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Tuesday, January 8, 2013

2012 Washington Nationals Pitching Preview


Ever since moving to the capital city in 2005, the Washington Nationals haven't had a lot to get excited about. But there are a lot of people who think that the Nationals are finally primed to become a serious contender in the NL East after finishing third in its division with an 80-81 record. Washington is expecting their ace, Stephen Strasburg, to come out and play for them for a full season. Aside from that, they went and acquired Gio Gonzalez to give them another young and potent arm in the top of their rotation. Here is the projected starting rotation and closer situation for the Nationals in 2012.

Projected Rotation

Stephen Strasburg (RHP) - Strasburg suffered an injury to his elbow that limited him to five starts at the end of the season. He went 1-1 in the stretch, but had a 1.50 ERA and 0.71 WHIP. What was impressive was that he had just two walks in those five starts. When healthy, Strasburg has the talent and the drive to be one of the best starters the NL has to offer.

Gio Gonzalez (LHP) - Washington traded away four players in order to land Gonzalez, and he was worth it so long as he pitches like he has in his last two seasons in Oakland. The 26-year-old went 16-12 with a 3.12 ERA and 1.32 WHIP in 32 starts last year, following up his strong 2010 season where he went 15-9 with a 3.23 ERA and 1.31 WHIP. He is still relatively young and his best years are still ahead of him.

Jordan Zimmerman (RHP) - Don't discount Zimmerman just yet, even with the addition of Gonzalez and the return of Strasburg, Zimmerman still has what it takes to produce at a high level. The 23-year-old righty produced solid numbers of 3.18 ERA and 1.15 WHIP in 26 starts, despite returning from Tommy John Surgery.

John Lannan (LHP) - After a sub-par 2010, Lannan bounced back to perform in arguably his best season to date, when he posted a career-low 3.70 ERA and a career-high with 10 wins.

Chien-Ming Wang (RHP) - After signing with the Nationals prior to the 2010 season, Wang finally made his Nationals debut last year. He went 4-3 with a 4.04 ERA and 1.28 WHIP in 11 starts. Provided that he is healthy, he has the potential to win 10+ games and really make the Nationals' staff one of the best the NL has to offer.

Projected Closer

Drew Storen (RHP) - Storen really surprised a lot of people when he saved 43 games in his first season as the Nationals' closer. The expectations for him going forward are off-the-charts as the 24-year-old also posted a 2.75 ERA and 1.02 WHIP with 74 strikeouts in just over 75 innings of work.




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ISAIAH 9:10 JUDGMENT - Video Review and Interview With Producer Joseph Farah


In 1970 even the churches were not regularly taught the doctrine of the second coming of Christ more commonly known as premillennial prophecy. Then along came Hal Lindsey's block buster best seller, "The Late Great Planet Earth."

The nation and the world were catapulted into a revival of knowledge that even the Prophet Daniel proclaimed would not be well known or revealed until the last days. A few great works have been added to Lindsey's book and those who had only Clarence Larkin's 1918 version of "Dispensational Truth" were reinvigorated to begin again to start studying the subject of eschatology. (The last things)

Certain signs have been fulfilled in this generation that make it impossible to miss that the generation Jesus spoke of as the one sure to precede the second coming of Christ, is as the Bible says, "at hand."

Of all the latest signs and the greatest teachings and discoveries about Christ's imminent return in power that have graced this generation, none is more specific to America than the parallel Israel and America share in the passages of Isaiah 9: 10 and following.

Since online journalism often falls prey to the speed of surfing and the new lightning speed of digital browsers, I will state both early and emphatically; the Isaiah 9:10 prophecy/parallel is, without doubt, the most important and impressive discovery in this decade. It is a wakeup call that we can only ignore at our own peril.

It was apparent from the beginning that reviewing this documentary would not be easy and the standard review techniques would need to be suspended in lieu of some other means of elucidation. Joseph Farah is an articulate man who in this interview manages to touch on many of the questions anyone may think to ask, but to begin with we will use the four P's to introduce the production.

PRIMARY - In both Old and New Testament days the Lord made it clear to his apostles and prophets and servants that if they went unheard and subsequently unheeded that it was God that was being rejected not the servant. Under inspiration of God's Holy Spirit, God, his message and the messenger stand as one. That being said the primary here is Rabbi Jonathan Cahn. Jonathan is what is known as a, Messianic Rabbi, (Christian) whose message is heard daily on hundreds of radio stations across the nation.

President of the 'Hope of the World Ministries' Cahn is also the Senior Pastor of the 'Jerusalem Center/ Beth Israel located in Wayne, New Jersey. Cahn has ministered to thousands across the globe. He is the author of the bestselling book 'The Harbinger' which is subtitled "The Ancient Mystery that Holds the Secret of America's Future"

In a normal review we would hail the long list of accomplishments and roles the principle has played to accent his career. In God's economy he was only looking for someone to be obedient to what they saw or heard and in that vein Jonathan Cahn is best described.

What was spoken of about Cahn's ancient Father Abraham may also be said about him. Little more needs to be said for those whose pleasure it is to serve the living God. To Wit: "Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness." (Gal 3: 6)

PRODUCER - Joseph Farah is the producer of the documentary and he is a man who hardly needs an introduction. As the founder and CEO of WND.com (Formerly- World Net Daily) a website that has recently been ranked among the top 500 sites in the world, he is well known for his journalism and his untiring pursuit of the truth.

Like many Christians Farah knows that Jesus said "And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." (Jn 8: 32) When Farah decided that he would not hoard the truth to himself, but make it known to the entire world he became as Jonathan Cahn, a servant. Nothing speaks more about him than that. In the perspective of the Biblical worldview, that title, is the greatest he has ever been granted.

PREMISE - The documentary is used to show the parallel between ancient Israel and America. We are without doubt producing the same behaviors that Israel did before it began to fall under the judgment of God. Since both Israel and America were chosen to represent God's works and his message in our world it might seem apropos that we should both choose a similar path, but since it is a path to our own demise, it is anything but desirable.

In the last 24 hours before Christ's life leading up to and including his crucifixion he fulfilled some 25 major Messianic prophecies (Prophecies related to the first coming of Christ) against the odds of approximately 53,000,000 to one. The parallels between Israel's behaviors and America's reactions to the events of 9/11 have not yet been calculated in the math of compound probabilities, but if it were the odds would also be astronomical.

In the simplest terms - we are repeating the same behaviors as ancient Israel. The video fully explains these parallels, but much more than that, it indicates what we can do as individuals and as a nation to avoid the product of our behavior.

PRODUCT - All great portents are pretty much useless if all they do is entertain. The curiosity of the prophecies of Nostradamus, the sighting of UFOs, the pursuit of missing gospels and 'doomsday' predictions all have entertainment value, but they cannot be used to edify, guide or redeem anyone, thus they begin and end on the lower echelon of human influence we know as entertainment.

When signs or burning bushes are granted by God they have a much higher value. They are known as 'revelation' which means they are God's way of speaking to man. God doesn't just want to be heard like someone shouting over the crowd, he has no opinions or viewpoints. He is the author and finisher of all things, but he does want to make it clear that we play a role in the outcome of all that happens in our lives as individuals and collectively as a nation. This then, is the very heart of this documentary. It is a view of the terrible event we call 9/11 that when seen correctly, will serve to awaken us to our role, subsequent to that event.

It is God's way of saying - 'Now, what are you going to do about it!'

Bresciani - This is Rev Michael Bresciani of the American Prophet.org website and I'm interviewing Mr. Joseph Farah, the Chief Executive Officer of World Net Daily on his production of the movie 'Isaiah 9: 10 Judgment.' Welcome.

Farah - Before you get started I just want to say that, World Net Daily is the name of the website that most people are familiar with, on January first we changed it to WND, and officially we don't use World Net Daily anymore.

Bresciani - You know I should know that because I have a link to your site and a little logo on ours and it does say, simply, WND.

Farah - Old habits are hard to break.

Bresciani - The nine 'harbingers' are broken down into these categories, if I could say them quickly. 1. The Breach, 2. The Terrorist, 3. The Bricks, 4. The Tower, 5. The Gazit Stone, 6. The Sycamore, 7. The Erez Tree, 8. The Utterance, 9. The Prophecy. The first question I have is - it was the Rabbi, Jonathan Cahn who seems the be the person best versed in these harbingers, was he the one that discovered these or did somebody else find them with him, was there a collaboration or did he just come upon them - how did he discover them?

Farah - It is my understanding, although I never specifically asked that question of Jonathan, is that these were things he discovered, and I think I would be accurate in saying that he was led to these discoveries, by the Holy Spirit. He is a great student of the Bible and he is a student of the Bible in original languages and he sees a lot of deeper meanings, much more than the average English speaking Bible student and I think that certainly helps, for instance, knowing the difference between when you read in the King James Version of the bible that the sycamores were replaced by cedars. Well, cedar is not actually the word in Hebrew, it's erez tree, Erez is something, it includes the cedar, but it can be something, it's more generic than cedar and so when you see the sycamore tree in New York City being replaced by an erez tree, then you see the fulfillment of what appears to be prophecy repeating itself. So I think Jonathan is uniquely gifted and studied to be able to have made these discoveries.

The movie itself is a different kind of telling of the book he wrote, The Harbinger, and the Harbinger is a terrific book, but it is actually classified as fiction because it involves fictional characters. It's the telling of a real historical story. He does it in a way, a narrative form, that when I read it as a journalist, I said to myself, wait a minute, I'm afraid people are going to read this and think it's a nice book, but not get the fact that - its real, that its true.

I felt compelled to make this into a video documentary where we could actually show these events that took place because - seeing- is believing - for people. We increasingly live in a world where the visual is much more powerful for some people than the written word. So that was the genesis of the Isaiah 9: 10 Judgment. I knew the 'Harbinger' was going to be an incredibly successful book, which it has been and continues to be the number one Christian book in America this year.

Bresciani - That leads me into the second question I was going to ask you. How is it (The Harbinger) doing in the marketplace? I understand its rising again?

Farah - Yes, it's been consistently on the New York Times best seller list and it's really just a question of whether it's in the top ten or the top twenty five and that sort of depends on the exposure he (Jonathan Cahn) he is able to give it in media.

Bresciani - I had the feeling as I watched the documentary that it wasn't trying to be a 'prophecy,' it was being shown as a parallel, that we (America) are repeating a pattern, and no one could argue with that.

Farah - Well no, and if your familiar with the bible, you know that the bible is a book of patterns. And so it only makes sense that those patterns would continue into the future and to me this story, whether you read it in book form or watch the video, I have yet to see anybody come away with, well that's all coincidence.

Bresciani - Another question that came up is, I wondered if anyone involved like Sen. Daschle, Jon Edwards, Mayor Bloomberg, and the Governor of New York or anyone that's part of the documentary has been exposed to the video and have they made any statements or thrown back any reflections?

Farah - No, not to my knowledge, however, I will say this because this is the journalist in me, I have asked my team, my staff, to make every effort to try to reach out, particularly to Daschle and Edwards. I want to find out from Tom Daschle, who gave the first speech on September 12 and cited Isaiah 9: 10. I wanted to get somebody to talk to him or the aide or the speech writer that came up with that verse as the inspiration for his talk that day.

SUMMARY - The full length audio of the interview with Joseph Farah is 43 minutes in length and a great deal more depth and detail can be found in it, I strongly advise anyone considering the purchase of this video to listen to the entire presentation. It is totally free.

Everybody who watches this video will be impacted. Whether you are just curious about prophecies and how America fits into the biblical scheme of things, or if you are a solid student of prophecy you will be moved and enlightened and challenged by the obviously important message Jonathan Cahn is making in this powerful video presentation.

As a person with both a prophetic calling on my life and as a journalist I feel that our nation is sliding fast toward the place of no return, anything that serves to alert the nation to this misguided race to our own demise rates high on my list as important enough to declare and make known to other Americans.

I like to rate every film or production I review on a scale of 1 to 10. In all three categories, message, production and prophetic value I would be remiss if I did not give Joseph Farah's production of 'Isaiah 9: 10 Judgment,' a very strong - ten.




http://www.americanprophet.org has since 2005 featured the articles of columnist Rev Michael Bresciani along with news and reviews that have earned this site the title of The Website for Insight. Millions have read his timely reports and articles in online journals and print publications across the nation and the globe.




Southland Region New Zealand - Home of the Fiordland National Park


The Southland Region of New Zealand is sparsely populated but contains some of the most majestic natural wonders in a country which is full of spectacular nature. The region lies at the southern tip of the South Island of New Zealand and includes Stewart Island or Rakiura as it is more commonly known. The two largest cities are Invercargill with about 50,000 inhabitants and Gore with around 12,000 citizens in the area. A large swath of the region is covered by protected national parks with some of the most magnificent sights in the whole country.

Fiordland National Park is the largest national park in New Zealand, covering 7,860 square kilometers and in dramatic fashion. Most of Fiordland is dominated by the Southern Alps, with two of the most visited areas being Milford Sound and Doubtful Sound which are fjords formed by the powerful glacial activity here thousands of years ago. Milford Sound is one of the most visited tourist attractions in the country with rocky peaks in the shape of an elephant head and crouching lion towering over the waters below. The area also contains Browne Falls which are (depending on the measurement 619 or 836 meters) the highest waterfall in New Zealand and the equally impressive Sutherland Falls at 580 meters. Boat tours are one of the best ways to see the fjords and temporary waterfalls are often seen in this, one of the rainiest areas on the planet with 6,813 mm of rain on average per year. The region also contains numerous lakes, among them the deepest lakes in New Zealand and the deepest of all is Lake Hauroko at 463 meters in depth.

Rakiura National Park covers over 80% of Stewart Island or Rakiura. The island lies just to the south and is administered by the Southland Region. Due to the absence of any large predators this is a great place to view kiwi in the wild as well as some other rare native birds. The island is well known for its gorgeous sunsets and sunrises along with the Aurora Australis or Southern Lights which is spectacular here. The endangered Yellow-eyed penguin has several breeding sites here and the Southern Brown Kiwi is found here as well along with a number of endangered flightless birds that were recently moved to smaller islands offshore for protection.

Invercargill is the region's largest city and one of the southernmost cities in the world. The rich farmland surrounding the area provides much of its economic activity centered on the dairy industry and the Southern Institute of Technology rejuvenated the city with its zero fees scheme. Oreti Beach is 10 km to the west and was featured in the film World's Fastest Indian which was the story of the local hero Burt Munro who set several speed records on this wide, flat swath of sand. The only indoor velodrome (cycling racetrack) in New Zealand is located here and there are several other sport stadiums as well.

Gore is the second most populated town in the region and is mostly a service town for the surrounding farming areas. The area is well known for its connection to country music and hosts the New Zealand country music awards ceremony every year. The most famous local building is the Creamoata Mill, with the porridge they produced once being considered the national breakfast. Local legends arose from the era of alcohol prohibition when the nearby Hokonui Hills produced Hokonui moonshine, which made Gore more well known to New Zealanders.

The Southland region is mostly mountainous and the similarities to the climate of the British Isles brought a large contingent of Scottish settlers here. Outside of the two largest towns, the area is sparsely populated with mountains and farmland covering the majority of the region. The Fiordland National Park is a must see destination for anyone visiting New Zealand with its fjords, lakes, and waterfalls giving it a unique beauty. As unique as some of the destinations in New Zealand are, the national parks here in Southland will rival and top that of any in the country based on their sheer grandeur. So be sure not to miss the opportunity to at least take a boat ride through either Milford Sound or Doubtful Sound when visiting here.




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