Prophecy Update Newsletter
January 16, 2017
IN TODAY'S NEWSLETTER...
The Little Horn - Pete Garcia - http://www.omegaletter.com/articles/articles.asp?ArticleID=8372
Imagine if you will, that World War II did not end in an Allied Victory with tickertape parades and sailors kissing nurses. What if the Third Reich had pulled us into a stalemate by not invading the Soviet Union, but focusing their entire energy and inventories into Western Europe first? What if they had managed to create a breakthrough in atomic energy ahead of the US? What if they effectively blockaded Great Britain's coastline with mines and submarine warfare and holding the tiny island nation hostage? Imagine what Hitler would have done with the power of an atom bomb? Now imagine a seasoned Nazi state some 60 years in the making. As terrible a regime as the Third Reich was, imagine them with our modern technology at their disposal. The Holocaust would not have ended in 1945, but would be an ongoing process of ethnic cleansing ridding the world of one undesirable after another. Extermination camps would litter the European map just as North Korean and Chinese prison camps do in their countries today. Luckily for us, the history books tell a different story. In the end, the Reich lay in tattered pieces and Hitler succumbed to his own madness in a bunker in Berlin. The West cheered and the East reorganized, and the rest is as they say...is history. The More Things Change... But underlying all of the worlds' periods of war and peace, simmers a dark undercurrent of evil that slips about through all the different ages of man. The same one who caused Judas to betray his Christ, also moved through the various Caesar's to bring the hammer down on the fledgling church. He injected pagan religions to the world, and introduced heresy to the church. Everywhere he has gone, he has left corruption, violence, and death in his wake. He goes by many names: Heylel Bin Shachar, Lucifer, the Devil, the Nail, and Satan. His arsenal includes an innumerable army of demonic beings with their own rank and hierarchy and is an excellent character study of man's fallen nature over these last 6,000 years. So although regimes come and go, what hasn't changed is man's corrupted nature prone to self-destruction. The pace of advancements in technology is increasing so rapidly, that most people don't fully understand the awful power it could wield in the hands of the wrong people. The Bible states that a man is coming who will take advantage of the ever-controlling technology and use it to rule the world with an iron fist. Every tyrant who has come before him, will pale by comparison in his ruthlessness and his genius for dominating the world. He is the rider on the white horse, and the world will cheer his arrival. Restrained The Holy Spirit is the Restrainer as mentioned in 2 Thess 2:7, and what He restrains isn't evil necessarily around the world, because we've had evil ever present since Adam's fall. What He restrains is two-fold in this present dispensation: Satan is restrained from indwelling any one person in this dispensation. Aside from the serpent at the Garden of Eden, possibly Antiochus Epiphanes, and Judas Iscariot, all of which occurred prior to Christ's victory on the Cross, no one else is listed as having been personally indwelt by Satan until the Antichrist comes. Judas Iscariot and the Antichrist are the only two who share the same title as a (son of perdition). This is not to say that lesser demon can't possess today, but Satan is a singular being, and he can't be possessing people on earth if he is busy 'accusing us day and night' before the throne of God. God restrains Himself largely through the ceasing's of 'signs and wonders' that were ever present in the Old Testament times. As the apostles were martyred and died, so too did their supernatural (ex: raising the dead) testimonies. What we have now is the completed word of truth in the scriptures, and the ministry of the Holy Spirit through the believers in the Church. The Little Horn "I was considering the horns, and there was another horn, a little one, coming up among them, before whom three of the first horns were plucked out by the roots. And there, in this horn, were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking pompous words." (Daniel 7:8) NKJV "And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy." (Revelation 13:1) We have seen through our history past, that out of the Roman Empire's demise, subsequent nations rise up (Dan 7:21-24) in various forms both in the eastern and western legs. As the west fizzled out, the Holy Roman Empire took form. In the east, the Byzantine ruled until conquered by the Turkish Ottoman Empire took for the next 500 years. In the west, Germania, England, Portugal, Spain, and France each had their day in the sun. Out of Europe would come the United States, the latest and most powerful nation the world had ever seen. Although I disagree with his conclusion, I think the late Dr. Hank Lindstrom was on to something when he posited that the US could be the Little Horn Daniel 7: A little horn (as opposed to fully developed horns) denotes newness or youngness. If the fourth beast represented the Roman Empire (legs of iron), than the ten toes would represent a continuation of that same empire only more fractured and mixed with miry clay. This of course would be the European Union which began in 1948, also the same year that Israel was rebirthed as a nation. Than that little horn would have to be the youngest of those nations, but stronger than all the others. While the US was birthed from England hundreds of years prior, we didn't become a world power until the end of World War II. Rome existed hundreds of years before it became a world power. What other nation has the terrible power and authority that the US has? The More You Know... NSA leaker Eric Snowden revealed to the world at large, to just what depths the US would go to maintain its technological edge by collecting data not just on Americans, but on everyone. The NSA Data Utah center will hold yottabytes of information. A yottabyte, is the equivalent of a trillion terabytes. Why does the NSA need a data center so large when all the digital information in the world is not even to a yottabyte yet? "Earlier this year the Kingston Company announced a new one terabyte USB thumb drive. In other words, on a flash storage unit smaller than your thumb, they can now fit a terabyte of data. We hear these words so much that they lose their meaning, so let's try to picture it. Plain text data typed on a page can be stored at a rate of 256,000 pages per megabyte. That means a megabyte of text fills a stack of paper 85 feet tall, but a terabyte is a million times larger than a megabyte, that means you could store on one thumb drive the equivalent of a stack of paper more than 16,000 miles high. This is astronomical. The International Space Station orbits about 240 miles above the earth. Our stack of paper would be 67 times higher, all of it stored on a space smaller than your thumb. If modern technology allows us to put that kind of data on such a small space, what can they do with hundreds of thousands of square feet?" -The Hal Lindsey Report (21JUN13) Now we have an information collection system that dwarfs anything the world has ever seen. Even if we only did track 'metadata', there is still an awful dark side to that. A government could effectively everyone. The government now is using various crises to implement control systems that would become so encompassing, that no one would ever be able to 'go off the grid' again. The US also has the greatest military this planet has ever seen. Although we've seen her power diminishing under recent administrations, the US is still the envy of all the world in its ability to project its military strength abroad on a moment's notice. Whoever has her arsenal at their disposal, truly could dominate the planet like no other. Assessment Although the EU consists of almost thirty nations currently, they are already finding out how economically unmanageable all the nations in various stages of economic turmoil. Dr. Rob Congdon, an expert on Europe, predicts that the EU could be broken down into ten economic regions. I tend to think that along with the EU, the Mediterranean Union will be reformed post-Psalm 83/Isaiah 19/Ezekiel 38-39 scenarios to fit into a truly revamped Roman Empire. What marks the US as distinctly different from Europe or anywhere else in the world, is that Christians permeate all levels of government and civilian sector professions here. If the Rapture where to occur tomorrow, every facet of our society would suffer tremendously. What is troubling though, is that globally, everything is tied to the US in one way or another. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the United Nations, OPEC, and the Dollar as a reserve currency all are tied directly to the United States. The greatest export we have is not our computers or our military equipment, it is the US Dollar. Every other currency in the world is tied to its stability. If the dollar were to collapse, it would trigger a global financial collapse unlike anything the world has ever seen. What is mind boggling, is that financially speaking, we KNOW what not to do (massive printing of dollars), but we are doing it anyway (QE4). Why? I no longer believe that our government is simply incompetent or ignorant of its disastrous economic decisions, but are intentionally doing this to wreck the system, so they can remake it based on a new world order. Although tempting to point to the US as the "Little Horn", we simply do not fit into picture that either Daniel or John paint for us in their writings. That is not to say we can't be the single point supply source for the weapons and technology that the Antichrist will one day exploit during the right crisis. While the world and its leaders may scoff at the idea of a Biblical Rapture, Satan does not. Satan knows it's real, and he is furiously moving his players into place for that sudden and unexpected eventuality. This in turn explains why leaders feel the need today, to build vast facilities capable of storing more data than exists in the world. This explains why our economic system is in such a mess. In order for there to be a one-world economic system, the current system and its various currencies would need to be replaced by one. Revelation 13 speaks of that man, THE Antichrist, who will control the entire world by utilizing this system. But Satan's man doesn't create it, he just capitalizes on what is already built, using the perfect crisis as justification to hit the reset button to start over in a system that can be centrally controlled. We know that the 'perfect crisis' will be one that effectively hits the US the hardest, since all the other systems are tied into ours. What could be that event that turns the world on its head? "For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words." (1 Thess 4:16-18) 
70 Nations Gathered in Paris Unanimously Call for the Creation of a Palestinian State - http://www.charismanews.com/opinion/62420-70-nations-gathered-in-paris-unanimously-call-for-the-creation-of-a-palestinian-state
On Sunday, the 70 nations that gathered in Paris for a conference on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict unanimously agreed to call for the creation of a Palestinian state. The joint declaration issued at the conclusion of the conference also endorsed U.N. Security Council Resolution 2334, which was adopted on December 23, and the six principles U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry laid out in his 71-minute speech on December 28. If you would like to read the final draft of the joint declaration, you can do so here. The good news is that this conference did not immediately recognize a Palestinian state, nor does it appear that additional action will be taken at the U.N. Security Council before Donald Trump is inaugurated on Friday. It had been feared that this conference might attempt to impose some sort of a solution on the Israelis and the Palestinians, but that didn't come to pass. Instead, the conference participants agreed to work toward "a negotiated solution with two states, Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace and security". So the global community has clearly reaffirmed its commitment to a Palestinian state, but the outcome of this conference was not nearly as bad for Israel as many had been anticipating. On Tuesday, the U.N. Security Council will meet to further discuss the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but the Jerusalem Post is reporting that U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has promised Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that there will not be any more U.N. Security Council resolutions regarding Israel before Trump takes office... Israeli sources said Kerry called Netanyahu from the conference to brief him on the efforts the US was taking there to soften the language of the final statement. According to the sources, Netanyahu told Kerry that damage had already been done to Israel by the anti-settlement resolution that the U.S. allowed to pass in the Security Council last month, and that no more harm should be allowed to be caused from the Paris summit. Kerry assured Netanyahu that there would be no follow-up to the Paris conference in the Security Council, according to the sources. Even though that bullet has been dodged, we should still acknowledge that what just happened in Paris, France was extremely significant. It seems a very odd coincidence that exactly 70 nations gathered in Paris. It could have easily been 69 nations or 71 nations, but instead it was precisely 70. According to Rabbi Jonathan Cahn, the author of The Harbinger and The Book of Mysteries, the number 70 represents all the nations of the world in ancient Jewish tradition... "It is interesting to note that the rabbis spoke of the world consisting of 70 nations," he observed. "This is linked to the 70 sacrifices offered in the Feast of Tabernacles. So now to have the nations of the world, specifically 70 nations, gather together over the issue of Jerusalem, is most striking. One could say that the 70 nations are a representation of all nations, and coming together clearly set against the word of God which clearly ordains that Jerusalem is given by God to only one nation-Israel. "As to the Abrahamic Covenant, that what a nation does to Israel will be done to that nation, what America under Obama did to Israel at the United Nations-namely abandon it -was significant," he said. Without a doubt, all of the largest and most powerful countries were represented at the conference. So what we just witnessed in Paris was essentially the whole world coming together to decide what should be done with the land of Israel. And by unanimously agreeing that the land of Israel should be divided and that a Palestinian state should be created, these global leaders are in great danger of literally cursing the entire planet. Just a few weeks ago, I wrote an entire article about how those who bless Israel will be blessed and those who curse Israel will be cursed. I would venture to say that now the entire world is on the wrong side of that equation as a result of this conference in Paris. The good news for the U.S. is that Barack Obama is on his way out the door, and Donald Trump is about to become president. In a previous article, I detailed 10 specific steps Trump should immediately take to try to reverse the curse that Obama has put on America. One of the steps I recommended was moving the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, and this is something that Trump's team is actively talking about. However, other global leaders are warning Trump not to do this. For example, on Sunday, French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault told the press that such a move would have "very serious consequences"... A "stubborn" proposal by President-elect Donald Trump to move the U.S. Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem would involve "very serious consequences" and damage efforts for peace in the Middle East, French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said Sunday. And of course, the Palestinians are threatening widespread violence if the U.S. embassy is moved to Jerusalem; but meanwhile, the Palestinians have no problem opening up new embassies of their own. In fact, on Saturday, the Palestinians opened up a brand-new embassy at the Vatican. Donald Trump may never have anticipated this, but the truth is that the relationship between the United States and Israel is likely to be one of the defining issues of his presidency. Allowing U.N. Security Council Resolution 2334 to pass without a veto was the worst decision Barack Obama made during his entire time in the White House, and it represented the greatest betrayal of Israel in the history of the United States. In just a few days, Donald Trump will have an opportunity to begin repairing the immense damage that was done by that resolution, and it sounds like he wants to have a very positive relationship with Israel. But it can't be just words. Politicians have a habit of telling us what we want to hear, and now Donald Trump will get his chance to show the world that he is not just another typical politician. My hope is that Donald Trump will truly be a friend to Israel in both word and deed, because that is what is desperately needed at this moment in history. 
Five Anti-Israel Offenses In Paris 'Peace' Summit Final Declaration - Aaron Klein - http://www.breitbart.com/jerusalem/2017/01/15/five-anti-israel-offenses-paris-peace-summit-final-declaration/
Instead of convening a summit on the ongoing civil war in Syria, or the migrant crisis threatening Europe, or the rampant anti-Semitism plaguing its own country, France on Sunday held a convention attended by over 70 nations to affirm the international community's commitment to creating a Palestinian state. At the end of the farcical display, and with neither Israel nor the Palestinian Authority in attendance, the Paris summit representatives released a brief concluding declaration unanimously agreed to after negotiations between the countries. Reports here credited Israeli diplomats with helping to water down the anti-Israel language of the final declaration, calling the text a "significant weakening" and "less harsh than was initially expected." Still, the text was anything but fair. Here are five anti-Israel offenses in the 658-word final declaration: 1 - The text draws a moral equivalency between "violence," which would include Palestinian terrorism targeting civilians, and "settlement activity," meaning Israelis building homes in the West Bank or eastern sections of Jerusalem. The text states: They emphasized the importance for the parties to restate their commitment to this solution, to take urgent steps in order to reverse the current negative trends on the ground, including continued acts of violence and ongoing settlement activity, and to start meaningful direct negotiations. 2 - The declaration calls for Israel to "fully end the occupation that began in 1967," language that seems to mean that Israel would need to withdraw from the entire West Bank and eastern Jerusalem and thus shrink the country to indefensible borders. Those are the territories that Israel captured in the defensive war of 1967. Withdrawing "fully" would seem to imply that Israel should evacuate those territories in their entirety. Some of the holiest sites in Judaism are located in eastern Jerusalem and the West Bank, including the Western Wall and Temple Mount in Jerusalem's Old City; the Cave of the Patriarchs and Matriarchs in Hebron, which was home to the oldest continuous Jewish community in the world until the Jews of Hebron were massacred and expelled; the Tomb of Rachel in Bethlehem; and Joseph's Tomb in Nablus - biblical Shechem. The diplomats who convened in Paris, however, seem unaware of the text of United Nations Security Council Resolution 242, which today's declaration affirms as the basis of a future Israeli-Palestinian deal. After stating that Israel should "fully end the occupation that began in 1967," the Paris declaration then references Resolution 242. The declaration states: They reiterated that a negotiated two-state solution should meet the legitimate aspirations of both sides, including the Palestinians' right to statehood and sovereignty, fully end the occupation that began in 1967, satisfy Israel's security needs and resolve all permanent status issues on the basis of United Nations Security Council resolutions 242 (1967) and 338 (1973), and also recalled relevant Security Council resolutions. Resolution 242 calls on Israel to withdraw under a future final-status solution "from territories occupied" as a result of the 1967 Six Day War. The resolution does not call for a withdrawal from "all territories," a designation deliberately left out to ensure Israel's ability to retain some territory for security purposes under a future deal. The Jewish Virtual Library explains: The Security Council did not say Israel must withdraw from "all the" territories occupied after the Six-Day War. This was quite deliberate. The Soviet delegate wanted the inclusion of those words and said that their exclusion meant "that part of these territories can remain in Israeli hands." The Arab states pushed for the word "all" to be included, but this was rejected. They nevertheless asserted that they would read the resolution as if it included the word "all." The British ambassador who drafted the approved resolution, Lord Caradon, declared after the vote: "It is only the resolution that will bind us, and we regard its wording as clear." 3 - The declaration patronizes Israel by calling on both parties to "restate" their commitments to the two-state solution. Only one side has not been committed to peace. Israel has offered the Palestinians a state in much of the West Bank and Gaza Strip with a shared capital in Jerusalem numerous times. These offers were made at Camp David in 2000, Taba in 2001, the Annapolis Conference in 2007, and more offers were made in 2008. In each of these cases, the PA refused generous Israeli offers of statehood and bolted negotiations without counteroffers. The PA has failed to respond to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's unprecedented attempts to jump-start negotiations aimed at creating a Palestinian state, including freezing Jewish construction in the West Bank and eastern Jerusalem and releasing Palestinian prisoners. 4 - The declaration gives credibility to the so-called Arab Peace Initiative, which threatens Israel's security. The declaration states: "They underscored the importance of the Arab Peace Initiative of 2002 as a comprehensive framework for the resolution of the Arab-Israeli conflict, thus contributing to regional peace and security," states today's declaration. This reporter previously exposed the Saudi "peace" initiative: The Saudi Initiative, originally proposed by Saudi Arabia in 2002, states that Israel would receive "normal relations" with the Arab world in exchange for a full withdrawal from the entire Gaza Strip, West Bank, Golan Heights and eastern Jerusalem, which includes the Temple Mount. ... The Saudi plan also demands the imposition of a non-binding U.N. resolution that calls for so-called Palestinian refugees who wish to move inside Israel to be permitted to do so at the "earliest practicable date." Palestinians have long demanded the "right of return" for millions of "refugees," a formula Israeli officials across the political spectrum warn is code for Israel's destruction by flooding the Jewish state with millions of Arabs, thereby changing its demographics. When Arab countries attacked the Jewish state after its creation in 1948, some 725,000 Arabs living within Israel's borders fled or were expelled from the area that became Israel. Also at that time, about 820,000 Jews were expelled from Arab countries or fled following rampant persecution. While most Jewish refugees were absorbed by Israel and other countries, the majority of Palestinian Arabs have been maintained in 59 U.N.-run camps that do not seek to settle its inhabitants elsewhere. There are currently about four million Arabs who claim Palestinian refugee status with the U.N., including children and grandchildren of the original fleeing Arabs; Arabs living full-time in Jordan; and Arabs who long ago emigrated throughout the Middle East and to the West. According to Arab sources close to the Saudi Initiative, Arab countries are willing to come to an agreement whereby Israel absorbs about 500,000 "refugees" and reaches a compensation deal with the PA for the remaining millions of Palestinians. 5 - The Paris declaration "welcomed" UN Security Council Resolution 2334, which passed last month when the U.S. abstained and refers to the entire West Bank and eastern Jerusalem as so-called occupied Palestinian territories while demanding a complete halt to all Israeli construction in those areas. 
Palestinian Official: Paris Summit Participants Tempered Attitude Fearing Trump - Ali Waked - http://www.breitbart.com/jerusalem/2017/01/16/exclusive-palestinian-official-paris-summit-participants-tempered-attitude-fearing-trump/
President-elect Donald Trump's pro-Israel views likely influenced the outcome of Sunday's Paris Mideast summit, a Fatah official told Breitbart Jerusalem, leading to what the official termed a modestly worded resolution at the confab's conclusion. "Indeed, the outcome of the summit was overall positive but we expected it to lay out concrete parameters that would translate our resolutions into operative steps, but because the participating governments didn't want to confront Trump they didn't go that far," said Tayseer Nasrallah, a member of Fatah's Revolutionary Council. "Declaring a Palestinian State in the 1967 borders, a resolution against the settlements, their commitment to the creation of a Palestinian state ... all this is fine and well, but sadly we don't see a mechanism that would usher in the implementation," he said. "It's hard to predict what Trump will do. But based on his election pledges, he is unlikely to be committed to (Secretary of State John) Kerry's parameters and the Paris resolutions. It's hard to predict his Middle East policy altogether, including moving the US embassy to Jerusalem, but if that happens it will definitely give an indication of his ideas regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict." Nasrallah said that in preparing for the Paris summit "there was excellent coordination between the Palestinian Authority and the Obama administration. There was excellent coordination with France. But again, the question that arises is whether the Trump Administration will allow the community of nations to implement the resolution or not." More than 70 nations attended the Paris summit, where they affirmed the international community's commitment to creating a Palestinian state. Reports in the Israeli news media credited the Jewish state's diplomats with helping to temper the language of the summit's final declaration, calling the text a "significant weakening" and "less harsh than was initially expected." The Fatah official is not the only one to comment on the incoming Trump administration's influence over the Paris summit outcome. The Guardian newspaper on Sunday ran with a story titled, "UK signals closeness to Trump with snub to French Middle East summit." The newspaper reported: The British government has signaled its determination to stay close to Donald Trump's administration by refusing to send a high-level delegation to the Middle East peace conference organized by the French government. Neither a Foreign Office minister, nor the UK ambassador to France, will be attending the meeting on Sunday. Most large EU countries have sent their foreign minister, and the British approach may hint at future UK policy choices. The French regard the conference as a vital chance to reaffirm the case for a negotiated two-state solution between the Israelis and Palestinians. Trump's transition team reportedly told French diplomats they disapproved of the conference going ahead, seeing it as an attempt to put unfair pressure on Israel and give an unjustified reward to the Palestinians. The British government likely fears that the conference risks becoming a means to circumscribe future US policy on Israel before the Trump team has decided on it. 
Three Angels - By Daymond Duck - http://raptureready.com/featured/duck/dd263.html
Angels are created beings (Psa. 148:1-5; Col. 1:16-17). The Bible doesn't say when God created the angels, but some scholars believe He did it on the second day of Creation (Psa. 104:4). The Bible doesn't say how many angels God created, but He created more than humans can count (Dan. 7:10; Heb. 12:22). And even though there are more angels than humans can count only three are identified by name in the Protestant Bible: a fallen angel named Satan, and two good angels named Gabriel and Michael. Here are two interesting things the Bible says about Satan. Satan apparently overheard what God told Adam and Eve about eating fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the Garden of Eden (Gen. 2:15-17) and he decided to misquote God (Gen. 3:1-6). Salvation involves more than knowing what God said. Satan appears to have at least some understanding of Bible prophecy because he will know when his end is near (Rev. 12:12), but he will still face the judgment (II Pet. 2:4; Jude 6; Rev. 20:10). Salvation involves more than understanding Bible prophecy. A person must be born-again. Here are four or five interesting things the Bible says about Gabriel. Gabriel stands in the presence of God (Luke 1:19). Every message Gabriel delivered concerned the first or second coming of Jesus. What he said is so incredibly accurate it is mind-boggling. But he knew these things because he stands in the presence of God. Some call him one of the angels of the presence. Gabriel's first appearance was to help Daniel understand something that will happen at the very end of the Tribulation period (Dan. 8:16-27). The Antichrist will stand up against the Prince of princes (Jesus) and our Lord will destroy him (at the Second Coming). Gabriel's second appearance revealed the exact day Jesus would make His triumphal entry into Jerusalem, and that Jesus would be cut off (crucified), but not for Himself (first coming), and that the Antichrist will stop the animal sacrifices three and one-half years before the second coming (Dan. 9:24-27). Gabriel's third appearance was to announce the birth of John the Baptist to his father Zacharias and to let Zacharias know that John the Baptist would prepare the way for the first coming of Jesus (Luke 1:5-25, 67-80). Gabriel's fourth appearance was to tell Mary that she would bear a child of the Holy Ghost (first coming, virgin birth) and her Son (Jesus) will rule over the house of Jacob forever (Second Coming; Luke 1:26-39). Later, an angel appeared unto Joseph to announce the virgin birth (first coming; Matt. 1:18-25). The Bible doesn't say this angel was Gabriel, but that is probably a good guess. Here are several interesting things the Bible says about Michael: Unlike the angel Gabriel who always has a message related to the first or second coming of Jesus, the Archangel Michael is always opposing Satan, his demons, people who want to destroy Israel and things like that. Michael intervened against a wicked angel that was preventing one of God's angels from delivering the answer to one of Daniel's prayers (Dan. 10:13). Michael will stand up for Israel at the end of the age (Dan. 12:1). Jude, one of the brothers of Jesus, called Michael an archangel and he said it was Michael that contended with Satan for the body of Moses (Jude 9). Michael and his angels will kick Satan and his angels out of heaven at the middle of the Tribulation period (Rev. 12:7-10). The Bible doesn't say that it will be Michael, but the voice of the archangel will be heard when the Rapture takes place (I Thess. 4:15-17). In Revelation chapter 8, it is revealed that there are seven angels standing before the throne of God with trumpets that are blown to announce the seven trumpet judgments. Could one of these be the same angel (Gabriel) that told Zacharias he stands in the presence of God (Luke 1:19)? We don't know, but God knows the end from the beginning (Isa. 40:10) and Gabriel accurately foretold future things. In Revelation chapter 16, it is revealed that seven angels will come out of the Temple of God in heaven and pour out the vials or bowls of God's wrath. Could one of these be the same angel (Michael) that will stand up for Israel at the end of the age? We don't know, but the nations should stop trying to harm Israel. A study of angels in the Bible reveals that the world is caught up in a great unseen spiritual war. God and His angels outnumber Satan and his angels. Israel will survive and God's people (those who have accepted Jesus as their Savior) are going to win. Prophecy Plus Ministries Daymond & Rachel Duck [email protected] 
My Review of "Rapture Ready...Or Not?" Over the last 35 years, I have literally read hundreds of books on Bible Prophecy and End Time signs. I especially enjoy books on the Rapture, and I have read almost every Rapture-related book published. In all those years, devouring thousands of pages, and millions of words, I have not read a better book on the Rapture than, Rapture Ready...Or Not? Terry James might be physically blind, but he is spiritually sharp and well discerning beyond most authors. In "Rapture Ready...Or Not?" Terry has nailed the pre-trib Rapture, and removed any doubt what so ever about the Church going through the Tribulation. With great insight and Godly discernment, Terry explains with simple, yet profound words, why and how that he has come to believe the ways he does about the Rapture, the Tribulation, and the End Times scenario. I think after reading "Rapture Ready...Or Not?" you too will believe as Terry does, and be Ready for the Rapture like never before! - Randy Thomas - Publisher / Editor - Prophecy Update For more information and or to get your copy of "Rapture Ready...Or Not?" use this link: http://www.raptureready.com/terry/book35.html 
The Promise of Things To Come - Jack Kelley - https://gracethrufaith.com/topical-studies/the-bibles-authority/the-promise-of-things-to-come/
Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for. Hebr. 11:1-2 Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for. (Hebr. 11:1-2) Last time we confirmed the true identity of Jesus of Nazareth beyond a reasonable doubt. (Read ) Even by our very conservative estimates we concluded that there's only a 1 in 9 x (10 to the 45th power) chance that Jesus or anyone else could have coincidentally fulfilled the 7 Messianic prophecies we chose. And remember, He fulfilled over 300 others that we didn't even consider. 1 chance in 9 with 45 zeros after it exceeds the limit of statistical probability by a wide margin, so there's really no reason to doubt that Jesus is just who He claims to be, Israel's Messiah and the Church's Savior and Redeemer. We should also remember that although we only looked at Messianic prophecies, there are lots other things that God has promised and then performed as well. And He has a perfect track record in all these other things, too. So then, since God always has fulfilled prophecy with 100% accuracy isn't it logical to assume that He always will? After all, Hebrews 13:8 says He's the same, yesterday today and forever. Let's review a few of the 500 prophecies concerning our times and see. We'll take some that have been fulfilled to prove that He's still doing this and then some that haven't been to get a feel for what's coming. The Re-Birth Of Israel Beginning with Moses, several Old Testament prophets wrote that Israel would be uprooted from their land for disobedience. It's happened twice. The first occasion took place in 586 BC and resulted in the 70 year Babylonian captivity. The second one followed the Lord's crucifixion and is the one about which Isaiah wrote in 750 BC. (The Lord had Amos promise that after the 2nd re-gathering they would never be dispersed again. Amos 9:15) Prophecy: In that day the Lord will reach out his hand a second time to reclaim the remnant that is left of his people from Assyria, from Lower Egypt, from Upper Egypt, from Cush, from Elam, from Babylonia, from Hamath and from the islands of the sea. He will raise a banner for the nations and gather the exiles of Israel; he will assemble the scattered people of Judah from the four quarters of the earth. (Isaiah 11:11-12) Fulfillment: After over 50 years of a growing desire to re-gather in their ancient land the Jews were finally given formal approval to become a nation again in May of 1948. From North, South, East and West they have come in increasing numbers throughout the 20th Century. When the concentration camps were liberated at the end of WW2 a massive influx of Jewish refugees from Europe swelled their number into the millions. The prophecy's fulfillment was begun and continues to this day. Many believe God's timepiece had stopped in 70 AD when Judea was overrun by the Romans, the Temple destroyed and the people dispersed. But now it seemed that with his people back in the Land the stage was being set for the progressive fulfillment of the other End Times prophecies as well. Jerusalem Becomes A Jewish City Again In the first re-gathering, after the Babylonian Captivity, the Israelites had received permission to resettle their lands and rebuild their Temple but had not been given the go ahead to reconstruct the walls around the City of Jerusalem. This proved to be a great handicap since in those days a city wall was the only protection against enemy attack. Work on the Temple came to a standstill because of the continuous interference of hostile neighbors. Later, when Nehemiah was given authority to rebuild the city walls the work of reestablishing the nation progressed more rapidly and the 2nd Temple was finally completed. In the second re-gathering Israel's Arab neighbors attacked the fledgling nation soon after the UN had formally recognized it. Jordanian troops attacking from the East captured the Old City and Temple precincts and for 19 years Jerusalem was a divided city. (Some scholars see this nineteen years as a parallel to the 19 years separating the date of Nebuchadnezzar's first attack on Israel in 605BC and his third and final one in 586. The result of first siege is sometimes referred to as The Servitude of the Nation since Jewish sovereignty effectively ended then, and the third is called the Desolations of Jerusalem since that's when the city was burned to the ground and Israel ceased to exist. Prophecies from Ezekiel 4:4-6 can be used to tie 605 BC to 1948 and 586 BC to 1967. It takes a lot of math but it works.) Prophecy: When you see Jerusalem being surrounded by armies, you will know that its desolation is near. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, let those in the city get out, and let those in the country not enter the city. For this is the time of punishment in fulfillment of all that has been written. How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! There will be great distress in the land and wrath against this people. They will fall by the sword and will be taken as prisoners to all the nations. Jerusalem will be trampled on by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. (Luke 21:20-24) Fulfillment: This is a companion prophecy to the one from Luke 19:41-44 that we reviewed last time. There Jesus had said that the Romans would surround the city and destroy it. Here He warned them that when that happened, Jerusalem would become a Gentile city until the period of Gentile Dominion ended. Indeed when the Roman Emperor Hadrian put down the bar Kochba Rebellion in 135 AD finally defeating the Jews for good, he made it illegal for a Jew to enter Jerusalem. As I stated above, in the 1948 War of Independence Jordan captured the Old City and Temple Mount and Jerusalem became a divided city. It wasn't until June of 1967, toward the end of the six-day war, that Jewish troops broke into East Jerusalem and re-captured the Old City including the Temple Mount. The Star of David flew over the unified city for the first time since the nation had been dispersed by the Romans. The times of the Gentiles had come to an end, further indication that the End Times had begun. All End Times Prophecies Fulfilled Within A Single Life Span All the prophecies of the 1st Coming were fulfilled within the lifetimes of those being born around the time of the first Christmas. They began with the birth of John the Baptist, who was only 6 months older than Jesus, and ended with the destruction of the Temple and Holy City. In the passage below, the Lord explained that the 2nd Coming prophecies would be fulfilled in the same manner. Prophecy: Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door. I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away. (Matt. 24:32-35) Fulfillment: The fig tree is the last to come out of its winter dormancy. It doesn't sprout buds and leaves until the warm weather has come to stay, making it a reliable sign that summer is truly near. So it is with End Times prophecies. When their fulfillment begins, it means that the end is coming soon. In fact in the next sentence, the Lord explained that some from the generation being born when the first signs are fulfilled will still be alive at the end. Since that sentence is surrounded by controversy, let's look at it again, more carefully. We want to make absolutely sure it says what we think it does. The controversy centers on the word translated generation in verse 34. In Greek it's genea, and can mean generation or race. It's the word from which we get generation and genealogy. There are three major interpretations of the passage: 1. The End Times would occur during the life spans of the generation to whom Jesus was speaking. Some believe the Great Tribulation and 2nd Coming had occurred by 70 AD, and the Millennium began in Heaven then. They're called Preterists and they believe there are no more End Times prophecies to be fulfilled. 2. The Greek word genea should be translated race and should be applied to the Jewish people. This is the view of those called Idealists and in fact the Jews have endured in spite of all efforts to eradicate them. But does the Idealist view accommodate all the End Times prophecies? Sadly, no. Idealists don't believe in a literal fulfillment of prophecy. 3. The generation being born as the first of the End Times signs were being fulfilled would live to see them all fulfilled. This is the most logical view and the one held by those who take the Bible literally. It's easy to prove that the Lord hasn't come again in the manner indicated by Scripture, and after 6000 years of literal fulfillment of prophecy, why would the Lord suddenly switch to an allegorical method of fulfillment, especially where it concerns making good on His promises to His people? The big mistake made here by many who follow a literal method of interpretation is to assume the word generation describes a span of time as well as a group of people born during a particular period. Making this mistake led them to predict that all End Times signs would be fulfilled within the span of one generation, nominally 40 years. Connecting this assumption to the re-birth of Israel, they predicted the Lord would return in 1988, and of course they were wrong. What the Lord said was that the generation alive when the fulfillment of End Times signs begins would not pass away until all was fulfilled. A Biblical lifetime is 70 years according to Psalm 90:10. There's also a question as to whether the 1948 re-birth of Israel began the final count down or whether is should begin with the 1967 recovery of Jerusalem. After all, the prophecy from Daniel 9:24-27 concerning the Lord's first coming was timed to the rebuilding of Jerusalem, not the first re-gathering of the nation. Our best estimate, at least for now, is to expect that all the End Times prophecies will have been fulfilled as early as 2018 (70 years from 1948) and no later than 2037 (70 years from 1967). So the question is, what has to happen between now and then. Well, there are over 500 unfulfilled prophecies concerning the 2nd Coming. We'll just take some of the major ones and put them into their proper sequence so we'll always know what to look for next as we go. I believe the next sign to be fulfilled will be the disappearance of the Church as foretold in 1 Thessalonians 4:15-18. This one could happen at any moment since there's nothing that has to precede it. Right on its heels will come the battle foretold in Ezekiel 38-39, causing two critical events to happen as a result. One, the Lord will use that battle to re-instate His covenant with Israel, and two, the Anti-Christ will emerge with a plan to restore peace in the Middle East. A central provision of his plan will permit the rebuilding of the Jewish Temple, as required by Israel's renewed covenant with the Lord. Daniel 9:24-27 indicates the duration of the anti-Christ's plan will be seven years, and that in the middle of it, he'll stand in the new Temple and commit an abomination that causes the Temple to become desolate. (In 2 Thes. 2:4 Paul wrote that the abomination is the anti-Christ proclaiming himself to be God.) In Matthew 24:21, Jesus said that the anti-Christ's proclamation will kick off the Great Tribulation, a period of judgments 3½ years long (Daniel 9:27). During that time the Earth will be shaken and bombarded to a point that will make the recent tsunami seem like child's play and ½ of the world's remaining population will perish. But some will survive to see the Lord's return in Glory, and those who've come to believe in Him will be ushered into His Kingdom (Matt 25:34). They will have lived the most harrowing and dangerous life of any generation ever born, having seen all the End Times prophecies fulfilled right before their eyes. After judging the survivors from the nations the Lord, now King of all the Earth, will commence a 1000 year reign of peace (Rev. 20:4). Earth will have been restored to the way it was created, a beautiful sub-tropical garden paradise, and His people Israel will once again be its pre-imminent nation (Isaiah 2:3). Meanwhile believers from the Church age will dwell with Him in the nearby New Jerusalem, a place where only those whose names have been written in the Lamb's Book of Life may enter (Rev. 21). During the 1000 years Satan will have been bound and imprisoned, no longer free to deceive man and afflict God's people. (Rev. 20:1-2) But at its end, he'll be released and will immediately recruit a large army with which to attack God. God will defeat him of course and he'll be thrown into the place of eternal judgment with all those who sided with him (Rev. 20:10). At that time, the unsaved dead will be brought to life and judged before being thrown into the Lake of Fire to join the Devil, the anti-Christ, and his false prophet (Rev. 20:11-15). After that, all who believe in the Lord and are called by His name will embark on an eternity filled with blessing in the presence of the Lord. This is just a summary of events, listed in the sequence I believe the Bible gives us, to permit a glimpse of how the end will unfold. If you're a believer, you'll observe all of this from your vantage point in the New Jerusalem, safe and secure. If not, you'll be able to predict just how close the Lord's return is by witnessing these signs as they occur on Earth. Better keep your head down though, you'll only have a 50-50 chance of surviving to the end. I strongly recommend that you make your peace with the Lord now, while you still have the option of being hidden away with the rest of us. For if you listen closely you can almost hear the footsteps of the Messiah. 
Daily Jot: Type and shadow, but not prophecy-UN Paris meeting - Bill Wilson - www.dailyjot.com
Some are pointing to the 70 nations that attended the UN Paris peace initiative conference and are saying that it was prophetic because the "table of Nations" in Genesis 10 included 70 nations. They are sounding alarm bells because the UN represents all the nations of the world and that they were gathered in Paris against Jerusalem, pointing to the Zechariah 12:3 prophecy saying, "And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it." This is not fulfillment of prophecy. It does not meet the Biblical context or the geographical location described by the prophets. The 70 nations in Genesis 10 are actually the proper descendants of Noah after the flood that had their own tongue, families and nations. Verse 1 says, "Now these are the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham and Japheth: and unto them were sons born after the flood." Some of these names establish the lineage of Abraham through Shem. Others indicate a "family" split as some of the brothers and their descendants actually become the very nations mentioned in the prophecies that will come against Israel in the Day of the Lord, to which Zechariah 12 and Ezekiel 38 is referring. Gomer, Magog, Tubal, Meshech, Togarmah, Cush (Ethiopia), Put (Libya) and others are mentioned. These prophecies speak to a colossal end time battle when the Lord smites Gog. While some of the 70 nations at the UN summit are of the nations mentioned as gathering against Israel in "that day," they are not in the Biblical context of those mentioned in Genesis 10. This is the second gathering of UN nations in Paris to pressure Israel out of its God-given land, the first summit having taken place on June 3, 2016. The statement from the January 15 conference reiterated "that a negotiated two-state solution should meet the legitimate aspirations of both sides, including the Palestinians' right to statehood and sovereignty, fully end the occupation that began in 1967, satisfy Israel's security needs and resolve all permanent status issues on the basis of United Nations Security Council resolutions 242 (1967) and 338 (1973), and also recalled relevant Security Council resolutions." This gathering of nations in Paris advocates dividing Jerusalem, but it is not a military force coming against Israel. In reality, the nations that gather against Jerusalem "in that day" will actually be the traditional enemies of God's chosen people and they will be literally coming from the North to sack Jerusalem and take a spoil (Ezekiel 38:13). The Lord God says of Gog in Ezekiel 38:17: "Aren't you he of whom I have spoken in old time by my servants the prophets of Israel, which prophesied in those days many years that I would bring you against them." This is not the UN, although the UN may be involved in hastening the prophecy. It appears to be a type and shadow, a warning for the future for discerning people to keep in perspective rather than run to and fro because of the tickling of the ears. Read the text of the UN Paris statement here: http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/1.765207 
Daily Devotion: A Literal Paradise - Greg Laurie - www.harvest.org
"Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you."-John 14:1-2 The late Isaac Asimov said, "I don't believe in an afterlife, so I don't have to spend my whole life fearing Hell, or fearing Heaven even more. For whatever the tortures of Hell, I think the boredom of Heaven would be even worse." Trust me. Heaven will not be boring. Some people think of Heaven in a mystical way, with clouds and more clouds and people floating around. Others think of Heaven as a really long church service. But what is Heaven really like? I'll begin by saying that Heaven is an actual place. Jesus said, "I go to prepare a place for you" (John 14:2). A place-that is very important for us to remember. Heaven is a real place for real people to do real things. We need to think of it that way. Heaven is also described as a paradise. When the thief on the cross said to Jesus, "Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom" (Luke 23:42), Jesus said, "Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise" (verse 43). The apostle Paul said the same thing. He died and went to Paradise. That is an interesting word, because in the original language, it's actually a word to describe a walled garden like the king of Persia would have had. Think of a palatial estate with a manicured garden that goes on forever, with every kind of fruit and flower. That is the word Paul used to describe Heaven after God brought him back. Paul was thinking of the best thing he could imagine, saying it was like paradise to him. That doesn't mean it can't be beautiful on this planet. We see God's glory on display in His creation, even in a fallen state. But Heaven is a paradise. 
FROM THE HEART
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