Prophecy Updates and Commentary

I bet I know what you are thinking. What on earth is Ug99? It is a particularly virulent strain of plant disease that kills wide varieties of wheat crops. It is called Ug99 because it originated in Uganda and it spread to other areas of Africa, including Kenya. From Africa, winds have already carried its spores to Iran and “it is poised to enter the wheatbaskets of northern India and Pakistan, and the wind will inevitably carry it to Russia, China and even North America—if it doesn’t hitch a ride with people first.”

The link below states that “Crop scientists fear the Ug99 fungus could wipe out more than 80% of worldwide wheat crops as it spreads…” (emphasis added). Scientists in the USA are working in a “bio-secure” facility in St.Paul, MN to try and find a way to stop the spread of this wheat fungus. They tested the Ug99 virus spores against “thousands of healthy wheat plants” and the death rate of the wheat plants was nearly total. It is estimated that 19% of the world’s wheat crop is endangered by Ug99 just this year, and the devastation would be vast if it “suddenly made its way to U.S. fields.”

One professor cited in the article stated that this fungus can move around the earth either by the wind or on the clothing of people as they travel internationally. This Ug99 fungus could make its way to U.S. wheat fields by accident or it could arrive via deliberate eco-terrorism. Since the Ug99 is already found in Iran, and Iran is an enemy of the USA and Iran is facing a possible attack on its nuclear facilities, Iran has the motivation to deliberately spread Ug99 to the American wheat fields via a Hezbollah sleeper cell in America if a war breaks out.

This is a very serious issue, whether Ug99 spreads naturally by wind currents or by accidental or deliberate human actions. The link states: “Famine has been averted thus far, but experts say it’s only a matter of time” (emphasis added).

Matthew 24:7 and Revelation 6:5-6 prophecy famines will strike the earth at the end of the latter-day period of time before Jesus Christ/Yahshua returns. Revelation 6 indicates that food will eventually be strictly rationed by weight and price. When you add the bee die-offs and the risk of possible shorter growing seasons due to the current phase of global cooling, there are several factors that could lead to global famines and food shortages. I hope you are taking these biblical warnings seriously and are making some personal preparations for you and your family to act on God’s advance warnings about such dangers. Common sense suggestions on this matter can be found in my article, “Should Christians prepare for Future Hard Times?,” available at the articles link at this website.

http://articles.latimes.com/2009/jun/14/science/sci-wheat-rust14

Funding comes only from reader donations. The author, without pay, conducts research and writing, on his own time. If you find these posts to be informative, please consider a donation so they can continue without charge. Donations can be made via the PayPal “Donate” button or mailed to Steven Collins, PO Box 88735, Sioux Falls, SD 57109-88735.

I could have entitled this blog “Chief Justice Roberts Criticizes President Obama,” but that would have made this a story (from FOX News) about personalities when the real significance is the growing tension between the USA’s Executive Branch and its Judicial Branch.

The Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, John Roberts, is on record as saying that “Obama’s first state-of-the-Union address was very troubling” as the President’s “annual speech to Congress has degenerated into a political pep rally.” Chief Justice Roberts added that he now wondered if Supreme Court Justices should even bother to attend these speeches any longer. Further tensions are evident in this story which adds that Justice Alito openly seemed to contradict Obama’s “pep rally” remarks during the state-of-the-union address, and that Justice Clarence Thomas has stated that “he saw little value in oral arguments before the court” on cases being brought to the Supreme Court.

All Americans ought to be worried about these trends. Justice Thomas’ remarks infer that on most cases, the Justices of the Supreme Court have already made up their minds on the cases so oral arguments are a waste of time. If he is right, Constitutional Government in the USA is now hanging by a thread as politics, not matters of law, are decisive in court rulings. Of even greater concern is the fact that things are now so out of control that the Chief Justice of the normally very reserved Judicial branch finds it necessary to openly criticize the President’s politicization of what is supposed to be a sober report by the nation’s Chief Executive to the Legislative Branch (Congress) on the state of the nation’s affairs. Justice Roberts is entirely right about the “pep rally” aspect of state-of-the-union addresses. They have lost all the gravitas they used to have. Depending on which party has the presidency, Congress acts very childish as one side of the aisle in Congress (the President’s party) jumps to their feet and claps like trained seals during the president’s speech while the other side (the opposition party) generally sits stony-faced.

Currently, the Legislative Branch (Congress) has all but abdicated its Constitutional roles and powers to the Executive Branch. Executive Branch agencies make up all kinds of “laws” by publishing them in the Federal Register even though Congress was supposed to be the only branch of government making laws. Congress has abdicated its financial powers by surrendering them during the Bush administration to the Treasury Department when Treasury Secretary Paulson told Congress the “sky would fall” if they didn’t surrender those powers to him. Like a barnyard full of “Chicken Littles,” Congress fell for this act.  Congress also now votes on huge bills it doesn’t even bother to read! What a clownish body Congress has become! No wonder it approval ratings have hit new lows.

It seems the Supreme Court is the last bastion of any Constitutional reason and its majority hangs by a slim 5-4 margin on many key votes. The Supreme Court upheld the Bill of Rights in a 5-4 vote not long ago when it struck down gun-control rules imposed by Washington, DC., and another such case is before the Supreme Court now re: whether cities can take away Constitutional Rights about gun ownership. If the Court rules that cities can take away Second Amendment Constitutional Rights, then it will set a precedent that other cities can also exempt themselves from any Constitutional provisions that they don’t like. That will be a very slippery slope, indeed! What if one city wants to take away First Amendment Rights from newspapers and electronic media? What if some southern city decides to make slavery or Jim Crow laws legal again? What if another city decides to take away the right of women to vote? What if a variety of states and cities decide to negate the Constitutional Amendment that requires an income tax be paid by its citizens to the federal government? If the Supreme Court decides one city can take away Constitutional Second Amendment Rights, then any other city can take away any other Constitutional Rights that it wants to do away with as well, based on such a precedent. The Federal Compact could disintegrate. We live in increasingly-dangerous times.

The Apostle Paul warned in II Timothy 3:1 that “perilous times” will befall the earth in the latter days. He has already been proven right, and his prophecy will become ever-more applicable in future years as worse things befall the earth.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/03/09/chief-justice-roberts-says-scene-state-union-address-troubling/?test=latestnews

Funding comes only from reader donations. The author, without pay, conducts research and writing, on his own time. If you find these posts to be informative, please consider a donation so they can continue without charge. Donations can be made via the PayPal “Donate” button or mailed to Steven Collins, PO Box 88735, Sioux Falls, SD 57109-88735.

Revelation 17-18 prophesy that Babylon the Great (the end-time unholy alliance of the globalist “merchants of the earth” and their allies in governmental positions–the “kings of the earth”) will take a very hard fall in the latter days just before the arrival of the beast system on the earth. More events are confirming that the cracks in Babylon the Great’s foundations are widening.

In an event little-reported to (and even less understood by) the American people, the nation of Iceland just held an election and served notice to the big banks that their people refused to bail out the debts of Iceland’s government (see first two links below). In other words, they have refused to bail out the big banks to whom Iceland’s government owes money. The first link notes that 93% of the nations’ voters said “no” to the bail-out and that this vote expressed the “depth of the Icelanders’ rage” at the big banks. The second link also notes that “ordinary people…are being asked to shoulder through their taxes a burden that was created by irresponsible greedy bankers.” This sentiment is spreading. An earlier blog at this website cited a report that Germany’s population is in no mood to bail out the Greek debts which Greece owes to other big banks. If more and more nations have their citizens refuse to bail out the debts of their sovereign governments, the big banks will eventually collapse as their loans go bad. Will this trigger the fall of Babylon the Great’s system? Stay tuned!

The third link (from the Huffington Post) cites a striking development. A Nobel Laureate and a former Chief Economist at the World Bank has stated that the structure of the U.S. Federal Reserve Board is “corrupt.” That such an establishment figure would make this statement indicates that major changes are coming in the global financial system and this “trial balloon” indicates these changes may be imminent. This statement strengthens the hand of those in Congress who want to audit the Fed. The fourth link (also from the Huffington Post) reports that the Treasury Department is very opposed to the effort in Congress to have the U.S. Federal Reserve Board audited. That is hardly a surprise because the Treasury Department has been little more than a wholly-owned subsidiary of Goldman Sachs, Wall Street and the Federal Reserve Board ever since Congress foolishly gave control of the U.S. monetary/financial system during the Bush administration to former Goldman Sachs CEO Henry Paulson when he was serving as U.S. Treasury Secretary. Tim Geithner, the current U.S. Treasury Secretary, is a former top official of the Federal Reserve Board. See how one hand washes the other in Babylon the Great’s system? The Fed and the Treasury Department are, no doubt, scared that whatever shenanigans the Fed has done over the years will be revealed to U.S. citizens and the world’s nations if such an audit is authorized. As I’ve noted in previous blogs, German Prime Minister Angela Merkel has openly criticized the U.S. Federal Reserve Board, so sovereign nations are getting upset with the Fed as well.

The final link below (a column by Froma Harrop seen in my local newspaper), reports that Former Fed Chairman Paul Volcker is working inside the Obama administration to impose a “Volcker rule” to make sure the large Wall Street banks are cut down to size so none of them are “too big to fail.” Paul Volcker is an imposing figure with much gravitas, and I recall his strict measures that tamed inflation a few decades ago. The column states that “Wall Street has hired a legion of lobbyists to stop meaningful reform,” and a senator is cited as saying Wall Street still “owns the place [Congress].” The article observes that the Volcker reforms, if enacted, would transform the big banks into smaller entities which could be pushed off into “oblivion” if they fail in the future.

With a former Chief Economist of the World Bank and a former Fed Chairman arrayed against the current Fed Chairman and a former top Fed official who is now running the U.S. Treasury Department, it is evident that the elites are having a civil war behind the scenes amongst themselves for dominance. Revelation 17-18 prophesy that Babylon the Great (the current system) will lose that war, and that a new system (the beast power) will take its place after “seven heads and ten horns” (various nations or global entities) take coordinated action to take down the current global money system. That “take down” is drawing closer.

http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/07/iceland-voters-reject-repayment-plan/

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-03-06/icelanders-reject-icesave-bill-in-referendum-results-show.htm

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/03/stiglitz-nobel-prize-winn_n_484943.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/08/fed-audit-bitterly-oppose_n_490872.html

http://www.truthout.org/froma-harrop-the-volcker-rule-beware-gremlins-guccis57500

Funding comes only from reader donations. The author, without pay, conducts research and writing, on his own time. If you find these posts to be informative, please consider a donation so they can continue without charge. Donations can be made via the PayPal “Donate” button or mailed to Steven Collins, PO Box 88735, Sioux Falls, SD 57109-88735.

No doubt, all readers are familiar with the unfolding debt crisis in Greece and other European nations that threatens the stability of the Eurozone and the Euro itself. There are various theories that this crisis may lead to an end of the euro currency as we have known it and that the Euro will be transformed into a “northern Euro” or “core Euro” while the weaker European nations are essentially cut loose to fend for themselves. The weaker European nations are Portugal, Ireland, Italy, and Greece, who are now known ingloriously as the PIIGS nations in the financial press.

A previous blog at this website cited reports that Goldman Sachs helped Greece deceive the other European nations by hiding a significant part of its actual debt from disclosure. This revelation has likely made Goldman Sachs to be mistrusted by many nations around the world, and it likely also has raised many questions about the financial stability (or honesty) of any nation that has been aided or guided by Goldman Sachs. Needless to say, huge stresses are building in the global financial/monetary system that are becoming harder to either conceal or control.

The first link below has an excellent analysis of the monetary stresses that threaten to blow apart the Euro currency as it has been structured to date. The internal financial relationships within the Eurozone are much more complicated than any layman would guess, and this link does an excellent job of explaining them. Note particularly the profound export strength of Germany and its superior productivity compared to the southern European nations. The Netherlands is also mentioned as a healthy exporter within the Eurozone.

The second link below (sent by a reader) mentions the social disruptions being caused by this monetary crisis as Greek citizens angrily protest the budgetary disciplines which are being required of their government by other Eurozone nations. Principal among the “other Eurozone nations” is Germany, whose government and citizenry have no enthusiasm for bailing out the Greeks from their financial woes. This obviously is leading to deepening divisions between the “have” and the “have not” nations within Europe. As an aside, some religious denominations have expected a “United States of Europe” to be born from within the Eurozone union of nations. The deep internal financial stresses and national rivalries that are now starting to boil to the surface within Europe make it look like any “United States of Europe” entity is likely to be stillborn before it ever comes into existence. If the currency union comes unglued, the political union of Europe is in great jeopardy as well.

What is happening in Greece is likely a harbinger of the social unrest which will be spreading to other nations in the future. Eventually, I expect that such social unrests will spread to the USA and the UK when its citizens are deeply (and negatively) affected by the budgetary disciplines that creditor nations will eventually impose upon the American and British governments. Proverbs 22:7 requires that “lenders” will eventually be able to impose conditions on “borrowers.”

This crisis has a long way to go. Revelation 17-18 prophesy that the global financial system of Babylon the Great (identified as an alliance of the “merchants of the earth” –the global multinational corporations–and the “kings of the earth”–the political leaders in bed with the corporate leaders to enable their mutual lavish lifestyles) will experience a very hard crash in the latter days of this age (Rev. 17:9-16). The Greek debt crisis and the Eurozone monetary crisis are two growing fractures which are developing in the current global monetary/financial system. The prophecies in Revelation 17 and 18 are steadily heading toward their fulfillments. When the current financial system will collapse is not yet known. None of us knows how long we have to prepare for the inevitable severe dislocations that will occur when this collapse comes. I hope that you are taking God’s warnings seriously and that you are making some preparations for that time. New readers of this blog are urged to read my article, Should Christians Prepare for Future Hard Times?, available at the articles link of this website.

http://www.dailyfinance.com/story/the-greek-debt-crisis-exposes-the-eurozones-fundamental-flaw/19380629/

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aCPneYIYi0Vs&pos=1

Funding comes only from reader donations. The author, without pay, conducts research and writing, on his own time. If you find these posts to be informative, please consider a donation so they can continue without charge. Donations can be made via the PayPal “Donate” button or mailed to Steven Collins, PO Box 88735, Sioux Falls, SD 57109-88735.