In the news:

Earthquakes are back in focus:

Is this the age of megaquakes?

First there was the earthquake and tsunami in Sumatra in 2004. Chile was shaken and lashed violently a year ago. Japan is still reeling from the twin disasters on March 11. It seems as if the Earth has woken from a long slumber and is violently re-jiggering its plates. Is there any truth to the notion?

The question of megaquake clustering, which I explored in the days following the 9.0 earthquake and tsunami in Japan, was a hot topic of conversation Thursday at the Seismological Society of America's annual meeting in Memphis, Tenn., according to various media reports.

Aftershocks continue to shake north Queensland

North Queensland is continuing to experience dozens of minor aftershocks following a 5.2-magnitude earthquake on Saturday.

The world's financial crisis:

World Bank president: 'One shock away from crisis'

The president of the World Bank has warned that the world is "one shock away from a full-blown crisis".

Robert Zoellick cited rising food prices as the main threat to poor nations who risk "losing a generation".

At the Washington meetings, turmoil in the Middle East, volatile oil prices and high unemployment were also discussed.

Expert: U.S. should 'give up on the dollar'

The push to replace the U.S. dollar as the world's reserve currency has been gaining steam, with one expert arguing that America "must give up on the dollar."

As such, the United States may eventually need to force the rest of the world to gradually "disengage" from the dollar as a reserve currency if it continues to decline.

Pettis suggested that the euro could emerge over the next decade, since no other world currency has "the necessary characteristics to allow it plausibly to serve the needs of the global economy."

Following this statement above, the article supports what prophecy watchers have long noticed: There will be an interim solution before a single currency takes over the world - as described below:

Meanwhile, the International Monetary Fund has proposed a larger role for its special drawing rights, or SDRs, in the global reserve system.

SDRs represent potential claims on the currencies of IMF members. They were created by the IMF in 1969 and can be converted into whatever currency a borrower requires at exchange rates based on a weighted basket of international currencies. The IMF typically lends funds to countries denominated in SDRs.

More on this story below:

BRICS to replace dollar credits with local currencies

The BRICS nations, Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa are taking shots at the dollar again. At the end of recently concluding meeting in China, their development banks agreed to open credit lines denominated in their own currencies rather than the world's reserve currency, the US dollar.

The plan was announced in the backdrop of a weak dollar something the BRIC nations fear will erode the value of their foreign exchange reserves held mostly in the US currency.

Back to the Middle East:

Ahmadinejad: 'The era of Zionism has passed away'

Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, addressing crowds gathered on Monday in honor of Iran's Army Day, stated that "the era of Zionism and capitalism has passed away."

Speaking at celebrations for Iran's Army Day, Ahmadinejad denounces Israel and capitalism, accuses US of fomenting Arab unrest.

In public speech last week, Iranian president says he envisions new Middle East without presence of Israel, US and their allies.

Hezbollah and Iranian Revolutionary Guard operatives plan to attack Western targets in the coming days, a Lebanese report said on last week.

The report was based on information gathered by Western intelligence agencies monitoring the “recent abnormal movements of cadres suspected of belonging to Hezbollah or the Iranian Revolutionary Guard,” the Beirut Observer website said.

Of course, Ahmadinejad has to take yet another opportunity to predict Israel's demise:

Israel was nearing its end, he said, and added, “Regional nations have awakened, but the global arrogance intends to sow discord among countries in the region.”

The Iranian people and regional nations are unhappy with the existence of the Zionist regime [Israel], and are against it. They will continue their fight until the defeat of the US and Zionist regime in the region,” Ahmadinejad said

And we also have this related article which describes yet another worry coming from Iran:

Iran could have nuclear weapon by 2012: Britain

Western powers should work on the assumption that Iran could have a nuclear weapon by next year

The U.N. Security Council has approved four rounds of sanctions against Tehran for refusing to freeze its uranium enrichment program, which Western powers suspect is aimed at producing a nuclear weapon. Iran says its program is for peaceful energy needs.

Dagan's assessment was in line with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's caution about resorting to force against Iran, which has vowed to retaliate against Israel and U.S. interests for any attack on its nuclear installations.

Dagan was contradicted last week by Israel's chief of military intelligence, Major-General Aviv Kochavi, who said sanctions had not held up Iran's nuclear program and it could produce bombs within two years.

And below we see links to two interesting commentaries in today's news:

Why its OK for the U.S. Govt. to Burn Bibles But Condemn Burning the Koran

Consider: it was just a week or two ago that everyone from Sen. Lindsey Graham (R., sort of, SC) to Gen. David Petraeus and Sec. of State Hillary Clinton loudly condemned the Rev. Terry Jones for presiding over his Koran barbecue. Burning a holy book, you see, was hateful, intolerant, and extremely disrespectful.

That’s how General Petraeus put it: “hateful, intolerant, extremely disrespectful.”

At the same time, however, it is OK, in the Obama regime [SEE BELOW FOR AN UPDATE], for the U.S. government to burn Bibles. Yes, that’s right. Bibles were sent to U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan. But the U.S. government determined that the presence of Bibles in this “devoutly Muslim country” might inflame the natives. So they burned them. Why did they burn them? Because it is military policy to burn its trash.

A new video at the website AnsweringMuslims.com expatiates on this contradiction:

1. “You don’t burn the Koran, because if you do, Muslims might go on a killing spree.”

2 “You do burn the Bible, because if you don’t, Muslims might go on a killing spree.”

Actually, the contradiction is only apparent. The reason it’s OK to burn Bibles while the Koran must be handled as if it were a “fragile piece of delicate art” is that Muslims and their sacred scriptures have priority over Jews and Christians and their scriptures. That’s what it says in the Koran, and that’s how the U.S. government is proceeding.

A Passover Present

Passover celebrates the liberation of the Jewish people from national humiliation and slavery in ancient Egypt. Easter commemorates Jesus' Last Supper in Jerusalem, when, as an observant Jew, he also recited the Passover story. For serious Christians, Easter is a yearly reminder of the life, death, and meaning of Jesus of Nazareth.

By all means let us celebrate the holidays. But let's not forget that they are more than feel-good celebrations. They are meant to sound warnings, too.

If you don't understand that those warnings apply to us today you don't understand your own holidays

And as usual, Mr Soros' name comes up:

Divide-and-conquer fronts like J Street are an old Stalinist agit-prop tool. George Soros grew up in Hungary during the Stalin-Hitler time, when the radical Left forged a bloody alliance with the Nazis, just as today they have forged an alliance with Radical Islam. The American Thinker and other reliable sources have traced that alliance step by step. Just look it up.

Soros is just doing today what he did when he sold the furniture of Jewish families who were deported from Budapest to the concentration camps. It could be a sort of repetition compulsion for Mr. Soros. He has told the world that he feels no survivor guilt about the Nazis. Instead of guilt, Mr. Soros attacks open societies wherever they can still be found.

And this:

By forcing President Hosni Mubarak out of power, Obama blew apart the only viable peace agreement in the history of the Middle East, the Egyptian-Israeli Treaty, which was negotiated by Anwar Sadat, Menachem Begin, and Jimmy the Clueless Cottuh. Shortly afterwards Anwar Sadat was assassinated by the Muslim Brotherhood. Those are the same Moo Bros who are now preparing to take over Egypt, according to the New York Times itself.

Saul Alinsky was a Euro socialist, totalitarian brand. That's what Rules for Radicals is all about. Obama is an Alinsky clone. Connect the dots.

But, it had to happen this way. The Tribulation won't just happen overnight - we would expect to see the entire world moving in the general direction of the Tribulation and everything that we know about this last 7 year period on earth - the period that brings "birth" to the return of Christ Jesus and His reign on earth - following the complete and utter destruction of "human government". Thank God. Literally.

Oppression, financial collapse, food shortages, famine, warfare, persecution, and a governmental world rule all define the movements seen on earth today - exactly as one would expect who appropriately reads biblical prophecy in a literal manner.

Everything that we see on earth today - everything - points in that direction.

The antichrist is lurking - waiting for his moment. He must be watching the Middle East as closely as prophecy watchers are - for his time to rise to become a world dictator.

His time is almost upon us. But so is Jesus' time - His time to gather up His bride.

Maranatha!