Prophecy Update Newsletter
IN TODAY'S NEWSLETTER...
The Technological Tipping Point - By Matt Ward -
http://www.raptureready.com/2018/07/08/technological-tipping-point-matt-ward/ "Winston kept his back turned to the telescreen. It was safer, though, as he well knew, even a back can be revealing" (1984, George Orwell). It is no overstatement to say that we stand on the brink of a technological revolution that is going to change our world forever. This technological transformation is happening right now, and we will see significant change occur, not over the next couple of decades, but within the next couple of years. Very few people in today's busy world are aware of just how much their lives are about to change, and how unavoidable and irrevocable this change is going to be. The technological innovations described in this article are widely believed to be those that will occur in only the next five years, mostly by 2022. By the end of this year, 2018, it is estimated that up to 90% of all people in western countries will have truly unlimited and free mass data storage. Deleting files to make room for more because you lack storage capacity is a thing of the past. This is because hard drive costs per gigabyte continue to fall. This means more data than ever is now being created, and will be kept in perpetuity. Indeed, according to experts, 90% of all the data that has ever been created has been created in just the last two years. By 2021, the first robotic pharmacists will arrive in the US. AI and robotics will soon begin routinely taking over huge swathes of western domestic job markets, leaving mass unemployment as a by-product. In the short term, robotics and AI are going to decimate all service-oriented industries. Millions of people from all spheres of society will lose their jobs in the coming few years, all because of increased automation powered by ever more sophisticated Artificial Intelligence systems. Artificial Intelligence is no longer limited to just the assembly lines. Very soon, it is highly likely that all types of telemarketers, bookkeeping clerks, compensation and benefit managers, receptionists, couriers of all types, proofreaders, computer support assistants, marketing research analysts, salesmen and women, and drivers of all descriptions, are going to lose their jobs to automation augmented by AI. A workplace revolution is coming that none of us can escape from. Even in my own profession of teaching, it is widely believed that AI may replace qualified teachers in the coming decade or shortly thereafter. We are all going to be affected by the emergence of AI. So significant an impact will AI have on worldwide labour markets that Elon Musk, the CEO of Space-X and Tesla, believes that the only way to mitigate against the massive impact this will inevitably have, is for governments to provide a realistic living wage for every adult in society. Richard Branson agrees with him. The alternative, they argue, of millions of workers losing their jobs and with it any prospect of reemployment, all within the next decade or so, will be riots and even a breakdown in basic societal order. It is therefore essential, so their argument goes, that governments plan to mitigate against this approaching mass unemployment with a basic, universal living wage for all. By 2022, it is estimated that 1 trillion sensors from all across the globe will be connected to the internet. The world really is getting smaller and smaller, and our place to hide in it has almost disappeared. From the clothes that we all wear even down the ground that we walk on, it is all going to be connected to the internet, and soon. Developers argue that this will allow users to "fully perceive their environments." However, this also means that these same users will have every single facet of their lives, down to the frequency of brush strokes they use when they brush their teeth with their internet enabled toothbrushes, monitored, recorded and endlessly analyzed remotely. By 2022, it is estimated that fully 10% of the clothes we wear will be connected to the internet, from watches, rings and jewelry to the running shoes we work out in. All reporting on our movements, our activities and our lifestyles. Everything we wear, use and come into contact with will eventually be sending back information, via the internet, to a third party. By 2023, between 10-20% of reading glasses will be connected, in real time, to the internet. In theory, whoever is connected to these glasses will literally be able to see what you see, and be where you are. This will have a big impact in changing the way users interact with the world around them. Potentially it will allow users to access the internet at any time, and to call upon internet applications which would be optimized for enhanced or augmented reality-type experiences. 3D printing is going to revolutionize our society. 3D printers are becoming increasingly common, much more sophisticated and exceedingly powerful. Already a process used by many car companies, soon 3D printing will be used by almost everybody else, all of the time. Even guns are now being produced using 3D printing technology. Yet the impact of 3D printing technology will not be confined to the industrial sector; medicine will be transformed by 3D printing technology. The first transplant using a 3D printed liver is predicted to take place by the year 2024, and things like human bones, tissue and organs will be produced as a matter of normal practice via 3D printing within the next decade. Even horrific, life ending injuries will very soon be able to be treated using this type of rapidly advancing technology. Censuses are also coming to an end. It is not going to be necessary for our governments to collect information on us in the traditional way, using governmental records, as in the past. Our vast array of social media profiles and the plethora of growing information available on each of us via the internet will tell our governments everything they need to know about us and more. The increasingly sophisticated way it can be collected, managed and understood using "big data," means that governments will soon start to use developing "big data" technologies to gather information on its citizens in a much more informal, and some would argue, underhand way, without ever the need to contact you in person. Experts in this field believe that the first governments will begin replacing censuses with big data technology gathering techniques as soon as 2023. By that point, governments won't need censuses to tell them everything they need to know about you. Your records, online presence and your general interconnectivity to the internet will give them much more real time information on you than any census ever could. By 2023, scientists and sociologists believe that 80% of all the people on this planet will have some form of a digital presence, largely as a consequence of drastically increasing internet connectivity. According to a recently published report, "digital life is becoming inextricably linked with a person's physical life." So important is this digital online life that it is widely accepted that very soon a person in the very short term future will not be able to buy or sell if they do not have even a basic digital presence. They believe that this threshold may be reached at some point within the next five short years, by 2022. Cryptocurrencies and digital currency formats are also going to replace and make obsolete all hard cash. Cash in your pockets is a thing of the past. These digital currencies, which are based on mechanisms called block chains for their transactions, will likely be used by some western governments for the first time to collect taxes by 2022. Block chain technologies, essentially continually updated ledgers, will likely soon be expanded out to encompass and incorporate other very large government databases, like titles to lands and other forms of deeds, medical or criminal records and a plethora of other such data. Even phone records, emails and intercepted communications will be amalgamated to this data. The NASDAQ is about to begin using block chain technology to record its trading in securities companies. Block chain technologies will give anybody who wants to know anything about you access to almost any record regarding you and your life that they may wish for. And there will be no way to change or erase the data once it is uploaded to the continually updating and disseminated block chain. By 2023, 90% of the population will have a supercomputer in their back pockets. People now use their smartphones more than they use their laptops. In poorer, developing countries it is this ease of communication, brought about through cheaper and more accessible mobile phones, that is also accounting for increased access to the internet. Access to the internet itself is increasingly being seen as a basic human right, and this trend will only continue. Universal access to the internet is the holy grail. Big tech companies like Facebook and Google are racing to find the solution that will rapidly connect the other 4 billion potential users who will not have consistent access to the internet by this point. Very, very soon the whole world really will be as one digitally. Nobody will escape from it. I have written before about our increasing proximity to the Tribulation period: (1). Amazing change is going to occur within just the next half decade. We are now reaching a point in human history where almost everything we do, our habits, our preferences and biases, down to our associates, families, the properties we live in - all records about us anywhere and everywhere are going to be amalgamated, centralized and kept forever. Collectively we are creating every day more than 2.5 quintillion bytes of new data. That amount is set to rise exponentially over the next decade. At present much of that data is "dark data," meaning that it exists, but it is not being analyzed because it is too decentralized. Soon though, the means to analyze that data will become more widely available, and it will begin to be used against you. Of that there is no doubt. Big data analyzing technology will enable governments to take all the disparate and unintegrated systems and the data that currently exists on you with them, and standardize all that data into one single place for analysis and interpretation. Mass data technology means that we can never escape from what we have written, posted, emailed, what we have bought and from where, our loans, debts and paychecks, what we have messaged or WhatsApp'd. Every single piece of data that exists "out there" on us can and will soon be brought to bear against us. There is nowhere to hide. I could literally go on and on. All of this information, and myriads more still to come that you will carry on creating, give a very revealing picture of "you," and of who "you" really are. The governments of this world won't have to arrest you and bring you in for detailed questioning if you concern them, because the information about you will already be right there, stored and ready for analysis. It will tell them more than they would ever need to know about your motivations, your loves and loyalties, and ultimately, how they can or cannot trust you. Or whether you pose a threat to them. We know that it will be just these same types of technologies that the coming antichrist will bring to bear so effectively against all opposition, ultimately enslaving the whole world through them. I have said before that the technology revealed in Revelation is the technology of now. It is not the technology of circa 2040. The Tribulation isn't going to be in twenty years' time. The Tribulation is going to be soon. Really soon. We are about to reach a technological tipping point, one that nobody on this earth is going to escape from. Jesus must literally be standing right at the door. "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" (Revelation 13:16-17). http://www.raptureready.com/ 2015/06/10/proximity- tribulation-matt-ward/ [email protected] Top Iranian General: Islamic Army In Syria Awaiting Orders To Eradicate Israel - By Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz - http://www.prophecynewswatch.com/article.cfm?recent_news_id=2387 Hossein Salami, the vice commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, recently gave a speech full of threats aimed directly at Israel, referring to the Palestinians as Iran's main tool against their true enemy: the United States. "Seventy years have passed since the policy of England and America planted in the Islamic world an accursed and criminal tree [i.e. Israel]," Salami began, in the speech on Quds (Jerusalem) Day last month that was just translated by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI). "For 70 years, this poisoned dagger has been embedded in the body of the Islamic ummah, and all the problems of the Islamic world stem from the existence of the false, counterfeit, historically rootless, and identity-less regime named Israel." Salami gave the speech in the city of Mashhad to commemorate Quds Day, officially called International Quds Day, an annual event held on the last Friday of Ramadan that was initiated by Iran in 1979 to express support for the Palestinians and oppose Zionism and Israel. In his speech, he describes Israel as a tool, bringing the threat of the US into the heart of the Islamic world. "[Israel] brings the range of America's missiles against the Islamic world 12,000 kilometers closer, and becomes a tool for imposing America's policy against the Islamic world," Salami said. "[Ayatollah Khomeini] transformed the heart of Iran with the great [Islamic] Revolution, [and set] a new power against the evil of the arrogance [i.e. the U.S.], against the supporters of the Zionist regime, and against this regime itself." He emphasized that due to its size, Israel has no defense against the Iranian threat. "The Islamic Revolution created a mighty power called Hizbullah, that today, as the Zionist regime itself acknowledges, has over 100,000 missiles ready for launch," Salami said. "The Zionist regime has no strategic-defensive depth, and in some places, the breadth of this regime is barely 34 km, and in order to destroy it, it will take only one 'Jerusalem operation' to destroy it." During the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war, Iran referred to its operations against Iraq as "Jerusalem operations." Another such operation against Israel is imminent, Salami warned. "Today an international Islamic army has been formed in Syria, and the voices of the Muslims are heard near the Golan," Salami said. "Orders are awaited, so that the custom of God vis-à-vis the eradication of the evil regime [Israel] will land and the life of this regime will be ended for good. The life of the Zionist regime was never in danger as it is now." In his speech, Salami identified the Palestinians as Iran's primary weapon against its enemies. "Once, the Palestinians fought with stones and slingshots, but today they are armed with missiles," Salami said. "Every regime site is today under fire from the missile launchers. The farther and more deeply [we look], the more we see that there is a politically and militarily powerful regime in the world that raises the flag of fighting evil. This regime is Iran." Iran is considered the head of Shiite Islam. As such, Salami called on young Muslims around the world to join in fighting against Israel and the US. "Iran invites the Muslims to jihad, and the spirit of jihad today breathes in the body of the Muslim nations. The young Muslims who care are proud of fighting the Zionists, the Americans, and their allies, and becoming a martyr is an honor for them. This is our main might." Nearing Midnight: God's Case for Eternal Security Part II - Terry James - http://www.raptureready.com/category/nearing-midnight/ "For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame" (Jas. 6:4-6). Those who believe you can fall from grace (lose salvation once you are saved) often put forth that the above Scripture proves their case. They say the words "if they shall fall away" teaches there is the possibility of being saved, then falling away from salvation because of sinfulness. Yet, if the phrase, "if they shall fall away," proves the case that salvation can be lost through sinfulness once one is under the grace of God through Christ's shed blood on the cross of Calvary, how, then, can the person who falls away be restored through repentance? They ignore this Scripture's plain teaching that no one could, if he fell from grace, come back into the salvation fold. These same people usually believe in God's forgiveness of sin and that a sinner can be restored to the point of being resaved. Their use of this scripture to make their point that one can lose their salvation, therefore, makes no sense. What Hebrews 6: 4-6 teaches, of course, is that it is impossible to lose your salvation. The thing that must be considered here is whether one, if he then lives in sin, without any desire to repent, was ever a born-again believer. Paul wrote, "What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid" (Rom. 6:1-2). Eternal security is not license to sin without severe consequences. God will discipline His children. In some cases, the heavenly Father will call home His disobedient children who will not heed His corrective measures. The Bible truth about those who claim to be "Christians," yet who live "like the devil" with seemingly no consequences is: they are probably the children of another father -the Devil. John, the great apostle, through divine inspiration, spoke to this Bible truth: "They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would (no doubt) have continued with us: but (they went out), that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us" (1 Jn. 2:19). God's Unbreakable Seal Almighty God holds the saved within His all-powerful hand, Jesus said. It is stronger than any lamination process that could ever be devised. God's seal cannot be broken under any circumstances. Paul wrote about Jesus and those who truly believe in Him for their salvation: "In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory" (Eph. 1:13-14). Paul wrote that a believer should strive never to disappoint or grieve God. But in the next thought he assures that the believer is eternally secure, no matter what: "And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption" (Eph. 4:30). Christians Sin The Lord explained, through John, the relationship of the born-again child of God to his or her heavenly Father when it comes to the matter of sin: "If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1 Jn. 1:6-9). Some claim that once saved, a person can live in sinless perfection. Let's see what God says about this: "If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him" (1 Jn. 1:10-2:4). When Jesus Prays When the Lord Jesus prays, the heavenly Father ALWAYS grants His Son's prayer. Jesus prayed for the children of God -all children past, present, and future, saved through Christ's precious shed blood: "I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine. And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them...Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me. Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me. And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them (Jn. 17: 9-10; 20-26). Paul wrote extensively about his own sinfulness -and he meant the sin he committed after his Damascus Road experience. He was saved, yet sinned, much to his sorrowful remorse. Read Romans 7, beginning with verse 14. He then wrote the following, telling us that we live above sin because we are seen by the heavenly Father through Christ Jesus, not through our flesh: "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you. Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together" (Rom. 8:1-17). Jesus is the One who makes us free. If we are free in Him, we are free indeed! Eternally! The Eastern Gate in Prophecy - Joel - http://www.christianevidence.net/2018/07/the-eastern-gate-in-prophecy.html "And the glory of the LORD came into the temple by way of the gate which faces toward the east." (Ezekiel 43:4) Approximately 2,600 years ago, the prophet Ezekiel was given a vision of the Glorious Appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ (Ezekiel 10:18-19; 11:23; 43:1-5; 44:1-2; 46:12). In Ezekiel 43, we read: "Afterward he brought me to the gate, even the gate that looketh toward the east: And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east: and his voice was like a noise of many waters: and the earth shined with his glory. And it was according to the appearance of the vision which I saw, even according to the vision that I saw when I came to destroy the city: and the visions were like the vision that I saw by the river Chebar; and I fell upon my face. And the glory of the LORD came into the house by the way of the gate whose prospect is toward the east." (Ezekiel 43:1-4) It seems reasonable to suggest that Jesus Christ will enter the Temple Mount via the Eastern gate in one of the most momentous events in the history of mankind (the Second Coming)! The Eastern Gate The Eastern Gate (also known as the Golden Gate) is one of eight gates built into the walls which surround the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. The Eastern Gate provides the only entrance from the East, and it is also the only gate that gives the most direct access to the temple mount. The Eastern Gate was destroyed during the Roman conquest of Jerusalem, and the subsequent destruction of the Temple in A.D. 70, thus fulfilling Christ's prophecy that "not one stone will be left on top of another" (Matthew 24:2). But sometime in the sixth or seventh century, the Byzantines rebuilt the Eastern Gate making it the oldest of all the gates to the city. In 1969, Jerusalem archaeologist James Fleming confirmed that the ancient gate is located right under the current Eastern Gate. While investigating the Eastern wall of the Temple, he suddenly fell into a mass burial site and clearly saw five large wedge-shaped stones set into a massive arch. The Eastern Gate was sealed shut, with fifteen feet of cement, in AD 1540-41 by order of Suleiman the Magnificent, a sultan of the Ottoman Empire. The reasons for this remain unclear, however, it is likely that the Muslim Suleiman became aware of the prophecies which predicted the Messiah's entrance through the Eastern Gate and, as a result, attempted to thwart the Messiah's plans. And just in case a sealed entrance didn't thwart the Messiah's coming, Muslims even built a cemetery directly in front of the gate, thinking that a Jewish Holy man would never defile himself by walking through a Muslim cemetery. However, little did they know, they were fulfilling prophecy by doing this. Ezekiel prophesied the shutting of this gate itself around 600 BC, more than 2100 years before Suleiman actually shut the gate: "Then He brought me back to the outer gate of the sanctuary which faces toward the east, but it was shut. And the LORD said to me, "This gate shall be shut; it shall not be opened, and no man shall enter by it, because the LORD God of Israel has entered by it; therefore it shall be shut." (Ezekiel 44:1-2) There are eight gates in modern Jerusalem, but only seven are open. The Eastern Gate, and it alone, has remained sealed just as the Lord proclaimed to Ezekiel over 2,600 years ago! It is a miracle how the Eastern Gate has survived for nearly 500 years of turmoil in Israel, and in spite of numerous well-documented attempts to open it. Four times in the last century an attempt to open the sealed Eastern Gate has failed... The first attempt was on December 9th 1917 during the Battle of Jerusalem. Muslim leaders in control of Jerusalem wanted all, but one, of the gates in Jerusalem sealed to deter the approaching allied Expeditionary Army led by the British General Allenby. The one gate chosen to remain open just so happened to be the Eastern Gate. On the exact day the workmen were preparing to demolish the mysterious sealed gate, Allenby's airplane flew over the city, telling the Arabs to flee. Miraculously, without a shot being fired, the opposing soldiers fled the city. The city was delivered into the hands of the Britain, and the gate remained sealed as Ezekiel had prophesied. A second attempt was in 1967. King Hussein of Jordan, who had control over the ancient city of Jerusalem, including the Temple Mount, decided to build a hotel for Arab pilgrims on a section of the Western Wall to close off the area to Jewish worship forever. The hotel was planned to be built over the Magreb Gate, which Moslems used to enter the Temple Mount. This meant another gate would have to be opened so that Moslems could still get to the El Aksa Mosque (on the site of the Jewish Temple Mount). King Hussein chose to open the sealed Eastern Gate. But, on June 5th of 1967, as the workmen prepared their air-hammers to shatter the huge stones sealing the Eastern Gate, an intimidating array of Israeli aircraft flew overhead. The Six Day War had begun, and the workmen put down their tools. At the end of the Six Day War, the workmen were unable to resume their project because the Jews had managed to recapture their ancient capital of Jerusalem. What a coincidence! There was another failed attempt around this same time. When the Six Day War first broke out, some members of the Jewish military suggested catching the Jordanian defenders of the city off guard by blowing open the sealed Eastern Gate. But the leader of the group, an Orthodox Jew, had vehemently protested the idea, stating that "the Eastern Gate can be opened only when the Messiah comes." After a heated debate, they launched an attack at the Lion's Gate instead. Back in October 31 of 1997 the Denver Post had an extraordinary news item which headlined "Israel plans to alter wall." Here is an excerpt from the article: "Israel's Housing Ministry wants to reopen a sealed gate in the wall ringing Jerusalem's Old City...The plan to break through the 15-foot-thick stone wall - part of a project to build up the Jewish 'Quarter and increase its population - also is likely to anger the Palestinians, who oppose any changes in Jerusalem's eastern sector." Whatever came of this plan is unknown, but today, true to Ezekiel's prophecy, the Eastern Gate remains sealed. The gate will remain sealed until the day when the promised Messiah will enter into His Kingdom. Its sealing is clear evidence that we are living in the end times, and given the amazing accuracy of this prophecy, we have no reason to doubt it will remain shut until the return of the Lord as this prophecy reaches its fulfillment. "Lift up your heads, O you gates! And be lifted up, you everlasting doors! And the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, O you gates! Lift up, you everlasting doors! And the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts, He is the King of glory. Selah" (Psalm 24:7-10) Daily Jot: No time to sit back - Bill Wilson - www.dailyjot.com As the mainstream media continues its quest to undermine the current President, and the deep-state and Democratic Party work overtime to tarnish all things that do not agree with their godless, globalist agenda, this is no time to sit back and breathe easy. Mid-term elections will be upon us sooner than you think. While the president's party traditionally loses Congressional seats during mid-term elections, this fall's elections are more important than ever. The opposition spews forth words like impeachment, and want to stall judicial appointments. This is no time to disengage. The last election demonstrated the power of the Christian vote. Christ is the answer to this dark and dying world, and you are his vessel. You have a calling. And much bad doctrine has been taught about this. The Holy Scriptures say in Romans 8:28 "that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose." It's not your purpose, but "HIS" purpose. Romans 11:29 says that "the gifts and calling of God are unchangeable." So when people are saying that you have to find your calling, it is really understanding that you are called "not according to our works, but according to his own purpose (2 Timothy 1:9)." Christ is our example. He is the way the truth and the life. He showed us how to engage according to his purpose. It takes courage to conduct Christ's purpose in this world, in this country today. Psalm 31:24 says, "Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all you that hope in the LORD." As Christians, our hope is in the Lord. We are to be ever watching for his return. As Galatians 6:9 says, "And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not." And Jesus promises in Matthew 10:22, "And you shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he that endures to the end shall be saved." We, as Christians, are not to stand by and allow evil to advance just because we have read the end of the book and we win. We are to not be overcome with evil, but to overcome evil with good. The Lord says to be of good courage and that his gifts will never change--you are equipped. 2 Timothy 1:7 says, "For God has not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind." We are reminded that it isn't easy in 2 Corinthians 4:8,9: "We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed..." Verse 6 tells us, "For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." We should not fear man. Man cannot take our soul. So we need to take heart during these times. Have courage. Put on the full armor of God and speak boldly as we ought to speak. And having done all, stand. Daily Devotion: The Purpose of Hardship - By Greg Laurie - www.harvest.org My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. -James 1:2-4 I have a little bird feeder hanging outside of our kitchen, where I like to watch the little birds come and get their birdseed. We have invited them. They're our guests. But then there are birds that don't ask to be invited. They just come and take what they want. They're called seagulls. In the parable of the sower, Jesus talked about a sower who went out and scattered seed, some of which fell on the roadside, and the birds came and ate it. Like those birds, Satan comes immediately to take away the Word that is sown in our hearts. The apostle Paul wrote to the Thessalonian church, "Therefore we wanted to come to you-even I, Paul, time and again-but Satan hindered us" (1 Thessalonians 2:18 NKJV). Satan wants to stop us. Paul also talked about having the glorious privilege of going to Heaven. He said, "I was caught up to paradise and heard things so astounding that they cannot be expressed in words, things no human is allowed to tell" (2 Corinthians 12:4 NLT). Then he was called back to Earth to live out his life. He said, "To keep me from becoming proud, I was given a thorn in my flesh. . . . Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away" (verses 7, 8 NLT). One reason God allows us to go through hardship is to keep us close to Him. Another reason is to strengthen us. James 1:3 says, "For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow" (NLT). Know this: God will never give you more than you can handle. When God allows His children to go through fiery trials, He always keeps one eye on us and one finger on the thermostat. 
FROM THE HEART
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