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Living in Prophetic Times - By Daymond Duck - https://www.raptureready.com/2021/02/21/living-in-prophetic-times-by-daymond-duck/ Here are 16 differences between the Rapture and the Second Coming:
Here are some recent events that are related to Bible prophecy: One, God gives people that ignore Him (men that sleep with men, women that sleep with women, etc.) over to a reprobate mind (Rom. 1:24-28). He will allow them to reach a point where they cannot make sound decisions. On Feb. 10, 2021, it was reported that a hospital in the U.K. has started saying “chestfeeding” instead of “breastfeeding”; “human milk” instead of “breastmilk”; “parent,” “co-parent,” or “second biological parent” instead of “father.” The growth of the LGBTQ community seems to be causing an increase in unsound thinking. Two, on Feb. 12, 2021, it was reported that Israel ranked seventh in Bloomberg’s list of the 60 most innovative economies. The U.S. dropped from 9th last year to 11th this year. Think about it: The U.S. didn’t even make the top 10. Three, on Jan. 20, 2021, the great prophecy teacher, Jan Markell, made some profound statements about the coming Great Reset, called the Great Reset global socialism and/or Marxism, and said its goal is to take the world to global godless government. She rightly said the Great Reset will abolish Christianity, cash, private property, national sovereignty, and more, and the Biden/Harris administration cannot wait to implement it. If silence in the pulpits over the destruction of Christianity is not lukewarmness and unsound thinking, what is it (Rev. 3:15-22)? Four, concerning deceit, on Feb. 10, 2021, it was reported that German officials have found internal documents showing that Germany’s Interior Ministry paid people to create fear in the nation to justify Covid lockdowns and other restrictive measures. Interior Ministry officials were pushing a political agenda and paying people to scare their citizens to justify what they were doing. Five, on Feb. 12, 2021, Iran announced that it will join the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEC), a regional trading bloc of nations that includes Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Moldova, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan and Armenia. On Nov. 15, 2020, 15 nations, including China, agreed to make the ASEAN EC the largest regional trading bloc of nations on earth. On July 1, 2020, the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) went into effect. These regional trading blocs of nations are being patterned after the E.U. According to the Bible, Ten Kings will appear before the Antichrist appears (Dan. 7:7-8, 24). I have long contended that the U.N. will be divided into 10 regions or 10 regional trading blocs of nations (E.U., USMCA, ASEAN EC, GCC, etc.) with one leader over each region before the Antichrist rises to power. These regional trading blocs of nations have been coming on the scene for years. It is my opinion, based on past reports, that the 10 regional trading blocs will each pick a leader that will turn out to be the 10 Kings. Six, in his first three weeks in office, Pres. Biden called the leaders of several nations (Canada, UK, China, Russia, France, Japan, etc.), but he has not called Prime Min. Netanyahu of Israel. Some Israeli and media officials believe Biden is deliberately snubbing Israel. California Representative Ro Khanna believes Biden is sending a message that he will radically change America’s relationship with Israel if it doesn’t stop building settlements on the West Bank and recognize Palestinian Statehood. Some of the concern may have started when Biden’s Sec. of State, Antony Blinken, said Biden would not adhere to Trump’s recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights (he may have backed off on this). Biden’s resumption of relations with the P.A. and his decision to resume economic aid to the P.A. have not helped. On Feb. 11, 2021, Biden’s Press Sec., Jen Psaki, was asked, “Does the administration still consider the Saudis and the Israelis important allies?” She did not answer the question. During the Tribulation Period, the whole world will hate Israel, and that includes a godless U.S. Seven, some U.S. citizens, especially young Americans, think Socialism is a good thing. I recently read a 6-month-old CBNNEWS.COM article about a Christian named Georgian Banov who escaped Socialism in Bulgaria and made his way to America. Banov reminded people that the USSR was the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (notice the word “Socialist” because some historians estimate that Joseph Stalin may have killed as many as 20 million people). According to Banov, there was no such thing as “Soft Socialism.” It is an anti-God, anti-Christ system of government that rules with an iron fist. Citizens were poor, most didn’t have enough to eat, they were spied on, they lived in fear, and those that complained (or supposedly complained) about the government were arrested or they just disappeared. Those who are calling for Socialism in America need to pray that they never get what they are asking for. We are living in prophetic times, and a Socialist/Marxist world government is looming that will be more evil than what Banov experienced. Prophecy Plus Ministries, Inc. Daymond Duck [email protected] Did Biden’s Middle East Policy Cause the Midwest Polar Vortex? – Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz - https://www.israel365news.com/187374/did-bidens-middle-east-policy-cause-the-midwest-polar-vortex/ And I Myself—declares Hashem—will be a wall of fire all around it, and I will be a glory inside it. Zechariah 2:9 (The Israel BibleTM) The year’s coldest weather hit the central US last week and though the direct cause was a polar vortex that came sweeping down from the north, a closer look at the history of the tragically misnamed “Peace process” shows an undeniable correlation between anti-Israel policy and massive natural catastrophes, economic disasters, or worse. POLAR VORTEX: 2,400 COLD TEMPERATURE RECORDS BROKEN A polar vortex is a persistent, large-scale, upper-level low-pressure area, less than 620 miles in diameter, that rotates counter-clockwise at the North Pole and clockwise at the South Pole. Normally, the vortex contains the coldest weather and remains at the poles. Sometimes, parts of the vortex can move south, bringing unusually cold weather down into the US, Europe, and Asia. The current polar vortex hit from the Lower Mississippi Valley into the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast from February 12-16 but another round of low temperatures hit over the weekend. At least 2,400 cold temperature records were broken or tied., some of them going back 75 years or more. Temperatures over the southern and central plains were 40 – 50 °F below average. The low temperatures were accompanied by ice and snow. more than 5 million homes were without power, most of them in Texas. More than 30 people have lost their lives. BIDEN: ANTI-ISRAEL POLICIES Though Biden’s Middle East policy may seem unrelated, it should be noted that in the few short weeks since he has been in office, his administration has reversed many of the pro-Israel policies set in place by the Trump Administration. This distancing from the US’s closest ally was indicated by Biden’s refraining from contacting the Israeli Prime Minister until last Wednesday. This was in direct contradiction to his administration reestablishing relations with the Palestinian Authority and restoring aid. On Thursday, the administration announced that they had accepted an invitation to meet with Iran to negotiate a return to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) commonly known as the Iran nuclear deal. The Obama-brokered agreement signed in 2915 would effectively give Iran an unrestrained nuclear weapons program within four years. HISTORY: UNMISTAKEABLE CORRELATION A look at the history of such ill-treatment of the “apple of God’s eye” reveals a solid correlation between natural disasters and Washington’s ill treatment of Israel. August 2017: The Trump Administration’s Middle East negotiating team, led by Jared Kushner and Jason Greenblatt, visited the region in an attempt to jump-start peace talks. Ten days later, Hurricane Harvey, described as the “worst disaster” in Texan history, made landfall, slamming the Corpus Christi region of Texas with 130 MPH winds and 13-foot storm surges. June 2016: A summit was held in Paris as a prelude to a multi-national conference that would force Israel to unilaterally accept the two-state solution and create a Palestinian state within its borders. As the delegates left the summit, rain began to fall. Over the next 24 hours, the River Seine rose 20 feet, resulting in the worst flooding Paris has seen in decades. August 5-13 2015: After announcing the nuclear deal, Iran was hit with an apocalyptic-like heatwave hitting an astounding 164℉. One week later, a significant meteor struck Iran. April 2008: Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, a strong advocate of the anti-Semitic Boycott Divestment Sanctions movement, meets with leaders of Hamas, announcing to the world that the terrorist organization dedicated to killing Jews are “committed to peace.” One year later, he was diagnosed with cancer and melanomas were found in his brain and liver. After only a few months of treatment, the doctors pronounced him cancer-free. Pembrolizumab, a drug developed in Israel, was a key element in his treatment. 2005: Ariel Sharon endorsed the Roadmap for Peace and began plans to remove the Jewish population of Gush Katif from the Gaza Strip. The dismantling of the Jewish settlements was scheduled for August 15th, 2005, the day after Tisha b’Av, the anniversary of both Jewish Temples being destroyed. This disengagement was due to US pressure. Less than two weeks later, Hurricane Katrina destroyed New Orleans and other parts of Louisiana, leaving thousands of Americans homeless and killing at least 1,833. The damage was estimated at over $108 billion. In July, one month before the IDF dismantled Gush Katif and evicted almost 9,000 Jews from their homes, Rabbi Yosef Dayan, a member of the nascent Sanhedrin who can trace his lineage back to King David, led a group of ten rabbis in performing an obscure, ancient Kabbalistic ceremony, the Pulsa diNura, on Sharon. The Pulsa diNura invokes the angels of destruction to block heavenly forgiveness of the subject’s sins, causing all the curses named in the Bible to befall him and resulting in his death. Sharon’s health deteriorated, and by January of that year, he suffered a hemorrhagic stroke, entering a vegetative state from which he never recovered. October 11, 1999: Jewish settlers in 15 West Bank settlements are evicted from their homes. The Dow Jones financial average loses 5.7 percent, in the worst week since October 1989. On October 15, the Dow lost 266 points. A hurricane hits North Carolina. The next morning, October 16, a magnitude 7.1 earthquake rocks the southwest US in the fifth most powerful earthquake in the 20th century. The earthquake was centered in the California desert and did little damage but was felt in three states. Arafat and Netanyahu met at the Wye River Plantation in Maryland for five days of intensive talks as part of a continuation of Albright’s plan that would force Israel to give up major areas of Judea and Samaria. On October 17, Hurricane Irene boiled over. Though it never made landfall, the resulting rains and tornados that hit southern Texas caused over $750 million in damage and killed 31 people, affecting a quarter of the state. The storm dissipated as the meeting ended in Maryland. On October 21, Clinton declared the hard-hit areas of Texas a major disaster area. May 3, 1999: Arafat was scheduled to declare an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital. For two days, tornadoes ravaged the center of America, concentrated in Oklahoma and Kansas. 152 tornadoes touched down, causing $1.4 billion in damage, killing 50 and injuring almost 900 people. Arafat’s declaration was postponed to December 1999 at the request of Clinton. November 30, 1998: Arafat arrived in Washington to meet with Clinton. He proposed a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as the capital and began efforts to raise money. A total of 42 nations agreed to give Arafat $3 billion, with Clinton pledging $400 million and European nations pledging $1.7 billion. On the same day, the Dow Jones average plunged 216 points, and on December 1, the European Market had its worst day in history. Hundreds of billions of dollars of market capitalization were wiped out in the US and Europe. September 28, 1998: US Secretary of State Madeline Albright gave a press briefing describing the final details of an American brokered agreement between PLO Head Yasser Arafat and Netanyahu. According to the deal, Israel would have been required to give up 13 percent of Judea and Samaria. The same day, Georges, a category 4 hurricane, hit the United States Gulf Coast with winds of 110 mph and gusts of up to 175 mph. In terms of damage, it was the costliest hurricane since Hurricane Andrew, causing $10 billion of damage and killing 604 people. January 21, 1998: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with US President Bill Clinton at the White House and was greeted in an unwelcoming manner. Clinton and Secretary of State Madeleine Albright refused to have lunch with him. It was later that same day that the Monica Lewinsky scandal broke out. 1995: Reneging on his campaign promises just one year before, Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin aligned with his political nemesis, Shimon Peres, and signed the Oslo Accords in 1993, which created the Palestinian National Authority and granted it partial control over parts of the Gaza Strip and West Bank. Rabbi Dayan also led rabbis in the Pulsa diNura against Rabin a few months before he was assassinated. Rabin was shot and killed in 1995 by Yigal Amir, an extremist who opposed Rabin’s peace initiative and particularly the signing of the Oslo Accords. January 16, 1994: President Clinton met with Syria’s President Hafez el-Assad in Geneva. They discussed a peace agreement with Israel that included giving up the Golan Heights. Within 24 hours, the powerful Northridge earthquake, which registered a 6.9 on the Richter scale, hit Southern California. The earthquake caused an estimated $20 billion in damage, leaving 57 people killed and over 5,000 injured. The earthquake became the second most destructive natural disaster to hit the United States. August 23, 1992: The Madrid Conference moved to Washington DC and the peace talks resumed. One day later, Hurricane Andrew, the worst natural disaster recorded in American history, hit Florida, causing an estimated $30 billion in damage and leaving 180,000 homeless across the state. October 30, 1991: US President George Bush, Sr. opened the Madrid Conference with an expectation that Israel would trade “Land for Peace”. As the conference progressed, what was later called the “Perfect Storm” develops in the North Atlantic, creating the largest waves ever recorded in that region. The storm traveled 1,000 miles from east to west, defying the more natural west \-to-east pattern. One day later, on October 31, the storm struck the New England coast with 35-foot waves crashing into the Walker’s Point home of President Bush in Kennebunkport, South Maine. His home was extensively damaged. September 1938: Though not connected to the land-for-peace process, divine retribution appeared in modern politics even before the establishment of the state of Israel. In September 1938, Lord Neville Chamberlain met with Adolf Hitler, signing the Munich Agreement intended to appease Nazi expansionism. On September 21, one of the most destructive and powerful hurricanes in recorded history struck Long Island and Southern New England. Killing an estimated 700, the brunt of the storm hit a section of Long Island that was home to the headquarters of the Bund party, the American party that supported the Nazis. PURIM: God Is Sovereign Even Behind-the-Scenes – Olivier Melnick - https://www.newantisemitism.com/antisemitism/purim-god-is-sovereign-even-behind-the-scenes Thursday, February 25, 2021, marks the celebration of the Jewish festival of Purim. Jewish people around the world will gather to recall God’s protection in days of old. This is a time when people eat special foods, dress up and read the Megillat Ester or scroll of Esther in the synagogue, where a lot of noise is made at the calling of the names of the three main protagonists: Mordechai, Esther and Haman. Gifts are often exchanged as well as donations made to charity. • PURIM IN THE BIBLE: The first time we read about Purim, is at the end of the book of Esther–a book about God’s miraculous preservation of the Jewish people–even though this is the only book of the Bible where God is never mentioned by name. This doesn’t prevent God from orchestrating an incredible story of survival, redemption and blessing, albeit behind-the-scenes. The story of Purim is also a very strong post-Genesis example of God’s promise to Abraham to bless those who bless him and curse him who curses Abraham (Genesis 12:3Open in Logos Bible Software (if available)). Haman, the archenemy of the Jews built gallows to hang Mordechai, and at the end, he and all of his sons were hanging on these very gallows…A curse for a curse! People ought to take the promise made by God to Abraham in Genesis 12:3Open in Logos Bible Software (if available) very seriously. In a sense, it is God’s foreign policy when it comes to Israel, and it has proven absolutely true all throughout history (biblical and post-biblical). Haman’s approach to the “Jewish problem” is worth looking at from the perspective of Satan, the ultimate enemy of the Jews. Early in the scriptures, in Genesis 3, Satan came up with a master plan: Use people – even Eve – to destroy the Jews on a global scale – and antisemitism was born! The reason? Satan is very familiar with the message of the Bible and with God’s master plan for the world in general and for Israel and the Jewish people in particular. Satan knows that the day that the Jewish people recognize Yeshua as their long-awaited Messiah as told in Zechariah 12:10Open in Logos Bible Software (if available), will usher in His return, but that will also mark the beginning of the end of Satan’s career of hatred and destruction. In an attempt at postponing it all–since he cannot prevent it, Satan is the mastermind behind the longest hatred. He is the creator of antisemitism and he continually subcontracts his hatred against the Jews to various groups through the ages, making the most irrational thoughts, words and deeds appear very rational to those who listen to him. The book of Esther tells us the story of how Satan used Haman to go after the Jews. He could have succeeded, but God is greater, even behind-the-scenes. In Esther chapter 3, Haman puts his curse against the Jews in motion, and because of one Jew, namely Mordecai, Haman seeks to destroy all of them. We start seeing the irrational behaviors promoted by an antisemitic heart. Haman seeks to destroy ALL THE JEWS of the Persian Empire where many of them lived at the time. In a sense, Haman tried to make antisemitism a government-sanctioned policy, something that will be picked up again much later in history by Nazi Germany. We read in Esther 3:1-2Open in Logos Bible Software (if available), 5-6Open in Logos Bible Software (if available) “After these events, King Ahasuerus promoted Haman, the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, and advanced him and established his authority over all the princes who were with him. And all the king’s servants who were at the king’s gate bowed down and paid homage to Haman; for so the king had commanded concerning him. But Mordecai neither bowed down nor paid homage…. When Haman saw that Mordecai neither bowed down nor paid homage to him, Haman was filled with rage. But he disdained to lay hands on Mordecai alone, for they had told him who the people of Mordecai were; therefore, Haman sought to destroy all the Jews, the people of Mordecai, who were throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus. Furthermore, in verse 8, Haman proceeds to give the reason why the Jews are not wanted in Ahasuerus’ kingdom, and that is simply because THEY ARE DIFFERENT. “Then Haman said to King Ahasuerus, “There is a certain people scattered and dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom; their laws are different from those of all other people, and they do not observe the king’s laws, so it is not in the king’s interest to let them remain. Because of his hatred for one man who happened to be Jewish, Haman sought to destroy all the Jews of the kingdom. This was a very extreme decision, driven by an irrational desire to hold all people of the same ethnic group responsible because of one of theirs who actually wasn’t guilty of anything but faithfulness to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Haman was on a mission to destroy all the Jews. However, he also realized that his endeavor would require some logistical finesse, so in Esther 3:9-13Open in Logos Bible Software (if available), we read that he asked the king to issue a decree for the destruction of the Jewish people, knowing that a royal decree cannot be canceled or ignored. Not only did he ask for the decree, but he also committed to financing the whole project out of his own wealth. “If it is pleasing to the king, let it be decreed that they be destroyed, and I will pay ten thousand talents of silver into the hands of those who carry on the king’s business,…And letters were sent by couriers to all the king’s provinces to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate all the Jews, both young and old, women and children, in one day, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month Adar, and to seize their possessions as plunder. While it might not be obvious at first glance, the process by which Haman sought to annihilate all the Jews within his reach and the one used by Hitler and the Nazi regime have many similarities. Consider the parallels between Haman and Hitler in these five points: • One Man’s jealousy led to uncontrolled hatred (3:5) • Targeted hatred became global hatred (3:6, 13) • Hatred was apparently caused because of non-conformity (3:8) • Attempted annihilation of the Jews was structured and organized (3:9-13) • Funds were spent and financial wealth was provided for the perpetrators (3:9, 4:7) Fast forward to the 1930s and 1940s, and we see how Hitler developed his well-organized “factory of death” against the Jewish people. • PURIM in the 1940s: Soon after coming to power, Hitler quickly banned the celebration of Jewish festivals including Purim. In a speech delivered the day after Kristallnacht, in November 1938, Julius Streicher (1885-1946), Hitler’s“Director of the Central Committee for the Defense against Jewish Atrocity and Boycott Propaganda” declared that since the Jews killed 75,000 Persians in the days of Esther, the same fate could befall the German people and so the Jews had to be stopped. Streicher was also the publisher of the virulently antisemitic newspaper Der Stürmer. After the war, he was never accused of any actions or orders against the Jews but for thoughts and words published in his newspaper and as a result, he was convicted of “crimes against humanity” and sentenced to death. The Nuremberg military tribunal declared, “Streicher’s incitement of murder and extermination at the time when Jews in the East were being killed under the most horrible conditions clearly constitutes persecution on political and racial grounds in connection with war crimes as defined by the Charter, and constitutes a crime against humanity.” Again, the “curse-for-a-curse” biblical principle was applied to Streicher, who, on October 16, 1946, was executed on the gallows at the end of the Nuremberg Trials. Streicher’s final words before he was let down into the gallows trap door was “Purim Fest 1946”, as his final claim that the Jews were out to get him. It would have required a certain knowledge of the Jewish lifestyle and festivals for Streicher to even make that parallel. As to Hitler’s obsession with the destruction of all European Jews, history is our witness that all methods used by Haman–as irrational as they might have been– were also used by Hitler. Hitler’s jealousy led to uncontrolled hatred. It is hard to pinpoint why Hitler was so against the Jews. There have been rumors that he had some distant Jewish ancestry, and also that he was mad at the Jewish doctor who unsuccessfully treated his mother who died of cancer in 1908. There is also the possibility that Hitler took his lead from the Muslim Grand Mufti of Jerusalem (1921-1937) Amin al-Husseini. All these are nearly impossible to prove beyond the shadow of a doubt, but the fact that almost a whole country of Germans was ready to follow one man into his evil agenda of destruction says a lot about our sinful nature. • Targeted hatred became global hatred. Whatever hatred Hitler had against one Jew or a few of them, it should have never led to his desire to kill all of us. Yet, the ghetto that separated and ostracized the Jews eventually led to the Einsatzgruppen (death squads responsible for mass shootings of Jews after they were forced to dig their own graves). When shooting people was deemed inefficient and psychologically damaging for the SS officers (you read it right!), large trucks and vans were outfitted with engines that pumped carbon monoxide into the sealed compartment filled with Jewish people. Even that method proved to be too slow for Hitler who developed the concentration camps that became the death camps. The rest is history. That is of course if you don’t buy into the ludicrous Holocaust Denial theory. • Hatred was apparently caused because of non-conformity The fact that the Jewish people had survived so much hardship and violence against them for centuries was probably a mystery to Hitler, but possibly a reason why he loathed the Jews so much. The Jewish people have survived through the ages and continue to hold many of the ancient customs and traditions. To Jewish people, identity is often synonymous with survival, so Jewish rituals and customs are critical. This would appear as non-conformity, but while they might be strictly religious at home and in their own community, Jewish people have always been willing to contribute to society wherever God placed them in the diaspora. Jewish ingenuity has proven that beyond the shadow of a doubt over the years. • Attempted annihilation of the Jews was structured and organized Hitler’s “Final solution to the Jewish question” was further organized at the time of the Wannsee Conference in Berlin in 1942 when Reinhard Heydrich took leadership of it to make sure that various government ministries all complied and worked together. The meeting itself only lasted 90 minutes, but it further sealed the fate of European Jewry • Funds were spent, and financial wealth was provided for the perpetrators Much money was needed for war and to maintain the infrastructure of the death camps into which Hitler fed the Jewish people. Forced Jewish labor, taxes on Jews and confiscated Jewish wealth were factors in how Hitler financed the war and the Holocaust. Eventually, even those resources ran dry. Hitler was not a very good military commander, but he was very stubborn with his destructive obsession with the Jews. Towards the end of the war, this might have cost him more than he wished, when resources used for the transport of Jews were not available to fight at the Russian front. PURIM IN 2021: Satan knows that he cannot succeed, but he tries without ceasing. He has indoctrinated much of the world against the Jewish people, creating antisemitism and making it the oldest and most enduring form of hatred against a people group. While he keeps sub-contracting his hatred to different groups of people, the danger remains the same and the Jewish people continue to be the “scapegoats of humanity”. The same approach used in biblical days and during Hitler’s reign is used today by historical revisionists, BDS promoters, Christian Palestinianism proponents and all other enemies of Israel and the Jewish people. If they had their way, Israel would be erased from the map and the Jewish people completely eradicated from existence and from history. But in a very “Purimesque” ending, the Jewish people will continue to flourish as promised by God Himself in Jeremiah 31:35-37Open in Logos Bible Software (if available) and Israel will prevail because of God. Be it during biblical times, during the 1930s and 1940s, or even today, through thick and thin, God has always had Israel in the palm of His hand. Even though He was absent by name in the book of Esther and it felt more like “the eclipse of God” during the Holocaust, He never reneged on His promises. So, we can celebrate Purim with confidence and with joy because the same God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob Who was behind-the-scenes in the days of Esther, has our back and still keeps His word today. Chag Purim Sameach! Happy Purim! Science Proves That Time Is Running Out For Humanity… - by Michael Snyder - http://endoftheamericandream.com/science-proves-that-time-is-running-out-for-humanity/ Even if we weren’t facing an apocalyptic future of our own making, humanity would still be doomed due to the nightmarish reproductive crisis that we are now facing. Just about every measure of human fertility that you can measure is dropping precipitously, and this is particularly true in the western world. As a result, we have vast numbers of young adults that are either infertile or that deeply struggle with fertility issues, and the number of babies born with birth defects has been soaring. It gets worse with each passing year, and the future for humanity is exceedingly bleak unless we find a way to turn things around. Dr. Shanna Swan has been closely studying these issues for decades, and she is now warning that the “current state of reproductive affairs can’t continue much longer without threatening human survival”… Sperm counts in Western countries have dropped by more than 50 percent since the 1970s. At the same time, men’s problems with conceiving are going up: Erectile dysfunction is increasing and testosterone levels are declining by 1 percent each year. “The current state of reproductive affairs can’t continue much longer without threatening human survival,” warns Mount Sinai fertility scientist Dr. Shanna Swan in her book, “Count Down” (Scribner), out Tuesday. “It’s a global existential crisis.” Sadly, she is not exaggerating one bit. There is simply no way that the human race will be able to avoid a dramatic population decline if these trends continue. Previously, Dr. Swan made headlines when she warned that sperm counts dropped by a staggering 59 percent between 1973 and 2011… In 2017, she sounded the alarm with a meta-analysis of 40,000 men that showed that sperm count fell a whopping 59 percent between 1973 and 2011. We are already seeing the effects. Worldwide fertility has dropped by 50 percent between 1960 and 2015. The United States has a total birth rate that is 16 percent below what it needs to replace itself. Though there are obvious factors at play (couples are conceiving later and opting to have smaller families), Swan argues that the issues run deeper than personal choice. What would our planet look like if worldwide fertility plunged by another 50 percent? Global population growth has already come to a standstill in most areas, and there are some countries that are already starting to experience significant declines. Men in particular are becoming infertile at a frightening rate. According to Swan, sperm counts have gotten extremely low… Today the average male is nearing that number at 47.1 million sperm per milliliter. Compare him to his father, who had an average of 99 million sperm per milliliter, and it’s clear that this is a deeply worrying trend. Once you get below 40 million, it becomes challenging to have a child, and the average male is nearly there already. So why is this happening? Well, Dr. Swan is pointing to the prevalence of endocrine disruptors in our society… Swan and other experts say the problem is a class of chemicals called endocrine disruptors, which mimic the body’s hormones and thus fool our cells. This is a particular problem for fetuses as they sexually differentiate early in pregnancy. Endocrine disruptors can wreak reproductive havoc. These endocrine disruptors are everywhere: plastics, shampoos, cosmetics, cushions, pesticides, canned foods and A.T.M. receipts. They often aren’t on labels and can be difficult to avoid. In order to completely eliminate endocrine disruptors from your life, you would probably need to drop out of society entirely. Another scientist at Washington State University has found that exposure to endocrine disruptors can make 20 percent of mice infertile in just three generations… Patricia Ann Hunt, a reproductive geneticist at Washington State University, has conducted experiments on mice showing that the impact of endocrine disruptors is cumulative, generation after generation. When infant mice were exposed for just a few days to endocrine disrupting chemicals, their testes as adults produced fewer sperm, and this incapacity was transmitted to their offspring. While findings from animal studies can’t necessarily be extended to humans, after three generations of these exposures, one-fifth of the male mice were infertile. Of course there are many other factors that affect fertility as well, and I have covered quite a few of them in previous articles. The point I am making in this article is that humanity is in very serious trouble, and the only way out is to radically alter our behavior. But we aren’t going to do that, are we? In addition to our “fertility collapse”, other research has found that over thousands of years humans have been getting smaller and shorter… An earlier study by Cambridge University found that mankind is shrinking in size significantly. Experts say humans are past their peak and that modern-day people are 10 percent smaller and shorter than their hunter-gatherer ancestors. And if that’s not depressing enough, our brains are also smaller. To me, reading that our brains have been getting smaller was particularly depressing, but that would definitely help to explain the level of competence displayed by some of our political leaders these days. Our founders wrote such brilliant things, but in our time most Americans are so dumb that they literally cannot understand material written at that level. We have become a dumbed-down “idiocracy” that thinks that reality television and watching people kick one another in the groin are some of the highest forms of entertainment. It is frightening to think about how much we have degenerated already, and I don’t even want to imagine what Americans would be like 50 years from now. Unfortunately, we won’t have to worry about that, because there won’t be an America if we stay on the path that we are currently on. Of course the clock is ticking for humanity as a whole, and everyone should be able to see that. But we love our self-destructive behaviors so much that we will never give them up. So there will be no change of course, and we shall surely reap what we have sown. Daily Jot: As the haters hate – Bill Wilson – www.dailyjot.com Have you ever noticed how those who accuse others of being haters are the biggest haters? From the time that President Trump was inaugurated in January 2016, we saw women out protesting in vagina hats, saying stuff like they wanted to blow up the White House and how bigoted, misogynistic, Islamophobic, xenophobic and racist President Trump and his supporters were. Yet those were the very same people who kept saying that we needed to have unity and the world should be kind and loving to one another. They were, as it turns out, the biggest peddlers of bigotry, the biggest violators of women’s rights, the example of hate for the world to see. And today, they continue this disgusting behavior. Really. It’s time to expose them for what they are. Haters. They say that everybody else hates. They label everybody who disagrees with them as the worst people in the world, deserving of censorship, of not being allowed to have a job, or eat in a restaurant—wow, they sound just the Democrats of the Jim Crow days. Yet, they are the ones calling for world peace. Quite frankly, I’m talking about the visceral expressed by politicians, left-leaning corporate bosses, and, of course, the biggest haters—Hollywood elites. There has been no better example of their hate than what they have been saying as they gleefully celebrate Rush Limbaugh’s death. How disrespectful and lacking of decency and character. CNN said Limbaugh symbolized division. Many liberals took to Twitter to mock Limbaugh in death. One Michigan elected official laughed about it. CNBC labeled him incendiary. Hollywood celebrities—you know, the pretty people always advocating for world peace—said cancer killed the cancer, wished Limbaugh to rest in “piss”, rot in purgatory, a practitioner of the big lie, he spent his life spewing hate and lies, they wished him hell and pitied the devil for having to spend eternity with Rush, only white supremacy mourns his death, one bigot dead, waiting for the rest to join him, called him a Nazi, a pig, having zero redeeming qualities, and he brought a lot of people joy by dying. Can you imagine? These are the people who pine for love and peace, yet they can’t even remotely respect someone who has died of cancer. And really, it’s because Rush disagreed with their nonsense and hypocrisy. One can disagree without spewing hate. Rush Limbaugh was a human being. He loved his family. He treated others fairly and decently. He was humorous. And probably most of these haters never heard a word he broadcast. They are what is wrong with this world. They are the privileged. The elite. Those who made their money selling themselves, not their ideas, but themselves. And they are demonstrating their tremendous lack of character. They are as described in Jeremiah 17:9, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” We know it when it exposes itself as it has with these people. Daily Devotion: Stinking to High Heaven - by Greg Laurie – www.harvest.org The LORD observed the extent of human wickedness on the earth, and he saw that everything they thought or imagined was consistently and totally evil. —Genesis 6:5 https://harvest.org/resources/devotion/stinking-to-high-heaven/ - Listen I’m amazed at the things I read in the news today. The horrible acts people commit are endless. It’s heartbreaking, it’s disturbing, and it seems as though people always find new ways to do evil things. That is what was happening in Noah’s day too. Genesis 6 gives us this description: “The Lord observed the extent of human wickedness on the earth, and he saw that everything they thought or imagined was consistently and totally evil. So the Lord was sorry he had ever made them and put them on the earth. It broke his heart” (Genesis 6:5–6 NLT). The original language indicates that their wickedness was full to the brim, sort of like an overflowing trash can or septic tank. It was bad. And it was stinking to high heaven. Interestingly, the book of Genesis can be divided into three sections: generation, degeneration, and regeneration. First it was generation when God created all things and said it was good. Degeneration followed as sin entered into the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit. Then came regeneration. We see phase two, degeneration, underway in Genesis 6. As a result, God said, “I will wipe this human race I have created from the face of the earth. Yes, and I will destroy every living thing—all the people, the large animals, the small animals that scurry along the ground, and even the birds of the sky. I am sorry I ever made them” (Genesis 6:7 NLT). God was grieved, and you only grieve for those you love. This hurt the heart of God because He loves humanity. It also shows us that God is aware of the wickedness of humanity. He’s paying attention. However, God takes no pleasure in judging people. He loves us and wants a relationship with us. Yet God sends judgment because He’s loving and just.
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