Prophecy Update Newsletter
April 24, 2017
IN TODAY'S NEWSLETTER...
A Light in a Dark Place - Pete Garcia - http://www.omegaletter.com/articles/articles.asp?ArticleID=8430
While one's prophetic persuasion is not a primary issue a person's salvation hinges upon, it does serve as an excellent weathervane of how a believer (or denomination) views all the other biblical doctrines. The movie Fight Club had a very famous line in it; the first rule of fight club is, you don't talk about fight club. In a majority of churches today, the first rule of (pick a denomination) is, we don't talk about Bible prophecy. This was not always the case though. For the first three centuries, the early church was quite vocal about the end-times. It wasn't until men like Origen and Augustine came along and began to spiritualize, allegorize, and subsidize the literal interpretation of their own that the church began its descent into the theological abyss. Ignorance in this case is not bliss, but rather, spiritual blindness. For the next 1,200 years, Christendom suffered in a theological dark age with the formation and domination of the Roman Catholic Church (RCC) over the then civilized world. Roman Catholicism taught that the kingdom was now and it was spiritual. They (the RCC) taught that they were the embodiment of that kingdom here on the earth. But these ideas did not originate from the Bible, but with Augustine. So if the kingdom was spiritual and now, then the earth needed a human representative of Christ...enter the Pope...the Vicar of Christ. Progressive Illumination John Nelson Darby and the Dispensationalist movement in the early 1800's did for Biblical exposition, what Wycliffe and Tyndale in the 1300-1500's did for its understanding. In their own ways, they each made the Bible readable, understandable, and contextual. Like Martin Luther centuries before, Darby did not add new doctrines into the Bible; he merely expounded upon what was already there by returning to a literal, grammatical, and historical interpretation. The Dispensationalist movement was the zenith of 2,000 years' worth of Christian thought, teachings, and biblical exposition which has since lasted for almost two centuries. This is the culmination of progressive illumination of which finds its ultimate conclusion sequentially at the Rapture, the Tribulation, the 2nd Coming of Christ, and THE Kingdom. This might sound redundant to those who are not Dispensationalists, but consider this- Martin Luther did not invent salvation by grace through faith. He simply recognized and accepted what the Bible had to say about it. Likewise, Darby did not invent Dispensationalism. He simply recognized and clarified what was already laid out in both Testaments. We also know and accept that with the conclusion of the Revelation that the canon of Scripture was closed. In fact, the Bible is very clear on this; there would be no further divine revelation from anyone. For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book; and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book. Revelation 22:18-19 NKJV So if Darby (or anyone else) were attempting to add new "revelation" into the Bible, we (Dispensationalists for the last 200 years) would have soundly rejected it. Just as there is a significant difference between salvation and sanctification, so too is the difference between revelation and illumination. The former is a one-time event, while the latter is a life-long event. One is something only God can do through His appointed, and the other is something God does for believers over time. Isaac Newton once said if I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants. We (I) have not come up with any unique new understanding; I simply expound upon what others before me have learned. They learned from those before them, and so on. This is the accumulation of knowledge. We take what the Bible says, particularly in the prophetic texts, and see how that matches up with what is going on around us. I do not need to hold a newspaper in one hand and the Bible in the other to compare...ultimately I believe, the newspapers will reflect what the Bible has already said about it. This is progressive illumination. Progressive illumination speaks to the illumination (increased understanding) God gives to certain men and women in increasing measures, to understand the theological concepts, prophecies, historicity, archeology, and other areas as time progresses. This works similarly to the way that progressive revelation did in Scripture. God did not reveal everything to Adam, or to Noah, or to Abraham, or even to Moses. God revealed to each what was appropriate to them while building on previously revealed truths to those before them. Often, He also told them of things to come in what we call prophecy. In other words, God expounded upon previous truths to subsequent patriarchs, prophets, priests, and kings in Israel's history. This concluded the Old Testament with the coming of John the Baptist. Of him, Jesus said... "Assuredly, I say to you, among those born of women there has not risen one greater than John the Baptist; but he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he...For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John. And if you are willing to receive it, he is Elijah who is to come. Matthew 11:11-14 Protestants find it just as hard today to accept that the Pope can speak ex-cathedra (aka...papal infallibility) concerning morals and doctrines, as it is for Dispensationalists to accept the erroneous teachings from Reformed and Covenant theological denominations that the Church is Israel, or vice-versa. After all, the Messiah came out of Israel, and the Church out of the Messiah. The Church could not exist until after the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and the giving of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. If the Church is Israel, then Christ did not build a new thing has He claimed He would do, but rather put new wine into an old wineskin. (Matthew 9:17, 16:18; 2 Corinthians 5:17; Galatians 6:15; Hebrews 9:16-17) Divide and Conquer For the first time in around 1,800 years, the Church was finally embracing all of Scripture. At the peak of Christian learning and understanding, Satan began vigorously attempting to neutralize any spiritual growth by confusing and corrupting Christendom. Around the same time that Darby and the Plymouth Brethren were making gains, Satan was moving a man named Joseph Smith to establish the Latter Day Saints (Mormonism). They are a heterodox pseudo-Christian cult who add biblical text by claiming that it was a new revelation from the angel Moroni. In fact, there was an explosion of heretical and apostate groups all claiming new revelation. The Jehovah Witnesses, Christian-Science, Seventh Day Adventists, Transcendentalists, and Mormons to name a few. The cults generally accept certain aspects of the biblical doctrine about Christ and his saving work on our behalf. However, they always deny one or more key aspects and introduce new twists of their own. Jehovah's Witnesses, for example, deny that Jesus rose physically from the grave; on their view Jesus' body was disintegrated by God and Jesus was recreated as a spirit creature. Christian Science denies that Jesus actually died; on their view his death was an illusion in the minds of the world who did not understand that only spirit is real. Mormons generally believe that Jesus' redemptive suffering took place in Gethsemane before his arrest, not on the cross. Out of the seven billion people who currently populate the planet, most (around five billion or so) are not Christian in any form or fashion. (Islam, Hinduism, Shintoism, Buddhism, Paganism, Wiccans, Atheists, etc.) Within the remaining 2 billion who do claim the Christian faith, probably less than half (around 500 million) even have an eschatological opinion. Out of that 500 million, these are divided around the four major eschatological views: Preterism, Amillennialism, Pre-Millennialism, and Post-Millennialism. While Pre-Millennialism (Pre-mill) is the dominant view out of this minority, even this camp is divided amongst Pre-Tribulation, Pre-Wrath, and Post-Tribulation believers concerning when they believe the Rapture of the Church will occur. Roman Catholicism makes up around one billion adherents globally, and which (at least doctrinally speaking) are supposed to hold to an Amillennial eschatology. As a collective group, the RCC has all but abandoned the idea of a literal return of Jesus Christ. A Cardinal spokesman for the Vatican recently stated: "we just feel Jesus is not coming back by the looks of it." Remember therefore how you have received and heard; hold fast and repent. Therefore if you will not watch, I will come upon you as a thief, and you will not know what hour I will come upon you. Revelation 3:3 Conclusion Let's say hypothetically that the Bible doesn't mean what it really says. Let's also say that the Bible is not God's direct revelation of Himself to mankind. Rather, the Bible is just a collection of moral, semi-historical, oral traditions passed down to help us be better people. Do you know what happens next? Well, the Bible then becomes just another book. Christianity, just another religion. The evidence? The 20th and 21st centuries have seen wars and rumors of wars, famines and pestilence, false prophets and teachers, terrorism, crime and violence, natural and unnatural disasters of every kind escalating in size, frequency, and intensity. All of these, if churches were to accept what Jesus literally said in His Olivet Discourse, were to be heralding signs that the end of the age was drawing to a close. (Matt. 24:3-14) But looking around Christendom today, we know that this is not the case. Denomination after denomination is in varying stations of straying from the literal interpretation because the culture around us is in rapid decline. Most of the mainline denominations in the West today are struggling to both stay true to the word of God, and also not be offensive. This is not only impossible but impossibly designed as such. Our culture has embraced the debased nature over the Godly, and that broad middle-ground that once marked the blending of church and culture from generations past is quickly disappearing. The culture is forcing us to choose; do we bend with the declining cultural norms, or do we plant ourselves like trees and lean into the storm? I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?" Luke 18:8 These straying denominations are they who are falling by the wayside and littering the road paved with good intentions. The unintended consequence of abandoning the literal and supernatural qualities about Holy Scripture is that it quenches the Spirit in a body of both believers and even attendees. If people wanted a lesson on how to be good moral people, they could just stay home and watch Dr. Phil. When the Spirit is quenched in a church, they begin to lose their audience because the messages cease to have both power and truth. When attendance starts to drop because people are no longer impacted by God's word, they (those churches) try to supplement it with entertainment and feel good messages. That may work for a season, but it's not fulfilling nor sustaining. No one can live exclusively off candy and sodas without some serious detriment to their health. While people may not like labels (because it paints them into fixed doctrinal positions) being clear about what doctrine guides your faith is important. As mentioned before, a prophetic or eschatological position serves as an excellent weathervane that shows what or how a person (or group) views other doctrinal positions. And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts; knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. 1 Peter 1:19-21 Israel pauses to remember 6 million murdered in Holocaust - http://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-pauses-to-remember-6-million-murdered-in-holocaust/
Two-minute siren brings country to a standstill amid memorial ceremonies marking annual Remembrance Day Israelis across the country paused for two minutes Monday morning in memory of the six million Jews who were murdered in Europe under Nazi rule as a siren pierced the clear blue sky in an annual marking of Holocaust Remembrance Day. The 10 a.m. siren was to be followed by ceremonies at schools, memorials and elsewhere in honor of those who lost their lives, as well as Shoah survivors. The country's central commemoration event got underway immediately after the siren at the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial and museum in Jerusalem, where dignitaries will lay wreaths next to a monument commemorating the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising of 1943. Among those taking part in the wreath-laying are President Reuven Rivlin, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Knesset speaker Yuli Edelstein. The theme of this year's commemoration is "Restoring Their Identities: The Fate of the Individual During the Holocaust," Yad Vashem said ahead of Remembrance Day. At 11 a.m. the Knesset was scheduled to mark the day with a ceremony titled "Unto Every Person There is a Name," in which lawmakers recite names of victims of the Nazis for nearly two hours. The ceremony's name comes from a famous poem by the Israeli poet Zelda Schneersohn Mishkovsky (commonly referred to by her first name alone). The musical version, which is often played at memorial ceremonies, repeats, "Unto every person there is a name given by...their mother and father," "their sins," "their loves," and "their death." Decades after the liberation of the Nazi camps, the annual Holocaust Remembrance Day continues to be marked with solemnity in Israel, with restaurants, stores and entertainment centers closed and Holocaust-themed movies and documentaries broadcast on TV and radio. Most schools and many preschools hold official assemblies where students honor the dead and hear stories from survivors. At 1:30 p.m. local time, thousands of people are expected to take part in the March of the Living event in Poland, walking along the three kilometers (1.8 miles) of railway tracks between the sites of the Auschwitz and Birkenau camps. Chief Justice Miriam Naor and Education Minister Naftali Bennett will accompany a delegation of Israeli officials and Jewish students from around the world at the annual march. The Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremonies began at Yad Vashem on Sunday evening, with six survivors lighting beacons - one for every million Jews slain. Moshe Ha-Elion, Moshe Jakubowitz, Jeannine Sebbane-Bouhanna, Moshe Porat, Max Privler and Elka Abramovitz were chosen to light the symbolic torches this year. During the ceremony, Rivlin said that Holocaust survivors had bequeathed a solemn message to the world that people must preserve their humanity, even in the face of the greatest horrors. The president said Holocaust remembrance and the lessons to be learned from the genocide of the Jewish people are founded on three central pillars: self-defense, a shared destiny, and human rights. "Man is beloved, every man, created in God's image. This is a sacred obligation that the Jewish people cannot and does not wish to evade. At all times. In every situation. So too, we cannot remain silent in face of the horrors being committed far away from us, and certainly those happening just across the border," he noted, referring to the Syrian civil war that is estimated to have cost over 300,000 lives. "Maintaining one's humanity: this is the immense courage bequeathed to us by the victims - and by you, the survivors of the Shoah." Rivlin's words stood in stark contrast to Netanyahu's, whose main thrust was to blame the Allies' failure to bomb the Nazi concentration camps from 1942, which he said cost the lives of four million Jews and millions of others. Citing recently released UN documents that show the Allies were aware of the scale of the Holocaust in 1942, some two years earlier than previously assumed, Netanyahu said this new research assumed "a terrible significance." "If the powers in 1942 had acted against the death camps - and all that was needed was repeated bombing of the camps - had they acted then, they could have saved 4 million Jews and millions of other people." "The powers knew, and they did not act," he told the audience at the national ceremony at Yad Vashem. In a bleak address, the Israeli prime minister said that the Holocaust was enabled by three factors: the vast hatred of the Jews, global indifference to the horrors, and "the terrible weakness of our people in the Diaspora." US Defense Secretary James Mattis in Djibouti amid high Red Sea stakes - http://www.debka.com/article/26023/Mattis-in-Djibouti-amid-high-Red-Sea-stakes
US Defense Secretary James Mattis arrival in Djibouti Sunday, April 23 coincided with Egyptian President Abdul-Fatteh El-Sisi's landing in Riyadh. Both capitals are pivotal for the Arab face-off with Iran over control of the strategic Red Sea, which is of overriding concern to both visitors. Mattis was the first US defense chief to visit Djibouti since 2005. America's only African base at Camp Lemonnier is important for the former French colony's geographic location on the Bab el-Mandeb Strait between Djibouti and Yemen and as a springboard for offensive US operations on Al Qaeda jihadists (AQAP) in Yemen and Al-Qaeda-linked al Shabaab in Somalia. The Trump administration's drive to crush terrorism in its main arenas has shifted from defense operations to "additional precision fire" For El-Sisi, the Red Sea is an essential component of Egypt's national security. He recently sent Saudi King Salman an offer of 40,000 Egyptian troops to man the kingdom's southern border against Iranian-backed Yemeni Houthi insurgent attacks. The monarch spurned the Egyptian offer. He has no wish to allow the Egyptian military forces a foothold on Saudi soil, but would rather see them fighting in Yemen alongside Saudi and United Arab Emirate troops (including a large number of Sudanese and Columbian mercenaries) who are now engaged in a drive to capture the port of Hudaydah on the eastern Red Sea coast of Yemen. However, since 2015, El-Sisi has taken good care not to let the Egyptian army become mired in the Yemen conflict. All he was prepared to contribute was a naval presence alongside the Saudi and Emirate fleets for maintaining Arab control of the narrow Bab El-Mandeb Strait, which commands access to the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, and is one of the world's busiest oil, merchant and naval shipping routes from the Persian Gulf to the Suez Canal and the Mediterranean. Neither Riyadh nor Abu Dhabi, which donate many billions to the Egyptian economy, will be satisfied with a partial Egyptian commitment to the contest for control of the Red Sea or the Yemen conflict. They regard both contests as fateful struggles for containing expanding Iranian influence over the Yemeni insurgent movement and strategic shipping routes. Tehran's success would not only place their shores at risk but also their navies Towards the end of 2015, the two Arab Gulf nations therefore embarked on an aggressive policy of defense debkafile's military and intelligence sources reveal that in the past two years, Riyadh and Abu Dhabi have undertaken an accelerated process of construction and the leasing of five bases - some with added air force facilities - along 3,000km of shoreline on the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden and the southern approaches of the Indian Ocean to consolidate their military control. Those bases along this strip of coast, some in mid-construction, run from Port Sudan, to Assab in Eritrea, Djibouti and Berbera in coastal northwestern Somalia, which serves as the region's main commercial harbor, and is positioned strategically on the oil route, and up to Bosaso seaport in northeastern Somalia. The Egyptian president strongly disapproves of the Saudi-UAE presence at Port Sudan, Egypt's southern neighbor's primary military port, which he sees as military interference in his country's back yard. Secretary Mattis' visit to Djibouti was not focused directly on the Arab-Iranian faceoff on the Red Sea, but was definitely concerned with the Yemen war and attempts to curb the deepening Iranian influence in Yemen. Our sources also report that in his talks last week with Saudi King Salman and Defense Minister Prince Muhammad Bin Salman, the possible consignment of US ground troops to Yemen was discussed. What One Rabbi Predicted 22 Years Ago About Korea's Role in End-of-Days Will Shock You - By Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz - https://www.breakingisraelnews.com
"For a fire is kindled in My nostril, and burneth unto the depths of the nether-world, and devoureth the earth with her produce, and setteth ablaze the foundations of the mountains." Deuteronomy 32:22 (The Israel Bible™) North Korea has only recently emerged as a major threat to the Western world, but a noted kabbalist predicted 22 years ago that the rogue nation would become the nuclear key to the final war of Gog and Magog. Now that politics have shifted, revealing the prophetic nature of the rabbi's words, another look reveals a deeper, Biblical understanding of the threat that faces us today. When Rabbi Levi Sa'adia Nachamanii gave a speech in 1994, one month before he died, he surprisingly warned that of all the threats to Israel, North Korea posed the most danger. "Not Syria, not Persia (Iran), and not Babylon (Iraq), and not Gaddafi (Libya)," the rabbi said, naming Israel's greatest threats at the time. "Korea will arrive here." Rabbi Nachmani's prediction was shocking for many reasons. He had accurately predicted the Six Day War in 1967 and the Yom Kippur War in 1973, giving credence to his prediction, but it was inconceivable that the threats he mentioned, all posing the greatest dangers to Israel at the time, would vanish. As time has shown, that is precisely what has happened since the rabbi made his speech. Even more perplexing was his prediction that North Korea would threaten Israel, since North Korea was not even considered a real threat to any country other than South Korea at the time. That has changed dramatically in recent years. Since its first nuclear test ten years ago, North Korea's weapons testing has increased in frequency and size. Coupled with its missile program, condemned by the UN and neighboring countries, North Korea has made its aggressive intentions and capabilities clear. Earlier this month, White House representative Nick Rivero was quoted saying the United States was "very close" to engaging in some sort of retaliation towards North Korea. In Rabbi Nachmani's prediction, he provided an oblique Biblical reference to support his claim that the distant country would one day become a major threat. He warned that 'She'ol' would come to Israel. She'ol is Hebrew for Hell, but it is spelled the same way in Hebrew as Seoul, the capital of South Korea. The rabbi cited a verse hinting at the name of the distant city with nuclear overtones. They have roused Me to jealousy with a no-god; they have provoked Me with their vanities; and I will rouse them to jealousy with a no-people; I will provoke them with a vile nation. For a fire is kindled in My nostril, and burneth unto the depths of the nether-world (She'ol), and devoureth the earth with her produce, and setteth ablaze the foundations of the mountains. Deuteronomy 32:22 Dov Bar Leib, an end-of-days blogger, explained the apparent conflation of North and South Korea to Breaking Israel News. "Rabbi Nachmani was hinting that God's fire cited in the verse is a nuclear war that would begin between North and South Korea. North Korea will attack Seoul, the capital of South Korea, conquering it. It will become one nation, She'ol, under the rule of North Korea, which will then come to threaten Israel," he clarified. "In the verses, the 'no-god' is the current global tendency towards atheism," Bar Leib explained. "The 'no-people' are the Palestinians who are not a nation." Bar Leib explained that Rabbi Nachmani's reference to North Korea had its source in the Zohar, the foundational work of Jewish mysticism. He cited a section of the Zohar (VaEira 32a) which states that the nation of Islam would be given 1,300 years to rule in the land of Israel, 100 years for every year until Ishmael was circumcised. After that period, a nation "from the edge of the earth" would be aroused against Rome and wage war against it for three months. "The globe does not have an edge," acknowledged Bar Leib. "But the international date line runs through North Korea. That line is in effect the dividing line on the globe, technically the beginning and the end." The Zohar, Bar Leb notes, quotes a verse in Isaiah which describes this catastrophic war with the country at the edge of the world. The sword of Hashem is filled with blood, it is made fat with fatness, with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams; for Hashem hath a sacrifice in Bozrah, and a great slaughter in the land of Edom. Isaiah 34:6 "Bozrah is a Shi'ite city in Iraq, technically controlled by Iran," explained Bar Leib. Bozrah is described in the Zohar as aligned with the country at the edge of the world, which, according to Bar Leib, is North Korea. "This is the Biblical source for this unholy and unlikely connection between Iran, named as Bozrah, and North Korea, described as the edge of the earth. Edom, their common enemy, is the Western World." An alliance between Iran and North Korea seems illogical, since the two nations have nothing in common, sharing neither a religion or a border. They seem to be united only in their hatred for the Western World, a commonality that has led them to cooperate on their intercontinental ballistic missile programs, and perhaps on their nuclear programs as well. "When the two come together, as described in the Zohar," said Bar Leib, "It will be the final war of Gog and Magog, as described by Rabbi Nachmani." The Prophecy of Ten Jubilees - By Daymond Duck - http://www.raptureready.com/2017/04/23/the-prophecy-of-ten-jubilees/
It is not in the Bible, but have you heard about Rabbi Judah ben Samuel's "Prophecy of Ten Jubilees?" I saw a reference to it in a video that someone sent to me and decided that I should check out. I discovered that it is either an incredibly accurate prophecy or a false prophecy that was written after the fact. In the March 2008 edition of Israel Today magazine there was an article about it. On Nov. 14, 2012, World Net Daily published an Exclusive Report about it. Jack Van Impe, John Hagee, Perry Stone and "Prophecy in the News" have mentioned it in videos. Understand that one Jubilee is 50 years. Anyway, in 1215, Rabbi Judah ben Samuel was allegedly visited by the prophet Elijah who told him, "When the Ottomans (Turks) conquer Jerusalem they (the Turks) will rule over Jerusalem for eight jubilees (8 X 50 = 400 years)." "Afterward (after the 400 years) Jerusalem will become no-man's land for one jubilee (50 yrs.), and then in the ninth jubilee (at the end of the ninth jubilee) it (Jerusalem) will once again come back into the possession of the Jewish nation - which would signify the beginning of the Messianic end time." This is what history says: In 1217, the Rabbi Judah ben Samuel died. In 1517 (6 Jubilees or 6 X 50 = 300 years later), the Turks captured Jerusalem and the "Prophecy of Ten Jubilees" started. In 1917 (8 Jubilees or 8 X 50 = 400 years later), the British captured Jerusalem and the rule of the Turks ended. This was exactly what the alleged prophecy said. During the next 50 years, Jerusalem was no-man's land under the control of the League of Nations, the United Nations and Jordan. This was exactly what the alleged prophecy said. In 1967 (1 Jubilee or 1 X 50 = 50 years later), Israel captured East Jerusalem. This was exactly what the alleged prophecy said. In 2017 (1 Jubilee or 1 X 50 = 50 years later), the Ten Jubilees will end (on Sept. 23, 2017), Israel will possess Jerusalem and the Messianic end times will begin. I Googled "Messianic end times" and learned that it refers to the time when Elijah will appear and the age of peace will begin. Next, I remembered that God said: "I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord" (Malachi 4:5). Then, it occurred to me that Rabbi Judah ben Samuel allegedly said this prophecy came from Elijah. And I don't know what he will do, but there is the possibility that President Trump will move the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem this year (in 2017). One more thing: On Mar. 14, 2017, it was reported that Israel has budgeted $550,000 a year to research and strengthen the connection between Israel and the Temple Mount. This means that the Israeli government has now officially recognized that the Temple Mount is a Jewish site (not a Palestinian site). And it is interesting that this has happened in the 10th Jubilee of Rabbi Juda ben Samuel's "Prophecy of Ten Jubilees." Each person should decide whether to believe this prophecy is true or a fake. But if the world is close to the great and dreadful day of the Lord, a powerful miracle-working prophet could soon appear. Prophecy Plus Ministries, Inc. Daymond & Rachel Duck [email protected] ![]()
My Review of "Rapture Ready...Or Not?" Over the last 35 years, I have literally read hundreds of books on Bible Prophecy and End Time signs. I especially enjoy books on the Rapture, and I have read almost every Rapture-related book published. In all those years, devouring thousands of pages, and millions of words, I have not read a better book on the Rapture than, Rapture Ready...Or Not? Terry James might be physically blind, but he is spiritually sharp and well discerning beyond most authors. In "Rapture Ready...Or Not?" Terry has nailed the pre-trib Rapture, and removed any doubt what so ever about the Church going through the Tribulation. With great insight and Godly discernment, Terry explains with simple, yet profound words, why and how that he has come to believe the ways he does about the Rapture, the Tribulation, and the End Times scenario. I think after reading "Rapture Ready...Or Not?" you too will believe as Terry does, and be Ready for the Rapture like never before! - Randy Thomas - Publisher / Editor - Prophecy Update For more information and or to get your copy of "Rapture Ready...Or Not?" use this link: http://www.raptureready.com/terry/book35.html No Sin, No Forgiveness Either: "The Strange Persistence of Guilt" - By Eric Metaxas - http://www.prophecynewswatch.com/article.cfm?recent_news_id=1179
So, traditional morality is out, and freedom of everything is in. Then why does everybody feel so guilty? In 1966, Time Magazine infamously posed the question "Is God Dead?" on its cover. Recently, it ran the same cover, only with the word "Truth" instead of God. The literal answer to both questions is, of course, "no." But both questions point to an issue that has haunted the West for more than a century: How do you justify morality in a society that increasingly lives as if there was no one to hold them accountable and define the difference between good and evil, truth and falsehood? Ironically, while we've reached the point where we've effectively cut the legs out from beneath the idea of sin, we are still very much in the thrall of guilt. That was the subject of a recent column by David Brooks in the New York Times entitled "The Strange Persistence of Guilt," which, in turn, was inspired by an article of the same name by Wilfred McClay in the Hedgehog Review. And here's what makes the persistence of guilt "strange": The dominant worldviews of our age, as Alasdair MacIntyre wrote in "After Virtue," have turned beliefs about right and wrong, good and evil, into little more than expressions of feelings. They should have freed us from feelings of guilt. And yet we still feel guilty. Instead of the easy-going relativism that should logically follow from believing that right and wrong, guilt and innocence, are a matter of feelings, we live in what Brooks calls "an age of great moral pressure." We may "lack the words to articulate it," and "religion may be in retreat, but guilt seems as powerfully present as ever." Thus, as McClay writes, "Whatever donation I make to a charitable organization, it can never be as much as I could have given. I can never diminish my carbon footprint enough, or give to the poor enough . . . Colonialism, slavery, structural poverty, water pollution, deforestation--there's an endless list of items for which you and I can take the rap." If we are tough on ourselves, we are merciless toward others. In Brooks' words, "society has become a free-form demolition derby of moral confrontation," such as "the cold-eyed fanaticism of students at Middlebury College and other campuses nationwide." This "strange persistence" of guilt leaves contemporary Westerners living in the worst of all possible worlds. Secularism and relativism have not liberated them from the need to "feel morally justified," nor has it freed them from feelings of guilt. What it has done is to deprive people of the means to do anything meaningful about their sense of guilt. As Brook says "we have no clear framework or set of rituals to guide us in our quest for goodness. Worse, people have a sense of guilt and sin, but no longer a sense that they live in a loving universe marked by divine mercy, grace and forgiveness. There is sin but no formula for redemption." That's because if there were true forgiveness and redemption, there would have to be an acknowledgement that there was something that needed to be forgiven and something about us that needs to be redeemed. At this point, I'm left thinking about the passage from Matthew, where we're told that when Jesus "saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd." Brooks ends by saying that what people need is more "than the cheap grace of instant forgiveness." They need a way to prevent the "private guilt everybody feels" from being "transmuted into a public state of perpetual moral war." And they need a personal introduction--or re-introduction--to the Good Shepherd who has already shown how far He will go to love and forgive them. Daily Jot: Discerning - Bill Wilson - www.dailyjot.com
A lot is written about fake news these days. Fake news actually has been around for a long time. It is one of those sensational headlines that entices you to read the story, but in reality, the story is not really a story. The National Enquirer had a reputation of such. Perhaps a headline about a celebrity having another celebrity's babies. When you read the story you discover that the celebrity gave a dog that is having puppies to the other celebrity. That was fake news before the politicians got a hold of it and took it to a whole different level. Then there always has been propaganda-some news with a political bent to move people's thinking. It's all about weaving in enough truth to make a better lie. How do you discern? First, boil it down to the very pith of the issue. The Apostle John gave some great advice on this very issue. He wrote in 1 John 4:1-3, "Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: And every spirit that confesses not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof you have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world." Ask the question to yourself, 'Is this of God or not?' Once you have that figured out, determine if it aligns with the word of God. Hebrews 4:12 says, "For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." Think about that. The word of God is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. How does the intent of a story weigh against the word of God? What is the story trying to get across? Who or what is the story advocating? But before you can use the word of God as a tool to discern, you need to know the word of God-not what somebody says is the word of God, but what you have personally found is the word of God. This means that you need to study and know it. The third test is really one of the spirit. Your relationship with Jesus Christ will help you discern the truth. The deeper your relationship, the better your truth detector will be. Jesus said in John 8:31-32, "If you continue in my word, then are you my disciples indeed; And you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free." If you can learn to break down every news headline and story by determining the spirit of it, discerning its intent, and finding the truth from a spiritual perception, you can discern what is fake news and what isn't. But with this is the responsibility to know God, know the word of God, and to know Jesus Christ in spirit and truth-not man's doctrines or the Word out of context. Like anything, practice makes perfect. Daily Devotion: Christ's Representatives to the World - Greg Laurie - www.harvest.org
Then, from that day on, they plotted to put Him to death. -John 11:53 When I travel, people often will ask me what I do for a living. Quite honestly, I don't like to tell them up front because it can put up a wall. Some people become angry when I tell them I'm a pastor. I'm a representative of God to them, so they take their anger at Him out on me. "Let me ask you a few questions," they say. Then they fire off their list: "Why does God do this?" "Why doesn't God do that?" "What about this?" "What about that?" There are people today who hate Jesus Christ and everything He stands for. They despise His teachings. And if you proclaim those teachings or try to live by them, you're categorized as a narrow-minded fanatic and as insensitive and hateful. It's another way of saying, "If you don't believe in what I believe, if you don't believe we can make up the rules as we go, if you believe there are absolutes, right and wrong, good and evil, then I don't like what you believe. And I'll oppose you." Jesus said, "If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you" (John 15:18-19). I accept the fact that I'm a representative of God. I'm not ashamed of it. And if you're a Christian, then you are a representative of God too. We don't want to be hated by people, of course. But because we're representatives of Christ, that will bother people. If you follow Jesus Christ and His teachings and stand up for what you believe, then people will hate you. FROM THE HEART
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