Showing posts with label Switzerland. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Switzerland. Show all posts

Friday, March 18, 2016

Survey: Israel is 11th Most Happy Nation on Earth - Israel Today

Survey: Israel is 11th Most Happy Nation on Earth

Friday, March 18, 2016 |  Israel Today Staff
Israel is caught in an intractable conflict and situated in a region that is crumbling amidst religious extremist violence. And yet, Israelis are amongst the happiest people on earth, according to the annual World Happiness Report.
This year’s iteration of the global survey had Israel once again ranked as the 11th most happy nation, a position the Jewish state has held for the past three years.
The 10 countries that ranked ahead of Israel were, in order: Denmark, Switzerland, Iceland, Norway, Finland, Canada, Holland, New Zealand, Australia and Sweden.
The most unhappy nations were: Madagascar, Tanzania, Liberia, Guinea, Rwanda, Benin, Afghanistan, Togo, Syria and Burundi.
The Unites States ranked at number 13, Germany came in at 15, England took the number 23 spot and France was only the 32nd most happy nation.
By way of regional comparison, Israel’s closest geographical neighbors were ranked numbers 80 (Jordan), 93 (Lebanon) and 120 (Egypt).
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Tuesday, February 9, 2016

Day Of Reckoning: The Collapse Of The Too Big To Fail Banks In Europe Is Here - Michael Snyder THE ECONOMIC COLLAPSE

Europe Lightning - Public Domain

Posted: 08 Feb 2016   Michael Snyder  THE ECONOMIC COLLAPSE 

There is so much chaos going on that I don’t even know where to start.  For a very long time I have been warning my readers that a major banking collapse was coming to Europe, and now it is finally unfolding. 

Let’s start with Deutsche Bank.  The stock of the most important bank in the “strongest economy in Europe” plunged another 8 percent on Monday, and it is now hovering just above the all-time record low that was set during the last financial crisis.  Overall, the stock price is now down a staggering 36 percent since 2016 began, and Deutsche Bank credit default swaps are going parabolic.  Of course my readers were alerted to major problems at Deutsche Bank all the way back in September, and now the endgame is playing out. 

In addition to Deutsche Bank, the list of other “too big to fail” banks in Europe that appear to be in very serious trouble includes Commerzbank, Credit Suisse, HSBC and BNP Paribas.  Just about every major bank in Italy could fall on that list as well, and Greek bank stocks lost close to a quarter of their value on Monday alone.  Financial Armageddon has come to Europe, and the entire planet is going to feel the pain.

The collapse of the banks in Europe is dragging down stock prices all over the continent.  At this point, more than one-fifth of all stock market wealth in Europe has already been wiped out since the middle of last year.  That means that we only have four-fifths left.  The following comes from USA Today
The MSCI Europe index is now down 20.5% from its highest point over the past 12 months, says S&P Global Market Intelligence, placing it in the 20% decline that unofficially defines a bear market.
Europe’s stock implosion makes the U.S.’ sell-off look like child’s play. The U.S.-centric Standard & Poor’s 500 Monday fell another 1.4% – but it’s only down 13% from its high. Some individual European markets are getting hit even harder. The Milan MIB 30, Madrid Ibex 35 and MSCI United Kingdom indexes are off 29%, 23% and 20% from their 52-week highs, respectively as investors fear the worse could be headed for the Old World.
These declines are being primarily driven by the banks.  According to MarketWatch, European banking stocks have fallen for six weeks in a row, and this is the longest streak that we have seen since the heart of the last financial crisis…
The region’s banking gauge, the Stoxx Europe 600 Banks Index FX7, -5.59% has logged six straight weeks of declines, its longest weekly losing stretch since 2008, when banks booked 10 weeks of losses, beginning in May, according to FactSet data.
The current environment for European banks is very, very bad. Over a full business cycle, I think it’s very questionable whether banks on average are able to cover their cost of equity. And as a result that makes it an unattractive investment for long-term investors,” warned Peter Garnry, head of equity strategy at Saxo Bank.
Overall, Europe’s banking stocks are down 23 percent year to date and 39 percent since the peak of the market in the middle of last year.

The financial crisis that began during the second half of 2015 is picking up speed over in Europe, and it isn’t just Deutsche Bank that could implode at any moment.  Credit Suisse is the most important bank in Switzerland, and they announced a fourth quarter loss of 5.8 billion dollars.  The stock price has fallen 34 percent year to date, and many are now raising questions about the continued viability of the bank.

Similar scenes are being repeated all over the continent.  On Monday we learned that Russia had just shut down two more major banks, and the collapse of Greek banks has pushed Greek stock prices to a 25 year low
Greek stocks tumbled on Monday to close nearly eight percent lower, with bank shares losing almost a quarter of their market value amid concerns over the future of government reforms.
The general index on the Athens stock exchange closed down 7.9 percent at 464.23 points — a 25-year-low — while banks suffered a 24.3-percent average drop.
This is what a financial crisis looks like.

Fortunately things are not this bad here in the U.S. quite yet, but we are on the exact same path that they are.

One of the big things that is fueling the banking crisis in Europe is the fact that the too big to fail banks over there have more than 100 billion dollars of exposure to energy sector loans.  This makes European banks even more sensitive to the price of oil than U.S. banks.  The following comes from CNBC
The four U.S. banks with the highest dollar amount of exposure to energy loans have a capital position 60 percent greater than European banks Deutsche BankUBSCredit Suisse and HSBC, according to CLSA research using a measure called tangible common equity to tangible assets ratio. Or, as Mayo put it, “U.S. banks have more quality capital.”
Analysts at JPMorgan saw the energy loan crisis coming for Europe, and highlighted in early January where investors might get hit.
“[Standard Chartered] and [Deutsche Bank] would be the most sensitive banks to higher default rates in oil and gas,” the analysts wrote in their January report.
There is Deutsche Bank again.

It is funny how they keep coming up.

In the U.S., the collapse of the price of oil is pushing energy company after energy company into bankruptcy.  This has happened 42 times in North America since the beginning of last year so far, and rumors that Chesapeake Energy is heading that direction caused their stock price to plummet a staggering 33 percent on Monday
Energy stocks continue to tank, with Transocean (RIG) dropping 7% and Baker Hughes (BHI) down nearly 5%. But those losses pale in comparison with Chesapeake Energy (CHK), the energy giant that plummeted as much as 51% amid bankruptcy fears. Chesapeake denied it’s currently planning to file for bankruptcy, but its stock still closed down 33% on the day.
And let’s not forget about the ongoing bursting of the tech bubble that I wrote about yesterday.

On Monday the carnage continued, and this pushed the Nasdaq down to its lowest level in almost 18 months
Technology shares with lofty valuations, including those of midcap data analytics company Tableau Software Inc and Internet giant Facebook Inc, extended their losses on Monday following a gutting selloff in the previous session.
Shares of cloud services companies such as Splunk Inc and Salesforce.com Inc had also declined sharply on Friday. They fell again on Monday, dragging down the Nasdaq Composite index 2.4 percent to its lowest in nearly 1-1/2 years.
Those that read my articles regularly know that I have been warning this would happen.
All over the world we are witnessing a financial implosion.  As I write this article, the Japanese market has only been open less than an hour and it is already down 747 points.
The next great financial crisis is already here, and right now we are only in the early chapters.

Ultimately what we are facing is going to be far worse than the financial crisis of 2008/2009, and as a result of this great shaking the entire world is going to fundamentally change.

Saturday, September 19, 2015

DID ISAAC NEWTON PREDICT MAJOR TURN IN BIBLE PROPHECY?

The Hadron Large Collider operated by CERN laboratory near Geneva, Switzerland.



As world events appear to be spinning out of control, there is something else spinning at record-breaking speed at a laboratory in Switzerland that has biblical prophecy watchers taking note.

CERN, also called the European Organization for Nuclear Research, at its complex near Geneva, restarted its Large Hadron Collider in June for the first time in 27 months and is scheduled to perform a controversial experiment in September, around the same time of the end of the biblical Shemitah on Sept. 13 and the start of Yom Kippur on Sept. 23.

CERN was founded in 1954 and has played a role in plenty of groundbreaking experiments, including the early research that led to the creation of the Internet. CERN scientists have said their latest work involves trying to open up a black hole, or “hidden extra dimensions,” which some see as a potential portal to the underworld.

“Out of this door might come something, or we might send something through it,” said Sergio Bertolucci, the director for Research and Scientific Computing at CERN, at a press briefing in November 2009.

The date Sept. 23 has become ubiquitous among the writings of many prophecy watchers. They don’t know what, if anything, will happen on that date but they question why it keeps popping up everywhere: in movies and concerts, on the pope’s appointment calendar, in the statements of politicians and the calculations of a famous mathematician from the 18th century.


iSir Isaac Newton at about age 45.
Sir Isaac Newton at about age 45.

Sir Isaac Newton, the English scientist and devout Christian, had a burning desire to study end-times prophecies of Christ’s return. He had a particular interest in Daniel’s prophecies, and he put together calculations that point to Sept. 23, 2015, as a key date.

Mark Biltz, author of “Blood Moons: Decoding the Imminent Heavenly Signs,” said he’s been aware of Newton’s formula, based on Daniel 9:25, since 2008 and believes it has merit worth studying.
You take 49 prophetic years or 17,640 days from the time when the Jewish people are restored to Jerusalem, which occurred on June 7, 1967, and you arrive at Sept. 23, 2015.

“The Isaac Newton days going from 1967 to Yom Kippur 2015 which leads us into 2016 came from my original teachings back in 2008 that everyone is talking about,” Biltz said. “This lines up with the end of the biblical Shemitah and possible proclaiming of the year of Jubilee.”

Factor in the strange embedding of “Sept. 23, 2015,” into dozens of Hollywood movies and music videos dating back to the 1980s, and you have the recipe for a fast-growing Internet conspiracy theory with questions frequently asked about possible Illuminati influence.

Here comes the pope, but will ‘chaos’ follow?

Then you have the scheduled arrival of Pope Francis at the White House on Sept. 23 and a first-ever address to a joint session of Congress the next day. Francis is the 266th pope who will be meeting with President Obama on the 266th day of the year, leading one Internet preacher to wonder if “something is being birthed” on that day, since 266 days is the typical human gestation period from conception to birth.

Back on May 21, 2014, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius issued a cryptic statement while standing beside U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in Washington. He said, “We have 500 days to avoid climate chaos.” Going 500 days out from May 21, 2014, brings you to Sept. 23, 2015.

The Jade Helm military exercises taking place through mid-September also have given rise to conspiracy theories. Is the government preparing for some major future event that will bring chaos to America?

All of this activity will be topped off by more signs in the heavens, with the fourth and last in a rare tetrad of "blood moons" set to occur Sept. 28 on the biblical Feast of Tabernacles. The Shemitah year comes to a climax on the Hebrew calendar date of Elul 29, which is Sept. 13 on the Gregorian calendar.

Counting off 'sevens' and the road to war

Jonathan Cahn, author of "The Mystery of the Shemitah," addresses Isaac Newton's calculations in the last chapter of his best-selling book. He calls it the "mystery of the Seventh Shemitah" or the "Super Shemitah."

"Every seven years was the Shemitah or Sabbath year. Every seventh Shemitah ushered in a super Shemitah we call the Jubilee. The hallmark of the Jubilee was restoration," Cahn told WND.
During the Jubilee, God commanded every Israelite to return to their ancestral home. If you had lost your father's land, in the year of Jubilee it would be restored.

"End-time prophecy is based on the return of the Jewish people to the land of Israel, their restoration to their long lost ancestral home – that’s a prophetic Jubilee," Cahn said. "So could this ancient mystery actually reveal when end-time events are to happen?"

Cahn thinks so.

While records for the Jubilee don't exist, it is known that the Jubilee year must follow the year of the Shemitah. Cahn notes that 1917-18 was a Shemitah year.

"It was in that time that the Ottoman Empire collapsed in the Middle East, and the land of Israel fell into the hands of the British Empire," Cahn said. "The Empire issued the Balfour Declaration which declared that the land of Israel would be a Jewish homeland. For the first time in 2,000 years the land of Israel was given back to the Jewish people. They were restored. Their ancestral land was given back to them – a prophetic end-time Jubilee – and it actually took place in the exact time parameters ordained by the mystery of the Shemitah."

Going forward in time from the restoration of the land in 1917 to the next Seventh Shemitah brings you to the Shemitah of 1965-66. Thus the year after the Seventh Shemitah, the Jubilee, would be September 1966 to September 1967.

That was a big year on the prophetic calendar as it brought the Six Day War.

"On June 7, 1967, Israeli soldiers enter the gates of Jerusalem and the Holy City is restored to the Jewish people – they return to their ancestral possession. And it happens again in the year following the Shemitah and seven Shemitahs after the restoration of the land."

Counting seven Shemitahs from 1967 leads to the Shemitah of 2015. The period of the Jubilee would thus begin in September 2015 and run through September 2016.

"Does anything have to happen during this time? No," Cahn said. "The pattern could stop after the restoration of Jerusalem. But if it did continue, what might we expect? In each of the last two cycles, it has meant a critical war, a war in the Middle East, a war in the land of Israel, and a war that results in a prophetic end-time restoration."

Cahn says he also finds it fascinating that Isaac Newton's interpretation of Daniel 9 would end up having us count 7 x 7 years from June 7, 1967, into the future.

"June 7, 1967, represented the last prophetic restoration and Jubilee. Seven times seven is the equation used to bring one to the next Jubilee," he said.

Counting prophetic years of 360 days, it brings you to Sept. 23, 2015, which is Yom Kippur, the day when the Jubilee begins.

"So Newton's 'riddle' brings us from one Jubilee to the next – and not just to the year but to the exact day, to a once in 50 years day, that could usher in the next prophetic Jubilee," Cahn said.

Mankind returning to Tower of Babel

Paul McGuire, a Bible prophecy expert, speaker and author of eight books including "Mass Awakening" and a new release "The Babylon Code," due out in September, believes the key to cracking the code of end-times prophecy is found in Genesis 10-11 with Nimrod building the Tower of Babel. He believes this same "man can be god" philosophy was handed down by the ruling elites from one civilization to another, making its way to Egypt, Greece, Rome and America and Europe today.

Those who doubt these secretive elite groups had any influence over America need only look at the dollar bill, McGuire said.

"The Tower was built in Ziggurat form, so the tower was really a pyramid structure," McGuire told WND.

"That unfinished pyramid at the top of the dollar bill, that capstone with the eye of the god Horus, this is Freemasonry symbolism. 'Novus Ordo Seclorum' is the New World Order," he said. "So what our book exposes is there has been in existence, since the beginning of the flood, a group of people that have had access to supernatural powers."

He said the pyramid is also an organizational hierarchy for earthly power: the elite would be at the top with knowledge of what's really going on in the world, while the presidents, generals and CEOs are considered managerial elite.

"So going back to CERN, these scientists have been indoctrinated in humanism, scientific materialism and they don't believe in a supernatural world, but the ones at the very top, they know what the real purpose of the CERN collider is for and they are trying to open a star gate just like Babel in a sense," McGuire said. "Sir Arthur Clarke said 'science is magic' and he wasn't trying to be cute. He said, at the highest level of science, the really illumined scientists are fully aware that magic and science are one in the same."

Movie Director Stanley Kubrick, who created "Eyes Wide Shut" and "2001 Space Odyssey," was trying to communicate these messages to the masses, McGuire said.

"He was a good Mason. And there appears to be within these secret societies a conflict, some have a more noble aim and others are evil. But Kubrick believed mankind did not go through a long slow evolving but that man encountered an interface at critical junctures and man's progress is rapid and accelerating and we take quantum leaps versus the slow and deliberate process.

"But at the end of his project he's trying to depict in 'Eyes Wide Shut' the evil nature of those at the top, the scientific elites."

The idea that a scientific elite should rule the world was also planted in Plato's "Republic," in which 10 god kings ruled mythical Atlantis.

The German Nazis were also steeped in the occult and used mind-control to deceive the masses. Nazi scientists such as Werner Von Braun were said to have been in contact with the spirit world, from which they received secrets on rocket technology that was decades ahead of anything seen in the industrialized world. He was brought to America under "Operation Paperclip" to help start NASA after World War II.

The mascot for CERN today is a statue of the Hindu god Shiva, a cosmic dancer who performs his divine dance to destroy the universe so it can be recreated by the god Brahma. Shiva was called Apollyon in Greece.

This statue of Shiva, the destroyer, sits in front of CERN headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland.
This statue of Shiva, the destroyer, sits in front of CERN headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland.

"Occult magic, science and technology are used to rule the world, and this was the thesis of Aldus Huxley's 'Brave New World,' as well," McGuire told WND.

The conclusion of McGuire's new book, "Babylon Code: Solving the Bible's Greatest End Times Mystery," co-authored with Troy Anderson, is that God's people can't fight the New World Order with mere human weapons. The regular conservative politics of the day will be rendered futile against demonic powers in high places, he said, which the Apostle Paul warned of in Ephesians 6.
"So you have a human Christian population trying to fight Luciferian power with human power. As long as they're looking to humans to fight for them they're going to lose," McGuire said. "Donald Trump isn't going to save us."

McGuire sees the founding of America as having a dual purpose. Some meant it for good, others for evil, and there's been a cosmic battle for the nation's soul ever since.

"It's a strange beginning, you have a very odd combination, both forces are at play in this," McGuire said. "You do have Illuminati involved in the forming of America. But you also have Jonathan Edwards and the first great awakening. Edwards was not only spiritual but also intellectual. Edwards preached the sermon 'Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God' that ignited the first Great Awakening and it released such power that it embedded itself in the Bill of Rights, these biblical principles of inalienable rights, that your rights come from God and not man, the abuse of power, etc. We need a biblical third great awakening."

'No man knows the day or the hour'

Carl Gallups, author of "Final Warning: Understanding the Trumpet Days of Revelation," has also studied the claims of Sir Isaac Newton and the various modern interpretations of his end-time prophecies.

Gallups said it's crucial to remember that Jesus gave a stern warning that "no man knows the day or the hour" concerning His return.

"I have taken that admonishment seriously for the entire 30-plus years of my ministry. I do not 'set dates,' nor have I ever claimed to have infallible insight into eschatological matters," he said.
But just as important, he says, is another admonishment given by Jesus concerning prophetic calculations.

"He clearly chastised the religious elite of His day for not knowing, at least, the signs of the prophetic 'times' in which they were living," Gallups said. "Because of their shortcoming in this matter, they actually missed the foretold coming of Messiah. Accordingly, I believe it is supremely important that God's people keep a sober eye upon contextual prophetic interpretations and the current world events that may well correspond to them."

Like Cahn and others, Gallups sees more than just coincidence in the array of convergences leading up to the current Shemitah year and next year's possible Jubilee.

This junction, in the mind of many Bible scholars, kicked off with the return of Israel and the subsequent recapturing of Jerusalem.

"These events were amazingly foretold by Newton as well, some 300 years before they happened," Gallups said. "His predictions included statements about a 'friendly kingdom' that would arise in those days that would help these things to occur."

Many, of course, see the United States, which did not emerge until after Newton’s death, as Newton’s "friendly kingdom."

It has now been 67 years since Israel re-emerged on the world scene, and only 48 years since the recapturing of Jerusalem.

"We are certainly living in a very 'young,' but powerful age of prophetic convergence," Gallups said. "Yet, since those two 2,500-year-old biblical predictions have come to pass, even more last days' prophecies have continued to come like a flood."

Among those predictions Gallups sees are the rise of Islam, the current boiling-point turmoil in the Middle East, terrorism and threats of terrorism sweeping the planet, fears of multiple nuclear holocausts, the growing rejection of Israel by the nations – which increasingly seems to include the United States, "and a Sodom and Gomorrah spirit spreading through the nations - now ardently proliferated by the largest 'Christian' nation the world has ever known."

"Add to these things the fact that we now have an important Shemitah cycle and Super Shemitah cycle approaching this September, as well as the variously calculated predictions of Sir Isaac Newton that also seem to point to September of 2015 as an ominous 'beginning' to even more unfolding of last days’ prophetic occurances," he said.

Gallups points to Cahn's research as bringing many of these convergences to the public spotlight, as well as that of Joel Richardson, who wrote years ago of what is now actually happening in the Middle East, and especially the dramatic rise and threat of ISIS. In the midst of all this, Pastor Mark Blitz has shared with the world his original discoveries concerning the, perhaps prophetic, convergence of the blood moon phenomenon – also reaching a peak with the ending of this year and the beginning of 2016.

"These dramatically aligning factors alone, in my estimation, point to the soberness with which we must approach our mission of Kingdom work in the days in which we currently live," Gallups said. "We must be mindful of the 'signs of the times' in which we are living.

Many will scoff at the claims of the unfolding of end-times prophecy as the Day of the Lord approaches. "But even their last days ridiculing was specifically predicted over 2,000 years ago," Gallups notes. Most, who malign the word of God in such a manner, do not even realize that they (through their mocking spirit and words) are specifically mentioned in the very scriptures they malign! If there ever was a time to be right with our Creator through a biblically born-again relationship with Jesus Christ – it is now."

Prophecy should not bring fear to Christians

Joel Richardson, a Bible teacher, documentary filmmaker and author of the New York Times-bestseller "The Islamic Antichrist," along with "Mideast Beast" and "When A Jew Rules the World," has his own unique perspective on the countdown to the Day of the Lord.
He takes a more cautious view.
"There are certainly some interesting convergences of seemingly significant dates, events and signs. Many are pointing to the completion of this seven-year cycle, known as the Shemitah, as it coincides with the completion of the final four of the lunar eclipses, which coincided with four biblical appointed holidays," Richardson said. "But despite these convergences, I think we need to express caution. Even if we agree that this is pointing to something, what might it be?
This is what no one can answer. And the danger is inspiring people to fear, to panic, to anxiety. This would certainly be a wrong application. If it inspires people to repent of sins in their lives, and to get right with God, then wonderful. But I am concerned with the level of fear that it is inspiring in a lot of people, including many Christians. But the Lord has not given us a spirit of fear."
Richardson said he believes Cahn's suggestion that America could be looking at the next phase of its divine chastisement is the most likely outcome of the Shemitah.

"After all, it was seven years to the day from September 11 that the great economic collapse of 2008 occurred. And now we are about to hit the next seven-year point," he said. "So perhaps this is the next installment of God's trumpet blast to this nation calling on us to repent. Perhaps."

But he throws cold water on the theory that the Shemitah or even the Super Shemitah of 2016 could ring in the period the Bible calls the Great Tribulation.

"There are simply some things that must take place first. I fear that many who are declaring that we are there will do damage to the proclamation of Jesus' return in the days ahead," he said. "Peter the apostle said that in the last days, many scoffers would come, mocking the notion that Jesus' return is close. Mockers will mock. But we as responsible Christians should not give legitimacy to the mockers by jumping the gun and wrongly declaring that 'this is that,' that we have entered the final seven-year period. If we do so, we will only be repeating the errors of the 1980s and the infamous book '88 Reasons Why the Rapture will take place in 1988.' The result is decades of cynicism and a rejection of any discussion of the return of Jesus. Yet His return is our hope!"

Before the final seven years can begin, the Antichrist must first arise, beginning as a leader of small significance, and growing in power until he uproots three other leaders, Richardson says. These things are detailed in Daniel Chapters 7, 8 and 11. After he does arise, and grows to the point of establishing a measure of political capital, he will enter into a covenant, or treaty of some kind with the leaders of Israel, Richardson believes, citing Daniel 9:27 as well as Isaiah 28:14-18; 10:20.

"Neither of these two critical signs – the rise of the Antichrist, or the covenant 'with death' can be said to be fulfilled or within months of being fulfilled. They could be just a few years off, but not months," he said. "Despite all of the abiding sense of fear and anxiety, despite the words of many 'prophets,' if the signs on the ground do not line up with the words of the biblical prophets, then all of this expectation means little. I firmly believe that the final seven years before Jesus' return is drawing close, but we are not there yet."

Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2015/08/did-isaac-newton-predict-major-turn-in-bible-prophecy/#brjJZdA8S3efc2ov.99