THE END IS NEAR

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2012: End of the World? Pt. 6 / THE END IS NEAR

I began writing a series of articles relating to the ‘End Times’ about a year ago. The original articles in the series were titled ‘Signs of the End’ and ‘The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse’. The ‘2012: End of the World?’ series of articles are a continuation of the first two articles. The first five articles in the series are linked below.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

I  don’t mean the end of ‘The World Series’, as in the baseball championships, although those too will likely end if the world ends, so if you are a baseball fan you might want to start rooting for another champion, I can recommend one who has never lost, and never will lose. He triumphed even in death; how much will He be victorious in life? No, I meant signs of the end of the world. It’s the end of the world as we know it… there’s more truth in the title of that song than even the songwriter might have realized. As explained in the ‘Signs of the End’ article, the signs we are looking for are the signs that would indicate the imminent return of Jesus Christ to Earth (the promised second coming) when he triumphantly returns to set up His eternal Kingdom.  As noted in the article, the end of the world does not mean the end of the planet, which will come later. Please read the article for an explanation on what Jesus meant by the phrase ‘the end of the world’. The signs that Jesus gave fit into five major categories:

1.       ECONOMIC MELTDOWN (A COMPLETE BREAKDOWN OF THE COMMERCIAL SYSTEM)

2.       NATURAL DISASTERS AND CATASTROPHIC EARTH CHANGES

3.       WARFARE AND POLITICAL TURMOIL

4.       PANDEMICS AND PESTILENCES (HIGHLY INFECTIOUS AND FATAL DISEASES)

5.       FAMINES AND FOOD SHORTAGES THROUGH DROUGHTS AND CROP FAILURES

This is a brief article to estimate where we might be on the End of the Age calendar. One thing seems certain that there are more ‘Signs’ every year that the heat is being turned up on the world; how long will it be before it blows up?

ECONOMIC COLLAPSE UPDATE

I am not sure where we are on the economic front except the situation appears to be more dire than we can fathom. Like a balloon being constantly pumped with more and more air has to blow up sooner or later, so too is the economy, it cannot be inflated with so – called ‘Money’ that is nothing more than paper with no intrinsic value; the economy too must explode sooner or later. We have witnessed mini explosions that would have been considered catastrophic in any other age where real money was in circulation, meaning gold and silver.  I wrote an article last winter titled from 700 billion to 12 trillion. The bailout package back in 2008 was supposed to fix everything and would cost 700 billion. Since that time ‘Billion’ has become an extinct number in the cult of high finance, how many trillions have been thrown on this fire of the Economic crisis, yet like Hydra growing two heads for each one cut off, the problems keep on escalating. Maybe the solution the ‘Powers that be’ have proposed is in reality gasoline that stokes the fire rather than water that puts it out. Are they that clueless that they cannot foresee these problems that people like Bill Donner of The Daily Reckoning have been writing about for decades?. Why aren’t such well informed economic advisors on the President’s economic advisory committee? I am not telling people that the economy is going to disintegrate in a catastrophic manner that will make the ‘Great Depression’ seem the biggest economic boom of all time. All I can see is that the numbers just don’t add up, round and round she goes and where she stops nobody knows! Actually God does know exactly where the buck will stop and all the signs indicate that it will end up being worth more as fuel than as money; by ‘Buck’ I mean all paper currencies of all nations. For the rest of 2010, look for the stock market to keep going down, the imaginary ‘recovery’ to evaporate, and the next stage of the decline that began in 2008 to take firm root. Here’s a short video titled, ‘What’s next for our economy? ‘; this commentator expects a complete collapse by 2012. All I know is that the Bible prophesies that this must happen; are we in the days of the fulfillment of such prophesies, we’ll just have to wait and see?

NATURAL DISASTERS

Though hardly anyone seems to be paying attention, this year has been one of a number of major disasters both from a geological and economic point of view.

EARTHQUAKES: Haiti, Chile, China, Iran, California, Mexico and many more and they are all in the 6+ range. There have been four 6 or higher magnitude earthquakes in the past 7 days alone, the updated list of quakes can be viewed on the USGS website. The Bible prophesies major earthquakes in quick succession that would approach 10 on the Richter scale. Are we in the days of 10.5, 10.5 Apocalypse and 2012 magnitude quakes (the links are to 3 movies that address this subject)? If another quake or two on the scale of Haiti and Chile hits an urban area this year, then the signs would indicate that the end is near. As an aside, despite the billions raised worldwide for the disaster, Haiti is still a disaster, and it is doubtful that it will even get back to the impoverished state that was the norm before the quake, where has all the money gone?

VOLCANO: The Iceland volcano wreaked major havoc, at least economically and who knows what other problems may result in the future especially if the companion volcano goes off.

GULF OIL SPILL: Spill may hardly be the word to describe this disaster which is probably more of a catastrophe and economically speaking may surpass all the other disasters of this year. This catastrophe has been much downplayed by the MSM but there are too many unanswered questions that suggest that both the magnitude and ultimate environmental impact of this disaster will not be known for some time, and will certainly surpass Katrina by far. From an economic point of view how much monetary losses can be absorbed by the nation or the world? This may spell the death knell of the insurance industry but wait, the Fed will just bail them out; just don’t expect the Fed to bailout the little guy with his Forrest Gump shrimp boat out in the Gulf who is now out of business. Some people are predicting that the Gulf poisoning, both from the oil and the highly toxic dispersant used by BP will generate powerful Katrina like hurricanes this fall, I cannot confirm this view but it is certainly a possibility, once again we wait and see. Is this the beginning of the fulfillment of the catastrophes written about in the book of Revelation?

 Revelation 8:8 And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became blood; 9 And the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died; and the third part of the ships were destroyed.

WARFARE AND POLITICAL TURMOIL

·         We know there are ongoing wars such as Iraq and Afghanistan, both of which seem to be a perfect example of ‘Perpetual war for perpetual peace’.

·         There are also numerous civil wars and internal strife going on worldwide, especially in Africa but also in the former Soviet republics, as for example in Kyrgyzstan. Georgia, the Ukraine and other ‘STAN’ republics that are the heartland of Central Asia are none too stable.

·         India, has its own problems with the so – called Maoists on the Eastern border raging an ongoing guerilla war with the Indian Army, and the Kashmiri separatists doing the same on the Northern border with Pakistan. India and Pakistan have a none too friendly relationship and that could lead to a major war at any time.

·         Iran of course has been in the news for some time now, and I am sure one day it will not be rhetoric any longer. The stage has long been set to vilify Iran as if it was the only ‘bad guy’ in the world. Again the lies are so blatant that anyone with half a brain should be able to see past them. Nonetheless this region will certainly explode one day, and we hope and pray that it will not be explosions of the nuclear type.

·         Now we hear about North Korea presumably sinking a South Korean ship. This has shades of Gulf of Tonkin written all over it. North Korea is presumably ready to go to war with the South, so it would seem that we are rapidly moving out of the realm of rumors of wars to actual global conflict. The whole story of the division of Korea is so convoluted that probably nothing we have read about that ‘UN Action’ is actually true. Nonetheless here are 60 years later and this could be the first nuclear conflict in modern history.  Japan was not a nuclear conflict because only side had atomic weapons.

·         This arbitrary division of a nation is also true of India and Pakistan’s partition in 1947. And like Korea, now some 60 years later this region is also a major candidate for nuclear action between two nuclear powers. For all intents and purposes the Americans are now De Facto rulers of Pakistan; what that means remains to be seen.

·         Poland, the only nation that refused the Swine Flu vaccine and IMF loans and is one of the least indebted nations in Europe had its entire political leadership wiped out recently. I am sure there will be some policy changes in Warsaw, sadly not for the benefit of the Poles. Click the link to view an intelligent report that views this incident of the decimation of the Polish government in a different light than reported by the MSM.

PANDEMICS / PESTILENCES

Speaking of pandemics, a major pandemic is only a matter of time, as the news media constantly reminds us; it is not a matter of IF but WHEN… This story breaks out in 3 years intervals according to my calculations; in 2003 we had SARS, in 2006 it was the Avian flu and 2009 we had Swine flu. So it would seem that 2012 may be the year of the big one; I am only speculating here for we cannot pinpoint when and exactly what is coming. For example none of us could have predicted the Gulf disaster, what other surprises are there in store for the world? These previous pandemics that did not pan out were test runs as many have hypothesized and here’s a quote from an official that would seem to confirm this view: "In, in lots of ways the pandemic last year gave the countries an opportunity to actually really test their plans and to see what were the issues that they had difficulty with, what were the things that worked really well for them and how quickly they could swing into action the plans that they already had in place." Quoted from ANN (Australia Network News). The Bible does prophesy upwards of a quarter of the world’s population dying rapidly from pestilences in diverse places, so it would seem that a global pandemic of a highly infectious disease would be an unmistakable sign of the end, I place no timeframe on such a catastrophe, as with the rest we wait and see.

FAMINES / FOOD SHORTAGES

Jesus made particular mention of Earthquakes, Pestilences, and Famines in diverse places. It is hard to get real information on these matters since the mainstream media would rather have people focused on ‘American Idol’ and ‘Dancing with the stars’. I know that India is suffering from a major heat wave with temperatures hitting 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit).  2009 was a drought year in India and water levels were already low; this heat wave cannot but exacerbate the situation. With 1.3 billion mouths to feed and food price inflation already pricing even the most basic of necessities out of the reach of the poorest, this could be a major disaster that probably will not see much coverage in Western MSM.

There is a drought covering a considerable area in China that I believe is also effecting other SE Asian countries like Burma, Thailand, Vietnam, and Cambodia. Food price inflation, not necessarily yet as a result of drought is already effecting prices of many grains and other food stuffs. This is as a result of speculation on commodities markets.  Food shortages could continue for decades, assuming that not only will the world be able to produce the same amount of food as it does at present but be able to increase production proportionate to population growth. We wait and see what lies ahead.

CONCLUSION

This is not meant to be an alarmist post but rather a realistic evaluation of the state of the world as we enter the 2^nd decade of the 21^st century. This year has already turned out to be a major disaster year and from a Biblical perspective these disasters will increase both in magnitude and frequency. With the Economic Crisis continuing to escalate, wars and rumors of wars filling the airwaves, how long before there is a confluence of all of the above noted potentially World ending catastrophes? We wait and see but for this observer there is only one hope in this hopeless world and that is my faith in Jesus Christ. I offer no other solution without partaking of the eternal solution to our very temporal life.

Its’ the End of the World as we know it by R.E.M.

That's great, it starts with an earthquake, birds and snakes, an aeroplane -
Lenny Bruce is not afraid. Eye of a hurricane, listen to yourself churn -
world serves its own needs, regardless of your own needs. Feed it up a knock,
speed, grunt no, strength no. Ladder structure clatter with fear of height,
down height. Wire in a fire, represent the seven games in a government for
hire and a combat site. Left her, wasn't coming in a hurry with the furies
breathing down your neck. Team by team reporters baffled, trump, tethered
crop. Look at that low plane! Fine then. Uh oh, overflow, population,
common group, but it'll do. Save yourself, serve yourself. World serves its
own needs, listen to your heart bleed. Tell me with the rapture and the
reverent in the right - right. You vitriolic, patriotic, slam, fight, bright
light, feeling pretty psyched.

It's the end of the world as we know it.
It's the end of the world as we know it.
It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine.

Six o'clock - TV hour. Don't get caught in foreign tower. Slash and burn,
return, listen to yourself churn. Lock him in uniform and book burning,
blood letting. Every motive escalate. Automotive incinerate. Light a candle,
light a motive. Step down, step down. Watch a heel crush, crush. Uh oh,
this means no fear - cavalier. Renegade and steer clear! A tournament,
a tournament, a tournament of lies. Offer me solutions, offer me alternatives
and I decline.

It's the end of the world as we know it.
It's the end of the world as we know it.
It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine.

The other night I tripped a nice continental drift divide. Mount St. Edelite.
Leonard Bernstein. Leonid Breshnev, Lenny Bruce and Lester Bangs.
Birthday party, cheesecake, jelly bean, boom! You symbiotic, patriotic,
slam, but neck, right? Right.

It's the end of the world as we know it.
It's the end of the world as we know it.
It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine...fine...

(It's time I had some time alone)