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IN TODAY'S NEWSLETTER...
Put a "Made in China" Sticker on It and Call It a Day! - By Vanessa P. - https://www.raptureready.com/2020/04/12/put-a-made-in-china-sticker-on-it-and-call-it-a-day-by-vanessa-p/
On January 21, 2020, the first American case of coronavirus was confirmed in Washington. On January 23, The House impeachment managers were making their arguments as to why we should remove President Trump. While this was happening, China completely closed off the city of Wuhan in an attempt to slow the spread of the Chinese-made virus and prevent it from spreading to the rest of China. On January 27, just days after realizing that the Chinese virus wasn't staying in China, President Trump organized a task force, with VP Mike Pence leading the way. This task force began preparing for the inevitable. As this was happening, Nancy Pelosi was gleefully passing out expensive "impeachment pens." On January 29, President Trump presided over his first virus task force meeting at the White House. As the virus was raging through Wuhan, and as millions of Chinese were traveling the globe, U.S. senators began asking questions on January 30, wasting time and resources, on an impeachment they knew was DOA the moment it arrived in the Senate. After debating if they'd look racist or not, the World Health Organization declared a global health emergency on the 30th of January but waited over a month before declaring it a pandemic. This has cost lives and helped the spread of the virus. Change.org has started a petition calling for the WHO director's resignation. There are nearly one million signatures already. Just like Italy, General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus refused to declare a pandemic, warning the rest of the world, because of political correctness. Because his personal feelings came before the rest of the world's safety. The Chinese-made virus was continuing to spread with videos and rumors circulating of dead bodies, crematoriums and people being forcefully locked in their homes or carried off against their will. On January 31, President Trump declared a national health emergency and placed a travel ban to and from China. Joe Biden, 30330, called the President's decision hysterical, racist and xenophobic. He claimed the President was guilty of fear-mongering. The media slammed the President's ban as more examples of his "racism." On February 4, two days after the first death outside of China was reported, President Trump spoke about the virus in his State of the Union address. Afterwards, Nancy Pelosi ripped up every single page in a pre-planned political stunt meant to earn brownie points for herself with the "squad." Then, on February 5, the Senate voted to acquit President Trump on both articles of impeachment, just as expected. It wasn't until after the impeachment trial and over a week after President Trump began his task force that Democrats finally took up anything to do with the virus in the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Asia. It took the "do nothing" Democrats weeks before they decided to acknowledge the virus, but now want to investigate Trump for his slow response? Are you not sick of this? Because I am. I am sick and tired of Nancy Pelosi holding this country hostage. China lied about the severity of this virus, which in turn made countries around the world less prepared. Why? Because, in January, as the virus was beginning to peak in Wuhan and other provinces in China, tens of millions of Chinese citizens flew all over the world, bringing this virus with them. Whether the Democrats like it or not, this has a big ole "MADE IN CHINA" sticker all over it. It was a biological attack on the West. China brought war right to our doorstep. For three decades, the United States has built China up, not only economically, but the West began changing China's image around the world. No matter how much the Democrats want to deny it or hide it, China is still a communist, murderous nation that wants to take America's place as the world superpower. In the eighties, the horrific legacy of Mao wasn't so distant. The media didn't try to hide who the Chinese leaders were. Communism was a bad word in America, and Patriotism was at a fever pitch. I can still remember hearing things like "eat all of your food; there are starving people in China." Even as a kid, I knew that all many of the Chinese people had to eat was rice. In just three short decades, they went from starving to having the power to starve YOU. Our politicians, both Democrat and Republican, have sold you and this nation out to China for over thirty years. As American manufacturing companies were boarding up their windows, and Americans were lining up for unemployment lines, the United States offered China huge tax breaks along with cushy backroom deals. Our jobs were outsourced to China who then made the same stuff we were once making in those boarded up warehouses and sold it back to us; and we took a loss, not China. Let that sink in. And you know what? WE ALLOWED IT. Americans watched what was happening and complained quietly to each other while watching the destruction of this nation. The year I was born, the Chinese leader, Mao, died. Mao was a Chinese communist leader who murdered 65 million of his own people by merciless execution, imprisonment or forced famine in labor camps. This was only in the last fifty years. There has and always will be propaganda and lies that come from China. Until recently, Chinese state- run TV spewed the Chinese government's propaganda; now it's called CNN and MSNBC, ABC and CBS. Scripture warned us that there would be a "unified one world" just prior to our Savior's return. We simply didn't know how or why hundreds of millions of people would go along with a Nimrod 2.0 attempt, until now. The Bible warns of a rider on a red horse who brings death and destruction with it. "Another horse, fiery red, went out. And it was granted to the one who sat on it to take peace from the earth, and that people should kill one another; and there was given to him a great sword." China has a long history and is one of the oldest civilizations in the world. The Qin dynasty marked the beginning of the Chinese Empire. The Qin Dynasty ruled the area that we call China today. They were most known for having unified the Chinese people under one leader. Qin Shi Huangdi was that leader. He defeated all others and consolidated power, ruling over all citizens. The name "Qin" is pronounced "chin," and is where we get the name "China." The red flag is associated with communism, and communism goes hand in hand with China. Their national flag is solid red. Thanks to the Democrats, China controls the medical supplies we depend on. They not only supply the U.S. with vital medications and things like respirators, but also supply most of the Western world. Many countries are complaining that the test kits sent to them from China are faulty. Not only that, there are now rumors that the Covid-19 virus test kits sent by China may actually be infecting people, not testing them. There's one video that was on Facebook which shows a warehouse worker in China wiping his shoe with a surgical mask, then laughing into the camera, saying something about stupid Americans before packaging it to ship to the U.S. I saw another shocking video featuring a Chinese woman in Florida. She proudly drove around the state several weeks ago, before the United States fully grasped what had arrived on our doorstep, and bought several thousand N95 masks at numerous Home Depot stores. Why? Because the dumb Americans don't need them or deserve them. She'd then laugh behind employees' backs who were offering to help her. Very sweetly to their face, she'd say "Oh, thank you so much; you're so sweet." Then would turn and look at the camera and say things like "They don't even know yet, stupid Americans." This means that, as a nation of people, we were so engrossed in our fabulous everyday lives to notice or even care that hundreds and then thousands of Chinese citizens were dying. She knew it, though. Why else release the virus now, besides to hurt Trump? China was losing the trade war. They were finally dealing with a President that put Americans first and put an end to China owning America's manufacturing. Stocks were soaring, the GDP was setting records, we had record low unemployment, the lowest black unemployment in history. This was all in spite of the constant hoaxes and witch hunts. The rest of the world was also doing better under Trump, although you will never hear the media say this. China was LOSING. For the first time in thirty years, Americans were reminded of exactly who China is and what we had allowed them to get away with. Under Trump, the master negotiator, they couldn't take advantage of us any longer. The globalists across the world have been watching and waiting for the Democrats to finally get Trump. If you listened to people like Rachel Maddow, he was impeached or arrested 650 times already. Every night she breathlessly and full of leftist emotion, told her three listeners that the impeachment was coming. Apparently, China believed her. They waited just over three years before they realized he wasn't going anywhere. That's why we have this "Made in China" virus. The globalists need to destroy him and this nation in order to start all over. They want that unified globalist world and will not stop until they achieve it. It's in scripture, so it will happen. Like I said in my last article, this virus did something that no one in American history has been able to do: SUBDUE THE AMERICAN PEOPLE. Last month, Patriots were yelling FREEDOM like William Wallace in Braveheart. Today, Patriots are yelling "Why are you outside? Stand six feet away! Safety before freedom." Our founders said if you give up freedom and liberty for safety and security, then you deserve neither and will have neither. The blame game over cities like New York has taken hold of the Democrats, right on cue. China isn't missing a beat either. First Trump was racist, now he wasn't prepared for this virus. Just one month ago, Democrat mayors, governors, senators and congressman were encouraging their constituents to go to crowded movie theatres and operas. "Don't let this virus stop your life," is what the media and leftist representatives repeatedly said. That was literally the Democrats and CNN a month ago. Today, they are claiming the United States was unprepared and tens of thousands are going to die because of our President. What other leader in the entire world has to face the nonsense that he does every day while also facing a major pandemic? He's leading the nation, keeping us updated along the way, and the Mainstream media suddenly wants to stop covering our nation's leader. Why? Because his poll numbers are surging and his approval rating is at its highest to date, that's why. Due to the fact that God has obviously placed His hand over Trump and seems to be almost untouchable, the left has decided to team up with communist China. They couldn't destroy our President any other way. The entire world is basically "closed," and, meanwhile, the death toll still isn't anywhere near the yearly flu totals. Nowhere near the swine flu totals. With our economy shut down, soon the government will run out of money. Do you think stimulus checks are going keep coming? You think grocery stores stay open when the people have no money to buy food? How long do you think the United States can continue with the economy shut down, not just here, but across the world? Banks will soon begin foreclosing and cars will be repossessed. That stimulus check will not stop our economic destruction if our economy doesn't get going again. President Trump has to see, as a businessman, what will happen to us. If nobody is working, nobody is buying, then you will really start to feel hunger pains. Speaking of hunger pains, if they are fighting over toilet paper, what do you think they will do over the last few items of food? Speaking of the stimulus checks, Democrats are giving $4 billion to New York Museums, $300 million to migrant refugees, $25 million to the Kennedy center for performing arts, $100 million in total to performing arts schools. $75 million for both the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities, etc, etc. President Trump wants you to have your money, but the Democrat's don't; they want to have your money. The Democrats are lining their friends' pockets, again, while we are all slowly losing our jobs. This is just the tip of what they've done. They are bribing us with $1,000 and we are all happy with that. Imagine what we should be getting if our money wasn't going to garbage. Wake up people. Yes, the virus is real, but who sold you out to China for three decades? Obama, Bush and Clinton. Along with all the little Democrat and RINO representatives running around. Pelosi, Biden, Romney... This quarantine is leading us into something far darker than people realize, and there's no coming back from it. This isn't the first time Americans became sick from some virus that originated in China. In 2009-10, eighty million Americans became sick with the Chinese swine flu or H1N1. The CDC estimated there were 80 million cases in the U.S. with almost 400,000 hospitalizations and well over 18,000 deaths. Have we seen those numbers here so far? No. So why are we on a lockdown? This virus is a severe upper respiratory, flu-like illness; it is not the flu but has many of the same symptoms and is highly contagious. Probably contagious enough to get sixty million people sick, just like swine flu. We've seen this movie before. Are you paying attention yet? With hundreds of thousands of hospitalizations due to the swine flu under the Obama administration, but very few right now, due to the coronavirus under Trump, why are we already being told there is a PPE shortage? Why now but not then? Politics darling, politics. Anything to make Trump look bad. During the 2009 Swine flu pandemic, Obama used nearly 100,000 respirators from the federal stockpile and never replaced them, even AFTER being told by the CDC that they needed to be replaced. Why wasn't our stockpile replenished and why isn't it being questioned? Why didn't we shut the nation down over Swine flu? 60 million sick from one virus and the country kept moving. With the coronavirus, our economy is crashing and burning right before our eyes. One-world currency anyone? During the SARS outbreak, the WHO immediately alerted the world of a pneumonia-type virus coming out of CHINA. The U.S. stopped travel to Toronto when cases were being reported there. The SARS virus was prevented from being what the coronavirus became because nations weren't afraid of being called racist by stating the obvious. It began in China. Why didn't we stockpile PPE or ventilators knowing this was a possibility? Now it's Trump's fault? You are a true idiot if you believe that. This Chinese-made virus is killing more than people right now; it's killing the United States, and most are too blinded by fear to see it. Recently, after the DOJ warned against hoarding medical supplies, especially face masks, the SEIU just happened to find 39 million N95 masks in a warehouse. In Michigan, 16,000 N95 masks just happened to be found. In New York, thousands of ventilators were found in a warehouse, and then when the President called Andrew Cuomo out about them, Cuomo of New York said; "The point is we have ventilators in a stockpile and we didn't send them to the hospitals yet. Of course we didn't; the hospitals don't need them yet," he added. "The hospitals aren't at their apex. The hospitals have enough ventilators today. But the numbers are going up. So the point is, 'They're in a stockpile, you must not need them' is just ignorant. Of course, you don't need them today. You need them when you hit the apex, which is 30,000. We're not there yet." There are Obama holdovers throughout the Trump White House because he stacked our government for 8 long years, including our courts. These people are constantly working against this nation and our President. Speaking of traitors, Diane Feinstein should be investigated for leaks and her close ties with China. She once said, "I sometimes say that in my last life maybe I was Chinese." That's an odd thing to say. Then, to top that off, a staffer in Senator Feinstein's San Francisco field office was reporting back to the MSS, or China's Ministry of State Security. This is their version of the CIA. The unnamed staffer was fired, but no charges were ever filed. This person worked with Feinstein for nearly 20 years. This included driving her around San Francisco and being her personal assistant. The staffer acted as a liaison for the Asian American community and attended Chinese Consulate functions for Feinstein. I have said for a long time that the Trump hatred will eventually turn to Christian hatred. The New York Times recently published an article where evangelicals seem to be blamed for the Chinese virus. Christian Persecution has exploded across the world but the media is too busy trying to undermine the President for most to notice. "Oh you who dwell by many waters, Abundant in treasures, Your end has come, The measure of your covetousness. The LORD of hosts has sworn by Himself: 'Surely I will fill you with men, as with locusts, And they shall lift up a shout against you'" (Jeremiah 51:13-14). Babylon is going to be attacked, that's for certain. I became convinced last year that the United States is Babylon. Scripture warns that Babylon is invaded and destroyed. I've long said that something must weaken us in order for that to happen. This virus sure has everyone running scared. We are supposed to "peak" this week. My question is, when will this "quarantine" end? Why are these "peaks" nowhere near expected numbers? First, we were told ten days. Then fourteen and thirty. I've heard eighteen months thrown out there; and now, surprisingly, Dr Fauci is saying "until we see no new cases." Really? That could be any time between now and years from now. What is really going on? Grocery stores have now gone from being so crowded that you couldn't get in, let alone find what you came for, to now making you wait in line while cashiers let in one person at a time. And now, everything at my local Walmart is limited to two. EVERYTHING. This sounds more like getting the sheep used to food lines. ITS RATIONING. My state no longer allows even take out because people were standing in line together. You know what IS open though? Take out for food pantries and food drives. Basically, bread lines. There is no difference. Other nations are doing the same to their people, and nobody is questioning it. If you do, in places like India, they are beating the heck out of you. In Kentucky, people that broke the quarantine rules are having ankle monitors placed on them. Pastors are being arrested for preaching while criminals are being freed. Criminals are being freed while Democrats were also closing gun stores for law-abiding citizens. (Ordered to reopen by federal gov.) This lockdown has nothing to do with this virus. Our President's hands were tied, but I think he's starting to see the truth. Our economy must be opened back up. If not, the famine foretold in the Bible will be a lot closer to home than you think. Vanessa P Womanofchrist@yahoo.com Pandemic Is Wakeup Call To Prepare For Bioterrorism - By Eric Mandel/JNS.org - https://www.prophecynewswatch.com/article.cfm?recent_news_id=3971 The hard lessons of the coronavirus pandemic will hopefully motivate the world to work together in the future to mitigate the effects of the next naturally occurring global viral threat. But it should also open our eyes to the potentially greater threat of human-made biological weapons--the deliberate release of a pathogen or biotoxin against humans or animals. In 2017, the International Committee of the Red Cross asked the question as to how real the threat of biological weapons was. "It's never been easier to develop and use biological weapons ... . It's time to take this seriously. Governments need to assess the new risks," was the response. In 2010, the U.S. Commission on the Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation and Terrorism, chaired by Sens. Jim Talent (R-Mo.) and Bob Graham (D-Fla.), reported that, "Unfortunately, there is no national plan to coordinate federal, state and local efforts following a bioterror attack, and the United States lacks the technical and operational capabilities required for an adequate response." Since the anthrax scare post-9/11, America has spent billions of dollars on bio-defense, and provided the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases with more than a billion dollars annually for biodefense research. But it may not be enough. Today, viruses and microbes can be weaponized using gene-editing CRISPR technology to weaponize everything from smallpox to Ebola to the Spanish flu. In addition, bio-weapons have been produced and stockpiled around the world--how securely, your guess is as good as mine. Some experts think extremists are now more likely in the coming years to use bioterrorism than nuclear weapons. The current pandemic may have whetted their appetite for biological disaster as a path to anarchy and chaos which could destabilize their target enemies. Whether we are speaking of Iran's revolutionaries hastening the return of the hidden imam, the irrational megalomaniac in North Korea, the Islamic State and Al-Qaeda Salafists, drug cartels in South America, or neo-Nazis in Europe or America, we must think like they do to prevent the next potential threat. Unlike the coronavirus pandemic that indiscriminately attacks everyone, the next catastrophe could be fashioned to target certain areas and populations. The West, except for Israel to some extent, is woefully unprepared for biological threats. Fourteen years ago, I visited a newly constructed underground hospital in northern Israel whose air-filtration system was designed with protection from chemical and biological weapons. Of course, we cannot put everyone underground, but there are many ways Israel continually prepares its citizens and mitigates the potential for future attacks in its small geographic neighborhood surrounded by enemies who can deliver lethal unconventional attacks with crude missiles at a moment's notice, for whom the threat of retaliation is likely the only barrier to the use of nonconventional weapons. Remember, rogue leaders like Syria's Hafez (and now Bashar) Assad and Iraq's Saddam Hussein weren't ashamed to kill their own people with poison gasses. What the United States and the West can and should learn is that these attacks are not far-fetched, and we must invest in the resources not only to be defensive, but to stop them at their source like Israel routinely does. An American withdrawal from the Middle East--losing our eyes and ears, and HUMINT (human intelligence)--is a prescription to endanger our homeland in the future. Wholesale deliberate massacres are plentiful in recent history. As many as 800,000 people were slaughtered in Rwanda by ethnic Hutu extremists in 100 days. Pol Pot killed at least a million-and-a-half of his citizens; and the Nazis on an industrial scale killed 6 million Jews and millions of others. In Syria, 500,000 of its citizens have been killed, with millions displaced, and the world yawns. Too many people have an indifferent side to suffering, and we mustn't think that there aren't zealots who would rationalize the use of unconventional biological weapons to advance their goals. To understand how far from Western norms a rogue nation could be, just look back at the Iran-Iraq war, when the Ayatollah sent tens of thousands of Iranian children to clear minefields and barbed wire for tanks, giving them keys that they were told were tickets to paradise if they were lucky enough to become martyrs. A U.S. Blue Ribbon Study Panel on Biodefense in 2016 warned that "our nation remains woefully underprepared for dangerous biological incidents." The American people are ready for leadership on this issue. COVID-19 is a wakeup call to believe that in the future, not only can another species-leaping virus wreak havoc on the world, but it may be man-made the next time. We need not panic, but with time and clearsighted leadership, we should begin to think about how to fight the next unconventional threat that could use a virus, bacteria, fungus or nanoparticle as a weapon of mass destruction. Our Achilles' heel will be the amnesia of time, as people will become naturally complacent when future warnings will not materialize, lowering our guard in the years to follow. The lessons we learn from the pandemic should prepare us for the next novel viral attack. Nearing Midnight: Who to Believe... - Terry James - https://www.raptureready.com/category/nearing-midnight/ Depression, a deep mood of foreboding, is never far away in times like we're enduring right now. There are so many different takes on COVID-19 that it's impossible to form one's own thoughts on matters involved. The claims and suppositions concerning prospects for the future are so varied-and, in most cases, so terrible-that some are driven to suicide. Therefore, it's difficult to get our brains around the severity, or lack thereof, of what we face. It is even harder to discern fact from fiction-or worse, truth from deliberate misdirection. But the information on coronavirus and all attendant to it keeps coming at us, and those informed are deeply affected by that information-psychologically, spiritually, and even physically, in some cases. Anyone listening to the daily briefing by the Trump administration and its highly regarded medical authorities staff is hard-pressed to get a handle on which way this disease is headed. It is even more problematic to try to determine what the economic picture will look like in the coming weeks and months. Will the pandemic pass, or are we melting into a situation that will devolve into national and world depression-one from the likes of which there is no chance of recovery? Will, as the president hopes, there be a turnaround by the middle of the year, with medical breakthroughs and the virus dying in the heat of the summer months? Will business rebound from almost total shutdown to people going back to work and the economy soaring again to a time of boom? Will social distancing and sequestering in our homes get rid of the virus? Or will the disease be without cure or preventative vaccine for months and years, bringing death and economic devastation never before experienced by mankind? It's all out there in the minute-by-minute briefings and reports. It is there in the ever-present punditry on networks and through cable channels. It is, in playing with a line from Dickens, the worst of times that might once again be the best of times. Also, the obverse is there in the blogs, news reports, and opinion pieces from many sources that cut pathways of information through the blogosphere and other alternative media. This is the worst of times, period, and the good times are almost certainly gone forever. Just a cursory look at a couple of the worst-of-times forecasts-feared by some to never end-can indeed produce a near incapacity for hope of recovery. The coronavirus is all part of the Cloward-Piven Strategy to collapse America. COVID-19 is, the blog writer declares, part of an eight-step plan from leftists/socialists Richard Cloward and Frances Fox Piven from 1966 that was designed to destroy the US from within. The writer gives the eight steps of the plan, asserting that it is being currently implemented. He concludes, I take it, that all elements of the plan have either happened or are currently being exponentially exacerbated by this present crisis.
The writer further declares: [Steps] 1-5 and 8 are being executed right now in how our government is reacting to the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak, with steps 6 and 7 already having been implemented since 2008. The American economy is being split into pieces right now by the combination of a $2 trillion bailout with more coming, Americans under stay-at-home orders, and with more people right now on unemployment in two weeks of the coronavirus crisis than in the second year of the Great Depression of 1929. America as we know it cannot and will not survive a three-month lockdown, it will fall and there is no question about that.
The communist regime, so it goes, will soon attack infrastructure and other American assets in cyberspace and elsewhere. That government has begun, the writer declares, to blame America for the pandemic, thus to have a reason that justifies the inevitable attack when it comes. This, he believes, will then escalate into a military action, and this nation's internal forces, who are traitorous to America as founded, will do all they can to prevent America's defense against the Chinese assaults. This is because these revolutionists believe the United States is at the root of all the world's problems in one way or the other. It is certain that the dire, apocalyptic, warnings far outnumber the hopes for recovery from the effects of the coronavirus pandemic-either the health effects or the economic effects. Many among those who study Bible prophecy believe the Tribulation, itself, has begun. The end of the world is upon us. But, Jesus told His disciples-and us by extension-that for believers (such as those immediate disciples who were just about to go into the Church Age or Age of Grace) that the end wasn't yet. The Lord prophesied that before the era of Tribulation comes, believers will live during a time when all the signals He foretold will BEGIN to come to pass (Luke 21:28). He told believers to look up and lift their heads in anticipation when these things BEGIN to come to pass, because He, their Redeemer (the blessed hope). was coming to rescue them. He even told us what that time will be like. It will be a time of buying, selling, marrying, planting, and building. He said nothing of worldwide depression. It will be just like the days of Lot when He will next "reveal" Himself in a spectacular moment. It will be a time of extreme wickedness, but with commerce and even hedonistic pleasures humming right along. That's what Lot's day was like, we know, from reading Genesis chapter 19. It cannot be claimed, and I certainly do not say, that things right now look in any way rosy. They do not. I fully understand the reasons for many at this moment fearing the nation and the world will at any moment collapse into apocalyptic rubble. But I prefer to believe Jesus and His promises over any news report, ideology, or religious wind of doctrine. He is our One, True Reliance. He has promised to keep His own out of the time of Tribulation (Revelation 3:10). I hope you, too, are comforting yourselves with these Words Jesus gave the Apostle Paul to write: Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ. (Titus 2:13) The Best Is Yet to Come - Jonathan Brentner - https://www.jonathanbrentner.com/https/jonathan-brentner-g8fgsquarespacecom/config/2020/4/13/the-best-is-yet-to-come Since the onset of the COVID-19 crisis, I have felt a wide range of emotions. At times anger has surged inside me as I have watched news accounts of many elected officials attempting to take advantage of the crisis for personal or political advantage. I think we all have felt fear at times for ourselves, our loved ones, and for the future of our nation where leaders can so easily take away our rights. The draconian measures of many governors in the United States far exceed the powers of their office and pose a significant threat to our nation. The words of Psalm 46:10 have been my frequent place of refuge and source of peace as many emotions continue to stir inside me as the result of this crisis. Like many of you. I feel the strain and greatly need the reassuring words of Scripture in this verse and in many other texts. Cease Striving In most translations, Psalm 46:10 begins with this command, "Be still . . . ." In the Hebrew, the word assumes the presence of an agitated mind most likely caused by world events (see 46:1-6). The NASB translation "cease striving" captures the sense of the Lord's instruction for us to let go of our anxieties and release our fears and troubles into the hands of the One who cares for us (1 Peter 5:7). In Psalm 37:8, we see the word translated as "refrain" in the phrase "refrain from anger." Here the psalmist asks that us to not "fret" when evil people succeed in carrying out vile schemes, but to wait patiently for the Lord to administer His justice. The assumption in Psalm 37 is that wicked people will have a prolonged season of success that will frustrate us. Do we not feel this as we watch the news these days? The Lord does not merely ask us to relax in view of world crises, He provides us with sound reasons to do so. Recognize God's Sovereignty The first line of Psalm 46:10 continues with this instruction, "and know that I am God." We can "cease striving" because of God's control over all things pertaining to our lives as well as the world. Regardless of what we see or experience, the purposes of our Lord will not fail. The One spoke trillions of stars into existence with a word and gave each a name (see Psalm 147:4-6) is more than able to keep His promises and bring history to a dramatic climax when Jesus returns and sets up His righteous kingdom. In Isaiah 46:8-10, God proclaims His sovereignty over human history, "Remember this and stand firm, / recall it to mind, you transgressors, / remember the former things of old; / for I am God, and there is no other; / I am God, and there is none like me, / declaring the end from the beginning / and from ancient times things not yet done, / saying, 'My counsel shall stand, / and I will accomplish all my purpose.'" The Lord spoke these words through Isaiah over 2,700 years ago and yet He could see the impact of COVID-19 virus then just as clearly as He sees it today. And, He already knew thousands of years ago how He would accomplish His purposes through it. Could it be that the Lord is giving the world one last chance to turn to Him before the onset of the tribulation? I believe this is a distinct possibility. Jesus Will Reign as King Over All the Earth The Lord tells us of His future reign in the last couple lines of Psalm 46:10, "I will be exalted among the nations, / I will be exalted in the earth!" What a dramatic contrast to what we see in our world today where people parade their evil on the streets and politicians celebrate the killing of children! These things will end; Jesus will rule over the nations. His righteousness and glory will extend to the ends of the earth (Hab. 2:14). "How can Jesus' future millennial rule calm our troubled hearts as we watch evil expand exponentially in our world?" you ask. At first glance, it appears to be dry theology against the backdrop of a virus that has turned our lives upside down and inside out. These words, however, assure us of Christ's ultimate victory over Satan's realm, which will lead to His glorious kingdom where we will reign with Him. It matters because Jesus' future triumph will be our victory as well. I believe the myriad of our experiences in this life, good and bad, will find their ultimate purpose when Jesus assigns each of us a place in His glorious kingdom. Our lives rest in the loving hands of the One who not only accomplishes His sovereign purposes for the entire world, but also for our lives. His redemptive plan for the world is older than the earth itself. As New Testament saints, we are "co-heirs" with Him (Rom. 8:17); we will share in Jesus' ultimate victory over sin and death and forever reign with Him. Jesus' reign culminates what the Old Testament refers to as the "day of the Lord." This time begins with the outpouring of God's wrath upon sinful humanity; it's what we refer to today as the tribulation. Isaiah 13:9-13 and Joel 2:28-3:3 describe this coming day when Jesus rises up to judge the sin and arrogance of the world and establish His righteous reign over the nations. How Does Our Future Encourage Us Now? You may be wondering how this can possibly encourage us now. Let me share a personal story that illustrates how our future hope brings encouragement to us in the midst of painful circumstances. Thirty-five years ago, I experienced much loss during a time of great turmoil and much emotional pain. One night I spent six hours weeping alongside the church that I had once pastored. Since then, the Lord has restored my life in ways I once thought impossible. He has abundantly replaced all that was lost during my years of darkness and comforted me in ways I could not have imagined years ago. In some ways I feel like Job in the Old Testament. As I read a David Jeremiah devotional on Isaiah 46 last week, it occurred to me that as I crying out to the Lord alongside the church that dark night so long ago, He saw ahead to this time in my life. He allowed much pain to come into my life fully aware of how he would bless me in the future and use the experience for my benefit. "Why didn't Jesus relieve my suffering instantly on the spot so long ago?" you might ask. It was precisely because He could see my future that He waited. Jesus knew I desperately needed the lengthy process of healing and recovery to produce the spiritual maturity I lacked and to prepare me to serve Him both now in my current ministry and in eternity. The Lord saw that I needed the long and difficult road in order to serve and glorify Him. I still have rough edges, but many disappeared during the long years of waiting. For all of us in Christ, He sees our future existence with imperishable immortal bodies just as clearly as he sees our current physical infirmities and frustrating limitations. Someday, perhaps quite soon, we will see Jesus face to face, celebrate with Him in His Father's house, hug loved ones who have already died in Christ, and later reign with Him in the kingdom role for which He's preparing us. God sees these things in the midst of our grief and frustrations. Do you see why Satan hates any teaching about Jesus' glorious reign during the millennium? Our adversary despises any talk of our millennial reign with Christ because of its promise of restoration and victory for us. It's our future role in ruling with Christ during the millennium that adds an eternal purpose to our suffering in this life. This is not dry stuffy doctrine, quite the contrary. The One who see all our afflictions in this life knows precisely how He will use our experiences and gifts in His kingdom. We Ain't Seen Nothing Yet I know this mindset does not come easily with the agitation that continually comes our way in this present world. I sense the fear in the eyes of people at the grocery store and I greatly fear for the future of the United States. It's because of all these things that we need the refuge of God's Word and in particular Psalm 46:10 (see also Proverbs 18:10). Yes, the process (AKA life in this world) often weighs us down with pain and grief, but a much better day is coming for those of us who know Jesus as our Savior when we will reign with Jesus in His glorious kingdom. The best is yet to come or perhaps a more succinct way of saying it is this, "we ain't seen nothing yet!" Daily Jot - Understanding and surviving these prophetic times - Bill Wilson - www.dailyjot.com We are definitely living in prophetic times, but perhaps not the "times" some are thinking. There are a lot of headlines that appear much the same each day during this pandemic. We see the Democrats and the media blaming President Trump, conservatives, Republicans, and Christians for the spread of COVID-19 and its subsequent deaths. Conspiracy theories abound about micro-chipping, tracking individuals, using the virus to expand 5G, government takeover of businesses, and so on. As Christ said in Luke 21:8-9, "Take heed that you be not deceived, but when you shall hear of wars and commotions, be not terrified: for these things must first come to pass; but the end is not by and by." In both Matthew 24 and Luke 21 are chronological accounts of the times leading up to the return of Christ. Christ warns in Luke 21:34-36, "And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with overindulgence, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day comes upon you unawares. For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch you therefore, and pray always, that you may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man." In other words, we have a lot to endure before Christ returns and we need to be circumspect, and watching and praying as these events occur. There are a few things that we can discern with this COVID-19 plague. Every generation has had their test. And every generation could point to the beginning of the end. What is different today is that God's timepiece, Israel, has been reborn as a nation. This gives us a heads up that we are far closer to the return of Christ than at any other time in history. We also see that there are rumors, pestilences, wars, confusion, and commotion leading up to his return. From the account of the Olivet Discourse in Luke, we also see that those who overindulge in the worldly things can be unaware and caught in the snare of these events. In other words, they may not survive. Wisdom, prayer, being aware of the times are critical to escaping "these things that shall come to pass." How are we to face these kinds of life-changing disruptions? Work on getting fit-both physically and spiritually. Don't overindulge in the worldly things-food, drink, news, conspiracies, rumors, gossip. Focus your mind on prayer and understanding that you may be wise in your actions and deeds. Fear and confusion are not of the Lord. Christ said to not be terrified when you see these things. Don't be carried away by the doctrines of fools-they may lead you to calamity or an early death. Read your Bible. Ask for understanding. Draw close to the Lord. Share the light of Christ with others who are fearful and confused about the future. Know your faith no matter how dark the world becomes for as Christ said, "I am with you always, even unto the end of the world." Daily Devotion: Wrapped Up in Problems - by Greg Laurie - www.harvest.org Then Jonah prayed to the LORD his God from inside the fish. -Jonah 2:1 After the crew tossed Jonah overboard in the middle of a storm, God sent a custom-designed watercraft Jonah's way. In other words, He brought in a very large fish to swallow the prodigal prophet. Now, did God do this because He hated Jonah? No. Was He angry at Jonah? Again, no. God did this because He loved Jonah and wanted to get his attention. He wanted to bring him back to Himself. Jonah knew what was right, but he was running from it. But while he was inside of this fish, he called out to the Lord. Remarkably, this happened after he was there for three days and three nights. I can just imagine him sitting there wrapped in seaweed, fish slapping him in the face, smelling who knows what with the fish's gastric juices bubbling away. Then he finally came to his senses and called out to the Lord. This reminds us that we can pray anywhere and anytime. We can pray while we're kneeling. We can pray while we're standing or sitting. And we can pray with our eyes open or closed. God will hear your prayer in the ocean, and He will hear your prayer when you're pacing around, stuck at home. God will hear your prayer wherever it is. Ephesians 6:18 tells us, "Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion" (NLT). Even when things are bad, God is still good. So we can give praises to Him because of that. That is what Jonah did. And by the way, I think it was here that he experienced personal revival. Maybe you feel like you're wrapped up with problems right now. You can't see any way out of your particular circumstances. Know this: Your situation isn't hopeless. God can come into your life and change your entire story. 
FROM THE HEART
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