arrived at this point in history through acts of specific creation or a process of evolution, our species sits atop the ladder of nature. We possess something unique among creatures that some call the noosphere (soul or psyche), which is above the biosphere (realm of creatures).

Actually, we are like God. We alone among creatures possess certain attributes that are like Him. But we are not complete.

The Son of God represents the pinacle of all that God has done. There is no higher creation. Not even angels can aspire to His station in the cosmos.

On Father's Day we remember our fathers. But I always think of my Heavenly Father as well. And Jesus made the outrageous statement: "I and the Father are the same." To His fellow Jews it was blasphemy.

But when you meditate on this, your mind will be completely blown. It is a staggering realization. Not only is Jesus the ultimate expression of God the Father, He was of the same species we are. We are predestined to share His glory with Him.

This means that all that God has made, the entire universe, every molecule is under Jesus' feet. And He wants to share that position with us.

The key to all truth is faith in Christ. All we must do to enter in is to believe.
Then the purpose of life becomes crystal clear ~ and it is beyond awesome.

Nothing compares.

Roll, River Jordan

Roll, River Jordan

Captain America sleeping on the luxury train
On his way to the marriage of the sacred and profain
With a hunger like Africa afire in his breast
Silver coins and green paper are hard to digest
In his dreams avarice means success.

//Roll, River Jordan
With your sense of destiny
Roll until the King of Salem
Brings everlasting peace.

The clone of Caligula complete with his militia arrives
A little tipsy from the wine of the bloodshed
on which he thrives
In the International Circus he's the tightrope-walking clown
Juggling warheads high above the ground
While the crowds pass their poisons around.

// Roll, River Jordan....

The space age devotee bows before his god-menagerie
In symbol and ritual he worships anything that he can see
The venom he imbibes is his elixir of life
On the altar of his ego he will sacrifice his wife
Rigor mortis sets in long before he dies.

//Roll, River Jordan....

The counterfeit messiah is up praying in his castle in the Alps
Filming videos for his followers in the trophy room
where he keeps their scalps
He used to write bad fiction but the pay was not so good
Now he drives a Rolls Royce Silver Cloud with a
gold-plated hood
Though he still writes fiction for his brotherhood.

// Roll, River Jordan....

The socerer's apprentice has a dealership in Florida snow
Using magic to turn powder into a mountainous cash flow
He has founded his own branch of the military
By pumping his product up the sinuses of the young urban elite
As they lay sacrifices at his feet.

//Roll, River Jordan...

Nimrod has plans to be the ultimate entrepreneur
With a scheme that is destined to bankrupt the universe
for sure
He wants to rebuild Sodom and Gomhorrah on Mars
With a plethora of casinos, brothels and bars
And palaces for the superstars.

//Roll, River Jordan
With your sense of destiny
Roll until the King of Salem brings
Everlasting peace.

~ lyrics, 1981, Alan Lunn

Big Bang and Genesis (an experiment)

One of the few times that Einstein was embarassed was when he was bested in 1927, by Georges Lemaître, a Belgian Roman Catholic priest, who predicted that the recession of the nebulae was due to the expansion of the universe. The priest was the one who informed the renowned genius of "Big Bang." Einstein considered it hogwash and later backpedalled. Today it is standard science.

To many (not all) Christians, the Big Bang concept is practically blasphemous because it seems to contradict the creation account in Genesis. One day, as I was looking at a Big Bang diagram in TIME, I realized there were some amazing analogies between the Genesis 1 account and the presently accepted scientific model of the progression of things from Big Bang.

I took the liberty, below, of using some information from a scientific paper and pasting it over the creation account. Behold:

Genesis 1
The Beginning
1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth didn't have any shape. And it was empty. Darkness was over the surface of the ocean. At that time, the ocean covered the earth. The Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. 3 God said, "Let there be light." And there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good. He separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light "day." He called the darkness "night." There was evening, and there was morning. It was day one.
13.7 billion years ago - The Big Bang: beginning of the universe as we know it!
6 God said, "Let there be a huge space between the waters. Let it separate water from water." 7 And that's exactly what happened. God made the huge space between the waters. He separated the water that was under the space from the water that was above it. 8 God called the huge space "sky." There was evening, and there was morning. It was day two.
13.3 billion years ago - Reionization: the first stars heat and ionize hydrogen gas.
4.55 billion years ago - Formation of the Sun.*

4.45 billion years ago - Formation of Earth complete; storm of asteroid impacts.

9 God said, "Let the water under the sky be gathered into one place. Let dry ground appear." And that's exactly what happened. 10 God called the dry ground "land." He called the waters that were gathered together "oceans." And God saw that it was good. 11 Then God said, "Let the land produce plants. Let them bear their own seeds. And let there be trees on the land that bear fruit with seeds in it. Let each kind of plant or tree have its own kind of seeds." And that's exactly what happened. 12 The land produced plants.
1.3 billion years ago - First plants.
Each kind of plant had its own kind of seeds. The land produced trees that bore fruit with seeds in it. Each kind of tree had its own kind of seeds.
God saw that it was good. 13 And there was evening, and there was morning. It was day three.

14 God said, "Let there be lights in the huge space of the sky.
*The sun and the earth are already there, but the sun and moon are not visible because of the haze over the earth up until this time. This is why very primitive plant life appears before the "lights" become visible.
Let them separate the day from the night. Let them serve as signs to mark off the seasons and the days and the years. 15 Let them serve as lights in the huge space of the sky to give light on the earth." And that's exactly what happened. 16 God made two great lights. He made the larger light to rule over the day. He made the smaller light to rule over the night. He also made the stars. 17 God put the lights in the huge space of the sky to give light on the earth.
18 He put them there to rule over the day and the night. He put them there to separate light from darkness.
God saw that it was good. 19 And there was evening, and there was morning. It was day four.

20 God said, "Let the waters be filled with living things. Let birds fly above the earth across the huge space of the sky." 21 So God created the great creatures of the ocean. He created every living and moving thing that fills the waters. He created all kinds of them. He created every kind of bird that flies.
150 million years ago - First birds.
And God saw that it was good. 22 God blessed them. He said, "Have little ones and increase your numbers. Fill the water in the oceans. Let there be more and more birds on the earth." 23 There was evening, and there was morning. It was day five. 24 God said, "Let the land produce all kinds of living creatures. Let there be livestock, and creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals.
114 million years ago - First modern mammals. World begins to cool.
Let there be all kinds of them." And that's exactly what happened. 25 God made all kinds of wild animals. He made all kinds of livestock. He made all kinds of creatures that move along the ground. And God saw that it was good. 26 Then God said, "Let us make man in our likeness. Let them rule over the fish in the waters and the birds of the air. Let them rule over the livestock and over the whole earth. Let them rule over all of the creatures that move along the ground."
5 million years ago - Humans split off from other apes (gorillas and chimpanzees).
27 So God created man in his own likeness. He created him in the likeness of God. He created them as male and female.
100,000 years ago - Homo sapiens arrives in the Middle East.
28 God blessed them. He said to them, "Have children and increase your numbers. Fill the earth and bring it under your control. Rule over the fish in the waters and the birds of the air. Rule over every living creature that moves on the ground." 29 Then God said, "I am giving you every plant on the face of the whole earth that bears its own seeds. I am giving you every tree that has fruit with seeds in it. All of them will be given to you for food.
8,800 years ago - The first cities.
30 "I am giving every green plant to all of the land animals and the birds of the air for food. I am also giving the plants to all of the creatures that move on the ground. I am giving them to every living thing that breathes."

And that's exactly what happened. 31 God saw everything he had made. And it was very good. There was evening, and there was morning. It was day six.
5,500 years ago - Invention of the wheel, writing.

5,500 years ago roughly coincides with written history. Anything beyond 10,000 years ago is now called "pre-history." And, using what is called the Masoretic Text of the Bible, adding up the years, you always get a date for Adam of 6,000 years ago. That's why so many insist on a 6,000-year-old earth. But science definitely seems to contradict that age. There's the rub....and it's a sore one.

The Plot To Take Over The World

Imagine you are watching a movie, a sort of action-thriller/apocalyptic/science fiction thing like The Matrix. In the story, there is a world religion that is planning the takeover of the planet. A secret, elite group gathers to lay out the plan for the century ahead. Their ingenious strategy will not be out in the open, but behind the scenes.

What they will do is pull the wool over the eyes of mankind by bringing the world into debt to them, control thinking by means of all kinds of media, promoting materialism and atheism, creating world wars, creating diseases and plagues, bringing religion into a crisis, introducing a public education, promoting terrorism, distracting all people with entertainment, collapsing the world economy, and then introducing their messiah who saves the day.

Men as influential as Henry Ford, the poet Ezra Pound, the megalomaniac Adolf Hitler, virtually every known conspiracy theorist, and a major part of the Islamic world did not and do not believe this is fiction. The document that they believed and believe is called The Protocols of Zion. Most reliable observers consider the document a forgery and a lie and can produce a more-than-compelling case that this is so, citing the sources from which it sprang and who really wrote it and why. To those hungry for conspiracy or who need to fan their hatred, those who believe it is a false document have been duped.

Mel Gibson's father probably subscribes to this and has shared his paranoia with his son. Indeed, Hollywood is, we are told, actually owned by a Jewish establishment that apparently did not care for Gibson's The Passion and actively opposed the movie.

But what is of more importance is the Islamic world that seems to seek the annihilation of the Jews in Israel. The Protocols are no joke to them. They promote the idea to their people that the Jews and all sympathizers must be stopped. So the infamous document, almost unknown in the West, is daily bread in the Arab countries.

There are a couple of things about The Protocols that stand out: it sounds eerily like Biblical prophecy and what it predicted for the 20th century has become reality. It was a very accurate forecast of what would happen. How could the forgers have seen that? Consider this information from Wikipedia:

"While there is continued popularity of The Protocols in nations from South America to Asia, since the defeat of Nazi Germany and fascist Italy in the Second World War governments or political leaders in most parts of the world have generally avoided claims that The Protocols represent factual evidence of a real Jewish conspiracy. The exception to this is the Middle East, where a large number of Arab and Muslim regimes and leaders have endorsed them as authentic.

"Past endorsements of The Protocols from Presidents Gamal Abdel Nasser and Anwar Sadat of Egypt, one of the President Arifs of Iraq, King Faisal of Saudi Arabia, and Colonel Muammar al-Gaddafi of Libya, among other political and intellectual leaders of the Arab world, are echoed by 21st century endorsements from the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem Sheikh Ekrima Sa'id Sabri and Hamas to the education ministry of Saudi Arabia.[39]

"As popular opposition to Israel spread across the Middle East in the years following its creation in 1948, many Arab governments funded new printings of the Protocols, and taught them in their schools as historical fact. They have been accepted as such by many Islamist organizations, such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad. Reportedly, Arabic editions issued in the Middle East were found on sale as far away as London.[40] There are at least nine different Arabic translations of the Protocols and more editions than in any other language including German.[35] The Protocols also figure prominently in the antisemitic propaganda distributed internationally by the Arab countries and have spread to other Muslim countries, such as Pakistan, Malaysia, and Indonesia.[35]"

An article in the Egyptian state-owned newspaper al-Akhbar on February 3, 2002 stated:
All the evils that currently affect the world are the doings of Zionism. This is not surprising, because the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, which were established by their wise men more than a century ago, are proceeding according to a meticulous and precise plan and time schedule, and they are proof that even though they are a minority, their goal is to rule the world and the entire human race."
In October 2002, a private Egyptian television company Dream TV produced a 41-part "historical drama" A Knight Without a Horse (Fars Bela Gewad), largely based on the Protocols, which ran on 17 Arabic-language satellite television channels, including government-owned Egypt Television (ETV), for a month, causing concerns in the West. Egypt's Information Minister Safwat El-Sherif announced that the series "contains no antisemitic material".

I could go on and on about how this literature is distributed in Russia, Libya, Indonesia, Japan, Australia, and virtually all over the globe. It is promoted by Farrakahn in American Islam. It especially affects impressionable people. My point is that this idea not only influences millions of people, but it fans hatred and paranoia and helps fuel terrorist propaganda.

I looked, in my last blog , at the Koranic call to violence against Jews, Christians and unbelievers in Islam, with Jews at the pinacle. Here, for them, is the reason.
How many of them believe in a Jewish plan of world conquest? How many of their leaders inflame them to take action? What would they do with WMD's?

Rev. 16:12 The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up to prepare the way for the kings from the East.
13Then I saw three evil spirits that looked like frogs; they came out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet.
14They are spirits of demons performing miraculous signs, and they go out to the kings of the whole world, to gather them for the battle on the great day of God Almighty.
15"Behold, I come like a thief! Blessed is he who stays awake and keeps his clothes with him, so that he may not go naked and be shamefully exposed."
16Then they gathered the kings together to the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon.

The Central Goal of Koran?

Below is an extract from an examination of Koran scriptures I found on the Web (site address below). There were many more in this vein, but for brevity I left a few for you to ponder. We can see that if an individual Muslim focused on and pondered these things seriously, he would develop a violent religious attitude bent on hating and annihilating competing monotheistic faiths.

Jesus taught that if we have mercy we will obtain mercy. He didn't set us up as judges of men, out to make war on anyone who disagrees with us. Yet Muhammed, a general-warrior, made it the core of his message. There is no mercy here for unbelievers. This appeals to what is most base in human nature. And it stirs up a mean and spiteful religious pride that ignores the fact we are all sinners. Now imagine giving someone like this a nuclear weapon. Read the Koran below:

Let the reader ponder the Muslim contradiction that a man has the right to choose whatever he wants within the Islamic context of individual freedom.

Muhammad and Tolerance of Other Religions

Hadith Sahih Muslim (4363) "You (the Jews) should know that the earth belongs to Allah and His Apostle and I wish to expel you from this land (Arabia)"

Qur'an (4366) "I will expel

the Jews and Christians from the Arabian Peninsula and will not leave any but Muslims."

(Qur'an 48:29) "Those who follow

Muhammad are merciless for the unbelievers but kind to each other."

Qur'an (60:4) "Enmity and

hatred will reign between us until ye believe in Allah alone."

Qur'an (8:39) (2:193) "Make

war on them until idolatory does not exist any longer and Allah's religion reigns universally."

Qur'an (9:123) "Fight the unbelievers in your surroundings, and let them find harshness in you."

Qur'an (9:5) "Kill the unbelievers wherever you find them, capture and besiege them and prepare for them every kind of ambush."

Qur'an (5:72-73) "For he who believes in the Trinity, "the Fire will be his abode ' a grievous penalty will befall the blasphemer."

Oft-Merciful Allah
Qur'an (21:11) "How many were the populations We utterly destroyed because of their iniquities."

Qur'an (2:65) "To those who transgressed in the matter of the Sabbath, We said to them: "Be ye apes

despised and rejected."

Qur'an (2:213) "Allah guides whom He will to a path that is straight."

Qur'an (2:253) "If Allah had so willed, succeeding generations should not have fought among each other (over religion)."

Qur'an (4:89) "' if they turn renegades, seize them and slay them wherever ye find them."

Qur'an (5:33) "The punishment of those who wage war against Allah and His Messengers ' is execution or crucifixion or the cutting off of hands and feet from opposite sides."

Qur'an (6:137) "If Allah had willed, they would not have done so. (slaughtered their children)."

Qur'an (6:165) "It is He Who hath made you ' inheritors of the earth: He hath raised you on ranks, some above others: that He may try you in the gifts He hath given you."

Qur'an (8:12) "Allah called on the angels to "smite all their finger tips off them. (the unbelievers)"

Qur'an (17:13) "Every man's fate We have fastened on his neck."

Qur'an (19:86) "And We shall drive the sinners to Hell, like thirsty cattle driven to water."

Qur'an (23:41) "Then the earthquake overtook them with justice as We made them as rubbish of dead leaves - so away with the people who do wrong."

Qur'an (44:16) "One day We shall seize you with a mighty onslaught: We will indeed then exact Retribution."

Qur'an (47:4) "When ye meet the Unbelievers in jihad smite at their necks."

The attitude of the Muslims toward the Christians and the Jews is that of a master towards slaves, whom he treats with a certain lordly tolerance so long as they keep their place. Any sign of pretension to equality is promptly repressed.
- H.E.W. Young, British Vice Consul in Mosul, 1909

It is instructive to consider the following hadiths, an Arabic term which refers to the oral tradition by means of which sayings or deeds attributed to the Prophet Mohammed have been handed down to Muslims:
"Verily, the word of God teaches us, and we implicitly believe it, that for a Muslim to kill a Jew, or for him to be killed by a Jew, ensures him an immediate entry into Heaven and into the august presence of God Almighty."

"The hour [i.e.,

salvation] will not come until you fight against the Jews; and the stone would say, `O Muslim! There is a Jew behind me: come and kill him.'"

"Believers, take neither Jews nor Christians for your friends"[Sura 5:50]

"

Fight those that believe not in Allah - such men as practice not the religion of truth, being of those who have been given the Book- until they pay tribute out of hand AND HAVE BEEN HUMBLED"[Koran 9:29]

Muslims are motivated to faith and Jihad by the rewards of the afterlife. What does one have to do to end up in 'the other place'? What is it like?

Ecumenism and Prophet Muhammad

Muhammad recited in the Holy Qur'an (Koran) Chapter 98, Verse 6 : "The People of the Book (Jews and Christians) and the Pagans will burn forever in the Fire of Hell. They are the vilest of all creatures".

The Nature of Hell
Qur'an (2:39), "On the Day of Judgement, We shall gather them all together prone on their faces, blind, dumb and deaf: their abode will be Hell and we shall increase for them the fierceness of the Fire."

Qur'an(22:21) "In addition there will be maces of iron to punish them."

Qur'an (11:106) "Those ' in the Fire will be ' nothing but the heaving of sighs and sobs."

Qur'an (44:47-48) "Drag him into the midst of the Blazing Fire" Then pour over his head the Penalty of Boiling Water."

Qur'an (66:6) "Save yourselves and your families from a Fire whose fuel is men and stones, over which are appointed angels stern and severe who flinch not from executing the Commands they receive from Allah."

Qur'an (72:23) "For any that disobey Allah and his Messenger - for them

Hell: they shall remain therein for ever".
http://www.peacefaq.com/islam.html#theoth

The Shape Of Things To Come

Luke 21:25
On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea. 26 Men will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world

The 20th Century was unprecidented in human history, with a huge leap in world population, the development of WMD's, massive plagues, genocides, industrialization, pollution, famines, and natural catastrophes. Yet, even with that, the old world seems tough and we have developed new technologies in agriculture, medicine, energy, water purification and handling sewage that have given billions of people a better way of life than ever. Even as some of our race have ravaged the earth, science has been a gift that has elevated life and promised hope. God ain't through with it yet.

Below are 10 possibilities that scientists are looking at to improve the world of the future:

Wasteful energy policies, overuse of resources, water supply shortages, global climate change, and deforestation are just some of the issues experts say need to be addressed for humans to achieve sustainable living on this planet. By the year 2025, an additional 2.9 billion people will strain tightening water supplies, and the world's energy needs will go up 60 percent by 2030, according to the United Nations. LiveScience looks at 10 technologies--some old, some new, some a bit offbeat--that might help make the future a little brighter. --Sara Goudarzi

Make Paper Obsolete
Imagine curling up on the couch with the morning paper and then using the same sheet of paper to read the latest novel by your favorite author. That's one possibility of electronic paper, a flexible display that looks very much like real paper but can be reused over and over. In the United States alone, more than 55 million newspapers are sold each weekday.

Bury The Bad Stuff
Carbon dioxide is the most prominent greenhouse gas contributing to global warming. According to the Energy Information Administration, by the year 2030 we will be emitting close to 8,000 million metric tons of CO2. Some experts say it's impossible to curb the emission of CO2 into the atmosphere and that we just have to find ways to dispose of the gas. One suggested method is to inject it into the ground before it gets a chance to reach the atmosphere.

Let Plants and Microbes Clean Up After Us
Bioremediation uses microbes and plants to clean up contamination.

Plant Your Roof
Roof gardens help absorb heat, reduce the carbon dioxide impact by taking up Co2 and giving off oxygen, absorb storm water, and reduce summer air conditioning usage.

Harness Waves and Tides
The oceans cover more than 70 percent of the Earth's surface. Waves contain an abundance of energy that could be directed to turbines, which can then turn this mechanical power into electrical.

Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion
The biggest solar collector on Earth is our ocean mass. OTEC technologies convert the thermal energy contained in the oceans and turn it into electricity by using the temperature difference between the water's surface, which is heated, and the cold of the ocean's bottom. This difference in temperature can operate turbines that can drive generators.

Sunny New Ideas
The sun's energy, which hits Earth in the form of photons, can be converted into electricity or heat. Solar collectorscome in many different forms and are already used successfully by energy companies and individual homeowners.

The 'H' Power
Hydrogen fuel cell usage has been touted as a pollution-free alternative to using fossil fuels. They make water by combining hydrogen and oxygen. In the process, they generate electricity. The problem with fuel cells is obtaining the hydrogen.

Remove the Salt
According to the United Nations, water supply shortages will affect billions of people by the middle of this century. Desalination, basically removing the salt and minerals out of seawater, is one way to provide potable water in parts of the world where supplies are limited.

Make Oil from Just about Anything
Any carbon-based waste, from turkey guts to used tires, can, by adding sufficient heat and pressure, be turned into oil through a process called thermo-depolymerization.

God has made man incredibly resourceful. But we are also subject to the problems of greed and evil. There may be a tipping point when the evil our kind so easily generates overwhelms our ability to cope. Jesus seemed to be pointing to that day in his apocalyptic statements. Then we will see such perplexity that we can't handle it sufficiently any more.

It is funny that today our scientists have become our biggest harbingers of doom. But they are the ones looking starkly at the facts of human existence, and where our bad habits are leading us. In the end, though, it is God's mercy that sustains our planet. He has a plan for all of this that is out of this world. Otherwise, we could have already made ourselves extinct.

In the midst of the storms rocking this planet, Jesus comes walking on the water. Water is symbolic of humanity, and it is a picture of turmoil. When our resources run out and we are at the end of our rope, God is not anxious. He can and will calm the storm and teach us to walk over it.

An Emerging Church?

Emergence of the Butterfly

Daniel 12: 4 Many will go here and there to increase knowledge.

The modern era of history is over. We still say things are "modern" when we mean they are "up-to-date." But there is another meaning of the word. I'd say the Modern Era came into being with the printing press and the rise of secular science. It was the time of reducing everything to its simplest form. The keys to the universe could be unlocked by locating fixed laws, by observing nature in the raw, by a starkly honest and uncompromising approach to finding "truth" in the material world. And it produced some miracles. It also shook the foundations of religion and politics.

Europe was the breeding ground for the modern revolution. And when it was over, the old Catholic/Monarchy system of the Middle Ages was placed in mothballs. Kings and popes were replaced by forms of representative government. And the separation of church and state is still an issue.

The modern revolution, with its humanistic and mechanistic attitude, also affected the church. Protestantism ~ with its emphasis on protest ~ also rose up to challenge the model of the Middle Ages. Anybody could now have a Bible and figure out what it meant. The result was division.

But it also heralded a day of a very rational and literal approach to interpretation, reducing Bible ideas to simplistic and formulaic "universal" laws. The result was a stripped-down, austere Christianity, freed from any mysticism and ritual. It was shiny, metallic, and robotic. The idea was that the Christian life and the Bible could be de-coded and understood and that the true meaning of it all could be realized by finding the bottom-line. But whose bottom-line would win the day?

As the 20th century closed, after 500 years of modernism, technology was again revolutionizing the way things are done, perceived, and understood. Modernism reduced populations to individual cells of dogmatic ideas, where subcultures all staked their claims to "ultimate" truth. Now, with the onset of postmodernism, all subcultures become suspect. Or, as Pontius Pilate once put it: "What is truth?"

It doesn't matter any more what is "right." Right is how you see right. Right is what you define as right. Moderns said, "There are absolutes....fixed laws." But post-moderns said, "You can't prove it. Your definition is right as far as it gets you. But my definition may be different, and just as reliable." So we live today in a tension between these two ways of seeing reality, which affects how we practice our religious lifestyles.

Enter Postmodernism, where everything is post-something. It is the aftermath of the modern world. No longer are we so sure about E=Mc2. Physics has moved from self-assuredness to abstract chaos. Globalism is deconstructing whole cultures. Boundaries are becoming confused.

A few in the church have picked up on this changing climate of social mechanisms. They are embracing the postmodern world instead of demonizing it. But because postmodernism threatens to undo absolutes, modernist Christians cling to their dissolving securities. And those trying to process the changes sound like so much white noise to their modernist brethren.

Postmodern Christians are now describing themselves, loosely, as "Emergent." That is, they are in a petri dish of new ideas, trying to reconcile these things with their faith. So they are emerging, growing in the freshness of the new environment. Is it dangerous? Isn't it always dangerous to explore?

Regardless of how well the Emergents fare in Christianity, postmodernism will affect the church, for the church must roll with the flow of these changes. Many, particularly those with the most fundamentalistic bent, are kicking against the emergents. Rather than good news, they think postmodernism is the death knell for good religion. They are afraid of releasing their absolutes. They are inflexible and they like it that way.

But the postmodern world cannot long abide with fundamentalism: in religion, science, or politics. The two concepts of reality will meet like two rams locking horns. But this is not a call for the church to let go of her moral fiber, her faith in Christ, or her missional trajectory. Instead, I think, the Holy Spirit is saying, "Come up higher." We have muddled around in the modernist/literalist puddle long enough. Those who remain behind will become quaint anachronisms. They will make a lot of noise and still lead souls to Christ (who is not dependent on our systems), but they will ultimately have difficulty relating to an environment they don't understand.

The postmodern church will still have her denominations ~ her splits and splinters ~ leftovers from the modern Protestant era. But they will lose their aura as exclusive clubs.
They will be appreciated on their own merits. And they will lose the sense that they hold monopolies on truth. They will cease to think of themselves more highly than they ought.

When the fair lady, the glorious church of Jesus Christ, comes to love all her members in particular, she will love herself, and she will be walking in love with God who is love. But the painful shedding of the modern skin must commence.

G8 & Apocalypse

http://www.wcg.org/lit/images/wt/tharlot.jpg

The Group of Eight (G8), formerly G7 until Russia joined, is an international forum for the governments of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States. Together, these countries represent about 65% of the world economy. The group's activities include year-round conferences and policy research, culminating with an annual summit meeting attended by the heads of government of the member states. The European Commission is also represented at the meetings. ~ wikipedia

Revelation 17:
8The beast, which you saw, once was, now is not, and will come up out of the Abyss and go to his destruction. The inhabitants of the earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the creation of the world will be astonished when they see the beast, because he once was, now is not, and yet will come.
9"This calls for a mind with wisdom. The seven heads are seven hills on which the woman sits.

10They are also seven kings. Five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come; but when he does come, he must remain for a little while. 11The beast who once was, and now is not, is an eighth king. He belongs to the seven and is going to his destruction.
12"The ten horns you saw are ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom, but who for one hour will receive authority as kings along with the beast.

13They have one purpose and will give their power and authority to the beast. 14They will make war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will overcome them because he is Lord of lords and King of kings—and with him will be his called, chosen and faithful followers."

There are two ways to interpret biblical sentences: literal or symbolic. Obviously, this is a symbolic passage (as is much of Revelation, for these are visions). There is also the problem of where in history we think the passage belongs: past or future.

If we are viewing the past, these verses fairly obviously refer to Rome, which was also prophesied by Daniel. But it is also possible to have a future application, meaning that the figures of the harlot, the beast, the ten kings, and the dragon represent a future world empire, one that is possibly and presently emerging right now with the advance of globalism.

Nothing represents this growing global empire more succinctly than the G8 (which just a few years ago was the G7). The eighth participant in this elite entourage was Russia. At today's G8 summit, George Bush took on Putin (President of Europe) in a clash over nuclear missile systems. Putin recently called the world a "powder keg." He was worried about American plans to set up a defense missile-system along the boundaries of Europe, to guard against Iran and North Korea, not Russia. But Russia, unaware of the intent of the system, took it personal. Putin announced he had a new ICBM, multiple-warhead missile that beats anything anywhere.

I am not suggesting that Russia is "the beast." One of the things about Revelation is that it lends itself to fitting scenarios for almost any interpretation you can think of, past or future.

However, it would seem strange to me if the Bible was prophetically silent about the times of Jesus' return. It most certainly is not. So we simply consider these things, and wonder. Are we in those days?

Why Y?

From: The Pythagorean Y

We come now to the Pythagorean Letter Y (Littera Pythagorae Y), which is perhaps less well known nowadays than the other Pythagorean symbols, but has been quite influential in European art, literature and thought. According to a legend, Y was called "the Pythagorean letter" (littera Pythagorica) because he himself had been responsible for adding it to the Greek alphabet:

Pythagoras of Samos was the first to fashion the letter Y into a pattern of human life. The straight portion at the bottom signifies the first, uncertain age, which at that point has been given over to neither vices nor virtues. The bifurcation at the top, however, begins at adolescence. The path to the right is difficult, but it tends toward a blessed life. The path to the left is easier, but it leads to ruin and destruction. The same idea is expressed in an epigram traditionally (but probably incorrectly) attributed to Virgil:

The Pythagoric Letter two ways spread,
Shows the two paths in which Man's life is led.
The right-hand track to sacred Virtue tends,
Though steep and rough at first, in rest it ends;
The other broad and smooth, but from its Crown,
On rocks the Traveler is tumbled down.
He who to Virtue by harsh toils aspires,
Subduing pains, worth and renown acquires;
But who seeks slothful luxury,
And flies the labor of great acts, dishonor'd dies.

Whereas to take a hold of Vice, in plenitude,is easy, for the way is smooth, and near she dwells;yet sweat was placed in front of Virtue by the gods undying; and the road to her is long and steep,and rough at first; yet when one has attained the peak,indeed the way is easy, which was very hard.

Pythagoras was probably the first to use the archaic Y to symbolize this "parting of the ways" (Bivium). The right-hand path is straight, and in this sense natural (i.e., in accord with Nature), but it is narrow and ascends steeply. The left-hand path, in contrast, is a deviation from "the straight and narrow," and therefore against Nature. However, it is wider and an easier slope, and therefore a more attractive choice (We can see this even in our printed Y.)

On the Internet at: http://www.cs.utk.edu/~mclennan/BA/PT/Intro.html#Y

The ancient Greeks had a huge influence on the world. One of the things they had a great interest in was philosophy, which was a way of trying to understand life and the world by rational means.

Going all the way back in recorded history, and across all cultures, philosophers considered that the universe is full of conflict. For instance, the Chinese have the concept of the Tao, of achieving balance in the conflict of opposites or polarities (yin & yang).

No symbol illustrates this more clearly than the Y. The ancient Greeks observed that the "duad resolves to the monad", or the branches either come from or resolve to the stem, depending on how you look at it. When you look at a tree, you are looking at a Y. So it is a symbol of progress and growth. Growth comes from or through this process of "bifurcation", or a splitting of ways. But another way to see it is that out of the conflict of opposites comes the new way or order of things.

Genesis 3:
1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?"
2 The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, 'You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.' "
4 "You will not surely die," the serpent said to the woman. 5 "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."
6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

As the quote from Virgil (see above) indicates, the Greeks thought of the two branches of the Y as the paths of "virtue" and "vice", or the right and the left respectively. The Greeks tended to look at these as absolutes while the Chinese sort of saw it as a spectrum. There is no great divide in the two in Chinese thinking.

Odd, I think, that the Bible has this tree, this Y, as a symbol of the "knowledge of good and evil." As Led Zeppelin sang in the song Stairway To Heaven, "Yes there are two paths you can go by, but in the long run/ There's still time to change the road you're on." We all grapple with this, even at the very core of our being.

We also observe that Jesus was crucified on a Y, a "tree." In a very real sense, he resolved the whole issue of good and evil on the cross. He triumphed over the warfare of good and evil and put it to rest. In a sense, good and evil died there. And the conflict between man and God was also resolved, in that we can find peace with God through his Son.

To be sure, the path of virtue and vice is still before us. If we choose virtue, we will see good days. If we choose vice, it still has its destructive potential. But Jesus resolved the conflict forever. If we put our confidence in him, in what he's done, we are on the right path.

War In Babylon

Estimates of deaths in Iraq: As high as 60,000+.

U.S. deaths exceed 3,000.
U.S. wounded: 25,000+
Iraqi war-related deaths: 25,000+.

9-11 deaths: 2,974.

U.S. Military Deaths in Wars:

Civil ~ 300,000

WW1 ~ 130,494

WW2 ~ 407,300

Korea ~ 54, 589

Viet Nam ~ 58,000

Gen. 2: 8 Now the LORD God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed.

9 And the LORD God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
10 A river watering the garden flowed from Eden; from there it was separated into four headwaters.

11 The name of the first is the Pishon; it winds through the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold.

12 (The gold of that land is good; aromatic resin and onyx are also there.)

13 The name of the second river is the Gihon; it winds through the entire land of Cush.

14 The name of the third river is the Tigris; it runs along the east side of Asshur. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.

Isa. 13:

19 Babylon, the jewel of kingdoms, the glory of the Babylonians' pride, will be overthrown by God like Sodom and Gomorrah.
20 She will never be inhabited or lived in through all generations; no Arab will pitch his tent there, no shepherd will rest his flocks there.
21 But desert creatures will lie there, jackals will fill her houses; there the owls will dwell, and there the wild goats will leap about.
22 Hyenas will howl in her strongholds, jackals in her luxurious palaces. Her time is at hand, and her days will not be prolonged.

I was just trying to process this; and it doesn't make any sense, does it?

3,000 Americans lost their lives on 9-11. Now 3,000 more have given their lives to keep it from happening again. Furthermore, more than 25,000 Iraqis have now died (some say many more than that).

Many Americans are now experiencing Viet Nam deja vu. There is a rise in soldier suicides. There is a morale problem. And the new Iraqi police are gorging on valium.
Iraqi men are buying up Viagra on the street (cheap, from young venders) because stress is curtailing their reproductive agendas. The place is a shambles and extremely dangerous.

Some of our leaders say we should stay, as it will become a stronghold for Al-Quaida. Most are now saying we should go and begin to fashion another way of dealing with terrorism. The fact is, of course, nobody really knows which path to take. Terrorism isn't going away. It is a kind of invisible enemy, without a country, operating in the shadows around the world.

The history of this region goes back to before Mohammed. The Middle East is the nations of all Abraham's seed, through Sarah and Hagar. It is also a land steeped in prophecy.

And Iraq is the site of both the Garden of Eden and Babylon, one of the four ruling empires of the world. In fact, Saddam had the dream of rebuilding Babylon.

But right now, Babylon and Eden are hellish places.

What do we do? How should America respond? It is no laughing matter. Our leaders seriously need wisdom to make the right decisions now. Some say these are the early days of World War 3. Perhaps we are now in the beginning of the march toward Armageddon.