If you have been following the news at all, especially the MSM, you undoubtedly have heard about the embattled Sandra Fluke.
I bring this up simply as the latest example of how deception is so prevalent in the world today. How many times over the last 3-4 years have we been presented a story under one premise and yet eventually with the most minimal amount of digging, it turns out to be the exact opposite situation or at very least something very different from the premise originally sold: basically a Lie.
This used to be a big deal (media field day) but now a days we have gotten so use to it that there is no outrage, just a shrug of the shoulders and some muttering under your breath and we move on. Satan and the Media know this.
How many times is that happening each day to you? Is it happening more this month than last? Or have you just stopped tuning in?
I would propose the deception is the new normal these days. The exception is the truth and it shines so bright you can’t look directly at it. Could this be God’s plan? Christ told us we were the light of the world and that we should not hide our light. Is it not true that a light shines brighter on a dark day, or at the midnight hour?
How bright would our light (the Truth of God’s Word) shine if we were bold enough to stand up and let it shine? Something to think about and pray about.
How Bold are we? How dark is our world? How dark is it around us?
This is a mustwatch half hour special that has been put together on our stance on Israel over the last three years. We have not been their ally. We have been anything but. The US need to ponder God’s prophecy from Zechariah 12:2-3.
Zechariah 12:1-5 – (NIV)
Jerusalem’s Enemies to Be Destroyed
An Oracle 1 This is the word of the LORD concerning Israel. The LORD, who stretches out the heavens, who lays the foundation of the earth, and who forms the spirit of man within him, declares: 2 “I am going to make Jerusalem a cup that sends all the surrounding peoples reeling. Judah will be besieged as well as Jerusalem. 3 On that day, when all the nations of the earth are gathered against her, I will make Jerusalem an immovable rock for all the nations. All who try to move it will injure themselves. 4 On that day I will strike every horse with panic and its rider with madness,” declares the LORD. “I will keep a watchful eye over the house of Judah, but I will blind all the horses of the nations. 5 Then the leaders of Judah will say in their hearts, ‘The people of Jerusalem are strong, because the LORD Almighty is their God.’
Keep this passage in mind as you watch the video below. We and the rest of the world are fulfilling as we sit here tonight…
Here are the prophecy headlines for this morning. I have added tags to the end of each to give you my take on what set of prophecy may be advanced by the topic of the article.
It is amazing to see how far we have come to accepting our new world religion and without even realizing it.
It is really our new world religion and new world government all rolled into one nice neat and tight package. Most are not aware they are even submitting to it. Diana West does and excellent job laying out how it is happening right in front of us.
Every time I read these articles on Islam’s reactions to perceived transgressions, my mind immediately shifts to what will happen after the rapture of Christ’s church. You can actually feel the Church /Holly Spirit restraining the rage and violence of Islam. (Like someone banging on a door while you hold it shut.)
How quickly will that accelerate once the Restrainer is removed. It is not beyond belief that over night submission would occur, it is already occurring today. Pretty scary stuff if you believe you will be left behind or will have to live through it.
But the Good News is that Christ promises to keep His bride from this time. He tells us when we see these things look up and keep your eyes on Him!
It is like they tell someone frozen by fear on a ledge to not look down and to keep their eyes locked on the rescuer. Christ is our rescuer, Savior! For we can not do it ourselves, only through Him. We need to keep our eyes locked on him.
We are not of this world, and we will be leaving soon.
Lord come quickly, to remove us from this world!
If you haven’t come to Christ yet, come to him now, time is short. Read Romans 10:9, profess your belief in him, and ask Him into your heart.
Romans 10:9 – (NIV)
If you confess with your mouth “Jesus is Lord” and believe in your heart God raised Him from the dead you will be saved.
Diana West: U.S. dangerously falters by submitting to violent Muslim dictates
Six U.S. military men have been murdered by Afghan security forces seized by what may be labeled Quran-Burning Rage.
These murders are an outrage in and of themselves, but it’s crucial we don’t see them as isolated. They fit into a pattern that above all spreads “dhimmitude,” the submissive state of Christians and Jews (known under Islam as the “dhimmi”) in thrall to Islamic law.
Quran-Burning Rage follows Pastor Jones Rage, which, after a Florida pastor burned a Quran in 2011, seized Afghan Muslims and inspired rioting. Some rioters overran a United Nations outpost and murdered seven U.N. personnel.
Pastor Jones Rage followed “Fitna” Rage, which seized Muslims worldwide even before the release of Dutch parliamentarian Geert Wilders’ short 2008 film “Fitna.” That film sparked rioting, arson, boycotts, death threats and, as a bonus, charges that led to the protracted trial in the Netherlands of Wilders for “insulting Muslims.” (He was acquitted in 2011.)
One of the things I have been praying for understanding of, is the concept of watchmen. It is mentioned many times in the Bible, both old and new testament. It was a very important role in the times of the Bible, with significant responsibilities. Jesus himself used the word watchmen and also repeatedly mentioned: to be watchful, watch.
What I have been lead to is Ezekiel. We that are awake and aware of the signs have a greater responsibility.
Some of the quotes in the article below are simply amazing. The boldness that evil has taken, we must be on the doorstep of seeing our Lord Return for us.
The scary part is he mentions that this tactic has worked with other media outlets. How can we trust that we are hearing the truth? Deception was to be the theme of the last days. We are seeing it.
Some of the article was repetitive with what I posted yesterday, but here is the newest response they have gotten from the Islamic organization issuing the threats…
Contacted by WND at a telephone number in Africa, Mohammedi could cite no specific issues with WND’s reporting. Nor would he immediately provide information on how he has dealt with other media reports he’s found objectionable.
Instead, he promised to respond to WND by email with documentation about those cases.
Today, he contacted WND again, but not to provide documentation he had promised.
“Before I send you an example of how we dealt with other media outlets regarding Islamophobic and religiously racist content I would like to share with you our latest message from the global caliphate to the Muslim world; I’ve taken the time to have it translated for you in the attached,” Mohammedi’s email said.
“You see … there’s an easy and peaceful way in which people can come to terms based on common grounds of mutual respect and there’s the other way and it’s called silence,” he continued.
“I hope you will take the time to try and extract the value and much needed understanding from this communication. I have referred the matter of monitoring WND and it’s (sic) employees to our higher council of senior Ulama for instructions based on what we have found on the history of WND’s online activities.”
The attachment was a 23-page brochure promoting a worldwide Islamic caliphate. Called “The Global Islamic Civilization: The Power of a Nation Revived,” it said, “People who follow Islam are divinely selected and guided by the Almighty Allah Himself, these people then form part of a great Islamic civilization, that are united as one nation. a universal empire, known as the Muslim Ummah.”
The religious tract lauds the characteristics of true believers as humility, piety, honesty, loyalty, obedience, good conduct, peacefulness and morality. Those who fall outside of Islam are made up of “ignorance, arrogance, deception, faithlessness, disobedient, indecent conduct, war mongering.”
“Can you imagine having leadership based on the implementation of the qualities of believers? Can you imagine a family, a community a city, a country, No! a nation! built on such a beautiful standard of character. It would be the most moral society on the face of the earth, it is such people that deserve full respect and honor, it is such people who not only deserve to rule the world, it is their right to rule the world.”
Can anyone say One World Religion and One World Government rolled into one? What do you think will happen when all of the Christians are raptured?
The following part of the quote sent a chill over me as pure evil, something out of a movie:
“You see … there’s an easy and peaceful way in which people can come to terms based on common grounds of mutual respect and there’s the other way and it’s called silence,” he continued.
or
Mohammedi told WND in the telephone interview that his concern is that publishing material he doesn’t like “creates a problem on a global scale.”
“Some people have different ways of reacting to different articles that are published,” he said. “We’re trying to prevent certain unwanted events from happening due to these publications.
“We need that (publication) to come to an end because if you want peace and stability around the world, you would need these things to come to an end as well.”
Wow!
Lord come quickly, to remove us from this world!
If you haven’t come to Christ yet, come to him now, time is short. Read Romans 10:9, profess your belief in him, and ask Him into your heart.
Romans 10:9 – (NIV)
If you confess with your mouth “Jesus is Lord” and believe in your heart God raised Him from the dead you will be saved.
A leader of an Islamic group that warned WND to “moderate” its reporting on issues involving Islam because of the way Muslims may react is ratcheting up the pressure, telling a reporter today, “There’s an easy and peaceful way in which people can come to terms based on common grounds of mutual respect and there’s the other way and it’s called silence.”
The email came today from Faarooq al Mohammedi, who has said he is working on behalf of the Muslim organization called United Muslim Nations International organization.
He initially contacted WND with a warning to take “extra precaution when publishing religiously sensitive material or in creating religiously sensitive suspicions about peoples (sic) religious beliefs and practices.”
36 “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only. 37 But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. 38 For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark,
There are so many signs around us today that this prophecy is coming to pass. The article and commentary below are both good examples of how we are seeing this occur, if we take the time to step back and look.
Grant Phillips uses a great analogy, in his commentary “Worse and Worse“, of the Fog of Death from the Ten Commandments movie. You know the one we watched as kids with Charles Heston? Which in and of itself shows how far we have come; do you think that would ever be produced today by Hollywood?
The Days of Noah was a horrible time, it was described as humankind at its worse of the worst. Sin, immorality, and hate had completely consumed man (the flesh).
Genesis 6:12-13 – (NKJV)
12 So God looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. 13 And God said to Noah, “The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with violence through them; and behold, I will destroy them with the earth.
ALL flesh had been corrupted and violence was the norm. I would say hatred and apathy were also prevalent knowing what usually leads to violence. Life was not valued at all, it was disposable, pleasure was more important.
What does Paul have to say corrupts our flesh and the church?
1 Corinthians 5 – (NKJV)
Immorality Defiles the Church
5 It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and such sexual immorality as is not even named among the Gentiles—that a man has his father’s wife! 2 And you are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he who has done this deed might be taken away from among you. 3 For I indeed, as absent in body but present in spirit, have already judged (as though I were present) him who has so done this deed. 4 In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when you are gathered together, along with my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, 5 deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.
6 Your glorying is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? 7 Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. 8 Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
Immorality Must Be Judged
9 I wrote to you in my epistle not to keep company with sexually immoral people. 10 Yet I certainly did not mean with the sexually immoral people of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. 11 But now I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother, who is sexually immoral, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner—not even to eat with such a person.
12 For what have I to do with judging those also who are outside? Do you not judge those who are inside? 13 But those who are outside God judges. Therefore “put away from yourselves the evil person.”
Does that sound like our current world?
I couldn’t help but think of that when I saw the article below on reactions to Andrew Breibart’s death last night.
Lord come quickly, to remove us from this world!
If you haven’t come to Christ yet, come to him now, time is short. Read Romans 10:9, profess your belief in him, and ask Him into your heart.
Romans 10:9 – (NIV)
If you confess with your mouth “Jesus is Lord” and believe in your heart God raised Him from the dead you will be saved.
When an individual passes away, regardless of his of her ideological positions, one would expect he or she would receive respect. In the case of new media mogul Andrew Breitbart, who died early in the morning on Thursday, there has been a surge of vile commentary spewing across the Twitterverse. From comparisons to Hitler to individuals tweeting that they are content the pundit has passed, the messages are disturbing at best.
Below, The Blaze has assembled some of the most disturbing messages we’ve seen on Twitter over the past few hours:
@darrenfiorello: Andrew Breitbart died? Is it wrong that I’m happier about that than when they got bin Laden and Saddam?
@readjunk: I wonder if the state of Douchery will lower it’s flags at half mast? #AndrewBreitbart
@johnkapp: Andrew Breitbart was a racist, sexist, homophobe. Good riddance.
It is awful what is happening to our brothers and sisters in Christ overseas. We have no idea the level of persecution they are going through. I think their faith is amazing, and appears to be strengthened by the persecution. It has been that way with Christianity through out history, they more it is persecuted, the more and faster it grows.
The post from the Right Scoop was right on, all I can say is Amen, in the name of Jesus!
We need to keep them in our prayers and maybe take our faith a little more seriously.
CBN has produced a great video exposing the Islamic war on Christians by the Islamic group Boko Haram. We just posted on this a few days ago, but this new video better conveys the reality of what’s going on in Nigeria’s North and how the Christians who were born in the North live in fear of even going to church. They are being told they must leave or the bombing will continue.
If Islam was so tolerant and peaceful, wouldn’t the Nigerian government and community rise up and squash Boko Haram and create a safe environment for the Christians to worship, especially considering that Boko Haram has taken credit for the attacks and has made public this war?
I can’t imagine living in this type of fear. Really, what would it be like to know that the single act of going to church could get me killed because a group hated what I believe and wanted to purge people like me from the land? Yet still these Christians insist on praying for their enemies that they would be touched by God.
It’s videos like this that remind me of how unseriously I take my Christian faith at times and why I should be on my knees much more in prayer for them. After all, these are the people Christ was talking about:
“You will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not frightened, for those things must take place, but that is not yet the end. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes. But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs. Then they will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations because of My name.” – Matthew 24:6-9
“Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” – Matthew 5:11-12
It is amazing what is occurring these days. Once one opens their eyes, the battle we are in is apparent. I am not talking out a physical battle or struggle but a spiritual one. Through a combination of deception, ignorance, and naivety: we find ourselves in an incredible situation.
How can a group boldly make the threats and statements that this Islamic organization makes without any thought of backlash? The audacity of their statement is almost beyond belief, but you know what, this world will submit and is submitting one little piece at a time. It will be interesting to see if any MSM outlets pick up on this. Any bets?
My bet is none will. It really shows how far gone we are as a nation (world) and the late hour we find ourselves in. I am not saying the people of our nation are gone, but we have lost control of the “machine” that controls much of our lives. Too many are asleep and caught up in this world. I am glad to see WND will not back down. They need our support and prayers.
In the end, the question is as Paul stated in Romans 12:1-3.
Romans 12:1-3 – (NKJV)
1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. 3 For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.
Are you of this world, conforming to it, or part of Christ’s kingdom and just a visitor?
A man who says he represents the United Muslim Nations International organization has warned WND to “moderate” its reporting on issues involving Islam because of how Muslims may react.
The warning came in an email to WND from Faarooq al Mohammedi, who said he was asking on behalf of the Muslim organization that WND “comply as it would be in the companies (sic) best interest as we would not want to take you down the same rout (sic) as we have with other non-complaint media firms.”
The email warned WND to take “extra precaution when publishing religiously sensitive material or in creating religiously sensitive suspicions about peoples (sic) religious beliefs and practices.”
He threatened, “We would appreciate it if you could tighten your screening and moderation processes of articles to be published, any fake material published by WND will be taken as a breach of world news standards, religiously sensitive matters are to be based on solid and undeniable facts, failure to produce proofs of such published articles will give us no option but to bring about the complete removal of WND online as well as from the public in any print media.”
The essence of the warning was that WND needed to project an attitude of dhimmitude, the subservient role demanded of nonbelievers in a Muslim society. Dhimmis “recognize” their inferior status and appropriately serve the master Muslims.
The following two articles/video do a good job laying out what it means to be a “True” Christian. I put quotes around the true because I have never liked that label, either you are a Christian or you are not, though I understand there needs to be some way to distinguish via text discussions.
The pastor in the video is pretty hard on Franklin Graham as missing the mark. I do agree with the pastors statements on faith, and I don’t think Franklin Graham went far enough to explain his reasoning and beliefs. He walked that PC line and tried to remain polite and non-confrontational. I think that was more out of shock of being ambushed as he was there to talk about his ministry in Africa and also out of politeness and not wanting to escalate the debate. I do begrudge him for that.
That being said, I think we do need to get more bold in our statements on Christ, God’s Word, and our beliefs. Time is short. You can see that I think if you compare this year to 10 years ago, faith is a lot more front and center as a controversial issue, even with a year ago, you can see the escalation.
The second article does a great job laying out what we do know about Obama’s faith choices with his own words and writings. It lays out the facts about the church he chose and what “journey” he has taken that shaped him for the last 10+ years. It is a pretty stunning contrast to Christianity as we know it and well done. Take sometime to read through it yourself.
Rev. Franklin Graham last week revealed that President Obama confided to him and his father during a recent visit to North Carolina: “I don’t go to church.”
Publicly, Obama insists he’s a practicing Christian.
“I have no idea what he really believes,” Graham said during an appearance on MSNBC.
It’s a deepening mystery. Pundits on both the left and right question the president’s faith. The growing debate marks a turning point in American politics, where discussing the personal religious beliefs of an elected official or candidate is taboo.
Bill Maher, host of HBO’s “Real Time,” doubts Obama is a practicing Christian.
“I just don’t believe it,” he said recently.
Maher suspects the president is an atheist.
GOP presidential contender Rick Santorum says Obama follows a “phony theology” not based on the Bible and preached by radicals.
Todd had a great commentary this week. It is part of the ongoing up is down, evil is good phenomenon that we are experiencing.
It just amazes me how extreme the contrast is between Christianity and Islam. It plays out every time the same way and yet this world gives Islam a pass and says it’s the Christians or Jews that provoke them.
The real bad guy is this “1984” world are the “Christians” that burned the Korans (accidentally). The Muslims that rioted and killed dozens of people, they were justified.
Let that sink in a minute.
They killed people over the accidental burning of a book! And they are justified?
Todd’s comment of “shouldn’t they be at the Syrian embassy”, I think speaks volumes for the religion. They value a book (not the message in the book, but the book itself, more than human life.
A series of riots has swept over the nation of Afghanistan. Thousands of enraged Afghans have taken to the streets to vent their outrage after U.S. soldiers inadvertently set fire to copies of the Koran when clearing out a library of old books.
More than thirty people have been killed since the unrest began, including four U.S. soldiers. A group of demonstrators tried to attack the U.S. consulate in the city of Herat, setting police vehicles on fire.
We’ve been down this road before. Last year, at least twenty-four people died in protests across Afghanistan after Rev. Terry Jones threatened to burn a Koran outside his Florida church. In 2005, there were violent disturbances over claims of the Koran being mishandled, but those allegations turned out to be false.
Top American officials in Kabul are apologizing profusely for the incident. President Barack Obama has sent a letter to Afghan President Hamid Karzai apologizing for the Koran burning.
“I wish to express my deep regret for the reported incident,” Mr. Obama wrote in the letter. “I extend to you and the Afghan people my sincere apologies.”
I am just dumbfounded over the idiocy of this situation. It should be obvious that there was no malice on our part. It’s insane to have the president of the U.S. groveling before people who are incapable of understanding the kindness we gave them. Before the American invasion, the Taliban brutalized the nation. We spend over a trillion dollars on this rat hole, and when we leave in 2014, the Taliban will probably be voted back into power.
He also brought up Franklin Graham’s interview and I couldn’t agree with him more. (12:38 min mark)
He also mentioned a follow-up on the interview where Chris Matthews calls for Blacklist of Franklin Graham. It appeared in Real Clear Politics on Thurs. 2/23. I think it just adds to the magnitude of the interview as an example of what is occurring in this world. We are living Bible Prophecy!
Another quote that jumped out at me from Pastor JD:
“You can have this world after we are gone. You will only have it for seven years though.”
He also brought up a lot of other great prophecy events we are seeing unfold in the headlines.
He ended with quoting Philippians 2:9-12.
Philippians 2:9-12 – (NKJV)
9 Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, 11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. 12 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling;
The last line does a good job summing up what the interviewers and much of this world lack.
Terry lays out in this weeks Nearing Midnight article something I have been feeling as well. It is strange how what he wrote is almost exactly the conversation my wife and I had late last night.
There is just a feeling of something big looming, accompanied by a sense of anxiousness. The looming thing/event is also preceded by a feeling of a blanket of evil that is enveloping this world. Everywhere you turn, it feels like evil is wrapping its tentacles throughout every inch of our public lives and in some cases appears to be winning the battle.
Worst yet, those of this world seem to be supporting it and promoting it. To them what should be wrong is right. I call it the “1984” effect. What’s up is down and whats good is evil, 2+2=5.
I don’t know how anyone that has their eyes open, could not see we are living in the end times. The signs are so vivid and numerous.
The part of Terry’s commentary that really struck a chord with me was the last 4-5 paragraphs.
He talks about the restrainer and how it will be removed in the last days. Paul addresses it in 2 Thessalonians 2:7-10.
2 Thessalonians 2:7-10 – (NKJV)
7 For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He[a] who now restrains will do so until He[b] is taken out of the way. 8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming. 9 The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, 10 and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
Then he posed the questions that really hit home for me:
” How can God be ‘taken out of the way’ so evil and Antichrist can take over for a time?”
God promised us that once sealed with the Holy Spirit that it could not be removed from us. So if the Holy Spirit has to be removed, then so do we (the church).
The church must be raptured as Paul wrote in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 and 5:1-11.
1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 – (NKJV)
16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.
1 Thessalonians 5:1-11 – (NKJV) – The Day of the Lord
5 But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. 2 For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. 3 For when they say, “Peace and safety!” then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape. 4 But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. 5 You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. 6 Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober. 7 For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. 8 But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation. 9 For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, 10 who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him.
11 Therefore comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing.
Yet another proof point on the Rapture of the church and a message of joy in this time of anxiousness. Could that anxiousness really be the Holy Spirit prodding us, preparing us, to look up for our redemption draws near?
There is a sense among many at this moment in history that impending disaster presses against the fabric of life on planet earth from every side. This is not mere paranoia pushing against the collective anxiety-ridden psyche of a world uncertain about its future. The threat is real, and it is in Bible prophecy. A quick scan of issues, events, and anticipated actions testify to the reality of the threat and validates the angst.
Israel is ground zero for much of the fear pressing upon a world full of dread. The Jewish state is considered the trigger point for possible nuclear conflict in the Middle East–conflict that is sure to spread globally once unleashed. Iran is the antagonist that is the cause of the most immediate threat to regional and world peace–although the world diplomatic community seems intent on making Israel responsible for keeping war from erupting. This is the way it is, despite the fact that the Iranian regime’s leaders threaten to wipe Israel off the map.
I have watched this interview about 20-30 times now and just can’t seem to get it out of my head. It has bothered me on multiple levels.
I think Reverend Graham did a great job. He stayed true to God’s Word & message and was amazingly calm, I am sure he would tell you the Holy Spirit helped.
What bothered me was the tenacity at which the interviewers came after him. It was obvious they did not know God. They did not understand the concept of knowing a man’s heart through his fruit. They missed the point of the difference between a “good person” and a christian.
The mocking tone was also almost defining, you could feel the contempt in their voice and body language. They could not contain it. It reminded me of Jude where he spoke of the mockers we would experience in the last days.
Jude 1:17-19 – (NKJV)
17 But you, beloved, remember the words which were spoken before by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ: 18 how they told you that there would be mockers in the last time who would walk according to their own ungodly lusts. 19 These are sensual persons, who cause divisions, not having the Spirit.
But what really hit it home for me was how they completely dismissed all of the “fruit” that Reverence Graham laid out for them. Let’s list them. Some he stated and others that have come up recently.
1. Obama’s stance and support on abortion.
2. His stance and lack of support for Israel.
3. His stance and lack of support for the Christians being killed overseas.
4. On the opposite side, the total pass he gives to Muslim efforts / groups.
5. His support of Gay Rights regarding marriage and protected class status/hate speech.
6. His stance on contraceptives within Obama Care.
7. The complete removal of God from everywhere in our public society on his watch.
8. How he has had covered any Christian symbols when giving speeches.
9. How he has omitted God / Creator when quoting historical documents from our founding. (multiple times)
I am sure there are more, but do the above seem at all to point to a Christian? Even if you only believe in 2-3 of them would it be enough to have some questions?
It is true that only God knows a man’s heart and can know if he is saved (born again) but he taught us about the “fruits” so we could have some reference point to discern. It is obvious that the interviewers did not get that.
You could tell the frustration in their voices as they pushed the question over and over. “Why can’t we get ‘America’ to admit that Obama is a Christian?” It is because Americans have doubts because of his actions, his “fruits”. It is what James meant by “without works”. Once you are born-again you can’t help but further God’s Kingdom out of sheer gratitude of the gift of salvation.
Prophetic signs are accelerating, there are so many to try and keep up with that I have felt very overwhelmed and a bit schizophrenic recently. After much prayer, I have decided to not try and keep up with all of them as I have in the past but try to pick the clearest one or two and present it here for you.
The one that stood out this morning to me was the warning that Iran’s spiritual leader gave this week. It was eerie to hear these words and not see it echoed in our media. Many will have no idea of what Iran is telling their people and their Muslim allies. The first quote that jumped out at me was as follows:
Khamenei then claimed the current century as the century of Islam and promised that human history is on the verge of a great event and that soon the world will realize the power of Allah.
We have heard similar things before from Iran’s leaders, but this time around there was a immediacy to all of their statements. (more…)
Revelation 17:14 “These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.”
One of the ways satan has tried to confuse and deter Christians from solidifying their beliefs is by making prophecy seem scary or confusing. I am going to address the latter today, and hopefully the first in the coming days.
(Why does the word Revelation = Scary? Is that what you thought when you read the first word of this post?)
The Lord led me to an article by Mike Taylor from a while back. It really lays out the comparison well between two of the most popular beliefs.
Having studied the different views on end time timelines, there is one that rose above the others, premillennial. What make it stand out to me is that you really did not have to suspend believe for the pieces to fit together. And more importantly, there were not any pieces left on the table as “not fitting” the theory you have assembled.
I believe that the bible is 100% correct and the infallible word of God, inspired by the Holy Spirit. God would not layout prophecy that contradicted itself, it all fits together. You just need to continue to pray, study and dig deeply untill they all fit. In all my years of (more…)
A question I have been asking myself recently is what does it mean to be a “watchman”? Jesus uses this term several times throughout prophecy. I have prayed about this and I feel pieces are beginning to come into focus. One of the pieces is summed up well in an article this week by Jim Fletcher, at Israel Watch.
I think being a watchman for God and His signs of the last days has a lot to do with “not being of this world” as Paul so eloquently stated in Romans 12:2.
Romans 12:2 – And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
We are not supposed to “fit into” this world, we are not called to be normal. Jesus said take heart and do not be discouraged if the world hates you because they hated Me first.
John 15:17-19 (KJV) –17These things I command you, that ye love one another. 18If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. 19If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.
This is not a bad thing, it is actually good. I think that is where we have gone so wrong as a church and frankly as parents. We should not try ourselves to conform to this world and we should not teach our kids that is the right way. I think that is a major component of (more…)
While we all were celebrating our Lord’s birth, Lucifer was busing getting this world ready for his time, when the restrainer is removed, and God lets him loose on this planet.
First there was the bills that were passed concerning holding Americans without due process, which didn’t specifically say it would occur, it left the door open to interpretation by not explicitly excluding it. There was a little flare up and now all is quite. Last year it was the crack down of the TSA with Air Travel, at the end of the year that expanded as well to our highways, bus terminals, ports and rail.
Just this week these two articles caught my attention and a couple more puzzle pieces fall into place. The infrastructure has been put in place in the US. It is not fully being used today, but it could be.
If we turn our gaze to Europe, we can see the next steps play out. It is stunning to watch what is happening. The main stream media will not show you, you have to dig a little for it. Depending on how far you dig you can even find, where they plan on taking it as they slowly ratchet the controls down.
I liked the analogy one of the readers commented on: “boiling a frog slowly”.
Do not fear. Release the dread that creeps over you and turn it into waking up those you love.
Christ said: “Do not be alarmed.”
The good news is, we only have to see the build up and the framework being laid.
Christ has promised to keep us from the worst! Praise the Lord!
It seems the Lord is sending me a message early in this new year. I have had the thoughts and feelings to slow down and listen, calm my mind, clear my life of the “clutter”. Normally, I get this feeling every year, wanting to rid my life of stuff and simplify but normally it is just physical stuff and yes I still have those feelings but it is different this year. I feel the Lord is really trying to get through to me to quiet my mind and listen, block out all the “noise” of today and truly listen, because time is short. I think “time is short” is the secondary message I am getting. It is the feeling when someone calls you over to tell you something important and says shhh, shhh, we need to focus here and execute.
This morning I posted an article I have read a few weeks back before the holidays, saved off and re-read this morning after my prayers. It was the one the Lord led me to and I was prompted to post. Then this evening, I listen to my favorite paster from the islands out west, and toward the end, he tells a story about the same topic, we need to “hear the still small voice”.
Are we slowing down to hear what God is asking us?
That is the question I am asking myself everyday now, are you?
It is amazing how God’s word, His prophecies, always come true exactly as spoken thousands of years ago. (He is batting a thousand.)It should remind us that just because a prophecy does not make sense to us today, does not mean its true meaning will not be revealed tomorrow. We need to continue our study and be watchful taking all that we see occurring back to scripture. It is one of the truths that always echos in my head concerning Revelations and the prophets of old (Daniel, Isaiah, Ezekiel), that these scrolls/words/prophecies will be sealed up for a latter generation, the last generation for which they will make sense.
People may write this off as coincidence, but I would state there is no such thing as coincidence in God’s plan for us. Even from just a statistical standpoint, the odds of 4 to 5 to 6 coincidences occurring in a short period of time and matching Isaiah’s prophecy from God is astronomical. I am reminded of another prophecy fulfillment that a lot of folk call just a coincidence.
The Bible made more than three hundred prophecies about the coming Messiah, Jesus Christ. Just what are the odds of such a coincidence?
Try this:
Cover the entire state of Texas with silver dollars two feet deep, put a red X on just one of them, and then blindfold someone and give him one chance to pick it.
That’s what scientists have said are the odds that Christ would have fulfilledjust eight of those prophecies.
And Christ fulfilled more than three hundred.
I don’t know about you, but if all those other prophecies came true, I’m going to expect more of the same when it comes to the remaining ones. To read more about Why Prophecy? follow the hyperlink to the full article on my site.
So how is that coincidence theory holding up? It always amazes me what we can convince ourselves of and how illogical our logic can get. One of the commentors summed it up well:
America is under God’s judgment. Any person can see what is going on in this country. This verse is prophetic for America because we are turning into a wicked and evil nation. 9 11 was a wake up call for America to repent and return to the Lord. A nation goes down in stages….deception, darkness, division, and then destruction. Ronald Reagan said “If we cease to be one nation under God , we will be a nation gone under.” The Bible says in Isaiah 5:20-21 “Woe unto them that call evil good, that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter. Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!” Go ahead and ignore God’s Word and live in sin but be assured payday will be around the corner.
I think a lot of us have heeded the warning, but a lot still remain asleep, please share this article and this site with others that may not be fully awake, time is very short and we must reach out before it is too late.
Americans scrambling to Bible to see previously untold parallels with today
Posted: December 21, 2011
7:40 pm Eastern
By Joe Kovacs
What do sycamore and cedar trees have to do with biblical prophecy, the tragic events of 9/11 and the imminent future of the United States?
The roots of a sycamore tree at Ground Zero felled on Sept. 11, 2001, have been preserved as a memorial to the event in New York City. A local messianic rabbi believes it’s a visible fulfillment of an Old Testament prophecy about God’s current judgment on America.
I had heard that alternate title once before long ago, but was reminded of it in Jack Kelly’s article “Wisdom of the Ages”.
The Bible is the most amazing book. The more you read it, the more Truth and wisdom you can glean.
Satan’s plan over the centuries to move us from knowing our history, to being so focused on the future, is quite cunning. You hear it said all the time, that everything you need to know about life is in the Bible, well maybe you don’t hear that as much these days but the statement is still as true today as it was when it was written.
Jack does a superb job at laying out how contorted our world view has become. Not only have we just been taught little by little, that our past (history) is not important, but we have in fact seen much of it re-written.
The one constant in our world has been the Bible, but even that is under attack as new interpretations are developed under the goal of “modernizing” the language so that it can be “better” understood. That is false! Spend some time reading the Bible and it will come to life! To better understand that deception check out my previous post on changes that are being made through translations. (Is your Bible uncorrupted?)
Enjoy the article below, it was a very enlightening and refreshing read! It will also give you some great tools, straight from scripture, that God wanted us to know and use daily. It is better than any self-help book currently published.
Recently, I was reminded of a video I had watched some years ago on the life of Abraham. First shown on one of the cable networks, it was surprisingly faithful to the Bible’s account of Abraham’s life.
The late Richard Harris portrayed Abraham as a man of great sensitivity, with a yearning to know God. Eventually he was successful, for the Bible describes him as God’s friend (Isaiah 41:8). It does not tell us why Abraham sought God, or how he even knew there was a God. Although Abraham’s early ancestors had obviously known of Him, the people of Abraham’s time were not followers of this God. How did Abraham find out about Him?
Creation Chronology
Genesis 5 is a chronology of the first 10 generations of man. It’s given without explanation or embellishment and covers the period from Adam through Noah. Since the chronology is specific, calculating the life span of each man is simple, as is the total time from Adam’s creation to Noah’s death – 2006 years. Genesis 6 – 9 then shifts gears to describe the Great Flood, which occurred 1656 years after Adam’s creation. Chapter 10 is about the Tower of Babel.
Then in Genesis 11: 9 the chronology abruptly begins again with Noah’s son Shem and continues through Abraham (then called Abram) in Genesis 11:26. Once again we can calculate both the individual life spans and the total elapsed time of 10 generations. By putting the two lists together you come to the amazing discovery that Noah was still alive when Abram was born and died when Abram was 58.
You can also see that if Adam recounted the story of his origin to his son Seth and his grandson son Enosh, (seems likely, since Adam’s origin was pretty unique) then Enosh could have told Noah. In fact 8 out of the first 10 family heads were still alive and well during most of Noah’s life. Only Adam and Seth had died. Since they all lived in the same general vicinity, Mesopotamia, it’s likely they all knew Adam’s story and could have passed it along.
Hello Noah? This is Abraham
Only Noah and his three sons survived the flood, but any of them could have talked with Abram. In fact Noah’s son Shem, still around when Abram’s son Isaac was born, actually out lived Abram. (Some say Shem was the one called Melchizedek in Genesis 14:18-20, the King of Salem to whom Abram paid a tithe on the spoil he had taken while rescuing Lot.)
The notion that the Creation story came from fables told by illiterate primitives around campfires at night just isn’t so. The chain of information from Creation to Abraham needed only 3 links; Adam, Enosh (Adam’s grandson) and Noah. It is no stretch of the imagination to conclude that Abram had heard about the Creator of the Universe through this chain and then sought Him out. You see, in those days there was great interest in the lessons of the past; the wisdom of the ages.
What’s The Point?
Today in almost every field, great emphasis is placed on new thought. Nothing wrong with that per se, but in our quest for the “latest thing” are we losing our grounding in the wisdom of the ages?
Through out history, every society has relied on the wisdom of its elders to instruct the young, guaranteeing that its heritage would remain intact and that simple truths would not be lost. Because for the most part western society no longer venerates its elders and their wisdom, we live in a revisionist world, where even the past is becoming uncertain. (Was Columbus a good guy or a bad guy? Was the Holocaust real? Who was JFK?)
Many of life’s simple truths are no longer passed along, yet they have always been effective in building successful lives. They were first written down for us in the Bible, confirmed in the biographies of successful people, and documented by society’s observers. Here’s an example.
Great article by Joel Rosenberg on what we face with Iran, our administration may be deceving themselves on how they can deal with Iran. Things are heating up with the war drums getting louder and louder, Psalms 83 and Ezekiel 38 prophecy signs are visible on the horizon. Which means Paul’s “Blessed Hope” must be near indeed…
Why would Iran authorize a major terrorist operation on American soil? Skeptics say the much-discussed “foiled” Iranian plot makes no sense. We will know soon enough if the Feds have sufficient evidence related to this specific plot. But Iranian leaders may, in fact, have a motive to accelerate direct attacks on the U.S.: Shia Islamic eschatology, or “End Times” theology.
Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad are convinced that the End of Days has come. They believe the Shia messiah known as the “Twelfth Imam” or the “Mahdi” will appear soon to establish a global Islamic kingdom known as the caliphate.
What’s more, they believe the way to hasten the coming of the Twelfth Imam is to annihilate Israel (which they call the “Little Satan”), and the United States (which they call the “Great Satan”). We should not, therefore, be surprised that Iran is probing for weaknesses in American intelligence and homeland security.
Khamenei told Iranians in July 2010 that he personally met with the Twelfth Imam. He also claimed to be the personal representative of the Mahdi on earth, and said all Muslims must “obey him.” Meanwhile, Western intelligence agencies say he continues to work with Ahmadinejad and the Iranian military to develop nuclear warheads and the ballistic missiles to deliver them.
Much of the media has focused on Iran’s threats to wipe Israel “off the map.” But journalists have generally ignored the fact that the Iranian regime is equally determined to destroy the United States.
On October 26, 2005, for example, Ahmadinejad said, “God willing, with the force of God behind it, we shall soon experience a world without the United States and Zionism.”
On June 2, 2008, Ahmadinejad said, “Today, the time for the fall of the satanic power of the United States has come, and the countdown to the annihilation of the emperor of power and wealth has started.”
Iran’s leaders actually believe that the destruction of the U.S. is foreordained, just as the Soviet Union’s implosion was predetermined. They see U.S. economic weakness as a sign that the end of America is near.
Other signs include President Obama’s political weakness in the polls and his unwillingness to use force against Iran even after the Iranian murder of Americans in Iraq, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia and Lebanon over the years.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sees the gravity of the situation. “The Obama presidency has two great missions: fixing the economy, and preventing Iran from gaining nuclear weapons,” he told The Atlantic magazine in March 2009. “You don’t want a messianic apocalyptic cult controlling atomic bombs,” Netanyahu said of the Iranian leadership. “When the wide-eyed believer gets hold of the reins of power and the weapons of mass death, then the entire world should start worrying, and that is what is happening in Iran.”’
Unfortunately, Netanyahu hasn’t seen the Obama administration strengthen the American economy or take decisive measures to stop Iran from getting the Bomb, and he is getting anxious. “The international community must stop Iran before it’s too late,” Netanyahu warned in his United Nations speech last month. “If Iran is not stopped, we will all face the specter of nuclear terrorism, and the Arab Spring could soon become an Iranian winter….The world around Israel is definitely becoming more dangerous.”
To truly understand how just how dangerous Iran’s regime really is, American leaders need to better understand Shia eschatology.
The Twelfth Imam was a real, flesh-and-blood person who, like the eleven Shia leaders who went before him, was an Arab male, a direct descendent of the founder of Islam, and was thought to have been divinely chosen to be the spiritual guide and ultimate human authority of the Muslim people. His actual name was Muhammad Ibn Hasan Ibn Ali, and it is generally believed by Shias that he was born in Samarra, Iraq, in AD 868.
At a very young age, however, Ali vanished from society. Some say he was four years old, while others say five and some say six. Some believe he fell into a well in Samarra but his body was never recovered. Others believe the Mahdi’s mother placed him in the well to prevent evil rulers from capturing him and killing him, and that little Ali subsequently became supernaturally invisible. This is where the term “Hidden Imam” is derived, as Shias believe that Ali is not dead but has simply been hidden from the sight of mankind – Shias refer to this as “occultation” – until the End of Days, when Allah will reveal him once again.
Shias believe the Mahdi will return in the last days to establish righteousness, justice, and peace. When he comes, they say, the Mahdi will bring Jesus with him. Jesus will be a Muslim and will serve as his deputy, not as King of kings and Lord of lords as the Bible teaches, and he will force non-Muslims to choose between following the Mahdi or death.
By most accounts, Shia scholars believe the Mahdi will first appear in Mecca and conquer the Middle East, then establish the headquarters of his global Islamic government—or caliphate—in Iraq. But there is not universal agreement. Some believe he will emerge from the well at the Jamkaran Mosque in Iran and then travel to Mecca and Iraq. Some say that he will conquer Jerusalem before establishing his caliphate in Iraq. Others believe Jerusalem must be conquered as a prerequisite to his return.
None of this is actually written in the Kuran, and Sunnis reject this eschatology.
But one thing that is fairly well agreed upon among devout “Twelvers” is that the Mahdi will end apostasy and purify corruption within Islam. He is expected to conquer the Arabian Peninsula, Jordan, Syria, “Palestine,” Egypt and North Africa, and eventually the entire world. During this time, he and Jesus will kill between 60 and 80 percent of the world’s population, specifically those who refuse to convert to Islam.
Ayatollah Ibrahim Amini, a professor at the Religious Learning Centre in Qom, wrote a noteworthy book entitled, Al-Imam al-Mahdi, the Just Leader of Humanity, describing the connection between Shia eschatology and Iranian foreign policy. “Those who persist in their disbelief and wickedness shall be killed by the soldiers of the Mahdi,” wrote Amini. “The only victorious government in the entire world will be that of Islam, and people will devotedly endeavor to protect it. Islam will be the religion of everyone, and will enter all the nations of the world. . . .The Mahdi will offer the religion of Islam to the Jews and the Christians; if they accept it they will be spared, otherwise they will be killed. . . . It seems unlikely that this catastrophe can be avoided. . . . Warfare and bloodshed [are] inevitable. . . The Imam of the Age and his supporters will overcome the forces of disbelief and godless materialism by undertaking jihad.”
In light of such End Times theology, we shouldn’t be surprised that the Iranian regime is taking a more aggressive posture towards the U.S. and Israel. Instead, we should be taking decisive measures to prevent Iran from blind-siding us in the not-too-distant future with a nuclear terrorist attack or even an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attack.
Unfortunately, most of Washington and the world’s leadership is asleep to the prospect of this gathering storm. It is time to wake up, before it’s too late.
Joel C. Rosenberg is the author of eight New York Times best-selling books about the Middle East. His most recent political thriller is “The Tehran Initiative.” Visit his website at www.joelrosenberg.com.
Revelation 13:7 – “And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.”
Zechariah 12:3 – “And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.”
Matthew 24:10-11 – “At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people.”
Matthew 24:37-39 – “As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.”
Matthew 24:4-5 – “Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many.”
Ezekiel 38:8 – “…In future years you will invade a land that has recovered from war, whose people were gathered from many nations to the mountains of Israel, which had long been desolate. …”
Psalm 83:4 – “Come,” they say, “let us destroy them as a nation, so that Israel’s name is remembered no more.”
Revelation 13:16-17 -“It also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads, …”
None today
——————–
One World Currency
Revelation 13:17 – “…so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark, …”
2 Thessalonians 2:4 – “Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.”
None today
——————–
Weather Signs
Luke 21:25 – ““There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars. On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea.”
Revelation 13:7 – “And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.”
Zechariah 12:3 – “And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.”
Matthew 24:10-11 – “At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people.”
Matthew 24:37-39 – “As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.”
Matthew 24:4-5 – “Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many.”
Ezekiel 38:8 – “…In future years you will invade a land that has recovered from war, whose people were gathered from many nations to the mountains of Israel, which had long been desolate. …”
Psalm 83:4 – “Come,” they say, “let us destroy them as a nation, so that Israel’s name is remembered no more.”
Revelation 13:16-17 -“It also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads, …”
2 Thessalonians 2:4 – “Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.”
Luke 21:25 – ““There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars. On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea.”
Very interesting and thought-provoking discussion of what we are seeing in the headlines. The prophetic signs are so numerous and coming so quickly it can be overwhelming. We are certainly living in the last days Jesus spoke of…
The article below caught my attention this morning, partly because of its topic but also because of its author. I respect Jack Kelly, he is linked to all over my site and has written some of my favorite articles. His most recent article goes contrary to a lot of the articles I have posted here in the last few weeks. I think it is a great read and something we should all ponder.
I agree with him that the key to these end times is to take everything to God in prayer, ask for discernment to know what is truth and what is deception.
That is what I try to do with this site, is bring topics and my perspective on what I have discerned for you to ponder as you study the Bible, the Lord’s Word.
His main point is that Revelations 12 can not be fulfilled until the previous chapters are since Revelations is mainly chronological. I believe both his point and the previous posts can be correct. Let me explain.
Throughout the Bible, many scriptures have dual meanings and fulfillment. Revelations 12 speaks of things to come but also depicts a sign in the heavens.
Question? Do you think God knew we would be able to predict where the stars would be in the future as well as the past? Do you think the thought that those that are “watchful” would be checking for future times around his “feasts” or “holy appointments”? I do but ponder that. I also do not believe what these watchful souls are doing is astrology. They are only looking for how Bible prophecy (“signs in the heavens”) could be fulfilled. God told us to watch the heavens for signs. He created the heavens and all of the signs within it. Are we ignore them, not look at them or for them? I am not sure that is what Jack is saying but I think it is dangerous to label what these believers are doing as Astrology or a sin.
Leviticus 19:26 (KJV) – “You shall not eat anything with the blood, nor shall you practice divination or soothsaying.”
I do not think I would place the acts of those watchmen as “divination or soothsaying”. Maybe a bit harsh there.
God never said that the signs we would see in the heavens would occur this day and then the next day events would happen. He only said that once we see these “signs” his return is near, that we are in the season or nearing midnight.
Will Elenin fulfill prophecy? I don’t know, but it is an interesting exercise in looking at what effects it could have on our little planet. How those align with events described in the Bible and how much deception there is on earth to cover them up. Would Satan try to cover up and hide God’s signs of the times? You bet. Are these them? I don’t know but that is why we must pray for discernment.
I don’t know when the Lord will return to rapture His bride (the church), but I do feel it is drawing near. There are signs all around us. I believe one set of those signs are His holy feasts or appointments that he laid out for us. The first four Christ fulfilled through his coming, dying for our sins, and over coming death to take His place in heaven next to His Father. I believe He will fulfill the rest of them as well.
So in summary, please read through Jack’s article below, I believe it gives us some good thoughts to ponder. Take everything back to the Lord in prayer; praying for discernment of the truth, God’s word.
You can hear the Messiah’s footsteps, the signs are overwhelming!
Judging by the questions I’ve received, a youTube video and an online article have apparently convinced a lot of people that the fulfillment of Rev. 12 and the rapture of the Church will both occur on Sept 29th of this year, which is the annual celebration of Rosh Hashanah, also known as the Feast of Trumpets. Can this be true?
While Sept. 28-29 are the scheduled dates for Rosh Hashanah this year, and while the rapture could happen on any given day, Rev. 12 definitely can not be fulfilled on Sept. 29, nor on any other day this year or the next or the one after and here’s why.
Rev. 12 speaks primarily of three things. The first is an overview, given in signs, beginning with the time of the Lord’s birth. John used symbolism from Joseph’s 2nd dream (Genesis 37:9-11) to identify the pregnant woman in Rev. 12:1-2 as Israel (represented by Mary) about to give birth to the Messiah. An enormous dragon, identified as Satan in Rev. 12:9, was there waiting to devour the child the moment He was born. This means that from the beginning the Messiah was born to die, and when He did He was taken up to God’s throne. We know this as His crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension. (Rev. 12:1-6)
This is a good video that details what the effects of Elenin could be this September from a physics stand point.
It’s effects align almost exactly with those described in Revelations 6:12-14 down to the order of events.
Revelation 6:12-14
New International Version (NIV)
12 I watched as he opened the sixth seal. There was a great earthquake. The sun turned black like sackcloth made of goat hair, the whole moon turned blood red, 13 and the stars in the sky fell to earth, as figs drop from a fig tree when shaken by a strong wind. 14 The heavens receded like a scroll being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place.
Is it coincidence?
Note: I started the video at the 6:04 minute mark and the segment runs through the 10:34 minute mark. The rest of the video before and after is good, but the text does flash a bit fast as well as a major sound increase. (The middle four and a half minutes is well worth the time.)
Below is a series of studies that Jack Kelly did a while back on the Olivet Discourse and the parables Jesus tells regarding the last days.
These are often the topic of much debate as to their meaning and I think Jack does an excellent job at look at the grammar, customs/traditions of the period, timing, and context to discern who these parables are about.
They are meant to be read in order but have value as stand alone but some loss of context.
This topic came up over the weekend and I felt others would benefit from me dusting these off as well.
More prophecy is closing in on fulfillment. Each day we see more of the world turning on Israel. I believe it will climax at the UN meetings this month, when the Palestinians petition for statehood.
God was very clear on where we should stand!
The burden of the word of the LORD for Israel, saith the LORD, which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth The spirit of man within him. Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem. And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it. (Zechariah 12:1-3)
I am afraid the United States as a nation has joined the crowd.
We as Christians must continue to voice our support!
A perhaps not-so-shocking, but certainly attention-getting, news item points to the ugly head of anti-Semitism arising in not-so-jolly old England these days. The stark growth of Israel and Jew-hating is front and center in the person of the kin of a prominent British leader you will recognize.
Laura Booth, sister-in-law of Quartet envoy Tony Blair, has called on “Lebanon, Jordan and Egypt liberate Al-Quds [Jerusalem].” The former British prime minister’s family member has previously sailed illegally to Gaza on a flotilla boat…During last week’s demonstration, Booth went on another rant against Israel. “We say here today to you, Israel , we see your crimes and we loathe your crimes. And to us your nation does not exist, because it is a criminal injustice against humanity. We want to see Lebanon , Jordan and Egypt go to the borders and stop this now. Liberate Al Quds! March to Al Quds!” (“Blair’s Sister-in-Law Incites Muslims to ‘Liberate’ Jerusalem,” http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/147264#.TlukeV3h98F)
Current issues and events that look to be harbingers of the biblically prophesied apocalypse bombard this generation of earth’s inhabitants. Jesus’ Olivet Discourse prophecies, foretelling things to come in the time of “great tribulation,” seem to leap from news reports that are becoming so routine that they no longer shock. No signal is more prophetically significant than present circumstances involving the city where Jesus was crucified nearly twenty centuries ago.
One of the puzzles I have been trying to work through in by head is how will the Psalm 83 prophecy be fulfilled. For the longest time there were several roadblocks that kept this from being a feasible occurence. Some examples would be:
– Turkey was a NATO ally and future member of the EU
– Libya was under a secular dictator
– Egypt was protecting Israel’s southern border and under a secular dictator.
– Syria was under a secular dictator.
– Iraq was under US protection with a major military presence. This acted as a buffer between Israel and Iran.
Why do I list these in particular? Because of God’s prophecy in Psalm 83.
Psalm 83
1 O God, do not remain silent; do not turn a deaf ear, do not stand aloof, O God. 2 See how your enemies growl, how your foes rear their heads. 3 With cunning they conspire against your people; they plot against those you cherish. 4 “Come,” they say, “let us destroy them as a nation, so that Israel’s name is remembered no more.”
This is very exciting and amazing. We are seeing signs all around us that Christ and the Lord foretold us would come as signposts that Christ’s return was near! The Last Days…the rapture…
This is a great video that walks through all of this very well. It is about an hour and a half long, so I am going to try to summarize it here with some screen captures, but I would highly recommend viewing the entire video it is amazing. The screen captures just do not do it justice.
If you are short on time, start at the 1:17 mark through 1:27 to see the context around the screen captures below.
If you don’t have time to watch the video now, here is a quick summary of the last 10 minutes.
First, what is the prophecy we are seeing fulfilled:
Revelations 12:1-6
The Woman and the Dragon
1 A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head. 2 She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth. 3 Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on its heads. 4 Its tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that it might devour her child the moment he was born. 5 She gave birth to a son, a male child, who “will rule all the nations with an iron scepter.” And her child was snatched up to God and to his throne. 6 The woman fled into the wilderness to a place prepared for her by God, where she might be taken care of for 1,260 days.
We will see this play out in the heavens over the next couple months, September and October, 2011. Lets review the key actors or players in this signs in heaven.
Elenin – Comet or Dwarf Star (headed our way)
Moon – Earth’s Moon
Venus – Christ/Church (sometimes called the “morning star” which christ also refered to himself as.)
Revelation 22:16 – “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright MorningStar.”
Saturn – Dragon/Cronus
Sun – Our Sun
So lets break this down:
Revelations 12:1 – 1 A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head.
The woman is the constellation Virgo, she will be clothed in the sun (wearing the sun as a tunic) the moon will be under (at) her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head (Virgo has 12 stars that make up her head) and the Comet Elenin with its tail will shine like a blue crown in her head.
The Picture below is from Stellarium on 09-26-11 as the sign comes together… The four red arrows are Elenin, he put a tracker on it so we can see it move in the video.
Here is what we will see on September 26th, 2011 in the eastern sky.
Notice she is clothed in the sun. The other players Venus, Saturn, our Moon, and Elenin are moving into position.
Revelations 12:2 – She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth.
Elein will shift up toward Virgo’s face and the comet tail makes it look like she is crying. I do not have a screen shot of this but he mentions it in the video and you can see it by playing the stary night application. Venus is also moving into Virgo’s womb as if she is pregnant with child (Venus). You will notice that Elenin is making its way past the sun and toward her head, Venus and Saturn are moving into her midsection, and the Moon is dropping toward her feet.
Revelations 12:3-4 – Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on its heads. 4 Its tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that it might devour her child the moment he was born.
Saturn is known to represent Cronus, which is known as the dragon. If you look up Cronus in Wikipedia, it talks about the legend of Cronus devouring his children as he feared they would fulfill the prophecy of replacing him. Saturn this whole time all of these heavenly bodies are moving through the heavens is sitting still waiting for the birth of Venus (the morning star) so he can devour him.
Lets see this play out over three days in September:
September 27th (below):
September 28th (below):
Venus has moved fully into her womb, she is still clothed in Sun, Elenin is moving into position to show as tears during the birth, and the moon has dropped further toward her feet. Saturn (the dragon) still waits by Venus to devour him once birthed.
September 29th (below) – Feast of Trumpets:
Venus and Saturn remain in her womb. The sun cloths her and Elenin is moving into her hair to show as a crown. The Moon its decent into a position by her feet.
Second View using Stary Night Program (you can see the comet’s tail better)
September 30th, 2011 (below):
Venus and Saturn remain in her womb. The sun clothes her and Elenin has moved into her hair to show as a crown. The Moon has moved into a position by her feet.
Revelations 12:5 – 5 She gave birth to a son, a male child, who “will rule all the nations with an iron scepter.” And her child was snatched up to God and to his throne.
This is associated with Jesus Christ and the Church being snatched up to God and his throne. Christ was taken up to heaven to rule with the Church (his bride) by His side following the rapture.
Revelations 12:6 -The woman fled into the wilderness to a place prepared for her by God, where she might be taken care of for 1,260 days.
Foreshadows the nation of Israel fleeing into the hills after the rise of the Antichrist, the dragon, that has tried for the length of history to devour God’s Son, Christ, his chosen people Israel, and Christ’s bride, the Church.
These images are taken from a free to download program called Stellarium that lets you see the positions of any heavenly body throughout time, even back to the time of Christ’s birth. (Check out: The Real Star of Bethlehem on youtube Here is the first part.)
I hope you get a chance to watch the entire video about the signs of what is to come. It is very exciting and amazing to see God’s word play out in front of our eyes! Christ said we need to stay watchful during these last days. We need to wake up those that aren’t.
This was a conference that Joel Rosenberg put on the last couple years, it is great to hear so I thought I would post for others to enjoy. There are 9 segments but each is only 10-12 minutes long.
One of the big items that looks to be aligning with other prophecy events this September is ELENIN showing up and crossing between Earth and our Sun. There has been much mystery about how big this object is and what exactly it is but we do know it will be showing up with its closest approach to earth on 9/29/11. Does that date ring any bells? It is this years Feast of Trumpets! Wow!
This is something you should look into as it has impacts across multiple prophecies. There is still a lot of varying information out there on the name and size of the object but the most recent sizing is much larger than Frank has in his post below. Current estimates show that it exceeds 200,000 km in size. Just for comparison sakes, the Earth is a little under 18,000 km in diameter with the Sun weighing in a little over 1,300,000 km. So it is 16 X the size of Earth. Something to pay attention to? Government experts are saying it will have no impact on earth. Does that seem logical? Possible?
The gravitational impact of something like that on our planet could be significant. Could it produce some of the events the bible speaks of? I would say yes. I will post more as I uncover it and verify it.
Very exciting, time is drawing short! His return draws nigh!
Prophecy Sign: Jesus in Luke 21:11, 25 warn us of the signs that will come from the sun, the moon, and the stars. Finally in the main stream news today CNN has reported on this object coming toward Earth. This is the object that will arrive during the Feast of Trumpets. Will this huge mass cause the “great earthquakes and the roaring of the seas and waves Jesus warned us about? Stay tuned, September is just around the corner.
Nov 9, 2011 the earth will supposedly cross the threshold of the debris tail of ELENIN on the same plain (assuming ELENIN is a real object that would be catastrophic).
This is a cool interactive NASA chart displaying the comets trajectory through the solar system:
ELENIN, according to some researchers stands for Extinction Level Event Notable Impact November — also encoded into the name is Elevin Nine (Nov. 9), and LEONID (a meteor shower that peaks in November).
So is NASA worried? Not on the surface. They did release this internal video for their employees concerning emergency preparedness, though:
This incoming object appears to be massive. The strange thing is that only a select few sources worldwide have seen the object a few of which we traced back to DARPA directly.
Big seems to be the appropriate word for we now have the first actual astronomical calculations that puts the coma (the part they can see is 50,000 miles in diameter) Yes a big rock!
“On April 8th at our Russian observatory we carried out planned observations of Comet C/2010 X1 (Elenin). An analysis of the results of the observations shows a rapid growth of the coma. Besides the internal compact gas envelope, the forming rarified external coma is also visible in the image.
Its diameter exceeds 1 minute of arc, or 80,000 km! It is possible that such a rapid growth of the coma is associated with the apparent superposition over it of the comet’s dust tail, which after opposition, still remains invisible to the earthly observer.”
The coma is what astronomers actually see and is actually much bigger than the core. It’s the green in the second above picture that they are saying is 80,000 km or 50,000 miles across. We could estimate that the core might be half the diameter of the coma or approximately 25,000 miles. Big enough—it seems to be already stirring up the Earth under our feet.
We have news out of Cornell University that sustains the view that Elenin is playing a direct part in causing large earthquakes.
Past Elenin Alignments and Earthquakes:
Past Alignments Date Location Magnitude
Elenin – Earth – Sun Feb 20 2008 Indonesia 7.4
Elenin – Earth – Sun Feb 25 2008 Indonesia 7.2
Elenin – Earth – Neptune May 12 2008 China 7.9
Elenin – Earth – Sun Feb 18 2009 Kermadec Islands 7.0
Elenin – Earth -Jupiter May 18 2009 Los Angeles, US 4.7
Elenin – Mercury- Earth July 15 2009 New Zealand 7.8
Elenin – Mercury – Earth Aug 09 2009 Japan 7.1
Elenin – Sun – Earth Sept 09 2009 Sunola islands 8.1
Elenin – Earth – Venus Feb 18 2010 China/RU/N.Korea 6.9
Elenin – Earth-Sun Feb 25 2010 China 5.2
Elenin – Earth-Sun Feb 26 2010 Japan 7.0
Elenin – Earth- Sun Feb 27 2010 Chile 8.8 [Earth knocked off axis]
Elenin – Earth- Sun Feb 27 2010 Argentina 6.3
Elenin – Earth – Mercury Mar 04 2010 Taiwan 6.3
Elenin – Earth – Mercury Mar 04 2010 Vanuatu 6.5
Elenin – Earth – Mercury Mar 05 2010 Chile 6.6
Elenin – Earth – Mercury Mar 05 2010 Indonesia 6.3
Elenin – Earth – Mercury Mar 08 2010 Turkey 6.1
Elenin – Earth – Neptune May 05 2010 Indonesia 6.6
Elenin – Earth – Neptune May 06 2010 Chile 6.2
Elenin – Earth – Neptune May 09 2010 Indonesia 7.2
Elenin – Earth – Neptune May 14 2010 Algeria 5.2
Elenin – Earth – Jupiter Jan 03 2011 Chile 7.0
Elenin – Earth – Sun March 11 2011 Japan 9.0
Interesting update by Daymond Duck on what is going on behind the scenes. It is amazing how much deception and shadow activities are going on these days, although more and more of it is coming out in the open as we approach the tribulation.
Do you feel like you are being herded toward something big?
It is amazing how much comfort Bible prophecy can give you. You know what is coming and what to expect. So may people call this scary, but if you know the Lord and know that His Will will be done.
It can transform fear into peace; being scared into being calm.
There is a barn on my drive home that has a quote on it that I always cherish.
The roots of the North American Union started sprouting in 1988 with the Canada– United States Free Trade Agreement (FTA). In 1994, Mexico was added and it became The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Just before it was presented to the U.S. Congress Henry Kissinger wrote “What Congress will have before it is not a conventional trade agreement but the architecture of a new international system…a first step toward a new world order” (world government). In the early 2000’s, the heads of Canada, the United States and Mexico started discussing the expansion of NAFTA and, for a time, they considered calling it “NAFTA-Plus.” But critics started calling it the North American Union (NAU) and the name caught on. In 2005, the tri-national leaders expanded NAFTA and called it the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America (SPPNA). In 2006, Lou Dobbs, at that time a news anchor on CNN, said the (more…)
One of the ways God used to wake me up was an ability to detect deception. I have always had a strong sense of right and wrong as well as a discernment of both.
Over the last 4-5 years, I have been overwhelmed by the level of deception in our society. (I physically feel exhausted some days.) You really can not believe your eyes or ears these days.
It seems like everyone lies or spins things to the point that there is little truth left. Yet as a society, we have become even less inclined to point it out. We each are lied to on a daily basis if not hourly. Some of these lies have been so rooted in our new culture that they are taken as fact, unchallenged. For if you dare challenge/question them you are labeled nasty names and sometimes worse.
They are taught to our kids and beat into us throughout our daily lives. You can not escape it, it is everywhere you turn.
Jesus warned us of the deception in the last days. It has become the norm.
We have gone so far now, that so many groups and concepts are named one thing but stand for the complete opposite. We must be on guard for this and find refuge in God’s Word. (Even that is under attack, see my previous article.) It is as if up is down and white is black.
May God give us the discernment to see the great deception that fills this world today!
The article I linked below is just one small example of the level of deception that our day-to-day world presents to us. Who do you believe? How do you find the truth? Where are the defenders of truth?
It is amazing how slowly it happens. God’s great opponent has been chipping away at His Word ever since it was written. It is so hard to keep up with it all and it can be very overwhelming when we try.
Christians are being attacked on so many fronts these days, the majority of which are small subtle attacks. I believe it is these small chipping attacks that are the most dangerous. We can wake up one day and say: “How did I get here?
In fact, I would say that is exactly what has happened. Jesus warned us of this and told us to stay alert and not be deceived. We have all, myself included, allowed ourselves to get distracted by all the worldly stuff in our lives, not just material things, but activities, work and leisure alike.
It is time to re-focus on what is important. Jesus’ return is near! The answer to where we woke up: it is the last days! And we are in a spiritual battle, be careful not to be deceived.
May God Bless us as we “occupy” until His Son returns!
At its recent convention in Phoenix, the largest evangelical denomination in the nation voted not to commend the 2011 New International Version (NIV) Bible because of its usage of gender-neutral language.
In the old translation of the world’s most popular Bible, John the Evangelist proclaims: “If anyone says, ‘I love God’ yet hates his brother, he is a liar.” Make that “brother or sister” in the new translation, which includes more gender-neutral language.
At its annual gathering last week, members of the Southern Baptist Convention argued that changes in the new NIV Bible alter the intended theological message. Dr. Randy Stinson, dean of the School of Church Ministries at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and president of The Council on Biblical Manhood & Womanhood, says evangelical Christians care deeply about every word in scripture. (more…)
"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." -- Ephesians 2:8-10
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