Because of the debt crisis, Mario Monti receives an appointment as the new (unelected) PM-designate to Italy.

Mario Monti (left) asked to form a new Italian government to tackle an acute debt crisis, prompted by the resignation of Silvio Berlusconi has said I will work with a sense of urgency, but scrupulously"

Mr Monti, an ex-EU commissioner, said he was starting urgent talks on his cabinet, aiming to restore finances.

Most parties, including Mr Berlusconi's, approved his nomination.

Italy's borrowing costs have spiked, threatening the eurozone. Hailing Mr Monti's appointment, EU leaders vowed to monitor Italy's austerity measures.

Mr Monti's candidature was announced after President Giorgio Napolitano spent the day in 17 meetings with senior politicians.

Speaking to reporters shortly afterwards, Mr Monti said Italy should be an "element of strength and not weakness" within the EU.

"We will aim at solving the financial situation, resume the path of growth. [We want to build] a future of dignity and hope for our children."
Analysis

Mario Monti did mention reservations, though it is not clear what he meant by that.

He wants to provide an air of real sincerity about his dedication to the job relative what is to come. Therefore, we will see exactly what that means in terms of when he will go back to the president once he has eliminated those reservations.

He gave a rousing speech, which highlights what we have heard from either side of the political spectrum, that Italy is not essentially a financial disaster.

Mr Monti is hinting that he wants to restore Italy's reputation financially to match the size of its economy rather than the down talk about the credibility it has had over recent months.

Mr Monti said he would respect the country's parliament and hold urgent consultations with its political forces.

He refused to set a timetable for the formation of a new government, and would not say whom he planned to nominate as ministers. Nevertheless, he said consultations would start on Monday.

Mr Napolitano said the nomination was not about overturning the result of the elections of 2008 - but Italy needed a government that "could unite the diverse political forces in an extraordinary effort warranted by the current financial and economic emergency".

Asked about the lifespan of a Monti government, Mr Napolitano said this depended on "the actions of the government, the reaction of the economy, of the markets, investors, of the European and international institutions".

'Encouraging signal'
Speaking in a recorded TV address, Mr Berlusconi said he would support a technocrat government and redouble his own efforts in parliament to modernise Italy.

Most centrists and centre-left parties in the opposition have already pledged their support.

However, Mr Berlusconi's main coalition ally, the Northern League, has withheld its support until Mr Monti's policies have become clear.

Mr Berlusconi, who had lost his parliamentary majority, resigned on Saturday after new austerity measures passed the senate in both houses of parliament.

Silvio Berlusconi: "Millions in Italy know my government did whatever we could to protect them."

In Brussels, European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso and EU President Herman Van Rompuy issued a joint statement welcoming Mr Monti's appointment.

It sent "a further encouraging signal... of the Italian authorities' determination to overcome the current crisis", they said.

The Commission, they added, would continue monitoring "the implementation of measures taken by Italy with the aim of pursuing policies that foster growth and employment".

Mr Monti's appointment comes two days after Greece, under even greater pressure from Brussels, inaugurated a technocrat government to cope with its debt problems.

Popular opposition
Mario Monti
Born in 1943 in northern Italy
Taught economics at Turin University for 15 years
1994-1999: EU commissioner for internal market
1999-2004: EU commissioner for competition
Rector then president of top Bocconi University in Milan
On 11 November 2011, sworn in as a senator for life
13 November: Nominated PM-designate

Mr Monti, a well-respected economist, is exactly the sort of man that the markets would like to see take charge at this time of crisis, says the BBC's Alan Johnston in Rome, and he has support in many quarters.

However, there is significant opposition to him within the country, and a feeling that Italy's troubles are just too deep for a mere change of government to make any rapid, significant difference.

The austerity package foresees 59.8bn euros in savings from a mixture of spending cuts and tax rises, with the aim of balancing the budget by 2014. Measures include:
An increase in VAT, from 20% to 21%
An increase in fuel prices
Sales of state property
A freeze on public-sector salaries until 2014
The retirement age for women in the private sector will gradually rise, from 60 in 2014 until it reaches 65 in 2026, the same age as for men
Measures to fight tax evasion strengthened, including a limit of 2,500 euros on cash transactions
There will be a special tax on the energy sector
On Wednesday, the interest rate on 10-year Italian government bonds briefly passed 7%, the rate at which Greece, Ireland and Portugal forced to seek bailouts from the EU.
An EU team has begun work in Rome, monitoring how Italy plans to cut its debt burden, 120% of annual economic output (GDP).
The Italian economy has grown at an average of 0.75% a year over the past 15 years.

SPAM MAKES A MIGHTY TASTY SANDWICH

The purpose of this blog is to inform others what is going on in the world relative to Bible prophecy in the hope that they may realize the lateness of the hour prophetically speaking - and then come to a point of repentance.

There are those who may disagree with what I have to say here. That is fine, as I would not expect everyone to agree with everything that I have to say all of the time.

However, there are those who do not agree with what I have to say and instead of sending a message to inform me of that fact, as a replacement for that proper and correct course of action choose to fill my inbox with SPAM.

To those concerned, my inbox has been set to detect and then remove into a separate folder anything considered as spam, and then afterwards I check that box and with one or two clicks, the whole load becomes deleted forever.

Therefore, those who choose to carry on in the manner mentioned above are doing nothing at all but wasting their own time.

Accordingly, those responsible for the above actions can continue to do for as long as they like for there is no one that they are affecting other than themselves.

As that is the case, my best advice then to those concerned would be to go and do something useful instead of leading the aimless life you are now. In the meantime, I hope and pray that those responsible are able to find salvation before it is too late.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy have now lost all credibility when it comes to the Euro zone crisis.

For those who were operating under the mistaken belief that Sarko was going to be the Messiah (the Antichrist) aided and abetted by Merkel, who were going to lift the Euro zone out of the doldrums, with Italy now seemingly needing a bailout package with money that is simply not there, that myth seems to have been dispelled once and for all time.

Throughout the euro zone's ongoing debt crisis, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy have said they will do whatever it takes to save the euro.

As it turns out, according to The Wall Street Journal, their assurances have not been worth the paper they were written on.

First, they said there would be no defaults by eurozone countries. Yet they approved a haircut on Greek debt, calling it "a unique situation."

Then another Greek haircut followed 12 weeks later.

In addition, in September the European leaders said they had six weeks save the euro, the article reports. That timeframe passed without a coherent plan.

Euro zone leaders produced nothing of substance at their summit in Cannes last week.

Nonetheless, the Journal article notes, Merkel and Sarkozy did issue a most remarkable statement: that Greece was free to leave the euro. They decided that the euro zone membership would be voluntary because they do not want countries in the currency bloc to be liable for other countries' debts, not out of any principle of national self-determination.

The importance of the statement is huge. "At a stroke, they have introduced foreign-exchange risk into a sovereign-debt market still grappling with the realization that euro-zone government bonds contain unexpected credit risk," the Journal reports.

"No wonder the markets won't lend and China won't invest in Europe's bailout funds," the Journal reports. "Nothing these leaders say any longer carries any credibility."

The European economy seems to be disappearing down a sinkhole, the Journal reports. The weakest economies forced to try to decrease their debts through austerity measures that prompt a downward cycle.

The weakest countries suffer higher borrowing costs that in turn decrease their competitiveness while being stuck in an uncompetitive exchange rate at the same time.

Other observers say that publically raising the possibility of Greece leaving the euro zone may have been necessary to convince Greece to drop plans for a referendum on the euro zone's bailout and accompanying austerity plan for the country.

Seen as a vote to keep the euro, Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou proposed a referendum on the austerity plan but later dropped the idea.

Merkel and Sarkozy may have pursued Greece to drop the referendum plan, but they reintroduced currency risk by raising the possibility that a country might drop the common currency, according to The Financial Times.

A German euro is suddenly not the same as a Greek euro even if they are now interchangeable.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy calls the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "a liar"

MICROPHONES accidentally left on after G20 meeting pick up a revealing private conversation between US and French presidents about the Israeli prime minister.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy reportedly told US President Barack Obama that he could not "stand" Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and that he thinks the Israeli premier "is a liar."

According to a report on the French website "Arret sur Images," after facing reporters for a G20 press conference last Thursday, the two presidents retired to a private room, to further discuss the matters of the day.

The cable television sports network ESPN is pulling Hank Williams Jr's classic intro song from its broadcast of Monday night's National Football League game in the US after the country singer famous for the line "Are you ready for some football?'' used an analogy to Adolf Hitler in discussing President Barack Obama.

The conversation apparently began with Obama criticizing Nicolas Sarkozy for not having warned him that France would be voting in favor of the Palestinian membership bid in UNESCO despite Washington's strong objection to the move.

The conversation then drifted to Netanyahu, at which time Sarkozy declared: "I cannot stand him. He is a liar." According to the report, Obama replied: "You're fed up with him, but I have to deal with him every day!"

The remark was naturally meant to be said in confidence, but the two leaders' microphones were accidently left on, making the would-be private comment embarrassingly public.

The communication faux pas went unnoticed for several minutes, during which the conversation between the two heads of state - which quickly reverted to other matters – was all but open to members the press, who were still in possession of headsets provided by the Elysée for the sake of simultaneous translation during the G20 press conference.

"By the time the (media) services at the Elysée realise it, it was on for at least three minutes," one journalist told the website. Still, he said that reporters "did not have a chance to take advantage of this fluke."

The surprising lack of coverage may be explained by a report alleging that reporters present at the event were requested to sign an agreement to keep mum on the subject of the embarrassing comments.

A member of the media confirmed Monday that "there were discussions between journalists and they agreed not to publish the comments due to the sensitivity of the issue."

He added that while it was annoying to have to refrain from publishing the information, the journalists are subject to precise rules of conduct.

That is not to say that if there anyone who was reading this and has never told a lie, even a little white lie then those same persons are liars themselves. The whole point of this is that no matter what we may say there is no one who has never told a lie.

However, what does matter is the extent, and in what context, those lies are told and the ramifications for others, if any, our lies may have. As there is no one who has ever told a lie, even a little white lie, then everyone is a sinner of one type of another. Accordingly, that is the reason why the Lord Jesus Christ came into the world to save humankind from its sins.

As that is the case, then the best thing for anyone who has not already done to do so is to repent of your sin before it is too late. You may do so now before it is too late by reciting the believers prayer of repentance reformatted at the bottom of this page.

Friday the 11-11-2011.

This Friday is a very interesting sort of a day with the date being the eleventh day of the eleventh month of the eleventh year. 11-11-2011. so what does that mean - more than likely nothing at all.

That is not to say those out there who are into witchcraft and numerology may find that date has some significance. Actually, I have just watched a rather poor effort by Hollywood trying to cash in on the 11-11-2011 with a movie entitled - you guessed it - 11-11-11.

Even some alleged Christian websites allege there are those who are setting up a World Government, and that the number 11 has some significance to those behind it with this group known as the Illuminati.

Nevertheless, I find that the date has very little or no relevance at all and would equate it with the 21st of December 2012 when the world is supposed to end according to the Mayan calendar.

Of course, the latter suggestion is the greatest load of nonsense ever been perpetrated by the media -- or more correctly the Internet.

Friday will just come and go just as if it were any other day, as will 21st of December 2012, with no real happening that will be of any real consequence to anyone much at all.

World War 111 is already here !!!

It has already started it is about to go into full swing very very soon. !!!

WARNING:
WORLD WAR 3 IS UNDERWAY and it's much more sinister than you could have imagined. When did it start? Fourteen centuries ago. Who started it? An insane paedophile named Mohammed who, along with his gang of terrorists, formed the savagely oppressive, dehumanizing religion of Islam.

Through centuries of fanatical conquests (Jihads) and terrorism (when Jihads failed), Islam has metastasized into a modern day world cancer. As we speak, the civilized world is beginning to collapse under it and has no idea how to react. How does one stop a grotesque cult, which will settle for nothing less than TOTAL world domination? So while the U.S. looks under every rock for Osama bin Laden, the bloody borders of Islam are closing in on all sides... for in fact EVERY American Muslim has the potential to become a bin Laden or an abettor of a bin Laden!

Even a Jew-basher/Israeli-basher like Pat Buchanan has it correct when he wrote... "In population, Islam is exploding, the West dying. Islamic warriors are willing to suffer defeat and death, the West recoils at casualties. They are full of grievance; we, full of guilt. Where Islam prevails, it asserts a right to impose its dogma, while the West preaches equality. Islam is assertive, the West apologetic – about its crusaders, conquerors and empires. Don't count Islam out. It is the fastest growing faith in Europe and has surpassed Catholicism worldwide. And as Christianity expires in the West and the churches empty out, the mosques are going up." WorldnetDaily-12/7/01

An impending disaster lies ahead. Unfortunately, the U.S. military cannot help for it was always preparing for the wrong war. Soviet or Chinese communism was never driven by such fanaticism. Besides, the Russians stayed in Russian and the Chinese in China. By contrast, the Soldiers of Islam are spreading into all societies... first as simple shop owners and cab drivers, then students, then student activists, then violent agitators and finally assassins and bombers. Look for a mosque to appear soon in YOUR neighbourhood.

SUGGESTION
Christians, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, Atheists and other non-Muslim "Infidels" should really think about joining forces instead of getting on their knees like young girls begging not to be gang raped!

Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou has called for a confidence vote and a referendum to approve last week's EU summit deal - WHAT A CALAMITY?

GREECE has thrown the eurozone into fresh turmoil by allowing voters the chance to reject the emergency bailout package agreed in Brussels last week.

Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou stunned European capitals yesterday by saying he would hold a referendum on the details tortuously negotiated by eurozone leaders.

The announcement, made after European financial markets had closed, effectively gives Greek voters a veto on the deal and raises the spectre of financial chaos across Europe if they reject it.

Mr Papandreou gave no date or other details on the proposed referendum, which would be the first in Greece since 1974, when a landslide abolished the monarchy vote months after the collapse of a military dictatorship.

"This will be the referendum: The citizen will be called upon to say a big 'yes' or a big 'no' to the new loan arrangement," he told Socialist members of parliament.

"This is a supreme act of democracy and patriotism for the people to make their own decision . . . We have a duty to promote the role and responsibility of the citizen."

He said he would seek a vote of confidence in parliament, which could begin today and conclude late on Friday.

The referendum move allows Socialist MPs - vilified by an increasingly hostile public during months of strikes, sit-ins and violent protests over rounds of austerity measures - to pass the responsibility for the country's fate to the people.

EU leaders carved out a second aid package for Greece at a summit in Brussels last week, after

Mr Papandreou scraped together parliamentary approval for the second round of austerity measures in four months. Greece will receive E130 billion ($172bn) in public funds plus a 50 per cent write-down on debt, following a fully taxpayer-funded package of E110bn extended in May last year.

Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos said the referendum was called for after opposition parties failed to side with the government in negotiations between Greece and other eurozone members.

"Greece is living through a drama from which it must be released by asking the people to express its will," he told parliament.

"Each citizen will make his own decision, with responsibility, in a process that will provide a national sense of relief and recovery."

He told private Antenna television: "It is very clear: the new agreement will be submitted to parliament for approval and then submitted to the judgment of the Greek people . . . the people can say 'no' but must bear in mind the consequences of that decision."

Mr Papandreou's government has seen its majority reduced to three seats and its approval ratings plummet amid austerity measures that are sending the country into a fourth year of recession next year.

The EU statistics agency Euro stat estimated in a report yesterday that unemployment in Greece reached 17.6 per cent in July - higher than the Greek estimate for that month of 16.5 per cent.

"This is just the latest twist in the unfolding Greek tragedy," said Sony Kapoor, the managing director of Re-Define, a London-based think tank.

"With an irresponsible opposition that is promising Greek voters the moon, it is very difficult to see how this referendum could be won under the ongoing gut-wrenching austerity."

Germany's Finance Ministry noted yesterday "the summit of the euro zone's heads of states and governments . . . formulated clear expectations.

"Accordingly, the second aid package for Greece shall be finalised by year's end. At the moment, we are all working on this with high intensity."

Nevertheless, what seems to be going on relative to Greece in particular ties in so well with the Bible prophecies that it is really quite uncanny in so many senses.

Someone noted other day on the Internet that where it began all might end. There seems to be more than a couple of examples of the tie in between the different cultures mentioned in the scriptures with what is happening in the news broadcasts of today.

With the original of the scriptures translated from the Greek and the Hebrew into the English that is only the starters.

What we are looking at in that example is the current turmoil that Greece is facing coupled with Gods prophetic clock of Israel.

Then we have the book of the Revelation translated into the Greek by the prophet John after God, and then Jesus, and then the angels spoke to him, after having been exiled the Greek Island of Patmos there in 69AD, and so the list goes on.

However, is the Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou only buying time so that he can forego the inevitable elections with the result being that he may be able to stay in power a little bit longer that what he would under normal circumstances?

Alternatively, are there much more serious and sinister secrets that are laying in the background that have not been revealed as yet, such as wanting to make this bailout package fail so that more and more power could be handed over to the Antichrist then giving him the pretext to start and win a Third World War?

That is the provocative question that only time is really going to provide an answer. Whatever is going to be the outcome of all of this, and no matter what angle we are to approach this from, there are no winners here anywhere, just losers.

As that is the case, one may then rightly ask does Papandreou want to latest measures to fail or succeed as it really seems like he wants what has gone down to fail, and fail big time.

The World Government in action again - Qantas Airways grounded - but for how long?

Qantas Airways grounded its global fleet Saturday; suddenly locking out striking workers after weeks of flight disruptions an executive said could close down the world's 10th largest airline piece by piece.

The Australian government called for an emergency arbitration hearing, adjourned early Sunday morning after hearing evidence from the unions and airline. It will resume Sunday afternoon when the government will argue that the airline be ordered to fly in Australia's economic interests.

Planes in the air continued to their destinations, and at least one taxiing flight stopped on the runway, a flier said. Among the stranded passengers are 17 world leaders attending a Commonwealth summit in the western city of Perth.

When the grounding was announced, 36 international and 28 domestic Australian flights were in the air, said a Qantas spokesperson, who declined to be named citing company policy.

Qantas 108-grounded airplanes but did not say how many flights were involved. The representative could not confirm an Australian Broadcasting Corp. television report that 13,305 passengers were booked to fly Qantas international flights within 24 hours of the grounding.

As expected, the lockout will have little impact in the United States. Only about 1,000 people fly daily between the United States and Australia, said aviation consultant Michael Boyd. "It's not a big deal," he said. Qantas is "not a huge player here."

Los Angeles International Airport spokesperson Diana Sanchez said Saturday that she was not aware of any passengers stranded at the airport because of the strike. Five Los Angeles-bound Qantas flights expected to arrive as scheduled were already in the air when the lockout began and, she said.

Sanchez said Qantas has indicated it plans to cancel the handful of flights scheduled to depart from Los Angeles on Saturday.

The real problems for travellers are more likely to be at far busier Qantas hubs in Singapore and London's Heathrow Airport, says another aviation consultant, Robert Mann.

What we are really seeing taking place at Qantas is really only just the tip of the iceberg with the design all along being to merge all major business in Australia into just six major companies.

The smaller businesses are going to be financially devastated through taxation (the carbon tax) and once ruined merged in with the larger companies.

The policies for the running of the country are coming from overseas from the think tanks like the Adam Smith Institute. They are then passed onto the Business Council of Australia, then onto to the politicians, and then onto the people.

The Prime Minister of the nation is under instructions to implement the policies that are handed down to her, or run the risk of being replaced just as quickly as what she stabbed former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd in the back.

While in opposition, the Liberal Party say whatever they like. However, the Liberals win power after the next elections they also must also follow instructions. If they do not do as instructed, they also will run the same risks as the current government of replacement.

At Qantas' expense, booked passengers were being rescheduled chief executive Alan Joyce said. Bookings already had collapsed after unions warned travellers to fly other airlines through the busy Christmas-New Year period.

He told a news conference in Sydney the unions' actions have caused a crisis for Qantas.

"They are trashing our strategy and our brand," Joyce said. "They are deliberately destabilizing the company and there is no end in sight."

Union leaders criticized the action as extreme. Qantas is among the most profitable airlines in the world, but Joyce estimated the grounding will cost Qantas $20 million a day.

Qantas already had reduced and rescheduled flights for weeks after union workers struck and refused to work overtime out of worries a restructuring plan would move some of Qantas' 35,000 jobs overseas.

The grounding of the largest of Australia's four national domestic airlines will take a major economic toll and could disrupt the national Parliament, due to resume in Canberra on Tuesday after a two-week recess. Qantas' budget subsidiary Jetstar continues to fly.

Transport Minister Anthony Albanese described the grounding as "disappointing" and "extraordinary." Albanese was angry that Qantas gave him only three hours' notice.

"This is a crisis for Qantas. If the action continues as the unions have promised, we will have no choice but to close down Qantas part by part," he added.
Malaysia-based Air Asia flies to three Australian destinations, plus New Zealand.

The recent strike action in which two unions have had rolling four-hour strikes on differing days has most severely affected Qantas domestic flights.

In mid-October, Qantas grounded five jets and reduced domestic flights by almost 100 flights a week because aircraft mechanics had reduced the hours they were prepared to work.

Qantas doubled annual profit to AU$250 million it announced in August but warned the business environment was too challenging to forecast earnings for the current fiscal year.

However, with the plan being to merge all of the major airlines in the world into just six companies, the grounding of the Qantas planes seems to be quite indicative of what was forecasted dozens of years ago to take place.

One fact remains indisputably clear, whatever the outcome of all of the current airline disruption those behind the World Government are going to get what they want irrespective of the demands of the workers.

The aforementioned are nothing more than pawns in a much larger game, with the main objective of the bosses at Qantas being to destroy all of the hard won conditions workers have fought for over the years to make them nothing much more than slaves to the higher echelons of the company .

If the demands of the workers result in the termination of their requests, those same workers will to return to work without having achieved anything at all. If that is the result, then the vast majority of their jobs will go overseas anyway.

Alternatively, if the result of this fight results in the workers winning and therefore getting what they asked for then the airline will close down to be then sold off to overseas conglomerates.

Either way, the good old worker is going to be the loser, as he will be every time something like this sort of thing happens.

Of this fact you may be certain; Julia Gillard will not become involved with the current crisis. Accordingly, there will be no interference, or assistance, at all from the Australian Prime Minister relative to this current crisis.

The supposed Rapture of the Church - the mass abductions of Christians by Demons from Hell.

There is really nothing at all that I can find in the word of God that says there are going to be literally millions and millions of Christians that are going to suddenly vanish off the face of the earth without having to die first. The Rapture of the Church, (as it is commonly known as) is nothing more than just one gigantic myth perpetrated by Satan to deceive Christians into falsely believing they are not going to have to go through the Great Tribulation, but instead will be taken off the face of the earth before world events here on the earth become unbearably bad.

There is now a new and more wonderful theory that has emerged which says that when this alleged rapture takes place there are going to be some who are going to say that what has taken place have been mass alien abductions. Now there is no doubt at all as to the existence of UFOs, but there is a great deal of doubt that what we believe are creatures from another world are really nothing more than demons from Hell, not beings from another world.

As that is the case, it then may be best if those who are reading this were to read the attached article below. It is good, well written, and verifies what I have said above to a tee.

But here is the clincher, there does not seem to be a great deal of doubt what is commonly known as the rapture of the church has been invented only quite recently - perhaps a couple of hundred years ago - an insignificant amount of time in the all over scheme of things. That the rapture has been designed by Satan, the ultimate deceiver, to pull the eyes over Christians to take as many as possible off the face of the earth so that his Antichrist can have complete and utter control over the entire globe and its peoples.

What I mean by that is there is going to be a time of mass abductions of Christians by the forces of darkness, demons from Hell, the minions of the Antichrist, who are going to come under the guise of aliens (when they are really demons), to take the unsuspecting Christians off the face of the earth and into their space ships for mass extermination. As the Antichrist is the modern day Hitler, there will be another holocaust. This is the form that it is going to take and all the while the Christians will be none the wiser as they are lead like lambs to the slaughter thinking they are being raptured, something they have been falsely indoctrinated into by the church.

Now here is the article in question.
"The recent release by the Mexican government of a video apparently showing 11 flying saucers circling one of its patrol jets has boosted the claim that this planet is regularly visited by trippers from outer space. Belief in UFOs is now an established part of the worldview of millions of people, especially in the western world where for many it has become a substitute religion. This is the subject of a video ‘The X Files’ in which Michael Penfold gives fascinating insight into the nature of UFOs.

These are some of the main points he makes.
When former US President Jimmy Carter put a message in the Voyager spacecraft for aliens to read and hopefully respond to, he was expressing the desire of many to make contact with some other beings in the universe. Belief in visitors from outer space is not new – it can be found in ancient Egyptian and Roman civilisation – but it is now widely accepted as an undeniable fact that UFOs are real. The current preoccupation with UFOs began in 1947 when Kenneth Arnold, a US pilot, claimed to see 9 flying saucers at Rainer, Washington. Two weeks later, it was claimed that two UFO craft crashed in Roswell, New Mexico and that the US government has since conducted secret experiments on alien corpses. Since then there have been numerous sightings, some witnessed by thousands like one in Gibraltar in 1989.

Ninety five percent of supposed sightings can be explained away as not really UFOs. They are either deliberate hoaxes or something else – meteors, weather balloons, birds, and tricks of the light or the imagination of the viewer. However, there are 5%, which cannot be explained this way. Michael Penfold looks at the possible ways to explain these sightings.

Option 1. They are visitors from outer space
There are an estimated 20,000 billion, billion stars in the universe. These stars have planets around them. So, the reasoning goes, there has got to be life on one or more of these planets somewhere. For those who believe life on earth began by the chance process of evolution, finding life elsewhere would be a tremendous boost to the credibility of their theory. If life could have spontaneously come into being somewhere else in the universe, it would give weight to the idea that this is how we came to be here. For those who are perplexed at the state of the world today the idea that aliens from a more advanced civilisation could come and help us out of the hole we are in is a comforting thought.

It is impossible for humans to go outside this solar system to find out whether there is life in space, because the distances are too great. But that does not stop us trying to find out if there is life out there. A major motivation for the project to land a man on Mars is to determine whether that planet has ever supported life forms. The Seti (Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence) project is backed by some of the world’s richest men and uses the most powerful radio telescopes to search the universe for signs of life. However, nothing has been discovered. Carl Sagan has written, ‘The receipt of a single message from space would show that the transmitting civilisation has survived. No such message has ever been received.’

Life requires an incredibly fine balance of circumstances to exist. A planet needs to be stable, the right distance from the star so that it neither fries nor freezes, packed with the ingredients to support life (air, water, soil etc), with an atmosphere shielding it from dangerous elements in space and protecting the environment below. There are at least 100 different parameters for life to exist and if any of these were altered by a fraction, life would disappear. Even if you have a planet that has the right conditions to support life, you also need the right circumstances for life to come into existence spontaneously if you accept the theory of evolution. (We do not believe in evolution and have a number of books and videos available on this subject).

If such a life form could come into being in a distant galaxy, it then has to develop the most incredible technology to cover the vast distances in the universe to reach us. The nearest star to us is 4.3 light years away. The Milky Way galaxy is 100,000 light years wide. The closest galaxy after the Milky Way is 1.5 million light years away. A spacecraft travelling at one million miles a day would take 70,000 years to cover the 4.3 million miles to the nearest star. To reach a distant star in the Milky Way or another galaxy altogether and we are beginning to talk in terms of millions of years.

A craft travelling at the speed of one million miles a day would be going so fast that if it hit even a very small object in space (which it probably would) it would explode. Leaving this problem aside, only beings with the most incredible technology who have a life span of millions of years and do not need a huge supply of food and drink to keep alive could cross the universe in spacecraft. If we are to believe the claims of UFO magazines such craft are not only making it across the universe but also doing so in huge numbers. Almost every day there is a report of a sighting.

The sightings themselves raise a number of problems. At the same event they may be seen but not photographed or photographed but not seen. Despite apparently reaching incredible speeds of up to 18,000 mph they have never given off a sonic boom. They violate the laws of physics making 90% turns at very high speeds. They may change shape, size and colour at random. This is not the behaviour of a physical craft or being. This raises the possibility of a second option.

Option 2. They are supernatural entities
Some UFO researchers who are not believers in God or the Bible have concluded that this is a possible explanation. J Allen Hynek in an article ‘Machines made of Shadows’ has written: ‘The spiritual theory explains why UFOs can make right angle turns. It explains why they can be dematerialised, why sometimes they are picked up on radar and sometimes not.’

Michael Penfold shows that this is the most logical conclusion from the evidence available. He says that aliens are supernatural beings manifesting in a form which makes them acceptable to the modern mindset. Based on the evidence he also comes to the conclusion that they are malignant supernatural beings, i.e. demons or evil spirits. Whereas in the past evil spirits may have appeared as hobgoblins or ghosts or leprechauns today people are reluctant to believe in those things. So they appear as aliens – something which has become part of our mainstream culture through films like ‘ET’, ‘Independence Day’ and ‘Men in Black’. He gives 5 reasons why this explanation fits the facts.

1) ‘Aliens’ share the menacing characteristics of demons

2) Alien abductions and UFO experiences come primarily to those who are already involved in the occult.

3) Post alien abduction symptoms match post occult experience symptoms.

4) Alien messages match the messages channelled by demons.

5) Alien names match names of demons.

Whitley Striber, in his book ‘Communion’ about his supposed abduction by aliens, wrote ‘I felt an indescribable sense of menace. Whatever was there seemed so monstrously ugly, so filthy and dark and sinister. Of course they were demons. They had to be.’

David Jacobs in ‘Abductions and the ET hypothesis’ wrote: ‘Physically the abduction experience can seriously harm a person and significantly alter the course of one’s life. Although the physical effects of abduction can be extremely severe it is the psychological problems that have the most destructive effect.’

William Alnor in ‘UFOs in the New Age’ wrote ‘After reading literally hundreds of messages from space brothers during the past several years and carefully analysing their views, I am convinced that these entities are trying to sell humanity one of the biggest deceptions of all time.’

Michael Penfold agrees that the UFO phenomenon is all about spiritual deception. It ties in with other influences like yoga, TM, hypnosis, Zen Buddhism, drug taking in altering consciousness so that the normal function of the mind is bypassed by a spiritual entity aiming to deceive. To back this claim up he cites the five main messages which have been communicated by supposed contact between humans and aliens:

1) We are on the threshold of a New Age of enlightenment.

2) God is an impersonal force of which we are part. We are god and our divinity is within.

3) There is no death. We are endlessly re-incarnated.

4) Good and evil are only illusions and one side of the same coin.

5) Jesus is just a great teacher and all roads lead to God.

This in itself should show us that these entities are not aliens crossing billions of miles of space. Why would they bother to make this hazardous journey in such vast numbers as is being claimed, just to give us the same message as you can find in books on the occult in most bookshops?

Dr Pierre Guerin, a secular researcher, wrote in Flying Saucer Review Vol 25 No 1: ‘UFO behaviour is more akin to magic than to physics as we know it. The modern UFOnauts and the demons of past days are probably identical.’

To confirm this it is remarkable that the names ‘aliens’ have given themselves are almost identical to the names given to pagan gods and demons throughout history. UFO contacts have been receiving messages from a being calling itself Ashtar for years. Variations of this name such as Astaroth, Asharoth, Astarte appear ancient literature, including the Bible, in relation to pagan gods. John Peel in ‘Operation Trojan Horse’ writes, ‘Mr Ashtar has been around a very long time posing as assorted gods and demons and now in the modern phase as another glorious spaceman.’

This raises the conclusion that these supposed visitors from outer space come from very much closer to home. We are not alone in the universe but we live alongside angels and fallen angels. Human rebellion against God has opened us up to the deception of Satan and his demons.

Most of the manifestations of UFOs come in the form of ‘bright lights in the sky.’ The Bible tells us that Satan is ‘the prince of the power of the air’(Ephesians 2.2), that he is able to produce ‘lying signs and wonders’ (2 Thessalonians 2.9) and that he is able to transform himself into ‘an angel of light’ (2 Corinthians 11.14). Satan is using this phenomenon to change the way we think and to soften us up to accept his counterfeit Messiah, the Antichrist, as the answer to human ills. He also wishes to blind people to the real truth, the Gospel, and take as many people to hell with him as possible.

Going back to the 5 main messages of UFOs mentioned above, they are all wrong.

1) We are not on the threshold of a New Age of enlight-enment, but on the edge of the Great Tribulation, the worst time in human history which will precede the glorious return of the Lord Jesus the Messiah to the earth to judge the world in righteousness.

2) God is not an impersonal force, but a loving heavenly Father who can be known through faith in Jesus the Messiah.

3) We have one chance to get it right in this life. The lie of the devil in the Garden of Eden is ‘You shall not die … you will be like God’ (Genesis 3.4-5). This is being recycled in the New Age Movement of which UFO culture is a part. In fact after death we face the Day of Judgement when we give account of our lives to God.

4) The idea that right and wrong are only illusions and part of the same whole is Chinese Taoist philosophy that is also being recycled for popular consumption through movies like Star Wars and the Harry Potter books. In fact God is the Creator of all things and wholly good. The Bible teaches us the difference between good and evil and how to live in the light of God’s truth. Satan is a created being who is the source of evil and who is doomed to spend eternity in the lake of fire.

5) There is one way we can avoid joining him in this fate – through repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus the Messiah who died as a sacrifice for our sins and rose again from the dead to give eternal life to all believers. Jesus is a great teacher, but not just a great teacher. He is God made flesh who revealed the ultimate truth to all mankind. Humanity has once been visited on earth, not from outer space, but from Heaven itself. If we reject the words of this heavenly visitor, then there is no further enlightenment coming for us from anywhere else.

Simon Edge writing in the Daily Express (14/4/04) explains the widespread belief in UFOs: ‘People often say it would be lonely otherwise. Certainly there is something infinitely terrible about the emptiness of the universe – think of the scene in the movie Moonraker in which a space walking astronaut is cut off from his craft and floats screaming into eternity. In an irreligious age, fear of the void is even greater.’

There is no need to have this fear. We can make contact with an infinitely good God who cares for us and is able to communicate by the Holy Spirit to help us and guide us through this life. He also gives answers to the big questions: ‘Where do we come from? Why are we here? How can we know what is right? Where are we going?’ Do not be conned by the subtle deceptions of our culture. Follow Jesus who says, ‘I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.’ John 8.12."

If his latest behavior is any indicator at all Sarkozy is not the Antichrist - but as far as being the False Prophet - I wonder?????

The current French President Nicholas Sarkozy has been responsible for a number of uncharacteristic outbursts over the past few weeks that appear to have resulted in some sort of a split between France and Germany - the two biggest economies within the EU.

It is one thing to tell David Cameron that he had ‘missed a good opportunity to shut up’ but the reality of the matter is far worse than that.

The meeting that had taken place on Sunday that was supposed to find some sort of a solution to the current Eurozone crisis but apparently, that had finished two hours later than scheduled because of the French President’s protracted performance.

That is one reason why David Cameron should not take Mr Sarkozy’s rudeness unnecessarily personally. The stewards of the Eurozone crisis have proved themselves reflexively hostile to any outside commentary on their dismal efforts for some time.

His outburst is only one in a recent string of frankly bizarre Sarkozy moments

When US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geither travelled to Europe recently for one such meeting he was treated more or less as a dinner party guest who’d been invited by accident and was meant to know it.

More latterly European leaders have begun exploring ways of neutering the financial ratings agencies who have been understandably downgrading sovereign debt around the continent, something Irish-based economist Constantine Gurdgiev aptly described as being akin to dealing with an impending airplane crash by smashing the cockpit warning lights.

Or as the Open Europe think-tank remarked, ‘if Sarkozy snapped at everyone who criticised the handling of the crisis we'd imagine he wouldn't have too many people to talk to’.

What is new is that the critics can no longer be dismissed as traditional European naysayers and Nicholas Sarkozy’s increasingly erratic behaviour is a large cause of deepening doubt within the Euro-federalist citadels.

French journalist Jean Quatremer has likened the spectacle to ‘that cartoon where Wile E. Coyote chases Road Runner: it continues to run above the vacuum and it’s only when it realises it, that it will fall down’.

Most unnervingly for votaries of the single-currency are Mr Sarkozy’s willingness to be downright rude not only to a British Prime Minister but also to the people who are supposed to be at least notionally sympathetic.

Representatives for the French President and German Chancellor Angela Merkel have been furiously feeding biddable journalists with accounts of the close cooperation of the two leaders and their shared resolve in arresting the continent’s decline into fiscal delinquency.

The truth is that relations between the pair are close to an all-time low. That it is saying something given the longstanding friction between their very different personalities, but it is hard to avoid the conclusion that the latest rift is almost entirely Mr Sarkozy’s fault.

Recently a father for the fourth-time, by his third wife, the musician-cum-humanitarian Carla Bruni, Mr Sarkozy was presented by the German Chancellor on Sunday with a gift of a teddy bear as a present for this newborn daughter.

Therefore, it was perhaps understandable that the latter was surprised to hear Sarkozy loudly and uncharitably commenting on the quantity of cheese Chancellor Merkel consumed at one of the conference dinners.

Insiders report that a stand-up row between the two at a retirement party for European Central Bank head Jean-Claude Trichet was so loud that it drowned out the so-called EU national anthem, a spectacle that might serve as a suitably tragi-comic summation of the current state of the European project. (The unfortunate Merkel may be getting used to her counterparts commenting on the progress of her diet – Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi was recorded last year making far worse comments, on a wire-tap, naturally.)

German irritation with the French President has also been fuelled by his lack of interest in the considerable problem that part of his proposed solutions to the crisis are downright illegal on the basis of existing EU treaties.

Then there are those who are running end times sites that have been suggesting that if he is not the Antichrist, then he is certainly preparing the way for the emergence of the Antichrist, as if they would know anyway.

I am not too sure just where they had gotten some of their ideas from, perhaps it may have something to do with Sarkozy being on the rather short side - the little horn of Daniel idea, or the fact of his being Jewish, but who really knows the mindsets of some of these people.

However, with the latest developments relating to Sarkozy these sorts of ideas seem to be just as wild and fanciful as those who are saying them. Nonetheless, these are exactly the same people who are constantly rubbishing and denigrating the Catholic Church because they had suggested a World Government, as if there has been no one else who has suggested this over the past few years or so when the facts of the matter are there are numerous others who fit into this category also.

It seems to be a fair enough sort of a view to mention the Catholic Church on occasions for what it really is, that being the Whore of Babylon mentioned in the book of Revelations. Unfortunately, for the sake of the reputation of the better blog spots there are some who claim to be running end times websites that have nothing better to do with their time other than to rubbish and denigrate the Catholic Church without ceasing.

That seems to be the case, even though it seems those who are doing this are not exactly without a plank in their own eyes to begin with, meaning that the churches they attend themselves are less than perfect. To them I would say it may be better if they were to take the plank out of their own eyes before they begin to attack other groups in the manner that they are.

These are the same ones who have been saying that Sarkozy is the Beast of Revelation but if that were the case would we then expect him to carry on in the manner that he has been over the past few days or so. Instead, we would expect him instead to start that type of behavior after we were sure of just who he was, say for example after the signing of the covenant of Daniel.

What Happens After We Die?

As we are all going to have to die one day the thought of the afterlife has always been a subject matter of serious consideration in my Christian studies. Actually, I have undertaken several hours of study in my Bible and over the Internet relative to the subject matter. There were of course other reference points that I have availed myself of in compiling this article, but the two aforementioned sources seem to be the most reliable ones of all. Accordingly, I would like to pass some of those findings onto others here, if I may.

Firstly, are only just two final destinations the deceased person has the possibility of going after having passed from this life to the next, Heaven and Hell. There is nowhere else the deceased will ever go to other than those two final destinations of Heaven and Hell, either one or the other.

There is no mention anywhere in the word of God of a place known as Purgatory. There no place, that exists, or has ever existed commonly known as purgatory, where as the theory alleges the deceased person may go for a brief period to wait for the final judgement. Accordingly, Purgatory is fictional, it does not, nor has it ever existed, there is only Heaven and Hell.

There are people alive today who have died and been shown the entrance, or the gates to Heaven, but there is no one who has ever existed that has ever entered into Heaven, and then returned back to their bodies to tell their story. If there is anyone you have ever met, or even read about, who has said they have died and gone into Heaven and then returned to their bodies then those persons are not telling the truth, they are liars.

There are many people alive today who have either died and gone into Hell, and then returned to their bodies. Alternatively, there are persons alive today taken into Hell by Jesus so that they could pass onto others the fact of its existence.

Both Heaven and Hell are real.

For financial benefit, there are some very unscrupulous persons may lay claim to something that is entirely untrue by saying they can communicate with a dead person. When really all they are really communicating with is an evil spirit that knows everything about the deceased person. Once a person has died, he or she, has either gone to Heaven or Hell -- and there is no possibility whatsoever of ever communicating with the dead person -- as once you die and pass over then that is the end of the story there is simply no turning back whatsoever.

Even though the deceased person may have been an atheist all of his life before dying, (right at the last minute) he/she may have repented of his sins so there is no one alive who really knows the final destination of the deceased person and whether the dead person has gone to either Heaven or Hell. Accordingly, there is no point in prejudging someone's final destination by thinking that because they have been a sinner all of their lives the deceased person would have automatically gone to Hell. The facts of the matter are they we just do not know where anyone goes when they die, either Heaven or Hell.

While Heaven is a place of eternal bliss, Hell is the complete opposite being a place of eternal torment. As that is the case, then the wisest thing to do would be to make sure that you do not go to Hell, but instead to make sure that you go to Heaven. The only way to make sure that you are going to Heaven is to come to the cross and then by doing so receive the perfect gift of eternal life by being washed under the blood of Christ through the repentance of sins. There is no other way to enter into the Kingdom of God other than through the son by asking for forgiveness of sin.

For those who are yet unsaved and desire to go to be with the Lord after having the death experience then do so right now in the privacy of your own home by reciting the believers prayer of repentance as has been formatted at the bottom of this page. Do it now, for tomorrow may be too late.

Remember this, there are approximately 124,000 people who die somewhere around the globe every 24 hours. The saddest part of all of this is that most of those listed in that number were unsaved at the time of their demise. That means the majority could have only gone to Hell. So make sure that you are not one of them by making sure that you are saved by doing as I have suggested above, do it right now.

There have been two instances I have heard of, (both were members of the same family) who after having passed away were not allowed to enter into Heaven because, as they allege, they were prevented from doing so by an angel at the entrance. The Son of God prevented the aforementioned instances from entering the Kingdom of God, and not an angel. So make sure that you are Born Again before you die. Once that happens it is forever, and there is simply no turning back whatsoever.