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Iran is “closer than ever” to a Nuclear Bomb
~ Why this is a global threat, and how Christians should respond.
The world is watching the latest negotiations in the Israel–Hamas war amid ongoing attacks by the Houthis and Hezbollah. In the meantime, we should not miss this headline from the Jerusalem Post: “Iran closer than ever to weaponizing uranium, building nuclear bomb.”
The "Institute for Science and International Security" is sounding the alarm and has upgraded its threat level to “Extreme Danger,” the highest of its six ratings, for the first time since the group began following the Iranian nuclear program in the 1990s. They warn that the country could make enough highly enriched uranium to fashion a nuclear explosive in a week and could build and deliver a weapon in “about six months.”
Why would Iran choose to do so?
And why is this such an “extreme danger” to the world?
At first glance, today’s news seems less than alarming on the assumption that Iran knows a nuclear attack on Israel or the US would lead to a swift and devastating nuclear retaliation against their country.
But this goes both ways: a nuclear-armed Iran would likely feel protected from aggression by its enemies and thus emboldened to escalate its proxy war on Israel and the West. It would pose an immediate threat to countries without nuclear weapons such as Turkey and Saudi Arabia and would probably incite them to seek such weapons, further heightening tensions in the region.
Military action against Iran (likely from Israel) to prevent its acquisition of nuclear weapons would likely escalate the ongoing regional conflict. And there is always the chance of a catastrophic — if not apocalyptic — nuclear accident.
But there’s one other crucial factor we dare not overlook:
An Iranian apocalypse.
As I noted in my book, "The War in Israel", Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) views its ultimate mission as preparing the way for the Mahdi (a Muslim messianic figure) to return and dominate the world for Islam. Preparations for this return escalated after Ayatollah Khamenei assumed the mantle of supreme leader in 1989 and especially in the aftermath of the 2009 anti-regime protests.
The IRGC views the existence of Israel as the “greatest barrier” to the reemergence of the Mahdi. Iran’s hardline clergy now claim that the “Jewish state will be destroyed before Mahdi’s arrival.”
If Iran can employ its regional proxies to force Israelis to abandon Israel, it will have achieved this necessary step in hastening the Mahdi’s return. If this strategy proves unsuccessful, will it turn to direct war with Israel?
If so, given the Israel Defense Forces’ overwhelming military superiority, would Iran utilize a strike-first nuclear weapon?
Bernard Lewis, the Princeton professor and renowned Middle East scholar, warned that the threat of many Iranians perishing in a war does not deter Iran’s leadership, which believes “it would be doing them a favor by giving them a free pass to heaven” as martyrs in a jihad. In a Wall Street Journal article, he added that to Iran’s leaders, an attack on Israel that killed Muslims would only speed them to heaven. And a response that devastated Iran “would have no meaning” since “what will matter will be the final destination of the dead — hell for the infidels, and heaven for the believers.”
For people with such a mindset, Lewis warned, mutually assured destruction “is not a constraint; it is an inducement.” And since many in Iran believe that the Mahdi will kill all the Jews when he comes, some may even believe that he would return to protect them from such retribution.
“Bad ideas have victims”
Israel and the West should obviously respond to this apocalyptic scenario by doing whatever is necessary to keep Iran from possessing nuclear weapons. Christians should also respond by praying fervently for a spiritual awakening that would transform Iran’s leaders from genocidal persecutors to Christ-following peacemakers. (If you doubt such a possibility, remember what Jesus did with Saul of Tarsus.)
But today’s discussion highlights one other point today:
Worldviews change the world.
Thousands have died and millions are being affected by Hamas’s vow to kill the Jews as demonstrated by its October 7 atrocities. From Russia to China to North Korea and Cuba, Marx’s communist ideology continues to impact and enslave millions. Moral relativism is fueling an epidemic of pornography, sexual confusion, drug overdoses, euthanasia, and suicide in the US.
I often quote this observation by my friend John Stonestreet: “Ideas have consequences. Bad ideas have victims.”
But here’s the good news: biblical ideas have victors.
Consider these facts:
"The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple; the precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes; the fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever; the rules of the LORD are true, and righteous altogether. . . .By them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward" ~ Psalm 19:7–9, 11
How fully will you experience the “great reward” of your Father today?
________________
~ published by: Denison Ministries
https://www.denisonforum.org/daily-article/iran-closer-than-ever-to-nuclear-bomb/
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For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.
—1 Peter 1:23 💖💖💖💖💖💖💖
Signs of the Times
“You can expect to be persecuted, even killed; for you will be hated by all the nations because of your love for me. Then many will stop following me and fall away, and they will betray one another and hate one another. And many lying prophets will arise, deceiving multitudes and leading them away from the path of truth. There will be such an increase of sin and lawlessness that those whose hearts once burned with passion for God and others will grow cold.” ~ Matthew 24:9-12
“Then Jesus said to them: “Don’t you understand this parable?”…”Other seed is sown among thorns; these are the ones who hear the word, but the worries of this age, the pleasure and deceitfulness of riches, and the desire for other things enter in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.” ~ Mark 4:13, 18-19
All of these passages are similar in the way that they speak about receivers and believers of the gospel in the “end times”. We are seeing examples of these today in an increasing occurrence.
Persecution of Christ followers is not new to the world, but it is new to America, and other countries of the world where it is beginning to rear its evil head. This persecution will serve the Lord’s purpose in separating the “wheat” from the “chaff”. Those that do not have a strong relationship and walk with the Lord may very-well be counted amongst the “chaff”.
Additionally, people are being deceived by ministers and teachers that have been deceived by the evil one into believing partial truths of the living Word of God. A classic example of the “blind leading the blind” straight into hell.
Likewise, due to the rampant sin and lawlessness, our love and desire to be true disciples of Christ to the world around us is being replaced with fear and apathy. This same apathy occurs when we are too busy with the cares of our daily lives to even take 30 minutes of time to spend with the Lord in the morning – let alone, to engage those outside of our inner-circle with the care and love that God requires of us to have for others.
Folks, time is short – Jesus said: “But when these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is near!” (Luke 21:28)
There are millions of people that are lost, dying, and on their way to eternal damnation. God will hold each of us accountable for what we have done during our brief and fleeting moment in this earthly life. Please don’t waste it on non-eternal actions.
“But the one who endures to the end will be saved [delivered].” ~ Matthew 24:13
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Bless all!! Jesus loves us! :) Below is something I leave for people to find....
I put them in little envelopes and label them: TO: YOU
I leave these on sidewalks and places where people walk alot.
I have seen some people pick them up and then take it with them! I know it helps! :)
And,,, below are pics of a dream I wrote down after waking up back in the mid-eightys! A couple years after I accepted Jesus as my Savior! :)
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
Genesis 1:1 💖
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
John 1:1 💖
Word to the Wise...
...the Mighty God of Jacob Prevails:
"Can the prey be taken from the mighty, or the captives of the righteous be delivered?"
"But the LORD says, “The captives of warriors will be released, and the plunder of tyrants will be retrieved. For I will fight those who fight you, and I will save your children."
"I will feed your enemies with their own flesh. They will be drunk with rivers of their own blood. All the world will know that I, the Lord, am your Savior and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Israel."
~ Isaiah 49:24-26
Amen.
•
The War in Israel
~ the following three sections are excerpts from a recently released book by Jim Denison.
________________
Why is there such animosity toward the nation of Israel?
One of the shocking consequences of Hamas’s October 7 invasion of Israel has been the rise of antisemitism in the weeks following. According to a recent report from the Anti-Defamation League, for example, antisemitic incidents in the United States rose about 400 percent in the two weeks after Hamas’s atrocities.
Antisemitism around the world has escalated to constitute an “existential threat” in the weeks since Hamas slaughtered 1,200 Israeli civilians and wounded more than 3,300. Antisemitism in the US had already escalated last year to the highest recorded level. Now CNN reports that a “new wave of antisemitism threatens to rock an already unstable world.”
Nowhere has opposition to Israel been more evident than on America’s college campuses. Hundreds of protests against Israel’s response to the October 7 invasion have been staged by students across the country. As one example, Cornell University canceled classes after death threats were posted toward Jewish students.
• What is behind these campus movements and the larger rise of antisemitism in our day?
• How can we respond in ways that are both truthful and redemptive?
• Did the Jews steal the land from the Palestinians?
The first reason for opposition to Israel is the claim that the Jewish state is an “occupier” and “colonizer” of land it stole in 1948 from its rightful Palestinian owners.
Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations claimed that Israel is an “occupying power” and thus does not have the right to self-defense. The International Court of Justice issued an opinion in 2004 that Israel is in fact an “occupier” of Palestinian lands in Gaza and the West Bank. We continue to hear this claim in the news and at pro-Palestinian rallies.
So, did Israel steal its land from its rightful Palestinian owners?
Based on the history of the land as described in Chapter 1, four facts are important:
• First, the original “owners” of the land were the Canaanites from whom the Jews conquered the land under Joshua. Their descendants now live in Lebanon and bear no genealogical relationship to the current-day Palestinians.
• Second, present-day Palestinians are descendants of the Arabs who first conquered the land in AD 640, not the Philistines for whom the region is named. They took the land from the Jews and Christians who lived there prior to their conquest.
• Third, the Jews never abandoned the land and repopulated it alongside Arab Palestinians across recent centuries.
• Fourth, an autonomous nation called Palestine would have been created by the United Nations Partition Plan in 1947, an arrangement Jewish leaders accepted, but Arab leaders rejected.
Thus, Israel did not steal the land from its rightful Palestinian owners. If anything, the Palestinians’ ancestors stole it from the Jews who were there prior to AD 640.
Israel maintains no presence in Gaza, so it cannot be “colonizing” the region. It granted the PA limited autonomy of the West Bank in 1993, though some Jewish settlements greatly complicate the Palestinian quest for ownership of this area.
In short, while Israel continues to be accused on college campuses and elsewhere of being an “occupying colonizer,” this is not true.
________________
Hamas and the Palestinians
We will discuss Hamas in greater detail in Chapter 5. For now, let’s note that this political party gained control of Gaza in 2007. It was founded in 1987 and published its official charter in 1988, calling for the destruction of Israel and raising “the banner of Allah over every inch of Palestine.” Its founder, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, stated that “reconciliation with the Jews is a crime” and claimed that Israel “must disappear from the map.”
Hamas believes that the Qur’an requires Muslims to defend Islam by attacking Israel and anyone who supports the Jewish people (cf. Qur’an 2:190; 9:5). It views the Jewish people as “apes and swine” (Qur’an 5:60; see 2:65; 7:166). Since Israel is a democracy, Hamas considers its citizens to be complicit in an “attack” on Islam.
As a result, Hamas did not see the October 7 invasion as an assault on innocent civilians. It believes it is defending the Palestinian people and the Muslim world from their oppressors. Many of the pro-Palestinian protesters across US college campuses agree.
However, it is actually Hamas who is the enemy of the Palestinian people.
The terrorists hide their munitions and fighters in a vast network of tunnels beneath homes, schools, mosques, and hospitals used by Palestinian civilians. This way, for Israel to destroy these tunnels, it must destroy civilian structures under which they are located.
Hamas has turned hospitals into command-and-control centers for its militants and hides its soldiers among the civilian population.
In these and other ways, it continues to violate the rules of war as prescribed by the Geneva Convention and other humanitarian laws.
While more than half of the civilians in Gaza are impoverished, several of Hamas’s leaders live in Qatar, more than a thousand miles from Gaza; some are estimated to be billionaires. After their 2014 conflict with Hamas, Israeli officials estimated that the average tunnel built by Hamas required enough construction supplies to build eighty-six homes, seven mosques, six schools, or nineteen medical clinics. Hamas continues to steal fuel, medical supplies, and provisions intended for the civilian population.
As a result, the Wall Street Journal editorial board stated: “Palestinian lives matter, except to Hamas.” Referencing Israel’s challenge in destroying Hamas while protecting civilians in Gaza, the article notes:
"Blaming Israel for these civilian casualties amounts to denying the Jewish state its right to self-defense. It means that Hamas can launch attacks on Israel with the goal of slaughtering women and children, but Israel can’t attack Hamas in Gaza because civilians might be unintentional casualties. It means Hamas would retain a terrorist sanctuary from which it can attack Israel whenever it has the means and opportunity."
No other country on earth would agree to the terms of defensive engagement that much of the world wants to impose on Israel.
To summarize:
Israel’s incursion into Gaza is not an oppression of the Palestinian People — it is a military response to the atrocities of October 7 necessary to preserve the Jewish state and its future. When civilians are harmed as a result, this is the fault of Hamas. The terrorists started this conflict, and they are continuing it while hiding behind Palestinians and using them as human shields.
________________
By supporting Hamas – you are supportive of the following actions by Hamas on 10/7/2023:
“Babies, women, the elderly were dragged outside of their homes, were taken hostage. Civilians were shot and most were massacred in cold blood walking on the streets. This is something that, I mean, is truly unprecedented.”
This is how Israeli Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan described the surprise attack Hamas launched on Israel by air, land, and sea on October 7, 2023. “This is our 9/11,” he added.
A spokesman for the Israeli Defense Forces said, “We have had the worst day in Israeli history when it comes to casualties. . . . In American terms, this is a Pearl Harbor and a 9/11 all together.”
After the invasion by Hamas’s terrorists, forensic teams were dispatched to document their atrocities. A reserve officer serving with these observers said, “We’ve seen dismembered bodies with their arms and feet chopped off, people that were beheaded, a child that was beheaded.” Multiple cases of rape were found by examination of the bodies.
A physician who is also an observant Muslim arrived on the scene on October 19 to spend ten days as a human rights observer. She reported: “One word continually came to mind: genocide. No matter how it emerges, the monster is easy to recognize. As a doctor, I had a rare and panoramic view of the aftermath: the targeted people’s long, agonizing journey to death.” She noted, “Hamas tortured and immolated its victims, including children, pregnant women, and the unborn.”
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken later described what authorities found in one home attacked by the terrorists: “A family of four. A young boy and girl, six and eight years old, and their parents around the breakfast table. The father’s eye gouged out in front of his kids. The mother’s breast cut off, the girl’s foot amputated, the boy’s fingers cut off — before they were executed. And then their executioners sat down and had a meal. That is what this society is dealing with.”
________________
~ excerpts from: "The War in Israel", by Jim Denison, PHD
https://dl.bookfunnel.com/emcl7ei3qf?
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Lord Jesus bless all !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇
Holy Lord!! Thank You for Your Word!!! The Bible!!! 😇
Relations and Implications of Aperiodic Earth Core / Geomagnetic Field Reversals with Earth Glaciations
https://oaktrust.library.tamu.edu/handle/1969.1/169361
Led By Pope Francis, Leaders Of The World’s Religions Formally Adopt Human Fraternity Document At 7th Congress
________________
Declaration Of VII Congress Of the Leaders Of World And Traditional Religions:
~ in Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions, International on 15 September 2022
We, the participants of the VII Congress – spiritual leaders of world and traditional religions, politicians, heads of international organizations,
• guided by our shared desire for a just, peaceful, secure and prosperous world,
• affirming the importance of shared values in the spiritual and social development of humankind,
• recognizing the necessity of countering and overcoming intolerance and hate speech, xenophobia, discrimination and conflicts based on ethnic, religious and cultural differences,
• respecting the richness of religious and cultural diversity,
• realizing that acts of charity, compassion, mercy, justice and solidarity contribute to the rapprochement of peoples and societies,
• recognizing the value of education and spirituality for personal and interreligious development
• affirming the importance of the role and rights of women in society,
• stating that material inequality leads to discontent, social tension, conflict and crisis in our world,
• recognizing the importance of addressing global challenges in our post-pandemic world, including climate change, poverty and hunger; organized crime, terrorism, and drugs,
• condemning in the strongest terms the extremism, radicalism and terrorism which lead to religious persecution and the undermining of human life and dignity,
• condemning the creation of hotspots of interstate and international tension in the world,
• expressing serious concern about the global increase in the number of migrants and refugees in need of humanitarian assistance and protection,
• expressing a firm desire to contribute to the creation of conditions for dialogue and reconciliation between conflicting parties,
• realizing the urgent necessity for spiritual and political leaders to work together in addressing the challenges of our world,
• welcoming all international, regional, national and local initiatives, especially the efforts of religious leaders to promote interreligious, intercultural and intercivilizational dialogue,
• expressing the intention to intensify cooperation between religious communities, international, national and public institutions, and non-governmental organizations in the post-pandemic period,
• reaffirming the work of the Congress of the Leaders of World and Traditional Religions as an international interreligious dialogue platform for representatives of many religions, confessions and creeds,
• pointing out the opportunity of the Congress of the Leaders of World and Traditional Religions for taking further specific steps to expand interreligious intercultural and intercivilizational dialogue,
Have Come to a Common Position and Declare the Following:
1. We will make every effort to ensure that the Congress of the Leaders of World and Traditional Religions continues its regular activities for the benefit of peace and dialogue between religions, cultures and civilizations.
2. We declare that in the conditions of post-pandemic world development and the globalization of processes and security threats, the Congress of the Leaders of World and Traditional Religions plays an important role in the implementation of joint efforts to strengthen dialogue in the name of peace and cooperation, as well as the promotion of spiritual and moral values.
3. We recognize that the negative consequences of pandemic disease can be overcome only through joint effort, working together and helping each other.
4. We are convinced that the unleashing of any military conflict, creating hotspots of tension and confrontation, causes chain reactions which impair international relations.
5. We believe that extremism, radicalism, terrorism and all other forms of violence and wars, whatever their motivations and goals, have nothing to do with authentic religion and must be rejected in the strongest possible terms.
6. We strongly urge national governments and authorized international organizations to provide comprehensive assistance to all religious groups and ethnic communities that have been subjected to infringement of rights and violence by extremists and terrorists and as a result of wars and military conflicts.
7. We call upon world leaders to abandon all aggressive and destructive rhetoric which leads to destabilization of the world, and to cease from conflict and bloodshed in all corners of our world.
8. We call upon religious leaders and prominent political figures from different parts of the world tirelessly to develop dialogue in the name of friendship, solidarity and peaceful coexistence.
9. We advocate the active involvement of the leaders of world and traditional religions and prominent political figures in the process of conflict resolution for achieving long-term stability.
10. We note that pluralism in terms of differences in skin color, gender, race, language and culture are expressions of the wisdom of God in creation. Religious diversity is permitted by God and, therefore, any coercion to a particular religion and religious doctrine is unacceptable.
11. We call for the support of practical initiatives to implement interreligious and interdenominational dialogue, for the sake of building social justice and solidarity for all peoples.
12. We stand in solidarity with the efforts of the United Nations and all other international, governmental and regional institutions and organizations, promoting dialogue among civilizations and religions, states and nations.
13. We recognize the importance and value of the Document on Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together between the Holy See and Al-Azhar Al-Sharif (adopted by the UN General Assembly in resolution A/RES/75/200 of December 21, 2020), and the Makkah Declaration (adopted in Mecca in May 2019), which call for peace, dialogue, mutual understanding and mutual respect among believers for the common good.
14. We welcome the progress made by the global community in the fields of science, technology, medicine, industry and other areas yet note the importance of their harmonization with spiritual, social and human values.
15. We realize that social problems often push people to extreme attitudes and actions and call on all states of the world to ensure adequate living conditions for their citizens.
16. We note how people and societies which dismiss the importance of spiritual values and moral guidelines are susceptible to lose their humanity and creativity.
17. We call on world political and business leaders to focus on overcoming the imbalances in the development of modern societies and to reduce the gap in the well-being of different segments of the population and different countries of the world.
18. We note the positive impact of dialogue between leaders of world and traditional religions for socio-political processes in states and societies, contributing to the preservation of peace.
19. We proceed from the immutable fact that the Almighty created all people equal, regardless of their racial, religious, ethnic or other affiliation or social status, therefore respect for each other and mutual understanding underpin all religious teaching.
20. We call on political and public figures, journalists and bloggers, while recognizing their freedom of speech, to beware religious generalization and not to identify extremism and terrorism with any nation or religion, as well as not to use religions for political purposes.
21. We advocate increasing the role of education and religious formation, particularly among youth, in strengthening the respectful coexistence of religions and cultures and debunking dangerous pseudo-religious prejudices.
22. We pay special attention to the importance of strengthening the institution of the family.
23. We stand for the protection of the dignity and rights of women, the improvement of their social status as equal members in family and society, as well as encourage their inclusion in the peace processes in cultural and religious settings.
24. We note the inevitability of global digital development, as well as the importance of the role of religious and spiritual leaders in interacting with politicians in solving the problems of digital inequality.
25. While we respect the freedom of expression, we strive to develop a dialogue with the media and other institutions of society to clarify the significance of religious values for promoting religious knowledge, interreligious harmony and civil peace, as well as to develop general tolerance towards religions.
26. We appeal to all people of faith and goodwill to unite in this difficult time and contribute to ensuring security and harmony in our common home – planet Earth.
27. We turn to pray in support of all people of goodwill on the planet who make a significant contribution to the expansion of inter-civilizational, interreligious and international dialogue for the sake of a more prosperous world.
28. We call for supporting acts of mercy and compassion in regions affected by military conflict, and by both natural and man-made disasters.
29. We call for solidarity in the support of international organizations and national governments in their efforts to overcome the consequences of the Covid pandemic.
30. We affirm that the purposes of the Congress and this Declaration is to guide contemporary and future generations of humankind in promoting a culture of mutual respect and peacefulness; available for use in public administration of any country in the world, as well as by international organizations, including UN institutions.
31. We instruct the Secretariat of the Congress to develop a Concept for the development of the Congress of the Leaders of World and Traditional Religions as a global interreligious dialogue platform for 2023-2033.
32. We affirm the role of the Republic of Kazakhstan as an authoritative and global center of intercivilizational, interreligious and interfaith dialogue.
33. We thank the Republic of Kazakhstan and President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev for convening the VII Congress of the Leaders of World and Traditional Religions, for their humanitarian initiatives, and for their contribution to renewal and progress, peace and harmony.
34. We thank the Republic of Kazakhstan for the excellent organization of the Congress, and to the Kazakh people for their cordiality and hospitality.
35. We confirm our collective interest in continuing the activities of the Congress of the Leaders of World and Traditional Religions and our intention to convene the next VIII Congress in 2025 in the capital of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Nur-Sultan.
* * *
This Declaration was adopted by the majority of delegates of the VII Congress of the Leaders of World and Traditional Religions and is being transmitted to the authorities, political leaders and religious figures around the world, relevant regional and international organizations, civil society organizations, religious associations and leading experts. It will also be distributed as an official document of the 77th session of the UN General Assembly.
The principles contained in the current Declaration can be disseminated at all regional and international levels, for consideration in all political decisions, legislative norms, educational programs, and mass media in all interested countries.
May Our Aspirations Be Blessed
And May Peace and Prosperity
Be Granted to All Peoples and Countries!
The Republic Of Kazakhstan
Nur-Sultan
September 15, 2022
https://astanatimes.com/2022/09/declaration-of-vii-congress-of-the-leaders-of-world-and-traditional-religions/
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A Christian view of the coming Temple - opinion
~ A big topic in New Testament Bible prophecy: The building of the Third Temple.
The Temple Mount in Jerusalem is the focus of ongoing Bible history and prophecy.
This is the center of the world, where Abraham offered up his son Isaac, where King David purchased land and where his son Solomon built the First Temple. It is also where Jesus cleansed the Temple and a poor widow gave an offering of two copper coins that Jesus said was greater than all the most extravagant donations.
Ancient biblical Mount Moriah is Jerusalem’s most recognizable landscape — to the Jews it is called the Temple Mount and to Muslims it is the Noble Sanctuary.
Since Israel re-captured the Old City of Jerusalem from Jordan in 1967, the Jewish state has maintained a fragile religious balance, and the Temple Mount is indeed the most divisive real estate in the world.
Jewish activists for decades have been leading efforts to change the status quo as a matter of religious freedom by demanding, “If Muslims can pray there, why not Jews?”
In Matthew chapter 24, Jesus was speaking to his Jewish brethren and not to the yet-to-be-formed Church. He said that in the Last Days, Israel must watch for an abomination that will take place in the Holy Place. He forewarned, “When you see standing in the Holy Place ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’ spoken of through the prophet Daniel — let the reader understand.”
More than a quarter of the Bible is prophetic in nature; there are approximately 1,800 prophecies in both testaments combined. God has recorded much of the future as a guide for us. Jesus also gave a major discourse on end-time events that’s recorded in all three of the synoptic Gospels. . . in Matthew Chapter 24, Mark Chapter 13 and Luke Chapter 21.
Jesus’s disciples had asked him directly: "What will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?" Jesus answered with a catalogue of tumultuous signs that would lead up to His second coming, adding in Matthew 24: 34, “Verily I say unto you, this generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.”
What would be the major sign of that final generation?
In Jesus’s prophetic briefing (known as the Olivet Discourse), he said that Jerusalem will be in the hands once again of the Jewish people and thus Jerusalem will be the central focus of upheavals. Jesus prophesied in Luke 21: 24 that Jerusalem would be “trodden down by the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.”
So the sign of all signs that has not been present in any generation until now is the re-emergence of the state of Israel in 1948. The Bible said the Jews would return, and they did after nearly 1,900 years — such a return to a homeland has never happened before in history. Furthermore according to Bible prophecy, the Middle East will be in crisis in the last days. And Jesus said in Matthew 24: 34, the generation alive at that time "will by no means pass away till all these things take place.”
One of the hottest end-time prophecies at the moment is the building of a Third Temple. This is a big topic in New Testament Bible prophecy.
The very real possibility of a Third Temple is a sign that no other generation has seen. All the implements of Temple worship have already been created by industrious and devoted visionaries.
Right now we're living in the time period between the Second Temple that was destroyed in 70 B.C. and the Third Temple. Hardly a week goes by without some Temple Mount controversy for fear that the Jews will build their house of worship.
The Hebrew prophets all proclaimed that in the last days, the exiles of Israel will return to the Promised Land and restoration of the Temple will be their greatest ambition.
Ezekiel chapter 37 predicted the dry bones of the nation of Israel coming to life again in their own land. Ezekiel 37:28 predicts, “Then the nations will know that I the Lord make Israel holy, when my sanctuary is among them forever.”
While Bible prophecy is unfolding before our eyes, many blind skeptics in the Church promote erroneous replacement theology and dare to believe the lie that God has rejected the Jews and that Israel has somehow re-emerged as a political anomaly.
Yet, we must ask: What does the Bible teach?
We find from scripture in both the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament that God has never rejected his people Israel.
Isaiah 41:9 declares, “You, Israel, I called you from the ends of the earth. I said, ‘You are my servant’ I have chosen you and have not rejected you.”
Paul wrote the Book of Romans around the theme of how God has not rejected His people Israel.
So just as the prophets foretold, the Jewish people are returning to the Holy Land from the four corners of the earth after 19 centuries of global exile.
We’re seeing the fulfilment of Isaiah 43: 5–6, “Do not fear, for I am with you; I will bring your offspring from the east, And gather you from the west. I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’ And to the south, ‘Do not hold them back.’ Bring My sons from afar and My daughters from the ends of the earth.”
And while all of this activity called aliyah in Hebrew is happening, preparations are well under way to build the Third Temple.
Over a decade ago, Temple activists first began holding Passover sacrifice reenactments, and actually I can remember these activities to hasten the rebuilding of the Temple were talked about for decades. The notion of reviving Temple sacrifices has been perceived in the past in Israel as extremism that might incite Muslim retaliation. And so civil authorities refused to grant permits to hold such ceremonies in Jerusalem. The police actively prohibited attempts to bring sheep into the Old City for sacrifice.
However, the mood is changing.
The police and the Jerusalem municipality now reportedly view the rehearsal as another totally acceptable public happening, an event they want to see take place. Apparently even mainstream media have begun to accept Temple preparation activities not as a fringe idea but an important aspect of Jewish culture.
A Temple spokesman reportedly said, “It seems clear one day, sooner than we imagine, that the sacrifices will happen, on the Temple Mount itself, and no one will think it is an extremist event. In truth, anyone who reads the Bible knows this is our ongoing history.”
Rabbi Moses Maimonides, known as the Rambam, a medieval Jewish philosopher and Torah scholar, wrote that the Temple has significance first of all to reveal to mankind the divine presence of God, and secondly to facilitate the offering of sacrifices. However, since the destruction of the Second Temple, the Jewish People could no longer offer sacrifices. In fact, more than 200 of the 613 commandments in the Torah cannot be performed without the Temple.
The prophet Daniel, Jesus and the apostle Paul all prophesied that the future sinister figure known as the anti-messiah will defile the Third Temple before the return of Jesus. Both the prophet Daniel and Jesus referred to the Temple’s defilement as an act called the “abomination of desolation.”
In Matthew 24, Jesus warned about the abomination that causes desolation, spoken of through the prophet Daniel standing in the holy place, and he added for the future generation that sees the defilement “ — let the reader understand.”
There’s a very important prophecy by the apostle Paul in Second Thessalonians 2:4, “He [the man of lawlessness] will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s Temple, proclaiming himself to be God.”
Christian Bible prophecy scholars say that only a man of diplomatic skill who will be accepted by both Jews and Muslims will be able to broker a plan that would allow the Jewish people to worship in a Temple on the Mount where King David originally purchased territory. But many Christian eschatologists warn that Daniel 9:27 predicts that this deal maker, better known as the antichrist, will break the peace plan. Isaiah 28:18 reportedly calls it a “covenant with death” that will be annulled.
Nevertheless there are many Israeli organizations making preparations full speed ahead for a Third Temple. One of these organizations is The Temple Institute, which has a very active Facebook page. Other organizations also have potentially viable plans.
For example, one group proposes pitching a tabernacle-style tent on the Temple Mount that would speed up the end time scenario significantly — literally overnight — because pitching a tent is obviously much easier and less intrusive than building a building.
Other proposals include constructing a synagogue in one of the corners of the Temple Mount platform.
Meanwhile, several books have been written suggesting that the original site of the Temple was in the City of David near the Gihon Spring. And so construction of a Third Temple in the City of David could conceivably begin without delay and would presumably avoid the territorial controversy surrounding the Haram al Sharif.
Regardless of its future location, the future Temple's ritual garments and vessels have already been designed and created.
The Golden Menorah — the seven-branched candelabra — is on display in the Old City’s Jewish Quarter. Also ready are many Levitical musical instruments, silver trumpets and harps for worship, just as King David organized 3,000 years ago. The Temple Institute’s School is training certified, DNA-tested priests to perform Temple services and many of these services have been rehearsed. A final element, a red heifer, is being bred to be sacrificed in a Torah-prescribed ritual purification ceremony.
In fact, everything is ready for a Third Temple except its location. Since the liberation of the Temple Mount in 1967, Arabs have made great competitive efforts to claim the entire 37-acre platform calling it the Noble Sanctuary. The Muslim narrative has definitely changed with the times. A pre-state visitor’s guide to the area published by Muslim authorities in 1925 acknowledged that the territory was once the site of Solomon’s Temple. The guide clearly stated that the site’s identity with Solomon’s Temple is “beyond dispute.”
So, in 1925 the Muslims affirmed the Biblical history that they now trying to erase.
Are things coming to a head?
Recently Israel Today Magazine reported that “proponents of the Palestinian cause have tried to inflate the position of the Temple Mount in Islam, and thereby paint Israel’s sovereignty as an affront to their religion.”
But a couple years ago, a renowned Egyptian scholar and novelist acknowledged in a series of TV interviews that Jerusalem holds no particular religious significance for Muslims. In fact, Jerusalem is not mentioned in the Koran, and a growing number of Saudis on social media have taken to using a hashtag that translates as “Riyadh [the Saudi capital] is more important than Jerusalem.”
Furthermore, lately some Muslims leaders who are part of the Abraham Accords have admitted that the Temple Mount really belongs to the Jews and that Muslims should be concentrating on their holy city of Mecca.
In light of all of this, it’s appropriate to pray the prophetic words of Psalm 33:
“The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; He makes the plans of the peoples of no effect. The counsel of the Lord stands forever, The plans of His heart to all generations. Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people He has chosen as His own inheritance.”
________________
~ by Christine Darg
https://www.jpost.com/christianworld/article-705729
Christine Darg is founder of The Jerusalem Channel and can be contacted at: https://www.JerusalemChannel.tv
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Israel and Iran: Five minutes to Armageddon?
Israel and Iran are rapidly approaching an inflection point over Tehran’s nuclear program, and what was the atomic equivalent of a controlled clash between the two countries is now devolving into an unconstrained chain reaction. In late May, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the United Nations agency tasked with globally overseeing nuclear technology and use, reported that Iran possesses enough fissile material to construct a nuclear bomb. Jerusalem’s long-feared specter of Tehran becoming an existential threat to Israel is now very real and imminent.
Iran’s amassing of 95 pounds of highly enriched uranium (HEU) is deeply concerning. Sufficient HEU mass is required for a nuclear chain reaction to sustain itself and Tehran has ominously crossed that minimum threshold. More telling, however, is Iran’s decision to enrich its HEU stockpile to 60 percent — a level significantly beyond the 3 percent to 5 percent HEU enrichment needed to produce fuel for medical experiments and nuclear power plants. Spoken or not, Tehran is clearly aiming for 90 percent HEU enrichment, the level necessary to build an atomic bomb.
For Israel, it is 1981 redux — when then-Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and his security Cabinet authorized Operation Babylon to destroy Saddam Hussein’s Osirak nuclear facility. Iraq’s atomic threat was largely theoretical in nature in 1981; Iran’s today is far more dire and will be exponentially more difficult to eliminate.
The ayatollahs have been down this path before, targeting Israel and Saudi Arabia. Known as the Amad Plan, Iran intended to build five 10-kiloton nuclear warheads by 2003, according to documents seized from a Tehran warehouse in 2018 by Mossad, Israel’s espionage agency. Iran even had begun developing an atomic test site in the “Mars-like dead zone” of the Lut Desert, roughly 500 miles northeast of Dubai or 1,500 miles east of Tel Aviv.
Guardrails aimed at avoiding this crisis — tenuous as they were — are fast dissipating. The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) is all but dead. Brokered by the Obama administration in July 2015, the accord was intended to severely curtail Iran’s ability to develop nuclear weapons. The Trump administration badly undercut the JCPOA by unilaterally withdrawing in May 2018. The agreement was by no means perfect; however, it did serve to stunt Iran’s uranium enrichment while buying Jerusalem valuable time to plan and refine military options, if needed.
Despite stated interest in returning the U.S. to the JCPOA, President Biden failed to capitalize on the five-month window of opportunity he had at the beginning of his administration to engage Tehran’s moderates. Hard-liners ended up dominating Iran’s June 2021 elections, resulting in arch-conservative Ebrahim Raisi being elected as Iran’s new president.
Iran under Raisi is increasingly combative and noncooperative. On June 6, Rafael Grossi, director-general of the IAEA, reported to the agency’s board of governors that Tehran had failed to provide “explanations that are technically credible” with respect to finding nuclear materials at “three undeclared locations in Iran.” Further, Iran began installing “advanced IR-6 centrifuges” in clusters, thereby chillingly accelerating Tehran’s enrichment of uranium by as much as 50 percent.
In response, the IAEA board censured Tehran, resulting in Iran cutting off IAEA camera feeds that monitored Iran’s nuclear activities. Grossi believes, if left unaddressed, the IAEA’s inability to evaluate Iran’s atomic sites in real time likely will be a “fatal blow” to the JCPOA.
The Pentagon fully realizes that time is not on Israel’s side, nor that of the U.S. and its allies. In March, now-retired Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, then commander of U.S. Central Command, testified in a Senate hearing that Iran has “3,000 ballistic missiles,” including variants capable of reaching Tel Aviv, while assessing Tehran’s nuclear “breakout” is now measured in “weeks,” not “months.”
Israel concurs. Prime Minister Naftali Bennett acknowledged on June 12 Iran is “dangerously close to getting their hands on nuclear weapons.” Earlier, Jerusalem — in an atypical disclosure for Israel — declared it has sufficiently extended the range of its U.S.-supplied Lockheed Martin F-35I Adir stealth fighter-bombers to complete any missions tasked to them in Iran. Israel’s message to the ayatollahs was loud and clear: Israel can reach deep inside Iran and exit Iranian air space unseen. Either abandon pursuit of nuclear weapons or risk getting hit.
If forced to attack Iran’s nuclear program, Israel’s primary target would be destroying the centrifuges enriching HEU in Natanz, Fordow and elsewhere — all of which are buried deep underground. It is the only military means by which Jerusalem could avert Tehran from reaching the 90 percent HEU enrichment level. Numerous tertiary targets also would need to be eliminated. Iran Watch lists 38 known nuclear-related sites in total.
Jerusalem’s planning must anticipate Hezbollah, Hamas and other Tehran-backed militias aggressively responding in kind if Israel launches a raid into Iran. In all likelihood, before Israel’s air forces could return to Israeli airspace, massive volleys of rocket fire would be hitting the country from Lebanon, Gaza and Syria — and possibly even from Iran itself. Striking Iran’s nuclear facilities would be only the beginning, not the end, of a hot war between Israel and Iran.
Prepared or not, Israel and Washington both appear to be out of time — Iran’s threat is substantial, and it is only intensifying. Until now, Jerusalem’s “war between wars” covert approach against Iran was sufficient to tactically frustrate Tehran’s nuclear ambitions, largely via sabotage and assassinations of key Iranian nuclear physicists. It no longer is — not when HEU is 60 percent enriched. Measured in Doomsday Clock terms, it is five minutes to midnight in Jerusalem and Tehran — and in Megiddo, the historical biblical site of Armageddon in Israel.
___________________
~ by Mark Toth
~ Mark Toth is a retired economist, historian and entrepreneur who has worked in banking, insurance, publishing and global commerce. He is a former board member of the World Trade Center, St. Louis, and has lived in U.S. diplomatic and military communities around the world, including London, Tel Aviv, Augsburg and Nagoya. Follow him on Twitter @MCTothSTL
https://thehill.com/opinion/national-security/3523774-israel-and-iran-five-minutes-to-armageddon/
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The Daily Article — March 16, 2022
It is surreal to consider how different the world has become in three weeks.
As of this morning, more than three million refugees have fled Ukraine since the Russian invasion began on February 24. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s speech to the US Congress later today “could be the most important by a foreign leader since Churchill in 1941.” The leaders of the Czech Republic, Poland, and Slovenia traveled to Kyiv last night to meet with Mr. Zelensky to offer a broad package of support. The White House announced that President Biden will travel to Brussels for a March 24 NATO summit on the invasion.
The Metropolitan Opera presented a benefit performance Monday night in New York City, with all ticket sales and donations going to support relief efforts in Ukraine. And a Russian television producer courageously interrupted a live TV state media broadcast on Monday to hold up a sign protesting the war. Her actions prompted others to protest; she was found guilty of organizing an illegal protest and fined.
“World War III may already have arrived”:
It is obvious that Putin’s invasion of Ukraine is changing the world far beyond Ukraine. The question is, how much of the world?
Veronika Melkozerova, a journalist based in Kyiv, writes in the Atlantic, “Every night I close my eyes thinking I might be next on Putin’s death-toll list. Nowadays, you never know where the Russians will drop their bombs — onto a residential building, a kindergarten classroom, a monastery, or a maternity hospital.” She understands that people of the West “are scared of World War III” but adds, “Don’t you understand that World War III may have already arrived?”
Putin clearly wants to rebuild a new Russian Empire, which could lead him to advance beyond Ukraine into NATO-allied countries and force the US into the conflict. I noted on Monday the growing concern that Russia could use “tactical nuclear weapons” to win its war with Ukraine; that same day, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told reporters, “The prospect of nuclear conflict, once unthinkable, is now back within the realm of possibility.”
China’s continued escalation of its nuclear capacities only adds to the growing danger. Adm. Charles Richard leads US Strategic Forces, which oversees the military’s nuclear arsenal. He told lawmakers last week, “Today, we face two nuclear-capable near peers who have the capability to unilaterally escalate to any level of violence, in any domain worldwide, with any instrument of national power, at any time.”
How might God redeem the fears of these days?
By now your stress level is probably higher than it was when you began reading this article. And we haven’t even considered that the world has now surpassed six million COVID-19 deaths as the US nears one million such tragedies. Vox has reported that “deaths of despair” (suicide, drug overdoses, and alcohol-related liver disease) “amount to the equivalent of a catastrophic pandemic every single year.” And now we are dealing with an enemy that might deploy nuclear weapons with unforeseeable global consequences.
However, none of this surprises God. He is not reading these words with the same anxiety you and I might be feeling.
Since I am convinced that the Lord redeems all he allows, I asked myself today how he might redeem the fears of these perilous days. Instantly a simple thought occurred to me: by showing us how deeply we need what only our Father can give.
It is human nature to depend on human nature. From the first sin in human history to the last sin you and I committed, the common denominator has been the same: we want to be our own god (Genesis 3:5), to be king of our own kingdom. To show us our need for his redemptive grace, God then responds by allowing us the consequences of our misused freedom (Romans 1:24–32). Inevitably, such self-exaltation comes at the expense of others. Putin’s invasion of Ukraine is the latest in a line of murderous crimes extending to the dawn of human history (Genesis 4:1–11).
The defining question of our lives:
Denison Ministries Creative Director Josh Miller has a fascinating new article on our website titled “‘Blessed are the self-sufficient’: How the anti-Beatitudes explain our cultural anxieties.” After exposing the fallacy of living by our culture’s self-sufficient values, he asks, “What kingdom defines your life?”
This is the defining question of our lives. You and I can seek to advance our own kingdoms, or we can “seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness” in the assurance that “all these things will be added to you” (Matthew 6:33).
When we turn our world and our fears over to the true king of the universe, what does he give us in return? Jesus assured us, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid” (John 14:27).
When we name our fears and trust them specifically and unconditionally to Jesus, we experience more than His help and hope — we experience Him. We "experience His peace, His joy" (Hebrews 12:2), His "abundant life" (John 10:10). We can say with Paul, “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me” (Galatians 2:20). We can experience fully “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27).
Henri Nouwen observed:
“We tend to emphasize the distance between Jesus and ourselves. We see Jesus as the all-knowing and all-powerful Son of God who is unreachable for us sinful, broken human beings. But thinking this way, we forget that Jesus came to give us his own life. He came to lift us up into loving community with the Father. Only when we recognize the radical purpose of Jesus’ ministry will we be able to understand the meaning of the spiritual life. Everything that belongs to Jesus is given for us to receive. All that Jesus does we may also do.”
Do you “understand the meaning of the spiritual life” today?
_____________________
~ excerpt from: https://www.denisonforum.org/daily-article/zelenskys-speech-to-congress-today-could-be-the-most-important-by-a-foreign-leader-since-churchill-in-1941/
Battle of Gog and Magog
The Bible, in Ezekiel 38-39, describes the battle of Gog and Magog coming against the nation of Israel in the end times. It is not clear when this battle will occur, or why it occurs, but God will use the battle to demonstrate His power, and protection of His chosen people of Israel. Ezekiel 39 describes Israel taking 7 months to bury the aggressor’s dead and utilizing the left-behind “spoils of war” for 7 years. Although the Bible doesn’t specifically call out Russia as Magog – the mentioned area of Rosh adds credence to a modern-day Russia. The areas occupied by modern-day Turkey and Iran are aligned with Magog, as well as a number of other Russian allied nations.
One theory as to why they would attack Israel has to do with the abundance of natural resources that Israel contains – specifically the vast natural gas reserves located in the Mediterranean Sea – off the coast of Israel. Up until a week ago Russian was the major supplier of natural gas to Europe, and beyond, and if the prolonged sanctions against Russia continue, those countries are going to need an alternate supplier. Israel has been increasing its off-shore production, and submitting bidding for foreign oil and gas companies to partner with for further developments. They can easily off-set the loss of natural gas to Europe from Russia – they just need key-partners to build the infrastructure. Would this alone be reason for Russia to attack Israel? Probably not – but Russia does have other reasons – with more to come…
Key allies of Russia are Iran and Syria – both countries equally hated by Israel – and vice-versa. It wouldn’t take much provocation to draw Russia into direct confrontation with Israel. They do not accept the Golan Heights annexation by Israel in 1981, and are ratcheting-up the verbiage against it again recently, as Israel is developing settlements within it. Golan Heights has resources of oil and fresh water as well.
And how will Russia react when Israel is compelled to attack Iran to cripple Iran’s nuclear capability? That writing is on the wall. It’s not a matter of “if” – but “when”, as Iran is adamantly determined to create nuclear bombs. This could be the proverbial “straw that broke the camel’s back” in order for the Russian coalition to come together and attack Israel.
End-time events are unfolding before our very eyes people. Everything that is playing-out on the world stage has been prophesied in the Bible – it is, and, will continue to be fulfilled. I urgently request that you accept Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Saviour – as there is no other way to eternal life after we breath our last breath here on earth. Do not delay – time is of the essence.
The Daily Article – by Jim Denison
~ Russia Puts Nuclear Forces on High-Alert: Our Biblical Call to Courage.
A Ukrainian delegation arrived this morning at the border with Belarus for talks with Russia, though President Volodymyr Zelensky expressed little hope that the meeting would end the war. Mr. Zelensky is not attending the meeting but said his country would push for “an immediate cease-fire and the withdrawal of troops.”
This news comes as Belarus prepares to send soldiers into Ukraine to support the Russian invasion. Yesterday, Russian forces pushed into Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, but it remains under Ukrainian control. Russia is facing more resistance than it was expecting in the capital, Kyiv, which is still under Ukrainian control at this writing as well.
Meanwhile, in what the Associated Press calls “dramatically escalated East-West tensions,” President Vladimir Putin ordered Russian nuclear forces to be put on high alert yesterday in response to what he called “aggressive statements” from leading NATO powers. The Russian leader threatened last week to retaliate against any nation that intervened in the conflict in Ukraine, specifically raising the specter of his country’s status as a nuclear power.
Nuclear weapons are not the only catastrophic way this conflict could escalate. British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss warned yesterday that Putin could also use “the most unsavory means,” including banned chemical or biological weapons.
In the face of this growing crisis, boldness is the order of the day.
Seven Calls to Prayer Changed the World:
When the apostles were arrested and forbidden from preaching the gospel, they prayed:
“Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness, while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of Your holy Servant Jesus” ~ Acts 4:29–30
As a result:
“When they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the Word of God with boldness” ~ Acts 4:31
Does God Still Answer Prayers for “Boldness” and for “Signs and Wonders”?
Britain issued seven calls to prayer during World War II. The first was called by King George VI on March 27, 1940, as 350,000 British soldiers were trapped at Dunkirk. In what history calls “the miracle of Dunkirk,” some 330,000 men were then rescued.
The second and third National Days of Prayer came during the Battle of Britain, when Nazi air forces were defeated by the relatively small British force. Air Chief Marshall Hugh Dowding later testified, “I will say with absolute conviction that I can trace the intervention of God... Humanly speaking, victory was impossible!”
The fourth National Day of Prayer was called by the king and parliament for March 23, 1941, as Hitler was planning to invade Britain. Subsequently, a great earthquake created waves with terrific gales that blew Nazi ships eighty miles off course. The British Navy defeated the Italian fleet in the Mediterranean; Ethiopian ports were liberated; and Yugoslavian forces organized resistance to Hitler. As a result, Hitler gave up invading Britain.
The fifth National Day of Prayer was on September 3, 1942. The next day at Palermo in the Mediterranean, the entire Italian fleet was sunk.
The sixth National Day of Prayer was on September 3, 1943, the fourth anniversary of the outbreak of war. That very night, Italy surrendered to the allies and the dictator Mussolini was murdered.
The seventh and last National Day of Prayer was called by the king in the spring of 1944 prior to D-Day. Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower reported later, “If there was nothing else in my life to prove the existence of an Almighty and Merciful God, the events of the next twenty-four hours did it. The greatest break in a terrible outlay of weather occurred next day and allowed that great invasion to proceed.” The resulting D-Day victory led to the end of the war in Europe.
Why Has America Not Called For a Day of Prayer?
So far, America has not called for a National Day of Prayer in the face of the crisis with Russia.
• Is this because God does not answer such prayers?
Adamantly not: our Lord is “the same yesterday and today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8). Anything he has done once, he can do twice.
• Is it because the crisis is not grave?
Adamantly not: as we will discuss tomorrow, we are facing a nuclear-armed nation whose ultimate goal is revenge on the US and our allies.
• Is it because our secularized culture no longer believes that faith is relevant or prayer is powerful?
Tragically yes. But our unbelief does not change God’s omnipotence.
Please join me in praying for continued boldness for the leaders and people of Ukraine. Pray for spiritual boldness for America’s Christians to fight this battle on our knees. And pray for spiritual humility for America’s leaders to recognize our need for what only God can supply.
Philipps Brooks: “Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers. Pray for power equal to your tasks.”
Scripture calls us: “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16).
How near to the throne of grace are you today?
________________________
~ excerpt from: https://www.denisonforum.org/daily-article/putin-puts-nuclear-forces-on-high-alert-the-latest-from-ukraine-and-a-biblical-call-to-courage/
The America and the Christian Obligation to the Ukraine Conflict
Ukrainian authorities said yesterday that Russian forces had captured the abandoned Chernobyl nuclear power plant, the scene of a 1986 meltdown that sent a radioactive cloud over parts of Europe. A Ukrainian official warned that if artillery punctured the encasement of the failed reactor, “radioactive nuclear dust could cover the territory of Ukraine, Belarus, and the countries of the European Union.”
In tragic ways, this warning is a metaphor for what is happening in Ukraine today.
Rockets struck the capital city of Kyiv early this morning as the US warned that the city could soon fall to Russian forces. Ukraine’s foreign minister wrote on Twitter, “Last time our capital experienced anything like this was in 1941 when it was attacked by Nazi Germany.” The UK defense secretary said today that Russia intends to take the whole of Ukraine.
Just before Russia’s invasion began, a US Pentagon official told ABC News reporter Martha Raddatz, “You are likely in the last few hours of peace on the European continent for a long time to come.”
Stanford and Harvard historian Niall Ferguson explains that Russian President Vladimir Putin “is looking to rebuild Russia’s empire” and seeks to emulate Peter the Great (1672–1725), the tsar who built Russia into a European great power. Putin’s invasion is already having its desired effect at home as his approval ratings are soaring. The Russian public largely believes that the Kremlin is defending them by standing up to the West: half of Russians blame the current crisis on the US and NATO, while 16 percent think Ukraine is the aggressor and just 4 percent believe Russia is responsible.
President Biden spoke to the escalating crisis yesterday, unveiling harsh new sanctions meant to punish Russia. “Putin’s actions betray a sinister vision for the future of our world,” he said.
Given the danger of that “sinister vision,” what are America’s obligations to Ukraine and our world?
And on a more personal note, what are our obligations in this conflict as Christians?
America’s Obligations in 3 Questions:
The Political Forum Institute notes that our first question can be asked in three ways: What can the United States do? What must the United States do? And what should the United States do?
The writer answers the first two questions quickly.
• What Can the United States Do?
“Anything it wants to do. Despite its recent history of mixed results, the United States possesses the most formidable military presence ever known to man. There is virtually no limit on what American forces can do” (his italics).
• What Must We Do?
“Nothing. The United States has no obligation to do anything whatsoever. It has no formal commitment to aid Ukraine, and it has no official responsibility to involve itself in regional [conflicts] that date back several centuries.”
• What Should America Do?
According to a new poll, just 26 percent of Americans say the US should have a major role in this conflict, 52 percent support a minor role, and 20 percent say we should have no role at all.
Writing for the Heritage Foundation, Luke Coffey makes a persuasive argument that “America and its allies benefit from a Ukraine that remains independent, sovereign, and able to choose its own destiny without outside interference.” As a result, he recommends that we supply Ukrainians with weapons and intelligence, implement “devastating top-to-bottom economic sanctions” against Russia, “kill” the gas pipeline Nord Stream 2 “right now,” bolster the defense of NATO’s eastern flank, and plan to aid Ukrainian refugees in Eastern Europe.
A Christian’s Obligations: 4 Imperatives
Whatever your geopolitical thoughts on this conflict, our responses as Christ-followers are clear. Let’s not mistake familiarity with these biblical imperatives for obedience — each is a vital step each of us should be taking today.
One: Intercede for Our Brothers and Sisters in Ukraine:
As I have written previously, 78 percent of Ukrainian adults, some thirty-five million people, are Orthodox Christians. On their behalf, you and I are to “keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints” (Ephesians 6:18). Let’s ask God to protect and provide for them and their families. And let’s pray for God to use their faith and witness in this crisis to lead many to himself.
When we pray for our fellow believers, we join Jesus in his intercession for his church (Romans 8:34). As Janet Denison writes in her latest blog, we should “pray for our brothers and sisters in Ukraine like Jesus would pray for them — like Jesus is praying for them” (her emphasis).
Two: Pray for All Leaders:
Paul wrote, “I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions” (1 Timothy 2:1–2a, my emphasis). We are to pray for this outcome: “that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way” (v. 2b).
To achieve this result, we should therefore pray for repentance for Vladimir Putin and others who are instigating this horrific conflict, remembering that what God did to transform Saul the persecutor into Paul the apostle, he can do with anyone who turns to him (Acts 9:1–25). And we should pray for Ukrainian, European, and American leaders to have divine wisdom, courage, and perseverance as they respond on behalf of those they serve.
Three: Seek Ways to Help the Victims:
Jesus taught us that how we treat those who are hungry, thirsty, strangers, naked, sick, or imprisoned is how we treat him (Matthew 25:35–40). War always creates such victims. Look for ways you and your church can help those in danger and the millions of refugees who are expected to flee Ukraine in the coming days.
Four: Oppose Our Greatest Enemy:
Jesus described Satan as “the thief [who] comes only to steal and kill and destroy” (John 10:10). As a result, wherever we find theft, murder, and destruction, we can know Satan is at work. He uses people and nations as his instruments of malice, but ultimately “we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against . . . the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12).
Christians are called to the front lines of this spiritual battle, a conflict we can win only on our knees.
Will you wage war on your knees today?
____________________
~ based upon an excerpt from:
https://www.denisonforum.org/daily-article/the-last-few-hours-of-peace-on-the-european-continent-for-a-long-time-to-come/
Putin Has Just Launched a Full-Scale Invasion of Ukraine
~ Today, we are all Ukrainians.
Russian forces invaded Ukraine by land, air, and sea overnight in the largest attack by one nation against another in Europe since World War II. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Twitter, “Putin has just launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Peaceful Ukrainian cities are under strikes.”
According to European Union affairs chief Josep Borrell, “These are among the darkest hours of Europe since the Second World War.”
In a televised declaration of war, Russian President Vladimir Putin said he had ordered “a special military operation” to “strive for the demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine.” He added that “Russia cannot feel safe, develop, and exist with a constant threat emanating from the territory of modern Ukraine.”
Then he claimed in true dictator fashion, “All responsibility for bloodshed will be on the conscience of the ruling regime in Ukraine.”
As CNN‘s Stephen Collinson reports this morning, “Decades of peace between nations on the European landmass ended with loud blasts in multiple Ukrainian cities. . . . thunderous explosions soon loomed over the capital Kyiv as air raid sirens wailed, heralding a dangerous new crisis for a world already rocked by turmoil.”
Shelling and missile strikes have been reported across the country. Russian-backed separatists launched attacks in the breakaway regions of Luhansk and Donetsk to the east, while Ukrainian officials said Russian troops have also attacked to the north from Belarus and to the south from the Black Sea.
According to an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, about forty people have been killed so far in the Russian attack and several dozen wounded. President Zelenskyy said at a briefing, “The Ukrainian military is waging hard battles, repelling attacks in Donbas and other regions in the east, north, and south.”
Global financial markets have plunged and oil prices are soaring. The Associated Press reports that Russia’s actions “could cause massive casualties, topple Ukraine’s democratically elected government and upend geopolitics and Europe’s post-Cold War security balance.”
US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield stated, “This is a grave emergency.” President Biden said the US and allies will be “imposing severe sanctions on Russia” later today. Mr. Biden said he spoke with the Ukrainian president, who asked him “to call on the leaders of the world to speak out clearly against President Putin’s flagrant aggression and to stand with the people of Ukraine.”
What Does This Mean for America?
CBS News reported yesterday that gas prices had already hit eight-year highs; they are now surging even higher. Sanctions or export controls against Russia could make semiconductor shortages even worse, while restrictions on wheat or metals “could drive the fiercest bout of inflation in decades to climb even higher.” Russian cyberattacks that continued yesterday against Ukraine could be directed at the US as well.
And this invasion could spark a wider war directly affecting American military personnel.
William Taylor, former US ambassador to Ukraine, predicted, “If the Russians succeed in establishing a sphere of influence or of dominating Ukraine, it won’t stop there. They will continue. The Poles and the Romanians, the Czechs will be very concerned as they see Russian tanks coming west from Russia into Ukraine toward them, and they will ask for reinforcements from the United States.”
American military families are already understandably concerned. Chris Brooks, one of my favorite radio hosts, told our listeners yesterday that he was especially praying for our military and invited them to call in to our conversation with specific prayer requests. One person who responded asked us to pray for a Marine and his wife, who is expecting their child any day. I cannot imagine what these days must be like for them and for so many others like them.
“We Must be Global Christians”:
The day after 9/11, the French newspaper Le Monde announced, “We are all Americans.” Queen Elizabeth II sang the American national anthem at Buckingham Palace’s Changing of the Guard. In Brazil, Rio de Janeiro put up large billboards showing the city’s famous Christ the Redeemer statue embracing the New York City skyline.
What the billboard depicted is more than symbolism.
Because God is the king of the universe, every dimension of the universe falls within his care and compassion. He loves Ukrainians just as much as he loves Americans and Russians just as much as he loves Ukrainians.
“We must be global Christians with a global vision, because our God is a global God.” — John R. W. Stott
This is why, one day, all the nations of the world “shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore” (Isaiah 2:4). It is why in heaven we will join “a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb” (Revelation 7:9).
And it is why our Father calls his children to “love your neighbor as yourself” (Leviticus 19:18; Matthew 22:39). Lest you think your “neighbor” is limited to your local geography, remember that Jesus’ story of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25–37) identifies your neighbor as anyone who needs something you can provide. If you can intercede with compassion for the besieged people of Ukraine today, they just became your neighbor today.
If you had loved ones living in Ukraine, how would you feel about this crisis? That’s precisely how God feels about it.
Let’s join Him.
Today, we are all Ukrainians.
https://www.denisonforum.org/daily-article/putin-has-just-launched-a-full-scale-invasion-of-ukraine/
Is Ukraine on the Brink of War?
~ Two articles explain why this crisis matters to the world...
President Vladimir Putin of Russia recognized the independence of two separatist regions in eastern Ukraine yesterday. In his speech, he claimed that “Ukraine has never had traditions of its own statehood,” calling the eastern part of the country “ancient Russian lands.”
He then ordered the Russian army to launch what Moscow is calling a “peacekeeping” operation in the area. The BBC reports this morning that footage overnight appeared to show Russian military vehicles heading toward the Ukrainian border. The United Nations Security Council held an emergency meeting last night during which Western countries condemned Russia’s actions as a break with international law and an implicit attack against the territorial integrity of every UN member state.
Leaders from France, the European Union, the European Commission, the United Nations, NATO, and Lithuania condemned Russia’s move. US President Joe Biden signed an executive order to halt US business activity in the breakaway regions. European Union members are meeting today to decide what sanctions to impose.
The Start of Conflicts to Come?
I have found two articles on the escalating crisis in Ukraine to be especially informative:
In the first, New York Times columnist David Leonhardt writes, “A Russian invasion of Ukraine would look like the kind of war that has been largely absent in the past eighty years and that was once common. It would involve a powerful nation setting out to expand its regional dominance by taking over its neighbor.”
He adds that such a “voluntary war of aggression” would signal that Putin believes the US, the European Union, and their allies have become too weak to exact painful consequences in response.
Like Russia, the leaders of China, Iran, and Venezuela are also autocrats. According to Leonhardt, they are watching the Western response to Russia: “If the world is entering an era in which countries again make decisions based, above all, on what their military power allows them to do, it would be a big change.”
In addition, Leonhardt notes, a Russian takeover of Ukraine would be an autocracy taking over a democracy by force. Putin and his inner circle believe that Western democracies are in decline, polarized by cultural conflicts, and led by weakened political parties and leaders. Consequently, this could well be the start of similar and escalating aggression to come.
“Does History Repeat Itself Endlessly?”
A second article I wanted to discuss with you today is by bestselling author and historian Yuval Noah Harari. Writing for the Economist, he states, “At the heart of the Ukraine crisis lies a fundamental question about the nature of history and the nature of humanity: Is change possible? Can humans change the way they behave, or does history repeat itself endlessly, with humans forever condemned to re-enact past tragedies without changing anything except the décor?”
He describes two options:
One is a school of thought that “firmly denies the possibility of change” and “argues that the world is a jungle, that the strong prey upon the weak, and that the only thing preventing one country from wolfing down another is military force.” His second option is the belief (to which he subscribes) that “war isn’t a fundamental force of nature. Its intensity and existence depend on underlying technological, economic, and cultural factors. As these factors change, so does war.”
Harari then points to evidence for the second position: “In the past seven decades there has been no direct war between superpowers.” With this result: “In the first two decades of the twenty-first century, human violence has killed fewer people than suicide, car accidents, or obesity-related diseases. Gunpowder has become less lethal than sugar.”
According to Harari, “The decline in war didn’t result from a divine miracle or from a change in the laws of nature. It resulted from humans making better choices. It is arguably the greatest political and moral achievement of modern civilization. Unfortunately, the fact that it stems from human choice also means that it is reversible.”
Leonhardt highlights the enormous stakes of the crisis in Ukraine as a bellwether of similar crises to come. In the face of this looming threat, Harari bases his hope for the future on “humans making better choices.” This is because, as an atheist, he does not believe in a God who has “concrete ideas . . . about human politics.”
But you and I know better. We know that the God of the universe “makes nations great, and he destroys them; he enlarges nations, and leads them away” (Job 12:23). By contrast, “Man in his pomp will not remain; he is like the beasts that perish” (Psalm 49:12).
This is why we place our hope for the future in the Lord of eternity.
Consequently, please join me in praying fervently for God to change human hearts bent on war and destruction. Ask him to protect the persecuted from their persecutors. Ask him to redeem the suffering of the innocent (1 Peter 5:10; Romans 8:18).
And remember, as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. reminded us, that “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” This is because the King of the universe is “a God of justice” (Isaiah 30:18).
So let us claim these familiar words for our broken and unjust world:
This is my Father’s world.
O let me ne’er forget
That though the wrong
Seems oft so strong,
God is the ruler yet.
This is my Father’s world:
The battle is not done:
Jesus who died shall be satisfied,
And earth and Heav’n be one.
https://www.denisonforum.org/columns/daily-article/is-ukraine-on-the-brink-of-war-two-articles-explain-why-this-crisis-matters-to-the-world/
Queen Elizabeth Tests Positive for Coronavirus: Why “Bad Ideas Have Victims”
Buckingham Palace announced yesterday that Queen Elizabeth II has tested positive for coronavirus. The ninety-five-year-old monarch is reportedly experiencing mild cold-like symptoms but expects to continue light duties at Windsor over the coming week.
One fact the pandemic has made emphatically clear is that we are each mortal. We enter this world with nothing and we leave it with nothing. One day, the queen will stand alone before the King, as will we all:
“We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil” ~ 2 Corinthians 5:10
If we could all remember that fact, our world would be dramatically transformed. My friend John Stonestreet is right: “Ideas have consequences, and bad ideas have victims.”
“The Biggest War in Europe Since 1945”
CBS News reported yesterday that Russian commanders have received orders to proceed with an invasion of Ukraine and commanders on the ground are now making specific battlefield plans. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said all signs suggest that we are on the brink of an invasion. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson told the BBC that Russia is planning “the biggest war in Europe since 1945.”
Meanwhile, the Winter Olympics came to a close in China yesterday, ending what the New York Times is calling “a games marked by triumph, heartbreak, and scandal.” China’s horrific treatment of the Uyghur people has been in the headlines since 2014, with more than a million Turkic Muslims in this northwestern region of China incarcerated. This is being called “the largest-scale detention of ethnic and religious minorities since World War II” with forced abortions, forced sterilization, forced birth control, forced labor, torture, and brainwashing.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is in such complete control of his government and military that the Moscow Times called him “a modern-day Tsar.” China is ruled by the seven members of the Standing Committee of the Politburo but led in actuality by Xi Jinping, who is general secretary, president, and head of the military.
Both men reflect the cultural narratives of their cultures. Russia has historically been governed by a single strong leader, whether a tsar, a General Secretary of the Communist Party, or a president. China has functioned in a similar fashion across its history, whether its leaders were emperors or Communist officials.
When We Usurp God’s Throne:
By contrast, America’s founding ideal is captured in our Declaration of Independence:
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”
This ethic is itself founded on the Judeo-Christian worldview and its claims that every human is equally created in the image of God (Genesis 1:27) but also equally fallen and sinful (Romans 3:23).
Here we find the two catalytic reasons for our republic: we are each equally deserving of life, liberty, and happiness, but we are each so finite and fallen that none of us can be trusted with unaccountable power and authority. For both reasons, there should be no kings, tsars, despots, or otherwise unelected leaders among us.
In Abraham Lincoln’s immortal words, our founders created a “government of the people, by the people, for the people.”
My purpose is not to extol my country in contrast with others. Admittedly, our nation, as it is led by fallen people, has not fully lived up to our constitutional values. The man who wrote the Declaration was a slave owner who fathered children by one of his slaves. It took a civil war and another century of civil rights advances to eradicate governmentally sanctioned racism and Jim Crow laws. We still have far to go to realize fully our ideals.
But my point is this: the equality of all people is our ideal. Like Queen Elizabeth II, we are all mortal:
“It is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment” ~ Hebrews 9:27
When we usurp God’s throne and seek to be our own gods, tragedy soon ensues, whether in the garden of Eden, Ukraine, China, or our own backyards.
“Christianity is a Power Religion”
Imagine a world in which every person valued every other person equally as made in God’s image. Imagine a world in which our leaders saw themselves as servants of those they led (John 13:14–15). These ideas would have monumental and transformative consequences for our entire world. By contrast, rejecting them leads to victims of every kind, including adultery in marriage, child abuse in families, crime in our cities, and wars against nations.
So, it turns out, John Stonestreet is right about the power of ideas. John F. Kennedy noted, “A man may die, nations may rise and fall, but an idea lives on.” This fact shows us a powerful way Christians can respond to the crisis in Ukraine, with the Uyghurs, or anywhere people are oppressing people: we can and should pray for God to change the minds and hearts of the oppressors.
Christians as disparate as David French and Franklin Graham are praying that God “turns Vladimir Putin’s heart from war,” as French states. We should join them, and we should do the same for Xi Jinping. If you doubt God’s ability to change the heart of someone who seems so far from his word and will, remember what the risen Christ did with Saul of Tarsus on the road to Damascus (Acts 9:1–22).
As we pray for the Holy Spirit to convict people who are sinning against people, let’s remember to pray the same for ourselves. Peter Marshall was right:
“Christianity is a power religion. Christ has the power to recreate men from the inside out.”
R. C. Sproul asserted: “The Spirit brings order out of chaos and beauty out of ugliness. He can transform a sin-blistered man into a paragon of virtue. The Spirit changes people. The Author of life is also the Transformer of life.”
Is He transforming you today?
https://www.denisonforum.org/columns/daily-article/queen-elizabeth-tests-positive-for-coronavirus-why-bad-ideas-have-victims/
The World End-Time Events
“Then Jesus replied to them: “Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and they will deceive many. You are going to hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, because these things must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise up against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these events are the beginning of birth pains.”
“Then they will hand you over for persecution, and they will kill you. You will be hated by all nations because of My name. Then many will take offense, betray one another and hate one another. Many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. Because lawlessness will multiply, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be delivered. This good news of the kingdom will be proclaimed in all the world as a testimony to all nations. And then the end will come.”
~ Matthew 24:4-14
As a disciple of Christ, we should not be alarmed or surprised by the events that are unfolding throughout the world. During the time of Jesus walking and teaching in human form upon the earth, He taught extensively concerning the coming troubles for mankind, and, all of creation. The intent was to prepare us for the end-time events – which are clearly unfolding on the world scene.
Let us take a closer look at a few of these predictions:
1. Deception:
Jesus spoke many times concerning the coming deception, and, being deceived by the evil one (a.k.a.; Spirit of the Anti-Christ). Deception by the evil one is not something that has just appeared upon mankind – as the human race, we have been being deceived since Adam and Eve first sinned. In fact, it has been so subtle that people that do not have the Spirit of Christ living within them are blind to its destructive grip on them.
In Matthew 24:24 Jesus taught us that “False messiahs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders to lead astray, if possible, even the elect.”
The world is certainly full of false prophets – essentially teaching people false narratives concerning what is acceptable by God, and that everybody that lives a good life is going to heaven, and that there are many paths to salvation, etc.
But what about the “false messiahs”?
Although history has had many people claiming messianic personalities or rights – they have all proven to be false. In the Britannica the term “adjective messianic” is described as being “used in a broad sense to refer to beliefs or theories about an eschatological improvement of the state of humanity or the world.” This definition opens up a whole new meaning to false messiahs. In Luke 21:11 Jesus spoke of plagues befalling mankind, and in just one instance of this we are being deceived by the Spirit of the Anti-Christ that the greatest plague the earth has ever faced is destroying the whole world. And who has come to the rescue – to “save” us from it? The same evil entities that bio-engineered it to bring about the destruction. Sounds a lot like a “false messiah” to this author.
2. Lawlessness:
With increasing popularity, the Spirit of Lawlessness is pursuing turmoil, death and destruction on a level not seen before outside World Wars. What effect is this having upon the human heart? It’s causing many to grow cold within their heart and soul; a “just don’t bring it to my doorstep” mentality has developed. Even those claiming to be Christians have developed callous emotions to the events.
3. Earthquakes and Famines:
The Earth is currently experiencing the greatest amount of continuous earthquake and volcanic activity ever recorded in history. Just in the USA alone, the USGS has stopped reporting many earthquakes on its website, or, immediately removing the reference of them. Why? Probably to stave-off any public panic. The Earth is crying out in birthing-pains, and the Spirit of the Anti-Christ is trying to keep it quiet. Do a little research concerning active volcanoes throughout the world. It will surprise you how little any of them are being publicly made known.
Famine is another sign spoken of by Jesus. Famines throughout the world – whether man-made or naturally occurring – have been recorded throughout the world down through history. The past number of years as seen increasing famines throughout the world – due to a variety of reasons. Many of them have been man-made – whether intentionally or as a direct result of trying to “play God” with the weather (increased flooding and droughts). Analysts are predicting that even in the USA we’re in for some severe shortages of food and water. All of our supermarkets are already experiencing such shortages.
There are many more signs and wonders that Jesus spoke of concerning the end times, but the ones mentioned above are a few of the most apparent ones that are currently playing out. Jesus didn’t tell us these things for us to be scared or anxious about them – those emotions are not from God – they are from the Spirit of the Anti-Christ. On the contrary, Jesus foretold us about these events in order to prepare us for them.
For the true child of God (the disciple of Jesus Christ), the Holy Spirit will lead us and guide us in these trying times. We must continually seek the Lord’s will daily, and walk in complete obedience to Him, and the Lord Himself will give to us the “peace that surpasses all understanding”.
Do you have this type of peace in your heart, spirit, mind and soul? Do you even care?
Deceptive Lies and Pride - Powerful Tools of Satan
The globalist agenda (a.k.a. spirit of the anti-christ) has perpetrated upon mankind the most heinous deception to-date, and billions of people worldwide have fallen into the trap.
Now that the truth is available to those that wish to receive it, I ask the question "what are you going to do with it?"
The spirit of the anti-christ has come to kill, steal and destroy. To physically kill, spiritually steal, and to destroy our hope, trust and obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Some of you have been deceived by satan, and have bought into the globalist narrative - I get it. But, now, we have a choice to make: to allow sinful pride to keep pushing us down the anti-christ path - possibly straight into hell, or, to repent of the err of our ways and the pridefulness of our hearts. It's not too late to come clean, and to start relying completely on God for every circumstance of our life.
Learning who God is - through the Word, understanding His desires for us, and obediently walking in that truth is the only way to true peace and joy throughout all of life's ups and downs. If we are to be identified as disciples of Christ, we will trust and obey, and our daily life will be a witness for others to our loyalty to the Lord - in all things.
Lord, Search Our Hearts
Make no mistake about it - unless the Lord changes the path that our country is going down, ostracisation and persecution is quickly approaching those that will not bow to the globalist agenda - and yes, that includes the demonically-inspired mRNA vaccinations. For those that have "ears to hear", I strongly suggest that you earnestly seek the Lord's will, and then "walk in it".
Fear and deception is a very real lie from satan. If you're walking in the fear and deception of the current global narrative, then it is possible that you do not have the Spirit of Christ living within you, or, you have ignored His gentle urging's for so long that you are no longer able to hear Him.
Heart-felt, life-changing repentance may be in order - please don't delay.
The Flow of Money Creates a Path to One World Government
“We are grateful to The Washington Post, The New York Times, Time Magazine and other great publications.... for their promises of discretion for almost forty years... the work is now much more sophisticated and prepared to march towards a World Government... The supranational sovereignty of an intellectual elite and world bankers is surely preferable to the national auto-determination practiced in past centuries.” ~ David Rockefeller to the Trilateral Commission, 1991
This statement, made thirty years ago, means that the conspiracy to replace our Constitutional Republic began forty years before that — 1951 — with the assistance of respected journalists. Seventy years of concerted effort to leave We the People in the dark. (It is probably more like over one hundred years.)
James Warburg, financial advisor to FDR, and part of a banking family that stood to gain financially from world government, testified in 1950 before a Senate Congressional subcommittee that “We shall have world government whether you like it or not, by conquest or consent.”
This leaves We the People with two large questions: how did this happen and what can we do if either of those two options is unacceptable to the American people?
This issue has been with us since George Washington took office in 1789. A small cadre of interconnected bankers was already well-established in England, France, Austria, Germany, and Italy. These bankers took advantage of the chaos growing out of the rejection of Roman Catholicism and the social breakdown and vehement hatreds that grew out of the Protestant Reformation by funding both sides (through government debt) of the many resultant wars and revolutions and then funding the peace afterward.
The profits were enormous. As Europe went through the revolutionary turmoil of the 19th and early 20th centuries, world bankers wove through societies like a malignancy, manipulating world leaders, destabilizing whole nations of people, and supporting philosophies that promote centralized authority (including international authority) that would strengthen world banking arrangements.
America is a different matter. First, we are isolated by two oceans and developed a stable and productive society away from the horrors of Europe. We had no Roman Catholic experience to reject. We did reject atheism — we are a God-fearing and God-respecting nation. The federal Constitution, as well as each state Constitution, created a framework for ordered Liberty — America’s unique and irreplaceable Rule of Law. Decentralizing authority — Federalism — is one of the philosophical anchors to that framework.
But we have been the prize for this group since the beginning of our Republic. Creating central banks in each country that the cartel could control was part of the scheme. Washington reluctantly supported Alexander Hamilton’s First Bank of the United States. That bank's funding came almost entirely from private investors, with one of the most significant being the Bank of England.
When the charter for the First Bank of the United States was not renewed amid great public opposition in 1811, it was one more point of contention between the British and Americans leading to the war of 1812, so much so that the Bank of England had a leading role in the decision to go to war. Had the Bank of England not wanted the war, it likely would not have happened. (Other reasons were connected to the Napoleonic wars. England was concerned that the U.S. was helping Napoleon. The British were impressing U.S. sailors into the British Navy, they feared American support for France, they placed restrictions on trade, and there was still fallout from the 1807 British attack on the USS Chesapeake.)
After the peace, a Second Bank of the United States was chartered but was vehemently opposed by President Andrew Jackson when its charter came up for renewal in 1832. Jackson’s view of European bankers was “You are a den of vipers and thieves.” He was attacked by an assassin at point-blank range whose pistols misfired. We do not know if the two events are linked. Lincoln, Garfield, and Kennedy opposed this cancer, as well. As President Garfield put it, “Whoever controls the money of a nation, controls that nation.”
America surrendered to the pressure for a central bank in 1913 with the help of James Warburg’s father, Paul. Woodrow Wilson signed the Federal Reserve Act, following the model of Europe, but in a way thought palatable to the American people. Thus, we have been at constant war ever since 1917, and have allowed our wealth to be transferred elsewhere. In one hundred years we have gone from a debt of $3 billion to $30 trillion. Decentralized authority — Federalism — gave way to the more easily corruptible federal power.
This is the reality of today — the mission by those opposed to our Constitutional Republic is now how to get the American people to consent to the loss of their Constitutional system and accept perpetual debt slavery and control through the United Nations. “The supranational sovereignty of an intellectual elite and world bankers” as David Rockefeller tells us; “by conquest or consent” adds James Warburg.
What if Americans just say “no”? America does not need to surrender her wealth, her potential wealth, our Constitutional system, or our nation-state. We are not Europe. We do not want to dispose of the foundations of our moral roots and end up as soulless atheists imprisoned in nihilism and drowning in dependence. George Washington warned us about this; so did Dwight Eisenhower and many others.
We the People urgently need to demand a comprehensive plan from our public servants to re-establish the prosperity of our nation, stabilize and reduce our national debt, and establish a strong enough military defense to buy us time to get our national financial house in order. One important component of this defense is rebuilding and strengthening a strong moral core in the American people and encouraging authentic education in history, civics, philosophy, and economics. It is through prayer, discipline, grit, and education that our Republic will be saved — by the Grace of God. If it takes two generations or another one hundred years to accomplish it, so be it.
If recovered, let us hope We the People, America’s Sovereign, never let our system or our country go to this den of vipers and thieves, again.
~ By M. E. Boyd
https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2022/01/the_flow_of_money_creates_a_path_to_one_world_government.html
M. E. Boyd’s “Apples of Gold – Voices From the Past that Speak to Us Now” is available at www.amazon.com using the title and subtitle.
Message To the American People:
~ from the desk of Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò
Dear American People, Dear Friends, for two years now, a global coup has been carried out all over the world, planned for some time by an elite group of conspirators enslaved to the interests of international high finance. This coup was made possible by an emergency pandemic that is based on the premise of a virus that has a mortality rate almost analogous to that of any other seasonal flu virus, on the delegitimization and prohibition of effective treatments, and on the distribution of an experimental gene serum which is obviously ineffective, and which also clearly carries with it the danger of serious and even lethal side effects. We all know how much the mainstream media has contributed to supporting the insane pandemic narrative, the interests that are at stake, and the goals of these groups of power: reducing the world population, making those who survive chronically ill, and imposing forms of control that violate the fundamental rights and natural liberties of citizens. And yet, two years after this grotesque farce started, which has claimed more victims than a war and destroyed the social fabric, national economies, and the very foundations of the rule of law, nothing has changed in the policies of Nations and their response to the so-called pandemic.
Last year, when many still had not yet understood the gravity of the looming threat, I was among the first to denounce this coup, and I was promptly singled out as a conspiracy theorist. Today more and more people are opening their eyes and beginning to understand that the emergency pandemic and the “ecological emergency” are part of a criminal plan hatched by the World Economic Forum, the UN, the WHO, and a galaxy of organizations and foundations that are ideologically characterized as clearly anti-human and – this needs to be said clearly – anti-Christian.
One of the elements that unequivocally confirms the criminal nature of the Great Reset is the perfect synchrony with which all the different Nations abreacting, demonstrating the existence of a single script under a single direction. And it is disconcerting to see how the lack of treatment, the deliberately wrong treatments that have been given in order to cause more deaths, the decision to impose lockdowns and masks, the conspiratorial silence about the adverse effects of the so-called “vaccines” that are in fact gene serums, and the continuous repetition of culpable errors have all been possible thanks to the complicity of those who govern and the institutions. Political and religious leaders, representatives of the people, scientists and doctors, journalists and those who work in the media have literally betrayed their people, their laws, their Constitutions, and the most basic ethical principles.
The electoral fraud of the 2020 presidential election against President Trump has shown itself to be organic to this global operation, because in order to impose illegitimate restrictions in violation of the principles of law it was necessary to be able to make use of an American President who would support the psycho-pandemic and support its narrative. The Democratic Party, part of the deep state, is carrying out its task as an accomplice of the system, just as the deep church finds in Bergoglio its own propagandist. The recent rulings of the Supreme Court and the autonomous action of some American states – where the vaccination obligation has been declared unconstitutional – give us hope that this criminal plan can collapse and that those responsible will be identified and tried: both in America as well as in the whole world.
How was it possible to arrive at such a betrayal? How have we come to be considered enemies by those who govern us, not in support of the common good, but rather to feed a hellish machine of death and slavery?
The answer is now clear: throughout the world, in the name of a perverted concept of freedom, we have progressively erased God from society and laws. We have denied that there is an eternal and transcendent principle, valid for all men of all times, to which the laws of States must conform. We have replaced this absolute principle with the arbitrariness of individuals, with the principle that everyone is his own legislator. In the name of this insane freedom – which is license and libertinage – we have allowed the Law of God and the law of nature to be violated, legitimizing the killing of children in the womb, even up to the very moment of birth; the killing of the sick and the elderly in hospital wards; the destruction of the natural family and of Marriage; we have recognized rights to vice and sin, putting the deviations of individuals before the good of society. In short, we have subverted the entire moral order that constitutes the indispensable basis of the laws and social life of a people. Already in the fourth century B.C., Plato wrote these things in his last work the Laws and identified the cause of the Athenian political crisis precisely in the breaking of the divine order – the cosmos – between these eternal principles and human laws.
These natural moral principles of the Greco-Roman world found their fulfillment in Christianity, which built Western civilization by giving them a supernatural impetus. Christianity is the strongest defense against injustice, the strongest garrison against the oppression of the powerful over the weak, the violent over the peaceful, and the wicked over the good, because Christian morality makes each of us accountable to God and our neighbor for our actions, both as citizens and as rulers. The Son of God, whose Birth we will celebrate in a few days, became Incarnate in time and in history in order to heal an ancient wound, and to restore by Grace the order broken by disobedience. His social Kingship was the generating principle of the ordo Christianus that for two centuries now has been fiercely fought against by Freemasonry: because the Revolution it promotes is chaos; it is disorder; it is infernal rebellion against the divine order so as to impose Satan’s tyranny.
Now, as we see what is happening around us, we understand how mendacious were the promises of progress and freedom made by those who destroyed Christian society, and how deceptive was the prospect of a new Tower of Babel, built not only without regard for God but even in direct opposition to Him. The infernal challenge of the Enemy is repeated over the centuries unchanged, but it is doomed to inexorable failure. Behind this millennial conspiracy, the adversary is always the same, and the only thing that changes are the particular individuals who cooperate with him. Dear American brothers and sisters! Dear Patriots! this is a crucial moment for the future of the United States of America and of the whole of humanity. But the pandemic emergency, the farce of global warming and the green economy, and the economic crisis deliberately induced by the Great Reset with the complicity of the deep state, are all only the consequence of a much more serious problem, and it is essential to understand it in depth if we want to defeat it. This problem is essentially moral; indeed, it is religious. We must put God back in the first place not only in our personal lives, but also in the life of our society. We must restore to Our Lord Jesus Christ the Crown that the Revolution has torn from Him, and in order for this to happen a true and profound conversion of individuals and of society is necessary. For it is absolutely impossible to hope for the end of this global tyranny if we continue to remove from the Kingdom of Christ the nations that belong to Him and must belong to Him. For this reason, the movement to overturn Roe v. Wade also acquires a very important meaning, since respect for the sacredness of unborn life must be sanctioned by positive law if it is to be a mirror of the Eternal Law.
You are animated by a yearning for justice, and this is a legitimate and good desire. “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,” says the Lord (Matthew 5:6). But this Justice must be based on the awareness that this is a spiritual battle in which it is necessary to take sides without equivocation and without compromise, holding transcendent and eternal references that even the pagan philosophers glimpsed, and that have found fulfillment in the Revelation of the Son of God, the Divine Master.
My appeal for an Anti-Globalist Alliance – which I renew today – aims precisely to constitute a movement of moral and spiritual rebirth which will inspire the civil, social and political action of those who do not want to be enslaved as slaves to the New World Order. A movement that at the national and local level will be able to find a way to oppose the Great Reset and that coordinates the denunciation of the coup that is currently in progress. Because in the awareness of who our adversary is and what his aims and purposes are, we can disrupt the criminal action he intends to pursue and force him to retreat. In this, the opposition to the pandemic farce and the vaccination obligation must be determined and courageous on the part of each of you.
Yours must therefore be a work of truth, bringing to light the lies and deceptions of the New World Order and their anti-human and antichristic matrix. And in this it is mainly the laity and all people of good will – each in the professional and civil role he holds – who must coordinate and organize together to make a firm but peaceful resistance, so as not to legitimize its violent repression by those who today hold power.
Be proud of your identity as American patriots and of the Faith that must animate your life. Do not allow anyone to make you feel inferior just because you love your homeland, because you are honest at work, because you want to protect your family and raise your children with healthy values, because you respect the elderly, because you protect life from conception to its natural end. Do not be intimidated or seduced by those who propagate a dystopian world in which a faceless power imposes on you contempt for the Law of God, presents sin and vice as licit and desirable, despises righteousness and Morality, destroys the natural family and promotes the worst perversions, plans the death of defenseless and weak creatures, and exploits humanity for its own profit or to preserve power.
Be worthy heirs of the great Archbishop Fulton Sheen, and do not follow those of your Pastors who have betrayed the mandate they have received from Our Lord, who impose iniquitous orders on you or who remain silent before the evidence of an unheard-of crime against God and humanity.
May this Holy Christmas illuminate your minds and inflame your hearts before the Infant King who lays in the manger. And just as the choirs of the Angels and the homage of the Magi united with the simple adoration of the Shepherds, so also today your commitment to the moral rebirth of the United States of America – one Nation under God – will have the blessing of Our Lord and will gather those who govern you around you. Amen.
May God bless you, and may God bless the United States of America.
Carlo Maria Viganò, Archbishop
18 December 2021
https://www.scribd.com/document/548169431/Message-for-American-People-Vigano-Dec-19
The Mark at the Door
It’s a good bet to assume that the vast majority of people of this world have heard about the “mark of the beast”. Whether through Biblical, family, social, literary or big screen most people have a general idea of the concept of it. I’ve read where many people believe that they will know it when they see it, and they will not be willing to accept it. It is the opinion of this author, that the spirit of the anti-christ that will bring this about is fully aware of this widely-held belief and knows that if he proclaims “this or that is the mark”, then a vast majority of people will refuse it. The evil one that will bring about the “mark” is much more cunning and deceptive than most people give him credit for. From the very beginning of mankind, God has made this fact known to us (Genesis 3:1-5). This process of creating the “mark” has already begun, and the vast majority of the world’s population has already been deceived, and succumbed to it. Most of you reading this already know what I’m talking about, but for the purpose of clarity, allow me to explain…
The man-made, anti-christ backed, pandemic was devised to bring-about the unification of all countries and peoples under a common denominator – complete control. There are other devious objectives, but they can all be achieved with total control. This is easily being accomplished through a couple of satan’s most effective weapons – fear and deception. Is the virus real? Of course, it is. Is the virus deadly? Of course, it is. Is the virus as deadly as everyone is being led to believe? Of course not. Prior to the advent of the “miracle experimental option” – the virus had a 99.8% recovery rate amongst all peoples of the world. Through the fear and deceive campaign, a vast majority of people have traded a 99.8% recovery rate for an unknown, genetically-altering experimental option with unknown long-term effects. This experimental option is not from the Lord.
Allow me to explain:
First, the experimental option was researched and developed using aborted fetal cells. Abortion is, and has always been, an abomination to God. World history proves that cultures and societies that murder babies and children for whatever reason, were ultimately destroyed by God. Yes, God uses all of His creation to bring about His purpose.
Second, it uses a gene-altering method to make a “spike protein” – of which the long-term effect on a human body is unknown. Regardless of the effects – which in many people has proven to be fatal – the simple fact that it alters what God has created – specifically a human being's biology – implies that man proclaims that what God created is not enough. This ideology is the spirit of the anti-christ boldly making itself known to the world.
So, how does all of this add-up to the “mark of the beast”?
We’re already seeing a world-wide push to punish those that will not conform – it will only get worse from this point. It will eventually get to where the “non-conformists” will be ostracized; every aspect of their being will be removed (buy, sale, movement, job, bank accounts, etc.). The Bible states this very clearly to those with “eyes-to-see and ears-to-hear”. You can read it for yourself from the following scriptures:
Matthew 24:9-13; Revelation 13:9-10; 15-17
It is the opinion of this author that the first step towards the mark has been implemented, and with each subsequent “jab” being freely accepted by the majority of mankind – the mark is being, or will be, biogenetically created inside the body of the recipient. There will be many more jab’s, as that is where the variants are coming from – not as the deception would have us to believe. I do not believe the mark will be visible to the naked eye – as most people believe – but will be scannable throughout the whole body. To scan for it through the hand or forehead being the most economically viable option – as the hand-held scanners are already in place, and cheaper than full-body scanners – although places that already employ those type scanners will be utilized as well.
My prayer is that all people will earnestly seek and follow the Lord’s will in these last-of-days – as I do believe that decisions are being made with eternal consequences, knowing or unknowingly accepting the deceptive lie.
Is Our Tent Collapsing?
Nations are like tents. There are small ones. There are large ones. There are tents that are great, and others that are weak and feeble. But, one thing that is certain, all tents are temporary. They usually rot from within. A tent can take so much decomposition and then it collapses.
Our tent is 245 years old, relatively young considering nations like Egypt or Greece or even human history. But, as youth sometimes can be, nations can become complacent and thoughtless, and forget or ignore their heritage. Our country took a turn some time back and it has now become evident that the price may very well be collapse.
In 1787, after the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, Benjamin Franklin was asked by a woman, “What kind of government do we have?” Franklin responded, “A Republic madam, if you can keep it.” There were forces in that convention that wanted a very different government than what was created. Some even wanted a monarchy. Monarchy was not on trial in the colonies. It was King George III that was. But, what brought about the birth of the greatest nation the world had ever seen, where human rights were established by God, inalienable, with also the willingness to compromise our religious roots. It was William Penn that said, “If we are not governed by God, then we will be ruled by tyrants.” And so, many founders found it all too right and proper to establish this new nation asking for God’s blessing.
Francis Schaeffer, the great twentieth-century Christian apologist, pronounced that the turn our country took, about one hundred years ago, is one of turning our back on our God-inspired Constitution in favor of secular sociological law…law that rejects God and satisfies the moment…no unchanging truths. As a consequence, it was only natural to retreat from our Constitution.
Today, we have an entire political party and close to half of the citizenry that have turned their back on our heritage in favor of secular, for-the-moment law. If you argue that it is not true, then at the very least one would have to admit that the loudest and dominant voices being heard from the Left are ones from a competing religion inside their party…Liberalism. It was Norman Thomas, six-time presidential candidate for the Socialist Party of America, who said in 1948,
“The American people will never knowingly adopt Socialism. But under the name of ‘liberalism’ they will adopt every fragment of the Socialist program, until one day America will be a Socialist nation, without knowing how it happened.”
It is historic fact that the Founding Fathers believed that it was in the public interest to promote religion, that being Christianity. And for almost the first 100 years, it was so. In all states but Virginia, taxes were collected to support churches preaching the Gospel. No one considered it a violation of the First Amendment. The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 and again by Congress in 1789 set aside federal property for the building of schools…“Religion, morality, and knowledge being necessary to good governance and the happiness of mankind.” Both New York and Pennsylvania court rulings in the 19th century held that Christianity, general Christianity is and always has been a part of the common law. In 1811, the New York state court ruled that…“we are Christian people, and the morality of the country is deeply engrafted upon Christianity.”
Christianity was not only part of law in the United States, but of culture. It was that culture that welcomed everyone from around the world to its tent, regardless of religion…"E pluribus unum"…Out of many, one. One nation, one culture. Winston Churchill once described us as “the American race.” No longer. Today we are a divided people, divided by political forces, by race, gender, religion, what have you, for nefarious political purposes.
Am I suggesting that we establish Christianity as the state religion? Of course not. But, what we now have is a competing religion filling the vacuum left behind by those that have attacked and crippled our culture in favor of a false religion that dares to be as God. They believe they have the power to change a person’s gender or create new ones, kill human life that has been wantonly rejected, or even change weather patterns.
This secularism is a force against religious liberty, hence personal liberty. Secularism does not recognize the ‘higher law’, therefore nothing is guaranteed. Because it is law of the moment, a Constitution written hundreds of years ago holds little weight or consideration. How many of the current crop of Democrat candidates (politicians) believes the Constitution is outdated?
Is there proof of this national contamination? Yes, it is everywhere. It has polluted our schools, corrupted our government, and infected our institutions. We are a mere remnant of our former self, limping along, while being told we need to have our liberties turned aside and will be better for it.
The United States, as founded, no longer works for people of the Left. They find solace in the replacement godless theology that they have adopted and in a rotten political core that only craves power.
Yes, our tent is collapsing, its frame weakened by generations of neglect, indifference and assault by a foreign world view. It doesn’t even look like a tent the founders would recognize. It looks more like a circus tent.
https://canadafreepress.com/article/is-our-tent-collapsing
Are We Fooling Ourselves?
The time where the "rubber meets the road" is upon us. The world all around us, and within us, is spiraling towards a ungodly and godless society at break-neck speed. Jesus Christ made it very clear that if someone is not 100% sold-out for Him - then that person is against Him. Against Him equates to being anti-God and anti-Christ - the spirit that is blatantly in our face every where that we turn.
It cannot be stressed enough that the time to "wake-up" is now! We must rebuke our carnal-nature self, and submit ourself to God's will for our lives. Please...let go and let God before it is too late...
The Christmas Star 2020
I know some have seen the post about The Christmas Star appearing this year on December 21st. I couldn't help but really take a deeper look at how amazing that this occurrence would be happening in the year 2020.
In the year when Jesus was born, there was violence, chaos, political and social unrest. It was dark.
The Magi found him by way of the star, which was the "meeting" of 3 stars: Jupiter, Saturn and Mars. They followed the star until it rested on where he was and they began to worship him. In a time where is was dark, Light was brought in to our world. Jesus stepped in to the chaos and brought peace.
Fast forward to this year, 2020. It's a time of violence, chaos, political and social unrest. It is dark. Winter Solstice, December 21st, being a time where the day is the shortest and night is the longest...it's literally the "darkest day" and is the beginning of what most would say the cold, dark winter season.
But on the darkest day this year, Jupiter and Saturn meet, giving us the Christmas Star! How fitting...that in the moment of time during the Christmas season that we get to see this beautiful reminder...that even in the darkest of times...Light will, and has, stepped in. In our chaos He is there. In our darkest time, He is there. He brings Light, and makes all things new.
So as you look out on December 21st for the Christmas Star, may we be reminded of His power, and His Light that he brings for all mankind. He is perfect at stepping into chaos and bringing it into peace.
_____________________
~ Author Unknown
Warp Speed Ahead: COVID-19 Vaccines Pave the Way for a New Frontier in Surveillance
Like it or not, the COVID-19 pandemic with its veiled threat of forced vaccinations, contact tracing, and genetically encoded vaccines is propelling humanity at warp speed into a whole new frontier - a surveillance matrix - the likes of which we’ve only previously encountered in science fiction.
Those who eye these developments with lingering mistrust have good reason to be leery: the government has long had a tendency to unleash untold horrors upon the world in the name of global conquest, the acquisition of greater wealth, scientific experimentation, and technological advances, all packaged in the guise of the greater good.
Indeed, “we the people” have been treated like lab rats by government agencies for decades now: caged, branded, experimented upon without our knowledge or consent, and then conveniently discarded and left to suffer from the after-effects.
You don’t have to dig very deep or go very back in the nation’s history to uncover numerous cases in which the government deliberately conducted secret experiments on an unsuspecting populace, making healthy people sick by spraying them with chemicals, injecting them with infectious diseases and exposing them to airborne toxins.
Now this same government — which has taken every bit of technology sold to us as being in our best interests (GPS devices, surveillance, nonlethal weapons, etc.) and used it against us, to track, control and trap us — wants us to fall in line as it prepares to roll out COVID-19 vaccines that owe a great debt to the Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency for its past work on how to weaponize and defend against infectious diseases.
The Trump Administration by way of the National Institute of Health awarded $22.8 million to seven corporations to develop artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, etc., with smart phone apps, wearable devices and software “that can identify and trace contacts of infected individuals, keep track of verified COVID-19 test results, and monitor the health status of infected and potentially infected individuals.”
This is all part of Operation Warp Speed, which President Trump has likened to the Manhattan Project, a covert government effort spearheaded by the military to engineer and build the world’s first atomic bomb.
There is every reason to tread cautiously.
There is a sinister world beyond that which we perceive, one in which power players jockey for control over the one commodity that is a necessary ingredient for total domination: you.
By you, I mean you the individual in all your singular humanness.
Remaining singularly human and retaining your individuality and dominion over yourself — mind, body and soul — in the face of corporate and government technologies that aim to invade, intrude, monitor, manipulate and control us may be one of the greatest challenges before us.
These COVID-19 vaccines, which rely on messenger RNA technology that influences everything from viruses to memory, are merely the tipping point.
The groundwork being laid with these vaccines is a prologue to what will become the police state’s conquest of a new, relatively uncharted, frontier: inner space, specifically, the inner workings (genetic, biological, biometric, mental, emotional) of the human race.
If you were unnerved by the rapid deterioration of privacy under the Surveillance State, prepare to be terrified by the surveillance matrix that will be ushered in on the heels of the government’s rollout of this COVID-19 vaccine.
The term “matrix” was introduced into our cultural lexicon by the 1999 film The Matrix in which Neo, a computer programmer/hacker, awakens to the reality that humans have been enslaved by artificial intelligence and are being harvested for their bio-electrical energy.
Hardwired to a neuro-interactive simulation of reality called the “Matrix,” humans are kept inactive and docile while robotic androids gather the electricity their bodies generate. In order for the machines who run the Matrix to maintain control, they impose what appears to be a perfect world for humans to keep them distracted, content, and submissive.
Here’s the thing: Neo’s Matrix is not so far removed from our own technologically-hardwired worlds in which we’re increasingly beholden to corporate giants such as Google for powering so much of our lives. As journalist Ben Thompson explains:
Google+ is about unifying all of Google’s services under a single log-in which can be tracked across the Internet on every site that serves Google ads, uses Google sign-in, or utilizes Google analytics. Every feature of Google+ — or of YouTube, or Maps, or Gmail, or any other service — is a flytrap meant to ensure you are logged in and being logged by Google at all times.
Everything we do is increasingly dependent on and, ultimately, controlled by our internet-connected, electronic devices. For example, in 2007, there were an estimated 10 million sensor devices connecting human utilized electronic devices (cell phones, laptops, etc.) to the Internet. By 2013, it had increased to 3.5 billion. By 2030, it is estimated to reach 100 trillion.
Much, if not all, of our electronic devices will be connected to Google, a neural network that approximates a massive global brain.
Google’s resources, beyond anything the world has ever seen, includes the huge data sets that result from one billion people using Google every single day and the Google knowledge graph “which consists of 800 million concepts and billions of relationships between them.”
The end goal? The creation of a new “human” species, so to speak, and the NSA, the Pentagon and the “Matrix” of surveillance agencies are part of the plan. As William Binney, one of the highest-level whistleblowers to ever emerge from the NSA, said, “The ultimate goal of the NSA is total population control.”
Mind you, this isn’t population control in the classic sense. It’s more about controlling the population through singularity, a marriage of sorts between machine and human beings in which artificial intelligence and the human brain will merge to form a superhuman mind.
“Google will know the answer to your question before you have asked it,” predicts transhumanist scientist Ray Kurzweil. “It will have read every email you’ve ever written, every document, every idle thought you’ve ever tapped into a search-engine box. It will know you better than your intimate partner does. Better, perhaps, than even yourself.”
The term “singularity” — that is, computers simulating human life itself — was coined years ago by mathematical geniuses Stanislaw Ulam and John von Neumann. “The ever accelerating progress of technology,” warned von Neumann, “gives the appearance of approaching some essential singularity in the history of the race beyond which human affairs, as we know them, could not continue.”
The plan is to develop a computer network that will exhibit intelligent behavior equivalent to or indistinguishable from that of human beings by 2029. And this goal is to have computers that will be “a billion times more powerful than all of the human brains on earth.”
Neuralink, a brain-computer chip interface (BCI), paves the way for AI control of the human brain, at which point the disconnect between humans and AI-controlled computers will become blurred and human minds and computers will essentially become one and the same. “In the most severe scenario, hacking a Neuralink-like device could turn ‘hosts’ into programmable drone armies capable of doing anything their ‘master’ wanted,” writes Jason Lau for Forbes.
Advances in neuroscience indicate that future behavior can be predicted based upon activity in certain portions of the brain, potentially creating a nightmare scenario in which government officials select certain segments of the population for more invasive surveillance or quarantine based solely upon their brain chemistry.
Case in point: researchers at the Mind Research Center scanned the brains of thousands of prison inmates in order to track their brain chemistry and their behavior after release. In one experiment, researchers determined that inmates with lower levels of activity in the area of the brain associated with error processing allegedly had a higher likelihood of committing a crime within four years of being released from prison. While researchers have cautioned against using the results of their research as a method of predicting future crime, it will undoubtedly become a focus of study for government officials.
There’s no limit to what can be accomplished — for good or ill — using brain-computer interfaces.
Researchers at Duke University Medical Center have created a brain-to-brain interface between lab rats, which allows them to transfer information directly between brains. In one particular experiment, researchers trained a rat to perform a task where it would hit a lever when lit. The trained rat then had its brain connected to an untrained rat’s brain via electrodes. The untrained rat was then able to learn the trained rat’s behavior via electrical stimulation. This even worked over great distances using the Internet, with a lab rat in North Carolina guiding the actions of a lab rat in Brazil.
Clearly, we are rapidly moving into the “posthuman era,” one in which humans will become a new type of being. “Technological devices,” writes journalist Marcelo Gleiser, “will be implanted in our heads and bodies, or used peripherally, like Google Glass, extending our senses and cognitive abilities.”
Transhumanism — the fusing of machines and people — is here to stay and will continue to grow.
In fact, as science and technology continue to advance, the ability to control humans will only increase. In 2014, for example, it was revealed that scientists have discovered how to deactivate that part of our brains that controls whether we are conscious or not. When researchers at George Washington University sent high frequency electrical signals to the claustrum — that thin sheet of neurons running between the left and right sides of the brain — their patients lost consciousness. Indeed, one patient started speaking more slowly until she became silent and still. When she regained consciousness, she had no memory of the event.
Add to this the fact that increasingly humans will be implanted with microchips for such benign purposes as tracking children or as medical devices to assist with our health. Such devices “point to an uber-surveillance society that is Big Brother on the inside looking out,” warns Dr. Katina Michael. “Governments or large corporations would have the ability to track people’s actions and movements, categorize them into different socio-economic, political, racial, or consumer groups and ultimately even control them.”
As I make clear in my book Battlefield America: The War on the American People, control is the issue.
In fact, Facebook and the Department of Defense are working to manipulate our behavior. In a 2012 study, Facebook tracked the emotional states of over 600,000 of its users. The goal of the study was to see if the emotions of users could be manipulated based upon whether they were fed positive or negative information in their news feeds. The conclusion of the study was that “emotional states can be transferred to others via emotional contagion, leading people to experience the same emotions without their awareness.”
All of this indicates a new path forward for large corporations and government entities that want to achieve absolute social control. Instead of relying solely on marauding SWAT teams and full-fledged surveillance apparatuses, they will work to manipulate our emotions to keep us in lock step with the American police state.
Now add this warp speed-deployed vaccine to that mix, with all of the associated unknown and fearsome possibilities for altering or controlling human epigenetics, and you start to see the perils inherent in blindly adopting emerging technologies without any restrictions in place to guard against technological tyranny and abuse.
It’s one thing for the starship Enterprise to boldly go where no man has gone before, but even Mr. Spock recognized the dangers of a world dominated by AI. “Computers make excellent and efficient servants,” he observed in “The Ultimate Computer” episode of Star Trek, “but I have no wish to serve under them.”
https://www.rutherford.org/publications_resources/john_whiteheads_commentary/warp_speed_ahead_covid_19_vaccines_pave_the_way_for_a_new_frontier_in_surveillance
The Coming of the Son of Man
“Then there will be signs in the sun, moon, and stars; and there will be anguish on the earth among nations bewildered by the roaring sea and waves. People will faint from fear and expectation of the things that are coming on the world, because the celestial powers will be shaken. Then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. But when these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is near!”
~ Luke 21:25-28 (HCSB)
Interesting-> The Bible explains God time as:
“For in Your sight a thousand years are like yesterday that passes by, like a few hours of the night.” ~ Psalm 90:4
“Dear friends, don’t let this one thing escape you: With the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day.” ~ 2 Peter 3:8
I believe that, as Christ followers, we should take the scriptures literally. In the book of Genesis, it explains that God created all things in 6 days, and then rested. If the interpretations of many a scholar are correct – could it be that God has given mankind 6 days/thousand years, then to rest? Remember the millennial reign of Christ on earth is for a thousand years. That would certainly conclude things with a 7-day God’s timeline.
We need to be using the time wisely – now more than ever.
Most of the following read was taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible:
The Timeline & Daniel’s Prophecy
It is the opinion of this author, that the book of Daniel contains the prophetic vision of end-time events clearer than any other biblical instance, and it could be further stated that instances such as contained in the book of Revelation builds upon the foundation laid by Daniel’s Christ-induced vision. In addition to the Bible being the inerrant Word of God as interpreted through the Holy Spirit upon mankind, it is also history of the world – complete with specific timelines outlined with numbers of years recorded. Example (dates are approximate):
Old Testament Timeline:
Before Time – In the Beginning was the Word
Before 4000 BC – The Creation
4000 BC – Creation of Man
3000 BC – From Adam to Noah
2500 BC – The Great Flood
2081 BC – God’s Covenant with Abraham
1991 BC – Death of Abraham
1886 BC – Joseph becomes Pharaoh’s right-hand man in Egypt
1875 BC – Due to a severe famine, the many Israelites move to Egypt for food
1700 BC – Israelites vastly increase in population while in Egypt
1525 BC – Birth and Adoption of Moses in Egypt
1486 BC – Moses flees to Midian after killing an Egyptian
1446 BC – God sends Moses back to Egypt to bring the Israelites out of bondage
1406 BC – Israelites cross the Jordan River and enter the Promised Land
1169 BC – Gideon and the Midianites
1075 BC – Samson and Delilah
1024 BC – David kills Goliath
1010 BC – David made King over Judah
1003 BC – David reigns over all Israel
990 BC – Solomon is born
970 BC – David’s last days – Solomon reigns as King
931 BC – Death of Solomon
851 BC – Prophet Elijah taken into Heaven
730 BC – Prophet Isaiah prophecies Jesus’ birth
722 BC – Israel conquered and led into Babylon captivity
604 BC – Daniel interprets Nebuchadnezzar dream
539 BC – Daniel survives the lion’s den
537 BC – Israelites return to Jerusalem
515 BC – 2nd Temple completed
444 BC – Walls of Jerusalem completed
New Testament Timeline:
6 BC – Birth of John the Baptist
5 BC – Birth of Jesus
6 AD – Birth of John (the Apostle)
26 AD – The Baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist
27 AD – Sermon on the Mount
29 AD – Jesus feeds the 5000
29 AD – The Transfiguration
30 AD – The Triumphal entry into Jerusalem
30 AD – The Crucifixion, Resurrection and Ascension of Jesus
34 AD – Saul’s Conversion
54 AD – Death of Mary (Mother of Jesus)
60 AD – Paul Imprisoned
68 AD – Death of Paul (presumably martyred by Rome Emperor Nero)
95 AD – Apostle John’s Revelation on Patmos
98 AD – Death of Apostle John (the last of the 12 Apostles of Jesus)
Apostle John’s Revelation (last book of the Bible) at Patmos concludes the Biblical timeline, and the rest of history – to present day – is recorded in other historical records.
There are many things to consider from the timeline presented, but the one that I want to concentrate on is that from the approximate time that man was created until present day, roughly 6000 years has elapsed. Keep this in mind as we go back to the Book of Daniel as recorded in the Old Testament.
The divine visions that Daniel was given climaxed with the revelation of what would occur towards the “end of the age”. Although he was given a clear picture of things to come during the end time events – God instructed him to “shut up the words” – not to record them.
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John Gills Exposition of the Bible excerpts begin below:
Daniel 12:4 –
“But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words…”
Of the book, in which he had wrote the visions and prophecies delivered to him: this he is bid to "shut up", to keep it from the common and profane people, who would only burlesque it; and to keep it to himself, as a peculiar treasure committed to his care; and though it was not kept from the saints and people of God, from their reading it, yet he was not to interpret and explain it to them; it was to remain a secret until the time of its accomplishment was come, or, however, near at hand; so that this denotes the obscurity of the prophecy, and the great difficulty of understanding it; it being like a book that is shut and sealed, as follows (see Revelation 5:1-5)
“…and seal the book, even to the time of the end”
till the time comes appointed for the fulfilment of it, which shows that it reached to times at a great distance; that till these times were come, or near, it would be as a sealed book, and yet the accomplishment of it would be sure and certain, as what is sealed is:
“…many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased;”
That is, towards the end of the time appointed, many persons will be stirred up to inquire into these things delivered in this book, and will spare no pains or cost to get knowledge of them; will read and study the Scriptures, and meditate on them; compare one passage with another; spiritual things with spiritual, in order to obtain the mind of Christ; will peruse carefully the writings of such who have gone before them, who have attempted anything of this kind; and will go far and near to converse with persons that have any understanding of such things: and by such means, with the blessing of God upon them, the knowledge of this book of prophecy will be increased; and things will appear plainer the nearer the accomplishment of them is; and especially when accomplished, when prophecy and facts can be compared together: and not only this kind of knowledge, but knowledge of all spiritual things, of all evangelic truths and doctrines, will be abundantly enlarged at this time; and the earth will be filled and covered with it, as the sea with its waters; ](see Isaiah 11:9; Habakkuk 2:14).
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I believe that this passage speaks of our present time. With the advent of the internet and microchips, knowledge is at an all-time high, and increasing at almost lightspeed. With the help of the Holy Spirit, and some God timing for getting our attention, the study of scriptures and prophecies are likewise at an all-time high, and increasing under current world events/conditions.
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In Daniel 12:9, the Lord further instructs Daniel…
(from Gills Exposition of the Bible):
“And he said, go thy way, Daniel – for the words are closed up, and sealed till the time of the end;”
that is, till the time comes, or draws near, that they shall be accomplished; till then they would not be clearly understood, but remain in a great measure dark and obscure, though sure and certain: it is suggested they would not always remain so; time is the best interpreter of prophecy, and, the nearer the time of the accomplishment of it is, the clearer it appears, things leading the way to it being gradually fulfilled; but clearest of all when it is accomplished; then it is no more shut and sealed, but open and manifest;
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The Lord explains that during the end of the days – we will understand and see more clearly the visions that Daniel was instructed not to record.
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Let’s continue with John Gill’s understanding…
Daniel 12:10 –
“Many shall be purged, and made white, and tried”
Though Christ does not give, in plain, clear, and explicit terms, an answer to the above question, when, and how, and what would be the end of the church's troubles and afflictions; yet he here points out the use of them, which for the present should be chiefly attended to; and, when duly considered, would be a means of causing the saints to endure them with more patience and cheerfulness: many should be hereby made more pure and holy, and more free from their spots, their chaff, and their dross; their corruptions, and the power of them, weakened; their graces tried, and become more bright and shining; and they themselves a greater ornament to the religion they profess: hereby they should be "purified", or cleansed from the chaff of their sins; or be separated, as the chaff is by the fan, from hypocrites and ungodly men, who would not be able to endure persecution for the sake of the Gospel: and "be made white"; as cloth is by the fuller; freed both from their own spots in their garments, being led to the blood of Christ to wash their garments, and make them white therein; which afflictions may be the means of guiding them to, under the direction of the blessed Spirit; and from such persons who were spots in their feasts of love: and "be tried", as gold and silver in the furnace, and so be rid of their own dross, and of the wicked of the earth, who are like unto it;
“But the wicked shall do wickedly;”
Go on in a course of sin, and be never the better for the afflictive dispensations of Providence; these either mean formal professors, that turn apostates from the faith, and become openly wicked livers; or the profane world in common; and particularly furious persecutors of the saints: such as each of these there will be till the end of things come; (see Revelation 22:11)
“…and none of the wicked shall understand;”
Neither the doctrines of the Gospel spiritually and experimentally; nor the providences of God, and what he is doing in the world; and particularly not the prophecy of this book, and especially what has been just delivered:
“…but the wise shall understand;”
More or less of each of these things, such as are wise unto salvation; that search the Scriptures, seek to God by prayer, and are much in meditation, and make use of every help for the understanding of divine things, and even of these prophecies; and especially towards the close of time, as the accomplishment of them draws near.
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In the last part of that verse, the Lord is making it abundantly clear that those “that have ears to hear” (the Saints, or, God’s elect) will be given the understanding of the times and seasons.
Daniel 12:11 implies the abomination of desolation by the antichrist, but the take-away from this verse is the assigned days (years).
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Continuing with John Gill’s understanding…
Daniel 12:11 –
“And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away and the abomination that maketh desolate; there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days;”
From the beginning of the reign of antichrist to the end of it are one thousand two hundred and sixty days or years, or forty two months, which is the same, according to (Revelation 13:5), here thirty days or years are added, which begin where the other end, and is the time allotted for the conversion of the Jews, and other things, making way for the kingdom of Christ; and which the reign of antichrist was an hinderance of, but should now immediately take place.
Daniel 12:12 –
“Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the one thousand three hundred five and thirty days.”
Which is an addition of forty five days or years more, beginning at the end of one thousand two hundred and ninety, and make up this sum; during which time the vials will be poured out upon all the antichristian states, and the Turkish empire be destroyed, and all the enemies of Christ and his church removed, and clear way made for the setting up of his kingdom in the world in a more visible and glorious manner; and therefore happy is the man that will be found waiting for these times, and live to enjoy them. There are various ways taken in the computation and application of these one thousand three hundred and thirty-five days by Jews and Christians.
Lipman: the Jew makes them to be the same with "time", and "times", and "half a time", (Daniel 12:7), "time" he supposes, designs the space of four hundred and eighty years, from the Israelites going out of Egypt to the building of the first temple; times the space of four hundred and ten years which is as long as that temple stood; and "half a time" half of these two spaces, that is, four hundred and forty five years; all which make up one thousand three hundred and thirty five; but strange it is that time should signify a larger space than "times". Much more ingenious is the computation of Jacchiades on the text, who makes the account to describe the space of time from the days of Daniel to the end of the world. He supposes there were three thousand three hundred and ninety one years, from the beginning of the world to Daniel; he then takes and joins the one thousand two hundred and ninety days in the preceding verse, which he understands of years with the one thousand three hundred and thirty five days or years in this, which make together two thousand six hundred and twenty five; and, added to the above, the whole is six thousand and sixteen years; which agrees with the opinion of Elias, in the Talmud, that the world shall stand six thousand years.
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The Bible explains God time as:
“For in Your sight a thousand years are like yesterday that passes by, like a few hours of the night.” ~ Psalm 90:4
“Dear friends, don’t let this one thing escape you: With the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day.” ~ 2 Peter 3:8
I believe that, as Christ followers, we should take the scriptures literally. In the book of Genesis, it explains that God created all things in 6 days, and then rested. If the interpretations of many a scholar are correct – could it be that God has given mankind 6 days/thousand years, then to rest? Remember the millennial reign of Christ on earth is for a thousand years. That would certainly conclude things with a 7-day God’s timeline.
We need to be using the time wisely – now more than ever.
7 Major Earth Changes Happening Right Now That Everyone Needs To Know About
~ January 14, 2020 by Michael Snyder
There has never been a time in modern human history when our planet has been changing as rapidly as it is changing right now. The sun is behaving very strangely, freakishly cold weather is breaking out all over the world, ocean temperatures continue to rise, volcanoes all over the globe are shooting ash miles into the air, Australia is experiencing the worst wildfires that they have ever seen, and the north magnetic pole has been moving at a pace that is deeply alarming scientists. Could it be possible that all of this bizarre activity is leading up to some sort of a crescendo?
Sadly, most people don’t even realize what is happening, and that is because the mainstream media only emphasizes stories that fit with the particular narratives that they are currently pushing.
But it has gotten to the point where nobody can deny that really weird things are happening. The following are 7 major earth changes that are happening right now that everyone needs to know about…
#1 According to NASA, solar activity has dropped to the lowest level in 200 years. The following comes from the official NASA website…
The forecast for the next solar cycle says it will be the weakest of the last 200 years. The maximum of this next cycle – measured in terms of sunspot number, a standard measure of solar activity level – could be 30 to 50% lower than the most recent one. The results show that the next cycle will start in 2020 and reach its maximum in 2025.
Of course NASA insists that everything will be just fine, but others are wondering if this lack of solar activity could potentially spawn another “Little Ice Age”…
When solar activity gets really low, it can have the effect of a “mini ice age.” The period between 1645 and 1715 was marked by a prolonged sunspot minimum, and this corresponded to a downturn in temperatures in Europe and North America. Named after astronomers Edward Maunder and his wife Annie Russell Maunder, this period became known as the Maunder Minimum. It is also known as “The Little Ice Age.”
#2 When solar activity gets very low, it has traditionally meant very cold and very snowy winters, and right now we are seeing snow in places that are extremely unusual…
The Egyptian capital, Cairo, was also turned white at the start of the month, despite the city not having snow in 112 years, and experiencing less than an inch of rain each year.
Many parts of Greece were covered in snow in early January, with low temperatures and strong frost.
The cold front named ‘Hephaestion’, after an Ancient Greek army general, thrashed the Greek landscape, bringing rain, sleet and ice in the east.
#3 Meanwhile, the oceans of the world just keep getting hotter and hotter. In fact, ocean temperatures off the California coast have been setting new all-time record highs. It is odd that this is taking place at a time of such low solar activity, but according to NBC News this is definitely happening…
The world’s oceans hit their warmest level in recorded history in 2019, according to a study published Monday that provides more evidence that Earth is warming at an accelerated pace.
The analysis, which also found that ocean temperatures in the last decade have been the warmest on record, shows the impact of human-caused warming on the planet’s oceans and suggests that sea-level rise, ocean acidification and extreme weather events could worsen as the oceans continue to absorb so much heat.
#4 There have always been wildfires, but we have never seen anything like this. During the summer, countless catastrophic fires burned millions upon millions of acres in the Amazon rainforest, and this winter Australia’s fires have actually been a total of 46 percent larger than the fires that we witnessed in the Amazon. Australia has never seen anything like this before, and according to NASA the smoke from these fires will completely circle the Earth…
Once was bad enough, but smoke from Australia’s devastating bushfires is set to return to the country to complete a round-the-world trip that has seen it impact on air quality as far away as South America.
By Jan. 8, the smoke had made its way halfway around the world and will make at least one full circuit, according to scientists at NASA, citing satellite tracking data. New Zealand experienced severe air quality issues, while hazy skies and colorful sunsets and sunrises were seen in parts of Chile and Argentina.
#5 During the first half of 2020, volcanoes all over the world have been roaring to life and have been shooting giant clouds of hot ash miles into the sky. For example, in the Philippines the Taal volcano shot ash nine miles into the air on Sunday, it has also been shooting scorching hot lava half a mile into the air, and the ground around the volcano is starting to crack wide open.
But even after all the devastation that we have already seen, authorities are warning that it could “re-explode at any moment”…
The gray ash is knee-deep. It covers the homes, the bloated cadavers of cows and horses, their limbs protruding at unnatural angles in the shadow of a sulking volcano that could re-explode at any moment.
“My home is now gone,” said Melvin Mendoza, 39, a boatman who returned on Tuesday to Taal, the volcanic island in the middle of a freshwater lake just 40 miles south of Manila, which erupted on Sunday like an atomic bomb mushroom cloud.
Let us hope that this volcanic activity does not spread throughout that general area, because the largest super volcano caldera in the entire world has been discovered not too far from the Philippines…
A team including members from GNS Science have identified an ancient mega-volcano that could have the largest known caldera on Earth.
The 150km (93.2 miles) wide feature is on the crest of Benham Rise, an oceanic plateau off the Philippines coast. In comparison, the caldera at Taupo is about 35km (21.8 miles) wide, and that at Yellowstone about 60km (37.3 miles).
#6 All of this is taking place while the north magnetic pole is moving toward Russia at a very rapid pace. The following comes from CNN…
The north magnetic pole has been slowly moving across the Canadian Arctic toward Russia since 1831, but its swift pace toward Siberia in recent years at a rate of around 34 miles per year has forced scientists to update the World Magnetic Model — used by civilian navigation systems, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and US and British militaries — a year ahead of schedule.
#7 On top of everything else, the Earth’s magnetic field has been steadily weakening over time, and this has some experts extremely concerned…
In a forum on Quora, science fiction writer and journalist C Stuart Hardwick revealed that satellite data, such as those collected by the European Space Agency’s SWARM mission, revealed that the magnetic field has been weakening for about 5 percent each century. He noted that currently, the strength of the magnetic field is at 29.5 microteslas, which is 14 percent weaker than its previous state three centuries ago. According to Hardwick, the SWARM satellites detected increased deterioration within regions of the magnetic field over North America. He said these regions weakened by about 3.5 percent over the span of just three years.
Without our magnetic field, life on Earth could not exist for long.
And it doesn’t have to disappear completely to be a massive problem. If it simply gets weak enough, dwelling on the surface is going to become exceedingly difficult.
As I keep warning, our planet is becoming increasing unstable, and what we have experienced so far is just the beginning.
The demands of life can often cause us to focus on things that don’t really matter. Hopefully we can get more people to wake up while there is still time, because the clock is ticking for humanity and for our planet as a whole.
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/7-major-earth-changes-happening-right-now-everyone-needs-know-about
Biblical prophecy being fulfilled...we are right around-the-corner from forced micro-chipping - no buying, selling, job, health services or medicine without a chip in the body. Are we mentally and spiritually prepared for what that implies?
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~ Authored by Ethan Huff via NaturalNews.com:
It’s all happening, just as we predicted. Big Pharma is officially partnering with the tech industry to pair “immunization” with digital biometrics, meaning humans will soon be microchipped, tracked, and ultimately controlled through a global identification matrix.
The ID2020 Alliance, as it’s being called, is a digital identity program that aims to “leverage immunization” as a means of inserting tiny microchips into people’s bodies. In collaboration with the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunizations, also known as GAVI, the government of Bangladesh and various other “partners in government, academia, and humanitarian relief,” the ID2020 Alliance hopes to usher in this mark of the beast as a way to keep tabs on every human being living on Earth.
Similar to how cattle are marked with ear tags, this globalist alliance wants all humans to be “vaccinated” with digital tracking chips that will create a seamless monitoring system for the New World Order to manage the populations of the world with ease.
“We are implementing a forward-looking approach to digital identity that gives individuals control over their own personal information, while still building off existing systems and programs,” says Anir Chowdhury, a policy advisor at a2i, the Bangladesh government’s “Access to Information Program.”
“The government of Bangladesh recognizes that the design of digital identity systems carries far-reaching implications for individuals’ access to services and livelihoods, and we are eager to pioneer this approach,” he adds.
For more related news about the coming one world government and its biometrics component, be sure to check out http://www.PopulationControl.news
While the ID2020 program’s testing grounds are primarily in the Third World, the group says it’s also now working with governments here in the United States to start microchipping people through vaccination.
In Austin, Texas, for example, the homeless population is now being exploited as a collective guinea pig for ID2020’s microchip vaccination program, which the group claims will help to “empower” homeless people by supposedly giving them “control” over their personal identity data.
“The City of Austin, ID2020, and several other partners are working together with homeless people and the service providers who engage with them to develop a blockchain-enabled digital identity platform called MyPass to empower homeless people with their own identity data,” writes Chris Burt for BiometricUpdate.com.
ID2020 is also jabbing refugees with its microchip vaccinations through two inaugural pilot programs known as iRespond and Everest. According to reports, iRespond has “improved continuity of care” for more than 3,000 refugees receiving drug treatments for chronic illness. Everest, on the other hand, has “assisted with the provision of access to critical energy subsidies and a range of additional services with secure and user-centric digital identities without relying on a smartphone,” Burt writes.
All of this is priming the public for an eventual mandate of microchip vaccinations, which will be required for every individual in order to buy and sell goods. Chowdhury openly admitted this in stating that digital identity systems will be necessary for “individuals’ access to services and livelihoods.”
In other words, the Bible is right: A global identification system is in the works that will eventually be required for people to function in society, and ultimately survive. Without these microchips in their bodies, people won’t be able to work, let alone eat, and it’s all happening right before our very eyes.
Keep in mind that ID2020 is a part of the so-called “REAL ID,” which will soon be required for those who wish to travel. REAL ID will also be used as a backdoor method of implementing mandatory vaccination policies for adults.
https://www.zerohedge.com/health/big-brother-meets-big-pharma-harvesting-biometrics-everyone?
Snyder: The Earth Strikes Back – 10 Signs That Nature Has Turned Against Humanity
~ Authored by Michael Snyder via "The End of The American Dream" blog:
"Make sure that you do not reject the One who speaks. For if they did not escape when they rejected Him who warned them on earth, even less will we if we turn away from Him who warns us from heaven. His voice shook the earth at that time, but now He has promised, Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also heaven [Haggai 2:6]. This expression, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of what can be shaken — that is, created things — so that what is not shaken might remain. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us hold on to grace. By it, we may serve God acceptably, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire." ~ Hebrews 12:25-29
[RanB2kHz] Even the secular world is beginning to recognize that a higher power is warming up for the grand finale.
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All over the planet, nature is starting to behave in some very unusual ways. And unfortunately for us, a lot of the changes that we are witnessing in nature are quite detrimental for humanity. Of course the truth is that we haven’t exactly been too kind to the planet that we are living on. In fact, many would argue that we are in the process of absolutely devastating the Earth, and most of us don’t feel bad about that at all. So could it be possible that it is now payback time?
Let me give you just one quick example of how we are destroying the planet. According to a recent survey of U.S. beekeepers, an astounding 37 percent of all honeybee colonies were lost over the winter…
Every year since 2006, the University of Maryland’s nonprofit Bee Informed Partnership (BIP) conducts an annual survey to determine how many bee colonies were lost over the course of the year. The 2018–2019 survey asked 4,696 U.S. beekeepers to report how many colonies they lost, and the preliminary results of the survey suggest that things aren’t looking so good.
Of the more than 319,000 managed bee colonies in the survey, 37.7 percent were lost over the winter. This represents the largest die-off since the survey began, and a full 7 percentage points higher than the previous year. Having fewer honeybees is more than just an ecological problem, it’s also an economic one: Every year, honeybees contribute a nearly $20 billion value to U.S. crop production.
Of course we don’t have to look too far to find the culprit. We are the ones that are killing all the bees off, and in the process we are setting the stage for an unprecedented ecological disaster, because if all the bees suddenly vanished human civilization would not last much longer at all.
In the end, we will be held accountable for what has been entrusted to us, and it appears that we are starting to get what we deserve.
The following are 10 signs that nature has turned against humanity…
#1 — In the middle of the country, farmers are freaking out because giant black vultures are literally eating their farm animals alive. And since the vultures are “federally-protected”, the farmers can’t do anything about it…
They’ll devour slimy newborn calves, full-grown ewes and lambs alive by pecking them to death. First the eyes, then the tongue, then every last shred of flesh.
And there isn’t much defense against black vultures and turkey vultures, both of which are federally protected and cannot be killed without a permit.
#2 — All up and down the east coast, Americans are becoming the victims of “flesh-eating bacteria” when they go into the water. Here is one recent example from Florida…
A woman who cut herself while walking along the water on the Florida beach she loved died after contracting necrotizing fasciitis, becoming the latest victim of the flesh-eating bacteria.
Lynn Fleming, from Ellenton, about 15 miles north of Sarasota, fell and cut herself while she was walking at Coquina Beach on nearby Anna Maria Island two weeks ago.
At this point things have gotten so bad that the CDC is telling people with open wounds “to avoid bodies of water, especially swimming pools and hot tubs.”
#3 — For decades, cockroaches have been multiplying despite our best efforts to eradicate them with insecticides. But now they are developing resistance to our insecticides, and researchers are warning that this will make them “invulnerable”…
The day that squeamish humans — and exterminators — have long feared may have come at last: Cockroaches are becoming invincible. Or at least German cockroaches (Blattella germanica) are, according to a new study. Researchers have found that these creatures, which have long been a prevalent urban pest, are becoming increasingly resistant to almost every kind of chemical insecticide.
Not all insecticides are created equal. Some degrade the nervous system, whereas others attack the exoskeleton; they also have to be left out for varying amounts of time. But many insects, including cockroaches, have evolved resistance to at least one of the most commonly-used insecticides.
#4 — Last week it was hotter in some parts of Europe that it has ever been before. In fact, in one region in France the temperature actually hit 114 degrees Fahrenheit…
Hundreds of firefighters battled on Saturday to contain wildfires in southern France as a stifling heatwave brought record-breaking temperatures to parts of Europe, killing at least three people in Italy.
In the Gard region, where France’s highest temperature on record was registered on Friday at 45.9 degrees Celsius (114 degrees Fahrenheit), scores of fires burned some 600 hectares (about 1,500 acres) of land and destroyed several houses and vehicles, emergency services said.
#5 — Along the California coastline, temperatures have been so hot that mussels have actually been “roasting in their shells”…
A record-breaking June heatwave apparently caused the largest die-off of mussels in at least 15 years at Bodega Head, a small headland on the northern California bay. And Sones received reports from other researchers of similar mass mussel deaths at various beaches across roughly 140 miles of coastline.
While the people who flocked to the Pacific to enjoy a rare 80F beach day soaked up the sun, so did the mussel beds – where the rock-bound mollusks could have been experiencing temperatures above 100F at low tide, literally roasting in their shells.
#6 — And of course the east coast is not being left out either. According to meteorologists, some portions of the east coast could see heat index values hit 110 degrees “as early as Wednesday”…
Another round of oppressive heat is already in the forecast this week for the East Coast with oppressive heat index values on the way for the parts of the Southeast by midweek. Heat index values could approaching 105 to 110 degrees in parts of the region as early as Wednesday.
Major cities from North Carolina to New Jersey will see a long stretch of temperatures at or above 90 degrees, which means another heat wave is on the way for cities like Philadelphia and Washington, D.C.
#7 — Thanks to the unusually high temperatures, wasp nests are absolutely thriving across the southern United States. In fact, one expert anticipates that there will be dozens of “super nests” in his area this year…
"Warmer winters contribute to these nests", Mr. Ray said. "Most yellow jackets don’t survive the cold months because they freeze to death or have trouble finding food. They need a fair amount of sugar and carbohydrates", he said.
“The queens are the only ones who have an antifreeze compound in their blood,” Mr. Ray said. “So normally, a surviving queen will have to start a colony from scratch in the spring. With our climate becoming warmer, there might be multiple surviving queens producing more than 20,000 eggs each.”
#8 — Meanwhile, the middle of the country is being absolutely hammered by the wettest year that it has ever experienced. And just when you thought that it couldn’t possibly get any wetter, more storms are scheduled to come rolling through…
But a new system was moving through the Northern Plains Sunday morning and already bringing some severe storms to Minnesota. The system will attempt to bring some cooler air down from Canada, which will interact with the heat situated in the Midwest and spark storms across parts of the Plains and the Midwest, from Wyoming to Illinois.
#9 — In recent months we have also seen unusually large hail absolutely hammer communities all over the country. For example, it is being reported that some portions of Montana were just hit with “baseball-sized hail”…
Thunderstorms that moved through southwestern Montana dropped baseball-sized hail in western Powder River County and golf ball-sized hail as the storm moved to the east.
The National Weather Service reports Wednesday night’s storm left behind broken windows and damaged crops.
Baseball-sized hail fell near Moorhead, a community about 35 miles southwest of Broadus, while Broadus recorded a 70 mph (113 kph) wind gust. Communities just north of Moorhead reported golf ball-sized hail.
#10 — Needless to say, all of this wet weather has just continued to feed the unprecedented flooding that we have seen along our major rivers. At this point, we are being told that the horrific flooding along the Mississippi River may go beyond the end of the summer…
The 2019 Mississippi River flood fight is going to slog deep into the summer — and maybe much longer.
While communities north of St. Louis are beginning the expensive path to recovery after record-breaking winter and spring precipitation and runoff, people below the Missouri River are shoveling mud from their houses and praying for a dry spell.
The Lower Mississippi Valley remains in a flood crisis as high water continues to swamp streets, homes, businesses, sewage and water treatment plants, and farm fields, including across some of the poorest counties in the United States.
These are ten examples that have just been in the news during the past few days. If I wanted to cover all of the unusual events that we have witnessed so far in 2019 I would have to write an entire book.
The truth is that global weather patterns are dramatically shifting and our planet is becoming increasingly unstable. And no matter how hard humanity tries to find solutions, the reality of the matter is that things are going to continue to get worse.
We have passed the tipping point, and we are starting to experience the consequences for decades of exceedingly foolish decisions.
We have entered the time of “the perfect storm”, and "everything that can be shaken will be shaken".
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-07-01/snyder-earth-strikes-back-10-signs-nature-has-turned-against-humanity
Judgment of the Nations
God’s judgment of the nations of the earth is coming folks.
The Lord spoke through many Old Testament Prophets concerning this very thing towards the end of the ages, and the “end times” began with Jesus Christ’s crucifixion and subsequent resurrection. If it was close then – imagine how much closer it is today!
The righteousness of our God cannot allow wickedness to go unpunished. He created all sentience beings with a free-will to decide for ourselves to follow/obey Him, or to follow/obey Lucifer – who by his own free-will introduced sin into the creation.
Many believe that because God has held back His judgment for this long implies that it is not coming, but as Sodom and Gomorrah, and countless others can attest to – it will occur. The full-extent of the wicked evilness of sin must be presented in order for the righteousness of our Lord’s wrath against it to be unobjectionable by all of creation. Additionally, there is another reason for the Lord’s withholding of His anger and wrath upon the evilness of the generations:
“Dear friends, don’t let this one thing escape you: With the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day. The Lord does not delay His promise, as some understand delay, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish but all to come to repentance. But the Day of the Lord will come like a thief; on that day the heavens will pass away with a loud noise, the elements will burn and be dissolved, and the earth and the works on it will be disclosed. Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, it is clear what sort of people you should be in holy conduct and godliness as you wait for and earnestly desire the coming of the day of God. The heavens will be on fire and be dissolved because of it, and the elements will melt with the heat. But based on His promise, we wait for the new heavens and a new earth, where righteousness will dwell.” ~ 2 Peter 3:8-13
We are experiencing, globally, a severe outpouring of evil and wickedness upon every aspect of our lives. I cannot think of any of God’s creation that has not been impacted by sin. How much more till the “full extent” is known? Only God knows. For all of our sakes – I pray that it is not too much longer.
As Yellowstone Awakens, Dr. Michio Kaku Warns That It Could "Literally Tear The Guts Out Of The USA"
One day it will happen.
Scientists assure us that one day the absolutely massive Yellowstone supervolcano will once again experience a Category 8 eruption, and if it happened today it would “literally tear the guts out of the United States of America”. That is why what has been happening at Yellowstone in recent months is so alarming. We know that the ground has been rising and that “a 465-mile-long piece of molten rock” is moving upwards directly under Yellowstone. And we also know that the major geysers at Yellowstone were more active last year than in any other year in any of our lifetimes. Are these signs that an eruption is coming? We better hope not, because as Dr. Michio Kaku recently told Fox News, there is “a sleeping Godzilla underneath Yellowstone”…
Dr Kaku told Fox News: “Forget the image of Yogi Bear representing Yellowstone."
“We’re talking about a sleeping Godzilla underneath Yellowstone, that if it erupts in a maximum eruption called Category 8, it can literally tear the guts out of the United States of America."
“Instead of having 50 states of the Union, we would have 30 states of the Union.“
We live at a time when seismic activity has been increasing all over the world, and Yellowstone has also been exhibiting very unusual behavior.
However, Dr. Kaku says that we shouldn’t worry too much, because he believes that we will get warnings about a Yellowstone eruption in advance…
“Unlike a meteor from outer space, where you get no warning whatsoever, we get warnings."
“If you see movies like Pompeii, you know that there are days, in fact, weeks of eruptions building up, rumbling inside, underneath the pocket of lava."
“So there would be enough time, several weeks, to begin evacuation if and when such an unlikely event were to take place.”
But what if we have been ignoring the warnings that we have already been getting?
For example, Steamboat geyser erupted more times in 2018 than in any other year in history. The following comes from National Geographic…
The Yellowstone Volcano Observatory reports that Steamboat has now set a record by erupting a whopping 32 times in 2018, a personal best for the geyser for a single calendar year. Previously, this geyser made it as high as 29 paroxysms back in 1964.
Other nearby geysers have also been behaving fairly interestingly of late. Ear Spring Geyser, for example, has been pretty quiet since 1957, but it erupted spectacularly a few months back — and sprayed human garbage from the 1930s everywhere.
Prior to last year, there had not been an eruption of the Steamboat geyser for three and a half years.
In addition, the ground under Yellowstone has been steadily rising for the last few years, and the area was hit by 121 earthquakes in the month of December alone…
“In the area of Norris Geyser Basin, GPS data indicate a minor amount of uplift over the past few months, with a total uplift of about 2cm during 2018, also continuing the trend that has been ongoing since 2015.”
In the same Yellowstone update, the USGS revealed a total of 121 earthquakes were recorded in the Yellowstone area in December 2018 alone.
It is indeed possible that when Yellowstone finally erupts that we will get more of a warning than this.
But it is also possible that we will not.
When Yellowstone blows, life as you have known it will instantly be over. If you are not in the immediate kill zone, you will have an opportunity to try to survive, but it won’t be easy. One survivalist expert suggests that everyone should “head east as fast as you can”…
He added: “Zone one, which is a radius of 100 miles, could see 70,000 people die instantly."
“Zone two, which starts after 100 miles, would be covered in 10ft of volcanic ash at 450C."
“After the second zone, your chances of surviving increase, but still head east as fast as you can."
“Beyond zone six is where you would be the safest in the US for the short term, but the wind will greatly determine where ash falls.”
Personally, I don’t know if that is the best approach. The roads will be absolutely clogged, and there is no way that you are going to outrun the volcanic ash. If you get completely buried in volcanic ash in your vehicle, it will all be over.
Of course the truth is that if Yellowstone experiences a Category 8 eruption most Americans will eventually die no matter what they do. The following is an extended excerpt from one of my previous articles…
Hundreds of cubic miles of ash, rock and lava would be blasted into the atmosphere, and this would likely plunge much of the northern hemisphere into several days of complete darkness. Virtually everything within 100 miles of Yellowstone would be immediately killed, but a much more cruel fate would befall those that live in major cities outside of the immediate blast zone such as Salt Lake City and Denver.
Hot volcanic ash, rock and dust would rain down on those cities literally for weeks. In the end, it would be extremely difficult for anyone living in those communities to survive. In fact, it has been estimated that 90 percent of all people living within 600 miles of Yellowstone would be killed.
Experts project that such an eruption would dump a layer of volcanic ash that is at least 10 feet deep up to 1,000 miles away, and approximately two-thirds of the United States would suddenly become uninhabitable. The volcanic ash would severely contaminate most of our water supplies, and growing food in the middle of the country would become next to impossible.
In other words, it would be the end of our country as we know it today.
The rest of the planet, and this would especially be true for the northern hemisphere, would experience what is known as a “nuclear winter”. An extreme period of “global cooling” would take place, and temperatures around the world would fall by up to 20 degrees. Crops would fail all over the planet, and severe famine would sweep the globe.
In the end, billions could die.
Let us hope and pray that nothing like this happens any time soon. Those of you that regularly follow my work already know that I am far more concerned about an eruption of Mt. Rainier, and we should also keep a very, very close eye on Mt. Fuji in Japan.
As our planet becomes increasingly unstable, there will be unprecedented natural disasters in the years ahead, and multitudes of people will die in those disasters.
Unfortunately, most of the “experts” continue to assure the public that everything is going to be “just fine”, but meanwhile the shaking of our planet just continues to get even worse with each passing year.
~ Authored by Michael Snyder via "The Economic Collapse" blog
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-02-22/yellowstone-awakens-dr-michio-kaku-warns-it-could-literally-tear-guts-out-usa
"For nation will rise up against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places, famines, and disturbances. These are the beginning of birth pains." ~ Mark 13:8
Matthew Henry's Commentary:
4. “Let it not be looked upon as if in them God has done his worst; no, he has more arrows in his quiver, and they are ordained against the persecutors; be not troubled at the wars you shall hear of, for they are but the beginnings of sorrows, and therefore, instead of being disturbed at them, you ought to prepare for worse; for there shall also be earthquakes in divers places, which shall bury multitudes in the ruins of their own houses, and there shall be famines, by which many of the poor shall perish for want of bread, and troubles and commotions; so that there shall be no peace to him that goes out or comes in. The world shall be full of troubles, but be not ye troubled; without are fightings, within are fears, but fear not ye their fear.” Note, The disciples of Christ, if it be not their own fault, may enjoy a holy security and serenity of mind, when all about them is in the greatest disorder.
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-02-22/yellowstone-awakens-dr-michio-kaku-warns-it-could-literally-tear-guts-out-usa
7 Prophetic Words God Has for Us about the End Times
This world can be a dark place. Sometimes it’s hard to see light and hope in the midst of all the suffering and pain that surrounds us. Just this year, we’ve seen incredible evil take many innocent lives. We’ve seen terrorist attacks and heard rumors of war. We’ve seen hurricanes and natural disasters wreak havoc in different places around the globe. Top news headlines reveal constant struggles, pain, and brokenness that people everywhere are facing.
Maybe you’re facing it too.
Our own personal losses and hardships remind us that this life is far from perfect. Yet as believers we can be grateful that this world is not all we have. We have the very hope of heaven in our hearts.
God's words are true, every single one. And He is faithful to bring them all to pass. He never tells us to live in fear, worry, or dread of what’s to come. But He does remind us to live aware, not to be surprised, to be wise and watchful.
We don't have to be alarmed. Because He's told us ahead of time what to expect, we know from His word, "such things must happen, but the end is still to come." ~ Mark 13:7
1. False prophets and false Christs will appear and deceive many:
“Many will come in my name claiming, ‘I am he, and will deceive many.’” ~ Mark 13:6
“At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look here is the Christ! Or ‘Look there he is! Do not believe it. For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform signs and miracles to deceive the elect if that were possible.” ~ Mark 13:21-22 (also in Matthew 24:5, 23-24)
With all the prophecies and signs of the end times that Jesus shares in these verses, He also says this over and over:
He warns us to stay aware.
Though it’s clear that no one knows the day or hour of Christ’s return, He does remind us 7 different times through Mark 13 to be on guard, watch out, be alert. He longs for His people to “wake up” and not be deceived or unaware of what’s going on around us:
- "Watch out that no one deceives you..." v. 5
- "You must be on your guard..." v. 9
- "So be on your guard, I have told you everything ahead of time." v. 23
- "Be on guard!" v. 33
- "Be alert!" v. 33
- "Therefore, keep watch..." v. 35
- "If he comes suddenly, do not let him find you sleeping. What I say to you, I say to everyone: Watch!" v. 36
2. There will be wars, rumors of wars, famines, earthquakes, and natural disasters:
He reminds us that we will know these are prophetic words coming to pass when we hear of "wars and rumors of wars," when we see certain events unfolding, "Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places, and famines. These are the beginning of birth pains." ~ Mark 13:7-8 (also in Matthew 24:6-8)
Many around us may be feeling anxious and fearful in these days. Let’s choose to trust and believe that God is working in our world, even behind the scenes where we can’t fully see.
3. Believers will be persecuted, hated, and put to death, and the gospel will spread and be preached to all nations:
“You will be handed over to the local councils and flogged in the synagogues. On account of me you will stand before governors and kings as witnesses to them. And the gospel must first be preached to all nations…Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child. Children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death. All men will hate you because of me…” ~ Mark 13:9-13 (also in Matthew 24:9-11)
4. There will be an increase in wickedness in this world, and many will grow distant from God in their love and stand for Him:
“Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.” ~ Matthew 24:12-13
This will be hard for those who remain faithful to watch. But we can trust that God will sustain us who believe in him and help us remain in His love while the rest of the world increases in wickedness and those we thought were faithful turn away.
5. The times will be very difficult and distressing for all:
“How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! Pray that this will not take place in winter, because those will be days of distress unequaled from the beginning…” ~ Mark 13:16-18 (also in Matthew 24:15-22)
Though this is distressing to think about, as believers, we have hope in Christ. We know beyond a doubt He is moving in every nation and that He will come again, just as His word says. For Christians, His second coming is a very good thing.
6. No one will know the day or hour of Christ’s return:
"But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.” ~ Matthew 24:36
“…for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.” ~ 1 Thessalonians 5:2
May God draw many to Himself in these days. And may we be found living as light in a world that so desperately needs His great peace. May He help us not to grow weary or become busy with other things.
7. There will be signs in the sky, the seas will roar, and heavenly bodies will be shaken. And then, in the blink of an eye, at the trumpet’s sound, Jesus promises that He will come again:
“But in those days, after that tribulation: The sun will be darkened, and the moon will not shed its light; the stars will be falling from the sky, and the celestial powers will be shaken. Then they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. He will send out the angels and gather His elect from the four winds, from the end of the earth to the end of the sky.” ~ Mark 13:24-27
“Then there will be signs in the sun, moon, and stars; and there will be anguish on the earth among nations bewildered by the roaring sea and waves. People will faint from fear and expectation of the things that are coming on the world, because the celestial powers will be shaken. Then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. But when these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is near!” ~ Luke 21:25-28
“...in a moment, in the blink of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we will be changed.” ~ 1 Corinthians 15:52
Let's keep working while it is still day...
It’s truly what matters most in this life.
~ by Debbie McDaniel (www.debbiemcdaniel.com)
https://www.ibelieve.com/slideshows/7-prophetic-words-god-has-for-us-about-the-end-times.html
4 Things Every Christian Should Know about the Rapture
~ by David Jeremiah
The study of the End Times and the rapture can cause questions, apprehension, and fear. "Why do I need to study prophecy?" "It is too complicated, and I don't understand what it means." "It makes me anxious and nervous." I will not argue with the fact that studying prophecy can be complex and overwhelming. It is difficult to see how these obscure passages can have any significance for us today. They appear to lack relevance to what we are going through right now.
If we continue with this mindset, we will miss the rich truth God has provided for us. We cannot understand where we are now if we don’t understand where we are going. To help you begin developing an understanding and appreciation for this difficult topic, I have compiled biblical answers to four of the most frequently asked questions about the Rapture.
The Rapture - 4 Things Every Christian Should Understand
1. What signs indicate that the End Times are near?
The Rapture — the raising of the Church into heaven (1 Thessalonians 4:16-18) — is the next event on the prophetic calendar. The following signs indicate that the End Times are near.
• The Sign of Deception:
Many people will claim to be the Messiah and claim to have the answers for a troubled world. Jesus says to “take heed” — literally to keep our eyes open so we are not fooled. In the End Times, people will be crying desperately for leaders to deliver them, and they will seek mystics and religious leaders who claim to have deeper knowledge.
• The Sign of Disputes Among Nations:
As wars and dissension among groups of people begin to escalate, we know it is a sign of Christ’s return. The book of Revelation tells us that the Tribulation Period is filled with war — ceaseless, unending, terrible war — that will escalate until the world is involved. The Bible says that as we move toward the End Times, there will be constant talk of conflicts, border skirmishes, race wars, and national battles.
• The Sign of Devastation:
Today, as you read this, millions of people in the world are going hungry, even though God has blessed us with a fruitful, abundant planet. As we get closer to the End Times, there will be more and more famine. There will also be earthquakes, something that science has said will happen. Christ also spoke of pestilence: the spread of new diseases. Our world is experiencing a spate of tragic new diseases that we are unable to control.
• The Sign of Deliverance Into the Tribulation:
Just before Jesus returns, there will be an explosion of antagonism toward God’s people. Christians will be persecuted. We are seeing this happen today with the rise of ISIS and their horrific attacks on Christians in the Middle East. As we grow closer to the end, many will pay a high price for living out their faith in our world.
2. Why should I avoid determining a date and time for the Rapture?
The fact is, we cannot calculate the day Christ will return for His Church because God specifically chose not to reveal it to us.
When the apostles asked Jesus about the apocalyptic time, He replied gently but firmly:
"It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you" ~ Acts 1:7-8
Only God knows what time it is, and only God knows when time will run out.
Future truth impacts present responsibility. It is the knowledge that His coming is soon that puts a little bit of urgency into our step and determination into our service.
3. Will I be a part of the Rapture if my body is cremated?
When the Scripture says, "The dead in Christ will rise," it is speaking of the bodily resurrection of believers. At this time, the spirits of believers will be united with their perfect and complete resurrection bodies:
"For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first [no exceptions!]. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words" ~ 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18
If God can do the hard part of calling creation into existence through His spoken words, then it will be no problem for Him to call back the bodies of those who have been swept into the sea, or consumed by fire, or tragically maimed and murdered by vicious and murderous attacks of an enemy.
4. What will happen in Heaven after the Rapture?
After the Rapture, Christians will come before the Judgment Seat of Christ (2 Corinthians 5:10). The Judgment Seat is not about whether we will enter heaven — we’ll already be there because our sins have been atoned for in the substitutionary death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It will, however, be a time to give an account of the works we have done on earth, and we will be rewarded accordingly. We’ll be assigned places of authority in the coming Millennium based upon our faithfulness to God when we were on earth, as well as the influence we left behind.
There is so much relevant truth to be discovered in the Bible's prophetic passages! I encourage you to continue to study God's plan for the future. What you believe about many of these issues can determine what side you are on when God decides to draw the final curtain on the drama of history. I am confident you will find, as I have, that studying and understanding rapture and the events of tomorrow will change your view of today!
~ To find more answers on the Rapture and End Times, check out a free download of David Jeremiah's booklet, Answers to the Unsolved Mysteries of Prophecy.
http://www.crosswalk.com/faith/spiritual-life/4-things-every-christian-should-know-about-the-rapture.html
America and Armageddon
~ a video message by Greg Laurie:
https://www.harvest.org/watch-and-listen/watch/america-and-armageddon-20161013
The Quickening: Is Time Accelerating?
Many have noted that time seems to be accelerating. The hours, days, seasons, and years appear to fly by faster than ever before. An hour no longer feels like 60 minutes (unless you’re waiting in line!). One week seems to run into the next. It’s as if we’re watching the blur of a speeding train pass by.
Science and Scripture
The pace of life has certainly increased, but is time speeding up? Recently, scientists have been shocked to discover that their measurements indicate the expansion of the universe is actually increasing. Rather than slowing down, as their Big Bang theory postulates, astronomers have been stunned to learn that the expansion of the universe appears to be accelerating. CNN reports “Scientists are scratching their heads over a finding that indicates the universe, rather than slowing down, is being expanded by a mysterious force at an accelerating rate.”
God’s Word states simply: “(God) alone spreads out the heavens...” (Job 9:8). Therefore this “mysterious force” is no mystery to a Bible believer. It is God Himself who stretches out the heavens at the pace He sees fit.
However, it is interesting that secular scientists have determined that the universe – which is comprised of time, space, matter, and energy – is expanding at an increasing rate. Would this affect the dimension we call time? We on earth do not understand time well enough to draw any conclusions; however, the Creator certainly knows the answer.
If an acceleration of time is occurring, is it anticipated in the Bible? When describing the Great Tribulation period, Jesus stated: “And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect's sake those days will be shortened” (Matthew 24:22). Jesus said that if He did not cut those days short, man would destroy all flesh.
Of course, the context of Matthew 24:22 refers to Jesus coming back to earth to rescue His people from the intense trials which will come upon the earth during the Tribulation. Yet, as is often true of other Bible prophecies, could this perceived speeding of time foreshadow that which will be fully realized during the Great Tribulation?
Creation Birth Pangs
Do other Scriptures indicate a speed-up of time in the last days? While there is no single Scripture that specifically states that time will speed up, several passages imply a quickening during earth’s final days.
Jesus likened the last days’ signs to birth pangs (Matthew 24:8). The Greek word odin, often translated as sorrows in Matthew 24:8, literally means birth pangs. In addition, the apostle Paul reminded us that “the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now” (Romans 8:21-22).
As the time of delivery draws near, birth pangs always increase in both intensity and frequency. Therefore, the creation itself would travail with increased frequency as the time of delivery draws near.
Interestingly, Scripture teaches that time is a physical property and is therefore part of God’s creation (Genesis 1:1; 2 Timothy 1:9). Therefore the dimension we call time would also travail, and perhaps increase, as earth’s final days climax.
Time Changes
Jesus explained that at the very end of this age, “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken” (Matthew 24:29).
We are told that God created “lights” (the sun, moon, and stars) in the heavens “for signs and seasons, and for days and years” (Genesis 1:14-16). For instance, a year is the time required for the earth to travel once around the sun. The seasons are caused by the changing position of the earth in relation to the sun. And the moon’s phases follow one another in clock-like precision – constituting the lunar calendar.
If these lights – the sun, moon, and stars – are affected in the last days, and the very “powers of heaven” shaken, does this indicate a significant disruption in how the dimension of time will pass? In the Book of Amos we are informed: “And it shall come to pass in that day [the Tribulation], says the Lord GOD, that I will make the sun go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in broad daylight” (Amos 8:9).
Certainly God Himself “changes the times and the seasons” (Daniel 2:21) as He sees fit. He is the one and only Sovereign God. He alone determines kings and nations and ordinances and times and seasons. So it is no surprise that His Word anticipates this time dilation, and perhaps acceleration. Interestingly, Scripture even informs us that the Antichrist “shall speak pompous words against the Most High, shall persecute the saints of the Most High, and shall intend to change times and law...” (Daniel 7:25).
More Scriptures that Suggest Acceleration
Other Scriptures that imply this quickening of life include Daniel 12:4: “But you, Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book until the time of the end; many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase.” Today we are witnessing an explosion of available knowledge. With the advent of the computer, and now the Internet, it is estimated that our cumulative knowledge is doubling every five years. And since the Industrial Revolution, multitudes are running to and fro just as the Bible prophesied. This exponential increase in available knowledge, and the ability to travel conveniently at accelerated speeds, is beyond what anyone could have imagined!
Another Scripture that may anticipate this perceived increase in the passing of time is found in the Book of Revelation. During the tribulation period, which is described in Revelation chapters 6-19, we read that the judgments will follow in rapid succession. Once the Tribulation begins, these events will transpire very rapidly: “The second woe is past. Behold, the third woe is coming quickly” (Revelation 11:14). Read Revelation chapters 6 through 19 for yourself and see how many global cataclysmic events are compressed into less than 7 years of history. Coupled with Jesus’ and Paul’s birth pangs warnings, these Scriptures indicate that as we draw closer to these climaxing events, we should expect the last days’ signs to also occur with increased rapidity.
Furthermore, Jesus declared in the final book of the Bible: “Behold, I am coming quickly!” (Revelation 3:11). In fact, Jesus reiterates three times in the last chapter of the Bible that He is coming quickly (Revelation 22:7, 12, 20). Some commentators note that the Lord is not only declaring that His return is imminent, but that this phrase also indicates that once these events begin to occur they will follow in rapid-fire succession.
One more Scripture concerning the last days that we will quote states concisely, “The great day of the LORD is near; it is near and hastens quickly...” (Zephaniah 1:14).
Last Days Bible Prophecies
Those who study the Bible know that we are living in the last days and the times of these prophesied birth pangs are currently ramping up. Every major last days’ trend anticipated in the Bible is being positioned in place. Like a tsunami that sweeps the globe, developments in Bible prophecy are overwhelming and irrefutable.
During the Olivet Discourse, Jesus listed several last days’ signs and then summarized: “So you also, when you see all these things, know that it is near – at the doors! Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place” (Matthew 24:33-34). In other words, once we see all the signs coming into focus, we should expect the climax of these events within one generation.
Here is a list of some of the major Biblical last days’ trends – all of which are in place today:
• Wide-spread deception in Christ’s name (Matthew 24:4-5; 11; 24-26; 2 Thessalonians 2; 2 Peter 2:1-3; etc.)
• Global communications foreseen (Revelation 11:9-10; 17:8)
• A global cry for peace (1 Thessalonians 5:3)
• Chaotic weather prevalent (Luke 21:25-26)
• A move toward a global government (Daniel 2:40-44; 7:23; Revelation 13:7-8)
• Technology capable of tracking the world’s population (Revelation 13:16-17)
• Israel re-gathered into their nation after being dispersed for nearly two millennia ?(Isaiah 11:11-12; 43:5-6; 66:8; Jeremiah 31:7-10; Ezekiel 37:21-22; 38:8)
• Jerusalem a burdensome stone to all nations (Zechariah 12:2-3)
• Israel prospering economically (Ezekiel 38:12-13)
• Preparations to rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem (Daniel 9:27; 12:11; Mark 13:14; Revelation 11:1-2)
• Russia, Iran and other countries rising as military powers and preparing a surprise attack on Israel (Ezekiel 38)
• Anti-Semitism worldwide increasing (Deuteronomy 28:37; Jeremiah 29:18; 44:8)
• Homosexuality flaunted insert-text-here(Luke 17:28-30; Genesis 19:1-29; Jude 1:7)[/tag]
• A move toward a global religion (Revelation 13:8; Revelation 17)
• Lawlessness abounding (Matthew 24:12; Revelation 9:21)
• Babylon reemerging on the world scene (Zechariah 5:11; Isaiah 13; Revelation 17-19)
• Increased interest in the occult, witchcraft, and sorceries (Revelation 9:21; 18:23; 21:8; Isaiah 47:9-15; Micah 5:10-15)
• The kings of the East rising (Revelation 9:14-16; 16:12)
There are many more last days’ signs that appear to be culminating before our very eyes. Therefore, all indications are that delivery must also be fast approaching.
Whether time is actually speeding up, or whether our perception is the result of these birth pangs increasing, we cannot be certain. One thing is for sure, the Bible is true and the Lord’s return is near.
The Gospel
Yes, events are climaxing. Time is short. Therefore, the most important question for each of us to answer is “Do we know the Lord?” “Are we prepared to meet our Creator?”
The Bible states that sin has separated us from God:
"But your iniquities have built barriers between you and your God, and your sins have made Him hide His face from you so that He does not listen." ~ Isaiah 59:2
A quick review of the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20) should prove this fact. One lie makes us liars in God’s holy eyes. Placing our interests or any created thing before our Creator or His Word is idolatry. Lust is adultery according to Jesus:
"You have heard that it was said, Do not commit adultery. But I tell you, everyone who looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart." ~ Matthew 5:27-28
Saying “Oh my God” casually is taking His name in vain – also known as blasphemy – and this commandment is even listed before “You shall not murder” (Exodus 20:7-13).
The truth is we have all sinned against our Creator. The penalty for any sin is death – physical death and spiritual separation in hell (Romans 6:23; Revelation 21:8).
“But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)” ~ Ephesians 2:4-5
The wonderful news is that our Creator, the Lord Jesus Christ, became a man and died for our sins. Jesus never sinned yet He willingly and in love died in our place. He paid for all our sins on the cross and then rose from the grave, defeating death! All who repent (turn) from their sins and trust Jesus as Lord and Savior will be saved.
Time is short. Please do not wait. Place your trust in Jesus Christ as Creator, Lord and Savior today!
“You don’t even know what tomorrow will bring — what your life will be! For you are like smoke that appears for a little while, then vanishes.” ~ James 4:14
“For He says: I heard you in an acceptable time, and I helped you in the day of salvation. Look, now is the acceptable time; now is the day of salvation.” ~ 2 Corinthians 6:2
“For by Him (Jesus Christ) all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence. For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross. And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight” ~ Colossians 1:16-22
~ Article by Jim Tetlow – Author of "101 Last Days Prophecies" (http://www.eternal-productions.org)
2 Thessalonians 2
The Man of Lawlessness
"Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to Him: We ask you, brothers, not to be easily upset in mind or troubled, either by a spirit or by a message or by a letter as if from us, alleging that the Day of the Lord has come. Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way. For that day will not come unless the apostasy (rebellion) comes first and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction. He opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he sits in God’s sanctuary (temple), publicizing that he himself is God." (v1-4)
"Don’t you remember that when I was still with you I told you about this? And you know what currently restrains him, so that he will be revealed in his time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work, but the one now restraining will do so until he is out of the way, and then the lawless one will be revealed. The Lord Jesus will destroy him with the breath of His mouth and will bring him to nothing with the brightness of His coming. The coming of the lawless one is based on Satan’s working, with all kinds of false miracles, signs, and wonders, and with every unrighteous deception among those who are perishing. They perish because they did not accept the love of the truth in order to be saved. For this reason God sends them a strong delusion so that they will believe what is false, so that all will be condemned—those who did not believe the truth but enjoyed unrighteousness." (v5-12)
Stand Firm
"But we must always thank God for you, brothers loved by the Lord, because from the beginning God has chosen you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and through belief in the truth. He called you to this through our gospel, so that you might obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, brothers, stand firm and hold to the traditions you were taught, either by our message or by our letter." (v13-15)
"May our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father, who has loved us and given us eternal encouragement and good hope by grace, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good work and word." (v16-17)
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