Sound The Midnight Cry

“Is It A Hoax?”

In the age of the internet, dozens of emails arrive daily telling us of “secrets” that can make us rich or warning us of petitions to stop Christian programming and the like. Probably 99% of these are untruths that have sent around the globe millions of times by gullible but good intentioned people. Thank goodness for websites today that try to expose all of the supposed “truths” – their intent is to try and stop the purveyors of the hoax. I would like to highlight one such notice that is not a hoax and has an agenda that is likely to appeal to families, especially children.

The Golden Compass is a film from New Line Cinema based on the first book of a series, “His Dark Materials”, written by English atheist Philip Pullman. Pullman hates C.S. Lewis' “Chronicles of Narnia” and has written a trilogy to show the other side.

Pullman left little doubt about his books' intended meanings when he said in a 2003 interview that “My books are about killing God”. In a 2001 interview he stated that he was “trying to undermine the basis of Christian belief.” In 2002, conservative British columnist Peter Hitchens labeled Pullman “The Most Dangerous Author in Britain” and described him as the writer “the atheists would have been praying for, if atheists prayed.”

In the trilogy, a young girl becomes enmeshed in an epic struggle against a nefarious Church known as the Magisterium. Another character, an ex-nun, describes Christianity as “a very powerful and convincing mistake.” In the last book, a boy and girl are depicted representing Adam and Eve and they kill God, who at times is called YAHWEH.

In The Golden Compass, a girl named Lyra who sets out to rescue her friend Roger who has been kidnapped by an organization known as the Gobblers. Roger's rescue turns into an epic quest to save two different worlds -- one in which people's souls manifests themselves as animals. These manifestations are known as “daemons,” and Pullman says they help a person grow toward wisdom. In addition, the movie website allows visitors to answer a set of questions and create their own daemons that journey alongside them in life.

2 Corinthians 2:11 says: “…For we are not unaware of his [Satan’s] schemes.” The movie has been dumbed down to fool kids and their parents in the hope that they will buy his trilogy [The hatred towards God becomes even more evident in the next two books]. Hopefully, Christians will have enough spiritual sense to recognize the intent of this movie and avoid it, though I doubt many will. They will allow their children to see it because their friends are going to view it. Adults themselves will go reasoning that “they can handle it” [like trying to catch falling knives].

It is set to release December 7 in theaters nationwide. It should not surprise us that this should be unleashed nor should it amaze us that it would come at the Christmas season. Darkness knows that the Reason for the Season was that “In him was life, and that life was the light of men.” John 1:4

“DÉJÀ VU – In Reverse!”

Déjà vu is the experience of feeling sure that one has witnessed or experienced a new situation previously. The phrase is French meaning, “already seen”. It is also called “paramnesia”, from Greek meaning “parallel memory”. Over 70 percent of people report having experienced it at least once. The “previous” experience is most frequently attributed to a dream, although in some cases there is a firm sense that the experience “genuinely happened” in the past. Déjà vu has been described as “remembering the future.”

As a student of history and constantly monitoring the events in the Middle East, there is such an event that kind of gives that compelling sense of familiarity that is associated with Déjà vu.

To understand the importance of this conference, a little bit of history needs to be explained. [One has to understand the past to remember the future].

On Jewish calendar date 17 Kislev 5708 (the evening of November 29, 1947 in Israel), 46 countries voted on United Nations General Assembly Resolution 181 - the proposal to partition the Land of Israel (known then as Palestine) into two states, one Jewish, the other Arab.

Thirty-three voted in favor, 13 voted against. The Arabs rejected the outcome, immediately initiating hostilities that erupted into the War of Independence after Israel was established and recognized internationally six months later. So where is the sense of Déjà vu?

Next week, on 17 Kislev 5768, 60 years to the day after that UN vote, will mark the beginning of the International Conference on the Creation of Palestine in Annapolis. Of the almost 50 representatives at the conference, only 15 are Arab states. Included among the rest are France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Spain, Portugal, the United Kingdom, Canada, Poland, Sweden, Norway, South Africa and India.

This is a gathering of the nations of the world in a united stand against the rights of the Jews to their sacred soil. The international community is virtually single-minded on this issue: the theft of Jewish lands for the establishment of a Palestinian state.

Genesis 12:3 says, “I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” May God have mercy upon our country for pressuring Israel to give up their inheritance promised to them by God.

Pray that God will raise up a voice that will defend Israel!

“Speak Now Or Forever Hold Your Peace”

Years ago, part of every wedding ceremony would include the phrase, “Speak now or forever hold your peace.” Today at the request of engaged couples, this phrase is usually left out of the wedding ceremony, while it still remains a “catch-your-breath moment” on television [that’s how you know that something is usually going to happen].

The phrase has its origin when centuries ago arranged marriages were common, and the bride’s father had to provide a dowry. If the father had not fulfilled his part of the bargain, that proclamation was an opportune moment for the groom’s family to speak up before it was too late. In other cultures, the statement was a reference to a bride’s virginity, dating to a time when virginity was a prerequisite for marriage.

I say all of this because of a recent report in the London Sunday Times, one of Great Britain’s oldest and most prestigious newspapers that is read around the world. It reported that the government of Israel has let it be known that Israeli Air Force pilots are currently undergoing training for a tactical nuclear strike against Iran’s nuclear program to prevent Iran from getting “the bomb”. It quoted one of its sources saying, “As soon as the green light is given, it will be one mission, one strike and the Iranian nuclear project will be demolished.”

A number of U.S. analysts believe that Israel leaked the story to the London Sunday Times deliberately as a message to Iran. The Israeli Insider quoted one such analyst, who told them; “In the cold war, we made it clear to the Russians that it was a virtual certainty that nukes would fly and fly early. Israel may be adopting the same tactics: ‘You produce a weapon; you die’”.

Israel no doubt also wanted the world to know of its intentions in advance in order to gauge global reaction. The response of the world is what makes all of this interesting: there appears to be a deafening silence. No outraged editorials from the Saudis or Egyptians or from al-Jazeera. No protests in the streets.

It is not unlike 1981, when Saddam was about to flip the switch that would bring his Osirek nuclear processing plant online, Israel began conducting training simulations that telegraphed their intention to destroy it. The global reaction in 1981 was not unlike today. Even the Arabs remained silent as if to acknowledge that Israel did the world a favor.

Contemporary times have made “Speak now, or forever hold your peace” irrelevant in today’s wedding ceremonies, but it quite probably will continue in the movies and on T.V. The pause after the question is asked and waiting for someone from the audience leaps forward to object, is a tough scene to replace.

Israel has just asked the question to the world and it would seem the world is prepared to accept another favor from the Jewish State. And so we wait!

“The Envelope, Please!”

This past week I attended a "gumbo cook-off" and there was plenty to go around. The focal point of the event was the presenting of the envelope with the announcement for the "People’s Choice" award. Needless to say, there was some disagreement among the attendees but then, there usually is!

Recent international events are clearly pointing to the fulfillment of bible prophecy. Every week another envelope is opened bringing clarification to what the bible declares will happen in the last days.

Recently, there was a 'summit meeting' for the newly declared Caspian State Alliance. The nations consist of Azerbaijan, Kazahkstan, Turkmenistan, Russia and the Islamic Republic of Iran. The AP reported, "The five national leaders at the summit later signed a declaration…an apparent reflection of Iranian fears that the United States could use Azerbaijan's territory as a staging ground for military strikes in Iran."

Russia’s President Putin, soon to be 'Czar' of Russia used the occasion to make a nod to Iran's national pride - describing it as a "world power" and referring to the might of the ancient Persian Empire.

Azerbaijan, Kazahkstan and Turkmenistan are majority Islamic of the former Soviet Union that, while nominally independent, remain firmly loyal to Moscow. So, while Russia and the three former Soviet republics are separate entities, they speak as one voice emanating from Moscow.

Here is where it gets really interesting: According to the Prophet Ezekiel, the chief prince called, "Gog" and, alternatively, "Rosh", will head an alliance made up of the descendants of Gog (who settled around the Caspian Sea – the land of Magog) in the 'latter days.' Ezekiel says that Magog will find themselves sucked into a wider alliance of nations (that correspond with the modern Islamic world) and led by Persia (modern Iran), against "the mountains of Israel."

Three weeks ago, the Vladimir Putin, is attending a Caspian Sea summit with the leaders of modern Magog -- in Persia. The topic of discussion was the possibility of war between Persia and Israel and/or America.

Magog's Caspian Sea nations are all Muslim states sympathetic to the Islamic Republic of Iran. And they have too much invested in oil pipeline deals with Iran to remain neutral. Individually, they have no major beef with the West, apart from Israel, so they are letting Gog do the talking for them. The bait has been placed and the hook ready to be set.

In essence, Russia has drawn a line in the sand over Persia's nuclear program, which they know Persia intends to use against Israel. That is what Ezekiel predicted from his vantage point in history some 500 years before Christ, 1400 years before Mohammed, and 2,500-odd years before there was any nation on earth called "Israel."

The Bible is true down to the very last detail. Even now, the envelope is being prepared to be open that announces the return of Jesus Christ to earth. You may disagree but time will prove it true!

“Lions, Tigers and Bears, Oh My!”

The famous saying from the cowardly lion in the Wizard of Oz expressed fear on every hand—every place you looked there was something to be fearful. It reminds me of the lyrics from a band years ago: “Fear of the dark, fear of the dark; I have constant fear that something’s always near”.

Well, the leaders of Congress have declared that the reason for the California fires is global warming. The media’s love affair with Al Gore and his Emmy, Oscar and now the Nobel Peace Prize has finally paid off by convincing our nation’s leaders that something must be done and none too soon. After all, his predictions of catastrophic climate changes that threaten human civilization are neither an “if” nor a “when”—it is a scientific certainty as his trophy case proves.

Add to that a German report that shows that in 50 years, the world will have run out of fossil fuels. I guess we can stop worrying about the fuel emissions produced by human civilization having catastrophic consequences on the weather. No more fuel, no heating oil—oh my!

According to the CIA, FBI and Defense Department, it is a question of “when” and not “if” America will suffer a catastrophic attack by terrorists using weapons of mass destruction. Not to mention that Russia is rearming itself and other nations with nuclear arms.

According to NASA, if the weather doesn’t get us, a catastrophic asteroid strike will. A conference on “planetary defense” was convened last March in Washington. The fact that there has never been a killer asteroid strike in all recorded human history was pointed out by NASA to say, “we’re long overdue.”

My point in bringing this out is not to mock those that believe these reports. I simply want to point out that these things are a part of biblical prophecy being fulfilled. Jesus said the last generation would witness unprecedented increases in earthquakes, famines, wars and pestilences. He warned, “On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea.” Luke 21:25

Jesus didn’t say that there actually would be a threat of catastrophic climate change, or of cosmic extinction by a random killer asteroid, but rather, He warned of the fear of them. He said those cosmic and natural signs would be accompanied by a global sense of panic at our helplessness in the face of such impending catastrophe. “Men will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world…” Luke 21:26.

Jesus made it clear that for those that place their trust in Him, what appears to be gloom and doom and catastrophe and chaos is actually good news. Why? Because, He said, “When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”

The world’s prognosticators may predict doom and gloom but bible prophecy points out that these things are not to be feared; Jesus Christ is coming back to planet earth and the question is “when” not “if"! Are you ready?