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Back from New Zealand, and Catching up on the latest news

We got back from New Zealand late last night and slept in until 11:00 a.m. It may take another day or two to get fully rested.

It was a very good trip, and I will give a full report with pictures as soon as possible. I taught the word in three locations. We also had opportunity to do some sightseeing and to walk barefoot on the beach. It really is a beautiful country. We are planning on returning next February and hope to spend a week on the south island, even if it is only to see the mountains and some of the cities. Plans are already being discussed.

Sacrificial Altar completed

I see that the Israelis have finally built an altar, which they are planning to install on the temple site in Jerusalem, so they can re-introduce animal sacrifices in the Age to come.

http://www.prophecynewswatch.com/2015/March16/161a.html

End-times prophecy watchers are marveling over a news report out of Jerusalem this week that the Altar of the Lord has been reconstructed by the Temple Institute.

The Institute, based in the Old City of Jerusalem, announced it has finished building an altar that is essentially “ready for use” in sacrificial services.

The altar is the most ambitious project to date toward the goal of rebuilding the Jewish Temple. The massive outdoor altar, which took several years to build, can be operational at little more than a moment’s notice, reported the Israeli magazine Matzav Haruach.

The altar is the last major component needed for the long-obstructed sacrifices to resume in a future Jewish temple….

Christians are probably more excited about this than are the Jews. Both seem to think that this will fulfill prophecy. They can hardly wait for animals to replace the sacrifice that Jesus made on the cross. Of course, anyone who places their faith in animal sacrifices and rejects what Jesus did at the cross… (you finish the sentence).

However, Jonathan Cahn has a better grasp of the truth:

Jonathan Cahn, author of “The Harbinger” and “The Mystery of the Shemitah” also sees the announcement as significant.

“We know that end-time prophecy cannot be fulfilled without the rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem,” Cahn, a Messianic Jewish rabbi in New Jersey, told WND. “The abomination desolation prophesied in Daniel and in the Gospels, must take place within the Temple precincts. So, too, the apostle Paul speaks of the ‘man of sin,’ or the Antichrist, sitting in the Temple of God. What many people don’t realize is that along with the Holy of Holies, the altar of the Temple is the most central and critical part of the Temple.”

Cahn said it is the altar that is the center of the abomination causing desolation.

Cahn apparently believes that the altar will indeed be built at some point soon, and when it does, it will represent “the abomination of desolation” being built in our time. That can’t be good. In fact, Cahn correctly translates this as the “abomination causing desolation.” In other words, if it is built, and if they begin offering sacrifices on that altar, it will be the CAUSE of Jerusalem’s final desolation (as per Jeremiah 19:11).

Jerusalem will indeed be destroyed permanently as the prophets have stated, but whether or not this will be brought about by this altar of sacrifice remains to be seen.

The AIIB Debacle

The BRICS nations, led by China, got tired of waiting for the US congress to sign the reform package by the member of the International Monetary Fund that was supposed to be implemented in 2010. So they created their own rival bank, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank last year.

Although the Obama administration agreed to the IMF reforms in 2010, it has opposed the creation of the AIIB and has pressured many nations to boycott it. But now it seems that Britain has broken ranks with the US and on March 12 revealed its plans to join the AIIB. (The US Congress can take credit for this for not ratifying the IMF reforms.)

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/mar/13/white-house-pointedly-asks-uk-to-use-its-voice-as-part-of-chinese-led-bank

The US administration made clear in no uncertain terms its displeasure about Osborne’s decision to join the AIIB. A US official told the Financial Times: “We are wary about a trend toward constant accommodation of China, which is not the best way to engage a rising power.”

The US government is losing its influence and power over the past decade as China and Russia have gained economic power. The attempts by the US government to isolate Russia and China have only served to isolate the US itself. So the following article suggests that the US itself should join the AIIB in order to retain what little influence it has left.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/elizabetheconomy/2015/03/16/the-aiib-debacle-what-washington-should-do-now/

It is time for Washington to take a step back and regroup. Its Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) strategy, ill-considered from the get-go, has now taken a major hit with the announcement this past week by the United Kingdom that it plans to join the Chinese-led AIIB….

At this point, therefore, Washington has three choices:

1)      Continue to press its allies not to join the AIIB until governance procedures for the bank are assured;

2)      Join the AIIB itself; or

 3)      Drop the issue.

Option one is clearly a losing proposition. There is no sense expending further political capital trying to persuade regional and other actors not to join the bank.…

Opposition to the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank has become a millstone around Washington’s neck. It is time to remove it one way or another.

The US government will probably have no choice but to swallow its pride and join the AIIB, spinning it as its own wise choice. But clearly, joining the AIIB will be a major defeat and will signal the declining relevancy and ultimate demise of the IMF itself.

In fact, this represents a major turning point in the demise of the US dollar itself. In essence, as Simon Black puts it, this is a matter of the US being forced to join “the anti-dollar alliance!”

http://www.sovereignman.com/finance/et-tu-britain-united-kingdom-to-join-china-in-the-anti-dollar-alliance-16482/

Late yesterday, the government of the United Kingdom announced that they would be applying to join the Chinese-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank… as a founding member.

This is huge.

Right now, the United States dominates the global financial system.

But after years of endless wars, spying, debt, money printing, bailouts, and insane regulations, the rest of the world has had enough. And they’re looking for an alternative….

New Zealand was the first western nation to join AIIB back in October. And yesterday afternoon, Britain announced its intention to become the second.

(Of course in the UK’s eyes they’re the first since New Zealand still belongs to the Queen!)

This is a massive, embarrassing blow to the United States, and to the future of the US dollar…

It won’t be long before other western nations jump on the anti-dollar bandwagon with action and not just words.

Bottom line: this isn’t theory or conjecture anymore. Every shred of objective evidence suggests that the dollar’s dominance is coming to an end.

It’s happening. Time to plan for it.