Latest Signs

Earthquakes continue to increase in frequency around the world and here in the USA. Dozens have recently occurred in Reno and the Midwest with another small one in California, just as Jesus prophesied in Matt. 24:7. In addition, increasingly severe storms continue to ravage the planet, with a cyclone in Burma (Myanmar) killing perhaps 10,000 people called the worst in memory for that area.

Meanwhile, the New World (Dis)Order is itching to expand the conflagration in the Middle East by attacking Iran. FreedomsPheonix.com reports that six weeks ago, President Bush signed a secret finding authorizing a covert offensive against the Iranian regime that, according to those familiar with its contents, "unprecedented in its scope." Bush's secret directive covers actions across a huge geographic area – from Lebanon to Afghanistan – but is also far more sweeping in the type of actions permitted under its guidelines – up to and including the assassination of targeted officials. This widened scope clears the way, for example, for full support for the military arm of Mujahedin-e Khalq, the cultish Iranian opposition group, despite its enduring position on the State Department's list of terrorist groups. Similarly, covert funds can now flow without restriction to Jundullah, or "army of god," the militant Sunni group in Iranian Baluchistan – just across the Afghan border -- whose leader was featured not long ago on Dan Rather Reports cutting his brother in law's throat. The New World (Dis)Order’s strategy of “controlled chaos” encourages worldwide turmoil (e.g. global warming, bird flu, national instability) in order to promote the need for global government (in fulfillment of the prophecies of Revelation 13).

Identity Theft Prevention

BOSTON (AP) — More than two months after first disclosing that hackers accessed customers' financial data from its computers, discount retailer TJX has revealed that information from at least 45.7 million credit and debit cards was stolen over an 18-month period. In a regulatory filing that gives the first detailed account of the breach initially disclosed in January, the owner of T.J. Maxx, Marshall's and other stores in North America and the United Kingdom also said another 455,000 customers who returned merchandise without receipts had their personal data stolen, including driver's license numbers.

TJX spokeswoman Sherry Lang said the extent of the damage may never be known because of the methods used by the intruder. Much of the transaction data was deleted by TJX in the normal course of business between the time of the thefts and the time they were discovered, the filing said, making it impossible to know how many card numbers were obtained.

• JJ Commentary: Identity theft, like terrorism, cannot be fully contained. Our best protection is prayer and the intervention of the Holy Spirit.

End-Time Insanity

Two Christians in Australia have been indicted for criticizing Islam, and another for criticizing Zionism. A filmmaker has been threatened with arrest for using the word "homosexual" rather than "gay." Now a German priest faces jail time for publicly criticizing abortionists, and in Holland, "fornicators" and "adulterers" are protected classes and cannot be criticized. All courtesy of the concept of federal "hate crimes" legislation, which unless defeated soon could be mandatory in the United States, warns a rising chorus of critics.

"All that matters are the delicate feelings of members of federally protected groups," said Michael Marcavage, director of RepentAmerica.com "Truth is not allowed as evidence in hate crimes trials. … A homosexual can claim emotional damage from hearing Scripture that describes his lifestyle as an abomination. He can press charges against the pastor or broadcaster who merely reads the Bible in public. The 'hater' can be fined thousands of dollars and even imprisoned!"

• JJ Commentary: This is insane! How does this align with the concept of free speech? It even contradicts the “tolerance” mantra of secular progressives. People have indeed been blinded by the god of this age (2Cor. 4:4). A sure sign of end-time madness

Predatory Teachers

An estimated five million students in United States schools have been assaulted sexually by teachers, according to a congressional report. But no one is calling for investigations or law enforcement crackdowns, there have been no campaigns to ban the offenders from schools, and in many states there aren't even any requirements such predator attacks be reported to education licensing agencies. "We have approximately five million children suffering and no one is calling for an investigation, for any kind of data to be collected to find out why that many children are being hurt by teachers," said Terri Miller, who runs probably the only organization in the nation that focuses specifically on assaults by educators on students. "This is an epidemic."

In fact, in many cases, especially where the attacker is a woman and the student a male, such assaults are treated as a joke, with a hand-slap for the teacher, and some ribald locker room humor directed at the student. Miller said that the problem easily could be many times larger than the scandals involving Catholic Church priests molesting children, and the hundreds of millions of dollars in civil liabilities already determined in those cases. "You are not mandated to send your children to church, but you are mandated by law to send your children to school," she said. "And, by God, schools better be mandated to keep them safe." She's said she's confident of two things: the problem is bigger than most people want to realize, and there's very little being done to address it.

• JJ Commentary: Our lust-filled media has produced a society where there are no absolute standards. Consequently, people do “whatever is right in his own eyes” (Deut. 12:8, Judges 17:6, 21:25, et. al.). This is a clear end-time phenomenon, “lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God” (2Tim. 2-4).

Sodom & Gemorrah

Out-of-wedlock births in the United States have climbed to an all-time high, accounting for nearly four in 10 babies born last year, government health officials said Tuesday. While out-of-wedlock births have long been associated with teen mothers, the teen birth rate actually dropped last year to the lowest level on record. Instead, births among unwed mothers rose most dramatically among women in their 20s.

Experts said the overall rise reflects the burgeoning number of people who are putting off marriage or living together without getting married. They said it also reflects the fact that having a child out of wedlock is more acceptable nowadays and not necessarily the source of shame it once was.

• JJ Commentary: This is the result of the attacks against the sanctity of marriage and another marker on our road to Sodom and Gemorrah.

Signs of the Times

VATICAN CITY — Pope Benedict XVI has called a meeting Thursday with top Vatican officials to discuss lifting the celibacy requirement for priests seeking to marry or who have already married. Benedict called the summit to examine the implications of the "disobedience" of Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo, the Zambian prelate excommunicated in September for installing four married American men as bishops, the Vatican said Monday.

The Vatican stressed the meeting would not open a general discussion of the celibacy requirement but would only examine requests for dispensation made by priests wishing to marry and requests for readmission made by clergy who had married in recent years.

• JJ Commentary: In an age where Biblical principles are constantly being compromised, priests marrying is a principle without a Biblical basis, except for Paul’s stated preference. Allowing priests to marry would help minimize the problem of molestation and sexual abuse that has plagued the Catholic church these past few years.
  

MADISON, Wis. — A federal lawsuit filed Monday accuses the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs of violating the constitutional rights of Wiccans because the government does not allow its symbol on headstones in national cemeteries. But a Wiccan symbol representing earth, air, fire, water and spirit isn't recognized by the federal government for veterans' grave markers. "I honestly think there must be some people who don't want to acknowledge that the Wiccan religion should be entitled to the same rights as other religions," said Selena Fox, who is senior minister of the Wiccan Circle Sanctuary in Barneveld.

Stewart, whose husband was awarded the Bronze Star and Purple Heart, was rebuffed by federal veterans' officials when she sought approval to affix the pentacle to the Veterans' Memorial Wall in Nevada, but state officials said they would erect a plaque with the symbol.

• JJ Commentary: Jesus said that we’re either with Him or against Him, no middle ground. Well, the USA is either a Christian nation or it is not. When America first formed, this was not an issue. Now, through tolerance and relativism, we have opened Pandora’s box. Lord, have mercy upon us.

SAN FRANCISCO — A month after an appeals court ruled against same-sex marriage, the city and about a dozen homosexual couples have filed an appeal to the California Supreme Court. Gay marriage advocates hope to overturn the ruling that said limiting marriage to a man and a woman does not violate the constitutional rights of gays and lesbians.

In October, the 1st District Court of Appeal ruled in a 2-1 vote that, among other things, it was not the judiciary's role to define marriage — since 61% of California voters in 2000 declared marriage as a union between a man and a woman under Proposition 22.

• JJ Commentary: Talk about a Pandora’s box! For a change, the judges got it right.