What on earth is going on?
MANILA, Philippines - One look at today’s news headlines would have even the worst skeptics’ heads spinning. Earthquakes, threats of terrorism, war, tsunamis and pestilence, a looming volcanic eruption, major financial debacles with global repercussions, global climate change, and continuing talk of the coming imposition of a new world order. All this seems to have been ripped right from the pages of the Bible because of its somewhat-apocalyptic tenor.
New York Times best-selling author Joel Rosenberg hasn’t been helping the mood any, what with his penchant for assiduously following news headlines and tying them in with 2,000-year-old Bible prophecies.
The mild-mannered communications strategist was catapulted onto the world stage when elements of his stories began occurring in real life just months after he had written them. Reviewers found his political thrillers set in the present day to be “eerily prophetic” and “almost prophetically forecasting what you’ll read in tomorrow’s headlines.” US News and World Report even called him “the modern Nostradamus,” a label Rosenberg is uncomfortable with, saying, “I am not a clairvoyant, a psychic or a modern Nostradamus as some have suggested.” Joel explains that all he is is an avid student of Bible prophecy, although clearly he is one with an imaginative yet realistic bent.
With over a million books sold, the unassuming Rosenberg began public life as a campaign adviser and political consultant to figures who loom large on the world stage: former US presidential candidate and multi-millionaire Steve Forbes, former Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Natan Sharansky, and now Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. When Netanyahu failed in his 1999 bid for the post of prime minister, Joel decided to start writing, an obviously fortuitous choice not just for him, but for fiction enthusiasts as well. Hollywood has also taken notice of his success, and already optioned two of his novels. As action-packed as the five-book series is, filmgoers can look forward to a thrilling, edge-of-the-seat ride.
Rosenberg keeps blog subscribers abreast of notable world events through his weblog at http://flashtrafficblog.wordpress.com/, where he analyzes how the news may affect our day-to-day existence. Top on Joel’s watch list of late are radical Islam and known state sponsor of Islamic terrorism Iran, where the ayatollahs have found a true believer in their fiercely religious president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Rosenberg is watching Ahmadinejad carefully not just because of his propensity for calling for the decimation of the Jews and the tiny nation of Israel, but also because he is moving to acquire the nuclear weapons with which to fulfill his dream of “wiping Israel off the face of the map.” No doubt Iran’s very recent and successful test of a missile capable of reaching Israel as well as Iran’s other neighbors only reinforces the threat Ahmadinejad’s oppressive regime poses, even to its own people. And everyone should know by now that fresh trouble in the Middle East will result in yet another — possibly huge — jump in oil prices, which would be the death knell for many already struggling national economies.
Joel is coming to Manila in January for a series of speaking engagements, and will be bringing with him a team of global security and political affairs heavyweights to help Filipinos better understand the world that is evolving very swiftly around them. Considering his track record of accurate predictions thus far, we would all do well to pay strict attention to what he has to say.
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For more information on Joel Rosenberg’s appearances in Manila, visit www.signsofthetimes.ph.
