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.