Inquirer Says
Best-selling author Joel Rosenberg to hold conferences in Manila
NEW YORK TIMES BEST- selling author Joel Rosenberg comes to the Philippines Jan. 21-23 for the Signs of the Times conferences.
Rosenberg will speak at the following events: Leaders’ Dinner Conference on Jan. 21, 7 p.m, at Crowne Plaza Hotel (registration fee is P2,500); Christian Conference Jan. 22, 9 a.m.-6 p.m., at Christ’s Commission Fellowship Ortigas (registration is P500); and Youth Conference Jan. 23, 3 p.m., at CCF Ortigas (registration is P150).
Rosenberg analyzes critical Middle East events from a biblical perspective, weaving together history, politics and economics to show how the current rumblings in the Middle East will impact the world.
“To be sure, much about the politics of the region is murky and confusing to Western minds,” writes Rosenberg in the introduction of “Epicenter.” “But one thing is increasingly certain: The eyes of the nations are riveted upon Israel and the Middle East, the epicenter of the momentous events shaking our world and shaping our future.”
Rosenberg is a writer and communications strategist who has worked with some of the world’s most influential and provocative leaders, including former Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Israeli deputy prime minister Natan Sharansky.
Rosenberg is the author of best-selling political thrillers “The Last Jihad,” “The Last Days,” “The Ezekiel Option,” “The Copper Scroll,” “Dead Heat.” His novels, based on biblical prophecy, contain scenes that seemingly predict international headlines. “The Last Jihad,” for one, opens with a terrorist-hijacked jet that goes on a suicide crash into an American city, resulting in a war with Saddam Hussein over weapons of mass destruction. It mirrors the notorious 9/11 attack in the US, but was written months before the actual incident.
“Rosenberg’s books come at a time when geopolitical issues are raging in the world, particularly in the Middle East. Everyone is asking: What is coming?” says Paul Aragones, CEO of OMF Literature, publisher and distributor of Rosenberg’s books in the Philippines. “Rosenberg’s insights are eye-opening, motivating us to look at our lives and be certain of our destination when the end comes.”
Rosenberg also wrote politically investigative books, “Epicenter” and “Inside the Revolution,” which contain extensive interviews and in-depth analysis about the current tension in the Middle East and how it will affect the future.
“OMF Literature is privileged to publish and distribute Rosenberg’s seven books in the Philippines, making these available to readers nationwide at only 40 percent of the imported price,” says Aragones.
“The Last Jihad,” “The Last Days,” “The Ezekiel Option,” “The Copper Scroll,” “Dead Heat,” “Epicenter” and “Inside the Revolution” are originally published by Tyndale House Publishers and are published and distributed in the Philippines by OMF Literature.
These are available in National Book Store, PowerBooks, Philippine Christian Book Stores and other bookstores nationwide. Also available at OMF Lit Bookshops (Mandaluyong, Parañaque, Cebu and Davao). For online purchase, log on to www.OMFLit.com.
For more information about the Signs of the Times conference, contact CCF at 6353410-17 or visit www.signsofthe times.ph.
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Date First Posted 22:05:00 01/11/2010
An Even More Inconvenient Truth
MANY MOONS AGO, disaster movies hit the screens and quickly became top movie grossers and their mushy movie themes became a singing contestant’s piece de resistance (as in “Towering Inferno,” “Poseidon Adventure” and the copiously sticky theme from “Titanic”).
Flash forward to more recent disaster pics, movies now take on more other worldly plots, like having the Mayan calendar’s prediction of the earth’s makeover at the center of the oh-so-tiring triumph of computer generated effects in “2012.”
Far-fetched and fantastical as they come, movie plots as these are nevertheless hailed as elaborate figments of some writer’s fertile imagination, perhaps based on half truths and dismissed as nothing more than popcorn-and-soda entertainment.
The novel “The Last Jihad” written by Joel Rosenberg, that got on the New York Times best sellers list for 11 weeks, is being considered for yet another doomsday movie. Only, this time, the plot is uncannily a case of life imitating art.
When Rosenberg, an American political strategist-turned-author, released the book, little did he know that barely two weeks later, his opening chapter that tells of a terrorist hijacking of a jet plane that flies a kamikaze mission into an American city, would become the reality that would be known worldwide as 9/11. Rosenberg wrote those scenes almost nine months before the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.
Rosenberg’s second novel, “The Last Days,” told of Yasser Arafat’s passing… 13 months before his actual death. And still, in his third novel, “The Ezekiel Option” written in 2005, the unlikely alliance between Iran and Russia plotting to annihilate Israel, became a top story in 2006 with Iran’s new nuclear capability.
The fourth novel, “The Copper Scroll” was released shortly after fighting broke out between Hezbollah and Israel.
US News and World Report quickly dubbed Rosenberg “the modern day Nostradamus,” a billing Rosenberg is wont to reject, simply because he staunchly claims he is no prophet. Rather, his conjectures are solidly based on his long time involvement in global politics, particularly in the Middle East, and his deep knowledge of Biblical prophecy.
That, coupled with his impeccable, yet eerie timing, have defined his books to be “ripped from tomorrow’s headlines.”
Over the past 15 years, Rosenberg has worked with the world’s most influential figures in politics, business and media. He was researcher and writer for radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh, communications adviser to then Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Nethanyahu and Deputy Prime Minister Natan Sharansky, was campaign strategist for US presidential candidate Steve Forbes. After the success of his novels, he was interviewed on more than 400 radio and television programs and has been a guest speaker all over the world.
His interest in biblical prophecy stems from the fact that he is a Christian of Jewish Orthodox descent, thus his affinity for Israel, coupled by his deep faith and belief in the Bible.
In his teen years, he was intrigued by the fulfillment of all the Messianic prophecies from Hebrew Scripture. Deeper curiosity led him to investigate and study other prophecies particularly those found in “Ezekiel” chapters 36-39.
The prophecy that Israel would be reborn as a nation, found in chapters 36-37 had already been fulfilled after World War II, just as the Jewish people who had scattered worldwide started to return to Israel to re-build the “ancient ruins” and reunify Jerusalem, also developing a powerful army. Chapters 38-39 are what he deals with in his books: the current unfolding and fulfilling of what has been written by the prophet Ezekiel.
For Rosenberg, the plots of his novels are not coincidental, but rather a result of his connecting the dots. It is, as he says, “about how such prophecies might look if they were to come true in my lifetime. And one by one, each of the major events in these novels have, in fact, come true.
“Over one million copies have sold as a result. People are intrigued, and so am I.”
He further explains that “Ezekiel” 40-48 is bout the rise of a Jewish Temple in the end times.
“So my latest novel called ‘The Copper Scroll,’ is about what events might lead us to the build ing of the Third Temple and an apocalyptic battle for control of Jerusalem—all of which could happen in our lifetime. We don’t know for sure. But it could,” he said in an interview in 2006.
To further explain how he “connects the dots” between global politics and Biblical prophecy, Rosenberg has written a book, “Epicenter: Why the Current Rumblings in the Middle East will Change your Future.”
Working on the book for several years, he spent three months in the Middle East interviewing top Israeli, Arab and Russian leaders, intelligence and military officials as well as evangelical pastors inside Iran, Iraq and Sudan, getting their perspective on the future of the world. He gained access to previously classified documents from the White House, CIA and State Department.
“It was a fascinating book to work on,” he says. “Exhausting, but fascinating.”
With solid bases for speculations such as these, it is still a wonderment why it is easier for people to believe in “prophecies” based on tarot cards, tea leaves, crystal balls and other forms of fortune telling, including astrology. Prophecy in general has always intrigued people perhaps because it feeds on that human craving of knowing what lies ahead. It is somehow some form of security. It is well and good if the prophecy is well and good. But when what lies ahead brings even more uncertainty, the prophecy is ignored, because it is inconvenient. It is uneasy, precisely because it could be a dread come true.
Of his readers, Rosenberg explains, “They are finding that merely looking at events through political and economic lenses doesn’t allow them to see in three dimensions. To truly understand what’s happening in the world, they are discovering they need to view events through spiritual lenses as well.
They are facing war and rumors of wars but they are not simply on a geopolitical journey. They are on a spiritual journey. They are asking existential questions. They are wondering if something larger is going on, and it is.”
From Jan. 16-24, Rosenberg will be visiting Manila for a conference with businessmen and influential leaders, Christian leaders and youth leaders.
“The question is-where is the God of the Bible in all this? Where do we find hope? Where do we find peace?,” asks Rosenberg. “And I think that is the importance of a conference like this right now.”
Joel Rosenberg’s Signs of the Times Leaders’ Dinner Conference is on Jan. 21 at Crowne Plaza Hotel.
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By Tats Rejante Manahan
Philippine Daily Inquirer
DateFirst Posted 22:05:00 01/05/2010