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~ The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Ps. 19:1

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Category Archives: end-times

Coronal rain on the sun

26 Tuesday Feb 2013

Posted by Bette Cox in end-times, Science, Space, Sun, Uncategorized

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coronal rain, Sun

Astronomy Picture of the Day
26 February 2013

Does it rain on the Sun? Yes, although what falls is not water but extremely hot plasma. An example occurred in mid-July 2012 after an eruption on the Sun that produced both a Coronal Mass Ejection and a moderate solar flare. What was more unusual, however, was what happened next. Plasma in the nearby solar corona was imaged cooling and falling back, a phenomenon known as coronal rain. Because they are electrically charged, electrons, protons, and ions in the rain were gracefully channeled along existing magnetic loops near the Sun’s surface, making the scene appear as a surreal three-dimensional sourceless waterfall. The resulting surprisingly-serene spectacle is shown in ultraviolet light and highlights matter glowing at a temperature of about 50,000 Kelvin. Each second in the above time lapse video takes about 6 minutes in real time, so that the entire coronal rain sequence lasted about 10 hours.

Video Credit: Solar Dynamics Observatory, SVS, GSFC, NASA; Music: Thunderbolt by Lars Leonhard

As spectacularly beautiful as the coronal rain is — and it is indeed, God’s marvelous handiwork that has gone on for many thousands of years with no human able to enjoy it — I am amazed at the technology that brought this video to me. The satellite observatory that holds the camera. The beams that sent the images back to earth. The scientists and administrators that decided to share these images with the world. The internet that enabled them to do it. The computer on my desk with the color screen that allows me to view it.

Daniel 12:4 “… many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.”

Knowledge. Data. Information. Whatever is learned, discovered or invented on earth was inspired in men by God, whether or not they acknowledge it. Some of it is practical; the study of our star is quite practical in the minds of scientists. The survival of our species, our entire solar system, may depend on it.

But some is also wonderfully beautiful, great art, great music, great images of space, and of the coronal rain.

For more fascinating information and images, visit Solar Dynamics Observatory: http://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/

Instigators goals

03 Thursday Feb 2011

Posted by Bette Cox in end-times, Middle East, Uncategorized

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Algeria, Egypt, Hamas, Iran, Jordan, Muslim Brotherhood, Sharia law, Syria, Yemen

I’ve been glued to live video out of Tahrir (Freedom) Square in Cairo for several days now. Al Jazeera and BBC have live feeds, Al Jazeera sometimes on You Tube when their internet connection goes down.

It’s easy to sympathize with the anti-Mubarak protesters, considering how violent the pro-Mubarak response was yesterday. It’s been worse today; dozens of journalists have been arrested, some beaten and equipment destroyed; and hundreds of people have been killed across the country (10 so far today in Tahrir Square itself) since the protest started. I watch a while, and pray a while.

But we must not forget who the (mostly invisible) instigators are and their ultimate goals:

  • Not democracy
  • Not free elections
  • Not peaceful disagreement
  • What, then?

An Iranian news article spells it out:

TEHRAN (FNA)- Tehran’s provisional Friday Prayers Leader Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami said the popular uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt, Jordan and Yemen signify creation of an Islamic Middle-East.

Fars News online
28 Jan 2011

“Incidents that are happening in the Middle-East and the Arab world should not be regarded simply,” Ayatollah Khatami said, addressing a large and fervent congregation of people on Tehran University campus.

“To those who do not see the realities I clarify that an Islamic Middle-East is being created based on Islam, religion, and democracy with prevailing religious principals,” Ayatollah Khatami stressed. He was referring to the recent historic revolution in Tunisia and massive protests in Egypt, Jordan, and Yemen.

Egypt’s largest opposition group the Muslim Brotherhood on Thursday called on the country’s people to continue protests. Muslim Brotherhood spokesman Essam al-Arian warned that Egypt would “explode” if the government does not listen to the people. Meantime, Police clamped down on anti-government protesters in the Egyptian capital of Cairo on Friday.

http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.php?nn=8911080828

I’ve been watching responses from Russia, too. They heard the Iranian message too and it seems to be making them a bit nervous. Or does it? It’s hard to tell from Pravda or Russia Today. Here are some links to those sites:
http://english.pravda.ru/photo/album/6069/
http://rt.com/news/cairo-mubarak-tahrir-standoff/

Afghanistan won’t go away; why?

27 Monday Sep 2010

Posted by Bette Cox in Disasters, end-times, Middle East, Politics

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Afghanistan

If you ever read Tapister, one of my other blogs, you know what I think. Follow the money. Follow the power.

Tapister includes news articles that interest me. Articles about power struggles in the Middle East: Iran, Israel, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and elsewhere.

Articles about drought, floods, fires, and famines. About food shortages and skyrocketing food prices. About natural and unnatural disasters. Multiple major earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and oil spills; increasing oceanic temperatures and decreasing oxygen levels. Worldwide atmospheric changes; economic troubles on a global scale.

Articles about scientific and technological discoveries and inventions, capable of wonderful beneficence or horrifying malevolence. About quantum mechanics. The Hadron Collider and nuclear physics. Hubble, NASA, astrophysics.

News articles and opinion pieces that intrigue me are those that could have a relationship to New Testament end-times prophecies.

Afghanistan won’t go away. Military-industrial interests drive this war. Follow the money. Follow the power. Follow the pipelines.

Read the current Tapister entry for two interesting articles, and check previous Tapister entries for more.

Point of no return

13 Friday Aug 2010

Posted by Bette Cox in Disasters, end-times, Middle East

≈ 2 Comments

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bomb, drought, earthquakes, famine, fires, floods, global events, Iran, Israel, Middle East, nuclear weapons, Point of no return, Tapister

The Atlantic magazine online has an article by Jeffrey Goldberg with this title. (See http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2010/09/the-point-of-no-return/8186/.) It’s about when or if Israel will bomb Iran’s nuclear facilities; well worth reading.

Even before I found that essay, I was thinking about the title… in a considerably more grim scenario.

What is the point of no return for human life to survive on earth? What are the parameters for human life to exist on this planet, in the first place?

So much of this element, so much of that… this range of temperatures, this percentage of drinking water, this percentage of food. How much is too much fire? Smoke? Water? How little is too little food? How hot is too hot? How cold is too cold? How much rain is enough, how much sunlight?

How much order is enough, so panic-stricken, starving populations don’t kill each other? Who provides it?

Who stops the earthquakes? The volcanoes? The rains? The heat waves? The droughts and famines? Who dries the floods? Politicians can’t. Scientists can’t. Philosophers can’t.

If you can’t agree on what’s happening, you sure can’t agree on what to do about it.

The parameters for existence and for survival are very narrow. They are certainly known in the scientific community, but not publicized widely. Too boring? Too frightening?

Reasons to Believe is a good website with tons of scientific data on this and other topics, presented by authorities who are both scientists and Christians: http://www.reasons.org/.

The fact is, there is no other habitable planet to escape to, even if there was some way to do it. No space-going ark, no time to build one.

Human beings have squandered the only planet in this galaxy fit for human life, and laughed at those of us who believe the Bible. We have been instructed, and warned, and given many chances to get things right here, then told plainly what will happen if we don’t.

And we haven’t gotten it right. Fires, floods, droughts, famine, starvation, warfare, strange signs in the sky are happening everywhere, and we have nowhere to go to start over. It’s long past time to pray.

If you’d like to follow along as I observe global events, read the news articles and links on my Tapister blog: www.tapister.wordpress.com.

Iran begins drilling for oil in Caspian Sea

18 Thursday Feb 2010

Posted by Bette Cox in end-times

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Caspian Sea, Iran, Middle East, oil

(Reprinted from PressTV online article, 15 Feb 2010.)

The Islamic Republic of Iran has started drilling its first exploratory well in the Caspian Sea to search for oil in the resource-rich body of water.

“The Amir-Kabir semi-submersible drilling rig has started exploration drillings in the Caspian Sea. It will drill the country’s first exploratory well at a depth of 1,550 meters under the seabed,” North Drilling Company Managing Director Hedayatollah Khademi told the Mehr News Agency on Saturday.

In light of the great potential of the region, there is a very good possibility that the Amir-Kabir (formerly known as Iran-Alborz) semi-submersible drilling rig will help find new reserves of crude oil in the Caspian Sea, he added.

The drilling rig weighs 14,000 tons without its attachments and will facilitate exploration in deep waters in the southern part of the Caspian Sea.

According to estimates, the southern part of the Caspian Sea holds at least 32 billion barrels of oil reserves.  Iran’s exploration efforts have so far led to the discovery of 46 oil fields in the Caspian Sea.

Iran has the world’s third-largest proven reserves of crude oil, mainly located in the southwest of the country and offshore in the Persian Gulf. (emphasis added)

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=118561&sectionid=351020103

Why does this matter enough for me to reprint it here? Because of where the Caspian Sea is, who the countries are that surround it, and what they are doing there as we speak. See my earlier articles about the Caspian Sea and oil.

World should prepare for Israeli military attack on Iran’s nuclear weapons facilities

02 Wednesday Dec 2009

Posted by Bette Cox in end-times

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Iran, Israel, Middle East, Natanz, nuclear weapons

Two articles about Iran’s Natanz facility caught my eye today:

(1) Day of reckoning for Iran: The decision-point on the nuclear weapons program is upon us

By Micah Zenko
NY Daily News 25 Nov 2009

… No, Iran has not yet produced the 35 pounds of highly enriched uranium required to fuel a bomb at its well-known, well-inspected facility in Natanz. But there are probably additional hidden facilities like the one near Qom. As a U.S. senior intelligence official told Sanger years before that facility came to light: “None of us believe they will create weapons-grade fuel at Natanz. What they are producing at Natanz is a body of knowledge there that they can transfer elsewhere.” It turns out this was correct.

… In the real world, it is unlikely that Israel will wait months and months for this latest initiative to succeed, or more likely fail. Therefore, the world should prepare for a high-risk Israeli military attack on Iran’s suspected nuclear weapons facilities, catalyzing a wave of further instability in an already volatile region.(emphasis added)

http://bit.ly/5fdy1s

———————-

(2) Official: Iran to Upgrade Centrifuges in Natanz
Fars News 2 December 2009

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iran is due to boost the quality of centrifuge machines at its first enrichment facility in the central city of Natanz…

Iran has so far installed 7,000 centrifuges at its uranium enrichment site in Natanz and 25,000 centrifuges are in the preliminary phases of installation. Planning has also been done for the production of more than 52,000 centrifuges and these centrifuges are now under production inside the country.

“We are seeking to promote the quality of centrifuges as the type of these centrifuges is more important than their number,” Baqeri said. (Iranian Undersecretary for Foreign Policy Affairs Ali Baqeri.)

http://bit.ly/58aRIg

Iran on dual nuclear bomb track: uranium and plutonium

19 Thursday Nov 2009

Posted by Bette Cox in end-times, Politics, religion

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China, Iran, Israel, Middle East, nuclear weapons

Three international news reports caught my eye today (19 Nov 2009):

(1) DEBKA: China told President Obama “No” on sanctions to Iran to halt or slow down Iran’s nuclear ambitions.
http://bit.ly/4CdOF9

(2) FARS: Iran and China are determined to strengthen ties between them in every possible way.
http://bit.ly/k8Mg6

(3) Most interesting – DEBKA: UN inspectors’ October visit to Iran turned up dual-track progress in support of its nuclear weapons program.

Feverish activity was registered in the production of plutonium at Isfahan as an alternative to the Fordo enriched uranium plant near Qom which starts up in 2011.

The IAEA experts discovered 30 metric tons-IS of heavy water hidden in 600 tanks… Metric tons-IS measure the amount of energy a given quantity can release… the amount of heavy water discovered at Isfahan would be enough to make at least one plutonium bomb when the plutonium reactor under construction near the Arak heavy water facility is finished. Other than civilian uses, heavy water may be used to produce tritium, which intensifies the explosive force of nuclear warheads.
http://bit.ly/20JPly

Peace for our time… wishful thinking?

10 Saturday Oct 2009

Posted by Bette Cox in end-times, Politics

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Ahmadinejad, Chamberlain, Iran, Nobel peace prize, Obama

President Obama has been awarded the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize, not for any actual accomplishments, but for wishful thinking on the part of the Nobel community.

Yesterday I read a multitude of not-so-congratulatory comments about the award. Myself, I wonder if he was given the award because of his apparent mind-set about appeasement. He seems to be in favor of it.

That made me think about Neville Chamberlain’s same mind-set, and his “peace for our time” statement in 1938. Not being alive at that time, I researched the subject online.

From Wikipedia:

ChamberlainMunichAgreementLg_The phrase “peace for our time” was spoken on 30 September 1938 by British prime minister Neville Chamberlain in his speech concerning the Munich Agreement. It is primarily remembered for its ironic value. In this photo, he is holding the paper containing the resolution to commit to peaceful methods signed by both Hitler and himself on his return from Munich. He is showing the paper to a crowd at Heston Aerodrome on 30 September 1938.

ChamberlainBundesarchiv_bild_183-r69173_munchener_abkommen_staatschefsThe agreement was negotiated and signed by Germany, France, Britain, and Italy, at a conference held in Munich, Germany, without the presence of Czechoslovakia. It was an act of appeasement. *(see section about appeasement below)

The Munich Agreement gave the Sudetenland of Czechoslovakia to Adolf Hitler in an attempt to satisfy his desire for “living space” for Germany. The German occupation of the Sudetenland began on the next day, 1 October. Less than a year after the agreement, following continued aggression from Germany and its invasion of Poland, Europe was plunged into World War II.

The Munich Agreement permitted German annexation of Czechoslovakia’s Sudetenland, areas along borders of Czechoslovakia, mainly inhabited by Czech Germans. The Sudetenland was of immense strategic importance to Czechoslovakia as most of its border defenses were situated there, and many of its banks were located there as well.

In Chamberlain’s speech of September 30 he said, “My good friends, this is the second time in our history that there has come back from Germany to Downing Street, peace with honour. I believe it is peace for our time.” (emphasis added)

In another speech regarding the agreement, he said “The real triumph is that it has shown that representatives of four great Powers can find it possible to agree on a way of carrying out a difficult and delicate operation by discussion instead of by force of arms (emphasis added), and thereby they have averted a catastrophe which would have ended civilisation as we have known it.”

He was wrong.

Chamberlain was forced to resign the premiership on 10 May 1940, after Germany invaded the Netherlands, Belgium and France. He was succeeded by Winston Churchill but remained very well regarded in Parliament. Before ill health forced him to resign, he was an important member of Churchill’s War Cabinet. He had a key role in the formation of the Special Operations Executive. Chamberlain died of cancer six months after leaving the premiership.

* Appeasement: “the policy of settling international quarrels by admitting and satisfying grievances through rational negotiation and compromise, thereby avoiding the resort to an armed conflict which would be expensive, bloody, and possibly dangerous.” The term is most often applied to the foreign policy of British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain towards Nazi Germany between 1937 and 1939.

Appeasement has been the subject of debate for eighty years among academics and politicians. The historian’s assessment of Chamberlain has ranged from condemnation to the judgment that he had no alternative and acted in Britain’s best interests. At the time, these concessions were widely seen as positive, and the Munich Pact among Germany, Great Britain, France and Italy prompted Chamberlain to announce that he had secured “peace for our time”. The word “appeasement” has been used as a synonym for cowardice since the 1930s and it is still used in that sense today, as a justification for firm, often armed, action in international relations.

In recent years, a revisionist school of history has emerged to challenge many assumptions about appeasement, arguing that it was a reasonable policy given the limitations of British arms available, the scattering of British forces across the world, and the reluctance of Dominion governments to go to war…

The production of aircraft was greatly increased at the time of the Munich agreement. Had war begun (at that time) instead, the Battle of Britain might have had a much different dynamic, with biplanes instead of Spitfires meeting the Germans.

A generally unrecognised aspect of Chamberlain is his role in the inception of and drawing up of a remit for the Special Operations Executive. His eagerness to avoid another Great War was, once war was a fact, matched by the ferocity of the SOE (Special Operations Executive) charter, which he drew up. (emphasis added)

The Special Operations Executive (SOE) (sometimes referred to as “the Baker Street Irregulars”) was a World War II organisation of the United Kingdom. It was initiated by Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Minister of Economic Warfare Hugh Dalton on July 22, 1940, to conduct warfare by means other than direct military engagement. Its mission was to encourage and facilitate espionage and sabotage behind enemy lines.

The organisation was formed from the merger of three existing secret departments… (1) a Foreign Office propaganda organisation known as Department EH (after Electra House, its headquarters), (2) the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS, also known as MI6) Section D, which investigated the use of sabotage, propaganda and other irregular means to weaken an enemy… and (3) the War Office department that researched guerrilla warfare, known initially as GS (R) and renamed MI R in early 1939.

It was also known as “Churchill’s Secret Army” or “The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare” and was charged by Churchill to “set Europe ablaze.” The SOE directly employed or controlled just over 13,000 people. It is estimated that SOE supported or supplied about 1,000,000 operatives worldwide.

SOE was dissolved officially on 15 January, 1946. Most of its personnel reverted to their peacetime occupations (or regular service in the armed forces), but 280 personnel were taken into the “Special Operations Branch” of MI6. Some of these had served as agents in the field, but MI6 was most interested in SOE’s training and research staff.

For details about the creation, operation, success and failures of this remarkable organization, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_Operations_Executive.

———–

It seems that in the end, Chamberlain learned a hard lesson about appeasement: it doesn’t work when you’re dealing with a madman like Hitler – and it won’t work with current madmen (and religious fanatics) like Ahmadinejad and his allies.

I hope President Obama doesn’t have to learn this hard lesson the same way Chamberlain did.

Black and blue

09 Friday Oct 2009

Posted by Bette Cox in end-times, Politics, religion

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earthquakes, fires, floods, Iran, Matthew 24, mudslides, nuclear weapons, Prophecy, typhoons

blueperiod-Picasso-suzanne_blochColors define eras in some artists’ work. For instance, Picasso’s Blue Period (1900-1904) when he painted mostly in shades of blue and blue-green. He went from painting in mood-reflecting shades of blue, to rose, to black, depending on events in his life, so art historians claim.

Jazz musician Miles Davis had a blue period, too – he even recorded an album titled “Blue Period.” His own musical mood was reflective of happenings in his own life, broken relationships, drug addiction, emotional depression.

The last couple of months I’ve felt blue-green myself. I’m even wearing more black and blue clothing than usual, for me. I’ve felt unsettled. A bit quiet, but not a restful quiet. As if I’m listening for the other shoe to fall…

I find myself reading more of a particular fiction genre, more of a particular kind of non-fiction and more of a specific kind of news. And I’m praying a more determined type of prayer. More directed. More intentional. More specific.

As I read assorted scripture passages these days, I seek out those that describe today. Happenings. Relationships between nations, between national personalities. Cause and effect events, some political, some social, some natural, and some supernatural.

As I read and think about Jesus’ description of disasters in Matthew 24, some political, some social, some natural and some supernatural, I listen to the internal voice of the Author. Sort of a running commentary.

I personally believe every one of those predictions have already come true. Yes, I know some Bible scholars say “this gospel of the kingdom” has not yet been preached to all the world. We still have some ethnic groups left to find, still have some preaching to do, right?

Maybe. But the witness to all nations has certainly been accomplished. When the book of Matthew was written, how many nations were there? How many have risen and fallen since then? How many more are being created as we speak? How many ethnic groups have splintered and split, how many become extinct?

It’s true that Jesus said it would be after all that, that the end (of the age) would come. He didn’t say it would be immediately afterward, though, so maybe we have a few years yet to go…

I don’t count on it. Why? Because of what I am NOT reading in the major secular media headlines. Jesus has become less dependent on mankind to preach “this gospel of the kingdom” in some places. Visions and dreams of Jesus are driving people by the dozens, even hundreds, to find someone to talk to them about Jesus. This is happening with increasing frequency in the African – Middle Eastern regions of the world, and probably other places too.

As I read and pray and listen and read, I’ve started keeping a running blog (www.tapister.wordpress.com) with news articles that fit one or more of the descriptions in Matthew 24 and elsewhere. Some days there are so many that I just settle for one.

Disastrous fires have become almost commonplace in California. Unseasonable snow storms are occurring in western states, and it’s just early October. Multiple typhoons just days apart have washed away whole communities. Six major earthquakes in ten days, so far, have killed or buried thousands of people. Maniacal dictators threaten the civilized world.

And people keep on buying and selling, eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage. It’s only logical to be in the midst of a blue period, seems to me.

Distractions

19 Friday Jun 2009

Posted by Bette Cox in end-times, Politics, religion, Uncategorized

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nkoreanshipThe North Korean ship Kang Nam is being monitored by the UN and US Navy, specifically the USS John McCain destroyer. As I write this, the destroyer is being positioned to interdict the N. Korean ship if necessary.

The reason? The weaponry cargo that ship may be carrying, cargo the UN says North Korea cannot ship / sell / transfer to other parties. Nuclear components, or biologicals, or chemicals.

Meanwhile, intelligence sources around the world and especially those of Israel are monitoring the volatile situation in Iran, where the current hard-line extremist President has supposedly won “reelection” and is supported and endorsed by the supreme leader.

Protests by the opposition, even though he is another hard-line extremist, are being met with violence by government forces. And the everyday citizens of Iran are getting fed up with the religious fanaticism that actually runs the country, and more and more voices are being raised in favor of actual reform.

Back here in the USA, the steady march proceeds toward government take-over of banking, housing, automative manufacturing and health care, while the unemployment rate has continued to rise to record heights despite the mega-gazillion dollar stimulus that was going to prevent that.

(Of course, those gazillion dollars had to be borrowed from China and elsewhere, since the US is broke. What was put up as collateral, do you suppose?)

And then there’s the unprecedented natural phenomena, disasters and diseases.

So, which of the foregoing is the distraction from what is going on, really? Any of them? None of them?

I think all of them are distractions from the fact that planet earth and its population are undergoing major stresses that soon will reach the point of no return.

I’ve been reading John Hagee’s book titled “Jerusalem Countdown.” It is five years old now but it might have been written yesterday. John Hagee and Joel Rosenberg (author of “Epicenter”) specialize in end-time events and their books are well worth reading. Studying, underlining and praying through.

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