Economic Good News from the President

President Obama was in western New York( actually Buffalo to be precise)  today talking about the state of the  economy. His take on how things were going? ” Beyond  a shadow of a doubt, today we are headed in the right direction. All those tough steps we took, they’re working, despite all  the naysayers who were predicting failure a year ago, our economy is growing again.”

Now, if you will, juxtapose that  with this report from Reuters. The April, 2010 budget deficit was a whopping 82 billion dollars about 4x the figure for April, 2009. This marked the 19th consecutive month  with a budget deficit, a new record.

 But, the  President went on to mention the prior month’s job growth and added that April was better than March and May would be better than April and next year would be better  than this year. I sure hope so because I don’t want to live in the United States of Greece.

Ancient City Returning to Iraq

Sometimes there can be a real dearth of things that either I feel a need to write about or just want to for the fun of it. Today seems to be the polar opposite with an embarrassment of good stuff. So, I will save a few things for later and write about an ancient city that is coming back to life.Seen above is a Reuters photo from January 13, showing a a replica of the Ishtar gate of Ancient Babylon.

The rebuilding project was begun by our old nemesis, Saddam Hussein and has obviously been on hold for a while. But not anymore.There was a project launched recently called “The Future of Babylon” to develop a plan for the conversation, study and development of tourism in this ancient city.Says Marion Omran Musa, head of a government inspection team;”it depends on funds .I hope that Babylon can be reborn in a better image.”

Old Testament scripture in Isaiah,Jeremiah and Ezekiel as well as Revelation in the New Testament indicate that the city would be rebuilt and become the most powerful city  in the world. Obviously, few have believed this or given much credence to it. But, lo and behold, it is coming. The United  States has even kicked in $700,ooo for these studies referred to above.

The city, some 85 miles south of Baghdad has been fertile ground for looters for centuries and  has suffered much damage since the US led invasion in 2003.But things are changing. Our “prophetic” friend,  author Joel Rosenberg, wrote of this possible rebuilding in fictional terms and then from a non-fiction perspective in Epicenter 2.0 in 2006.

Truth once again is proving stranger than fact thus confirming one again  proving the exquisite accuracy of Scripture. So, keep watching.

Shalom!