“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
(Jeremiah 29:11)

Plans

My Life. My Choices. My Future.

May 13, 2015

By Natalie Brooks

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about change. Maybe it’s because I feel the need for change in my life, but for some reason I feel stuck. I feel like something is holding me back. I spent some time in prayer, meditation, and journaling. These are my thoughts on the subject.

If you or I want to change our lives, it’s not easy. Change is a killer.

On the one hand, we know in this modern day there are a lot of opportunities available where we can blaze a new trail, learn a new skill, or even start a new career, if we want to. We’ve all probably heard some of these familiar sayings:

The world is your oyster.

There are no limits.

The word impossible is not in my dictionary.

Never give up.

If you can dream it, you can do it.

The best way to know the future is to invent it.

Success is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration.

Those might be pretty good points, but I end up thinking, “Yeah, right.”

Then I thought I’d bring some truth to the table that I trust; in fact, that I can stake my life on:

Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”¹

God is faithful, who has called you into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.²

But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.³

And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work.⁴

He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform.⁵

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us.⁶

What is impossible with men is possible with God.⁷

He set himself to seek God … and as long as he sought the LORD, God made him prosper.⁸

In my heart I feel greatly blessed because I have a personal relationship with Jesus, I know that God loves me, and I have the source of truth in my hands with the Bible and other godly materials. I have unique life experience from years of living by faith and preaching the gospel. I believe I have much to offer the world, and I should be able to take advantage of the many opportunities around me to serve, give back, find fulfillment, and chart a path toward a legacy that will make my loved ones and Jesus proud of me.

If I have all this, why is it then that sometimes my “reality” is not what I just described? Sometimes I feel small, forgotten, lost, or as if I’m drifting almost aimlessly. In my heart and mind I know I’ve been blessed and have knowledge, understanding, faith, and valuable spiritual gifts. But sometimes I just can’t put it all together to somehow make those gifts work for me.

I don’t know if others can relate to this, or if anyone else has been desperately looking for more, needing to reach out, needing a greater sense of belonging, needing a better career and more money, needing to make changes in health habits and relationships … and the list goes on.

I have found that the longer I have felt this way, the worse it becomes, until eventually I start to wonder if I’ll ever find that path to a better life, a deeper relationship, a healthier lifestyle. When I feel stuck or unsure or unsatisfied with where I am today, it can be confusing or frustrating to try to “fix it” or even to know where to start.

Then I came to a conclusion that was helpful for me: This is my life. It is what I make it.

That might seem so basic, but somehow that brought clarity to me.

My realization was that I have to take ownership of my life. I have to accept without excuses or justifications: This is MY LIFE. No one can change it for me. No one can make my decisions for me. No one can take action for me.

But there are many obstacles that weigh me down and keep me stuck. I made a list of a few of them.

Inertia is one. It’s easier to keep doing what I’m doing than to change. It takes energy, sacrifice, and movement to change the trajectory of my life. Without focused determination to change, I know I will naturally stay on my current path.

Fear is another. Fear of failure, fear of embarrassment, fear of success, fear of loss, fear of too much hard work. All that fear can be paralyzing. I think fear makes us convince ourselves that what we have right now is not that bad; it’s not worth the risk to change.

Procrastination is another. Putting things off until tomorrow is a recipe for stagnation.

The expectations of others are also an obstacle. How I think people see me can hold me back from making changes and venturing into unknown territory. I am trying to remind myself that I will stand before the Lord alone. I won’t be judged or blessed according to what others thought I should do; God will look at what I actually did, how I lived my life. That is ultimately my responsibility and mine alone.

Lack of clarity is another. Maybe you’re feeling this too. Perhaps you sense in your spirit that you need to change your life. Maybe you’re feeling restless or uneasy. Like me, you might have a gut sense that there’s something new and better that the Lord has for you. But you’re not sure what direction to go or what to do, so you wait. I’ve done that. But I think the key is to do something. As we move ahead, we’ll find clarity.

It takes courage to own your life and take full responsibility.

It takes courage to follow God.

It takes courage to change and to make different choices.

It takes courage to take risks.

It takes courage to live life in sync with our highest aspirations, rather than succumbing to mediocrity.

It takes courage to go deeper and grow into the people we want to be, rather than hiding behind excuses or blaming others.

It takes courage to live the truth and be the truest expression of who God wants us to be.

It takes courage to stay the course and weather the storms that will inevitably come once we’ve made a change.

I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.—Nelson Mandela

Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has courage to lose sight of the shore.—Andre Gide

Once we take ownership of our lives and our future, and once we muster up the courage to acknowledge what needs to change, then the next inevitable and irreplaceable step is to take action. There can be no progress or change without action. If we want to change any aspect of our lives, it’s up to us as individuals to just do it.

As Mother Teresa said, “Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not yet come. We have only today. Let us begin.” Today is all we have, and the action we take today is creating our life, our legacy.

It is important that you get clear for yourself that your only access to impacting life is action. The world does not care what you intend, how committed you are, how you feel or what you think, and certainly it has no interest in what you want and don’t want. Take a look at life as it is lived and see for yourself that the world only moves for you when you act.—Werner Erhard

There is no substitute for hard work.—Thomas Edison

So the challenge I face is not complicated:

Take ownership of my life.

Recognize the obstacles that I’m facing or that are keeping me stuck.

Have courage.

Take action.

When we take hold of our life choices, face whatever has been stopping us, and ask God for the courage to take action to fulfill our dreams, we can rest assured that we are not alone. God is for us. As one of my favorite verses says:

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”⁹

God can’t live my life for me, but if I will take a step in the right direction, He will be there for me. He will fulfill His promises. He will answer my prayers. That’s when those Bible promises come to life, and they represent real power!

When God moves on our behalf, then we can see the fulfillment of our dreams and live the life we were created to live. God is FOR us!

¹ Matthew 19:26 NIV.

² 1 Corinthians 1:9 NIV.

³ Philippians 4:19 KJV.

⁴ 2 Corinthians 9:8 KJV.

⁵ Romans 4:20–21 KJV.

⁶ Ephesians 3:20 NIV.

⁷ Luke 18:27 ESV.

⁸ 2 Chronicles 26:5 ESV.

⁹ Jeremiah 29:11 NIV.

Copyright © 2015 The Family International.

***

WND

BILLY GRAHAM'S DAUGHTER ISSUES 'MAYDAY'

Urges prayer and fasting since 'judgment is coming and it's going to be ugly'

Published: May 11, 2015

Anne Graham Lotz

The daughter of America’s most famous evangelist, Billy Graham, says God is “clearly warning that His judgment is coming on America, and it’s going to be ugly.”

So, Ann Graham Lotz is calling on Americans to participate in a “Mayday” time of prayer and intercession May 15-23.

She hopes to “delay or soften God’s judgment that is coming on America and our world” and urge the Holy Spirit to “compel the church to repent of sin and our nation to return to faith in the living God.”

Lotz’s warnings are startlingly specific.

In a recent message on her website, she said she believes Jesus “is soon to return to take all of His followers to Heaven with Him in what is referred to as The Rapture.”

“Institutions will collapse. Banks will close,” Lotz wrote. “The stock market will plunge. Planes will fall out of the sky. Cars will crash on the road. Government in America at every level will disintegrate. Families will be torn apart.

“In the unprecedented turmoil, our nation will be vulnerable for our enemies to seize the moment and attack us. There will be mass chaos, confusion, fear, grief, despair, anger, threats, danger … judgment.”

The Family Research Council is among the Christian groups promoting the prayer campaign. FRC Chaplain Pierre Bynum wrote, “Please take Anne’s call to heart.”

Lotz is not alone in expecting divine judgment against the United States in years or even months to come.

Joel Richardson, author of “When a Jew Rules the World: What the Bible Really Says About Israel in the Plan of God,” agrees it is time for Americans to repent.

Richardson told WND: “I do believe the United States may very well be on the brink of judgment. No doubt, the church should pay heed to the warnings of voices such as Anne Graham Lotz or Rabbi Jonathan Cahn. There is no question that now is the moment for the nation to turn to its Creator with prayer and fasting.

“Yet it is important to state that God does not want to chastise this nation, He does not take pleasure in bringing calamity. The Lord’s desire is always that we choose to repent on our own. But in the same way that any good parent will discipline their children in the hopes of training them to do what is right, so also will God discipline nations for the purpose of awakening them and causing them to turn back to Himself.”

Among the reasons Lotz gives for her urgency in declaring a time of prayer and fasting is the “Blood Moons” phenomenon discovered by pastor Mark Biltz.

Lotz says one of the purposes of the “Mayday” event is to “claim God our Father’s promise of an outpouring of His Spirit in these days following three blood moons and a total solar eclipse: I will pour out my Spirit in those days. … The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. Joel 2:29, 31.”

Biltz, author of “Blood Moons: Decoding the Imminent Heavenly Signs,” agrees, declaring America “is facing an ugly judgment time.”

And while no one can say for sure when such a time could arrive, Biltz cautions, he believes it “could be this year or definitely by the end of next year.”

However, Biltz warns against “overkill” in making specific predictions about “planes falling from the sky” or the imminence of the rapture. That said, Biltz welcomes the “Mayday” prayer event.

“Praying and fasting is always a good idea. This time frame is good, especially on May 17th, which is Jerusalem Day,” he told WND.

Biltz believes America has invited judgment because of its foreign policy regarding the Jewish state of Israel.

“God’s judgment will come on America because of our treatment of Israel and being at the forefront of dividing the land of Israel by pushing for a two-state solution,” he said. “And all of this is in the light of the Blood Moons as well.

“Americans should be fasting and praying and interceding as Abraham did before the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.”

But Carl Gallups, pastor, radio host and author of the end-times bestseller “Final Warning: Understanding the Trumpet Days of Revelation,” says America is already becoming like those doomed cities.

“I am frequently asked if God’s judgment is really getting ready to fall upon America,” he said. “My answer is that it has already begun! Most Americans don’t want to hear that answer. But the facts are staring us in the face. There is already a monumental moral collapse taking place in America.

“Because God has been removed from our schools and our culture, we can see the tangible results of this kind of anti-Christian thinking. Americans feel free to kill our babies for convenience, declare biblical marriage is no longer valid, encourage our children to engage in premarital sex, and persuade our culture to indulge all manner of deviant sexual behaviors. Once you go far enough down this path, a society will grow to hate the Word of God and the people of God who hold to that foundation. We are now there … and the tide continues to rise,” he said.

“Yes – the judgment of God is already falling upon America. But, I agree with Anne Graham Lotz and her biblically bold proclamation, ‘The worst is yet to come and it’s going to be ugly.’”

Gallups says prayer and moral renewal are the only solutions Americans can pursue to cure the deep rot that lies within its culture.

“A large number of Americans mistakenly believe that we can correct our problems solely through the political process. We always hear, ‘If we could only get the right leaders.’ But our problems go far deeper than the political makeup of Washington, D.C.,” he said.

“The real problem is that a moral collapse is destroying the framework and foundations of the national heritage. If that collapse continues without an intervention of national repentance and a societal turning back to our Judeo-Christian roots – it will destroy us.

“I so wish that repairing our broken moral walls were as easy as ‘switching out political leaders.’ But it is the heart of America that needs cleansing first – the rest will follow. America doesn’t need more patriotism at this point in our history – it needs more repentance – we need to turn back to a reverence for God and His Son, Jesus Christ.”

For that reason, Richardson urges Christians to be especially fervent during this critical time. And he cautions believers that if judgment truly is forthcoming, it will center on those who call themselves Christians.

“If the Lord should chastise this nation, He will begin with the house of God. Today there are very popular preachers who claim that all judgment was poured out on Christ on the cross and therefore He would never judge a nation. Such is the logic of the serpent in the garden. It is an absolute perversion of what the Scriptures actually teach,” he said.

“Truly the people have accumulated teachers around themselves who tickle their ears and say what they want to hear. Of course, God poured out his wrath on His own Son in order that anyone can receive His free gift of forgiveness. But that forgiveness begins with repentance. When we refuse to repent, we shut ourselves off from the grace of God.

“Now the moment for this nation to repent? But it must begin with the people of God. It’s time for the church to return to all that they were called to be: A prayerful, evangelistic community that truly functions as salt and light.”

***

ON THE PATH OF THE IMMORTALS–PART 11: Tom Horn On The Secrets Of The CERN Stargate

Posted By SkyWatch Editor On May 10, 2015 @ 8:13 am

[1]

Tom Horn sitting in the CERN COLLIDER set

CONTINUED FROM PARTS ONE [2], TWO [3], THREE [4], FOUR [5], [5] FIVE [6], SIX [7], SEVEN [8], EIGHT [9], NINE [10], and TEN [11]

The Large Hadron Collider could open a doorway to an extra dimension and out of this door might come something, or we might send something through it.

—Sergio Bertolucci, director for research and scientific computing at CERN

The idea of multiple universes is more than a fantastic invention and deserves to be taken seriously.

—AurelienBarrau, French particle physicist at CERN

CERN’s governing council wanted to build a kind of time machine that could open a window to how the Universe appeared in the first microseconds of its existence.… We might even find evidence of the existence of other dimensions. But to conjure up these conditions, the CERN council knew it needed to perform an engineering miracle.

—James Morgan, BBC science reporter

The laboratory we know as CERN was born in 1952, not long after World War II and the emergence of the nuclear bomb. Since that time, some of the research at CERN has entered the public lexicon and nearly become a household word. This European facility began as a post-war physics project and blossomed into an international cabal searching for nothing less than God.

CERN is a French acronym based on the name of the working committee that imagined the possibilities for a physics laboratory governed by another emerging body, the Common Market, which would eventually rise as the revived Roman Empire, the European Union. The name for the committee was the Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire (European Council for Nuclear Research). Just two years later, in 1954, the working committee disbanded, the formal organization commenced work, and the official name was changed to Organisation Européenn pour la Recherche Nucléaire (European Organization for Nuclear Research).[i] [13] Oddly enough, when the official name changed, the acronym should have changed as well—after all, the earlier “committee” had been a temporary entity that had helped birth a major research laboratory; the CERN acronym and the French designation Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire hadn’t yet propagated enough that renaming it would have proven problematic. So why didn’t the founders change the acronym along with the name?

Enter Werner Karl Heisenberg, a renowned German Nobel laureate physicist who is often called “the founder of quantum mechanics.” He served as head of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute during World War II, heading up the Nazi push to create an atomic weapon. Many in the West say that the Allies owed much to Heisenberg, for it is believed that he actually stalled and intentionally misled the Nazis, hoping the Allies would win the race to “find the bomb.” Lew Kowarski, one of Heisenberg’s colleagues, claims that Heisenberg had inexplicably insisted that the original acronym CERN remain in effect.

Werner Heisenberg understood quite well what quantum physics implied for humanity. Inherent within this theoretical realm, populated by obtuse equations and pipe-smoking scientists, lies what I call the “Babylon Potential.” This is the “secret knowledge”—the scientific imperative, informed and driven by spiritual advisers—that the Bible cites as the key to opening a gateway for the “gods.” It is Entemenanki, Baba-alu, the opening of the Abzu, the doorway to Hell.

How is the Babylon Potential related to a simple acronym—CERN? Here’s the answer: Although Heisenberg may not have known it, CERN is an abbreviated title for the ancient god worshipped by the Celts: Cernnunos. The name means “horned one,” and his stern image appears in various forms, usually wearing “stag’s horns” upon his head, and he is oftentimes accompanied by a ram-headed serpent. His worshippers celebrated Cernunnos’ birth in December during the winter solstice. As the Celtic god of the underworld, he parallels Hades and Pluto. Cernunnos controls the shadows, and he is a dying/rising god after the order of Osiris and Horus. Cernunnos alternates control of the world with the moon goddess Danu (another form of Diana/Isis/Semiramis). This intertwined and sometimes antagonistic relationship is similar to that of Shiva and Kali—an important point to make because it is Shiva’s statue that welcomes visitors to CERN’s headquarters in Geneva.

[14]

Cernunnos, Celtic god of the underworld

The Shiva statue depicts the Hindu god in his “nataraja” position, a cosmic dance that destroys the old universe in favor of a new creation.[ii] [15] This ritual is performed on the back of a dwarf, a demon named Apasmara who is said to represent ignorance. Much like the mystery religions and secret societies (of which Freemasonry is a prime example), the initiates receive hidden knowledge that is passed down from mentor to apprentice, and each level achieved brings with it additional clarification as to the true purpose of the organization (or cult). Members are considered “enlightened,” while all those who do not belong are mundane and walk in darkness. We are ignorant. Therefore, the Shiva dance illustrates the superposition of the enlightened over the backs and souls of the blind. Of course, to the Illuminati, the truly ignorant are the foolish Christians. As I’ve said many times in my previous books, the lowest-level members of these mystery religions and secret societies rarely know the truths reserved for the few who actually run the show.

Shiva has been compared to Dionysus,[iii] [16] another fertility god associated with vegetation, forest, streams, and dancing—powers also attributed to Cernunnos. All three have dominion over the underworld: Dionysus, the son of Zeus and the mortal Semele, is a type of beast-god (one who inspires his followers to behave as “beasts”—witness the Maenads, the mad women who followed and tended to the needs of Dionysus, who is called Bacchus in the Roman pantheon. The Maenads danced and drank themselves into an ecstatic frenzy, usually dressing in fawn skins (something the followers of Cernunnos also do), carrying a long stick or staff adorned with a pine cone (symbol of the pineal gland, itself considered a doorway into another realm). As with Osiris and Nimrod, Dionysus journeyed to the underworld—in this case, to rescue his mother. Semele is yet another moon goddess, and she fits the Semiramis/Isis/Danu/Diana model.

It also seems fair to examine indigenous spiral petroglyphs (described elsewhere in this book) that very often feature horned humanoid figures in close proximity to a vortex. While scholars admit to speculating as much as anyone else, they typically interpret these spirals as symbolizing the portal to a long journey. [iv] [17] Could these ancient petroglyphs also be omens of the horned beast god emerging from a vortex spiral?

[18]

[19]

Ancient Native American petroglyphs

What is my point? With its name and by placing a bronze Shiva sculpture prominently in front of its headquarters, CERN is indicating to those with “eyes to see” that the collider’s true purpose is to open a portal to the underworld—to create a stargate or “god-gate,” which would serve as a doorway between worlds. Ordo ab chao, “order out of chaos,” has been the plan for millennia, and the invasion commences when the Abyss is finally opened, and its monstrous inhabitants are set free.

Sound far-fetched? Did you know that the Large Hadron Collider is the second attempt by Western scientists to create such a portal? That first massive Hadron Collider, built in Waxahachie, Texas, was shut down after Congress poured nearly $3 billion into its infrastructure. Known colloquially as Desertron, the planned circumference for the main ring was more than fifty-four miles, approximately 3.3 times larger than the CERN facility. Desertron’s construction would have allowed energy levels of up to forty TeV per proton! CERN’s largest energy output to date is just over eight TeV with plans to increase that this year to an intriguing thirteen TeV.[v] [20] If the Waxahachie collider had the potential to outperform CERN back in the 1980s, then why was it defunded and construction stopped? Well, picture the scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark. After hearing Indiana Jones state that Bolloq (the rival archaeologist who working for the Nazis) has been using a staff of the wrong length, Sallah and Indiana both proclaim, “They are digging in the wrong place!”

Location, Location, Location

[12]

Saint-Genis-Pouilly is a township within the county of Ain in eastern France. It lies on the border with Switzerland, nestled into the foothills of the Jura Mountains and Lake Geneva (Lac du Leman to the French)—and, because of its unique location, it is governed by the cross-border area of Geneva.The ALICE, ATLAS, and MERYN experiments lie within this region. The township consists of four towns: Saint-Genis (sometimes spelled Saint-Genix), Pouilly, Pregnin, and Flies. “Jura,” in Old Norse, means “beast.” Dionysus, Cernunnos, and, to a degree, Osiris are all “beast” gods. Osiris, with his “green” skin, reflects the forest nature of Cernunnos and Dionysus. But, more to the point, if this CERNunnos Illuminati experiment succeeds, it will open the gateway to a beast. However, the term “Jura” also refers to the Latin word for “law.” This is another reflection of the ancient goddess Columbia, Athena, Maat, Themis, Dike, and all those who are “Lady Justice,” a deity that weighs our souls in the balance. The Jura Mountains loom over the CERN campus like ancient judges who oversee the construction and implementation of the new Babylon Portal. The book Zenith 2016 [21] explains the occult significance of these deities with Lady Justice:

According to Virgil and the Cumaean Sibyl, whose prophecy formed the novus ordo seclorum of the Great Seal of the United States, the New World Order begins during a time of chaos when the earth and oceans are tottering—a time like today. This is when the “son” of promise arrives on earth—Apollo incarnate—a pagan savior born of “a new breed of men sent down from heaven” when “heroes” and “gods” are blended together. This sounds eerily similar to what the Watchers did during the creation of the nephilim and to what scientists are doing this century through genetic engineering of human-animal chimeras. But to understand why such a fanciful prophecy about Apollo, son of Jupiter, returning to Earth should be important to you: In ancient literature, Jupiter was the Roman replacement of Yahweh as the greatest of the gods—a “counter-Yahweh.” His son Apollo is a replacement of Jesus, a “counter-Jesus.” This Apollo comes to rule the final New World Order, when “Justice returns, returns old Saturn’s [Satan’s] reign.” The ancient goddess Justice, who returns Satan’s reign (Saturnia regna, the pagan golden age), was known to the Egyptians as Ma’at and to the Greeks as Themis, while to the Romans she was Lustitia. Statues and reliefs of her adorn thousands of government buildings and courts around the world, especially in Washington D.C., as familiar Lady Justice, blindfolded and holding scales and a sword. She represents the enforcement of secular law and is, according to the Sibyl’s conjure, the authority that will require global compliance to the zenith of Satan’s dominion concurrent with the coming of Apollo. What’s more, the Bible’s accuracy concerning this subject is alarming, including the idea that “pagan justice” will require surrender to a satanic system in a final world order under the rule of Jupiter’s son.[vi] [22]

This excerpt from Zenith 2016 [21] and the CERN relationship with the Jura Mountains becomes even clearer when we examine the second of the towns mentioned earlier—Pouilly, established by the Romans as Apolliacum, which reportedly served as the location for a temple to Apollo. Apollo, or Apollyon, is listed in the book of Revelation as belonging to the king of the hybrid-fallen angel creatures that rise up from the pit—Abyss—when it is unsealed. It should also be mentioned that at the time of the Roman occupation of the area, the predominant inhabitants were the Celts, which takes us back to Cernunnos. In a roundabout way, pun intended, the rings of CERN encompass a variety of ancient deities who are all connected to the underworld:

And the fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a star fallen from heaven to earth, and he was given the key to the shaft of the bottomless pit.

He opened the shaft of the bottomless pit, and from the shaft rose smoke like the smoke of a great furnace, and the sun and the air were darkened with the smoke from the shaft.

Then from the smoke came locusts on the earth, and they were given power like the power of scorpions of the earth.

They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any green plant or any tree, but only those people who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads.

They were allowed to torment them for five months, but not to kill them, and their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it stings someone.

And in those days people will seek death and will not find it. They will long to die, but death will flee from them.

In appearance the locusts were like horses prepared for battle: on their heads were what looked like crowns of gold; their faces were like human faces,

their hair like women’s hair, and their teeth like lions’ teeth;

they had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the noise of their wings was like the noise of many chariots with horses rushing into battle.

They have tails and stings like scorpions, and their power to hurt people for five months is in their tails.

They have as king over them the angel of the bottomless pit. His name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek he is called Apollyon. (Revelation 9:1–11)

Both Apollyon (Greek) and Abaddon (in the Hebrew) mean “the destroyer,” just as Shiva is the destroyer. These “gods,” these fallen angels from the pit, intend to set up a new world order on the ash heap of the old—on the backs of “ignorant dwarves” like you and me. Peter Goodgame sheds further light on the identity of this “king” locust:

And just who is this Greek god Apollyon who makes his strange appearance in the book of Revelation? Charles Penglase is an Australian professor who specializes in ancient Greek and Near Eastern religion and mythology. In his book, Greek Myths and Mesopotamia: Parallels and Influence in the Homeric Hymns and Hesiod, Penglase carefully and methodically demonstrates that the Greek myths and legends of Apollo were simply Greek retellings of the Babylonian myths involving the rise to power of the god Marduk, which were themselves based on earlier legends of the Sumerian hunter/hero known as Ninurta. Furthermore, according to David Rohl, the original name for Ninurta was in fact Nimurda, whose historical identity can be traced back to King Enmerkar of Uruk, the very same figure who is known in the Bible as Nimrod.[vii] [23]

Is it not astonishing that, following upon the heels of two world wars in which millions upon millions of human lives were sacrificed—and upon the discovery of a mighty weapon that changed history forever, that being the atomic bomb—the victors in both wars would come together to form a scientific endeavor that would unlock the secrets of the universe? And is it not even more astonishing that this collective of the world’s finest minds mirrors one of the darkest events in biblical history, that of the Tower of Babel?

It is said that one possible location for the tower was directly over the presumed location of the Abzu, the Abyss! Was Nimrod actually trying to unleash the locusts in defiance of God’s ultimate timing? Nimrod, deified as Apollo by the Greeks and Osiris by the Egyptians, is considered by many theologians to be the same “spirit” that will return to earth in the last days as the Antichrist. In fact, in the New Testament, the identity of the god Apollo (repeat-coded on the Great Seal of the United States as the Masonic “messiah” who returns to rule the earth in a new Golden Age), is the same spirit—verified by the same name—that will inhabit the political leader of the end-times New World Order. Again, from Zenith 2016 [21] we read:

According to key Bible prophecies, the Antichrist will be the progeny or incarnation of the ancient spirit, Apollo. Second Thessalonians 2:3 warns: “Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition [Apoleia; Apollyon, Apollo]” (emphasis added). Numerous scholarly and classical works identify “Apollyon” as the god “Apollo”—the Greek deity “of death and pestilence,” and Webster’s Dictionary points out that “Apollyon” was a common variant of “Apollo” throughout history. An example of this is found in the classical play by the ancient Greek playwright Aeschylus, The Agamemnon of Aeschylus, in which Cassandra repeats more than once, “Apollo, thou destroyer, O Apollo, Lord of fair streets, Apollyon to me.” Accordingly, the name Apollo turns up in ancient literature with the verb apollymi or apollyo (destroy), and scholars including W. R. F. Browning believe apostle Paul may have identified the god Apollo as the “spirit of Antichrist” operating behind the persecuting Roman emperor, Domitian, who wanted to be recognized as “Apollo incarnate” in his day. Such identifying of Apollo with despots and “the spirit of Antichrist” is consistent even in modern history. For instance, note how Napoleon’s name literally translates to “the true Apollo.”

Revelation 17:8 likewise ties the coming of Antichrist with Apollo, revealing that the Beast shall ascend from the bottomless pit and enter him:

The Beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the Bottomless Pit, and go into perdition [Apolia, Apollo]: and they that dwell on the Earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the Beast that was, and is not, and yet is.[viii] [24]

Many prophecy scholars equate Nimrod with Gilgamesh, the hero of the ancient Sumerian creation story composed circa 2000 BC. Gilgamesh claimed to be two-thirds “god,” which seemed impossible until today, when babies are born every day with three parents (a process where one “parent” is a woman who donates her enucleated ovum as carrier for the DNA of the other two parents). But Genesis refers to Nimrod as a man who “began to be a mighty one in the earth” (Genesis 10:8 emphasis added). The Hebrew word translated as “began to be” is khalal, which implies sexual profanity or genetic pollution—and a process. Nimrod was becoming a Gibbowr (mighty one), which is most often used when referring to giants. Nimrod most likely was a product of a profane mating of fallen angel (god) and human. He is Apollo, Cernunnos, Abaddon, Osiris, and Horus, and he is returning as king of the locusts (hybrid fallen angels) from the pit! And CERN may be the stargate that will open this unholy portal!

The race to discern the atom’s secrets has been part of the millennia-old plan of the ages: to unseat God through secret knowledge and rituals. The very logo chosen for CERN, representing the rings of the colliders, forms a “666.” This is semiotic subterfuge. The overt symbol, we are told, merely represents the rings, but Bible scholars who know prophecy—those with “eyes to see” can discern the truth. Yet this semiotic veil may hide much more. The opening to this chapter includes a quote from Sergio Bertolucci, director of CERN, implying that the real purpose of the colliders is to open a gateway to other dimensions. CERN is using its massive rings to study and create anti-matter, anti-gravity, and perhaps even torsion fields,[ix] [25] which have been theorized as a means to travel through time and space (and perhaps dimensions). Torsion fields—if they exist—are like wormholes into another dimension.

A curious passage occurs in the Old Testament:

And it came to pass, when the Lord would take up Elijah into heaven by a whirlwind, that Elijah went with Elisha from Gilgal.(2 Kings 2:1)

Gilgal is the location of an ancient stone circle, after the pattern of Stonehenge. According to author Barry Chamish, the full name of this installation is the “Circle of the Giants” (Gilgal-Rephaim):

The Israeli UFO experience is unique and very complicated. I have touched on just one aspect of it; but it is vital to understanding the Israeli puzzle. Of the seven best documented close encounters with alien beings provably connected to UFOs, six involved giants. These giants were determined to leave evidence of their arrival in the form of cadmium-imbued landing circles, miles of impossible boot tracks and deliberate communication with witnesses. Indeed, the abundant evidence more than indicates that there are giants roaming Israel today.

As there were 5,000 years ago and they also left proof of their existence. The giants were descended from the Nephilim, literally the fallen ones. In ancient time, entities fell on Israel from the heavens and later became the mortal enemies of the Hebrew nations.

The Circle of the Giants—Gilgal Rephaim. 5200-year-old monument believed by some to have been built by the biblical giants, also called Nephilim.

One giant king was Og of Bashan. The bible records that his bed was thirteen feet long. Bashan’s territory included the Golan Heights. Sitting on the Golan Heights is the Israeli version of Stonehenge. Called Gilgal Rephaim, the Circle of the Rephaim or giants in English, this site consists of five concentric rings whose beauty can only be appreciated from above. Unfortunately, there was supposedly no way for the simple nomads of 5000 years ago to see the circles from above.

The site is enormous. The outside circle has a diameter of 159 meters and over 37,000 tons of rock went into the construction of the complex. Two openings in the circles may have been used to measure the solar solstice and the rising of Sirius in 3000 BCE.

The fact remains that Israeli archaeologists are totally mystified by the Gilgal Rephaim. No other complex built in the Middle East resembles it and it predates the pyramids by over 500 years. The indigenous nomads of the time did not engage in this kind of megalith building, so outsiders were probably the builders. According to the Bible, the only outsiders living on the Golan Heights back then were giants.

Maybe it’s a longshot, but no one has come up with a better explanation for Israel’s current UFO wave. I believe the ancient giants may be coming home. I conclude on a somber note. The biblical giants were God’s enemy and Israel’s armies were the means to their utter destruction. There is a legitimate reason to contemplate the recent rearrival of giants in Israel with a good measure of dread.[x] [26]

It’s intriguing that Elijah was at this very location when he received the message from the Lord that he would soon be taken to heaven by a whirlwind. Had Elijah remained there waiting for God to send for him, the local pagans may have attributed the supernatural event to the Prince of the Power of the Air—Baal, the god of storms, or perhaps Dagon, the god of the wind. Jesus calls Satan “the Prince and Power of the Air.” The whirlwind has a shape similar to that of a torsion field, or wormhole. God Almighty works with His universe using His rules and methods, so what appears to us humans, who are confined to a limited perception of space/time as a whirlwind, may actually be a wormhole. Elijah heard the promise of the Lord, and he left Gilgal.

In fact, Elijah kept traveling for days—much to Elisha’s surprise and befuddlement—finally arriving in Bethel, then Jericho, then crossing over the Jordan river (by striking it with his garment and parting the waters, mind you!). It was only then that a “chariot of fire” drawn by horses of fire appeared, and Elijah was taken by a whirlwind. Was he translated to another dimension—to heaven—via a wormhole? These “chariots of fire”—were they heavenly messengers or another manifestation of God’s methods as they appear to human senses?

[i] [27] CERN’s official names and founding information come from the Wikipedia entry, available at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CERN [28] (accessed January 12, 2015).

[ii] [29]“The Nataraja Dance of Shiva,” Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nataraja [30] (accessed January 20, 2015).

[iii] [31]Wendy Doniger O’Flaherty, History of Religions Vol. 20, No. 1/2, Twentieth Anniversary Issue (Aug.–Nov., 1980), 81–111, (University of Chicago Press) available online via JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/1062337?sid=21105662919083&uid=4&uid=3739640&uid=2&uid=3739256 [32] (accessed January 20, 2015).

[iv] [33]D. Lewis-Williams (2002), .A Cosmos in Stone: Interpreting Religion and Society through Rock Art (Walnut Creek, CA: Altamira Press) 39.

[v] [34]“Restarting the LHC: Why 13 TeV?” CERN website: http://home.web.cern.ch/about/engineering/restarting-lhc-why-13-tev [35] (accessed January 20, 2015).

[vi] [36] Thomas Horn, Zenith 2016 (Crane, MO: Defender, 2013) 138.

[vii] [37] Peter Goodgame, “The Mighty One” (Red Moon Rising), available online via http://www.redmoonrising.com/Giza/Asshur9.htm [38] (accessed January 20, 2015).

[viii] [39]Horn, Zenith 2016, 139–140.

[ix] [40]A. S. Belyaev, I. L. Shapiro, et al, “Torsion Phenomenology at the LHC” (December 2006), Cornell Library, http://arxiv.org/abs/hep-ph/0701002 [41] (accessed January 20, 2015).

[x] [42]Barry Chamish, “Strange UFO Sightings in Israel,” published online at http://www.mt.net/~watcher/chamishgiants.html [43] (accessed January 23, 2015).

***

ARUTZ SHEVA

Op-Ed: Jews Go On the Offensive on the Temple Mount

Steadfast upholding of principles is the only way to win.

Published: Monday, May 11, 2015 12:53 AM

Giulio Meotti
The writer, an Italian journalist with Il Foglio, writes a twice-weekly...
A few days ago we published on Arutz Sheva an exposé about Unesco's new policy regarding theTemple Mount, meant to strip the Jews of their historic, legal and natural rights over their most important holy city.

Unesco designated Jerusalem as the “capital of Arab culture”, a false claim now finding fertile ground even outside the Islamic

The Sanhedrin and other Jewish groups then drafted a letter of protest to the UN's cultural office. It showed the way the State of Israel should fire back at their enemies. A special court will also be formed at Mount Zion based on the Foundation of Sanhedrin to sue Unesco.

The Jewish document "demands revocation of the declaration regarding Islam's rights on the Temple Mount and replacing it with a truthful declaration or else face legal prosecution". They charge Unesco of "acting like a tool of belligerent Islam", which recklessly and maliciously "proclaimed that the entire mount with the Al Aqsa Mosque and all rights belong to the Muslims, include the surroundings of so called ancient Jerusalem as an Islamic heritage cite in the declaration publicized on April 28, 2015".

This is not the first time Unesco shows enmity and hatred for the Jewish people.

During the 90’s, then-Unesco director-general Frederico Mayor boycotted all the international conferences in Jerusalem and Unesco’s officials always refused to meet with Israeli officials.

Unesco declared that Rachel’s Tomb and Hevron’s Cave are “Muslim mosques”

Unesco designated Jerusalem as the “capital of Arab culture”, a false claim now finding fertile ground even outside the Islamic world.

Through its Unesco membership, the Palestinian Authority is trying to put together a case to take Israel to the International Court of Justice to condemn the Israeli excavations in Jerusalem as “war crimes and crimes against humanity”. This is a most severe calumny and directly connected to the deaths of dozens of Israelis and Palestinians during the so-called “Western Wall Tunnel riots” of 1995.

Unesco has remained remarkably silent, not once condemning the Palestinian Authority for its desecration of the Temple Mount.

According to these Jewish groups, "the proclamation deliberately contributes to denial of the status of the Jewish people and the faith and heritage of Israel from which other monotheistic religions stem, in a blatant attempt to fan the flames of conflict between religions and states".

Therefore, they "demand from Unesco recognition of the Temple Mount as the holiest site of the Jewish people and a call to end the racial discrimination against Jews on the Temple Mount and support for equality of rights in the Temple Mount for Jews in all matters of religion and worship. If you do not do this, you are liable to be charged with anti-Semitism which is a criminal offence in most countries of the world. If you make the requested declaration, you will be clarifying that you do not support racial discrimination against Jews".

Otherwise, it continues, "we will be forced to sue them as well, without fear, as written in the prophecies of the Jewish prophets: 'And liberators shall come up on Mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau; and the kingdom shall be the Lord's (Obadiah 1:21)'".

Israel's passive policy, connected with Israel's denial of the Temple Mount's centrality in the conflict, helped the Palestinian Arabs win the Unesco race and allowed the “rewriting the history of Palestine”, as Hamdan Taha, director of the Palestinian Antiquities Department, explained. The new Jewish groups' initiative shows the other way to deal with enemies. Without fear, but proud and steady.

This is how anti-Semitic lies and hatred will be defeated. The Jewish people will live!

RT

Vatican officially recognizes Palestine, while Israel fumes

Published time: May 13, 2015 16:39

Edited time: May 14, 2015 07:46

Pope Francis welcomes Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (R) upon his arrival at the Vatican June 8, 2014. (Reuters/R

The Vatican has become the latest country to recognize the state of Palestine, after a new treaty was finalized on Wednesday. Unsurprisingly Israel has hit out at the move, saying that it damages prospects for peace in the region.

The treaty, which was agreed, though has yet to be formally signed states the Vatican has switched its diplomatic allegiance from the Palestinian Liberation Organization to the state of Palestine. It was finalized days before the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is due to visit Pope Francis.

Abbas is traveling to the Vatican to attend the canonization of four new saints by the Pope, two of which are Palestinian nuns. The move to grant them sainthood has been described as a "sign of hope" for the region by the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, Fouad Twal, Vatican Insider reports.

The Vatican has been unofficially referring to the state of Palestine for over a year. Pope Francis visited Israel last year and the Vatican’s official program referred to Abbas as the president of the state of Palestine. During his visit to the Holy Land, he called for peace from both sides.

A spokesman for the Vatican, the Reverend Federico Lombardi confirmed the news saying: "Yes, it's a recognition that the state exists," AP reports.

The decision has brought condemnation from Israel, with the country’s foreign ministry saying it was “disappointed” at the move.

"This move does not promote the peace process and distances the Palestinian leadership from returning to direct and bilateral negotiations," the ministry said in a text message, AP reported. "Israel will study the agreement and will consider its steps accordingly."

Vatican Foreign Minister Monsignor Antoine Camilleri said the move was not politically motivated, but was simply in line with the Holy See’s position.

In 2012, the Vatican welcomed a decision by the UN General Assembly to recognize Palestine as a non-member observer state. However, the latest treaty is the first legal document between the Vatican and the state of Palestine, which can be considered as official diplomatic recognition.

The treaty in question concerns the activity of the Catholic Church in Palestine. In April 2014, a Catholic Monastery was vandalized not far from the Israeli capital of Jerusalem in a hate crime carried out by Israelis. Slogans condemning peace talks with Palestine as well as graffiti disparaging Jesus and Mary was daubed on the walls.

This is not the first time that Pope Francis has made a diplomatic decision that was not to everyone’s liking. In April, he honored the 100th anniversary of the slaughter of Armenians by Ottoman Turks and called it “the first genocide of the 20th century.”

During a mass at the Armenian Catholic rite at Peter’s Basilica, the Pope said he had a duty to honor the innocent men, women, children, priests and bishops who were murdered by the Ottoman Turks.

“Concealing or denying evil is like allowing a wound to keep bleeding without bandaging it,” said the pontiff.

***

CNN

Raul Castro may join Catholic Church, he says after Pope Francis meeting

By Eliott C. McLaughlin, CNN

Updated 12:19 PM ET, Sun May 10, 2015

(CNN)Cuba has eased its persecution of religion in the last 23 years, but there have been few overtures suggesting the country's executive office might be finding its faith.

That changed Sunday when President Raul Castro said the teachings of Pope Francis had persuaded him not only to take a softer line on religion, but perhaps to return to the Catholic Church and begin worshipping again as he once did, growing up in Jesuit schools.

"As I've already told my council of advisers, I read all of the Pope's speeches," he said. "If the Pope continues to speak like this, sooner or later I will start praying again and I will return to the Catholic Church -- and I'm not saying this jokingly."

Appearing in Rome alongside Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi following his first-ever meeting with the Pope, Castro said he would be among the masses flocking to see the Pope speak during his September visit to Cuba.

"I promise that I will go to all of his Masses -- and with satisfaction. I left the meeting this morning impressed, very impressed by his knowledge, his wisdom, modesty, and by all the virtues that we know he has," Castro said.

Castro's brother, Fidel Castro, a revolutionary who came to power in 1959, declared in 1961, "I am a Marxist-Leninist and shall be one until the end of my life," referring to the ideology espoused by Karl Marx, the German co-author of "The Communist Manifesto," and Vladimir Lenin, a socialist icon who led what is now Russia from 1917 to 1924.

Marx once wrote, "Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people."

Religion's rocky road

In the early days of Fidel Catro's rule, Catholics and adherents to other religions found themselves heavily persecuted. Worshippers were targeted, sometimes violently. Church property was seized, priests and ministers were forced into exile or imprisoned, and parents who had once embraced their faith began raising their children in secular households so they would not face discrimination.

In 1992, the constitution was amended to prohibit discrimination against religion, but the U.S. State Department wrote in an annual report last year that the government still restricts religious activities.

Pope John Paul II visited the island in 1998. Pope Benedict XVI took an "apostolic journey" there in 2012. In January, officials announced the first Catholic church of the Castro brothers' rule would be built in Sandino, a town of 39,000 on the west end of the island.

"I am a communist of the Cuban Communist Party," Raul Castro said Sunday. "The party never allowed the believers. Now we are allowing that believers also be part. This is an important step."

Claiming to still be Jesuit "to a degree," Castro said Cuba was also striving toward political and economic reform. But he warned that it was more difficult than imagined "because we don't want to take measures that will hurt our people. We don't want a policy of shock. We don't want anybody to end up in the street."

Papal influence

Pope Francis has been integral in at least one aspect of change in Cuba. In December, Raul Castro thanked the Pope for his involvement in efforts to thaw diplomatic relations with the United States. The Vatican and Canadian government have been key facilitators in the talks, which began in June 2013.

The first pope from Latin America, Francis urged U.S. President Barack Obama -- in a 2014 letter and later during an in-person meeting -- to pursue a closer relationship with the United States' island neighbor and ease the aid and trade sanctions that have been in place since the 1960s.

"This expression by President Barack Obama deserves the respect and recognition by all the people, and I want to thank and recognize support from the Vatican and especially from Pope Francis for the improvement of relations between Cuba and the United States," Raul Castro said in December.

The Vatican dubbed the pope's 50-minute Sunday meeting with Castro "very friendly" and said the two exchanged gifts.

Castro gave the pope a commemorative medal from Havana's Cathedral of The Virgin Mary of the Immaculate Conception, along with a painting by a Cuban artist depicting a migrant praying to a cross made of wrecked barges, a statement on the plight of migrants and refugees throughout the world. The Holy See gave the Cuban President a medallion depicting St. Martin of Tours, the patron saint of beggars, cloaking the poor, along with a copy of "Evangelii gaudium," the Pope's 2013 apostolic exhortation that has been hailed as the "Magna Carta of church reform."

Fidel Castro remembers Lenin

"The President told reporters before leaving the Vatican that he had thanked the Holy Father for the active role he played in favor of improving relations between Cuba and the United States of America, and also presented to the Pope the sentiments of the Cuban people -- sentiments of expectation and preparation for the Holy Father's visit the island in September," a Vatican statement said.

While Sunday's meeting may mark a boon for religious freedom advocates, change in Cuba has come slowly and the brothers Castro do not always appear to be on the same page.

On Saturday, Fidel Castro penned an op-ed commemorating Victory Day, a celebration the 70th anniversary of Nazi Germany's surrender to the Soviet Union. In it, Castro, who ceded power to his brother in 2008, referred to Lenin as a "brilliant revolutionary strategist," lauded communism, decried capitalism and wrote that the recent cooperation between China and Russia has formed a "shield of world peace and security, so that the life of our species may be preserved."

"The 27 million Soviets who died in the Great Patriotic War also did so for humanity and the right to think and be socialists, to be Marxist-Leninists, communists, and leave the dark ages behind," Fidel Castro wrote on state-run Granma.

CNN's Hada Messia contributed to this report.

***

WND

MUSLIMS NOW TRAINING CHRISTIAN MILITIAS

'The only people who are protecting us are the resistance of Hezbollah'

Published: May 10, 2015

F. MICHAEL MALOOF

WASHINGTON – Facing the possibility of attacks from the Islamic State, Christian villages in the Bekaa Valley of Lebanon are forming militias, and they are being trained by the Iranian-backed Shiite Muslim group Hezbollah, a new report from Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin intelligence report confirms.

Informed Lebanese sources told G2 that serious ISIS attacks are expected as Hezbollah already has begun to engage fighters of the Islamic State, or ISIS, and the al-Qaida-affiliated Jabhat al-Nusra Front in the Syrian Qalamoun mountains opposite those villages in central and eastern Bekaa.

Alarmed by the Sunni jihadists from Syria, Hezbollah not only is training Christian militias but is setting up those that are operational in positions beside Hezbollah fighters, the sources report.

“The Qalamoun battle is coming,” said Hezbollah deputy chief Sheikh Naim Qassem,

He said the battle is about protecting Lebanese villages.

For now, the Lebanese army has been thwarting attacks in the region around the Christian town of Ras Baalbek, which has some 8,500 residents and is only about 25 miles from the historic Roman city of Baalbek.

There have been attacks around Baalbek and near Britel in areas controlled by the Iranian-backed Shia Hezbollah but, to date, the Sunni jihadist attacks have been unsuccessful.

Deep in Shia-controlled territory, Baalbek, which is believed to date back 9,000 years, has withstood centuries of attacks from barbarians, the Greeks and the Romans. The city once was given as a gift by the Roman general Marcus Antonius – Marc Antony – to his lover, the Egyptian queen.

Ras Baalbek, in the northern part of the Bekaa Valley, is in a Christian region of the country. Nusra and ISIS seek to target it as a stepping stone to other ancient Christian towns in central Bekaa such as Zahle, Firzel, Ablah and Drous.

One Lebanese source told G2 he is confident ISIS “will not be able to do more than hit and run operations.”

In the predominantly Christian region, Islamist fighters have threatened to attack churches and the Christians themselves. In response, the residents are taking up arms.

“If Hezbollah did not exist, it would have been necessary to create it,” said Albert Mansour, a former government minister who is a resident of Ras Baalbek. “The party’s existence makes the people – including Sunnis, Shiites and Christians of the region – feel safe in the face of this strange formation,” referring to the presence of the Sunni jihadist fighters.

“In fact, the Christians of Ras Baalbek and the Iranian-backed militants are downright friendly to each other,” Alessandria Masi of International Business Times said.

Estimates of heavily armed ISIS and Nusra fighters ready to pounce on Christian towns in the area vary from 4,500 to 6,000.

***

theguardian

In Scotland, the nationalist tide has swept all before it

Martin Kettle

The SNP’s slaying of Labour and the Lib Dems feels epochal – and the United Kingdom could be next in line

'The prospect of a UK referendum on the EU may offer Nicola Sturgeon a cast-iron pretext for planning a second independence referendum too.' Photograph: Danny Lawson/PA

Thursday 7 May 2015 23.16 EDT

Last modified on Friday 8 May 2015 01.02 EDT

In the 2010 general election, every parliamentary seat in Scotland re-elected the same party it had elected in 2005. But that was then and this is now – and there is an absolute chasm between them. Last night, in the 2015 election, the overwhelming majority of Scottish seats sent a new Scottish Nationalist face to Westminster. It is the biggest electoral revolution in the British Isles since Sinn Féin obliterated the Irish home rulers in 1918. And the message for the United Kingdom is every bit as threatening.

The SNP said during the campaign that it wanted a Labour win south of the border bolstered by an SNP win in Scotland. But in truth this election was an each-way bet for the SNP. A Conservative win in England offers an even tastier prospect for Nicola Sturgeon’s party – an ancient and visceral dividing line which allows the SNP to stand tall both as Scotland’s champion and the defender of the postwar settlement.

Astonishingly, the English Tory party seems equally happy with the confrontation – to the consternation of leading Scottish Tories. The prospect of a UK referendum on the EU may offer Sturgeon a cast-iron pretext for planning a second independence referendum too.

The collapse of Labour and Liberal Democrat support in Scotland feels epochal. The roots of this virtual wipeout include the collapse of the old solidarities of industrial Britain, the inward-facing machine politics of Scottish Labour in the Gordon Brown era, the wrenching effect of Tony Blair’s Iraq adventure, and Ed Miliband’s failure to stop the SNP becoming the voice of post-industrial Scotland.

The Lib Dems have been toast ever since they went into coalition with the Tories. Labour’s collapse raises the question of whether it can long resist the rise of English nationalism in the shape of Ukip’s advance in the north east and Yorkshire.

Sturgeon counselled caution when the TV exit poll awarded 58 of Scotland’s seats to the SNP on the stroke of 10pm. Yet no one can truthfully say that this result was unexpected. The polls in Scotland have been consistently hardening in the SNP’s favour for weeks. Anti-SNP tactical voting may have prevented a total nationalist triumph. But in the end, the nationalist tide has swept almost all before it. This election has changed the face of Scotland, threatening the future of a UK which had seemed robustly intact after the independence referendum only a few months ago.

***

The Economic Collapse

The Greatest Water Crisis In The History Of The United States

By Michael Snyder, on May 12th, 2015

What are we going to do once all the water is gone? Thanks to the worst drought in more than 1,000 years, the western third of the country is facing the greatest water crisis that the United States has ever seen. Lake Mead is now the lowest that it has ever been since the Hoover Dam was finished in the 1930s, mandatory water restrictions have already been implemented in the state of California, and there are already widespread reports of people stealing water in some of the worst hit areas. But this is just the beginning. Right now, in a desperate attempt to maintain somewhat “normal” levels of activity, water is being pumped out of the ground in the western half of the nation at an absolutely staggering pace. Once that irreplaceable groundwater is gone, that is when the real crisis will begin. If this multi-year drought stretches on and becomes the “megadrought” that a lot of scientists are now warning about, life as we know it in much of the country is going to be fundamentally transformed and millions of Americans may be forced to find somewhere else to live.

Simply put, this is not a normal drought. What the western half of the nation is experiencing right now is highly unusual. In fact, scientists tell us that California has not seen anything quite like this in at least 1,200 years…

Analyzing tree rings that date back to 800 A.D. — a time when Vikings were marauding Europe and the Chinese were inventing gunpowder — there is no three-year period when California’s rainfall has been as low and its temperatures as hot as they have been from 2012 to 2014, the researchers found.

Much of the state of California was once a desert, and much of it is now turning back into a desert. The same thing can also be said about much of Arizona and much of Nevada. We never really should have built massive, sprawling cities such as Las Vegas and Phoenix in the middle of the desert. But the 20th century was the wettest century for western North America in about 1,000 years, and we got lulled into a false sense of security.

At this point, the water level in Lake Mead has hit a brand new record low, and authorities are warning that official water rationing could soon begin for both Arizona and Nevada…

Lake Mead, the largest reservoir in the US, has hit its lowest level ever. Feeding California, Nevada and Arizona, it can hold a mind-boggling 35 cubic kilometres of water. But it has been many years since it was at capacity, and the situation is only getting worse.

“We’re only at 38 percent full. Lake Mead hasn’t been this low since we were filling it in the 1930s,” said a spokeswoman for the US Bureau of Reclamation in Las Vegas.

If it gets much lower – and with summer approaching and a dwindling snowpack available to replenish it, that looks likely – official rationing will begin for Arizona and Nevada.

And did you know that the once mighty Colorado River no longer even reaches the ocean? Over 40 million people depend upon this one river, and because the Colorado is slowly dying an enormous amount of water is being pumped out of the ground in a crazed attempt to carry on with business as usual…

The Colorado River currently supplies water to more than 40 million people from Denver to Los Angeles (as well as Las Vegas, Phoenix, Tucson, San Diego, Salt Lake City, Albuquerque, and Santa Fe—none of which lie directly on the river). According to one recent study, 16 million jobs and $1.4 trillion in annual economic activity across the West depend on the Colorado. As the river dries up, farmers and cities have turned to pumping groundwater. In just the last 10 years, the Colorado Basin has lost 15.6 cubic miles of subsurface freshwater, an amount researchers called “shocking.” Once an official shortage is declared, Arizona farmers will increase their rate of pumping even further, to blunt the effect of an anticipated sharp cutback.

The same kind of thing is going on in the middle part of the country. Farmers are pumping water out of the rapidly shrinking Ogallala Aquifer so fast that a major crisis in the years ahead is virtually guaranteed…

Farther east, the Ogallala Aquifer under the High Plains is also shrinking because of too much demand. When the Dust Bowl overtook the Great Plains in the 1930s, the Ogallala had been discovered only recently, and for the most part it wasn’t tapped then to help ease the drought. But large-scale center-pivot irrigation transformed crop production on the plains after World War II, allowing water-thirsty crops like corn and alfalfa for feeding livestock.

But severe drought threatens the southern plains again, and water is being unsustainably drawn from the southern Ogallala Aquifer. The northern Ogallala, found near the surface in Nebraska, is replenished by surface runoff from rivers originating in the Rockies. But farther south in Texas and New Mexico, water lies hundreds of feet below the surface, and does not recharge. Sandra Postel wrote here last month that the Ogallala Aquifer water level in the Texas Panhandle has dropped by up to 15 feet in the past decade, with more than three-quarters of that loss having come during the drought of the past five years. A recent Kansas State University study said that if farmers in Kansas keep irrigating at present rates, 69 percent of the Ogallala Aquifer will be gone in 50 years.

At one time, most of us took water completely for granted.

But now that it is becoming “the new oil”, people are starting to look at water much differently. Sadly, this even includes thieves…

With the state of California mired in its fourth year of drought and a mandatory 25 percent reduction in water usage in place, reports of water theft have become common.

In April, The Associated Press reported that huge amounts of water went missing from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and a state investigation was launched. The delta is a vital body of water, serving 23 million Californians as well as millions of farm acres, according to the Association for California Water Agencies.

The AP reported in February that a number of homeowners in Modesto, California, were fined $1,500 for allegedly taking water from a canal. In another instance, thieves in the town of North San Juan stole hundreds of gallons of water from a fire department tank.

In case you are wondering, of course this emerging water crisis is going to deeply affect our food supply. More than 40 percent of all our fruits and vegetables are grown in the state of California, so this drought is going to end up hitting all of us in the wallet one way or another.

And this water crisis is not the only major threat that our food supply is facing at the moment. A horrific outbreak of the bird flu has already killed more than 20 million turkeys and chickens, and the price of eggs has already gone up substantially…

The cost of a carton of large eggs in the Midwest has jumped nearly 17 percent to $1.39 a dozen from $1.19 since mid-April when the virus began appearing in Iowa’s chicken flocks and farmers culled their flocks to contain any spread.

A much bigger increase has emerged in the eggs used as ingredients in processed products like cake mix and mayonnaise, which account for the majority of what Iowa produces. Those eggs have jumped 63 percent to $1.03 a dozen from 63 cents in the last three weeks, said Rick Brown, senior vice president of Urner Barry, a commodity market analysis firm.

Most of us are accustomed to thinking of the United States as a land of seemingly endless resources, but now we are really starting to bump up against some of our limitations.

Despite all of our technology, the truth is that we are still exceedingly dependent on the weather patterns that produce rain and snow for us.

For years, I have been warning that Dust Bowl conditions would be returning to the western half of the country, and thanks to this multi-year drought we can now see it slowly happening all around us.

And if this drought continues to stretch on, things are going to get worse than this.

Much worse.

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Until next week...keep on believing.

Almondtree Productions

“Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.”
(John 4:14)