The prophets reveal the exact spot to which the Messiah, God’s anointed King, will return: “And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which faces Jerusalem on the east” (Zechariah 14:4). Starting with Jerusalem as His capital city, He will expand His reign to the world (verses 9).

Once God’s Kingdom is established in Jerusalem among the people of Israel, Christ will ask representatives of all nations to come to Jerusalem to learn about His laws. He will summon them to Jerusalem to attend God’s Feast of Tabernacles. “And it shall come to pass that everyone who is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles” (verse 16).

Not all nations will immediately cooperate. Remember, Satan had organized these same nations to fight Christ at His return. They will not quickly accept Him even after Satan is bound. Therefore Christ will “judge between the nations, and rebuke many people . . .” (Isaiah 2:4). Early in Christ’s reign, strong measures still will be necessary to convince most nations that He intends to enforce the laws of God.

How will He make this clear, especially to nations who obstinately refuse to attend the Feast of Tabernacles? His means of communicating His message to them will be straightforward. He will simply demonstrate His control over the natural forces of earth. “And it shall be that whichever of the families of the earth do not come up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, on them there will be no rain” (Zechariah 14:17).

The nations will quickly learn that their existence depends on God’s blessing. Good weather and bountiful crops are blessings from God. From this time forward only nations that obey God will reap those blessings. All others will not. Such a system will serve as a convincing argument. In time, all nations will respond.

This vision of the millennial reign of Christ is not an illusion but a promise of reality. Jesus Christ will return to earth to spiritually transform its people and establish utopia, a paradise on earth. The combination of removing Satan’s influence, giving humanity God’s Spirit and teaching the world the laws and ways of God will produce 1,000 years of peace and a society blessed beyond its wildest dreams.

www.gnmagazine.org

For thousands of years people have been fascinated with predictions of the end of the world.

People who read and study the Bible are not the only ones concerned about where our world is headed. The late author Isaac Asimov, in his book The Choice of Catastrophes: The Disasters That Threaten Our World, listed and explained at least 15 dangers that could ­jeopardize human survival. Many of these potential global disasters, including nuclear war, have arrived at our door only in the last few decades.

At times people thought they understood when and how our age would end. But failed ­expectations about the end of the age have brought profound disappointment to scores of sincere religious individuals and groups. They thought they were correctly discerning the time and manner of the fulfillment of prophecy. But all have been wrong, or at least premature.

In spite of centuries of such disappointments, they haven’t put an end to attempts to associate world events and conditions with biblical prophecies concerning the end time. This is especially true in America, where books, television and radio programs focusing on biblical prophecy abound.

If we look into the inspired writings of the Old Testament prophets and Jesus Christ’s apostles, we find many prophecies that refer to the time of the end. Should we take them seriously? Should they mean anything to us? Are world conditions such that the predictions could be fulfilled in our day? Are we near the climax of the prophesied period in which the world is faced with insurmountable problems and global ­distress of holocaust proportions? Are we approaching Armageddon?

Jesus Christ Himself talked of a future time so horrendous that “if that time of troubles were not cut short, no living thing could survive”— everyone alive would die if that time was not cut short (Matthew 24:22, Revised English Bible, emphasis added throughout). Was He speaking
of our time?

Many Bible prophecies leave us in no doubt that increasingly cataclysmic events will occur before God’s direct intervention in human affairs. These terrifying prophetic occurrences will see their fulfillment at some future time. The crucial question is when.

Much confusion surrounds the timing of these prophecies. But this need not be so. The Bible itself reveals certain vital keys that will help us place these forewarnings in an understandable prophetic framework. We must let the Bible itself interpret its prophecies.

www.gnmagazine.org

Several events are prophesied to occur during the crucial last days:

• The area outside of the temple in Jerusalem will be controlled by non-Israelite powers (Revelation 11:2).
• The two witnesses of God will fulfill their commission (verse 3).
• The beast power, a counterfeit of the Kingdom of God, will dominate world politics, religion and economics (Revelation 13:5).

An unparalleled “time of great trouble” will come on the people of Israel, affecting also “the holy people” (Daniel 12:1, 7).

Notice that a common time-period is mentioned in conjunction with these events:

• 42 months.
• 1,260 days.
• “A time, times, and half a time.”

These are variations of the same period - 3 1/2 years (not seven years, as commonly suggested by many rapture-believers for the time of the great tribulation).

Note Wycliffe Commentary’s notes on Daniel 12:7:

“The consummation is to take place when the three and one-half times (3 1/2 years; 1,260 days; 42 months) so frequently mentioned in Daniel’s previous prophecies and in the Revelation are run out.”

Rapture theorists base their idea of a seven-year tribulation on a single reference, Daniel 9:27, which tells of a covenant made “for a week” by a “prince who is to come.” This prince will cut off sacrifices “in the midst of the week,” an act that will herald the beginning of the crisis at the end. A week in prophecy, goes the reasoning, represents a year and hence refers to a seven-year period.

(Some believe the prince to be the Antichrist, while others believe it is Christ. The Messiah was cut off in the midst of a week, or after 3 1/2 years of His earthly ministry, as well as on a Wednesday, the middle of a literal week.)

If this is a prophecy of the Antichrist, the crisis begins “in the middle,” or after 3 1/2 years, leaving another 3 1/2 years remaining for the fulfillment of the close-of-the-age events mentioned above. Note as well that the period would also be the same as prophesied in the above references to the main events of the end.

Clearly the Bible does not support the idea of a seven-year tribulation.

www.gnmagazine.org

The Food and Drug Administration on Friday will issue a regulation allowing spinach and lettuce sellers to take that extra step, a long-awaited move amid increasing outbreaks from raw produce.

It doesn’t excuse dirty produce, warned Dr. Laura Tarantino, FDA’s chief of food additive safety. Farms and processors still must follow standard rules to keep the greens as clean as possible — and consumers, too, should wash the leaves before eating.

“What this does is give producers and processors one more tool in the toolbox to make these commodities safer and protect public health,” Tarantino said.

Irradiated meat has been around for years, particularly ground beef that is a favorite hiding spot for E. coli. Spices also can be irradiated.

www.abcnews.go.com

Aspirin is present in many over-the-counter medications, and in many countries the daily use of aspirin by individuals has increased in recent years. Why?

In 1995 the Harvard Health Letter reported that “routine aspirin use saves lives.” Citing several worldwide studies, which have been repeated many times since then, researchers concluded: “Nearly everyone who has ever had a heart attack or stroke, suffers from angina, or has undergone coronary artery bypass surgery should take one-half to one aspirin tablet daily unless they are allergic to the drug.”

Other researchers claim benefits of taking aspirin daily for men over 50 who are at risk for a heart attack and for women at risk as well. Furthermore, there are studies indicating that daily aspirin may reduce the risk of colon cancer and that large doses over a long period can help lower blood-sugar levels in diabetics.

How does aspirin work to provide these proposed benefits? Though all is not known, evidence indicates that aspirin acts to make platelets in the blood less sticky, thus interfering with the formation of blood clots. Presumably, this helps to prevent blockage of small arteries to the heart and brain, in this way preventing damage to vital organs.

With all these presumed benefits of aspirin, why doesn’t everyone take it? For one thing, there is still much that is not known. Even the ideal dosage is unclear. Recommendations range from one standard tablet twice daily to as little as one baby aspirin every other day. Should the dosage for women be different from that for men? Doctors are not sure. While enteric-coated aspirin may be considered somewhat helpful, the advantage of buffered aspirin is still controversial.

www.consumerreports.org

He showed that fruit juices can limit the effects of several drugs, including three beta-blockers used to treat high blood pressure, the cancer drug etoposide and some antibiotics.

Professor Bailey said that most medicines should be taken only with water.

www.timesonline.co.uk

August 4, 2008

www.russiatoday.com

The country is outraged over the incident, and the man will be executed. The older girl was asked how she had survived. ‘A man wearing shiny white clothes, with bleeding wounds in his hands, came every day to feed us. He woke up my mom so she could nurse my sister,’ she said.

She was interviewed on Egyptian national TV, by a veiled Muslim woman news anchor. She said on public TV, ‘This was none other than Jesus, because nobody else does things like this!’

Muslims believe Isa (Jesus) would do this, but ‘the wounds’ means He really was crucified, and it’s clear also that He is alive! BUT, it’s also clear that the child could not make up a story like this, AND there is no way these children could have survived without a true miracle.

www.michemaylee.com

“We found the imprint in clay, remarkably well preserved, of a seal with the name of Gedaliah the son of Pashur,” said Eilat Mazar, who leads the team of archaeologists.

Gedaliah is mentioned in the Bible as among the ministers in the court of King Zedekiah who called for Prophet Jeremiah to be put to death for urging Jerusalem residents to surrender to the city’s Babylonian attackers.

It is the second such bulla - a lump of clay stamped with a seal - found at the site in Jerusalem. A similar one was found nearby in 2005.

“How absolutely fantastic and special this find is, can only be realised when you hold in your hand this magnificent one-centimetre piece of clay and know that it survived 2600 years in the debris of the destruction, and came to us complete and in perfect condition,” said Mazar.

But Israeli archaeologist Israel Finkelstein, who wrote the Bible Unearthed bestseller, reacted cautiously to the find.

“Dozens of bullas from the period already have been found, some of which turned out to be fakes,” he said.

www.news.com.au

Cindy McCain was touring with her husband, the Republican presidential nominee, in Michigan when she sustained the injury.

But with an existing wrist condition, the supporter’s excitement proved too much and Mrs McCain had to be taken to hospital.

Mrs McCain, who suffers from carpal tunnel syndrome, later rejoined her husband seemingly unfazed and sporting a cast that was glammed up with a sparkly broach.

The Republican nominee for the White House race called it her “new attire” as his wife told reporters: “I’m absolutely fine.”

Handshake strain is an occupational hazard for politicans and their spouses.

A spokesman for RSI Awareness told Sky News Online that the Queen shakes more people’s hands than anyone else in the UK - and has developed a special technique to cope with the strain.

He said: “You don’t get a regular handshake but a handshake with lighter contact… Mrs McCain’s handshake technique needs attention. She should get tips from the Queen.”

Sky News