Prophecy Update Newsletter
IN TODAY'S NEWSLETTER...
All Things Prophecy: Volume I - By Pete Garcia - http://rev310.com/2019/02/all-things-prophecy-volume-i
The Rapture Gap As of late, I have noticed some within our Pre-Trib community who have begun to shift their thinking regarding the timing of the Seal Judgments and where those align within the 70th Week of Daniel-proper (i.e., the literal seven years). Some have even suggested that the Seal Judgments do not even begin to open until the mid-point of the Tribulation (or 3.5 years into the 70th Week). I believe that part of their reasoning for departing from the traditional view (i.e., the simple chronological understanding of Revelation), is that their previous assumptions about the Rapture have not yet come to pass. If we think back to all the high-watch, rapture years (1993, 2000, 2011, 2017, and 2018), it seems these teachers relied on a faulty timing-based scenario that aligned the Rapture at either 40 or 70 years. Since we are now in 2019, many have begun to rethink their understanding, which is why they are moving into a hybrid, mid-tribulation Rapture scenario. I do not subscribe to a mid-trib (for lack of a better term) scenario. Although I will tie up my thoughts in the summary of his volume, I want to give some context as to the why our Rapture is at the beginning of the 70th week, rather than the middle. Furthermore, if we understand that Scripture never ties the Rapture with the start the 70th Week of Daniel, we can see how and why a gap must be necessary. Why the Gap? The reasons I do not support a mid-trib Rapture (or even a 3.5-year Tribulation) are many, but many theologians ignore one of the more practical reasons I can think of. There is a military truism I have oft heard repeated throughout my career, which is amateur's talk of strategy, while professionals study logistics. In other words, you can be the best tactically trained force on the planet, and have the best strategic plan ever devised, but if you cannot resource it, it is never going to work. Logistics is truly how the US beat the Japanese and the German's in WWII. It is not that we had better weapons, tanks, ships, or aircraft; it was that we out-produced them while simultaneously decimating their ability to replenish theirs. A logical assumption (based on second and third order effects) then is that immediately after the Rapture of the Church, the world is cast headlong into a temporary state of chaos. That is somewhat hard for us to wrap our minds around, given we have largely benefited from a stable world over the last 70-plus years. Despite the issues we have had since the last period of global chaos (World War II), life on terra firma has largely held steady and provided a period of relative normalcy. The nation-states (for the most part) have operated in a functional manner. Wars were largely confined to individual nations (ex. Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan) rather than across the globe. International trade and currencies proliferated amongst the nations. Aside from the occasional weather phenomenon, global travel has greatly expanded and remained unimpeded. IOW, things have remained relatively stable and peaceful. That has all been a result of a stable and somewhat benevolent super-state like the United States. Given the state of the world as it is currently, the United States is still the largest economy, still has the most powerful military, and is still the single greatest roadblock to global governance. [For the purposes of this article, we will simply use 10% of the American population as a mark on the wall.] If the Rapture happened tomorrow and ten-percent of the US population simply disappeared in an instant that would equal around 31 million Americans who are no longer contributing to our economy and society. Since the early 1980s, the Greatest Generation has begun being replaced with the Baby Boomers. Each subsequent generation has continued to deteriorate in terms of national identity and unanimity. Our society today is more akin to America 1860, than we are America 1960. If the Rapture happened in 1945, the US may have recovered. But we are far too divided and weakened today to survive a major natural disaster, much less something like the Rapture. 1. The US is highly polarized today, with about half the nation ideologically/politically pitted against the other. Whether it is liberal versus conservative, or capitalist versus socialist, black vs. white, gay vs. straight, or simply Democrat versus Republican, we are a much-divided nation ideologically. The elections of Barack Hussein Obama and Donald Trump have only further heightened that division. 2. The US recently crossed the $22T threshold regarding our national debt. If we included all the future promised expenditures, i.e., the unfunded liabilities (Social Security, Medicare, etc.), we are well over $100T mark in debt. This means that even without a Rapture-event scenario, the United States as we knew it, will not survive into the near future without some kind of radical governmental overhaul. 3. The rest of the industrialized/modernized world is in equally similar (or worse) shape economically speaking. Most of the industrialized world either have huge debt to GDP ratios, have failing economies, or do not have the adequate infrastructure to sustain their economic growth. Therefore, if the Rapture took place tomorrow, and 31 million Americans were instantaneously removed, the sudden loss of income, wages, rents, taxes, and the loss of the societal contributions would absolutely destabilize an already fragile political and economic system. That destabilization would trigger a domino effect across a world that is equally fragile and unstable. About the best example we can come to seeing what this looks like, was the 1929 Stock Market crash. That crash triggered a series of economic collapses around the world and crushed nations who were already struggling financially. The Stock Market Crash of 1929 also provided the perfect opportunity for a man like Adolph Hitler to rise to power in Germany. A future scenario similar to that of 1929 would create the prime opportunity for a man like the Antichrist to emerge from the shadows. "And after the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself; And the people of the prince who is to come Shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end of it shall be with a flood, And till the end of the war desolations are determined. Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week; Daniel 9:26-27 From somewhere within the boundaries of the old Roman Empire, will come one, who will confirm (or increase) some covenant with the many (many nations), for one week of years (or seven-years). We can be certain that this has not happened historically, so we know that this is still a future event. How it happens European leaders such as Winston Churchill, Nicolas Sarkozy, Emmanuel Macron, Donald Tusk, Jean Claude Juncker, and others have long had on their mind a vision to revive the greatness of Europe. As of 2019, they have not yet had the means to do so. Going back to 1947, Europe has undergone a process of piece-meal unification via treatise to make that happen. So far, this has resulted in a fractured and somewhat dysfunctional economic and political alliance. They barely have an Army, and practically no Air Force or Navy. NATO (the current military force for the EU) is truly only functional because it is being led by the United States. Once the US is no longer taking the lead in NATO, it will fall apart and NATO will be drafted into the European Defence Force. The EU has many serious issues (both foreign and domestic), of which they really cannot get a handle on, let alone, take on the mantel of replacing the US as the world's next superpower if we were to collapse. Since there is presumably far fewer born-again Christian's in the EU than the US, it would be another logical assumption that internally, the EU would take far less of a hit than the US would when the Rapture does occur. That is to say, the EU would be in better shape after the Rapture, than it is before. The same could be said for much of the Middle East, Russia, and Asia. Presupposing a US collapse (breakdown of all normal societal and governmental functions), what remains in the US is a hodge-podge of secure zones, surrounded by large swaths of lawless areas. At this point, the world has about three choices for who can/will take the mantle of becoming the new top dog: Russia, China, or the European Union. Given that, the world has seen what Russia and China are capable of (Stalin, Iron Curtain, Great Leap Forward, etc.); the world will likely favor a European-led confederacy. Add into this, the demise of the Gog-Magog coalition (Russia, Turkey, Libya, Sudan, and Iran), the choices are now largely the Kings of the East (a China-led coalition), or the European confederacy, comprised of ten regions. In order for the EU to propose any sort of challenge to the China or Russia, it would need to capitalize on the things it has excelled at, which is technology and economics. The EU still wants their great military forces (as treaties and stability are meaningless without the threat of power). Logistically speaking, it would take time to transfer the wealth, power, and people of those who were left behind in the US to the newly ascending European Union (and/or Union of the Mediterranean). This is also assuming that people would want to leave the New World for the Old World, but if the US were to return to its wild and ungovernable roots, many would flee the Americas to get back to some sense of normalcy. So how does the Antichrist take power and revive the old Roman Empire (the EU and UfM) to take over the entire earth in the last days? The same way Hitler did. He took advantage of chaos and uncertainty. This is why I believe there is a gap in time between the Rapture and the start of the 70th Week of Daniel (aka...the Tribulation). Note that Adolph Hitler did not rise to power at a time when Germany was prospering and politically stable; he rose to power when things were in utter shambles. Back then in 1929, the US Stock Market crashed, triggering numerous economic crashes around the world. Germany was still suffering under the auspices of the financial penalties from the post-WWI Versailles Treaty. When the stock market crashed, they literally hit rock bottom. Using Hitler, as an example as an antichrist, the one thing we take note of, is that it took time for him to do what he did. Hitler's political climb to power started in 1929 and continued through his ascension to the Chancellorship in 1933= four years. Hitler's domestic consolidation of power began in 1933 and continued through 1938, when he annexed Czechoslovakia and the Sudetenland= five years. Therefore, it took nine years from the 1929 to 1938 before Hitler's true ambitions came to the forefront. If the Rapture of the Church triggers a similar economic shockwave around the world such as the 1929 Stock Market Crash, then conservatively speaking, we could see the Antichrist rise to power in half that time, or about 4.5 years. The timing would have to be right for a leader to step in and fill the vacuum that an absent US would present. However, this man would still need the logistical means to resource and finance his ambitions. This is where advancements in technology and the Mark of the Beast system comes into view. This man (the Antichrist) would first have to contend with a number of systemic and emerging issues and problem sets that would prevent him from completely taking over IF the Rapture happened tomorrow: 1. The sudden removal of 31M US citizens would destabilize the US Dollar causing it to collapse. When it does, it will drag every other fiat currency down with it. This means not only economic instability ensue, but also political, military, and societal chaos. The only solution to this problem is to convert the world's economies over to a new form of currency. This means that the world would already have to be close to such technology for that to be feasible. In 2019, we are already there. 2. The war on truth (fake news, information leaks, disinformation, etc.) has become every bit as real as any other military conflict. IF the economies of the world collapse, and societal chaos ensues, no one will know whom to trust to a far greater degree than even today. The Antichrist would need to use this new financial system as a forcing-function to create absolute, politically loyalty. 3. THE world is currently divided amongst nationalists and globalists. The happy medium between these two polarized viewpoints is regionalization. Divide nations amongst regions, so that the nation states can still keep some semblance of autonomy (the EU is largely like this today), but are grouped in regions so that they can be more manageable. The Club of Rome (See here) have already created a map detailing this plan. 4. While the political world of today refuses to acknowledge the spiritual domain, the Antichrist will absolutely embrace it. He will do so through infusing technology (some form of quantum-based artificial intelligence) into his body. His super-power as it were, will be the most superior intellect the world has ever seen. He will have perfect ability to recall any bit of information ever conceived of by man and use it for his advantage. Through the help of another person called the False Prophet (who really does have supernatural powers), the Antichrist will begin to consolidate his power amongst the other regional leaders (Dan. 7:7-8, 19-25). Lastly and most importantly, Satan will give him all the kingdoms of the earth (Luke 4:5-7). In Summary According to 2nd Thessalonians 2:7-8, the Antichrist cannot be revealed until AFTER the Rapture of the Church. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed... According to Revelation 4:1-2 and 5:8-10, Christ begins to open the Seals after the church has already been caught up to heaven. After these things (after the church age) I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven. And the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying, "Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place after this (after the church age)." Immediately I was in the Spirit; and behold, a throne set in heaven, and One sat on the throne. (Emphasis mine) The Antichrist cannot begin his conquest, until Christ opens the first Seal. Now I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals; and I heard one of the four living creatures saying with a voice like thunder, "Come and see." And I looked, and behold, a white horse. He who sat on it had a bow; and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer. Revelation 6:1-2 Therefore, the Antichrist will not be in a position to confirm any covenant with anyone, until he is politically/militarily/economically in a position to do so and... Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week; Daniel 9:26-27 One cannot negotiate from a position of weakness. Antichrist must be in a position of power to set the terms, enforce the regulations or laws of the treaty, in order for anyone to abide by it. So many things have to happen between the Rapture and the start of the Tribulation (Gog and Magog War, rebuilding of the Third Jewish Temple, power transfer to the EU) that it becomes logistically impossible to do it all within the seven-year period of the 70th Week proper. With that said, if you understand the gap required, you need not manipulate your Pre-Tribulation Rapture position to fit current events. Next Week, Volume II: The Mark of the Beast Wars And Rumors Of Wars: Multiple Nations Move Closer To Military Conflict - By Michael Snyder - http://www.prophecynewswatch.com/article.cfm?recent_news_id=3000 Humanity never seems to learn. During the 20th century, at least 108 million people were killed during all wars combined, and you would think that after so much bloodshed humanity would never want to go down that road again. And in this century, an enormous amount of American blood has already been shed in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere. Unfortunately, the drumbeats of war are starting to get louder once again. Very angry talk often precedes military conflict, and right now there sure is a lot of angry talk going on. Before we get to the U.S., let's talk about India and Pakistan. They are both nuclear powers, and thanks to a horrific terror bombing last month, they are once again on the verge of war... Pakistan's prime minister offered to hold talks with India, even as he warned New Delhi to refrain from launching any attacks on his country following last week's suicide bombing in Indian-controlled Kashmir. Imran Khan said he hoped "better sense" would prevail after the attack on a paramilitary convoy that killed at least 40 Indian troops. But he warned in a televised speech Tuesday that if India attacks, "Pakistan will not merely think of retaliation, but rather, we will retaliate." In fact, it is being reported on Twitter that Pakistan has even "begun its logistics preparations for possible war with India"... #BREAKING: Pakistan has begun its logistics preparations for possible war with India, has put hospitals along the frontier on stand-by mode - @timesofindia Of course most Americans don't even know that this is happening. Sadly, the truth is that most Americans couldn't even point out where Pakistan and India are on a blank map of the world. But Americans should at least be concerned that the U.S. could soon be entering a new war. President Trump has repeatedly threatened to use the U.S. military in Venezuela if the Maduro government does not step down peacefully, and that is definitely not going to happen. In fact, Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino had said that if the U.S. wants regime change in his country, they are going to have to do it "over our dead bodies"... Trump has refused to rule out US military action in Venezuela. He raised the pressure on Monday, issuing a warning to the Venezuelan military. He told them that if they continue to support Maduro, 'you will find no safe harbor, no easy exit and no way out. You will lose everything.' Padrino rejected Trump's threat, branding the US president 'arrogant.' If foreign powers try to help install a new government by force, they will have to do so 'over our dead bodies,' Padrino said. And could it be possible that U.S. troops are already being positioned for an invasion of Venezuela? That is exactly what Cuba is claiming... Cuba said Wednesday that the U.S. is secretly moving special forces closer to Venezuela as part of a plan to practice military adventurism in the country under the guise of "humanitarian intervention." In a release from Granma, the Cuban government's official press, Havana officials say that between Feb. 6 and 10 there has been military transport from the U.S. to Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and other Caribbean nations without the knowledge of those countries. Of course the U.S. is claiming that Cuba already has troops inside Venezuela and is helping to prop up the Maduro regime. And that is probably true. So if the U.S. decides to invade Venezuela, we could find ourselves fighting a war with Cuba also. In addition, John Bolton is talking as if regime change is on the agenda for Nicaragua too. Just check out what he just posted on Twitter... The Ortega regime has sentenced three farm leaders to 550 years in prison for their roles in protests in 2018, where Ortega's police forces reportedly killed 300 activists. As President Trump said Monday, Ortega's days are numbered and the Nicaraguan people will soon be free. And previously Bolton had collectively referred to Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuba as "the Troika of Tyranny"... The US has repeatedly backed the uprising against the left-wing government, and last November Bolton made a keynote speech calling for the "crumbling" of what he called the "Troika of Tyranny" - Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Cuba - saying the states represented a "a sordid cradle of communism in the Western hemisphere." On Monday, Trump name-checked the same three countries, saying their "great potential" would be unlocked with the collapse of socialism. On top of everything else, Russian President Vladimir Putin is warning that U.S. that we could soon be facing "a Cuban Missile-style crisis"... Vladimir Putin has said that Russia is militarily ready for a Cuban Missile-style crisis - if Donald Trump is is 'foolish' enough to want one - and that his missiles could reach the US faster that theirs could hit Moscow. Putin has said he does not want an arms race with the United States, but that he would have no choice but to act if Washington deployed new missiles in Europe, some of which he says would be able to strike Moscow within ten to 12 minutes. When I hear people call President Trump "a Russian asset", I just have to laugh. Our relations with the Russians are going downhill very rapidly, and Trump and Putin are much more likely to start World War 3 than they are to sit down and have a beer together. And the Russians continue to prepare for the coming war with the United States by creating impressive new weapons systems. For example, they just completed tests on a new intercontinental nuclear torpedo known as "the Poseidon"... The 24 m long UUV armed with a nuclear warhead is designed to navigate autonomously with a maximum speed of 107 kt and detonate near an enemy coastal city, generating a tsunami wave, Russian state media reported. "On its way to a target, 'Poseidon' will be able to avoid and overcome any anti-submarine barriers and other enemy defence systems due to the fully automated operating system. All together, the intellectual and performance characteristics of the vehicle will make it invulnerable and secure a guaranteed target destruction," an unnamed defence industry source told Russian state media. We do not have a similar weapon, and we have absolutely no way to defend against it. We live at a time of "wars and rumors of wars", and over the last several decades the nations of the world have armed themselves to the teeth with weapons of mass destruction that would have been unimaginable in previous eras of human history. We literally have the technology to wipe ourselves off the face of the planet, and let us pray that cooler heads prevail before it is too late. Numbers, Signs, Peace and Safety - By Daymond Duck - https://www.raptureready.com/2019/02/24/numbers-signs-peace-safety-daymond-duck/ This article would be too long if I discussed all of the news that has taken place in the last few days that relates to Bible prophecy, so I am going to narrow it down to five things that seem very important. First, Rapture Ready posted an excellent article by T.W. Tramm called "God's Numerical Patterns: Israel's 70th Year & Bible Prophecy." (You can find it posted by going to raptureready.com, clicking on Rapture Ready News, and clicking on 12 Feb 2019 in the right margin.) Many Christians don't understand the importance of Bible numbers (and we have to be careful), but there is wide agreement that God is a mathematical God, and Bible numbers are significant (Google "Bible number 70"; Google "Bible number 40"; Google "Bible Number 7"; etc.). This is the point: God measures time in several ways (1,000-days called Millennial Days; 50-year cycles called Jubilee Cycles; 70-year cycles, etc.), and all of these ways of measuring time are hitting on significant numbers right now. The numbers appear to be saying that the world is reaching a significant point on God's prophetic clock. Second, at the same time that the significant numbers are converging, the prophetic signs are converging:
Third, there have been many proposals for peace in the Middle East, but, at the time they were presented, all of the numbers and signs were not converging. Pres. Trump's peace proposal appears to be the first peace proposal to be presented at the same time that all the numbers and signs are converging. It has been slightly more than 70 years (perhaps one generation) since Israel became a nation, and all previous peace proposals were before Israel's 70th anniversary. Fourth, the Tribulation Period will begin after the Rapture when the Antichrist confirms a peace treaty with many for seven years of peace in the Middle East (Dan. 9:27). When the Antichrist confirms that treaty with many, world leaders will declare "peace and safety" (some people say "peace and security"). "Peace and safety" and "peace and security" are the same thing); and then sudden destruction will come (I Thess. 5:1-3). Up until now, the Iranians and Palestinians have tried to thwart a peace treaty, and the Arabs have refused to negotiate a peace treaty until Israel meets Palestinian demands. On Feb. 13-14, 2019, U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, U.S. Sec. of State Mike Pompeo and Pres. Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner met in Warsaw, Poland, with officials from about 60 nations "To Promote A Future Of Peace And Security In The Middle East." With Israel's Prime Min. Netanyahu and officials from 10 Arab nations present, Mr. Kushner told the group that Pres. Trump's plan is finished, it will be released after the elections in Israel on April 9, 2019, and, although it is a long shot, he is optimistic about its chances of getting approved. Significant decisions coming out of this conference to promote peace and security in the Middle East are that Iran will be dealt with and Palestinian demands will no longer prevent the Arabs and Israel from being friends so that peace and security can prevail in the Middle East. Pictures were taken and published with many leaders (including Mike Pence, Mike Pompeo, Jared Kushner, Benjamin Netanyahu and others) standing in front of a large sign that read "Ministerial To Promote A Future of Peace and Security in the Middle East." It is difficult to see how God can make things any clearer than pictures of many officials standing in front of a sign that has the words "Peace and security in the Middle East." Fifth, Israel's Prime Min. Netanyahu told the group that Iran is capable of producing nuclear weapons within two years, if Iran decides to do it. He was very clear about the possibility of a war with Iran and the possibility that Israel and the Arab nations will be partners; and the two-year number indicates that it might not be long before something happens. Prophecy Plus Ministries, Inc. Daymond & Rachel Duck [email protected] The hellfire preachers of the climate-change church - Hal Lindsey - https://www.wnd.com/2019/02/the-hellfire-preachers-of-the-climate-change-church/ Last week, 4,000 participants from 140 nations gathered in Dubai for the annual World Government Summit. The 2019 Summit focused on "climate change." That's the refurbished name for "global warming." I suppose they felt they needed to refocus the name for the crisis when the winters started getting colder and the amount of arctic ice started increasing. One of the featured speakers was the actor Harrison Ford. I'm not certain whether it's his portrayal of Indiana Jones in the "Raiders of the Lost Ark" series or his turns as Han Solo in the "Star Wars" films that qualified him to speak to the world about global warming. Ford did, however, deliver some eye-opening information in a video promoting the Summit. I suppose he would know this stuff since he pretended to be a guy from the future in some of his movies. He apparently feels he's seen the results of global warming firsthand. He said, "What does living in a 4-degrees-warmer world look like? Fresh water shortages. ... Unprecedented fires. Worldwide destruction." Then he hinted at how to fix it. He said, "It's up to you and me to act now to face the greatest moral crisis of our time." I'm a little confused. For years, the global warming enthusiasts have been screaming that the "science is settled!" Former Vice-President Al Gore even created a slide show to convince us that all of the world's scientists were in complete agreement that we're on the verge of a global apocalypse. Aren't the scientists the ones who have been screaming, "The end is near!"? That's what Mr. Gore says. And now, Mr. Ford reveals to the world that it's not a scientific crisis, after all. It's a MORAL CRISIS! Well, now that we know that, surely we can fix it. Just get enough people with good morals together and we can beat global warming! The problem is, "moral crisis" is a phrase borrowed from religion. That tells me that the proponents of man-made climate change are pushing it as a religion. They divide the world into two groups: believers and unbelievers. They call unbelievers "climate deniers." (Frankly, I don't understand the terminology. I don't know one unbeliever who denies that there is a climate! On top of that, most of us don't even deny that it's changing. We just don't believe that man is changing it and that raising taxes and putting more bureaucrats to work will fix it. Most probably, it's the sun that's doing it, anyway.) But a few reputable publications, such as Scientific American, are beginning to get a little critical of the movement. A recent article in that magazine noted, "This is how we sometimes talk about climate change: we're doomed, the apocalypse is coming, the end of the world is nigh." Doesn't that sound like a stereotypical hellfire and brimstone preacher? So how should the people of earth deal with this soon-to-arrive global apocalypse? Well, California's bureaubrains decided to ban plastic straws! At one point, the California Assembly considered sending waiters and waitresses to jail if they gave a straw to a customer who didn't ask for one. Thankfully, restaurant owners now only face small fines if their wait staffs go rogue and break the law by giving a customer an unsolicited plastic sipping tube. The dubious logic that inspired the law was that by limiting the use of plastic straws in California, it would keep straws from clogging up the Pacific Ocean. It seems to me the problem with this line of reasoning is that it's, well, stupid! In the United States, most plastic straws end up in landfills, not in the ocean. And of those straws that do wind up in the water, most come from fast food restaurants. And the California law doesn't actually address the problem of fast food straws. To me, that's a little like arresting the bank teller instead of the bank robber. On top of all of that, it turns out the statistic that was used to stir up the brouhaha - that Americans use more than 500 million straws per day - was based on the unscientific, unverified, but oft-repeated guess of a 9-year-old in 2011! If you don't believe me, just ask the New York Times. It finally decided to investigate the claim and discovered the embarrassing truth. But I suppose the whole point of the law is similar to the point of many of our senseless laws: to make it appear that our governments are doing something. Even if it's really "nothing" dressed up as "something." But irrational fear of plastic straws is nothing compared to the fear of global warming. Back in 2008, media mogul (which qualifies him as a climate expert, I'm guessing) Ted Turner warned us, "We'll be eight degrees hotter in 30 or 40 years and basically none of the crops will grow. ... Most of the people will have died and the rest of us will be cannibals." Maybe those walking dead shows aren't so far-fetched, after all! But it gets worse. USA Today reported last year that "Global warming could be twice as warm as current climate models predict." I guess that means we'll become cannibals in half the time Mr. Turner predicted! The Club of Rome is an environmentalist think tank and advocacy group. It is one of the prime organizations that the United Nations depends on for its information about climate change. Back in 1972, The Club of Rome published a book, "Limits to Growth," that outlined the dire predicament of the world. It popularized the fear of overpopulation and was extremely influential in bureaucratic circles. Seventeen years later, in 1989, Ronald Bailey, the science editor of Forbes magazine, evaluated the accuracy of those predictions. He wrote that the book was "as wrong-headed as it is possible to be ... 'Limits to Growth' predicted that at 1972 rates of growth the world would run out of gold by 1981, mercury by 1985, tin by 1987, zinc by 1990, petroleum by 1992, copper lead, and natural gas by 1993." It's now 47 years since The Club of Rome made those dramatic predictions. We have yet to run out of any of those things! Have we even come close to running out of them? No. Yet today the United Nations still consults with The Club of Rome on environmental matters. In 2015, the European Space Agency (ESA) revealed that in 2013 and 2014, arctic ice increased by as much as 33 percent. Did you hear that in the mainstream media? Or did you hear just the opposite, that arctic ice is melting at an alarming rate? But none of that matters to true believers. One of them, U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., recently declared, "The world is gonna (sic) end in 12 years if we don't address climate change." (I'm not sure which calendar she's using. Maybe she's still consulting that old Mayan calendar!) Presidential candidate Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., is ready to ban cows. He recently said, "This planet simply can't contain billions of people consuming meat the same way America does. ..." If you remember, Booker is famous for his "I am Spartacus" moment at the Brett Kavanaugh hearings. Perhaps he is now having his "I am Chicken Little" moment! The point of all of this, and my obvious cynicism, is that this near-hysteria, much of which is completely unfounded and most of which is ill-informed, opens us up to hasty solutions that are drastic, draconian and, ultimately, dystopian. If we are convinced that the earth is about to ignite into a fireball if we don't do something fast, then we grasp at convenient, ill-conceived "solutions" that are nothing more than disguised power grabs. Take, for instance, Rep. Ocasio-Cortez's "Green New Deal." After warning us that the world is going to end in a dozen years, her proposed "solution," which has been essentially endorsed by the Democratic Party, implies that we can avoid this impending destruction if only the U.S. government will provide, free-of-charge, jobs, family and medical leave, vacations, retirement security, high-quality education, clean air and water and access to nature, high-quality health care, healthy food, affordable housing, an economic environment free of monopolies and economic security for all who are unable or unwilling to work. (By the way, that's not a typo. She wants the government to provide economic security for those unwilling to work.) Now, I'm not an environmental scientist, but I don't see very many things on that list that actually address climate change problems. To her credit, though, Ocasio-Cortez does offer some proposals to do that. She proposes to end fossil fuel use in 10 years. That means the end of the petroleum and coal industries. She suggests we rebuild or completely refurbish every building in the United States to make them greener. "Every building" includes your house. She wants to end air travel. Her solution is to "build out highspeed rail at a scale where air travel stops becoming necessary." (I'm sure the cruise line industry loves that one. Maybe stock in the Greyhound bus company will soar now. But if you're going to travel to Hawaii, Europe, Asia, well, basically anywhere east, west, north, or south of the USA, then you need to ask your boss for a lot more vacation time!) Since the Green New Deal was announced, California has decided to end its own highspeed rail boondoggle. It was building a highspeed train line between Los Angeles and San Francisco, but it just became too expensive. It was originally projected to cost at least $77 billion, but it was turning out to be a lot more. And when a California governor decides that something useless is too expensive, that tells you that it must be absolutely impossible to justify. The bottom line on all of this is that almost all of the man-made climate change panic is a strategy devised to facilitate the rise of supra-national governing authorities. Pope Francis gave the game away when he called for "global regulatory norms ... to impose obligations and prevent unacceptable actions." But he realized that the globalist elite could not depend on individual governments to do their bidding. That's why he called for a "higher agency." Pope Francis said, "Continuity is essential, because policies related to climate change and environmental protection cannot be altered with every change of government." In democracies, a "change of government" usually means an election. But to globalists, elections can be dangerous. The people might not go along with their plans to subvert the nations and enslave their citizens. He's joined in this plot by the United Nations, of course, which continues to push its infamous "2030 Agenda." It sets laudable goals, such as "End poverty in all its forms everywhere." But it proposes dubious remedies: "Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns." That means the government must control consumption, such as what we buy, eat, wear, drive, where we live, even the temperature at which we set our thermostats. Attempting to end poverty by allowing government to control consumption is called "communism." And that is what much of the environmental movement seeks to achieve. Simply put, the earth will not be saved from environmental destruction by the power of big government. In fact, the worst polluters on the planet have been and continue to be socialist and communist governments. Respect for private property and God's creation are essential elements to conservation. Those elements are missing in the environmental movement because of its integral partnership with socialists. Now it has become the latest excuse to seize property, redistribute wealth, and empower government. Secular humanists promise utopias, but they only deliver dystopias. And all the while, they mock Christians for believing in "pie in the sky" promises. And while it's true that some ministers and spiritual leaders have misused the promise of heaven, that does not diminish its reality. God's promise remains true. In John 14:1, Jesus said, "Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me." (NKJV) Almost 90 percent of Americans believe in God. But Jesus said not to stop there. "You believe in God," He said, "believe also in Me." If you know Jesus, and if you trust Him, think about the very next verse. He said, "In my Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you." (John 14:2 NKJV) Here, Jesus assures us of heaven's reality. In fact, He gave us His personal guarantee: "If it were not so, I would have told you." If you trust Jesus, then you can trust in heaven. If it weren't the glorious, fantastic place we've heard about, He says He would have told us. He wouldn't allow us to build our lives on a false hope. On this week's program, I'm going to further discuss with you the "real heaven." Daily Jot: The New Communist Party - Bill Wilson - www.dailyjot.com There is a new communistic party arising out of the Democratic Party under the guise of Democratic Socialists. Senator Bernie Sanders (D-VT) is the current leading contender for the Democratic Party presidential nomination. He is a communist disguised as something more acceptable to Americans-a progressive or a Democratic Socialist. He is joined by a younger member of his political persuasion, who is also making national headlines, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY). Joining them are Democratic Presidential hopefuls Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), who lied about having Native American heritage, and Senator Kamala Harris (D-CA)-all communists disguised as Democrats. This Democratic Party shift from being the moderate to liberal party in America to outright socialist and communist is the Hegelian Dialectic at its best. The Dialectic is how communists move masses of people toward their brand of politics. It relies on creating a mental conflict of an antithesis to the current thesis and then moving masses of people to a new synthesis. The current thesis (though it is changing) is a Republic built on capitalism. The antithesis is a communistic utopia of "green" programs redistributing wealth so everyone has free everything provided by the government. The synthesis is designed to move Americans toward a communistic system, where government replaces God. Sanders, Ocasio-Cortez, Warren, Harris and even the immediate past president and Hillary Clinton all have been moving the Democratic Party toward communism for years. It is shocking that these people are essentially "coming out" with their communistic programs to the public in the belief that a large percentage of Americans are in support. The idea is to get the majority believing that the government can provide such services, that it is the moral thing to do, and that America, with all its wealth, can become the greatest communistic (call it what you want-progressive, socialist, green, etc.) experiment in history. But what lies beneath the propaganda is death, poverty, and destruction-ask people in Argentina, Cuba, Nicaragua, China, many Islamic nations. They have misery in common whilst dictators enrich themselves. The Communist Manifesto says, "But communism abolishes eternal truths, it abolishes all religion, and all morality, instead of constituting them on a new basis; it therefore acts in contradiction to all past historical experience." Other linchpins of communism are enumerated in the Manifesto: 1) Abolition of property ownership, 2) a heavy progressive income tax, 3) abolition of all rights of inheritance, 4) confiscation of property, 5) centralization of credit, 6) centralization of transportation, 7) centrally planned economy, 8) obligation to work, 9) abolishing distinction between towns and country, and 10) a free education for children. Exodus 20:3 says, "Thou shalt have no other god's before me." When government replaces God, bad things happen. Beware of the New Communist Party disguised as the Old Democratic Party. Daily Devotion: The Same Yesterday, Today, and Forever - by Greg Laurie - www.harvest.org And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him. - Hebrews 11:6 When Jesus walked this earth, He healed a lot of people. But did He heal everyone? Could He have healed everyone? Jesus could have said, "Everyone will be healed on the count of three. One . . . two . . . three" and boom! Everyone, everywhere has been healed. He wouldn't have needed to touch people. He wouldn't have needed to even see them. Jesus could have done that, but He didn't. He responded to people who called out to Him, like Bartimaeus, the blind man who heard Jesus passing by and shouted, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!" (Mark 10:47 NLT). The only place where Jesus wasn't able to do miracles was in His hometown of Nazareth, and it was because of their unbelief. I find that really interesting. Jesus wanted to heal them. But He wouldn't heal them because of their unbelief. The circumstances of our lives are no problem with God. It's our unbelief that is the problem. Like the father who wanted healing for his demon-possessed son, we, too, need to say, "I do believe, but help me overcome my unbelief!" (Mark 9:24 NLT). Faith can make the difference between something happening and not happening, because without faith, Hebrews 11:6 tells us, it's impossible to please God. You don't have to have super faith. You just have to have faith. You may look at the stories of men and women in the Bible and think, "I don't know if that could ever happen for me in this day in which I am living." The work of God isn't limited to one particular time in history. The Bible says that "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever" (Hebrews 13:8 NLT). God is not limited by your circumstances. He is limited by your unbelief. 
FROM THE HEART
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