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Are we living in the end times?
Friends, God has told us what to expect not to scare us, but to prepare us!
In these uncertain times, we need the assurance that God's promises hold a beautiful future for us. No matter what might be going on here on Earth, we can be confident God is firmly on His throne and the future is in His hands.
Let's discover the incredible hope that God's timeline holds for each of us. Because remember, it's all about hope. It's all about Him.
~ Max Lucado
Join the FREE Online Bible Study with Max Lucado and discover that for followers of Christ, the best is yet to come. Plus, get access to 6 study videos, and other Bible study resources – all free when you sign up!
https://pages.faithgateway.com/what-happens-next-max-lucado-obs-registration/
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Hello Lord Jesus... I just wanted to say at this moment that I Love You!!! Thank You for all You have done for me! I Love helping others! Even with my Mothers passing on 8-31-24...... I have learned sooooo much about the beauty of life that we have here on Earth... !!! :) Sharing the time YOU have given us, as fellow humans.... is so amazing to have!! :) Thank You Lord! That i can help more hurting people lately!
I love You Jesus!!! Thank You!!!
Let's continue for Your will!!! 💗
Amen
Love 2 all in Jesus!! http://mobilesavior.com/
💖Well, about 6:30pm 8/31/24, my awesome Mother Helen, heart stopped .... after she transitioned from Mayo Hospital to the hospice unit next door... and just so you know, I have been praying for her an awful lot for her forgiveness and I believe she is with Jesus as we speak! 💝 so beautiful.! Love You Momma!!! 😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇
This pic is from Her, my brother and I having fun in our business K-Display back in the mid nineties,,,,
LOVE the similarities!! 😇The LORD is the one who goes ahead of you; He will be with you. He will not fail you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.
Deuteronomy 31:8
Isaiah 41:10
So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
💖 Isaiah 43:2 When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.
💖💖💖💖💖💖💖
I Love You Jesus! You have saved me 38 years ago! I am soooo happy You have given me the ability to do deeds in Your Name!! I Love helping others!!! Jesus, I promise I will do what I can to help others know You, and help them! Thank You Jesus!!!!!!!!!
💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖
America’s Impending Judgement
“Gather yourselves together; gather together, shameless nation, before the decree takes effect and the day passes like chaff, before the burning of the Lord’s anger overtakes you, before the day of the Lord’s anger overtakes you. Seek the Lord, all you humble of the earth, who carry out what He commands. Seek righteousness, seek humility; perhaps you will be hidden on the day of the Lord’s anger.” ~ Zephaniah 2:1-3
This is the prophecy (God’s decree) given to Zephaniah for the nation of Judea. Many people will read this passage and declare that was against only the peoples and nation of Judea a millennia ago. I believe that – just as most of the Holy Scriptures – this passage is applicable to any nation of peoples whom – at any point of their existence – have declared the Lord God to be sovereign over the land. The United States of America (USA) was formed under the precept of: “One nation, under God”.
For any that have read, or listened to, the messages of Jonathan Cahn – you are already aware of the synonymous of the prophecies of old concerning the nation of Israel and the nation of the USA. Like the nation of Israel, the USA was at one time a nation of people who served the Lord God with moral virtue, humbleness, and Christlike compassion and love. That is no longer the way it is in the USA – for unbelievers and, unfortunately, many that claim to be believers as well.
God’s impending judgement is at the doorsteps of our once great nation. The sins of our nation (people) are a pungent odor to the Lord, and as the Righteous God that He is – those sins must, and will, be dealt with.
Do these words imply that there is “no hope” for our nation of peoples? Absolutely not.
Hundreds of years before the prophecy given to Zephaniah, the Lord God answered Solomon’s prayer with the following message:
“If My people who are called by My name humble themselves, pray and seek My face, and turn from their evil ways, then I will hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land.” ~ 2 Chronicles 7:14
And from the New Testament the Holy Spirit tells us this:
“Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.” ~ James 5:16
Whether God delays His righteous judgement against the USA, or if it is imminent – as true disciples of Christ we are to continue to pursue His righteousness through our thoughts, words, actions and deeds, and to proclaim salvation – by the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ – to those within our circle of influence.
And pray.
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Father in Heaven!? Please continue to bless with peace and abundance for Your glory, anyone that reads this board??? 💖 Thank You! In Jesus name. Amen
Lord Jesus! Thank You for Your mercy on us!!! I soooo much understand it lately! And thank You for helping others around me??!!
Your grace surely appreciated!!!
I Love You, Jesus! And, let's keep going?!?!?!?!? :) Thank You!!! http://boxoflove.live/
HAPPY MOTHERS DAY!!! :) http://mobilelegacies.com/mothersday/ 💗
Amen brother! Thanks for the encouraging reminder! Have a great pm!
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Cast all your anxiety on [God] because he cares for you.
—1 Peter 5:7 ♥️
The ostracization of Christians is picking up steam...
15 State Officials Warn Bank Of America About 'De-Banking' Of Christians:
A group of 15 financial officials from 13 states sent a notice to Bank of America, raising concerns about the institution’s “de-banking” of Christians.
“We write to express our concerns over Bank of America’s troubling track record of politicized de-banking. Bank of America’s de-banking policies and practices threaten the company’s financial health, its reputation with customers, our nation’s economy, and the civil liberties of everyday Americans,” the officials wrote in an April 18 letter to Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan.
“We are especially troubled by Bank of America’s track record of discriminating against religious ministries. Notable examples include Memphis-based charity Indigenous Advance Ministries, the Timothy Two Project, and Christian author and speaker Lance Wallnau.”
In April 2023, Bank of America shut down the account of Indigenous Advance Ministries, which partners with groups in the African nation of Uganda to provide care and education for orphaned and at-risk children. The bank closed accounts of a Memphis church which donated to the organization.
Bank of America provided “vague reasons” for the closure of these accounts, claiming the organization’s activities exceeded the institution’s “risk tolerance” and that it no longer wanted to serve its “business type.”
“Months later — after being confronted by an international media organization — the bank then claimed that it closed the accounts because the for-profit business engaged in ‘debt collection.’ Neither Indigenous Advance Ministries nor the church collect debts, nor was the bank able to point to any policy prohibiting account holders from engaging in such activities,” the letter said.
“In other words that rationale was a ruse, and even if legitimate, would only apply to one of the closed accounts.”
In 2020, the bank closed the account of Timothy Two Project International, which trains pastors in more than 65 nations. In a letter to the group, the bank claimed the closure was due to Timothy Two operating “a business type we have chosen not to service.”
The financial institution also froze the accounts of author Mr. Wallnau, alleging he was suspected of money laundering. However, the bank failed to provide any evidence supporting such accusations.
While the bank eventually unfroze the account, they required Mr. Wallnau to answer a series of invasive questions.
“This pattern of religious de-banking strongly suggests that systemic drivers of religious and political bias may be at work within Bank of America,” the letter said.
“One objective indicator of such a problem is the bank’s egregiously low score on the Viewpoint Diversity Score Business Index, the premier benchmark for measuring corporate respect for free speech and religious freedom. Bank of America scored a meager 8 percent out of a possible 100 percent.”
The letter pointed out that Bank of America’s vague terms of service allow them to deny services for political or religious views. For instance, the company’s policy says it can refuse services to clients deemed to “promote intolerance … or hate.”
This policy can be weaponized by the bank against clients who express certain views, which are protected by the First Amendment, the officials wrote.
“Bank of America funds and partners with anti-free speech organizations like the Human Rights Campaign and the Center for American Progress while preventing employees from giving to faith-based groups in their employee gift match program.”
Bank of America, being the second largest bank in the nation and a recipient of a host of government subsidies, is obligated to ensure equal access to marketplace for all Americans and “not play politics,” officials wrote.
The letter was written by officials from Alabama, Arizona, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Utah.
They demanded that the institution implement certain recommendations, including eliminating “existing viewpoint discriminatory terms” governing customers, updating its terms of service to include a commitment to not discriminate on the basis of religion or politics, and taking part in a survey to assess how the bank’s policies impact the civil liberties of its customers.
The Epoch Times reached out to the bank for comment.
De-banking of Conservatives:
The issue of de-banking conservatives has been a hot topic in recent years. A November 2022 statement signed by 60 financial professionals alleged that banks like JP Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Capital One, and Morgan Stanley were engaged in political or religious discrimination.
“JP Morgan Chase refused to process payments for a GOP-aligned organization,” it said.
In addition, the bank “shuttered the National Committee for Religious Freedom’s account without explanation, demanding that the nonprofit disclose its donors and provide a list of the political candidates it intends to support as a condition of resuming service.”
Meanwhile, Morgan Stanley refused to do business with organizations that raised “significant human rights, environmental, health, and safety or social responsibility issues.”
Similarly, credit behemoth Visa mandated that merchants do not use its services in any manner deemed “hateful.”
“What these vague, unspecified terms mean in practice is subject to the arbitrary interpretation of each of your companies, or any one of thousands of employees charged with enforcing them,” the statement said.
“Policies like these place customers and clients at risk of being ‘debanked’ simply because a company employee disagrees with their point of view on any number of contentious social issues.”
Meanwhile, states are taking action to end financial discrimination against conservatives by the banking industry.
Iowa earlier this year introduced Senate Study Bill 3094, which bans financial institutions from discriminating against customers using a “social credit score.”
The bill defines “social credit score” as any evaluation of a person’s “speech, religious exercise, association, expression, or conduct protected by the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.”
If a financial institution is found violating the law, the attorney general can bring a civil action against the institution. A court can order the institution to pay damages, restitution, or other compensation.
In February, State Rep. Jason Zachary (R-Tenn.) introduced a similar bill in Tennessee. “This legislation prohibits the 20 largest banks in our country from denying financial services to any Tennessean based on political speech, religious belief, or a social credit score,” he said at a state House Banking and Consumer Affairs Committee hearing.
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/15-state-officials-warn-bank-america-about-de-banking-christians
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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?
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~ 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.
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The War in Israel
~ the following three sections are excerpts from a recently released book by Jim Denison.
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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.”
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~ 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
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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
•
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.
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