Prophecy Update Newsletter
IN TODAY'S NEWSLETTER...
How Far Will the Falling Away Go? - By Gene Lawley -
https://www.raptureready.com/2019/03/23/far-will-falling-away-go-gene-lawley/ When I first began to pay attention to the Scriptures where Paul wrote to the Thessalonians, saying, "Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God" (2 Thessalonians 2:3-4), I assumed it meant a "falling away" from the faith, a denial of Christ and rejection of church affiliation. Yes, but much more, as current events and trends are showing. It is a turning away from morality and lawfulness, and that includes many in the "Christian" category, no less. How many mainline churches and high-level clergy are embracing with welcoming arms the raging sexuality movement? The gender manipulation frenzy, the clamor for acceptance of homosexuality as a normal lifestyle, the hard-driven demand that abortion of babies in the womb, even partially born, is fully acceptable and legal-these trends have grown exponentially like a brushfire in these past few years. It is indeed like a frenzy. The abortion issue ties in with this sexual revolution, for it has all the markings of nothing more than a major birth-control method. How to have all the sex experiences possible without any responsibility, that seems to be the hidden reason. How many of the 61 million abortions recorded in America since 1973 (Roe v Wade) were actually due to the health of the mother? Oaths of office to uphold the Constitution mean nothing anymore. Gangs in streets opposing lawmen, destroying property and human lives, demanding open borders for illegals and providing safe cities for killers-the signs of a dying society are enormous. What is to become of America? What is to become of the world? In the "rat race" of this world, the rats seem to be winning. But when God shows up, the rats will race for the darkness, just as they have been for centuries. When Peter wrote these words in his second epistle, he revealed a great truth that holds up, and has held up for these centuries, of God's purpose over all that time: "...Knowing this first, that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, and saying, 'Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.' "For this they willfully forget, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water, by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water. But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. "But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance" (2 Peter 3:3-9). In spite of scoffers and naysayers, God is fixed in His patient desire that all can be saved who would be saved, that is, willing to repent and be saved. The current question, then, is how long will He wait in these days for that final one to be born again before He returns for all those whom He has bought with His own blood? In the days of Noah, all of the world except Noah and his family were in rebellion against God. And in the days of Lot, the whole city of Sodom was totally saturated with evil when Lot went out of the city and sudden destruction came upon it and its inhabitants. Luke 17:26-30 tells us that the Son of Man will come for His own, just like in the times of Noah and Lot, but during a time of economic and social revival or seemingly "well off" times, especially in America. When Noah and his family entered the ark and God closed the door on them (Genesis 7:16), there was no more representation of righteousness left among physical mankind. Evil had won its final and ultimate conclusion. God's judgment had also arrived, for the flood came and took away all evil in a cleansing of the whole earth. In 2 Thessalonians 2 we have looked at the compounding of a "falling away" comparable to, so Jesus said in Luke 17:26, "as it was in the days of Noah." Further in Paul's letter to the Thessalonians, verses 5-8, he writes this: "Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time. 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, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming." The born-again believer is described and identified in this way in 1 Corinthians 6:17, "But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him." Thus, the "One who restrains, the restrainer" is the believer in Christ, indwelt by the Holy Spirit. The Lord has said to those who have accepted Him into their lives, "I will never leave you nor forsake you" (Hebrews 13:5). (I quote these references to assert more forcefully that this passage, presenting the fact of the Rapture of the saints, is clearly the taking out of the earth the true body of Christ.) It is comparable to the time of Noah in that, following that exit, there is no more representation of righteousness left on earth. Only left behind is the conclusion of evil-God's judgment in the sudden destruction to follow, and then, seven years of tribulation judgment. In this Trump administration we have seen a reversal of the deceptive plan to destroy the sovereignty of the United States and initiate a New World Order that would front for a one-world government. That is clearly the underlying plan subtly pointed to when President Obama spoke at the 2016 DC Correspondents' Dinner on April 30, 2016. In the video produced by C-Span and online on YouTube, he greeted the guests with, "You are all looking great...the end of the Republic has never looked better!" Perhaps the guests, all news correspondents, thought this was a joke since that was somewhat the format of the evening. Yet, throughout his talk, he revealed his certainty of the coming results of the 2016 election...as he was so sure who would win it. One of those references went like this: "I don't know who the next president will be, but I'm sure she will be a good one!" But God had other plans, according to His long-suffering for those who would become born-again believers before His Appointed Time for that 7th head of the Beast of Revelation, the one-world government. He said, in action if not words, "Barack Obama, you will get your one-world government, but it will be in My timing, not that of mankind." Take a look again at Luke 17:26-30 and see what happened, apparently, because the raging fight against the reversal of their intentions has never been so intense anytime in recent decades. The "falling away" from lawfulness is so deeply embedded in our governmental bodies, in society, in every corner of life that it is beginning to look like those days of Noah and of Lot and their surrounding conditions. The bowing down to the demands of pro-abortionists and their determined ally, Planned Parenthood, and the perverted sexual and gender manipulation frenzy is nothing short of astounding. As Romans 3:18 declares, "There is no fear of God before their eyes!" It is not likely that God will come to earth and bargain with anyone, like He did before the judgment of Sodom (see Genesis 18). He will come like a thief in the night, and sudden destruction will follow immediately, according to 1 Thessalonians 5:2-3. The remaining question, again, is "how full must the cup of God's judgment be before the Son of Man comes?" Contact email: [email protected] US recognition of Israel's sovereignty over Golan 'sends direct message to Arab world' - By Israel Kasnett - https://www.jns.org/us-recognition-of-israels-sovereignty-in-golan-sends-a-direct-message-to-the-arab-world/ "[U.S. President Donald] Trump's move is important in that it teaches a lesson to Arab leaders: The longer you wait to make peace with Israel, the less you're going to get," said David Weinberg, vice president of the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security. The formal recognition of Israel's sovereignty in the Golan Heights by the United States could not have come on a more sobering day for Israelis. As rockets were being launched deep into the central Israel by the terror group Hamas in Gaza, the importance of the Golan Heights for Israel's security was on full display. In his remarks at the formal signing of the presidential proclamation at the White House, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told U.S. President Donald Trump that the region was "invaluable" to Israel's defense. "Your proclamation comes at a time when the Golan is more important than ever for our security, when Iran is trying to establish bases in Syria to strike at Israel," said Netanyahu. At the same time, he highlighted Israel's historic and legal right to the region. "Your decision to recognize sovereignty is a two-fold act of historic justice: Israel won the Golan Heights in a just war of self-defense, and the Jewish people's connection to that land goes back generations." Despite the strategic and historical importance of the Golan Heights for Israel, the United States remains alone in recognizing Israel's claim of sovereignty. Many other countries view Israel's control over the region, which Israel gained in the 1967 Six-Day War, as illegal under international law. Eugene Kontorovich, director of International Law at the Jerusalem-based Kohelet Policy Forum and professor of International Law at George Mason University in Washington, D.C., told JNS that Trump's formal recognition of the Golan Heights as Israeli sovereign territory "will doubtless be met by responses that it violates, or condones violation, of international law and will encourage forcible annexation of territory." But according to Kontorovich, "these international legal arguments lack merit." He pointed out that the relevant international law "only prohibits taking territory in a war of aggression." He noted that war in June of 1967, during which Israel captured the Golan Heights from hostile Syria, "was at the time generally regarded as a lawful, defensive war, in response to constant Syrian and Egyptian attempts to destroy Israel." Kontorovich warned that "if international law does not allow attacked countries to make border changes in some circumstances, it would actually invite aggression because the attacking country would be ensured against losses to the defender." A main argument among Israel's detractors is that such recognition sets a bad precedent and will encourage other countries to capture and annex territory that is not theirs. Kontorovich denounced this argument as empty, saying the notion that this move will invite aggression is absurd for another reason: "Israel's sovereignty has only been recognized after it made multiple good-faith peace efforts to return the territory; after Syria lost all legitimacy by committing mass atrocities; and, of course, after a 52-year waiting period. That is a demanding formula that will certainly not invite adventurism." The move away from an unsuccessful paradigm Another point is that U.S. recognition sends a clear and direct message to the Arab world. David Weinberg, vice president of the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security, told JNS that "Trump's move is important in that it teaches a lesson to Arab leaders: The longer you wait to make peace with Israel, the less you're going to get. Assad, the father [Hafez] and son [Bashar], blew their opportunities to make peace with Israel and regain control of the Golan. Now, Syria pays the price." And it offers an important lesson to the Palestinians. According to Weinberg, "Trump is saying: You can reject my about-to-be-presented peace plan, but know that if you do, you'll lose." Trump's actions demonstrate a clear and definite move away from the unsuccessful paradigm that existed for many years with regard to the Arab-Israeli conflict. If the Palestinians continue to reject Israeli offers for peace, "the U.S. could yet recognize Israeli annexation of parts of Judea and Samaria, or step back from support for Palestinian statehood," said Weinberg. "In short," he concluded, "Trump's move changes the deleterious dynamic long in place, in which the Palestinians could safely assume that their rejectionism of plan after peace plan only intensified the pressure for greater Israeli concessions." As Trump noted when he sat down to sign the proclamation, "This was a long time in the making. It should have taken place many decades ago." Nearing Midnight: The Aftermath of New Zealand Massacre - Todd Strandberg - https://www.raptureready.com/category/nearing-midnight/ It has now been five times in the past four years that I have reported on a massacre that is regarded to be the worst ever of its kind in a nation's history. Since the last one was in November, with the mass murder of Jews in the US., the killing of 50 Muslims in New Zealand comes as no great surprise. Normally, the killer of a Muslim is another Muslim. Because those stories occur so often, they disappear from the top of newsfeed like the morning fog vanishes under a blazing July sun. With the attacker being a xenophobic white supremacist, the press will eagerly feed on this tragic event for weeks to come. The first news flash promised immediate changes to gun laws. There was no talk of debate. The legislative process in New Zealand quickly moved to restrict people's ability to own several types of guns. The next thing I noticed was an embargo on the video of the shooting that Australian Brenton Tarrant has streamed on Facebook as he carried out his deadly crime. The video was 16 minutes in length, and it mostly shows him driving around the city. The part where he shoots people is very grainy and only lasts a couple minutes. I think the video is important because it shows how quickly a determined terrorist with the right weapons can kill large numbers of people. Even though the video has been viewed by millions, the New Zealand government has decided that they have the power to block access to this information. In this dangerous power grab, government officials are saying that social media giants don't deserve their freedom as an open format. For too long, terrorists have used them with impunity, so it is time for counterterrorism specialists to move in to heavily regulate these social media sites. If you are a New Zealand citizen and are found with a copy of the massacre video, you can face up to 14 years in jail and a $200,000 fine. An 18-year-old man was denied bail at a court in New Zealand after he was charged with distributing a live stream of the shooting, the New Zealand Herald reported. The teen was initially charged with publishing material insulting other races and ethnicities, but that charge was withdrawn and replaced by the two new charges. I think it should be up to an individual to decide if they want to watch a gory video. When governments and activists step in to decide what should be censored, you end with total suppression of negative information. If New Zealand telecom had been primary news sources for the past 100 years, the attack on Pearl Harbor; the assassination of president John F. Kennedy; and the second plane hitting the World Trade Center would be judged too shocking for the public to view. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has the crazy idea that the killer was only out for fame, and she is determined to block his main goal by blotting his name from history. "I implore you: Speak the names of those who were lost rather than the name of the man who took them," she told the gathering in the city of Wellington. "He is a terrorist. He is a criminal. He is an extremist. But he will, when I speak, be nameless," she said. President Tayyip Erdogan described the New Zealand attack as part of a wider attack on Turkey and threatened to send back "in caskets" anyone who tried to take the battle to Istanbul. Erdogan's remarks earned a rebuke from New Zealand's foreign minister who said it could endanger New Zealanders abroad. I've long considered Erdogan to be a political lunatic but think, in this case, he has a better grasp on reality than his New Zealand counterparts. If the name Brenton Tarrant is going to be forgotten, it will be because there were so many other terrorists in history that his name gets lost in the crowd. Years ago, an event like the New Zealand Massacre would trigger a spiritual revival in society. Today, an act of insanity just causes people to respond with more insanity. The level of lunacy that I've witnessed indicates to me that the end must be very near. "But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God" (2 Timothy 3:1-4 ESV). Israel Watch: A Remarkable President - Jim Fletcher - [email protected] If for no other reason than his amazing graciousness with Israel (and there are many other reasons), Donald Trump will go down as one of America's greatest presidents. That his critics think I'm a jerk for saying so doesn't negate the fact. This week, the 45th president birthed another star in the universe by declaring that the United States recognizes Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights. This on the heels of his announcement in 2017 that the U.S. recognized Jerusalem as Israel's capital, followed by the moving of the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. All these declarations are historic and titanic. Joe Lieberman, the former Democrat, pointed out an interesting fact: "The fact that [the president is] unconventional enables him to do something that presidents before him, of both parties, probably thought was the right thing to do but never did it because it seemed unconventional, and that's the way it is with the Golan Heights." Trump did what Johnson, Nixon, Carter, Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Bush, and Obama didn't do: give maximum priority to Israel's security. Benjamin Netanyahu was obviously thrilled. "President Trump has just made history. I called him and thanked him on behalf of the people of Israel. He did it again. First, he recognized Jerusalem as Israel's capital and moved the US embassy here, then he got out of the disastrous Iran treaty, and now recognized Israel's sovereignty over the Golan Heights." Enjoy this. It won't last forever, or even long. Nikki Haley? She was great at the UN, but recently had a dust-up with supporters because she appeared at an event with John Brennan. Plus, Haley is like every other politician not named Trump: beholden to someone else. As we look at what will come after Trump-when Israel will presumably go back to being vulnerable with American presidents-we must hope that Trump and Netanyahu are working closely behind the scenes to put policies in place and facts on the ground that will strengthen Israel. When one considers the Democrat field for '20, we see either craven opportunists or lunatics. None of them advocate policies that even work or make sense. Can you imagine what one of them would do in office? Beto O'Rourke has a Millennial mindset when it comes to Israel: he's hostile. Even creepy ol' Joe Biden stabs Israel in the back every chance he can get, all the while touting his "close friendship" with "my friend, Bibi." One gets the feeling that even the Israelis are stunned at Trump's far-reaching friendship. And so, as they say, make hay while the sun still shines. Nastier fights than the status of the Golan Heights are on the horizon. [email protected] Daily Jot: Mueller report confirms coup attempt - Bill Wilson - www.dailyjot.com While it does not specifically point to a coup in progress by the Democratic Party leadership, the deep state within the bowels of government, and Republicans who oppose President Donald Trump, there is no doubt a blatant effort to overthrow a duly elected president. This ongoing coup attempt shows no signs of slowing despite the exonerations of the Mueller Special Counsel report. The news media, though partially repentant and admitting it got it wrong, continues to cover the coup-makers in the Democratic Party as if they had some magical pixi-dust to undo what Mueller submitted and make real all their wildest hate-filled dreams of Trump. It's not going to happen. At the same time, the coup attempt continues. Think about it. The Democrats and news media spent a lot of time speculating how horrible Trump is "IF" he wouldn't accept the results of the election if he lost and the results of the Mueller Report if he were indicted. Oh, how they opined that these reactions would be an undermining of the Constitution and the "democracy" of America. Yet, today, they still do not accept the results of the 2016 election AND they refuse to accept that the Mueller Report cleared the President and his campaign of wrongdoing. Why?--Because they are attempting a coup to overthrow the government and replace it with their brand of neo-communism. The Democratic Presidential candidates support gun control, lowering the voting age to 16, allowing illegals to vote, and eliminating the electoral college. These are attacks on Constitutional issues that are foundational to the American Republic. It would be next to impossible for these coup-makers to successfully conduct a military coup because the citizens are armed. The only way they can be successful is to make laws and undermine Constitutional rights to win a political coup. Doing away with the electoral college would give New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Chicago the control of America. Lowering the voting age and allowing non-citizens to vote turns the elections into a controllable propaganda effort. Christ said in Matthew 24:4, "Take heed that no man deceive you." Do not be deceived. Our ministry partner in Ghana, William Agbeti, says, "The whole probe thing looks like the well known tactics that coup makers employ: key accusation(s) they level against a ruling party happen to be the most feared practices they themselves are involved in and want to cover up. Once they accuse the ruling party of such practices, then the likelihood of being accused of the same practice is totally wiped out. With this approach, they never let the issue rest! That will be too dangerous for them!" Agbeti lived through six coups d'etat in Ghana, covering the period 1966-1981. Out of these, only one failed. He has reported on and studied coups and counter coups. He thinks America is looking into the face of an ongoing coup attempt by the Marxist left. I believe him. Daily Devotion: Glorified and Perfected - by Greg Laurie -www.harvest.org For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known. - 1 Corinthians 13:12 One question we ask about the afterlife is, "Will we recognize each other in Heaven?" The simple answer is this: Do we recognize each other on earth? Generally we do. We will in Heaven, too, but even more so. All the clouding and damaging effects of sin will be removed. The Bible says, "For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known" (1 Corinthians 13:12 NKJV). I don't think this means that God will take everything He knows and put it into our brains the moment we enter eternity. Otherwise we would all look like bobbleheads, walking around with massive heads and little bodies. What the Scriptures seem to be saying is that in eternity the Lord will, over time, unveil more and more great truths to us. Our knowledge will expand as we spend time in His presence, worshipping Him. We also will be reunited with those who have gone before us who trusted in Jesus. If you have loved ones who have died and they believed in Jesus, then you will see them again. Heaven will be a family reunion without the weirdness. All the sin will be gone. All the selfishness will be gone. You see, Heaven is the earthly life of the believer, glorified and perfected. When we pass to the other side, our minds and our memories will be clearer than they ever have been before. That is great to know, because we forget things. Our memories are not as sharp as they once were, perhaps. But all that is going to change. We will know things that we don't know now. And we will see things with a perspective that we don't have now. 
FROM THE HEART
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