Prophecy Update Newsletter
IN TODAY'S NEWSLETTER...
Coronavirus: Curse or blessing? - By Terry James -
https://www.raptureready.com/2020/03/03/coronavirus-curse-or-blessing-by-terry-james/ American stock-market gurus are astonished and baffled. The Dow and other financial/economic averages have plunged in unprecedented fashion. It is not a crash, as in the 1929 stock-market crash. But it has never gone from an unprecedented high to a 10 percent loss in such short order. The stock market has since somewhat rallied, but still is tremendously down. It is all, of course, because of a panicked selloff by those whose whole reason for being revolves around making money, the love of which, God's Word says, is "the root of all kinds of evil." At the core of the panic is the coronavirus. The spreading disease-of which little is known as far as its cause and ultimate effects-is feared to eventually bring to a standfill the consumption of products around the world. It is thought that factories will be unable to produce goods and parts to sell to other manufacturing entities, because workers either won't, due to illness, be able to attend work, or because workers are afraid to be around other people. This, it is feared, will ultimately bring on a major depression-or something even worse. The hyperbole is rampant. At the heart of it all are the Democrat Party leaders, the mainstream news media, and the Trump haters, all of whom see in the hyperbole political advantage as the US presidential election date comes into view. Leaders of that party weighed in almost immediately, accusing President Donald Trump of being inadequate to handle the crisis. They charged that he is doing too little, and compared the coronavirus to Hurricane Katrina of the George W. Bush era. A number of mainstream broadcast networks and cable channels saw their program hosts join in with their Democrat guests. The tenor and tone of their analyses seemed to be that this disease will be Trump's Katrina. This refers to the charge made against President Bush that he was inadequate to handle that crisis, so many people died and great dangers existed that wouldn't have if a Democrat had been in office. One host urged her guests to just start calling it the "Trump Virus." It remains to be seen, of course, just where this outbreak will end. The stock market has fallen, as stated above, and, indeed, unless things turn around and there is a bounce-back of the bottom of the fall, things could severely damage an economy that has been perceived as booming. My own take has been, as most who read these commentaries know, that the Rapture will occur at a time of economic uptick, not during a global fiscal disaster. My belief hasn't changed. I still contend that the Lord Jesus prophesied it will be business as usual, or even better than usual, when He next catastrophically breaks in on the affairs of mankind. It will be catastrophic for those left behind. But it will be glorious beyond imagination for those who go to be with their Lord in that electrifying instant of Rapture. All the experts I've heard lately say that America isn't in real danger of the outbreak at the moment, but things could change. They expect measures taken by this administration to keep the coronavirus from becoming pandemic within the borders of the United States. The experts also say almost as one that it will take many months, perhaps even years, to develop a vaccine that is highly effective against the disease. This is quite troubling to consider. God has His mighty hand on it all, and that is the spiritual prompting upon which I base my optimism that the resolution to the problem will be forthcoming sooner rather than later. The following news item speaks to that internal, spiritual prompting I sense. Israeli scientists are on the cusp of developing the first vaccine against the novel coronavirus, according to Science and Technology Minister Ofir Akunis. If all goes as planned, the vaccine could be ready within a few weeks and available in 90 days, according to a release. "Congratulations to MIGAL [the Galilee Research Institute] on this exciting breakthrough," Akunis said. "I am confident there will be further rapid progress, enabling us to provide a needed response to the grave global COVID-19 threat," Akunis said, referring to the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. For the past four years, a team of MIGAL scientists has been developing a vaccine against infectious bronchitis virus (IBV), which causes a bronchial disease affecting poultry. The effectiveness of the vaccine has been proven in preclinical trials carried out at the Veterinary Institute. (Maayan Jaffe-Hoffman, "Israeli Scientists: 'In a few weeks, we will have coronavirus vaccine.'" Jerusalem Post, February 20, 2020, https://www.jpost.com/HEALTH-SCIENCE/Israeli-scientists-In-three-weeks-we-will-have-coronavirus-vaccine-619101) It is within prophetic purview to conjecture whether the Lord might be about to bring forth evidence of why Israel is His chosen people. It will be fascinating to watch developments. The Lord has said to Abram, "Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you and whoever curses you I will curse; and all the peoples on earth will be blessed through you." (Genesis 12:1-3) Israeli scientists: 'In a few weeks, we will have coronavirus vaccine' - Maayan Jaffe-Hoffman - https://www.jpost.com/HEALTH-SCIENCE/Israeli-scientists-In-three-weeks-we-will-have-coronavirus-vaccine-619101 Israeli scientists are on the cusp of developing the first vaccine against the novel coronavirus, according to Science and Technology Minister Ofir Akunis. If all goes as planned, the vaccine could be ready within a few weeks and available in 90 days, according to a release. "Congratulations to MIGAL [The Galilee Research Institute] on this exciting breakthrough," Akunis said. "I am confident there will be further rapid progress, enabling us to provide a needed response to the grave global COVID-19 threat," Akunis said, referring to the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. For the past four years, a team of MIGAL scientists has been developing a vaccine against infectious bronchitis virus (IBV), which causes a bronchial disease affecting poultry. The effectiveness of the vaccine has been proven in preclinical trials carried out at the Veterinary Institute. MIGAL is located in the Galilee. "Our basic concept was to develop the technology and not specifically a vaccine for this kind or that kind of virus," said Dr. Chen Katz, MIGAL's biotechnology group leader. "The scientific framework for the vaccine is based on a new protein expression vector, which forms and secretes a chimeric soluble protein that delivers the viral antigen into mucosal tissues by self-activated endocytosis, causing the body to form antibodies against the virus." Endocytosis is a cellular process in which substances are brought into a cell by surrounding the material with cell membrane, forming a vesicle containing the ingested material. In preclinical trials, the team demonstrated that the oral vaccination induces high levels of specific anti-IBV antibodies, Katz said. "Let's call it pure luck," he said. "We decided to choose coronavirus as a model for our system just as a proof of concept for our technology." But after scientists sequenced the DNA of the novel coronavirus causing the current worldwide outbreak, the MIGAL researchers examined it and found that the poultry coronavirus has high genetic similarity to the human one, and that it uses the same infection mechanism, which increases the likelihood of achieving an effective human vaccine in a very short period of time, Katz said. "All we need to do is adjust the system to the new sequence," he said. "We are in the middle of this process, and hopefully in a few weeks we will have the vaccine in our hands. Yes, in a few weeks, if it all works, we would have a vaccine to prevent coronavirus." MIGAL would be responsible for developing the new vaccine, but it would then have to go through a regulatory process, including clinical trials and large-scale production, Katz said. Akunis said he has instructed his ministry's director-general to fast-track all approval processes with the goal of bringing the human vaccine to market as quickly as possible. "Given the urgent global need for a human coronavirus vaccine, we are doing everything we can to accelerate development," MIGAL CEO David Zigdon said. The vaccine could "achieve safety approval in 90 days," he said. It will be an oral vaccine, making it particularly accessible to the general public, Zigdon said. "We are currently in intensive discussions with potential partners that can help accelerate the in-human trials phase and expedite completion of final-product development and regulatory activities," he said. The Democrats and the virus: Truth is hard, propaganda is cheap! - By Patricia McCarthy - www.americanthinker.com The Democrats have truly lost their minds. For years they have wailed about how our borders should all be open, how there should be no walls. When President Trump six weeks ago banned travelers from China, they called him a racist, of course. Now that the virus has spread, they are blaming him, accusing him of an anemic response. Wrong. The country has a pandemic plan in place, no matter who is president, but Trump has been on the case since China informed the world of the virus breakout. A task force to address this virus has been in place for at least a month. They've accused Trump of cutting the budget of the CDC and NIH. Even AP shows that he did not. He had proposed some cuts, but they never went into effect, and there is a standing congressional fund for health emergencies. But the Democrats do not care about facts; they live for any crisis they can weaponize for an assault on the president. They are as shameless as they are calculating. As always, they believe they can fool the American people and that their lies will not be exposed. Thomas Sowell was exactly right when he said, "It is usually futile to try to talk facts and analysis to people who are enjoying a sense of moral superiority in their ignorance." Of course, these Dems have an army of like-minded fellow travelers in the media, like Gail Collins, who, in her NYT column, said the virus should be called Trumpvirus, as if the President created it in the Oval Office and disseminated it far and wide. That is how depraved they are. Bottom line? They are hoping for a massive pandemic because they believe that it would bring about the defeat of Trump in November. Not one of them has offered any plan of their own to combat the disease, of course. It has not occurred to any of them to offer to work with the administration...no, no, no. They obviously are hoping for an outbreak worthy of a horror film. Thousands of deaths will not distress them if it takes Trump down. Like all those lefties who have been hoping for a recession that would hurt Trump: Actress Patricia Arquette called on her Instagram followers over last weekend to spread the word about an "economic shutdown" effort scheduled for March 2. "March 2 there is an economic shut down [sic] action," Arquette captioned the post. "Don't purchase anything on this day." An epidemic of illness is even better in their minds. They can hardly contain their glee at the mere prospect of such a catastrophic event. So the same crowd that has lobbied for open borders and massive unchecked immigration is now angry that Trump has allowed the virus into the U.S. All these supporters of sanctuary cities are accusing Trump of poor judgment! They are truly torn - they relentlessly call the president a racist, a xenophobe without a shred of evidence but now blame him for China's irresponsibility. You can't make this stuff up. "Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies." - Groucho Marx One self-appointed diversity cop complained that the assembled team of experts lacks diversity. Historian John Meacham worries that this will exacerbate our xenophobia! Elizabeth Warren wants to take the money allocated for the southern border wall to fight the virus! Lizzie lacks gray matter; Border Control has been testing for the virus and has quarantined a few Chinese persons attempting to enter the country. Bernie, while attacking Trump's response, advocates open borders and citizenship for all comers who breach our boundaries. And Biden? He's toast. Everyone who has ever known a person suffering from dementia recognizes the signs; Biden exhibits them all. The Democrats are really quite bamboozled by how to play this current potential crisis, and planning how to use a crisis to their benefit is how they operate. They don't want any possible doom to go to waste, so they have to exploit it even if exploiting it goes against everything they claim to support and believe. In short, they are a mess of intellectual and operational hypocrisies. Their reaction to this situation should be enough to convince every American not to vote Democrat ever again. These people are certifiably insane. Pelosi lectures the president while her own city devolves into a circle of Hell, one so beset by homelessness that it could conceivably become ground zero for the virus in the U.S. Schumer leapt to the floor of the Senate to condemn Trump's handling of the crisis, even though it is not yet a crisis in this country. And the dolts at CNN and MSNBC as usual jumped feet first to embrace every wild conspiracy they could make up to blame the president even though there is as yet nothing for which he can be blamed. He's been on top of the potential crisis from day one. The Democrat party is clearly in disarray -- from the Iowa debacle to the last two debates which proved without a shadow of doubt that not one of these candidates is qualified to be President. That Bernie Sanders is leading is frightening. Ronald Reagan, when asked how one recognizes a communist said "Well, it's someone who read Marx and Lenin. And how do you recognize an anti-communist? It's someone who understands Marx and Lenin." Bernie continues to praise Castro and the old Soviet Union! He is dangerous beyond belief. That he has any supporters is a sad commentary on the failure of American education. That the party does not know what to do about him is further evidence of their dishevelment. They know he will lose to Trump in a landslide. But so will each of the others. Does knowing this make them any wiser? Not a chance. They are stuck on stupid. Like Dumbo, they need a magic feather. Schiff and Pelosi and their acolytes were so deluded that they actually thought there would be Republicans who would vote for impeachment! That Romney did just exposed him as the spaghetti spine weasel he is. Since President Trump was elected, the Democrats have done nothing for their constituents. Not one thing. They have spent over three years intent only upon obstructing and impeaching the best president in decades. And rather than learn from their many mistakes and failures, they are doubling down with the hope that the virus will kill thousands of Americans so they can use it against him. The great Thomas Sowell again: "Many on the political left are so entranced by the beauty of their vision that they cannot see the ugly reality they are creating in the real world." The reality of President Trump's extraordinary leadership has thus far eluded them but may be about to smack them in their smug faces. ("Truth is hard, propaganda is cheap" is a quote by DeShanne Stokes.) What Are You Scared Of? - By John Lysaught - https://www.raptureready.com/2020/03/03/what-are-you-scared-of-by-john-lysaught/ "I sought the Lord, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears" (Psalm 34:4). The definition of fear is that it is an unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that someone or something is dangerous, likely to cause pain, or a threat. Fear is something we deal with all the time. Because of this, we get anxious and can suffer from anxiety due to fears. My biggest fear, which causes anxiety for me, is the fear of the unknown. It is the unknown that scares me. My fear isn't rational or based on anything tangible, but I still fear the unknown in my life. Like Psalm 34:4 above says, the Lord will deliver me from my fears. And when I ask Him to, my fears go away because I put my trust in Him. But sometimes I lose that focus, and fear comes creeping up in my mind again of the unknown, those things of which I have no control over. Fear, at its root, is propagated by Satan and his minions. They use the things of this world and the unknown to cause us to fear. If we can remember that God is in control of everything and directs everything for the culmination of the end of our time on this earth and the betterment of us, life is not so fearful. We forget this sometimes and slip into the mindset of fearing things. I'm not talking about fear of venomous snakes, spiders, or things like evil people, etc., but I am talking about those fears that are spiritual in nature. I'm talking about those things that interrupt our close relationship with our Father in Heaven. These things, again, stem from the actions of Satan to cause our trust in God to lead us, out of fear, to be minimized or nonexistent. There is no doubt that Satan is in control of the ways of this world. We are strangers in a foreign land, pilgrims in our journey to Heaven who are filled with obstacles originating from Satan. He will insert fear into our lives to interrupt our relationship and trust in our Savior and our God. This influence of fear that Satan puts in us can cause us to question the validity of God's power in our lives and/or the freedom Jesus gave us when He gave His life for us, to be the propagation for our sins. Having and succumbing to the influence of fear in our hearts is easy, and fighting these seeds of fear takes daily effort to overcome and avoid. Each day we need to renew our minds to the things and promises of God to battle the fear that can easily overcome us. It is the renewing of our mind that refreshes our soul and spirit to be God-focused each and every day. Do you notice that when you are more in tune with God that fear is not effectuating its influence in your life? Do you notice that you have fear when your relationship with God has taken a backseat in your lives? If we keep the Lord as our focus, we will maintain a strong relationship with Him and will place our trust in Him to help us overcome fear. Being in tune with God allows God's power and influence to affect your innermost being in a good way. When we closely walk with God, fear has no room to affect us. When God is a priority in our day, fear won't come floating into your mind and then your heart. We must always be on guard against things that can cause fears we may hold. We need to remember that God is active in our lives and will never introduce fear into our hearts. He is the God of light, and fear is a product of darkness. We need not fear anything spiritual in our lives because God is on our side and wants us to live under His light, not the darkness that Satan introduces to us to try to influence us to have fear. John 16:33 tells us, "These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." The opposite of fear is peace. We cannot get peace from the world because the world is designed to cause us fear under the influences of Satan. We find peace in being under the wings of Jesus, under His protection and love that stomps out the fear Satan wants us to have. When we have the peace of Jesus, our mindsets are on the positive outlook on life and circumstances. When we trust Jesus and obey what and how he wants us to live, we cannot help but not be affected by fear, because in Him is pure and unending love, and love has no fear attached to it. When we choose peace over a spirit of fear, we are choosing to live under and for God. Our lives were bought with a price by Jesus so we wouldn't have to fear anything that Satan may throw at us in this life. We are held in the hands of Jesus because, with Him, there is nothing to fear. When we come under tribulations, this can cause us to be affected by fear, but, as John 16:33 says, "... be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." You get that? We need not fear because Jesus has overcome the world; and because of this, we can live and know that regardless of what we face from the world, we can have that holistic knowledge that Jesus was victorious over death and opened the way for us to have that peaceful relationship with Him. When we find ourselves falling into the trap of fear, this is when we should refocus our minds and rejoice in the Lord for who He is - Jesus, the Savior of the world, for those that believe in Him and His atoning sacrifice for our sins. The world will not remedy fear. Only Jesus can. The world cannot provide us the peace that Christ can. The world is a propagator of fear, and we are not bound by the chains of the world. And because of this, we can trustfully exclude ourselves from the fears the world wants us to have, and instead fall down to the feet of Jesus to give us the peace we need so as not to become a victim of fear. So, I ask this again: what are you scared of? What causes you to worry and what causes you stress and anxiety? When you know the root of your fears, you can give them to Jesus and let Jesus provide you peace in your heart so troubles are no longer troubles, but a rejoicing heart that knows He has overcome the world. [email protected] Daily Jot: The false prophets of Coronavirus - Bill Wilson - www.dailyjot.com Democratic Presidential Candidate Joe Biden and a host of others in the Democratic Party stable are trying to make the case that Donald Trump is at fault for spreading coronavirus in the United States and around the world. Biden said on Monday's MSNBC's "The Last Word," "The whole question on crises is how much credibility a president has...No matter who the president is, [he] speaks for the nation, and gives great concern to and/or brings some solace to the rest of the world. And this president has--this is not a political comment. It's a literal comment--He has no credibility on this issue." Other Democratic presidential candidates Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Michael Bloomberg and the media say the same. They are repeating that President Trump has called the current flu scare a hoax (not true), and that he has no plan on how to prevent spread of the virus in the US. They are calling it "Trumpvirus" in a New York Times editorial, and are spreading fear across the nation with their comments. Let's look at the facts so far provided by the World Health Organization, the Centers for Disease Control and other organizations. There are 91,320 confirmed cases of coronavirus worldwide. There have been 3,118 deaths reported (a little over 3%). 48,155 have recovered. China, with 80,151 cases, leads the world with South Korea, Italy, and Iran each having over 1,500 cases. The US has 105 confirmed cases and six deaths. Here is something to think about. The Centers for Disease Control estimates in its weekly Influenza Surveillance Report, "that so far this season there have been at least 32 million flue illnesses, 310,000 hospitalizations and 18,000 deaths from flu." CDC reported, "The percentage of death attributed to pneumonia and influenza is 6.9 percent, below the epidemic threshold of 7.3 percent...Key indicators that track flu activity remain high but decreased for the second week in a row. Severity indicators (hospitalizations and deaths) remain moderate to low overall, but hospitalization rates differ by age group, with high rates among children and young adults." Coronavirus in the US is far less a threat than the general flu. Yet, the Democrats are using scare tactics and politicizing coronavirus. Biden says being presidential is to "bring some solace to the rest of the world," but he and his political buddies are doing just the opposite. The media is doing the same thing. During times of potential crisis, it is best to keep a level head and focus on the facts. Yes, the coronavirus could explode, especially with the lack of border security, which is something else the democrats are adamant about. You see, what people say and what people do contribute to all of this. Christ said in Matthew 7:15, "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves." We can see plainly who are the false prophets of coronavirus; their fruits are deception. Daily Devotion: Loving with Authenticity - by Greg Laurie - www.harvest.org Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good. -Romans 12:9 There are some people who are just, well, unlovable. They always seem to irritate others. It may be that God has placed one of these people in your life. You might even be married to one of them. Or, maybe every day you deal with a coworker in the cubicle next to yours or someone who sits by you in class. Writing to the believers in Rome, Paul said, "Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good" (Romans 12:9 NKJV). That means we are to genuinely love people. For instance, Judas Iscariot looked as though he was so devout. On one occasion he seemed to be concerned for the needs of the poor. But in reality he was pocketing the money the disciples carried together. And then he betrayed Jesus with a kiss. He could have done it with a handshake. He could have done it by pointing to Christ and saying, "That's Him!" But instead, he did it with a kiss. And it wasn't just one kiss. In the original language it could be translated, "He kissed Him repeatedly." Ironically, at the moment Judas Iscariot seemed the most devout, he actually was the most devious. It wasn't love at all. You might be saying, "Well, I don't feel love for this person, and it would be hypocritical of me to do loving things for them when I'm not feeling the love in my heart. Therefore, I won't do anything loving toward them at all." That is not what Paul is saying. He was saying that we should be loving to that person while we repent of being unloving. In other words, do loving things whether you feel it or not, and you'll find that your emotions will catch up. We show real love in what we do. 
FROM THE HEART
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