Dear friends:

On July 11, 2005, I passed on news reports from FOX News and WorldNetDaily concerning a possible nuclear terrorist attack against U.S. cities.  FOX News quoted counterterrorism expert Juval Aviv, who said, "I predict, based primarily on information that is floating in Europe and the Middle East, that an event is imminent and around the corner here in the United States. It could happen as soon as tomorrow, or it could happen in the next few months. Ninety days at the most."

I added, "The 90-day window described below may not be exact, but on the other hand it may be, or close.  And remember, he said, 90 days "at the most."  So, what if he is off a few days, and it is 120 days, or even six months?"

Mr. Aviv was not prophesying but only related what his intelligence information was saying.  Thank God nothing has happened.  He could have been wrong -- or prayer may have diverted it, or delayed it.  Often the intention of the devil is revealed and the saints go to war against it, and nullify it.

The times and the future are no less dangerous, so let us stay in prayer.  Of course, certain prophetic events must take place.  But Jesus' instructions concerning this are always in order: "Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man” (Luke 21:36, NIV).

Some are saying they believe the tribulation will begin this fall, which has a lot of implications.  I was thinking about this last night and was reminded of Noah and the importance of Jesus' words that His return will be "as in the days of Noah."  The date Noah entered the ark and the flood began has always seemed highly significant to me as a clue of end-time timing.  Makes sense, right?  Jesus said it.  I decided to check it out.

Genesis 7 says that Noah entered the ark and the flood began on the 17 day of the second month.  But then I wondered if that second month was on the sacred or civil calendar.  If the former, it would have been in the spring; if the latter in the fall.

I did an Internet search and found a post by Marilyn Agee written in 1998, and she answers it.  She says, "Noah came before Moses. The Sacred calendar was not in existence until the Israelites came out of Egypt. The second month was therefore Cheshvan on the Civil calendar.... Going by the Civil Talmudic Calendar, the 'second month, the seventeenth day,' the Flood began. That would have been Cheshvan 17."

I checked a Jewish calendar and found that Cheshvan 17 in the year 2005 falls on November 19.

Reminder: The letter equivalents of Jewish year 5758, which overlaps modern year 1998, mean "season of Noah."  That may have meant that we are in the prophesied "days of Noah," and 1998 could have begun a seven-year countdown to the day the door of the ark is closed and the judgment begins.

Keep watching and praying, and be ready.

Jim