In the news:

Report: Al Qaeda Operating In Jerusalem

Al Qaeda claims to be operating a “Sunni Youth” terrorist cell in Jerusalem as Muslim extremism grows throughout the Middle East.

The "Sunni Youth Movement Cell in Greater Jerusalem” issued its first message Monday night, according to Debkafile,

Last month, the number of terrorist attacks against Israelis almost doubled from the previous month, rising from 44 in November to 81 in December.

The IDF has warned that terrorists will try to use the diplomatic impasse between Israel and the Palestinian Authority to execute attacks against Israeli civilians and soldiers. Another impetus for terrorists is the recent release by Israel of more than 1,000 terrorists and security prisoners for the return of kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit.

After the deal was concluded, Hamas and other terrorist groups immediately announced their aim is to kidnap more Israelis as bargaining chips for more prisoner releases and concessions.

IDF Predicts Missile Attacks On Jerusalem In Future War

The army recently updated threat scenarios for every major city in Israel – and for the first time predicted that missiles might hit Jerusalem, even in a relatively minor conflict.

According to the IDF, the capital, which is in the range of Syrian and Hezbollah missiles, could also come under fire during a smaller conflict with Hamas and Islamic Jihad in the Gaza Strip. Both terrorist organizations are believed to possess Iranian rockets that have the ability to strike Jerusalem and the surrounding areas.

Persian Gulf Tensions Mount As U.S. Engages Israel On Iran

The Obama administration is engaged in a full-court press to persuade Israel that Iran’s nuclear threat can be contained short of war.

The U.S. lobbying has received a mixed reception from Israel, where the Netanyahu government has not ruled out a unilateral strike on Iran.

“We may be further along the road to war than most people believe,” said Michael Adler, an Iran scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.

Experts are divided as to the seriousness of the threat to cut off the strait and whether it will lead to war.

The resultant war also would give the U.S. a pretext to attack suspected Iranian nuclear sites, he said.

Except it didn’t apparently “take” in Jerusalem -- Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu continued to press for a more immediate ratcheting-up of pressure on Iran, in part by hinting that Israel might take action alone.

Likening himself to Israel’s first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, who declared statehood against the counsel of some allies, Netanyahu said in a speech -- just days after the strategic dialogue -- that he would “make the right decision at the right moment,” whatever allies counseled.

That was seen as a rebuke to Leon Panetta, the U.S. defense secretary, who a week earlier had warned that striking Iran could envelop the region in a conflagration.

Iran: Ahmadinejad Says Sanctions Will Be Met With 'Force'

Iran is flexing its muscles in response to Western moves to isolate it economically.

The Iranian Central Bank will respond to new sanctions imposed by the United States "with force, "Iranian president Ahmadinejad told an annual meeting of senior central bank officials on Monday, according to state media.

Iran Test Fires Second Missile In 24 Hours As Posturing Escalates

As expected yesterday, when the US went out full bore with a Japan approach of McCollum-like strategy of leaving Iran no option but to keep escalating until finally the US has enough public support grounds for a response, in under 24 hours Iran has launched a second missile, this time not a medium-range SAM to a long-range shore-to-sea missile. Needless to say, the US 5th Navy is watching these quite welcome developments with great interest.

From Reuters: "Iran said on Monday it had successfully test fired a long-range missile during its naval exercise in the Gulf, flexing its military muscle to show it could hit Israel and U.S. bases in the region if attacked.

At this point it is glaringly obvious to all but the most confused that the US is consistently pushing Iran to escalate further and further, until such time as the US ships stationed in Bahrain say enough and decide it is time to sink some boats.

Consider the prophetic implications of this next article below:

Dream Of Universal Currency Just Won't Die

This is undeniably a period of epic turmoil, and many economists will tell you that sovereign states need sovereign currencies—full stop. But this notion ignores a fundamental truth: Countries with their own currency may have monetary independence, but in reality—as gun battles in Libya, CDOs in the US, and tsunamis in Japan have taught us—we are only becoming more economically intertwined, regardless of what our coins look like.

Now we see the arguments which will be used to usher in a single, world currency:

Step back from the current crisis to consider the long view, and currency unions—or even a single global currency—have a fair share of appeal. A universal medium of exchange could eliminate currency risk and jack up trade. It would mean speculators couldn’t short an individual country’s currency. Exporters wouldn’t have to fret over the gap between a price on a contract and the value of the payment. A single currency could halt spastic swings in prices and end conversion fees, leaving more of the pie for little stuff like R&D and employee health insurance. Oh—and it could put an end to international disputes over currency manipulation. Hello? China?

The fact is, the modern economy and monetary system are too damn precarious for us not to examine every possible way to protect against future shocks—including going all in on a universal currency. It’s a bit like geoengineering: radical and outrageous at first blush but, given humanity’s current predicament, not as outrageous as dismissing it out of hand.

Perhaps the seed for that universal currency has already been planted. The International Monetary Fund uses something called Special Drawing Rights, a crossbreed of four of the world’s key currencies, to make certain kinds of settlements between IMF members. Could SDR someday morph into the One Coin to Rule Them All? If so, some lucky designer will have a field day mashing up $, ¥, £, and, yes, €.

Is A Super-Volcano In Germany About To Blow?

A sleeping super-volcano in Germany is showing worrying signs of waking up.

It's lurking just 390 miles away underneath the tranquil Laacher See lake near Bonn and is capable of ejecting billions of tons of magma.

This monster erupts every 10 to 12,000 years and last went off 12,900 years ago, so it could blow at any time.

Experts believe that if it did go off, it could lead to widespread devastation, mass evacuations and even short-term global cooling from the resulting ash cloud blocking the sun.

Volcanologists believe that the Laacher See volcano is still active as carbon dioxide is bubbling up to the lake’s surface, which indicates that the magma chamber below is 'degassing'.

A Quick Look Back

This is the time of year in which we see a lot of year-end reviews but below is the best seen thus far.

Jan Markell does a great job, as usual, and puts some perspective on where we are, as we enter 2012 in prophecy:

The Prophecy Clock Raced In 2011

Below are some of the most interesting remarks from this excellent article, and it is also interesting that she makes several of the same observations that we have been discussing here.

As we exit 2011, some things are certain in this age of uncertainty. Most readers will acknowledge that the end-time clock is racing. Violence and instability are everywhere, however, and particularly in the volatile Middle East.

So what else do we see?

The world is riddled with war and rumors of war.

Our churches are no longer sound. True Christianity is under attack from all sides, and Christians are being marginalized as intolerant bigots. In far-away places, Christians are being slaughtered in the name of Allah. Nature seems out of control as we observe record-setting disasters everywhere. Greed and corruption are the engines that run just about everything. Israel and Jerusalem are blamed for most of the world's problems. Allow me to expand on some of these.

War is on the way in the Middle East. Muslim nations are determined to force a showdown over the future of Israel, observes Ronald Reagan's Assistant Defense Secretary Frank Gafney. He warns of a "cataclysmic regional war and it will be over the future existence of the state of Israel. It may involve all of her neighbors, as they want to drive the Jews into the sea. It may include the use of nuclear weapons."

So much for the benign purposes of the "Arab spring." Consider Egypt. Under Hosni Mubarek, Egypt was the anchor of regional stability. Now, thanks to the Muslim Brotherhood, instability emanates to all other Mideast nations from that hub.

A united effort to annihilate Israel is underway.

Add to this litany an emboldened and ascendant China, Russia once again under the absolute control of Vladimir Putin, a Mexico free-falling into civil war with narcotic traffickers and their Hezbollah allies on our southern border, and you get a world that is fraught with peril for the United States.

Isn't it obvious that we are in the midst of the Bible's predicted "perilous times"? (II Timothy 3:1)

Sure, times have always been rough, but it's the convergence of events that is so intriguing at this time.

Of even greater significance are the comments below:

"Occupy Wall Street" is nothing to ignore. Suffice it to say that it represents the lawlessness and debauchery that characterizes our times.

Don't dismiss it as a silly circus of unwashed graduate students or fossilized 1960s nostalgists who can't even formulate a coherent platform.

If they could govern, we would have the ideal Leftist agenda of Marxism, Socialism, and one-worldism. It would take a super-human person to blend those elements and make it work. His name is Antichrist and he is waiting in the wings.

In late October, the Vatican called for radical reform of the world's financial systems, including the creation of a global political authority to manage the economy.

Read that again. The Vatican has called for a one-world economic and political system. Untold millions of Catholics have now been told that their leadership is ok with global government.

And this (below) deserves special attention:

Many scenarios are yet to play out. The policies of the man we elected by a wide majority just three years ago seem to be designed to confiscate the wealth of most Americans and put an end to America's super power status by eliminating what little value our currency still has.

America is not going away but a weakened America is necessary before someone can carry the globalist football into the end zone.

The one-worlders know this and the world's rabble-rousers denouncing capitalism know this. As we often say in this office, "It's all coming together."

On Monday, December 26, a prominent talk show host, with an animated voice said, "We need a world leader now!" He probably had no idea what he said or what the implications are. I noticed he didn't say that we need an American leader.

We need a global Mr. Fix-it. Another host calls such a man a "spooky dude." He has no clue either. Only the Bible helps us understand these mysteries and a lot of churches today consider the Bible an inconvenience. The Antichrist will be both: A 'man-with-a-plan' and a real 'spooky dude.'

Lastly, we see this hopeful note:

The early church longed for Jesus' return and thus greeted each other with "Maranatha!" Imagine how simple their lifestyle was. They knew nothing of the clanging noise of concrete canyons around the world -- big cities throbbing with violence and turmoil. Still, that simple word comforted them because it promised a better world someday.

As we see 2011 leaving us, know that a better world awaits you, too! But it is not of this world. It is another dimension, another location, another time. Yet it could be here in the twinkling of an eye! The heart-cry of millions in 2011, and even more in 2012, is this wonderful word: Maranatha. Come, Lord Jesus! I'll say it over and over again. Some will get sick of it but I won't quit. It's the one word that offers hope as the world comes unglued!

Maranatha, maranatha! Keep looking up. With an eternal perspective, the headlines won't disturb you quite so much and you can focus on spreading the gospel while there is still time. And find a church that believes same!

AMEN!

In the news:

First up: The continuing decline of America. If you don't believe that America is in a free fall, then you haven't been paying attention:

Formerly Great Cities All Over America Are Turning Into Open, Festering Sores

Below we see the introduction to this article which has plenty of examples to make the point - this one is worth reading in totality.

Once upon a time, the people of the United States constructed beautiful, shiny cities from coast to coast that were the envy of the entire globe. We had the largest and most vibrant middle class that the world has ever seen and life was quite good in America. But now all of our prosperity is coming crashing down and many of our formerly great cities are turning into open, festering sores.

Unfortunately, we are drowning in so much debt that we can barely even slow down the shocking decline of our cities. Over the past decade, tens of thousands of manufacturing facilities and millions of good jobs have been shipped out of the United States.

As our economic infrastructure has been ripped out right in front of our eyes, an atmosphere of unemployment, poverty and despair has descended on many of our major cities like a soaking wet blanket.

Today, many of our cities that once were considered to be some of the greatest in the world have been transformed into rotting, post-apocalyptic hellholes. When you visit many of these cities and look into the sunken eyes of the residents, you almost get the feeling that something has sucked all of the hope and all of the life right out of them.

Europe is in a similar situation. Not only financially, but additional problems are described below:

Europe's Inexorable March Towards Islam

Post-Christian Europe became noticeably more Islamized during 2011. As the rapidly growing Muslim population makes its presence felt in towns and cities across the continent, Islam is transforming the European way of life in ways unimaginable only a few years ago.

What follows is a brief summary of some of the more outrageous Islam-related controversies that took place in Europe during 2011.

The first example is as much symbolic as it is real:

In Austria, an appellate court upheld the politically correct conviction of Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff, a Viennese housewife and anti-Jihad activist, for "denigrating religious beliefs" after she gave a series of seminars about the dangers of radical Islam. The December 20 ruling showed that while Judaism and Christianity can be disparaged with impunity in postmodern multicultural Austria, speaking the truth about Islam is subject to swift and hefty legal penalties.

There are several pertinent examples given in the article; below are two revealing samples:

In Britain, a Muslim group launched a campaign to turn twelve British cities -- including what it calls "Londonistan" -- into independent Islamic states. These so-called Islamic Emirates would function as autonomous enclaves ruled by Islamic Sharia law and operate entirely outside British jurisprudence.

Separately, it was revealed that more than 2,800 so-called honor attacks -- punishments for bringing shame on the family -- were recorded by British police last year, according to the first-ever national estimate of the problem. The highest number of honor crimes -- which include murder, mutilation, beatings, abductions and acid attacks -- was recorded in London, where the problem has doubled to more than five times the national average.

The same problem can be seen around the world:

Islamofascism And The War On Nigeria's Chriatians

Islamofascism: Scores of Christians attending Catholic mass in Nigerian churches were slaughtered in their pews by massive bomb blasts on Christmas Day.

The year that began with a New Year's attack on an Egyptian Coptic Christian Church that killed 21 worshippers is ending with attacks on two Nigerian churches that killed 35 and injured at least 57.

The first explosion occurred Sunday as Christmas service was ending at St. Theresa's Church in Madalla near the Nigerian capital of Abuja. Some 35 people were murdered and 57 injured in the attack for which a radical Muslim sect known as Boko Haram, which translates to "Western education is a sin," claimed responsibility.

Another blast occurred at a church in the central city of Jos, where last year at least 32 people were killed and more than 70 wounded in three bombings targeting Christian areas on Christmas Eve. (...)

In the Epicenter:

Op-Ed: "Palestine"? -- Bye Bye Oslo, Hullo Jordan and Egypt

In a nutshell:

The real reasons for Oslo's demise are far deeper and more complex - revealing unbridgeable gaps between Israel and the PLO in reaching any agreement with regard to the following issues after failed on and off negotiations extending over the last 19 years:

Israel's demands that

- Israel be recognized as the Jewish State
- Any Palestinian State be demilitarized
- The final borders determined between it and a Palestinian State be secure and recognized boundaries as stipulated by United Nations Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338

The PLO's demands that

- Israel cede its claims in 100% of the territory won from Jordan in the 1967 War - with possibly equivalent land swaps to negate some of the removal of Jews from their homes in the Judea, Samaria and East Jerusalem
- Israel agree to accept millions of Palestinian Arabs - and their descendants - who became refugees as a result of the 1948 War

Unfortunately, we have the following reality:

Indeed one would be unable to find any improvement in the relationship between Israel and the PLO in 2011 to that which existed in 1994 when Mr Serjested declared:

The situation is still full of tension, marked by violence, killings, and insecurity, and stability is still far to seek

Martin Sherman has summed up the current situation in these terms:

"For almost two decades after the Oslo Accords – despite massive financial aid and political support – they have produced nothing but a deeply divided entity, crippled by corruption and cronyism.

The result is a dysfunctional polity unable to conduct even the semblance of timely elections, and a puny economy, comprising a minuscule private sector and a bloated public one, totally unsustainable without massive infusions of foreign funds".

Hal Lindsey's latest video report is well worth watching:

Hal Lindsey Report

And below, see a couple of articles involving Iran and an overview of the Epicenter as we begin 2012:

Iran Tests Missile That Can Hit US and Israel Bases

"Iran To deny Hormuz Oil To War Engines"

The Year We Lost Afghanistan, Iraq, Egypt, Turkey, Tunisia And Most Of The Middle East

Two Articles Tell The Story In The Middle East

These two articles tell the story. In fact they really could stand as a representation of the entire 'peace process' which we have been observing for years. You could look at the titles alone and get the idea.

Peace Process Must Involve Hamas As A Player

We see a Prime Minister (does it really matter which specific country? does it really matter which "leader"?), in this case Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan who, while meeting with Hamas Prime Minister Haniyeh in Istanbul Sunday makes an incredible statement:

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayip Erdogan met with Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh in Istanbul Sunday, saying that any process leading to a solution of Palestinian issues must involve Hamas as a player.

Erdogan's comments were reported following the meeting at his home in Istanbul. Palestinian media outlets said that Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu was also present in the meeting.

Erdogan also expressed support of Hamas and Fatah’s reconciliation and said he hoped the Palestinians will establish an umbrella organization which would democratically represent all political players among the Palestinians.

Hmm....So Hamas must be involved in any peace process huh?

Am I the only one who sees this apparent contradiction and subsequent "problem" involving making peace with Hamas?

This article below (which was posted earlier today) reveals the obvious:

Haniyeh In Sudan: Hamas Will Never Recognize Israel

So Israel is supposed to make peace with the organization who refuses to recognize their very existance?

Hamas’ Prime Minister in Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh, reiterated on Saturday that his organization will never recognize Israel and will never give up on Jerusalem, Channel 10 News reported.

He also called for the establishment of a “Jerusalem Army,” an army of Arab nations who will conquer Jerusalem from the Jews, the report said.

While Haniyeh’s comments are consistent with ones he recently made during Hamas’ 24th anniversary celebration, where he said Hamas’ long-term strategic goal is to eliminate all of Israel, they are not consistent with comments made by other Hamas officials in the past week.

Oh, and then there is that little additional statement "Hamas long-term strategic goal is to eliminate Israel".

So let us take a quick look at the absurdity of this situation.

World leaders (and Erdogan is just the most recent example) and the media insist that Israel give up their land, all defensible borders and Jerusalem - to a group who is sworn to their destruction and refuses to admit that Israel has a right to even exist.

This contradiction is maddeningly frustrating and the MSM will ignore it, the "quartet" will ignore it, and outside of a few prophecy sites, no one will even acknowledge this ridiculous set-up for Israel. Almost everyone involved, outside of Israel, simply looks away and pretends that _____ (insert your pick: Hamas, Hezbollah, Fatah, PLO, Muslim Brotherhood, Iran, Egypt, Syria, etc) never made such statements.

Such is life in bizarro world.

I'll take New Jerusalem, thank you.

In the news: Bringing 2012 In With A Bang

2012 begins with a bang prophetically. There are a number of interesting stories today:

Obama Signs NDAA Into Law: Dismantles Bill Of Rights

According to the ACLU, President Barack Obama just signed one of the most controversial bills into law since the Patriot Act.

In case you haven't heard, H.R. 1540: National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012 or NDAA, is not your typical defense spending bill. It gives authority to the president (or perhaps it'd be more fitting to call him king or ruler at this point) to order the military to indefinitely detain U.S. citizens without official charge or trial on the mere suspicion of being a terrorist or linked to a terrorist organization.

The paragraph below captures the essence of this bill:

But as our government slips further and further from the rule of law and the founding principles of our nation that once made us great, tyranny inevitably creeps in to take its place. And when tyranny reigns, the line between who is a terrorist and who isn't becomes easily blurred. A "terrorist" could simply mean a political enemy of the state.

National Defense Authorization Act "Slip Into Tyranny"

You can say what you want about Ron Paul, but he has it right on this issue:

The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) is an unprecedented, unconstitutional, and unchecked grant of dictatorial power to the President in the name of protecting the security of “the homeland.” Ron Paul described the bill (soon to be signed into law by the President) as a “slip into tyranny,” one that will almost certainly accelerate “our descent into totalitarianism.”

This liberty-extinguishing legislation converts America into a war zone and turns Americans into potential suspected terrorists, complete with the full roster of rights typically afforded to terrorists — none.

A key component of this reconciled bill mandates a frightening grant of immense and unconstitutional power to the executive branch. Under the provisions of Section 1021, the President is afforded the absolute power to arrest and detain citizens of the United States without their being informed of any criminal charges, without a trial on the merits of those charges, and without a scintilla of the due process safeguards protected by the Constitution of the United States.

Also see:

Obama Signs Act To Allow Detention Of U.S. Citizens

Back to the Epicenter where we see a few pertinent stories:

Islamism: 21st Century Communism

One paragraph says it all:

Think about this: By the end of 2012 the overwhelming majority of Muslims in the Middle East – in Egypt, the Gaza Strip, Iran, Lebanon, Libya, Tunisia and Turkey, about a quarter-billion people in all – will be governed by radical Islamist regimes that believe in waging jihad on Israel and America, wiping Israel off the map, suppressing Christians, reducing the status of women to even lower than it is now, and in their right as the true interpreters of God’s will to govern as dictators.

Muslim Brotherhood Vows Not To Recognize Israel

Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood will not recognize Israel "under any circumstance," the party's deputy leader Dr Rashad Bayoumi told Arabic daily al-Hayat in an interview publish Sunday.

In recent Egyptian elections the party list led by the Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) won 36.3 percent of the list vote, while the ultra-conservative Salafi al-Nour Party took 28.8%.

When asked whether it is a requirement for the government in Egypt to recognize Israel, Bayoumi responded by saying: "This is not an option, whatever the circumstances, we do not recognize Israel at all. Its [Israel] an occupying criminal enemy."

The deputy leader stressed during the interview that no Muslim Brotherhood members would ever meet with Israelis for negotiations. "I will not allow myself to sit down with criminals."

Muslim Brotherhood Plans To Cancel Peace Pact With Israel

Haniyeh In Sudan: Hamas Will Never Recognize Israel

Hamas’ Prime Minister in Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh, reiterated on Saturday that his organization will never recognize Israel and will never give up on Jerusalem, Channel 10 News reported.

He also called for the establishment of a “Jerusalem Army,” an army of Arab nations who will conquer Jerusalem from the Jews, the report said.

Haniyeh’s remarks were reportedly made in a forum entitled “The Jerusalem Forum” being held in Khartoum. Channel 10 reported that during the discussions, Haniyeh’s men met with senior members of the extremist Muslim Brotherhood movement. According to the report, the purpose of the meetings was to look into the possibility of having Hamas join the Muslim Brotherhood.

Iran Claims It Has Produced Nuclear Fuel Rod

Iran claims it has produced its first nuclear fuel bar, an accomplishment that Western experts estimated it could not achieve.

The semi-officials Fars News Agency stated, “The fuel rod with 1,500 mw/h of radioactivity has passed neutron and non-leakage tests successfully and is now under study for longer duration of radioactivity. The achievement came while the Western states refrained from supplying nuclear fuel to the research reactor in a violation of their NPT (Non-Proliferation Treaty) undertakings.

Gaza Terrorists Continue 11-Year War, Fire Two Mortar Shells

Gaza terrorists resumed 11 years of aerial attacks on Israel late Sunday morning, firing two mortars shells on the western Negev.

The IDF reported on Twitter, “2 rockets fired from #Gaza just landed in Eshkol Regional Council, home to 11,000 Israelis.”

If the past policy continues, the IDF will launch a counterterrorist strike within the next 24 hours on terrorist rocket launching squads, weapons manufacturing factories and warehouses or tunnels used by terrorists to smuggle weapons and to infiltrate into Gaza Belt communities.

And last, the following article is most definitely worth reading:

The Sprectre of 1932: How A Loss Of Faith In Politicians And Democracy Could Make 2012 The Most Frightening Year In Living Memory

As commentators often remark, the world picture has not been grimmer since the dark days of the mid-Seventies, when the OPEC oil shock, the rise of stagflation and the surge of nationalist terrorism cast a heavy shadow over the Western world.

For the most chilling parallel, though, we should look back exactly 80 years, to the cold wintry days when 1931 gave way to 1932.

And in the last days of 1932, after the technocrats and generals had failed to restore order, President Paul von Hindenburg began to contemplate the unthinkable — the prospect of Adolf Hitler as Chancellor of Germany.

We all know what happened next. Indeed, by the end of 1932 the world was about to slide towards a new dark age, an age of barbarism and bloodshed on a scale that history had never known.

Eighty years on, it would be easy to sit back and reassure ourselves that the worst could never happen again. But that, of course, was what people told each other in 1932, too.

Our world is poised on the edge of perhaps the most important 12 months for more than half a century. If our leaders provide the right leadership, then we may, perhaps, muddle through towards slow growth and gradual recovery.

But if the European elite continue to inflict needless hardship on their people; if the markets continue to erode faith in the euro; and if Western politicians waste their time in petty bickering, then we could easily slip further towards discontent and disaster.

The experience of 1932 provides a desperately valuable lesson. As a result of the decisions taken in those 12 short months, millions of people later lost their lives.

Today, on the brink of a new year that could well prove the most frightening in living memory, we can only pray that our history takes a very different path.