To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - The Good, the Bad and the Curious
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Shophar_Sho_Good")
Date: Wed, 12 Apr 2000 08:05:29 -0500

Rapture Watch

The Good, the Bad and the Curious

The following reports are offered as items of interest in light
of the lateness of the hour on God's prophetic time
clock.

"This winter has been the warmest on record since the government
began keeping weather statistics 105 years ago,
according to scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration...The last three winters have been
the warmest on record in the United States. Since 1980, 67
percent of winters have been warmer than average...This
winter also has been a dry one, the 16th driest on record."
('This year's winter warmest on the books, scientists say',
Colorado Springs Gazette, March 12, 2000.)

"At least eight monkeys were killed and 10 people left injured
after a two-hour duel between starving Kenyans and
thirsty monkeys in the Somali Desert...When...monkeys
saw...water being drawn off...tankers, they attacked the
people that had grouped there so ferociously that the humans
were forced to flee as the primates quenched their
thirst. Members of the group returned with axes and machetes
and fought back the simians in a lengthy battle."
('Earthweek', Colorado Springs Gazette, March 25, 2000.)

"Earth's protective ozone layer thinned to record low levels
around the Arctic region this past winter - and will
probably worsen during the next decade, a new study reveals.
Scientists say their new research makes them fear that
the ozone layer may not recover as fast as they once
thought...Thinning of the Arctic ozone is much more dangerous
to Americans because the weakened ozone layer migrates south in
the spring, researchers said Wednesday..."The
largest ultraviolet increases from all of this are predicted to
be in the midlatitudes of the United States," said
University of Colorado atmospheric scientist Brian Toon. "It
affects us much more than the Antarctic one."
('Ozone loss over Arctic sets record', Colorado Springs Gazette,
April 6, 2000.)

We believe these first three items are early signs of the
approaching Tribulation Period which will close the present
age with droughts, scorching heat and increased danger from
animals as recorded in Revelation 6:8, 11:6 and 16:8-9.

By the prophetic words of Daniel 9:25-26, we are informed that
the last day's Anti-Christ will come forth from the
people who destroyed Jerusalem and the temple, after Jesus
Christ was put to death for the sins of the world. These
people were the people of the Roman Empire. If the European
Union is truly the revived Roman Empire of these
last days, as we are convinced, then signs of greater efforts to
further the European Union's influence in Israeli affairs
should be apparent. In Daniel 9:27, we are told that it is the
prince of these people who will strengthen the final
seven year covenant "with many for one week," and thus introduce
the time known as the Tribulation Period. For
further information see '483 Years + 7' at:
http://www.rapturewatch.com/lastdays.html.

An Arabic News report of February 18, 2000 revealed that "The
European Union is studying sending European
troops to the Middle East area for the first time in Europe's
history to observe implementing any possible Syrian -
Israeli peace agreement...The source added that the European
Union also made a plan for financing the development
projects in Israel, Palestine, Jordan, Syria and Egypt, yet the
sources did not reveal [the] size of the plan."
('European Union studies sending troops to observe...')

Also, the Arabic News of April 5, 2000 reported that "Syrian and
Lebanese leaders decided during talks held recently
in Damascus and Beirut to move toward the European states to
urge Israel that its withdrawal should be paving the
way for peace and not planting mines...by keeping land..."
('Lebanese - Syrian move to revitalize European role in
the peace process'.)

Reflecting on the Anti-Christ prince - there are many who
believe that Daniel 11:37 prophecies that the Anti-Christ
will despise the godly union of a man and a woman in marriage
and the baring of children, where it states that "He
shall regard neither the God of his fathers nor the desire of
women..."

Two other main lines of thought regarding this Scripture is that
he may be a homosexual and the very strong
possibility that this refers to his stand against the Messiah.
It was the desire of Jewish women to be the chosen
vessel, which was to bring forth the Saviour.

"Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the
virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His
name Immanuel (God with us)." (Isaiah 7:14).

It is curious when considering all of these possibilities when
the March 18, 2000 Denver Post reported that "...by a
vote of 265 - 125 with 33 abstentions...The European Union's
parliament has adopted a resolution urging the 15 EU
nations to grant same-sex couples rights equal to those of
heterosexual couples." ('EU's parliament backs gay
unions'.)

In a related article from the January 19, 2000 edition of the
Electronic Telegraph regarding the church (kirk) leader of
Scotland we read: "The Kirk's leader yesterday branded Section
28, which bans the promotion of homosexuality, a
"completely useless" law which created fear and stigma about
homosexuals. The Rt. Rev John Cairns, Moderator of
the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, called for a
rational debate and...an end to "extreme views" which
he claims are clouding the debate..." ('Kirk leader clashes
with cardinal over 'useless' gay ban'.)

The promotion of homosexual unions is the ultimate degrading
assault upon the holy state of matrimony and second
to abortion demonstrates the greatest possible disdain for
bringing forth children created in the image of God.

In Jeremiah 51:37-39, God reveals that in the fast approaching
conflict against Babylon, Iraq He will instill a fierce
lion-like pride and a state of drunkenness among her warriors
before her destruction is accomplished. Three news
items are significant in their relationship to this prophecy, in
our opinion.

Excite News reported on February 10, 2000 that "Iraq will not
allow a U.N. weapons inspection team into the
country to restart disarmament activities..." ('Iraq Nixes U.N.
Inspections Bid'.)

The Middle East News Line of March 23, 2000 reported that "Iraq
is one step away from developing nuclear
weapons, a leading U.S. expert says...Milhollin said Iraq has a
bomb design small enough to fit on the end of a Scud
missile...Milhollin, director of the Wisconsin Project on
Nuclear Arms Control, said Iraqi President Saddam Hussein
lacks only a cache of highly enriched uranium to complete a
nuclear weapon." ('Iraq is one step away from Nuclear
Bomb'.)

Then lastly, the News Digest of March 1, 2000 reported that
"since the beginning of the year the U.S. has spotted ten
20-foot containers of whisky in Jordan's Aqaba port bound for
Iraq...each container is filled with 900 cases of
whisky, or 10, 800 bottles. Another container held wine and
beer. "The regime in Baghdad is consuming more than
10,000 bottles of whisky, 350,000 cans of beer and 700 bottles
of wine per week - and alcohol is illegal in Iraq," [State
Department James] Rubin said. "The regime is getting drunk
while it claims its people don't have enough to eat."
('Saddam builds palaces and imports whisky'.)

In the face of these signs of impending judgement, believers
need to be reminded that the almighty power of the
Holy Spirit is still actively hindering wickedness upon the
earth by His indwelling presence within the Church. The
assault upon this world by unrestrained evil can never take
place as long as the temple of the Holy Spirit (which is
the body of Christ) still resides upon this earth (II
Thessalonians 2:7, I Corinthians 3:16).

This is why that until the believers in Jesus Christ are
suddenly caught up to meet their Lord and their loved ones in
the heavens (I Thessalonians 4:15-18) evil devices, such as the
teaching of evolution, will continue to be boldly
resisted by the faithful as was reported in the Colorado Springs
Gazette article of April 6, 2000 which headlined,
"Oklahoma House votes to require creationism". The report
stated, "Science books used in Oklahoma public
schools would be required to acknowledge "that human life was
created by one God of the universe" under
legislation passed Wednesday by the Oklahoma House of
Representatives. The House addressed the issue of
creationism in an amendment to a bill dealing with the embattled
State Text-book Committee..." ('Oklahoma House
votes to require creationism'.)

Perhaps most are unaware - but God has greatly blessed the
people of Oklahoma with mighty defenders of His
Word.

In the not to distant future the wickedly depraved will find
themselves in the cold dark world that they so earnestly
strove to bring forth. The difference the Church made while she
was present before having been caught up to God
will have an impact upon the world that defies the imagination
of man.

"...And there shall be a time of trouble, Such as never was
since there was a nation..." (Daniel 12:1).

To the Church through the Apostle Paul the Lord exhorts us...
"For this is commendable, if because of conscience
toward God one endures grief, suffering wrongfully...For to this
you were called, because Christ also suffered for us,
leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps:" (I
Peter 2:19, 21).

The long-suffering sweet sorrow of the Spirit filled Church is
near to its end. Very soon all who have trusted in the
atoning blood sacrifice of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of
their sins will be heaven-bound - won't you join us!

Your Brother and friend in Christ,
Jamma
April 11, 2000

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Rapture Watch messages are available at: www.rapturewatch.com

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To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Flashing light source puzzles astronomers
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Wed, 12 Apr 2000 14:31:06 -0400

Flashing Light Source Puzzles Astronomers

[Original headline: Scientists spot mysterious flashing light in Big
Dipper]

Los Alamos, N.M. (AP) Astronomers using an automated telescope that
scans 10 million stars and galaxies a night have discovered a mysterious
pulsing light in the Big Dipper. It flashes like a slowly rotating searchlight,
scientists say.

''It's a mystery,'' said Los Alamos researcher Jim Wren. ''It's definitely a
strange object.''

It was spotted March 29 by the Robotic Optical Transient Search Experiment
at Los Alamos. It brightens, then dims and brightens again in a cycle, Wren
said.

Ron Remillard of Massachusetts Institute of Technology was the first to see
it. He sent out a request for corroborating observations and received a
response from Japan within an hour that scientists there saw it, too.

Remillard theorizes the pulsing may come from a black hole, a dying
star with a force of gravity so intense that not even light readily
escapes its pull. He said the black hole, perhaps on the fringes of
our galaxy, may be sucking dust and gas which heats as it spirals to
its death, giving off the pulsing light and X-rays.

He has seen similar phenomena, he said, but with different pulse
patterns.

''There's a big mystery out there that's not solved,'' Remillard said.

The lightweight ROTSE telescope is designed to wheel around at a
moment's notice, giving astronomers a view of celestial fireworks as they
occur. It's mainly intended to watch for gamma ray bursts, but it will watch
for other phenomena when gamma rays aren't keeping it busy.

The telescope, built in 1997 by Los Alamos National Laboratory, Lawrence
Livermore National Laboratory and the University of Michigan, is housed here
in an 8-foot steel cylinder along with the computer that runs it. The computer
is linked to satellites that may signal phenomena like the pulsing light.

It takes 5.5 seconds from a satellite signal until ROTSE, plugged into the
Internet, gets the message. The satellite gives only a general area of sky, so
ROTSE swings around and starts snapping electronic pictures, rapidly
scanning that part of the sky.

Story originally published by
The Boston Globe / MA - April 9 2000

http://www.farshore.force9.co.uk/n_star00.htm

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To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Court backs Church view of gays as sick
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Shophar_Sho_Good")
Date: Wed, 12 Apr 2000 13:44:01 -0500

Court backs Church view of gays as sick

FROM RICHARD OWEN IN ROME
http://www.the-times.co.uk/

THE Italian Supreme Court caused a furore yesterday by
aligning itself with the Roman Catholic Church's definition
of homosexuality as a "psychiatric illness or disorder".

The court was ruling in the case of a woman from Florence
whose husband had admitted after 25 years of marriage that
he was homosexual.

The judges confirmed an ecclesiastical court ruling
granting a divorce. But they said the woman, named only as
Carla, was not entitled to maintenance payments because the
couple had been married in Church and, in the eyes of the
Vatican, marriages in which one of the partners turns out
to be gay are deemed null and void "as if they had never
taken place at all".

The court, properly called the Court of Cassation, said
the Sacra Rota, the Vatican court which rules on
matrimonial issues, was right to argue that homosexuals
were "psychologically incapable of assuming their conjugal
obligations" and suffered from "a grave inability to carry
out the duties of matrimony".

La Repubblica said the ruling was controversial because it
backed the Vatican definition of homosexuality. Franco
Grillini, of Arcigay, the Italian gay rights group, said
Italy was out of line with Europe. "This ruling smacks of
medieval obscurantism," he said.

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To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Storm over army CNN role
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Shophar_Sho_Good")
Date: Wed, 12 Apr 2000 13:46:11 -0500

Storm over army CNN role

http://www.theage.com.au/news/20000413/A468-2000Apr12.html

By JULIAN BORGER / WASHINGTON Thursday 13 April 2000

Two leading American news channels have admitted that they
allowed psychological operations officers from the military
to work as placement interns at their headquarters during
the Kosovo war.

Cable Network News (CNN) and National Public Radio, (NPR)
denied that the "psy-ops" officers influenced news coverage
and said the internships had been stopped as soon as senior
managers found out.

For its part, the army said the program was only intended
to give young army media specialists some experience of how
the news industry functioned.

The interns were mainly restricted to menial tasks such as
answering phones, but the fact that military propaganda
experts were even present in newsrooms as reports from the
Kosovo conflict were being broadcast has triggered a storm
of criticism and raised questions about the independence of
these networks.

"Maybe CNN was the target of a psy-ops penetration and is
still too naive to figure out what was going on," wrote one
liberal newspaper commentator, Alexander Cockburn. "In the
Kosovo conflict, as with other recent wars, CNN's screen
was filled with an unending procession of bellicose
advocates of bombing, many of them retired US generals."

CNN hosted five psy-ops officers as temporary, unpaid
workers last year, while NPR took three, all from the
army's 4th Psychological Operations Group, based at Fort
Bragg, North Carolina. The army's psychological operations
are prohibited by law from manipulating the US media.

After the existence of the CNN internship program was
published in the Dutch newspaper Trouw, the network
immediately cancelled it.

The head of CNN public relations, Susan Binford, said: "Is
the whole thing embarrassing? Yes. Did it compromise us
journalistically? No."

However, the independent watchdog group Fairness Accuracy
in Reporting asked in a news release: "Even if the psy-ops
officers working in the newsroom did not influence news
reporting, did the network allow the military to conduct an
intelligence-gathering mission against CNN itself?"

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To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Do you Smell a Future UN Land Donation.?.?.?...
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Shophar_Sho_Good")
Date: Wed, 12 Apr 2000 13:49:03 -0500

Jane's gone, and Ted's now a panhandler

Saturday, April 8, 2000
http://www.seattlep-i.com/national/peop0811.shtml

Ted Turner has acquired another chunk of Nebraska land.

The media mogul paid $3.13 million for 14,345 acres in the
state's panhandle, according to a deed filed Tuesday.

Turner bought the land from Peter Decker of Denver, a
former Colorado agriculture commissioner.

In late February, Turner bought the adjoining 64,620-acre
ranch for about $12.4 million. The latest purchase brings
Turner's holdings on five Nebraska ranches to about 204,000
acres.

Turner -- the largest private landowner in the United
States, according to Worth magazine -- owns a total of 1.7
million acres of ranch land in Nebraska, Montana, New
Mexico, South Dakota and Kansas.

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