God really does work in mysterious ways.  This season Tim Tebow has led the Denver Broncos to last minute victory after last minute victory, but none was more dramatic than the 29-23 overtime win in a playoff game against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday.  On the first play of overtime, Tebow dropped back and threw an 80 yard touchdown pass to win the game.  It is estimated that an astounding 45 million people watched Tebow throw that pass.  It is being called "Tebow 3:16" (for reasons that will be explained below) and it is already one of the most famous plays in NFL history.  For many hours afterwards, the victory by Tebow and the Broncos was the number one news story in America.  But what makes all of this even more amazing are some of the incredible numbers from the game.

Back during his college career at the University of Florida, Tim Tebow would often write "John 3:16" on the eye black under his eyes.  But in the NFL they do not allow players to write messages on the eye black under their eyes.

So God found another way to get the message out....

-During the victory over the Steelers, Tim Tebow passed for exactly 316 yards.

-Tebow also set an all-time NFL playoff record with 31.6 yards per completion.

-According to John Ourand of the Sports Business Journal, the final quarter-hour television rating for the Broncos-Steelers game was 31.6.

In addition, the first name of his head coach is John (John Fox) and the first name of his general manager is John (John Elway).

In the past, Tebow has said that John 3:16 is his favorite verse.  For those not familiar with it, John 3:16 says the following....

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life"

After the Broncos won, John 3:16 quickly became the most searched term on Google.  The following comes from an article in the Washington Post....

When he wore the Scripture verse on his eye black during the National Championship Game in 2009, the term “John 3:16” was reportedly Googled more than 90 million times.

The Bible verse quickly became the most searched Google term Monday.

God certainly does have a flair for the dramatic.

If you have not seen "Tebow 3:16" yet, video of it is posted below.  As mentioned above, this is already one of the most famous plays in NFL history....

So what is Tebow saying about all of this?

The following comes from a CNN article....

“As I was running around the field I just wanted to thank my lord and savior,” he said in a post-game interview. “And then I jumped in the stands which is something I’ve never done, but I was pretty excited, then got back on one knee to thank the Lord again, and tried to celebrate with my teammates,” he said.

After the win, Tebow posted the following on his Facebook page....

Praise the Lord! Thanks to all my teammates, coaches and fans...This win was for Bronco Nation! We couldn't have done it without all of us working together as one. And yeah, Demaryius Thomas is a beast!

Needless to say, the social media universe absolutely exploded after the game was over.  According to Twitter, an almost unbelievable 9,420 sports tweets per second were sent in the moments immediately following Tebow's touchdown pass.

That set a brand new all-time record.

By the way, if you would like to follow Tim Tebow on Twitter, you can follow him here.

As we get even deeper into the last days, a lot more things like this are going to happen.

As the darkness gets darker, the light is going to shine even brighter.

The world is going to become incredibly unstable and times are going to get really tough.

A lot of people are going to take the cowardly route and will totally give in to fear.

But others will stand up for the Lord Jesus Christ no matter what the cost and will boldly testify for Him.

Thank God that we have heroes out there like Tim Tebow that are willing to share the simple truth that we find in John 3:16....

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life"

Today we have an excellent guest post from Alisha Venetis.  Alisha Venetis is co-founder of www.thePrepRoom.net; an online store specializing in emergency preparedness supplies.  She writes for Smart Girl Nation, as well as other conservative blogs, where she reports on world politics, domestic and global economics and the potentially negative ramifications they may have on America.

The Birth of a Nation

On May 14, 1948, the nation of Israel was born out of the ashes of the Holocaust. A day later, they were attacked by Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq. Having had very little time, weaponry and man-power, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) quickly trained their civilian men and women for combat, something still done today.   Miraculously, Israel managed to survive with some last minute aid by the U.S. This was the first time Israel was attacked as a Nation but certainly not their last.

I mean really, what’s the appeal for these other Middle Eastern countries? Israel is the size of Rhode Island compared to the whole United States. It is the 100th smallest country, with less than 1/1000th of the world's population and  80% of Israel’s land is desert. Golda Meir, the former Israeli prime minister, used to joke that Israel was the only place in the Middle East without oil.  So what could this country possibly bring to the table?

Why Size Doesn’t Matter

What this small country has accomplished in sixty-four short years is nothing short of a miracle. This tiny county, which has been called a technological power house by Bill Gates, leads the rest of the globe in many areas.  Consider the following;

Technology

• Motorola developed the first cell phone in Israel.

• A coding for a chip that allows laptop computers to function, voicemail and technology for AOL Instant Messenger was developed in Israel.

• Israel has the highest concentration of hi-tech companies in the world, apart from Silicon Valley in California.

• Israel has designed the airlines industry’s most impressive flight security system. Their security is so strict the US consults with Israel often on how to handle its security threats. Israel has been linked to the “ground breaking” cyber attack on Iran’s nuclear reactor. This cyber attack is believed to set back Iran’s nuclear capabilities by about three years.

• Israel has one if the best trained and powerful military’s in the world.

• It is rumored that U.S. military experts don’t even study Israel’s wars because Israel’s winning outcomes are too improbable. Let’s keep in mind they are also spending more per capita on her protection than any other country on earth.

• When Golda Meir was elected Prime Minister of Israel in 1969; she became the world's second elected female leader in modern times (even as Israel is surrounded by some countries who consider women lower than animals).

• Israel has the third highest rate of entrepreneurship, and the highest rate among people over 55 and among women. Israelis invented a hydrogen car that uses just a tank of water.

• Israel is one of the largest exporters of fresh produce and flowers in the world, despite the fact that about 80% of Israel’s land is desert.  Israel has defied agricultural odds.

• The USA would not be as medically advanced if it were not for Israeli advancements.  Israeli scientists developed the first non-radiation computerized test for breast cancer.

• An Israeli company developed a computerized system for ensuring proper administration of medications, thus removing human error from the dipension of medicine and potentially saving thousands of lives per year.

• An Israeli company developed the first ingestible video camera. This camera is so small it fits inside a pill and helps doctors diagnose cancer and other digestive disorders.

• Israeli stem-cell technology is being used in the U.S. to regenerate heart tissue.

• Teva is one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies and a major producer of generic drugs.

• When the U. S. Embassy in Kenya was bombed in 1998, Israeli rescue teams were on the scene within a day to help save some of the victims. Israel was the first nation in the world to adopt the Kimberly process, an international standard that certifies diamonds as "conflict free."

• Hebrew (the official language of Israel) is the only dead language that has been revived after 2,000 years.

Alisha Venetis is co-founder of www.thePrepRoom.net; an online store specializing in emergency preparedness supplies.  She writes for Smart Girl Nation, as well as other conservative blogs, where she reports on world politics, domestic and global economics and the potentially negative ramifications they may have on America.

So exactly just who is NATO "helping" in Libya?  Are we actually making it possible for radical Islamic jihadists to take control of Libya?  Are we now providing air cover for some of the exact same terrorists that were shooting at our soldiers in Iraq?  You might not like the answers to those questions.  Nobody is claiming that Gadhafi is not a horrible dictator and tyrant.  However, is it really in our interest to have al-Qaeda and the Muslim Brotherhood replace him?  The Scriptures tell us in the book of Ezekiel that in the last days the nation of Libya will come against Israel.  Are we making this possible by injecting ourselves into the middle of this civil war?

The mainstream media has been pushing this war really hard, and it is really easy for most Americans to simply trust the judgment of the news channels, but there are some really hard questions that we need to ask about our involvement in Libya.

For example, what in the world is Libya going to look like after all this is over?

Is it going to take a hard turn towards radical Islam and end up being ruled by the Muslim Brotherhood and/or al-Qaeda?

According to The Telegraph, the leader of the Libyan rebels is even admitting that his "troops" include jihadists that were firing bullets at U.S. troops in Iraq....

Abdel-Hakim al-Hasidi, the Libyan rebel leader, has said jihadists who fought against allied troops in Iraq are on the front lines of the battle against Muammar Gaddafi's regime.

What type of government do you think they are going to set up once this is over?

The American people need to start demanding some answers.

Why are we on the side of al-Qaeda in Libya but against them in Iraq and Afghanistan?

CBS News recently quoted former CIA officer Bruce Riedel as saying the following....

"There is no question that al Qaeda's Libyan franchise, Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, is a part of the opposition. It has always been Qaddafi's biggest enemy and its stronghold is Benghazi. What is unclear is how much of the opposition is al Qaeda/Libyan Islamic Fighting Group - 2 percent or 80 percent."

Shouldn't we have learned more about who we are supporting before we jumped in?

Are we actually using our military to support the spread of radical Islam in north Africa?

According to Webster Tarpley, a study conducted at West Point found that Libya has one of the highest concentrations of jihadists on the planet....

The most striking finding which emerges from the West Point study is that the corridor which goes from Benghazi to Tobruk, passing through the city of Darnah (also transliterated as Derna) them represents one of the greatest concentrations of jihadi terrorists to be found anywhere in the world, and by some measures can be regarded as the leading source of suicide bombers anywhere on the planet. Darnah, with one terrorist fighter sent into Iraq to kill Americans for every 1,000 to 1,500 persons of population, emerges as suicide bomber heaven, easily surpassing the closest competitor, which was Riyad, Saudi Arabia.

The more one examines the situation in Libya, the better Gadhafi looks.  The truth is that these "rebels" are not fighting Gadhafi because they want a western-style democracy.  Rather, they are fighting him because they want to set up a radical Islamic jihadist state.

The truth is that NATO knows precisely who they are arming and who they are helping take power in Libya.  As Steve Watson recently noted, there are reports that there are 1000 (or more) al-Qaeda fighters among the rebels in Libya....

A former leader of an al Qaeda linked group in Libya claims that there are around 1000 fundamentalist Islamic fighters in the country that have joined the uprising against Col. Moammar Gaddafi’s forces, a number that jives with intelligence reports and independent estimates.

How in the world is America going to be better off with al-Qaeda and the Muslim Brotherhood in control of Libya?

None of this makes any sense.

We are told that we have to have our soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq for years and years in order to "fight al-Qaeda" and then we are helping them take power in Libya?

What in the world is going on out there?

We are living in the last days and weird things are going to happen.

So what do all of you think about what is happening in Libya?  Please feel free to leave a comment with your opinion below....

A question that a lot of people are wondering about right now is whether or not the Japan earthquake is mentioned in the Bible.  In particular, many are asking if the earthquake in Japan has anything to do with Bible prophecy.  So is the Japan earthquake in the Bible?

Well, no, the massive earthquake that recently hit Japan is not in the Bible.

However, the Scriptures do tell us that earthquakes will be one of the signs of the last days.

That does not mean that God caused the earthquake in Japan.  That does not mean that God is going to be causing the major earthquakes that are to come.  What it does mean is that an increase in the size and frequency of earthquakes should be a sign to us that the return of Jesus Christ is getting closer.

So where in the Bible does it talk about earthquakes in the last days?

In Matthew 24:7, Jesus declared the following about the last days....

"For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places."

In Mark 13:8 we see a similar warning by the Messiah....

Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places, and famines. These are the beginning of birth pains.

In Luke 21:11, Jesus mentioned earthquakes as a sign of the last days along with famines, pestilences and "great signs" from heaven....

There will be great earthquakes, famines and pestilences in various places, and fearful events and great signs from heaven.

In the book of Revelation, it tells us that the greatest earthquake of all time will occur just before the end of the Great Tribulation.  Revelation 16:18 says the following....

Then there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder and a severe earthquake. No earthquake like it has ever occurred since mankind has been on earth, so tremendous was the quake.

So what does all of this mean?

It means that we should expect more very powerful earthquakes as we get deeper into the last days.

Considering what just happened in Japan, that is a very sobering thought.  Many of us will never forget the footage of the massive tsunami in Japan washing cars and homes and people across the countryside as if they were toys for children....

As bad as the earthquake and tsunami in Japan were, the truth is that a lot of stuff much worse than that is eventually headed our way.

In Matthew 24:21, Jesus tells us that the Great Tribulation will be the worst time in all of human history....

For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now—and never to be equaled again.

When Jesus said that, He was not messing around.  We are rapidly approaching a time that will be the most horrible that the world has ever seen.

Are you ready for that?

Those that don't know Jesus are not going to have any hope in the days ahead.

But that does not have to be you.  The truth is that Jesus came to this earth and died for your sins.  He rose from the dead and now the time of His return from heaven is drawing near.

If you will repent of your sins and give your life to Him, He will forgive your sins and will give you eternal life.

For much more on how to become a follower of Jesus Christ, we urge you to read an article that we posted on another one of our websites entitled "What Does The Bible Say About Salvation?"

The times ahead are going to be absolutely horrible.  By the time all is said and done, billions are going to die.  The earth is going to be an absolute wasteland.  There is going to be more suffering and more agony than during any other period of human history.

But it can be a time of great victory and adventure for you - if you know Jesus.

So what do all of you think about the recent earthquake in Japan?  Please feel free to leave a comment with your opinion below....

Many Christians have believed for a long time that Egypt would take a hard turn towards radical Islam in the last days.  Well, it looks like that might be starting to happen.  This week tens of thousands of radical Islamic protesters have been violently clashing with police and security forces in some of Egypt's biggest cities.  So far, at least 4 people have died and dozens have been injured during the Egypt protests.  The level of violence that we are witnessing during these protests is absolutely stunning.  One of America's biggest allies in the Middle East is rapidly becoming destabilized.

There are reports that police have been forced to use water cannons and tear gas on the protesters.  But this has just seemed to make the Islamic radicals even more determined.

So what are they protesting about?

Well, supposedly this is all about "economic conditions" and the rising cost of living, but the protesters are also demanding the ouster of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

Mubarak has been in power for three decades, and hardline Muslims in Egypt see him as way too friendly with Israel and the United States.

So while most mainstream media news reports will continue to characterize these as "economic protests", let there be no mistake - the vast majority of these protesters desire to see radical Islam take power in Egypt.

If that happens, it will be extremely bad news for the United States and Israel.

Organizers are promising that even bigger protests are planned.  It does not look like things are going to cool down in Egypt any time soon.

So could this be the beginning of an Islamic revolution in Egypt?

Let's pray that it is not.

The following is incredibly shocking raw video from the recent protest in Egypt.  As you can see, things are rapidly becoming very, very serious....

There has been a major discovery of natural gas just off the coast of Israel.  At this point it has now been officially confirmed that one gigantic offshore gas field alone contains 16 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.  That is the largest deepwater natural gas find in a decade, and it is being projected that it could supply Israel's gas needs for 100 years.

Wow!

God provides, eh?

The following is an excerpt from a recent Wall Street Journal article about this amazing discovery....

On Wednesday, the frenzy got fresh fuel: Noble confirmed its earlier estimates that the field contains 16 trillion cubic feet of gas—making it the world's biggest deepwater gas find in a decade, with enough reserves to supply Israel's gas needs for 100 years.

Getting all of that natural gas out of the ground is not going to be easy, but there is already talk that Israel could actually become a net exporter of energy.

Wouldn't that be something?

But the truth is that we all knew that Israel would be abundantly blessed in the last days, didn't we?

The other nations in the region are already expressing envy.  Lebanon has announced that it wants to start looking for gas off its own shores, and the Palestinians are less than pleased that Israel has found all this gas and they are not going to get any of it.

But it isn't just natural gas that has been found by Israel.

As I have written about previously, one Israeli oil prospecting and production firm has formally announced the discovery of a "commercially sized" oil field in central Israel.

A recent article in Haaretz provided some intriguing details on this new discovery....

Givot Olam Oil Ltd notified the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange of the find in its "Megev Five" drill near the town of Rosh Ha’ayin, saying it can produce 470 barrels of oil a day.

Isn't all of this exciting?

God is doing something amazing in the land of Israel.

For years, there have been some Bible teachers that have pointed to scriptures such as Deuteronomy 33:24 as evidence that Israel would someday be blessed with oil....

"And of Asher he said, Let Asher be blessed with children; let him be acceptable to his brethren, and let him dip his foot in oil."

Well, we have witnessed some incredible oil and natural gas discoveries in Israel this year and many believe that there will be even larger discoveries of oil in Israel over the next several years.

But as Israel keep making these discoveries the Palestinians are going to get jealous and it is going to change the political equation in the Middle East.

Even as you read this, Hamas, Hezbollah and Syria are feverishly preparing for war.  The next war in the Middle East could break out at any time.

So all of this oil and natural gas is not going to provide Israel with any kind of lasting peace and security.  In fact, Israel will not truly experience lasting peace and security until Yahshua the Messiah returns.

Yet another survey has been released that reveals how shockingly little Americans know about religion in general and Christianity in particular.  It is called the "U.S. Religious Knowledge Survey" and it was conducted by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life.  According to the survey, 86% of Americans believe in God or at least in some form of "higher power", but when it comes to the specifics of what various religions actually believe, most Americans are blindingly ignorant.  Perhaps this should be no surprise considering the rate at which our society is becoming secularized, but you would think that the American people would still have a little basic knowledge about Christianity and some of the other major religions around the world.  But they do not.  On average, respondents of the survey answered half of the questions wrong.  Only 2% of those surveyed were able to answer at least 29 of the 32 questions correctly.  And the sad thing is that these were not difficult questions.  They were the kind of questions that any half-educated numbskull should be able to answer with ease.

But today most Americans do not care about religion or about God.

In fact, while most Americans still identify themselves as "Christians", the truth is that most Americans are seemingly complete dunces when it comes to even the most basic facts about the Christian faith.

In fact, do you want to know what group scored the highest on the survey?       

Atheists and agnostics.

Not that they did incredibly well - it is just that everyone else was just shockingly ignorant.

The following is a sampling of what the survey found....

*Only 19% of all U.S. Protestants knew the basic Christian tenet that salvation is through faith in Christ alone.

*Just 55% of respondents knew that the Golden Rule is not one of the Ten Commandments.

*Only 45% of those responding to the survey could name all four of the gospels.  The correct answer: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

*45% of all Roman Catholics did not know that, according to Catholic doctrine, the bread and wine used during the Mass is not just a symbol, but rather literally becomes the body and blood of Jesus.

*Over half of all Protestants could not identify Martin Luther as the individual that inspired the Protestant Reformation.

*Only 8% of all respondents knew that Maimonides, one of the most famous rabbis in history, was Jewish.

*Just 54% of the respondents could identify the Quran as Islam's holy book.

*Fewer than half of the respondents correctly knew that the Dalai Lama is Buddhist.

How disturbing is that?

Most Americans know all about American Idol, Dancing with the Stars and their favorite sports teams, but they can't correctly answer even the most basic factual questions about faith and religion.

We have a major, major problem.

So was there any question that almost all respondents got right?

Yes, 89% of those surveyed knew that public school teachers cannot lead their classes in prayer.

Isn't that sad?

If there is one thing that Americans know about religion it is that it must be kept out of the classroom at all costs.

That is how far we have fallen as a society.

And the truth is that we are losing younger Americans at a staggering pace.

According to a survey by America's Research Group, 95 percent of 20 to 29 year old evangelicals attended church regularly during their elementary and middle school years. However, only 55 percent of them attended church regularly during high school, and only 11 percent of them were still regularly attending church when they got to college.

Yes, you read the correctly.

11 percent.

When young evangelicals finally have the opportunity to decide things for themselves, they are deciding to leave our churches in droves.

In fact, young Americans are abandoning all religions in unprecedented numbers.

According to the American Religious Identification Survey by the Institute for the Study of Secularism in Society & Culture at Trinity College, 46% of Americans between the ages of 18 to 34 say that they have no religion.

46 percent.

Overall, only 15 percent of Americans say that they have no religion.

So for 46 percent of Americans between the ages of 18 to 34 to say that they have no religion is extremely troubling.

We are losing an entire generation.

The Christian faith is in a state of deep, deep decline in the United States and it is time to stop denying it.

So what do you think about all of this?  Feel free to leave a comment below with your opinion....

The preparations for the rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem are heating up! The Temple Institute has announced the creation of two golden censors known as the Bezichin which will be used in the service of the Temple by the priests once the Temple has been rebuilt.

This is very exciting for those of us who are looking forward to the return of Yahshua the Messiah. The fact that the preparations for the rebuilding of the Temple are taking place is yet another sign that we are living in the last days.

The Scriptures tell us that the Jewish Temple will be rebuilt and that the anti-Messiah will desecrate it in the last days. The anti-Messiah will do something so evil in this rebuilt Temple that the Scriptures refer to it as "the abomination of desolation" (Matthew 24:15).

For hundreds of years, scholars mocked and said that the Temple would never be rebuilt in Jerusalem. But the truth is that the Word of God is true and nothing man can do can stop it from being fulfilled.

The following is a little bit of background on the bezichin from the Temple Institute website.....

The two golden bezichin - frankincense vessels, referred to in the above passage from Exodus, as "spoons," are an essential element of the golden show bread table and the service of the showbread. These two bezichin were used to contain the two handfuls of frankincense that the priests were instructed to place upon the showbread table beneath the twelves loaves of lechem hapanim - showbread. The twelve loaves were replaced every Shabbat and the loaves that were removed were eaten by the outgoing shift of priests in the Chamber of the Hearth, located along the Temple Courtyard. New loaves were set in their place simultaneously, and with them the two bezichin of fresh frankincense. Our sages tell us that the showbread never grew stale, that it remained hot and fresh, and that even a morsel of the bread was filling and satisfying the priests that ate it.

The Temple Institute has also produced a short little YouTube video on these vessels that we have embedded below for you.....

The reality is that we are living in the last days and the signs are all around us.

Praise God that we get the privilege of living in such extraordinary times!

We are truly living in historic times.  Preparations for the rebuilding of the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem are heating up, and this has got Bible believing Christians very excited.

Just a few months ago, the Temple Institute opened a workshop that will manufacture priestly garments in preparation for the rebuilt Temple.

This is absolutely stunning news. These garments have not been produced for centuries, and this is just another indication that the intensity of preparations for the third temple is increasing.

For so many centuries skeptics mocked the Scriptures and said that Israel would never become a nation again and that the Temple would never be rebuilt.

But God is always right and the skeptics are always wrong.

The temple WILL be rebuilt just like the Bible says that it will.

You see, the Scriptures prophesied all of this long ago.

Did you know that no nation that has been destroyed has EVER come back into existence after 2000 years of not being a nation?

In 70 A.D., the Romans flattened Jerusalem and drove the Jewish people out of the Holy Land and scattered them all over the earth.

But the Bible said that Israel would be regathered one day and would once again live in the land of Israel as a nation in the end times. 

The Scriptures also tell us that the Temple will be rebuilt in Jerusalem in the last days (read Ezekiel 37, 2nd Thessalonians 2 and Revelation 11).

No matter what man does to try to prevent it, the reality is that the Word of God cannot be stopped.

For information on the rebuilding of the Jewish Temple in the last days, go here and click on "Preparations for the Rebuilding of the Temple":

http://www.christian.tv/index.php?module=ctv&action=mediaCenter&cid=22