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Blogosphere abuzz with tales of Rapture, end of the world
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Original Message
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Have you heard of the Rapture? That's the moment when Jesus Christ will take true Christians into heaven prior to his Second Coming. Many of those who believe in the Rapture see great portent in what is now happening in the Middle East.
On the Internet, raptureready.com says it is time to "fasten your seatbelt." Its Rapture Index is now at 157 -- and those seatbelts needed fastening when the 145 threshold was passed.
The index has been higher. Just after the terror attacks on the United States in September 2001, the index hit 182.
Raptureready.com does not claim infallibility, but it does call the Rapture Index "a Dow Jones Industrial Average of end time activity." The higher the index, "the faster we're moving towards the occurrence of pre-tribulation rapture."
Raptureready.com looks at plagues, volcanoes, crime rates, and even globalism as precursors of the end times.
For some observers in the blogo-sphere, the current hostilities between Israel, Hamas and Hezbolloh are eerily reminiscent of images from the 14th chapter of the Book of Zechariah.
One, who calls himself "Dr. Dominguez, M.D.," and whose blog is at biblia.com, points out that the chapter "is about the horrible struggle between Israel, particularly Jerusalem, and the surrounding countries with the Second Coming of Christ."
The second verse says nations will fight against Jerusalem. "The city will be captured, the houses ransacked, and the women raped. Half of the city will go into exile." But the Lord will come and save Jerusalem. "Never again will it be destroyed," the 11th verse says. "Jerusalem will be secure."
The nations that fought Jerusalem will suffer terrible punishment. "Their flesh will rot while they are still standing on their feet, their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongues will rot in their mouths," the 12th verse predicts.
Dr. Dominguez cites Hezbollah's declaration of war on Israel, the rumours of Iranian involvement, the attack on an Israeli warship, and the pounding Israeli counterattack as apparent signs that the prophecy of Zechariah may be in the process of being realized.
Gerald Flurry, editor of Thetrumpet.com, an online publication of the Philadelphia Church of God, seems to believe the world is stumbling unwittingly toward the fulfilment of the prophecies of Zechariah. He points out that the United Nations, many individual nations, and even many Israeli Jews are saying that Israel must give up East Jerusalem if Israel is to live peacefully with its Palestinian neighbours. This means, he writes, that "the prophecy in Zechariah is now in the early stages of being fulfilled, even though the world doesn't know it!"
Even U.S. politicians seem to be getting apocalyptic. Paul Schmelzer, editor of eyeteeth.blogspot.com, points out that Newt Gingrich, former Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives, believes World War III is now in process. "We're in a war!" Mr. Gingrich told a Fox News interviewer. Moreover, "it's clearly worldwide."
He referred not only to violence in the Middle East, but to the recent train bombings in Mumbai, ongoing problems in Iraq and Afghanistan, and even to the recent arrests of 17 alleged terrorists in Toronto. "You have Canadians plotting to blow up the Canadian Parliament and behead the prime minister," he said.
[link to www.canada.com]
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