Sound The Midnight Cry

“Let The Games Begin!”

During the Roman persecution of Christianity, Christians became the target for the games in the Coliseum. They were torn to pieces by wild animals as the “blood sport” of that day consumed Rome and its territories. Christians weren’t put to death for embracing a different God but for claiming that Jesus Christ is the ONLY God. If only Christians could be saved, then worshippers of Caesar or Jupiter would be eternally damned. Needless to say, that didn’t set well with the people of that day.

Some people would say, “That was then, this is now!” I would tell them, “Don’t look know, Christians have been targeted once again.”

HR 1592 is the “Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2007.” This bill expands a ‘hate crime’ to include; “prejudice, based on actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability.” Perpetrators of ‘hate crimes’ under the bill can be jailed for anywhere from ten years to life.

The bill by Rep. John Conyers of Michigan extends hate crimes legislation to include sexual orientation and gender identity and includes the words “perceived or actual.” Under HR 1592, any speech that is critical of Islam, homosexuals, transvestites, aliens, (legal or illegal) would be criminalized.

N.C. Rep. Bob Etheridge wrote at Congress.org that this bill, “begins to lay the legal framework whereby Bible-believing Pastors, business owners and individuals can be persecuted and prosecuted.” That includes, he writes, “Any remarks about homosexuality, such as reading Bible passages, preaching on these passages, telling a person they can come out of the homosexual lifestyle, etc. will be deemed critical remarks and will be ruled to be outside the bounds of First Amendment protections for pastors, business-owners and individuals.” And that’s only the beginning.

Rep Etheridge explains: “This also includes parents who refuse, for moral and religious reasons, to agree or teach their children that homosexuality, transgender, cross-dressing etc is normal and desirable.” The law will require the federal government to fund, “anti-Christian curriculum for children K-12, through the U.S. Departments of Education and Justice to promote homosexuality and cross-dressing as normal behaviors.”

To the Romans, Christianity was ‘hate speech’ punishable by death. HR 1592 doesn’t go quite as far as ancient Rome’s anti-hate-speech laws. If this bill passes, the worst they can give you is life.

Let the games begin!

“Where Have All The Flowers Gone”

Years ago, during the “hippie days,” a popular folk song asked that question. Now 40 years later, it might become a question to ask with scientific data to back it up.

Recent articles have been reported of what is being called Colony Collapse Disorder [CCD] that is wiping out bee colonies worldwide. It began in the United States, where as many as 70% of the bee population has mysteriously vanished. It has since spread to most of Europe.

A German study proved that the behavior of bees undergo a remarkable shift when the bees come within range of emissions from power lines. Dr. Jochen Kuhn discovered that bees refuse to return to their hives when a cell phone is placed nearby. American scientist, Dr. George Carlo, heading a similar study for the US government said, “I am convinced the possibility is real.”

Bees have a built-in homing device that guides them back to their own hives after they've been out foraging. Cell phone radiation, according to Dr. Kuhn, interferes with that homing ability. His research indicates that the bees aren't disappearing as a result of mites or parasites, but rather, because they can't find their way back home. They get disoriented and fly around looking for home until they fall out of the sky, dead from exhaustion.

The implications could be catastrophic as most of the world's crops depend on pollination by bees. Albert Einstein once noted that, without bees as part of the eco-system, “mankind would have only four years of life left.”

Now, I don't know if Einstein's estimate is right – although Einstein has a pretty good track record. And I don't know if cell phones cause brain cancer or if cell phone radiation is responsible for CCD. But I do know that Jesus said that among the signs that would precede His return were famine and pestilence.

The Apostle John saw a vision of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse and wrote: “And I looked, and behold a pale horse… And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.” (Revelation 6:8)

Most Bible scholars put the Four Horsemen in the first half of the Tribulation period. So, within the space of three and one-half years, more than three quarters [the other horsemen contribute] of the global population will be wiped out. Albert Einstein estimated four years.

I don't know that the death of the global bee population is the catalyst behind the Bible's predicted global famine. I do know, however, that although Einstein's track record is pretty good, the Bible's has been perfect.

And it says that, “when these things BEGIN to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption is drawing near.” (Luke 21:28)

“Jesus Had It All Wrong”

Imagine if you will, walking into your local church on Easter Sunday. There’s an air of excitement as the people gather to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The message of the Good News is reaffirmed as the hope of the world. The music rings out with joyous sounds and faith resounds in the hearts of believers.

The time comes for the minister to deliver the message of Easter to those gathered on this day. The message of how God so loved the world that He gave is only Son, Jesus Christ, as a substitute to suffer and die as an atonement for our sin. How on the third day, God raised Christ from the dead and the message when received brings forgiveness and secures a place in the family of God. How can it be any sweeter than that!

Now imagine that instead of that taking place, picture the minister telling the congregation that the teaching of humans, alienated from God by their sins and unable to save themselves and can only be forgiven by God sending a Savior “nonsensical.” That’s exactly what happened last week on the BBC Radio4.

Reverend Jeffrey John, who was forced to withdraw his nomination as the Bishop of Reading in 2003 after it was learned he was in a long-term homosexual relationship, criticized ministers who use their Easter messages to preach that Jesus was sent to earth to die as a recompense for sin.

"In other words, Jesus took the rap and we got forgiven as long as we said we believed in him,” said John. “This is repulsive as well as nonsensical. It makes God sound like a psychopath. If a human behaved like this we'd say that they [sic] were a monster.”

Reverend John said that Christ was crucified so he could “share in the worst of grief and suffering that life can throw at us…Too many Christians fail to understand God is about ‘love and truth’, not ‘wrath and punishment.’”

I guess this shouldn’t surprise us for we are told that in the last days false teachers “will cleverly teach destructive heresies and even deny the Master who bought them.” Love is more appealing than judgment. So if one chooses to believe this minister, then Jesus must have had it all wrong?

The problem with Reverend Johns’ message is it is not an either/or scenario—it is both love and judgment. Jesus said, “…every idle [careless] word men may speak, they will give account of it in the Day of Judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.” Matthew 12:36-37

So either Jesus had it all wrong or Reverend John has missed it. Guess which one I am siding with?

“How The Mighty Have Fallen!”

Did you know that what cost a dollar in 1800 cost only sixty-seven cents a hundred years later? However, over the 20th century, the trend reversed. What cost a dollar in 1900 costs $21.15 one hundred years later. What happened to cause this shift is more than I can list in this small space but here are a few highlights.

President Franklin Roosevelt ordered all privately-held gold to be confiscated. The Banking Act of 1933 severed the linkage between gold and the U.S. dollar. After the outbreak of World War Two, America became the armory to the world, for which it demanded payment in gold. By war’s end, the majority of the world’s gold reserves were back in the United States.

The Bretton Woods Agreement in 1945 made the U.S. dollar convertible to gold at the government level. This re-established the link to gold and made the U.S. dollar the world’s reserve currency. By the 1970’s, runaway inflation caused foreign governments to demand payment for their dollars in gold. On August 15, 1971, the U.S. announced it was ‘severing the link between the dollar and gold’ and defaulted on its payments.

Fast-forward to 2006 - Iran announced they would only accept payment for oil in Euros, rather than dollars. The Chinese and the Japanese now had a way of lowering their enormous dollar reserves and protecting themselves against the depreciation of the dollar. The bulk of the Russians trade is with European countries and is only too eager to adopt the Euro for the dollar. The Arab oil-exporting countries have readily adopted the Euro as a means of diversifying against reserves of depreciating dollars, not to mention their jihad against the United States. Hugo Chavez, who now sits atop the world’s largest proven oil reserves, announced that Venezuela was ready to move his country’s foreign-exchange holdings out of the dollar and into the Euro.

Thirty-five years ago, the idea of a European “super-state” rising to eclipse the U.S. was laughable. Yet, this week it was announced that for the first time since WWI, the value of the European stock market has passed that of the U.S.

Many have asked, “How the ‘one nation under God’ could not be found in bible prophecy?” Could it have something to do with the current economic fall of the “mighty dollar”?

2 Samuel 1:27 says, “How the mighty have fallen! The weapons of war have perished!” Could that be a clarion call for America to turn back to God and in Him put our trust…not the U.S. dollar?