Popular singer, Goldie, dies on Val Day

Hip-hop singer, Susan Harvey, popularly called Goldie, is dead.

News of the death of the sensational artiste, who was a housemate at the Big Brother Africa in 2012, broke on Thursday night, throwing the Nigerian  entertainment world and the larger public into mourning.

Although details of the cause of the reported death were sketchy as at press time, reports indicated that she died on Thursday night at Reddington Hospital, in Victoria Island, Lagos.

The PUNCH called the Reddington Hospital last night but a voice at the  Front Desk of the  hospital last  night said, “Sorry, I can’t confirm that now because our information unit has closed for the day.”

It was learnt that Goldie died in the presence of a Lagos-based entertainer, Denrele Edun, who was in the hospital with her.

When our correspondent tried to reach Edun, his phone was switched off.

But when a call was also put through to another artiste, Essence, she confirmed the incident, even as she wept profusely.

Essence is on the same Kenny Music label that produced Goldie’s works.

Susan Oluwabimpe Harvey was born in the early 1980s to very educated and successful parents.

 The first of four kids, Goldie attended the Green Springs Montessori Primary School and St. John’s College, Palm Groove, in Lagos.

Her music career remotely kicked off at the University of Sunderland where she was admitted to study Business Management.

Goldie was signed on to Kennis Music in 2010.

A few months later, she released her acclaimed debut titled, ‘Gold’.

Her hit songs include ‘You Know It’, ‘Jawo Jawo’ and DTMB (Don’t Touch My Body).

Goldie has so far received a total of 10 awards, including Exquisite Lady of the year, Best Female Artiste award and City People Best Female Artiste of the year.

She has also been inducted as a Federal Celebrity Special Marshal, alongside other notable Nigerian Celebrities. The Law Students Society of the Obafemi Awolowo University recently issued her an Award for Musical Excellence under the category of Best Female Artiste of the Year. She has also been conferred a United Nations Youth Ambassador for Peace by the Federal Government.

Goldie became the final celebrity to exit the BBA7 star game house in 2012 as the 3rd runner up.

A Neuroscientific Look at Speaking in Tongues: Speaking in Tongues Medical Study proves Holy Spirit praying

The passionate, sometimes rhythmic, language-like patter that pours forth from religious people who “speak in tongues” reflects a state of mental possession, many of them say. Now they have some neuroscience to back them up.

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania took brain images of five women while they spoke in tongues and found that their frontal lobes — the thinking, willful part of the brain through which people control what they do — were relatively quiet, as were the language centers. The regions involved in maintaining self-consciousness were active. The women were not in blind trances, and it was unclear which region was driving the behavior.

The images, appearing in the current issue of the journal Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging, pinpoint the most active areas of the brain. The images are the first of their kind taken during this spoken religious practice, which has roots in the Old and New Testaments and in Pentecostal churches established in the early 1900s. The women in the study were healthy, active churchgoers.

“The amazing thing was how the images supported people’s interpretation of what was happening,” said Dr. Andrew B. Newberg, leader of the study team, which included Donna Morgan, Nancy Wintering and Mark Waldman. “The way they describe it, and what they believe, is that God is talking through them,” he said.

Dr. Newberg is also a co-author of “Why We Believe What We Believe.”

In the study, the researchers used imaging techniques to track changes in blood flow in each woman’s brain in two conditions, once as she sang a gospel song and again while speaking in tongues. By comparing the patterns created by these two emotional, devotional activities, the researchers could pinpoint blood-flow peaks and valleys unique to speaking in tongues.

Ms. Morgan, a co-author of the study, was also a research subject. She is a born-again Christian who says she considers the ability to speak in tongues a gift. “You’re aware of your surroundings,” she said. “You’re not really out of control. But you have no control over what’s happening. You’re just flowing. You’re in a realm of peace and comfort, and it’s a fantastic feeling.”

Contrary to what may be a common perception, studies suggest that people who speak in tongues rarely suffer from mental problems. A recent study of nearly 1,000 evangelical Christians in England found that those who engaged in the practice were more emotionally stable than those who did not. Researchers have identified at least two forms of the practice, one ecstatic and frenzied, the other subdued and nearly silent.

The new findings contrasted sharply with images taken of other spiritually inspired mental states like meditation, which is often a highly focused mental exercise, activating the frontal lobes.

The scans also showed a dip in the activity of a region called the left caudate. “The findings from the frontal lobes are very clear, and make sense, but the caudate is usually active when you have positive affect, pleasure, positive emotions,” said Dr. James A. Coan, a psychologist at the University of Virginia. “So it’s not so clear what that finding says” about speaking in tongues.

The caudate area is also involved in motor and emotional control, Dr. Newberg said, so it may be that practitioners, while mindful of their circumstances, nonetheless cede some control over their bodies and emotions.

Watch the Video here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZbQBajYnEc

How you can stay healthy in 2013, by medical expert

If you want to stay alive and healthy in 2013, then listen to this. A health expert has expressed anger and disappointment that most Nigerians are too careless with their health. He goes on to say that the ban on commercial motorbikes, popularly called okada by various state governments is good for all who don’t exercise their bodies and have not found the need to do so.

“Most Nigerians are too careless with their health,” Professor Bashir Akande says with a mixture of disappointment and authority ringing out from his voice. “They simply take things for granted. They think that once they feel all right, everything is well.

But what they often fail to understand is that there could be hidden dangers lurking in their bodies, which they know not. Some could be hypertensive without knowing it; some could be diabetic without knowing it; some could have cardio vascular (heart) problems without knowing it. Only regular medical checks can reveal if anyone has any of these hidden health challenges or some other problems.”

Professor Akande, a surgeon who retired from the College of Medicine, University of Lagos and Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) makes the statement as he reflects on common health challenges confronting many Nigerians.

He tells Daily Sun that many of the health problems confronting most Nigerians can be avoided in the New Year if only people can mind what they eat, exercise regularly and attend regular health checks. “It is unfortunate that generally most Nigerians take their health for granted.

They hardly do things to take care of themselves until some health challenges that can easily be arrested in the early stages cause greater harm. From my experience over the years, most people in this country don’t go for medical check-ups. They fail to understand that once one is above the age of 30 years, he or she needs to see the doctor for check-up at least once a year.

“We regularly find out that some Nigerians may be diabetic and won’t know. They go on drinking and drinking, eating and eating until they go into diabetic coma. But if such people were attending regular medical check-ups, they would have been told what to avoid to remain alive and healthy. “However, it is gratifying to note that nowadays, more and more women are coming forward for regular checks on their breasts because of the escalating menace of breast cancer.

Some of them are also going to gynaecologists for checks on their cervices for cancer. If most Nigerians go early for such checks, ailments which can be treated early enough are detected; you can be assured that people who would have died as a result of carelessness would go on to live for a very long time, provided they follow the instructions of their doctors. Many people do not bother about their health until they have been diagnosed of hypertension. There is no cure for hypertension. It can rather be controlled.

There are some rare cases of hypertension that need operation to control once and for all. Indeed, majority of Nigerians suffer from what we call essential hypertension, which has no outright cure but can be controlled. Diabetes too can be controlled provided that the patient does not go eating excessively or doing certain things in excess.” Professor Akande, a one-time Director of Clinical Services and Training at LUTH, is equally worried that very many Nigerians lead sedentary life, which he insists is a major cause of most health challenges prevalent in the country. “If I may ask you, how many Nigerians indulge in regular exercises as a way of keeping fit and staying healthy? The much we know of most people is that they wake up in the morning, jump into their cars and off they go.

They don’t exercise their bodies; they don’t exercise their legs. They fail to realise that physical exercise is very important. Ideally, if we have good parks and people can take a walk, then they can go on to improve on their health. But unfortunately, ours is an okada society. And there are very many okadas all over the place, which can knock down anyone who dares to take a walk in the streets. Most of our roads are not even good enough for walking, as many of them have no provision for pedestrians.

“In Lagos in particular and generally in this country, traffic jam is a common feature. This is a big problem and a major health hazard. You see traffic jams hold down people at a place for a very long time. Sometimes you see people who are compelled to sit at the same spot in cars and buses for hours on end. They get up only to develop blood clot in their veins. Some of them sometimes develop what is called pulmonary embolism.

This blood clot may dislodge and then spill into the heart and then to the lungs, thus making it difficult for the sufferer to breathe. And if one cannot breathe, what then happens? Death!” Professor Akande maintains it is because of the problems he has been speaking about that he insists that Nigerians need to step up efforts to take care of their health.

“This is part of the reason medical experts insist that preventive measures are very, very important for people to live relatively free of most health challenges.

The media need to publish this; the enlightened ones need to educate all and sundry that once one attains age 35 years and above, he or she needs to regularly monitors his or her blood pressure and blood sugar. “People need to exercise a lot.

They should not just be jumping into and out of their cars without exercising their bodies. This is not wholesome. In my growing-up days in Lagos, people used to walk a lot. We used to walk from Ebute Meta to Lagos Island crossing the Cater Bridge.

Now if people want to go to a point 10meters away, they go by car or motorbike. It is killing us. “In those days we used to hear about cancer as a disease prevalent among the whites. But now it is becoming common among the blacks – prostrate and colon cancer in particular. These are some of the problems Nigerians need to proactively prevent,” he asserts.

A Rare Miracle: Buried Baby Dug Out Alive in Lagos

There are some stories you hear that just make you sick to the pit of your stomach and at the same time, marvel at the wonders of God’s miracles. This story is one of them.

It would be hard, almost impossible, to understand what must have been running through the mind of the person who buried this innocent child or the circumstances that could have led him or her to take such a decision. But we are thankful that God preserved the life of this little child who was left to die and and gave her another chance at life.

Details of where the child was buried are still sketchy, but the pictures of the child buried in the ground and how she looked shortly after she was dug up with mud all over her body has gone viral online, leaving many people in shock. She was just a new born with the her placenta still attached to her navel

Satanic Mistress Strangles Lover's Four Kids - What a Gory Tale

What sounds like a movie tale, A woman in Obuno Umuochefu, Igbo-Ukwu in Aguata Local Government Area of Anambra state has snuffed life out of four children of her boyfriend by strangling them. Not done with her bestial mission, the suspect sat back at the scene of the crime until her victims’ parents returned, and attacked their mother.

For Mr and Mrs Nwanneka Ogechukwu Okonkwo, both natives of Ekwulumili in Nnewi South Local Government Area but resident in Igbo-Ukwu, January 15, 2013, came like any other day. But the young couple who are each 28 years old, never knew that it was the day their four children, Chukwuebuka, (13), Chukwumelum (6) Obumneme (3) and 15-month-old Chinenyenwa would breathe their last.

The young couple had no premonition of the tragedy that shocked everybody in the community. Their three sons and a daughter were allegedly killed by a lady simply identified as Blessing, from Abakiliki in Ebonyi State. Narrating the tragic incident, the mother of the dead children who spoke with Sunday Sun at Ekwulumili Health Centre where she was recuperating from the shock, said that she was also attacked by the suspect. Mrs Okonkwo said that the eldest of her children, Chukwuebuka, was the first casualty.

According to her, the suspect allegedly hit him on his forehead with a hard object and dumped the lifeless body inside an underground tank in the compound before strangling his siblings one after the other. “I was to go for a burial ceremony with my husband at Ukpor on that fateful day and the children went to school. We initially left with the youngest one, Chinenyenwa but the vehicle we boarded was jam-packed with passengers and the baby started crying. Consequently, my husband said we should disembark and use our motorcycle but people around said the road was too dusty to ride with a baby on a bike.

I decided to go home and wait for our other children who went to school so that they would take care of the baby and enable my husband and I to make the trip with our motorcycle. “But long after school hours, the children didn’t come home. We went to the school and other pupils told us that our children had gone home. I looked for them along the roads they usually take to the house but I did not see them.

Thereafter, I urged my husband to go on his own and look for them, but he returned soon after, saying he had seen them coming home. Before my husband and I left for the burial, I gave them food and told them to go and stay with an old woman in the neighbourhood because we are the only occupants of that building, and I don’t like them staying alone in the compound. “We had stayed barely one hour at the burial ceremony when my husband said we should go home.

But before we left, my husband’s phone rang and I heard him say, ‘I’m in a burial’. So, as we got close to our home, his phone rang again and he told the caller that we were not back yet. I didn’t ask him who the caller was as we rode straight to the house.

“When we got to the elderly neighbour’s house, we were told that she had gone for prayers and that my children were not seen there. We got to the house and I opened the gate from behind believing that the children were inside the house. As we parked our motorcycle inside the compound, my husband pointed to the underground tank that was open. I became apprehensive because we don’t keep it open. But I said maybe the eldest might have drawn water from the well and had forgotten to close it.

I called Ebuka but there was no response. I ran into the sitting room and saw the three younger ones lying on the floor as if they were asleep. I ran out again believing that those three were sleeping. I continued to call Ebuka and looked into the tank and I didn’t see anything. “Later, I decided to wake up Ebuka’s immediate younger brother to ascertain the whereabouts of his brother. I called him but he didn’t wake up; I tried to rouse him but he was motionless and so were the other two. I cried to my husband that the children were dead and I concluded that since the three were dead, Ebuka might be inside the well.

There were marks of human nails on their necks that showed that they were strangled. One of them had faeces in his anus. “It was when my husband started crying and moved towards our bedroom, that the lady (suspect) emerged from the bedroom and asked him why he was shouting. Then, I advanced towards her and demanded from her, where she kept Ebuka’s body because I had seen the others she killed. I held her and she gripped me. When I freed myself from her grip, I rushed to lock one of the two gates and raised the alarm until neighbours came.

“Later, somebody rushed out and called the youths of the community before the local vigilante and policemen arrived. She was arrested along with my husband.” Sources told Sunday Sun that the timely arrival of the police and the local vigilante saved the suspect from being lynched. It was also gathered that Mr Okonkwo, a furniture maker, had been dating the suspect, a relationship his wife confirmed, and had been battling to stop.

When contacted, the couple’s landlord, Mr Sunday, who lives outside the community, described the alleged killing of the innocent children as unfortunate and declined further comment. The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) in Anambra State, Mr Emeka Chukwuemeka, confirmed the incident and said the matter was being handled by the State Criminal Investigation Department in Awka, the state capital.

Ravi Zacharias - A Great Evangelist

Frederick Antony Ravi Kumar Zacharias (born 1946) is an Indian-born, Canadian-American evangelical Christian apologist. Zacharias is the author of numerous Christian books, including Gold Medallion Book Award winner Can Man Live Without God? and bestsellers Light in the Shadow of Jihad and The Grand Weaver. He is the founder and chairman of the board of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries, host of the radio programs Let My People Think and Just Thinking, and visiting professor at Wycliffe Hall of Oxford, where he teaches apologetics and evangelism. Zacharias studied as a visiting scholar at Cambridge University and held the chair in Evangelism and Contemporary Thought at Alliance Theological Seminary from 1981 to 1984. Commentator Chuck Colson referred to Zacharias as "the great apologist of our time.

Early life
Zacharias was born in Madras, India. Zacharias claims descent from a woman of the Nambudiri Brahmin caste and a low caste Boatman. Swiss German missionaries spoke to one of his ancestors about Christianity and his family was converted. Zacharias grew up in a nominal Anglican household, and was an atheist until the age of 17, when he unsuccessfully tried to commit suicide by swallowing poison. While in the hospital, a local Christian worker brought him a Bible and told his mother to read to him out of John 14. Zacharias says that it was John 14:19 that touched him and caused him to commit his life to Christ.
He immigrated with his family to Canada in 1966, earning his undergraduate degree from Ontario Bible College in 1972 (now Tyndale University College & Seminary) and his M. Div. from Trinity International University. In May 1972, Zacharias married Margaret ("Margie") Reynolds, whom he met at his church's youth group. They have three children, Sarah, Naomi and Nathan. He was later ordained by the Christian and Missionary Alliance and commissioned as an international evangelist. He founded Ravi Zacharias International Ministries in 1984 to pursue his calling as a "classical evangelist in the arena of the intellectually resistant."

Ministry
Zacharias was invited to spend the summer of 1971 in Vietnam, where he evangelized to the American soldiers, as well as to POWs and Viet Cong. After graduating from Ontario Bible College, he began an itinerant ministry with the Christian and Missionary Alliance in Canada. In 1974 the C&MA sent him to Cambodia, where he preached only a short time before its fall to the Khmer Rouge. In 1977, after graduating from Trinity, Zacharias was commissioned to preach worldwide.
In 1983, Zacharias was invited to speak in Amsterdam at the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association's annual evangelists' conference. It was here that he first noticed a lack of ministry in the area of Christian apologetics. After Amsterdam, Zacharias spent the summer evangelizing in India, where he continued to see the need for apologetics ministry, both to lead people to Christ and to train Christian leaders. In August 1984 Ravi Zacharias International Ministries was founded in Toronto, Canada. Today its headquarters is located in Atlanta, Georgia, and has offices in Canada, England, India, Singapore and the United Arab Emirates.
In 1989, shortly after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Zacharias was invited to speak in Moscow. While there he spoke to students at the Lenin Military Academy as well as political leaders at the Center for Geopolitical Strategy. This was the first of many evangelism opportunities towards the political world. Future events included an invitation to Bogota, Colombia in 1993, where he spoke to the judiciary committee on the importance of having a solid moral foundation.
Zacharias took a sabbatical in 1990 and spent part of that year as a visiting scholar at Cambridge University. There he heard lectures by men such as Stephen Hawking and studied under professors such as John Polkinghorne and Don Cupitt. He also wrote his first book, A Shattered Visage: The Real Face of Atheism. In 1993 Zacharias was invited to speak at his first Veritas Forum at Harvard University, and later that year was one of the keynote speakers at Urbana. Zacharias continues to be a frequent guest at these forums, both giving lectures and answering students in question and answer sessions at academic institutions such as the University of Georgia, the University of Michigan, and Penn State.
Zacharias attracted media attention when in 2004 The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) opened its signature pulpit at the Salt Lake Tabernacle to him for a series of messages. Zacharias delivered a sermon on "Who Is the Truth? Defending Jesus Christ as The Way, The Truth and The Life" to some 7,000 lay-persons and scholars from both LDS and Protestant camps in an initiatory move towards open dialog between the camps.
Some evangelicals criticized Zacharias' decision not to use this opportunity to directly address the "deep and foundational" differences between the historic Christian faith and that of the LDS church. He responded by asserting that Christians should not immediately condemn Mormonism's theological differences but "graciously build one step at a time in communicating our faith with clarity and conviction". He said this is just as effective as showing someone the faults of their faith. The speaking engagement was nearly sabotaged by a claim by event organizer Greg Johnson, president of Standing Together, that Zacharias had nothing to do with editing the book The Kingdom of the Cults and had only loaned his name to the latest edition. Johnson later apologized for his comment.
Zacharias is a frequent keynote lecturer within the evangelical community at events such as the Future of Truth conference in 2004, the National Religious Broadcasters' Convention and Exposition in 2005, the National Conference on Christian Apologetics in 2006. On successive nights in October 2007, he addressed first the students and faculty of Virginia Tech, then the community of Blacksburg, Virginia, on the topic of evil and suffering in the wake of the Virginia Tech massacre. Zacharias has represented the evangelical community at occasions such as the National Day of Prayer in Washington, DC, the Annual Prayer Breakfast at the United Nations, and the African Union Prayer Breakfast in Maputo, Mozambique, and was named honorary chairman of the 2008 National Day of Prayer task force.
Zacharias was interviewed in Focus on the Family's Truth Project. In November 2009, Zacharias signed an ecumenical statement known as the Manhattan Declaration calling on Evangelicals, Catholics and Orthodox to engage in civil disobedience with regard to laws which the declaration claims would force them to accept abortion, same-sex marriage or other matters that go against their religious consciences.
Philosophy
Zacharias states that a coherent worldview must be able to satisfactorily answer four questions: that of origin, meaning of life, morality and destiny. He says that while every major religion makes exclusive claims about truth, the Christian faith is unique in its ability to answer all four of these questions. He routinely speaks on the coherency of the Christian worldview, saying that Christianity is capable of withstanding the toughest philosophical attacks. Zacharias believes that the apologist must argue from three levels: the theoretical, to line up the logic of the argument; the arts, to illustrate; and "kitchen table talk", to conclude and apply.
Zacharias's style of apologetic focuses predominantly on Christianity's answers to life's great existential questions, with logical and scientifically inclined defense of God. In some discussion Zacharias appropriates to scientific matters, he answers the question of human origin. He has voiced skepticism over what he believes to be inadequate empirical evidence in the fossil records for an honest endorsement of the theory of evolution. He believes that evolution is incompatible with the second law of thermodynamics, saying that the two are inconsistent and irreconcilable. This view is not shared by the scientific community.
Zacharias also believes that in Christianity homosexual acts are an “aberration” and “violation” of human sexuality and that though some people may have a homosexual “disposition,” they are not justified in expressing that disposition.

Works
A Shattered Visage: The Real Face of Atheism (1994, 2004) ISBN 0-8010-6511-9
Can Man Live Without God? (1994, 1996) ISBN 0-8499-3943-7
Deliver Us From Evil (1996, 1998) ISBN 0-8499-3950-X
Cries of the Heart (1998, 2002) ISBN 0-8499-4387-6
The Merchant and the Thief (1999) (Children’s) ISBN 0-7814-3296-0
The Broken Promise (2000) (Children's) ISBN 0-7814-3451-3
Jesus Among Other Gods (2000, 2002) ISBN 0-8499-4327-2
Jesus Among Other Gods (Youth Edition) (2000) ISBN 0-8499-4217-9
The Lotus and the Cross: Jesus Talks with Buddha (2001) ISBN 1-57673-854-X
Sense and Sensuality: Jesus Talks with Oscar Wilde (2002) ISBN 1-59052-014-9
Light in the Shadow of Jihad: The Struggle For Truth (2002) ISBN 1-57673-989-9
Recapture the Wonder (2003) ISBN 1-59145-276-7
Is Your Church Ready?: Motivating Leaders to Live an Apologetic Life (2003) (Editor, with Norman Geisler) ISBN 0-310-25061-7
Who Made God? And Answers to Over 100 Other Tough Questions of Faith (2003) (General Editor, with Norman Geisler) ISBN 0-310-24710-1
The Kingdom of the Cults (2003) (Editor) ISBN 0-7642-2821-8
I, Isaac Take Thee, Rebekah: Moving From Romance to Lasting Love (2004) ISBN 0-8499-0822-1
The Prince and the Prophet: Jesus Talks With Mohammed (Copyright 2004, to be released posthumously) ISBN 1-59052-319-9
The Lamb and the Führer: Jesus Talks with Hitler (2005) ISBN 1-59052-394-6
Walking From East to West: God in the Shadows (With R.S.B. Sawyer) (2006) ISBN 0-310-25915-0
The Grand Weaver: How God Shapes Us Through the Events of Our Lives (2007) ISBN 0-310-26952-0
Beyond Opinion: Living the Faith We Defend (2008) ISBN 0-8499-1968-1
The End of Reason: A Response to the New Atheists (2008) ISBN 0-310-28251-9
Is There Not a Cause (2008) (National Day of Prayer Feature Book)
New Birth or Rebirth: Jesus Talks with Krishna (2008) ISBN 1-59052-725-9
There is a Plan (2009) (excerpts from The Grand Weaver) ISBN 0-310-31849-1
Has Christianity Failed You? (2010) ISBN 0-310-26955-5
The Lotus and the Cross: Jesus Talks with Buddha (2010) ISBN 1-60142-318-7
Why Jesus? Rediscovering His Truth in an Age of Mass Marketed Spirituality (2012) ISBN 978-0-89296-319-5

Is This The Last Generation: How Close Are We To The Rapture Of The Church?

Oftentimes, I will have readers ask me why I believe this is the last generation.  One thing that I find fascinating is, as far back as 2500 years ago, the Bible predicted many of the prophecies that we are experiencing in this very hour.  Many of these prophecies began when Israel once again became a nation (1948).  In fact, I believe the Bible is pretty clear, once Israel became a nation, a generation would not pass away before we would see the Second Coming of Christ (Matthew 24:4-34). 
I find it fascinating that the Bible would predict, 2500 years in advance, the starting point and the ending point of the last generation.  The starting point being the rebirth of Israel and the ending point being the Second Coming of Christ. 
 Many prophecies that are slated to be a part of this last generation have come to pass.  I believe a generation is between 70-80 years as stated in Psalm 90:10.  It amazes me that out of the last 2500 years it is within this 70-80 year time span that these prophecies have begun to take shape.  Below is a list of the prophecies that have come about within this last generation:
* The re-gathering of the Jews into their homeland (Ezekiel 37:11-13) after thousands of years of God ordained exile.  Another amazing fact, after thousands of years living in other nations, there Jewish culture has remained intact.
 * The rebirth of Israel as a nation in 1948 (Ezekiel 37:10-14; Isaiah 43:5, 6; 66:7-8) in one day.  Israel literally became a nation again in one day.  Following their declaration of statehood, the next day, five Arab nations attacked Israel.  But Israel defeated them and has grown into a major world military power.  This prophecy of rebirth essentially kicked off the beginning of the last generation.
 * The Arab world will claim they are rightful owners of the land of Israel (Ezekiel 35:5, 10; 36:2, 5).  It wasn't until the Jews began migrating back to Palestine in hopes of declaring Israeli statehood that the Arab world laid claim to the land.  Before that, it was of no value to them. 
 * The desert land of Israel will bloom again during this last generation (Luke 21:29-31; Isaiah 41:18-21).
 * The city of Jerusalem recaptured by Israel 19 years later in 1967 (Zechariah 8:7-8; 12:3).  Jerusalem couldn't be a stumbling block to peace with Israel if it wasn't back in their hands.
 * A Middle East peace plan with Israel, where Jerusalem is considered a major stumbling block will develop in the last days (Daniel 9:27; Zechariah 12:3).
 * This peace plan with Israel will ultimately have a seven-year time limit (Daniel 9:27).  Virtually every Middle East peace plan calls for a timeline for which peace must be established. The splitting of Jerusalem will be the final jewel of the peace accord.
 * The ruins of Israel will be rebuilt (Amos 9:11 &13).  This has kicked into high gear since Israel became a nation (1948).
 * An eastern nation capable of fielding a 200 million man army (Revelation 9:16) will arise during the tribulation period.  No nation has ever been able to field an army of this magnitude until this generation.
 * The Euphrates River will be dried up to enable a great army to cross (Revelation 16:12).  This could not be done until 1990 without the help of modern day technology.
 * During this generation, man will obtain the ability to view an event simultaneously all over the world (Revelation 11:9-10).  Certainly, this was impossible until satellite technology was invented during this generation.
 * Russia, Iran, a host of northern African nations, and the surrounding Islamic world will forge an alliance and attack Israel (Ezekiel 38 & 39).  Today, most of these nations (listed in Ezekiel 38) are already in an alliance with each other.
 * World leaders will begin talking abut world governance as a necessary evil.  This will eventually lead to a one world government led by the Antichrist (Revelation 13).  If you are a frequent reader of mine, you know that this is happening as I write.  The first significant world body called the United Nations was created in 1945 to encourage global cooperation.  Today, they have more power global power than anytime in their history.
 * The temple will be rebuilt (Revelation 11:1, 2; Daniel 9:27).  This is yet future, but it is a foregone conclusion that various temple organizations, once the okay to rebuild is given, will have it completed within months.
 * The Antichrist will rise up out of the New Roman Empire known today as the European Union (Daniel 9:27).
 * In the last days, knowledge will increase dramatically (Daniel 12:4).  There is no debating the fact that knowledge has increased in leaps and bounds over the last 100 years, but particularly during the last 70-80 years.  Medicine and technological discoveries have exploded in this last generation.
 *  Earthquakes will increase in strength and intensity as we head toward the rapture of the church and the beginning of the tribulation period (Mark 13:8).  Just in the last few years we have seen major earthquakes in Chile, Haiti, New Zealand, Indonesia, and Japan that have claimed hundreds of thousands of lives.  The years 2000-2010 was named the most deadly and destructive decade for global natural disasters in history and earthquakes claimed the most lives of all the natural disasters.  Even secular world news reports acknowledge that we have had an increase in freakish natural disasters over the last ten years.
 * In the days unrest among the nations will breakout (Mark 13:8) with troubles.  This trouble and unrest is currently spreading throughout the Middle East (April 2, 2011) and is a sign of the nearest of the coming of the Lord.  
It is during this narrow block of time that all these prophecies are beginning to or already have come to past.  Are we close to the rapture and the start of the tribulation period?  I believe we are, but only the Lord knows for sure.
If a Biblical generation is indeed as Psalm 90:10 states, between 70-80 years, we are in the final years of this last generation.  Most prophecy experts believe the last generation began in 1948 when Israel became a nation.  If we add 70 years (2018) or 80 years (2028) to our proposed starting date and subtract 7 years for the tribulation period we come up with a date between 2011 and 2021.  It is also likely that there will be a gap of time between the rapture of the church and the start of the tribulation period.
Are you ready for the rapture of the church?  Are you sure you are going when the Lord calls Christians home?  There's only one way you will be taken in the rapture and it's the same way you can know that you are going to heaven when you die.  You must be born again (John 3:3).  Just having knowledge or a belief in God is not enough.  You must have a personal relationship with the Lord.  That all starts with a complete surrender of your life to the Lord from this day forward.  Repent of your sins, believe that Jesus died on the cross to pay your sin penalty, and that He rose again.  Trust in the Lord from this day forward and live for Him.