Prophecy Update Newsletter
IN TODAY'S NEWSLETTER...
End-Times War in the Mideast: Part 1 - By Steve Ashburn -
https://www.raptureready.com/2020/08/14/nuclear-war-in-the-mideast-part-1-by-steve-ashburn/ (LEBANON) Sidon is an ancient city in modern-day Lebanon. The modern city of Sidon has 266,000 inhabitants and is the third-largest city in the country. It was one of the most important-and perhaps oldest-of the Phoenician cities. It was from here that the great commercial empire of the Phoenicians was formed. Sidon thus is symbolic of modern Lebanon-its government and its military, including by implication associated terrorist groups such as Hezbollah. Ezekiel 28 predicts destruction of this city at a time when Israel has been regathered into her land. This apparently happens at the same time as the judgment upon Egypt (Ezekiel 29), and therefore occurs at the beginning of the end times. "For I will send into her pestilence, and blood into her streets; and the wounded shall be judged in the midst of her by the sword upon her on every side; and they shall know that I am the Lord. And there shall be no more a pricking brier unto the house of Israel, nor any grieving thorn of all that are round about them, that despised them; and they shall know that I am the Lord God. Thus saith the Lord God; When I shall have gathered the house of Israel from the people among whom they are scattered, and shall be sanctified in them in the sight of the heathen, then shall they dwell in their land that I have given to my servant Jacob. And they shall dwell safely therein, and shall build houses, and plant vineyards; yea, they shall dwell with confidence, when I have executed judgments upon all those that despise them round about them; and they shall know that I am the Lord their God" (Ezekiel 28:23-26). Ezekiel says, "The wounded shall be judged in the midst of her by the sword upon her on every side," indicating that Sidon-and probably Lebanon in general-will be surrounded by enemy troops. Whether these forces are part of the coalition that attacks Iraq, or perhaps from Israel herself, the Bible doesn't say. It does say that after God has "executed judgments upon all those that despise them round about them," then "they shall dwell safely therein." The destruction of terrorist groups that have plagued Israel for decades is predicted here: "And there shall be no more a pricking brier unto the house of Israel, nor any grieving thorn of all that are round about them, that despised them." Doesn't "pricking brier" and "grieving thorn" describe Hezbollah, Hamas, and Fatah completely? The specific timeline for this battle is indicated in verse 25: "When I shall have gathered the house of Israel from the people among whom they are scattered," meaning their reestablishment of a nation since 1948. Further, the timeline can be narrowed by "and shall be sanctified in them in the sight of the heathen," meaning the complete victory over all the invading armies of the nations which surround her at the beginning of the end times. This timeline further can be confirmed by the fact that afterward, "they shall dwell safely therein" and also "build houses, and plant vineyards." This signifies a time of peace that Israel has not known in modern history-there simply won't be any hostile nations surrounding her to bother or threaten her. This time of peace and prosperity will last until the Ezekiel 38 invasion some three decades later. Finally, our Scripture text says that it is God who provides this victory for Israel, and after he does this, "they shall know that I am the Lord their God." Psalm 83 also looks forward to this battle. This chapter enumerates the nations as a whole involved in invading Israel; judgment on these individual nations then is described more specifically in Isaiah, Jeremiah, Obadiah, and other books in the Old Testament, and in the individual chapters concerning each nation. "For they have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee: The tabernacles of Edom, and the Ishmaelites; of Moab, and the Hagarenes; Gebal, and Ammon, and Amalek; the Philistines with the inhabitants of Tyre; Assur also is joined with them: they have holpen the children of Lot. Selah" (Psalm 83:5-8). The nations listed in this invasion are those immediately surrounding Israel all joined together in an invasion: Edom, Moab and Ammon (Jordan); Hagarenes, Gebal, and Amalek (West Bank and Jordan, and trans-Jordanian Arabs in general); Philistines (Gaza); Tyre (Lebanon); and Assur (Iraq). These nations invade at the same time as Egypt, Syria, and the others surrounding Israel in a coordinated, blitzkrieg assault. The result of this attack is further described in Psalm 83: "As the fire burneth a wood, and as the flame setteth the mountains on fire; So persecute them with thy tempest, and make them afraid with thy storm. Fill their faces with shame; that they may seek thy name, O Lord. Let them be confounded and troubled for ever; yea, let them be put to shame, and perish: That men may know that thou, whose name alone is JEHOVAH, art the most high over all the earth" (Psalm 83:14-18). These enemies will be destroyed "as the flame setteth the mountains on fire," implying the use of nuclear weapons. In this case, Israel will have her back up against the wall, being threatened with imminent destruction, and she won't have any choice but to use these weapons, as well as the full power of the Israeli military. As a result, Israel's enemies are "put to shame, and perish," to the intent that all men may know that Jehovah is "the most high over all the earth." Amos 1-2 also appears to be a general description of this Psalm 83 war. This passage pronounces judgment on the nations surrounding Israel: Damascus (Syria), Gaza, Tyrus (Lebanon), Edom (Jordan), Ammon (Jordan), and Moab (Jordan). Psalm 83 describes these nations in terms of their genealogical descent (e.g., Hagarenes, descended from Hagar, mother of Ishmael), while Amos describes them in terms of physical geography (e.g., Damascus). Although some prophecies were fulfilled precursively in biblical times - for example, destruction of the Philistines, Ammonites, Moabites, and Edomites as distinct peoples; and deportation of Syrians to Kir (their ancient homeland according to Amos 9:7, located in present-day Azerbaijan, southwest of the Caspian Sea) by the Assyrian King Tiglath-Pileser III (2 Kings 16:9) - our Scripture passage suggests simultaneous judgment on these nations, which has never happened. This judgment proceeds "from Jerusalem" as the Lord roars in anger "from Zion [Israel]"; as a result, the governments of surrounding nations ("the habitations of the shepherds") cry in anguish ("shall mourn"). Our text passage then says that "the top of Carmel shall wither." Mount Carmel is a fertile limestone ridge extending southeastward from Haifa and refers in context to northern Israel. Perhaps it is here that invading troops from the north will meet their end with sudden nuclear destruction ("shall wither"). In addition, the wording of Amos 1:4 ("I will send a fire into the house of Hazael, which shall devour the palaces of Ben-hadad") is similar to the parallel passage in Jeremiah 49:27 ("I will kindle a fire in the wall of Damascus, and it shall consume the palaces of Ben-hadad") which was written after the Assyrians were defeated by the Babylonians, and therefore was still future at the time. This passage in Jeremiah most likely describes the end-times destruction of Syria and is sandwiched between the similar end-times judgments against Edom (Jordan; Jeremiah 49:7-22) and nations of the Arabian Peninsula (Jeremiah 49:28-33). Finally, the instrument of judgment is the same in each case ("I will send a fire"), which suggests the same kind of nuclear destruction as in Psalm 83 ("as the flame setteth the mountains on fire"). The nuclear weapons the Israelis will use almost certainly will include enhanced-radiation warheads, which will destroy human life while not permanently contaminating their land. "And he said, The Lord will roar from Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the habitations of the shepherds shall mourn, and the top of Carmel shall wither. Thus saith the Lord; For three transgressions of Damascus, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they have threshed Gilead with threshing instruments of iron: But I will send a fire into the house of Hazael, which shall devour the palaces of Ben-hadad. I will break also the bar of Damascus, and cut off the inhabitant from the plain of Aven, and him that holdeth the sceptre from the house of Eden: and the people of Syria shall go into captivity unto Kir, saith the Lord. "Thus saith the Lord; For three transgressions of Gaza, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they carried away captive the whole captivity, to deliver them up to Edom: But I will send a fire on the wall of Gaza, which shall devour the palaces thereof: And I will cut off the inhabitant from Ashdod, and him that holdeth the sceptre from Ashkelon, and I will turn mine hand against Ekron: and the remnant of the Philistines shall perish, saith the Lord God. "Thus saith the Lord; For three transgressions of Tyrus, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they delivered up the whole captivity to Edom, and remembered not the brotherly covenant: But I will send a fire on the wall of Tyrus, which shall devour the palaces thereof. Thus saith the Lord; For three transgressions of Edom, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because he did pursue his brother with the sword, and did cast off all pity, and his anger did tear perpetually, and he kept his wrath for ever: But I will send a fire upon Teman, which shall devour the palaces of Bozrah. "Thus saith the Lord; For three transgressions of the children of Ammon, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they have ripped up the women with child of Gilead, that they might enlarge their border: But I will kindle a fire in the wall of Rabbah, and it shall devour the palaces thereof, with shouting in the day of battle, with a tempest in the day of the whirlwind: And their king shall go into captivity, he and his princes together, saith the Lord. "Thus saith the Lord; For three transgressions of Moab, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because he burned the bones of the king of Edom into lime: But I will send a fire upon Moab, and it shall devour the palaces of Kerioth: and Moab shall die with tumult, with shouting, and with the sound of the trumpet: And I will cut off the judge from the midst thereof, and will slay all the princes thereof with him, saith the Lord" (Amos 1:2-2:3). Amos states that the reason for all this destruction is because of the "transgressions" of the respective nations. Some of these sins are ancient and enumerated in the passage: Syria repeatedly attacked Israel ("Gilead") in the days of King Hazael; the Philistines, Tyrus, and Edom were complicit with the Babylonians in their captivity of Israel (Amos prophesied this more than one hundred years before it happened); and Ammon and Moab, besides being inveterate enemies of Israel, were notorious for their cruelty. This tendency to sin by these nations will apparently manifest itself in their modern-day descendants, in the form of an attempted invasion of their neighbor. Syrians who survive the war "shall go into captivity unto Kir" (v. 5). In conjunction with the parallel passages in Isaiah 15 and Jeremiah 48, the Kir referred to here is the ancient city in Moab near present-day Al-Karak, Jordan, southeast of the Dead Sea (not the same Kir as their ancient homeland in Azerbaijan). As we shall see later in this series, this area will be a staging ground for assembly and deportation of Arab refugees to other countries, coordinated by a contractor-type agency such as the UN. Such an agency is described as a "hireling" in Isaiah 16:14 and 21:16. Isaiah indicates this process will take three years. Furthermore, our passage says that God will "kindle a fire in the wall of Rabbah [modern-day Amman, Jordan]," and "their king shall go into captivity, he and his princes together," which is similar to the parallel account in Jeremiah 49:2-3: "It shall be a desolate heap, and her daughters shall be burned with fire: then shall Israel be heir unto them that were his heirs... their king shall go into captivity, and his priests and his princes together." Israel, therefore, will possess the former kingdom of Jordan, thereby acquiring the territory that God promised to the tribes of Reuben and Gad, and take the king of Jordan, his household, and his ministers prisoner (currently that would be King Abdullah II, et al). This is the end result of the nuclear war which begins the end-times period: God preserves Israel so that they dwell perfectly safely and their enemies ("all that are round about them, that despised them") are destroyed. This condition will continue up until the invasion prophesied in Ezekiel 38-39 (which occurs some three decades later). Ezekiel 38:14 describes Israel living in perfect peace and security at that time: "Therefore, son of man, prophesy and say unto Gog, Thus saith the Lord God; In that day when my people of Israel dwelleth safely, shalt thou not know it?" It seems to be a reasonable guess that Israel would surrender her nuclear weapons (if she has any left) to the coalition forces led by the United States after the war is over, in exchange for an absolute guarantee of security by the US. It's obviously in the national interests of the US and of other Western nations to ensure that nuclear war doesn't break out in the Middle East again. Of course, in one of the finest examples of sarcasm in the Bible, Ezekiel 38:13 describes how well this guarantee works some three decades later when the "kingdom of the north" invades Israel: "Sheba, and Dedan, and the merchants of Tarshish, with all the young lions thereof, shall say unto thee, Art thou come to take a spoil? hast thou gathered thy company to take a prey? to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to take a great spoil?" "Sheba, and Dedan" (modern-day Arabia) and "the merchants of Tarshish, with all the young lions thereof" (Western nations, especially Great Britain and her former colonies, including the US) merely protest this incursion instead of doing anything about it. The explanation for this, of course, is that after the rapture, the US won't be strong enough to provide that kind of security, or even to defend itself for that matter. This invasion occurs approximately at the thirty-year mark of the end times, after the rapture has taken place. We described this event in more detail in our previous series on the war with Russia. It's unlikely that the rapture will occur after this invasion since the Ezekiel 38-39 invasion involves direct divine intervention. Therefore, it occurs in "the day of the Lord"-which begins with the rapture. Lebanon, therefore, is among those nations "that are round about them, that despised them," which will be "judged in the midst of her by the sword upon her on every side." This brings to mind the ancient promise which God gave to Abraham: "And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed" (Genesis 12:3). Unfortunately, Lebanon has to find this out the hard way. We'll cover more about Lebanon in Part 2 of this series, including the judgment of God upon Tyre; the rise of the Antichrist and his building an international city in post-war Iraq (ancient Assyria) which the Bible refers to as "Babylon"; the regathering of Lebanon as a people in the millennium, and their role as a manufacturing hub for food, clothing and durable items in this Kingdom period. So stand by for Part 2! I provide more details of this and many other end-times prophecies in my recently published book, END TIMES DAWNING: Get Ready! (available from www.endtimesrecord.com ). Please read it! Also, if you would, please leave a book review on Amazon! Yours in Christ, Steve Ashburn The coming major Gaza eruption and what should be known about it - Gerald A. Honigman - https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/285699 Imagine if other countries were being subjected to what you'll see below. How long would they put up with such things before taking decisive (i.e., not "tit-for-tat") action to end it. And as completely, and with as minimum cost to themselves, as possible? With Israeli lives and property being deliberately targeted for destruction, and thousands upon thousands of acres of Israel being set on fire by Arabs from Gaza, it appears that Israel has once again finally started to overdose on these clear acts of war. It appears that Israel is preparing to respond in a big way. Of course, I'm hoping that the response is exceptionally effective, and able to be done in such a way as to indeed minimize the risk to the mostly young Jewish soldiers who often have to go in on the ground to locate the cowardly rats in their dens--more often than not deliberately embedded amid the technicality non-combatant population used as human shields. To better understand the predicament Israel faces in Gaza and in other terrorist havens in historical Judea and Samaria (aka, "West Bank," intended to be part of Israel and called that because of British imperial shenanigans and "Transjordan's" illegal land grab of the post-WWI early 20th century) as well, there is an action-packed movie about a joint FBI raid in a faraway Arab land that is telling, indeed, titled The Kingdom With the above as background, let's proceed. It wasn't the first time, by far, that "Progressive," slanted, National Public Radio had committed a travesty. Right after eight young Jews were deliberately murdered (many others wounded) in a Jerusalem yeshiva in March 2008, NPR's Linda Gradstein briefly mentioned this horrendous story on the air waves - and then gave the same amount of time immediately afterwards explaining how this massacre of students - as if the Arabs ever needed an excuse - was a response to Israel's incursion into Gaza which had left over one hundred Arabs dead, allegedly half of them civilians. Israel's numbers greatly disputed the Arab ones and there was only a bare mention of the thousands of rockets launched at Israeli civilians, who had at most 15 seconds to reach a shelter when sirens wailed, from Gaza before Israel's operation. In Jenin, for example, on another occasion, Arabs claimed 500 "innocent Arabs" had died when Israel went after terrorists hiding behind skirts of women and strollers of infants. Neutral official conformation later put the number at around 50 instead--with Israel losing over 30 of its own soldiers due to their going house to house instead of blasting the infamous Jenin terror nest from the air, as indeed Arab nations typically do when facing their own enemies, either internal or external ones. Think of both Assads' actions in Syria (the "Hama Solution" and more current examples); King Hussein of Jordan in "Black September" 1970; Saddam's mass gassing and the Arab Anfal Campaign in Iraq which slaughtered some 200,000 Kurds over time, etc. and so forth. NPR's Gradstein ended her report, only as a footnote, by briefly adding that that earlier Israel incursion was due to (frequent--GAH) rocket fire from Gaza. Sound familiar? One of the scenes in The Kingdom was timely and telling, indeed. When going after the leader of a major terror group in an apartment building, FBI and allied Arab forces have to tediously work their way through women, children, and other real or alleged non-combatants, some of which turn out not to be so. A dangerous and complicated matter, to say the least, and one Israel faces all the time. Hezbollah, in Lebanon (with some 150,000 advanced missiles aimed at Jewish civilians), set up operations on Israel's northern border the same way. In the movie, an invalid, apparently harmless seated old man turns out to be the terror mastermind. Once again, the above scenario is right out of the real life predicament which Israel faces daily in Gaza--with Arabs using kids as human shields, placing stores of missiles in schools and hospitals. Behind those women and children bused in to "demonstrate" on the Gaza-Israel border are Hamas operatives with weapons. Massive numbers of incendiary balloons and kites, along with the increasingly more advanced rockets, mortars, and such, have now been added to the terror menu as well, setting ablaze thousands of acres of Israeli farmland, wildlife areas, and attempting to murder as many Jews and destroy as much other property as possible. Again, what other nation would put up with this? Furthermore, no one, more than Israel, has tried as hard as humanly possible to pinpoint its attacks...and has indeed suffered, itself, in many ways because of this. Israel has repeatedly opted to not taking out prime terror targets because of a civilian presence (later backfiring on Jews), and so forth. So, now please pay especially close attention to what follows: Unlike Arabs decapitating Jewish babies asleep in their homes, deliberately slaughtering students in schools as per the above, Linda Gradstein NPR program, and so forth, the plain, unfortunate fact is that Arabs harboring murderers and their collaborators must be recognized for what the Geneva Conventions say they are...a military target. Article #51/7 The presence of the civilian population shall not be used to render certain points or areas immune from military operations, in particular in attempts to shield military objectives from attack... Article #58b: The parties to the conflict shall...avoid locating military objectives within or near densely populated areas... Arab terror headquarters and dens are typically set up in, or adjacent to, civilian apartment buildings, hospitals, schools, and so forth. Article #51/2: The civilian population...shall not be the object of attack. Acts of violence the primary purpose of which is to spread terror among the civilian population are prohibited...Indiscriminate attacks are prohibited. Arabs typically target Israeli civilians. You see, regardless of what assorted overt and covert antisemites say, the Hebraic Prophetic legacy of morality, mercy, ethics, and justice has unfortunately backfired on too many Jews. They simply can't find enough other cheeks to turn to enemies who would have their heads on pikes. How many Christian nations would turn their own cheeks facing what Israel faces? As the Hebrew Bible commands "Thou Shalt Not Murder (not kill)," allowing for self defense, Jews (or anyone) are not expected to watch their innocents get massacred in restaurants, on buses, in schools, pizzerias, etc. and not take action to prevent the slaughter. Should be a no-brainer...right? But not so for too many of my Tribe (not to mention others) who, at best, prefer to jump on the "moral equivalence" bandwagon of the world's assorted hypocrites. And too often assorted overt and covert antisemites and "just" the anti-Zionists are just really one of the same. After Auschwitz, it's simply more politically correct to openly direct hatred, double standards, and such towards the Jew of the Nations rather than towards individual Jews themselves. We've always had Jews like Linda Gradstein and many other of her colleagues associated with NPR and others. Some of the most duplicitous professors on campus, media folks, and Arabist-dominated State Department attack dogs have also been at least nominally Jews. You know, the ones who grill Israeli officials, but give Arabs a free ride. Television's Chris Wallace's daddy, Mike Wallace, and Larry King especially come to mind. The yeshiva students who were massacred back in 2008 represented some of the best of Israel reborn. Investigations later revealed that they were most likely killed by weapons America (Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and the State Department) pressured Israel to supply Arab "moderates" with. It appears that another storm is fast approaching on Israel's southern border. Please keep all of this in mind if you decide to pass judgement... Why Is America Being Hit by So Many Horrific Natural Disasters All Of A Sudden? - by Michael Snyder - http://endoftheamericandream.com/archives/why-is-america-being-hit-by-so-many-horrific-natural-disasters-all-of-a-sudden It has just been one thing after another in 2020. First, the COVID-19 pandemic erupted and quickly spread all over the globe. At this point more than 800,000 people have died globally, and authorities are warning us to brace ourselves for another wave of the pandemic in the fall. Of course many would argue that fear of the virus has been even worse than the disease itself, and it is undeniable that the COVID-19 shutdowns were the primary reason why we have plunged into the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression of the 1930s. More than 57 million Americans have filed new claims for unemployment benefits so far this year, and that number just keeps rising with each passing week. On top of all that, the tragic death of George Floyd caused an unprecedented wave of civil unrest to erupt in major cities all across America, and many are anticipating a fresh outburst of unrest as we head toward election day in November. So coming into this month we had already faced far more trouble than we do in a typical year, and now a very strange series of natural disasters is making things even worse. For example, earlier this month an absolutely massive storm known as a "derecho" with winds of up to 112 mph came roaring through the Midwest. Millions upon millions of acres of crops were destroyed, and Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds has described this storm as a "40-mile-wide tornado that went through the state of Iowa"... The damage was so bad that the New York Times reported that Iowa state officials estimate that at least 14 million acres of necessary farmland were damaged by the storm. Not only were crops destroyed but hundreds of millions of bushels of commercial storage grain, as well as tens of millions of bushels of on-farm storage grain, were also lost. Shannon Textor, who is a spokesperson for the Iowa Corn Growers Association, reported that it may be weeks to determine the monetary loss as a result of the storm. "It's really hard to get your arms around the devastation at this point," Textor admitted. President Donald Trump took notice of the destruction and on Tuesday discussed the damage and promised Iowans the "full support of the federal government in recovery. According to Iowa Governor. Kim Reynolds, the devastation caused an estimated $4 billion in damages from the storm. During a briefing with the president, Reynolds described the storm as a "40-mile-wide tornado that went through the state of Iowa." Shortly after that historic storm ripped a giant scar across the Midwest, the western half of the nation was gripped by a historic heatwave. The highest temperature ever captured by modern instruments was recorded in Death Valley, California, many other all-time records were shattered all over the Southwest, and the city of Phoenix actually broke their record for most days in a year in which the high temperature reached at least 115 degrees. Of course that heatwave set the stage for the nightmarish wildfires that we are witnessing in the state of California right now. Yes, we see wildfires in California every year, but we have never seen anything quite like this. Just consider the following facts... -12,000 lightning strikes have hit the state over the past week, and many more are expected this week. -More than a million acres have been destroyed by fire so far. -Two of the five largest fires in the history of the state are burning in northern California right now. -Wildfires in California have already caused more death and destruction in 2020 than they did in all of 2019. -A "red flag" warning has been issued for Monday. Authorities are anticipating that winds of up to 65 mph and widespread lightning strikes will make this crisis even worse. For much more on these wildfires, please see my article entitled "The State Of California Is Never Going To Be The Same After This". As if everything that I have shared so far wasn't enough, two very dangerous storms are headed toward the Gulf Coast. Hurricane Marco is likely to make landfall first, and residents of the Gulf Coast will begin to feel Marco's fury as early as Monday morning... At 5 p.m. CDT on Sunday, Marco strengthened to a Category 1 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 75 mph and was moving to the north-northwest at 13 mph. Forecasters warn that time is running out for residents along the central Gulf Coast to make preparations, as impacts will start to be felt early Monday morning. Marco is expected to continue intensifying through Sunday. Following closely on the heels of Hurricane Marco is Tropical Storm Laura. Laura will likely enter the Gulf of Mexico early this week, and forecasters fully expect it to also develop into a hurricane... Tropical Storm Laura is forecast to reach the Gulf of Mexico early this week, where significant intensification into a hurricane is expected. The area with the highest chance of seeing a hurricane strike from Laura by midweek is along parts of the northern and western Gulf Coast, but this forecast is still uncertain. At this point, many are anticipating that Laura will end up being the stronger of the two storms, but we shall have to wait and see how everything plays out. Meanwhile, much of the other side of the globe continues to wrestle with a historic plague of locusts. Some of these swarms of locusts are the size of major cities, and it would be difficult to overstate the crop devastation that we have been witnessing in many countries. When combined with the tremendous impact that COVID-19 has been having on global food distribution systems, these two factors have created a tremendous worldwide crisis. In fact, the head of the UN World Food Program has once again used the word "biblical" to describe the famine that the planet is potentially facing... The Covid-19 pandemic may lead to a calamity of epic scale, with millions facing starvation worldwide, the head of the UN's hunger-fighting body has warned. "All the data we have, including WFP forecast that the number of people experiencing malnutrition will grow by 80 percent by the end of the year, ... points to a real disaster," David Beasley, Executive Director of the UN World Food Program (WFP), said. "We are risking a famine of biblical proportions." 2020 has truly been a year like no other, and it is imperative for everyone to understand that the "perfect storm" that we are now facing is just getting started. All of a sudden, the U.S. is being hit by one major crisis after another, and to many people it seems quite unlikely that so many nightmarish events would happen so closely together by random chance. So what do you think? Could it be possible that someone is trying to get our attention? It would be a major understatement to say that 2020 has been a "crazy" year so far, and I have a feeling that quite a few more surprises are in store for us before this year is over. Sanhedrin Petitions to Government to Blow Shofar on Temple Mount for Frist Time Since Temple Destruction - by Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz - www.breakingisraelnews.com With trumpets and the blast of the horn raise a shout before Hashem, the King. Psalms 98:6 (The Israel BibleTM) A petition is currently being considered by Prime Minister which, if accepted, will permit a Jew to blow the shofar on Rosh Hashanna on the Temple Mount. Since the first day of Rosh Hashanna is on the Sabbath, it will be the only place in the entire Jewish world that a shofar will be blown and it will mark the first time since the destruction of the Temple that a Jew will be permitted to perform this powerful act at the holiest site in the world. The Organization of 70 Nations, headed by Rabbi Hillel Weiss, and the Land of Israel Organization (Mateh L'Maan Eretz Yisrael)headed by Aviad Vosoli, petitioned Prime Minister Netanyahu to permit the blowing of the shofar on the Temple Mount on the holy day of Rosh Hashanna. Visoli explained his position to Breaking Israel News. "Jews are only permitted to enter the Temple Mount five days a week: Sunday to Thursday. This year, the first day of Rosh Hashanna is on Saturday, the Sabbath. According to Jewish law, it is forbidden to blow the shofar on the Sabbath except for on the Temple Mount. So we submitted a request to permit a group of Jews to do so; to blow the shofar on the Temple Mount on the first day of Rosh Hashana." If they succeed, this will be the first time a shofar will be blown on the Temple Mount since the destruction of the Temple 1,950 years ago. In contravention of the law, the Israeli police forbid any non-Islamic symbols, non-Palestinian national symbols, or non-Muslim rituals on the Temple Mount. This policy is an attempt to lessen Arab violence. Dignity and Liberty Visoli emphasized that according to the Israeli Basic Law of Human Dignity and Liberty which mandates equality and freedom of all religions, this should be permitted. He also noted that permitting Jews to perform this Biblical commandment on the Temple Mount is consistent with Trump's Peace Plan which states: "People of every faith should be permitted to pray on the Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif, in a manner that is fully respectful to their religion, taking into account the times of each religion's prayers and holidays, as well as other religious factors." The formal request was also submitted to the Minister of Internal Security, and the Chief of Police. They were promised by Friday and if they do not receive an answer or their request is denied, the group intends to submit a petition to the Magistrate's Court. Not a legal issue "This is not a legal issue," Visoli said. "The law mandates that we are permitted to do this. Our request is that the police be instructed to permit this religious ritual to take place." Rabbi Hillel Weiss emphasized that on Rosh Hashanna the world is judged and that aspect of the holiday is taking on dire meaning under the current conditions. "Our demand now is to apply the one true sovereignty onto Zion," Rabi Weiss said. " call out to the King of kings with the eternal voice of the shofar, to spread His Kingdom to every creature. We are calling on the current Israeli government to take their role in manifesting the universal desire for redemption, which is the real mandate of the State of Israel. It is our role to enable all of the nations to pray before HaShem (God, literally 'the name') with one voice, as we did at Mount Sinai, like we did after creation like we are destined to do again in the end-of-days when the dead will be resurrected, the day of universal and true freedom." A shofar call to all the nations "Blowing of the shofar on the Temple Mount of Rosh Hashanna is not a simple ritual as it is done in synagogues around the world. This is not just for the Jews who are there to hear it. This is a shofar call to all the nations of the world. Now, more than ever before, we are crying out to Hashem to bless us with life, peace, and an end to plagues. Every leader in the world who cares and who sees himself as a representative of one of the 70 nations should call on Netanyahu to permit this to take place." "As political processes concerning Israel and the Temple Mount move forward, so much is being said about the Arabs but not a word is said about the rights and requirements of the Jews in their Biblical homeland and our holiest site. And no one is speaking about the true 'owner'; of the land and His kingship. One of the names of the Temple was Bet HaTkiya, the house of the sounding of the shofar. Politics is nothing when compared to that." The binding of Isaac "Outside of the Temple, we blow a shofar made from a ram's horn. It is curved and reminiscent of the binding of Isaac. When the shofar was blown in the Temple on Shabbat Rosh Hashana, it was a goat's horn. It was a call to freedom, as hinted in Psalms." The high mountains are for wild goats; the crags are a refuge for rock-badgers. Psalms 104:18 "Blowing the shofar that is specific to the Temple is a cry out to God to prevent the division of His land and the loss of His house. This shofar will topple anyone who is set on dividing God's land and opposing the establishment of a House of Prayer for All Nations in Jerusalem, just as the sound of the shofar toppled the walls that stood between the Jews and entering the Promised Land." The plan The petitioners plan on pursuing every possible legal avenue to bring about this momentous act. If the Israeli government fails to allow the blowing of the shofar to take place, and alternative ritual will take place adjacent to the Temple Mount. As noted, since the holiday falls on Shabbat, Jewish law prohibits blowing shofar however the Sanhedrin has ruled that it is permitted, even necessary, to hold a ritual blowing of the shofar adjacent to the Temple Mount on the Sabbath of Rosh Hashana. This is hinted at in Psalms. With trumpets and the blast of the horn raise a shout before Hashem, the King. Psalms 98:6 Daily Jot: Attack dogs on the postman - Bill Wilson - www.dailyjot.com You may not have known, but the Republican National Convention is being held this week. Leading up to the opening night were ongoing hit pieces as the news media continues to spin President Trump and those who voted for him as terrible people. Reading stories from across the media outlets, there are few, if any, that cast the current presidency in a positive light. They adopted, for example, the Democratic position casting Trump's postal system reforms as politically motivated to frustrate "vote by mail" efforts. They say the president knows he cannot win reelection if people vote by mail. Do they know something we don't? Sure! Every dead person on the voter rolls will be voting by mail. Wait and see. This vote by mail is so important to the Democrats that they voted in an emergency session to give the Post Office an extra $25 billion and to prohibit any postal reforms until after the election. This against the backdrop of adjourning Congress before passing any additional COVID 19 relief for Americans who have been negatively impacted by the economic effects of coronavirus. Socialist Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), said upon passage of the Post Office bill, "Let it be clear: This administration is waging an authoritarian campaign to sabotage this election by manipulating the Postal Service to suppress our votes...this is not a conspiracy theory. This is fascism. We will not stand for this." There are a lot of problems with Tlaib's statement. There is so much opportunity for fraud with vote by mail, which has been illuminated by ballots missing for months, dead people voting (this also is because Democrats have blocked updating voter rolls with the false argument that updating voter rolls results in voter suppression), and people voting on behalf of those who don't cast their own votes. These are all known tactics of stealing elections. The post offices in Democratic Party-controlled areas have supported these kinds of shenanigans for decades. I have seen it first hand when I discovered the post office in Merifield, VA., had "lost" a "get out the vote" mass mailing by one of my candidate clients. I found bags and bags of them in a corner in the post office. The postmaster threatened to arrest me if I didn't leave. In that case, I called the Postmaster General in the Reagan Administration and I was not the one who had to leave. I'm just saying that Democrats are more concerned about vote by mail than they are about COVID 19 relief. Yet they will say Trump is killing people by how he is handling COVID 19, AND call him a fascist for foiling their plans to steal the election by mail. But they are accusing him of what they are doing. The media attack dogs are all too happy to weigh in with their leftist opinions disguised as news. In Matthew 24:4, Christ says, "Take heed that no man deceive you." He was speaking to his disciples about the end times. In this example, you must not be deceived or you will be participating in the end times of your rights to freely speak and worship your God. Daily Devotion: Heaven's Admission Price - by Greg Laurie - www.harvest.org For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ, and through him God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ's blood on the cross. -Colossians 1:19-20 https://harvest.org/resources/devotion/heavens-admission-price/ - Listen Imagine if someone were to say, "I believe in Disneyland, but I don't agree with the admission price, and I don't believe the location is accurate. So, I'm going to go where I think Disneyland is, and I'll enter the way I want to." Well, okay. Whatever. They'll probably end up at a miniature golf course somewhere. But if they do happen to make it to Disneyland when it's open, they'll still have to enter the Disney way and pay the Disney price. Otherwise, they won't be going to Disneyland at all. In the same way, there are people who say they believe in Heaven, yet they refuse to read what the Bible has to say about it. The Pew Research Center polled people on their beliefs about Heaven and Hell. About 72 percent defined Heaven as a place "where people who have led good lives are eternally rewarded." And 58 percent defined Hell as a place "where people who have led bad lives and die without being sorry are eternally punished." But that isn't what Heaven is, and that isn't what Hell is. If you say you believe in Heaven, then you need to read what the Bible says about it. The idea of Heaven uniquely comes from the Bible. We would not believe in Heaven if it weren't for the teaching of Scripture. The Bible tells us there is a Heaven. And to go there, we must do it God's way. What is God's admission price? We can't afford it. No one can, no matter how much money they have. That's the bad news. But here's the good news: The price has been paid. Colossians 1:20 tells us, "[God] made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ's blood on the cross" (NLT). Admission is free through Jesus Christ. That's how we get into Heaven. It's because of His death for us on the cross. 
FROM THE HEART
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