Extreme Body Modification

Introduction
Extreme body modification is becoming trendy. For some, the idea is to look somehow unique perhaps to gain recognition. For others, it is to be as strange as possible perhaps to gain notoriety. The Word of God actually says something about tattoos and other forms of body "art" and it certainly does not encourage people to do it. We are made in the image of God; changing that image somehow seems like a denial of that truth.

Note that I am simply sharing items of interest. That does not imply that I agree with everything presented.

"And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars ... nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes ..." (Matt 24:6-7)

3D Tattoos: The Bizarre Body Art Trend That Is Spreading Across America Like Wildfire

by Ray Foucher

This is just so weird (in my rather-conservative opinion) - people are going all-out in extreme body modification. I have not included a link and just one rather mild image; my purpose is just to point out a trend that, I think, says something about people today. One headline read "3D Tattoos: The Bizarre Body Art Trend that is Spreading Across America Like Wildfire."

And it is going well beyond tattoos, even 3D ones. People are getting all kinds of piercings, and implants. One man has even set out to make himself look as much like the devil as he can - appropriate facial tattoos, titanium horn implants, tongue forked, whites of the eyes tattooed bright red etc. He is even hoping to someday add a tail - a real one. Will he get one transplanted from some animal and then go on anti-rejection drugs?

I'm reminded of the time I went SCUBA diving with the remnant of a cold, I did not clear my mask sufficiently and the pressure caused hemorrhaging on the surface of my eyeballs. The whites were almost totally blood red and it took a few weeks to all disappear. I got some strange looks indeed. I can't imagine purposely doing that. But some people want the attention or to "express themselves" or look unique or whatever.

One site suggested this was all a ploy of Satan to get people to be more accepting of marks and things on their bodies making it easier to, someday, accept the Mark of the Beast. Of course, the Mark of the Beast is not just or primarily a physical mark (microchip or some kind of identification device) although that could certainly be involved in the enforcement of the mark - that no one without the mark can buy or sell (Rev 13:17). Last month, I included an article stating that "human microchipping will be mandatory." We will just have to wait and see how this all works out.

While there is that aspect, there is more. The Bible has something to say about such things:

"Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you: I am the LORD." (Lev 19:28)

"What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?" (1 Cor 6:19)

"Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God." (1 Cor 10:31)

God made mankind in His image and I don't think He intended us to be modifying it in strange ways. That said, we should be clear that God loves and forgives all, even those engaged in extreme body modification. What we all need to do is to be reminded that we are "fearfully and wonderfully made" and to honor God in every way. So much of this is even demonic in appearance which cannot possibly honor God.

Turkey Dries Up the Euphrates

An impending water shortage threatens millions in the Middle East.
By Callum Wood June 11, 2014 From theTrumpet.com

The Syrian civil war has once more taken a dire turn for the worse. Turkey has altered its strategy against its opponents, the forces of Syrian President Bashar Assad. Instead of simply aiding the Syrian rebels, Turkey is now also killing them with dehydration. The problem is, this brutal act threatens the lives of millions of Syrian and Iraqi citizens.

The crisis revolves around the Euphrates River, which quickly became the Euphrates Creek when Turkey completely cut off the water flow upstream of Syria, reported Al Akhbar on May 30. The Euphrates originates in Turkey and passes through the Ataturk Dam before flowing into Syria and Iraq. By cutting off the flow and directing it into the reservoir, Turkey has lowered water levels downstream.

Ray's Note: While the physical river itself is drying up, the Euphrates River can be also be seen in Revelation as a symbol of Babylon.

Pope: No One Should Work on Sunday

Not working on Sunday is "true freedom," Pope Francis said on July 5 during an address on the subject of industry and labor in the region of Molise, southern Italy. "The issue of working Sundays," the pope said, "affects not only believers, but it affects everyone, as an ethical choice." He continued:

A work-free Sunday - with the exception of necessary services - says that our priority is not economics, but the human being, gratuity, non-commercial relations, rather family and friends, for believers it means a relationship with God and with the community. Perhaps it is time to ask whether it is a true freedom to work on Sundays.

The region of Molise is beset by high unemployment. The pope lamented the situation, saying that unemployment "robs people of dignity." But here he warned that creating jobs by working on Sundays is not the solution.

Catholic leaders have called repeatedly for universal Sunday observance in Europe - even for those who are not Catholic and do not attend church on Sundays. Francis's predecessor, Benedict xvi, said that "without the Lord's day, we cannot live."

The Catholic Church, through the Commission of the Bishops' Conferences of the European Community (comece), has made several attempts to make it illegal for people to work on Sunday, with exceptions for emergency services, hotels and perhaps tourism and a few other industries. It is currently working with trade unions in the European Sunday Alliance to raise up a grassroots movement in favor of Sunday observance. It has made little progress so far, largely because there is no grassroots support for such a law.

EU law already entitles workers to at least one day off every week. Sunday-enthusiasts are struggling to convince workers that their lives will be better if they were forced, by law, to take Sunday off. In fact, research that the European Sunday Alliance points to to support their cause shows the opposite - the more regulations a nation has restricting when a person can work, the worse workers say their work-life balance is.

Many European countries already have laws restricting work on Sunday. Getting support to keep the status quo is easy, but there's no grassroots support for increasing Sunday observance where those laws have already been loosened. The only way something like Sunday observance can be enforced is not through a grassroots movement, but from the top.

In recent months, the pope has promoted the Catholic economic system as a solution to Europe's economic troubles and high unemployment (you can read about that system in our recent article "Much More Than an Economic Plan"). It is not surprising, then, to see the pope promoting Catholic teaching about Sunday observance as the solution to social and family problems.

The Trumpet has warned for years that Sunday observance will be forced on Europe's citizens as part of the Catholic solution to the Continent's economy.

Ray's note: I would add a similar warning but extended to the whole world.

California Facing Yet Another Record Drought

Severe drought is crippling the state of California. One hundred percent of California is in a severe drought; 77 percent is in an extreme drought; and 33 percent is in an exceptional drought. Regions of California recorded rain deficits of between 16 and 32 inches since last October.

"Those are remarkable numbers," Mark Svoboda said, climatologist and leader for the National Drought Mitigation Center's monitoring program.

The ongoing drought is not only felt in California, the whole American populace is starting to feel the pinch in their wallets. Consumers can expect to see vegetable prices rise by as much as 6 percent. The Golden State produces over half of the nation's fruits and vegetables. But with the lack of rain, 500,000 acres of farmland has been forced to lie fallow.

"Consumers will see rising food prices because farmers have had to significantly curtail production due to lack of water," said April Mackie, adviser for the American Farm Bureau. Rise in food costs could add as much as $500 to a family's annual bill, according to Californian Farm Bureau president Paul Wenger.

"You're probably going to see the biggest produce price increases on avocados, berries, broccoli, grapes, lettuce, melons, peppers, tomatoes and packaged salads," warned Timothy Richards, chairman at the Morrison School of Agribusiness at Arizona State University.

These water shortages in California's most productive agricultural region could lead to the loss of 14,500 jobs and cost the agricultural industry $1.7 billion.

Some say this is the worst drought the state has faced in more than 40 years, since the 1970s. In fact, this drought could be a lot worse considering the state now supports 40 million people instead of the 20 million it supported during the '70s.

Who Needs the United States? Not Russia and China

"Russia and China have just signed what is being called 'the gas deal of the century', and the two countries are discussing moving away from the U.S. dollar and using their own currencies to trade with one another.

"This has huge implications for the future of the U.S. economy. The truth is that this new agreement between Russia and China is huge. It could end up fundamentally changing the global financial system, and not in a way that would be beneficial for the United States."

"But what makes this deal such a potential problem for the U.S. is the fact that Russia and China are working on cutting the U.S. dollar out of the entire equation.

"And it isn't just the national governments of Russia and China that are discussing moving away from the U.S. dollar.

"You can almost feel the power of the U.S. dollar fading."

Chaos in Iraq, Syria Setting Stage for the Twelfth Imam, Says Ayatollah, But More Must Be Done

"What are the End Times implications of the enormous upheavals we're seeing in Iraq and Syria?

"In the days ahead, I'll post some observations from a Biblical perspective.

"But first you should know that the highest ranking Shia Muslim leader in the world believes events in the epicenter are preparing the way for the soon arrival of the so-called Islamic messiah, but that more preparations are needed.

"As I wrote about in my novel, The Twelfth Imam, Shia leaders -- and especially the leaders of Iran -- are trying to actively accelerate his arrival by gaining control of Iraq and Syria and preparing for the annihilation of Israel and the United States.

"This week, the Ayatollah Khamenei revealed his latest thinking on the subject.

"'Iran's supreme leader is promising a world free of infidels and nonbelievers with the coming of the Islamic messiah, Mahdi, a 9th-century descendant of the prophet Mohammad whom the Shiites refer to as the 12th Imam,' writes Reza Khalili, the former Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps operative who became a double-agent against Iran for the CIA."

Insecticides put world food supplies at risk, say scientists

Regulations on pesticides have failed to prevent poisoning of almost all habitats, international team of scientists concludes
Damian Carrington The Guardian, Tuesday 24 June 2014

Farmers use helicopters to spray insecticide
and fertilizer on wheat crops in Henan province,
China. Photograph: TPG/Getty Images

The world's most widely used insecticides have contaminated the environment across the planet so pervasively that global food production is at risk, according to a comprehensive scientific assessment of the chemicals' impacts.

The researchers compare their impact with that reported in Silent Spring, the landmark 1962 book by Rachel Carson that revealed the decimation of birds and insects by the blanket use of DDT and other pesticides and led to the modern environmental movement.

Billions of dollars' worth of the potent and long-lasting neurotoxins are sold every year but regulations have failed to prevent the poisoning of almost all habitats, the international team of scientists concluded in the most detailed study yet. As a result, they say, creatures essential to global food production - from bees to earthworms - are likely to be suffering grave harm and the chemicals must be phased out.

The new assessment analyzed the risks associated with neonicotinoids, a class of insecticides on which farmers spend $2.6bn (£1.53bn) a year. Neonicotinoids are applied routinely rather than in response to pest attacks but the scientists highlight the "striking" lack of evidence that this leads to increased crop yields.

"The evidence is very clear. We are witnessing a threat to the productivity of our natural and farmed environment equivalent to that posed by organophosphates or DDT," said Jean-Marc Bonmatin, of the National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) in France, one of the 29 international researchers who conducted the four-year assessment. "Far from protecting food production, the use of neonicotinoid insecticides is threatening the very infrastructure which enables it." He said the chemicals imperiled food supplies by harming bees and other pollinators, which fertilize about three-quarters of the world's crops, and the organisms that create the healthy soils which the world's food requires in order to grow.

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch: We Are Literally Filling Up The Pacific Ocean With Plastic

We are starting to see that there are very serious consequences for filling up our oceans with massive amounts of plastic that never biodegrades. In fact, this is one of the greatest environmental disasters of all time and yet you rarely hear it talked about. Virtually every molecule of plastic ever created still exists somewhere, and we all use things made out of plastic every single day. But have you ever stopped to think about what happens to all of that plastic? Well, the truth is that a lot of it ends up in our oceans. In fact, humanity produces approximately 200 billion pounds of plastic every year, and about 10 percent of that total ends up in our oceans. In other words, we are slowly but steadily filling up our oceans with our garbage. In the North Pacific Ocean, there is a vast area where so much plastic has collected that it has become known as "the Great Pacific Garbage Patch" and as "the Pacific Trash Vortex". This "Great Pacific Garbage Patch" stretches from Hawaii to Japan, and it has been estimated to be larger than the entire continental United States. It contains more than 100 million tons of plastic, and every single year it gets even larger.

When people hear the term "Great Pacific Garbage Patch", they expect to find millions of plastic bottles floating around out there. But that is not what we are dealing with. You see, when plastic gets into the ocean it never biodegrades, but it does photodegrade. So what we end up with is a "plastic soup" of billions upon billions of microscopic pieces of plastic. Some are approximately the size of your pinkie fingernail, but most of the pieces are much smaller.

Yes, it breaks down into smaller components, but it never goes away. So the plastic bottle that you toss overboard today will still be there in some form a hundred years from now. And this creates some major league problems ...

Summary
I have been been posting these monthly summaries of prophetic news now since 2009. There are many signs of various types in the world around us. While time seems to keep going, the events are also intensifying; they are becoming more frequent and more pronounced. There have been many physical signs but when the people themselves start changing time must be getting especially short. Is this new trend of extreme body modification just another example of it; another sign of the nearness of the end?

"And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh." (Luke 21:28)

If prophecy of the end of the world is of interest to you and you would like to receive this monthly newsletter containing articles of interest and relevance to prophetic events, please respond using the form below: