signs of the times

When Igot out of the hospital I had to go to wal-mart yesterday for medical supplies and for the first time that I remember in this area there was a salvation army bell ringer and after that show I went to Green Forest to get my medical pills and low and behold we have a bell ringer in our little town.
I read where someone has been drooping gold coins in the red kettle but folks I am pretty sure no gold coins are going into the red kettle here.
Read on line that Romney is courting the Jewish vote, if I am not mistaken the Mormons believe they are the new Jews.
Although Mormons do not claim to be part of Judaism, Mormon theology claims to situate Mormonism within the context of Judaism to an extent that goes beyond what most other Christian denominations claim. The faith incorporates many Old Testament ideas into its theology, and the beliefs of Mormons sometimes parallel those of Judaism and certain elements of Jewish culture. In the earliest days of Mormonism, founder Joseph Smith Jr. taught that the Indigenous peoples of the Americas were members of some of the Lost Tribes of Israel. Later, he taught that Mormons were Israelites, and that they may learn of their tribal affiliation within the twelve Israelite tribes through prophecy. Thus, members of the LDS Church receive Patriarchal blessings which purport to declare the recipient's lineage within one of the tribes of Israel. The lineage is either through true blood-line or adopted. The LDS Church teaches that if one is not a direct descendant of one of the twelve tribes, upon baptism he or she is adopted into one of the tribes. The Patriarchal blessings also include personal information which is revealed through a patriarch by the power of the priesthood.
The Mormon affinity for Judaism is expressed by the many references to Judaism in the Mormon liturgy. For example, Joseph Smith named the largest Mormon settlement he founded Nauvoo, which means "to be beautiful" in Hebrew. Brigham Young named a tributary of the Great Salt Lake the "Jordan River". The LDS Church created a writing scheme called the Deseret Alphabet, which was based, in part, on Hebrew. Currently, the LDS Church has a Jerusalem Center in Israel, which serves as the base of LDS outreach efforts in Israel.[43]
There has been some controversy involving Jewish groups who see the actions of some elements of Mormonism as offensive. In the 1990s, Jewish groups vocally opposed the LDS practice of baptism for the dead on behalf of Jewish victims of the Holocaust and Jews in general. According to LDS Church general authority Monte J. Brough, "Mormons who baptized 380,000 Holocaust victims posthumously were motivated by love and compassion and did not understand their gesture might offend Jews ... they did not realize that what they intended as a 'Christian act of service' was 'misguided and insensitive.'".[44] Mormons believe that when the dead are baptized through proxy, they have the option of accepting or rejecting the ordinance.