Prophecy Update Newsletter
IN TODAY'S NEWSLETTER...
How Long, Oh Lord? - Terry James - https://terryjamesprophecyline.com/2021/01/25/how-long-oh-lord/?blogsub=flooded#blog_subscription-6
These troubled days, one question burns at the center of every believer who adheres to the pre-Trib view of the Rapture. I’ve heard it many times through personal conversation and email ”How long will it be until the Lord says ‘enough is enough’ and calls us home?” I’ve asked it myself on more than one occasion. But I’ve long since put the question somewhere closer to the back of my thinking. The reason, I suspect, is because I’ve finally got it through my hard head that our Lord wants me to prioritize efforts toward completion of the assignment He has given me while in this life. Heaven’s bottom line is that I wouldn’t be here during these increasingly troubled times if there is no purpose, according to my Creator. Knowing that He has promised to take us to our homes He has been preparing for us is a comforting truth He’s expressed numerous times in His Holy Word. The more firmly we trust Him to keep that promise, the greater the comfort. Now is the time to trust and get on down that pathway He wants us to follow. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not unto your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will direct your paths. (Proverbs 3:5–6) All that said, there is certainly justification, in my view, for the angst-ridden question: How long, oh Lord? How long will believers have to be subjected to the proliferating end-times evil assaulting society and culture? When will God say “enough is enough” and have His Son step out on the clouds of glory and shout “Come up here!”? Jesus, while speaking to His immediate disciples on the Mount of Olives, gave the very first indicator to look for that would lead to all other signals of His Second Advent. He said that there would be great deception and many deceivers on the scene at the end of the age. The cumulative indicators of His Second Coming, he addressed a little later in His discourse. And when ye shall see all these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your head, for your redemption draweth nigh. (Luke 21:28) Can anyone legitimately deny that we have in recent months and years witnessed deception that is in our faces during every news broadcast, podcast, or electronic and print forum? The mainstream media, both news and entertainment, have been purveyors of their special brand of this indicator. Deception and deceivers pervade and permeate our lives each and every news cycle. The former president who just left office properly termed the deceptive practices of journalists “fake news.” Paul the apostle said the following of such that will be prevalent as the Lord’s return nears: But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived (2 Timothy 3:13, NKJV) With the daily diatribes by all the mainstream media that consistently lied, thus brought to the office of president a candidate many consider an imposter because of what they believe to be election fraud, the New King James version certainly seems to fit. Deception of the sort Jesus and Paul pronounced upon the end-times generation seems quite appropriate. Jesus’ words that times would be just like in the days of Noah and of Lot make it seem to many prophecy watchers as if He was speaking specifically of these very days that make us ask: “How long, oh Lord?” Observing the anger and destruction of the thugs who burned down much of America’s cities during 2020 brings into sharp focus the words in Genesis chapter 6: “violence filled the whole earth.” Assessing the state of our nation and the world in the matter of the satanic forces normalizing what was a few years ago aberrant sexual behavior and deviancy quickly brings realization that the days of Lot prophesied by the Lord Jesus are quite likely the days we’re currently living in. At last count, there are twenty-seven nations where gay marriage is legal. The Sodom level of sexual immorality and deviancy has just in recent years reached a zenith. Gay rights and all attendant to the perversions it has wrought, such as transgenderism, have torn apart society and culture and done irreparable harm to foundational morality. The youth of America and the world have been victim of inculcation by Sodom-like organizations such as the LBGQTI. The family and its traditional stability have been vitally diminished. Every day, believers who are paying attention and have the truth of Christ’s words in their spiritual hearts say, “How long, oh Lord?” We’re wise to read again and again the words by our Lord while thinking on this question we’re are asking. I know all the arguments from those who hold vehemently to the seminary line about the Olivet Discourse being for the Jews only, so don’t write hotly accusing me of misinterpreting these words recorded here. I believe the fig tree here refers to Israel. I believe Jesus is speaking of His next catastrophic intervention into mankind’s evil history–the Rapture. I believe He addresses to some extent the answer to our question of “how long?”. Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh: So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors. Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. (Matthew 24:32–36) Be assured and comforted! Our Lord’s words in Luke 21:28 are almost certainly for this generation! Nukes, terror, Syria, Iraq, Hezbollah - Iran's tentacles are spreading – Seth J Frantzman - https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/what-is-the-real-problem-with-irans-threats-to-israel-and-the-region-656524 Israel is preparing a full-court press to discuss Iran’s threats with the new US administration, according to various media reports. National Security Adviser Meir Ben-Shabbat spoke on Saturday with Jake Sullivan, his counterpart in the Biden administration, and Mossad head Yossi Cohen is expected to travel soon to Washington to present Israel’s concerns to his counterparts in the intelligence community. The discussions are expected to be wide-ranging. According to the report, they will likely include Iran stopping uranium enrichment, ending production of advanced centrifuges and stopping support for various terrorist proxies and militias. The proxies include Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen, as well as Iran’s threatening posture in Syria and Iraq. There are other concerns as well. Sometimes in negotiations, one side outlines its ideal demands at the outset to get only some of them fulfilled at the end. This laundry list looks like that. Throw enough problems at the wall, and surely the US and Israel can work some of them out. On the other hand, what Israel is sketching out also looks a lot more like an Iranian elephant in the room than just a nuclear problem. Iran has often used the nuclear program to distract from its real desire: to achieve regional hegemony. The nuclear program is just one part of a vast military-industrial complex in Iran that involves advanced precision-guided ballistic missiles, sophisticated drones, new naval assets and a coterie of militias across the region. Iran funds and arms Hezbollah, including secret production facilities for weapons. Iran has placed drones in Syria and even tried to put its Khordad air-defense system there. It has moved weapons to the T4 and Imam Ali bases and other centers in Syria. It is trying to move precision-guided munitions production to Lebanon or Syria, has moved drone and missile technology to the Houthis in Yemen, and in 2018, it moved ballistic missiles to western Iraq. Never in history has a country taken such a multilayered approach so quickly to try to place a footprint across the region. In contrast to Western arms sales to countries in the Middle East, Iran has moved quickly to deploy its systems across the region. It has acted in contravention of international law, mining ships in the Gulf of Oman, attacking Saudi Arabia with drones in 2019 and moving weapons illegally across sovereign countries to illegal militias. This is Iran’s method. Iran’s nuclear program is, therefore, not sui generis and has wrongly been examined as its own entity instead of part of a larger Iranian game plan. Iran has often enjoyed letting the world talk about the nuclear program and the rate of enrichment and number of centrifuges, while it focused efforts on putting its first military satellite in orbit and improved its range of solid- and liquid-fueled missiles. Iran turns the nuclear program on and off depending on how it wants to heat up negotiations. The program is a kind of bogeyman and form of blackmail all rolled into one. Over the past several years, Israel’s focus shifted to deal with Iran’s entrenchment in Syria. With relative quiet in Lebanon and Hezbollah focused on the Syrian civil war, Israel has launched more than 1,000 airstrikes against Iran’s presence in Syria. Recent reports note Iran may have withdrawn some IRGC assets from Syria, and that some militias may be moving from Deir Ezzor and Albukamal in the northeast to across the border in Iraq. However, reports have also noted increased threats from Yemen. The US designated the Houthis as terrorists, which the new administration is expected to review, and similarly designated militias in Iraq and key figures, including Abu Fadak of Kataib Hezbollah in Iraq. US officials also pressed to enable Israel more operational freedom to confront Iran’s militia presence. This happened, to some extent, after James Mattis left his role as secretary of defense in 2018. It is believed that James Jeffrey and others at the State Department pressed for more support for Israel in its campaign against Iran in Syria. That means that between 2018 and the end of 2020 there was a kind of hand-in-glove approach: Israel was the fist that hammered the Iranians in Syria, and the US was the glove around the fist, encouraging and supporting it. For the US, this was a win-win because the administration could say it didn’t start any new foreign wars – it just outsourced them to Israel. For defense experts, some of whom were reportedly skeptical about the abilities of the F-35, there has been a boon as well, with three joint training exercises between US and Israeli F-35 pilots last year. According to an Al Arabiya report last May, Israel has used the F-35 against Iranian targets in Syria. The first reports of the F-35 being used in combat date back to 2018. Iraq’s government and its pro-Iranian militias blame Israel for carrying out airstrikes in July and August 2019 against Iranian militia targets in Iraq. This caused tensions between Iraq and US air operations. It has also caused the pro-Iran militias to look skyward. An explosion in Iraq earlier this month led militias to spread rumors of another mysterious strike. That was proven to be false, but the initial blame game illustrates how Israel is viewed. In the fall of 2017, Qais Khazali, an Iraqi pro-Iran militia leader, went to Lebanon and said Iraq’s militias would support Hezbollah if a war broke out with Israel. Current and future discussions with the Biden administration will focus on the larger Iranian octopus spreading its tentacles across the region. How to deal with that octopus and all its threats is the real hurdle. The nuclear program is just the kind of distracting dress that the octopus wears to distract from the larger looming problem. Nearing Midnight: The COVID-19 Vaccine is Not the Mark; It’s the Prep to the Mark – Todd Strandberg - https://www.raptureready.com/category/nearing-midnight/ A lot of people have asked me if they should get the COVID-19 vaccine because they fear it might have some connection to the Mark of the Beast. The “mark” is not at all something that could be accidentally taken. The people who take it in the tribulation hour are doing so to show their allegiance to the Antichrist. I have watched several medical videos on the COVID-19 vaccine, and I think it is generally safe to take. The messenger RNA gets into your cells and makes copies of proteins that become the spikes on the virus. Immune cells create antibodies that will attach to the spikes, preventing the virus from entering into a host cell. Once the messenger RNA has sounded the alarm, it quickly breaks apart. Even though this vaccine was developed in record time, pharmaceutical companies have managed to cut corners by ingeniously simplifying the process. Most of us have been injected with vaccines that are made of dead viruses. Sometimes, not all the viruses were killed, and people came down with an illness that they expected to avoid. The COVID-19 vaccine basically hands out wanted posters to our immune system and then vanishes. We have poured billions of dollars into the key vaccines, and there has been a massive amount of data and research on them. There are many drugs that have nowhere near the amount of testing that has taken place with these COVID-19 vaccines. So if you grow a third eye or hair on your tongue in 10 years, it’s more likely to be a side effect of a prescription drug than one of these vaccines. There have been several allergic reactions to the COVID-19 vaccine, but very few have had any lasting impact on peoples’ health. I understand that there are millions of people who don’t trust any vaccine, which probably includes a majority of my Rapture Ready audience. We all have to assess the risk and make our own decisions. I was going to get a flu shot, but when I read that the infection rate for this virus is way down, I decided not to get one. The greatest danger with the COVID-19 vaccine is it being used as a pretext for forced medical treatment. The government may soon be kicking down doors, hogtying people and injecting them without their consent. I had rather been part of the initial vaccine test group than see our governors act like military juntas. There is a massive problem with the distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine. State and federal agencies have absolutely no idea what they are doing. They promised that 20 million people would be vaccinated by the end of 2020, and only 2.5 million individuals received shots. Some people are waiting in lines up to 24 hours to get a vaccination. We knew it would take a small army to inoculate 300 million people, and that army was never raised. Everyone now injecting people with the vaccine should have spent the last few months teaching other people to administer the shots. If we’ve declared war on this virus, we should have firemen, national guard, school nurses, or heroin addicts on the firing line. Ok, I’m just kidding about the addicts, but they probably could do a better job. There are 12,000 of them in the city of Los Angles alone. The virus is killing 4,000 people a day, and it will likely surge in the coming days from the new strains that are more transmissible. When we finally get enough people vaccinated to end the pandemic, I think the government agency that houses immunization will become a massive part of the government. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) had 10,000 employees in its last headcount. In the near future, it may have a half million. After the 911 attacks, Homeland Security ballooned up so much that they had to build a dozen large office complexes in Washington, D.C., to house all the new workers. COVID-19 has given political leaders a dangerous amount of power over people’s lives. It is just too Orwellian to have governors telling citizens where to shop, when they can leave their homes, and when it’s safe to go to church. If COVID-19 vanishes once we achieve herd immunity, a bad flu season a couple years down the road may trigger another lockdown. If the Antichrist had tried to roll out the mark of the beast implant today, we know it would have been a huge disaster. The tribulation would be over before everyone would have received the 666 mark. The COVID-19 vaccine rollout has been bumpy, but it will get progressively more effective with each passing day. In six months’ time, we could have a system that could administer an injection to every citizen within two months. What scares me the most about the mark is not that people will receive it with great regret, but rather, they will take it with little regard for the consequences. “And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, ‘If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out unmixed into the cup of His indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb” (Revelation 14:9-10). It’s Like Magic! Lockdowns Are Ending All Over America Just Days After Biden’s Inauguration… - by Michael Snyder - http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/its-like-magic-lockdowns-are-ending-all-over-america-just-days-after-bidens-inauguration/ Isn’t it amazing how all of the lockdowns can now be lifted now that Donald Trump is no longer president? It has been less than a week since Joe Biden was inaugurated, and COVID restrictions are being ended in Michigan, Chicago, California and New York. What an odd coincidence, eh? Now that Democrats are running everything, it turns out that there is no longer any need for such fear-based control mechanisms. At this point, we are being told that happy days are here again and that the next four years are going to be just great. Of course the economic devastation that was caused by all of the lockdowns is going to be with us for a while. The lockdowns permanently destroyed more than 100,000 small businesses, they plunged us into the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression of the 1930s, and they sent suicide rates skyrocketing all over the globe. But at least our rightful rulers are now back in control, and so it was a small sacrifice to make. Sometimes I use sarcasm to express my frustrations, and there is much to be frustrated about these days. After putting Michigan residents through hell for most of 2020, two days after Biden was inaugurated Governor Gretchen Whitmer announced that the restrictions in her state would start to be lifted… Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said Friday that the restrictions worked, COVID-19 infection rates are declining, and indoor dining can resume Feb. 1. The very next day, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot proudly announced that COVID restrictions were also being rolled back in her city… “Due to recent progress in the fight against COVID-19, Chicago is now operating under Illinois’ Tier 1 mitigations—which includes limited indoor dining and more.” Then on Monday, California Governor Gavin Newsom “lifted regional stay-at-home orders across the state”… California lifted regional stay-at-home orders across the state Monday in response to improving coronavirus conditions, returning the state to a system of county-by-county restrictions, state health officials announced. CBS San Francisco reports the move opens the way for a return to limited restaurant dining, religious services and other activities. Somehow, major Democratic politicians all over the nation have simultaneously come to the exact same conclusion about the COVID lockdowns. Isn’t that strange? Of course there are some that are suggesting that all of this is a little bit too convenient. For example, this is what Steve Cortes posted on Twitter… Michigan, Chicago, now California. It’s almost as if the “science” changed, once Biden became president? How convenient for Whitmer, Lightfoot, and Newsom? Using small businesses, churches, schools, and citizens as pawns in a crass political game is evil. Steve must not have heard the latest, because we just got big news out of New York… The spread of Covid-19 has slowed enough in New York that Gov. Andrew Cuomo plans to ease the extra restrictions some parts of the state have been living under for months. Cuomo said today he expects to announce changes to the state’s Covid cluster zones soon. It would be the first update to the cluster zones in weeks. They could have at least waited for a couple of weeks to make it look better. Many Americans are going to be convinced that these lockdowns were a political ploy all along, and it is going to be extremely difficult to convince them otherwise. Meanwhile, we are left with a nation in which the gap between the wealthy and the poor is now greater than ever thanks to the lockdowns. According to Bloomberg, we just witnessed the largest yearly increase in poverty in the United States since the 1960s… Economists Bruce Meyer, from the University of Chicago, and James Sullivan of the University of Notre Dame found that the poverty rate increased by 2.4 percentage points during the latter half of 2020 as the U.S. continued to suffer the economic impacts from Covid-19. That percentage-point rise is nearly double the largest annual increase in poverty since the 1960s. This means an additional 8 million people nationwide are now considered poor. Moreover, the poverty rate for Black Americans is estimated to have jumped by 5.4 percentage points, or by 2.4 million individuals. Of course we have also seen poverty rates explode elsewhere around the world, and Oxfam is warning that on a global basis we just witnessed the “greatest rise in inequality since records began”… As featured in a recent Oxfam study which also sought to assess the financial impact of the pandemic — up to 500 million people globally have been newly pushed into poverty, while at the same time the world’s 10 richest men made a combined $540 billion over the same time frame. Oxfam is calling it evidence of the “greatest rise in inequality since records began.” The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. Meanwhile, the horrific civil unrest that I warned was coming is now raging all over the planet. In fact, one group of protesters in the Netherlands just blew up a bridge. When faith in our leaders and in our institutions is gone, it is going to be exceedingly difficult to ever restore it. Perhaps “the science” really does indicate that our politicians should suddenly be lifting COVID restrictions all over the United States. But even many Democrats are going to admit that it looks incredibly suspicious for them to be doing this in coordinated fashion just days after Biden was inaugurated. In life, and especially in politics, perception can be everything. However, even if there is funny business going on, we should all be glad that the lockdowns are finally starting to end because that will definitely help the economy. Let us hope that economic conditions in this country will improve for at least a short period of time as we wait for the next shoe to drop. Daily Jot: American Gulag – Bill Wilson – www.dailyjot.com Many can remember the Soviet Gulag political labor camps where people who didn’t agree with the socialist/communist regime were sent for reeducation, the reprogramming of their minds to accept, even support communism. If they were not cured of their mental disease (individual rights, personal freedom) they were worked to death or executed. It is estimated that some 18 million people passed through Gulags and 1.6 million, or about 10% died. They may be gone in Russia, but China has a similar system for Christians, Muslims and other dissenters, in addition to its slave labor. Liberal influencers and Democratic Party leaders openly say they want to establish this for conservatives and Christians in America. The New York Post reports that during a town hall meeting Friday, influencer and leader of the socialist democrats’ coalition in the US House of Representatives, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) suggested funding reeducation camps for those who voted for President Trump. Labeling them white supremacists, conspiracy theorists and those who pushed the theory that the election was stolen from President Trump, Ocasio-Cortez said that these “fringe radicals” operate in a “misinformation bubble” and it will take more than one conversation to de-program them, likening it to therapy. She called for the quadrupling of funding of such programs. Ocasio-Cortez is not the only one calling for such a radical concept. On November 17, Democrat National Committee member David Atkins tweeted: “No seriously…how *do* you deprogram 75 million people? Where do you start? Fox? Facebook? We have to start thinking in terms of post-WWII Germany or Japan. Or the failures of Reconstruction in the South.” Apparently, after getting some heat on this statement, he backtracked two days later, tweeting: “And no, of course I’m not advocating “re-education camps” or anything like that. The point is that conservative infotainment is disinformation propaganda indistinguishable from cult programming, and social media algorithms enable it.” Well, that’s exactly what he called for, in addition to censuring media outlets such as Fox and Breitbart (another tweet). He and Ocasio-Cortez are joined by key Hollywood influencers, other senators and representatives, the corporate media, and technology platforms that have already begun censoring, outing, and doxing those who do not agree with their political views. Amazing that the mainstream news media isn’t going after these people for their extreme, radical communistic and fascist actions. To label 75 million people as radical, white supremacists and want to “reeducate” them is an outrage and a step toward tyranny. They are not talking about reeducating a few misguided people here, but rather all voters who did not vote for Joe Biden. We better become Ephesians 6:20 people: “That therein I may speak boldly as I ought to speak.” Otherwise, we may all be locked down permanently because we disagree with the radical notions of godless communists. Daily Devotion: Not Religion but Relationship - by Greg Laurie – www.harvest.org Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, ‘Where are you?’ —Genesis 3:9 https://harvest.org/resources/devotion/not-religion-but-relationship/ - Listen If you were meeting friends somewhere but had to call them because you were lost, the first question they would ask is, “Where are you?” Before they can tell you how to get there, they need to know where you are. God asked that very question of Adam in the Garden of Eden. After Adam ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, sin entered the world. So he was hiding. The Lord came walking through the garden in the cool of the day, and He called out to Adam, “Where are you?” (Genesis 3:9 NKJV). Now, do you think the Lord knew where Adam was? Of course, He did. God knows everything about us. We can’t hide anything from Him. In effect, God was saying, “Well, Adam, you ate of the forbidden fruit. How did that go? Are you happy with the way things turned out?” I think the Lord could ask the same of us today: Where are you? How is your life going? Is this the way you hoped it would turn out? Are you wondering if you’ve missed the whole point of what life is all about? God loves you. He has a plan for you, and there’s hope for your future. But there’s a big difference between religion and a relationship with Jesus Christ. It isn’t rules and regulations; it’s real freedom from the power of sin. It isn’t religion; it’s a relationship with Christ himself. Being a Christian is asking Christ to come and live inside of you. The Bible says, “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name” (John 1:12 NKJV). Only you can do this. No one can do it for you. The way you become a child of God is by receiving Christ into your life. 
FROM THE HEART
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