 TODAY'S NEWSLETTER...
A Silence That Will Have to Be Answered For – By Amir Tsarfati - https://harbingersdaily.com/amir-tsarfati-a-silence-that-will-have-to-be-answer-for/
(Galilee, Israel) — Shalom from Israel! This Sunday night will begin Yom HaShoah, and the remembrance will run through Monday afternoon. Translated literally as “Day of the Catastrophe”, this is Israel’s annual Holocaust Remembrance Day. In the 1930s and 1940s, more than six million Jews lost their lives under the Nazi regime. Of those victims, greater than 1.5 million were children. At 10:00 on Monday morning, sirens will sound throughout the nation of Israel. At that moment, all people will stop what they are doing and stand in silence for two minutes to honor and remember those who were slaughtered during that horrific time. Places of business will halt their activities. Cars will pull over and their passengers will get out. School classes will pause their instruction. As a nation and as a people, we are determined that we will never forget what took place during those dark times. Why is it so important to intentionally remember tragedy? To answer that, all you need to do is look at what is currently happening in national and international government buildings and on university campuses around the world. On October 7, a slaughter took place that was so vile, so vicious, so demonic that it seemed the world had to pause to catch its breath. Torture, systematic rape, kidnapping, murder, and mutilation were perpetrated by gleeful terrorists against an unsuspecting and wholly innocent civilian population. Israel was forever changed, and a huge majority of nations around the world commiserated with us. But that was then, and this is now. Before we get to what is different today, let’s talk about what led to this change of attitude. It’s really very simple – Israel fought back, and it did so with a vengeance. That’s not what is supposed to happen. The world likes it much better when its Jews are victims. During the Holocaust, apart from some amazing acts of bravery, like the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, most all of the Jews went quietly to their deaths. During the pogroms in Russia, the Jews fled from the violence. Over the centuries, when Jews were forced to leave their homes and their countries, they went. What else could they do? They were part of a diaspora. They were strangers in a strange land. But now the Jews have a home, and that home has allowed us to become strong. No longer are we forced to take the shots. When the chanters cry out, “From the River to the Sea”, we respond, “Yeah, just try to take our land.” And when the terrorists invade, Israel will make sure that they can never, ever do it again. How do we do that? We kill all of Hamas’s leadership, and, if there are any of their rank-and-file members that survive the onslaught, we will bring them to justice. It’s harsh, it’s violent, and it’s bloody. But it is what it will take for Israel to once again be safe within its own borders. The International Pushback The United Nations hates anything it can’t control. For decades it’s been unsuccessfully trying to control Israel. Resolution after resolution condemning Israel and demanding the government change its ways have all fallen on deaf ears. This is especially frustrating for them, because Israel is filled with those same Jews that for so many centuries were under the thumb of many of the United Nations’ nations. After October 7, the United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres condemned the Hamas attack, although the body itself never did so. But what goodwill might have been contained within the UN soon started to fade once Israel began to fight back against Hamas in Gaza. In January, Guterres condemned Israel for the killing of Gazan civilians, despite the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) taking unprecedented care to avoid innocent deaths. Then, in March, the UN Security Council demanded a ceasefire in Gaza for Ramadan. Since those tactics didn’t work, they’ve now concocted a new scheme to use the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague to issue arrest warrants for Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and other top government officials. The United States’ president and congress have threatened retaliation if the ICC goes through with this hair-brained scheme, but it goes to show how desperate the international community is to get those renegade Jews back under control. As wonderful as it is to have this support from the United States, Israel recognizes that America is getting frustrated at the fact that they, too, are losing control of their closest Middle Eastern ally. From its inception, Israel has been the beneficiary of U.S. goodwill, sometimes military, sometimes financial. The extent of this goodwill has varied from time to time, often based on who is in the White House. In return for that support, the United States could typically count on Israel to acquiesce when Washington felt strongly enough to insist on a matter. Currently, that is not the case. The Biden administration needs peace in Gaza. The election is coming, and he desperately needs an international win. Unfortunately, Netanyahu is saying, “Yeah, I get it. But we’ve got to see this thing through, and that’s exactly what we’re going to do.” This puts the Washington administration in a tough situation. The majority of American public opinion is still with Israel, so if the U.S. pulls an Afghanistan and totally abandons their Jewish allies, Biden will get walloped in the polls. But if he does nothing and the war in Israel expands up into Lebanon, as planned, he’ll also get walloped in the polls. So, the administration is resorting to arm-twisting using the normalization between Israel and Saudi Arabia as leverage. While in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, just prior to visiting Israel, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said, “In order to move forward with normalization, two things will be required – calm in Gaza and a credible pathway to a Palestinian state.” Bringing to a close Israel’s battle for safety and passing some sort of two-state solution would go a long way to showing Biden as an international leader. But there is no way that Netanyahu is going to allow either of those to take place. That is why the White House is working to oust the prime minister using the hostage situation. Factions are arising in Israel surrounding the hostages. It’s understandable, because people want their family members home. Rumblings are coming out of the White House talking about a ceasefire in return for a limited release of hostages. If Netanyahu were to cave to the pressure to take such a deal, his government would fall apart almost instantly. Some members of the left in Washington are hoping that the emotions surrounding the hostages will overwhelm the big picture wisdom surrounding the war to such an extent that Netanyahu’s coalition will break and a more pliable option like Yair Lapid or Yoav Gallant will be given the prime minister position. For now, Netanyahu is doing what most of Israel is wanting him to do. We have not forgotten October 7. The IDF is using aerial attacks to soften up Rafah, in preparation for a ground invasion to put the final nails in the coffin of Hamas. They are also continuing the battle in the West Bank against Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ). Up in the north, key Hezbollah infrastructure is being destroyed and terrorist leaders are being killed in Lebanon and Syria. Hezbollah and the proxy militias are fighting back. Regular barrages of rockets are flying over the Syrian and Lebanese border into Israel, and terrorist attacks in the streets and at military checkpoints are becoming all too familiar. Israel’s fight against the terrorist groups will continue, and we will not at all be surprised if the day will soon come when we will be prosecuting the war standing by ourselves. Radical Pushback It is certainly more sensational to focus on the crazy antics that are taking place on college campuses in the U.S. However, I don’t think that is the important story. This is not a “what” question, but a “why”. And to understand the “why”, we must identify the “who”. It’s impossible to turn on the network media or to go onto your favorite online news sources without seeing a bunch of black-and-white keffiyeh wearing college students chanting ridiculous slogans, setting up “Palestinian Liberation Zones” on campus, breaking into and taking over university buildings, and wrestling with the police. According to AP News, more than 1,000 protesters have been arrested on university campuses over the past two weeks. But despite the location of the arrests, many of those taken into custody were not students. The protests taking place are neither spontaneous nor organic. They have been carefully planned and were simply awaiting a catalyst to launch. Those behind the college riots are outside professionals funded by radical leftists like George Soros and organizations like the American Muslims for Palestine, which is a Hamas-financing arm in the U.S. These skilled agitators know the right words to say to whip up emotion. They are social media savvy and know how to glamorize the idea of “sticking it to the man.” They are also masters at escalation, and when protests turn violent it is typically their hands behind the intensification. The greatest tools these agitators have are the liberal nature of secondary and university education, the susceptibility and geopolitical ignorance of the majority of American young adults, and the desperate craving of this generation for deeper meaning in their lives. So, when a passionate activist comes along and reaffirms the lies of their leftist teachers and professors, they are ready to believe it. Because they are susceptible and ignorant, logic and truth are easily discounted in favor of emotion and feelings. Thus, when they take over a university building and throw a water bottle at a policeman, they feel they are doing something righteous in the name of justice for the oppressed. Little do they know that their entire belief system is a house of cards built on a foundation of lies. This is why you can find college students who two years ago were nervously posing for prom pictures now employing Nazi SA brown shirt tactics blocking Jewish students from entering college buildings and beating them up because of their race. It is the lies of these agitators that turn the high school valedictorian who went to Columbia for a law degree into a keffiyeh wrapped banshee screaming and spitting at the cops. Meanwhile, at many universities, the administration and faculty that parents are trusting to educate and lead their children are allowing this insanity to take place without recrimination. This is why we must constantly be reminded of October 7. This is why you regularly find brutal reminders on my Telegram channel of what took place that tragic day. Already, the rapes and torture are being branded as lies or exaggerations. Or, worse yet, they’re being given a pass as an understandable acting out of an oppressed people. That is disgusting, it is appalling, and it is heartbreaking to think of what that kind of moral equivalency is doing to the hearts of those who are being taught that brand of evil. But the ever-worsening antisemitic rhetoric being spouted on streets and on campuses is not just limited to October 7. It is directed at Israel in general and at the Jewish people in particular. That is why it is unfathomable to me that so many pastors and political figures remain mute on the subject. It is a silence that I believe they will have to answer for. God is looking for church pulpits and political rostrums from which His chosen people are prayed for and antisemitism is harshly condemned. Yom HaShoah ensures that we will never forget the Holocaust and the millions who were brutally murdered. But even though we Jews didn’t forget that there were people who once wanted to wipe us all out, we did get complacent. October 7 was a different kind of “Day of Catastrophe”. It was a wake-up call. Rather than stand in remembrance of the slaughtered innocents for two minutes, we grabbed our guns to take revenge on the guilty. We will not be caught off-guard again. We will never forget. Signs Of the Times: War, Famine, Pestilences And Natural Disasters - by Michael Snyder - https://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/signs-of-the-times-war-famine-pestilences-and-natural-disasters/ People keep acting as if we are living in “normal” times, but the truth is that these are not “normal” times at all. We are in the midst of a “perfect storm”, but most people in the general population don’t seem to realize this. While the mainstream media is endlessly focused on political drama, our world is being deeply troubled by war, economic problems, food shortages, nightmarish pestilences and terrifying natural disasters. But as bad as things are at this moment, I am entirely convinced that they are about to get a whole lot worse. I would like to start by talking about war. The IDF is preparing to conduct an operation in Rafah, and that could cause the entire Middle East to erupt in flames. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is pledging that his forces will eventually move in no matter how negotiations for a temporary ceasefire with Hamas go. Meanwhile, we just learned that Israel has just conducted airstrikes on the outskirts of Damascus… Israeli aircraft have reportedly attacked a location on the outskirts of the Syrian capital of Damascus late Thursday (local), a security source told Reuters. While there has been no immediate confirmation via Syrian state media, widely circulating images have emerged on social media showing plumes of smoke rising high over buildings which were struck. It is just a matter of time before all-out war erupts in the region. Speaking of all-out war, French President Emmanuel Macron is warning that French troops could be sent to Ukraine if Russian forces break through the Ukrainian front lines… Emmanuel Macron has said he would be prepared to send troops to Ukraine if Vladimir Putin’s forces break through the front lines – further raising the risk of NATO forces clashing with Russia’s armies. In an interview published today, the French president said the issue of sending troops would ‘legitimately’ arise if Kyiv and president Volodymyr Zelensky made such a request. The Economist said Macron gave the interview after delivering a keynote speech last week where he declared that Europe is ‘mortal’ and could ‘die’ partly due to the threat posed by Russian aggression after its February 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Those that have been following the war closely know that the Russians are already breaking through the front lines in several areas along the eastern front. So will Macron make good on his threat? If so, that will put us literally one step away from nuclear conflict. All throughout history, large scale wars have been accompanied by famine. For now, we still have plenty of food to eat in the western world, but it is a far different story in the poorest areas of the planet. For example, the famine in Sudan has become so severe that some people are literally eating dirt… There is so little food in some areas of Sudan that people are taking extreme measures to survive. In the Al Lait refugee camp, they are eating dirt. I was stunned when I read that. If you were hungry enough, would you fill your stomach with dirt? Apparently, some desperately hungry people are rolling dirt into a ball and swallowing it with water… Akok, 41, reached Al Lait in December, but has no work and can’t feed the family. At times, they go two or three days without eating. When that happens, Akok said, he watches helplessly as his wife and children dig holes in the ground with a stick, slide their hands in and grab some soil. Then they roll the soil into a ball, put it in their mouths and swallow it with water. “I keep telling them not to do it, but it’s hunger,” he said. “There is nothing I can do.” In my latest book I have an entire chapter about the emerging global famine. What we are witnessing now is just the tip of the iceberg compared to what is eventually coming. I have also been warning that frightening pestilences will break out all over the globe, and right now we are witnessing an unprecedented outbreak of dengue fever in South America. At this point, more than four million cases of dengue fever have been registered in Brazil alone so far this year… Brazil surpassed 4 million cases of dengue fever registered this year, according to an update from the Ministry of Health’s Arbovirus Monitoring Panel this Monday. In total, 4,127,571 probable cases of the disease were reported across the country in the first four months of 2024. As for dengue deaths, 1,937 have been confirmed and 2,345 are under investigation. The incidence rate of the disease in the country is 2,032.7 cases for each group of 100,000 population. And Peru has just declared a nationwide health emergency because cases of dengue fever are rising so rapidly in that nation… The Peruvian government’s cabinet approved the motion to declare a health emergency on Monday, Vasquez told journalists, hours after he said a dengue outbreak was “imminent.” “There are 20 regions (out of 25) that will be declared in a health emergency due to dengue,” Vasquez said in an earlier interview on local radio station RPP. Here in North America, H5N1 has been killing cows, cats, chickens and turkeys. Now authorities are desperately hoping that it does not make the jump to humans. For much more on this, please see my recent article entitled “The Strain Of The Bird Flu That Is Killing Cats In Texas Is Causing ‘Brain Hemorrhaging’ And ‘Blindness'”. Lastly, I would like to talk about the unusual natural disasters that we have been experiencing lately. In 2024, southern California has been getting shaken on a regular basis. Yesterday, it was hit by a magnitude 4.1 earthquake… An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 4.1 has struck near Corona in Riverside County, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The USGS says the quake struck at 1:49 p.m. just 5.3 miles from Corona. It was originally reported as a 4.5 magnitude but was ultimately reduced to a 4.1. Overall, there have been 748 earthquakes in California and Nevada within the past seven days. It is just a matter of time before “the Big One” strikes, but at this stage most of those living in the region have stopped listening to such warnings. The east coast has also been experiencing unusual seismic activity. On the first day of this month, New Jersey was shaken by a magnitude 2.6 earthquake… A magnitude 2.6 aftershock has rattled New Jersey on the first day of May after a dramatic earthquake shook parts of the east coast in early April. The Garden State has been rocked by more than 150 aftershocks since the initial 4.8 magnitude earthquake which centered near Lebanon on the morning of April 5. More than 42 million people from New York to Connecticut and Philadelphia felt the first quake, and New Jersey residents have been plagued by tremors ever since. Normally, the east coast if very, very quiet. So what we are seeing right now is definitely quite unusual. The middle of the nation has not been left out either. In recent days we have seen tornado after tornado rock the center of the country. For example, one area of Nebraska was just hit by a tornado that had wind speeds of up to 165 miles per hour… Nebraska brothers tell a terrifying tale of feeling a tornado pull their home apart, sucking them out and tossing them with debris. “Ok, I’m cool to leave for work,” Roger Slatten thought to himself Saturday afternoon after Elkhorn, Nebraska’s tornado sirens went silent. But they sounded again. A strong EF-3 tornado was bearing down on the Omaha suburb with 165 mph winds. His friend called him in the car and said, “Get back home, It’s going crazy.” Roger called his brother Royce and told him to rush home. They planned to get the two dogs and all shelter in the basement. When will people finally start waking up? What we are experiencing is not even close to normal. It seems like almost every new day brings us yet another new crisis or disaster to deal with, and I have a feeling that the pace of events is only going to escalate as this year continues to roll along. 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DONATE HERE Your can also mail your support to: Prophecy Update PO Box 40516 Bakersfield, CA 93384 Fueling Antisemitism: Hamas’ Demonic Lies Are Being Perpetuated By The Media – By Robert Gottselig - https://harbingersdaily.com/fueling-antisemitism-hamas-demonic-lies-are-being-perpetuated-by-the-media/ Last week, the Jerusalem Post reported that the spokesperson for Hamas’ armed al-Qassam Brigades, Abu Ubaida, called for an escalation across all fronts. “In a video aired by Al Jazeera TV, Abu Ubaida praised Iran’s attack on Israel on April 13…” JPost explained. “He also called for an escalation in the West Bank and Jordan calling it ‘one of the most important Arab fronts.'” The Hamas spokesman further stated: “We call on the Jordanian people to step up their actions and raise their voices. The government of the occupation is stalling in reaching a hostages swap deal and is trying to obstruct efforts by the mediators to reach a ceasefire agreement.” I can assure you that it’s not Israel that’s stalling or obstructing efforts to reach a ceasefire. There already was a ceasefire on October 6th of last year, and Hamas broke it. Stop with the lies! Qatar also expressed its concern that all part parties should “show seriousness” to allow such efforts to succeed. Again, it’s not Israel that is to blame. It’s those who hate Israel are to blame. Hamas is a terrorist organization whose goal in its Charter is to “obliterate” the Jewish State. The same is true with Iran. They openly call for Israel to be wiped off the face of the map, and they are determined to develop a nuclear weapon to carry that out. As for Qatar, they, too, show what they think of Israel. “We do not surrender, but rather we win, or we die. This is not the end. Rather, you will have to fight the next generation, yes, the next generation,” Essa Bin Ahmad Al-Nassr, a member of the Qatari legislative Shura council, said, paraphrasing a quote from Omar Mukhtar, an Islamic revolutionary hailed by Muslims as a “symbol of resistance.” “The Al-Aqsa flood operation [October 7th massacre] that began is only a prelude to the elimination of the Jews,” he continued. “The second is in the land and the beginning, Allah willing, of the end of their state after their gathering in the land of Palestine.” “As Allah almighty said, and we said after him to the children on Israel, ‘Inhabit the land, so when the promise of the hereafter [death] comes, we brought you as a group,'” the council member said referencing a verse in the Quran. “Here they are coming and gathering in the land of Mahshar, in the land of Palestine, the battlefield of the next generation.” Seriously? The Al-Aqsa flood, that is, the October 7th Massacre, was only the prelude to the elimination of the Jews and Israel? That’s demonic, and in their warped, sick minds, they try to convince the world that Israel is the one obstructing efforts to reach a ceasefire. This evil that is being perpetrated in the media has fueled antisemitism worldwide. Antisemitism is running rampant in US college campuses and here in our Canadian universities. Yet, our political leaders in our countries are virtually silent on the matter. They refuse to shut down this demonic hate towards the Jewish people, and it’s getting worse and worse. In fact, it’s starting to look an awful lot like Nazi Germany did in the 1930s. What in the world is going on? I’ll tell you. If I didn’t have God’s Word to bring clarity to the days in which we live, I wouldn’t be able to make any sense of it. It should be obvious to anyone with a functioning brain that this is a battle between good and evil, right and dead wrong. There are no two sides here, friends. I believe we’re living in a Romans 1 world. Verses 16 to 32 of this chapter speak of God giving people over to a “reprobate mind.” They don’t have the ability to think clearly. They don’t have the ability to use common sense. Romans 1:28 – “And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting;” We are living in the last days, as Paul wrote to Timothy (2 Tim 3:1-5). There is a real spiritual battle going on, and Satan is the “prince of the power of the air,” working over time in the “sons of disobedience” (Eph. 2:1-3, 6:12). Therefore, we need to be praying hard for our countries and for our leaders to wake up and restore our land to what we once knew as normal only a few years ago. We need to be praying that our leaders will put an end to this violence that is being carried out against Israel and the Jewish people. I’m afraid that if we don’t turn this around quickly, God, true to His Word in Genesis 12:3, will not bring blessings to our countries. Rather, God will bring a curse with His judgment and some seriously hard times for this world. As Bible-believing Christians, I implore you to stand, love, and support Israel and the Jewish people in their darkest hour since the Holocaust. I want to remind you that God is taking note, and we will all have to give an account one day as we see Jesus, the king of Kings, the king of the Jews, face to face. May the words of Asaf in Psalm 83 be a warning to the world and to those who hate God’s chosen people: Psalm 83:13-18 – “O my God, make them like the whirling dust, Like the chaff before the wind! As the fire burns the woods, And as the flame sets the mountains on fire, So pursue them with Your tempest, And frighten them with Your storm. Fill their faces with shame, That they may seek Your name, O Lord. Let them be confounded and dismayed forever; Yes, let them be put to shame and perish, That they may know that You, whose name alone is the Lord, Are the Most High over all the earth.” I Am Not Ashamed - By Howard Green - https://www.raptureready.com/2024/05/02/i-am-not-ashamed-by-howard-green/ Almost everyone likes to make a good first impression. God made us highly sociable beings, and most of us don’t leave our homes wondering, “How many people can I offend today?” In an effort to be seen as kind and loving, many Christians refrain from going into all the world to preach the gospel because they fear it will offend people. Some believers seem to value their standing in the community and reputation more than the name of Jesus. As we near the close of the age, the Bible says our faith will cost us more than our reputation. It might bring the loss of friends, family, finances, and even our life. The realistic possibility of losing everything for what you believe begs the question, Are you ashamed of Jesus? (Luke 9:26). A disturbing trend has emerged recently in places that weren’t overtly hostile to the gospel. It is the trend of enacting legislation to silence a Christian’s right to free speech if their words are deemed hateful or offensive. Recent examples include a street preacher in London who was threatened with arrest for simply saying, “God gave his only son, that whatever person, a homosexual, liar, drunk, or prostitute, believes in him, shall not perish and have everlasting life.” A young Christian lady was singing gospel songs recently on a London street. She was approached by five police officers and told that she couldn’t sing church songs outside of church. These are just two examples of many attempts to squelch the gospel under the guise of hate speech laws. A newly proposed Canadian law, Bill C-367, would end free speech protection for faith-based groups, and they float the bill under the pretense of antisemitism and hate speech. Governments that were at least tolerant of free speech in years past are increasingly proposing and passing laws meant to silence Christians. As the world turns increasingly against the gospel, I wonder who can stand as our faith begins to cost us something tangible. This becomes more evident in America and Europe when living for Jesus, for the most part, only costs us our reputation, and for many, that’s too much of a cost to bear. It appears that sharing the gospel without the lure of a trunk full of Halloween candy, free lunch, spreading mulch, or a free Christmas show is deemed ineffective. Yes, we are saved unto good works, and Christians should be the kindest, most giving people in the world, but nowhere in the Bible will you find preachers earning the right to share the gospel. This is a spiritual bait-and-switch and the sort of charade that leaves would-be disciples distrustful of churches and Christians. “If the Holy Spirit was withdrawn from the church today, 95 percent of what we do would go on, and no one would know the difference. If the Holy Spirit had been withdrawn from the New Testament church, 95 percent of what they did would stop, and everybody would know the difference.” – A.W. Tozer When you take a look at a large segment of Christianity today, many so-called leaders have traded the convicting power of the Holy Spirit to reach lost souls for the convincing power of our own goodness. Here’s one example out of many I could give: A fellow minister told me I wasn’t permitted to pass out gospel tracts or pray for people at our community ‘outreach’ function on the church property because there is a deep mistrust of churches and church leaders nationwide. The stated goal was to provide an opportunity for us to ‘know’ our neighbors, provide a safe space, and build bridges so we can eventually engage them with the gospel (Galatians 1:10). This sentiment isn’t unique to that particular church because the sin of self-congratulation and promotion to the world is in many of our local churches. In an effort to be unique and relevant, they have become irrelevant to the Kingdom. This unbiblical approach to the great commission is virtually everywhere you look in many so-called evangelical churches. Why is this? Simply put, by its very nature, the gospel is offensive and a matter of eternal life and death (2 Corinthians 2:15-15). In reality, many so-called ‘Christians’ would rather ingratiate themselves to the community by becoming more like the world to reach the world. We are told things like we have to earn the right, build bridges of grace, get them to trust us, and seek to know them before we share the gospel. This pseudo-evangelism is spiritual deception from the pit of hell. If we wait to ‘eventually’ engage people with the gospel, it rarely happens, and most people we view as projects eventually go into eternity unsaved and unwarned. Here’s what A.W. Tozer said about our worldly efforts to win public opinion instead of lost souls: “Religion today is not transforming people; rather it is being transformed by the people. It is not raising the moral level of society; it is descending to society’s own level, and congratulating itself that it has scored a victory because society is smilingly accepting its surrender.” – A.W. Tozer I love the Church of Jesus and other believers. There is a true remnant church, authentic individual Christians in many churches worldwide that make up the body of Christ. How is it, then, that so many other professing Christians are afraid of the name of Jesus both inside and outside of church? Jesus explains why in Luke 9:25-26. The people who are preoccupied with religion and standing in the world will be ashamed of Him. Jesus makes an interesting point because He knows many people say, “Lord, Lord.” So they might identify with Jesus on a surface, religious, church affiliation level, but not in public with what the Bible says because it might offend someone. We esteem the praise of people more than pleasing God. Jesus says not only are you ashamed of me but “ashamed of my words.” This is why, in the context of His warning about being ashamed of Him, He tells us to deny ourselves, take up our cross, and lose our lives for Him. Perhaps it’s time for personal and collective introspection among believers to ask the question: Are we ashamed of Jesus and His words? Dear friends, we aren’t the first generation to witness nominal worldly Christianity, as if there is such a thing. True believers are marked by boldness and love. We should boldly proclaim the gospel, and our love for the Lord and lost people compel us forward to share it with gentleness and respect (1 Peter 3:15). You would think that with the gift of hindsight and discernment, the tepid approach of groveling for the world to like and accept us, Christians would see that it doesn’t win disciples but makes false converts. Jesus said this world will hate you because it hates Him. Our job isn’t to reinvent the great commission with a supernatural version of Dale Carnegie’s Winning Friends and Influencing People. Instead, we must do what Jesus says and compel them to come in (Matthew 22:9). We must love people in word and deed, and a tangible way to do this is by sharing the gospel. It’s the most loving thing you can do for others, knowing they will spend eternity in heaven or hell. I am not ashamed (Romans 1:16). All for Him, Howard Link to our ministry YouTube channel: (Here) Link to our ministry podcast: (Here) Daily Jot: The American Chronicles: Cowboys and Convertibles - Bill Wilson – www.dailyjot.com Somebody pulled up in the driveway. I didn’t go out and see who it was right away. Had some chores in the barn, probably cleaning stalls. I came out into the barnyard and through the glow of the afternoon sun, there was an image I never thought possible to be sitting in our driveway. I couldn’t believe my eyes. There she sat. In the driveway. A brand new red 1962 Ford Thunderbird convertible. Top down. White tuck and roll leather bucket seats with a classic rounded back seat. The dashboard looked like the cockpit on my Jimmy Jet and it had a sleek middle console. The car reminded me of something that would have come out of the space-aged cartoon The Jetsons. Couldn’t believe my dad bought it. Well, he didn’t. After I looked that T-Bird over and ran my hands along its sleek outer lines, examined the “thruster-like” taillights, and the rounded aerodynamic grill, I meandered into the house imagining riding down the country roads with my hair blowing in the wind. There in the kitchen was Dad, Mom, and the car salesman sitting around the kitchen table. Pretty serious discussion. Back then, car dealers jacked prices up. It was up to the buyers whether they would pay full price or haggle for a better price. My Dad was a horse trader, so that car salesman, who drove that wonderful T-Bird all the way from Kent 20 miles away to make a sale, was in for some dealing. Dad told me to go outside and look at the car. About two hours later, the salesman came out. Dad said to come out of the car. The salesman said something like, “You are passing up a great deal.” Dad said something like $4,700 is my price. That car was going for about $5,500. So it was no deal. I was so disappointed. Dad said they wanted too much for the car. Mom said there wasn’t enough room in it. A little later, though, they bought a 1962 Buick Invicta convertible, light metallic blue with matching interior. It didn’t have the bucket seats, bench seats in the front. Huge back seat. And the trunk was as big as a ballroom. Dad got his convertible. Mom got her room. And I believe they paid less than $4,000 at Gifford Buick in Kent, Ohio. That started a trend. It was unusual to see a farmer in bibbed overalls and a cowboy hat riding in a sporty car with the top down. But that was Dad, and Mom might be found in the back seat being chauffeured in her Jackie Kennedy sunglasses and scarf. Proverbs 22:6 says, “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” It’s true with cars as well. A couple years later, Dad traded the Invicta for an Electra 225. Even bigger. In fact, seven of us used it many times to go on vacation to Myrtle Beach, SC. Convertibles got in my blood. I bought a Spitfire out of college. Later an MG. Then a BMW Z, another BMW Z and now I have a 2005 BMW CSI ragtop. Love that wind in my hair. Now I just love the wind, just saying. Who’d ever thought that cowboys and convertibles would be a good fit? Daily Devotion: Imitation Christians - by Greg Laurie – www.harvest.org But evil people and impostors will flourish. They will deceive others and will themselves be deceived. —2 Timothy 3:13 https://harvest.org/resources/devotion/imitation-christians/ - Listen When the iPhone was first released in 2007, Apple redefined the entire cell phone market. Phones had never looked that way before. And it wasn’t long until other companies introduced their own versions of the updated smartphone. Whenever something is popular, there are always imitations. Before the return of Jesus, the devil basically will flood the market with cheap imitations of the real thing. And it will be an effective ploy. In fact, some people will have a difficult time knowing the true from the false. Maybe you’ve known people who were strong Christians and even influenced you to put your faith in Jesus Christ. But after some time passed, it became evident they weren’t the Christians you thought they were. Even worse, they were living double lives in complete contradiction of their professed faith. Perhaps you thought, “Well, if they’re hypocrites, then I’m not going to be a Christian, either. I’m going to turn my back on this. They’re all just a bunch of phonies.” And the devil would say in response, “Gotcha! You fell for my trap. You bought into what I was doing.” That’s how things will be in the last days. People will be imitation Christians. They will appear to be something they really are not. That is the idea Jesus conveyed in a story we call the parable of the wheat and the weeds. A farmer went out and planted wheat, but during the night, his enemy came and sowed weeds throughout the wheat. The problem was that if the farmer tried to pull out the weeds, it would uproot the entire crop. So, the farmer instructed his workers, “Let both grow together until the harvest. Then I will tell the harvesters to sort out the weeds, tie them into bundles, and burn them, and to put the wheat in the barn” (Matthew 13:30 NLT). Likewise, there will be many people in the last days who believe, but there also will be many who fake their belief. They will sit side by side in the same churches. They will sing the same songs, read the same Bible, and say the same things to some degree. But in reality, these people won’t be Christians to begin with. These won’t be believers who have gone astray. They will be people who never believed and were faking it from day one. In fact, the Bible says that will be one of the signs of the last days (see 2 Timothy 3:5). That is how our world will be before the return of Jesus Christ. Both the best and the worst will be happening at the same time. The good news is that God will be at work, and people will be coming to faith in Jesus Christ. The bad news is that Satan will be at work as well, seeking to undermine our faith. Until the Lord’s return, a spiritual battle will be raging. But God ultimately will have the victory over the devil and his kingdom. PROPHECY UPDATE NEWS HEADLINES Yesterday's Prophecies - Today's Headlines HEADLINES IN PARTNERSHIP WITH TRACKING BIBLE PROPHECY 5/3/24 http://trackingbibleprophecy.org/birthpangs.php
FROM THE HEART Let Us Make the Short Time We have Left, Count for ALL of Eternity! IF YOU HAVE BEEN BLESSED THROUGH THIS MINISTRY, THEN WE ASK THAT YOU WOULD PLEASE REMEMBER PROPHECY UPDATE IN YOUR GIVING - WE ARE TRULY, TRULY, THANKFUL FOR YOUR SUPPORT WORTHY OF YOUR SUPPORT? One of the most reliable ways to determine if a ministry is worthy of your financial support is to examine its fruits. If Prophecy Update is keeping you informed, and if that information inspires you, and causes you to draw closer to the Lord, if Prophecy Update equips you with valuable information and knowledge to share with and encourage other believers, and open the eyes of non-believers, and if Prophecy Update keeps you connected to current events relating to Bible Prophecy, then you are partaking of the fruit produced through this ministry. None of this would be possible without the Lords blessings and your support. I believe where the Lord guides, the Lord provides, and most of the time He provides through the willing and generous hearts of believers just like you and me. Humbly Seek Your Support Prophecy Update has no corporate sponsors. This ministry is paid for and prayed for by readers and supporters. Without your support, there would be no Prophecy Update, Please pray about becoming a monthly supporter - thanks! If ever there was a time to invest in God's Kingdom, it's now! What on earth are you doing for Heaven's Sake? "Share in the Blessings and Rewards that will last Forever!" "Folks, it's all beginning to unravel. America is in more danger of falling than at any time in its history. But I believe Bible prophecy predicts this very decline. From this point on, we believers have to get serious. We are going to face discouragement, disillusionment and, most certainly, persecution in the time between now and the Rapture. But don't be discouraged or disillusioned. The coming turmoil will provide us unrivaled opportunities to share the good news of the Gospel. So be ready to share your faith and your hope with those who need Christ. We still have time to reap a great harvest of souls for God's kingdom!" - Hal Lindsey 1) We need your prayers!- We proclaim the Truth of the Word of God and we are under constant spiritual and sometimes even physical attack. 2) We need your encouragement!- We need to hear from you, let us know how the Lord is blessing you through this ministry so that we can share it with others. 3) We need your input! - If you have a prophetic article or story or if there is a news related item we missed, let us know. 4) We need your financial support!- To put it quite simply, without your support, there would be no Prophecy Update. I ask that you would prayerfully consider partnering with us to get the Word out and keep the world informed. Remember, your gift, no matter how small, does make a difference! You will be helping to touch lives, around the world, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, thanks to the internet your generosity carries a global impact! - Thanks! Our Prayer for You- "Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God. This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of God's people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, men will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else." 2 Corinthians 9:10-13 If you have been blessed by Prophecy Update and would like to help support this ministry financially. You can make a secure donation online by going to: DONATE NOW Or write us at: Prophecy Update P.O. Box 40516 Bakersfield, CA 93384-0516 We are very pleased to offer all our readers this FREE download on Bible Prophecy from the Evangelical Bible College of Western Australia - Just download and enjoy and be blessed! Feel free to share it with all your friends and family members. Click below to download! "AS YOU SEE THE DAY APPROACHING" If You Died Today, Would You Go To Heaven? Find out, visit: www.thegoodtest.net www.gotquestions.org www.wayofthemaster.com How to know God DID YOU KNOW? You can submit an article, leave a comment or praise report at email: [email protected] Maranatha! (Lord Come Quickly) "On Christ the Solid Rock I Stand, All other ground is sinking sand." "Let Us make the short time we have left count for all eternity!" YBIC-Randy
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