Prophecy Update Newsletter
IN TODAY'S NEWSLETTER...
The False Prophet - By Sally Law -
http://www.raptureready.com/2018/04/15/false-prophet-sally-law/ Things that go together: a bride all dressed in white, coming down the aisle to wed her groom; a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, wrapped up and waiting for you at lunchtime; salt and pepper shakers on the table, sitting side by side every time you reach for them; sipping a mug of hot cocoa while you sit by a crackling fire on a cold night, watching the heat rise to make steam as you savor this divine elixir. These may be opposites by design, but they complement each other in such a wonderful way. But today's topic is about two opposites that have attracted in the worst possible sense-for the deception and destruction of mankind. There is not one drop of good in this end-time combo of personalities known as the Antichrist and the False Prophet. I just finished an extensive article on the Antichrist. Please read that if you have not had a chance. This will help you understand more fully the person and the role of the Antichrist in these end times, and how the False Prophet will work together, along with Satan, to bring about something that has been prophesied since long ago in the Bible, specifically in the books of Daniel, Matthew, 1st and 2nd Thessalonians, and Revelation. This will help you get the bigger picture of what is coming upon the earth in the days ahead, I believe, after the Rapture. In the Old Testament there were prophets, and then there were false prophets. Prophets spoke what God told them to speak, to Kings and to the people of Israel and other nations. I cannot think of a harder career on this earth than to be a prophet. But real prophets do not speak their mind at all; they speak on behalf of Almighty God. This is all they are required to do. It is not easy, as many prophets of the Old Testament had issues here. Take the prophet Jonah for instance, my personal favorite. He was to travel to Nineveh, capital city of the Assyrian Empire - a scary, wicked place with "a word of repentance or you will be destroyed message." Big job! He took a scenic boat tour instead and wound up in a giant fish belly for three days, until he was excused. He did go to Nineveh, however, on the second try. He spoke God's word of judgment; and the King, along with the entire city, repented of their sin. God relented of his judgment, and Nineveh was spared. This is a very good example of the office of prophet and how it is intended to work, at least on the second try. God speaks, and the prophet is His mouthpiece. "And the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the second time, saying, Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee. So Jonah arose, and went unto Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days' journey. And Jonah began to enter into the city a day's journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown. So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them" (Jonah 3:1-5). Now, that's a pretty clear picture of how it is supposed to work. If you were a false prophet, then you had a very short career because you were found out to be false - not the real deal - since you spoke something that did not come to pass. If it did not come to pass, you were stoned to death. Why you would choose this option is beyond me. False prophets did not last long. Nowadays, we have grown up in a culture where we go to church or attend Christian events or conferences where false Christians have crept into the fold of the true flock of Christ. This has been the case since I can remember. I have been a Christian since 1971, but it has become worse and worse in these last days! Jesus cautions us not to be deceived or fooled. He would not have said that if we were not capable of being deceived and fooled. It is a human weakness we all suffer from. The cure is being filled with the Holy Spirit of God. He will lead us into all truth! "However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come" (John 16:13). This is a great comfort as we see deception already at work in these end times we are living in, and I know you agree with me when I say it is getting worse. But in this article today, I want to discuss falseness that will be like no other. We have never seen his likeness on the earth before, nor will the inhabitants of the earth ever see it again - the person known as the False Prophet of the end times. As we survey the world stage right now, we observe personalities that are taking on characteristics of the Antichrist and the False Prophet spoken of in the Bible. There are more clues to the Antichrist than there are to the False Prophet. That does not deter me, your faithful researcher and contributor, from relaying as much as I can to you from the scriptures on the person known as the False Prophet of the last days. So, here we go.... His characteristics are: -The False Prophet is the second of the two beasts, the one that rises from the earth. "Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon. And he exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence, and causes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. "He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men. And he deceives those who dwell on the earth by those signs which he was granted to do in the sight of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who was wounded by the sword and lived. "He was granted power to give breath to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed. He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name" (Revelation 13:11-17). -He is the second beast, but his fulltime job is to give glory and ascribe worship to the first beast that arises from the sea. (See Revelation 13:1 if you need the earlier context applied to the first beast, known as the Antichrist from my previous article). Okay, this is a big clue here as to where the False Prophet comes from. The search is narrowed down in "he rises from the earth." But, where on the earth? Great question! God's promises and covenants with man have always had a land or earth component, a good illustration being the promise made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob regarding the Promised Land (See Exodus 23:31). -He rises from the nation of Israel, the land of promise. I feel that this is a clue to his Jewish heritage and bloodline. I don't think he will be a devout Jew at all, with sincerity of heart towards God, but he appears to be. -He has "two horns like a lamb," the sacrificial animal of the Jewish faith. He will be a wolf in sheep's clothing. He speaks like a dragon, otherwise known as Satan. Every time this man opens his mouth, blasphemy comes forth. Jesus calls false Jews as hailing from the synagogue of Satan. The False Prophet will most definitely qualify to be from the synagogue of Satan. "I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan" (Revelation 2:9). -He helps the Antichrist with everything on his agenda. He won't care if Israel's land is divided or not. He will ultimately be world ruler number two, second only to the Antichrist. He will most likely help broker the peace treaty with Israel and give away land as a part of that. That remains to be seen; but the enemies of Israel have begun to surround her, and she will be persuaded to accept this peace treaty at just the right time. The False Prophet will be very persuasive with powers of deception in all things that pertain to his boss - the Antichrist. This land dispute has been in the news non-stop in the last few years-Israel's enemies decrying at their borders, demanding land that is not rightfully theirs. The people that dispute these claims have been the ancient enemies of Israel, from the Amalekites to the giants occupying the promised land of Canaan, to the modern-day enemies of Israel: Iran, Turkey, Syria, Russia, Palestinians, Hezbollah and Hamas, just to name a few. -X still marks the spot. The end-times events described in the book of Revelation are central to the new Jewish temple and Jerusalem. The False Prophet and Antichrist will be central to all the daily activities, signs and wonders, and judgment poured out upon the earth from God, as well as everything that will be squeezed into this seven-year timeslot. The eyes and cameras of the world will be on these two daily! It will be a continual circus of events of the most profane nature. The last three and one half years will be when the Antichrist and False Prophet will be in full-blown authority and control of the temple. I am truly glad I will be Raptured and will not have to witness this firsthand. -Exercises full authority given him by the Antichrist. He has free reign to do the bidding of the Antichrist and perform his will 24/7. They have exactly seven years to get everything accomplished, no more, and no less. God is still in control of this time of the end, and we know God will run a tight schedule. He counted it out by the day and wrote it down in the Bible - 7 years or 84 months. "He shall speak pompous words against the Most High, shall persecute the saints of the Most High, and shall intend to change times and law. Then the saints shall be given into his hand for a time and times and half a time" (Daniel 7:25). "And he was given a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies, and he was given authority to continue for forty-two months. Then he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme His name, His tabernacle, and those who dwell in heaven" (Revelation 13:5-6). He shortens the days to bring relief to those who have not taken the mark, otherwise known as the elect, who are living during this time. "And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect's sake those days will be shortened" (Matthew 24:22). -Performs false signs and lying wonders. He is able to bring fire down from heaven. We have seen this before with the prophets of Baal and Elijah; but God answered Elijah's prayer, and fire came down and consumed the wet sacrifice. The prophets of Baal had no success at that point in history. Most of the time when we read of fire coming down from heaven, it is from God as a manifestation of His might and power, or in the form of judgment. In Job chapter one, during his time of suffering and testing, Satan brought fire down from heaven and destroyed Job's flocks. So, Satan has this sign and wonder rehearsed and will help the False Prophet at that point in the future. -His goal here is to deceive the world and make them worship the Antichrist. The mainstream media will make sure you get it "live" from Jerusalem, as the False Prophet demands the glory and worship of the Antichrist and performs a series of signs and wonders-lying wonders. "The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness" (2 Thessalonians 2:9-13). -Job description: He works as his promotional agent, minister of propaganda, personal assistant, press secretary, miracle worker, pyrotechnics coordinator with complete smoke and mirrors technology, as well as rounding up every known tattoo artist ( just kidding, it will most likely be a scannable implant) for the mark of the beast. He will have to get everything interfaced, regarding the buying and selling, with the mark of the beast worked out throughout the entire earth. I hope he dies of exhaustion, but he won't. He does have a horrible end though.... -He makes the people worship the beast, otherwise known as the Antichrist. He draws the attention to the fact that his deadly head wound was healed. He wants this guy to look like he rose from the dead like Jesus Christ. He will not rise from the dead. Only God and Jesus have power to raise the dead. He will, however, make it look believable, and the world follows after the Antichrist in worship. Smoke and mirrors apply here. Notice the part where the scripture says "he gives breath to the image of the beast so that the image is able to speak." I am not sure how long this show will go on, or just how incapacitated the Antichrist will be after his fatal wound during this time. But the False Prophet will do a stellar job in convincing the already deceived world that the Antichrist is God and that he must be worshipped. -Image of the Antichrist and the worship thereof. I can just see this in my imagination already. There will probably be a video of the Antichrist rising from the dead with the False Prophet right there, supposedly raising him up with the power of Satan. Daily, worshippers use their cell phones and electronic devices to pay homage and view this as a part of required worship. -The desecration of the third Jewish Temple, or Holy Place. He helps to get the Antichrist into the temple where the desecration takes place. Remember, his job is to give glory to the Antichrist. Some have suggested that he erects a statue or image of the Antichrist there in the temple. That is quite possible. This desecration is at the same three-and-a-half-year mark of the seven-year tribulation as the broken peace treaty. However, the Antichrist ceases the sacrifice by command, and proceeds inside the temple to go forth in his abomination plan. Once he is at the Altar, he profanes the sanctuary of God in some way. The Jews are appalled by it and take flight. The mask comes off and the Antichrist pursues the Jews into a preordained hiding place for them. I am quite certain the False Prophet is riding shotgun with him. They chase them down, literally, to kill as many as they can get their hands on. "Therefore when you see the abomination of desolation which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains. Whoever is on the housetop must not go down to get the things out that are in his house. Whoever is in the field must not turn back to get his cloak. "But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! But pray that your flight will not be in the winter, or on a Sabbath. For then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will. Unless those days had been cut short, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short" (Matthew 24:15-22). Jesus warns the Jewish nation that when they see the Antichrist standing in the temple in this scenario, to get the heck out of town as fast as they can! -Roundup time! The Antichrist and False Prophet are in it together until the end. They are empowered by Satan, and he leads them to Armageddon by the spirit of the demons that control them. "And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs coming out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. For they are spirits of demons, performing signs, which go out to the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty" (Revelation 16:13-14). -The False Prophet and Antichrist are destroyed and judged immediately by Jesus Christ as soon as He returns with the blood-washed, Raptured saints by His side, after the seven-year tribulation. "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" (2Thessalonians 2:8). And: "And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses. Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written: "KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS" (Revelation 19:14-16). -The Antichrist and False Prophet are judged one by one and thrown into the lake of fire. "Then the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who worked signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image. These two were cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone" (Revelation 19:20). This scripture is clear as a bell that these two are separate individuals, not one person. This is where it ends for those two and everyone who follows them. Satan is dealt with later in this story, but his fate is the same! -Don't go with them! If you are reading this post-Rapture, do not receive the mark on your hand or forehead! It will seal your eternal destiny in the lake of fire. Please do not do it! Believe and confess Jesus as Lord right now: "...that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation" (Romans 10: 9-10). I am printing this letter out, and it is attached to my "To those who have been left behind" letter at my home. I hope you do the same, dear reader, with any articles of importance that will help those who will need guidance after the Rapture has taken place. Our Lord Comes! An End-Of-Days Guide to the Current Conflict in Syria - By Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz - https://www.breakingisraelnews.com/105979/an-end-of-days-guide-to-the-current-conflict-in-syria/ "I will set fire to the wall of Damascus, And it shall consume the fortresses of Ben-hadad." Jeremiah 48:27 (The Israel Bible™) As the tensions in Syria have escalated into a US-led missile attack on Friday, several end-of-days experts weigh in on the situation, explaining who are the good guys, who are the bad guys, what are the real causes and what do Biblical sources say will happen. The rising multinational tensions in Syria burst into flames on Friday when US President Trump led a coalition with the United Kingdom and France in a missile attack against Syrian President Assad's chemical weapons laboratories. This was in response to a chlorine attack Assad allegedly perpetrated last Saturday against the Syrian town of Dhouma, in which dozens of civilians were killed. Military forces from many nations are currently deployed in Syria with Russia maintaining air-bases in support of Syrian President Bashar Al Assad. A US led coalition has all but eliminated the Islamic State from the region. However, a myriad of rebel groups battling Assad in a seven-year civil war that has killed almost half-a-million Syrian helped create a Gordian Knot of mixed alliances. With the situation to the north of Israel spiraling out of control and the tensions rising, several end-of-days experts explain their geula (redemption) perspectives which may give more insight than political commentaries. The Jerusalem Connection Rabbi Yosef Dayan is a member of the nascent Sanhedrin, created to re-establish the Biblically mandated court of 71 elders. He also claims to be able to trace his lineage back to the Davidic dynasty. Rabbi Dayan sees the current situation on the Temple Mount as the source for what is happening in Syria and in many other parts of the world. "The Arabs have no connection with Jerusalem but they took it over the Temple Mount in order to turn it into a place of war," Rabbi Dayan told Breaking Israel News. "They succeeded and now, because of the significance of the Temple Mount, that power of war is going out into the world. So much so that in Syria, Assad is killing his own people, which doesn't make sense. Why would a ruler do that? It lessens his rule. "And the world reaction doesn't make sense," Rabbi Dayan noted. "No one said a word about all the death in Syria or other places in the world until now." Rabbi Dayan noted another evil that was set loose on the world by the Muslim world's dominance on the Temple Mount. "The Muslims lost the Temple Mount in a battle, but they managed to steal it anyway," Rabbi Dayan said. "This is giving them the power to go out and steal other countries. There are sections of Syria which really belong to Biblical Israel but are now under the rule of Assad. The Muslims are taking over sections of Europe in the same way; without a single battle. Soon this will happen in America." The rabbi sees the battle lines as being very clearly defined in terms of Jerusalem. "There are so many who use twisted logic to justify a Muslim presence on the Temple Mount, even over Jerusalem itself," Rabbi Dayan said. "The people who are against stopping the murder in Syria are the same ones who do not want Jews to pray for peace on the Temple Mount." Torah Codes: Assad is Amalek Rabbi Matityahu Glazerson is an expert in Torah Codes. Rabbi Glazerson uses a special computer program to search for series of letters in the Bible in order to extract hidden messages. He released a video on Sunday explaining hidden aspects of the events in Syria. Rabbi Glazerson did a search and found the words "אסד רוצח" (Assad the murderer) in the book of Exodus. Connected to these words is the word "עמלק" (Amalek). He noted that just like the nation of Amalek attacked the weaker elements of the Children of Israel in the Exodus, the elderly and the very young, Assad's chemical attack also targeted the weak. It was for this reason that Israel was commanded to battle Amalek forever. He said, "It means, 'Hand upon the throne of Hashem!' Hashem will be at war with Amalek throughout the ages." Exodus 17:16 "When [Assad] kills half-a-million of his people in the conventional way, nothing is done," Rabbi Glazerson said in the video. "But when he attacks his people with chemical weapons, the United States and others attack. It is difficult to understand. Really, there should have been some reaction before. This is because people are beginning to realize the importance of Torah. This mean the Messiah will be coming soon to redeem us from these very cruel leaders." Rabbi Glazerson also found that in this code, the word 'Amalek' shares the letter "ע" (Ayin) which is included in the numerical letters of the current year on the Hebrew calendar, תשעח or 5778. This indicates, according to Glazerson that this murderous Amalek aspect of Assad would become even more apparent this year. Syria Being Punished for Yom Kippur War Rabbi Nir Ben Artzi is a prominent Israeli mystic whose predictions have frequently come true. In his weekly sermon published online on Sunday, Rabbi Ben Artzi assured his many followers that the recent American missile attack would not result in an escalation of hostilities. "The United States and Russia both love Israel very much," Rabbi Ben Artzi said. "Neither Russia nor the US want a third world war or an atomic war, nor do they want to destroy the world. Neither government is in a hurry to start a war." Rabbi Ben Artzi emphasized the divine aid afforded the US president in these events. The rabbi also offered a small bit of advice. "Trump is a smart man, guided from Heaven. The Creator of the World sends an angel to speak through Trump. All of the fighting in Syria is a war for honor. Issues of honor should be put aside so a solution can be found to dismantle the factories for chemical warfare in Syria." Rabbi Ben Artzi blamed Syria's misfortune on its sins against Israel during the Yom Kippur War in 1973. Syria played a leading role, coming dangerously close to annihilating Israel while inflicting massive casualties on the much smaller Jewish State. "Even until now, Hashem (God, literally 'the name') has not forgiven Syria for the pain and suffering it brought to Israel in the Yom Kippur War," Rabbi Ben Artzi said. "More than any Arab nation, they killed Israelis and tried to destroy the covenant, exactly like the Amalekites. The Holy One, Blessed be He, sees everything and never forgets." "No one understands but isn't it clear?" the rabbi asks rhetorically. "The entire world was brought to fight in Syria. Isn't it clear that this could only be the Hand of God?" Beginnings of Gog and Magog: Whoever is for Hashem, come to me! Rabbi Pinchas Winston is a prolific author on the subjects of the Messiah and the End-of-Days, which he feels are entirely relevant to current events in Syria. For Rabbi Winston, the growing hostilities were divinely guided but entirely anticipated. "Twenty-five years ago, I read in the Zohar (the seminal work of Jewish mysticism) that the War of Gog and Magog would come from the North," Rabbi Winston told Breaking Israel News. "Since then, I've been looking in that direction. It was never a matter of what would happen but when it would happen. This escalation is the first sign of Gog and Magog, and once you open it up, it is almost impossible to put it back." Rabbi Winston is a student of history but emphasized that when viewed solely as a historical process, the situation to the north of Israel should not have played out as it did. "What is happening now, the threat to Assad's government, should have happened years ago when Obama first took apart the Middle East," Rabbi Winston said. "As a direct result of Obama's policies, Mubarak, one of the most firmly entrenched leaders in the region, fell. Gaddafi in Libya fell. Saddam Hussein fell. "According to all laws of nature, Syria should have fallen," he continued. "It was clearly divine intervention that propped up Assad until now." "Iran has a Biblical role, giving them a bigger role than Russia in how this plays out," Rabbi Winston said. "You can see this because Russia is operating in their own interests. Iran is pushing forward even if it means self-destruction." Rabbi Winston noted that once the divine aspect of the conflict in Syria was made clear, the confusing jumble of alliances would begin to make sense. "The battle lines are very clear," Rabb Winston said. "It may look like a bunch of strange alliances but you shouldn't look at who is aligned with Russia or who says they are aligned with America. Even in America, you have people who are confused about which side they are on. That is all just the packaging and is a distraction." Rabbi Winston cited Moses' call to battle as the deciding factor in choosing sides in the Syrian conflict. Moshe stood up in the gate of the camp and said, "Whoever is for Hashem, come here!" Exodus 32:26 "It is really about who is for Hashem since that is what we are here for, " Rabbi Winston said. "Once you focus on that, the sides in the conflict become clear." Heavenly War Rabbi Yosef Berger, the rabbi of King David's Tomb on Mount Zion, sees the conflict in Syria as being more divine than mundane. "It is clearly Divine intervention that has supported Syria while all the other countries around them fell," Rabbi Berger told Breaking Israel News. "This was only so that all 70 nations of the world would gather in Syria as they are doing now." "But each nation has its ministering angel and the real battle is being waged in Heaven between them. We do not see this battle but we will see the results. As the angel of Syria falls, all the other ministering angels of Esau and Ishmael will fall as well." Rabbi Berger emphasized that this was not just a regional conflict. The battle being waged in Syria has implications for the Moshiach (Messiah). Rabbi Berger cited Rabbi Jacob ben Asher, a 13th-century Biblical commentator known as the Ba'al Haturim, in his explanation of a verse in Genesis. These were the years of the life of Ishmael: one hundred and thirty-seven years; then he breathed his last and died, and was gathered to his kin. Genesis 25:18 Rabbi Asher explained in his commentary, "this verse, relating the death of Ishmael, is adjacent to the verse describing Isaac's life, in order to teach that when Ishmael falls, it will be the end-of-days, and the Son of David (the Messiah), who is from the descendants of Isaac, will flourish." "Of all the countries in the world, it is very strange that Israel seems to be the least involved with what is going on in Syria," Rabbi Berger said. "But it will become clear that the fall of Syria will mark a turning point in the geula (redemption)." Nearing Midnight: Ready-Made Mark of the Beast System - Todd Strandberg - http://www.raptureready.com/category/nearing-midnight/ The Chinese government is implementing a Big Brother-style system that scores citizens based on their behavior, with rewards and punishments meted out accordingly. It is a method of control that would make George Orwell wonder with amazement. It's not that easy to create a dystopian state that can control the lives of 1.4 billion people. China's leadership is determined to give it a shot. They will do this by constructing a Social Credit System that will open doors for the state's model citizens - and weed out society's undesirables, making their everyday life increasingly difficult to navigate. Each citizen will be given a score on an 18-digit national identification code that is based on their criminal and credit history, their shopping habits, profession, and if they post negative articles or opinions about the government on social media or are connected to people that do, among other things. If a person's score is low, they may lose the ability to land a new job, rent cars, travel domestically, and they may lose access to the internet or other forms of communication. A system of public shaming is also being used to keep citizens in line. Some cities have replaced the citizens' dial tones with recorded messages stating their shortcomings and encouraging callers to chastise them for their failures. The pressure is even being applied to people's love lives. A cartoon TV advertisement by Credit China shows a man being rejected by his dinner date after she sees a billboard declaring that he's a blacklisted citizen. The Chinese government does not have the ability to manage every citizen's bank account. Because there are so many forms of money, it's not easy for Beijing to control all the financial system. But that evil vision will soon become a reality. A social credit system is now being tested with an aim to encompass the whole population by 2020. Another tool China is using to control its citizens is a massive network of surveillance cameras that soon will number more than 400 million. All these cameras will be connected to a facial recognition system that can identify people and find anyone on a watch list. Even people who try to disguise themselves can be caught. The system can recognize a person by the way they walk. Luckily for the rest of us, only China currently seems to have the will to implement this system on a national scale with little outcry from a citizenry already used to being watched and measured. Western nations are not all that far behind China. The explosion of social media and other web-based technologies has created a vast network of databases that track our activity. Anyone who has a smartphone provides the government with the means to track all their movements. Since there are normally several applications running on your phone at any given time, several organizations may have records of your daily travels. With data storage getting cheaper at an exponential rate, the government can now have several gigabytes of information on every citizen. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg was on the hot seat last week because he allowed political consultancy Cambridge Analytica to harvest data by use of a quiz app. I think the hearing was a giant sham to feign legitimate outrage. Facebook makes money by tracking the data of all its users. It readily shares this information with the government. When the Antichrist comes to power, he will be able to use the Chinese system as a template for his global financial network. Since it is already clear that we have reached a point where there is nowhere to hide from this type of system, all technology barriers have been removed. The last step is just the formality of making a political decision, and prophecy has already warned us how that will go. "And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six (Revelation 13:16-18). The Secret World Of The Palestinian Authority - By Bassam Tawil - http://www.prophecynewswatch.com/article.cfm?recent_news_id=2175 A report published this week offers a rare glance into the secret world of the Palestinian Authority (PA), which was established in 1994 in accordance with the Oslo Accords signed between Israel and the PLO. Headed by Mahmoud Abbas, the PA has since received billions of dollars in aid from the US, EU and several other donor countries. However, the failure of the donors to demand accountability and transparency from the Palestinian Authority has deprived Palestinians of a significant part of the funds. It has also encouraged Palestinian leaders to continue pocketing millions of dollars, enriching their private and hidden bank accounts. One would have expected the Western donors to have woken up and noticed that Palestinian leaders are misusing the taxpayer money they send. One would have expected the Americans and Europeans to come to Abbas and his cronies, bang on the table, and demand that they start using and investing money for the welfare of their people, and not for their friends and family members. The report, published by the Coalition For Accountability And Integrity (AMAN), established in 2000 by a number of civil society organizations working in the field of democracy, human rights, and good governance, shows that the Western donors have learned nothing from their past mistakes. The report also shows that the Palestinian Authority remains the same corrupt body it has been since its inception more than twenty years ago. Under Yasser Arafat, the PA was plagued with widespread corruption and mismanagement. His successor, Mahmoud Abbas, has followed in this tradition and, despite his repeated promises, the Palestinian Authority remains as corrupt as ever. Why should Abbas and his associates work to improve the living conditions of their people if those who are pouring billions of dollars on them continue to turn a blind eye to financial and administrative corruption in the PA they are funding? Entitled "Integrity and Combating Corruption: Palestine 2017," the AMAN report reviews the status of corruption and lack of transparency and accountability in the Palestinian Authority during 2017. It is one of the most comprehensive reports looking into the widespread corruption and squandering of public funds by the Palestinian Authority leadership. The report found, for example, that the Palestinian Authority had invested $17.5 million in building a "presidential palace" for Abbas. The palace is built on an area of 4,700 square meters. After facing criticism over the project, Abbas decided to convert the palace into a huge national library. Here is what the report had to say about the grandiose project: "Honorable as it may sound to convert the presidential palace into a public library, it remains to be the epitome of misuse of public funds as well as a bad example of lack of prioritization. And although the idea of building a hospitality palace for official foreign delegations is not evil in itself, it is not and never was a priority for Palestinians, given the urgent need to finance vital services such as health and education. This is apart from the chronic financial crisis plaguing the Palestinian Authority. And while recognizing the importance of a national library, the idea of converting the palace to one is detrimental, since it would cost more than building a new library from the start due to the construction and re-construction details it involves." The 83-year-old Abbas could have invested the $17.5 million in building a new hospital or creating new jobs for his people, but he chose to build a palace for his cohorts and himself on a hilltop on the outskirts of Ramallah. Was the palace part of Abbas's plan for a quiet, comfortable and luxurious retirement? The idea of converting the palace into a national library is equally ridiculous. For the Palestinians, a new school or hospital is more urgently needed than a library. Besides, at this point, the Palestinians hardly need a library that looks like a royal palace. Here is another example provided by the report concerning the Palestinian Authority's practice of squandering public money: paying the salaries and expenses of a non-existent airline called "Palestine Airlines." It said that "hundreds of employees of this company continue to receive salaries and allowances from the Palestinian Authority, although the company is not registered as a company in accordance with Palestinian law." The budget for this company, the report found, is included in the budget of the Palestinian Ministry of Transportation, but with no specific details of how the money is spent. The "Palestine Airlines" employees are not the only civil servants who are paid despite not working and their being employed by a company that does not really exist. According to the report, members of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC), the Palestinians' parliament, have also been benefiting from monthly salaries, despite the parliament having been paralyzed for more than a decade as a result of the dispute between Abbas's ruling Fatah faction and Hamas. "The continuation of the dysfunction of the PLC, in 2107, posed the biggest challenge to formal accountability and oversight of the government's performance in terms of management of public funds and public affairs in general," the report stated. In 2017, the report revealed, the Palestinian Authority spent more than 39 million shekels (about $11 million) on the PLC. Half of the money went to salaries for the Palestinian lawmakers even though they have not been working for more than a decade. The report continued: "It is the right of citizens to inquire about the feasibility of these expenses without tangible results of the role of the PLC, and its failure to hold sessions that include members of Parliament in the West Bank and Gaza, in accordance with the law... Results of the government's plans did not show restraint in the continuing financial crisis of the PA, nor rationalization of public expenditures, or control over procurement and administrative and operational expenditures. In addition, talk of austerity continued without carrying out any serious implementation steps." The report also found continued flaws in the structure of the Palestinian Authority security apparatus. The increase in the number of high-ranking officers had a negative impact on the performance of the security forces. In addition, this increase in the numbers placed an added burden on the public budget. The percentage of officers in three security apparatuses accounted for 50% of all officers in the Palestinian Authority's eight security forces. The report found that corruption has also extended to the purchase of vehicles for Palestinian officials and their family members and friends. "Influential persons in senior positions were granted tax exemptions with legal basis for approval," the report found. "The amount of wasted funds is enormous." Here, it is worth noting that the Palestinian Authority law allows Palestinian terrorists who spent more than 20 years in Israeli prison to receive, one time only, a free car. This, of course, is in addition to the Palestinian Authority's policy of paying salaries to families of Palestinian prisoners and "martyrs." According to the report, "political corruption has deepened in the Palestinian case due to the presence of two authorities, one in the West Bank and the other in the Gaza Strip." This division, which is the result of the Hamas-Fatah power struggle, has harmed Palestinian lives on many levels and negatively affected public funds, human rights and freedoms, and development as the two governments took decisions and measures to weaken each other. In 2017, the Palestinian Authority's Anti-Corruption Commission received 430 complaints, but only 21 were referred to the prosecution's office, the report noted. "This indicates that the commission, its staff and follow-up mechanisms are slow," it added. "As for the nature of the cases, they ranged from embezzlement to abuse of power to fraud to breach of trust and bribery." The largest proportion of those accused of corruption crimes were employees in the governmental public sector. The report also took to task the Palestinian Authority for the way it approved its 2017 budget. The full version of the budget was not made public; only revenues and expenditures were presented with no details as to allocations for each ministry. Nor did the budget law include a table illustrating the Palestinian Authority's debts and loans or propose a plan for the collection of payments of these debts and loans. In addition, contributions and investments of the Palestinian Authority in local and non-local companies were also not clarified. The Western media completely ignores such reports. By doing so, Western journalists are betraying their own people by failing to inform them how their foreign-aid money is being embezzled and squandered by corrupt Palestinian leaders. The Palestinians, of course, are the primary victims in this story. They live in poverty as their leaders scrabble to misappropriate public funds. The lives of the Palestinians could have been much better had their leaders been held accountable for their actions. For Palestinians, to confront the dictators in Ramallah and the Gaza Strip means nothing short of putting one's life on the line. Yet the same is not true for the international community, including Western mainstream media. Why, then, do they continue to look the other way as Abbas constructs gilded mansions for himself and his buddies? Perhaps because they are too busy digging up dirt about Israel. But when journalists close their eyes and ears, enabling the theft of American and European taxpayer money by despotic Palestinian leaders who continue to injure their own people, the tinsel begins to tarnish on the golden world of the Palestinian Authority. Daily Jot: Your face your privacy - Bill Wilson - www.dailyjot.com When we see the government and the court system collaborate to obtain search and spy warrants under false pretense for political purposes, we have witnessed a government and court system that is out of control and needs to be reeled in. If it can happen to President Donald Trump's lawyer, but not Hillary Clinton, it can happen selectively to any one of us. If a secret court can be coerced to allow spying on a presidential candidate by a sitting president, it can happen, and quite possibly has happened, to you. A very disturbing story by Forbes details how a company with contracts to US spy agencies has been harvesting pictures on Facebook, Linked In, YouTube and others for a facial recognition database. Terrogence is one of those companies marketing its product Face-Int. The Terrogence website boasts: "Face-Int™ is an intelligence based facial recognition technology. Terrogence actively monitors and collects online profiles and facial images of terrorists, criminals and other individuals believed to pose a threat to aviation security, immigration and national security. The Face-IntTM database houses the profiles of thousands of suspects harvested from such online sources as YouTube, Facebook and open and closed forums all over the globe. It represents facial extractions from over 35,000 videos and photos retrieved online portraying such activities as terrorist training camps, motivational videos and actual terror attacks." So what happens when you are neither a terrorist nor a criminal, but perhaps one of those "other individuals believed to pose a threat"? Maybe somebody on the inside has marked you because you support a certain political position, attend a certain type of church, or have stated your sentiments online about current events. Then you are put through the costly bureaucratic gauntlet trying to prove your innocence because the "authorities" think you are guilty. As ACLU spokesman Jay Stanley told Forbes, "A lot of those problems could intensify if you have a bunch of private quasi-vigilantes making their own blacklists of all kinds." This is precisely what happened with the previous Administration's abuse of the FISA secret court. Abuse of power takes many forms. Your privacy as an individual is threatened every time you use social media, or even drive on a "public" road (translated: speed cameras, license identification technology, face recognition, etc.). Many government agencies are able to wield the power where the burden of proof of your innocence is on you rather than being innocent until proven guilty. Many people are worried about accidentally taking the "Mark of the Beast," but in reality, anyone using social media already has given the "beast" enough information to, as Revelation 13:7 says, "make war with the saints, and to overcome them." Cat's out of the bag; horse's out of the barn. Be wise about what you post online. Not only is God watching, but his enemies as well. Daily Devotion: Right Where You Are - By Greg Laurie - www.harvest.org "Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?" -Esther 4:14 Have you ever found yourself in a place where you don't necessarily want to be? You thought, "Why did I end up in this neighborhood with these neighbors?" . . . "Why did I end up in this classroom with that teacher?" . . . "Why did I end up in this workplace with this boss or this coworker?" Did it ever occur to you that God has put you right where you are for a reason? In ancient Persia, a beautiful young woman found herself as the queen at a strategic time in the history of the Jewish people. A plot had been hatched for all of them to be exterminated. Esther's uncle, Mordecai, sent word to her, "Do not think in your heart that you will escape in the king's palace any more than all the other Jews. For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father's house will perish. Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?" (Esther 4:13-14 NKJV). Henrietta Mears felt called by God to teach Sunday school at Hollywood First Presbyterian Church in 1928. Under her direction, the Sunday school grew from 450 to 4,200 in two years, eventually reaching 6,500. She also founded Gospel Light Publishing and a Christian conference center, Forest Home. More than 400 young people entered full-time Christian service through the impact of her life, including Bill Bright and Billy Graham. You may not be a Billy Graham, but you could be a Henrietta Mears. A little light goes a long way. One life can make a difference. Who knows that God has not placed you where you are for such a time as this? 
FROM THE HEART
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