Minister uses NASA forecasting to study signals of Jesus' return
WORLDNETDAILY - By Joe Kovacs - April 30, 2008
Will Jesus Christ return to Earth in the year 2015?

And can studying NASA's website provide evidence for such a scenario?

A minister who promotes the Old Testament roots of Christianity suggests a rare string of lunar and solar eclipses said to fall on God's annual holy days seven years from now could herald what's come to be known as the "Second Coming" of Jesus.

"God wants us to look at the biblical calendar," says Mark Biltz, pastor of El Shaddai Ministries in Bonney Lake, Wash. "The reason we need to be watching is [because] He will signal His appearance. But we have to know what to be watching as well. So we need to be watching the biblical holidays."

In a video interview [see below] on the Prophecy in the News website, Biltz said he's been studying prophecies that focus on the sun and moon, even going back to the book of Genesis where it states the lights in the sky would be "be for signs, and for seasons."

"It means a signal, kind of like 'one if by land, two if by sea.' It's like God wants to signal us," he said. "The Hebrew word implies --- not only is it a signal, but it's a signal for coming or His appearing."

Biltz adds the word "seasons" implies appointed times for God's feasts and festivals.

"When we hear the word feast, we think food. But the Hebrew word has nothing to do with food. It has to do with a divine appointment, as if God has a day timer, and He says, 'OK, I'm gonna mark the day and the time when I'm going to signal My appearance.'"

In the Old Testament, the prophet Joel states, "The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come." (Joel 2:31)

In the New Testament, Jesus is quoted as saying, "Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light --- And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory." (Matthew 24:29-30)

Gary Stearman of Prophecy in the News noted, "When we think of the sun being darkened and the moon not giving her light, we usually think of some astronomical catastrophe - perhaps the sun sputtering and the moon being affected by all this. But maybe it's time to rethink this a little bit and think of it as a natural cycle, the cycle of the eclipses."

Thus, Biltz began focusing on the precise times of both solar and lunar eclipses, sometimes called "blood moons" since the moon often takes on a bloody color. He logged onto NASA's eclipse website which provides precision tracking of the celestial events.

He noted a rare phenomenon of four consecutive total lunar eclipses, known as a tetrad.

He says during this century, tetrads occur at least six times, but what's interesting is that the only string of four consecutive blood moons that coincide with God's holy days of Passover in the spring and the autumn's Feast of Tabernacles (also called Succoth) occurs between 2014 and 2015 on today's Gregorian calendar.

"The fact that it doesn't happen again in this century I think is very significant," Biltz explains. "So then I looked at last century, and, believe it or not, the last time that four blood red moons occurred together was in 1967 and 1968 tied to Jerusalem recaptured by Israel."

He then started to notice a pattern of the tetrads.

"What's significant to me is that even before 1967, the next time that you had four blood red moons again was right after Israel became a nation in '48, it happened again in 1949 and 1950 ... on Passover and Succoth. You didn't have any astronomical tetrads in the 1800s, the 1700s, the 1600s. In the 1500s, there were six, but none of those fell on Passover and Succoth."

When checking the schedule for solar eclipses, Biltz found two - one on the first day of the Hebrew year and the next on the high holy day of Rosh Hashanah, the first day of the seventh Hebrew month. Both of these take place in the 2014-2015 year.

Biltz says, "You have the religious year beginning with the total solar eclipse, two weeks later a total lunar eclipse on Passover, and then the civil year beginning with the solar eclipse followed two weeks later by another total blood red moon on the Feast of Succoth all in 2015."

"If you think that this is a coincidence, I want you to know that it's time!" exclaimed Prophecy in the News host J.R. Church. "There are no more of these for the rest of the century."

The prospect of eclipses pinpointing the time of Jesus' return is getting mixed reaction in Christian circles.

After seeing Biltz's interview, Jim Bramlett, an author and former vice president for the Christian Broadcasting Network, expressed excitement.

"I have just watched the program two times and do not think I have ever been more encouraged or excited about the soon return of the Lord!" Bramlett said.

But Hal Lindsey, a well-known biblical analyst and author of "The Late Great Planet Earth," says while he hasn't heard of Biltz's theory, he called it "pure speculation."

"In my 50-something years of studying prophecy, to me the greatest indication of the time of Christ's return is based around the general things of prophecies coming together in the same time frame."

He mentioned not only Israel's birth as a political state in 1948, but the increase in tensions with Muslims, the rise of Russia, China and the European Union, which he says is even "calling itself the revived Roman Empire."

"I see the whole sweep and panorama spinning together in a precise scenario," he said.

During a second video interview [see below], Biltz was presented with Bible quotes that many think suggest Jesus' return will be a complete surprise, or at least not specifically known.

The 25th chapter of Matthew features a parable where Jesus likens His kingdom to ten virgins all waiting for the arrival of their bridegroom.

Jesus said in the story, "ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh." (Matthew 25:13)

Biltz says people need to examine the quote in its proper context.

"When He says you don't know the day or the hour, He's speaking to the foolish virgins, not the wise virgins," he explained.

Biltz was also asked about the famous statement in Matthew 24:36 when Jesus was discussing the signs of His "coming, and of the end of the world": "But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only." (Matthew 24:36)

He responded by referring to the annual Feast of Trumpets holiday, saying Israelites never knew the precise moment it began, "because it was based on the sighting of the new moon."

"When He (Jesus) says you won't know the day or the hour, He's telling you it's the Feast of Trumpets because that was known as the feast where no one knew the day or the hour that it would begin," said Biltz. "So it's kind of like if I told you, 'I'm not going to tell you when I'm coming, but "Gobble, gobble, gobble,'" [pointing to] Turkey Day."

Church stressed despite the information suggesting 2015 could be a pivotal time, "We don't know that that will be the concluding year of the tribulation period --- so we're not setting a date and saying this is a warning. We're introducing the possibility of a watch."
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To See Video Interviews select the Read Full Report Link and select those links within the original article.

Questions raised over 'faulty' carbon-dating tests
WORLDNETDAILY - May 20, 2008
The mystery of the Shroud of Turin, a 14-foot-long cloth that many thought may have been the burial cloth of Jesus until scientists reported radiocarbon dating established it as no older than Medieval times, is being resurrected.

John Jackson, a physics lecturer at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, has convinced scientists who performed the age tests on the cloth housed in Turin, Italy, since the 1500s to consider his suggestion that those tests may have been faulty, according to a report in the Denver Post.

The cloth long has posed mysteries because of its age and its negative image of a bloodstained and battered man who had been crucified. Believers claim it to be the miraculous image of Jesus, formed as he rose from the dead.

That theory, however, took a serious blow in the late 1980s when scientists including those at an Oxford University laboratory performed the age-dating process on a fragment of the material and came up with the results that it was no older than the 13th or 14th century, more than a millennium after New Testament times.

But now Jackson, who runs the Turin Shroud Center of Colorado, a research organization, reports he has convinced Prof. Christopher Ramsey, head of the Oxford University Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit, to test Jackson's hypothesis that carbon monoxide contamination could have skewed the test results by more than 1,000 years, the Post said.

The new tests will not involve actual portions of the shroud, but similar samples of linen, and are to determine whether the various conditions to which the shroud has been exposed, including outdoor exhibitions and the extreme heat of a 1532 fire that left the material scorched, would have changed the results, the Post report said.

Jackson told the newspaper that even nominal contamination from environmental carbon monoxide could have affected the dating results.

"Science still has much to tell us about the shroud," Jackson told the newspaper. "If we are dealing with the burial cloth of Christ, it is the witness to the birth of Christianity. But my faith doesn't depend on that outcome."

Ramsey said there simply are questions that need to be answered about the cloth.

David Rolfe, the director of a new documentary called "Shroud of Turin" told the newspaper that it either is authentic or a centuries-old hoax that today's state-of-the art science cannot decipher.

The cloth is in the custody of the Vatican, which stores it in a protective chamber of inert gases in Turin's Cathedral of St. John. History reveals it was exhibited in France about 1360 by Georrfrey de Charney, a French knight who owned it then. It last was shown in 2000.

Jackson led a research team in 1978 given access to the shroud and tests showed it was not painted, dyed or stained. The source of the faint brown discolorations that make up the negative image of a man never yet has been identified, he told the Post.

It wasn't until the invention of photography centuries after the early exhibitions that a clearer positive image was revealed.

The original carbon dating at Oxford was duplicated at the same time in Zurich and at the University of Arizona in Tucson, officials said. Yet the newspaper reported Jackson has assembled evidence contradicting an age of only 800 years or so.

Among the findings he cites:

• Bloodstains on the shroud are real, and the blood has not been degraded by heat.
• Historians say the stains are consistent with crucifixion, including puncture wounds from thorns and scourge marks from a Roman whip.
• A puncture wound in the man's side is consistent with a Roman spear. And the wound marks showing nail holes through the wrists and heels are consistent with Roman crucifixion.

A textile restorer, Mechthild Flury-Lemberg, in 2002 announced the stitching found in the material had been seen in material from only one other source: the ruins of Masada, a Jewish settlement destroyed in A.D. 74. And the herringbone weave was common in the First Century but rare in Middle Ages.

Further, the newspaper reported, historians note the shroud's onetime owner, de Charney, was married to a direct descendant of a crusader from France who participated in the sacking of Constantinople.

On Jackson's website, he also notes that tests have revealed pollens on the shroud from plants that grow only in the Middle East. He also addresses the carbon-dating issue.

"We presently think that the most fruitful avenue of research is that inspired by some scientists in Russia who have reported seeing major shifts in the radiocarbon date of linen samples that have been incubated at modest temperature--- This research is interesting because we know that the shroud endured a significant thermal event during a fire in 1532 while in Chambrey, France. The entire cloth has yellowed and in some places scorched and burnt."

The research site continued, "Thus, based on the Russian studies, it is logical to suspect that the 1532 fire altered, perhaps significantly, the radiocarbon date of the shroud."
WND reported in 2000 that evidence already was appearing calling into question the process of carbon dating on certain materials - textiles in particular.
Original Report Here

Nehemiah's rebuilding of the city began with its walls, a project that was resisted by hostile neighbors who had occupied the area around Jerusalem in the Jews' absence.


With tools in one hand and weapons in the other, Nehemiah's workmen toiled dawn to dusk, completing the wall in a record 52 days.

Archaeological evidence for Nehemiah's project has been lacking. Jerusalem has been rebuilt, destroyed and rebuilt in the almost 2,500 years since.

Mazar, who is perhaps best known for her recent excavation that many believe has revealed the palace of King David, was working on an emergency project to shore up remains of a tower long believed to date from the Hasmonean period, 142-37 B.C., that was in danger of collapsing.

According to an account of the conference in "The Trumpet," Mazar said, "Under the tower, we found the bones of two large dogs - and under those bones a rich assemblage of pottery and finds from the Persian period. No later finds from that period were found under the tower."

Had the tower been built during the Hasmonean dynasty, the Persian-era artifacts would represent an unexplained chronological gap of several hundred years. The tower, said Mazar, had to have been built much earlier than previously thought and the pottery data placed it at the time the Bible says Nehemiah was building it.

Todd Bolen, of BiblePlaces.com, noted that excavations in the Philistine city of Ashkelon during the same Persian era, found 800 dog burials like those uncovered by Mazar.

Nehemiah described 10 gates in the wall around Jerusalem as well as several towers designed to protect the entrances to the city, among them the Tower of the Hundred, the Tower of Hananel, the Tower of the Ovens, and an unnamed tower "projecting from the upper house of the king at the court of the guard" in the vicinity of Mazar's most recent dig.

WND reported Mazar's confirmation that what appeared to be chopped-up carved stone, unearthed by recent trenching on the Temple Mount by the holy site's Islamic custodians, were indeed antiquities with attributes of the Second Temple-era during the ministry of Jesus.

Mazar has urged Christians to help save the holy site.

"The Christian world and all those who care about safeguarding the Temple Mount must immediately join us in our efforts to protect the holy site and demand that the Israeli government stop the Waqf construction," she said.

"The Temple Mount is important to people of all religions. Now is the time to act before more antiquities are erased."
Original Report Here

THE CINCINNATI POST [E. W. Scripps Company/Scripps-Howard] - By Dan Hurley - September 28, 2007
Today, the valley is dry, dusty and unremarkable, but 250 years ago it was one of the most fascinating spots ever discovered in the North America. From the very first time in 1739 that local Indians led a contingent of French explorers to the salt licks near the Ohio River in what is today Boone County, Ky., the spot raised intellectually troubling questions.

European and American scientists understood the importance of salt licks and why thousands of modern buffalo, deer and elk beat broad paths to the marshy lick, but they could not explain why they found huge bones and tusks of "elephants," as well as other giant animals for which they had no names (eventually named giant ground sloth, the moose ox, flat headed peccary, etc.) lying on the ground and exposed in the banks of the nearby creek.

As explorers pushed westward, fantastic reports piled up. In 1751 Christopher Gist acquired two large teeth found at Big Bone Lick from men who reported that they had seen a skeleton with rib bones "eleven feet long, and the skull bone six feet wide, across the forehead."

In 1765 and 1766 George Croghan became the first explorer to collect significant quantities of bones, including two tusks "about six feet long." He sent these to London for inspection by the leading scientists of the day, including Benjamin Franklin, who thought the bones were "extremely curious on many accounts; no living elephant having been seen in any part of America by any of the Europeans settled there, or remembered by any tradition of the Indians."

It is difficult today to appreciate the intellectual shock waves set off by these giant bones in the 1790s and early 1800s. The first dinosaur would not be unearthed until 1824. Scientists, like everyone else, operated with the religiously grounded view of a "perfect creation" in which every creature had its place in a divinely established, hierarchical and stable "Great Chain of Being."

Not until people like French scientist George Cuvier, working with specimens from Big Bone collected by French explorers, and Benjamin Franklin, working with specimens collected by Croghan, did anyone pose one of the shattering question that both reflected the emerging modern consciousness: Is it possible that a species which once existed can become extinct?

With only the first hints from the nascent field of geology that the earth's age had to be calculated in non-biblical terms, and with no knowledge of ice ages, Franklin put forward a very modern hypothesis. He suggested that the best explanation for the extinction of the giant creatures was a significant change in climate in North America.

As a leading citizen of the Enlightenment, no one was more intrigued by Big Bone Lick than Thomas Jefferson, but, like a good scientist, he cautioned against a rush to judgment. With so much of North America unexplored, he was not prepared to conclude that mammoths and mastodons were extinct. They may simply be hiding in the vast wilderness of the American West, leading him to instruct Lewis and Clark in 1803 to be "observant of the animals of the country generally, & especially those not known in the US, the remains & accounts of any which may be deemed rare or extinct."

After the Corps of Discovery completed its famous exploration, Jefferson sent William Clark to the Lick in 1807 to systematically collect bones for him. The next year the President displayed nearly 100 of the specimens from Northern Kentucky in the East Room of the White House and invited fellow scientists to join him and "satisfy your curiosity."

For Dr. Glenn Storrs, the curator of Vertebrate Paleontology, and Dr. Brenda Hanke, the curator of Invertebrate Paleontology at the Cincinnati Museum Center, working close to Big Bone Lick means working close to the place where modern paleontology had its beginnings. For Storrs and Hanke, Big Bone remains a source of excitement and the curiosity.

Dr. Hanke just completed work on an interactive touch screen computer kiosk that will be unveiled during a special program at 5 this afternoon on the floor of the Museum of Natural History and Science in Union Terminal. The modern, high-tech program is located in the midst of ancient specimens from Big Bone Lick. As part of the Great Outdoor Weekend this Saturday and Sunday (www.CincyGreatOutdoorWeekend.org), Dr. Storrs will help lead tours at Big Bone Lick itself.

Hanke, a Canadian, always thought of Franklin and Jefferson as political figures, not scientists with whom she shared a curiosity and passion to understand the natural world. Now she sees Big Bone as an exciting human story as much as a scientific story. For her, the enduring lesson of Big Bone is the "infectious curiosity" it created among the greatest minds in America. She believes the site and its bones still have the power to inspire people, no matter what their age, to "explore and follow our curiosities, even if we don't end up writing a Declaration of Independence."

 Original Report Here

A clay tablet that has baffled scientists for 150 years has been identified as a witness's account of the asteroid suspected of being behind the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.

Researchers who cracked the cuneiform symbols on the Planisphere tablet believe that it recorded an asteroid thought to have been more than half a mile across.

The tablet, found by Henry Layard in the remains of the library in the royal place at Nineveh in the mid-19th century, is thought to be a 700 B.C. copy of notes made by a Sumerian astronomer watching the night sky.

He referred to the asteroid as a "white stone bowl approaching" and recorded it as it "vigorously swept along."

Using computers to recreate the night sky thousands of years ago, scientists have pinpointed his sighting to shortly before dawn on June 29 in the year 3123 B.C.

About half the symbols on the tablet have survived and half of those refer to the asteroid. The other symbols record the positions of clouds and constellations. In the past 150 years scientists have made five unsuccessful attempts to translate the tablet.

Mark Hempsell, one of the researchers from Bristol University who cracked the tablet's code, said: "It's a wonderful piece of observation, an absolutely perfect piece of science."

He said the size and route of the asteroid meant that it was likely to have crashed into the Austrian Alps at Köfels. As it traveled close to the ground it would have left a trail of destruction from supersonic shock waves and then slammed into the Earth with a cataclysmic impact.

Debris consisting of up to two-thirds of the asteroid would have been hurled back along its route and a flash reaching temperatures of 400 Centigrade (752 Fahrenheit) would have been created, killing anyone in its path.

About one million sq kilometers (386,000 sq miles) would have been devastated and the impact would have been equivalent to more than 1,000 tons of TNT exploding.

Dr Hempsall said that at least 20 ancient myths record devastation of the type and on the scale of the asteroid's impact, including the Old Testament tale of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and the ancient Greek myth of how Phaeton, son of Helios, fell into the River Eridanus after losing control of his father's sun chariot.

The findings of Dr. Hempsall and Alan Bond, of Reaction Engines Ltd., are published in a book, "A Sumerian Observation of the Köfels Impact Event."

The researchers say that the asteroid's impact would explain why at Köfels there is evidence of an ancient landslide 3 miles wide and a quarter of a mile thick. - - - -
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Harps, anointing jars, spices of Temple sacrifice abound
WORLDNETDAILY - By Aaron Klein - March 30, 2008
JERUSALEM - Ancient slings, oil lamps and anointing jars alongside an advanced center charting descendants of biblical King David. On display fashion trends from the streets of Jerusalem during the times of David. Men dressed in Biblical clothing who provide guided tours for patrons.
 
Welcome to the King David Museum & Genealogy Center, a new interactive museum that officially opened its doors last week in the heart of Jerusalem's Old City.

Located on Tiferet Yisrael, the main pedestrian district in the Old City neighborhood known as the Jewish quarter, the museum is dedicated to the life, rein and legacy of the second biblical king of Israel.
 
"The legacy of King David is as important today as during the time of his rule," said Susan Roth, founder of the Davidic Dynasty, which promoted the museum.
 
"What King David did 3,000 years ago needs to be done again today - that is to unite all Jews together into one nation instead of attempting to separate ourselves due to such things as degree of religiousness or political affiliation," said Roth, whose group seeks to promote awareness about Jewish history and Jewish ties to the land of Israel through the life and leadership of King David.

And the King David Museum does just that. Its three floors and maze-like interiors bring visitors on a virtual and archaeological tour of King David's life. Museum displays feature Davidic artifacts and art, ancient writings, and pieces related to the Jewish Temple, such as spices and salt that would have been used during Temple sacrifices.
 
To set the mood, the halls are brimming with Davidic harps, art related to David's revered Psalms, a Torah scroll dedicated to the Jewish king and even a designer throne.
 
Visitors can also learn about David at the museum's audiovisual center, which features 3-D movies about the monarch.
 
Those seeking to find out whether they are personally related to King David can consult staff members at the museum's genealogy department, which houses a vast, computerized database containing lineage charts, including family trees and birthline connections to Jewish sages descended from David.
 
Jewish descent from David can be traced through oral tradition, rabbinic sources, historical data and extensive research, explained Chaim Freedman, a renowned Israeli genealogist.
 
Before exiting the museum, visitors can browse a gift shop that sells everything from Psalms through biblical-era clothing.
 
Museum curator Yisroel Cohen stated the idea of the museum "is that Jews from all over the world - religious and secular - should come in and feel that they are a part of a spectacular heritage that comes straight from the Bible."
 
The story of King David is told throughout the Bible's books of Samuel, Kings and Chronicles. David is believed to have reigned from 1005 until about 965 B.C.
Original Report Here

THE JERUSALEM POST [Mirkaei Tikshoret/CanWest] - By Etgar Lefkovits - April 14, 2008
First it was the southern wall of the Temple Mount. Then it was a section of the ancient walls of Masada that were in danger of collapse. Now, it's the turn of the stones of Jerusalem's Western Wall.

Stones at the site are in danger of crumbling, Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovitch, the rabbi of the Western Wall, said Monday.

The damaged stones that are beginning to disintegrate are not the ancient ones dating back to the Second Temple Period, but, ironically, the small uniform stones that make up part of the wall built in the 19th century and financed by the British philanthropist and financier Sir Moses Montefiore in an attempt to repair the site at that time.

"The original stones from the Second Temple are strong and stable," Rabinovitch said in a telephone interview. "It is the smaller [and more recent] ones that are the problem."

Rabinovitch noted that the needed repair work on the Western Wall will take place shortly after Pessah and will be completed over the summer - before the rainy winter months begin when the danger is greatest of the stones falling on worshipers below.

"This is an issue which needs to be taken care of soon," he said.

Experts were quick to stress Monday that there was no imminent danger to the worshipers at the Wall, which is Israel's top tourist attraction, with an estimated five million people, including both tourists and locals, visiting the holy site last year.

"There is no immediate danger from the stones of the wall," said Ra'anan Kislev, the director of the conservation department at the Israel Antiquities Authority.

The state-run archeological body had been carrying out ongoing surveys at the Jerusalem holy site for the last several years since several pieces of stones loosened and fell down in years past, Kislev said.

Just how to repair the damaged stones at the holy site is, however, another issue altogether, as engineering gets mixed in with religion.

Citing Biblical interdiction, Rabinovitch said that Jewish law or halacha forbids removing any of the stones of the Wall, even to repair them.

He said that - in consultation with the Israel Antiquities Authority - scaffolding will likely be erected in the area where worshipers pray, to prevent them from being harmed by falling pieces, as engineers work to fix the damaged small stones.

In the past, Israel's Sephardi Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar has said that repair work at the Western Wall should only be done by Jews after they had gone through a mikve, and that the work could only be carried out during the day.
Original Report Here

Occupied Jerusalem: Archaeologists have discovered a 2,000-year-old tunnel used by residents to escape the Romans in Occupied Jerusalem.

The underground tunnel was discovered buried beneath rubble of the Second Temple in 70AD. The channel was dug beneath what would become the main road of the city.

 "We were looking for the road and suddenly we discovered it," said Eli Shukron of the Israel Antiquities Authorities.

The walls of the tunnel-made of ashlar stones three feet deep-reach a height of 10 feet in some places and are covered by heavy stone slabs, Shukron said.

Pottery shards, vessel fragments and coins from the end of the Second Temple period were also discovered inside the channel, attesting to its age.

About 100 yards of the channel have been uncovered so far. Archaeologists think it leads to the Kidron River, which goes to the Dead Sea.

"It was a place where people hid and fled to from burning, destroyed [Occupied] Jerusalem," Shukron said.

Tens of thousands of people lived in Jerusalem at the time, but it is not clear how many used the channel to escape, he said.
Original Report Here

BBC NEWS - By Phil Mercer - May 7, 2007
SYDNEY -- The Bible has been translated into an Australian Aboriginal language for the first time.

The Anglican Church has launched the first entire Bible in Kriol, the most widely-spoken indigenous language in the country.

The task has taken almost 30 years, and involved more than 100 linguists.

Most of Australia's 500,000 indigenous people follow the Christian faith, but they speak hundreds of different languages and dialects.

Originally known as Pidgin English, Kriol is thought to have developed through contact between European settlers and Aborigines in Australia's north. - - - -
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