Tag: End Times

EGYPT: Avian flu deadlier than swine flu

Egypt’s hospitals have been on high alert after five more people died in the governorates of Gharbia, Port Said, Ismaillia, and Monofiya because of the Avian flu virus.

The tiny flu virus has killed more people in history than all the huge guns and bombs ever did.

The Health Ministry announced on 4 January that it had detected 838 new confirmed H1N1 cases across the nation in December. It said it had detected 2,171 cases since October 2010 and 24 people had died. There were 14,846 confirmed H1N1 infections in Egypt last year, according to the Health Ministry.

“Dozens of suspected cases arrive at the hospitals every day,” said Nassr Al-Sayed, assistant minister of health for preventive medicine. “We are raising our alert levels in case an outbreak happens.”

While a large number of people are worried about H1N1 and look suspiciously at people sneezing in public places because of the fear of contracting it, it is avian flu (H5N1 – mainly transmitted to humans from animals (birds) which is a deadlier killer if one looks at the statistics.

On 5 January, the World Health Organization (WHO) said the Health Ministry had announced four new human cases of H5N1 in December, leading to two deaths. According to the WHO list of countries where H5N1 has been reported, Egypt has the highest number of cases (119 so far) outside Southeast Asia. With 40 fatalities and an almost 34 percent fatality ratio, it is a much deadlier killer than H1N1.

Source; Global Security

My comments;

The flu pandemic of 1918-1920 killed between 50-100 million people, making it one of the worst natural disasters in human history. Medical authorities have said for many years that the world is overdue for another flu pandemic, and that our immune systems are not ready to cope with it. Also, many people live unhealthy lifestyles that make them very susceptible to diseases.

Revelation 6:8 says;

And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.

The Greek translation of this passage makes it clear that “beasts of the earth” includes what we would call today germs or pathogens. The massive pandemics of flu, malaria, AIDS and other diseases that already kill tens of millions of people a year in the developing world have occasionally spread to richer areas, and this trend will probably increase with the increase in migration.

The only solution, as usual, is to pray that you and your loved ones will be protected from what’s coming, and take practical steps to keep yourself and your family healthy. God gave you a body so that you could do the work he created you to do, and in order to do it you must be healthy and strong enough to do it, not to mention alive.

1 Corinthians 6:19;

Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?

Written by Aaron

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China Threatens Nuclear War

The Chinese military would consider a pre-emptive nuclear strike if it had no other way to defend itself in a war against another nuclear-armed state, Kyodo News said Jan. 5, citing Chinese documents.

The policy, called “Lowering the threshold of nuclear threats” may indicate a shift from China’s pledge not to first fire nuclear weapons under any circumstances. U.S. military experts have argued since around 2007 that Beijing may have shown signs of altering its pledge of no first use of nuclear weapons.

Source; Defense News

Taiwan’s lawmakers expressed concern on Wednesday over the European Union’s (EU’s) possible lifting of its arms embargo on China.

The EU imposed an arms embargo on China after the Tiananmen Square crackdown in 1989, but calls to lift it have emerged in recent years. The French newspaper Le Figaro reported on Dec. 30 that, according to a source close to EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, the lifting of the embargo “could happen very quickly.”

The newspaper said that the Netherlands, United Kingdom and Germany had lowered their opposition to the idea.

Source; Global Security

My comment;

China’s declaration that it might use nuclear weapons if it felt it was being overwhelmed by a conventional attack is very serious. It’s a big step down a short road to nuclear weapons becoming just another tool that armies use to fight, instead of the proverbial “doomsday weapon” whose use is all but unthinkable by rational people.

This declaration can be added to China’s deplorable human rights record, support for criminal dictatorships and sundry other acts which put it outside the community of civilized nations. The fact that the EU is seriously considering lifting an embargo against selling high tech weapons and military equipment to feed the military power of this evil giant, which is unapologetically threatening its democratic neighbors, is a testament to the moral bankruptcy and economic desperation which informs the thinking of post-Christian European leaders.

If this is how they act in East Asia, how can we expect them to act any differently in the Middle East, where the only democracy, Israel, is threatened by despotic governments and terrorists who have lots of money?

Jesus said in the End Times there would be an increase in violence and lawlessness. This is to be expected, and the only thing we can do about it is pray for our own safety and the safety and salvation of those we love, and pray for our leaders to have wisdom to deal with these situations.

By Aaron

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Who is like the beast?

“Information as warfare” requires operational commanders to employ intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance to dominate the information realm even as they direct combat actions, according to the US Navy’s senior intelligence officer.

The US Military is perfecting the technology to watch everyone, all the time.

“We’re great at strike warfare -– dropping bombs. It’s now time for the Navy, and frankly the U.S. joint forces, to step up and start dealing with information in a much more sophisticated manner than they have in the past,” said Vice Adm. David J. “Jack” Dorsett.

“Part of the job dealing with information dominance is looking at information from one end to the other: from sensors to networks to transport to exploitation dissemination. One of the principles for information dominance is, every platform needs to be a sensor and every sensor needs to be networked.”

Adm. Gary Roughead, chief of naval operations, announced in October 2009 the Navy was combining its intelligence directorate, communications networks and related information technology capabilities into the information dominance organization.

Source; Pentagon News Service

My comment;

Revelation 13:4 says;

“They worshiped the dragon because he gave his authority to the beast; and they worshiped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast, and who is able to wage war with him?”

The US Military is engaged in a brave fight against terrorism, and for that they deserve our thanks and our prayers. But this fight against terrorism is also producing some bad fruits, most notably a massive increase in the power of the tools governments have to monitor ordinary people. For now we have governments that are using it to protect us from evil men, but the Bible tells us that different government is coming.

This equipment and technology is being developed, tested and perfected now, and later it will indeed be impossible to “wage war” against the Beast with physical means.

The only weapons that we will have then are the only weapons that we have now, prayer/fasting, Bible study and fellowship with fellow Believers.

Ephesians 6:12;

“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.”

Written by Aaron

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Price of food in Asia soars

Record high food prices are moving to the top of the agenda for many Asian policymakers.

The cost of simply staying alive is getting higher, with no end it sight.

The United Nations’ food agency (FAO) said on Wednesday that food prices hit a record high last month, moving beyond levels of 2008, when riots broke out in countries as far afield as Egypt, Cameroon and Haiti. Food inflation in many Asian countries, including China and India, is already in double digits.

“I wouldn’t be terribly surprised if 2011 resembles in many ways 2008,” said Frederic Neumann, regional economist at HSBC in Hong Kong. “Food price inflation could really go into double digits across the region.”

“We do believe that the structural drivers behind high food prices are likely to persist for some time,” agreed Luke Matthews, a commodity strategist at Commonwealth Bank of Australia.

Indonesia’s president called on Thursday for households to plant food to help combat inflation.

Source; Reuters

Second day of riots in Algeria over the price of food

Rioting youths set fires, smashed streetlights and ransacked storefronts Thursday in the second day of rampages in the Algerian capital over rising food prices and chronic unemployment.

Helicopters circled, stores closed early and security officers blocked off streets in the tense working-class Algiers neighborhood of Bab el-Oued, near the city’s ancient Casbah.

Source; Associated Press

My comments;

The cost of food is one statistic that you don’t need a Ph.D in economics or social policy to understand.

People have to eat. The more money they spend on food, the less they’ll have to spend on everything else. If they can’t afford to buy food, there will be civil unrest, riots, etc.

Revelation 6:6 says;

“And I heard something like a voice in the center of the four living creatures saying, ‘A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius; and do not damage the oil and the wine.’”

This is a prophecy about inflation, specifically linked to the price of food, and we can clearly see this prophecy beginning to be fulfilled.

What we can do about this is, as usual, pray and get ourselves right with God. We should also form closer relationships with each other and support each other. When one is hungry, others who have more than enough should share with them.

Also, this is yet another reason to fast. Fasting is commanded by the Bible for Spiritual reasons, but there are also physical benefits and in a world where food is becoming more scarce those who fast a few days a month will be leaving more food for others.

Also, incidentally enough, I think the President of Indonesia has a good idea about planting our own gardens in our windowsills, backyards etc. It will help alleviate the scarcity of food and also make us more self reliant.

Written by Aaron

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