Feeling the Birth Pains

IN TODAY'S NEWSLETTER... 
 

• Featured Article: Feeling the Birth Pains 
• 7 Dangers of Neglecting Biblical Prophecy in the Pulpit 
• Nearing Midnight: Assessing Prospects for WW III 
• The Corruption In Washington D.C. Is Far Worse Than Most Americans Can Possibly Imagine 
• Daily Jot: Bidenocrisy 
• Daily Devotion: The Definition of Faith 

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Feeling the Birth Pains – Pete Garcia - https://www.rev310.net/post/feeling-the-birth-pains
 
And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?
 
And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.
 
For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.
 
And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
 
All these are the beginning of sorrows.
 
Matthew 24:3-8
 
I think it's fair to say that the 20th century was the beginning of birth pains. We've had two world wars, a forty-year cold war, more recorded natural disasters than anyone would care to count. We’ve seen the rise of three substantive empires (American, EU, and China), as well as the fall of three substantive empires (Ottoman, British, and the Soviet Union). We've seen the inconceivable rise in every field of knowledge known to man. We’ve seen the transformation of technology go from horse and buggy to space ships and everything in between. We’ve split the atom, doctored the gene pool, and uncovered quantum physics. However, the most significant event of the 20th is seeing the ancient nation of Israel resurrected from the ash heap of history to become a thriving, powerful, sovereign nation. So knowing all this, what do we do with this information? I mean, what I’m sharing here isn’t exactly “new” news.
 
Well, all of this has got me thinking about time again, and God’s excessive use of numbers in Scripture. As a side note, if you think the Bible is for simpletons and is a bunch of moral tropes, you are sadly mistaken. There is a reason why the Bible has been the most popular book for the past two thousand years. There is also the reason the Bible has never been disproven. I digress.
 
Not only does God love to use numbers to express His plans and patterns, but God also loves to use types to emphasize His plans and intentions to us long before they happen. Let’s take God’s use of the number seven in the Bible. This is not intended to be an in-depth review of Biblical numerology, but a summarized look to present/support the meat of this article. For a more in-depth and fascinating review of the number seven in the Bible, see here or here.
 
The number seven is used 735 times (used 54 times in the book of Revelation). When adding sevenfold or seventh, it goes up to 860 times. Seven is considered one of the perfect numbers and signifies completeness and perfection. It is used almost exclusively in dealing with the nation of Israel, thus, you will see the bulk of its references in direct correlation to Israel in some form or manner.
 
There are:
 

• Seven days of Creation
• Seven major divisions in the bible
• Seven men of God (specifically mentioned as such) in the Old Testament
• Seven baptisms
• Seven parables
• Seven miracles
• Seven presentations of the Gospel
• Seven churches in Revelation
• Seven judgments in each Seal, Trumpet, and Bowl judgment

 
More specifically (referencing time)
 

• 7 Days- Week
• 7 Weeks (or Sabbaths) = 49 + 1 = 50
• 7 Months- Feasts
• 7 Years- Rest for the land
• 7 x 7 Years= 1 Jubilee
• 70 Years- Punishment
• 70 x 7 Years= 490 years (i.e. Israel’s prophetic cycle)

 
I think you get the point.
 
For the most part, when God uses the number seven, Israel must be taken into consideration. Going back to what I said in my opening salvo, the most significant event of the 20th century, is the resurrection of the nation of Israel. Without which, this would just be another century no different than the previous 18 that followed Israel’s diaspora courtesy of the Roman Empire. Interesting is the fact that in the same century that Israel is brought back to life, so has a united Europe come back to take on the mantel of the Roman Empire 2.0.
 
Although I’ve used this timeline in the past, I thought it pertinent to bring it back and update it considering the years which have since passed. This is specifically dealing with the before-during-after of the rebirth of Israel. Notice all the sevens.
 
Timeline
 
1897-2017= 120 years (time span limits)
o  Theodore Herzl first Zionist Congress
1917-2017= 100 years (outer limits of a generation)
o  Balfour Declaration (allowing European Jews to go back to their land)
o  Collapse of the Ottoman Empire realigns the Middle East
1947-2017= 70 years (judgment, testing, heptad)
o  United Nations issues Resolution 181 on 25NOV47 (Jewish partition of Palestine into Jewish and Arab state)
1948-2018= 70 years (judgment, testing, heptad)
o  15MAY48- Israel declares itself a nation
1967-2017= 50 years (Jubilee, liberation, freedom)
o  5-10Jun67- Six-Day War (Jews reclaim and unite all of Jerusalem)
1977-2017= 40 years (testing)
o  Camp David Accords begins (begins Land for Peace Initiative)
1987-2017= 30 years (related to the Temple)
o  Temple Mount Institute created
2017= Year Zero
o  Pres. Trump declares Jerusalem Israel’s eternal capital (first US president to do so)
2018-2028=10 years (Psalm 90:10, 2 Peter 3:8-9)
2018= Year +1
o  Pres. Trump moves US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem
2019= Year + 2
o  BREXIT finalized
o  Trump recognizes the Golan Heights as part of Israel
2020= Year +3
o  COVID-19 Pandemic sweeps the world
o  Abraham Accords (normalization between Israel and Arab states)
2021= Year + 4
o  Benjamin Netanyahu (Israel’s longest-serving PM) replaced
o  the US bungles Afghanistan withdrawal
o  AUKUS (US, AUS, UK) security alliance formed
o  COVID Vaccine (mRNA) mandates
2022= Year +5
o  Russia invades Ukraine
o  NATO tested (will need to be disbanded and rebranded)
o  Cyber-attack?
o  New Pandemic?
o  Israel strikes Iran?
o  China invades Taiwan?
2023= Year +6
o  ??
2024= Year + 7
o  Next US elections
 
Assessment
 
So moving forward, we know that there are still certain events we should expect to happen prior to the start of the 70th Week of Daniel. We would call this time between the Rapture and the official start of the 70th Week of Daniel “the gap.” How long this gap is, is anyone’s guess, but my guess is around 3.5 years. We also know that within the 70th Week itself, several things need to happen. So based on my above-abbreviated timeline, are we seeing those things? For instance:
 
Anticipated Pre-Tribulation Events
 
1.      Crisis, natural disasters, wars (and rumors of wars), geopolitical stage setting
 
2.     Technology for a global digital currency to exist (Rev. 13:16-18)
 
3.     Technology continues to advance at a frightening pace
 
4.     The Rapture of the Church catches the world off guard (Rev. 3:10, 1 Thess. 4:13-18, 1 Cor. 15:51-55)
 
5.     The US goes from a world superpower to a world super-dumpster-fire almost instantaneously
 
6.     Without a strong or capable US, the War of Gog and Magog happens (happens prior to the Tribulation due to time constraints set forth in Ezekiel 39:9-10)
 
7.     Reclamation of the Temple Mount by Jews for new Temple (Luke 21:24, Rev. 11:1-2)
 
8.    Discovery of the perfect red heifer (this is currently ongoing)
 
9.     Ten Kings to come together to form some kind of geopolitical alliance (Rev. 17:12)
 
10. We need the arrival of a False Prophet candidate to help shepherd the new global religion (Rev. 13:11-15) I’m sorry guys, but despite being a full reprobate, Pope Francis isn’t the guy. He’s 85 years old and wouldn’t live long enough to last the full 7+ years to make it to the end.
 
11.  Arrival of the Two Witnesses (Mal. 4:5-6, Rev. 11:3-14)
 
Tribulation Events
 
1.      The “covenant” between Israel and the “many” (Dan. 9:27)
 
2.     Technology for a global digital currency is implemented (Rev. 13:16-18)
 
3.     The Little Horn (Antichrist) rises up and supplants three of the ten kings
 
4.     The rest of the Seal Judgments are released sequentially (red, black, pale, etc.)
 
5.     The Trumpet Judgments
 
6.     Abomination of Desolation (signals time of Jacob’s Trouble)
 
7.     The Bowl Judgments
 
8.    Armageddon
 
9.     Second Coming of Christ
 
 
The Days of Noah and Lot
 
That was intended to be a very brief summation of both the time leading up to the Tribulation and the Tribulation itself. I realize I skipped a lot. Let’s move on to some interesting and overlooked correlations to the Days of Noah and Lot.
 
1. Noah’s Ark: I don’t know if this has any real prophetic significance or not, other than the fact that no other generation that I know of, has had not one, but two, full-size representations of Noah’s ark built to scale (one in Europe and one in the US). I believe we are the only generation (I mean since Noah’s) that has had the technology to do this.
 
2. Homosexuality and the rest of the pervert alphabet are not just being legalized but are being normalized in large portions of the world. You literally cannot watch anything on television or at the movies, or at sporting events, or anywhere, without it being thrown in your face.
 
3. Violence: One half of the world is uniting under the many guises of the: New World Order, the Great Reset, the Agenda 2030, etc. Even within the west, many of the subgroups are becoming increasingly tribal (conservatives, progressives, anarchists, etc.) The other half of the world is also becoming tribal: India’s Hinduization, Russia’s Duginism revamping of “Eurasia,” China’s Middle Kingdom Complex, Islamic regimes repeated attempts to bring back the caliphates and the sultanates (Al Qaeda, ISIS, Taliban, Iran, etc.). I see these clashes as coming to fruition by the time the rider on the red horse (Rev: 6:3-4- Seal 2)
 
4. Occultism/Supernatural: As the western world increasingly becomes “post-Christian,” what we see filling that vacuum is mysticism, paganism, and Luciferianism. The west has become infatuated with the idea of superpowers, reviving ancient myths, and the occult. Go to any bookstore, and go to the teen section and see what dominates the fiction section there. Go to Netflix or any other streaming service and see what dominates there. Same with video games and online gaming. Pop culture and soon, the rest of our culture is becoming increasingly darkened by the stain of occult themes and propaganda.
 
5. Return to Babel: Jesus mentions the days of Noah and the days of Lot as being similar to the time when He returns. Well, what happened between those days? The Tower of Babel incident (Gen. 11). We are once again returning to a time when technology (artificial intelligence, language translator apps, etc.) is minimizing the language barrier to such a degree, you don’t even really need to learn other languages.
 
6. Population: Many bible experts believe the antediluvian population exceeded several billion before the flood. Genesis 6:1 states: Now it came about, when mankind began to multiply on the face of the land, and daughters were born to them…So we are now (at 8.5B people) at the largest population since before the flood.
 
Conclusion
 
There is a lot of speculation here, but if Trump's official recognition of Jerusalem being Israel's eternal capital means anything prophetically (I believe it does- or it would have been done long ago), then I'm using that as year zero. I mean, the Jerusalem Embassy Act was signed into law in 1995, and the three subsequent presidents ahead of him could have easily done it (I.e. Clinton, Bush, Obama). Yet, they all took the option to pass and kick that particular can down the road.
 
On the other end, Trump could have recognized Jerusalem and moved the embassy in 2020, or 2021 (as his last political act) and thrown all the speculation into the wind, but he didn’t. Rather, he did it exactly 70 years from the UN Resolution 181 (which allowed for the state of Israel to be reborn). Furthermore, I believe he is the first gentile ruler since at least Cyrus to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital (Isaiah 44:24, 26, 28). An argument can be made that he (Cyrus) didn't officially recognize Jerusalem as Israel's "capital" since that would imply the national status of Israel (or Judah back then), but the point remains- God moves kings and rulers to do His bidding (Acts 17:26).
 
So if my points about 2017 or the number seven have any merit at all (it may or may not), then using 2017 as year zero, I would simply count forward seven years which takes us to the world's only superpower's next major election. A superpower I might add, that isn't mentioned anywhere by name or type in bible prophecy.
 
Apologies upfront for yell-typing, but I need to be clear by declaring this as loudly and boldly as possible: I AM NOT SAYING THE RAPTURE IS GOING TO HAPPEN IN 2024. I have no idea when the Rapture will actually happen. I know and affirm Matthew 24:36 which clearly states that "no man knows the day nor hour." I am predicting neither the day nor the hour. I just find all of this convergence extremely interesting is all, and exciting.
 
However, if God does allow for Trump to be reelected in 2024 (against all odds as it was in 2016 and perhaps with a divine sense of humor), he would be the second president in US history since Grover Cleveland (1885-1889, 1893-1897) to win office in two non-consecutive terms. I mean, I'm not implying that Trump is a godly saint (neither were Pharaoh, Nebuchadnezzar, Cyrus, Truman, and Nixon for that matter) but He used them to accomplish His own purposes specifically for furthering the nation of Israel. Furthermore, what is Trump if not the very symbol of everything the globalists and progressives hate and loathe? And IF by divine providence a Rapture does happen that year, then technically, it would both literally and figuratively be at "the last trump." That is all I'm saying.
 
Maranatha!
 
Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
 
In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
 
For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
 
1 Corinthians 15:52-53 (KJV) 

 


 
7 Dangers of Neglecting Biblical Prophecy in the Pulpit – Jonathan Brentner - https://www.jonathanbrentner.com/https/jonathan-brentner-g8fgsquarespacecom/config/2022/3/21/the-dangers-of-neglecting-biblical-prophecy-in-the-pulpit
 
Pastor Tom Hughes of the 412 Church in San Jacinto, California, wrote an article titled, "Five Reasons Pastors Don't Teach Bible Prophecy."[i] Below are the five reasons from his article.
 

• They don’t understand prophecy
• They fear offending members of the church
• They sense it will scare people
• They fear people will stop giving
• They fear looking like fringe groups who take things to an extreme

 
Even though written several years ago, the list remains relevant today. Fear stands out as the key motive behind the silence. Pastors also say they do not understand prophecy, but do they take the time to learn or turn to those who do understand it?
 
Someone might ask: “Why does that matter? Does it really make a difference if preachers keep quiet on future things as long as they proclaim the Gospel with biblical clarity?”
 
It not only matters a great deal, but it’s risky to ignore a topic that the Bible emphasizes over and over again. The neglect of biblical prophecy in the pulpit results in:
 
1. BELIEVERS RELYING UPON SOCIAL MEDIA AND THE INTERNET FOR END TIMES THEOLOGY
 
When pastors remain silent on biblical prophecy, believers look for information on biblical prophecy on social media and the Internet. There they find a wide array of teachings and opinions, some biblical, but most are false and misleading.
 
Some believers possess the needed scriptural discernment to sort through the mess of various teachings. But as the lack of biblical knowledge reaches epidemic proportions among those claiming to be Christians, most churchgoers lack the necessary discernment and fall prey to the misinformation available at their fingertips.
 
A couple questions for preachers: Do you really desire for social media and the Internet to be the primary source of information regarding prophecy for those in your church? Would it not be better for you to provide the sound biblical guidance regarding our hope that they so desperately need during these perilous times?
 
2. THE FLOURISHING OF FALSE TEACHING
 
Many pastors fear causing division in their congregation and thus remain silent on matters related to the Rapture. However, they fail to realize that it’s their refusal to preach on what the Bible says on this matter that has led to the very diversity of opinions in their churches. The potential for disunity is there even if they remain quiet.
 
Last year, I met with a pastor who said that if he preached what I believe, half of his congregation would walk out the door. It occurred to me later that if he taught what he really believes, the other half would quickly depart. We started attending his church after seeing that it’s statement of faith said it was premillennial. The pastor, however, was most definitely not premillennial!!
 
Pastors who ignore biblical prophecy allow false teachings to flourish or as in the case of the one I just mentioned, the church remains in the dark about what he really believes.
 
3. BELIEVERS LOOKING TO THIS LIFE FOR THEIR IMMEDIATE HOPE
 
Another consequence of silence in the pulpits regarding future things is that believers look for hope in things other than Jesus’ imminent appearing.
 
A popular theology today, often referred to as “dominion theology,” teaches that the church will prevail against the evils of this word and usher in a millennial reign of its own before Jesus returns to the earth. Many Christians falsely believe the church itself is their hope for the future.
 
Additionally, even pastors who do not adhere to “dominion theology” also make the church the object of hope for those that hear them preach. Those who allegorize the book of Revelation often, in my experience, change its message to exalt the church rather than Jesus.
 
Still others give the impression that things will return to normal. “The world has seen difficult times at other times in history,” they say, “and the current crises are no different.”
 
All these things point believers to this life as their hope rather than Jesus’ appearing.
 
4. REDUCED MOTIVATION FOR GODLY LIVING
 
The Lord intended our hope in the Rapture to be a motivation for godly living. John wrote these words in 1 John 3:2-3:
 
Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.
 
Our hope in Jesus’ imminent return has a purifying impact on our lives. Greg Laurie, pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship in Riverside, California, said the following in a recent interview”
 
“I don’t know why more people don’t want to talk about eschatology or end-times events because Bible prophecy is not given to scare us but to prepare us,” he said. “And not only that, but I think it motivates us.”
 
Laurie continued, “Talking about these things can be very motivating for Christians to keep us on our toes spiritually.
 
“Knowing Jesus could come back at any moment,” he said, can “be a motivator to live a godly life.”[ii]
 
Silence in the pulpits regarding our “blessed hope” leaves those in the seats assuming they have their whole lives ahead of them although Scripture tells us this may not be the case. For many, this negates the urgency to walk closely with the Lord.
 
5. BELIEVERS THAT ARE UNPREPARED FOR THE DANGERS THAT LIE AHEAD FOR THIS WORLD
 
The scarcity of preaching on biblical prophecy leaves believers unprepared and unaware of the dark and threatening storm clouds gathering on our horizon.
 
The Bible promises that Jesus may come at any time, but we may experience tough times before that happens.
 
The war in Ukraine has led to a humanitarian crisis not seen since WWII and will very likely lead to critical food shortages throughout the world by the end of 2022. We live in perilous times, and they are about to get much worse.
 
The current silence in the pulpits not only shifts the hope of the saints to this life, but leaves them ill-prepared to deal with ever-present threats of nuclear war and famine. If their focus is solely on their future in this life, these things will cause anxiety.
 
Today more than ever before, believers need the assurances of Scripture regarding their joyful and glorious future. Pastors who refuse to teach about Jesus’ imminent appearing from the pulpit deny their people critically needed assurance as the threats of war and famine increase with each passing day.
 
6. BELIEVERS NOT WATCHING FOR THE LORD’S APPEARING AS JESUS INSTRUCTED US TO DO
 
Referring to His return, Jesus said this in Matthew 24:44, “Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.” In the same discourse, He later said, “Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour” (25:13).
 
Jesus’ instruction led to a church that eagerly anticipated His return. In Philippians 3:20–21 Paul wrote this:
 
But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him to subject all things to himself.
 
The Greek word for “await” in verse 20 denotes to an “intense anticipation” or an “excited expectation” of a future event.[iii] In this text, Paul portrays believers as eagerly longing Jesus’ appearing with great anticipation; they expected it to happen at any moment.
 
When we watch for Jesus’ appearing, we copy the eager expectancy of the early church to meet Jesus in the air.
 
7. BELIEVERS NOT RECOGNIZING THE CONVERGENCE OF PROPHETIC SIGNS
 
My head is spinning from all that’s happening in our world from a prophecy perspective. A few years ago, I believed that many signs of the approaching Tribulation were converging as never before, but today this reality has grown beyond what I could have imagined back then.
 
As the shadow of the approaching Tribulation grows darker by the day, those aware of this convergence of prophetic signs recognize that Jesus’ appearing to take us home must be ever so close.
 
I never thought I would hear a president of the United States talk openly about the need for the New World Order, which during the Tribulation will morph into the kingdom of the antichrist. But yesterday, it happened as President Biden started talking about his commitment to it! I have long assumed this, but it’s another matter to hear him talk about it as something that is going to happen.
 
The Rapture may happen soon, and I pray that it does. But if not, we will see our world rapidly deteriorate as critical food shortages develop and as the coming New World Order continues to suppress the rights of people throughout the world.
 
Pastors, why not start preaching about biblical prophecy now rather than wait until people in your church demand that you teach on this subject, or the threatening conditions around you leave you with no choice but to talk about the details of our joyous and imminent hope?
 
In Tom Hughes’ article titled, "Five Reasons Pastors Don't Teach Bible Prophecy,” he said this, “Let Jesus also be the example in what we teach and preach. He taught a great deal about His Second Coming and the signs surrounding it. We should, too.”[iv]
 
A realistic look at our world is indeed scary and grows more ominous with each passing day, but as we view current events through the lens of Scripture and what it promises us about our future, the Lord gives us strength and peace to face the joyous future that lies ahead for us.
 
 My new book, The Triumph of the Redeemed-An eternal Perspective that Calms Our Fears in Perilous Times, is now available on Amazon.
 
Jonathan C. Brentner
 
Website: Our Journey Home
 
[i] Tom Hughes, Five Reasons Pastors Don’t Teach Prophecy, https://hopeforourtimes.com/five-reasons/
 
[ii] Greg Laurie Explains Why Understanding Bible Prophecy Is So Essential, taken from the Harbingers Daily website, https://harbingersdaily.com/greg-laurie-explains-why-understanding-bible-prophecy-is-so-essential/
 
[iii] Colin Brown, ed., Dictionary of New Testament Theology Vol. 2, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1969) p. 244.
 
[iv] Tom Hughes 

 

 

 
Nearing Midnight: Assessing Prospects for WW III – Terry James - https://www.raptureready.com/category/nearing-midnight/
 
It was a time when the Cold War continued with fresh memories of the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. Filmmakers stimulated the theater-going public with offerings of dark humor steeped in fears of thermonuclear war.
 
The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming! was the title of a 1960s movie—a comedy—in which there was panic in a New England village on the Atlantic Coast. A Soviet submarine had run aground because of its commander sightseeing the American coastline. The crew was sent from the sub to find a boat that could dislodge the sub and free it to continue its cruise.
 
There was great angst for a time, as the New Englanders thought they were being invaded by the Russkis. The movie was hilarious, with the people and the sub occupants coming close to conflict. But there was a meeting of two young people—the woman an American, the man a Russian submariner.
 
I took a year or so of Russian in college, but viewing this movie was where I learned to say “I love you” in Russian.
 
The story ended just right, as any good love story should, with the Russian sub threatened for destruction by US Air Force fighter jets flying overhead, but the pilots, seeing the New Englanders all around the sub, didn’t attack. The people were protecting the Russians, and soon the sub slipped back into the Atlantic deep.
 
I can’t remember what happened to the two young folks who were in love, but I presume all, too, was well in that department.
 
At this moment, the Ukrainian people find nothing funny about their experience. Yet there is a love story within its unfolding that can be discerned. While reports that hundreds, even thousands, on both sides of Putin’s aggression are being killed or maimed, there are reports of human interaction that unveils compassion of biblical proportion.
 
The Ukrainian people have, it is said, taken wounded Russian soldiers into their homes or to facilities and cared for them, even as the Russian forces continue their assault. On the other side, there are reports of Russian troops laying down their weapons and returning to their homes, because they haven’t the heart to continue killing people who are basically the same as the people they left back home.
 
I don’t know the degree of veracity of these stories, but give some credence to them because they are being reported across the entire spectrum of news forums—mainstream and alternative.
 
One wonders the fate of the troops who defect in this manner. Vladimir Putin is reported to be, like one-time dictator Joseph Stalin, executing generals who fail to accomplish their missions. Thus the four or five generals are reported to have been killed, with their deaths blamed on Ukrainian resistance fighters. What is the truth? Who knows? Well, only our God.
 
The troops who have a change of heart surely are meeting fates at least as bad as the generals rumored to have felt Putin’s wrath.
 
And it is Putin’s unknowns that have pundits and ordinary people worrying alike. Will there be World War III? As a matter of fact, has World War III already begun—has Putin now set out on a course that will end up involving all of Europe and eventually the entire world in a global conflict? Is Putin another Hitler, whose trajectory the Russian dictator seems to be following?
 
Some within Bible prophecy circles are wondering the same things. Is the world now seeing the beginning of the earth’s third global conflict? Are we about to get into nuclear combat one on one with the Russkis, as Slim Pickens, who played the captain of a hydrogen bomb-armed B-52 in the movie Dr. Strangelove, once said?
 
One acknowledged “expert” weighed in with the following assessment.
 
Author and former DIA intelligence officer Rebekah Koffler told Fox News Digital Thursday that a no-fly zone presents the most risk among known scenarios, but currently-unknown actions could inadvertently cause an escalation during the “fog of war.”
 
“Usually the path of the escalation is difficult to predict, it can come out of nowhere in the fog of war,” Koffler said.
 
Koffler argued that the current conflict in Ukraine is a “proxy war” between the U.S. and Russia that could easily escalate into a “shooting war.” (“The largest risk to an escalation of the conflict would be a no-fly zone enforced by NATO, experts say,” by Michael Lee, Fox News)
 
Diplomatic sources believe some within the US and Europe are poking the Russian bear by embracing the idea of no-fly zones over Ukraine—and by the introduction of Mig-29 fighter jets to the Ukrainian military to enforce that no-fly zone.
 
Such action, they believe, would bring about the shoot-down of Russian planes. A no-fly zone, plus such US-approved introduction of weaponry, would, Vladimir Putin has said, be considered an act of war.
 
The Russian tyrant has instructed his forces to fire a hypersonic missile into a Ukrainian underground military facility. The missile wasn’t nuclear-tipped, but the plain message analysts are saying Putin wanted to send is that Russia can, with the new, Mach 5 missile technology, reach not only the near points of Ukrainian territory, but all of Europe. The hypersonic missiles have a vastly larger range than the mid-range missiles heretofore used by the Russians.
 
Putin has said he is not averse to using tactical nukes to accomplish the Russian military mission of subduing parts of that nation the dictator believes belong to Russia.
 
All of this has the world of diplomats and even Christian prophecy pundits wondering whether there is about to be World War III, which will end in nuclear exchanges that will completely disrupt the world carrying on as we have known.
 
Well, we can interject that, with the way things have been carried on as of late, a heavenly disruption might be warranted. We’ve seen wickedness arise at levels that, as Ruth Graham might have concluded, rival the evil of the days of Sodom and Gomorrah. Only God’s divine patience and mercy can explain why nuclear combat, one on one with the Russkis, hasn’t already broken out into WW III.
 
Diplomats of the world, many of whom are Christians and even Bible prophecy students, would adamantly disagree with my assessment about the prospects for World War III and nuclear annihilation.
 
I say without reservation that I have no fear of an all-out, global war at this juncture in human history. And that is the salient point—the words, “at this juncture in human history.”
 
For the current war waged upon Ukraine—or any other war—to explode or even gradually grow to all-out World War III would be contrary to what the Word of God foretells. As a matter of fact, Jesus Christ Himself, who is the very Word of God who holds together even the elements of the atom, foretold the following. (Again, remember that “the day when the Son of man is revealed” refers to the Rapture of the Church.)
 
Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed. (Luke 17:27–30)
 
It would not be business as usual if the planet had just been ravished by nuclear devastation, just as it wouldn’t be business as usual if Christ was “revealed” at the end of the most horrific time imaginable—the end of the Tribulation.
 
There will be World War III, and there will be nuclear devastation, I have absolutely no doubt. But it will be after the Rapture, when all believers are in the only safe harbor there is—in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ when He calls us to Himself.
 
There is only one way to go to this assurance and safe harbor.
 
That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. (Romans 10:9–10)
 
–Terry 

 


 
The Corruption In Washington D.C. Is Far Worse Than Most Americans Can Possibly Imagine - by Michael Snyder - http://endoftheamericandream.com/the-corruption-in-washington-d-c-is-far-worse-than-most-americans-can-possibly-imagine/
 
Most Americans realize that there is corruption in Washington, but very few understand how deep it really goes. If the general population really did grasp how corrupt our politicians have truly become, there would be endless protests in the streets of Washington starting tomorrow. Unfortunately, most of us are still convinced that one of the major political parties will ultimately vanquish the other party and restore integrity to our system. But what if both major political parties are rotten to the core?
 
From a very early age, we are trained to think in terms of “good guys” and “bad guys”. Our stories, our movies, our television shows and even our video games feature “heroes” and “villains”, and we are taught to fully embrace those that are fighting for “good” and to passionately hate those that are doing “evil”.
 
But the real world doesn’t work that way.
 
Unfortunately, way too often there are no “good guys” in a real world scenario. I can think of a number of prominent examples that are in the news right now. Sometimes it is just “the bad guys” vs. “the bad guys”, and that is because evil has become extremely pervasive in our world in modern times.
 
To illustrate what I am trying to say, let me dig into a concrete example.
 
On Thursday, an interview that John Lovell recently conducted with Congressman Madison Cawthorn was posted on YouTube, and it immediately sent shockwaves all over the nation.
 
In that interview, Cawthorn revealed that there is a tremendous amount of “sexual perversion” that goes on in Washington. In fact, he says that he was actually invited to attend an orgy…
 
‘The sexual perversion that goes on in Washington … being kind of a young guy in Washington where the average age is probably 60 or 70, I look at all these people – a lot of them who I’ve looked up to throughout my life … then all of a sudden you get invited to like, ‘well hey we’re going to have kind of a sexual get together at one of our homes. You should come,’ like, what did you just ask me to come to? And then you realize they’re asking you to come to an orgy.’
 
For Republicans, it would come as no surprise at all to hear that Democrats are involved in this sort of activity.
 
But Madison Cawthorn is a Republican. And even though he didn’t explicitly say it, the truth is that the individual that invited Cawthorn to the orgy was almost certainly also a Republican.
 
Of course Republicans are supposed to be the party of “family values”, but that hasn’t been true in reality for a very long time.
 
Cawthorn also says that he has personally witnessed cocaine use among the Washington elite…
 
‘There’s some of the people that are leading the movement to try and remove addiction in our country and then you watch them doing, you know, a key bump of cocaine in front of you and it’s like wow, this is wild.’
 
Yes, this sort of thing really does go on in Washington.
 
Many go to Congress as idealistic young lawmakers, but it isn’t too long before many of them are corrupted.
 
The elite will just keep probing until they find a weakness. For some it is sex, for some it is drugs, for some it is gambling, and for some it is extreme wealth.
 
And once they identify a weakness that they can exploit, it is game over.
 
This is something that Cawthorn also commented on during the interview…
 
“So many people trade in secrets, and there’s a currency to secrets,” he continued. Most disturbingly, he claimed that members of the media deliberately go after these secrets in order to “keep nasty stories about you or other people on a shelf,” ready to use as blackmail.
 
“If you’re about to speak out against something they don’t want you to, they’ll come out and say ‘we’re about to drop this story of when 17 years ago you did X, Y, and Z, and you don’t want us to drop that story do you, so we’re going to bully you back into this position.’” Cawthorn added.
 
The elite want politicians that they can control, and blackmail is one of the easiest ways to do that.
 
Most of the “secrets” in Washington never see the light of day, because politicians that get compromised tend to fall in line and do what they are told.
 
Once in a while a member of Congress can get out of control, and that is when the hammer is brought down really hard.
 
If you have not seen it yet, you can find the full interview with Cawthorn right here. Needless to say, Cawthorn is not supposed to talk about these things. There is an unwritten rule in Washington that you never talk about how Washington really works.
 
Now that Cawthorn has broken that rule, he will be targeted.
 
He may not realize it, but he is actually in great danger.
 
Cawthorn was elected to Congress in 2020, and the elite are not likely to allow him to stick around for long. In fact, a long list of primary challengers is now coming after his seat.
 
If you want a long political career in Washington, you should never talk about the evil that you see.
 
And that goes double for all the sexual stuff that goes on.
 
But these days, most voters won’t even care if a sexual scandal is revealed. Many politicians on both sides of the aisle are involved in activity that is extremely depraved, but they will just keep winning elections even if everyone learns what is going on.
 
And that is because the general population of the country is in an advanced state of moral decay.
 
Republicans like to accuse Democrats of all sorts of things, and many of them are true, but one survey found that Republicans are even more likely to use a prominent adultery website than Democrats are…
 
Republicans are apparently more prone to cheating on their spouses than Democrats are, according to survey conducted by a website that helps married people to have affairs.
 
The website Ashley Madison found that 60 percent of its members are Republican, while less than 40 percent were Democrats, in a survey it released last month.
 
The reason why so many members of Congress can openly cheat on their spouses and get away with it is because a large proportion of the general population no longer has any moral values either.
 
The truth is that Washington has become a perfect reflection of society as a whole.
 
Once someone is able to get to Congress, it can be an endless good time filled with sex, drugs and parties.
 
And don’t forget about the cash. Most members of Congress are millionaires, and that includes many that somehow become millionaires after they get elected…
 
Congress is an exclusive club. It’s also a wealthy one.
 
More than half of those in Congress are millionaires, data from lawmakers’ most recent personal financial disclosures shows. The median net worth of members of Congress who filed disclosures last year is just over $1 million.
 
As a society, if we condone the cesspool that Washington has become, then there is no hope for us.
 
Right now we steamrolling down a road that leads to national suicide, and most Americans don’t seem to care.
 
The Democrats are not “the good guys”, and they are definitely not going to save the nation.
 
And as Madison Cawthorn has revealed, the Republicans are not “the good guys” either.
 
The system that our forefathers established has been completely corrupted, and the American people should be deeply ashamed for allowing this to happen. 

 


 
Daily Jot: Bidenocrisy - Bill Wilson – www.dailyjot.com
 
President Joe Biden Monday resolutely defended his remarks that could have lead America into an unnecessary and deadly conflict with Russia. Biden told a Warsaw, Poland crowd during a Saturday speech that Russian leader Vladimir Putin, “For God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power.” Since then, the White House has been in damage control mode to walk back his comments amid Kremlin reaction that “This is a statement that is certainly alarming.” Biden’s remarks, off script and ad-libbed, created an international firestorm that could have resulted in World War III. And despite the White House scrambling to take back Biden’s words, Biden himself declared, “I’m not walking anything back.”
 
The corporate news media that has been defensively carrying Biden’s propaganda about the disputed election, border security, inflation and COVID was seemingly aghast at the possibility that such a gaffe could get them nuked. They went after Biden, who was armed with a cheat sheet so he wouldn’t repeat his Bidenocrisy. First question from NBC’s Kelly O’Donnell: “Do you believe what you said–that Putin can’t remain in power? Or do you now regret saying that? Because your government has been trying to walk that back. Did your words complicate matters?” Biden responded defensively: “Number one, I’m not walking anything back. The fact of the matter is I was expressing the moral outrage I felt toward the way Putin is dealing, and the actions of this man — just — just the brutality of it.”
 
He continued, “I want to make it clear: I wasn’t then, nor am I now, articulating a policy change. I was expressing the moral outrage that I feel, and I make no apologies for it.” Then Biden dug a deeper hole answering Reuter’s’ Steve Holland’s questions. Here is the exchange: Q. “So, if saying he cannot remain in power does not mean regime change, what does it mean in your view?” THE PRESIDENT: “It means that I would hope–I just was expressing my outrage. He shouldn’t remain in power. Just like, you know, bad people shouldn’t continue to do bad things. But it doesn’t mean we have a fundamental policy to do anything to take Putin down in any way.” Q. “What made you add that? Because that wasn’t in your prepared remarks, we were told. So what made you add that at the end, Mr. President?”
 
THE PRESIDENT: “Because I was talking about–I was talking to the Russian people. The last part of the speech was talking to the Russian people, telling them what we thought. And I was communicating this to not only the Russian people, but the whole world.” So there you have it from the actual transcript. Biden said Putin shouldn’t be in power, but he didn’t actually mean Putin shouldn’t be in power. Biden says his remarks didn’t escalate anything, but the world is abuzz over them. And finally, this shouldn’t matter because he was speaking to the Russian people, telling them their leader shouldn’t be in power. As is said in James 1:8, “he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.” And that’s not good for any of us. 

 


 
Daily Devotion: The Definition of Faith - by Greg Laurie – www.harvest.org
 
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. —Hebrews 11:1
 
https://harvest.org/resources/devotion/the-definition-of-faith/ - Listen
 
Everyone has a measure of faith. Now, their faith may not be in God, but they do have faith in something. They might have faith in themselves, which will be disappointing. Or maybe they have faith in a political system, which will be even more disappointing.
 
What, then, is faith, and how does it work?
 
Hebrews 11:1 gives us an excellent definition of faith: “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (NKJV). Faith isn’t just believing something; it’s acting on what you believe in.
 
You can give mere intellectual assent to something and say, “I believe this is true.” Yet the Bible says, “Even the demons believe—and tremble!” (James 2:19 NKJV).
 
Real faith in God is belief plus action. Faith does things. If you have real faith, you will do something with it. Hebrews 11 talks about what various people did with their faith. For example, Abel offered a sacrifice, Noah prepared an ark, and Abraham obeyed.
 
Faith with no works is a faith that doesn’t work.
 
Everything in our lives revolves around faith. We are saved by faith. Ephesians 2 tells us, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast” (verses 8–9 NKJV).
 
Not only are we saved by faith, but we live by faith and not by feelings. The Bible says, “The just shall live by faith” (Romans 1:17 NKJV). If we build our Christian lives on our emotions, then we’ll be riding a roller coaster, if you will, because sometimes we’re up emotionally and sometimes we’re down.
 
Faith, on the other hand, is steady, because we believe the Word of God regardless of our emotions. And there is no safer place to put our faith than in God. 

 


 


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

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