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The Answer can be Summed up in one Word. ISRAEL! – John Bellam - https://www.rev310.net/post/israel
For almost 20 centuries the prophetic signs of Christ’s return were so rare and sporadic that they were like a stray raindrop falling from a mostly clear sky. Something could be felt but no one was sure what it was because the conditions in the atmosphere did not indicate rain was imminent. Starting in about 1897 however the prophetic clouds began to gather more abundantly and now in 2024 the world is being hit with end times signs so powerful they are more resembling meteor showers than rain showers. What was the impetus for this end-times explosion of signs? How can we be sure that what we are witnessing is the fulfillment of the last days' prophesies of the Bible? The answer can be summed up in one word. ISRAEL! GOD’S SOVEREIGNTY The one thing we must understand in order for all of history and all of the Bible and even the purpose of Israel to be understood in proper context is that God is completely sovereign. Nothing happens by chance in regard to the unfolding of history. I look at humanity and our world throughout time like I view my daughter’s aquarium she had when she was a child. We decided when to buy it and set it up. We chose the fish that went inside the tank. We chose the colorful decor and decorative stones inside the tank. We fed the fish and cleaned up the tank as needed. That tank and those fish were always completely within our control. And when the day came we decided to sell the tank and the fish to someone else, we chose the day and time. Now inside the tank, the fish may have been oblivious to us. They were free to swim around and eat the food when they chose and enjoy the little caverns and castles we placed in their world. They could enjoy other fish and live a nice fish life with no concern about anything outside the tank. But the reality was that we totally held those fish and their world in our hands and it was us that controlled every aspect of their lives and future. They just didn’t know it or even care. History is like that. God planned it all and sustains it all. We do have freedom but the freedoms we have are only within the parameters and confines of the world God has placed us in. He provides for us and gives us breath and numbers our days so that He knows our end from our beginning even if we do not know. It is exactly the same situation with the nation of Israel. God created humanity for His pleasure and for His purposes. He did the same with His creation of Israel. Although it is not a popular concept within the Arminian Church today, God creates good and brings disaster. He creates good because He is good, and He wants to bless His creation with all the joys and blessings He can pour on them. (Gen 1:31 a) “ Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good.” But… He also is the one who creates disaster because it is necessary for the discipline of His wayward creation and also to keep history moving to its predetermined end. (Isaiah 45:7) “I form the light and create darkness, I make peace and create calamity; I, the LORD, do all these things.” Now this is not to say that all the bad things that happen are because God orchestrates them. Surely not. There is sin that is allowed to exist in this spec of time for a reason. It has its purpose. And it is allowed by God for a short season compared to all eternity and that reason in a nutshell is so God can bring honor to His Son, create a bride of faithful redeemed humanity for His Son, and through God’s allowance of Sin it allows Him to display all of His amazing qualities that we would never know without sin’s brief existence. Yet the Bible says God is not the author of sin. (James 1:13 ) “Let no one say when he is tempted, 'I am being tempted by God,' for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one". There is also an evil realm led by Satan that seeks to kill and harm. (1 Peter 5:8) “Be sober-minded, be alert. Your adversary the devil is prowling around like a roaring lion, looking for anyone he can devour.” Yet sin and the Satanic realm have a purpose that all fits under the perfect Sovereignty of God’s ultimate plan: How for instance could we possibly know what mercy is without God displaying it to sinners in an imperfect world? How could we know what God’s wrath is like if there were none fallen to receive His wrath? How could we experience God’s grace without sin preventing us from deserving God’s blessings? How could we fathom the love of Christ without the Cross where our Lord willfully paid for sin on our behalf? How could we see God’s mighty power to utterly destroy evil if not for the sinful kingdom of Satan? Sin has a reason as does the adversary. And because sin is in us and Satan is In the world there is evil that God doesn’t create but He allows for a purpose. But make no mistake, it all exists and is allowed by God’s sovereign choice and it will be eliminated fully when He says the word. I bring all this up because while this world appears to be spinning out of control into utter madness, it is exactly the place God knew it would be in the year of our Lord 2024 AD. God not only knew it would be like this, but He planned for it to be like this. He planned this world’s end before He even created it. How do we know? Because He told us exactly that in His Word! PROMISE OF A SAVIOR In Genesis 3:15 ( right after sin entered the Garden of Eden) God promised Humanity He would send a Savior to defeat Satan and reverse the Curse which God had placed on the world! “And I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” We know this Savior was Jesus Christ and we also know this wasn’t a plan God created on the fly after man chose to sin but that God had planned this before humanity was created. Rev 13:8 says that the whole world will worship the beast during the Tribulation because they were not written in the Book of the Lamb who was slain BEFORE the foundations of the world were set by God. Rev 13:8 “All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” This means God planned for Christ to save the world before man was even created. That is true Sovereignty, my friends! God is in control. And because He is in control He doesn’t leave his plan up to pure chance or simply react as needed. He is a precise God and His sovereign Providence is constantly moving through History fulfilling all His Divine Will in spite of our freedom. Again, like the fish in the aquarium, we have freedom, but it’s all under the auspices of God’s complete sovereign reign over history. THE FAMILY OF THE SAVIOR Now because God knew, and planned the need for Jesus to come before the foundation of the world, He also knew and planned the people group from which Jesus would come. The family of a man named Abraham. (Gen 12:1-4a) “The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people, and your father’s household to the land I will show you. 2 “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you;I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” 4 So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; “ This is where many in the Church age take a wrong turn in their understanding of our world. God promises here to bless Abraham through the great nation he would father. That nation is Israel as we will delve into. God also promises here to bless all the people of the world ( both Jew and Gentile ) through Abraham’s faith which does indeed include the Church. (Isaiah 49:6-7) “It is too small a thing for you to be my servant, to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.” However … the promise to bless the world does not mean God will replace the great nation He created out of Abraham. It means the blessings to that nation will spread out through the world to all peoples and thus, Abraham will be the recipient of offspring as numerous as the stars in the sky. physical descendants from his children the Jews; And spiritual descendants through both Jews and Gentiles in the Church. God went on to describe the events that would initiate the physical descendants : (Gen 15:4-5) “Then the word of the Lord came to him: “This man (a servant in his household) will not be your heir, but a son who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir.” He took him outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” The Muslim world likes to hijack this promise just like much of the Church does . They claim that the son of Abraham to inherit the promises would be Ishmael because he was the first son of Abraham although not by Sarah. But God specifically deals with that objection as well. (Gen 17: 15-19) “God also said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you are no longer to call her Sarai; her name will be Sarah. I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her. I will bless her so that she will be the mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her.” Abraham fell facedown; he laughed and said to himself, “Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?” And Abraham said to God, “If only Ishmael might live under your blessing!” Then God said, “Yes, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will call him Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him." The promises would not come through Abraham’s son Ishmael conceived through human planning (although God would bless Him with nations as well ) but would come through Isaac. (Genesis 21: 1-3) "Now the Lord was gracious to Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did for Sarah what he had promised. Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised him. Abraham gave the name Isaac to the son Sarah bore him." (Genesis 21:12b) “…Listen to whatever Sarah tells you, because it is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.” Now if God knew which man to call who would form this new nation, and He knew which child would be the one that would bring forth the line that would bring the Savior of Gen 3:15 into the world, would the future children of Abraham through Isaac be chosen in any less exact way? Hardly! -God chose the second born, Jacob, to be the heir over his older brother Esau who sold Jacob His birthright. -God gave Jacob a new name, “Israel”, and made his 12 sons the fathers of the eternal tribes of Israel. -God allowed one of Jacob’s sons, Joseph, to be sold by his brothers into slavery in Egypt to preserve the family through severe famine. Joseph rose to second in command in Egypt, (2nd only to Pharaoh) and his Godly wisdom saved the people of the region. But after 400 years the Jews had become slaves in Egypt to ensuing Pharaohs who feared the growing numbers of Israel’s children. The people cried out and God raised up Moses to deliver them to freedom. Now God had foreseen all this as well and in fact, had told Abraham this exact thing when He was showing him all the land that would belong to His Israeli descendants. (Gen 15:13)“God said to Abram, “Know for sure that your descendants will be strangers [living temporarily] in a land (Egypt) that is not theirs, where they will be enslaved and oppressed for four hundred years.” Moses answered the call and led the Israeli slaves to freedom on their way to the promised land God had previously given Abraham for His chosen descendants (read Genesis 15). On the way to their new home, the 12 tribes were given the Law and a sacrificial system to follow in order to keep their sinful state ever before them (as lawbreakers) and to see their need for a Sacrifice that would take away their continual sin. (The perpetual need for endless animal sacrifices was required because none could truly take away sin. They could only point to the need for a final worthy sacrifice which God would provide ) The need for a final sacrifice who would save humanity and fulfill Gen 3:15 was also pictured for Abraham in Gen 22 when God told Him to sacrifice Isaac but then substituted a ram with His head caught in thorns in Isaac’s place. The angel’s words “God will provide the sacrifice” were our eternal clue that the messiah would be that sacrifice and was the one the coming Jewish sacrificial system would point to. It also pointed to the substitutionary atonement Christ would provide as He was crucified once as a substitute for sinners who would believe in Him. After a few detours, the 12 tribes finally came into their promised land some 40 years after leaving Egypt and God began working through a series of judges and then kings and prophets, through unlikely twists and turns and even a temporary banishment from their land, to guide history toward its rendezvous with the Savior of humanity …Jesus Christ! THE OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECIES The Old Testament is full of prophesies that outline the characteristics of the one who would be the savior. They detail where He would be born. (Micah 5:2) That His mother would be a virgin (Isaiah 7:14) and His father would be God ( 2 Sam 7:14) . That He is from eternity past. (Isaiah 9:6-7) He would suffer and die at His first visit (Isaiah 53) but He would come a second time to set up a 1000-year reign on earth over which He would be King. (Hosea 6:2) The prophecies are numerous and very specific. And here is where we get to the main point of this whole article. The Messiah's coming was planned from the beginning. His two-part mission was to A) conquer sin spiritually at His first visitation and B)conquer the world physically during His second visitation. The First Coming was to save the world from its lost state. The second coming will be to judge the lost world, save Israel, and set up a kingdom He will rule over as King of the world restoring the earth to its Eden-like state. All the prophecies of both these visits are contained in the prophecies of the Jewish prophets and all must come to pass 100% or else God was less than honest with the nation of Israel thousands of years ago which Is impossible. (Numbers 23:19 ) “God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?” Remember the earlier points about God’s sovereignty. Many will say that God made promises conditional for Israel and they failed in their faithfulness so God changed the plan. Uh, that is utterly ridiculous. God knew the outcome before He made his promises to Israel. And His outcomes are always directed through His providence so that His will is ultimately done. God made the law because it set His Holy standard. We all break that law but that doesn’t mean God abandons us. He made a way for lost humanity to be saved despite our Lawbreaking. That way is through His Son Jesus Christ who fulfilled every jot and tittle of the law on our behalf. (Matthew 5:17) “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. And if He fulfilled the Law in our place to be our substitute for both atonement of sin and imputation of righteousness at His first coming …He will also fulfill all the Written Word pertaining to His global Lordship and Kingly reign over Israel at His second coming. (Matthew 5:17-18 ) “For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass away from the law, till all things be accomplished.” And … if all this is true, and it is, then that means Israel still has a guaranteed date with destiny as the benefactor of Jesus returns to rule on David’s throne in Jerusalem as King of a mighty renewed Israeli nation. Of course, the enemy knows this and has been trying to destroy the Jews for thousands of years to keep Christ’s second coming from happening and to stop God’s Word from all being fulfilled. CONFUSION ABOUT ISRAEL So how have things gotten so confusing about the importance of Israel and the purpose of Jesus' second coming? Well, several reasons. Here are a few: A) People misunderstand the nature of the duel prophecies. They see it as one event when the Messiah’s two necessary visitations are packed into one passage. Example: Isaiah 61:1-4 1 “The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, 2 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, 3 and provide for those who grieve in Zion—to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor. 4 They will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the places long devastated; they will renew the ruined cities that have been devastated for generations.” Jesus fulfilled the first part of this passage at His first coming. That fulfillment ended in verse 2 with the words “to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor …” Jesus Himself read this passage to the crowd in His hometown of Nazareth in Luke 4:14-21 and they attempted to stone Him for obviously proclaiming Himself to be Messiah. But … He didn’t complete the reading because the rest of this passage deals with His second coming after Israel has been decimated for centuries and has to be called back to their land to restore the nation. It obviously couldn’t be about the return from Babylon because that happened centuries before Jesus came. This is talking about His second coming after Israel has been returned to their land a second time. But it is bunched together with a prophesy about His first incarnation which is misunderstood by the Jews. B) Israel misunderstands the dual role of the Messiah. The Jews long awaited their Messiah and still are waiting today. That is because they chose to cling to their sacrificial system (which could never truly save ) as their justification and only desired a Messiah that would be like David who would be a political king and would deliver Israel from their enemies and elevate their kingdom to greatness in the world of nations. They failed to see that their sacrificial system was only a road sign pointing to the finished work Messiah would provide at His first coming. Isaiah 53 (which describes perfectly the purpose of Jesus' incarnation and His death on the cross as the fulfillment of the sacrificial system ) is completely misinterpreted by Jewish Rabbis to describe Israel’s suffering and they normally ignore the passage altogether because it’s not understood due to their spiritual blindness. C) Most of the church totally misses the point of Paul’s sermon in Romans 11 and transfers the blessings of Israel to the church, completely skewing prophecy and making the Bible impossible to understand in their allegorical system. Since Israel was leveled and scattered in 70 AD and for nearly two millennia their land lay abandoned and desolate, the world and the Church assumed God was done with His chosen people. In actuality, this was the exact scenario Jesus spoke of in the last part of Isaiah 61 and in the parable of the talents. “For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property. To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more. So also he who had the two talents made two talents more. But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master's money. Now after a long time, the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them." Matthew 25:14-19 Jesus is the man going on the journey (back to Heaven ) and the servants are His Church. He is clear to point out in verse 19 that it would be “after a long time “ that He returns. So when this is tied back in with Isaiah 61 and the restoration of Israel’s long abandoned land, it should have been understood that the Jews would be in the Diaspora for a long time. But somehow the church (both Catholic and the reformers ) chose to just usurp God’s blessings to Israel and claim them for the Church. And that is a deadly mistake when trying to make sense of how history is unfolding. Because Israel is the key to understanding the timing of Christ’s second coming to establish His throne! “And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea. And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth. Isaiah 11:11-12 Paul tells us in Romans 11 that Israel was set aside for the salvation of the Gentiles, and then she will be grafted back into her purpose as God’s favored nation. Until that moment in time, Israel would be preserved in their unique ethnicity so they could be returned as pure Jews after God’s work with the Church was through. And then God will restore them as Ezekiel 37 lays out and prepare them for Messiah's second coming and His rule over the world. (Romans 11:25-28) “For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. 26 And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: "The Deliverer will come out of Zion, And He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob; 27 For this is My covenant with them, When I take away their sins." 28 Concerning the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but concerning the election they are beloved for the sake of the fathers." GOD’S TIMEPIECE Hal Lindsey has referred to Israel as “God’s divine timepiece “ because we can tell where we are in history by what is happening with That tiny Jewish nation. So… back to the first paragraph of this article, for centuries we could Not tell exactly where we were in history because, after AD 70, Israel was not there. The Church was given the command by Jesus to take the Gospel to all the world and then sometime after that, the end would come. So that is how history has unfolded. But it did so with blinders on because there was no Divine clock on the wall to tell us where we were on God’s schedule. But then in 1897, the First Zionist Congress meeting took place in Switzerland and set the ball rolling on the re-establishment of a Jewish nation with a homeland. In 1917 Lord Balfour issued the Balfour Declaration. The Balfour Declaration was a public statement issued by the British Government in 1917 during the First World War announcing its support for the establishment of a "national home for the Jewish people" in Palestine, then an Ottoman region with a small minority Jewish population. The declaration was contained in a letter dated 2 November 1917 from the United Kingdom's Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour to Lord Rothschild, a leader of the British Jewish community, for transmission to the Zionist Federation of Great Britain and Ireland. The text of the declaration was published in the press on 9 November 1917. (Source Wikipedia) And soon thereafter came the atrocities of Nazi Germany and Hitler’s Attempt to exterminate the European Jews all across the continent in WW2. But out of this evil plot of genocide came the momentum needed to gather enough support for the fulfillment of one of the most amazing and unlikely prophecies in scripture to finally be fulfilled some 2600 years after Isaiah first penned the words : (Isaiah 66: 8) “Who has ever heard of such things? Who has ever seen things like this? Can a country be born in a day or a nation be brought forth in a moment? Yet no sooner is Zion in labor than she gives birth to her children.” And just like that the dry bones of Ezekiel began rattling as the nation of Israel has been physically brought back together like the bones of a skeleton in an archeologist's lab. THE SIGN May 14, 1948, was the day Israel was reborn as a nation. No other conquered nation has ever had such a thing happen after 2 millennia. This was the Great sign the world needed to know where we are on God’s prophetic timeline. We know that in 444 BC Artaxerxes made the proclamation to let the Jews return from their first exile and 483 years later Jesus Christ was hanged on a cross for the sin of the world just as Daniel had been told in Daniel’s 70-week prophecy (Dan 9:27). We also know there are seven years left to fulfill the rest of that two-part prophecy in Daniel and that those seven years will be called the “Time of Jacob’s Trouble!” (Jeremiah 30:7) “How awful that day will be! No other will be like it. It will be a time of trouble for Jacob, but he will be saved out of it.” And THAT is the reason God has preserved Israel for all these millennia. He is preparing to save them as a nation even after they rejected their Messiah the first time He came. God’s promises never fail though our human ones do. He promised to punish Israel for their unbelief which He has for 2000 years and will Culminate it in the Tribulation period but out of that chastening, He will save His chosen nation and fulfill the Davidic Covenant (2 Sam 7) by seating Jesus Christ on the throne of David for 1000 years. He will also punish the nations for their stored-up sin of rebellion and mistreatment of Israel by bringing all the nations into the valley of Jehosephat for Christ’s triumphant return and judgment! (Joel 3) “In those days and at that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem, I will gather all nations and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. There I will put them on trial for what they did to my inheritance, my people Israel, because they scattered my people among the nations and divided up my land.” This is what the ancient Jewish prophets saw coming and it is what they wanted Messiah to do at His first coming: They wanted punishment for the Romans who were sovereign over the Israeli state and they wanted messiah to lead them to freedom and dominance as a kingdom. They didn’t however want a spiritual Savior Messiah interfering with their sacrificial system and religious hierarchy. Today’s modern Church is mostly just the opposite. They want the baby in a manger Messiah who pays for sins but they don’t want the conquering king and great warrior that will return to a throne in Jerusalem and rule the world with an iron rod and judge the wickedness of the nations! The majority of the world is dull to the incredible sign that restored Israel now represents to us. But watchers know what is happening. Because Israel is back, God's timeline is falling perfectly into place. That giant blinking neon sign “ISRAEL” tells us that all the other signs will soon follow. And what do we see now developing over the last 75 years of Israel’s existence?
The list goes on and on … Everything appears ready for the Antichrist to enter stage left and come on the scene to supply the dazzling solutions this broken and desperate planet will eagerly accept. But one thing is holding Him back. The presence of the Restrainer (The Holy Spirit) in Christ’s Church must first be removed at the Rapture and then all Hell can break loose on the earth and Israel will finally see the last seven years of Daniel’s 490-year prophesy fulfilled. It will be tragic and deadly for Israel and for the world but God will faithfully secure His Jewish remnant through the fire and when it’s at the end they will cry out to their Messiah and He will return to save them and set up her promised glorious kingdom. Jesus knew He was only days from being rejected and killed by His chosen people yet He promised Israel He would return to save them on the day they would recognize who He was and cry to Him for Help. “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing. Look, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’ Matthew 23:37-39 CONCLUSION Israel is right where God planned for them to be at this moment in time. They are not abandoned. They are not an afterthought. They are not there by pure chance. They are not replaced and they are not rejected. They are regathered and God is using them to finish history and bring His precious and mighty Son to the throne of David to rule the entire world and fulfill all the remaining prophecies. God used them to bring the Messiah the first time and He is using them to bring the Messiah again the second time. Israel’s glory is just ahead. But just like all of us she must humble herself to the only Savior that God promised way back in Genesis 3:15. The storm is approaching fast. And Israel will soon fulfill all Her intended role. “And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son.” Zech 10:10 Can God Change His Mind About Israel, or About Us? - By Jonathan Brentner - https://www.raptureready.com/2024/08/31/can-god-change-his-mind-about-israel-or-about-us/ What I’m about to write may seem unlikely. How is it possible that a topic unrelated to Bible prophecy could further validate my conviction concerning the Lord’s promise to restore a glorious kingdom to Israel? I’m totally persuaded that Scripture confirms the nation’s continuing place in God’s sovereign plan for the future. But long ago, what I learned as I worked on my master’s thesis in seminary led to a deeper understanding of why this must be true. The title of my paper was “Roman Catholic Justification in the Light of Scripture.” My understanding of what Paul wrote about justification by faith, first of all, solidified my belief in eternal security. The message of Romans 8:31-38 is clear: If God pronounces us righteous, it’s a done deal. No one can overturn His judicial verdict on our lives. In other words, it’s impossible for justified saints to lose their salvation or walk away from it. Such things can never happen to those whom God declares forever righteous. Never! Long ago, Roman Catholic theologians moved God’s justification of the sinner from the time of regeneration to the end of his or her life. I suspect they did this to add uncertainty to the lives of believers, which enabled the church to exert considerable control over their behavior. Perhaps they understood its finality, and if it happened at the moment that one became born again, absolutely nothing could change one’s rock-solid place of favor in God’s sight. Satan’s tactics remain the same today; he still seeks to inject insecurity into the final outcome of our faith. He loves to make us feel as though we need to keep earning the Lord’s favor rather than believe what the Bible says about us. What does our security in Christ have to do with the future of Israel? Paul sums up this vital link in Romans 11:29: “For the gifts and calling of God are irrevocable.” Please stay with me as I connect the dots between our permanent righteous standing before God and His promise to someday restore a glorious kingdom to Israel. The Lord Cannot Renege on His Promises As I worked on my thesis about justification by faith, I read a book by Erich Sauer, The Triumph of the Crucified. In it, he wrote: The question of the Millennial kingdom is, therefore, not only a question of final history but touches, at the same time, the very heart of the Gospel (freedom from law, universality of the Gospel, gift by grace). To deny it makes either God a liar in relation to His prophecies or Paul a false witness to us. Romans 9–11 is no mere justifying of God, but a justification of Paul’s doctrine of justification.[1] In Romans chapters 9-11, Paul points to Israel’s secure place in God’s redemptive program as confirmation that God can’t change His mind regarding those whom He justifies (Romans 8:31-39). The final outcome of His promises to both us and Israel is all about His character as a promise-keeping God. Human behavior can never negate God’s decrees whether it be on our behalf or that of Israel. Paul thus assures us that because God can never renege on His covenants with Israel and David, we can know that we will bring all those He declares to be righteous to glory. The One who has not rejected Israel (Romans 11:1-25) is the same One who affirms our absolute secure place as justified saints (Romans 8:28-39). Nothing, not even the nation’s rejection of their Messiah in the first century AD, could alter His love for His chosen people or cancel His oft-repeated statements through the Old Testament prophets whereby He gave His solemn word pledging Himself to restore a glorious kingdom to Israel. This does not mean, as some suggest, that all the Jewish people will receive eternal life or secure a place in Jesus’ future kingdom on the earth. Forgiveness of sins and eternal life has always come through faith in Jesus. In the Old Testament, saving faith sprang from believing what God progressively revealed about His Son and His future sacrifice for their sins. Today, we look back with a clear picture of all that His death and resurrection signify for our deliverance from the penalty of sin and our receipt of eternal life. Scripture reveals that the time is coming when a Jewish remnant will turn to Jesus as they recognize Him as their Messiah and Savior. Zechariah wrote about a great repentance of a remnant of the people of Israel, which will happen during the last days (12:10-13:1). Paul certainly had this passage in mind when he confidently predicted the salvation of the Jewish people that would happen after the church age (Romans 11:25-36). Christ Himself prophesied regarding this future group of redeemed Jews (Matthew 23:37-39). He declared that someday the residents of Jerusalem would greet Him with these words, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.” They had done so a few days earlier, but He knew many of them would soon cry out for His crucifixion. As Jesus grieved over His beloved city, He found solace by looking to the future time when He would hear those same words from a truly repentant Israel. God’s Amazing Mercy God’s continuing mercy toward the nation of Israel despite its past and, might I add, their current state of unbelief and waywardness, speaks to the great depths of His amazing mercy toward us as New Testament saints. In Romans 11:30-32, the apostle wrote about God’s matchless mercy toward both us and Israel: “For just as you were at one time disobedient to God but now have received mercy because of their disobedience, so they too have now been disobedient in order that by the mercy shown to you they also may now receive mercy. For God has consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all.” (Emphasis added) For Israel, God’s mercy signifies that His covenants and promises are “irrevocable” (Romans 11:29). He will not fail to bring the nation to the place of repentance that Zechariah said would happen. For us, it means that regardless of our behavior, wrong turns, sins, or failures, the words of Ephesians 1:3-14 will always define us. Once God pronounces us righteous in His sight, nothing whatsoever can diminish the unfailing and unending favor we enjoy in His sight. It’s the Lord’s amazing mercy toward all that motivates us in our walk with Him, as Paul wrote in Romans 12:1: “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.” Do you see it? The phrase “mercies of God” is plural. Paul’s instructions for Christian living in Romans chapters 12-16 flow from God’s unalterable and steadfast love for both us and the nation of Israel. (The chapter break before Romans 12 came centuries after Paul wrote to the saints at Rome.) Our response of service and sacrifice for the Lord flows from the realization that it’s not possible for Him to change His mind about those He chooses. We begin our walk with the Lord as those He declares to be forever righteous and forever remain in His favor. In his book, New Morning Mercies, Paul David Tripp wrote the following on the message of Lamentations 3:23, “His mercies are new every morning:” Not only does God lavish on you love that will never cease and grace that will never end, and not only is he great in faithfulness, but the mercy he extends to you and to me is renewed each morning. It is not tired, stale, irrelevant, worn out, ill-fitting, yesterday mercy. It is form-fitted for the needs of your day. It is sculpted to the shape of the weaknesses, circumstances, and struggles of each and every one of his children. Is it any wonder that Paul sets our walk as believers in the context of the Lord’s amazing mercy that permeates all His dealings with both Israel and us? Contradictions The failure to fully understand God’s mercy, which lies at the heart of the Gospel, opens the door to at least a couple of inconsistencies in interpreting Scripture. Many Bible-believing pastors correctly teach the finality of our salvation yet deny that same unending grace and mercy for the nation of Israel. Is it not contradictory to proclaim God’s unfailing love toward believers and yet deny it for the people that God chose so long ago and with whom He made everlasting covenants (i.e., Psalm 105:7-11)? I believe it is. Do they not see the inseparable link between the finality of our justification and Israel’s continuing place in God’s redemptive program, which Paul addressed in Romans chapters 9-11? They teach the eternal security of the saints yet tell us that this same mercy doesn’t apply to the descendants of Jacob. Is it not equally contradictory for those who preach God’s ongoing purposes for Israel to also teach that New Testament saints can lose their salvation or walk away from it? Yes, it surely is. Those who understand God’s irreversible grace for the nation of Israel, regardless of her past or current state, err greatly by making our continuing place in God’s favor dependent on our behavior. Our security rests in the Lord’s love for us, never in our love for Him. We don’t obey the Lord in order to gain or stay in His favor. It’s something we enjoy every moment of every day and can never lose. We serve Him because of His steadfast love toward us. Paul David Tripp put it this way: If you obey for a thousand years, you’re no more accepted than when you first believed; your acceptance is based on Christ’s righteousness and not yours. Is there not unspeakable comfort and energizing encouragement in knowing that the Lord can never change His mind toward us? Such grand assurance flows from His character as a covenant-keeping God who will not fail to keep all His promises to all those He loves, whether it be the nation of Israel or us as those whom He has redeemed with His precious blood. Why did my master’s thesis on biblical justification confirm my belief that the Lord will someday restore a kingdom to Israel? It did so because I saw the unbreakable connection between Romans 8:28-39 and chapters 9-11. The God who can never change His mind about His promises to Israel is the same One who can never change His mind about those whom He declares to be forever righteous in His sigh. Our security in Christ is never about us; it’s always about Him and solely because of Him. How can anyone expect that it would be any different for the nation of Israel to whom the Lord has pledged in no uncertain terms to restore as the means of defending His Holy Name (see Ezekiel 36:22-38)? PROPHECY UPDATE VIDEOS
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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. I genuinely believe that Prophecy Update and many other like-minded ministries, are needed now more than ever! The world is getting darker daily, almost hourly, but never has the light of the Word of God shone so brightly. Never in our history has there been such a thirst for Truth and a need for a Savior! The Prophecy Update website, newsletter, and Video Channels are all dedicated to providing the truth, encouraging and informing believers, and prayerfully opening the eyes and hearts of non-believers with the Gospel, but none of it would be possible without your prayers and support. DONATE HERE Your can also mail your support to: Prophecy Update PO Box 40516 Bakersfield, CA 93384 ‘Bow Down or Else’: In Our Nation, The Pressure To Conform Is Growing Greater By The Day – By Tim Moore - https://harbingersdaily.com/bow-down-or-else-in-our-nation-the-pressure-to-conform-is-growing-greater-by-the-day/ I recently had the opportunity to interact with a senior executive from a major US corporation. The man was a former military officer and has publicly testified to his faith. My conversation focused on his recent corporate statement fully endorsing the LGBTQ+ agenda. In a statement celebrating what is ironically called “Pride Month,” this man offered glowing affirmation for “gender fluidity.” Dad to dad, I asked him if he actually believed in what he wrote and if it would apply to his own children. His response was telling. He said his personal beliefs are different, but that he must sound a different note in his corporate position. His gushing enthusiasm for the entire spectrum of LGBTQ+ ideology was simply “expected.” I was immediately reminded of my experience flying into Jordan in 2003. As the mission commander, I had to interact with several Jordanian officers. One-one they were personable and candid, but when gathered together they engaged in obvious “group speak.” One officer would initiate a conversation and opine that Israel was to blame for 9/11 and the ensuing war. Immediately, the other officers would chime in—each endeavoring to outdo the other. It became obvious that each officer was merely posturing, lest he be deemed insufficiently loyal to the perceived collective mindset. Bow Down or Else! These two episodes reflect our human desire to fit in. None of us wants to stand out as the sore thumb in any group. Teenagers supposedly succumb to peer pressure the most, but in my experience, many adults also find it very difficult to stick out as different. They may talk big, but their hearts melt away and they act like cowardly lions. The repercussions may not involve the threat of a fiery furnace, but many Christians have lost opportunities, jobs, income, friends and family, and even their lives for their determination to live out their Christian testimony. And in our own nation, the pressure to conform is growing greater by the day. Some Evangelical Christians wonder why I, and others, often reference Pope Francis’ infamous wavering on Catholic doctrines. Plainly stated, the Catholic Church claims many doctrines that are antithetical to Scripture, but it has been clear in its support for life, marriage, and natural order defined in the Bible. With Francis equivocating on those foundational beliefs, Evangelical Christians will soon find themselves further isolated as we stand firm on the Word of God. A Country Such as This A new movie by director Brett Varvel (son of the editorial cartoonist Gary Varvel, whose work often appears in LampLighter magazine) portrays an America where churches have been driven underground and the Bible is officially banned. Some would assert that this dystopian view of the future is too far-fetched to be believable. But Houston’s mayor already tried to pre-approve pastor’s sermons and other Western nations have tried to label the Bible as hate speech. Does anyone really doubt that if America elected a far-Left President and majority in Congress that they would not seek to undermine religious liberty in the United States? They have already expressed their disgust for Christian “troublers” who are standing in the way of their progressive ideology. As I see it, there are three insidious inclinations we need to guard against: ONE — Like a frog in the pot, the rising threat comes incrementally, lulling us into complacency. If the threat arose suddenly, our “red line” might be crossed in a dramatic fashion. But when it creeps in over a long period of time, we either don’t establish a red line—or we allow it to gradually shift and erode. I suspect that even those who were dozing off through the 90s and early 2000s have awakened to the rising threat in and to our nation. But there are some who are still asleep, to whom Jesus would say, “Wake up! And strengthen the things that remain, which were about to die” (Revelation 3:2). On that note, can you imagine what this country will be like in 20 years if it continues its present trajectory? What kind of world will your children or grandchildren live in? If that thought troubles you, then my question is this: when is the right time to engage and work to change that trajectory? The obvious answer is: now, not twenty years from now and not even tomorrow. Right now. TWO — We recognize the threat but want to bide our time—rationalizing that we need to save our effort for the “really big battles.” When I was in the Kentucky legislature, one of our minority leaders was always encouraging us to “keep our powder dry.” He did not want us to waste our energy on battles that he thought were doomed to fail—or he hoped that we would find a more strategic opportunity to engage. But I frequently urged greater engagement, because we will always lose the battles we don’t fight. Paul’s testimony to Timothy was, “I have fought the good fight” (2 Timothy 4:7a). A form of the word “fight” appears twice in that sixword statement. Christians need to realize that we are in a fight—a spiritual battle where the stakes are greater than we realize. We need to learn from Paul and fight, so that when we are called Home we can also say, “I have finished the course, I have kept the faith” (2 Timothy 4:7b). THREE — Finally, we can misdirect our loyalty in such a manner that our boldness is blunted. In an Army magazine article entitled, “Is Loyalty Overvalued?”, Lt. Col. Pete Kilner (US Army, Ret.) observed that “leaders and organizations that demand loyalty typically aren’t worthy of it. Loyalty, it turns out, is typically the highest value in organizations that lack virtue.” Our culture often demands loyalty that is not earned. For instance, I can sing along with Lee Greenwood, “I’m proud to be an American!” But much of what our government tolerates and promotes is abhorrent to me as a Christian. I’ve said it before: whereas pop culture once revered “Truth, Justice, and the American Way,” I doubt a majority of Americans could even agree on those terms anymore. And our present national leaders seem determined to undermine all three according to the definitions that align with a biblical worldview. Hold! Hold! In the movie, Braveheart, Mel Gibson depicts a battle where William Wallace encourages his men to “Hold! Hold!” As the enemy calvary charges toward their line, most of his men grow increasingly nervous. Wallace knows that they can win the day—if they hold their line and follow his instructions. But if they turn and run, they will be cut down and defeated absolutely. In that scene, the line does hold and Wallace’s forces prevail. Your next opportunity to “Hold, hold!” may very well come today, and tomorrow, and the day after that. It will come this November 7th, when Christians need to vote in accordance with a Christian worldview. It will also come as you interact with your own children and grandchildren—raising them in the fear and admonition of the Lord and readying them for the battles they must fight if Jesus tarries. Our Commander has given us certain orders and assured us of victory. He has commanded us to stand firm and hold until He comes. He alone is worthy of our loyalty—not because He demands it, but because He has earned it, because He is worthy, and because He is the King of kings and Lord of lords. 5 Signs That the US Is Collapsing – Clarke Barnes - https://www.prophecynewswatch.com/article.cfm?recent_news_id=7277 The US has always been a famously optimistic country. From our beginning, rebelling against the greatest empire the world has ever seen in a bold attempt to gain independence, we've always looked to a brighter future. Through our history millions of people have come to what they see as a land of opportunity. The American Dream - the idea that if we work had we can succeed - is one of the key threads that runs through our culture. How optimistic are you feeling now, though? Does it look as if the US is headed onward and upward to a brighter future? Or do you have an uneasy feeling that the American Dream is on the edge of collapsing into a nightmare? If you do, and you're looking for reassurance, I'm sorry to say I can't give you any. We're not past the point of no return yet, but there's evidence all around us that points to this country being in a dangerously unstable condition. We could manage to turn things around - but right now we're heading in the wrong direction. A House Divided These states don't feel very united right now. In fact this country might be more divided than it's been at any time since Richmond fell to US troops in 1865. Our politics have become terrifyingly partisan. Decades ago, in the golden age of the 1950s, the Republicans wanted to build a prosperous by cutting federal taxes and letting people keep more of their money. The Democrats wanted to build a prosperous nation by using federal law to give people more rights at work. OK, that's simplifying it a little, but both parties wanted pretty much the same sort of country; they just had different ideas - and, really, not that different - about how to get there. Look at things now. Some moderate politicians still exist (and they get elected, so some people still like what they're saying) but overall political debate has swerved wildly towards the extremes. We live in a society that's financed by reckless borrowing, constantly kicking the can down the road and pretending the day the world won't lend us money anymore is never going to arrive. Along with crazy, extreme ideas comes a level of political hatred that's hard to comprehend. Just a generation ago, we tended to think people who didn't share our political views were wrong but basically well-meaning. Now, if you don't hold exactly the right set of constantly changing and ever more extreme opinions, you're literally evil. You're heartless, selfish. You're not just someone that voted for the other party; you're the enemy, and you must be destroyed. A society where a large number of people think that way is badly broken. And that's where we are now. Violence Is The New Protest Protesters used to turn up with placards and maybe a bunch of flowers. Now they're as likely to bring a bike lock, a knife or a gun. Almost any protest is liable to turn into a riot. Any society will have the occasional outbreak of unrest, but doesn't it seem like they're happening a lot more now? If the police shoot someone - even a violent criminal who was trying to stab an innocent victim - that's an excuse for an orgy of looting and destruction. If the Supreme Court makes a decision someone doesn't like, justices find angry mobs outside their homes - and armed maniacs trying to kill them. Far too many protesters are going armed. Carrying a gun to protect yourself and your family is a long and honorable American tradition. Carrying a gun to intimidate people you disagree with into silence is not. The Country Is Falling Apart In a literal way, America is disintegrating. Our infrastructure is suffering from decades of under-investment. Our power grid is so old and overloaded that it doesn't need an EMP strike to collapse it; two hot weeks in June could be enough to do the job. Even a simple blizzard can take down big chunks of it. We've been running power cables to homes for over a hundred years, and we haven't figured out snow yet? The current administration loves to talk about how it's going to sort out our crumbling infrastructure, but its big idea is to make us all buy electric cars - then recharge them from the grid that already can't cope with the load. Everyone knows our infrastructure is in a mess, but nobody has a serious plan to fix it. Morals Are Decaying Too many people want something for nothing - whether it's cynical corporations that want a monopoly, or corrupt politicians that want to exploit their position for money. Tens of millions of Americans still do believe in earning (or paying) an honest wage for honest work, but a terrifyingly large number don't. Far too many people have rejected the idea that money is something you need to earn. A lot of people just don't seem to have any standards at all. Addicts buy, sell and use drugs in the streets of major cities, and local politicians just let it happen. District attorneys abolish cash bail and work to keep violent criminals out of prison. There are 340 million people in this country. If we don't have a shared idea of what's right and wrong, a set of moral standards we all agree to live by, the US is going to become a very unpleasant place. Without a unifying morality, societies fall apart. We're Going Broke The US is still the world's biggest economy, and it's still growing - but most Americans aren't seeing the fruits of that growth. Wages are stagnating. Instead of making our schools and colleges go back to teaching useful skills, and protecting workers from cheap illegal labor, our politicians are just trying to borrow and spend their way to re-election. Look at the US national debt clock. Right now we owe over $31.8 trillion, and that amount is increasing so fast that the last five digits on the clock are a blur. Our government is burning through tens of thousands of dollars faster than you can keep track of the number changing. A million dollars every 36 seconds - well, about that anyway; I couldn't press the buttons on my stopwatch fast enough to get within $30,000 or so. There are less than 128 million income tax payers in this country and there's no way we can finance all the spending the government wants to do. Yes, some people talk about taxing the rich or the one percent or the big corporations instead of regular taxpayers, but it doesn't matter; the money always comes out of the pockets of ordinary working Americans in the end. A big corporation might have legal personhood, but it isn't really a person. It's a collection of people that sells goods or services to other people - ordinary people - and if the corporation has to pay more tax, those ordinary people end up paying for it through higher prices or lower wages. The government has to stop spending so much, but it won't, because it's scared of losing votes. So, instead, it borrows the money and hopes that somehow, by some miracle, the world will keep lending to us and we'll never have to pay it back. The problem is, the day when taxes won't even cover the interest on our debt is coming over the horizon. In the next ten years we'll spend $10.5 trillion on interest payments - while borrowing trillions more, that our government has no idea how to pay back. Sooner or later the world will realize that we're never going to repay the money we owe, and they'll turn off the lending tap. And, when that happens, the final collapse is just days away. When every federal employee doesn't get paid, and every welfare check and Social Security payment fails to arrive, the US will be blown apart. We're not past the point of no return - yet. But we're getting very, very close. Daily Jot: The sad truth of the Israeli hostage situation - Bill Wilson – www.dailyjot.com Hamas executes six Israeli hostages and the world explodes. But not in the way that one of a righteous mindset would expect. There were protests in Israel demanding the government end the hostilities with Hamas and appease them. There were world leaders, including those in Britain, the US and the United Nations challenging the Israeli government to give in to Hamas. There were protests in places like New York City where pro-terrorist demonstrators demanded an end to American aid to Israel, and even worse, the annihilation of Israel and all Jews. So what is going on? People are murdered by an organized bunch of inhuman thugs, and the world wants to encourage more of the same through appeasement? Israelis want the hostages returned. The families of the hostages want them returned. This is totally understandable. However, returned at what cost? And what guarantee does anyone have that the hostages are still alive? Truth is that Israel has agreed to a ceasefire. Hamas refuses to agree. At the crux of the matter is Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s insistence that the Israeli army maintains a substantive presence on the Egypt-Gaza border, in an area known as the Philadelphi corridor. Hamas has frustrated the deal with shifting demands and wants the Israeli troops removed. The corridor is the strategic area Hamas uses to smuggle weapons into Gaza. Netanyahu wants it cut off permanently. Remember that Hamas wants Jews and Israel exterminated, a people think that giving into Hamas will end its quest? This is where politics, human emotion and practicality collide. Politically speaking, Israelis just want peace. They want their loved ones returned. The human emotion side of things comes to play that Israelis are tired of the situation and angry. The anger is aimed at both Hamas and the Israeli government, primarily Netanyahu. They believe, as Joe Biden does, that Netanyahu should do more to end the conflict. Netanyahu is holding onto the idea that if he gives in to Hamas, the well-funded terrorist group will reestablish its strategic positions and relentlessly come after Israeli citizens again. Practicality is that Hamas must be eliminated otherwise the terror will continue in perpetuity. Netanyahu is looking at this from the perspective that he wants to do what is right for Israel and its citizens for the long term. Appeasement never works. Netanyahu knows this. Deep down, the Israeli people know it, but they are tired of the fight. Every time in history when Israel gives in to the politics or emotion, rather than the practicality of standing against its enemies, the outcome is bad. Case in point, when George Bush pressured Ariel Sharon into giving up Gaza in 2005. There was no peace then. There was never any peace as rocket fire on Israeli civilians continued most every day from Gaza. While the families of the hostages deserve infinite respect, sympathy and empathy—no one can fathom the depth of hurt they are experiencing—appeasing these “elected” Hamas barbarians is the worst thing to do. As is written in Jeremiah 6:14, “They dress the wound of My people with very little care, saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace at all.” Daily Devotion: The Sweetest Burden - by Greg Laurie – www.harvest.org Then he said to the crowd, ‘If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross daily, and follow me.’ —Luke 9:23 https://harvest.org/resources/devotion/the-sweetest-burden-2/ - Listen We seem to have lost the meaning of the cross today. It has become a mere religious symbol, an icon shrouded in religiosity. But in the first century when someone was carrying a cross through the streets, it meant only one thing: that person was going to die. So, when people heard Jesus say, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross daily, and follow me,” they would have easily understood what He meant. Sometimes we think of a cross to bear as a trying relationship, a health problem, a challenging job, or some other tough circumstance. Those may be difficulties in life. But they are not our crosses to bear. The cross we must bear is the same for each of us. It speaks of dying to ourselves. And what that means, simply, is laying ourselves at the feet of Jesus and saying, “I want Your will more than my own.” Of course, when we talk about bearing the cross and living a crucified life, it sounds morbid and unappealing because we have a false concept of what it means. We think it means isolating ourselves in an ivory tower somewhere and never having fun, smiling, or laughing. That is how we imagine ourselves living the crucified life. But is that what it really means? Writing to the churches in Galatia, the apostle Paul said, “My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20 NLT). As Jesus said, if you want to find your life, then lose it (see Luke 9:24). Thus, when we live the crucified life, it isn’t a morbid, miserable experience. It doesn’t mean that we’ve ruined our lives when we start walking with God. Rather, it’s when life begins to really happen, when life becomes full and meaningful. Because we want God’s will more than our own, we’ll have the abundant life that Jesus promised, (see John 10:10). We’re living life as it was meant to be lived. It is life to the fullest. Samuel Rutherford, a seventeenth-century theologian, said, “The cross of Christ is the sweetest burden that ever I bore. It is such a burden as wings are to a bird, or sails to a ship, to carry me forward to my desired haven.” And he was right. The cross of Christ is no burden because God’s will is better than our own. Are you bearing the cross and following Jesus? For some, this could mean suffering persecution. For others, it could mean a major change of lifestyle. It could cost us friends. But we will live life as it was meant to be lived: in the perfect will of God. So let’s commit ourselves to being disciples of Jesus Christ—not mere fair-weather followers, but true disciples. PROPHECY UPDATE NEWS HEADLINES Yesterday's Prophecies - Today's Headlines HEADLINES IN PARTNERSHIP WITH TRACKING BIBLE PROPHECY 9/5/24 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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