Even though he has been gone a number of years now, there may be some out there who are going to remember the late and great Barry R Smith.
Even though I was never ever privileged to have known him personally, I had the occasion to go to one or two of his meetings when he came to the area.
I have read the whole of the series of his books and have watched a fair portion of his DVDs. That being the substance of the matter, therefore, one could say I had quite a good understanding of just where he was coming from relative to the end times as he revealed the keys to eternal salvation at the same time?
There was a time when he had mentioned in one of his DVDs when he had been offered the opportunity to sell end times food with the prospect being that if were able to do that there would be a very strong possibility that he would come out of doing so a self made millionaire.
The idea was that he was simply to carry on as he was preaching about the end times and there at the end of his meetings there would be someone at the door ready to sell those who came out of BS meetings the aforementioned end times emergency food.
The idea was that as there always was a message of doom and gloom, or the end of the current system as we know it on this day, the idea was that there would be those who were sufficiently frightened they would then buy his end times food.
He later on went to reject this idea, but there are still those out there who did not and are using their own messages of doom and gloom to frighten people so that may profiteer out of the process by selling those they sufficiently frighten enough products they claim are going to assist the purchasers when the crunch time really comes and the final seven years here on the earth begins.
Even though I still believe it is not really being a Christian to go and talk about someone behind their backs, there are still a couple of very well names that are coming to mind who are doing this type of thing. TM of the power of prophecy website and author of several books and DVDs readily comes to mind, just as AJ of the info wars website name also does.
Both of these men are becoming extremely wealthy by fleecing the unsuspecting of their hard earned cash.
AF of the free press online is just another one that readily comes to mind. Even though he is not directly selling end times food what he is doing is frightening those who come to his website with visions of a Greater Depression in 2011. At the same time he has an advertisement on his website for GOLD which seems to suggesting that if what he had predicated in 2011 were ever to come to pass then gold would be the safest investment to give the greatest return for those who had chosen to invest in it as a hedge fund against further financial collapse if that were ever to come to pass in the forthcoming year?
However the facts of the matter are completely different, as there could be nothing which is further from the truth.
Even though there are very clear indicators within the Holy Scriptures that says there will be an economic collapse sooner or later, there is still nothing whatsoever within the Bible that says it is going to be in 2011.
Also, within the scriptures there are several verses that says that that GOLD is not an infallible investment at all. In fact, the Bible says that Gold is going to be cankered and that it is going to be worth absolutely nothing at all.
I would assume there are more around the place than those two men mentioned above who are frightening those who will listen, and then as a consequence trying to make money out of doing so. These are only a couple that I am able to think of, but there are still more than likely numerous others of whom I do not even know about.
So even though it may be alright to set out on a deliberate pathway to alarm and frighten in the vain hope that by doing so it is going to lead some to eternal life, there is a direct difference between doing so to try and lead others to eternal life -- and deliberately setting out on a pathway to try and frighten people just to profiteer out of doing so.
The Pope delivers his annual Christmas Day blessing from the central balcony of St Peter's Basilica at the Vatican. (see the insert)
THE Pope led pleas by religious leaders for peace in the Middle East and an end to persecution in Iraq.
But as the Pope addressed huge crowds at the Vatican, violence against Christians marred the Christmas holiday.
Record crowds flocked to Bethlehem, and hundreds defied al-Qa'ida threats to pack Our Lady of Salvation cathedral in Baghdad for Christmas mass.
But seven explosions hit Jos in central Nigeria, killing 32 people and injured 74 late on Christmas Eve. In Maiduguri, in northern Nigeria, suspected members of an Islamist sect attacked three churches, burning one down and killing six people.
A bomb rocked a church on Jolo Island in The Philippines during Christmas mass, wounding six. The island is a bastion of Abu Sayyaf, a group linked to al-Qa'ida.
"May the love of God with us grant perseverance to all those Christian communities enduring discrimination and persecution, and inspire political and religious leaders to be committed to full respect for the religious freedom of all," the Pope said in his Christmas Day message at the Vatican
.
"May the comforting message of the coming of Emmanuel ease the pain and bring consolation amid their trials to the beloved Christian communities in Iraq and throughout the Middle East."
Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams also urged people to remember those facing persecution because of their Christian faith. "We may feel powerless to help; yet we should also know that people in such circumstances are strengthened simply by knowing they have not been forgotten," he said.
Christmas cheer was sorely tested in parts of Europe, where thousands of travellers were forced to spend the night in trains, barracks, ferries and airports as transport froze to a halt.
Weather also made life difficult for travellers in the US as airlines cancelled hundreds of flights. Parts of the south enjoyed a rare white Christmas, with snow in Nashville, Tennessee, and northern Alabama. Snow blanketed whole sections of the midwest, and a storm was predicted to bring more than 12.5cm of snow to the Washington DC region today.
US President Barack Obama made a surprise Christmas visit to a marine base to thank US troops for the sacrifices they had made.
He and his wife, Michelle, shook hands and hugged service members who had arrived for Christmas dinner at the mess hall at Marine Corps Base Hawaii.
"Let's all remind (troops) this holiday season that we're thinking of them, and that America will forever be here for them, just as they've been there for us," t Mr Obama said in his holiday message. After dining with his family on steak, roasted potatoes, green beans and pie, the sport-obsessed President watched some NBA basketball.
Sport was also the unexpected focus of the Queen's Christmas Day message. Nineteen months before the London Olympics, the Queen pointed to October's Commonwealth Games as an example of how sport unites people.
The Queen celebrated Christmas with her family at Sandringham Estate in Norfolk, and about 1000 people turned up on a frosty Christmas morning to see the royals as they went to church.
But they were denied a glimpse of Prince William and his fiancee, Kate Middleton.
William, who is a Royal Air Force search and rescue pilot, was on call in Wales, while Ms Middleton was with her family.
United Nations General Secretary is publicly admitting that the worldwide climate change treaty recently agreed upon in Cancun Mexico will be enforced by global government.
Up until now, many have dismissed reports that the treaty recently agreed upon in Cancun would represent a giant step towards world government.
However, when the head of the United Nations tells an interviewer for the Los Angeles Times that "we will establish a global governance structure to monitor and manage the implementation of this", what are we all supposed to think?
In fact, a former official in the Thatcher administration, Lord Christopher Monckton, has seen a draft of the treaty being discussed and he says that it creates 700 new bureaucracies which will implement and enforce the provisions of the climate change treaty.
These bureaucracies will have power to enforce the new world environmental laws that supersedes the authority of national governments around the world.
However, as history tells us a formal treaty was not signed in Copenhagen. Nevertheless, Ban Ki-Moon now tells us that a "binding political deal" was signed in Mexico.
So what is the difference between a "treaty" and a "binding political deal"?
That is a good question! Ban Ki-Moon put it this way during his interview with the Los Angeles Times; we need to have a very strong, robust, binding political deal that will have an immediate operational effect.
This is not going to be a political declaration, just for the sake of declaration. It is going to be a binding political deal, which will lead to a legally binding treaty already agreed upon this year.
What most people do not realize is that the treaty being discussed in Cancun and already agreed upon recently will institute new world taxes which would transfer wealth from "rich nations" as payment for the "carbon debt" that we have accumulated.
Ban Ki-Moon also commented on this during his interview with the L.A. Times....Developed countries have political and moral responsibilities, therefore they have to do more, first of all by coming out with ambitious targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and they should be prepared to provide financial support.
We have pretty good agreement on short-term, fast-track financial support in the order of $10 billion for the coming three years. When we now have agreement on a politically binding agreement, that will have immediate operational effect, including financial support from next year.
This financial support will reportedly be ongoing for the life of the treaty.
So when will the treaty end and can the United States ever get out of it?
Well, reports from those who have seen the draft treaty indicate that the only way a nation can leave the treaty is if every single other nation agrees.
Now, if "developing nations" are receiving large payments from the United States every single year, how likely do you think it is for every single one of them to vote to allow the U.S. to leave the treaty?
The truth is that the treaty is structured so that the United States would be committed to it forever. According to the draft treaty being considered, no future president or Congress would be able to do anything to get the United States out of the treaty.
The only way to get out of it would be a unanimous vote from every single one of the other nations. This is the kind of deal that Barack Obama has locked the United States into.
What a nightmare.
Turks wave a giant Palestinian flag yesterday during the arrival in Istanbul's port of the Mavi Marmara, one of the flotilla of aid ships raided in May. (see insert)THE US may throw its weight behind growing support for a unilateral Palestinian declaration of statehood if Israel does not resume Middle East peace talks, an Israeli minister has warned.
In the first admission by a senior Israeli official that a rift with its key ally threatened a shift in US policy, Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, the Trade and Industry Minister, urged the resumption of talks with the Palestinians - even if it meant bowing to their demands for a renewed freeze on settlement construction in the West Bank.
"We must do everything possible to get to dialogue with the Palestinians, even if it costs us a settlement freeze for a few months," Mr Ben-Eliezer, a doyen of the Labour Party, the junior partner in the governing coalition, told a Cabinet meeting in Jerusalem.
"I wouldn't be surprised if within one year the whole world supports a Palestinian state, including the United States. Then we'll ask where we were and what we were doing."
In recent weeks, four Latin American states, led by Brazil, have officially recognised a Palestinian state inside the borders which were in place before the 1967 Six Day war, during which Israel took control of the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem. Some European nations have upgraded diplomatic relations with the Palestinians.
Later this year, Salam Fayyad, the Palestinian Prime Minister, is expected to complete his two-year plan of building a de facto state inside the West Bank, although Gaza remains under Hamas control.
The Palestinian leadership walked out of peace talks revived by the US three months ago in anger at Israel's refusal to extend a halt on building in the communities, which are viewed as illegal by the international community. The Palestinians have said that if there is no renewed negotiation effort they will go to the UN Security Council with a unilateral declaration of statehood.
Since the collapse of the peace talks and Israel's refusal to renew the settlement building moratorium, settlers have laid foundations for hundreds of new homes, according to the Israeli anti-settlement group Peace Now. The Palestinians have responded by preparing a UN draft resolution condemning the settlements, which in the West Bank are home to 300,000 Israelis, with 200,000 living in East Jerusalem.
Israeli diplomats have been rushing to ascertain the possible response of key countries to such a resolution amid fears that President Obama, having been thwarted in his peace efforts, might concentrate on other regions for the remaining two years of his term. So far Washington has said that it would not back the anti-settlement resolution, but other countries which have become increasingly frustrated by the deadlock in talks and the continued rate of settlement expansion - Britain among them - may offer some support.
Mr Ben-Eliezer's warning is also likely to increase tensions in the Israeli coalition as Binyamin Netanyahu, the Prime Minister, strives to satisfy hardliners and pro-talks factions.
Amid the political tensions there were fresh clashes in and around Gaza on the eve of the second anniversary of the Israeli offensive to smash Hamas and stop militants firing rockets into southern Israel, an operation dubbed Cast Lead by the Israeli Army.
With both sides talking up the chances of another war in the south, Israeli tanks and helicopter gunships opened fire on Islamic Jihad members who were trying to plant bombs close to the Israeli-controlled border fence with Gaza, killing two people. More rockets were fired out of the Gaza Strip into Israel, despite some of the heaviest air strikes since the 2008 month-long war by Israeli forces last week.
The increased rocket fire has ramped up tensions, especially after Israel admitted that one of its tanks had been hit by an advanced, Russian-made anti-tank missile that had been smuggled into the besieged strip by Hamas.
"I hope there is no need for another operation like Cast Lead," the Israeli Deputy Prime Minister, Silvan Shalom, said. "But if this situation continues then obviously we will have to respond and respond with all our force."
Abu Obeidah, a Hamas military spokesman, said his forces were also ready for another bout of bloodletting. "If there is any Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip we will respond strongly," he said. "We are completely ready to answer any Israeli aggression."
In a possible reference to the Kornet anti-tank missiles deployed recently, he added: "Our weapons are few compared to those of the Israeli occupation, but we have something that will worry the occupation."
Even though he has been gone a number of years now, there may be some out there who are going to remember the late and great Barry R Smith. 
