Exploring the Impact of Much Lower Oil Prices on Middle East Stability

Some economic and financial commentators are concern that the situation in Greece, the European sovereign debt crisis, and European banking crisis could lead to a repeat of fall 2008 when global asset prices and the global economy plunged following the collapse of Lehman Brothers.

• The price of oil was not exempt from the global meltdown following the collapse of Lehman Brothers. The price of oil fell from $100 in mid September 2008 all the way down to $30.28 on December 23, 2008. This represented almost a 70% decline in the price of oil in about three months.

Some commentators even warn that a major global economic downturn and a major decline in price of oil could lead to unrest in major Middle East oil producing countries, which really have not seen a lot of unrest compared to other Middle East countries partly due to the fact that the rulers of these countries spent a lot of money on new programs and benefit increases aimed at combating economic discontent.

• You can read an article about how the rulers of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Qatar spent money to keep unrest from exploding at the following link: Link

I do not know if we will get an exact replay of fall 2008 if an event like a Greek debt default occurs (which is looking more likely as time progresses). However, I think it is a good idea to explore what could happen to major oil producing countries in the Middle East and elsewhere if a repeat of fall 2008 happens since it is a possibility given the severity of the ongoing crises.

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The Arab Peace Initiative as a Potential Basis for Daniel 9:27's “Covenant With Many”?

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently granted an interview on BBC’s Arabic Channel. Netanyahu reportedly hinted during the interview that he may be open to using the Arab Peace Initiative as a potential basis for negotiations if it is open to negotiation:

“I have noticed the Arab Peace Initiative. This is a huge improvement compared with the ‘No’s’ of Khartoum. If it is open for negotiation, then this is an important opportunity”

Interestingly, this is not the first time that Netanyahu has talked about the Arab Peace Initiative as a potential basis for peace negotiations. Netanyahu rejected the Arab Peace Initiative in its current form in 2007. However, Netanyahu showed an increased willingness to build from the spirit of the Arab Peace Initiative when he made the following statement in 2009:

"We appreciate the efforts by Arab states to advance the peace initiative. If these proposals are not final, they can create an atmosphere in which a comprehensive peace can be reached."

Netanyahu’s recent references to the Arab Peace Initiative compelled me to look up information about it to see what the initiative called for. I think it’s worthwhile to take a look at the Arab Peace Initiative because it may provide us with some idea of what an eventual Middle East peace deal (Daniel 9:27’s “covenant with many”) might include as it is something the Arabs are willing to go along with and is something that Netanyahu seems open to considering as a potential basis for negotiations if it is negotiable.

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FRBNY’s Social Media Monitoring Platform May Be a Prelude of Things to Come During the End Times

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about Attack Watch, a new information-gathering and information-decimating website operated by Barack Obama’s 2012 reelection campaign.

• I cited Attack Watch as an example of how easy and inexpensive it is now for organizations to setup websites to encourage people to report to them about things they see and hear.
• I also talked about how we are probably going to see the Antichrist utilize a more sophisticated reporting system than what Attack Watch utilizes during the End Times to encourage people to turn people into the authorities.

Today I will touch on a story that I think merits as much or even more attention than the launch of Attack Watch and briefly relate how this story may have End Times implications.

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My Thoughts After the Palestinians Submitted their U.N. Bid.

Update: I wrote that U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is likely going to take some time before he forwards the Palestinians' application to the U.N. Security Council. Apparently, Ban Ki-moon is not taking a lot of time before he forwards the application. The U.N. Security Council reportedly will look at the Palestinians' application on Monday, but a vote is still not expected for several weeks or months.

Earlier today Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas (also known as Abu Mazen) submitted a completed application to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon asking the United Nations to accept the Palestinians as a full member of the U.N. The application was submitted despite efforts by the U.S., the European Union, Russia, Tony Blair, the United Nations, and others to craft a deal that would persuade the Palestinians to halt their U.N. bid and to return to negotiations with Israel.

Today I want to share some of my thoughts after the Palestinians submitted a completed application to the U.N.

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Some Theories Concerning the “Wilderness of the People” in Ezekiel 20:35

One of the remaining things I want to do before I am ready to share my thoughts on the timing of Ezekiel 38 & Ezekiel 39 is to become completely comfortable with Ezekiel 20:33-38. Ezekiel 20:33-38 speaks of the Lord gathering Israel from the lands from where they are scattered and bringing them to the “wilderness of the people”. Ezekiel 20:35-38 suggests that the Lord’s people will endure a wilderness experience like the Israelites endured after they left the land of Egypt. Verse 20:38 notes that the rebels and the transgressors will not be allowed to enter the land of Israel.

• Eze 20:33 As I live, saith the Lord GOD, surely with a mighty hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with fury poured out, will I rule over you:
• Eze 20:34 And I will bring you out from the people, and will gather you out of the countries wherein ye are scattered, with a mighty hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with fury poured out.
• Eze 20:35 And I will bring you into the wilderness of the people, and there will I plead with you face to face.
• Eze 20:36 Like as I pleaded with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so will I plead with you, saith the Lord GOD.
• Eze 20:37 And I will cause you to pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant:
• Eze 20:38 And I will purge out from among you the rebels, and them that transgress against me: I will bring them forth out of the country where they sojourn, and they shall not enter into the land of Israel: and ye shall know that I am the LORD.

There are some different viewpoints regarding the fulfillment of Ezekiel 20:33-38.

• Some think the passage was fulfilled between the time of the Babylonian captivity and return from Babylonian captivity.
• Some think the passage is partially fulfilled: Israel has already been gathered from the nations, but awaits judgment in the "wilderness of the people" in the future.
• Some think the entire passage will be fulfilled in the future.

I do not want to get into a major discussion today about whether this passage has been fulfilled, is partially fulfilled, or will be completely fulfilled in the future (I’ll save that discussion for a later date). Instead, I want to discuss some theories I’m considering about the location of the “wilderness of the people” mentioned in Ezekiel 20:35 in hopes it helps people who also have thought about this topic.

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A List of Jewish Fall Feasts Dates From 2011 to 2031

Disclaimer: This article is not meant to be an overview of the Jewish fall feasts and their potential prophetic significance. My intention is merely to list the future dates of the fall feasts for those who are curious.

Today I provide information about the timing of the Jewish fall feasts of Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and Sukkoth over the next twenty years. The reason I think it is a good idea to provide information concerning the future timing of these fall feasts is that there are some people who study Bible prophecy that believe significant Bible prophecy events will take place in connection with the Jewish fall feasts. For instance,

• There are some who believe the Rapture could take place during the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish New Year).
• There are some who believe that Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement) could be the time when the seventieth week of Daniel (the seven year period that most people call “the tribulation”) will end. I have a further discussion of this topic, including how one may be able to determine the start of the seventieth week of Daniel using a Yom Kippur termination date at the following link: Link

The following table lists the start dates for Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and Sukkoth from 2011 to 2031. There is no particular reason why the list is twenty years in length except to provide people who have different expectations about how close we are to the End Times an idea of what dates these fall feasts will occur in the coming years.

• Note: Rosh Hashanah is celebrated for two days.
• Note: Sukkoth is celebrated for seven days.

Year	Rosh Hashanah	Yom Kippur	Sukkoth
2011	September 29	October 8	October 13
2012	September 17	September 26	October 1
2013	September 5	September 14	September 19
2014	September 25	October 4	October 9
2015	September 14	September 23	September 28
2016	October 3	October 12	October 17
2017	September 21	September 30	October 5
2018	September 10	September 19	September 24
2019	September 30	October 9	October 14
2020	September 19	September 28	October 3
2021	September 7	September 16	September 21
2022	September 26	October 5	October 10
2023	September 16	September 25	September 30
2024	October 3	October 12	October 17
2025	September 23	October 2	October 7
2026	September 12	September 21	September 26
2027	October 2	October 11	October 16
2028	September 21	September 30	October 5
2029	September 10	September 19	September 24
2030	September 28	October 7	October 12
2031	September 18	September 27	October 2

It’s up to you to decide how relevant these dates are to you. People are welcome to believe that significant Bible prophecy events will coincide with important Jewish fall feasts or not. I am merely listing these dates just in case there are people who are curious about what dates these fall feasts will occur in the coming years.

Perhaps I'll write an in-depth article about the potential prophetic significance of these Jewish fall feasts in the future. At the moment, I'm still engaged in my ongoing study of Bible chapters and verses relating to Ezekiel 38 & Ezekiel 39, Revelation 17:16, the prophecies concerning Egypt & Libya, Zechariah 12:2, etc.

Israel Faces Multiple Threats From a Variety of Directions

There has been recent talk about how Israel is now dealing with multiple threats coming from a variety of directions. For instance, The New York Times had an article a few days ago about how “Israel senses a wider siege” than the siege of their embassy in Cairo last week. Another example is a recent comment by King Abdullah II of Jordan about how he thinks “Israel's situation today is more difficult than ever before".

Today I want to provide a summary of several threats Israel is facing from a variety of geographical directions and briefly discuss where I think this Middle East situation involving Israel is heading.

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Obama’s Attack Watch Website May Be a Prelude of Things to Come During the End Times

Late yesterday afternoon I heard about a new website that Barack Obama’s campaign team has launched called Attack Watch. The website is an information-gathering website about political attacks made against Barack Obama and a website which seeks to dispel attacks made against Barack Obama. The website encourages people to sign-up to receive emails about the latest political attacks against Obama that Obama's campaign team attempts to dispel. More importantly, the website encourages people to inform them of any attacks made against Barack Obama that they’ve heard.

The website essentially enables a person to report on anyone or any information source. The choices that a person can select to report people include the following:

• TV/Interview
• Public Statement
• Forwarded Email
• Rumor
• TV Ad
• Video Ad
• Radio Ad
• Robocall (a phone call made by a computer)
• Website/Blog

What Attack Watch has asked people to do is reminiscent of what the White House asked people to do during the health care debate in the U.S. back in 2009. The White House’s official blog asked Americans to report people who said things (even during casual conversation) about Obama’s health care insurance reform effort which seemed “fishy”. The following passage is from a White House blog post which encouraged people to report anything “fishy” they heard to the White House:

There is a lot of disinformation about health insurance reform out there, spanning from control of personal finances to end of life care. These rumors often travel just below the surface via chain emails or through casual conversation. Since we can’t keep track of all of them here at the White House, we’re asking for your help. If you get an email or see something on the web about health insurance reform that seems fishy, send it to flag@whitehouse.gov.

Although I have privacy concerns about the Obama campaign asking individuals to report on people who issue attacks against Obama, Attack Watch is probably just a website that the Obama campaign will utilize to help counteract political attacks during the 2012 U.S. Presidential Election. However, the website may provide us a glimpse or preview of a type of reporting system the Antichrist could someday utilize. In other words, the Attack Watch may provide a template for a type of reporting system that the Antichrist could utilize in the future.

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The End Times Relevance of Isaiah 29:1-8

One of the more challenging things to do when studying Bible prophecy is determining whether a particular Bible prophecy passage has been fulfilled in the past, has dual fulfillment (past and future), or will be fulfilled solely in the future. Unsurprisingly, I often see disagreements among different commentators when reading about the fulfillment of a particular prophecy.

One example where there is disagreement among different commentators is Isaiah 29:1-8. Many Bible prophecy commentators do not identify Isaiah 29:1-8 as a passage which is relevant to the future because many assume that Isaiah 29:1-8 is a passage which concerned the defeat of Assyrian King Sennacherib’s forces by the angel of the Lord. However, I’ve notice that a few people think that the passage is relevant to the End Times.

I spent some time the past few days examining Isaiah 29:1-8 to see whether the passage has been fulfilled. After spending some time examining the passage I am ready to share my thoughts on it. Today I discuss why I think Isaiah 29:1-8 merits consideration as a passage that may have relevance to the End Times.

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An Update on Syria and the Climate

I’m currently in the process of writing a Bible prophecy article. It’s going to take some time to write, but I hope to get it done in a short period of time. In the meantime, there are two news stories that I would like to highlight today which I think are fairly important. One story is about the escalating situation in Syria and the other story is about the weather.

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Bailey on the Arrival of a Global Government

Pre-Article Disclaimer for Newer Readers: If you are reading this blog for the first time or are not totally familiar with my work, I am a 100% Christian writer who analyzes things from a Christian point of view. I sometimes research into what the spiritual forces of evil are up to in hopes of gleaning information to help us Christians figure out what is going on or to figure out what Satan has planned. You can read more about why I dare consider these unbiblical sources at the following link Now on to the article...

I’ve devoted much of my time to studying Bible prophecy this past week. This past week I’ve devoted several hours each day trying to better understand the timing of the events described in Ezekiel 7, Zechariah 12, and Zechariah 14. I hope to share some specifics about what I’ve found so far in a future article. However, today I want to share some information I encountered recently about what one prominent and influential false teacher who the spiritual forces of evil utilized wrote concerning the arrival of a global government since a lot of people suspect that there is a movement towards establishing a global government.

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Why I Believe the New Swiss Franc Peg is a Meaningful Event

I believe the top story of the day is what just happened in Switzerland with their currency. The Swiss franc is the national currency of the country of Switzerland. The Swiss franc has held the reputation of being one of the “safest” currencies in the world for a long-time. People have traditionally sought to hold Swiss francs in times of uncertainty, including during the ongoing European sovereign debt crisis.

The Swiss franc’s value has risen so much recently against the Euro and other currencies (in response to people looking for a safe-haven from the European sovereign debt crisis and the U.S.’s economic woes) that it has hurt Switzerland’s exports and tourism.

• To give you an idea of how expensive it has become for tourists in Switzerland (particularly American ones), a McDonald’s Big Mac has recently cost around $8.06 in Switzerland. It's difficult to attract tourists to your country when items like a Big Mac cost them a lot more money than they are accustomed to paying. Similarly, it's hard for businesses to sell goods to other countries when the price of their products keeps rising.

The Swiss government estimates that the recent rise in the Swiss franc’s value will reduce the growth rate of the Swiss economy by 0.3% this year (2.4% to 2.1%) and by another 0.6% next year.

The impact that the rising Swiss franc has had on the Swiss economy has compelled the Swiss National Bank, the central bank of Switzerland, to announce today that the Swiss franc’s value will now be linked/pegged to the value to the Euro. The Swiss National Bank announced that the Swiss franc’s value can no longer be any more than 0.83 Euro for one franc. The Swiss National Bank says it is committed to a “substantial and sustained weakening of the Swiss franc".

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An Observation About the Interesting Time We Live In

We have finally reached September, which has potential to be a big month in terms of important news relating to the Middle East. In less than three weeks from now, the Palestinian Authority will ask the U.N. to deal with the issue of Palestinian statehood. I’ve written about the Palestinians’ U.N. bid periodically and why it is an important development to watch. If you’re a new reader, you can find two of my most recent articles about the topic at the following links:

• Another Israel/Palestinian U.N. Update (August 15, 2011)
• Some of What to Expect Now that the Palestinians Will Pursue the U.N. Option (July 19, 2011)

Today I want to share an observation about the interesting time we live in and to briefly relate that observation to the situation in the Middle East.

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