I stand in awe of you

Crocodile Rock

Republished from omegaletter.com
Witnessing Tools
Tuesday, January 19, 2016
Wendy Wippel

Joseph Campbell, the “father of comparative mythology”, considered the Scriptures themselves mythology, once saying that the Biblical story of Joseph should not be considered, in any way, shape, or form, historical. Sorry, Joe, but that dog won’t hunt. In fact, there’s more evidence for the Biblical Joseph than there is for you.

Beginning with the Nile river, specifically a particular island in the Nile called Sehyel, on a major trade route about 2.5 miles from Aswan.
Littered with large granite boulders, the island, beginning about 2000 B.C., became a popular place to post inscriptions, and, thousands of years later those inscriptions remain. Prayers for safety for those continuing down the Nile, records of government business, basically the 2000 B.C. version of "USA Today" Egyptian news.

One inscription, should sound more than a little familiar to most students of the Bible.  It records the distress of one Pharoah Djoser regarding a dream that he had, and the assistance of a particular servant (called Imhotep in the inscription), who had the ability to interpret the Pharoah’s dream.
The inscription goes on to announce that that his servant, also called the son of Ptah (Ptah being the supreme Creator God in Egyptian mythology) had deduced from the dream that Egypt would be blessed with seven years of bumper crops, but that seven years of famine would follow.  The inscription finished by notification that Imhotep had leveled a tax on the population in order to create national storehouses in order to protect what was produced in the first seven years and thus ensure long-term provision for Egypt’s people.
Kudos for Genesis, right?

But it gets better. You would expect any self-respecting Pharoah, if he needed to get urgent information out to his subjects, to post it in more than one place, right?
Yep. And sure enough, a very similar inscription was erected on the island of Philae, an important holy city in ancient Egypt a little ways down the Nile, that boasted the Temple of Isis.
But it gets even better….

A lot of the ridicule of the Biblical account of Jewish by the “scholars”  centers on a passage in Exodus:

“Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. 9 And he said to his people, “Look, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we; 10 come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and it happen, in the event of war, that they also join our enemies and fight against us, and so go up out of the land.” 11 Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh supply cities, Pithom and Raamses." (Exodus 1: 8-11) NASB

The “scholars”(AKA  Egyptologists), are fairly certain that Rameses himself lived around 1250 BC and have found no evidence for any Joseph figure in that time period. Joseph therefore, was officially labeled a myth.

Fortunately, there’s a “rest of the story”.  Excavation and study of ancient Egypt has continued fervently since the discovery of King Tut, and eventually, beneath the city of Ramses, archaeologists discovered the ruins of another city that had been founded around 2000 BC by a Semitic people.
A people called the "Hyksos” by the scholars but whom the Bible calls the Canaanites, who then lived in the land of Israel. The city, called Avaris, was in the area called Goshen.
And these Hyksos conquered the northern part of Egypt and ruled there.

We know from Scripture that Joseph ruled over Egypt. In fact, if you pay attention, he had a varied and extensive career in Egypt. "So now it was not you who sent me here, but God; and He has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt".
These are all official titles describing duties Joseph held. Egyptian titles. “Lord of all his household” was responsibility for managing the Pharaoh's personal holdings (palace and all other property). “Father of the Pharaoh”  was more of a personal assistant who tutored/advised the Pharoah (and no doubt interpreted dreams). "Ruler over all of Egypt” was essentially the Prime Minister who acted as the chief administrative ruler of Egypt (and would have been the person who dealt with visiting dignitaries like his brothers.)

Joseph had a long career. But exactly when was that career? Can we nail down the timeline?
Joseph, taken captive to Egypt by some Canaanites, can be safely placed in Egypt during Hyksos rule.
Another  important clue to when Joseph was in Egypt can be found in Exodus 1:1-10:

Now these are the names of the children of Israel who came to Egypt; each man and his household came with Jacob: 2 Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah; 3 Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin; 4 Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher. 5 All those who were descendants[a] of Jacob were seventy persons (for Joseph was in Egypt already). 6 And Joseph died, all his brothers, and all that generation. 7 But the children of Israel were fruitful and increased abundantly, multiplied and grew exceedingly mighty; and the land was filled with them.

Translation: It had been a long time since Joseph’s rule, and his family had obeyed Yahweh’s instruction to be fruitful and multiply.  

8 Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. 9 And he said to his people, “Look, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we; 10 come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and it happen, in the event of war, that they also join our enemies and fight against us, and so go up out of the land.”

We are told a new king arrived in Egypt who did not know Joseph. Exodus 1:8-10.
And history records that Hyksos rule of Egypt ended when an Egyptian Pharoah, Ahmose, came to power. And that Ahmose, worried that the Jews, who were relatives of Hyksos (all of whom descended from Abraham) would unite with the Hyksos against him, began to persecute the Jews.
And he thus managed to defeat the Hyksos and reunite Israel.

The “new king” (long after Joseph) was the king that re-established Egyptian rule.  So that pretty much nails it down to close to the time that Avaris was founded.
Which makes it extremely interesting that Austrian archaeologists unearthed a large fragmented statue in Avaris in 1985, which they spent the next three years reconstructing. The cemetery, part of the palace in Avaris, and obviously reserved for royalty, dated back to the Hyksos reign in Israel, and the art and other trappings of the monuments reflected Semitic themes and motifs.  The statue, reconstructed, was found to be that of a man, but approximately 1.5 times life size
(But not as would be expected by it’s being larger-than-life, a pharaoh). The man did, however, hold a crook and flail, symbols of authority in Egypt.

Who is it? Well, no name appears, but the man depicted is obviously an inhabitant of the levant (the area of Israel) depicted as such by hair style.
And the man is wearing a cloak decorated with numerous stripes—both vertical and horizontal—in varied colors. I’m pretty convinced.

But if I wasn’t, the last thing the Austrian researchers discovered would have sealed the deal.  The particular tomb that was graced by the statue of the non-Egyptian ruler was curiously and in contrast to others in the cemetery—absent of its bones.

I don’t think Joseph Campbell has a statue anywhere today, and I sure don’t think there will be anywhere thousands of years from now.
He reigns!

About Wendy Wippel

J.D. Farag - Mid-East prophecy 02 07 2016

Christians “Should be Eradicated”: Researchers Document Anti-Christian Agenda Among Powerful Elite

Republished by thenewamerican.com
Written by  Selwyn Duke

A student is punished for refusing to “stomp on Jesus,” a Christian baker faces a year in jail for refusing to cater faux marriages, two men are arrested for reading the Bible aloud near a government building, a school “purges” Christian works from its library. Critics asserting the existence of an institutional anti-Christian bias, and a resultant war on the faith, have often been labeled paranoid. But now two University of North Texas sociologists have produced research showing that just such an agenda exists — among America’s most powerful people.

Professors George Yancey and David Williamson shared their findings in their newly released book So Many Christians, So Few Lions: Is There Christianophobia in the United States? The researchers say that while Christianophobia — which the sociologists define as "unreasonable hatred or fear of Christians” — isn’t common among common people, it does characterize those in the upper echelons of American society. It’s intense, too. The book’s title was apparently inspired by elitist interviewees lamenting how there were “so few lions,” referencing the Roman Empire’s practice of throwing Christians into an arena to be slaughtered by the wild cats. One respondent even remarked that Christians “should be eradicated without hesitation or remorse.”

This is something about which Christians “should be concerned,” reports the Christian Post, on a warning Yancey issued in an e-mail interview, “because those with ‘Christianophobia’ tend to be powerful elites with influence in certain important areas, such as higher education.” Commenting on this and the professors’ motivation for conducting their research, Yancey told the Post, “There is a lot of literature on hostility toward many different groups but just about none on hostility toward Christians. Yet when we collected qualitative data from cultural progressive activists we quickly saw some of the unnecessary vitriol and fears within many of our respondents. We also saw the social status of those who exhibited this hatred and many of them would be in positions that allowed them to at least subtly act on their anger and fears.” As for the sources of their data, the Post writes that it “comes from a large national survey, the American National Election Survey, and interviews they conducted with members of liberal advocacy organizations.”

And some of the remarks made by the “cultural progressive activists” are eyebrow-raising. The Blaze reports on a sampling referencing the “Christian right”:

“I want them all to die in a fire.” (Male, aged 26-35 with Doctorate).

“They should be eradicated without hesitation or remorse. Their only purpose is to damage and inflict their fundamentalist virus onto everyone they come in contact with.” (Female, aged 66-75 with Master’s degree).

“They make me a believer in eugenics…. They pollute good air…. I would be in favor of establishing a state for them…. If not, then sterilize them so they can’t breed more.” (Male, aged 46-55 with Master’s degree).

This brazen hatred brings us to something else motivating the researchers. Yancey in the Post again:

Another aspect that drove me to work on this project was that while I consistently saw evidence of Christianophobia in other areas of my life and in our society, unlike other types of intolerances, those who exhibited Christianophobia do not tend to think that they are intolerant. Usually those who do not like blacks or Muslims admit that they are intolerant but simply try to justify their intolerance. Those with Christianophobia tend to deny that they are intolerant but rather that they are fairly interpreting social reality. Envisioning themselves as fair and free of intolerance allows them to blame those they detest.

This reflects the common modern usage (and misuse) of the term “tolerance,” which is supposed to pertain to a person’s ability to abide a perceived negative. We wouldn’t have to “tolerate” a fine car or delectable meal; we relish those things. But we would have to tolerate bad weather or a stubborn cold. In this sense, not liking blacks, Muslims, or Christians is not indicative of intolerance; quite the opposite, only a person with such feelings could exhibit tolerance with respect to such a group because he perceives the group as a negative. If he liked the group or was indifferent to it, he couldn’t exhibit tolerance because there would be nothing for him to have to tolerate.

So there are two relevant questions here: Is the perceived negative an objective negative? And is the intolerance truly justified? Examples:
• You may dislike exercising self-discipline (emotion, remember, isn’t logical), but recognize that since it’s objectively good, your feelings are disordered; thus, when you tolerate its exercise, it’s virtuous.
• You may dislike a neighbor boy’s piano playing. But while you have a moral right to your tastes in this case, practicing an instrument isn’t objectively bad; thus, tolerating it in the name of good fellowship is virtuous.
• You will surely dislike having the flu, and it is objectively negative. Once you’ve done all you can to ameliorate the symptoms, however, keeping a stiff upper lip and tolerating it is virtuous.
• Almost all of us dislike theft, and rightly so because it’s morally wrong. And tolerating it would be a severe fault because when dealing with a remediable objective negative, the only virtue lies in wiping it out.

The same applies to belief. We may recognize someone’s First Amendment right to espouse Nazism, but should we be tolerant of Nazism itself? Likewise, should the Spaniards have been tolerant of the Aztec religion prescribing the sacrificial slaughter of thousands of innocents? Many today believe that tolerance is ever and always a virtue, but as Greek philosopher Aristotle put it, “Tolerance and apathy are the last virtues of a dying society.” Tolerance of vice is vice itself.

So the question about the anti-Christian elitists isn’t whether they’re intolerant. By definition they are: They view Christianity as a negative and want it purged from society. The only question is whether their intolerance is justifiable. Does it serve to preserve understanding of Truth and expose lies or just the opposite? As to this, Dr. Yancey pointed out that Christianophobes claim to believe “that they are fairly interpreting social reality” but don’t “recognize how their emotions have distorted their intellectual judgments.” In other words, they don’t realize that what their feelings tell them is negative isn’t actually objectively so. But why do they have these disordered feelings?
It’s an old story. We all have had the experience of rendering some constructive criticism, only to have the object of it react with anger. No one likes having his bubble burst. And the more attached to the misbegotten idea the person is, the stronger his resistance will be — and the more viciously he may attack those who dare challenge his illusions.

In this relativistic age of “If it feels good, do it” where sin is in, Christianity upholds the absolute, unchanging, nonnegotiable standard of morality. It tells people that their sins really are sins — not just lifestyle choices — and that they’ll be judged for them. And just as one small pin can burst a balloon, a tiny bit of Truth can shatter a rationalization.

It’s no surprise Yancey found that anti-Christian elitists are generally “white, educated [miseducated, actually] and wealthy.” These are not just the “idle minds” that are the “Devil’s playground” or, to echo George Orwell, the kind of people who could believe truly absurd ideas: intellectuals. They also invariably are advocates for some anti-Christian movement, such as feminism or our Great Sexual Heresy. They not only usually indulge sin (people tend to push what they’re attached to), but have come to believe that their very happiness depends on the realization of their social vision — and Christianity stands in its way. And there’s something that is often a corollary of “If it feels good, do it”:
If it feels bad, destroy it.

Outrage as France become first country in world to ban pro-Palestine demos

Republished from dailymail.co.uk

• Move follows violence at protests in Paris last weekend
• Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said there was a 'threat to public order'
• Thousands across France were set to march again this weekend
• Anyone who breaks the ban faces a year in prison and a 15,000 euro fine.
• If they hide their faces the sentence can be increased to three years jail, and a 45,000 euro fine

By Peter Allen for MailOnline

Published: 10:56 GMT, 18 July 2014 | Updated: 12:30 GMT, 19 July 2014

France's Socialist government provoked outrage today by becoming the first in the world to ban protests against Israeli action in Palestine.

In what is viewed as an outrageous attack on democracy, Socialist Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said mass demonstrations planned for the weekend should be halted.

Mr Cazeneuve said there was a ‘threat to public order’, while opponents said he was ‘criminalising’ popular support of the Palestinian people. 

Scroll down for video

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Pro-Palestinian demonstrators take to the streets of Paris on Sunday. France's socialist government has sparked uproar after it banned protests against Israeli action in Palestine

Thousands were set to march against the ongoing slaughter in Gaza, calling for an immediate end to hostilities in which civilians including many children have been killed.

But Mr Cazeneuve fears there might be a repeat of the fights between ‘ultra’ Jewish vigilantes and pro-Palestinians which happened after a demonstration last Sunday.

Referring to the main Paris march, Mr Cazeneuve said: ‘I consider that the conditions are not right to guarantee security.’

Socialist Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve fears there might be a repeat of the fights between Jewish vigilantes and pro-Palestinians which happened after a demonstration last Sunday

He welcomed a legal procedure instigated by the Paris police prefecture to ban the march, despite it already being widely advertised.

Anyone who turns up to an illegal demonstration now faces up to a year in prison, and a 15,000 euro fine.

If they hide their faces to avoid being identified, this sentence can be increased to three years, and a 45,000 fine.

Even those who publish details of an illegal rally on social media face up to a year in prison, and a 15,000 euro fine.

This can be increased to seven years and a 100,000 fine if the postings lead to violence.

Mr Cazeneuve also advised other prefects across France to examine planned marches on a ‘case by case’ basis, and to ban ‘if appropriate’. 

But Michele Sibony, of the Jewish Union for Peace, said: ‘By outlawing free speech by pro-Palestinian demonstrators, France puts itself in a unique position in the world and Europe.’

And Youssef Boussoumah, of the Party of the Indigenous of the Republic (PIR) said: ‘France is criminalising any show of solidarity with the Palestinian people.

‘This is an absolute outrage, it is a continuation of attempts to muzzle the Palestinian people and to get them and their supporters in France to surrender absolutely to Israel's oppression.’

Sylvie Perrot, another pro-Palestine activist from Paris, said: ‘Fascist states stop people demonstrating against wars – it is beyond belief that French Socialists are following their example.’

There were false claims made last week that synagogues in Paris had been targeted by pro-Palestinian demonstrators.

In fact videos showed armed vigilantes from a group called the Jewish Defence League (LDJ) baiting demonstrators into fights. 

 

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A protester wearing a gas mask holds a fake rocket during protests in Paris over the weekend

A pro-Palestinian demonstrator shouts anti Israeli slogans in Paris on Sunday. The French government is attempting to prevent planned marches this weekend from going ahead

There were no arrests among the LDJ, despite them fighting and smashing up property in full view of the police. 

Six pro-Palestine protestors were arrested for a variety of public order offences, but none had been anywhere near Paris synagogues, which remained undamaged.

A judicial enquiry is set to be launched into the false allegations made about the synagogue attacks – ones which people claim were made up to demonise supporters of Palestine by associating them with anti-Semitism. 

On Friday night lawyers for a number of groups hoping to campaign on behalf of Palestine on Saturday lodged an appeal against the ban in a Paris court.

France's Jews Flee As Rioters Burn Paris Shops, Attack Synagogue

The Huffington Post UK  |  By Jessica Elgot

Posted: 22/07/2014 11:31 BST Updated: 23/07/2014 10:59 BST

 

France's politicians and community leaders have criticised the "intolerable" violence against Paris' Jewish community, after a pro-Palestinian rally led to the vandalizing and looting of Jewish businesses and the burning of cars.

It is the third time in a week where pro-Palestinian activists have clashed with the city's Jewish residents. On Sunday, locals reported chats of "Gas the Jews" and "Kill the Jews", as rioters attacked businesses in the Sarcelles district, known as "little Jerusalem".
Manuel Valls, France's prime minister said: “What happened in Sarcelles is intolerable. An attack on a synagogue and on a kosher shop is simply anti-Semitism. Nothing in France can justify this violence.”

Religious leaders gathered for an interfaith service on Monday to call for calm, and Haim Korsia, the chief rabbi of France, and Hassen Chalghoumi, the imam of Drancy shook hands on the steps of the synagogue.
Francois Pupponi, the mayor of Sarcelles, told BFMTV that the violent attacks were carried out by a "horde of savages."
"When you head for the synagogue, when you burn a corner shop because it is Jewish-owned, you are committing an anti-Semitic act," interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve told reporters at a press conference at the local synagogue.

• MIGUEL MEDINA via Getty Images
  A worker prepares to repair a shop windowin Sarcelles, a northern Paris suburb, a day after a rally against Israel's Gaza offensive descended into violence
•  MIGUEL MEDINA via Getty Images
  A man walks in Sarcelles, a northern Paris suburb, by broken windows as he enters a shopping center in Les Flanades neighborhood
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  MIGUEL MEDINA via Getty Images
  The broken shop window of a restaurant in a shopping center in Les Flanades neighborhood, damaged on July 20 after a rally against Israel's Gaza offensive descended into violence pitting an angry pro-Palestinian crowd against local Jewish businesses
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  MIGUEL MEDINA via Getty Images
  Projectiles were thrown at police, burned cars and looted shops
•  
  MIGUEL MEDINA via Getty Images
  The Parisian suburb is known for its multiculturalism
•  
   MIGUEL MEDINA via Getty Images
  Damages in a restaurant of a shopping center in Les Flanades neighborhood
•  
  MIGUEL MEDINA via Getty Images
  A policewoman takes part in an investigation in Sarcelles, a northern Paris suburb in front of a chemist in a shopping center of Les Flanades neighborhood, which was burnt down
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  STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN via Getty Images
  The Imam of the eastern suburb of Drancy, Hassen Chalghoumi, the President of the Central Jewish consistory of France, Joel Mergui, the Great Rabbi of France Haim Korsia, and the Bishop of Pontoise for the Conference of Bishops of France, Stanislas Lalanne attend an ecumenical ceremony at the synagogue of Sarcelles
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  STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN via Getty Images
  French singer Enrico Macias (4th L), French writer Marek Halter (C), the Imam of the eastern Paris suburb of Drancy, Hassen Chalghoumi (4th R), the President of the Central Jewish consistory of France Joel Mergui (3rd R_ and Bishop of Pontoise for the Conference of Bishops of France Stanislas Lalanne (2nd R) pose during an ecumenical ceremony at the synagogue of Sarcelles, north of Paris

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Eighteen people were arrested for attacks on shops, including a kosher supermarket, a Jewish-owned chemist and a funeral home. Rioters, who carried batons and threw petrol bombs according to eyewitnesses, were yards from the synagogue when they were driven back by riot police who used tear gas.

“They were shouting: ‘Death to Jews,’ and ‘Slit Jews’ throats’,” David, a Jewish sound engineer told The Times. “It took us back to 1938.”
“We called our town 'Little Jerusalem' because we felt at home here,” Laetitia, a longtime Sarcelles resident, told France 24. “We were safe, there were never any problems. And I just wasn't expecting anything like this. We are very shocked, really very shocked."
Roger Cuikerman, head of the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions in France told Radio France International: "They are not screaming, 'Death to the Israelis' on the streets of Paris. They are screaming, "Death to the Jews." The community was not just scared, but "anguished."

The government had banned a demonstration planned in Paris for Saturday, but posters were seen around the area which said “Come equipped with hammers, fire extinguishers and batons" and promised a "raid on the Jewish district”.
France has around half a million Jews, the biggest population in Europe, and around five million Muslims.

The Society for the Protection of the Jewish Community's figures suggest that anti-Jewish violence is seven times higher than in the 1990s, and 40% of racist violence is against Jews, despite them making up just 1% of the population. 

In March 2012, a shooting spree by Mohammed Merah in the south of France left three French soldiers, three Jewish schoolchildren and a rabbi dead. The gunman claimed a connection to al Qaeda.

More than a thousand Jews have made aliyah (the term used when Jews immigrate to Israel) in the past 10 days, according to the Israeli government.
"I came because of anti-Semitism,” said teary-eyed Veronique Rivka Buzaglo, one of 430 immigrants who arrived from France the day before. "You see it in the eyes of people. I see it in everything," she told HuffPost.

Buzaglo says nothing would have stopped her from becoming an Israeli citizen this week - not even the rocket sirens frequently blaring in the south of the country, where she plans to live.

John Haller´s prophecy update - 2016 02 07

U.N. Official Reveals Real Reason Behind Warming Scare

Republished from investors.com

Editorials

• 2/10/2015 6:43 PM EST

Economic Systems: The alarmists keep telling us their concern about global warming is all about man’s stewardship of the environment. But we know that’s not true. A United Nations official has now confirmed this.

At a news conference last week in Brussels, Christiana Figueres, executive secretary of U.N.’s Framework Convention on Climate Change, admitted that the goal of environmental activists is not to save the world from ecological calamity but to destroy capitalism.
“This is the first time in the history of mankind that we are setting ourselves the task of intentionally, within a defined period of time, to change the economic development model that has been reigning for at least 150 years, since the Industrial Revolution,” she said.
Referring to a new international treaty environmentalists hope will be adopted at the Paris climate change conference later this year, she added: “This is probably the most difficult task we have ever given ourselves, which is to intentionally transform the economic development model for the first time in human history.”

The only economic model in the last 150 years that has ever worked at all is capitalism. The evidence is prima facie: From a feudal order that lasted a thousand years, produced zero growth and kept workdays long and lifespans short, the countries that have embraced free-market capitalism have enjoyed a system in which output has increased 70-fold, work days have been halved and lifespans doubled.

Figueres is perhaps the perfect person for the job of transforming “the economic development model” because she’s really never seen it work. “If you look at Ms. Figueres’ Wikipedia page,” notes Cato economist Dan Mitchell: Making the world look at their right hand while they choke developed economies with their left.

World faces wave of epic debt defaults, fears central bank veteran

Republished from telegraph.com.uk 

Exclusive: Situation worse than it was in 2007, says chairman of the OECD's review committee

The next task awaiting the global authorities is how to manage debt write-offs without setting off a political storm Photo: Rex

By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, in Davos

9:00PM GMT 19 Jan 2016

The global financial system has become dangerously unstable and faces an avalanche of bankruptcies that will test social and political stability, a leading monetary theorist has warned.

"The situation is worse than it was in 2007. Our macroeconomic ammunition to fight downturns is essentially all used up," said William White, the Swiss-based chairman of the OECD's review committee and former chief economist of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS). 

"Emerging markets were part of the solution after the Lehman crisis. Now they are part of the problem, too."

William White, OECD

"Debts have continued to build up over the last eight years and they have reached such levels in every part of the world that they have become a potent cause for mischief," he said.

"It will become obvious in the next recession that many of these debts will never be serviced or repaid, and this will be uncomfortable for a lot of people who think they own assets that are worth something," he told The Telegraph on the eve of the World Economic Forum in Davos.

"The only question is whether we are able to look reality in the eye and face what is coming in an orderly fashion, or whether it will be disorderly. Debt jubilees have been going on for 5,000 years, as far back as the Sumerians."
 
The next task awaiting the global authorities is how to manage debt write-offs - and therefore a massive reordering of winners and losers in society - without setting off a political storm. 

Mr White said Europe's creditors are likely to face some of the biggest haircuts. European banks have already admitted to $1 trillion of non-performing loans: they are heavily exposed to emerging markets and are almost certainly rolling over further bad debts that have never been disclosed. 

The European banking system may have to be recapitalized on a scale yet unimagined, and new "bail-in" rules mean that any deposit holder above the guarantee of €100,000 will have to help pay for it. 

The warnings have special resonance since Mr White was one of the very few voices in the central banking fraternity who stated loudly and clearly between 2005 and 2008 that Western finance was riding for a fall, and that the global economy was susceptible to a violent crisis. 

Mr White said stimulus from quantitative easing and zero rates by the big central banks after the Lehman crisis leaked out across east Asia and emerging markets, stoking credit bubbles and a surge in dollar borrowing that was hard to control in a world of free capital flows.
The result is that these countries have now been drawn into the morass as well. Combined public and private debt has surged to all-time highs to 185pc of GDP in emerging markets and to 265pc of GDP in the OECD club, both up by 35 percentage points since the top of the last credit cycle in 2007.
"Emerging markets were part of the solution after the Lehman crisis. Now they are part of the problem too," Mr White said. 

Mr White, who also chief author of G30's recent report on the post-crisis future of central banking, said it is impossible know what the trigger will be for the next crisis since the global system has lost its anchor and is inherently prone to breakdown. 

A Chinese devaluation clearly has the potential to metastasize. "Every major country is engaged in currency wars even though they insist that QE has nothing to do with competitive depreciation. They have all been playing the game except for China - so far - and it is a zero-sum game. China could really up the ante." 

Mr White said QE and easy money policies by the US Federal Reserve and its peers have had the effect of bringing spending forward from the future in what is known as "inter-temporal smoothing". It becomes a toxic addiction over time and ultimately loses traction. In the end, the future catches up with you. "By definition, this means you cannot spend the money tomorrow," he said. 

A reflex of "asymmetry" began when the Fed injected too much stimulus to prevent a purge after the 1987 crash. The authorities have since allowed each boom to run its course - thinking they could safely clean up later - while responding to each shock with alacrity. The BIS critique is that this has led to a perpetual easing bias, with interest rates falling ever further below their "Wicksellian natural rate" with each credit cycle.

"It was always dangerous to rely on central banks to sort out a solvency problem ... It is a recipe for disorder, and now we are hitting the limit."

William White, OECD 

 

The error was compounded in the 1990s when China and eastern Europe suddenly joined the global economy, flooding the world with cheap exports in a "positive supply shock". Falling prices of manufactured goods masked the rampant asset inflation that was building up. "Policy makers were seduced into inaction by a set of comforting beliefs, all of which we now see were false. They believed that if inflation was under control, all was well," he said.
In retrospect, central banks should have let the benign deflation of this (temporary) phase of globalisation run its course. By stoking debt bubbles, they have instead incubated what may prove to be a more malign variant, a classic 1930s-style "Fisherite" debt-deflation. 

Mr White said the Fed is now in a horrible quandary as it tries to extract itself from QE and right the ship again. "It is a debt trap. Things are so bad that there is no right answer. If they raise rates it'll be nasty. If they don't raise rates, it just makes matters worse," he said.
There is no easy way out of this tangle. But Mr White said it would be a good start for governments to stop depending on central banks to do their dirty work. They should return to fiscal primacy - call it Keynesian, if you wish - and launch an investment blitz on infrastructure that pays for itself through higher growth.
"It was always dangerous to rely on central banks to sort out a solvency problem when all they can do is tackle liquidity problems. It is a recipe for disorder, and now we are hitting the limit," he said.

Surrender unto Caesar

By Patrick Wyett

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Republished from raptureready.com H/T olivetreeviews.org

“Then went the Pharisees, and took counsel how they might entangle him (Jesus) in his talk.” (Matthew 22:15)

Centuries have passed and still the minions of darkness twist truth and attack those who dare speak it. I’m certainly not Jesus, but I do know Him. I pray that you do too.

2015 was a year of fading hope and seismic change. Better days are promised by candidates who will fix our economy, cut our taxes, raise our taxes, kill our enemies, or tell us that our enemies are really our friends. 

As usual, politicians aren’t addressing the foundational moral problem of a nation in open rebellion against God. That’s it, that’s the point. Everything else is symptom of this one issue.

It’s Jesus that saves, not office-seekers. 

Don’t be distracted by all the “better days ahead” campaigning. If you understand the dreadful implications of last years’ wicked court rulings and ongoing executive actions, then you’ve probably discerned that this party’s just getting started. I hope you had a Merry Christmas because it’s doubtful that you’ll have a happy new year.

Yet the joy of the Lord rises above individual circumstances. If you have faith.

If you don’t, if you don’t know Jesus as Savior and Lord, then all the misery of humanity’s past and present, and all the suffering yet to come would be preferable to the eternity that awaits you.

The subject of Caesar is foremost in the news today as it was in Jesus’ day. The power of government for the good, rarely, and for evil, usually, determines history.

Caesar was the title held by the Roman Emperor. His decrees were law throughout most of the civilized world, a time and place of brutal conquest. Any opposition to Caesar’s rule was quickly and mercilessly dispatched.

Understanding the Pharisees motivations, we pick up Jesus’ story as begun at the top of this article.

“And they (the Pharisees) sent out unto him (Jesus) their disciples with the Herodians, saying, Master, we know that thou art true, and teachest the way of God in truth, neither carest thou for any man: for thou regardest not the person of men.” (Matthew 22:16)

Ah, the disarming tact of flattery.

“Tell us therefore, What thinkest thou? Is it lawful to give tribute unto Caesar, or not? But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, Why tempt ye me, ye hypocrites? Shew me the tribute money. And they brought unto him a penny. And he saith unto them, Whose is this image and superscription? They say unto him, Caesar's. Then saith he unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's.” (Matthew 22:17-21)

Render, not surrender. To render is to provide or give, limited in this instance to the things that are Caesar’s. Today’s Caesar wannabees have a counter-offer: surrender everything unto Caesar because Caesar knows best.

Surrender Your Speech.

Politicians and the mass media are masters at word manipulation. They know that changing what you hear influences what you say and think. Hence, illegal aliens have become “undocumented immigrants”. Those who favor legally killing babies in their mothers’ wombs are “Pro-Choice”, those that defend unborn babies are “Anti-Choice”. “Pro” is good, “Anti” is bad. 

Muslim invaders are “refugees”. Poor things, I guess there aren’t enough women in their own countries to brutalize and rape so they need new hunting grounds in Europe and the US. Yes, this is all planned.

You’ll hear statists blather about “common sense laws”. Stated plainly, they want to take from you that which is uniquely yours; your rights as a free individual. View such overtures as either contempt for you or a declaration of war against you.

It’s probably both.

Likewise, the “greater good” is a collectivist term used to dismiss individual preeminence. Collectivist thought is rooted in Marxist theory.

Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, avowed atheists, devised the political ideology which has become known as Marxism. From Marxism springs the various other totalitarian isms; Fascism, Communism, Socialism and Nazism. All reject the God of the Bible, all make government, god. There are only two classes, those in power and the peasant class who serve them.

Call them what you will. Leftists, liberals, socialists, progressives, Democrats, and yes I’ll say it, the Republican establishment leadership, all have the same goals. Forget rhetoric, they all work for the same thing.

They are the same thing.

How free is speech becoming?  In New York City you can be fined up to $250,000 for intentionally not addressing a transvestite in the gender they wish to be called by.

“The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman's garment: for all that do so are abomination unto the Lord thy God.” (Deuteronomy 22:5)

You may not be able to say what you think in NYC but you can at least pee on the sidewalk. Yep, you can legally urinate in public after the city council voted to decriminalize such behavior. Weren’t we just talking about Marxists and their “common sense” laws?

Watch what you say and certainly watch where you step.

This nation was established on the Godly principles of individual liberty and self-determination. We’re a Constitutional Republic with a mandated limited government, one designed to protect individual rights, first and foremost, from government itself.

We are not a democracy.

“Republic” and “democracy” are not interchangeable words. They are radically different.

The founders loathed the concept of democracy which is simply a government where a majority rules, otherwise disparagingly known as “mob rule” in which there are no limits, only the increasingly despotic aspirations of the power elite.

Democracies always degenerate into dictatorships. The same, it appears, with a Republic whose people have been deceived into thinking they’re a democracy.

“Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect everyone who approaches that jewel. Unfortunately, nothing will preserve it but downright force. Whenever you give up that force, you are inevitably ruined.” – Patrick Henry

Surrender Your Guns

Our “force” alluded to is the right to keep and bear arms, a God-given right placed off limits to governmental nullification by the Second Amendment.

If obsessed (or a better word, possessed) Barry Soetoro, aka Barack Hussein Obama, were genuinely concerned about protecting innocent life, he wouldn’t have supplied guns to Mexican Drug Cartels, wouldn’t continue to supply funding, training, logistics and military grade weapons to Muslim terrorists, nor would he be a champion for the ongoing slaughter of babies through abortion.

Don’t mistake his passion for evil as compassion for people.

I could write several pages on the biblical and Constitutional right to self-defense and in fact, I have. The article is titled “Comply or Resist” and can be read at this link.  http://www.raptureready.com/soap/wyett4.html Please take the time to do so.

Surrender Your Children

From forced vaccinations to years of Marxist, anti-Christian indoctrination in public schools, who do your kids really belong to? It’s a truly amazing transformation. People who hate us, who hate our faith, culture, and nation, are convincing many of our young (and older too) to hate the very same things. In effect, to hate ourselves!

You see the young, glassy-eyed Bernie Sanders supporters? Do you think they came up with embracing socialism (national suicide) on their own? Colleges are cesspools of Marxist brainwashing. You know what’s being taught in elementary schools?

Look through your kid’s textbooks. Check out their homework assignments. Go to their schools and see what’s posted on the walls. Is this what you want children to learn?

Surrender Your Military

You know about the cuts in weapons systems, research and manpower, the Army drawn-down to pre-World War II levels. You’re also aware that the number of ships, planes and fighting vehicles have likewise been reduced, the Navy to Pre-World War I levels. This is what happens when you put America-haters in charge.

Homosexuals in and given preference while top, uncompromising officers and enlisted personnel have been forced out. Many others have left voluntarily due to low morale.

What’s the military mission today? Why social engineering and diversity training of course, not fighting and winning wars. Men are forced to wear high heels and don fake bellies and breasts to make them more sensitive to diverse women’s needs. The goal is “sensitive” emasculated troops, not macho warriors.

So how’s our military perceived by our enemies? Let’s look at Iran’s recent actions. They just flew a drone over the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman. No shoot down at approach, no U.S. response other than whining and complaining. In another recent incident, the Iranians sent a naval vessel to within 1500 yards of the Truman and fired missiles, though not at the Truman. No blowing them out of the water upon approach, no US response except more whining and complaining.

But there was a different response two weeks ago when ten US sailors on two small ships were captured by the Iranians in the Persian Gulf. The sailors didn’t resist nor did other American forces come to their aid. The next day Secretary-of-State John Kerry thanked the Iranians for releasing our captured sailors.

Thanked our enemies.

I’ve heard about courage under fire. How about cowardice under orders? This whole incident smells awfully fishy to me.

The Iranians gleefully showed photos of the sailors on their knees, hands on head in surrender. They stated that the Americans were scared and even crying. Making matters worse, the Navy officer in charge apologized to the Iranians. He sounds like a really sensitive guy.

Senior U.S. officials are also reported to have apologized to the Iranians. That nuclear deal with Iran just looks better and better, doesn’t it?

But the traitors aren’t finished, though we as a nation may very well be. The latest idea is to put women in combat. Not just lowering standards for regular combat units but Special Forces as well. The Israelis tried this briefly in the sixties with devastating consequences. Studies and drills on combat effectiveness prove this to be a terrible idea.

I’ll state the obvious. There’s a reason men and women don’t compete against each other on the athletic field. Men are bigger, stronger, faster and more aggressive. Men don’t fight against women in the so-called combat sports like boxing, martial arts and mixed martial arts even where weight classes are established to level the playing field somewhat.

You know why, you know what the outcome would be. Those who “feel” otherwise are living in a Hollywood fantasy world.

In war there are no referees, no rules to make it a fair fight, no weight classes, and no mercy. Those who consider women in combat as a wonderful opportunity for gender equality need to be at least checked for a pulse; forget the EEG, there’s no brain-wave activity.

Surrender Your Culture

There are two primary coercive forces at work against our culture; cultural Marxism and cultural jihad. Political Correctness is another name for Cultural Marxism. It attacks the moral foundation of a nation. Abortion, atheism, homosexual “rights,” climate change, social justice, socialism, drug legalization, and class warfare are all facets of cultural Marxism.

I’ll tell you a secret; communism wasn’t defeated with the fall of the Berlin Wall. It merely changed its tactics from direct confrontation to conquest by infiltration and subversion. Oh, but the Soviet Union changed its name back to Russia. We won.

Really?

China, North Korea, and Cuba are still communist nations, amongst others. The Soviet KGB changed its name to the FSB and is as strong as ever. Vladimir Putin got his start as a KGB officer.

Meet the new boss. Same as the old boss.

Marxist theory is openly taught in the U.S. education system and has become the dominant ideology of the Democratic Party. Hillary, Bernie and Martin O’Malley are all Marxists, whether admitted to or not. The Republican Party is fast succumbing as well.

A nation without God is a nation without discernment. 

Then we have cultural jihad; the entering of non-Islamic cultures by Muslims with the explicit purpose of dominating and destroying those cultures and replacing them with Sharia (Islamic) Law. Look at Europe today.

It’s our tomorrow.

I still run across people that buy into the lie of Islam being a peaceful religion. All one needs to do to make a correct determination is answer a few questions. Who was Mohammed, what did he teach through the Quran and Hadiths? Was his life and actions consistent with his teachings? What is the history of Islam? What are the goals and methods of Islam?

Then I hear about the nice Muslims out there. Let me tell you about that. A good friend of mine supports a ministry in Nigeria. There was a village there where Christians and Muslims had lived peaceably together for years. One morning a group of outsider Muslims attacked the village. The fleeing Christians were herded to the center of town to an area strategically blocked off and trapped. The Muslims hacked them to death with machetes.

Every last man, woman and child.

Are you wondering where their Muslim friends were? They’d fled the night before. They knew what was coming but didn’t bother to tell their Christian neighbors. This is Islam.

To claim a Muslim faith is to associate oneself with the diabolical ideology of Satan. Whether           or not such a person is actively waging jihad, yet, is irrelevant. They claim affiliation with a totalitarian system of governance that condones child rape, torture, gang rapes of women, slavery, and gruesome mass murders. These atrocities are absolutely foundational to the spread of Islam and cannot factually be separated from it.

No decent person, no peaceful person associates with Islam. Period. You claim the faith, you own the legacy.

We have largely surrendered our speech, children and culture to Caesar. Our guns are slated for “next.”  None of this could’ve happened without our surrendering of Christian faith first. In doing so, we’ve surrendered our nation.

I hear it said that social issues don’t matter, we should focus on the economy. The words “social issues” mean morality. If morality doesn’t matter, why are evil people fighting so hard to eradicate it from society? Most importantly, does morality, or a better word, obedience, matter to God?

It’s been a saying in America for over two centuries that man will either be ruled by God or by tyrants. The essence here is that man will either have the internal discipline and control of knowing he’ll answer to God for lawlessness, and through the indwelling Holy Spirit will thereby choose morality.

Or man will reject God, have no internal controls or moral absolutes to guide him. In such an instance, sin will rise exponentially until a human tyrant feels justified in imposing despotism to maintain order.

You surrender to or are forcibly subjugated by Caesar.

And here we are.

As I’m called to do, I give you this warning.

The Christ that’s returning to Earth for His Bride (those saved who faithfully await His coming), will execute a different mission than His first time here. His sacrifice on the cross, His loving gift of salvation and His longsuffering mercy have been rejected by many, even openly scorned.

Those that do so choose to take the penalty of their sins upon themselves. They choose the wrath of God rather than The Lamb of God.

God does not change. As it was in the past, so will it be again.

One final time.

“Therefore will I number you to the sword, and ye shall all bow down to the slaughter: because when I called, ye did not answer; when I spake, ye did not hear; but did evil before mine eyes, and did choose that wherein I delighted not” (Isaiah 65:12).

Whether or not it’s too late for the world is up to God, but your individual eternity is up to you. The hour grows late. If you haven’t yet accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, to forgive your sins and change you from the inside out, do it now. As a lost soul self-condemned to Hell, don’t continue to risk your next breath being your last.

If you are saved, Brother or Sister, stay the course. Finish the race.

Caesar can take all that I have, including my life, but Caesar can’t have my soul. That, I’ve already surrendered to Christ Jesus.

My life has been a rough journey at times and likely will be again in these darkening days. But oh, what a destination that awaits!

May God bless you, keep you and protect you.

Patrick

patrickwyett@excite.com