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WASHINGTON – It’s being called Snow-pocalypse here in the nation’s capital.
And some biblical prophecy watchers think the name may be apt.
It’s not so much that it signals the end of the world or will create such havoc for central Atlantic states that residents think it is doomsday.
But many see megastorm Jonas as a kind of signal from God, part of a long-standing pattern of corrections from the Creator of the universe for the U.S. whenever it seeks to divide the land of Israel or hurt the nation the Bible says is “the apple of His eye.”
With Jonas set to dump as much of three feet of snow on the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area over the weekend, Bill Koenig, author of the 2004 book, “Eye to Eye: Facing the Consequences of Dividing Israel,” sees biblical significance in both the name of the blizzard and the timing.
“The name Jonas means ‘gift of God,'” Koenig points out.
He sees an extremely strained relationship between Israel and Barack Obama’s administration as relevant to the timing and magnitude of the storm.
“Obama heralded the Iran deal Saturday, Jan. 16, from the White House as a major foreign policy achievement, which now releases billions of dollars to the number one state sponsor of terror in the world and Israel’s greatest threat,” Koenig told WND.
Later, Secretary of State John Kerry acknowledged that Iran will use at least some of the $100 billion in aid sent by the U.S. this week to support terrorism. Meanwhile, Koenig says, as the Iran deal was about to be finalized, Tehran announced the successful firing of short-range missiles, which is a direct violation of the U.N. Security Council resolution.
“This puts Israel and every Sunni country in the Middle East at risk of survival,” Koenig added.
This was also the same week the Obama administration publicly made blistering attacks against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for continuing to build new communities for Jews in Israeli-controlled territories Arab Palestinian leaders demand as part of a future Palestinian state.
Koenig said that in researching for his book, he found that “when the U.S. or another nation applies pressure on Israel to divide its covenant land, given by God to Abraham and his descendants, there are enormous record-setting storms and/or events that correspond.”
To name a few examples: The Perfect Storm, the terror events at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001, Hurricane Katrina and 85 other record-setting events since the Madrid “land for peace” Conference convened in late October 1991.
“When we put pressure on Israel to divide their land, we have enormous, record-setting events, often within 24 hours,” Koenig told WND. “Hurricane Katrina, 9/11 – we have experienced over 90 record-setting, all-time events as we have acted against Israel. And the greater the pressure on Israel to ‘cooperate,’ the greater the catastrophe.”
Some of Koenig’s examples are startling.
The so-called “Perfect Storm” of 1991 devastated the New England coast as President George H.W. Bush co-sponsored the Madrid Conference from Oct. 30 to Nov. 1.
At the conference, Bush broke from President Reagan’s more pro-Israel policies in the attempt to forge an Arab-Israeli “peace” plan that included recognizing a Palestinian “right” to biblically Jewish lands. But while Bush was in Spain advocating a division of Israel, the “Perfect Storm” – so named for the ferociously destructive way in which a cold nor’easter combined with Hurricane Grace – was lashing the U.S. seaboard at home.
“The Perfect Storm sent 30-foot ocean waves into Bush’s Kennebunkport home as he was calling on Israel to give up the West Bank (Judea, Samaria and East Jerusalem),” Koenig told WND. “The Madrid ‘land for peace’ Conference began the Israeli-Palestinian peace process that Mitt Romney advocated in the debates, even as yet another ‘perfect storm’ is brewing offshore.”
The original Perfect Storm formed on Oct. 28, 1991, and dissipated on Nov. 4 – correlating almost perfectly with dates of the Madrid Conference. The storm was blamed for 13 deaths and over $200 million in damages, including those to Bush’s vacation home.
Similarly, Hurricane Katrina, the deadliest and costliest hurricane in U.S. history, hit Aug. 29, 2005; the storm began the day President George W. Bush congratulated Israel for evacuating Gaza and called on the Israelis and Palestinians to move on his two-state plan.
Koenig drew similar parallels with Hurricane Isaac and the 2012 Republican National Convention. The day Isaac formed as a tropical storm in August, the Republican platform committee voted to add a “two-state” position pertaining to Israel for formal convention approval. The hurricane forced the postponement of the convention.
In his book, “Eye to Eye: Facing the Consequences of Dividing Israel,” Koenig points out that nine of the 10 costliest insurance events in U.S. history followed dramatic calls by U.S. officials for Israel to make land concessions in bids for peace with its neighbors. He points out with startling detail how six of the seven costliest hurricanes in U.S. history followed such events. He points out how three of the four largest tornado outbreaks in U.S. history also followed such developments.
“People say they want peace,” Koenig said, “but it all comes down to this: No earthly leader has the right to partition Israel, because that was God’s gift to Abraham and his descendants.”
The references to the name Jonas in the King James Bible are also interesting in this context.
- Matthew 12:39: “But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign, and there shall be no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas.”
- Matthew 16:4: “A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given unto it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas. And he left them, and departed.”
- Luke 11:29-30: “And when the people were gathered thick together, he began to say, This is an evil generation: they seek a sign; and there shall no sign be given it, but the sign of Jonas the prophet; For as Jonas was a sign unto the Ninevites, so shall the Son of man be to this generation.”
What do others say?
Joel Richardson, author of the New York Times bestselling “Islamic Antichrist” and other notable prophecy-oriented titles, said: “There are few matters that infuriate unbelievers, and often believers as well, as suggesting that patterns of nature could intone a message from the Sovereign of the Universe. One thing is clear however; both individually, and as a nation, we all deserve His judgments. Every day that passes by without a national or personal catastrophe is only because of His great mercy. So I personally have little sympathy for those who rage against the idea that the Lord would chastise us in our sins. The Scriptures say that the Lord chastises those whom He loves. This shouldn’t surprise us. He does this, as any good parent does, to lead us to repentance. What everyone needs to remember is that these temporal storms absolutely pale in comparison to the mighty storm that will soon come to engulf the whole world. Like a magnet, the controversy over the state of Israel will someday soon pull the entire earth into its orbit. This storm, which is already developing, will be a financial, spiritual, theological, and natural storm that no nation or individual will escape from. Rather than shake our fists at the God of creation, let us instead, each one humble ourselves under the Lord’s ever-merciful and mighty hand.”
Mark Biltz, the discoverer of the Blood Moons phenomenon, sees even more significance in the date of the megastorm.
“As Bill Koenig looks for connections with the U.S. policies toward Israel and the consequences, I look for connections between historical events and the biblical calendar,” said the author of the bestselling book “Blood Moons” and the inspiration behind a documentary movie of the same name.“This Monday is Tu B’Shevat. On the biblical calendar, that is the 15th day of the month called Shevat. This coming Monday is that day. It is the beginning of the New Year for trees. In Leviticus 19:23, the Torah states, ‘When you enter the land [of Israel] and plant any tree for food, you shall regard its fruit as forbidden. Three years it shall be forbidden for you, not to be eaten.’ The fruit of the fourth year was for the priest and from the fifth year on the farmer could eat. This has always been considered the start date when a farmer would begin to eat the fruit of their actions or reap what they have sowed to themselves. Tu B’Shevat is the time when most trees begin to bud in Israel letting them know one season has ended and a new one is beginning. In Jeremiah 1:9-12, God asks Jeremiah what he sees, and he states he sees an almond tree, which is one of the first to bud and yet the last to bear any fruit. Then the LORD says, ‘You have seen well; for I watch over My Word to perform it.'”
The significance?
“This prophecy uses a word play that carries a vital truth for Israel as well as for the U.S. The Hebrew word for almond, shaked, is also translated ‘to watch.'” Biltz says. “By seeing the almond branch, God assured Jeremiah that He is watching over His word to bring it to pass, no matter the passage of time. In context, God had just given Israel a warning as this was concerning the destruction coming by Nebuchadnezzar. God’s message to us all is that sin has consequences and there will come a time of reckoning – namely the destruction of a nation. The lesson of the almond tree, therefore, is that God in heaven watches a sinful nation walking away from Him and declares it will have consequences. When nations demonize Israel and seek to divide her land, we can be sure: God is watching! The Torah says in Deuteronomy that, ‘Man is a tree of the field.’ As the fruit identifies a tree by what it produces; God is watching over nations to see the fruit they produce. This weekend’s snowstorm over our nation’s capital, now the leading financier of terror through giving billions of dollars to Iran, God is letting our nation know this very weekend we are definitely entering a new season. He is watching and He will not be silent!”
Carl Gallups, a Florida pastor and author of several Christian books, had this to say: “I am not inclined to routinely look for ‘signs from God’ in major weather events, especially natural events that have occurred throughout recorded history. However, I am also familiar with the massive amount of research that has been done, through several highly regarded publications, on particularly devastating weather events (hurricanes, earthquakes, tornadoes, etc.) that might carry ominous heavenly messages. These studies indicate that a number of weather events and other natural disasters appear to have a distinctive correlation to America’s mistreatment of the prophetically resurrected nation of Israel. Bill Koenig’s book comes to mind immediately. We will soon know about this most recent storm tagged with a biblical moniker that translates in the Greek to ‘sign.’ Will it actually be ‘devastating?’ Will it be ‘unprecedented’ or ‘record breaking?’ If so, then perhaps the correlations to recent anti-Israel actions on the part of America and our current White House might be worth a closer look.”
Gallups adds: “In the case of a storm with a name that can literally mean ‘a sign from God,’ that causes catastrophic damage, both physical and economic, why would a child of God not at least give it a second look? After all, I can think of a weather event recorded in the Word of God that was a definitive sign indicating there truly are consequences for a people that turn their collective backs on the works of God – that particular weather sign was the Flood of Noah. Regardless of the outcome of ‘the sign’ – this year’s winter storm Jonas – there is no way under heaven that the United States can continue on its path of demonizing and marginalizing God’s prophetic last days sign and witness to the nations – the nation of Israel – without paying a very heavy price. I can assure you; according to the Word of God it is a price that America will not want to pay.”
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