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Contrasting Covenants and Confirmations – Part I – Randy Nettles - https://www.rev310.net/post/contrasting-covenants-and-confirmations-part-i
Terah, the father of Abram (Abraham), was originally from the land of Ur of the Chaldeans in Mesopotamia. According to Joshua, Terah was a pagan and served false gods. “Your fathers, including Terah, the father of Abraham and the father of Nahor, dwelt on the other side of the River in old times, and they served other gods” (Joshua 24:2). Terah took his son Abram and Abram’s wife Sarai, and his grandson Lot, the son of Haran, and they went out from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to the land of Canaan; and they came to Haran and dwelt there until Terah died in Haran at the age of 205 years. Terah never made it to Canaan. The father of the nation of Israel, Abram, was 75 years old when, by faith, he heeded the word of the Lord and departed out of Haran to a land God would show him. The Lord said, “I will make of you a great nation and I will bless you, and make your name great, and you shall be a blessing: and I will bless them that bless you, and curse them that curse you: and in you shall all families of the earth be blessed” (Genesis 12:2-3). Abram took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, 70 servants, and all their possessions and entered the land of Canaan in approximately 1876 BC (2084 AM). For a detailed chronology, see A Chronology of Mankind – 6000 Years of History (rev310.net). Upon entering the promised land, Abram built an altar unto the Lord, who appeared unto him and said: “Unto your seed will I give this land” (Genesis 12:7). This was the first promise from God that He would give the land of Canaan to Abram’s descendants. Abram entered the Promised Land 427 years after God made his covenant with Noah after the Great Flood (2303 BC - 1657 AM). Actually, He made his covenant with Noah and his descendants and with every living creature on the face of the earth. “Thus I establish My covenant with you: Never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood; never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth. And God said: This is the sign of the covenant which I make between Me and you, and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: I set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth” (Genesis 9:11-13). Abram was a descendant of Noah’s son, Shem. Abram’s entourage relocated to Egypt after famine struck the land. As time passed and the famine receded, Abram returned to Canaan. The first thing he did when he was back in the land was to call on the name of the Lord. He did it in the exact place where he had previously built the altar unto Him. Lot and Abram were very rich in cattle, silver, and in gold. The land was not able to bear both Abram’s and Lot’s flocks, so they parted ways. Abram dwelt in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelt in the cities of the plain and pitched his tent toward Sodom. The Lord said unto Abram, after Lot was separated from him, Lift your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward, southward, eastward, and westward: for all the land which you see, to you will I give it, and to your seed forever. And I will make your seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall your seed also be numbered. Arise walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it, for I will give it unto you” (Genesis 13:14-17). We see here that the Lord was confirming his original promise to Abram and his descendants that the land would be theirs, for He had given it to them. THE ABRAHAMIC COVENANT ESTABLISHED The word of the Lord came into Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not Abram: I am your shield, and your exceedingly great reward” (Genesis 15:1). Abram questioned God as to how this would be accomplished, as he was childless with no son to inherit the land. The Lord assured Abram his descendants would inherit the land, and they would be as numerous as the stars in the heavens. “And he believed in the Lord, and He counted it to him for righteousness” (Genesis 15:6). However, Abram asked the Lord God how he would know that he would inherit it. The Lord told him to take a heifer of three years old, a she goat of three years old, a ram of three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon: and cut in half (except the birds) and divide them in the midst, laying each piece against one another. “Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep (trance) fell upon Abram; and behold, horror and great darkness fell upon him. And it came to pass that when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces” (Genesis 15:12,17). I believe this was Elohim (the Son and the Holy Spirit) that passed between those pieces. The words “smoking furnace” and “burning lamp” were probably the only words Abraham could describe the supernatural appearance of Elohim. A similar theophany would occur about four centuries later when the children of Israel left Egypt. “And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so as to go by day and night. He did not take away the pillar of cloud by day or the pillar of fire by night from before the people” (Exodus 13:21-22). On the same day, the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying,” Unto your seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river Euphrates” (Genesis 15:17-18). This was the original covenant between the Lord and Abram and his descendants. It occurred in approximately 1866 BC (2094 AM). In this covenant, all Abraham had to do was supply the animals for the sacrificial covenant. He did not have to walk between the pieces. Only God walked between the pieces. This signified that it was an unconditional covenant between God and Abraham (and his descendants) regarding the land of Canaan. The Lord gave ownership of the land of Canaan to Abraham’s descendants forever. As Abram and Sarai grew older and were still childless, they tried to help God along with His promise by giving Sarai’s servant, Hagar, to Abram to be his wife. Abram was 86 years old when Hagar birthed a son to him. They named him Ishmael. He was the patriarch of the Arabs, to be the ancestor of the Ishmaelites. Ishmael was born in 1865 BC (2095 AM), one year after God’s covenant with Abram. GOD CONFIRMS HIS COVENANT WITH ABRAHAM The Bible tells us that the Lord visited Abram five times, and on the fifth visit, He changed Abram’s name. In 1852 BC (2108 AM), when Abram was 99 years old and Sarai was 90 years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and confirmed his covenant with him. “My covenant is with you, and you shall be a father of many nations. No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you a father of many nations” (Genesis 17:4-5). When God changed Abram’s name to Abraham, he inserted the 5th letter of the Hebrew alphabet, the “heh” into the middle of Abram’s name, forever imprinting upon Abraham the quality of God’s grace. In Judaism, the “heh” is also the numeral 5, which represents grace. God showed amazing grace to Abraham because of his faith, just as He does with you and me as believers in Christ. This confirmed or strengthened the original covenant between Abraham and God that occurred 14 years earlier. “And I will establish my covenant between you and me and your seed after you in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto you, and to your seed after you. And I will give unto you and your seed after you, the land wherein you are a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God” (Genesis 17:7-8). Abram and his male descendants were to keep their part of the covenant by circumcising the flesh of their foreskins (a form of cutting and dividing of the flesh). Ishmael was 13 years old at this time. Circumcision was a symbol of “cutting off” the old life of sin and dedicating oneself to God. Circumcision, more than any other Hebrew custom, separated God’s people from their heathen neighbors. The Lord also changed Sarai’s name to Sarah. He promised Abraham the following regarding Sarah: “And I will bless her and give her a son also of her: yes, I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations: kings of people shall be of her” (Genesis 17:16). “Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall a child be born unto him that is a hundred years old? And shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear? And Abraham said unto God, Oh that Ishmael might live before you” (Genesis 17:17-18). Yes, even the man of faith, Abraham, sometimes felt moments of doubt. God explained that Sarah, herself, would bear unto Abraham a male son in her old age, and they would name him Isaac. He told Abraham, “But my covenant will I establish with Isaac, which Sarah shall bear unto you at this set time in the next year” (Genesis 17:21). God not only wanted Abraham’s lineage to inherit the promise and covenant but Sarah’s as well. Some months later, the Lord visited Sarah as He had said, “And the Lord did unto Sarah as he had spoken. For Sarah conceived, and bare Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him, whom Sarah bare to him, Isaac. And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac being eight days old, as God had commanded him. And Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born unto him” (Genesis 21:1-5). These events occurred in approximately 1851 BC (2109 AM). The confirmed covenant between the Lord and Abraham had begun. Both parties kept their end of the bargain. Abraham lived to be a hundred and seventy-five years old. He then gave up the ghost and died in a good old age. There were three times Abraham was called the “friend of God”: 2 Chronicles 20:7, Isaiah 41:8, and James 2:23. Here is how the writer of Hebrews describes Abraham’s faith: “By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. By faith, he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: for he looked for a city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God” (Hebrews 11:8-10). The three patriarchs of the Jewish race are Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Exodus 3:15). God chose Abraham out of the nations of the earth. He also chose Isaac over the firstborn son, Ishmael. God then chose Jacob (whose name was later changed to Israel) over Esau, the oldest twin brother. Jacob’s twelve sons and their descendants would eventually become the nation of Israel, God’s chosen people. The story of Joseph and his interaction with his brothers and father and the subsequent relocation to Egypt because of the great famine is told in Genesis 39-50. After hundreds of years in Egypt, the Bible says, “ And Joseph died, all his brothers, and all that generation. But the children of Israel were fruitful and increased abundantly, multiplied and grew exceedingly mighty; and the land was filled with them. Now there arose a new king over Egypt who did not know Joseph” (Exodus 1:6-8). This king eventually made slaves of the Hebrews and even tried to slow down their population growth by killing their babies. Moses was one of these Hebrew babies during this time, but his parents saved him. After Moses grew into adulthood, he killed a man and had to flee Egypt to the land of Midian. “Now, it happened in the process of time that the king of Egypt died. Then the children of Israel groaned because of the bondage, and they cried out, and their cry came up to God because of the bondage. So God heard their groaning, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God acknowledged them” (Exodus 2: 23-25). God chose Moses and his brother Aaron to represent Him in dealing with the new Pharaoh of Egypt regarding freeing the Hebrews from their life of slavery and returning them to their Promised Land of Canaan. It took 10 plagues against the Egyptians before Pharaoh finally relented and allowed the Hebrews to leave Egypt. They left Egypt 430 years after Abraham entered Canaan in 1876 BC; according to the Greek Septuagint (LXX) translation, “Now the sojourning (length of the stay) of the children of Israel in Egypt and Canaan was four hundred and thirty years” (Exodus 12:41). THE MOSAIC COVENANT – THE LAW ESTABLISHED “In the third month after the children of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt, on the same day, they came to the Wilderness of Sinai” (Exodus 19:1). They left Egypt after the 10th plague, the Passover slaughter of the Egyptian firstborn, occurred on Nisan 15, 1446 BC. On the first day of the third month, Sivan, the children of Israel came to Mt. Sinai. “Then it came to pass on the third day, in the morning, that there were thunderings and bolts of lightning and a thick cloud on the mountain; and the sound of the trumpet was very loud so that all the people who were in the camp trembled. And Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. Now Mount Sinai was completely in smoke because the Lord descended upon it in fire. Its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked greatly. And when the blast of the trumpet sounded long and became louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him by voice. Then the Lord came down upon Mount Sinai, on the top of the mountain. And the Lord called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up” (Exodus 19:16-20). On this day, God gave the children of Israel the 10 commandments verbally. The Bible does not say how many days after this God gave the two tablets of stone upon which God had engraved the 10 commandments. It is thought that it was on Sivan 6 or Sivan 7 (the future day of the Holy Spirit’s indwelling upon the apostles on Pentecost). The statutes and commandments God gave the Hebrews on Mt. Sinai did not replace the covenant God gave to the patriarchs, for the Abrahamic covenant was an everlasting and unconditional covenant. The land of Canaan would always belong to the children of Israel, for it was given to them by the Lord Himself. In contrast to the Abrahamic covenant, the covenant of the Law (or the Mosaic covenant) between the children of Israel and God was conditional. “The Lord our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. The Lord did not make this covenant with our fathers, but with us, those who are here today, all of us who are alive” (Deuteronomy 5:4-6). If the children of Israel would obey God and His laws, then the people would be greatly rewarded. If not, they would be punished. The blessings for obedience and the curses for disobedience are found in Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28. “ Now, therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine. And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Exodus 19:5-6). Moses wrote all the words of the Lord regarding his commandments and ordinances in a book called the Book of the Covenant. He then built an altar and offered oxen as burnt offerings and peace offerings to the Lord. Moses took half the blood and put it in basins, and half the blood he sprinkled on the altar. Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it to the people. And they said, “All that the Lord has said we will do, and be obedient.” And Moses took the blood, sprinkled it on the people, and said, “This is the blood of the covenant which the Lord has made with you according to all these words.” Just as the first covenant with Abraham involved the blood of sacrificed animals, so did the covenant with Moses and the children of Israel. A covenant with God always involved the shedding of innocent blood, typologies of the future sacrifice of Jesus Christ. The Israelites agreed to this covenant and said they would be obedient, but they were incapable of holding up their end of the deal. A big part of their disobedience was not observing the sabbath of the seventh year as described in Leviticus 25. God informed them of the extremes He would go to for the land to rest every seven years. “I will scatter you among the nations and draw out a sword after you; your land shall be desolate and your cities waste. Then the land shall enjoy its sabbaths as long as it lies desolate and you are in your enemy’s land; then the land shall rest and enjoy its sabbaths. As long as it lies desolate, it shall rest—for the time it did not rest on your sabbaths when you dwelt in it” (Leviticus 26:33-35). THE DAVIDIC COVENANT ESTABLISHED 436 years after the Exodus from Egypt and the establishment of the Mosaic covenant (1446 BC), God set up “a man after His own heart,” named David, to assume the throne of Israel after Saul and Jonathan’s death. This occurred in 1010 BC (2950 AM). Many years later, Nathan the prophet relayed a message from the Lord to King David concerning his descendants. “When your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, who will come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his Father, and he shall be My son. If he commits iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men and with the blows of the sons of men. But My mercy shall not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I removed from before you. And your house and your kingdom shall be established forever before you. Your throne shall be established forever” (2 Samuel 7:12-16). This is known as the Davidic covenant and will be fulfilled eventually by Lord Jesus during his 1000-year Kingdom reign. During the Exodus, God told the children of Israel, “I will set your bounds from the Red Sea to the sea, Philistia, and from the desert to the River (Euphrates). For I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you shall drive them out before you. You shall make no covenant with them, nor with their gods. They shall not dwell in your land, lest they make you sin against Me. For if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you” (Exodus 23:31-33). Israel never gained possession of all the land God gave them, even in the glory days of David and Solomon. Only when Jesus returns and establishes His Millennial Kingdom will Israel finally claim all the land God promised them. In part II, we will look at the covenant that is to be confirmed in Daniel 9:27. Randy Nettles [email protected] Biden Has Opened Door to Russian Nuke Strikes - by Gordon G. Chang - https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/18942/biden-russia-nuclear-strikes "If Russia crosses this line, there will be catastrophic consequences for Russia," National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told NBC's "Meet the Press" on the 25th of this month, referring to threats to use nuclear weapons. "The United States will respond decisively." Sullivan was responding to, among other things, a warning Russian President Vladimir Putin delivered in a televised address on September 21. "I want like to remind those who make such statements regarding Russia that our country has different types of weapons as well, and some of them are more modern than the weapons NATO countries have," the Russian leader said. "In the event of a threat to the territorial integrity of our country and to defend Russia and our people, we will certainly make use of all weapon systems available to us." "This is not a bluff," he added. "The idea of nuclear conflict, once unthinkable, has become a subject of debate," said U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres the following day at a Security Council session on Ukraine. "This in itself is totally unacceptable." Acceptable or not, the use of nuclear weapons is fast becoming likely. The world can thank President Joe Biden for helping create the conditions for history's first total war. Putin's threat to use nukes — presumably against Ukraine but perhaps others as well — was made at the time he announced a military mobilization, Russia's first since World War II. The Russian leader has made a series of implicit and explicit nuclear threats this year. On February 27, for instance, he put his nuclear forces on high alert. On March 1, he sortied his ballistic missile submarines and land-based mobile missile launchers in what was called a "drill." Russia's nuclear doctrine is called "escalate to deescalate" or, more appropriately, "escalate to win," which means threatening or using nukes early in a conventional conflict. Even if Putin is now bluffing — most analysts think he is — he is getting what he wants with threats. Biden, for instance, has been cautious and even timid in providing military assistance to a beleaguered Ukraine. Putin has obviously noticed, which is the reason he has been making more such threats. "A nuclear war cannot be won," Biden stated in his September 21 U.N. General Assembly speech, but that applause line is not necessarily true. With nuclear-tipped cruise missiles, the Russian leader could, in a moment, reverse his fortunes by incinerating Ukraine's cities and large concentrations of military assets, eventually allowing Russia to annex the entire country. Could Putin get away with such a bold move? The main deterrent to a first strike with tactical nuclear weapons is a threatened second strike with nukes. At this time, the U.S. has tactical nuclear weapons in Europe, in the form of "gravity bombs" delivered by F-16 and F-35 jets. These bombs, as destructive as they are, are not, as a practical matter, much of a deterrent to the first use of tactical nukes. They can be destroyed on the ground, and any that survive have to be flown long distances through contested airspace to reach targets. In short, Putin is unlikely to be afraid of America's bombs. That leaves the president of the United States with only one other nuclear threat for deterrence purposes: the launch of intercontinental ballistic missiles. ICBMs carrying nuclear warheads can completely destroy Russia, but Putin knows Biden will never make good on any threat to use these weapons in this situation. Putin knows that Biden knows that Putin can obliterate the United States in a second strike with his ICBMs. When Sullivan says "catastrophic," Putin undoubtedly thinks "hollow." American threats to use its most destructive weapons are simply not credible in this situation. Why, then, doesn't the United States have what it needs at this crucial moment: nuclear-tipped cruise missiles like Putin's? The arms-control community, arguing that such low-yield weapons would make nuclear war more likely, persuaded American presidents not to build them. President Trump authorized their development, but Biden cancelled the program. Unfortunately, arms-control advocates got it backwards. As evident from today's developments, America lacking low-yield nuclear warheads on cruise missiles is making nuclear war more likely, not less. So, what does the arms-control community now recommend? "The United States will need to reduce its nuclear arsenal to encourage Russia to do the same," wrote Tom Collina and Angela Kellett on the 21st of this month on the Defense One site. Entice Russia into disarmament? Been there. Tried that. Failed miserably. "In 2010, we killed the Navy nuclear-armed cruise missile and Russia responded by confirming they were indeed building 32 new strategic nuclear systems of which 90% are now complete," the Hudson Institute's Peter Huessy tells Gatestone. "The comparable Chinese number is 28." Nonetheless, Collina and Kellett urge the Biden administration to not let Putin's war prevent negotiations with Putin to limit nuclear weapons. "If we want to prevent Russia from using its nuclear weapons to enable more aggression against weaker states, we must find a way to work with Moscow to reduce its nuclear arsenal," write the pair in "War Is No Reason to Put Arms-Control Negotiations on Hold," their Defense One article. Is it possible to work with Putin at this time? Even if we can put aside the morality of talking to a genocidal mass murderer — we cannot — it is reckless to believe Putin might actually honor arms-control agreements when he has continually violated them with impunity. Moreover, it is bad enough to argue for disarmament in peacetime, but it is the height of folly to do so during war — and when China and North Korea are making first-strike nuclear threats of their own. America's arms-control advocates have always been naïve. Now, they are delusional. Prophecy Update Videos
5 Major Events That Have Happened Within The Last 100 Hours - by Michael Snyder - http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/5-major-events-that-have-happened-within-the-last-100-hours/ If you think that nothing is happening, then you have not been paying attention. Within the past 100 hours, there has been a mysterious attack on the Nord Stream gas pipeline system, two monster storms have threatened North America, NASA rammed a spacecraft into an asteroid in order to knock it off course, and our ongoing stock market crash reached a new level when the Dow Jones Industrial Average officially plunged into bear market territory on Monday. I would say that is a pretty active 100 hours, but of course this is just the beginning. I believe that global events will continue to accelerate during the months ahead, but meanwhile most of the general population is still assuming that things will eventually “return to normal” somehow. We live during times when so many things are happening all at once that it is truly difficult to keep up with it all. Personally, I fully expect things to get even more “interesting” now that summer is over, and we are certainly off to a flying start. The following are 5 major events that have happened within the last 100 hours… #1 A series of explosions has caused “unprecedented” damage to the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 pipelines… The Nord Stream gas pipeline system endured “unprecedented” damage to three offshore lines on the bed of the Baltic Sea in one day, Nord Stream AG, the network’s operator, said on Tuesday. The AG said it was impossible to estimate when the gas network system’s working capability would be restored. “The destruction that occurred on the same day simultaneously on three strings of the offshore gas pipelines of the Nord Stream system is unprecedented. It is not yet possible to estimate the timing of the restoration of the gas transport infrastructure,” the operator told reporters. As I discussed in a previous article, these pipelines are very well constructed and are extremely thick. In order to damage them, very large explosions would be needed, and that is apparently exactly what happened. In fact, the explosions that damaged these pipelines were so large that they actually registered on the Richter scale. Many European officials are insisting that this could not have been an accident, and I agree with them. But if this was not an accident, who was responsible? #2 Fiona turned out to be a truly historic disaster for our neighbors to the north. It violently slammed into Nova Scotia on Saturday, and we are being told that it was one of the most powerful storms in the entire history of Canada… Fiona, the most powerful storm of this year’s Atlantic hurricane season, roared ashore in eastern Nova Scotia early Saturday as one of the strongest systems ever to hit the region, knocking out power, toppling trees and forcing residents to flee. Across Nova Scotia, 414,000 households were without power, or about 80% of Nova Scotia Power’s customers. Thousands more were hit in neighboring areas as well. This was definitely a “monster storm”, but it looks like an even bigger storm could be about to hit Florida… #3 On Tuesday, Hurricane Ian strengthened into a “major Category 3 hurricane”, and forecasters are warning that it could actually turn into a Category 4 storm before it finally collides with the west coast of Florida on Wednesday… The center of Ian could strengthen into a Category 4 hurricane as it continues to move over the Gulf, NBC News forecasters said. Ian will continue to intensify today through Wednesday as it approaches the west coast of Florida on Wednesday “as an extremely dangerous major hurricane,” according to the National Hurricane Center. Without a doubt, Ian is a very dangerous storm, and it has the potential to cause an immense amount of damage once it reaches shore. #4 On Monday, NASA rammed a spacecraft into an asteroid for the first time in history in order to see if it could alter the trajectory of the giant space rock… NASA’s DART mission slammed into Dimorphos, a smaller space rock circling a larger asteroid called Didymos, to see if it could throw off the orbit of a potential future asteroid that was threatening life on Earth. Scientists will be watching the Didymos system closely to see how much Dimorphos’ orbit actually changed – those results won’t come for at least another two months. Confirmation of NASA’s successful planetary defense test came seconds after the 7:14 ET (00:14 BST) 14,000 mph collision, sparking applause among the ground team at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Maryland. ‘Impact success!’ NASA tweeted after the DART spacecraft collided with the 560 foot asteroid, around 6.7 million miles away from Earth. Is NASA conducting such a test for a specific reason? If so, they would never actually admit it. Personally, I have a feeling that this is a very important story that is far from over. #5 U.S. stock prices continue to crash. Unlike the crash of 2008, what we have witnessed so far in the fall of 2022 has been slow and steady. But prices just keep going down. On Monday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average officially entered bear market territory. And then on Tuesday the Dow fell some more. Overall, the Dow has now fallen 21.2 percent from the previous all-time high, the S&P 500 is down 24.3 percent from the record it set in January, and the Nasdaq has plummeted more than 33 percent from the peak that it hit last November. The amount of wealth that has already been wiped out is absolutely staggering. In fact, Forbes is reporting that the wealthiest tech tycoons have collectively lost 315 billion dollars over the past year… Stock prices have dropped and inflation surged, making the members of The Forbes 400 list of the richest people in the U.S. a collective $500 billion poorer than last year. The wealthiest tech tycoons have taken the brunt of the beating: They have lost a combined $315 billion in net worth since the fall of 2021—accounting for nearly two thirds of the total drop in The Forbes 400’s wealth. How would you feel if you and your friends lost 315 billion dollars in just one year? Unfortunately, it appears that much more turmoil will be coming to Wall Street in the months ahead. Economic problems are erupting all over the globe, more war is on the horizon, and our planet just keeps getting hit by one disaster after another. It is almost as if we have entered some sort of a “perfect storm”, but most people out there still do not understand what is happening. The strange events of the last 100 hours are not an anomaly. We live at a time when really weird things are happening on a regular basis, and I have a feeling that the remainder of 2023 will bring us a lot more surprises. I'm Taking a Trip - by Sandy Tuzinski - https://myemail.constantcontact.com/I-m-Taking-A-Trip.html?soid=1101818841456&aid=6iPu3jdGY9s Note from Jan Markell: At the close of a recent online conversation with prophecy host Pastor Jimmy Evans (see video below), I concluded with this short reading from Sandy. I use it often as it is uplifting, particularly in dark times. The demand to receive it was so great that we are posting it here today, along with the video interview. Please feel free to share Sandy's encouraging words wherever you can. The trip we are going to take is imminent! Even perhaps today. I’m taking a trip to a foreign country A country I have never seen before. This will be much different from previous trips. I won’t need to pack any clothing -- and no glasses or medications. My passport has been purchased and authorized at a great price. The tour guides on this secure flight will be courteous and swift. I will pass through security like a breeze. I guess this is a round trip and there will be a layover celebration before I will be returning with an enormous tour group made up of many horse riding folks. There is still room on this flight and I hope you will be coming, but you had best hurry as the standby list is filling up fast; the red eye is too, and time is running out. Be ready to depart in an instant and keep watch on the overhead screens, because you do not know what time or gate from which we will depart. A new name will be given to me in this new country, so my name tag will change, but you will still be able to recognize me by my beaming smile. Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and so shall we ever be with the Lord. (I Thessalonians 4:17) Watch: https://youtu.be/uvjvjYFJkGs Daily Jot: Excessive demonstrations of force – Bill Wilson – www.dailyjot.com The FBI is facing public scrutiny for use of excessive force against political opponents of the Biden Administration. So much so that it issued a statement denying a SWAT team was sent to arrest Catholic activist Mark Houck, but did not deny that weapons were pointed at Houck, his wife and children. The widely reported FBI statement said, “There are inaccurate claims being made regarding the arrest of Mark Houck…No SWAT Team or SWAT operators were involved.” According to Catholic News Agency reporters, the FBI spokesman who issued the statement declined to answer questions about the number of FBI officers at the scene or whether weapons were drawn and pointed at the family. The FBI statement continued: “While it’s the FBI’s standard practice not to discuss such operational specifics, we can say that the number of personnel and vehicles widely reported as being on scene Friday is an overstatement...” On September 23, the DOJ announced Houck was charged with violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act, which makes it a federal crime to use force with the intent to injure, intimidate, and interfere with anyone because that person is a provider of reproductive health care.” The charge stems from two incidences where Houck shoved a man who was attempting to escort patients from an abortion clinic. Houck’s side of the story was that the man was aggressive toward him and his son. Because abortion clinics are federally protected, Houck’s actions must be taken up in a federal court to decide. Thomas Moore Society Senior Counsel Peter Breen told Breitbart News that Houck agreed to turn himself over to authorities voluntarily three months ago. Instead, Breen said the DOJ made an unnecessary show of potentially deadly force with no less than five FBI agents pointing guns at Houck’s head in front of his wife and seven children. And this is the point—the FBI has a lot crime to fight and it does serve the public, but it has been politicized to demonstrate absolute power by a great showing of public force in arresting those who disagree with the Biden Administration. The pattern of this unnecessary force is evident time and again—the Trump raid, Mark Houck, Mike Lindell, investigating parents standing up against school boards, arresting Trump supporters, and the list goes on and on. Alexis de Tocqueville, author of “Democracy in America” described in 1840 the governmental power of soft tyranny. He wrote: “...The will of man is not shattered, but softened, bent and guided; men are seldom forced by it to act, but they are constantly restrained from acting. Such a power does not destroy, but prevents existence; it does not tyrannize, but it compresses, enervates, extinguishes, and stupefies a people, till each nation is reduced to nothing better than a flock of timid and industrious animals, of which the government is the shepherd...” This accurately depicts the DOJ, FBI, and IRS under the Biden Administration. This dangerous brand of government oppresses through the power of deceit. As Jesus said in Matthew 24:4, “Take heed that no man deceive you.” Soft tyranny is deceptively evil. Stand against it. Sources: https://www.justice.gov/usao-edpa/pr/bucks-county-man-indicted-federal-charges-assaulting-reproductive-healthcare-clinic https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/252393/fbi-disputes-accounts-of-swat-raid-at-pro-life-catholic-familys-home https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2022/09/26/report-fbi-raided-catholic-activist-mark-houck-even-after-he-agreed-to-surrender-peacefully/ Daily Devotion: Spiritual Dynamite - by Greg Laurie – www.harvest.org This promise is to you, to your children, and to those far away—all who have been called by the Lord our God. —Acts 2:39 Looking at Jesus’ disciples, we would likely wonder how a ragtag group of individuals could change the world. This group of 12 included some fishermen and a tax collector. Next to Jesus, their leader was Simon Peter, who denied Christ after the words of a servant girl in the high priest’s courtyard demoralized him. The disciples’ group consisted of flawed individuals, very ordinary people. So how could any of them go anywhere and preach the gospel? Jesus answered this question when He said, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you” (Acts 1:8 NLT). The way they would do it was with power they didn’t naturally possess. It was supernatural power, a power to do something beyond what they had done before and had the natural power to do: the power to change the world. Later in Acts, we read how God poured out the Holy Spirit on the disciples in what we now know as the Pentecost. Addressing the crowd, Peter said, “This promise is to you, to your children, and to those far away—all who have been called by the Lord our God” (Acts 2:39 NLT). What was the promise that Peter was talking about? It’s the promise of the Holy Spirit. And when Jesus said, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you,” the word He used for “power” was the Greek word dunamis. Our English word “dynamite” comes from this term. But Jesus was talking about spiritual power—the power to change our lives and the world. Therefore, we need to be filled with the Holy Spirit to do what God has called us to do. The same power that set the first-century Church in motion is available to us today—the power to be witnesses, the power to share our faith, and the power to turn the world upside down. 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
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