Ok ok, valid. But here’s my thinking on the issue: If you pump out billions and billions of one particular mixture of gases and compounds into your atmosphere, its bound to change that atmosphere eventually, right? And changes in the atmosphere are unlikely to be friendly towards species (like us) who have evolved (:shock: OH NO!!! Not EVOLUTION!!!) to live in the atmosphere as it is.

Whether or not the world warms up as, all that smoke in the air can’t be a good thing. (ever been to L.A.?)

Well I do believe the environment may play a role in the prophecies but not the sixth trumpet prophecy. It is military. I know more “christians” who are concerned over our misuse of the environment. Global warming may be happening but in 1985 scientists were fearing an ice age. Science isn’t always right, neither are religions.

The official Chinese position on Taiwan in mostly bluster and rhetoric. It’s a matter of pride for them, so they make like they’re ready for all out war, conduct training exercises, etc. and plenty of propaganda. (silly “Communists”) But in reality, any invasion of Taiwan would only be part of something MUCH bigger, and much less likely given that, like Guav said, the current arrangement suits China terrifically.

As for prophecies… well ok. I certainly suspect that something major is on the horizon (so does Terence McKenna: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Novelty_Theory) but whether or not it will unfold as you expect… we’ll have to see. I have a feeling “energy crisis” and “climate change” should factor into your predictions, but of course good Christian don’t believe in that cockamamee “scientific” stuff, do they?

What I am about to say will most likely label me as an insane conspiracy nut but just hear me out. The Bible has a prophecy called the “sixth trumpet”(Revelation 9:14-19). It says basically that a war will start in the river Euphrates an army of 200 million men would be used and it will kill a third part of men, 200 million men is ironically the exact number that Mao Tse Tung boasted about in 1999. We have how many troops around the river Euphrates now? The prophecy even describes the weapons used. Written nearly 2000 years ago the prophet uses crude descriptions. When I read it it sounds like tanks and missle launchers and missles.

There is ample proof that the first 5 trumpets have already sounded, the sixth is the next. If the prophecy is true then our world will be losing 2 billion people. Take it or leave it but it is interesting nonetheless.

Thanks for the link above, Russia plays a huge role in Bible prophecy and will lead an invasion on Israel one day.

Yeah this really worries me. Although some people are a little alarmist about it - the Chinese couldn’t just divest themselves suddenly and cut us off, because it would wipe them out too. MAD to the rescue again. Still, with Americans making negative net savings (we spend $101 for every $100 we earn) the Chinese are owning us more and more. There’s no need for war because they have learned that everything is more fun when the world’s super powers are one big happy and hopelessly unsustainable economic machine.

Happy Independence Day all.

Mutually-assured destruction will probably continue to work just as it always has—none of those countries would stand to gain anything by attacking the US, and they would lose almost everything.

In theory China poses a military threat, but they won’t ever resort to that because they don’t need to … they have the ability to wage war economically—we’ve foolishly allowed them and several other Asian countries to basically finance our debt. They own us.

Russia is a different situation, I think you’ll find this article in the last issue of The Nation interesting: The New American Cold War. But it’s not a problem that doesn’t have a fairly simple diplomatic solution.

North Korea I don’t know how to deal with because that guy is just batsh*t insane. I can’t imagine what he’d think he could gain by launching a nuke at … Alaska … but I could see him deciding to invade South Korea. But though we’d intervene on the bhalf of SK, that poses no threat to America.

Well said. I agree with nearly all of it. The only part I disagree is this. Terrorists are in leadership of other countries. So, technically, terrorists do have the ability to wage a catastrophic war on the US of A. China, North Korea, Iran, and Russia are not charming little nobodies who only want peace and prosperity. They are looking to topple the US. Not a good thought or even one that is believed by everyone. I feel the war on terror will escalate into a major issue. Especially if we invade Iran.

Happy Independence Day.

that is…. if yer county trusts you with em.