Category: japan

Posted in earthquake, end time, japan

Powerful series of quakes in Japan cause landslide, kills 11

Posted on by elizabethprata

Earthquakes: a token sign of God’s displeasure over sin. See below, John Newton’s Messiah.

Update at bottom: “Swaying every hour“

A powerful 7.3 magnitude earthquake occurred in Japan today, causing a landslide and 11 deaths. The large temblor was followed by a series of 5.7 and 5.4 magnitude quakes and other aftershocks as well.

It has been a busy week for quakes these last two weeks. After a period of several months of relative quiet, there have been 13 quakes in the 6.0-6.9 range.

A more powerful earthquake has rocked the southern Japanese city of Kumamoto in the middle of the night, a day after an earlier tremor killed nine people. The magnitude-7.3 quake hit at a depth of 10km (six miles) at 01:25 on Saturday (15:25 GMT on Friday) in Kyushu region. At least three people died and hundreds were injured. A village has been evacuated after a dam collapsed, media reports say. (Source)

Rescue crews scrambled through rubble Saturday morning in a desperate search for survivors of a magnitude-7.0 earthquake that struck Japan’s Kyushu Island, the same region rattled by a 6.2 quake two days earlier. (CNN)

Small eruption on Japan’s Mount Aso after earthquake

A small eruption occurred at Mt. Aso in southern Japan on Saturday around 8:30 a.m. local time (2330 GMT Friday) following a strong earthquake in the area, with smoke rising about 100 meters (300 feet) high, public broadcaster NHK reported. The Japanese Meteorological Agency kept its alert level at 2 on a scale of 5 for Mt. Aso, which has had eruptions in the past.
(Reporting by Chris Gallagher; Editing by Michael Perry)

Update: Japan earthquakes: Dozens killed, region ‘swaying every hour’

One can but hope and pray for the soon return of Jesus Christ. Since the fall of man into depravity and sin entered the world, life has been a terrible cycle of disasters, diseases, and death

Messiah, Vol 2, by John Newton (author of Amazing Grace hymn)

Can there be a stronger confirmation of what we read in Scripture, concerning the depravity of man? Can we conceive an employment more suited to gratify the malignity of Satan and the powers of darkness, if they were permitted to appear and act amongst us in human shapes? Could such enormities possibly obtain, if the mild and merciful spirit of the Gospel generally prevailed? But it shall prevail at last, and then the nations shall learn war no more (Isaiah 2:4). 

How transporting the thought! That a time shall yet arrive, when the love of God and man, of truth and righteousness, shall obtain [shall prevail] through the earth. The evils (and these are the greatest evils of human life) which men bring upon themselves, and upon each other, by their wickedness, shall cease; and we may believe that the evils in the natural world will be greatly abated. Sin will no longer call down the tokens of God’s displeasure, by such public calamities as hurricanes, earthquakes, pestilence, and famine.

Posted in earthquake, japan

7.3 quake at Japan, small tsunamis ensue

Posted on by elizabethprata

BBC: Asia-Small tsunami reaches Japan after earthquake
“A small tsunami triggered by a quake has hit Japan’s eastern coast – where the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant is located – but no damage is reported. The 30cm (1ft) waves reached the region after the 7.1 magnitude tremor struck at a depth of 10km (six miles), about 320km off the coast. A tsunami alert issued for several areas was later lifted.”

“Workers at the Fukushima power station had been told to leave waterfront areas for higher ground. But a Fukushima spokesman later said there was no damage or change in readings at radiation monitoring posts around the plant, according to Reuters news agency. The Japan Meteorological Agency had warned that a small tsunami – up to one metre (3.3ft) – could reach the eastern coast after the tremor in the Pacific Ocean.”

“The agency had also issued a “yellow” advisory for Fukushima and the prefectures of Iwate, Miyagi, Ibaraki and parts of Chiba. But it added: “Though there may be slight sea-level change in coastal regions, no tsunami damage is expected.”

Posted in asia, china, japan, obamacare, palestine

The photo that was used to "prove" right wing bias AND left wing bias, and other news

Posted on by elizabethprata

Here is a news roundup of articles I believe are of interest culturally and prophetically.

South Portland doctor stops accepting insurance, posts prices online
“The family physician stopped accepting all forms of health insurance. In early 2013, Ciampi sent a letter to his patients informing them that he would no longer accept any kind of health coverage, both private and government-sponsored. Given that he was now asking patients to pay for his services out of pocket, he posted his prices on the practice’s website. … But the decision to do away with insurance allows Ciampi to practice medicine the way he sees fit, he said. Insurance companies no longer dictate how much he charges. He can offer discounts to patients struggling with their medical bills. He can make house calls.”

“I’m freed up to do what I think is right for the patients,” Ciampi said. “If I’m providing them a service that they value, they can pay me, and we cut the insurance out as the middleman and cut out a lot of the expense.” Ciampi expects more doctors will follow suit. Some may choose to run “concierge practices” in which patients pay to keep a doctor on retainer, he said.”

It seems to me that the unintended consequences of Obamacare may indeed re-define the practice of medicine as we have known it in this generation. Those options listed in just this one excerpt are radical- but I like the notion of house calls and a concierge practice. Also, any way we can cut out the government middleman seems good to me.

Israel’s History in Pictures
“A 110-year-old trove of pictures taken by the Christian photographers of the American Colony in Jerusalem provides dramatic proof of thriving Jewish communities in what was then called Palestine, the name given to the area by the Romans hundreds of years before Islam came into existence and Arab hordes attacked the land to spread the word of Muhammed by the sword. Hundreds of pictures show the ancient Jewish community of Jerusalem’s Old City and the Jewish pioneers and builders of new towns and settlements in the Galilee and along the Mediterranean coastline. The American Colony photographers recorded Jewish holy sites, holiday scenes and customs…”

The link to the site where the photos are is IsraelDailyPicture.com Like this one-“Plowing with a cow and a camel (circa 1900)”

Photos can not only be proof, as they are above, but in these days they can be used for manipulation of the truth. This is an interesting story from Israel-

The infamous Haaretz photo that was never actually printed in Haaretz
A photograph cropped in two ways, captioned with two newspapers, Haaretz and Makor Rishon, purported to show left-wing vs. right-wing photojournalism. The only problem: Neither newspaper actually published the photo in question.
For some weeks, upset subscribers and other Haaretz readers have been asking the newspaper for clarifications about the “cropped photograph” being shared on social networks with the caption, “Who hit whom?” Everyone was convinced that Haaretz ran that photograph recently and that someone caught us red-handed.”

The investigation into this libel found that the “accusatory” photo was actually an Associated Press picture from 7 years ago. The internet, with all its instant social media, has been a boon to humankind, but also a cautionary tale. It is increasingly used for manipulation hoaxes and outright libel. In the Tribulation, media will be used to allow peoples from every tongue, tribe, and nation to gaze at the dead bodies of the two witnesses on the street of Jerusalem. How will manipulations such as the photo cropping be extended to its worst facets in the Tribulation? undoubtedly to promote the antichrist and all his ‘good works’ such as forming a peace treaty, his “miraculous” signs and wonders, his “resurrection” from the wound he is prophesied to receive, and to make the image of the beast come alive. (Daniel 9:27, Revelation 13:3, 2 Thessalonians 2:9, Revelation 13:5)

The US is neglecting maritime Asia just as tensions are at highest level. See this story from The Diplomat. Remember that in end time prophecy fulfillment there will be a large army marching from Asia. (Revelation 9:13-16). Asia will figure prominently in the final wars.

Deleterious Neglect: Will the U.S. Navy Surrender Maritime Asia?
“The Chinese navy’s surface forces are on the march. Destroyers, frigates, corvettes, fast-attack craft, and, most recently, the newly commissioned aircraft carrier comprise the surface fleet. Over the past two decades, the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLA Navy) has put to sea four Sovremenny-class guided-missile destroyers procured from Russia, along with ten new classes of indigenously built destroyers and frigates. Some of the latter ship types have entered serial production, adding mass to the fleet. This is an impressive feat by any standard. The PLA Navy’s metamorphosis from a coastal defense force into a modern naval service has riveted the attention of the U.S. defense community. In 2009 the Office of Naval Intelligence — a body not known for hyperbole — described the advances of China’s surface fleet as “remarkable.”

Steve Herman is a reporter for Voice of America in Asia. He tweeted this week, “#ROK foreign minister warns #jejuforum that growing historical, territorial & maritime tension in E. Asia could lead to “physical conflict.”

Island dispute continues to test Japan-China-US relations
“Three Chinese maritime surveillance ships entered Japanese-claimed waters near the Senkaku islands in the East China Sea on Sunday. These incursions are becoming commonplace and they test not just China’s relationship with Japan but also the long-running security relationship Japan has with the US.  At what point would the US step in to help its ally?”

On a personal note, today is the last day of school for teachers. Starting tomorrow I have all the time in the world to read, study, and write. Happy summer!

Posted in flooding, japan, poland tornadoes, pravda on Obama, prophecy, signs

News: NY Swing Party, Israel snubbed, Poland tornadoes, Meteors, drought, waterfalls of rain in Japan

Posted on by elizabethprata

Here is today’s news for you. —-UPDATED below to include new link of photos and videos of wild tornado outbreak.—-

Swing party interrupted
“Swingers’ sex party in the penthouse of the Mondrian SoHo came to a premature end on Saturday night, following a clash between hotel security and organizers. Sources tell us guests at the “SiN White Party,” thrown by Behind Closed Doors and School of Sex, were just getting into the swing of things when hotel guards demanded to police the event. Once they got a look at the racy goings-on, the party was shut down, and all were ordered to leave — including one overly amorous couple carrying on in the balcony of the penthouse overlooking the New York skyline.”

We are surely ripe for judgment when we engage in public sex and set up schools on how to be perverse and mock God by naming the sex parties Sin. “Sexual sin promises satisfaction, but it can’t deliver. Instead lust leaves you with an unsatisfied, intense, unbridled sexual desire for more. Paul describes it “the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts” (Ephesians 2:3). Where the heart is “darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more” (Ephesians 4:18-19).” (source)

Israel left out of terrorism summit
“If there’s one nation on Earth that knows what it is to be a victim of terrorism — and how best to combat it — it’d be Israel. So you’d think. Unless you’re the Obama administration. Once again, Israel was excluded from one of Team Obama’s pet projects — the Global Counter-Terrorism Forum, a group of 29 nations that met this week in Spain. Israel was not only not invited — Turkey objected — it also was completely ignored.”

It it so weird that no one these days holds Israel as a legitimate nation with something to contribute, but only a minor territory to be carved up and given to the wolves, and otherwise ignored. This thinking is satanic. Look at this picture from Zechariah. Zechariah is given a vision. Remember that one of the LORD’S favorite names for His people is Jerusalem. Using it does not necessarily mean He is only speaking of the city itself. And Joshua here is usually interpreted as symbolic of the Jewish people and not just the man.

“Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the Angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right hand to oppose him. And the LORD said to Satan, “The LORD rebuke you, Satan! The LORD who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is this not a brand plucked from the fire?” Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and was standing before the Angel. Then He answered and spoke to those who stood before Him, saying, “Take away the filthy garments from him.” And to him He said, “See, I have removed your iniquity from you, and I will clothe you with rich robes.” And I said, “Let them put a clean turban on his head.” So they put a clean turban on his head, and they put the clothes on him. And the Angel of the LORD stood by.” (Zechariah 3:1-5).

How beautiful! You know, the Hebrew word for filthy garments means human excrement. That is how sin-filled Israel is. Satan stands by, accusing. He is perpetually maligning God’s people, saying in effect, ‘they’re filthy, what do want with those people anyway?!’ And God rebukes satan, and says ‘I have chosen them, and that’s that!’ he doesn’t go back on His word! But satan has to hope He will, because His word says also that the Lake of Fire is satan’s ultimate destination!

But this brand will go through the fire first,

“Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of drunkenness to all the surrounding peoples, when they lay siege against Judah and Jerusalem. And it shall happen in that day that I will make Jerusalem a very heavy stone for all peoples; all who would heave it away will surely be cut in pieces, though all nations of the earth are gathered against it.” (Zechariah 12:2-3).

Meteorite Madrid 2012: a falling star lights up the night fragment of the Peninsula
This article is google-translated from Spanish.

“If you live in the center of the peninsula and last night I was awakened by a loud sound and saw how the sky suddenly lit up, it was a dream. About 2:10 in the morning and about 30 or 40 miles above Earth, stellar fragments disintegrated in the atmosphere somewhere between Toledo and Madrid. “Everything points to a fragment of a comet,” he told The Huffington Post Jose Maria Madiedo, professor of the Faculty of Experimental Sciences of Huelva. “It was like a flash in the sky like a beacon light that came from heaven,” said Rafael Rojas, a journalist who saw while working at his flat in Madrid and immediately tweeted what happened in search of an explanation, a little scared. His reaction is not surprising: “It was almost as bright as the sun…”

Cool! Jesus said there shall be signs in the sun, and moon, and stars. (Luke 21:25). I hope people who saw that were reminded of heaven, and remember our Holy God who will return, and prompts them to get right with Him by repenting!

Oh how can the United States not be in prophecy? people ask. How could Russia exceed, outpace and excel over us to be the star player in the Ezekiel Prophecy (Chap 37) and appear so mighty! Here is how. (It’s from Russia’s newspaper Pravda).

Exposing Obama would reveal the depth of US Government corruption
“The solution for the United States is not to elect more “good” people to government because they are quickly co-opted and compromised by the corrupt political system. It may sound cynical, but the solution is to make it politically advantageous for bad people to do the right thing. It is not now politically advantageous for either the Democrat or the Republican Party to tell the truth about Barack Obama; that he is an illegal President and very likely a felon, who has a forged birth certificate, a forged Selective Service registration and is using a Social Security Number not issued to him. Both parties are steadfastly protecting Obama to protect their investment in the corrupt political status quo. The formula is simple. To keep themselves permanently in office, members of Congress collect taxes nationwide, they then use the proceeds to repay wealthy financiers with tax loopholes or government loans and buy constituent votes through local tax-funded projects. The American people have given Congress a credit card with no limit. Rather than themselves being financially penalized for their largesse, members of Congress simply pass the debt along to ordinary Americans and future generations, while they enrich themselves through the power granted them to spend our money. The larger the federal government, the greater the number of opportunities arise for politicians to benefit from the scam.”

Is that not a brilliant synopsis of how things are in the US now? I grew up with Pravda, the Russian propaganda machine publishing lies to oppress the people and maintain Communism. Now it speaks the truth while our media publishes propaganda to oppress the people and maintain Socialism. It is all upside down. We’re done folks. Stick a fork in us.

The ‘freak’ weather continues. The Japanese media reported that the rain was like waterfalls from the sky.

250,000 evacuated in Japan, massive flooding, landslides
“Heavy rains in Japan have triggered the evacuation of a southwestern region, affecting a quarter of a million people. At least 22 people have died in the deluge, which began three days ago, according to Japanese broadcaster NHK. Japan’s meteorological agency is warning of torrential rains this weekend due to a warm mass from the south. In fact, more than 31 inches has fallen on a section of Kumamoto Prefecture since Wednesday. Evacuation orders have been issued for more than 250,000 people in the Japanese island of Kyushu, as rains pounded the region Saturday.”

A quarter of a million people evacuated!!

Freak wave of tornadoes kills 1, injures 10 in Poland
“WARSAW, POLAND (BNO NEWS) — A freak wave of powerful tornadoes tore through northern and western Poland on Saturday evening, killing one person and destroying dozens of buildings, officials said on Monday. Several others were injured. The most powerful of the storms tore through the Tuchola forest in northern Poland, destroying several kilometers (miles) of trees and killing a 60-year-old man when his summer house collapsed on him. The tornado was reported to be some 800 to 1,000 meters (0.5 to 0.6 mile) wide, destroying 21 houses and 13 other buildings. “I’ve been a forester on this land for 37 years, but I’ve never seen anything like this,” resident Janusz Kaczmarek, who was not at home when the tornado hit, told Polskie Radio. “I live in the centre of the damaged area. The whirlwind spared my home, but all of the houses in the area have lost their roofs.” As many as ten other people were also injured as a result of the tornadoes on Saturday. Poland has historically been vulnerable to tornado outbreaks, but they rarely result in casualties or cause significant damage.” Videos and photos her of the wild tornado outbreak

U.S. Declares Drought-Stricken States to Be Largest Natural Disaster Area Ever “The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) declared over 1,000 counties across 26 states to be natural disaster areas. This year has been the one of the worst years since the 1930s for drought in America. Drought, along with extreme heat, has prompted the USDA to declare these territories the largest natural disaster area in American history.”

I was looking at rare photos of the Dust Bowl yesterday. Oh, those poor farmers. No water, drought, winds blowing all the topsoil off. I saw one picture of a worn-looking mom of four hoeing her dusty garden…for the second time. A big wind had came and blown away all her seedlings the first time. I mourned because I know the coming Dust Bowl will be much worse. Our poor groaning earth.

With bible study, prayer, and watchfulness. I can see the pieces the LORD is putting down that will easily lead the the conditions we read about in Revelation. The drought’s continuation into August as predicted will not only allow the corn and soybean crops to fail, but will dry the soil and lead to massive tracts being useless for planting. There will be no food and no way to get food grow food, and likely with power outages, no way to produce or prepare food. Food will soon be an issue. We are seeing the late stages of a prophetic preparation that any ONE event could tip it into the famine category. (Rev 6:6; Matthew 24:7)

The Middle East’s pieces are also coming together. Damascus endured the heaviest fighting yet. Chemical weapons are alleged to be moved around, while the Obama Administration meets with the terrorist Egyptian President Morsi, while Israel is ignored and Turkey wields clout (another Gog Magog participant). All the nations prophesied to have a major part in the Tribulation wars are stepping up to the prophetic plate. All of them. It would not take much to ignite a cataclysm there, and today’s shooting by the US Navy at a small boat in the Persian Gulf won’t be taken lightly.

But as in Zechariah, He chose His people the Jews and he chooses us, His Church. he won’t cast any one of us out and all we need to do is stay strong until the last person fills His church and away we go. What kinds of things are you looking forward to in eternity, after being with Jesus of course? Asking Paul how it felt to be stoned and left for dead?” Or Abraham if he was scared to leave Ur of the Chaldees? Jonah what it was like int he whale? Would you thank your pastor for sharing the Gospel with you? Enjoy fellowship with mission field converts? There is so much we will enjoy in glory.

We are His bride. He dressed us in clean garments, we are no longer filthy. We are waiting the Blessed Hope!

Posted in japan, tokyo, tornado

Rare tornado in Tokyo kills one

Posted on by elizabethprata

Fox News reports,
“A tornado tore through an area just northeast of the Japanese capital Sunday, injuring at least 30 people, destroying dozens of homes and leaving thousands more without electricity. Firefighters and helicopter medical teams rushed to the area after the tornado struck the city of Tsukuba, 40 miles northeast of Tokyo. A 14-year-old boy was in serious condition, and 10 others were being treated at hospitals, the local fire department said. Details of their injuries were not immediately available. NHK footage showed rows of houses that had lost roofs, apartment complexes with smashed balconies and shattered windows, and crooked telephone poles that could barely stand. NHK also showed footage of a swirling gray cloud it said was taken by a passer-by. The number of homes damaged was still unknown, it said. Initially, the fire department had said 30 to 50 homes were destroyed. NHK TV reported that some 200 homes were damaged. Tokyo Electric Power Co. said 24,000 homes were without electricity as strong winds and lightning added to the tornado damage. Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant, which went into multiple meltdowns from last year’s tsunami, was not affected by Sunday’s tornado or storm, TEPCO said. Tornadoes are relatively rare in the Tokyo area.”

In Revelation, Jesus showed John visions of the future. John saw the weather act in ways that defied description. Angels held back the wind so no breeze blew. Hail fell that weighed 100 pounds each. There were droughts and famines and waters turning to blood and mega earthquakes.

In Matthew 24, the disciples asked “when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?” (Mt 24:3). Jesus answered of the things that would happen and they were the same as the things He showed John.

Between His telling us and His showing us, Jesus has taken great care to alert the generation that will see these things come to pass. The purpose is to show the saved the truth of His word and to assure us that our Redemption draws nigh. For the unsaved, it is to let them know God is in control and that He is coming to judge sinners and to punish Israel. In effect, he is speaking to the entire world, because there is only saved, and unsaved.

The normal is becoming extinct as surely as the dodo bird and the passenger pigeon. The new normal is uncertainty, perplexity, and un-safety. Why is no place safe? Just because a place has never or rarely experienced an earthquake does not mean that they won’t. Just because a place hardly or never has tornadoes doesn’t mean they can’t. Just because a volcano in your backyard never exploded doesn’t mean it wouldn’t. Eventually, all these things will affect all people, everywhere.

 “And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, and said to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?”” (Revelation 6:15-17).

You are able to stand because of your position before Christ. If you have repented and accepted Him as savior and Lord, you are justified. He, the Judge, has rendered the verdict, and that verdict is PARDON for your crimes (sins). If you have not repented, you are not justified and the Judge will render the verdict GUILTY. What happens to the guilty? They go to jail. In this case it is hell.

“For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead.”” (Acts 17:31). This verse is speaking of God appointing Jesus as Judge of all mankind.

There will not be a jury of your peers, there will not be a defense lawyer. There will only be you, and the Judge. Can you withstand the wrath of the Lamb? No. But you can escape it by repenting, announcing your guilt and the Judge who is merciful, will pardon you. You must do it before He arrives in the courtroom, though, (before your death) because after that, all is fixed. It will be too late.

“And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:” (Hebrews 9:27).

And because you don’t know the date of your death, you don’t know when the arresting officers will come get you (the death angel), so announce your guilt now and ask the Judge for mercy. And you don’t even have to wonder of the Judge will grant it, because He has already said that He will!

“That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” (John 3:15-18)

Posted in china, end of days, end time, japan, prophecy, rare earth

Stunning rare earth deposits found off Japan, crumbling China’s monopoly

Posted on by elizabethprata

A stunning discovery has been made. Reuters reported this week that “Vast deposits of rare earth minerals, crucial in making high-tech electronics products, have been found on the floor of the Pacific Ocean and can be readily extracted, Japanese scientists said on Monday.”

Here is a great article about it with graphics that clearly show the magnitude of this discovery!

I’m continually stunned at the rolling-out of the unexpected in these end of days. Just as political supremacy has been indicated in one country or another, it suddenly falls. Just as Russia eyed oil supremacy, Israel has become the world’s potentially richest nation in natural gas, oil shale, and oil in the last 18 months, going from an importer to a self-sufficient exporter. Israel is on the cusp of an energy revolution, causing jealousy in Russia. And now this: rare earths, tumbling China from its supreme position to a mere paltry contender.

Let me explain what has been going on in rare earths since the mid 1990s.

China rare earth mine: source

China’s rise in economic power allowed that nation to corner the market in rare earth metals. They literally have a monopoly. By now, the US relies almost completely on a supply of these obscure but critical minerals from China and this fact spooked us big time. This was by China’s design: they deliberately set out to corner the market on rare earth minerals. What happens when rare-earths become scarce? The Chinese have spent the last 25 years amassing them and then in the mid 2000’s they turned the spigot down, causing scarcity.

What are rare earth metals? Most people define them as including the following 17 metals: Cerium Dysprosium Erbium Europium Gadolinium Holmium Lanthanum Lutetium Neodymium Praseodymium Promethium Samarium Scandium Terbium Thulium Ytterbium Yttrium. These rare earth metals are in just about everything that makes current civilization function.

 “Here’s why you should care about them: By the 21st century, rare earths had become essential to global commerce. Take a look around you. There are probably plenty of things that depend on them. Rare earths are used in permanent magnets, which are integral to modern electronics and green technologies. They’re in iPhones, earbuds, cell phones and hard drives. Their use is not exactly new: they were in cathode tube televisions, although they are now in flat screens too. They’re in electric automobile windows, MRI machines, and compact fluorescent bulbs. A Toyota Prius contains at least two pounds of them. Each advanced wind turbine has roughly 660 pounds of the soft silvery metal neodymium. They are also used in guided missiles and other weapons systems. As recently as the 1990s, the world had a geographically diversified supply of rare earth minerals. China produced a lot, but the United States, Brazil, India and Russia also had active mines. However, as getting rich became increasingly glorious, the Chinese smelled an opportunity. In 1992, paramount leader Deng Xiaoping reportedly pronounced China to be the Saudi Arabia of rare earths, reflecting the geologic fact that his country is unusually rich in them. Deng also noted that, given their importance, rare earths are wildly cheap. China began to close the spigot on its supply — adding tariffs and slowly tightening export quotas. As the world became increasingly dependent on rare earths, China had quietly cornered the market and created a shortage. Some analysts believe that 2010 will be the first year when global demand exceeds supply.” And China was sitting on that mountain, gloating.

Now they gloat no more.

The Reuters article about the new rare earths discoveries continues: “The deposits have a heavy concentration of rare earths. Just 0.4 square mile of deposits will be able to provide one-fifth of the current global annual consumption,” said Yasuhiro Kato, an associate professor of earth science at the University of Tokyo. [WOW!!!] The discovery was made by a team led by Kato and including researchers from the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology. They found the minerals in sea mud extracted from depths of 11,500-20,000 ft below the ocean surface at 78 locations. One-third of the sites yielded rich contents of rare earths and the metal yttrium, Kato said in a telephone interview. The deposits are in international waters in an area stretching east and west of Hawaii, as well as east of Tahiti in French Polynesia, he said. He estimated rare earths contained in the deposits amounted to 80 to 100 billion metric tons, compared to global reserves currently confirmed by the U.S. Geological Survey of just 110 million tonnes that have been found mainly in China…”

So suddenly China is out of luck, as this Japanese Business Magazine reports. The “Solution to the rare earth problem could come from the sea” “Huge quantities of rare earth elements exist on the Pacific Ocean floor, researchers say, a development that could end China’s virtual monopoly on the metals but may exacerbate legal wrangling on the high seas. In an encouraging sign for makers of high-tech products that require rare earths from the dwindling supply, the deposits appear to be in seabed conditions that will make it easy to collect and refine them, according to team, which included researchers from the University of Tokyo.”

Everything is increasingly unpredictable. Weather is going crazy. Political ups and downs are surprising. As fast as French Presidential contender Dominique Strauss-Kahn faced sexual assault charges in New York and seemed to lost his bid against Sarkozy, now he is up again. As deliberately as Russia has crafted solidity through pipelines and deals in the oil market within Russia, and in the Baltics and Asia Minor, that supremacy was toppled within 18 months as vast deposits and oil fields were discovered in Israel. Now China’s monopoly in rare earths was lost in one day as rare earth deposits were found near Japan, and easy to reach, too.

In the Tribulation, geo-political shifts and rises and falls of fortunes occur even more quickly and dramatically than they are occurring today. We know that Russia, Iran, Turkey, Armenia, and others attack Israel for “plunder and a spoil”. (Ezekiel 38:13). That great amount of riches they seek could be the treasures Israel has recently discovered under their sand and sea. The ‘Kings of the East‘ collectively march against Israel, and though the Kings are not named, logic deduces that they could be be a united Japan, China, and Korea… and let us not forget India is also east of the Euphrates.

The point is, that nothing is solid except heaven. As we get closer to the Tribulation that solidity will continue to wither. The earth that seems to strong, will crack asunder (Isaiah 24:19). The riches and supremacy one nation has, fall down in one day. (Rev 18:10). The Lord sets up Kings and he takes them down. (Daniel 2:21).

Sorry, China. It seems that Japan won this round. You won’t have long to wait, though, something else is sure to come along in these fast-changing times to change the fortunes of one over the next. As Mark Twain said, “If you don’t like the weather in New England, wait a few minutes,” and in these end of days we can safely modify that saying to: “If you don’t like the world situation, wait a few minutes.”
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Posted in economy, end of days. prophecy, japan, jesus

Japan’s March 11 quake woke up the nation’s 20 volcanoes, says meteorological agency

Posted on by elizabethprata

This is an essay about how the 3/11 quake in Japan is affecting Japan economy and by extension, the world’s.

From International Business Times Hong Kong English edition today:

Japan warns of massive earthquake and volcanic explosion after the April 7 earthquake
“Japan’s Meteorological Agency on Friday warned the country’s 20 volcanoes has become alive due to the massive March 11 earthquake, and a study said earthquake over 9.0-magnitude might hit Japan. The number of earthquakes above 6.0 M reached 77 on March. And 74 out of them occurred in quake-hit region, were aftershock. The number is 50 times over the same period last year. The largest aftershock on April 7 hit Japan has killed 4 people, injured at least 166, and caused a power outage over 2.61 million households, according to Japan’s police officials. The Meteorological Agency warned aftershocks above 6.0 M like the April 7 earthquake probably would hit Japan again. Meanwhile, quakes of the country’s 20 volcanoes occurred more frequently after the massive March 11 earthquake, especially, the Fuji, Hakone, and Aso-San.”

Millions of people are without power…radiation is poisoning their air, water, and food, there are continuing large aftershocks, and now they’re warned of exploding volcanoes. I can’t begin to comprehend the grief they must be feeling for their country, their families, and their own lives.

In economic news … I mentioned before that the March 11 quake was a nation changing event but it was also a world changing event. Their economy may not recover, ever, and if it does, it will be years. Well, the economic impacts of that prediction are coming into sight now.

It’s all about components.  From South Korea blog “Business Area“
“Japan’s disaster affecting the worldwide automotive industry, not least in South Korea. Some manufacturers in the Country of ginseng began to reassess its production because of fear of lack of supply components from Japan.”

Toyota announced a shutdown of all North American plants (Canada/Mexico/US). GM Plants are on temporary slowdown. Toyota is shutting down UK manufacturing plants for an unknown period of time. Korea’s GM and Renault Samsung Motors Corporation (RSMC). Yena Cho, RSMC spokesman said the factory has begun to stop the activities of overtime on weekends, resulting in decreased production capacity of 2000-2500 units of this month (March 2011). There are lots more examples, but if you think about all those manufacturing plants not just in Japan & Korea, but in UK, and North America, that means no money is being exchanged over a commodity. Paychecks are not being given. It creates a huge hole. The auto industry especially, cannot get microchips, circuitry etc from Japan, and the interconnected complex global supply chain is beyond stressed.

Mike Ruppert: “Gross Domestic Product predictions for the world’s economies (such as Ireland, Greece, Portugal, Spain, etc) are made on the stance of positive growth. When large significant negative growth is shown across the board globally for a quarter, the markets have no place to go but implode.” He explained that although fancy bookwork can be done in certain areas by changing definitions, moving columns here and there, the ONE thing that cannot be hidden (according to Ruppert) is GDP quarterly earnings reports. We have one more bit of this quarter’s activity and the reports should be in by July that reflect the effect of the March-June quarter, which is the economic quarter of the Japanese quake and tsunami. “The markets still don’t appreciate the Japanese earthquake” but it seems that the chickens will come home to roost by July’s reports. And then watch out, said Ruppert.

Oil: fuel prices are spiking. How this affects the world’s economy is in obvious and not so obvious ways. Not so obviously, is a story out of Nicaragua. “The [fishing] industry is “frozen” by high operative costs, even though international shrimp prices remain high.” In the US, conventional production agriculture relies heavily on fossil fuels, particularly in its ability to provide high yields at low labor costs. However, the uncertain future of fossil fuel availability and prices means that in laymen’s terms, farmers can’t afford to put fuel in their tractors and fishermen can’t afford to fuel u their boats.

This is the American Farm Bureau Report for first quarter of 2011, with AFBF’s Cyndie Sirekis and AFBF economist John Anderson interview.
Sirekis: Farm Bureau’s quarterly marketbasket survey tracks and reports on retail prices of 16 staple foods that can be used to prepare one or more meals at home.
John Anderson (AFBF economist): The total cost of these 16 items in our marketbasket for the first quarter 2011 worked out to forty-nine dollars and seven cents that was up about two dollars and 10 cents compared to the fourth quarter of 2010 so that’s about a 4 percent increase. Pretty much a continuation of a trend that we’ve seen for the last couple of quarters and pretty well in line with what we see in broader measures like the consumer price index.
Sirekis: Cheddar cheese, ground beef and vegetable oil were among the foods that increased the most in retail price. This rise in retail food prices was not unexpected, according to American Farm Bureau Federation Economist John Anderson. He says energy prices are a key driver behind retail food prices increases.
Anderson: Everything that you buy at the retail level is affected by energy prices. Energy prices affect the cost of processing, they affect the cost of packaging, they affect the cost of transporting and storing and operations at the retail level. Really, there’s not much in the marketing system that isn’t affected by the price of energy.”

So the natural disasters affect manufacturing and manufacturing is affected by fuel prices and fuel prices affect farming and fishing and when farming and fishing is affected prices go up and when prices go up people who were put out of work by the slowdown and shutdown in manufacturing can’t afford to buy food.

Ruppert warns that by July, the wheels will come off completely. He predicts the implosion of the economic markets as the quarterly reports come out will cause a 4000 or so point in the Dow as it suffers from loss of Japanese input. He said, “I do not think we will be living in anything like the society we have known by this fall. I’m as serious as I’ve ever been.”

Is he being alarmist? He made a good case. It was obvious in March as the magnitude of the disaster on the world’s third largest economy became evident and I wrote about it on March 16 here. Throughout the 1990s as the European Union came together and the euro was introduced as currency that the new world order of interconnectedness, of globalization was to be sought and extolled, might have been fine except that when one of the largest economies tanks, they all tank. I think that is where we are now. And by the looks of Japan’s volcanoes waking up, the continual earthquakes, and the ongoing radiation problem, the issues of the loss of their economy will continue to be felt right straight through Revelation 18:10 when the entire economy collapses, for good.
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Posted in end of days. prophecy, end time, japan, nuclear

News you can use

Posted on by elizabethprata

This link to the Economic Collapse Blog has an excellent list of 27 reasons why the Japan nuclear crisis is worse than the government and media are telling us.

“We are not just talking about a repeat of Chernobyl. We are possibly talking about “many Chernobyls”, it is stated on the blog. Here are the top indicators on his list, and these are just a few:

#1 Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan is urging all people living within 30 kilometers of the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear facility to stay indoors.
#2 Andre-Claude Lacoste, the head of France’s Nuclear Safety Authority, says that the containment vessel surrounding the No. 2 reactor at Japan’s Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear complex is “no longer sealed“.
#3 Radiation levels in Tokyo are already 10 times above normal levels.
#4 Reuters is reporting that some residents of Tokyo are already starting to flee the city.
#5 Radiation levels in one city north of Tokyo, Utsunomiya, were recently reported to be 33 times above normal levels.

Fact based, and clear, the list should give you chills, or make you cry. 12 million people live in Tokyo…and things do not look good for them.

Nuclear expert Arnie Gunderson said today on Democracy Now! that children who live near the reactors should be evacuated, and that the Fukushima meltdown is at the level of Chernobyl right now.

People have reported tens of thousands to millions of dead fish in New South Wales, Australia.

Also in South Wales from March 11, about 26,000 trout have been found dead at a fish farm in Rhondda.

Dead fish wash ashore in Hawaii, from roiled and/or polluted tsunami waters.

On the mainstream news today, the guy who predicted the 1989 San Francisco California “World Series” quake predicted a major quake at California … during a window of March 16-19.

And now comes the supermoon, “On March 19, the moon will swing around Earth more closely than it has in the past 18 years, lighting up the night sky from just 221,567 miles” with the inevitable question as to whether it will trigger natural disasters. Some think yes.

The dollar is tanking, and the Feds are deploying radiation equipment to the west coast of the US. Lots of different news items for your consideration, and none of it is normal. Read, understand, be informed, but always pray and be ready to meet Him who is coming in the clouds for His own! The time draws nigh.
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Posted in encouragement, end time, japan, nuclear, pre-tribulation rapture, prophecy

Christians, this is where the rubber meets the road

Posted on by elizabethprata

The immediate future looks very, very dim for all of us on planet earth. The Japan situation is one where we simply do not have words any more. The human toll, the infrastructure toll, the economic toll, the financial toll and the nuclear toll affects everyone on this planet, whether you are Japanese, American, or Finnish. As a matter of fact, the Finns are buying iodine pills like they are going out of style, which they are. Over at The Economic Collapse blog, Mike Snyder noted: “[Japan is the] 3rd largest economy in the world … Could this be the “tipping point” that pushes the Japanese economy over the edge and into oblivion? … The truth is that the economy of Japan was already deeply struggling before this disaster. The national debt of Japan is now well over 200% of GDP and there seems to be no doubt that they will need to borrow massive amounts of money to deal with the aftermath of this crisis. Up until now the Japanese government has been able to borrow money at ultra-low interest rates of around 1.30 percent for 10-year bonds, drawing on a huge pool of savings from its own citizens. But in light of what has just happened, will the citizens of Japan still have enough resources to continue to fund the rampant spending of the Japanese government? At this point, it is estimated that this gigantic mountain of debt breaks down to 7.5 million yen for every single citizen of Japan.”

Add to that the cost to rebuild, mainly from scratch in places, and you have a serious dent in Japan’s and the world’s economy.

The nuclear situation is dire. Here is a photo from satellite of nuke reactor #1 (left) and #3 which still had smoke rising from its most recent explosion. [Photo credit: Photo DigitalGlobe / Creative Commons License BY-NC-ND]

They are destroyed. The steel housings of the construction are hanging outside the building and have actually melted on the concrete, you can see them running parallel to each other from top to bottom. The core is clearly visible, the overhead protective structure is completely obliterated at the very least. They are talking about radiation, plutonium, cesium, chromium and/or MOX getting into the atmosphere. Reactor 3 was burning MOX (mixed oxide fuel) fuel which is a VERY radioactive fuel when used.  MOX is bad because it will burn hotter then regular uranium. This was warned to be a bad fuel IF the plant were to come close to meltdown. Here is a link to Japan’s MOX program.

People on conspiracy sites all over the place are putting up wind and jet stream maps to determine when and where the radioactivity will arrive in the US and in other places. All three reactors are in meltdown mode and today even the mainstream newspapers are discussing the radiation fallout and putting up maps. They are buying gas masks, getting treated for radiation poisoning, hospitals are filling up…it is truly a doomsday scenario. The spectre of radiation raises the spectre of a chilling thought: the Revelation 4th seal of death through pestilence could well be radiation. Maybe not, but it shows us how He could lift a finger there and over here something completely un-thought of comes forth.

What can we as Christians do? We know to pray. We know to donate. We also know to rely on the promises of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! Rely on His promises! This time is where the rubber meets the road. I painted a realistic picture for you and it is truly a doomish one. But He is the same yesterday, today, and forever! (Hebrews 13:8) Lest you forget what is ahead for us, and perhaps SOON:

‘He who overcomes will thus be clothed in white garments; and I will not erase his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels. (Revelation 3:5) What a comfort to be known and spoken of by the God of the Universe!

Ps 34:19, “Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivereth him out of them all.” Yes, we have afflictions, and more may be coming down the pike, but what a blessing to know that we will be delivered!

“I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.” (John 14:18). Does this compute? The God of the Universe, will come to you. He will come right now if you need Him, pray if you need comfort. He is there, right beside you.

We are looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ. (Titus 2:13). We are the generation that will see Him from life to eternal life without death! We are blessed to see Him soon, His glorious appearing! “Six days later Jesus took with Him Peter and James and John his brother, and led them up on a high mountain by themselves. And He was transfigured before them; and His face shone like the sun, and His garments became as white as light.” (Mt 17:1-2). We will see Him through glorified eyes, gaze upon His bright face!

Let not your heart be troubled: you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. – John 14:1-3

So though the near future looks dim on planet earth, this is not our home! It looks very bright for us in New Jerusalem.

He knows your name, He is readying a place for you, He is bright like the sun and so you shall be bright, and He is coming to gather you to His bosom. Do not quiver in fear, this is where the rubber meets the road in your faith! Stand strong and ready, “‘Do not fear, for I am with you; Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.‘”
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Posted in earthquake, end time, japan, pre-tribulation rapture

EARTHQUAKE!

Posted on by elizabethprata

UPDATE: I posted more here. “Earthquake: At what point do the warnings end and the Tribulation punishments begin?” Bible verses, and my reasoning why I think the rapture is coming SOON.

A 8.9 quake occurred last night in Honshu Japan. In addition, more than fifteen quakes occurred in that region that were OVER 6.0, classified as major. Here is one snippet of the USGS page that shows some of them but not all of them:

A tsunami happened subsequent to the quake that reportedly had waves 3 feet high. This 8.9 quake was the fifth largest quake to occur since 1900. Now, the Onagawa Nuclear plant is reportedly on fire. Japan has called a nuclear emergency. Four million people are without power in Tokyo and the massive damage from the quake, tsunami and fires is devastating. Devastating isn’t even the word.

Carl Worline opened his latest essay by saying:

“The entire world is on edge because everyone senses that something big is about to happen. Christians know that either the Rapture of the Church or the battle described in Psalm 83 is about to occur. Many Muslims in the Islamic world think their Mahdi is about to return. Members of the New Age Movement look for the arrival of their Maitreya at any moment. The ancient Mayans, various tribes of American Indians, Nostradamus, the notorious 16th century soothsayer Mother Shipton, and Sir Isaac Newton have all predicted a series of cataclysmic worldwide disasters will occur around this time in history. Even the chief ju-ju bead counters who write for the supermarket tabloids are predicting the return of “The King” (Elvis). The Earth longs to be free of the curse it has suffered under ever since the original sin of Adam and Eve. Jesus told us in Matthew 24:7-8 that His return would be preceded by upheavals in nature which He likened to the birth pangs of a woman about to give birth, increasing in intensity and frequency as the moment of the arrival of the child draws ever closer.”

I want you, Christian, to think for a moment, that these events are not punishments. They are warnings. The heightened state of agitation, fear, and heartbreak from all these things are not the Tribulation, yet we wake up every morning with a dread to look at the news to see what has happened that was worse than the day before. A year ago things were bad but in the space of the last 365 days the world has experienced “historic” events one after the other than are monumentally worse to comprehend. Yet they are not the Tribulation events. These are warnings.

So…imagine how terrible the tribulation events will be! Please, please, thrown away your fear and WITNESS to people. The quake is a demand from God that He is present and working in the world to awaken the non-believer, threaten the apathetic, and to announce His soon return for us. Don’t waste even a precious day navel-gazing. The nature of birth pangs is such that a crescendo is reached suddenly.

Non-believer, these extreme events are not “natural.” Things will not get back to normal. They will only worsen. If you cannot believe that they will or even could get worse, listen up: they will. It is because of sin- your sin, my sin, the world’s sin. God will not be mocked and He will punish sin. Your acceptance of that fact and your repentance and appeal to Jesus to forgive them is your redemption. He died on the cross as the sacrifice so that YOU could not be punished when the Great Day of the Lord comes. Will you be able to stand when it does? I pray you will. He loves you, He is shaking you even now. Wake up!
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