Dear friends:

Actress and model Anna Nicole Smith (aka Vickie Lynn Marshall) was laid to rest today in the Bahamas after almost a month of obsessive wall-to-wall media coverage of every detail of her life, death, family, and court battles over her burial and other details of her life.  The court battles promise to continue.

Ironically, the funeral service was held in a Baptist church, where no doubt the gospel is faithfully preached.  I have no evidence that she ever visited a service there during her stay in the Bahamas. 

It seems to me that all this has prophetic significance.

Why? 

Because Anne Nicole was born in 1967 and died in 2007, the prophetic 40-year period following the historic Jewish capture of Jerusalem and the Temple Mount, when the "fig tree," Israel, began to sprout, as prophesied by Jesus.  This may turn out to be the most prophetically important 40-year period in world history.

But there's more.  Anna Nicole, a Playboy Playmate who slept with just about every man who came along (several claim to be the father of her baby), who married a billionaire 63 years her senior, surely symbolized and embodied the spirit of this age of materialism, self-seeking, and sexual lust. 

If it happens that 2007 is the end of the Gentile Age, it seems fitting that this age would end with the death of such a media-acclaimed goddess of this world.

The media are paying homage to their goddess.

Personally, Anna Nicole seemed like a nice person whom everybody loved, and who craved love herself.  In some ways she may have been a victim of circumstances.  I cannot judge her, and only God can do so.  I pray for God to have mercy on her soul.  May it also be a wake-up call for others with a similar lifestyle.

If any of them live near a Bible-believing church, it would be nice if they could walk in and visit at least once and hear the message -- before they are carried in feet first.

Jim