Prophecy Update Newsletter
IN TODAY'S NEWSLETTER...
The Fullness of Sin: Part 4 - By Randy Nettles - https://www.raptureready.com/2020/12/03/the-fullness-of-sin-part-4-by-randy-nettles/
Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, began his reign as king of all 12 tribes of Israel in 930 BC after the death of his father. He was king of the United Kingdom of Israel for three days until the 10 tribes of the north, led by Jeroboam, rebelled against him and started their own kingdom (Israel) with Jeroboam as their king (1 Kings 12:5-20). The northern kingdom of Israel was in existence for 207 years, from 930 BC to 723 BC (note: this is a correction from my previous article which I stated was for 186 years). Rehoboam (1) then became the first king of the southern kingdom of Judah. There were a total of 19 kings and 1 queen of Judah, and the kingdom was in existence for 344 years (930 to 586 BC). After the separation of the tribes, the Levites who were living in the north left their homes and came to Judah and Jerusalem because Jeroboam and his sons had cast them off from executing the priest’s office unto the Lord. “Jeroboam had ordained him priests for the high places, and for the devils, and for the calves which he had made. And after them out of all the tribes of Israel such as set their hearts to seek the Lord God of Israel came to Jerusalem, to sacrifice unto the Lord God of their fathers. So they strengthened the kingdom of Judah, and made Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, strong three years; for three years they walked in the way of David and Solomon” (2 Chronicles 11:15-17). After three years had passed, Rehoboam forsook the law of the Lord and transgressed against Him. In Rehoboam’s fifth year, Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem with a vast army and hundreds of chariots, and he took the fenced cities of Judah and then Jerusalem. He also took away the treasures of the house of the Lord, the treasures of the king’s house, and the shields of gold which Solomon had made. Shemaiah the prophet came to Rehoboam and to the princes of Judah, and said unto them, “Thus says the Lord, You have forsaken me, and therefore have I also left you in the hand of Shishak” (2 Chronicles 12:5). After hearing this message from the Lord, the king and his princes humbled themselves and said, “The Lord is righteous.” Because the rulers of Judah humbled themselves, the Lord said he would not destroy them. However, Judah did become Egypt’s servants for a short time and had to pay tribute to them. Rehoboam ruled Judah for 17 years and died at the age of 58. His mother was from Ammon and was one of the many pagan wives of Solomon. Rehoboam did evil because he prepared not his heart to seek the Lord (2 Chronicles 12:14). There must have been too much ungodly influence coming from his parents for Rehoboam to seek the Lord. Abijam or Abijah (2), the son of Rehoboam, reigned as king of Judah after the death of his father. He ruled for only three years. “He walked in all the sins of his father, which he had done before him: and his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father [actually great grandfather]” (1 Kings 15:3). For David’s sake, the Lord allowed his rule to continue and to establish Jerusalem as his capital. There was war between Abijah and Jeroboam. Abijah had 400,000 valiant men of war from Judah, and Jeroboam had 800,000 mighty men of valor from the northern kingdom. To Abijah’s credit, he called out Jeroboam for rebelling against Rehoboam and making golden calves for gods. He also criticized him for making priests out of non-Levites. At first, it looked like Israel was winning, but then the men of Judah gave a shout, and the priests sounded with their trumpets. At this time, God smote Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah, and the children of Israel fled before Judah: and God delivered them into their hand. 500,000 men of Israel were slaughtered on this day. It reminds me of the story of Joshua and the slaughter of the citizens of Jericho with the shouting and the trumpets sounding, which occurred about 500 years earlier. After the death of Abijam in 910 BC, his son Asa (3) became king of Judah. “Asa did that which was good and right in the eyes of the Lord his God: for he took away the altars of the strange gods, and the high places, and broke down the images, and cut down the groves, and commanded Judah to seek the Lord God of their fathers, and to do the law and the commandments. Asa abolished the male cult prostitution that was taking place when the people worshiped the Canaanite goddess Asherah and removed all the idols his predecessors had made. For Asa’s faith in the Lord, God gave Asa a great victory over an Ethiopian army of one million men who attacked Judah. Asa was wise in that he did not depend on his military might and his army but instead depended on the Lord. This was his prayer before the battle: “Lord, it is nothing with your help, whether with many, or with them that have no power: help us, O Lord our God, for we rest on you, and in your name we go against this multitude: O Lord, you are our God, let not man prevail against you” (2 Chronicles 14:11). Many true believers of Yahweh defected from Israel to Judah when they realized that God was with Asa. Because of Asa’s righteousness and mentoring of the people, God allowed Judah to be at peace for many decades. They even celebrated the feast of Pentecost (in the third month, in the 15th year of Asa’s rule), which hadn’t been done in a long time. They sacrificed 700 oxen and 7,000 sheep (seven being a perfect and complete number of God). They even entered into a covenant to seek the Lord God of their fathers with all their heart and with all their soul. “They sought Him with their whole desire; and he was found of them: and the Lord gave them rest round about” (2 Chronicles 15:12,15). Asa reigned 41 years as king of Judah. Eight kings reigned in Israel during Asa’s 41-year rule, and they were all evil. However, when Asa was old, he made the mistake of depending on another country (Aram/Syria) for assistance against Israel instead of the Lord. God forgave him because in God’s eyes, the heart of Asa was perfect all his days (2 Chronicles 15:17). Jehoshaphat (4) became king of Judah after the death of Asa in 869 BC. Jehoshaphat was one of the best kings of Judah regarding his love of the Lord. “And the Lord was with Jehoshaphat, because he walked in the first ways of his father David, and sought not unto Baalim; but sought to the Lord God of his father, and walked in his commandments, and not after the doings of Israel. Therefore the Lord established the kingdom in his hand; and all Judah brought to Jehoshaphat presents; and he had riches and honor in abundance. And his heart was lifted up in the ways of the Lord; moreover he took away the high places and groves out of Judah” (2 Chronicles 17:3-6). He also sent out traveling teachers of the law of Moses and reorganized Judah’s justice system by placing judges in key cities and a high court in Jerusalem, with Levites and priests as judges. The evil King Ahab of Israel reigned in the time of Jehoshaphat. There couldn’t have been more of a contrast between the two kings. About this time, Ahab was at war with Syria, and so he called a meeting with Jehoshaphat to see if he would join forces with him against Syria. Jehoshaphat answered him, “I am as you are, and my people as your people; and we will be with you in the war” (2 Chronicles 18:3). This is the war where Ahab is struck with an arrow as he is riding in his chariot and dies shortly afterward. Jehoshaphat gets in trouble as he is surrounded by enemy forces but cries out to the Lord, who helps him to escape. When Jehoshaphat returned to Jerusalem, a prophet by the name of Jehu gave him this message from the Lord: “Should you help the ungodly, and love them that hate the Lord [Israel/Ahab]? Therefore is wrath upon you from before the Lord, Nevertheless there are good things found in you, in that you have taken away the groves out of the land, and have prepared your heart to seek God” (2 Chronicles 18:2-3). It came to pass after this that the nations of Moab and Ammon (and others) were marching towards Jerusalem. “And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the Lord, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. And Judah gathered themselves together, to ask help of the Lord: even out of all the cities of Judah they came to seek the Lord” (2 Chronicles 20:3-4). Jehoshaphat stood in the congregation of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of the Lord, and spoke to the Lord, asking for his help. 2 Chronicles 20:6-12 is one of the greatest prayers recorded in the Old Testament. It is too lengthy to repeat here, but I highly recommend you read it for yourselves. After this petition to the Lord, a Levite of the sons of Asaph came forward with the mighty Spirit of the Lord upon him and said, “Hearken you, all Judah and Jerusalem, and you king Jehoshaphat, Thus says the Lord unto you, Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God’s. You shall not need to fight in this battle: set yourselves, stand you still, and see the salvation of the Lord with you, O Judah and Jerusalem; fear not, nor be dismayed; tomorrow go out against them: for the Lord will be with you” (2 Chronicles 20:15-17). The Lord God used one of his greatest tricks to destroy the enemies of Judah. He got the different armies to fight against one another. It must have been sheer madness. “And when Judah came toward the watch tower in the wilderness, they looked unto the multitude, and, behold, they were dead bodies fallen to the earth, and none escaped” (2 Chronicles 20:24). “And the fear of God was on all the kingdoms of those countries, when they had heard that the Lord fought against the enemies of Israel. So the realm of Jehoshaphat was quiet: for his God gave him rest round about” (2 Chronicles 20:29-30). Jehoshaphat reigned in Jerusalem for 25 years. Upon his death in 848 BC, his eldest son Jehoram (5) ruled Judah. When Jehoram became king, he strengthened himself (or so he thought) by killing all his six brothers; so he was the only heir to the kingdom. “And he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, like as did the house of Ahab: for he had the daughter of Ahab (Athaliah) to wife: and he did that which was evil in the eyes of the Lord” (2 Chronicles 21:6). Jehoshaphat had foolishly arranged this marriage, before his death, as a sort of peace treaty between the two kingdoms. Jehoram also made high places in the mountains of Judah and caused the inhabitants of Jerusalem to commit fornication in their rituals of Baal worship, and compelled Judah in this regard. There came a writing to Jehoram from Elijah the prophet, saying, “Thus says the Lord God of David your father, Because you have not walked in the ways of Jehoshaphat your father, nor in the ways of Asa king of Judah, but have walked in the way of the kings of Israel, and have made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to go a whoring, like to the whoredoms of the house of Ahab, and also have slain your brothers of your father’s house, which were better than yourself: behold, with a great plague will the Lord smite your people, and your children, and your wives, and all your goods: and you shall have great sickness by disease of your bowels, until your bowels fall out by reason of the sickness day by day” (2 Chronicles 21:12-15). The plague came in the way of the Philistines and the Arabians. They came into Judah and broke into the king’s house and carried away all the substance and valuables that were in it. This was probably very substantial as Jehoram probably inherited all the riches from his father and grandfather. The raiders also carried away all of Jehoram’s wives and sons except Ahaziah, the youngest of his sons. After the end of two years, Elijah’s prophecy came true as Jehoram’s bowels fell out by reason of his sickness, and he died in 841 BC. The people made no burning for him as they did for his fathers. He only lived to be 40 years old, and it is said he departed without being desired. The people buried him in the city of David, but not in the tombs of the kings. It makes you wonder why a man that had such a good influence on his life as his father did would turn out so evil. After all, he was coregent with Jehoshaphat for five years before he became the actual king of Judah. I believe it was because of the evil influence he had with his wife, Athaliah, who was a Baal worshiper like her parents, Ahab and Jezebel. You either seek the Lord God or you seek after vain things that lead to destruction. These are the two choices each of us has to make in this life. Ahaziah (6) was 42 years old when he began to reign, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. His mother was Athaliah, who was a wicked woman. The only woman that was probably more wicked than her was Jezebel, her mother. Ahaziah walked in the ways of the house of Ahab, for his mother was his counsellor to do wickedly. “Wherefore he did evil in the sight of the Lord like the house of Ahab: for they were his counsellors after the death of his father to his destruction” (2 Chronicles 22:4). As mentioned in my previous article, Jehu, the captain of Israel’s army, killed king Joram of Israel and all of Ahab’s descendants; he also killed king Ahaziah of Judah and all of the sons of the brethren of Ahaziah. The people buried him because they said he is the son (grandson) of Jehoshaphat, who sought the Lord with all his heart. When Athaliah saw that her son was dead, she murdered all the seed royal of the house of Judah. “But Jehoshabeath, the daughter of king Jehoram (and sister of Ahaziah), took Joash the son of Ahaziah, and stole him from among the king’s sons that were slain, and put him and his nurse in a bedchamber. So Jehoshabeath (who was also the wife of Jehoiada the priest) hid him from Athaliah, so that she slew him not. And he was with them hid in the house of God six years: and Athaliah (7) reigned over the land” (2 Chronicles 22:11-12). Athaliah, the queen mother, was the only ruler of Judah who wasn’t a direct descendant of King David. In the seventh (number of completion) year of Joash, the priest Jehoiada strengthened himself and made a covenant with the captains (of the army of Judah) of hundreds, the Levites out of all the cities of Judah, and the chief of the fathers of Israel, and they came to Jerusalem to make Joash king. Jehoiada gave all the men weapons and surrounded the young Joash. “Then they brought out the king’s son, and put upon him the crown, and gave him the testimony, and made him king. And Jehoiada and his sons anointed him, and said, God save the king” (2 Chronicles 23:11). Athaliah heard the noise of the people who were running and praising the king and came to the temple to see what was going on. She saw the ‘true’ king, Joash (8), standing with the princes and all the people who were rejoicing and singing, and the trumpeters sounding; so Athaliah rent her clothes, and said, “Treason, Treason “(2 Corinthians 23:13). Jehoiada the priest told the captains of the host to kill her, but not in the house of the Lord. So Athaliah died after a six-year stint as ruler of Israel. The year was 835 BC. Jehoiada made a covenant between him and the people and the king, that they should be the Lord’s people. “Then all the people went to the house of Baal, and broke it down, and broke his altars and his images in pieces, and slew Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars. And Jehoiada appointed the offices of the house of the Lord by the hand of the priests the Levites, whom David had distributed in the house of the Lord, to offer the burnt offerings of the Lord, as it is written in the law of Moses” (2 Chronicles 23:17-18). Joash and Jehoiada also repaired the temple in Jerusalem and offered burnt offerings there continually all the days of Jehoiada. Jehoiada died at the age of 130 (which was very old for this time period), and they buried him in Jerusalem because he had done good in Israel, both toward God and toward his house. (2 Chronicles 24:16). After Jehoiada’s death, Joash listened to the princes (elites) of Judah. “And they left the house of the Lord God of their fathers, and served groves and idols: and wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem for this their trespass. Yet He sent prophets to them, to bring them again unto the Lord; and they testified against them: but they would not give ear” (2 Chronicles 24:18-19). Joel may have been one of these prophets. The Spirit of God came upon Zechariah, the son of Jehoiada the priest and Jehoshabeath (Joash’s aunt), and he said unto them, “Thus says God, Why transgress you the commandments of the Lord, that you cannot prosper? Because you have forsaken the Lord, he has also forsaken you” (2 Chronicles 24:20). Joash the king remembered not the kindness which Jehoiada and Jeshoshabeath had done for him but had Zechariah stoned to death. For Joash’s transgressions, the Lord sent Syria against him and against Judah and Jerusalem. With just a small company of men, the army of the Syrians destroyed all the princes of the people and spoiled Judah because they had forsaken the Lord God of their fathers. So they executed judgment against Joash. When they had departed, several men conspired against the king and murdered him on his bed. Joash’s son, Amaziah (9), began to reign in 796 BC when he was 25 years old. He did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, but not with a perfect heart. (2 Chronicles 25:2). His first act as king was to kill the men who had murdered his father. Amaziah went to war against Edom, which had previously won its independence from Judah, and was victorious over them. Amaziah set up idols he had brought back from Edom and bowed down himself before them, and burned incense unto them. This greatly angered the Lord; however, he sent a prophet to warn him of his foolishness. Amaziah arrogantly rebuked the prophet, who then told him that God had determined to destroy the king because he did not hearken to the word of the Lord. After Amaziah’s victory over Edom, he next went to war against King Jehoash of Israel. Amaziah was captured, and his army was overwhelmingly defeated. Part of the walls and gates of Jerusalem were destroyed, and the temple and palace were plundered of their gold and silver. Amaziah was released from Israel but was eventually assassinated by his own people in 767 BC. The people of Judah then took Amaziah’s 16-year-old son, Uzziah/Azariah (10), and made him king. He actually became coregent with his father for 25 years while Amaziah was in prison in Samaria. “Uzziah did that which was right in the sight of the Lord and he sought God in the days of Zechariah, who had understanding in the visions of God: and as long as he sought the Lord, God made him to prosper” (2 Chronicles 26:4-5). Uzziah had many successful military campaigns against the Philistines, Arabians, and the Mehunims. He also fortified the defenses of Jerusalem, dug many wells in the desert, and loved husbandry. “And he made in Jerusalem engines, invented by cunning men, to be on the towers and upon the bulwarks, to shoot arrows and great stones withal. And his name spread far abroad; for he was marvelously helped, till he was strong. But when he was strong, his heart was lifted up to his destruction: for he transgressed against the Lord his God, and went into the temple of the Lord to burn incense upon the altar of incense” (2 Chronicles 26:15-16). This was a job that only the priests (sons of Aaron) were allowed to do. For this sin, Uzziah was struck with leprosy, and he remained a leper until the day he died. Uzziah ruled Judah for 52 years and died at the age of 68. The year was 740 BC. Jotham, a son of Uzziah, was coregent with his father for 10 years. After Uzziah’s death, Jotham (11) began his official reign of Judah. This was the year that the great prophet Isaiah was commissioned as a prophet and had his vison of God on His throne as described in Isaiah 6:1. “Jotham did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father Uzziah did: however he entered not into the temple of the Lord. And the people did yet corruptly” (2 Chronicles 27:2). Jotham built up the defenses of Judah and built cities, castles, and towers. He defeated the Ammonites, who became a vassal kingdom of Judah, which had to pay annual tributes in the form of much silver and wheat and barley to King Jotham. “So Jotham became mighty, because he prepared his ways before the Lord his God” (2 Chronicles 27:6). Jotham reigned until 732 BC, but three years earlier, in 735 BC, his son Ahaz co-ruled with him. They probably had a contentious relationship as some scholars believe that Ahaz was raised to the throne with the aid of a pro-Assyrian faction. Ahaz was more conciliatory to Assyria than was Jotham. Ahaz (12) became sole ruler/king of Judah after the death of Jotham in 735 BC. “He did not that which was right in the sight of the Lord, like David his father: for he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, and made also molten images for Baalim. Moreover he burnt incense in the valley of the son of Hinnom, and burnt his children in the fire, after the abominations of the heathen whom the Lord had cast out before the children of Israel. He sacrificed also and burnt incense in the high places, and on the hills, and under every green tree” (2 Chronicles 28:1-4). Micah was a prophet during this period and spoke regarding a future judgment against Israel and Judah. Early in Ahaz’s reign, Israel’s King Pekah and the king of Syria asked him to join them in an alliance against Assyria. When he refused, Israel and Syria invaded Judah, inflicting heavy casualties. Syria also carried away a great multitude of them captive and brought them to Damascus. King Pekah of Israel slaughtered 120,000 men of Judah in one day and carried away captive of their brethren 200,000 women, sons, and daughters, and took also away much spoil from them, and brought them back to Samaria. A prophet of the Lord named Oded had to be dispatched there to confront the tribes of Israel. These were his words from the Lord: “Behold, because the Lord God of your fathers was angry with Judah, he has delivered them into your hand, and you have slain them in a rage that reaches up unto heaven. And now you purpose to keep under the children of Judah and Jerusalem for bondmen and bondwomen unto you; but are there not with you, even with you, sins against the Lord your God: Now hear me therefore, and deliver the captives again, which you have taken captive of your brethren: for the fierce wrath of the Lord is upon you” (2 Chronicles 28:9-11). The leaders of Israel relented and returned the captives back to Judah. Isaiah the prophet encouraged Ahaz to put his trust in God, but the king turned to Assyria instead. As a result, Judah became a vassal of Assyria for the next century, and the tribute they were forced to pay depleted the country’s resources. Ahaz’s wickedness consumed him to the point that he burned his own son as a sacrifice to the Assyrian gods, ordered an Assyrian-style altar built in the temple, and used the bronze altar for divination. King Ahaz was so wicked that he sacrificed unto the gods of Damascus, which devastated Judah. He foolishly reasoned that since the gods of the kings of Syria helped them, therefore he would sacrifice to them, that they help him. This was the ruin of Ahaz and the beginning of the ruin of Judah. “And Ahaz gathered together the vessels of the house of God, and cut in pieces the vessels of the house of God, and shut up the doors of the house of the Lord, and he made them altars in every corner of Jerusalem. And in every several city of Judah he made high places to burn incense unto other gods, and provoked to anger the Lord God of his fathers” (2 Chronicles 28:24-25). Ahaz died in 715 BC, and the people buried him in Jerusalem, but not into the tombs of the kings of Israel. As you can see, the sins of Judah are becoming quite full just as Israel’s had. The evil Ahaz was king of Judah at the same time the last evil king of Israel, Hoshea, was on the throne. Israel fell to the Assyrians in 722 BC after a three-year siege. Judah still has 136 more years until God’s judgment and punishment finally catches up with their “fullness of sin” against the Lord, as we will see in part 5. Randy Nettles [email protected] Congress Has Officially Gone Gender Crazy - Prayer Ends With 'Amen & A-Woman' – Michael Brown - https://www.prophecynewswatch.com/article.cfm?recent_news_id=4491 In case you haven't heard, House Democrats want to remove all gendered language from their legislation, while the prayer to open the 117th Congress ended with, "Amen and A-woman." I kid you not. Who would make up something so insane? A PC Prayer Let's start with the PC prayer, which has to be seen to be believed. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO), who is an ordained United Methodist minister ironically, opened the session by praying in the name of a Hindu god and twisting the word "amen" into a promotion of gender equality. Though his prayer was full of explicitly Christian themes, terminology, and references, Cleaver closed it by appealing to the deities of "many different faiths," implying they are all the same. "We ask it in the name of the monotheistic God, Brahma, and 'god' known by many names by many different faiths," said Cleaver. And it concludes with, "Amen and A-woman," as if the "men" of "Amen" was somehow a gendered term. How patriarchal and bigoted to use the "men" word in prayer! Of course, "Amen" comes from the common Semitic root '-m-n, with the word itself meaning, "So be it." And it is used in Jewish, Christian, and Islamic liturgy, being found in Hebrew, Greek, Latin, and Arabic (along with English and many other languages). But who said being PC had anything to do with truth or reality? To the contrary, it is quite often based on the denial of reality, or, in this case, complete ignorance of a common word. Learning New Phrases? Following the logic of this prayer, we would have to learn new phrases like, "making awomends," since "making amends" contains the dreaded m- word. Or, we would have to learn to be "awomenable," lest we allow a male-dominated word like "amenable" to remain on the books. (Go ahead and make up your own list of words containing "men." This is madness.) Not to be outdone, though, House Democrats have revealed their new, "future-focused" rules, which include the following: "In clause 8(c)(3) of rule XXIII, gendered terms, such as 'father, mother, son, daughter, brother, sister, uncle, aunt, first cousin, nephew, niece, husband, wife, father-in-law, mother-in-law, son-in-law, daughter-in-law, brother-in-law, sister-in-law, stepfather, stepmother, stepson, stepdaughter, stepbrother, stepsister, half-brother, half-sister, grandson, or granddaughter' will be removed. "In their place, terms such as 'parent, child, sibling, parent's sibling, first cousin, sibling's child, spouse, parent-in-law, child-in-law, sibling-in-law, stepparent, stepchild, stepsibling, half-sibling, or grandchild' will be used, instead." Inclusivity Gone Amuck So, this is what the future looks like? This is what it means to be inclusive? A particular highlight of the new rules is this: "The Office of the Whistleblower Ombudsman, for instance, is renamed in the rules to the 'Office of the Whistleblower Ombuds.'" How can you not love this? How creative! How futuristic! How absurd! The best response was that of the House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy who tweeted, "This is stupid. "Signed, "A father, son, and brother." Well said. Stupid it is. A 'Bolder Agenda' For others, however, these were bold and commendable reforms. As expressed by Rep. Ilhan Omar (with reference to the entire rules package, in particular, with regard to Medicare), "End of Nov, the Progressive Caucus decided on a set of progressive rules reform priorities: Paygo reform and MTR reform ranked high on that list. So grateful to Chairman @RepMcGovern for helping us secure these reforms and setting the stage for us to push for bolder agenda." But as easy as it is to poke fun at this ridiculous proposal, it is highly significant when one of our major government institutions wants to remove all gendered language. As the saying goes, this does not end well. Where Culture is Headed Looking to Canada as a case in point, the Religious Tolerance website reported that, "The Ontario Court of Appeals issued a decision on 2003-JUN-10 requiring the province of Ontario to provide marriage licenses to, and to register the marriages of, same-sex couples. However, 73 pieces of existing legislation in the province violated this court ruling by referring to wife, husband, widow, widower, and similar sex-related terms. In order to bring the legislation in synchronism with the court decision which legalized SSM [same-sex marriage], each of these laws had to be amended to include gender-neutral language." You might say, "So, what's the big deal. This is just technical, legal language. It hardly affects the person on the street." Not so. This reflects both a mindset and a legal logic, and these things reflect where a culture is headed. Consequently, over time, these things do trickle down, especially in the wake of the wave of transgender activism, where the war on gender-specific language becomes more pitched. Compelled Speech That's why, in 2016, Canada passed Bill C-16, which critics claim was all about compelled speech, specifically with regard to charges of hate speech for failure to comply with transgender preferences. The most famous critic was Prof. Jordan Peterson who rose to international fame when he said in an October 2016 interview, "If they fine me, I won't pay it. If they put me in jail, I'll go on a hunger strike. I'm not doing this. I'm not using the words that other people require me to use. Especially if they're made up by radical left-wing ideologues." Having studied the methods of totalitarian regimes for many years, Peterson drew the line when it came to compelled speech. He knew all that it implied. Hate Speech and Gender Madness As to where this kind of legislation can go, in 2019, I spoke face to face with a Canadian man involved in a legal dispute over his daughter's desire to transition to male. Not only did the court rule that he could not interfere with her getting hormone treatments, but he was forbidden to call his own daughter by her given, female name or to use female pronouns with reference to her, even in private, under penalty of immediate arrest. And we have recently documented the new "hate speech" laws in Norway. So, as laughable as the "A-woman" prayer might be, and as absurd as the House's "gender-inclusive" rules might be, we should take both with complete seriousness and say, "Not on my watch." We can be compassionate to people in their struggles without engaging in gender madness. Nearing Midnight: China Prophetically Destined to Fail – Terry James - https://www.raptureready.com/category/nearing-midnight/ Much talk from within the world of America’s news reporting is that China is the chief culprit in stirring much of the trouble in our nation and the world. Others, mostly from the leftist side of the political spectrum, tell a different story. China is, they say, a “competitor” but not an evil enemy. That has been presumptive president-elect Joe Biden’s take for years. He has, through his son, the facts are revealing, worked within the communists’ state to bring about deals of various sorts. It’s been a more or less friendly competition from Mr. Biden’s perspective—and he has directly called it such. People on the political right have and still do consider the Chinese Communist Party the greatest threat to world economic stability, if not to world peace. Those within the Trump administration who aren’t incognito (not really deep-staters) are convinced that China is by far the most profound threat America and the world will face in the immediate and distant future. Certainly the facts, just by observing the moves of that government, prove that they are extremely aggressive in most every area of global interaction. Consider their building of bases, creating islands in the South China Sea. We watch while they face down with aggressive naval force anyone who enters what they deem their territorial waters—waters that are clearly, according to maritime governance, international. Consider how it is that their labs from which came the dreaded virus that has, in effect, all but destroyed the Western economies through shutdowns, etc. Prior to the Trump administration, it was the American State Department and previous administrations—both Democrat and Republican—which made agreements that enriched the communist state. Our own negotiation blunders, in effect, have helped build the Chinese communist regime into what is becoming a massive force that has prophetic overtones—that portend the destruction of much of the world’s population. I have often believed that the Chinese will produce the chief force that will lead Asian nations as described in the following prophetic Scriptures. And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God, Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates. And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men. And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them. And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone. By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths. (Revelation 9:13–18) The following description gives further evidence of theprobable identity of these invaders from the oriental world. And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared. (Revelation 16:12) I am convinced that we have been watching the king of these “kings of the east” preparing to lead an unstoppable force into the occidental world. The river that has been barrier to such land invasion—the Euphrates—will be dried up, either by some sort of engineering or by supernatural means. I personally believe it will be supernatural. Those who view this great force as one to fear is on the right side of how to view China as it grows and becomes more menacing. The Biden administration, if it comes to be, doesn’t seem to have anyone on its list of advisors who even recognizes that it is an economic threat, much less a military threat. The question is moot, really, as to whether we are seeing China develop in the prophetic sense. The “kings of the east” are scheduled to invade and at the same time kill one-third of the world’s population. Whether it’s China or any other nation or force, they are coming from that part of the world and will represent the most deadly military force in human history. It will happen, according to God’s prophetic Word. China looks at present to be extremely successful. It is building ominously as described above. Evidence more and more shows that it is influencing politicians, governments, media, business interests, and every other American (and even world) governing entity through economic methods—–bribes, etc. Things do not look good for the upcoming days. Many fear we will one day become the slaves of a Chinese communist state. Don’t believe it. God’s prophetic Word tells a different story. The great force from the Far East will be held back until just before the time of Armageddon. It will not take over economically, then militarily. The developing globalist forces of the Western nations will be a blocking force as well. Antichrist’s regime will grow, as we can see in daily and hourly news stories. China—the king of the “kings of the east”—will meet the same fate as the regime of the first beast of Revelation 13: the Antichrist. We see how all will fail in the verse that follows the description of the “kings of the east” force just above. And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. (Revelation 16:13–14) China, like all other anti-God forces, will meet its fate on the killing fields God has chosen. This Is Why The New Mutant COVID Strain That Is Ravaging South Africa Has Scientists Extremely Worried… - by Michael Snyder - http://endoftheamericandream.com/this-is-why-the-new-mutant-covid-strain-that-is-ravaging-south-africa-has-scientists-extremely-worried/ Over the past couple of weeks, the new coronavirus strain known as “Super COVID” has been racing through the UK and making headlines all over the globe, but scientists insist that the new mutant COVID strain in South Africa is potentially much more dangerous. Just like “Super COVID” in the UK, there is evidence that the South African strain spreads faster, and South Africa’s health minister has warned that there is “anecdotal evidence” of a “larger proportion of younger patients with no co-morbidities presenting with critical illness”. But the biggest reason why health authorities are so concerned about this particular strain is because it has mutated so dramatically that the current vaccines that have been developed may not work against it. The following comes from a Reuters article entitled “UK scientists worry vaccines may not protect against S.African coronavirus variant”… UK scientists expressed concern on Monday that COVID-19 vaccines being rolled out in Britain may not be able to protect against a new variant of the coronavirus that emerged in South Africa and has spread internationally. Both Britain and South Africa have detected new, more transmissible variants of the COVID-19-causing virus in recent weeks that have driven a surge in cases. British Health Secretary Matt Hancock said on Monday he was now very worried about the variant identified in South Africa. Even though the UK is the epicenter of the “Super COVID” outbreak, the British are so alarmed by the South African strain that they have banned all flights from South Africa. In an interview with the BBC, Hancock admitted that he is “incredibly worried” about what is happening in South Africa right now… “I’m incredibly worried about the South African variant, and that’s why we took the action that we did to restrict all flights from South Africa,” he told the BBC’s “Today” program. “This is a very, very significant problem … and it’s even more of a problem than the U.K. new variant.” As the Daily Mail recently explained, the vaccines that have already been developed are designed to get the body to identify COVID’s “spike protein”, and if this does not happen they will not work properly… Covid vaccines – including the Pfizer/BioNTech and Oxford University/AstraZeneca jabs currently being rolled out across Britain – work by training the body to spot the virus’s spike protein. If the spike mutates so much that it becomes unrecognizable then it could render vaccines useless or make them less potent. Scientists are telling us that the new mutant strain in South Africa has a total of eight changes to the spike protein, and Dr. John Bell of Oxford University is calling them “pretty substantial changes”… Dr. John Bell of Oxford University said Sunday the variant identified in South Africa was worrisome in this regard, however. “They both have multiple, different mutations in them, so they’re not a single mutation,” he told Times Radio. “And the mutations associated with the South African form are really pretty substantial changes in the structure of the (virus’ spike) protein.” At this moment, we do not know if the current vaccines will be rendered useless by this new mutant strain or not. But it is being reported that early tests have shown that at least one of the mutations appears to have made the virus more resistant to antibodies… One, called E484K, is particularly alarming, Dr Richard Lessells, an infectious-disease specialist at the KwaZulu-Natal Research Innovation and Sequencing Platform, told the Wall Street Journal. When he and his team tested antibodies from donated plasma or lab made ones against that mutated bit of the virus variant, the immune cells were less effective. Of course much more testing needs to be done, and those tests are being conducted right now. According to a top official in the UK, scientists may be able to come to some sort of a conclusion in a couple of weeks… Jonathan Van-Tam, England’s deputy chief medical officer, said in response to a question from POLITICO on December 30 that this work can take 12 to 14 days, and that it may be a couple of weeks before scientists can give “a solid steer” on whether the vaccines will be effective on new variants. So it may be a while before we know for sure if the current vaccines will be effective against this frightening new mutant strain in South Africa or not. But what we do know is that this new strain is rapidly becoming dominant in large portions of South Africa… The variant, 501.V2, is more infectious than the original COVID-19 virus and has rapidly become dominant in South Africa’s coastal areas. It is expected that the variant will quickly become dominant inland in Johannesburg, the country’s largest city, and the surrounding Gauteng province, he said. If it is becoming dominant there, there is a good chance that it will become dominant as it spreads elsewhere as well. In recent days, two cases of the South African strain have been confirmed in the UK, and there have also been cases detected in Finland, Switzerland and Australia. Then on Monday, a case popped up in Austria… On Monday, Austria announced that it had discovered one case of the South African mutation in a 30-year-old woman who returned from a trip on Dec. 6. And officials in Japan just announced that a case has been identified in their country… Japan on Monday detected a coronavirus variant found in South Africa, the government said, the first such discovery in a nation that has already identified more than a dozen cases of another variant that is spreading rapidly in Britain. So it appears that the cat is already out of the bag. A whole host of nations have already put travel restrictions in place to try to keep this deadly new strain from spreading more widely. But so far the U.S. is not among them. In fact, testing is not even required for people traveling to the U.S. from South Africa. Just like we have seen with “Super COVID”, it is probably just a matter of time before the South African strain spreads all over the planet. And if the current vaccines will not work against it, that will put scientists back to square one in fighting this pandemic. Of course there are tens of millions of people in the United States that will never take any COVID vaccine under any circumstances. Many are deeply concerned about the potential long-term effects of these experimental mRNA vaccines, and there is still so much that we do not know about them. These are such troubled times, and the “perfect storm” that started in 2020 is only going to get worse in 2021. Scientists thought that the new vaccines would give them the upper hand in dealing with this pandemic, but that may not be the case after all. And as COVID continues to mutate, it is inevitable that there will be even more surprises for our health authorities in the months ahead… Daily Jot: Blasphemy and heresy – Bill Wilson – www.dailyjot.com The opening prayer of the 117th Congress was offered by Democratic Congressman Reverend Emmanuel Cleaver, II, St James Methodist Church, Kansas City, MO. Cleaver ended his prayer in the name of the monotheistic god Brahma and by saying Amen and Awoman. This is an example of how far Congress has fallen away from the precepts of the one true God and just how these elected officials in the Democratic Party revere and respect God. Moreover, a Methodist minister ought to know better and if he doesn’t he should be removed from the ministry. Call it ignorance. Call it disrespect. Call it heresy. Call it blasphemy. In the very least, it is indicative of the state of affairs of this nation. Here is the text of the ending of Cleaver’s prayer: “Now may the God who created the world and everything in it, bless us and keep us; May the Lord make his face to shine upon us and be gracious unto us; May the Lord lift up his light of countenance upon us and give us peace—peace in our families, peace across this land, and there I ask oh Lord, peace even in this chamber, now and evermore. We ask it in the name of the monotheistic God Brahma, and God known by many names by many different faiths. Amen and Awoman.” There is so much wrong with this. Cleaver attempts to give the Aaronic Blessing, the blessing God—not Brahma, or any other god–instructed to be given over the people of Israel. God is characterized by many names in the Bible—but God is not known by the many names Cleaver was speaking of—Brahma being one of them. Any Christian minister should know the premise of the faith as told by Christ in John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” And aside from being grammatically incorrect in his ending (a men and a woman), Cleaver, apparently trying to adhere to new House rules, destroyed the meaning of “Amen” by making it gender-related rather than the affirmative “So be it.” Cleaver disrespected God and His holiness. Cleaver also demonstrated beliefs counter to the Judeo-Christian faith. Merriam Webster defines blasphemy and heresy as: “Blasphemy, in a religious sense, refers to great disrespect shown to God or to something holy, or to something said or done that shows this kind of disrespect; heresy refers a belief or opinion that does not agree with the official belief or opinion of a particular religion.” Cleaver most likely gave America a preview of 2021 with his prayer. Blasphemy and heresy can be expected to continue under the Democratic Party leadership. Allowing a prayer like that is a strong indication that Congress holds your religious values and freedom in disdain. And while we have grown to expect it from the Democratic Party, I didn’t hear any Republicans in the House chamber object to this blasphemy. We can’t just wink at this type of ideological and religious bigotry. Accountability is a must. Daily Devotion: The Times and the Seasons - by Greg Laurie – www.harvest.org Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober. —1 Thessalonians 5:6 https://harvest.org/resources/devotion/the-times-and-the-seasons/ - Listen I usually check the weather every morning, but I don’t know why I do. I probably can predict the weather more accurately than the experts. I always know when it’s raining before most everyone else because bald men always know when it’s raining first. Jesus said to the Pharisees and Sadducees, “You know how to interpret the weather signs in the sky, but you don’t know how to interpret the signs of the times!” (Matthew 16:3 NLT). In other words, “Look, pay attention to the signs of the times!” Bible prophecy is a fascinating subject, one that’s really interesting to explore. But we must never study prophecy or the events that the Bible describes as happening in the end times in a merely academic way. When we read about these events, it should always give us a sense of compassion because we’re reading about a real judgment that will come upon the world. Paul wrote to the believers in Thessalonica, “But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. .. . . But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober” (1 Thessalonians 5:1–2, 4–6 NKJV). As we consider the Lord’s soon return, it should cause us to want to reach out to friends, family, and loved ones who don’t know the Lord. It should also cause us to want to live more godly lives. It should affect us in the way that we live. 
FROM THE HEART
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