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The Mistaken Diagnoses of the Scoffers – Jonathan Brentner - https://www.jonathanbrentner.com/https/jonathan-brentner-g8fgsquarespacecom/config/2023/10/4/the-mistaken-diagnoses-of-the-scoffers
One of my favorite Peanuts cartoons pictures a troubled Charlie Brown seeking Lucy’s five cent psychiatric help. After Lucy provides several cautions about worrying, she says, “If you have to worry, you should worry about this very moment.” In response, a puzzled Charlie Brown asks, “This moment? Why this moment?” It’s then that a soccer ball comes flying through the air, bonks him in the head, and sends him flying to the ground. Lucy then explains her diagnosis, “I saw this ball heading this way, see, and . . .” In his second letter, the Apostle Peter warns us about people who, unlike Lucy, fail to properly diagnose the moment in which they live. They see the same signs of the approaching Tribulation that we do, but interpret them far differently. Not only do they reject our diagnosis, but they also ridicule our hope. . . . knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming?” (2 Pet. 3:3-4a) The apostle’s words accurately depict our day. The Rapture has become the object of scorn in many churches, even where it was once taught as a core belief. And of course, those outside of Christ give us much grief regarding our hope in Jesus’ imminent appearing, but that’s to be expected. What lies behind the scoffing of our day? As the apostle explains, it stems from a wrong interpretation of the day in which we live. Unlike Lucy, our mockers fail to recognize the imminent danger of the rapidly approaching Tribulation period. They misdiagnose our day by ignoring . . . THE WORDS OF THE APOSTLES Before Peter warns his readers about the scoffers, he urges them to “remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles” (2 Pet. 3:2). The term he used for “predictions” in the original is rhema, which denotes words. I find it more than a little coincidental that at the end of 2 Peter, the apostle equates the “letters” of Paul with Scripture (2 Peter 3:15-16). He is the one that provides us with the most details of the Lord’s appearing in passages such as 1 Corinthians 15:50-54, Philippians 3:20-21, and 1 Thessalonians 4:13-5:10. These passages, along with many others, form the basis for belief in the Rapture. Our hope is firmly grounded in the words of the apostles contained in the New Testament. The scoffers fail to consider the words that form the basis for our biblical expectation of Jesus’ appearing. Instead, they wrongly accuse us of relying on John Darby for our beliefs. Such a claim exemplifies their abject failure to understand the clear meaning of the passages cited in the preceding paragraph, which form the sole basis for our expectation. BIBLICAL WARNINGS OF JUDGMENT The second mistaken diagnosis is that of overlooking the certainty of Gods’ judgment. They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.” For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly. (2 Peter 3:4-7) Though many of our critics deny the worldwide scope of the Genesis 6-8 flood, most simply “overlook” it as being an aspect of God’s character to judge sinful humanity. They see the same wickedness, lawlessness, deception, and bloody violence of our day, but fail to conclude that these things will bring God’s wrath. They either spiritualize the words of Revelation chapters 4-18, tell us they were a code for first century believers, or claim that the Lord fulfilled them in the distant past. They mistakenly ignore the biblical prophecies regarding God’s judgment of sin in the current realm. The assertion that today is no different than any other time in history lies at the heart of their shocking miscalculation of the times in which they live. This question remains a mystery to me: “Why is it that those who cannot see the signs of the rapidly approaching Tribulation period seem to be equally blind to the fact that the Lord must soon judge America and the world for its extreme wickedness?” The denial of the Rapture along with the nearness of God’s judgment on this world characterize many, if not most of those who ridicule our hope. THE FACT THAT GOD VIEWS TIME MUCH DIFFERENTLY Another errant misdiagnosis of the times is that of a failure to grasp that God sees time much differently than we do: But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. (2 Peter 3:8) The Lord has a vastly different perspective of time than we do. He exists apart from time, which is something we cannot fully comprehend. The scoffers see words such as “soon” and “quickly” in the book of Revelation and errantly insist that the Lord has already fulfilled all its prophecies. Their misdiagnosis stems from not understanding the suddenness of these future events and from the spiritualization of events that clearly haven’t happened at any time in history. GOD’S PATIENCE The errant verdict of those that scorn our hope also stems from a failure to understand the Lord’s patience in waiting for people to repent before He sends the horrific judgments of the tribulation. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. (2 Peter 3:9) When we grasp the full extent of the death and destruction that will take place on the earth after the Rapture, it helps us better understand God’s wanting as many to come to Him as possible before the Day of the Lord begins (2 Thessalonians 5:1-10). God is exceedingly patient, which is good because He has endured so much with me as He waited for me to mature in my faith. The Father knows when He will send His Son to fetch us, and we can be sure that His timing will be perfect. THE TEMPORARY NATURE OF THEIR LIVES The normalcy bias in the U.S. is exceedingly strong, which I believe causes the detractors of our hope to assume that what we see will last for the foreseeable future. They fail to fully recognize that this life is temporary, and that God’s judgment is on the way. In the verse below, Peter looks beyond the Rapture, Tribulation, Second Coming, and Millennium to the culmination of the Day of the Lord: But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. (2 Peter 3:10) Just before the start of the eternal state as described in Revelation chapters 21-22, the Lord will destroy our current world by fire. He does this to remove all the remnants of the past as well as to prepare for a new heavens and earth (2 Peter 3:13). Though certainly not true of all, many attack the Rapture out of a love for their current lives. They fail to grasp that regardless of their circumstances, what’s coming will be far superior to anything they will experience in this life. It’s ironic that the scoffing of our hope fulfills Peter’s prophecy of what will happen in the last days before the Rapture becomes a reality. Their behavior reveals the nearness of the very event that they mock and it’s a common response for those who speak or write about our joyous expectation of meeting Jesus in the air. Lucy saw the imminent danger for Charlie Brown even though she did not warn him. The detractors of our hope see the same dangers and signs as we do, but they misdiagnose them and as a result remain unaware both of the threats to their wellbeing and the forthcoming joy of meeting Jesus in air. I provide a detailed defense of the Pretribulation viewpoint in: The Triumph of the Redeemed-An eternal Perspective that Calms Our Fears in Perilous Times. Note: Please consider signing up for my newsletter on the home page of my website at https://www.jonathanbrentner.com/ . Thanks! Anger, Diplomacy, and Putin’s Deepening Relationship with Libya and Sudan – By Amir Tsarfati - https://harbingersdaily.com/worldview-with-amir-tsarfati-anger-diplomacy-and-putins-deepening-relationship-with-libya-and-sudan/ Arab media lashed out at Jewish “settlers” on Wednesday accusing them of “storming” the Al-Aqsa Temple Complex, also known as the Temple Mount. It’s true that a record 1500 Jews entered the area, but they did so peaceably and legally. Palestinian media went a step further, calling them “invaders”. There is irony in that accusation, since “Palestine” comes from the word “Philistine” which means “invader”. If you want to learn more about Sukkot, or the Feast of Tabernacles, you can read my short commentary. Iranian Weapons Convoy Targeted by Israeli Airstrikes Iran sent a convoy of weapons through Iraq into Syria with a mission of getting them into the hands of Hezbollah. They never made it. Saturday night, just west of Damascus, Israeli airstrikes took the convoy out. Then Monday night, further Israeli strikes targeted military assets, damaging several buildings and wounding two Syrian soldiers. Meanwhile, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned nations that are seeking to normalize relations with Israel. “The definite position of the Islamic Republic is that countries that make the gamble of normalization with Israel will lose. They are betting on a losing horse,” said Khamenei. The angry eye of Iran is particularly locked on Saudi Arabia. It seems the Iranians feel that the Saudis used them, only pretending to desire better relations with them and with China. They believe that in reality it was just a ruse to get the American’s attention, so that they could get a better military security deal. Their anger is at a level that if an explosion or two happens at a Saudi oil installation in the next couple of weeks, no one should be surprised. More Diplomatic Victories for Israel Less than 80 years after the end of World War II and the Holocaust, Israel has signed an agreement to sell Germany its Arrow 3 missile defense system, developed in partnership with the United States. “It is, without exaggerating, a historic day for both our countries,” said German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius, as he signed the agreement with his Israeli counterpart Yoav Gallant in Berlin. Meanwhile, in Riyadh yesterday, Israel’s Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi made history as the first Israeli politician to officially deliver a speech in Saudi Arabia. After addressing his audience in English, he concluded his words by offering a blessing in Arabic, asking that “God would bring peace between us.” Iran Fears a Second Mahsa Amini Type Incident Last Sunday, Armita Geravand, a 16-year-old student, was assaulted by Iran’s morality police for not properly wearing a hijab. She was on a subway train when she was accosted, during which time her head was slammed against a pole. Geravand is now in a coma in Tehran’s Iranian Air Force Hospital. It has been just over one year since 22-year-old Mahsa Amini was beaten to death by this same religious goon squad. The killing of Amini led to months of social upheaval resulting in the deaths of over 500 protestors and the imprisonment of thousands. The government is hurriedly trying to quash the story before the sparks of discontent with the Islamic regime are once again fanned into flames. Pakistan Terror Attack Kills 54 In Mastung, Baluchistan province, Pakistan, 500 worshippers had gathered to celebrate the birthday of Muhammad. Into this crowd, the Islamic State sent one or two suicide bombers. In the resulting carnage, 54 were killed and more than 70 were wounded. This was the latest in a series of attacks that took place in the area over the last week. Putin Hosts Libya and Sudan Libyan military strongman Khalifa Haftar met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow last Thursday. That same day, Putin also met with South Sudan President Salva Kiir. Both meetings reported deepening relationships. Why is this important? In the coming Ezekiel 38 war, there are two countries joining Russia, Turkey, and Iran in their attack against Israel. Those countries are Libya and Sudan. Pentagon Warns Low Ukraine Funding Could Affect US Military Readiness As weapons stockpiled for the US military were funneled off to Ukraine, the plan was to replenish that war material so that American forces remained fully supplied. But the money allocated for that replenishment is just about out, and, according to Pentagon Comptroller Michael McCord, the US has “already been forced to slow down the replenishment of our own forces to hedge against an uncertain funding future.” This could quickly affect America’s military readiness. In the meantime, as a stopgap, the US will transfer a large quantity of seized Iranian weapons and ammunition to Ukraine. Across the pond, Great Britain has run out of military equipment that they can donate to Ukraine. “We’ve given away all we can afford,” an anonymous military official told The Daily Mail. Unprecedented Ousting of US Speaker of the House In a move unprecedented in American politics, a Speaker of the House was removed by his own party. Republican Congressman Kevin McCarthy was challenged by a group of GOP conservatives, led by Congressman Matt Gaetz, after he agreed to an unapproved deal with the Democrats to keep the government open. After heated inner-party debate, eight Republicans and all the Democrats voted to remove McCarthy. After the last presidential election, I committed to doing my best to keep my personal opinion on American politics to myself. But let me just say this about the current state of the Republican party – Oy vey, people! After Defeat to Azerbaijan, Armenians Push Back Against Turkey Just days after Armenia was forced to give in to Azerbaijan in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism at the University of Southern California held a conference on Turkish foreign policy. Protestors showed up, offended that the school would focus on Turkey, a long-time foe of Armenia, during a time of mourning over those lost in the fighting and the continuing plight of thousands of Armenians who were displaced by the conflict and the many others who are left in a precarious situation in the now hostile region. When Turkish diplomats exited the forum, chants turned to bottles which turned to fists. “It’s incredibly shameful that USC Annenberg chooses to host an event like this in this time of mourning,” said Sonia Meroian, a board member on the Armenian Student Association. Kurdish Suicide Bomber Leads to Heavy Retaliation A member of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) ran toward the entrance of the Turkish Ministry of the Interior in Ankara on Sunday and blew himself up. Two police officers were wounded. A second bomber was killed in a shootout before he could detonate his explosives. Later in the day, Turkish jets attacked 20 targets of the PKK in northern Iraq. Prophecy Update Videos Must Watch Videos! Videos You Can Trust
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DONATE HERE Your can also mail your support to: Prophecy Update PO Box 40516 Bakersfield, CA 93384 The Great AI Invasion: Given Enough Time, Artificial Intelligence Would Take Over Every Area Of Our Lives - by Michael Snyder - http://endoftheamericandream.com/the-great-ai-invasion-given-enough-time-artificial-intelligence-would-take-over-every-area-of-our-lives/ Artificial intelligence is changing our world at a pace that is absolutely breathtaking. If you would have asked me a decade ago if I would live to see artificial intelligence create a world class piece of art or a full-length feature film, I would have said no way. But now those are simple tasks for artificial intelligence to accomplish. So what is going to happen once AI becomes millions of times smarter and millions of times more powerful than it is today? Given enough time, AI would take over every area of our lives. Our world is definitely crazy right now, but fifty years from now it would resemble something out of an extremely bizarre science fiction novel if AI is allowed to continue to develop at an exponential rate. Unfortunately, only a very small minority of the population is even concerned about the potential dangers posed by AI, and that is a problem. Needless to say, the growth of AI has enormous implications for our economy. AI can already perform most simple tasks much better and much faster than human workers can, and multiple studies have concluded that millions of jobs are at risk of being lost. The following comes from Fox News… For example, in March 2023, technology firm OpenAI released a report that found at least 80% of the U.S. labor force could have at least 10% of their work-related tasks affected by the introduction of GPT, while another 19% of employees may see at least 50% of these work-related tasks impacted. While GPT influence impacts all wage levels, the higher-income jobs potentially face the greatest exposure, concludes OpenAI. Also in March 2023, researchers at investment banker Goldman Sachs, after collecting data on occupationally-oriented tasks in Europe and the U.S., found that roughly two-thirds of current occupations are exposed to varying degrees of generative AI automation (such as found in ChatGPT), and that AI could substitute for nearly one-fourth of current work performed. In July 2023, the McKinsey Global Institute issued a report estimating that without generative AI, automation could take over tasks accounting for 21.5% of the hours worked in the U,S. economy by 2030; but with generative AI, that share increased to 29.5%. So what would happen to all of the workers that would no longer be needed once AI starts taking over most of our jobs? I think that is a question that all of us should be asking. Artificial intelligence also threatens to transform our personal relationships. “AI girlfriends” are proving to be immensely popular with young men, and we are being warned about the “severe consequences” that this is likely to cause… The rise of virtual artificial intelligence (AI) girlfriends is enabling the silent epidemic of loneliness in an entire generation of young men. It is also having severe consequences for America’s future. How is something that seems so ridiculous — a virtual AI girlfriend — causing a future crisis among Americans? Well, with millions of users, apps have created virtual girlfriends that talk to you, love you, allow you to live out your erotic fantasies, and learn, through data, exactly what you like and what you don’t like, creating the “perfect” relationship. Who wouldn’t want a “perfect” relationship? In the real world, people have flaws, and so there is no such thing as a “perfect” relationship. So if AI can create a girlfriend that is ideal for you all the time, I can see why a lot of people would be attracted to that. And this is really happening. In fact, an AI girlfriend that is based on a real life social media influencer already has more than 1,000 users… These virtual girlfriends can even be based on real people. One influencer created an AI bot of herself named Caryn, then gained over 1,000 users (i.e. real boyfriends) in less than a week and a waitlist of more than 15,000 people. An AI girlfriend might sound enticing. You get to connect with a super hot girl who listens to you and appreciates you, 24/7. Beyond choosing physical attributes, down to the size of her rear end, you can pick her personality. You prefer “hot, funny, and bold”? That’s what she will be. Or if “cute, shy, and modest” is more your cup of tea, she’s got you covered. Of course it isn’t just lonely young men that are getting pulled into this world. In my next book, I discuss a woman that has actually married her AI boyfriend, and she insists that she is happier than she has ever been before. But what is the cost? What will this do to our society? There is already a raging epidemic of loneliness among our young men, and it is getting worse with each passing day… Let’s look at the hard numbers. More than 60 percent of young men (ages 18-30) are single, compared to only 30 percent of women the same age. One in five men report not having a single close friend, a number that has quadrupled in the last 30 years. The amount of social engagement with friends dropped by 20 hours per month over the pandemic and is still decreasing. AI is also starting to be used in our churches. Last month, a Methodist church in Texas made headlines all over the world when the pastor conducted an entire “worship service” using AI technology… On September 17, 2023, the Violet Crown City Church, a Methodist church in North Austin, US, transformed the tradition of Sunday service into the new age with Artificial Intelligence. Pastor Jay Cooper, of Violet Crown City Church, decided to debut an AI-generated worship service for his congregation. This is so wrong. But it is inevitable that more churches will start doing this. Pastor Cooper asked Chat GPT to create an entire service for his congregation, and it spit out “prayers, a sermon, and an original song based on the sermon itself”… Jay came across this idea of using AI to worship God through using Chat GPT himself for personal use such as writing humorous country music lyrics for fun, and thought it would be a great way to move his congregation into the 21st-century by introducing them to AI in a way that still lets them worship God. Using AI, Jay recorded the service while letting the artificial intelligence generator conduct the service, with AI being able to create prayers, a sermon, and an original song based on the sermon itself. But what kind of “spiritual content” should we expect from a machine? Ultimately, all AI programs are going to mirror the values of those that created them and those that are using them. In this case, current societal values were clearly reflected in this “worship service”. The following is how the “sermon” began… “Come, all who are weary, come all who are heavy-laden, “For in this place, we find rest for our souls. “Come, people of all backgrounds and walks of life, “For here, we celebrate the diversity of God’s creation. “Come, seekers of justice and peace, “For together, we strive to make the world a better place.” Seriously? Several politically-correct buzzwords are used within the first six sentences, and it is obvious what this AI “sermon” is trying to communicate. Of course this wasn’t the first church service that was created by artificial intelligence. As I have written about previously, the very first church service that was created by artificial intelligence was conducted at St. Paul’s Church in Bavaria, Germany… Early in the summer of 2023, robots projected on a screen delivered sermons to about 300 congregants at St. Paul’s Church in Bavaria, Germany. Created by ChatGPT and Jonas Simmerlein, a theologian and philosopher from the University of Vienna, the experimental church service drew immense interest. It is just a matter of time before more churches jump on the bandwagon. And other religions are now making use of cutting edge technology as well. If you can believe it, multilingual robots have been deployed at the Grand Mosque in Saudi Arabia… Consider the recent robotic initiatives at the Grand Mosque in Saudi Arabia. At this mosque, multilingual robots are being deployed for multiple purposes, including providing answers to questions related to ritual performances in 11 languages. Notably, while these robots stationed at the Grand Mosque can recite the Holy Quran, they also provide visitors with connections to local imams. Their touch-screen interfaces are equipped with bar codes, allowing users to learn more about the weekly schedules of mosque staff, including clerics who lead Friday sermons. In addition, these robots can connect visitors with Islamic scholars via video interactions to answer their queries around the clock. If this is what is happening today, what do you think our world would look like 20 or 30 years down the road? The good news, if you want to call it that, is that I don’t think we are going to get the chance to find out. The clock is ticking, and humanity is quickly running out of time. So, we may never get to see all of the horrors that artificial intelligence would unleash upon our society. But the changes that we have seen so far are certainly bad enough, but most of the population still does not seem too alarmed by any of this. The Tyranny of Small Decisions – Pete Garcia - https://www.rev310.net/post/the-tyranny-of-small-decisions The people of the great nations of the past seem normally to have imagined that their pre-eminence would last forever. Rome appeared to its citizens to be destined to be for all time the mistress of the world. The Abbasid Khalifs of Baghdad declared that God had appointed them to rule mankind until the day of judgment. Seventy years ago, many people in Britain believed that the empire would endure forever. Although Hitler failed to achieve his objective, he declared that Germany would rule the world for a thousand years. That sentiments like these could be publicly expressed without evoking derision shows that, in all the ages, the regular rise and fall of great nations has passed unperceived. The simplest statistics prove the steady rotation of one nation after another at regular intervals. Sir John Glubb, the Fate of Empires Sors imperiorum (fate of empires) From its initial founding in 1620 with the arrival of European Christian pilgrims seeking religious liberty, to the turn of the 20th century, the United States of America remained an anomaly in world history. A nation, founded not by a monarchy or dictatorship, but rather, on an idea. This idea was that men should be free and that our unalienable rights come not from government, but from God. This idea was codified in our nation's founding documents consisting of the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, and the Bill of Rights was absolutely radical. They were revolutionary. And from Satan's perspective, an unforeseen setback. The United States of America, a nation of immigrants, found a safe harbor and vast resources that allowed Americans to either thrive or sink in a land that was ripe with opportunity. While not whitewashing all of America's past sins or problems, still, the USA represented the very best model of government the Gentile world had seen until then. The problem then arises is not geopolitical, or even human, but that of the great adversary of mankind (the Devil) seemingly foresaw the issues he would have going forward if the US remained powerful and sovereign. He got to work early and began corrupting and trying to destroy this fledgling nation through the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, the issue of slavery, and the Civil War. When all these failed to collapse the US, he began working on the corruption of institutions, churches, seminaries, businesses, the military, and the government. By the turn of the 20th century, the Western world had entered into the second industrial revolution. Manufacturing and energy industries began creating monopolies and incredibly wealthy individuals and businesses that greatly ramped up wealth in our nation. By 1909, the powers that be began to earnestly contend for the idea of a central bank. This sentiment was shared by the powerful elite because they recognized the value in something attributed to the patriarch of the Rothschild clan who said: "Give me control of a nation's money and I care not who makes its laws" — Mayer Amschel Bauer Rothschild But how to circumvent the most powerful government document ever created? Thus, over the past 116 years, the world has been cycling through what appears to be an intensifying series of crisis events that increasingly bring the world to the edge of a crisis (whether real or contrived) and then de-escalates through a pre-planned solution. Depending on the crisis, the pre-ordained solution (think Hegelian Dialectic) is either armed conflict, governmental legislation, political (or media) driven propaganda, or some new crisis that overshadows the former. This has served both to destabilize the masses, as well as continue moving the globalist agenda ever-forward regardless of the outcome. This repeated cycling of crisis governance is intended to do three things. First, it creates a panic-based (i.e., knee-jerk reaction) form of governance used to sidestep the traditional means of governance through the excessive use of unconstitutional rules, regulations, amendments, and executive orders that always lean toward restricting/removing the rights of its citizens for "safety and security." Secondly, it is used to keep the citizenry divided and distracted over a number of superficial issues while masking the true power grab by the state over its people. While this "divide and conquer" strategy does not originate with Karl Marx, his Marxian Class Theory is what is presently being modeled after to achieve these ends. Lastly, crisis governance is used to desensitize the public into embracing a progressively bureaucratic and militarized police state as the new normal. When that new normal reaches the plateau of acceptance, this requires the introduction of a new crisis (or series of crises) that is further sensationalized by both the government and the mainstream media to continue advancing said agenda. Sub rosa (Under the rose) So much now is being done in secret, the US population (and most populations for that matter) have no idea what is being done in and by their governments. Information is either being hidden by the overclassification of information or by hiding it outright. As I said in a previous article (Chaos Theory), information as well as silence is being weaponized against the citizenry in our present age of information. The US government was created to function with three branches of government. The Executive Branch would oversee the enforcement and execution of the laws passed by the Legislative Branch and would rely on the Judicial Branch to interpret those laws to ensure their legality with regard to our nation's constitution and bill of rights. Given the time it takes for a bill to go from creation, through committees, through votes in both houses of Congress, many in the Executive branch have chosen to use the route of "Executive Orders" to bypass the lengthy process of legislation. Historically, with regard to the US President's use of executive orders, the greatest two abusers of this were Franklin Roosevelt (3,721 EOs) and Woodrow Wilson (1,803 EOs). Given the crises of their day, World War Two and the Great War (respectively), it's easy to see why and how they were able to get away with as much. It should also be remembered that executive orders (and the like) should not just be measured in volume but in context to each one specifically as to their regulatory constraints or burdens they put on the citizenry. Yet, what has become the unacceptable norm is the increased use of non-elected government agencies to create a tsunami of rules and regulations that eventually become binding on the public in such a way that it has created a smothering effect over the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Quoting Clyde Wayne Crews Jr., in his Ten Thousand Commandments: An Annual Snapshot of the Federal Regulatory State for 2018, he writes: "Regulatory agencies do not answer to voters. Yet in a sense, regulators, rather than Congress, do the bulk of U.S. lawmaking. Legal scholar Phillip Hamburger has described the rise of a monarchical administrative state in defiance of a Constitution that “expressly bars the delegation of legislative power.”310 But agencies are not the sole offenders. For too long, Congress has shirked its constitutional duty to make the tough calls. Instead, it routinely delegates substantial lawmaking power to agencies and then fails to ensure that they deliver benefits that exceed costs."(Source, p. 77) In fact, so pervasive and expansive is this "monarchial administrative state" that by measuring it in economic power, this bureaucratic monarchy would be ranked ninth in the world behind India and ahead of Canada (paraphrase from p. 4). So when we consider the things that are rapidly contributing to the demise of US sovereignty and our impending necessity to abandon the sinking US Dollar in favor of a surveillance currency like the CBDC (Central Bank Digital Currency), we must ask why our national debt is ballooning so quickly. Simply put, the national debt is skyrocketing because of overspending. It's overspending because of the ballooning of government agencies (estimated to range from 61 to hundreds), each with its own budgets and agendas. Crews address this in his extensive compilation titled Regulatory Dark Matter which speaks to the trillions of dollars spent annually on regulatory compliance and economic intervention for an unknowable number of government agencies, all courtesy of the US taxpayer. Ordo Ab Chao (Order from Chaos) Aside from the globalist subversion taking shape in the form of a bureaucratic coup d'état, the great Victor Davis Hanson asks a series of questions that he details in this must-read article titled The Biden 10-Step Plan for Global Chaos.
After listing the 10 steps, VDH concludes with this: "But the examples explain well enough why our emboldened enemies do not fear us, our triangulating allies judge us unreliable, and calculating neutrals assume America is in descent and too dangerous to join. Yet without America, the result is a new Chinese order in which, to quote the historian Thucydides, “the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must.” I wholeheartedly agree that this chaos is both intentional and necessary for the collapsing of the United States. My only respectful disagreement with his conclusion is not that it will end in a new Chinese world order but that of an even fiercer beast kingdom (regnum bestia) led by the unholy trinity of the devil, the antichrist, and the false prophet. Then I stood on the sand of the sea. And I saw a beast rising up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and on his horns ten crowns, and on his heads a blasphemous name. Now the beast which I saw was like a leopard, his feet were like the feet of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion. The dragon gave him his power, his throne, and great authority. And I saw one of his heads as if it had been mortally wounded, and his deadly wound was healed. And all the world marveled and followed the beast. So they worshiped the dragon who gave authority to the beast; and they worshiped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast? Who is able to make war with him?” Revelation 13:1-4 Multa consilia, unum ordinem (Many plans, one order) It's unknown to us when Satan first dreamt of a global government under his control, but we can see iterations of this before the flood, after the flood (Babel), and through the subsequent rotation of empires we've seen rise and fall over the past six millennia. At some point during the last two thousand years of the church age, Satan began to maneuver his considerable resources around so that his final empire would be so powerful, so comprehensive, that no one could escape its iron-fisted clutches. The fact that our mortal intellects are almost always limited by the technology of our day, it was always difficult to see the consolidation of such global power until only very recently. Once the Internet was no longer tethered to a laptop, but began to move into other objects creating "smart devices" (the Internet of Things), the possibilities soon became limitless as to what governments could control, monitor, surveil, or weaponize. Let me end with this: considering the present SDG global summit this week, a friend and I were in a discussion that with all the similarities to the opening of the Seals in Revelation 6:1 and the Daniel 9:27 covenant, what if things aren't exactly as we think they are? I really like how he summarizes this because I've been thinking about this now for a while. John B. writes: Yes, we know the Tribulation is inside the final 7 years but if the seals being broken are somewhere closer to the midpoint or earlier and the antichrist is among the 10 kings that arise early in the final 7 years then maybe we can be taken before the revealing of who he is but after the 7 year period starts? God gave us bookends. The 490 years would start with a return to restore Jerusalem so it was all about the Jews. The end comes with a covenant (not just with Jews) but with many because it’s the birth of the antichrist global government. I never thought it had to be just an agreement with the Jews. They are part of the global system though that would destroy them if not for Jesus' return! It just seems like this agreement is too much like what we should be expecting to be another red herring. If the signs become impossible to tell apart from false signs then they become meaningless. God gave us the signs to prepare and not confuse us. But I also think it could be the covenant but our presuppositions of how it would play out may be blinding us to what we are seeing play out. Just like the Jews saw everything play out with Jesus first coming but had other ideas of what it should look like. Perhaps it does happen this way? Perhaps not. Either way, it is an exciting time to be alive, and while we will not know the day or the hour, we can certainly recognize this season as the season of our Lord's return. We hold our theories loosely with open hands, trusting in God to deliver us in His perfect timing. Until then, Maranatha! Daily Jot: The Farm Chronicles—Nightmare adventure - Bill Wilson – www.dailyjot.com A couple of times a year, my dad would plan a trip to Oscar McWilliam’s ranch just outside of Sedalia, Missouri to buy horses. Oscar was an old time cowboy, the Jack Palance type, tall, a little bent over, beat up old cowboy hat, he talks but his lips don’t move, and he’s honest as the day is long. I loved going with my dad on these adventures. I was a freshman in high school and I talked my dad into letting me go with him and Wayne Doss, another one of my dad’s cowboy friends from Pennsylvania, to buy horses. Wayne was a pilot, a horseman, an all around good guy. They wanted to buy 16 to 20 horses, and that’s where this adventure begins. We borrowed a large box truck from a friend of dad’s. Big mistake. This truck was probably about 20 years old. It made the empty trip to Sedalia fine. We made the rounds over several days. Rode a bunch of horses. Selected the ones we wanted. And loaded them up for the long trip home. When we pulled out of the ranch, the truck just quit moving. We backed it down the hill and unloaded the horses. The transmission went out. Another two days to fix it. Great for me. I got to ride the 800 acre ranch and round up some cattle for another two days. They finally got the truck fixed and the 16 horses loaded up and we were on our way. Along about Indianapolis, it got pretty cold (It was March) and the heater in the truck went out. We were freezing and dad got really sick. By the time we were at Grove City, Ohio, it was really cold and dark…My dad had been shivering and had a fever. Then the engine froze on the truck. We were in Amish country and we knocked on a farmer’s door and told him what had happened. He offered to put the horses in his barn until we got things figured out. His wife had us in to warm up, and they made popcorn for us in this really huge metal bowl. It was about 2 in the morning when my brother Larry brought our horse trailer and another friend with his trailer. We loaded up and got home early in the morning before sunrise. Dad was so sick we carried him into the house. My brother left. Wayne left. I had 16 more horses to deal with in addition to the 15 we already had. And my mom was insisting I get back to school. Then the pump froze up in the milk house and I couldn’t get the horses watered. With an axe, I made a hole in the ice at the pond and began carrying water two buckets at a time. 31 horses drink a lot. They eat a lot, too. And, well, you know. We had such a cold streak that the horses were in the barn for about a week. I was getting up about 4 each morning, and going to bed after 11 at night. Dad had pneumonia. So this routine lasted several weeks, although it did warm up and I didn’t have to carry so much water. Galatians 6:8 says, “whatsoever a man sows, that shall he reap also.” I ended up getting pneumonia, too—hmmm. But many of those horses went on to win championships, and many made a lot of youngsters happy. So it was good seed, but the soil was a bit rocky. Daily Devotion: Drowsy Christians - by Greg Laurie – www.harvest.org This is all the more urgent, for you know how late it is; time is running out. Wake up, for our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. —Romans 13:11 https://harvest.org/resources/devotion/drowsy-christians/ - Listen With self-driving cars now on the market, we’re seeing more and more stories in the news about drivers falling asleep at the wheel. One driver, for instance, was fast asleep in his moving car when a police officer noticed him. After they unsuccessfully tried to wake the man, the police had to force his car off the road. In the same way, some Christians today are asleep at the wheel. They have a spiritual lethargy, a passivity about them. The apostle Paul wrote to the believers in Rome, “This is all the more urgent, for you know how late it is; time is running out. Wake up, for our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed” (Romans 13:11 NLT). The J. B. Phillips New Testament puts it this way: “Why all this stress on behaviour? Because, as I think you have realised, the present time is of the highest importance—it is time to wake up to reality. Every day brings God’s salvation nearer.” Paul addressed these words to Christians, to genuine believers whose spiritual lethargy and laziness made them appear and act as though they had no spiritual life. Effectively, they were asleep at the wheel. We can be in a state of spiritual slumber and not even realize it. In fact, we might even deny it. Yet the Bible warns us to wake up from our spiritual sleep. Thus, Paul was saying, “It’s time for you to wake up.” He probably was alluding to the soon return of Christ. If you believe that Jesus could come back today, then you’re very astute theologically. As believers, we should realize that Jesus could come back at any time. But we must also recognize that we don’t know how long we will live. When we’re young, we think we have all the time in the world. But then one day we look at ourselves in the mirror and it’s obvious that we’re getting older. Titus 2 reminds us, “For the grace of God has been revealed, bringing salvation to all people. And we are instructed to turn from godless living and sinful pleasures. We should live in this evil world with wisdom, righteousness, and devotion to God, while we look forward with hope to that wonderful day when the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, will be revealed” (verses 11–13 NLT). Long ago, it was common to write this phrase over financial documents: memento mori. The literal translation, “Remember you must die,” obviously had a grounding effect on readers. Regardless of how much money we have saved or invested, we will leave it all behind one day. That’s why we need to keep perspective and make every day count. The psalmist David said, “Lord, remind me how brief my time on earth will be. Remind me that my days are numbered—how fleeting my life is” (Psalm 39:4 NLT). We must live every day as though it could be our last. Because one day it will be. PROPHECY UPDATE NEWS HEADLINES Yesterday's Prophecies - Today's Headlines HEADLINES IN PARTNERSHIP WITH TRACKING BIBLE PROPHECY 10/6/23 http://trackingbibleprophecy.org/birthpangs.php
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