Prophecy Update Newsletter
IN TODAY'S NEWSLETTER...
Do Not Miss His Coming - By Matt Ward -
http://www.raptureready.com/2018/03/28/not-miss-coming-matt-ward/ It still amazes me when I read how the Jewish religious leaders of 2,000 years ago managed to completely miss Jesus' first coming? These were highly educated men, especially in the signs that would indicate the emergence of Messiah. Yet they failed miserably at discerning the time of their own Messiah's advent. These were men who spent their entire lives, from early youth, memorizing and learning Scripture, especially the Torah. They were by any definition experts. How then did they miss the significance of Jesus' ministry, this remarkable preacher and miracle worker from Nazareth? The actions of the forthcoming Messiah were well known to all Jews, especially at that time. In fact, they were obsessed with the coming of the Messiah. Isaiah and others described in detail who he would be and what he would do, that he would heal the sick, bring sight to the blind, heal the brokenhearted...raise the dead. The Bible told them that it would be through these signs that they should recognize Him. This is why John the Baptist, in prison awaiting death, sent his disciples to ask Jesus, "...are you the coming one, or should we wait for another?" (Matthew 11:3). Jesus responded, not by giving a straight "yes" or "no," but by saying to John, "Go back and report what you hear and see: the blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised and the good news is proclaimed to the poor" (Matthew 11:4-5). Jesus was telling John, "...don't ask me! Judge for yourself by my works! By the signs you will know me!" And therefore, when we read the Gospels, we read accounts of one outstanding miracle after another. Each miracle, each healing, is a testimony to who Jesus is, that he is exactly who he says he is. Jesus proclaimed himself to be the Messiah, and his works throughout his ministry validated that claim then, and still do today. God loves us all deeply. He never does anything without revealing his ways to his prophets (Amos 3:7). That is why God gave, not general, but very specific details of what the Messiah would do and who he would be, so that those who were genuinely looking for him would be able to find him. It was clearly written that the Messiah would be a descendant of Abraham (Genesis 12:3, 18:18, Matthew 1:1), be of the tribe of Judah (Genesis 49:10, Luke 3:33), be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2, Matthew 2:1, Luke 2:4-7); and the time of his birth was also prophesied (Daniel 9:25, Luke 2:1). It was written that there would be a slaughter of innocent children (Jeremiah 31:15, Matthew 2:16-18) accompanying his birth. It was written that their King would come to them in humility, riding a donkey (Zechariah 9:9, John 12:13-14), that he would enter Jerusalem through the Golden Gate (Ezekiel 44:1-2, Mark 11:7-8), and that he would be betrayed by a friend for thirty pieces of silver (Zechariah 11:12, Psalm 41:9, Mark 14:10, Matthew 26:14-15). It was written that the money paid in exchange for his life would be returned for a potter's field (Zechariah 11:13, Matthew 27:6-7), that he would be silent before his accusers (Isaiah 53:7, Matthew 26:62-63), that he would be spat upon and struck in the face (Isaiah 50:6, Matthew 26:67), and that he would be hated without reason (Psalms 69:4, 35:19, 109:3-5, John 15:24-25). It was written that soldiers would divide his garments (Psalm 22:18, Matthew 27:35) and that he would be crucified (this prophecy, one thousand years before crucifixion was developed as a method of execution!) (Zechariah 12:10, Psalm22:16, Matthew 27:35, John 20: 27). It was written that he would be crucified with malefactors and would agonize with thirst (Isaiah 53:12, Psalms 22:15, Mark 15:27-28, John 19:28), that in his thirst they would give him gall or vinegar to drink (Psalm 69:21, John 19:19), that his side would be pierced but no bones would be broken (Zechariah 12:10, Psalm 34:20, John 19:32-36), and that he would be buried with the rich but deserted by his followers (Isaiah 53:9, Zechariah 13:7, Matthew 27:57-60, Mark 14:27). The Bible tells us how the Messiah would be deserted and completely abandoned by God (Psalm 22:1, Matthew 27:46) but that ultimately he would rise from the dead (Hosea 6:2, Psalms 16:10, 49:15, Luke 24:6-7, Mark 16). And these are just some of the signs of his first coming, and the leaders of his time completely failed to recognize who this miracle worker from Galilee really was. So how did they miss his coming? The Pharisees and Sadducees of Jesus' day were expecting a Messiah; they just weren't expecting the one they got. In Jewish tradition, there were two Messiahs to come, each fulfilling very different roles. There was Messiah ben Joseph and Messiah ben David. Messiah ben Joseph is the suffering servant, the Messiah who had come to die. This is the Messiah who would come and take the place of sacrifice, and he is depicted in Isaiah 53. Isaiah 53 has always been a very difficult chapter for the Jewish people to accept or understand. Even to this day, Jews do not know what to do with it and what to do with this man of tragedy, this "suffering servant." Most observant Jews simply try to ignore Isaiah 53 altogether and pretend it doesn't exist. Yet this was the role that Jesus fulfilled during his first coming, the role of the suffering servant who took the sins of the world onto his shoulders. The Jewish leaders missed him because they were not waiting for Messiah ben Joseph; they were waiting for Messiah ben David, an awesome political and military leader - a dramatic deliverer. This will be how Jesus will present himself at his Second Advent, as Messiah ben David, the conquering Lion of the Tribe of Judah. And in that day, as surely as the Lord lives, "every knee will bow" to the name of Jesus. Two thousand years ago, they were looking for someone to come and free them from the yoke of Roman servitude, and that was not Jesus' role in his first incarnation. His role was to free humanity from the yoke of sin and eternal death! He didn't fit their ideology, so they ignored him. Ultimately they killed him for it. Even the disciples after the resurrection asked Jesus, "Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?" (Acts 1:6). They were still expecting Jesus to free them from Roman oppression and believed that now Jesus would finally fulfill the role of Messiah ben David and establish his kingdom. The Jews knew that Messiah had two roles: a suffering servant - Ben Joseph, and a mighty warrior - Ben David. They were expecting two different Messiahs to fulfill two different roles. What they could not grasp, and still to this day fail to understand, was that one man would fulfill both roles, but at two separate times in human history, separated by thousands of years! Two thousand years after the first coming of Messiah, it looks very much to me like many in this generation are repeating the mistakes of the leaders in Jesus' day. Jesus told us the signs which would indicate his second coming to this earth. He told us how to recognize the season of his return. How many of us are paying attention? If the hundreds of prophecies concerning his first coming were fulfilled, literally and to the letter, then surely those related to his second coming will be literally fulfilled too. To the letter. Why would it be any different? There are approximately three hundred prophecies of the first coming of the Messiah in the Old Testament, but over five hundred of his second coming! George Heron, a French mathematician, worked out that the chances of 40 of those first-coming prophecies being fulfilled in one man were 1 in 10 to the power of 157! Dr. Peter S. Ruckman calculated that the odds of 60 (not 300) being fulfilled in one man were 1 in 10 to the power of over 895. That's a one with 895 zeros after it. The prophecies related to the Second Advent of Jesus are coming to pass now, so why are so many in positions of "leadership" spending their time talking about Kingdom Now theology, talking about seeker-sensitive models of church growth, and about "Having Your Best Life Now." The signs Jesus told us to watch for that would indicate the end of the age are burgeoning. They are increasing in intensity and frequency. There are false prophets everywhere; famines and diseases ravaging entire populations; earthquakes and tribulations; there is godlessness and apostasy; the Roman Empire is reforming before our eyes; Hebrew has returned as the spoken language of Israel; and preparation for the rebuilding of the temple is common talk, as is the news of Red Heifer births. Knowledge has increased and we all travel to and fro! Ethiopian Jews have returned to Israel; Russia has risen and its Jews have returned "from the north country;" the technology for the mark of the beast is upon us; and the New World Order is common currency. Israel is fast becoming the pariah state of the world, and every nation is obsessed with dividing Jerusalem. And I personally think that the gospel has been preached to all the world. Don't make the same mistake the Pharisees and Sadducees made two thousand years ago. No one knows the day or the hour, but all the signs indicating the emergence of the Messiah are present now, and become more pronounced with each day that passes. So take it upon yourself, this day, to make yourself ready so that you will be found to be at peace with him when he does come. "When it is evening, you say, 'It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.' And in the morning, 'There will be a storm today, for the sky is red and threatening.' Do you know how to discern the appearance of the sky, but cannot discern the signs of the times?" (Matthew 16: 2-3). "Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man" (Luke 21:36). [email protected] Hamas's Partners in its War Against Israel - By Caroline Glick - https://www.breakingisraelnews.com/105343/hamass-partners-in-its-war-against-israel-opinion/#xY9GX81PEhTv4rYe.97 On Friday, the Palestinian terror group Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, is inaugurating what it is calling "The March of Return." According to Hamas's leadership, the "March of Return" is scheduled to run from March 30 - the eve of Passover - through May 15, the 70th anniversary of Israel's establishment. According to Israeli media reports, Hamas has budgeted $10 million for the operation. Throughout the "March of Return," Hamas intends to send thousands of civilians to the Israeli border. Hamas is planning to set up tent camps along the border fence and then, presumably, order participants to overrun it on May 15. The Palestinians refer to May 15 as "Nakba," or Catastrophe Day. The first question that observers of this spectacle need to ask themselves is whether Hamas believes that it will be able to overrun Israel. The obvious answer is, of course, it doesn't. So this brings us to the second question. If Hamas doesn't expect its civilians to overrun Israel, what is it trying to accomplish by sending them into harm's way? Why it the terror group telling Gaza residents to place themselves in front of the border fence and challenge Israeli security forces charged with defending Israel? The answer here is also obvious. Hamas intends to provoke Israel to shoot at the Palestinian civilians it is sending to the border. It is setting its people up to die because it expects their deaths to be captured live by the cameras of the Western media, which will be on hand to watch the spectacle. In other words, Hamas's strategy of harming Israel by forcing its soldiers to kill Palestinians is predicated on its certainty that the Western media will act as its partner and ensure the success of its lethal propaganda stunt. Given widespread assessments that Iran is keen to start a new round of war between Israel and its terror proxies, Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, it is possible that Hamas intends for this lethal propaganda stunt to be the initial stage of a larger war. By this assessment, Hamas is using the border operation to cultivate and escalate Western hostility against Israel ahead of a larger shooting war. Several Israeli commentators have noted that Hamas's plan to send civilians to the border and, presumably, order them to breach it at a certain point, is not original. Hezbollah, acting in concert with Ahmed Jibril's Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFLP-GC) and the Syrian regime, did something similar in 2011. As the UK Guardian's Jonathan Steele reported in March 2015, that operation played a major role in transforming the civil war in Syria from a few scattered battles between the regime and opposition groups into a full-fledged civil war. Steele recalled that ahead of "Nakba Day," on May 15, 2011, the Syrian regime sent forces into the Yarmouk refugee camp (actually an upscale neighborhood five minutes from central Damascus). In early 2011, the "camp" was home to 150,000 Palestinians and 650,000 Syrians. The government forces encouraged the Palestinians to participate in a march on Israel on Nakba Day. On May 15, 2011, the regime sent buses to Yarmouk. Several hundred people from Yarmouk were driven to the border with Israel. The passengers alighted and began marching to Israel. Israeli soldiers stationed on the Israeli side of the border in the Golan Heights were taken by surprise by the marchers and opened fire. Three of the Palestinians were killed. A month later, the regime sent minivans to Yarmouk. Several dozen Palestinians climbed aboard. At the border, they were joined by several hundred more marchers. Together, they began scaling the border. Israeli forces responded with live shells and tear gas. 23 people were killed. Twelve of the dead were from Yarmouk. The next day, 30,000 people attended their funeral. The mourners were livid at the regime for sending them to die and infuriated with Jibril for encouraging them to go. They surrounded Jibril's offices in Yarmouk. PFLP-GC gunmen killed a 14-year boy in the crowd. The angry mourners stormed the offices and burned them to the ground. Steele reported that Jibril himself was rescued by regime forces. The anger the Palestinians directed against the regime inspired the opposition forces to mobilize the Palestinians to their side. The Free Syrian Army and the al-Nusra Brigades took over Yarmouk. The regime responded by laying siege on Yarmouk. Most of the residents escaped to other areas of Syria, to Lebanon and Jordan. 18,000 civilians and combatants remained. The regime starved and bombed them into submission over the ensuing three-and-a-half years. Some Israeli commentators believe that having studied the events in Syria, Hamas will end up calling off the marches to avoid a rebellion in the event that Israel kills civilians at the border. But there is a good reason to believe that Hamas intends to go through with the operation. Wednesday, Arab affairs commentator Yoni Ben Menachem reported that one of the chief organizers of Hamas's March of Return is Zaher al-Birawi. According to Ben Menachem, al-Birawi, a senior Hamas and Muslim Brotherhood operative, holds the title, "Liaison for the International Committee for Breaking the Embargo on the Gaza Strip." In years past, Ben Menachem reported, al-Birawi was a key operative involved in organizing the flotillas to Gaza. The most lethal flotilla charged with challenging Israel's naval blockade of Gaza's coastline was the May 2010 flotilla organized by Turkey's IHH organization. IHH is an Islamist NGO affiliated with al Qaeda. The lead ship in the six-ship flotilla, the Mavi Marmara, was commanded by IHH. Most of its 630 passengers were anti-Israel activists from Western nations. Forty well-trained IHH members were on board and tasked with assaulting any and all IDF soldiers who attempted to board. The Israeli naval commandos who were dropped onto the deck of the ship from helicopters were attacked by IHH personnel armed with axes, iron bars, knives, and guns. During a pitched battle between the IHH attackers and the naval commandos, nine soldiers were wounded, three seriously. Nine IHH attackers were killed. Israel was harshly condemned for what the international media and the international left referred to as a murderous use of force against innocent peace activists. Turkish President Recep Erdogan demanded that Israel pay compensation to the dead IHH attackers' families, and accused Israel of state-sponsored terrorism while opening war crimes trials against senior Israeli military commanders in Turkish courts. During his visit to Israel in 2013, then-President Barack Obama strong-armed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to offer an apology to Erdogan and agree to pay compensation to the dead attackers' families. Obama participated and oversaw the call, which took place on the tarmac of Israel's Ben Gurion airport before Obama boarded Air Force One to depart from Israel. Most Israelis were angered by Netanyahu's apology, and Netanyahu privately said he regretted agreeing to offer one. For their part, the Western anti-Israel activists who were on the Mavi Marmara joined the pile on against Israel, accusing its soldiers of wanton aggression against them. Earlier this month, British investigator David Collier exposed the existence of a virulently antisemitic secret Facebook group called "Palestine Live." Collier's most newsworthy finding was that British Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn was an active member of the group until shortly after he was elected head of Labour in 2015. Collier also reported that Greta Berlin, a member of the Palestine Live group, and one of the heads of the Free Gaza Movement that organized the Mavi Marmara flotilla together with IHH, admitted in one of her exchanges there that Israel was not responsible for the lethal events aboard the ship. Had the IHH activists - including Kenneth O'Keefe, a former U.S. Marine-turned-Hamas terrorist and "Palestine Live" group member - not attacked the Israelis, Berlin wrote, they wouldn't have opened fire. In her words, "Had [O'Keefe] not disarmed an Israeli terrorist soldier, they would not have started to fire." In addition to a massive quantity of axes, crowbars, chains, tear gas, knives, and other weaponry, Israeli forces found an advanced broadcast and film editing studio aboard the Mavi Marmara. The attackers clearly viewed media warfare as an integral component of their aggression against Israel. Which brings us back to Hamas' plan to have Gaza civilians die at the border with Israel to make Israel look bad. Israel will, no doubt, find means to undermine Hamas's operations. It has already announced it intends to use drones and snipers. The IDF can be expected to block communications. And in an interview with al-Hurra Arabic television, IDF Maj. General Yoav Mordechai warned that Israel will penalize any bus company that transports Gazans to the border. The real issue revealed by Hamas's planned operation - as it was revealed by the Mavi Marmara, as well as by Hamas's military campaigns against Israel in 2014, 2011 and 2008-09 - is not how Israel will deal with it. The real issue is that Hamas's entire strategy is predicated on its faith that the Western media and indeed the Western left will side with it against Israel. Hamas is certain that both the media and leftist activists and politicians in Europe and the U.S. will blame Israel for Palestinian civilian casualties. And as past experience proves, Hamas is right to believe the media and leftist activists will play their assigned role. So long as the media and the left rush to indict Israel for its efforts to defend itself and its citizens against its terrorist foes, who turn the laws of war on their head as a matter of course, these attacks will continue and they will escalate. If this border assault does, in fact, serve as the opening act in a larger terror war against Israel, then a large portion of the blame for the bloodshed will rest on the shoulders of the Western media for empowering the terrorists of Hamas and Hezbollah to attack Israel. Will there be war in Israel this summer? - By Eric R. Mandel - http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Will-there-be-war-in-Israel-this-summer-547818 Today there are upwards of 150,000 missiles in Hezbollah's arsenal, enough to overwhelm every layer of Israel's missile shield, capable of targeting any location in Israel. Since the State of Israel was created 70 years ago, the question has always been not if there would be a war, but when. The only question now is will it be in the north against Iran and its proxies Hezbollah, Syrian President Bashar Assad and the Shi'ite Popular Mobilization Units, or will it be in the south against Hamas and Islamic Jihad, or will it originate from over the Green Line among the Arab Palestinians of the West Bank? In the north, the likelihood of war this summer will be increased if US President Donald Trump goes ahead with his plan to withdraw American soldiers from Syria and ends aid to allies in Syria fighting Assad. This will be taken as a sign to Iran, Russia, Turkey and the whole Muslim world that America has yet again tried to abandon the region, except poor choices in the Middle East have a way of bringing America back with less leverage and not on its own terms. As Tom Rogan of The Washington Examiner wrote, "President Trump should pay attention to what happened after former President Barack Obama's hasty 2011 withdrawal from Iraq. Because Obama's withdrawal led to the increasing influence of Iran over Iraqi politics... In turn, these policies helped foster the rise of ISIS and led to Obama being forced to return forces to Iraq." This decision will hurt both Israeli and American security interests, as it increases the likelihood that Israel will be drawn into a northern war, confronting Russian troops stationed in Syria. Iranian, Hezbollah, Syrian and Shi'ite PMU's are positioned, on purpose, next to Russian military sites or have Russian advisers embedded. It is inevitable that Israeli strikes in Syria will kill Russian soldiers, increasing the chances of turning this into a wider regional conflict. Ronen Bergman in The New York Times wrote, "Israel has been asking Russia to guarantee that the Iranians will leave Syria once the war is over. Those requests have been met with indifference... Russia wants to build a secure foothold in the Middle East and its policy requires it to maintain good relations with Iran... if anyone was not yet aware of it, Russia is the dominant power in the region." The downing of both the Iranian drone in Israeli airspace and an Israeli fighter jet in February brought all the adversaries to the brink of war. Russia, the new sheriff in town, ordered Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to stand down, and knowing he was alone, he did. Simon Tisdall opined in The Guardian, "if Iran refuses to leave Syria and continues to expand its military presence...and if Israel continues its cross-border raids, something big, sooner or later, is going to blow." A few years ago I spoke to one of the senior international medical personal stationed in Lebanon caring for Syrian refugees. He told me that in every one of the 300 villages he visited in Hezbollah- controlled southern Lebanon missiles were hidden in people's homes. Today there are upwards of 150,000 missiles in Hezbollah's arsenal, enough to overwhelm every layer of Israel's missile shield, capable of targeting any location in Israel. To the south, Hamas in Gaza is now feeling like a cornered rat, with no way out. The economic situation is worsening as the Palestinian Authority tightens the noose around their neck. The PA allows Gazans only four hours a day of electricity, while Gaza is an inferno always waiting to explode, fertile ground for radicalization and recruitment to terrorism, with an unemployment rate nearing 50%. Four years ago Hamas was in a similar economic position, and it choose war as a way to get the attention of the international community. Expect Hamas to have learned from its past three wars with Israel, becoming a more lethal enemy. Israel does not want to take over Gaza, becoming responsible for its services, and it fears that if it overthrows Hamas, an even worse entity may emerge, or uncontrollable chaos. Last week Hamas did a test run of its newest weapon, mass protests on the border, sending human probes to the security fence, hoping they would be killed and elicit the usual Pavlovian denunciations from anti-Israel groups like Human Rights Watch (HRW), who condemn Israel first and ask questions later. HRW choose not to mention that Hamas even sent a seven-year-old child as bait to cross the border, breaking all international standards. This ongoing test-run may be the starting point for a summer of violence and war. In Judea and Samaria, PA President Mahmoud Abbas is still trying to show he can be as anti-Israel as Hamas, while the battle to succeed him has already begun. He wants to be remembered as leader of a resistance that did not make peace with the Jews. The rogues' gallery of would-be successors, from intelligence chief Majid Faraj to former security chiefs Jibril Rajoub and Mohammed Dahlan, to deputy Fatah chairman Mahmoud Aloul, may also decide that agitation and violence this summer may give them the upper hand. So will there be a war this summer? Nobody knows. But the possibility of a coordinated war aligning Hezbollah, Hamas and Iran, all acting in concert, would present Israel with unprecedented challenges. Israel must be prepared for the next war to break out at any time, and even with the best intelligence, events can spiral out of control, even if none of the adversaries are prepared for an all-out war. The best way to decrease the chance for war in the Levant this summer is for Trump's new team of John Bolton and Mike Pompeo to convince him that it is in American interests to remain in Syria for the immediate future, and be resolute that Iran cannot remain in Syria after the civil war ends. The writer is director of MEPIN™, the Middle East Political and Information Network ™. He regularly briefs members of Congress on the Middle East. He is a contributor to The Jerusalem Post, The Hill, and The Forward. Nearing Midnight: Coup of the Liberal Media - Todd Strandberg - http://www.raptureready.com/category/nearing-midnight/ There is simply no way for Democracy to continue to function in America if we are going to continue to have a mainstream media operate in its current configuration. The press has become so biased in how it reports the news, the truth is now whatever fits its leftist agenda. News outlets like CNN, Yahoo News, MSNBC, NBC, ABC and CBS might as well be regarded as extensions of the Democratic Party. When Obama was in power, the press worshipped at his feet, ignoring all his violations of Constitutional authority. When Trump became President, the media began attacking him on every front. CNN spends almost 100% of its time highlighting negative news stories about Trump. That news organization has become such a twisted parody of real news reporting, I am amazed that people watch this garbage. Since about 80% of the population has some type of contact with a liberal news outlet in their daily life, this deluge of propaganda has to have an impact. The last two special elections went to the Democratic candidates because of media intervention. In Alabama, Roy Moore had a huge lead over Doug Jones in the race for an empty senate seat. Reporters from the Washington Post came looking for dirt on Moore, and they found two women who would claim Moore made inappropriate sexual advances toward them. Moore lost the election. The next special election was in Pennsylvania between Rep. Rick Saccone and Dem. Conor Lamb. The day before that election, I saw Saccone being hounded by a mob of reporters. They peppered him with endless got-you questions. I knew he had already lost the election when he blamed his Democratic opponent for these attacks. The media have been publishing endless stories about the high turnover rate in the Trump Administration's senior leadership positions. In Trump's first year in office, high-profile White House exits were higher than the past five presidents. The simple reason for the high turnover rate is the reality that anyone who joins the Trump team automatically becomes a target of the media. The press is very proud of its trophies, which is why they repeatedly run down lists of the people they have driven from office. The viciousness in these attacks has even reached the children of Trump officials. Second Lady Karen Pence and her eldest daughter, Charlotte Pence, recently published "Marlon Bundo's A Day in the Life of the Vice President." The book has no political slant. "Last Week Tonight" host John Oliver decided to mock the Pence book by producing his own called - "A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo" - which similarly features the bunny; although, in this version, the story depicts Marlon Bundo falling in love with another male bunny. The John Oliver book outsold the Pence book because fellow liberal media promoted it as a way to stick a knife into the back of Pence. Stormy Daniels is being pimped and pimping the media over her claims she had sex with a married Donald. CBS's "60 Minutes" took a swan dive into trash TV standards by airing an interview where Stormy was cloudy when it came to providing evidence of the affair. Reporters have been following Stormy to her strip club events. I'm sure she will be on CNN a dozen times in the coming days. The liberal media had no interest in a man who claimed he had a two-day love affair with a married Barack Obama back in 1999. Larry Sinclair claims he had a drug-induced sex romp with then-Senator Obama in Chicago after the duo was introduced by a limousine driver. Sinclair claims he performed sex acts with Mr. Obama on two occasions. Unlike Daniels (real name Stephanie Clifford), Sinclair's allegations were quickly dismissed by the media. Another example of the press's double standard can be seen in the revelation of Facebook providing customer user data to political organizations. During the 2012 presidential election, Facebook was very eager to provide membership data to the Obama election. There is no protest about the giant social media site sharing data to the Democratic Party. When it was revealed that Cambridge Analytica had used Facebook for data mining for the Trump campaign, it was suddenly the crime of the century. The press is making Mark Zuckerberg into the villain who compromised the 2016 election. If Zuckerberg had been helping Clinton with the same data, there would be no story to report. The ultimate desire of the liberal media is to control all forms of communication. When they have the ability to be the sole source of information, their brand of news will become the truth. Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak's government has a plan that may make its way to the West. He has a bill in parliament for outlawing "fake news," with hefty fines. Under the Anti-Fake News 2018 bill, anyone who publishes so-called fake news could face fines of up to $128,140 or up to 10 years in jail. The most dangerous thing about the liberal media is that people don't realize its evil nature. Many people understand that the big news networks are biased, but they still allow them to influence their views through the process of being exposed to an endless stream of propaganda. Because the devil is very crafty, we need to guard our minds to the very end. "Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour" (1 Peter 5:8). Daily Jot: Prophetic storm on the horizon - Bill Wilson - www.dailyjot.com There are a series of stories in the news recently that show how the Ezekiel 38 prophecy of a coalition headed by a leader from modern Turkey brings a host of enemies against Israel in a colossal end time battle in which God saves Israel and declares in Ezekiel 38:23, "Thus will I magnify myself and sanctify myself: and I will be known in the eyes of many nations, and they shall know that I am the Lord." Currently, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, the "Palestinians" in Israel, Israel, and Iran are all locked into a curious mix of politics, military effort and intrigue that is whirling around the Middle East and gathering the end time players together like the building of a prophetic storm on the horizon. Turkey's dictator Racep Tayyip Erdogan is making a move in Syria to destroy the Kurd fighters who are a mainstay against the Islamic State. Many believe that Erdogan wants to eliminate the Kurds in general and do a land grab along the Syrian border. At the same time, Turkey and Russia are collaborating on the building of a Russian-made nuclear power plant on Turkey's Mediterranean coast. In addition, Turkey has agreed to purchase Russia's long-range S-400 missile system and the two countries are building a pipeline to transport Russian gas to Turkey. AP reports that Russian "president" Vladimir Putin, Erdogan and Iranian "president" Hassan Rouhani are expected to hold a summit in Ankara to discuss Syria's future. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman stirred the prophetic pot by speaking out of both sides of his mouth. The Atlantic reports that bin Salman said that Israel has a right to exist as a nation. What bin Salman really said, however, was, "I believe that each people, anywhere, has a right to live in their peaceful nation. I believe the Palestinians and the Israelis have the right to have their own land." This is a dualist statement in that the Palestinians claim all the land in Israel. He also said that Islam was a religion of peace and that the "triangle of evil": Iran, the Muslim Brotherhood and Sunni terrorist groups (ISIS and al-Qaeda) were seeking world conquest. He didn't mention that Saudi Arabia was the birthplace of al-Qaeda, and supports the Muslim Brotherhood. He also denied that Wahhabism exists. Saudi Arabia does not recognize Israel as a nation. The Saudi Crown Prince does not recognize Wahhabism, a radical evangelical sect of Islam originating from Saudi Arabia. The Crown Prince recognizes the Muslim Brotherhood and al-Qaeda as an evil triangle with Iran, but fails to mention that Saudi Arabia is known to support these terrorist groups. Iran and Turkey are working together with Russia as a unifier. We can see how eventually the diverse forces of Ezekiel 38 can be brought together to fight against Israel, which includes modern day Turkey, Iran, Sudan, Libya and even parts of Saudi Arabia. What appears to be isn't and what is secret is brewing a prophetic storm on the horizon. Daily Devotion: A True Mark of Conversion - By Greg Laurie - www.harvest.org Rahab the prostitute is another example. She was shown to be right with God by her actions when she hid those messengers and sent them safely away by a different road. -James 2:25 Rahab had everything going against her-including her name, which was associated with an Egyptian deity. Rahab was an immoral woman, a prostitute. But she was the perfect candidate for the grace of God. The gospel is for everyone, everywhere. There are no exceptions. No one is beyond the reach of God. During His earthly ministry, Jesus seemed to go out of His way to reach people like this. We see it in John 4 as He met the woman at the well while she drew water in the heat of the day because her village ostracized her. She had been married and divorced five times and was living with a man. Yet Jesus reached out to her, and she believed. When spies from Israel came to check out the city of Jericho, Rahab hid them on her roof because she believed in the Lord their God. She told them, "For the Lord your God is the supreme God of the heavens above and the earth below" (Joshua 2:11 NLT). The Bible says that "faith is dead without good works" (James 2:26 NLT). Rahab showed evidence of her faith by her actions. Another indication that Rahab was a real believer was the fact that she cared about her family. She believed judgment was coming. She told the spies, "Now swear to me by the Lord that you will be kind to me and my family since I have helped you. Give me some guarantee that when Jericho is conquered, you will let me live, along with my father and mother, my brothers and sisters, and all their families" (Joshua 2:12-13 NLT). A true mark of conversion is when you want to reach your family with the gospel. Have you reached your family? Does your family know that you believe? 
FROM THE HEART
IF YOU HAVE BEEN BLESSED THROUGH THIS MINISTRY, THEN WE ASK THAT YOU WOULD PLEASE REMEMBER PROPHECY UPDATE IN YOUR GIVING - WE ARE TRULY, TRULY, THANKFUL FOR YOUR SUPPORT Prophecy Update has no corporate sponsors. This ministry is paid for and prayed for by readers and supporters. Without your support, there would be no Prophecy Update, Please pray about becoming a monthly supporter - thanks! If ever there was a time to invest in God's Kingdom, it's now! What on earth are you doing for Heaven's Sake? "Share in the Blessings and Rewards that will last Forever!" "Folks, it's all beginning to unravel. America is in more danger of falling than at any time in its history. But I believe Bible prophecy predicts this very decline. From this point on, we believers have to get serious. We are going to face discouragement, disillusionment and, most certainly, persecution in the time between now and the Rapture. But don't be discouraged or disillusioned. The coming turmoil will provide us unrivaled opportunities to share the good news of the Gospel. So be ready to share your faith and your hope with those who need Christ. We still have time to reap a great harvest of souls for God's kingdom!" - Hal Lindsey 1) We need your prayers!- We proclaim the Truth of the Word of God and we are under constant spiritual and sometimes even physical attack. 2) We need your encouragement!- We need to hear from you, let us know how the Lord is blessing you through this ministry so that we can share it with others. 3) We need your input! - If you have a prophetic article or story or if there is a news related item we missed, let us know. 4) We need your financial support!- To put it quite simply, without your support, there would be no Prophecy Update. I ask that you would prayerfully consider partnering with us to get the Word out and keep the world informed. Remember, your gift, no matter how small, does make a difference! You will be helping to touch lives, around the world, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, thanks to the internet your generosity carries a global impact! - Thanks! Our Prayer for You- "Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God. This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of God's people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, men will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else." 2 Corinthians 9:10-13 Prophecy Update is a 501 (c) (3) tax exempt - non-profit organization, and all your donations are tax deductible. If you have been blessed by Prophecy Update and would like to help support this ministry financially. You can make a secure donation online by going to: DONATE NOW Or Visit our website: http://prophecyupdate.com/donations/ Or write us at: Prophecy Update P.O. Box 40516 Bakersfield, CA 93384-0516 
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