Tuesday, April 14, 2015
Asteroid size of Statue of Liberty 'on collision course with Earth'
An astronomer has claimed an asteroid the size of the Statue of Liberty is on a collision course with earth.
Dr Judit Györgyey-Ries, astronomer at the University of Texas' McDonald Observatory, believes the giant rock could create a huge impact when it reaches earth in around October 2017.
Scientists estimate Asteroid 2012 TC4 is around 40-metres wide and could cause even more chaos than the one which hospitalised more than 1,200 people when it exploded over Russia in February 2013 .
Dr Györgyey-Ries told astronomy website astrowatch.net: "We could see an airburst maybe broken windows, depending on where it hits.
The giant asteroid narrowly missed earth in October 2012 when it passed 94,800km away.
Detlef Koschny, head of the near-earth object segment at the European Space Agency, said: "There is a one in a million chance that it could hit us.
"The size was estimated from the brightness, but we don't know the reflectivity. So it could be smaller or larger, assume from 10 to 40 metres.
"A 40m iron object would go through the atmosphere and make a crater; a 10m rocky object would hardly be noticed."
Shock waves from the Russia airburst smashed windows, rattled buildings, and knocked people off their feet, more than 1,200 of whom attended hospital.
Researchers visiting villages in the area found a region of shock-wave damage extending some 50 miles on either side of the meteor's trajectory path.
Credit to The Mirror
Chile recognises same-sex civil unions
The Chilean president, Michelle Bachelet, has signed into law a bill recognising civil unions between same-sex couples.
The law - which will come into effect in six months - gives same-sex and unmarried couples many of the rights enjoyed by married couples.
Several Latin American countries already recognise civil unions.
But only Argentina and Uruguay in South America allow full marriage by same-sex couples.
Among others, the new law gives couples the right to inherit each other's property and to receive pension benefits.
''It is estimated that more than 2,000,000 people in Chile are living together. Today we give them the option of having their unions legally recognised," said President Bachelet.
Gay rights advocates hailed the new law as a step toward full marriage rights.
Credit to BBC
Scientists Admit Genetic Engineering Is Pushing Mankind Toward A ‘Planet Of The Apes’ Scenario
PARIS — Half-animal, half-human? The astounding developments in nanotechnology, biotechnology, information technology and cognitive science (NBIC) are posing problems that we thought only existed in science fiction.
Recent studies have brought us closer to Planet of the Apes, written by French novelist Pierre Boulle in 1963. In three experiments, the last one of which was published in Current Biology last month, scientists have improved the intellectual capacities of mice by modifying their DNA sequences with segments of human chromosomes or by injecting them with human brain glial cells.
These modified animals have bigger brains and can perform difficult tasks more quickly. The DNA sequences that were successfully modified are involved in language and brain size in humans. This comes after a study on successful genetic modifications on two small monkeys was published in Nature in March of last year. Meaning that the success of cognitive improvement of mice will soon be verified in monkeys.
These manipulations were achieved with DNA-modifying enzymes. For about $12, a biology student these days can create these enzymes and conduct genetic engineering, making it incredibly cheap to create animal-man chimeras. Decade after decade, new findings and experiments will have breathtaking consequences.
DNA-modifying enzyme — Source: Zephyris/GFDL
How will we prevent some animal lovers from ordering a more intelligent, more emphatic, more "human" dog? There will always be room for indulgence in relation to cognitive enhancement of animals. Society will be presented with a fait accompli, as it is now with same-sex couples buying children from surrogate mothers in foreign countries.
What will the ethical standards be? Will we allow chimpanzees to become more intelligent? As dignity and respect for animals grow in our societies, the issue will only become more relevant. How will we view animals if and when their IQs are modified to be close to that of today's humans? Should we decree a conceptual intelligence monopoly for our species and computers with artificial intelligence — therefore barring animals from such recognition?
This NBIC revolution will raise philosophical questions about what makes us humans by abolishing two limits that were previously thought to be impassable: that which separates us from animals, with neuro-enhancement, and that which separates us from machines, with artificial intelligence. In both cases, doesn't access to intelligence and awareness also mean accessing a dignity equal to that of any human being? What status should we then allow enhanced animals and robots in our society?
The emergence of new, intelligent electronic or biological creatures also has religious consequences. Some theologists, such as Reverend Christopher Benek, want intelligent machines to receive baptism if they express such a desire.
The NBIC are raising truly groundbreaking questions that will have consequences for the future of humankind. But to properly answer them, we need a new political elite. Among today's political class, very few are capable of fully comprehending these questions.
Credit to Worldcrunch.com
Read the full article: Genetic Engineering, Humankind Creeps Toward A 'Planet Of The Apes'
Pope again stokes World War III fears
Pope Francis
NEW YORK – At a time when Christians worldwide are facing persecutions of historic nature, Pope Francis, in his homily delivered Sunday at Mass in the Santa Marta residence in Vatican City, expressed concern that “World War II is upon us” and urged Christians to proclaim their faith fearlessly, without concern for the consequences.
“The path of the Church is openness, to speak frankly, with liberty,” Pope Francis said, reading from New Testament scriptures of the days after the Resurrection of Jesus, when the Holy Spirit descended upon the apostles and gave them the courage to go forth and proclaim their faith without fear.
Pope Francis based his homily from the Acts of the Apostles, recalling the words of Saint Peter and Saint John expressing the courage they felt after the Resurrection when the Holy Spirit had descended upon them, urging them to shed their fear of reprisals, going forth openly into the world to proclaim, “We can speak openly now of what we have seen and heard Jesus do.”
“Even today, the message of the Church is the message of the openness in the path of Christian courage,” the pope said. “These two apostles, Peter and John, as the Bible says, found they had the courage without having to be told what to do. The Bible conveys this in simple words, translated as ‘courage,’ ‘openness,’ ‘freedom to speak,’ and ‘to not be afraid” to say what they felt. Even in the original, the Bible has so much significance with the simple assurance that all our fears will pass when we find the courage to express our faith in Christ openly.”
The pope’s homily at the Mass in the Santa Marta residence in Vatican City followed a High Mass celebrated in the St. Peter’s Cathedral to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the 1915 massacre of the Armenians by the Turks, in which the pope caused uproar in Turkey by utilizing the Armenian genocide of a hundred years ago to explain that Christians once again are seeing “heinous crimes committed against Christians daily, in bloody massacres and the madness of destruction.”
“I fear we are already in World War III,” Pope Francis said, explaining that genocides such as happened to the Armenians in World War I and were repeated with the atrocities of Hitler and Stalin in World War II are being repeated today.
“I fear World War III is upon us when we hear daily the muffled cries of our brothers and sisters who are killed in unimaginable violence. These martyrs, simply because they believe in Jesus Christ or because of their ethnicity, are forced to abandon their land or be murdered horribly – decapitated, crucified, and burned alive.”
In reporting on the pope’s homily at Mass in the Santa Marta residence in Vatican City, the Vatican Radio noted the hero of the story is the Holy Spirit.
“The message is not that we should go forth proselytizing our faith as if we were engaged in advertising to get others to join with us in our spiritual society,” Pope Francis said. “No, this will not work, it is not truly Christian.
“What is Christian,” he distinguished, “is to have the courage to proclaim Jesus Christ, as Christ explained in ‘the mysterious dialogue’ with the Pharisee Nicodemus, the courage to be ‘born again,’ through the action of the Holy Spirit. The path of Christian courage is the path of proclaiming our astonishment at the word of Jesus Christ that keeps our faith alive and moving ahead.”
The pope explained that when Jesus speaks of being “born again,” Jesus means for us to understand the Holy Spirit brings upon us, as he did coming upon the Apostles after the Resurrection, the courage to proclaim our faith openly without fear of consequence.
“We hear his voice come upon us as he came upon the Apostles like the wind, descending upon them as they huddled in that room after Christ died, giving them the courage to turn to God and not flee, but instead face their fears squarely and proclaim His Word totally openly, boldly, without fear,” Pope Francis said.
“Only the Holy Spirit has the power to change the history of our lives, to place us in union with Jesus Christ,” he concluded. “That courage of our faith in Jesus Christ must come from the Holy Spirit, because only God has the power to transform without instruction simple men like Peter and John, removing their fear and imparting unto them even the courage to proclaim their final witness to Jesus Christ, even if it meant surrendering their lives in martyrdom.”
Pope Francis ended his homily reminding the faithful the mission of the Church after Easter is to prepare believers to receive the Holy Spirit “in the celebration of the mystery of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, recalling the history of salvation, being willing to ask for the grace to receive the Holy Spirit to give us too the courage to announce to the world Jesus Christ.”
The pope’s homily at the Mass in the Santa Marta residence in Vatican City followed a High Mass celebrated in the St. Peter’s Cathedral to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the 1915 massacre of the Armenians by the Turks, in which the pope caused uproar in Turkey by utilizing the Armenian genocide of a hundred years ago to explain that Christians once again are seeing “heinous crimes committed against Christians daily, in bloody massacres and the madness of destruction.”
Credit to WND
Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2015/04/pope-again-stokes-world-war-iii-fears/#0YHzowG7ZS68BLk5.99
JADE HELM’S USE OF DEATH SQUADS
Jade Helm is morphing into something very dark and very sinister. At the conclusion of the article, many of us will be asking about how we should collectively respond. We certainly need to explore the possibilities.
Patriot Protests Against Jade Helm
One of the reasons that I believe that Jade Helm could go live is because of the bravado and attention being given to this topic. The globalists who have hijacked our government have taken off the gloves and there is no denying what they are up to. As a result, people who have been clueless about the New World Order are awakening to the level of tyranny that is growing within our country. As Jade Helm swings into full operation this coming summer, millions of Americans, that mistakenly thought they were living in a Republic, will have their eyes opened as to what has happened to their precious country. Soon, the websites, Youtube channels, the television shows and the radio shows of the Independent Media will soon see their audiences grow to unparalleled popularity. And of course, the federal government minions will be there waiting as the FCC attempts to stifle dissent with the recently imposed Net Neutrality. Clearly the line in the sand is being drawn in preparation for the coming conflict.
The Newfound Awareness Has Already Grown Among the Special Operations Forces Veterans Groups
Paul Joseph Watson and Joe Biggs wrote an interesting article on Infowars in which they have discovered that “Patriot groups across the country are preparing to launch a ‘Counter Jade Helm’ operation to keep tabs on a controversial U.S. military exercise that some fear is part of preparations to train troops for civil unrest and martial law”. Among those protesting the Jade Helm 15 drills are former Special Operations forces as well as many veterans groups.
Along these lines, I am beginning to receive invitations to speak about Jade Helm to various groups including the Oath Keepers. People, in great numbers are and will be soon waking up and for good reason.
Two more Disturbing Elements of Jade Helm
In recent days, I have learned that the reason that we are seeing Jade Helm activity in so many areas and we are also witnessing the prepositioning of massive military equipment, is because Jade Helm forces will isolate certain geographic areas, thus trapping a segment of the population and keep them from fleeing to other areas. The second part of Phase III of the Jade Helm operation will be the insertion of Special Forces death squads among the civilian population which will target key dissident leaders. The remainder of this article will discuss these two issues.
Jade Helm Is Growing Like a Cancer
In my estimation, these veterans groups better accelerate their protest efforts if they want to have any meaningful impact, because in every part of this country, Jade Helm activities are growing and intensifying at an alarming rate.
In the past 24 hours alone, I have received a total of 54 communications regarding suspicious and increased military activity in every part of this country. Since I began tracking my communications specifically for reports of greatly increased military activity, most likely related to Jade Helm, I have counted a total of 31 states involved in the drill, not the nine states that the government is claiming. Here are four examples, out of the 54 of these communications reporting increased military activity in their area:
Dave,Traveling north on I-15. Saw a sided train of tanks, armored personnel vehicles at North Salt Lake on the east side of the freeway with three engines. All were camouflaged light tan.Keep up the good work._______________Hello Dave Hodges,I live in Charlotte, North Carolina. Last week the “military?” surrounded the Water Treatment Facility in Charlotte, North Carolina. Just last year the city built a new holding reservoir. It’s pretty good size and is filled to the brim with water…but I’m 59 years old and don’t remember any time in my growing up years seeing this much “military” shuffling going on in the USA.____________Dear Dave,I’ve been an independent researcher for over 30 years…. I’m now 68 and moved out of Houston, TX…, following a friend’s advice to come to Patagonia, AZ…
Considering Jade Helm, I thought you’d want to know that the rumbling noise I heard early this evening was not 18-wheelers on Rt 82, but several bombers flying overhead from direction of Nogales heading east, maybe to Ft. Huachuca, followed by several military helicopters. I have always been very prescient and have a very bad feeling about what’s being put into position to bring genuine shock and awe to America…______________________________________________Hello Mr. Hodges,I don’t normally talk or post about what’s going on. I’m used to military vehicles as I’m prior service (but still “in”, extended another year last July…. with no CoC. Don’t even know what unit I’d fall under). I’ve deployed to Iraq in 2009 doing convoy security, so I’m very very familiar with MRAPs etc.On my way to work this morning (I live in central Texas, right near fort hood) on 116 heading to gatesville my coworker texted me “dude lots of military vehicles in gatesville”. That was at 9:56, she also called me twice. I just shrugged it off, as gatesville sits right next to North Fort Hood. And west range road leading directly from main cantonment to north fort is closed, so units have to maneuver over civilian roads and back roads. Also units MOB out there.I got to work at 10:45am, walked in and asked her about the vehicles she saw. She said they were all humvee’s, but blacked out black and grey. That caught my attention, as we normally do not, nor have I ever seen blacked out and or grey humvees before. She said there was a convoy coming into town, and then one right off of 36.I could go on sir, about some of the sketchiest stuff I have ever experienced after coming home from Iraq. All the way up to the national guard extending me, and then never hearing from them. I honestly do not know, who else to talk too. Everyone thinks I’m nuts. I don’t wanna believe the stuff I’ve seen and know.If you want to know more, just let me know sir.
__________________________
Jade Helm Train with Enormous Military Equipment Headed for the West Coast of the United States
On April 10, 2015, Sizzorfite published this video of a military convoy train moving out of Canada to the United States. The train is filled with military armored vehicles, troop transport trucks and tanks. The train stretches as far as the eye can see.
As a result of consulting with my military sources, the strategy of prepositioning of military equipment can only include two possibilities: (1) The U.S. military is moving massive amounts of military equipment in order to prepare to be invaded in every quadrant of the country (not likely or practical); or, (2) The military is prepositioning its assets to isolate “trouble or HOSTILE areas” in preparations for subjugating, or MASTERING THE HUMAN DOMAIN”.
If one goes back to the originally released Jade Helm document, the 82nd Airborne is listed as a participant. The isolation of selected American communities would be a function of a traditional American military unit such as the 82nd Airborne. The Jade Helm document also listed several Special Operations forces to be among the participants and these organizations (e.g. Navy Seals) are traditionally tasked with targeted assassinations and this is described in the following paragraphs.
Death Squads to be Inserted Into American Communities
A Houston Chronicle report stated that Jade Helm soldiers will blend in with the local populations in an effort to test the effectiveness of infiltration techniques. Residents will be encouraged and commanded to report anything they deem suspicious during the Jade Helm drill.
I have taken this information to my sources and they confirmed that the Houston Chronicle Report is referring to the insertion of simulated death squads into selected American communities. This is the reason that Jade Helm is encouraging local citizens to report “suspicious activities”. This is a beta test for this operation. From an operational perspective, the fewer the number of the citizen reports the authorities receive, the more effective the intended stealth of the death squads would be judged to be. As opposed to more “traditional” military units, the Special Forces, associated with Jade Helm, would be the ones to carry out death squad executions of intended dissident target groups. In other words, this is how the Red List executions will be carried out. The more covert that their presence in a community would be, the less likely their intended targets would be spooked and make a run for safety. Fleeing individuals targeted for assassination is the reason why certain communities must be isolated so that intended targets cannot travel to congregate with fellow dissidents or to be able to escape final justice.
In addition to my military sources insight on this issue, more confirmation for the use of death squads on American soil comes from my friend and colleague, Roger Brown. Roger has written extensively on the subject of American death squads and has presented this information on The Common Sense Show. That interview can be accessed here. Roger’s written assessment of death squads in America can be found here.
Conclusion
It is outrageous that our government is using our money to practice the art of subjugating entire communities and to simulate the execution of people that they do not agree with. Jade Helm 15 is providing the public with an opportunity to galvanize against tyranny. What should we be collectively doing? This should be the dominant question of the day. If we permit Jade Helm 15 to continue, America wil slip into the abyss of experiencing some of mankind’s darkest moments.
Credit to Common Sense
ON THE PATH OF THE IMMORTALS–PART No7: Secret Canyon’s Underground Base. Home Of The Fiery Flying Seraph?
There have been rumors about an underground base near Sedona for decades. The locals have many interesting stories.
For example, Hoss told me about a winged tubular spaceship seen flying over Sedona by many witnesses. He described it as larger than conventional aircraft, moving absolutely silently at high velocity. He said that eventually so many people reported it, that the government finally admitted that it was a NASA spaceship designed to replace the Space Shuttle. Of course this begs the question of where it was flying from and where it landed. Our stout guide confirmed his belief in an underground base and pointed out how primordial volcanic lava tubes already provide convenient underground access to the canyons. After hearing about the tunnels, rumors of an underground base in Secret Canyon were beginning to seem more probable.
While the existence of a base is nearly uncontroversial with locals, conspiracy lore entails rival alien bases in addition to the defense department facility. One witness who happened upon the base by accident was “accosted at gunpoint by a soldier wearing United Nations insignia.”[1] We might have captured evidence of other top secret aircraft without even realizing it at the time.
Shelley Putnam captured this triangle UFO as it flew by in the distance. The pine tree offers perspective and the sharp triangle shape appears like a three dimensional object in the distance would, if it were heading toward Secret Canyon. Arizona is famous for the Phoenix Lights case involving an enormous triangle that flew over that major city. Like that craft, this one also flew silently. In fact, we didn’t notice it in the image until we returned home to analyze the photos. The tree gives some scale and implies a large three dimensional object some distance away.
Taken over Secret Canyon
Daniel Wright, the graphic artist who does our book covers, did some Photoshop analysis below:
Image enhanced by Daniel Wright
Wright says about the image above: “I did a force enlargement and then attempted a simple recreation of what I saw in the photograph on 3 layers (top) main points of light small (left) bars of connected light (right) soft general glows. I figured by enlarging and sort of ‘mapping’ the main patterns of light I could help identify [what the shape is].”[2] We also sent the photo to Stan Deyo.
Image enhanced by Stan Deyo
Deyo offered, “I performed a number of analyses of this photo. As you can see there are two possibly three dark spots along the near edge of the craft. The far edge lights are all illuminated while the near edge is partially illuminated. If the illumination is a function of propulsion then perhaps the craft was turning so one side was more illuminated than the other. The dark circular spots may indicate that the bright lights are generated between two poles… possibly.”[3]
We are not suggesting this is an extraterrestrial craft but rather the more humble claim that it remains unidentified and is appropriately dubbed a UFO. Admittedly, most black triangle UFO Sightings reported to MUFON are closed and marked “identified.” When so ruled, they are almost always terrestrial aircraft of some sort. Either way, our triangle craft may support the presence of a secret underground base in the fortuitously christened Secret Canyon. Our triangle might even be something exotic like the classified TR-3B antigravity spacecraft.[4] Most likely there are more than a few skunk works craft being tested over the desert. One can watch a triangle being escorted by planes on YouTube at the footnote here:[5] While talk of underground bases often suggests an aluminum foil milliner marketing ploy, fantastic stories are nothing new to Sedona.
Although the idea that there are alien bases near Secret Mountain is labeled a conspiracy theory, it is not without decent anecdotal evidence. A case from the summer of 1992 of an “out of this world” military escort would naturally suggest an alien presence. Dannelly wrote, “What makes this sighting particularly amazing is that the flying disk was being accompanied by four fighter jets in formation!”[6] The local witness who remains anonymous for obvious reasons was with a Vietnam veteran, who went by the name Wolfdancer. He had been in Sedona a month after spending many weeks around Mount Shasta California capturing UFOs on video. The two men were in the Dry Creek area trying to spot UFOs, when a flying disk accompanied by four fighter planes appeared in broad daylight over Capitol Butte toward Secret Mountain. According to the remaining witness, Wolfdancer even “had footage of what appeared to be portals opening up near the summit of the mountain and UFOs flying into them!”[7] Unfortunately, he went missing shortly after this incident. Given the suspicious circumstances, his sudden disappearance suggests foul play.
It should not surprise us that the military has secret bases in the desert. Of course they need to develop and test top secret fighter jets and spy craft. After talking to local residents and surveying message boards, we found that many people “personally witnessed black helicopters flying in formation towards the Long Canyon/Boynton Canyon area and other peculiar military activity.”[8]The interdimensional hypothesis explains UFO behavior that defies known physical laws. Dannelley writes, “As for the manner in which the flying disk disappeared, we may theorize that there are some type of ‘portals’ in, around, or above Sedona that can be used to jump between the space/time location of Sedona and points unknown, presumably other star systems.”[9] He suspects the military, “may be attempting to control some of these portals.”
Concerning the portals, we can’t help notice that, even in New Age literature, more often than not, something dark and sinister is often implied. According to ancient prophecy, the dark trajectory culminates when the portals open. “And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit” (Revelation 9:2) and the prince of the power of the air is cast down. The heavenly host will proclaim, “Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time” (Revelation 12:12). As scary as dimensional denizens might seem, we are encouraged by the words of our Lord, “And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh” (Luke 21:28).
Are the doorways of the earth set to open in fantastic fulfillment of the end times? And who are the “Immortals” that wait behind them, poised to rapidly arrive through them the moment the command is given?
An ambitious project like On the Path of the Immortals requires a discussion of concepts and terminology. First, we will define what is meant by “the immortals.” After that, an introduction to the interdimensional portal is offered, along with a brief discussion of several sites in continental US. Finally, we address the impetus for such a project as a function of biblical end-time prophecy. Our friend Chuck Missler believes that “we are being plunged into a period of time about which the Bible says more than it does about any other period of human history—including the time that Jesus walked the shore of the Sea of Galilee and climbed the mountains of Judea!”[i] In accepting that premise, it is a very exciting time to be alive, and the content within our upcoming book and SkyWatch TV Special Investigative Report will prove useful to the motivated student of prophecy.
Who Are the “Immortals”?
The obvious starting point is to be specific as to exactly whose path we are on. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary defines “immortal” as one “exempt from death” or “imperishable.” It is important to note that this is not the same as “eternal,” which the same reference defines as “having infinite duration.” The key idea is that the immortal has a beginning in time, but the eternal has always been.
The psalmist addresses the angels (Hebrew: malak) and hosts (Hebrew: tsaba):
Praise ye him, all his angels: Praise ye him, all his hosts. Let them praise the name of the Lord: For he commanded, and they were created.…
He hath also established them for ever and ever: He hath made a decree which shall not pass. (Psalm 148: 2, 5–6)
In this passage, we see two groups of created beings who do not die: angels and hosts. However, it is more accurate to view these as job descriptions rather as than types of beings.
Beginning with an ancient book called Celestial Hierarchy, purported to be authored by the Athenian convert Dionysius of New Testament fame (Acts 17:34), one encounters two thousand years’ worth of angelology as a branch of academic theological study. However, this reflects the common error of defining “angel” as a type of being. For example, someone might say it was not a human, but an angel, who rolled away the stone of Jesus’ tomb. The term malak is the Hebrew equivalent of the English “messenger,”[ii] and there were both human and supernatural malakim, including the Angel of the Lord. A scholarly resource supports this plea for newfound precision in terminology: “The translation of malak by ‘angel’ in English Bibles obscures the ancient Israelite perception of the divine realm. Where English ‘angel’ is the undifferentiating term for all of God’s supernatural assistants, malak originally could be applied only to those assistants whom God dispatched on missions as messengers.”[iii] Similarly, the Hebrew word tsaba, “hosts,” is a military term and is often translated “armies.”[iv] Of course, there are human and supernatural armies as well. Accordingly, a term like “immortals” is more precise and, we believe, useful for references to supernatural beings.
Among the immortals, we are honing in on a particular group who likely play leading roles in the eschatological scenario that we find ourselves living in the midst of. Among the immortals, divine messengers are usually depicted as indistinguishable from human beings (Hebrews 13:2; Genesis 19:1–22 and 32:25–31; Daniel 8:15; Luke 24:4; and Acts 1:10), but other times they are depicted in overwhelmingly supernatural terms (Daniel 10:6; Matthew 28:3). Apparently, they are ordered in ranks, because some are referred to as “archangels,” while others are simply “angels” (1 Thessalonians 4:16; Jude 9). Because most of these appearances recorded in Scripture are of male messengers, it is commonly assumed that there are no female angels.
In Sense and Nonsense about Angels and Demons, Kenneth Boa and Robert Bowman conclude that “angels can appear in bodily form, but they don’t come in male and female varieties.”[v] However, the authors simply ignore or overlook contrary biblical evidence. The prophet Zechariah recorded a vision entailing two female supernatural entities with wings on a divinely appointed mission:
Then lifted I up mine eyes, and looked, and, behold, there came out two women, and the wind was in their wings; for they had wings like the wings of a stork: and they lifted up the ephah between the earth and the heaven. (Zechariah 5:9, emphasis added)
A stork is an unclean bird to the Hebraic mindset. Furthermore, these winged women are carrying another woman only identified as “Wickedness” (Zechariah 5:8). On one hand, it seems likely that these women are fallen angels, but on the other hand, one could argue that because it was a divinely appointed mission, it was not indicative of their status. Either way, the idea that the immortals are exclusively male seems to be based more on male-dominated tradition than on biblical exegesis.
Another dogma similarly lacking in support, but commonly assumed, is the belief that the immortals are fundamentally incorporeal, or without bodies. However, many passages indicate physicality. When Abraham was visited by three immortals on the plains of Mamre, they walked, talked, sat, and ate the food he prepared (Genesis 18:1–8). Also, the writer of Hebrews reminds us to “be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares” (Hebrews 13:2), an admonition that carries no force, given their immateriality. From these examples, most theologians surmise that although they are incorporeal, they can appear as physical beings when it suits their purposes. But why must we assume their natural state is incorporeity?
The tradition is largely based on the opinion of Thomas Aquinas, famously known as the “Angelic Doctor,” who argued that things of the spirit realm consist of spirit, but things of the earthly realm consist of matter (earth). Yet, Aquinas assumed the pagan cosmology of Aristotle, which held that there are four elements (earth, fire, water, and air). Aristotle’s doctrine of natural place demanded that material beings were “of earth” and that beings like angels, residing in the heavens, were “of air” and could not be physical. Of course, Aristotelian cosmology has been discredited by science, so one wonders why such theological conclusions based on its tenets are still so widely accepted.
Other theologians do offer a biblical rationale for the tradition that the immortals are fundamentally incorporeal. For example, Boa and Bowman make this case from Scripture:
In biblical accounts of their visits to human beings, angels generally seem to appear suddenly and then disappear without any explanation. For example, when the women discovered Jesus’ tomb to be empty and the stone rolled away, Luke tells us, “Suddenly, two men in dazzling clothes stood beside them,” causing the women to fall on the ground in terror (Luke 24:4–5). (John refers to these two individuals as “angels” in John 20:12; see also Luke 24:22–23.) So, when angels did appear, their physical forms were evidently temporary ones taken for the purpose of interacting with human beings and not their own intrinsic forms.[vi]
There seems to be an assumed premise that only incorporeal entities can appear and disappear suddenly. Given that, the argument is structured as such:
1) Only incorporeal beings can appear and disappear suddenly.
2) Angels appear and disappear suddenly.
3) Therefore, angels are incorporeal beings.
But is this sound reasoning? An argument is valid when its conclusion follows from its premises, and it is sound when, in addition, its premises are true. This argument is valid but not necessarily sound. Why? Premise 1 that “only incorporeal beings can appear and disappear suddenly” is simply assumed without any supporting evidence. There are many possible explanations for why these beings seem to appear and disappear.
A biblical counterexample is Jesus’ sudden postresurrection appearance in a locked room to the astonished disciples:
Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. (John 20:19)
Eight days later, Jesus again appeared in a locked room and asked Thomas to touch His wounded body (John 20:28). Theologians would not likely argue that Jesus was inherently incorporeal from those appearances, so we conclude that the argument for the incorporeity of the immortals, based on sudden appearances and vanishings, is not sound. We offer the extradimensional hypothesis as a better explanation.
A being existing in dimensions beyond our observable three dimensions would seem to appear abruptly as it entered our space and disappear just as quickly as it left. For example, if a three-dimensional pencil were to pass through a two-dimensional “stick figure” world on a sheet of paper, the pencil would suddenly appear as a small point growing to the width of the pencil, remain the same size as its length slides through, and then abruptly disappear. Should the two-dimensional, stick-figure eyewitnesses to this visitation conclude that pencils are nonphysical beings? Hardly… Therefore, when angels seem to appear at will, they might be taking advantage of extra unseen dimensions. We are not given enough information to make dogmatic statements about the nature of the immortals—some who completely defy the classification “angel.”
While the angels appear in male (Daniel 10:5) and female (Zechariah 5:9) human forms, not all of the immortals are so friendly to the eyes. Biblical scholar S. A. Meier points out that “an early Israelite from the period of the monarchy would probably not have identified the theriomorphic [having an animal form] cherubim and seraphim as malakim ‘messengers,’ for the frightful appearance of these creatures made them unlikely candidates to serve as mediators of God’s message to humans.”[vii] Because the Bible never mentions these immortals functioning as messengers, the classification “angel” is a misnomer.
Isaiah describes the heavenly throne room and its attendant Seraphim:
Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly.
And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: The whole earth is full of his glory. (Isaiah 6:2–3)
The Hebrew is simply transliterated to “seraphim” in English Bibles, obscuring its true meaning. In later chapters of Isaiah, when sarap appears alongside the Hebrew verb uph for “flying,”[viii] it is rendered “fiery flying serpent” (Isaiah 14:29 and 30:6). The meaning should not be controversial. In addition to the four occurrences in Isaiah, the word sarap has three occurrences in the Torah, all of which refer to snakes (Numbers 21:6, 8; Deuteronomy 8:15). Scholarly consensus affirms that “the Seraphim are now generally conceived as winged serpents with certain human attributes.
Credit tp Skywatch.com
Israel: Russian decision on S-300 anti-missile system proves dangers of Iran deal
Moscow starts oil-for-goods swap with Tehran, demonstrating Kremlin's determination to boost economic ties with Islamic Republic.
Israel on Monday warned that Russia’s decision to lift its five-year ban on the delivery of S-300 air-defense missile system to Iran proves that the deal to curb Tehran’s nuclear program will only strengthen it militarily.
“Instead of demanding that Iran desist from the terrorist activity that it is carrying out in the Middle East and throughout the world, it is being allowed to arm itself with advanced weapons that will only increase its aggression,” Strategic Affairs Minister Yuval Steinitz said on Monday.
The Kremlin said Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree ending a self-imposed ban on delivering the S-300 missile system to Iran, removing a major irritant between the two, after Moscow canceled a corresponding contract in 2010 under pressure from the West.
The United States and Israel had lobbied Russia to block the missile sale before it did so in 2010, saying the S-300 system could be used to shield Iran’s nuclear facilities from possible future air strikes.
US Secretary of State John Kerry spoke by telephone with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Monday to express his concern about the shipment of S-300 missiles to Iran.
The two men also talked more globally about the framework agreement between the six world powers and Iran, which was negotiated earlier this month in Lausanne, Switzerland.
Lavrov told the Russian News Agency TASS that the S-300 ban is no longer necessary in light of the framework agreement.
He added that the system is defensive, hence would pose no threat to Israel.
“We see no need to continue doing this given progress in talks on Iran’s nuclear program and the absolutely legitimate nature of the forthcoming deal,” he said.
“S-300 is an air-defense missile system, which is of a purely defensive nature. It is not designed for attacks and will not put at risk the security of any regional state, including Israel,” Lavrov said.
Reuters contributed to this report.
Credit to Jerusalem Post
The Six Too Big To Fail Banks In The U.S. Have 278 TRILLION Dollars Of Exposure To Derivatives
The very same people that caused the last economic crisis have created a 278 TRILLION dollar derivatives time bomb that could go off at any moment. When this absolutely colossal bubble does implode, we are going to be faced with the worst economic crash in the history of the United States. During the last financial crisis, our politicians promised us that they would make sure that “too big to fail” would never be a problem again. Instead, as you will see below, those banks have actually gotten far larger since then. So now we really can’t afford for them to fail.
The six banks that I am talking about are JPMorgan Chase, Citibank, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo. When you add up all of their exposure to derivatives, it comes to a grand total of more than 278 trillion dollars. But when you add up all of the assets of all six banks combined, it only comes to a grand total of about 9.8 trillion dollars. In other words, these “too big to fail” banks have exposure to derivatives that is more than 28 times greater than their total assets.
This is complete and utter insanity, and yet nobody seems too alarmed about it. For the moment, those banks are still making lots of money and funding the campaigns of our most prominent politicians. Right now there is no incentive for them to stop their incredibly reckless gambling so they are just going to keep on doing it.
So precisely what are “derivatives”? Well, they can be immensely complicated, but I like to simplify things. On a very basic level, a “derivative” is not an investment in anything. When you buy a stock, you are purchasing an ownership interest in a company. When you buy a bond, you are purchasing the debt of a company. But a derivative is quite different. In essence, most derivatives are simply bets about what will or will not happen in the future. The big banks have transformed Wall Street into the biggest casino in the history of the planet, and when things are running smoothly they usually make a whole lot of money.
But there is a fundamental flaw in the system, and I described this in a previous article…
The big banks use very sophisticated algorithms that are supposed to help them be on the winning side of these bets the vast majority of the time, but these algorithms are not perfect. The reason these algorithms are not perfect is because they are based on assumptions, and those assumptions come from people. They might be really smart people, but they are still just people.
Today, the “too big to fail” banks are being even more reckless than they were just prior to the financial crash of 2008.
As long as they keep winning, everyone is going to be okay. But when the time comes that their bets start going against them, it is going to be a nightmare for all of us. Our entire economic system is based on the flow of credit, and those banks are at the very heart of that system.
In fact, the five largest banks account for approximately 42 percent of all loans in the United States, and the six largest banks account for approximately 67 percent of all assets in our financial system.
So that is why they are called “too big to fail”. We simply cannot afford for them to go out of business.
As I mentioned above, our politicians promised that something would be done about this. But instead, the four largest banks in the country have gotten nearly 40 percent largersince the last time around. The following numbers come from an article in the Los Angeles Times…
Just before the financial crisis hit, Wells Fargo & Co. had $609 billion in assets. Now it has $1.4 trillion. Bank of America Corp. had $1.7 trillion in assets. That’s up to $2.1 trillion.And the assets of JPMorgan Chase & Co., the nation’s biggest bank, have ballooned to $2.4 trillion from $1.8 trillion.
During this same time period, 1,400 smaller banks have completely disappeared from the banking industry.
So our economic system is now more dependent on the “too big to fail” banks than ever.
To illustrate how reckless the “too big to fail” banks have become, I want to share with you some brand new numbers which come directly from the OCC’s most recent quarterly report (see Table 2)…
JPMorgan Chase
Total Assets: $2,573,126,000,000 (about 2.6 trillion dollars)
Total Exposure To Derivatives: $63,600,246,000,000 (more than 63 trillion dollars)
Citibank
Total Assets: $1,842,530,000,000 (more than 1.8 trillion dollars)
Total Exposure To Derivatives: $59,951,603,000,000 (more than 59 trillion dollars)
Goldman Sachs
Total Assets: $856,301,000,000 (less than a trillion dollars)
Total Exposure To Derivatives: $57,312,558,000,000 (more than 57 trillion dollars)
Bank Of America
Total Assets: $2,106,796,000,000 (a little bit more than 2.1 trillion dollars)
Total Exposure To Derivatives: $54,224,084,000,000 (more than 54 trillion dollars)
Morgan Stanley
Total Assets: $801,382,000,000 (less than a trillion dollars)
Total Exposure To Derivatives: $38,546,879,000,000 (more than 38 trillion dollars)
Wells Fargo
Total Assets: $1,687,155,000,000 (about 1.7 trillion dollars)
Total Exposure To Derivatives: $5,302,422,000,000 (more than 5 trillion dollars)
Compared to the rest of them, Wells Fargo looks extremely prudent and rational.
But of course that is not true at all. Wells Fargo is being very reckless, but the others are being so reckless that it makes everyone else pale in comparison.
And these banks are not exactly in good shape for the next financial crisis that is rapidly approaching. The following is an excerpt from a recent Business Insider article…
The New York Times isn’t so sure about the results from the Federal Reserve’s latest round of stress tests.In an editorial published over the weekend, The Times cites data from Thomas Hoenig, vice chairman of the FDIC, who, in contrast to the Federal Reserve, found that capital ratios at the eight largest banks in the US averaged 4.97% at the end of 2014, far lower than the 12.9% found by the Fed’s stress test.
That doesn’t sound good.
So what is up with the discrepancy in the numbers? The New York Times explains…
The discrepancy is due mainly to differing views of the risk posed by the banks’ vast holdings of derivative contracts used for hedging and speculation. The Fed, in keeping with American accounting rules and central bank accords, assumes that gains and losses onderivatives generally net out. As a result, most derivatives do not show up as assets on banks’ balance sheets, an omission that bolsters the ratio of capital to assets.Mr. Hoenig uses stricter international accounting rules to value the derivatives. Those rules do not assume that gains and losses reliably net out. As a result, large derivative holdings are shown as assets on the balance sheet, an addition that reduces the ratio of capital to assets to the low levels reported in Mr. Hoenig’s analysis.
Derivatives, eh?
Very interesting.
And you know what?
The guys running these big banks can see what is coming.
Just consider the words that JPMorgan Chase chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon wrote to his shareholders not too long ago…
Some things never change — there will be another crisis, and its impact will be felt by the financial market.The trigger to the next crisis will not be the same as the trigger to the last one – but there will be another crisis. Triggering events could be geopolitical (the 1973 Middle East crisis), a recession where the Fed rapidly increases interest rates (the 1980-1982 recession), a commodities price collapse (oil in the late 1980s), the commercial real estate crisis (in the early 1990s), the Asian crisis (in 1997), so-called “bubbles” (the 2000 Internet bubble and the 2008 mortgage/housing bubble), etc. While the past crises had different roots (you could spend a lot of time arguing the degree to which geopolitical, economic or purely financial factors caused each crisis), they generally had a strong effect across the financial markets
In the same letter, Dimon mentioned “derivatives moved by enormous players and rapid computerized trades” as part of the reason why our system is so vulnerable to another crisis.
If this is what he truly believes, why is his firm being so incredibly reckless?
Perhaps someone should ask him that.
Interestingly, Dimon also discussed the possibility of a Greek exit from the eurozone…
“We must be prepared for a potential exit,” J. P. Morgan Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon said. in his annual letter to shareholders. “We continually stress test our company for possible repercussions resulting from such an event.”
This is something that I have been warning about for a long time.
And of course Dimon is not the only prominent banker warning of big problems ahead. German banking giant Deutsche Bank is also sounding the alarm…
With a U.S. profit recession expected in the first half of 2015 and investors unlikely to pay up for stocks, the risk of a stock market drop of 5% to 10% is rising, Deutsche Bank says.That’s the warning Deutsche Bank market strategist David Bianco zapped out to clients today before the opening bell on Wall Street.Bianco expects earnings for the broad Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index to contract in the first half of 2015 — the first time that’s happened since 2009 during the financial crisis. And the combination of soft earnings and his belief that investors won’t pay top dollar for stocks in a market that is already trading at above-average valuations is a recipe for a short-term pullback on Wall Street.
The truth is that we are in the midst of a historic stock market bubble, and we are witnessing all sorts of patterns in the financial markets which also emerged back in 2008 right before the financial crash in the fall of that year.
When some of the most prominent bankers at some of the biggest banks on the entire planet start issuing ominous warnings, that is a clear sign that time is running out. The period of relative stability that we have been enjoying has been fun, and hopefully it will last just a little while longer. But at some point it will end, and then the pain will begin.
Credit to Economic Collapse
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