Are We There Yet?

IN TODAY'S NEWSLETTER... 
 
 

• Featured Article: Are We There Yet? 
• What Is America Going to Look Like If This Continues?
• Nearing Midnight: Replacing God 
• Destabilizing the World 
• Daily Jot: The Farm Chronicles: Jets vs Sharks, country-style 
• Daily Devotion: Set Up Some Safeguards

---

Are We There Yet? – Pete Garcia - https://www.rev310.net/post/are-we-there-yet
 
Given all the signs of the times we are seeing, whilst simultaneously living through the time of the signs, it is becoming easier to ask God why He has yet to return. You’ve asked Him. I’ve asked Him. And it’s not wrong to ask. In fact, it’s natural for us to want to know when we will be leaving. Just as natural as kids on a road trip ask their parents, “Are we there yet?”
 
Many are asking then, how many more abominations, atrocities, and apostasies do we have to endure before we see our promised deliverance? How many murdered children and terrorist attacks do we have to bear witness to before God finally judges this world and restores righteousness to it? How many blasphemous and wicked celebrations that our own governments are mandating do we have to tolerate before we are taken up? Even non-believers are beginning to ask these questions because the scale of wickedness only seems at a tipping point.
 
If you are uncertain on this point, the Bible is absolutely clear that there will be a Pre-Tribulation Rapture of the Church. Don’t let anyone rob of you that blessed hope (Titus 2:13, Rev. 3:11). If the Rapture wasn’t before the Tribulation, and the church (not the Jews or the Tribulation saints) were expected to go through it, the New Testament would be replete with guidance for the church on how to survive it. In particular, the epistles would be replete with guidance on how to navigate through the 21 divinely appointed judgments God unleashes upon the world.
 
Instead of writing about how to be a Christian and looking for Christ's return; Paul, James, Peter, and John would be talking about looking for this coming “man of sin” who will take over the entire world. They would be laying out steps the church could take to weather the coming storm. They would give instruction on how to survive in a world that is wholly given over to Satan without restraint.
 
Strangely, there is no such guidance found in the Bible from the book of Acts through Revelation 4:1.
 
Remember, Noah wasn’t rescued during the Flood. Lot wasn’t told to hunker down and endure through the fire and brimstone storm. No, their deliverance was always before, not during, or after.
 
Even Abraham asked that pivotal question in Genesis 18:25-
 
Far be it from you to do such a thing—to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike. Far be it from you! Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?”
 
Of course, we know what happened. In fact, the angels delivering Lot told him they couldn’t allow the judgment to begin UNTIL Lot was safely removed. It is the exact same scenario with Noah. There was ample opportunity for anyone who wanted to avoid the coming judgment to get on board the ark before God closed the doors. I imagine at the outset there were probably many who listened to Noah’s preaching at first. The Apostle Peter states that Noah was a “preacher of righteousness,” (2 Peter 2:5) and this presumes Noah had an audience to preach to. By that reasoning, there would have been many converts at the beginning who believed Noah of a coming judgment. They would have listened intently as he echoed Enoch’s earlier warnings of the coming judgments. These early converts may have even helped him at the start.
 
Just as death is the great equalizer, time is the great desensitizer. As the days turned into weeks, and the months into years, the ark was slowly being built. Those people who had turned out at the first began to lose interest and drifted back into their old lives. In their leaving, they would miss out on seeing the great signs marking the nearness of the coming judgment. Those signs being the supernatural gathering of all the different kinds of animals that began assembling at the ark.
 
By the time the ark was complete, and all the provisions and animals were on board, the crowds that used to stand and listen to old Noah preaching had all disappeared. All that remained were his wife, his sons, and their wives. I imagine it broke Noah’s heart to know that all those who had been so eager to help at the first, were no longer anywhere to be found. With sadness, he would enter the ark and God closed the doors behind him. (Gen. 7:16)
 
Assessment
 
"According to Revelation 1:11, the book was written to seven congregations in Asia, modern Turkey. For 2,000 years, scholars have wondered why such an important message would be sent to these churches since they weren’t even the most important of their day, let alone now…The answer lies in the realization that the letters of chapters 2 and 3 have a representative as well as a specific purpose. They can be read with four levels of application.
 
The first level is historical. These seven churches really existed, and each was experiencing the particular problem to which the Lord referred as He dictated the letters to John. Second, since all the churches were to read all the letters, the letters were also admonitory to all. Third, since both the challenge and promise with which each letter ends are personal rather than corporate, the letters were for individuals as well as congregations. And fourth, read in the order in which they appear they outline church history and so are prophetic. They chronicle the gap between the 69th and 70th weeks of Daniel’s 70 weeks prophecy." (Daniel 9:24-27) (GracethruFaith)
 
Some of these things have been on my mind as of late, and I don’t want to come across as dogmatic regarding them. Not everyone believes that the Seven Churches in Revelation are prophetically significant. However, the late Jack Kelley, myself, and many others believe they are. To Jack’s last point, in keeping with the prophetic order of the seven churches as they are given, I believe they are representative of the seven great epochs (Revelation 1-3) the church has undergone since Christ ascended.
 
I would add that even the Philadelphian Church age could be broken down into four arenas (my opinion). Furthermore, since the promise of physical deliverance was given only to this Philadelphian church, this church will endure even when the Laodicean era begins. (Scriptural emphasis is mine)
 
Part 1: The Great Awakening (1730-1760)
 
(Notables- Theodore Frelinghuysen, Gilbert Tennent, Jonathan Edwards, George Whitfield)
 
This kicked off the four-fold stage of the Philadelphian church. The first Great Awakening, not only brought revival amongst the dead/dying protestant churches in the American colonies (representative of the Sardis Church Age), but it also helped lay the philosophical and theological foundation of a new nation that was about to born. The United States would become a beacon of religious liberty and freedom from then, until today. To this day, the door has not yet been shut.
 
“To the angel of the church in Philadelphia write:
 
These are the words of him who is holy and true, who holds the key of David. What he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open. Rev. 3:7
 
Part 2: The Second Great Awakening (1795-1830)
 
(Notables- William Carey, John N. Darby, Barton Stone, Lyman Beecher, Charles G. Finney)
 
This period not only saw the explosion of Christian missionary efforts begin to span the globe, but it also saw a rejection of the dead, mainline Protestantism which had since grown cold and passionless. There was a great desire for the church to return a historical, grammatical, and literal reading of the Word of God. In doing so, the church began to wake up (spiritually speaking) and the Dispensationalist movement began.
 
As often accused, John N. Darby did not create dispensationalism out of thin air. He simply codified centuries of pre-existent teaching regarding what the Bible has taught all along. In doing so, the church began to realize three things: the gospel needed to go out into the entire world, the Church was not Israel, and the end of the age was close at hand. Unfortunately, Satan countered by stifling this revivalism with an explosion of Christian cults, which began to obfuscate the truth amongst those seeking God (Mormons, Millerites, etc.)
 
I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut. I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name. Rev. 3:8
 
Part 3: The Third Great Awakening (1857-1920)
 
(Notables- D.L. Moody, William Booth, Billy Sunday, Charles Spurgeon, C.I. Scofield, Clarence Larkin)
 
The last great awakening in our nation would mark the end of the dominance Christianity had on the culture at large. From here on out, smaller and less impactful revivals would crisscross the nation, but nothing like those previous ones had done. This was a period of great transition in the nation, not only literally, but spiritually as well. The nation was transitioning out of the Civil War era, westward expansion, and World War I, and into the modernized Industrial Age.
 
Because of these major shifts in the nation and the world at large, eastern mysticism and human secularism began to flood into the West. Christendom began to suffer a rift between the “Modernists” and the Fundamentalists primarily due to scientism and the promotion of Darwinian Evolution. More and more cults and pseudo-Christian groups came out claiming to be God’s chosen people (the Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, Seventh Day Adventists, etc.) This growing anti-Semitism would peak with the German Third Reich and the Nazi Holocaust of World War II.
 
I will make those who are of the synagogue of Satan, who claim to be Jews though they are not, but are liars—I will make them come and fall down at your feet and acknowledge that I have loved you. Rev. 3:9
 
Part IV: Philadelphia in the Laodicean Age (1945-Present)
 
(Notables- Billy Graham, Hal Lindsey, Tim LaHaye, J. Vernon McGee, Chuck Smith)
 
After our victory in World War II, America underwent several decades of wealth and affluence, which turned out to be disastrous to the spiritual well-being of the nation. Complacency once again set in, and the decades-old seeds of socialism were just beginning to yield their first crops of neo-Marxists throughout the universities and seminaries. These atheists, agnostics, and skeptics would go on to high positions within the media, Hollywood, and government, and began using their bully pulpits to silence and scorn Christianity. The church (collectively) had entered into the Laodicean age.
 
“To the angel of the church in Laodicea write:
 
These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation. I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see. Rev. 3:14-18
 
Yet, at the same time, God countered by creating the largest open door for the gospel to go out in the history of mankind. Men like Billy Graham had audiences in the billions. Hal Lindsey’s “Late Great Planet Earth” was the bestselling book for an entire decade (the 1970s). Tim LaHaye, of the Left Behind series namesake (which sold over 65 million books), and the countless online ministries, which continue to share the gospel worldwide were still having a great outreach for the gospel of Jesus Christ.
 
But even with this great open door, the Church has had less influence now, than it ever has. Furthermore, churches of all denominations are dying off at a rapid pace (esp. since the COVID lockdowns) and are not being replaced. Many of the churches that do remain, are acquiescing to a culture in rapid decline so as to stay “relevant.” Many are embracing clearly anti-biblical positions such as homosexual clergy, critical race theory, socialism, anti-Semitism, eastern mysticism, and human secularism.
 
For the first time in church history, a seeming majority of churches (at least in the west) no longer see salvation as either being necessary, or exclusive to Christianity. Biblical evangelicals and fundamentalists are increasingly being put into smaller and smaller corners by which to live and function. We are increasingly considered “fringe” and “extreme” for simply holding to the same biblical standards that have always been. Note the promise to Philadelphia, and note the corresponding warning to Laodicea.
 
Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come on the whole world to test the inhabitants of the earth.
 
I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown. Revelation 3:10-11
 
Therefore, if my theory is true, then we (of the Philadelphian church) are truly are on the cusp of our great deliverance. In our deliverance, Christ is also about the spit out those who are amongst our ranks that are simply either going through the motions or are purposely attempting to sabotage the few remaining churches.
 
How much longer you ask? Are we there yet?
 
And while I can’t set a date (because I don’t know it) I believe we are in the Season of His return.
 
Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; hold it fast, and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you. Rev. 3:3
 
Maranatha!
 

 


 
What Is America Going to Look Like If This Continues? - by Michael Snyder - http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/what-is-america-going-to-look-like-if-this-continues/
 
You can’t have a civilization without civility. We may possess technology that is more advanced than any previous generation of Americans has had, but when it comes to how we treat one another and how we conduct ourselves, we are the worst generation in U.S. history by a very wide margin. We have truly become a “Hollywood culture”, and I don’t mean that in a good way. The average American spends 238 minutes a day watching television, and it is inevitable that putting so much garbage into our minds is going to result in garbage coming out. Most Americans learn how to express themselves by emulating what they see on their screens, and so now we have tens of millions of extremely crude people running around all over the place.
 
If you spend any time in public at all, you know exactly what I am talking about. Most Americans dress like slobs, act like pigs and endlessly spew profanity wherever they go.
 
This is something that Mark H. Creech discussed in an article that he published this week…
 
While at the grocery store this week, a woman was ahead of me in the checkout line using the word, “Mother F&*#@%.” To the left of me, in another line, was a different woman on her cell phone. I could overhear her saying to someone, “F&$#” this, and “F*#@” that. I felt that I was drowning in a cesspool of profanity.
 
Recently, my wife said she was in the checkout line at Walmart, and a man was using such language without any inhibitions. Not being the kind of person to hold back, Kim said to him, “Sir, would you please not use that language? There are children present.” To which the man defiantly replied, “No!” His companion then backhanded him on the arm and said to, “Cut it out.” That was the end of it.
 
Sadly, it has gotten to a point where even our national leaders are not afraid to use profanity.
 
Earlier this week, it was being reported that Kamala Harris used profanity while engaged in a heated discussion about the crisis in Afghanistan…
 
Vice President Kamala Harris reportedly refused to stand alongside Joe Biden as he addressed the nation on the Afghanistan chaos, allegedly saying “you will not pin this shit on me” despite her massive role in Biden’s US troop withdrawal decision.
 
Before Biden gave an 18 minute speech to justify his decision to withdraw US troops from Afghanistan as the Taliban took over the country, Kamala Harris reportedly refused to stand alongside him as he spoke. “You will not pin this shit on me,” Harris reportedly said. However in April, Harris had bragged that she played a key role in Biden’s decision to withdraw, as was reported by Politico. She even confirmed that she was the last person in the room with the President during the major discussion regarding his decision to pull out US troops by September 11.
 
And profane language that Joe Biden once used about Afghanistan received renewed attention this week because of the drama unfolding in Kabul…
 
According to Holbrooke, when Biden was asked about America’s obligation to maintain their presence in Afghanistan to protect vulnerable civilians, he scornfully replied by referencing the US exit from southeast Asia in 1973.
 
‘**** that, we don’t have to worry about that. We did it in Vietnam, Nixon and Kissinger got away with it.’
 
Of course foul language is not just limited to one side of the aisle.
 
Our leaders like to consider themselves the pinnacle of civilization, and they have often criticized the Taliban for tearing down historical statues and forcing women to wear masks.
 
But over the past year, far more statues have been torn down inside the United States than the Taliban ever dreamed of tearing down, and at this point we are forcing everyone to wear masks.
 
Critics say that the Taliban does not allow freedom of speech, but when Taliban officials were asked about this they simply pointed out that Facebook is even worse when it comes to freedom of speech.
 
And they are right.
 
Critics say that the Taliban treats women horribly, and that is certainly true.
 
But women are treated shamefully in our nation too. Here is one example…
 
A creep groped a woman on a Brooklyn street this week — and then pummeled her when she tried to fight back, disturbing new video shows.
 
The 26-year-old woman was walking at the corner of South 4th Street and Havemeyer Street in Williamsburg around 2:15 a.m. Saturday when a stranger approached from behind and grabbed her buttocks, video released by cops early Tuesday shows.
 
When the woman attempted to slap the suspect, he socked her in the face multiple times, the clip shows.
 
And here is another example…
 
The woman and her boyfriend were on their way to the Chicago Transit Authority Red Line subway at State Street and Jackson Boulevard Saturday night. They were waiting for the elevator at ground level to go down to the platform.
 
But they never made it. Instead, trouble found them, surrounded them, and attacked them.
 
They were viciously assaulted by a large gang of teens, and the woman was pummeled so badly that she actually needs plastic surgery…
 
“I need plastic surgery, because the bones are broke, and still bleeding inside,” the woman said.
 
The scars and bruising are concealed behind the shades the woman now wears over her eyes. But the pain is deeper.
 
Murder rates were way up all over the country last year, and they are way up again all over the country this year.
 
We have become a brutal, violent, blood-soaked country, and that is because we have a brutal, violent, blood-soaked culture.
 
At one time the U.S. could lecture the rest of the world about morality because we lived in a civilized society. But now we have lost whatever moral high ground we once possessed, and at this point we need the rest of the world to lecture us.
 
So what is going to happen as the thin veneer of civilization that we all take for granted on a daily basis continues to steadily disappear? I am deeply, deeply concerned about our future, and this is a theme that I explored in my new book entitled “7 Year Apocalypse”. We are in a highly advanced state of social decay, and it is getting worse with each passing year.
 
In recent days, I have heard so much criticism of the Taliban’s culture, and many of those criticisms are right on target.
 
But our culture is detestable too, and it has become that way because of the choices that we have made as a society.




 
Nearing Midnight: Replacing God – Terry James - https://www.raptureready.com/category/nearing-midnight/
 
At the heart of iniquity—the evil God’s Word says indwelt Lucifer when he decided to make himself more important than the Creator—festers the wicked desire to replace God.
 
This rebelliousness has been deeply ingrained within all of humanity since the Fall in Eden. That iniquitous desire is dramatically manifested in the biblical account of Israel’s Exodus of Moses’ time.
 
The scene centers on Pharaoh, the most powerful potentate of the world in that day.
 
And Pharaoh said, Who is the LORD that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not the LORD, neither will I let Israel go. (Exodus 5:2)
 
Pharaoh’s fate ended no better than will Lucifer’s, ultimately. Neither will the fate of anyone of any generation who seeks such position be any better than that of the one now called Satan. To desire to make oneself one’s own god is a fool’s errand, to be sure. The eternal lake of fire is the God-guaranteed end of that endeavor.
 
Yet most of humanity, especially those who consider themselves to be the elite, is determined to do what is right in their own eyes. The deeper mankind moves into history, the more pronounced their determination to cast off God’s moorings. They have become creators themselves, and like described in the prophecy of Psalm 2, they want to break the bands that God puts in place to govern them in the ultimate sense.
 
Nothing in last-days movement into history more illustrates the truth that man was created in God’s image than their own creative ability. We’ve made truly remarkable progress in terms of inventions that, in juxtaposition against previous century’s, border on miraculous. And now, as their genius pierces into uncharted technological atmospherics, the future seems to circle back to the past. The writer of Proverbs is again proven right: “There is nothing new under the sun.”
 
God said in that Genesis account that nothing people could think to do would be kept from them; they could do anything they could imagine. Thus He came down and interfered with their Tower project. He then scattered them about the earth—because their corporate mind again came to be like in the days before the Flood. They had determined to, like Lucifer, put their collective will into opposing the Creator, to cast His cords from themselves.
 
And, like during those antediluvian times, their thoughts were only on evil continually. Things they could produce from that sin-fallen thinking would, inevitably, bring man to its destruction.
 
This ultimate destruction of mankind, of course, has been Lucifer’s intention from the time he was evicted from Heaven along with his complicit hordes to, like a roaring lion, seek and devour all human beings.
 
And now it appears that both mankind and Satan have reached the moment of rebellious progression—like in times of the pre-Flood era and the time of Babel. The earth-dwellers have nearly reached a moment when they can shed God’s tethers and become their own gods: do what is right in their own eyes. Therefore, we sense the Lord is about to again intervene as He did in those previous junctures of human history. Jesus spoke of this time in which we’re living in His “days of Noah, days of Lot” forewarnings as recorded in Matthew 24:36–42 and Luke 17:26–30.
 
This sense of God’s imminent intervention comes from a number of different kinds of signs prophetic progression. But the one sensed most keenly is a specific, burgeoning scientific development of these frenetic times.
 
Artificial intelligence (AI) is that specific indicator.
 
Man’s creative genius has reached the point that the luciferian thinkers now believe they can surpass human intelligence. They can, they believe, construct intelligence that will free them to do whatever is right in their own eyes. They need no deity to encumber their utopian plans. They have, in their superior minds, replaced God.
 
We’ve been bombarded in recent decades with fictional scenarios of technologies getting out of control. These Hollywood dystopian fantasies have most often ended with the day being saved by one hero or group of heroes or the other. Humans have regained control and all ends well. A few cases see the climaxes of the movies go in the other direction, resulting in man’s downfall. One prophecy writer says the following.
 
Most accredited universities have within their computer science departments, active programs for the creation of artificial intelligence. At some point in the not-too-distant future, man is going to cross that technological threshold between fantasy and reality and launch a system that is “self-aware.” Scary thought!…
 
We have moved firmly into the realm of creating a super-intelligent AI system. We have developed the technology to create “deep fakes” that can fake audio and video, making it indistinguishable from the real thing. We have further developed cloud technology. Cryptocurrencies are proliferating. Drone and robotic technology are continuing to improve at an incredible pace and scale. Genetic manipulation (to include data storage) is continuing to be refined and enhanced…
 
And between man’s desire to live forever through artificial means (trans-humanism and singularity) and AI’s ability to solve seemingly unsolvable problems, it will be a Babel-like moment when God will have to step in and intervene, yet again. (“Even the Elect, Part I: Deception,” Pete Garcia, https://rev310.com)
 
There is coming another like the leader of the rebels of earth at the time of the Tower of Babel. But the neo-Nimrod will have technology far superior to that of the first Nimrod’s time to carry out his regime’s evil. There will be no place on planet earth to hide (except that provided by God Himself) when Antichrist’s technology of control is released upon those alive during the Tribulation.
 
The current striving of the principalities and powers to replace God will fail miserably. Christ will rule and reign upon a pristine planet that will have been restored to its original glory.
 
That Babel moment is coming. God will again take total charge as He did then.
 
And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. (Genesis 11:6)

 


 
Destabilizing the World - By Hal Lindsey - https://www.hallindsey.com/ww-8-20-2021/
 
At a July 8th news conference, a reporter asked President Biden if a Taliban takeover of Afghanistan was inevitable. The President answered that was not inevitable. As evidence, he said, “The Afghan troops have 300,000 well-equipped — as well-equipped as any army in the world — and an air force against something like 75,000 Taliban.”
 
Three hundred thousand well-equipped, well-trained members of the Afghan military versus 75,000 ragtag Taliban. We have to assume that the President of the United States got those numbers from US intelligence services. If they were correct, how did the 75,000 overrun the 300,000-strong, US-equipped army in a little over a week? If the numbers are incorrect, how did the US get it so wrong?
 
Next, a reporter asked the President if he trusts the Taliban. You may have seen his response. “It’s a — it’s a silly question,” he answered. “Do I trust the Taliban? No. But I trust the capacity of the Afghan military, who is better trained, better equipped, and more re- — more competent in terms of conducting war.”
 
And that is what brought on the debacle in Afghanistan. American planners thought that billions of dollars’ worth of American military hardware would give the Afghan military the advantage it needed to hold the country. They felt that with years — even decades — of training, Afghan fighters would be formidable. They ignored the warning signs, including high levels of corruption and graft among Afghanistan military leaders.
 
But most of all, the American planners forgot that wars are not won by military equipment, but by men — men who believe in the cause, and whose commitment and trustworthiness make them resolute and courageous. And that should deeply concern every US citizen because in recent years our military has changed. Instead of training men to win wars, we train them to be politically correct. Top levels of the military have changed their focus from readiness to wokeness.
 
Today’s American leaders have no wrong idea of what made America great in the first place. They think military hardware is the key to military might. They think if we can just get radical Muslim nations to embrace democracy, they will suddenly become reasonable and kindhearted. That didn’t work in Iraq. It is not working in Gaza. And it is a disaster in Afghanistan.
 
The United States was never a “Christian nation” in the traditional sense. Instead of a state-church, our forefathers wrote religious freedom into our constitution. But until recently, this country revered God and the Bible. That reverence put steel into America’s backbone. The nation often failed to live up to God’s standards, but those standards freed the slaves and inspired the civil rights movement. Those standards became the basis for the Declaration of Independence and for the Bill of Rights. The United States now seems intent on throwing away this great heritage of faith — and with it the rights we once cherished.
 
Meanwhile, the President has been forced to do what he said he could not do — trust the Taliban. They control the country of Afghanistan. They decide who can go to the airport and who cannot. They are in charge. The fantastic military hardware we once thought would make our allies strong, now belongs to the Taliban.
 
The implications of all this will resonate for years to come. The US debacle in Afghanistan is further destabilizing an already unstable world. In other words, planet earth is being rapidly prepared for the coming leader known as Antichrist.
 

 


 
Daily Jot: The Farm Chronicles: Jets vs Sharks, country-style - Bill Wilson – www.dailyjot.com
 
About five miles from the farm is a small town called Newton Falls. Back in the 50’s through the 70s, Newton Falls kind of considered themselves the city—at least that’s how us farmers saw it. We were fine when we came to town to buy groceries or needed a part from the hardware store. But when it came to athletics, that was a different story. It became an ethnic grudge match. The prideful Italians of Newton Falls against those dirty, uncultured Welsh- and English-bred farmers. It was very similar to the rivalry between the Jets and the Sharks in the movie West Side Story. Only this was the country folk against the “big city,” even though Newton Falls had less than 4,000 residents.
 
The Southeast High School Pirates and Newton Falls Tigers were close enough in proximity that it made scheduling football and basketball games a pretty easy thing to do, but not so easy to play. One of the problems was that the Tigers never wanted to play on the Pirates’ turf. We always had to travel to “the city.” As time went on, we country folk realized that the Tigers would always win. Now they had some good athletes, but they weren’t THAT good. They seemed to always have a little help from the referees when the going got tough. Here a penalty, there a foul, and pretty soon the home fries landed a point burger and it was game over. We began to resent it. Coaches coached angry. Players played angry. As far back as I can remember this rivalry was really mean-spirited.
 
In the 1960s, the teams had to quit playing football against one another because of all the fights. I remember when I was about seven years old briskly walking out of the Tigers’ stadium with my parents because my brother Larry’s football game had been called due to a huge fight. That was that. When I was in high school, we resumed playing the Tigers in basketball. Their all-state guard harassed, elbowed, and tripped our star point guard Wayne Wheaton all night with impunity. Finally, Wayne had enough and laid out the Tiger cager with one punch. We were all proud of Wayne for that. But once again that ended play between the two schools. So this leads me to the point of this story. In the late 1950s, one landmark in Newton Falls was loved by the farmers, even to this day—Sam’s Pizza. My very first pizza was from Sam’s.
 
As the story goes, my oldest brother Chuck went to Sam’s to pick up a pizza. Some Tigers hanging out there in their varsity jackets made fun of my brother and pushed him around. So he left and came back with a half-dozen Pirates in the back of our old Dodge stock truck, backed the truck up to the door, dropped the gangplank, walked into Sam’s wearing his varsity jacket and gestured to the Tigers, who rushed him. He ran into the stock truck and the Tigers followed, getting the snot beat out of them by the Pirates hiding in the stocks. No referees to balance the score this time. To this day, there never has been another problem picking up pizza from Sam’s. Philippians 2:3 (ESV) says, “Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.” Maybe a good fight once in a while brings humility. And that’s the story of the Jets vs the Sharks (Pirates vs the Tigers), country style.

 


 
Daily Devotion: Set Up Some Safeguards - by Greg Laurie – www.harvest.org
 
You will be accepted if you do what is right. But if you refuse to do what is right, then watch out! Sin is crouching at the door, eager to control you. But you must subdue it and be its master. —Genesis 4:7
 
https://harvest.org/resources/devotion/set-up-some-safeguards/ - Listen
 
There are certain questions in life that we don’t need to think about or pray about. Why? Because we already know what God says about them.
 
For example, we already know that it’s not okay to steal because God tells us, “You must not steal” (Exodus 20:15 NLT). We already know that it’s not okay to have an adulterous relationship because God says, “You must not commit adultery” (Exodus 20:14 NLT).
 
But then there are things that we’re unsure about. We don’t know for certain whether they’re right or wrong.
 
The good news is that we can set up some safeguards in our lives to help us determine what we should do. Before you engage in that activity you’re uncertain about, ask yourself some questions.
 
First, does it build you up spiritually, or does it tear you down? The apostle Paul wrote, “You say, ‘I am allowed to do anything’—but not everything is good for you. You say, ‘I am allowed to do anything’—but not everything is beneficial” (1 Corinthians 10:23 NLT).
 
You should avoid, at all costs, anything that could tear you down spiritually, pull you away from the people of God, keep you from Christian fellowship, or take the edge off your desire for prayer or Bible study.
 
Second, does it bring you under its power? Again, Paul wrote, “I must not become a slave to anything” (1 Corinthians 6:12 NLT). I don’t want to be under the control of anyone or anything except Jesus Christ.
 
Third, do you have an uneasy conscience about it? Paul wrote to the believers in Rome, “If you do anything you believe is not right, you are sinning” (Romans 14:23 NLT).
 
These are things we need to consider as believers because we have an adversary, the Devil, who is waiting to strike. So be careful.

 


 
FROM THE HEART
    
Let Us Make the Short Time We have Left,
Count for ALL of Eternity!

IF YOU HAVE BEEN BLESSED THROUGH THIS MINISTRY, THEN WE ASK THAT YOU WOULD PLEASE REMEMBER PROPHECY UPDATE IN YOUR GIVING - WE ARE TRULY, TRULY, THANKFUL FOR YOUR SUPPORT  
 
WORTHY OF YOUR SUPPORT?
 
One of the most reliable ways to determine if a ministry is worthy of your financial support is to examine its fruits. If Prophecy Update is keeping you informed, and if that information inspires you, and causes you to draw closer to the Lord, if Prophecy Update equips you with valuable information and knowledge to share with and encourage other believers, and open the eyes of non-believers, and if Prophecy Update keeps you connected to current events relating to Bible Prophecy, then you are partaking of the fruit produced through this ministry. None of this would be possible without the Lords blessings and your support. I believe where the Lord guides, the Lord provides, and most of the time He provides through the willing and generous hearts of believers just like you and me.
 
Humbly Seek Your Support
 
Prophecy Update has no corporate sponsors. This ministry is paid for and prayed for by readers and supporters. Without your support, there would be no Prophecy Update, Please pray about becoming a monthly supporter - thanks!
 
If ever there was a time to invest in God's Kingdom, it's now!
What on earth are you doing for Heaven's Sake?
"Share in the Blessings and Rewards that will last Forever!"
 
"Folks, it's all beginning to unravel. America is in more danger of falling than at any time in its history. But I believe Bible prophecy predicts this very decline. From this point on, we believers have to get serious. We are going to face discouragement, disillusionment and, most certainly, persecution in the time between now and the Rapture. But don't be discouraged or disillusioned. The coming turmoil will provide us unrivaled opportunities to share the good news of the Gospel. So be ready to share your faith and your hope with those who need Christ. We still have time to reap a great harvest of souls for God's kingdom!" - Hal Lindsey
 
1) We need your prayers!- We proclaim the Truth of the Word of God and we are under constant spiritual and sometimes even physical attack.
2) We need your encouragement!- We need to hear from you, let us know how the Lord is blessing you through this ministry so that we can share it with others.
3) We need your input! - If you have a prophetic article or story or if there is a news related item we missed, let us know.
4) We need your financial support!- To put it quite simply, without your support, there would be no Prophecy Update.
 
I ask that you would prayerfully consider partnering with us to get the Word out and keep the world informed. Remember, your gift, no matter how small, does make a difference! You will be helping to touch lives, around the world, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, thanks to the internet your generosity carries a global impact! - Thanks!
 
Our Prayer for You- "Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God. This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of God's people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, men will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else." 2 Corinthians 9:10-13
 
If you have been blessed by Prophecy Update and would like to help support this ministry financially. You can make a secure donation online by going to:
 
 DONATE NOW 
 
 
 
Or write us at:
 
Prophecy Update
P.O. Box 40516
Bakersfield, CA 93384-0516 
 
 
We are very pleased to offer all our readers this FREE download on Bible Prophecy from the Evangelical Bible College of Western Australia - Just download and enjoy and be blessed! Feel free to share it with all your friends and family members.
 
Click below to download!
 
"AS YOU SEE THE DAY APPROACHING"
 
 
 
 
If You Died Today, Would You Go To Heaven?
Find out, visit:
www.thegoodtest.net
www.gotquestions.org
www.wayofthemaster.com 
How to know God
 
 
 
DID YOU KNOW?
You can submit an article, leave a comment or praise report at email:
[email protected]
 
 
Maranatha! (Lord Come Quickly)
 
 "On Christ the Solid Rock I Stand, All other ground is sinking sand."
 
 "Let Us make the short time we have left count for all eternity!"
 
 YBIC-Randy