Prophecy Update Newsletter
May 8, 2017
IN TODAY'S NEWSLETTER...
The Rapture and 2017 - Pete Garcia - http://www.omegaletter.com/articles/articles.asp?ArticleID=8437
Several years ago, there was a growing movement within the watcher community that really tried to justify the Rapture happening in 2011. I remember this being a high-watch year for the Rapture of the Church and people were coming out of the woodwork with dreams and visions trying to validate/justify this reasoning. The excitement centered on the idea that if we added 70 years to 1948, it would bring us to the year 2018. According to this logic, if the Second Coming took place in 2018, then by necessity we would have to subtract the required seven years for the Tribulation to occur, bringing us back to the year 2011. Well, 2011 came and went and we are still here. Clearly, there were some faults in this logic. Although I remain hopeful every year, I did not throw my lot in with the majority in this group simply because I still had many reservations about the timing. My problem with 2011, was that it did not coincide with any other combination of years as they pertain to any pattern of historically significant or prophetic events as they relate to Israel...God's prophetic timepiece. Interestingly, I had my own "dream" if you can call it that in March of 2012. It was very vivid in my mind even after I woke up and I emailed Jack Kinsella about it. Jack probably thought I was off my rocker a little, but I kept this dream to myself for the most part over these last five years. I tend not to give a lot of credence to dreams and I do not consider them divine messages per se...but I do not completely discount them either. I think we must use discernment in these issues. But back on point, if you added 50 years to 1967, you would get 2017. But if you subtracted seven years from 2017 for a Second Coming, it takes you back to 2010 which cuts the seven-year tribulation (Daniel's 70th Week) short by one year if you used 2011 as the benchmark. You could try this with any other year besides 2017 and you continually run into the same issues of numerical and prophetic incongruence. Another high watch year was 2007, which if you were to subtract 40 years from, would bring you to 1967; the year the Jews recaptured Jerusalem in the Six Day War. Seeing as that time (and a subsequent seven-year tribulation) has come and gone, clearly, this could not have been the case, unless perhaps you happen to be a hardcore historical-preterist. (Just kidding) Other high watch years tended to be more symbolic than anything: 2012, 2000, 1999, etc. The truth is that Christ could have returned at any of those times but He didn't. If Israel is the SUPERSIGN of the last days (which I believe it is), then Israel has been back in her land since 1948. She has had control of Jerusalem since 1967. Why then are we still here in 2017 and the Lord has yet to return? What is He waiting on? Assessment But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. 2 Peter 3:8-9 I do not think the Lord's patience is random or arbitrary. Neither do I think it is simply because He is longsuffering (even though He is). But if longsuffering were God's sole prerogative, then He could choose to wait until every last person alive today either dies in unbelief or converts and becomes a believer. This could take another hundred years or more which, in my opinion, would maximize longsuffering to its uttermost. But we then have two dilemmas; one which states that God is longsuffering and wants none to perish (this is true), and the other which is a Bible that states that the whole world (minus those redeemed) would enter into a time of judgment for their unbelief. Thus we must deduce that God's longsuffering, in regards to a Christ-rejecting world, has an expiration date. So why should we think 2017 is any different or more special than 2011, 2007, 1999, 1988, etc.? Let's recap what we know: The significance of 2017:
I believe that trying to justify anyone single definition of a generation in the Bible is futile. There are several examples of how long a generation could be, thus I do not believe the Bible pins its definition to just one. We know that before the flood, and just afterward, people lived for centuries which would make the standard 25-40 year generation seem awfully short. Likewise, we know that in the ensuing time different cultures have varying life spans. Thus trying to determine the exact length of a generation is pointless. Well, how then can we know what Jesus was referring to in the "Parable of the Fig Tree" when He said this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place (Matt. 24:32-34)? Well, about the only thing we can discern from this comes from the above-underlined portion, which harkens back to the length of time God has given a man to live in our present age. The days of our lives are seventy years; And if by reason of strength they are eighty years, Yet their boast is only labor and sorrow; For it is soon cut off, and we fly away. Psalm 90:10 We know some folks live longer than 70 or 80 years, but there also many who do not even reach 70 years of age. I believe this is a general average for all mankind and still allows for exceptions. Psalm 90 was the only one Moses penned and he lived to be 120 years old (Deut. 34:7). But concerning 2017, there has been at least five different points that converge together at this particular year. Grouping them you have:
In fact, no other year has so many signs pointing to it that it could be confused for any other. No other combination works. This leads me to three points: the first by the angel Gabriel (to Daniel), the second by Jesus, and the third by the apostle Paul. Daniel The 70 Weeks Prophecy (as given to Daniel) would pinpoint the precise time period the Messiah would come to Israel by pointing out that He would be killed in the 483rd year (out of 490). This tells me two things:
Yet, only a handful of people were anticipating the Messiah's arrival at the correct time (Wise men from the east, Simeon, Anna the prophetess, and John the Baptist's parents). Jesus even remarked in Luke 19:41-44 that they (the Jews and Jerusalem) should have recognized their day (Palm Sunday) and that it was exactly 483 years to the day (173,880 days) since the recognizable commandment as was given to the cupbearer Nehemiah in his book, chapter 2. Jesus In His Olivet Discourse, Jesus explained that there would be 16 general signs marking the end of the age. Yet, these signs have been present in every generation. The distinction He makes is that they would escalate in size, frequency, and intensity until they reach a culmination point (i.e....birth pangs would not go on indefinitely). Then He gives an absolutely obvious, unmistakable sign that happens smack dab in the middle of the 70th Week (three and a half years into the seven years) which is known as the Abomination of Desolation (Matt. 24:15). So if we backward plan from the Abomination of Desolation would first require that a Jewish temple existed again. Remember He told them at the beginning of His Olivet Discourse that the Temple would be destroyed to the extent that not one stone would be left on the other (Matt. 23:37-24:2). For a Jewish temple to exist again requires that Jews are back in control of Jerusalem which had not been the case for 2,000 years. For Jews to control Jerusalem means that they would have to be back in their land as a sovereign Jewish nation. Clearly, the Arabs would not have any need or desire to rebuild a Jewish temple. Only Jews, in control of their land, would have the need and desire to rebuild a Jewish Temple. What they had lacked for the last 50 years, is the political will. But the interesting thing Jesus stated (this after chastising the Pharisees for not recognizing the signs of the times-Matt. 16:1-4), was that no man could know the day or hour (Matt. 24:36). He stated only the Father would know when He would send His Son back to earth to fetch the Church. We know this is in reference to the Rapture because once the Tribulation begins, it is clearly defined by two, three and a half year halves of 42 months or 1,260 days each (Daniel 7:5; Revelation 12:6, 14, 13:5). One could easily count down the time from either the covenant (Dan. 9:27) or the Abomination of Desolation (Matt. 24:15, 2 Thess. 2:4) to know when the Second Coming would occur. I believe because Jesus is being so specific here (day or hour) He is simply telling us that for two thousand years, mankind would not know the exactness of His return. It is not that we won't know, but that we couldn't know simply because this was all predicated on Israel being back in her land. With the exception of a certain Evangelicals and Dispensationalists of the 19th century, nobody expected Israel back as a nation again. Even then, these men didn't know that it would require two World Wars for that to become a reality. In light of that fact, Israel is now back in her land. Now that we can clearly see this means we should know the season of His return is at hand. I would wager to say that the late 19th and 20th centuries were the ramping up of birth pangs and we all know what follows birth pangs? The Birth of the Church at the Rapture (Romans 8:22-23, 28-30) Another thing to consider about those few Jews who read and anticipated Daniels 70 Weeks prophecy. They knew the Messiah would die in the 483rd year (of the 490 years per verse 9:26), but what they didn't know was how old the Messiah would be when He died. Even the Wise Men had to follow a Star (a cosmic sign) to Bethlehem. So while they did not know exactly when the Messiah would be alive, they had a general idea. (See Daniel 2 for why I hold that view on the Wise Men). So for the better part of 2000 years, men, women, scholars, teachers and everyone else has wondered...when will Jesus return? But the missing key to making this whole puzzle come unlocked was the nation of Israel. Without Israel back in her land, there could be no AoD, because there would not be a Jewish temple, which means that those aforementioned 16 general signs would have had no frame of reference by which to place them. We even have a saying now that coincides with this: WWI prepared the land (Israel) for the people (the Jews), and WWII prepared the people (the Jews) for the land (Israel). Without Israel, those general signs would have just kept flowing cyclically both waxing and waning according to Satan's schemes and agenda. Paul The last reference is to the apostle Paul. He explains the Rapture of the Church to the fledgling Thessalonian church and in doing so (remember they didn't have chapter breaks back in the original texts) he states that they needn't fear because they (we) would recognize the season. After the Rapture, there is immediately sudden destruction, and they (Non-believers) shall not escape. Read it all together. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words. But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. For when they say, "Peace and safety!" then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape. But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. 1 Thessalonians 4:16-5:5 I believe Paul believed that the Rapture of the Church would/could be imminent. He didn't know (or at least we are not told whether he knew) when exactly it would occur. In his 2nd letter to the Thessalonians, Paul does clarify that the Antichrist (son of perdition) could NOT come, until the Restrainer (the Holy Spirit) was taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed (2 Thess. 2:6-8). Just as the Holy Spirit existed and operated on the earth prior to the day of Pentecost, so too will He exist and operate post-Rapture. What changes is His role in sealing a particular group of people known as the Church (salt and light) who being neither Jew nor Gentile, but a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17). Conclusion Just as the Pharisees refused to walk the 5 miles from Jerusalem to Bethlehem to see this newborn King of the Jews (Matt. 2:1-12), so too are their modern day counterparts (the skeptical religious class) who are unwilling to recognize the signs of the time. They do so at their own peril (at a minimum is a loss of spiritual rewards) because they refuse to teach, watch, or listen to those who do wait for the Lords return (2 Peter 3:3-7). Will Christ return in 2017? I believe all signs point to yes making it a strong contender year, but that's just my opinion. Will my faith be shaken if He does not? No, because I know without a doubt we are in The Season, just not sure which season that means. Does Christ's return have to align with a Biblical Feast Date like Pentecost (Shavuot) or the Feast of Trumpets? From a historical and scriptural standpoint, it would seem logical...i.e., Christ fulfilled prophecies on the first four including the conception of the Church at Pentecost. But since I can't see into the future, I really do not know. Logically, given all the signs of convergence, it seems like a strong year to keep looking up. To answer a previous question, if Israel was the SUPERSIGN, why has He yet to return? I believe Galatians 4:4-5 answers that for us. When Jesus came the first time, it was at the fullness of times (Gal. 4:4-5). Since Rome was the world power in Christ's first century and they were the epitome of judicial law, regional order and stability (Pax Romana), military might, common language, accumulated knowledge, and so forth, that was God's definition of the fullness of times. I believe that God's longsuffering has been demonstrated quite thoroughly seeing that it is both 70 years since Israel become a nation again and 50 years since they've regained Jerusalem. Should the Lord tarry beyond 2017, all significance to the timing (see above) would move into the realm of random and arbitrary. This is not to say that God couldn't still extend the time though if He chooses. Fast forward to today, where mankind has dabbled and dominated in every domain of life to include playing God. The 20th century saw man break the sound barrier, walk on the moon, and built large hadron colliders. Communication went from messenger to telegraph, telephone, the internet, and satellite communication. Man has discovered and figured out how to sequence, alter, add, or subtract to his DNA and modern medicine continues to extend life beyond that which was prescribed to man. Man can control devices with his mind, create robots and is building artificial intelligence. I believe what we are witnessing now is the fullness of times once again, as foretold in Daniel 12:1-4...(keeping in mind Daniel was not told about the Church and the Church age was still a mystery). And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which stands for the children of your people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time your people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book. And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. And they that are wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars forever and ever. But you, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased. Russian Plan for Syria Places Iranian Military In the Golan - By Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz -
https://www.breakingisraelnews.com/87772/russian-plan-syria-places-iranian-military-golan/#KIO2RlPVI2sz1ozC.97 "Son of man, set your face toward Gog of the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him and say, 'Thus says the Lord GOD, "Behold, I am against you, O Gog, prince of Rosh, Meshech and Tubal".' " Ezekiel 38:2 (The Israel Bible™) Russian President Vladmir Putin's plan to set up Iranian Army officers as observers on the Israel-Syria border is even more audacious than first reported. If implemented, Putin's plan will establish the Golan as part of Syria, supervised by the Iranians, and it will become a no-fly zone for the Israeli Air Force (IAF) protected by advanced Russian anti-aircraft systems. Last week, Debka Files, an Israeli military intelligence website, reported that President Putin suggested to President Donald Trump that a solution for the Syrian crisis would be to establish "de-escalation zones" manned by Russian, Turkish, and Iranian military personnel. These would replace similar zones currently manned by US military personnel. Israel immediately responded by informing both the Russian and US government that "the Israeli government will on no account countenance an Iran military presence along its border". It became clear this week that the Russian plan is even worse than previously thought. The plan would, in fact, put Iranian military personnel inside the borders of Israel, ceding parts of the Golan to Syria. Debka Files reported the details: "A map released by the Russian foreign ministry Saturday of the four "safe zones" in Syria covers not only southern Syria but Quneitra and the Israeli Golan. The ceasefire in those zones is to be monitored by Russian, Iranian and Turkish army officers. They will also be no-fly zones, meaning that the Israeli air force will be barred from flying over its Golan enclave, should the Russian plan ever take off." The exact boundaries of these zones will be determined by the observation groups one month after setting up their observation posts. President Putin discussed the plan with President Trump last Tuesday, though it is unclear whether Trump gave his assent. The plan has a hidden aspect which is even more disturbing. General Qassem Suleiman, commander of Iranian forces in Syria and Iraq, recently reorganized the military structure of the troops in Syria. Under the new arrangement, the 8,000 Hezbollah troops currently fighting for Syrian President Bashar al Assad are now under Iranian command. If Putin's plan takes effect, Hezbollah troops could simply put on an Iranian uniform and act as ceasefire monitors in the "safe zones". Iran threatens to leave 'only Mecca and Medina' untouched if Saudi Arabia does something 'ignorant' -
http://www.independent.co.uk Comes after Saudi prince made unusually blunt comments in a nationally-televised interview Iran will hit back at most of Saudi Arabia with the exception of Islam's holiest places if the kingdom does anything "ignorant", Tehran's defense minister was quoted as saying on Sunday after a Saudi prince threatened to move the "battle" to Iran. "If the Saudis do anything ignorant, we will leave no area untouched except Mecca and Medina," Iranian Defense Minister Hossein Dehghan was quoted by the semi-official Tasnim news agency as saying. "They think they can do something because they have an air force," he added in an apparent reference to Yemen, where Saudi warplanes regularly attack Iran-aligned Houthi forces in control of the capital Sanaa. Dehghan, speaking to Arabic-language Al-Manar TV, was commenting on remarks by Saudi Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who said on Tuesday any contest for influence between the Sunni Muslim kingdom and the revolutionary Shi'ite theocracy ought to take place "inside Iran, not in Saudi Arabia". Saudi Arabia and Iran compete for influence in the Middle East and support rival groups in Syria's civil war. Iran denies Saudi accusations that it sends financial and sometimes armed support to groups hostile to Riyadh around the Arab world. In unusually blunt comments in a nationally-televised interview on Tuesday, Prince Mohammed ruled out any dialogue with Iran and pledged to protect his conservative kingdom from what he called Tehran's efforts to dominate the Muslim world. "We know that we are a main goal for the Iranian regime," he said. "We will not wait until the battle becomes in Saudi Arabia but we will work to have the battle in Iran rather than in Saudi Arabia." New ISIS mobile tactics against US in Syria, Iraq -
http://www.debka.com/article/26045/New-ISIS-mobile-tactics-against-US-in-Syria-Iraq It is important to get the spate of reported successes by US-backed forces fighting the Islamic State in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan in proper proportion - in particular, the impression that ISIS is falling back from its strongholds in Mosul and Raqqa and that its certain defeat is just around the corner. On Monday, May 8, it was disclosed that Sheikh Abdul Hasib, Islamic State commander in the Afghan province of Khorasan was killed in a raid on April 27 by US and Afghan special operations forces, in which two US Army Rangers lost their lives. All these reports are accurate as far as they go, but they don't take into account the upbeat sense prevailing in the ISIS command. The Islamic organization's strategists, former officers of Iraq's Saddam Hussein regime and Baath party, are confident they have found a convincing tactical answer to the American push for crushing them in Mosul. They don't believe they are close to defeat or that Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi's caliphate is anywhere near collapse. debkafile's intelligence and counterterrorism sources offer six reasons for the jihadists' confidence, which the Mosul battle has if anything solidified: 1. The numbers of ISIS fighters still fighting in the Old City of Mosul is seriously underestimated as 300-400 by American and Iraqi military sources. The true figure is ten times larger - 3,000-4,000. 2. The American and the Iraqi commands have not worked out how to counter the ISIS forces' device of connecting tunnels running under buildings, which are accessed through holes blown through the walls of attached buildings. The jihadists can therefore move around between battles unobserved. 3. The only force able to combat ISIS tactics is the Iraqi Gold Division, the one elite force available to the US-Iraqi command. It is not however large enough to fight in more than one arena at once and is, moreover, too slow-moving to overwhelm the swift, invisible ISIS fighters. Most other Iraqi army units have been withdrawn from the Mosul front after being decimated. 4. ISIS has given up the strategy of defending large urban areas, pursued early in its campaign of conquest in such places as Ramadi, Tikrit and Fallujah - and the start of its defense of Mosul. Instead, their commanders have split them up into small detachments of no more than 10-15 fighters each for commando and suicide raids against their adversaries. These detachments are supported by a large group well behind the front lines which is running assembly lines of booby-trapped cars for delivery to the commando detachments. Each is provided with more than a dozen explosive cars for release against Iraqi and US troops for maximum losses, as well plenty of exposive vests for multiple suicide attacks. 5. The effect of this tactic has been disastrous. Capable of penetrating as far as 10 km inside Iraqi lines, the deadly vehicles and suiciders have managed to slow the US-Iraqi advance and, in some places, brought it to a halt. The method has won the title of "crust mobile defense" from American commanders in Syria and Iraq In short, the Mosul offensive, estimated to last a couple of months, is going into its eighth month with no end in sight. A live example of this method was seen in Iraq Sunday, May 7, when at least five ISIS suicide bombers detonated their explosives vests against Kurdish Peshmerga forces outside the K1 base near the northern oil city of Kirkuk where US instructors are deployed. At least two Kurdish servicemen were killed. 6. High on the success of their tactics in Iraq, ISIS chiefs are duplicating it at the Raqqa battlefield in Syria. They have begun relocating their northern Syrian command centers to the eastern Deir ez-Zor region and Euphrates Valley, which straddles the Syrian-Iraqi border. The terrorist organization has selected the small desert town of Al-Mayadin east of Deir ez-Zor as the next seat for its central command, mainly because of its isolation. Only five roads access the town, most of them not fit for vehicular traffic and so any approaching enemy is quickly exposed. ISIS is now planning to post its "crust mobile defense system" squads along the 170km of road linking Al Mayadin to Raqqa. A Super-Surveillance System - By Daymond Duck - http://www.raptureready.com/2017/05/07/a-super-surveillance-system/
An interesting article by Jasper Hamil recently appeared on Technocracy News. It is titled "U.S. Navy Develops Robot Surveillance That's A 'Single Entity With Many Eyes.'" The article's content appears to be prophetically significant. The U.S. Navy has been given a grant of $1.7 million to researchers at Cornell University in order to develop a system of robots and drones that are loaded with surveillance cameras that can communicate with each other. The surveillance cameras on the ground will be able to communicate with other surveillance cameras on the ground. And those on the ground will also be able to communicate with those in the air. The cameras and drones in one area will be able to communicate with the cameras and drones in other areas. This will allow the systems on the ground and in the air to follow targets wherever they go. If a target leaves one area of surveillance and enters another area of surveillance, the robots and drones in the first area will communicate with the robots and drones in the second area-and the surveillance will continue to track the target. The robots and drones will have many cameras allowing them to watch multiple targets at the same time. Ultimately, every system of cameras will be connected to every other system of cameras so that it will eventually grow into a vast global system. And get this: The surveillance systems will communicate with each other "at the speed of light." The targets won't be able to move fast enough to escape their watchful eyes. Also, these interconnected surveillance systems won't only be for military use. They will also be for civilian use. By now students of Bible prophecy are probably saying to themselves, "That sounds like something the Antichrist will use." Yes is does. Give him access to a super-surveillance system that can track every step taken by everyone on earth at the speed of light, and everyone on earth will be in danger. Prophecy Plus Ministries, Inc. Daymond & Rachel Duck [email protected] Watchman Warning: The Trojan's New Horses
- By Hal Lindsey - http://www.hallindsey.com/ww-5-8-2017/ Is an American computer virus responsible for the many failed North Korean missile tests? In March, the New York Times reported, "Three years ago, President Barack Obama ordered Pentagon officials to step up their cyber and electronic strikes against North Korea's missile program in hopes of sabotaging test launches in their opening seconds." North Korea's missile program started with a surprising level of success. But in the last three years, whether caused by U.S. computer sabotage or not, they have had a stunning number of test launch failures. The experts say that North Korean scientists learn from every failure. While that's usually true, it may not be in this case. The scientists may already know the problem. It could be that their impetuous young "Supreme Leader," Kim Jung-un, is pressing too hard, not giving them the time needed to do the job. If that's the case, the question is not whether the scientists are learning the lesson, but is he? Kim might also be sabotaging himself in another way. He has a reputation for impromptu executions and imprisonments. He may be depleting the talent pool he needs in order to get his missiles working. President Obama's 2014 order for sabotaging missile tests involves techniques that are considered "left of launch." That means they start before the missiles leave the ground, or shortly after take-off. While bolstering missile defense systems in Alaska and California, President George W. Bush also used a "left of launch" approach in dealing with North Korea. He ordered that the supply chain of missile parts be sabotaged, so that the end product would be full of defects. Supply lines for rockets go back years. For instance, two minor mistakes caused Apollo 13's near catastrophe in 1970. Both mistakes happened years before the actual space flight. In other words, the recent test launch failures in North Korea might be attributable to presidential orders from Obama, Bush, or both. In the recent test failures, the North Koreans were trying to do something relatively simple. It's still rocket science, but launching a weapon from the Korean Peninsula to the Sea of Japan should be fairly routine. Many of North Korea's scientists once worked for the Soviet Union - a nation that put the first man in space, and had a long history of intercontinental ballistic missiles. Employing such knowledgeable people led to unprecedented success in the early stages of the North Korean program. Usually, missile technology testing shows improvement over time. But for the North, it's been a downhill slide, especially for the last few years. On the surface, this may seem heartening to Americans. But look a little deeper. Despite billions in defense spending, the United States is vulnerable to the same sort of mischief wreaking havoc in North Korea. No one has the cash to compete with the United States military budget, but writing computer viruses and trojan horses doesn't take much cash. It takes talent and desire. Computer scientists, software engineers, and hackers are cheap compared to aircraft carriers, cruise missiles, and high end military aircraft. Yet all of those big-ticket hardware items are vulnerable to computer scientists, software engineers, and hackers. A twenty-year-old with a knack for it, could conceivably disable a fleet. We live in a new era of warfare. The muscle of heavy artillery still has its place, but the computer code necessary for command and control of that artillery had better be bulletproof. The problem is, no one can ever know for certain that it is actually secure until it is successfully used. These facts should rip away the illusion that American military might makes it invulnerable to attack. The U.S. today is as invulnerable as the Titanic was unsinkable. But that's really always been true. Psalms 33:12 says, "Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord." (NASB) It was speaking primarily of Israel during the reign of King David, but the truth contained in those words applies to all peoples of all times - including the United States today. Psalms 127:1 says, "Unless the Lord guards the city, The watchman keeps awake in vain." (NASB) At any given moment, thousands of young men and women around the world stand watch for the United States of America. Many of them are a long way from home, doing jobs with far too little thanks. I can't tell you how much I appreciate each one. Yet, according to this scripture and others, if America does not turn to God, our warriors' heroic efforts will wind up being for nothing. These are the days to humble ourselves and pray. These are not the days for bragging celebrations, but for humility before the God who created all things. Daily Jot: The healthcare ruse - Bill Wilson - www.dailyjot.com
The House barely passed a bill last week touted as the end of socialist healthcare in America. The American Health Care Act now moves to the Senate where politicians are hopeful it will pass and then be signed into law by President Donald Trump. Those who have their party hats on and are about to celebrate the end of socialist healthcare in America, shouldn't be so quick to hand out party favors. The American Health Care Act is a replacement of socialist healthcare, not a repeal of it. Yes, it gets rid of most of the tax penalties for not participating, and it gives some tax credits to encourage participation, but it still is a socialist concept where the government has its nose in your private health business. This bill defunds Planned Parenthood-for a year. That's enough for all the pro-life politicians to say they voted to defund Planned Parenthood, the world's largest provider of abortions. But it's just for a year. And the way the abortion mill gets around the ban on tax-funded abortions is by separating out Planned Parenthood's abortion franchise from other so-called health services it ostensibly provides. Government funding after the year's delay can be given back to Planned Parenthood so long as the money doesn't directly go to performing abortions. One could argue convincingly, however, that any money going to Planned Parenthood assists them in performing abortions-just keeping the lights on helps them. While the replacement of socialist healthcare is a step in the right direction, the government should not be involved in mandating healthcare. It should be in the business of limited regulation for safety purposes, and it surely should regulate the drug companies for their massive campaigns of drug pushing and trying to disclaim their products by listing all the side effects-as if that should get them off the hook when people become even sicker after taking these drugs. If the government is concerned about 20 million people who can't afford health insurance, it should figure out a way to provide for that 5% of the population without taking over the industry. Which brings me to the point of the Church in America. When I was growing up in rural Ohio, before there was Medicare, Medicaid and health insurance for all, people were on their own. When they got sick or a tragedy occurred, our community, led by our community church, helped them-whether they were members or not. Then along came the government with welfare, healthcare, childcare and whatever other form of care. The churches seemed to gladly give up their responsibilities to the government. In that, a tremendous blessing of loving and caring for one another was mostly lost. Today, most of us don't even know who our neighbors are. In Matthew 25, Jesus taught the parable of feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, and visiting the sick. In Verse 40 he said, "Inasmuch as you have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, you have done it unto me." Just saying. Daily Devotion: A Power to Change the World - Greg Laurie - www.harvest.org
"But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." -Acts 1:8 I am always interested in last words, in knowing the last thing that someone said. Jesus was leaving. Prior to His ascension, He took the apostles to a mountain in Galilee, where He gave them marching orders for the church: "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." (Matthew 28:18-20) How would they pull this off from a human standpoint? They were in no way ready for such a task. There were still things they didn't understand. Their faith was weak. They had failed in their public witness and also in their private faith. After all, Simon Peter, their acknowledged leader, had openly denied the Lord. If Peter could be demoralized by the words of one woman, then how could he (and they) be expected to go into all the world and preach the gospel? How? They would do it with a power they had never known before, a power to change the world: "But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you" (Acts 1:8). It's power to be a witness . . . power to share your faith . . . power to turn your world upside down . . . power to do what God has called you to do. The same power that was poured out at Pentecost is available to us today. The Bible has promised a dimension of power for every believer who would ask for it from the Lord, to be a witness for Him. FROM THE HEART
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