This article was circulated with the open letter  'A Warning for America' see here

 From Alpha to Omega

There is something about Coincidence.  Coincidences are strangely intangible but seem to polarise people. One group of people wonder at life's little coincidences, whilst another group scarcely notices them in the busyness of their lives. A third group is utterly hostile to the idea that coincidence could have any real meaning, that it could be anything other than pure chance.

The recent Columbia Space Shuttle disaster gives much food for thought in this debate. Columbia, like Challenger, was destroyed in a spectacular ball of fire. Challenger' s destruction came from the fuel which was to accelerate it to 17,000 mph, Columbia 's from trying to dissipate this same kinetic energy in the earth' s atmosphere on re-entry. But, as any skeptic will tell you, take-off and landing are the most hazardous parts of a Shuttle mission so, if disaster is to strike anywhere, it will be here. So far, so good.

Challenger was destroyed 73 seconds into its flight, 1 minute 13 seconds. And curiously, Columbia's mission was the 113th Shuttle flight and it, too, ended in destruction. Challenger's mission was heavily publicised in advance. It had a political message. It carried the first teacher into space - to teach the children of America what space was all about. Perhaps it did - it just did not give the message that Ronald Reagan had intended.

STS 107, Shuttle Mission 113 was also heavily publicised. It too had a strong political message. Its aim was, in part, to send a strong signal of support for Israel to the rest of the world by the inclusion in the Shuttle team of the first Israeli astronaut, Ilan Ramon. As a result, Ilan had become something of a hero in Israel.

First reports on the CNN live coverage of the disaster shown on New Zealand television (NZTV1) spoke of Shuttle fragments clustered around the small Texas town of Nacagdoches. Locals were interviewed about what they had seen and heard. I picked up a map of Texas. As I found Nacagdoches, my eye was immediately drawn to its closest neighbour, a town called Palestine. Is it just ironic coincidence that one of the last towns on the doomed Shuttle' s flight path was Palestine, and it was from there that some of the first eyewitness reports came? And Palestine is on the Trinity River.

The American space programme has had three fatal accidents. On 27th January 1967, astronauts Grissom, White and Chaffee died in a launch pad fire on Apollo 1. On 28th January 1986, seven astronauts died in the Challenger disaster, and on 1st February 2003, seven more perished on Columbia. These three disasters all occurred within the same week of the year, the same week in which the President of the United States delivers his ' State of the Union' address. In 1986, Ronald Reagan cancelled his speech because of the Challenger disaster. In 2003, George W. Bush had just given his address, busy justifying his crusade against so-called 'evil'.

And remember, Columbia took off on 16th January, the twelfth anniversary to the very day of the start of the Gulf War in 1991.

In less enlightened times, men saw signs in the sky as portents, but we think we know better. Is the clustering of these coincidences mere chance? Or is there some cosmic orchestrator warning George W. Bush that his unquestioning support for Israel will ultimately end in total disaster for what may be the most powerful nation on earth, but which may not ultimately be the greatest source of intelligence or power? Perhaps there is a God and perhaps He does not like challengers, especially when so partisan.

To paraphrase William James, the American professor of psychology who had spent twenty years of his life investigating the paranormal - Perhaps the Almighty gives us enough to make us wonder, never enough to make us certain '. Should we not indeed wonder at these coincidences?

I am minded to think that, on balance, there is more than enough to make us wonder, for it was on a Sunday afternoon, 6th October 2002, that I found a curious Space Shuttle book in a secondhand bookshop in Mt. Albert, Auckland. Incidentally, Mt. Albert is the parliamentary constituency of the Prime Minister of New Zealand, the Rt. Hon. Helen Clark. That morning, we had been to our first service at the Mt. Albert Methodist church. We had discovered only three days earlier that that church was hosting its biennial ' Sing In 'performance of Handel 's Messiah in the coming November and so we were contemplating joining the church choir.

After the service, members of the congregation were invited to the parsonage for lunch and a discussion to learn more about Methodism. Both Jenny and I are traditional Anglicans by both background and preference, but we went along to find out a bit about Methodism. Over lunch it emerged that Liz, the recently ordained minister had, for a very short time, been one of my students on a course I had given in the Continuing Education department at Auckland University in March/April 1999. What was the title of the course? It was none other than ' The Significance of Coincidence' . Little did I realise the significance of the coincidence that was about to occur.

After the discussion group ended, we were about to set off back home to South Auckland when the idea came to me to go and look in the second hand bookshop in the Mt. Albert shopping centre. So instead, we headed north. Almost the first think I found was the Space Shuttle book. Inside this book was a Kennedy Spaceport English tour book. Inside that book, was a large A4, coloured postcard of Challenger taking off after a ' flawless 'launch.

Alongside the 'Space Shuttle' book was a National Geographic magazine with a cover picture of a Shuttle launch. Then, amongst piles of National Geographic magazines outside the shop, my attention was drawn to another with a space shuttle article.

I could not help wondering if another space shuttle disaster was imminent. At the time, we were very busy, singing in various choirs and attending singing lessons, so it was not until 11th November that I labelled the books and merely noted ' A lot of Challenger Shuttle links ' on the label. We stick labels inside all the books we buy, giving details of when and where they were found. So many later prove to be very significant.

On Sunday, 2nd February, a few hours after watching the live CNN coverage of the destruction of Columbia, I looked more closely at these Shuttle books. Then I remembered why I had been so struck by the Challenger postcard. The first double-page photograph in the main Space Shuttle book is also of Challenger, this time being carried on its Boeing 747 transporter. The next double page spread is Columbia on the runway after a landing.

Now it certainly does make me wonder. After all, symbolically turning over the pages of NASA disasters, after Challenger comes Columbia. But what really made me think yesterday were the two National Geographic magazines I had bought that very same day.

The first one, which was beside the Space Shuttle book, is the October 1981 edition, the cover story headline being ' Columbia Closes the Circle' . It is the story of the first ever Shuttle flight. On

On the first double page, with the headlines ' Columbia' s Astronauts' Own Story 'and ' Our Phenomenal First Flight' is an artist 's impression of Columbia glowing in the 40o attitude it adopted on decelerating through the earth' s atmosphere. This is the very process that destroyed it on 1st February 2003.

That first ever landing was on 14th April 1981, the anniversary of the Titanic  striking the iceberg. And Columbia' s last landing was certainly a titanic event - from alpha to omega, you might say.It is curious how often certain dates and elements recur in the web of destiny. 14th April and the Titanic both recur again and again. There is another interesting coincidence which occurred on 7th December 2002 and which involved both Mt Albert Methdist Church and the Titanic. It centred on the hymn  'Nearer My God to Thee'

The second National Geographic magazine which I had spotted in the pile was the November 1982 edition. It carried only a very short article, but it was a very significant one.

Its title was ' Heat paints Columbia's Portrait '. Heat certainly painted Columbia's portrait on that fateful morning, in the clear, blue skies of Texas. But, was it just coincidence, or was it intended to be a warning to the hawkish former Governor of Texas who now inhabits the Oval Office?

George W. Bush is reported as believing that God speaks to him. Then perhaps he should listen! The reason I say this lies in the strange circumstances in which I found out about the destruction of Columbia. Over a leisurely Sunday morning breakfast, I had begun to read an article in Saturday morning 's New Zealand Herald entitled 'George of the Political Jungle'. My eye had been drawn to the headlined caption ' One of the impetuses for his considering running for President was biblical teaching. He feels God is talking to him. 'I had just underlined a reference to a comment which Bush is said to make to colleagues at White House meetings " Missed you at Bible study... " I made a note of this in my notebook and checked the time. It was 8.56 am. I remembered a television programme I wanted to watch so I switched on the television. ' Asia Down Under' was just coming to an end with an Indian cookery item.

I started the recording as the end titles rolled, expecting to record the next programme ' Praise Be'- incidentally, the only indigenous religious programme on New Zealand television. I love the beautiful organ tones with which the titles to the programme begin. But there was no organ. Instead there was an announcement of a change to advertised schedules due to breaking news. The feed cut to CNN. It took me a few seconds to register that something momentous had happened as the CNN programme was a rolling news programme with no headlines.

But it quickly became clear exactly what had happened. The Space Shuttle Columbia had been destroyed, looking for all the world like a fiery comet from the heavens. The thought-provoking coincidence in all this is that ' Praise Be' was taken off the air for live coverage of the disaster. That Sunday morning I was intending to record the ' Praise Be 'programme because two days later we were to begin rehearsals at the South Auckland Choral Society for a special ' Praise Be' programme to be broadcast locally from  Papakura. This is most unusual. Only once every six to eight weeks is ' Praise Be 'broadcast from one particular New Zealand town. Most of the broadcast programmes are composites with six or seven hymns from six or seven towns recorded over the years which are chosen to match the religious theme of the programme for the particular Sunday. ' Praise Be' has never ever been to Papakura before and the television recording is to take place on 19th and 20th February 2003.

On the previous Sunday, 26th January, ' Praise Be' had been a repeat of a special programme from Tauranga, first broadcast in November 2002. Tauranga, too, was a place of special significance to me. 1996 had been a bad year for me. I was unemployed for the whole year, a very common experience for professionally qualified immigrants to New Zealand. Finally, early in 1997, I decided to set up my own waste water treatment consulting firm. My first ever commission had been to audit the sewage works in Tauranga. On my first day, on my way to book into the motel before going to the sewage works, I took a wrong turning, going right instead of left. I found myself outside Holy Trinity Church, Tauranga, in front of a large church notice board. I could hardly believe the words that were spelled out in large letters before my eyes - ' Coincidence is God 's Way of Remaining Anonymous' !

That lunchtime, I returned to the church, looked around and picked up a copy of the previous day' s service sheet. I stuck it in my notebook. I don' t think I have looked at it since, until the night of 8th February 2003 when I was drawing what I call a ' Web of Destiny 'for the Columbia Shuttle disaster. I was checking the date of my finding the notice board. That had been Monday, 3rd February 1997. The service sheet had been for the day before, 2nd February. That struck me with the force of a thunderbolt. It was exactly the same day and date in New Zealand that the Shuttle Columbia was destroyed. I had put on ' Praise Be' at 8.56 am, 2nd February 2003 which is, of course, New Zealand time. The Shuttle was destroyed at precisely that time US Eastern Standard Time on Kennedy Space Centre clocks, but of course, on 1st February. The actual time in New Zealand that the Shuttle was destroyed was around 2.56 am on 2nd February.

So, the message 'Coincidence is God's Way of Remaining Anonymous'appears to be very relevant to the Shuttle disaster now. Incidentally, on checking my notebook for the evening of the ' Challenger' disaster, I found that I had just got the idea to put on the 9 o'Clock News and within minutes the news headlines came on - ' Challenger 'had been destroyed in a spectacular fireball. That was the evening news, of course, as I was then living in London, but it is odd that it was also 9 o' clock for me when I discovered both Shuttle disasters.

Rather more disturbing than the destruction merely of a Space Shuttle is the coincidence code implied from that church service sheet. The implication of this code is that what George W. Bush and Tony Blair are doing now, with the strong support of Ariel Sharon, will ultimately bring about the Apocalypse, but not as the ' born again' Christians like George W. Bush would have you believe. The code 2297 is a key code for Armageddon, a code I first came to understand on 23rd September 1989. George W. Bush should indeed heed the signs in the skies above Texas. His unquestioning support for the brutal and aggressive regime of Ariel Sharon will bring disaster for the people of America. The symbolism of the Shuttle Columbia is just too great for it all to be chance.

The unholy trinity of Bush, Blair and Sharon should heed the signs or the two staunch Christians and the Jew will bring us all to Armageddon. Perhaps it is already too late.

The Shuttle took off on the anniversary of the first Gulf War, that particular date being my first successful prophecy through coincidence. George W. Bush is determined to finish off what his father started. It will end in disaster for America, even if at first, like Columbia, it seems to be successful.

I cannot really escape the conclusion that there is, in all of this, some Guiding Hand, Something that knows the future in precise detail. Can it all just be chance? Can this curious series of coincidences really be dismissed as ' pure chance' because we don' t like the only other alternative explanation? After all, do not the coincidences yield a coherent message? Is the idea of omens, portents or warnings really as nonsensical as the skeptics would have us believe?

Something knows the future. Something is warning - now. I believe that ' Something' is God, but not a god at the behest of priests. There is a power and a source of intelligence greater than we can begin to comprehend. It knows the future at least as precisely as we know the past.

Ask yourself is it possible that we are indeed being warned? Is George W. Bush, in particular, being warned? Were not the men of old really much wiser than the technological giants of today who are such spiritual pygmies?

For other examples of meaningful coincidence linking to prophecy see

Coincidence & Prophecy

The Lockerbie air disaster is a particularly clear example

Lockerbie and 557

This page below is also very relevant on the topic of Alpha and Omega and a Warning for America  now

The Da Vinci Code
This is a discussion of the element of destiny in Dan Brown's novel being so popular now, relating as it does to codes and Mary Magdalene. But this novel is about codes devised by the mind of man. The true story of Mary Magdalene relates to the real Alpha and Omega Codes. But these are codes which were devised by the Mind of God. They authenticate Mary Magdalene's story and warn of the approaching end times, beginning with America in 2005.