Signs that the Redemption is near?

For years, the American magazine, Sports Illustrated, has run a weekly mini-report entitled, “Signs of the Apocalypse” (or something like that).  It is a one-or-two sentence announcement that features some weekly occurrence in the Sports world. Typically, it focuses on someone doing something really stupid. It highlights how incredibly awful highly-paid or famous people can be. Such   behaviour by those we honour, the piece suggests, is surely a sign that our world must soon end.

Mostly, these incidents entertain.

That magazine comes from America. We live in Israel, which follows a different religious and cultural orientation. So if someone in America thinks about Christian-inspired world Destruction, perhaps we can think about a Jewish-inspired Redemption.

Consider now some recent examples from the news that, in some way—humorous and not so humorous-- might suggest that the world might be preparing for something New. If you don’t see how these headlines might pre-sage a Jewish Redemption, that’s okay. That just means that your ‘Redemption training’ isn’t up-to-date.

For March, 2013:

- Chaos grips Egyptian cities, clashes ongoing between police and protestors (Al Arabiya English)

 

- US faces huge job losses as Obama orders $85bn cuts (the Guardian)

-Massacre of Syrian Soldiers in Iraq Raises Risk of Widening Conflict (New York Times)

-Strip and strike: Iranian activists go topless to protest against hijab (Al Arabiya)

-Yemen unyielding on child executions (Al Jazeera)

-Furious over sanctions, NKorea vows to nuke US (YahooNews!)

-Wanted: Arab Tom Friedmans (Al Jazeera English)

-'The Bible': Does devil character in History Channel show look like President Obama? (Chicago Tribune)

- Why does The Bible's Satan look so much like Barack Obama?  (Yahoo!News)

- Experts: NKorea training teams of 'cyber warriors' (Yahoo!News)

- Egypt Struck by Swarm of Locusts Ahead of Passover (Arutz Sheva)

-Pharoah’s Magicians’: Egypt’s TV puts a spell on you, warns Islamist preacher (Al Arabiya English)

-Greeks find cause of all their woes: the Jews (The Times of Israel)

-Satan comes to Jordan (The Times of Israel)

 

Do these headlines signal that a ‘change’ is coming?

While America worries about Israel, is America neglecting North Korea?

Will there truly be a ‘new world’ ahead if the Arabs get a Tom Freidman? For example, will an Arab Tom Friedman write about the horror of child executions—or the horror of ‘Israeli settlements’?

Perhaps more important than an Arab Tom Friedman, why does the American Barack Obama look like Satan?

More important than that, why is Satan (devil worship) appearing in Jordan?

Is there change afoot?

Should we believe that locusts and magicians in Egypt—and Jew-hate in Greece--mean a return to Biblical stories where we see political chaos, Jewish slavery—and then Redemption?

Well, maybe such headlines are meaningless. Perhaps the Jewish Redemption is a fake. Perhaps we needn’t worry about these things. After all, why should we care about massacres in Syria, more Jew-hate, American economic instability—or a Biblical plague of locusts in Egypt?

What, you think these things mean something?

Here’s a hint: if all those headlines are so meaningless, why are newsmakers writing about them?