Defending the Integrity of Scripture

IN TODAY'S NEWSLETTER... 
 

• Featured Article: Defending the Integrity of Scripture 
• Dangerous Trend: More Americans Want To Apply Pressure To Israel 
• Nearing Midnight: Prime Reason to Be Looking Up! 
• The Hour Is Late 
• Daily Jot: Stupidocrisy: Biden-Obama Border Version 2.0 
• Daily Devotion: Good Forgivers 

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Defending the Integrity of Scripture – Jonathan Brentner - https://www.jonathanbrentner.com/https/jonathan-brentner-g8fgsquarespacecom/config/2021/3/19/its-all-about-defending-the-integrity-of-scripture
 
Our faith rests on the words Scripture. Romans 10:17 says, “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” Through the operation of the Holy Spirit inside us, saving faith begins with hearing the Gospel as recorded in God’s Word and we grow in our faith in the same way as the Spirit brings the words of the Bible to life in our hearts.
 
In the same way, our Gospel hope rests on the words of Scripture. We read passages such as Philippians 3:20-21 and 1 Thessalonians 4:13-5:11 and find much comfort in these promises of Jesus’ imminent appearing, the “blessed hope” of Titus 2:13.
 
However, many pastors today insist that prophetic texts that refer to the restoration of a kingdom for Israel, the tribulation, and Jesus’ future reign are allegory, symbolical of another reality. This discrediting of the words of the Bible, however, is like a loose thread on a knit sweater. If one pulls on it for a long enough time, it unravels the entire sweater.
 
Let’s take, as an example of how allegory negatively impacts the integrity of Scripture, Daniel’s prophecy regarding the antichrist’s future desecration of the temple, “And he shall make a strong covenant with many for one week, and for half of the week he shall put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate, until the decreed end is poured out on the desolator”(Daniel 9:27).
 
HOW DOES THE NEW TESTAMENT TREAT DANIEL’S PROPHECY?
 
Jesus referred to Daniel’s prophecy in Matthew 24:15, “So when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand).” Not only did the Lord regard Daniel 9:27 as a sign of the last days, but He also gave the Jews who would witness it specific instructions of what to do and how to pray when it happens (see Matt. 24:16-20).
 
Paul referred to Daniel’s prophecy in 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4, “Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God.”
 
Like Jesus, the apostle believed that the words of Daniel 9:27 regarding the antichrist would happen at a specific time in the future. He believed in a real, literal antichrist who would desecrate a Jewish temple.
 
In Revelation 13:5-6, we find another mention of the temple desecration that Daniel places at the midpoint of the seven-year tribulation, “And the beast was given a mouth uttering haughty and blasphemous words, and it was allowed to exercise authority for forty-two months. It opened its mouth to utter blasphemies against God, blaspheming his name and his dwelling, that is, those who dwell in heaven.”
 
Finally, in Revelation 19:20, we read of the final fate of the antichrist, “And the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who in its presence had done the signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped its image. These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur.” This matches Paul’s words regarding the fate of the antichrist in 2 Thess. 2:8, “And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming”
 
Jesus kills the antichrist at His return to earth.
 
Jesus, along with apostles Paul and John, did not assign a symbolical meaning to Daniel’s prophecy but interpreted the prophet’s words to signify an actual future event carried out by a real person, the antichrist, who will appear at a future time.
 
CAN THE ALLEGORICAL APPROACH TO BIBLICAL PROPHECY EXPLAIN DANIEL 9:27?
 
If a pastor or teacher regards Daniel’s prophecy in 9:27 as an allegory, that leader needs to explain why Jesus answered the question of the disciples regarding the “sign” of His return with a symbolical event that could not tell His followers anything about its timing (Matt. 24:3, 15). A sign that predicts the timing of a future event is by its very nature a real tangible occurrence or else it reveals nothing about when it will occur.
 
Additionally, why would Jesus provide specific instructions of what to do and how to pray if Daniel’s prophesied desecration of the temple were merely symbolical (Matt. 24:15-20). Jesus clearly regarded the antichrist as a real person and his future desecration of the temple as an actual future event and accordingly gave instructions to the Jews who would someday witness it.
 
The most amazing aspect of Paul’s reference to Daniel’s prophecy is that it was not new information for the saints in Thessalonica. He asked his readers this question in reference to the antichrist’s desecration of the temple, “Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things?” (2 Thess. 2:5). Why would the apostle, while teaching brand new converts about their hope in Jesus’ return, tell them about a future event that was not real, but only symbolical? He would not.
 
In 2 Thessalonians 2, Paul tells his readers about two future events that had not yet happened so they would know that the day of the Lord had not yet begun (2 Thess. 2:2-8). If the allegorical approach to Daniel’s prophecy is correct, how can one explain Paul’s reference to a symbolical person, the antichrist, as proof that the day of the Lord had not yet started? That does not make sense.
 
And if the antichrist is merely symbolical and not real, who does Jesus destroy at His second coming (2 Thess. 2:8; see also Rev. 19:20)? Both the apostles Paul and John tell us that Jesus kills the antichrist at His return to earth thus making the two events inseparable.
 
HAS DANIEL’S PROPHECY REGARDING THE ANTICHRIST ALREADY HAPPENED?
 
Many amillennialists, those who allegorize Jesus’ future thousand-year reign in Jerusalem before the eternal state, agree that Daniel 9:27, as quoted by Jesus in Matthew 24:15-20, is not allegory. Instead, they claim that Titus fulfilled this prophecy in the first century AD.
 
In AD 70, Titus and the Romans destroyed Jerusalem along with the second temple and killed a great many Jews. However, we have no record of Titus entering into the temple and proclaiming himself to be God. And most importantly, Jesus did not return at that time and kill the Roman general as both Paul and John explicitly tell us will be the fate of the man who defiles the temple according to Daniel’s prophecy.
 
The antichrist’s desecration of the temple cannot happen apart from Jesus’ return and His killing of the real person that Paul refers to as the “man of lawlessness.” The fact that Jesus’ return to earth remains a future event eliminates a first century fulfillment of Daniel 9:27 and Jesus’ words in Matthew 24:15-20, but there is much more that securely places it in the future.
 
Matthew 24:3-35 is all about the Second Coming and the events/signs leading up to it. Jesus wove all these occurrences together into one coherent message. Those who relegate everything but Jesus’ return to the first century AD disconnect the signs Jesus gave of His return from the actual event. How could a sign that occurred two thousand years ago, such as the defilement of the temple, indicate the nearness of an event, the Second Coming, that has not happened? 
 
Not only that, but those who assign an AD 70 fulfillment to Daniel 9:27 cannot explain why Jesus’ killing of the temple defiler remained a future event when John wrote the book of Revelation in about AD 95.
 
They also cannot explain why a renown second century AD theologian, Irenaeus, in his famous work Against Heresies, regarded Daniel’s prophecy, and the New Testament references to it, as still future when he wrote these words in AD 180, “But when the antichrist shall have devastated all things in this world, he will reign for three years and six months, and sit in the temple at Jerusalem; and then the Lord will come from heaven in the clouds . . . sending this man and those who follow him into the lake of fire.”[i]
 
THE INTERCONNECTEDNESS OF SCRIPTURE
 
As we follow the thread of the Daniel 9:27 prophecy through the New Testament, we see that it becomes inseparably connected to the Second Coming as both a sign pointing to it (Matt. 24:3-31) and the time Jesus kills the defiler of the temple, the antichrist (2 Thess. 2:8; Rev. 19:20).
 
The Daniel 9:27 prophecy is a conundrum for the amillennialists because a strictly allegory interpretation of it cannot explain Jesus’ words in Matthew 24:3-20 or Paul’s reference to it in 2 Thessalonians 2:3-8. The interconnectedness of the prophecy with Jesus’ Second coming eliminates relegating it to a first century AD fulfillment. And if this prophecy awaits a future fulfillment, and it most certainly does, this necessitates a literal seven-year tribulation.
 
This interconnectedness of God’s Word explains the importance of interpreting biblical prophecy according to the intent of the prophet. When one overlays the objective words of a biblical text with a meaning foreign to the author at the time of its writing, this allegorization of Scripture inevitably spreads to other passages, which also lose their original intent.
 
At first, it never seems as though it’s a matter of allegory versus the integrity of Scripture or even an attack on the purity of the Gospel. Many who promote allegorical interpretations of prophecy appear to be biblically sound in regard the Gospel despite their misrepresentation of many prophetic texts in the Bible.
 
After the passing of time, however, the practice of allegorizing the words of biblical prophecy inevitably spreads to other passages in the Bible. It’s then that the tug on a supposed loose thread of biblical prophecy unravels more and more of the fabric of Scripture and much apostasy ensues.
 
Scott Lively recently wrote an article on the WND website entitled More pastors bow to LGBT crowd – and it'll only get worse. In it, Scott cited evidence that a growing number of pastors and Christian leaders in America, many of whom one might assume to be Bible-believing, either now support the LBGT agenda or have apologized for speaking against it in the past.[ii]
 
I am not saying that all cases of such blatant disregard for the words of Scripture stem from allegorizing biblical prophecy. But on the other hand, I know that many churches and pastors that now support the gay agenda and bow their knee to Black Lives Matter have long ago abandoned the literal interpretation of the words of biblical prophecy in favor allegorical interpretations that among other things deny the reality of a future antichrist who will defile a future Jewish temple.
 
Defending the integrity of Scripture necessitates a stand against the allegorization of still future prophetic texts in the Bible.
 
Note: Please consider signing up for my newsletter on the home page of my website at https://www.jonathanbrentner.com/ . It will greatly help me in reaching more people. Thanks!
 
[i] Irenaeus, “Against Heresies, Book 5,” The Ante-Nicene Fathers, 10 vols. (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1979) Vol. 1, p. 560.
 
[ii] Scott Lively, More pastors bow to LGBT crowd – and it'll only get worse, March 17, 2021. @ https://www.wnd.com/2021/03/pastors-bow-lgbt-crowd-itll-get-worse/

 


 
Dangerous Trend: More Americans Want To Apply Pressure To Israel – Lamb/Lion Ministries - https://www.prophecynewswatch.com/article.cfm?recent_news_id=4630
 
Americans continue to favor Israel over the Palestinians, yet their support for the Palestinian Authority has increased to 30 percent, according to a Gallup annual World Affairs poll published on Friday.
 
Favorability of Israel remains high, at 75 percent, the poll revealed.
 
The poll also indicated that since 2018, the percentage of Americans wanting more pressure placed on the Palestinians to resolve their conflict with Israel has dropped from 50 percent to 44 percent, while that of Americans wanting more pressure exerted on Israel has increased from 27 percent to 34 percent.
 
Gallup says that this is the highest level of demand for pressuring Israel since 2007. Over the same period, the percentage in favor of the United States putting more pressure on both parties, or on neither, has declined from 21 percent to 14 percent.
 
The majority of those favoring pressure on Israel are Democrats at 53 percent, while 17 percent of Republicans and 31 percent of independents favor doing so.
 
Should Christians Really Support Israel?
 
God is fulfilling promises today that were made to the Jewish people thousands of years ago. These promises rest on a series of legal agreements, called covenants, made between God and the Jewish people, that center on the land of Israel.
 
The cornerstone covenant -- the Abrahamic Covenant -- grants the title deed to the land of Israel to the descendants of the line of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. This unconditional, irrevocable, and everlasting promise was literally sealed in blood (Genesis 12:1-7; 13:14-18; 17:7; 1 Chronicles 16:17-18; Psalm 105:8-11; Romans 9:4)!
 
God's Land Covenant promised that Israel will one day become the prime nation of the world, that is, as long as the Jewish people remain obedient to God (Deuteronomy 28:1,13).
 
The Davidic Covenant promises an eternal King who will descend from the line of King David. One day this Messiah will rule over the entire world from Jerusalem (2 Samuel 7:10-16).
 
For hundreds of years, Christians have believed that because God said so, we should naturally support the nation of Israel. Seems pretty self-explanatory, wouldn't you say?
 
Well, not so, says a particular group of Christians, Christians who meet at conferences with names like Christ at the Checkpoint. They question, "Should Christians really support Israel?"
 
Let's debunk seven of their most popular myths for why Christians should not support the nation of Israel.
 
Myth #1: "The Jews killed Jesus!"
 
Those who accuse the Jews of killing Jesus seem to have purposefully forgotten that the Bible says, "Indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus" (Acts 4:27-28).
 
So, not only did both Jews and Gentiles participate in murdering Jesus, but in truth, we are all sinners, and therefore all of us are responsible for Jesus dying on the cross. But, reality check, Jesus Himself clearly stated that He alone laid down His life, and that no one took it from Him (John 10:15-18).
 
Myth #2: "The Jews have been disinherited because of their unbelief."
 
The Jews may have been evicted from their land -- twice -- due to their rebellion against God. But, as Psalm 105 explains, God guaranteed in His Abrahamic Covenant that the land of Israel unconditionally and forever belongs to the children of Jacob. And, as the Apostle Paul argued in Romans 9-11, "Did God reject his people? By no means! I am an Israelite myself... Did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Not at all!"
 
And so, no, God has neither disinherited the Jewish people nor revoked His land covenants.
 
Myth #3: "The Church has replaced Israel and now receives her inheritance."
 
Not according to the Apostle Paul! He tells the story of an olive tree whose branches were pruned off due to unbelief, and wild vines grafted on (Romans 11). But, when the natural branches began believing again, they would be grafted back on the tree. Salvation may have come to the wild olive vines -- the Church -- but God still has salvation planned for the natural branches -- a believing Israel who will call Jesus Savior.
 
Myth #4: "The Jews regathering back to the land of Israel can't be from God because they haven't repented and accepted Jesus as their Messiah."
 
The Jews returning to Israel in unbelief is exactly what God foretold would happen. Isaiah prophesied the Jews would be regathered a second time from the nations of the world, and Ezekiel made it clear that the Jews would regather in unbelief in order for God Himself to give them a new heart towards Him (Isaiah 11:10-12; Ezekiel 36:22-28).
 
It's no accident of history that a people dispossessed from their country for 1,900 years could ever have kept their ethnic identity and rebirthed their nation two millennia later. Such a thing has never happened! And this is the nation of the Bible we're talking about. Therefore, the regathering of the Jews can only be a miracle from God.
 
Myth #5: "To support Israel is to support every action of the Israeli government."
 
Nobody supports every action of any government, even their own. Supporting Israel is to support the redemptive work God is doing in bringing a remnant of their people to salvation in Christ and ultimately into the fulfilment of His covenants.
 
Myth #6: "The Jews stole the Palestinians' land and live there illegally."
 
First off, the Abrahamic Covenant grants the Jews the eternal deed to the land of Israel. Second, when the Jews began returning in the early 20th Century, there was no such thing as a Palestinian. The handful of Arabs living in that wasteland sold the land back to the Jews at exorbitant prices.
 
And third, Israel was created legally in response to a United Nations declaration passed in November 1947, which authorized the establishment of a Jewish state in the land the Romans had renamed Palestine. You can't steal land that's already legally yours!
 
Myth #7: "To support Israel is to hate the Palestinian people."
 
Contrary to Arab propaganda, those who call themselves Palestinians enjoy more freedoms and rights in Israel than if they lived in any Muslim nation. For it's not the Jews who hate and abuse the Palestinians, but their own terrorist leaders who steal billions of their foreign aid and deny refugees access back to their own home countries of Syria and Jordan.
 
Why, the Palestinians have been afforded several opportunities since 1948 to create another Palestinian state besides Jordan, but each time they have rejected those offers and instead responded with violence. Why? Because their ultimate goal is the annihilation of Israel. So, who exactly is hating who here?
 
With those myths busted, let's look at some of the reasons why Christians should support Israel:
 
1. Democracy
 
The nation of Israel is the only Western-style democracy in a sea of Islamic tyranny. Supporting Israel is to support the only nation in the Middle East which offers religious freedom and human rights to women.
 
2. Defense
 
Israel protects the West and Christianity by standing as the first line of defense against violent, radical Islam.
 
3. Economics
 
Israel contributes to the world a mind-boggling amount of food, medicines, and cutting-edge technologies that raise the standard of living throughout the world.
 
4. Blessing
 
When it comes to supporting the nation of Israel, God promised in Genesis 12, "I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you..." Supporting Israel incurs God's blessing.
 
5. Biblical
 
It rather goes without saying that it is biblically correct for Christians to support God. Since God loves the Jewish people and wants them to return to Him, then shouldn't Christians want this as well? Loving Israel expresses our love for God.
 
6. Prophetic
 
And finally, whether you love or hate the nation of Israel, or even the Jewish people, regardless of what we mere mortals think -- Bible prophecy will be fulfilled. God's will will be done, and there's just no stopping it. After all, who could ever stand against the Living God and expect to win (Psalm 76:7; Hebrews 10:31)?
 
So, in conclusion, it's not "Should Christians really support Israel?" but rather -- Christians must support Israel!




 
Nearing Midnight: Prime Reason to Be Looking Up! – Terry James - https://www.raptureready.com/category/nearing-midnight/
 
The most-used reason pre-Trib adherents use for not setting a date for the Rapture is based upon Jesus’ words:
 
But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father. Take ye heed, watch and pray: for ye know not when the time is. (Mark 13:32–33)
 
Many seminary students, and even their professors, argue that this declaration by the Lord in the Olivet Discourse isn’t referring to the Rapture of the Church, but to the Second Advent of Revelation 19:11. I completely dismiss that as making no sense whatsoever.
 
Careful study of prophecy clearly presents the case that the day of Christ’s return in power and great glory can be determined by the number of days given from the occurrence of certain events in the future. For example, Daniel is given such a time frame:
 
And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days. (Daniel 12:11)
 
There are, of course, all the arguments involved in the extra days given in the verse following that time frame.
 
Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days. (Daniel 12:12)
 
This involves Jesus dealing with cleansing the earth and removing rebels from the planet. So that’s another topic for another time. Suffice it to say that we are told by the angel, through the prophet Daniel, that there are a specific number of days (1290)—after a certain event—left before the Second Advent (Revelation 19:11).
 
Jesus told us of the Antichrist going into the temple and declaring himself to be God. The angel told Daniel—and us—this at that earlier time in biblical history. So we know the precise number of days for the Second Advent as 1290 from that “abomination of desolation.”
 
Jesus, by saying in the Olivet Discourse that no one knows the day and hour of His coming except the Father, was referring to the earlier time He would next intervene into the affairs of mankind. That time will be the Rapture of His Bride, the Church. No one but God the Father knows that “twinkling of an eye” moment prophesied by Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:51–55 and 1 Thessalonians 4:13–8.
 
So to repeat, the pre-Trib adherents’ most-used reason for not setting a date for the Rapture is:
 
But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father. Take ye heed, watch and pray: for ye know not when the time is. (Mark 13:32–33)
 
This predominately involves the Church. Looking up as we who constitute the Church see that electrifying moment coming—as commanded by Jesus in Luke 21:28—is crucial to being comforted at this darkening time of evil. It is a primary matter to consider as we think on signals that the great event called the Rapture might be close to snatching us from this growingly dangerous earthly orb.
 
We’ve looked in these commentaries numerous times at the signals pointing to Christ’s coming in the Second Advent. We always point out that if the signals we see are for the time when He breaks through the black clouds of Armageddon, we know that we can expect the Rapture to be even at the door—even sooner—because that event will take place at least seven years before Christ’s foot touches down on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem.
 
We’ve also pointed out that Jesus told His disciples that the first signal of His Second Coming will be great deception. That has been the topic of many of our articles for many months, of course. Daniel, the prophet, and John, the close disciple of Jesus and the writer of Revelation, were given glimpses of earth’s last evil empire: the Antichrist and his regime of tyranny. We have looked at this signal of Christ’s coming—the globalist agenda and all involved in its Ephesians 6:12 wickedness—over the months and years many times. Our commentaries have covered developments in regard to religious apostasy—including a pope who denies Jesus Christ as the only way to salvation—an eventuation that has now overwhelmed this generation. We have looked at how our day—filled with every sort of sexual perversion and debauchery—is almost precisely in line with times as they were in the days of Lot in Sodom. Jesus said the days will be filled with violence and evil, exactly like the days of Noah as laid out in Genesis 6.
 
But now, we want to look at what I believe is perhaps the prime signal of the moment to look at when we consider just how near we must be to Christ calling us to Himself.
 
This has at its center the hatred of Satan for the Church. The Church—again, all born-again believers—is indwelt by God, the Holy Spirit, whom Jesus sent back to believers at the time of Pentecost (Acts 2). The Holy Spirit, resident within each believer, thus within the Church, is the Restrainer of evil. He, through the Church (and through all other means the Lord uses) restrains Satan’s completion of his wicked intentions as outlined in the struggle told in Ephesians chapter 6, especially Ephesians 6:12.
 
We are told in 2 Thessalonians 2 that the devil and his man of sin, the son of perdition, Antichrist, can’t come to power until the Restrainer is taken out of the way. Therefore, Satan wants to destroy the Church.
 
This isn’t possible, because Jesus said that the “gates of hell” (meaning Satan and all his minions and their evil activity) can’t prevail against the saints of the Church Age (Matthew 16:18). The Antichrist will overcome the saints of the Tribulation (Revelation 13:7), but he cannot prevail against the Church Jesus promised to keep from the very time of God’s wrath (Revelation 3:10).
 
The signal that is coming more and more into view at this end-times moment is Satan’s attempt to damage and even destroy the Church. If he can do this, he can make God a liar and can avoid his own prophesied punishment in the Lake of Fire.
 
It isn’t difficult to see that he and his minions, both supernatural and human (governments, etc.) are seeming to make headway in prevailing against God’s people. But this will never happen. Satan will not destroy the true Church.
 
The fact is, however, that the assault gets stronger and stronger—through COVID-19 shutdowns of gatherings of believers and outright governmental actions intended to eliminate expression of belief in Jesus Christ. There seems no way, humanly speaking, to stop the encroachment on true Christianity.
 
An example of things happening in this regard is made apparent in the following.
 
A Canadian pastor will remain in police custody for several more months following his arrest on Feb.16 for holding in-person worship services. Authorities won’t release him unless he consents to run his church the way they tell him to.
 
Pastor James Coates with GraceLife Church of Edmonton was arrested and taken to the Edmonton Remand Centre for allegedly violating COVID-19 restrictions by not enforcing mask-wearing, social distancing, and for gathering beyond the 15 percent capacity limits for indoor worshipping, the Edmonton Journal reports.
 
The Edmonton Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Peter Michalyshyn ruled Friday that Coates shall remain at the correctional facility for not signing a release form indicating that he would abide by specific health orders.
 
In a statement, Coates said the health orders “directly contravene the authority of the local church, and the supreme authority of the Lord Jesus Christ.”…
 
“I’m doing what I’m doing in obedience to Christ. I am quite content to let the Lord Jesus Christ himself decide whether or not this is persecution,” Coates said. “He promises that those who are persecuted for his namesake will be blessed. He’s the one that blesses and I’m content to leave that in His court.” (Andria Morris, “Canadian Pastor Refuses to Bow Before Gov’t, Will Stay Imprisoned Until May Trial for Holding Church Services,” CBN News, RR News, March 13, 2021)
 
With all of the seeming insanity going on in every direction we look in society and in culture, the time must almost certainly be short. There doubtless is coming loss of religious freedom for true Christians in America, as there has been for our Christian brothers and sisters even in our nearest neighboring country, Canada.
 
But the promise from the very Creator of all that is says that “the gates of hell shall not prevail against my church.” Jesus Christ, who is God, cannot lie. Here is one of the most comforting promises from our Bridegroom, our Lord:
 
Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth. (Revelation 3:10)
 
I think perhaps in addition to watching Israel for developments, knowing that the Church is under ever-increasing assault is the prime indicator to consider in regard to just how near we are to the time when Christ calls to us: “Come up here!” (Revelation 4:1).

 


 
The Hour Is Late - by Michael Snyder - http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/the-hour-is-late/
 
We are running out of time, but most people are still dead asleep. I have to admit that I am really struggling with how to say what I need to share in this article. I have been up against some real challenges in recent days, but the vast majority of my readers didn’t know that anything was different because I have just continued to pump out content on the websites. Of course, we all face challenges in life, and there are many that are facing far greater challenges than I have been facing. The phrase “remember Job” has been repeatedly coming to mind throughout this time, and there is so much that we can all learn from that story. When great challenges come, there are often very important lessons that we can learn from them, and an entirely new chapter may await us on the other side of those challenges.
 
In this article I am going to share with you some of the things that I have been sharing with people privately. Prior to sitting down, I spent some time walking around in the chilly mountain air outside. I wanted to clear my head and organize my thoughts before I began writing. Unlike in our major urban areas, the air is crisp and clean here, and I will never get tired of the view. We live in a truly beautiful world, but unfortunately many of us take the beauty of nature for granted.
 
Many of you probably expected me to write an article about the latest mass shooter today. That is the “big story” that everyone is talking about, but the truth is that it isn’t really that important. There was a mass shooting last week, and there will inevitably be more mass shootings in the days ahead. We live at a time when mass shootings have become commonplace, and that is because we live in a deeply broken society.
 
In 2020, the number of mass shootings was almost 50 percent higher than it was in 2019.
 
And since we are off to a brisk start this year, the final number for 2021 will almost certainly be even higher.
 
The Democrats are going to politicize this latest tragedy and use it as an opportunity to push their gun control agenda, and conservatives will freak out about that.
 
But these short-term political battles are not where our focus should be right now.
 
For a very long time, many of us have been warning about things that are coming. But now we are transitioning into a period when the time for warning will be over because so many of the things that we have been warning about will actually be happening.
 
Of course you could say that we have already been in such a time since the beginning of 2020. The COVID pandemic continues to sweep across the globe, the entire world is wrestling with severe economic problems, civil unrest continues to rage in our major cities and our planet is becoming increasing unstable. I covered many of the things that we are currently facing in an article entitled “7 ‘Plagues’ That Are Hitting Our Planet Right Now” that just went viral on Zero Hedge.
 
But as bad as conditions are at the moment, I believe that they will soon get a lot worse.
 
In fact, I believe that we have entered a time when global events will accelerate dramatically.
 
Now that Joe Biden is in the White House, a lot of people are crying “peace and safety”, but they aren’t going to get “peace and safety”.
 
The next few months are a time to be watchful. In particular, I have been privately telling people to watch Israel for anything “unusual” that happens. If you learn of something extremely unusual that happens over there that you don’t think I know about yet, please write to me. Way too often there are extremely important events that take place that the mainstream media never covers. So if history changing events take place in the weeks or months ahead, that doesn’t mean that the mainstream media will cover them.
 
In addition to watching Israel like a hawk, let us also keep our eyes on the Biden administration. Joe Biden is not all there mentally, and the warmongers that he has surrounded himself with are pushing us toward conflicts with Russia, China, North Korea and Iran. There are multiple places around the globe where war could break out, but let us hope that war can be put off for as long as possible.
 
Once war does finally break out, it will greatly intensify the economic problems that we are already facing.
 
I know that many of you are very eager for me to release my next book. Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America has been ranking very well on the Amazon charts for many months, and it is literally waking people up all over the globe. My next book will also examine coming events which will greatly shake the world as we know it today, but I can’t publish it yet. I feel that things that are about to happen will be absolutely critical to the message of the book, and so I need to wait and watch during this season.
 
I believe that we will soon see historic events take place which will literally change everything.
 
Needless to say, many others also believe that 2021 will be a critical turning point as well. But ultimately even “2021” is just an artificial man-made construct.
 
Do you want to know who decided that the year would start on January 1st?
 
It was the Romans.
 
And why should our days start at midnight?
 
That is an artificial man-made construct as well.
 
Just because something has been handed down to us from previous generations does not mean that we have to blindly accept it.
 
Many of you will read this article on Wednesday. Did you know that the name “Wednesday” actually comes from an ancient pagan god?…
 
Wednesday is “Wōden’s day.” Wōden, or Odin, was the ruler of the Norse gods’ realm and associated with wisdom, magic, victory and death. The Romans connected Wōden to Mercury because they were both guides of souls after death. “Wednesday” comes from Old English “Wōdnesdæg.”
 
When you start to learn about the lies that we have inherited, it will open your eyes to a whole new world.
 
Of course most people never stop to question why things are the way that they are. Sadly, most people just mindlessly absorb whatever the system tells them to believe, and as a result we have vast hordes of vacuous “sheeple” populating our society today.
 
The good news is that millions of them will soon be shaken out of their slumber by the apocalyptic events that are coming.
 
It will be a rude awakening, but that is certainly preferable to never waking up at all.

 


 
Daily Jot: Stupidocrisy: Biden-Obama Border Version 2.0 – Bill Wilson – www.dailyjot.com
 
Remember the years of news media and Democratic Party hacks screaming at the top of their lungs about President Trump’s border policy toward children, as Michelle Obama put it at the 2020 Democratic National Convention, ”They watch in horror as children are torn from their families and thrown into cages”? Those “cages” were actually built by the Obama-Biden Administration Version 1.0—as reluctantly confirmed by Trump-haters at Associated Press the day after the First Lady’s claims. Didn’t matter, the press and the politicians kept repeating the lie. Trump actually got the whole border security situation straightened out, but now we are faced with an even worse Biden-Obama Version 2.0. Stupidocrisy.
 
Kids were not being ripped from their families and thrown into cages as claimed by the “woke” narrative. They were separated from adults who brought them illegally across the border until it could be confirmed that the adults were legitimate guardians. But under Biden-Obama Version 2.0, the cages that were actually built and utilized by Obama-Biden Version 1.0 are now home to a far worse humanitarian crisis than anything that remotely occurred during Trump’s time. Things are so bad that Biden has put a gag order to prevent his people from talking to the media about it. As Trump said, he handed Biden a perfectly well-working border system and security policy, and Biden destroyed it in a day. Stupidocrisy.
 
The Epoch Times’ Charlotte Cuthbertson writes about a Border Patrol agent describing the conditions in a facility in south Texas: The family-unit holding cells smell like urine and vomit. Fights break out in the unaccompanied-minor cells. Scabies, lice, the flu, and COVID-19 run rampant. Up to 80 individuals are squeezed into each 24-by 30-foot cell, and there aren’t enough mattresses for everyone. Sheets of plastic divide the rooms. Any diseases that are in there, it’s being kept in there, like a petri dish. The smell is overwhelming…One or two agents are left to control 300 to 500 people during a shift. No agent wants to report physical or sexual assaults between the aliens because they’ll get blamed for “letting it happen.”
 
Biden has undermined the national security and general welfare of this nation. His actions in just a short time have caused a humanitarian crisis, endangered national security, caused an untold increase in crime, drug trafficking and sex and slave trafficking of women and children, endangered legal citizens with the unchecked spread of COVID 19, and cost you and me billions of dollars in hard-earned tax money. All this by a guy who can’t even walk up a set of stairs if the wind blows. As Proverbs 28:15 says, “Like a roaring lion or a charging bear, is a wicked/criminal ruler over a weak people.” Meanwhile, Biden’s Democratic Party is jamming legislation through Congress that gives all these illegal immigrants the right to vote. See the strategy? Destroy a nation, but remain in power. Hmmm–Say it with me…Stupidocrisy.

 


 
Daily Devotion: Good Forgivers - by Greg Laurie – www.harvest.org
 
If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins. —Matthew 6:14–15
 
https://harvest.org/resources/devotion/good-forgivers/ - Listen
 
The Bible gives us 76 different word pictures for forgiveness, but the main word the New Testament uses for it means “to release.” In Scripture, to forgive means to write “canceled” over a debt.
 
However, forgiveness isn’t giving in to another person; it’s getting free of that person. It isn’t about whether he or she deserves your forgiveness. You may even think that you’re hurting someone by harboring a grudge against them. But do you know who’s really getting hurt?
 
You are.
 
It’s like eating rat poison and waiting for the rat to die. When we harbor anger and bitterness toward someone who has hurt us, we’re not destroying them. We’re actually destroying ourselves. When you withhold forgiveness, it will eat you up inside.
 
And if you don’t forgive, then you’re choosing to hate. One person put it this way: “The first to apologize is the bravest. The first to forgive is the strongest. And the first to forget is the happiest.”
 
In fact, if you are married, then you really need to learn how to forgive. Someone once asked Billy Graham’s wife, Ruth, what the secret was to a strong and lasting marriage. She replied that a successful marriage is made up of two good forgivers.
 
Is there someone you need to forgive at this very moment? Maybe it’s your mom, your dad, your child, your friend, your coworker, or your spouse. Has someone hurt or betrayed you, and you’re sitting around plotting your revenge?
 
That has to stop. Lay it at the foot of the cross, and put them in the hands of God. You don’t want to be bound by it anymore. Let it go.
 
Someone has wisely pointed out that when you forgive someone, you set a prisoner free: yourself. So learn how to be a good forgiver.

 

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

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