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Prophecy Update Newsletter
August 10, 2016
IN TODAY'S NEWSLETTER...
Coincidence or Providence? - By Gene Lawley - http://raptureready.com/featured/lawley/lawley119.html
How is it that things happen, sometimes, that are so unique we can hardly believe it? We call them "happenstances" or coincidences, but how much of that kind of thing is really a providential doing of God If we read Psalm 139 closely we will find that God knows the very intimate details of our lives, even our thoughts before we think them. And He has our lives laid out for us in His eternal playbook. Reflect on that Scripture: "O Lord, You have searched me and known me. You know my sitting down and my rising up; You understand my thought afar off. You comprehend my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word on my tongue, but behold, O Lord, You know it altogether. You have hedged me behind and before, and laid Your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain it. Where can I go from Your Spirit, or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend into heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there Your hand shall lead me, and Your right hand shall hold me. If I say, 'Surely the darkness shall fall on me,' even the night shall be light about me. Indeed, the darkness shall not hide from You, but the night shines as the day; the darkness and the light are both alike to You" (Psalm 139:1-12). We could stop here and our daily devotional would be rich and exciting and fantastic! But this next part tells us almost more than we can wrap our hearts and minds around-He was right there when our very lives began-at conception! Read on: "For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well. My frame was not hidden from You when I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them. How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand; When I awake, I am still with You" (Psalm 139:13-18). Paul sums it up in a brief statement to the worshippers to their "Unknown God" at Mars Hill: "For in Him we live and move and have our being..." (Acts 17:28). (There are many questions of why things happen to certain people, especially close loved ones-are those coincidences or did God allow them, and if so, why? This article is not intended to deal with those kinds of issues at this point.) A personal note: When my wife, Marge, passed away last January 21, 2016, I was made aware like never before that this physical world in which we live and enjoy, or endure, with our five senses is not a permanent place, even in itself. That spiritual place we know now by faith is the permanent one. This one has a time limit waiting for God's "appointed time." But this God of eternity is a Spirit who now has a body, that risen body of Jesus Christ. And John writes this to tell us how it will be for believers there, in that place: "Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure" (1 John 3:2-3). With that background, let's look at some "coincidental providences" found in the Bible. In the lineage of Jesus Christ recorded in Luke 3:37, we see that Enoch, the son of Jared, fathered a son that he named Methuselah. Bible commentators have determined that the meaning of this man's name is that when he dies, the flood of Noah would begin. Methuselah lived 969 years, longer than any other person recorded in the Bible. A bit of digging online turned up a reference that gives the meaning as, "when he is dead, it shall be sent." (See also Genesis 5:18-27). Was it just a coincidence that 969 years before the flood began that a man would be named by that meaning to his name? Or, was it providential? In Genesis 22 is the account of Abraham being tested by God regarding the sacrifice of his son Isaac. The last recorded words between the two of them, Abraham and Isaac, were these: "Then he [Isaac] said, 'Look, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?'And Abraham said, 'My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering'" (Genesis 22:7b-8). Note that the wood for the sacrifice was laid on the back of Isaac to carry to the place of sacrifice. Does this not picture a future, like situation? The account continues with the Angel of the Lord calling out to stop Abraham from taking the life of Isaac, and a ram was seen struggling in a thicket nearby. It became the lamb for the sacrifice. But no further mention is made of Isaac. Abraham returns to his two servants and they return home. It is as if Isaac is no longer with them. Yet, in chapter 27, Abraham sends his servant back to his relatives in his old home place to find a wife for Isaac. And as the servant and Rebecca came into view in the distance on their return, Isaac goes to meet his bride and takes her to their wedding. Was this a blimp in the narrative where Moses, the recorder, just left out some details as insignificant, or forgot them? Maybe he was called away and distracted by some need of the Hebrew people. It was Just a coincidence? Or is it a providence of God to reveal a future plan of His to provide the true Lamb of God, who would take away the sins of the world, as John the Baptist declared (John 1:29). (And, he says "the sins of the world," not just the select few who would believe. Atonement is available only for those who believe, but Christ died for all and cannot be accused of failing to make salvation available for anyone.) The episode is a portrayal of Christ's sacrifice (it was on that same mountain years later), when He carried His own cross on his back for the sacrifice. Then, He rose from the grave and later ascended into heaven, not physically present with His disciples, just as the assumed absence of Isaac, until that time when God will send His Son to meet His bride in the clouds, as described in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17. Certainly it is a providential portrayal of that coming event called the Rapture. To those who declare that there is no such thing to be expected, what other picture does this account show us? When Isaac was giving his blessing to each of his sons, he said this of Judah, "The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh comes, and to Him shall be the obedience of the people" (Genesis 49:10). A scepter indicates kingship, and here, it tells us that the lineage of kings in Israel would be from the tribe of Judah. Later on, when Samuel was God's prophet and judge over Israel, the people saw that Samuel's sons were not righteous men and could not follow him as judge, they demanded that Samuel find them a king, "like the kings their neighbors had." The narrative of that ordeal is recorded in 1 Samuel 8, where Samuel went out and with the Lord's direction, found a man who was tall and handsome, just like the people wanted, and Samuel anointed him to be the first king of Israel (in the physical sense). The problem was, though, that Saul was of the tribe of Benjamin, not Judah. Now, was that just a coincidence, or providence? Saul was everything that the people wanted, but he was not God's choice. He was not of the tribe of Judah because that lineage had been chosen by God for the coming lineup of kings, and David, the son of Jesse, was to be the first king, just as it turned out when Saul showed his true colors. It was providential that God did not allow man's choices to pollute His preconceived plan. Again, we can see in this that "flesh and blood" can have no input to the plans of God. He doesn't ask mankind for advice on His plans-they were put in place before time began! It is like He told Peter in Matthew 16, where Peter was voicing the cause of Satan, and Jesus said to him, "You get behind Me, Satan, for you do not savor the things of God but the things of men!" Cyrus the Great of Persia lived during the years 576 to 530 BC, according to secular records, yet Isiah the prophet wrote of him by name in the years of his ministry, 740 to 700 BC, naming him as a future ruler: "Who says of Cyrus, 'He is My shepherd, And he shall perform all My pleasure, Saying to Jerusalem, 'You shall be built,' And to the temple, 'Your foundation shall be laid'" (Isaiah 44:28). He was the ruler who allowed Ezra to restore Jerusalem and the temple, and Ezra was written in the period of 536 to 456 BC. The decree of Cyrus that allowed Ezra to carry out his purpose was made at the beginning of this period. So, is it a coincidence that Isaiah wrote of Cyrus about two hundred years before he came on the scene, or is it providential? Does God have foreknowledge capability? How coincidental was it that four blood-red moon eclipses appeared in 2014 and again in 2015 on the exact dates of the first and last of the seven feasts of the Lord that are on the Hebrew calendar since God gave them to Moses to record in Leviticus 23? Those feasts or festivals of Passover and Tabernacles so identified with those moon eclipses that they appear as parentheses to remind us of the combined message of God's plan for the age of the Gentiles, the "times of the Gentiles" that are to be fulfilled when Jesus returns for His church (Luke 21:24, Acts 15:14, Romans 11:25). NASA reports that they were not visible in Israel until only briefly at the very end in 2015. Since lunar signs are directed to the Hebrew people, it may well be a message to those not yet returned to Israel that God's time for them has come to pass, that the times of the Gentiles has come close to its fullness. Certainly the time is short. Secular activities in the progress of the global elite for a New World Order were highlighted recently when President Obama remarked during his speech at the Annual Correspondents Dinner in Washington, D.C., saying, "The end of the Republic has never looked better!" It looks as though that inner core of high-level conspirators in the D.C. Establishment are getting ready to pull the plug that has held America's sovereignty in place for over 200 years, the rule of the Constitution. As I have noted several times in prior articles, Henry Kissinger, who seems to be the kingpin of that inner core group, exclaimed rather gleefully how Obama had been "primed to lead us into a New World Order," as he rejoiced in the 2008 election results. However, the God of providences is always well ahead of Man's evil considerations. He is the One who puts people in positions of leadership and control that they might accomplish His purposes of bringing people to repentance and judgment. Psalm 75:6-8 tells us this: "For exaltation comes neither from the east nor from the west nor from the south. But God is the Judge: He puts down one and exalts another, for in the hand of the Lord there is a cup, and the wine is red; it is fully mixed, and He pours it out. Surely its dregs shall all the wicked of the earth drain and drink down." The "turn of a word or phrase or action" can be the lighted fuse for an explosive event, like the first shot fired at Fort Sumter that marks the beginning of the Civil War. Or, that exclamation noted in Paul's writing of 1 Thessalonians 5:2-3, "when they shall say, 'Peace and safety,' then sudden destruction will come upon them." The connection of that statement with the prophetic declaration in Daniel 9:27 that a confirmation of a covenant will be signed by that coming man of sin-the Antichrist-withmany, for a seven-year period cannot be discarded as meaningless because of its timing forboth situations. That seven year period will allow the Jews to rebuild their temple, because that promoter of a false peace will forcibly abort the agreement, cancel the temple sacrifices, enter the temple, and declare himself as God. This brings us to a final consideration of a possible coincidence or providence. Could it be that God has drawn our attention to Paul's declaration in 1 Corinthians 15:52, "in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump," through the entrance of Donald Trump into the secular presidential campaign? Why did the translators of the original and authorized King James versions use "trump" instead of "trumpet" in that verse? It seems to be the only translation that differs from other versions in that regard. Paul's description of the Rapture in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 also uses "trump" instead of "trumpet" in those King James versions. Having seen how God has repeatedly shown His hand in secular history parallel with world events, does the Trump phenomenon have an equal weight on the awareness scale as does that statement of Obama at the Correspondents' Dinner on April 30, "The end of the Republic has never looked better."? When Jesus promised believers that the Comforter would come when He departed, He said that One, the Holy Spirit, would lead us into all truth and "show us things to come" (John 16:13). Is this one of those "things to come?" Contact email: [email protected] 
Why This Group, Not ISIS, Remains Israel's Biggest Terror Threat - Julie Stahl - http://www1.cbn.com/cbnnews/israel/2016/august/why-this-group-not-isis-remains-israels-biggest-terror-threat
For more than two years, the world has focused its attention on ISIS as a common enemy. Other threats and conflicts have almost taken a back seat given the terror group's growth and barbaric attacks. But Israel, meanwhile, remains on edge because ISIS joins an already long list of enemies dedicated to its destruction. That list includes Hezbollah in Lebanon, which went to war with Israel 10 years ago and could attack again at any moment. For the Jewish state, this enemy to the north remains the most dangerous foe on Israel's borders. Preparing for Anything Recently, Israeli Defense Forces reservists participated in a training exercise along the beach in northern Israel to practice preventing infiltration attempts. Reserve IDF Col. Zvika Halperin is a home front commander responsible for the Western Galilee -- an area with a population of 600,000. He was in charge of the exercise. "We are training for a number of scenarios, scenarios where they're (the enemy) coming from the sea, air and land," Halperin told CBN News. "We're training the authorities for emergency situations, dangerous substance events, events where missiles fall, also from Lebanon, also from Syria, infiltrations of all kinds of forces," Halperin said. Israel's Most Powerful Enemy Middle East expert Jonathan Spyer said the Lebanese-based, Iranian proxy Hezbollah is most powerful terrorist enemy of Israel. "Hezbollah is vastly more powerful than in terms of its core military capabilities - its missiles, its rockets, its ground forces - than are any of the other Islamist militias, which also wish Israel harm," Spyer said. "So Hezbollah remains the, you know, by far the main threat." Ten years ago Hezbollah crossed the border, attacking and killing 10 Israeli soldiers and holding the bodies of two of them hostage for years. The incident sparked a war lasting 34 days. Spyer, who fought in a tank unit, told CBN News Israel wasn't prepared. "Many units, infantry units, armored units, went into the war having not trained adequately in the previous years because they've been very busy fighting that insurgency in the West Bank and in Gaza," Spyer explained. Hezbollah launched more than 4,000 missiles and rockets at northern Israel, at the rate of more than 100 per day. That put a million Israeli civilians within range. Flashback to 2006 Near the war's end, CBN founder Pat Robertson traveled to Israel's northern border and spoke with then IDF Ground Forces Commander Gen. Benny Gantz. "It sounds strange that [it's] the year 2006 and people still think they can destroy Israel as a people and as a nation," Gantz told Robertson then. "They can't do it," Robertson replied. "They are the overreach of [former Iranian President Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad, who simply talks about destroying the Jewish people, complaining to the Germans why they didn't finish [the job] in the Second World War," Gantz said. "Will you finish it so that they [Hezbollah] cease to be a significant force in Lebanon? Are you going to have to stop partway?" Robertson asked. "We'll have to consider it operationally speaking. And there are two issues. One is the political level. They have to decide what they want to do - coordinated with the international committee and stuff," Gantz said. "Operationally speaking we know how to stay on the ground, how to move. I hope we won't get into a situation that we are stuck in one point," he continued. Hezbollah Stronger than Ever Since then, the situation has worsened. A re-fortified Hezbollah appears stronger than ever and still wants to finish Israel off. "We're talking about over 100,000 missiles that they have in southern Lebanon, ready to be launched to Israel," said security expert retired IDF Col. Kobe Marom. "We estimate that any conflict in the future 1,500 missiles a day will be launched here. That's a real threat." Marom says Israel knows the missile locations but in any future conflict, they will face challenges in attacking Hezbollah. "They built their bunkers, tunnels and missile sites under the civilian population - under hospitals, under U.N. positions, under schools because they know when the pictures of the civilian death come to the people in New York City, Paris and London, the game is over," Marom told CBN News. "That's why they use the life of their people in their struggle against Israel. That's the reality today in Lebanon," he said. Marom says Hezbollah has obtained better technology and longer-range missiles that can reach all of Israel. Plus their numbers have grown from 7,000 terrorists to more than 40,000. Spyer said that's not all. "They're also gaining a great deal of experience in areas of combat they didn't know about before, fighting in unfamiliar areas, fighting in urban settings, not stuff they'd done before," he said. Saved by the Syrian War? Spyer told CBN News that although Hezbollah is stronger, it's distracted by the war in Syria. "They are now bogged down in a very different war, not a war that they ever wanted, that's the war to protect Bashar Assad's regime - Assad's regime in Syria," he said. Iran and Hezbollah support Assad because his country helps Iranian weapons make it to Lebanon. "The bottom line is for as long as the Syrian war continues, it is extremely unlikely that Hezbollah will be able to afford itself the luxury, so to speak, of hitting on Israel and opening up a second front against an enemy, you know, vastly more powerful than the Syrian rebels," Spyer said. Spyer says fortunately Israel is also better prepared. "I think the army underwent a change of focus following the 2006 war, understanding that Hezbollah is an enemy of a different nature, that Hezbollah is the main ground threat to Israel today and that that requires an army, you know, effective and able to respond to them," he said. And as long as Israel is not fighting in any regional conflicts, Spyer says the main goal will be to keep its borders safe and prepare to take on any invaders. 
Russia's Rising Empire - Tom Rogan - http://www.nationalreview.com/article/438793/putin-obama-russian-empire-expands-america-passive
While Obama plays 'peacemaker' with Iran, Putin is pursuing imperial aims. Last Tuesday, President Obama admitted the difficult state of U.S.-Russian relations. "But, it's not going to stop us from still trying to pursue solutions so that we can, for example, implement the Minsk Agreement and get Russia and those separatists to lay down arms and stop bullying Ukraine," the president added. That difficulty, he said, is "not going to stop us from trying to make sure that we can bring a political transition inside of Syria that can end the hardship there." He was obviously deluded in his optimism. One week later, the world proves why. In Ukraine, Russian forces and their proxies are preparing a new offensive, probably focused against the coastal city of Mariupol. In Syria, Russia's slaughter of civilians rumbles on. Its intent remains the same: blackmailing Obama into accepting Russia's pro-Assad "peace" plan. And in another Balkan adventure, Russia is planning new military exercises with Serbia. It is doing so under an explicit ethno-nationalist narrative. Witnessing all this, we would be wrong to assume - as the White House does - that President Putin pursues disruption for its own sake. Instead, the Russian leader is taking deliberate steps in his longstanding imperial grand strategy to reshape international order. He's succeeding. For a start, contemplate Putin's growing success in bringing U.S. allies under his dominion. President Erdogan of Turkey offers the best example here. Erdogan recently accepted Russian hegemony in Syria after losing faith in American efforts to remove Assad. But now, as Erdogan's authoritarianism grows, he wants partners who will accept his excesses. Enter Vladimir Putin, making a show in Saint Petersburg this week of his hospitality to Erdogan. Putin offers the Turkish leader a new beginning, all while bringing his leash over a key NATO member - a NATO member, by the way, that controls whether ISIS cells can enter Europe. That's relevant because Putin is betting that ISIS attacks in Europe will force the West to accept Assad in return for Russian support in destroying ISIS. Next, consider Saudi Arabia's new embrace of Russia. Saudi Arabia sees the Iran nuclear deal as a profound betrayal and also looks askance at the Obama administration's weakness in Syria. The Saudis have lost faith in U.S. leadership. To former KGB operative Putin, this is blood in the water. Obama imagines that the Iran deal will earn him a laudatory "peacemaker" exhibit in his presidential library, but Putin has far greater ambitions: He will use Saudi fear over the nuclear deal to turn the House of Saud into a submissive client regime. Recent pro-Moscow statements by the traditionally pro-U.S. Saudi foreign minister, Adel al-Jubeir, illustrate Putin's success. The Saudis know that Putin cannot be trusted, but they believe the U.S. can be trusted even less. These developments are a strategic calamity for the United States. Instead of sidelining Wahhabi extremists and diversifying its economy, the House of Saud will now double down on fear of modernity. That means more social stagnation and more Islamic extremism. Putin wants it that way. As Iran grows more powerful and as oil prices decline - thus reducing the subsidies available to placate its young population - the kingdom will retreat into sectarian terrorism. Even then, this is only the tip of the iceberg. Russia's cooperation with China is growing on all fronts. Motivated by imperial objectives, both the bear and the dragon are working to overturn the U.S.-led international order. And be under no illusions, they are succeeding: Just look at the influence China has won over the U.K. government by offering Britain multi-billion-dollar investments via trade agreements and the Asia Investment and Infrastructure Bank. It's imperative that the United States reassert leadership - and soon. America's next president must strengthen NATO while requiring our allies to get serious about defense spending. He or she must ignore Chinese and Pakistani complaints and prioritize stronger U.S.-India relations to counterbalance China and Russia. Most of all, the 45th president must reestablish American credibility. The world must understand that when an American president says we will do something, or that we believe in something, we mean it and it will be so. Absent that principle, as the last eight years prove, the world becomes less safe, less just, and less free. 
Obama, Clinton and the power of mendacity - Caroline B. Glick - http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Obama-Clinton-and-the-power-of-mendacity-463680
According to the FBI, Clinton's private server was less secure than a Gmail account... there is every reason to believe that Clinton's email server was hacked by hostile foreign intelligence services Over the weekend, the Iranian regime unexpectedly announced it executed its former nuclear scientist Shahram Amiri. As reports of Amiri's demise make clear, former secretary of state Hillary Clinton may very well be partially to blame for his death. Amiri spent several months in the US between 2009 and 2010, when he returned to Iran. Then-secretary of state Hillary Clinton claimed at the time that Amiri came to the US willingly. US government sources told the media that Amiri, who worked on Iran's nuclear program, was a longstanding US intelligence agent. Amiri, they said, received $5 million for his information. He left the funds in the US when he returned to Iran. For his part, Amiri claimed he was kidnapped by US officials during a religious pilgrimage to Medina and brought to the US against his will. Amiri alleged that he was tortured during his time in the US, but that he refused to betray his country. During his time in the US, the regime reportedly threatened to harm Amiri's young son, who remained behind in Iran with Amiri's wife. In July 2010, Amiri went to the Iranian interest section of the Pakistani embassy in Washington and asked to be repatriated. Amiri received a hero's welcome upon arriving in Iran. He was later sentenced to 10 years in prison for traveling to the US. He had served five years of his sentence when he was charged in a secret trial for espionage, found guilty and hanged. It is impossible to know what caused the Iranians to suddenly execute Amiri. But if the Iranians had harbored doubts regarding whether Amiri or Clinton were telling the truth about his arrival in the US, those doubts were dispelled last summer with the publication of Clinton's emails. Two of those emails outed Amiri as a US agent. In one, sent to Clinton nine days before Amiri turned himself over to Iranian authorities, Richard Morningstar, a former State Department special envoy informed Clinton, "We have a diplomatic, 'psychological' issue, not a legal one. Our friend has to be given a way out. Our person won't be able to do anything anyway. If he has to leave so be it." The second email was sent to Clinton by Jake Sullivan, her deputy chief of staff. Sullivan warned her that Amiri's decision to turn himself in would embarrass the US. He wrote, "The gentleman... has apparently gone to his country's interests section because he is unhappy with how much time it has taken to facilitate his departure. This could lead to problematic news stories in the next 24 hours." Had Clinton been using a government server, both those communications would have been classified and secured. According to the FBI, Clinton's private server was less secure than a Gmail account. According to intelligence experts, there is every reason to believe that Clinton's email server was hacked by hostile foreign intelligence services. The best excuse that Clinton was able to come up with to defend her reckless behavior was that she did it for the sake of convenience. In a 2010 email to her senior staff, Clinton explained that the true purpose of the server was to prevent her correspondence from becoming public. Although deeply significant, Amiri's execution was "the other Iran story" this week. The main story was Wall Street Journal's revelation that on January 17, the day the US's nuclear deal with Iran came into force, the US sent an unmarked cargo plane to Tehran loaded with $400 million in cash. Five US citizens held hostage by Iran were released that day. In a press conference last Thursday, Obama dismissed the clear implication that the cash payment was ransom. But his statements were exposed as a lie by former hostage Pastor Saeed Abedini. Abedini told the media that the hostages waited for hours at the airport before being permitted to board their flight to freedom while the Iranians were waiting for another plane to land. US law prohibits the payment of ransom for hostages because it is widely acknowledged that paying ransom merely encourages America's foes to take still more Americans hostage. Since the Iranians received their payment, they have taken three more American citizens hostage, as well as several other Westerners. Obama's lies and the plight of the hostages is an additional reminder that critics of his Iran policy were correct to criticize him. A year after Obama agreed to the nuclear deal with the Iranian regime, and six months after it formally entered into force despite the fact that the Iranians never formally accepted its provisions, Iran is more dangerous than it was before. The hundreds of billions of dollars it has received from sanctions relief have enabled it to vastly expand its support for terrorist organizations and fund and direct insurgencies against US allies. Iran sponsored the overthrow of the Yemini regime. It is the engine behind the war in Syria. It controls the Lebanese government and the Iraqi regime. Its terrorists are on the ground in Europe. The terrorist who committed the massacre last month in Munich was trained in Iran. As for the deal's purported limitations on Iran's nuclear capabilities, over the past year we learned that Obama lied when he promised the nuclear deal would stem Iran's nuclear advance. The unprecedented inspections regime he promised was a lie. The one-year nuclear breakout time was a lie. Even the limitations on centrifuge development were a lie. In defending his miserable agreement with the mullahs last Thursday, Obama continued to lie. He went so far as to say that Israel now supports the deal. This of course, is also a lie, as both the Defense Ministry and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu were quick to note. Obama and Clinton choose lying as a strategy because it works for them. The influential media outlets barely cover their lies. Indeed, they often go out of their way to cover up their misdeeds. The New York Times for instance, sufficed with a wire story to report that Israel rejected Obama's claim that it now supports his nuclear deal with Iran. The Washington Post insisted that Clinton's email couldn't possibly have influenced Amiri's fate because six years ago Clinton had already announced that he was a US agent. As for Clinton's email server, the New York Times failed to report that Clinton lied last Sunday when she told Fox News the FBI concluded that she had spoken truthfully about its use. She then repeated the lie twice and the New York Times continued to ignore her dissimulation. The media cover for Clinton and Obama because they care more about advancing the Left's policy goals than about reporting the dire, dangerous consequences of those policies. That is, they are propagandists rather than journalists. Over the years, many commentators and observers have argued that Clinton is less dangerous than Obama. Obama they say is an ideologue whereas Clinton is driven by a simple lust for power and, of course, her own convenience. Consequently, she causes damage in little ways - like endangering the lives of US agents - while Obama clears a path for Iran to rise as a regional hegemon and nuclear state. The problem with this assessment is that it ignores their symbiotic relationship. Clinton has decided that her interests lie with acting like a loyal Democrat and implementing Obama's policies. Like Obama, she doesn't need to worry about the consequences of those policies for the US and the world. Because like Obama, she is sheltered from criticism by a loyal media. Amiri is dead. Iran is building nuclear plants with Russia. But as the New York Times explained on Monday, "Nobody knows better than President Obama how easy it would be for Donald J. Trump to reverse the policies of the past eight years if he defeats Hillary Clinton this fall." Nobody, that is, other than the New York Times, and the Washington Post and CNN and Clinton. And so they will continue to work together with Obama, to ensure that the public is kept in the dark about the nature of those policies and their horrible consequences for the US and the rest of the world. 
Nearing Midnight: Despotism by Stealth: The Media Take Over - Todd Strandberg - http://raptureready.com/rap16.html
The mainstream media has often been called the fourth branch of the government. News organizations have the responsibility of disseminating information, which is essential to the healthy functioning of the democracy. It also keeps the other branches honest by making sure they are doing the jobs which they were assigned. The press has never had perfectly balanced coverage. Even in times when reporters had some integrity when reporting world events, some form of bias was reflected in their news coverage. The Bible states that Satan is the "god of this world" (2 Corinthians 4:4), so it's a given that news reporting would reflect the devil's influence. What kept the liberal media somewhat in check was the influence of Christian and conservative apologists. In recent years, the involvement of believers in society has collapsed. It seems to be driven by a feedback loop of negativity. The more ground Christians lose to the enemy, the less motivated the media are to report the truth. Evangelical Christian are the largest demographic in America, yet liberals control every form of media. The problem I find the most troubling about the current state of news reporting is the ability of the left to completely change reality. The nefarious actions of Hilary Clinton provide endless examples of the dishonest presentation of truth by the media. When Donald Trump publicly called on Vladimir Putin to find Hillary Clinton's 30,000 missing emails, the press criticized Trump for inviting the Russians to hack our government. The press were so fixated on helping Clinton that they didn't even realize that Trump's comment was sarcasm. And if they did, they worked relentlessly to turn what he said into anything but the truth. There were no emails to find because Clinton's lawyers had illegally destroyed them. Reporters went after Trump asking if he is a pawn of Putin. If Putin has embarrassing emails that could someday be used against Clinton, the question that should be asked in this: "Is Clinton the one who compromised the nation's safety?" The hacking of the Democratic Party emails proved a reality that I reported on months ago. The released emails showed that the entire Democratic race was one big sham. Bernie Sanders didn't have a chance of winning because the party insiders had already decided to make sure than Hillary would win. The press now questions if Trump is a serious candidate, while they ignore the fact the Hillary lives in a bubble. It has been 245 days since Hillary Clinton last held this thing called a press conference on December 4, 2015. That was the date that the Democratic nominee last spoke to the embedded press corps that follows her every move. In any other race the press would eviscerate a candidate who thought it was beneath them to take questions from common reporters. But Clinton gets away with this behavior because the media are totally on her side and will do anything to protect her reckless and criminal behavior. There have been some changes at Fox News that show the liberal dominance of the news is going from bad to worse. During the Republican convention, long-time head Roger Ailes was forced out by a sex scandal. Fox News has been the only major network that has expressed any fairness to some key conservative issues. This is the reason why all the other networks have been constantly attacking Fox. Now that Rupert Murdoch's two liberal sons, James and Lachlan are in control of the network, it won't be long before Fox News is no different than CNN or MSNBC. Liberals will not be satisfied until they have complete control of the news industry. Darkness can only take over completely if there is a total absence of light. Even the most trivial ember of free thinking needs to be snuffed out. The liberal media is going to need a total monopoly to deal with the Rapture event. When the Church is called home, the press is going to have a monumental task in explaining what happen to "all those Christians." Anyone with a basic understanding of Bible prophecy should know that the evil behavior we see exploding throughout the world was forewarned by Jesus Himself. "In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God" (2 Corinthians 4:4). "Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation" (2 Corinthians 6:2). 
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 
Gangs in Chicago Reportedly Agree to Use Snipers and Automatic Weapons Against the Police - By Michael Snyder - http://endoftheamericandream.com/archives/gangs-in-chicago-reportedly-agree-to-use-snipers-and-automatic-weapons-against-the-police
Is the city of Chicago about to see a wave of unprecedented chaos and violence? The facts that I am about to share with you may seem fantastical at first glance, but they come from the Chicago police and they are being reported by the mainstream media. According to authorities, at a recent gathering of major gangs in the city it was agreed that they would use automatic weapons against the police, and at least one of the gangs already has "a sniper in place" but officials do not know where that sniper is located. As I have warned before, a spirit of violence and civil unrest is rising in America, and the number of police officers that were shot and killed during the first half of 2016 was 78 percent higher than during the first half of 2015. Anyone that does not understand that we have a major problem on our hands has simply not been paying attention. This meeting of major gangs in Chicago was described as a "summit" by ABC Chicago, and an alert about the security threat that this poses was sent out to every police officer in the city on Friday... Chicago police officers are being warned about a security threat involving possible attacks by gangs on the city's West Side. ABC7 has obtained a warning that the department sent out to every police officer on Friday. The warning described a summit between senior West Side gang members in which they "agreed to use automatic weapons against Chicago police officers." The alert also said one gang provided guns and placed a sniper at an unknown location. An article published by the Chicago Sun-Times went into even greater detail about this story. Apparently the three gangs involved in the summit were the Vice Lords, the Black Disciples and the Four Corner Hustlers, and reportedly it is the Four Corner Hustlers that will be providing automatic weapons to members of the other two gangs... The meeting took place Thursday between higher-ups from the Vice Lords, Black Disciples and Four Corner Hustlers, according to an alert issued to department members the day after the meeting. The Four Corner Hustlers "provided guns" and have "a sniper in place" though authorities do not know where, according to the alert. The Four Corner Hustlers also are supplying the other two gangs with automatic weapons, which all three factions also have agreed to use against police, the alert states. It appears that what precipitated this "summit" of major gangs was the shooting death of 18-year-old Paul O'Neal. That incident made headlines all over the nation and resulted in very large protests in downtown Chicago... Tensions remain high in America's third-largest city just days after video footage emerged of the moments leading up to the fatal shooting of Paul O'Neal, an 18-year-old African-American teen. O'Neal was gunned down by officers back in July after he stole a car and got into a chase with cops which ended in the city's South Shore neighborhood. Last week, demonstrators in downtown Chicago blocked streets and traffic while protesting the shooting. If you don't live in the Chicago area, you may not be aware of the massive gang problem in the city. Four years ago, the Chicago Crime Commission estimated that there were 150,000 gang members currently living in the city. That was the highest number in the entire nation, and since then that number has certainly only gone up. Meanwhile, there are just 13,318 law enforcement officers of all descriptions in the city of Chicago. So essentially the police are outnumbered by a more than 10 to 1 margin, and now the gangs are planning to use automatic weapons? These are ominous times for the Windy City. Meanwhile, the threat of violence from Islamic terrorists continues to grow. We all saw what happened not too long ago at a small church in France, and there are a lot of people that are concerned that we could soon see similar scenarios play out all over this country. For a moment, I would like for you to consider one incident that happened earlier this year at a church in Riverside, California... As Father Josiah Trenham prepared to read the Gospel, several parishioners discreetly scooped up their babies, retreated up the aisles of St. Andrew Orthodox Church and out into the spring air, so as not to allow the crying of little ones to disturb the divine liturgy. The time-honored tradition was shattered when a car passed by the Riverside, Calif., church, slowing down as the front passenger leaned out of his window and bellowed menacingly through a bullhorn, according to witnesses. "Allahu Akbar!" the unidentified man repeated several times as the unnerved parents drew their infants close and exchanged worried glances. Fortunately that unidentified man only had a bullhorn. But what if he had been holding a gun or had thrown a grenade? We do know that ISIS has been warning that there will be more attacks on churches, and in one recent article I described how an entire church in this country ended up on an ISIS kill list. 20 years ago, I couldn't have imagined writing articles about gangs using automatic weapons in Chicago or about Islamic terrorists potentially attacking churches in America. But times have changed, and we need to deal with the new realities that are confronting us. In my new book I warn about the chaos and the violence that are coming to America, and what we have seen so far is just the very small tip of a very large iceberg. Just remember what happened in Orlando. It was the largest mass shooting in American history, but moments before it happened most of the people in that club would have never even imagined that an Islamic terrorist was about to start shooting at them. On Monday night, that terrorist's father made a very surprising appearance at a very unexpected location... As they were covering Hillary Clinton's campaign rally in Kissimmee, Florida on Monday, a crew from Florida television station WPTV noticed the father of the Orlando nightclub shooter sitting in the audience, directly behind Hillary Clinton. Apparently Seddique Mateen actually is a big supporter of Hillary Clinton, which somehow seems oddly appropriate. But could you ever imagine Osama Bin Laden's father sitting behind George W. Bush at a campaign rally? I couldn't either. These are very, very strange times that we are living in, and they are about to get a whole lot stranger. So hold on tight and buckle your seat belts, because it is going to be a very bumpy ride. 
Daily Jot: Judicial Watch exposes more Clinton corruption - Bill Wilson - www.dailyjot.com
As a Washington correspondent for a major Christian radio news program, I got to know Tom Fitton and his investigative organization Judicial Watch. Judicial Watch is a non-partisan foundation that promotes transparency, accountability and integrity in government, politics and the law. Judicial Watch seeks to ensure that political and judicial officials do not abuse the powers entrusted to them by the American people. If not for Judicial Watch, Hillary Clinton's email scandal would have been totally swept under the rug. And it's not over. Judicial Watch has released another 296 pages of State Department documents it obtained through a court battle, and those pages reveal even more corruption and negligence by Clinton. Judicial Watch reports: "The new documents reveal that in April 2009 controversial Clinton Foundation official Doug Band pushed for a job for an associate. In the email Band tells Hillary Clinton's former aides at the State Department Cheryl Mills and Huma Abedin that it is "important to take care of [Name Redacted]. Band is reassured by Abedin that "Personnel has been sending him options." Band was co-founder of Teno Strategy with Bill Clinton and a top official of the Clinton Foundation, including its Clinton Global Initiative..." Band also "directs Abedin and Mills to put Lebanese-Nigerian billionaire and Clinton Foundation donor Gilbert Chagoury in touch with the State Department's "substance person" on Lebanon." Many may recall that Chagoury was convicted in 2000 in Switzerland for laundering money from Nigeria, but agreed to a plea deal and repaid some $66 million to the Nigerian government. Well, Chagoury, according to Judicial Watch, "is a close friend of former President Bill Clinton and a top donor to the Clinton Foundation. He has appeared near the top of the Foundation's donor list as a $1 million to $5 million contributor, according to foundation documents. He also pledged $1 billion to the Clinton Global Initiative." These favors and interactions with the Clinton Foundation appear to be in violation of the ethics agreements that Hillary Clinton agreed to in order to be appointed and confirmed as Secretary of State. On January 5, 2009 Secretary of State-designate Hillary Clinton sent a letter to State Department Designated Agency Ethics Official James H. Thessin, saying: "For the duration of my appointment as Secretary if I am confirmed, I will not participate personally and substantially in any particular matter involving specific parties in which The William J. Clinton Foundation (or the Clinton Global Initiative) is a party or represents a party...." Hillary Clinton's lack of morals and ethics are beyond description. It's not enough to dismiss this because "all" politicians are alike. No one is quite like her. Exodus 23:1 says, "Do not join your hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness." We know the truth about Clinton, let us not join hands with her and confirm her unrighteousness. 
Daily Devotion: Where Revival Begins - Greg Laurie - www.harvest.org
"When my soul fainted within me, I remembered the Lord; and my prayer went up to You, into Your holy temple." -Jonah 2:7 God told Jonah to go and preach to the people of Nineveh, but Jonah boarded a boat and went in the opposite direction. When a violent storm hit, the sailors began to cry out to their gods. But Jonah told them, "Pick me up and throw me into the sea; then the sea will become calm for you. For I know that this great tempest is because of me" (Jonah 1:12). You know the rest of the story. They followed Jonah's advice, and the Lord brought a "great fish" to swallow Jonah. I have to say that Jonah was stubborn. He spent three days and three nights inside that fish's stomach . . . wrapped in seaweed . . . fish smacking him in the face . . . humidity like you wouldn't believe. Yet he refused to budge. Eventually Jonah came to his senses. He prayed. There in the belly of that fish, he had a personal revival. Jonah was ready to do what God had called him to do. He was revived and recommissioned by God. First God sent revival to Jonah, then Jonah brought revival to Nineveh. That is because nothing can happen through us until it first happens to us. It has to start with us. If you want to raise your children in the way of the Lord, then make sure you are walking in the way of the Lord. They will listen to your bedtime stories and mini sermons, but they will be watching your life to see if you live that out. Some things are caught, and other things are taught. If you want to tell people you work with about Jesus Christ, then make sure you are a model of what it is to follow Christ. Revival starts with you and me. 
FROM THE HEART
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