In the news...

Just as we were informed by biblical prophecy. Jerusalem: The Burdensome Stone (Zechariah 12:3):

"Jerusalem Situation a 'Time Bomb'"

JERUSALEM: A senior Palestinian figure yesterday said that rising tension with Israel over settlement building in the Jerusalem area was a "time bomb" that was eroding trust between the two sides.

"The Jerusalem situation, I think, is a time bomb if it continues in this way," Qurei told a forum of mostly Israeli academics in Jerusalem, referring to the expansion of Jewish settlements in East Jerusalem and plans to demolish Palestinian homes.

A more detailed article is found here:

"Fatah official: Jerusalem is ticking time bomb"

Fatah official Ahmed Qureia (Abu Ala) accused Israel of neglecting to honor its obligations to freeze construction in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, and said the violations would stop peace talks before they began.

Qureia told a Jerusalem conference on the proximity talks between Israel and the Palestinians Sunday that Jerusalem was "a ticking time bomb", and blamed Israel's prime minister for this.

"Netanyahu is only spurring the expansion of settlements, despite the freeze that was not even carried out. He continues to make one-sided moves in Jerusalem: Every day something is built or razed, and Nir Barkat is cooperating with him," he said.

"We touched upon core issues and decided it was not a matter of historic rights to land but rather a decision on how to divide the land into two nation states."

"Israel wants peace talks, Palestinians say 'not yet'"

In interviews with the American media on the weekend following his visit to the White House, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated his message that he is ready to immediately sit down with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas and negotiate a final status peace agreement.

"You cannot resolve a conflict, you cannot successfully complete a peace negotiation if you don't start it. And I say let's start it right now, today, tomorrow, in Jerusalem, in Ramallah or anywhere else," Netanyahu told CNN interviewer Larry King.

Abbas then appeared to throw a wrench in plans to resume peace negotiations when he set the precondition that under any final status peace deal, all Jewish communities deemed to be built on "Palestinian land" must be fully dismantled, including the large Jewish neighborhoods on the eastern side of Jerusalem.

If you have followed the forever failing "peace talks" process over the years, then you will have noticed that Jerusalem is ALWAYS the "sticking point" - usually the last obstruction to a final agreement. It's exactly what Zechariah told us in the prophetic scriptures in Zechariah 12 where Jerusalem was described as a "burdensome stone" and all who try to move it (aka "divide it") will be cut into pieces. The fact that these prophetic scriptures were written ~ 2,500 years ago is a tribute to the literal accuracy of biblical prophecy.

In other news:

"Central banks start to abandon the U.S. dollar"

This, as we know, is a necessary step in the process of forging an international (single) currency, which, in turn is necessary for a central banking system, which will ultimately be necessary to fulfill the scriptures found in Revelation 13 and the "Mark of the Beast".

A new report from Morgan Stanley analyst Emma Lawson confirms what many had suspected: the dollar is firmly on its way to losing its status as the reserve currency of the world. We already knew that central banks have preferred gold to dollars, and that they're even selling their gold for cash; now, according to Lawson's data, it seems that those central banks prefer almost anything to dollars.

Call it diversification, if you must, but the trendline indicates that central banks are finally putting their money where their anti-dollar mouths are. The dollar has been in free-fall since 2007.

Last year, both China and Russia have questioned why the dollar should be the world's reserve currency. (Naturally, they were advocating for the ruble and yuan).

And just last week, the United Nations released a report concluding that the dollar should no longer be the world's reserve currency because it is not stable enough. The dollar is down 5% over the past month, and even currency traders don't see it as a safe haven any more.

Hezbollah continues to threaten Israel:

"Hezbollah warns Israel: We have list of IDF targets for future war"

A senior Hezbollah official warned Sunday that the Lebanon-based guerilla group has a list of military targets inside Israel that they could attack in any future war.

Hezbollah commander in south Lebanon, Sheik Nabil Kaouk, made his comments Sunday in response to this week's release by Israel's military of maps and previously classified aerial photographs of what it described as a network of Hezbollah weapons depots and command centers in south Lebanon.

Hezbollah declared on Saturday that that Israel was preparing "something" in Lebanon and that the organization has been on high alert since Israel released the images.

And of course we can't go a full day without Iran's presence in the news:

"'Irrational' Iran can't get nuclear arms: Netanyahu"

"Irrational regimes" like Iran cannot be allowed to have nuclear arms and it is a mistake to think Tehran's ambitions can be contained, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on U.S. television.

Netanyahu, who met President Barack Obama last week during a visit to Washington and New York, told "Fox News Sunday" that Iran was "just moving on with its efforts" to develop nuclear weapons -- a prospect he called "very, very dangerous."

"We always reserve the right to defend ourselves," he said, reiterating a core policy of Israel

"So I think we should stay focused on the real problem in the Middle East," he said. "It's not Israel. It's these dictatorships that are developing nuclear weapons with the specific goal of wiping Israel away."

In this last article for the day, we see the growing anti-Israeli, anti-Semitism sentiment which is growing throughout the world, even in places such as Sweden:

"Jews reluctantly abandon Swedish city amid growing anti-Semitism"

The Muslim population in Malmo lives in segregated conditions that seem to breed alienation and anger directed at Israeli policies.

But as in many other cities across Europe, a rapidly growing Muslim population living in segregated conditions that seem to breed alienation has mixed toxically with the anger directed at Israeli policies and actions by those Muslims — and by many non-Muslims — to all but transform the lives of local Jews. Like many of their counterparts in other European cities, the Jews of Malmo report being subjected increasingly to threats, intimidation and actual violence as stand-ins for Israel.

Anti-Semitism in Europe has historically been associated with the far right, but the Jews interviewed for this article say that the threat in Sweden now comes from Muslims and from changing attitudes about Jews in the wider society.

“Sweden is a microcosm of contemporary anti-Semitism,” said Charles Small, director of the Yale University Initiative for the Study of Anti-Semitism. “It’s a form of acquiescence to radical Islam, which is diametrically opposed to everything Sweden stands for.”

Members of Parliament have attended anti-Israel rallies where the Israeli flag was burned while the flags of Hamas and Hezbollah were waved, and the rhetoric was often anti-Semitic—not just anti-Israel.

“Malmo reminds me of the anti-Semitism I felt as a child in Poland before the war,” she told the Forward while sitting in her living room, which is adorned with Persian rugs and many paintings.

“I am not safe as a Jew in Sweden anymore,” a trembling Popinski said in a frail voice. But unlike others, she intends to stay in Sweden. “I will not be a victim again,” she said.

As we see more and more persecution directed against Christians throughout the world, we also watch a growing anti-Israeli form of persecution which seems to be spreading throughout Europe. This is just one of many such articles published recently.

The world is moving rapidly towards the Tribulation - we see it in every way. The world financial situation (aka "crisis") is moving us towards a central currency, the alignment of nations against Israel is growing stronger by the day, Jerusalem is the focus of all "peace-plans" under discussion, the ongoing weakening of the U.S. as a world power, China's growing clout and influence in world affairs, and the EU's inevitable movement into the "10 Kings" phase. Its all progressing rapidly towards the world which has been described as being in existence during the final 7 year tribulation period.

Thats good news for a Christian - because it tells us that the prophetic events described in 1 Thessalonians 4:16 and 1 Corinthians 15:51, also known as the "gathering up" is imminent. There is a place called "New Jerusalem" which awaiting the Trumpet Call and the Bride of Christ to arrive. It will be soon. All signs point in that direction.

Maranatha!