Prophecy Update Newsletter
IN TODAY'S NEWSLETTER...
Yes, There is a Coming Apocalypse (part 1) - by: Gary Stearman - https://prophecywatchers.com/yes-there-is-a-coming-apocalypse/
In literature, the media, and motion pictures, a recurring theme has begun to dominate center stage. It has assumed the proportions of an obsession that overshadows humanity on a global basis. There is now a real and palpable fear that complete global collapse will soon plunge mankind into a stone-age hand-to-mouth existence. It is the fear of an apocalypse! Its proportions are laid out along the lines of scientific (or pseudo-scientific) observations: At present, we get anxious daily reports on "solar-terrestrial flux" - the energy flowing between Earth and Sun. Solar flares (CMEs, or coronal magnetic ejections), after centuries of continuous occurrence, are being fearfully studied. They are watched through the eyes of carefully-positioned satellites that stand guard, ready to warn us of high-energy bombardment (virtual space hurricanes). Generated by solar storms, those at the top end of the scale could collapse the world's electrical power grids ... or worse. Once unleashed, we are told, their energy could set in motion a chain of events that might wipe out life on Earth. And what about the warning cries that atmospheric pollution might raise global temperatures? We are told that melting polar ice caps and a rising sea level could swamp continents and raise the level of the sea, submerging all the major seaports. The global economy would collapse. Blazing hot weather could destroy all agriculture, creating global famine. True or not, some call it the greatest danger faced by humanity. They say that this "climate change could make the globe so inhospitable that all surviving life would live in a state of constant struggle. This is the long-vaunted internal threat: Man's greedy exploitation of global resources would turn the "Big Blue Marble" into a brown ball of dust. In the past, enormous meteorites have collided with our planet, wiping out life on a global scale and leaving hundred-mile craters on Earth's surface. Today, astronomers keep track (as much as they are able) of similar wandering space rocks. If a big one loomed on a collision course with our planet, the very existence of human life could be threatened. Some come very close to Earth from time to time, perpetuating the fear of imminent doom. Shifting tectonic plates constantly threaten large population centers with the Earthquake that they call, "the big one." Millions could die. Even continents might shift. Super-volcanoes, such as the Yellowstone caldera might explode, wiping out entire continents. Then there is the biblical "pestilence." Today, man fears a natural global pandemic that might kill millions ... or a genetically-modified "superbug," created in some dark laboratory to reduce the numbers of the enemy, or of mankind in general. Today the Zika virus has us alarmed. Perhaps human genetic experimentation could go awry, causing massive, runaway genetic plagues of half-human monstrosities. Virtually all scientists are now expressing a fear of artificial intelligence and robotic engineering. Could they develop self-awareness and the desire to control humanity? One famous movie has a computer system called "Skynet" doing just that. Global war? Economic Collapse? Plagues? Runaway artificial intelligence? Man fears an apocalypse. Over the past half-century, an astonishing number of apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic motion pictures have been fed to an apprehensive public. Looming asteroids, alien invasions, worldwide pandemics (producing the living dead - zombies), ecological disaster, rampaging monsters (perhaps the progeny of genetic manipulation), Solar explosions, atomic wars, rampant overpopulation, technology run amok, perhaps instigated by self-aware cyber-organisms, out-of-control robots, and above all, World War III. The fear of global nuclear holocaust has hung over the heads of mankind since the end of World War II. Its mega-deaths and the Jewish Holocaust set the stage for the State of Israel, as well as the persistent march toward the coming great, final world war that is so often mentioned in Scripture. The Book of Revelation breathes awesome life into the writings of the Old Testament prophets. REVELATION: THE ORIGIN OF THE APOCALYPSE All of the above relate to biblical Scripture. The popular use of the word "apocalypse" comes straight from the Bible. Do you believe that prophecy is being revealed for the latter days? In particular, do you believe that prophecy points to the near fulfillment of end-time events, including the rapture, Great Tribulation and Second Coming of Christ? If the answer to these questions is yes, you are fascinated by apocalypticism. In fact, you are an apocalypticist. This uncommon noun comes from the Greek apokalupto [apokaluptv], "to reveal." It consists of two word segments: apo, "away from," and kalupto, to cover. Very simply, it means "to uncover," or "reveal." The same roots form the Greek name for the Bible's final book: It is called The Apocalypse, from the Greek Apoklupsis [ApokaluyiV], or more simply, The Revelation. Sometimes, this monumental book is called, The Revelation of John, or in longer form, The Revelation of St. John the Divine. In fact, this is the greatest prophetic unveiling in the Bible. All the threads of prophecy - from Genesis to Jude - come to convergence in twenty-two chapters of Revelation. Its Greek title has become an Anglicized word: Apocalypse. Though not everyone believes in the Bible, virtually the entire world fears a coming apocalypse of some sort. In fact, this universal anxiety has even produced the term, "post-apocalyptic!" This is an imagined life after the destruction of the world. After the horror of global destruction has come and gone, a ragtag remnant of humanity struggles to exist. Such literary efforts deal with the question of man's very survival ... and of the existence of God. THE OTHER SIDE OF THE STORY The Apostle Paul uses the same word to send comfort to Christians who, during his lifetime, suffered terrible persecution, the trials and tribulations of life in the Roman Empire: "And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels" (2 Thessalonians 1:7). Here, the word "revealed" is that same word, apokalupsis. If you love to contemplate His sudden appearance in the heavens, it is more than likely that you have repeatedly studied the Scriptures that give substance to the time and manner of His coming. You yearn for Scriptural revelation. Again, you are an apocalypticist. On occasion, you have probably had to push back a feeling of guilt, for being so excited about the closeness of the rapture. You dilute your prophetic enthusiasm in polite society, for fear of being called a "prophecy nut." Worse yet, you find yourself in trouble with other Christians for being too occupied with a "pie in the sky" theology, rather than concerning yourself with charity and evangelism. To no avail, you explain to them that one can be prophetically excited and a good steward at the same time. Worst of all, you find that as an apocalypticist, you vacillate between absolute certainty and total doubt. You tell yourself that these must certainly be the end times, but you don't want to lead astray those less convinced than yourself. You think about all those degreed theologians who totally deny the rapture as a legitimate concept. Understanding Bible prophecy can become a passion, particularly after one has begun to view it as already fulfilled in part. The edifice of Christianity is strengthened by over 300 Old Testament references to the Messiah that were fulfilled in the New Testament by Christ, Jesus. Born of the seed of the woman, a virgin (Isaiah 7:14), He is the Son of God (Matthew 3:17). He is also the son of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Judah and David (Matthew 1 and Luke 3), who was born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2). We could continue in this way, examining each of the hundreds of fulfilled prophecies until several books were filled. The effect of such study is the conviction that it is only a matter of time until other key elements click into place. Many past dates with destiny stand as markers, convincing us that similar indicators are now poised to drop into place. Modern Israel's timetable of events strongly motivate us to search for repetitive patterns, many of which extend into the future. We deeply desire the privilege of being witness to their fulfillment. Our constant temptation is to develop Scriptural connections that will allow us to construct a latticework of likely times for His arrival. We study and observe with great hope. Paul perfectly expressed our position when he wrote: "Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ" (Titus 2:13). We watch for Christ's appearance, optimistically believing that we'll be alive to personally witness the actual moment when a cosmic key is turned, allowing a door to open into the new world that will be our eternal home. At that moment, everything will change. Judgment will come. We shall be called home, and the world will be restructured, restored and reconstituted by the Righteous Judge. Since you are an apocalypticist, the blessed hope is real and revelation is not just the name of a book of the Bible. PROPHECY: A PRACTICAL PARADOX Apocalypticists are often the brunt of condescending jokes and cleverly dismissive remarks. You're no doubt familiar with them. One that you've surely heard a dozen times goes like this: "Well, some people say they are Premillenial. Some say they are Postmillennial. Some are Amillennial. I don't believe any of that stuff. Me ... I'm a Panmillenialist. I figure it's all gonna' pan out somehow." His superior snicker tells you that he views a study of the end times as a useless pursuit. You get that sort of remark from your upstanding, church-attending Christian who just doesn't want to be bothered by the finer details of God's plan. And he won't talk about "religion" or "politics" at the dinner table, either. He often says, "Nobody can agree on prophecy and everybody who's ever tried to set a date has been wrong. " He has been heard to say, "The only folks who don't argue about Christianity are the heathen." By that, he means that the heathen are sure of what they believe. In so saying, he has relegated your detailed study of redemptive prophecy to the world of the unsaved and the ignorant. Apocalypticists are often depicted as slightly daft. There are many reasons for this, but the primary one is that Jesus didn't return to establish the Kingdom in the first century. Since then, believers have been divided between, "He's coming back at some future time," "He's coming back, but nobody knows when," "He could come at any moment," and "He's coming back soon ... really soon." After the passing of the Apostles, with increasing Christian persecution and the diaspora of the Jews, the church settled into a waiting mode. Uncertainty about Christ's return shifted the emphasis toward various forms of obedience to a state church which believed itself to be the agent of Christ's return. For the most part, the theology of the Holy Roman Empire of the Middle Ages was built around the idea that the geopolitical state church would conquer the world for Christ. Only after the completion of their master developmental plan would He return to take His seat upon their throne. By contrast, the Apostles had written to their followers from the perspective of Jesus' imminent return. They never stated that any particular goal had to be met before He could return. To their followers, His coming was of a personal nature, not a political one. It was not directly connected to the fulfillment of any particular prophetic event. In his first epistle to the Thessalonians, Paul wrote: "For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming? (I Thess. 2:19). Any Christian reading these words in the first century could not be blamed for believing that Paul meant them to be personally included in the coming of Christ for the Church ... while they were still alive. Pronouns like "our" and "ye" certainly refer to Paul's followers in the first century. A little farther along in the epistle, when he describes the rapture of the church, Paul twice uses the pronoun "we," which could certainly have included those then alive in Macedonia: "Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord" (I Thessalonians 4:17). Of course, Paul had told his followers that the dead in Christ would be the first to experience resurrection. Then, living Christians would be caught up, (raptured). But even as he wrote this, he used the pronoun "we" to refer to the latter group. "We" would be the group then alive. In his second epistle to the same church, Paul delivers words of comfort to a people living in a pagan Graeco- Roman society. The pronoun "you" would again seem to include the first-century members of this church in the rapture: "And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels"(II Thessalonians 1:7). Nor was Paul alone in this direct way of referring to his contemporaries. John wrote about the appearing of Jesus, again using the pronoun, "we," saying, in effect, that Christians who were then his contemporaries were likely to witness His coming: "And now, little children, abide in him; that, when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming" (I John 2:28). Such language opens a wide door for scoffers who actually think it is an evil thing to search the Scriptures for reasons to believe that His coming is near. Often, they even quote the Bible to back up their criticism. Most often they use the words of Christ, Himself, as He spoke to the disciples on the Mount of Olives: "But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only"(Matt. 24:36). You've heard them quote some form of this verse to make the point that if only the Father in heaven knows the time of Christ's coming, then it's a worthless waste of time to study prophecy with any hope of understanding the day in which we live. But among other things, they always fail to make a critical distinction. Namely, that the context of this Scripture is Christ's Second Coming, which is distinctly different from the rapture. In the Olivet Discourse, Jesus mentions both the "abomination of desolation," and the "great tribulation," which dispensational Christians believe will not happen until after the rapture of the Church. We won't even be around to not know the day and hour. Furthermore, in this discourse, He is speaking to Israel, not the church, even to the point that He mentions a geographical place name: "Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains" (Matthew 24:16). The "day and hour" mentioned here is the coming of the Day of the Lord, culminated by the Second Coming of Christ. Before that time, much other Scripture tells us that the rapture will take place. Indirectly, then, the Olivet Discourse tells us that the rapture is imminent, but also that it comes in the context of the Great Tribulation. Thus, by both time and place, the contemporary apocalypticist is separated from an event that doesn't concern him anyway. (By the way, the apocalypticist doesn't attempt to calculate the day and hour of the rapture. But the general time ... and the season ... yes). The cold fact that Jesus is not referring to the rapture does not stop the scoffer. He will quickly add that even if you believe in the rapture (which he doesn't), it's a signless event. This being the case, why study prophetic Scripture with any hope of discovering significant clues? The answer to this question goes to the very nature of God. "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing" (II Timothy 4:7,8). Here, near the end of Paul's life, he reminds Timothy that there is to be a special reward for those who deeply love (and here, the word for "love" is agape) the idea of the Lord's soon appearance. In other words, living in the constant hope of His return is central to the life of a faithful Christian. Put another way, those who really love the Lord, simply cannot refrain from thinking that He might appear at any moment. To Paul, this truth lies at the very center of a righteous life. His promise to return is called the "blessed hope" of the church. We yearn for His revealing. The Bible views apocalypticists as righteous, not silly. Even so, the world regards those who long for the return of Jesus as hopeless idealists, at best. In the last half of the twentieth century, excitement about the approaching rapture of the church rose to fever pitch. Following World War II, and the statehood of Israel, there was the growing conviction that something big had changed. During both World Wars, Postmillennialism had reigned supreme in the leading theological circles. This is the belief that the institutional church would bring the world into a kind of new golden age, through the teaching of Christ. Postmillennialists believe that the current era is the millennium, though it is not necessarily to be regarded as a literal thousand-year period. After that, Christ will return to accept the Kingdom then already established by the church. Through the first half of the twentieth century, the great powers of theology were dominant in propagating this belief, producing a formal church, rooted in a belief that its prime function was to perfect society. But in mid-century, a radical change uprooted this belief. Israel became a nation, fulfilling many Old Testament prophecies. One of them was often pointed out as a direct description of Israel's new statehood: "Who hath heard such a thing? who hath seen such things? Shall the Earth be made to bring forth in one day? or shall a nation be born at once? for as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children. Shall I bring to the birth, and not cause to bring forth? saith the LORD: shall I cause to bring forth, and shut the womb? saith thy God. Rejoice ye with Jerusalem, and be glad with her, all ye that love her: rejoice for joy with her, all ye that mourn for her" (Isaiah 66:8-10). SINCE THE SIXTIES Indeed, there was much rejoicing among certain Christian groups at the time of modern Israel's birth. Surprisingly, however, Israel's emergence didn't immediately change the Postmillennial teaching that continued to dominate most church pulpits. This theological development would await a powerful event that took another twenty years. The signal event to which we refer was in many ways, as important as Israeli statehood, itself. Since 1948, Israel had fought for its existence. Tensions had increased, and in 1956, Egypt had clashed with Israel in the Sinai Penninsula. Israel won a decisive victory, but the U.S. and other Western countries had insisted that Israel withdraw. This was accomplished in 1957, But for the next ten years, Egypt continued to build its war machine. Thus, in the name of peace, Western diplomacy had given Egypt a decade to rearm itself. This situation led directly to the 1967 war. Egypt finally announced a blockade of the Gulf of Aqaba in June, 1967. On June 5th, the famous Six-Day War began, as Israel attacked Egypt's airfields, as well as those of Iraq, Syria and Jordan. By June 10th, the war was over, with Israel in control of Judea and Samaria, Gaza, the Golan Heights and Sinai Penninsula. Israel's rapid victory was seen as a modern miracle. Out of the war came many stories of angelic appearances and impossible victories. There were dozens of stories that seemed to point to Divine intervention. Suddenly, in the lives of the world's Christians, Israel's very existence came to be viewed as a direct result of the Lord's actions. In retrospect, even Israel's statehood came to be viewed as a sign that God's prophetic program was on the move into the final days. Until that war, Israel was for the most part, seen as miraculous only by the Jews. They believed that their ancient destiny had been fulfilled at long last. Only a few Christians had been awakened to Israel's role in fulfilled prophecy. Suddenly, the Land blossomed with fruits and flowers. Israeli horticulture was not just prophetic, but profitable. Amazingly successful books were written, showing that modern Israel was a fulfillment of prophecy. The Six-Day War vaulted Israel into international prominence. Prophecy was no longer a study of the past, but of the present ... and the near future! Prophecy preaching began in earnest, leading first hundreds, then thousands of preachers to proclaim, "Jesus is coming soon!" For centuries - literally, ever since the days of the Apostles - a tiny remnant of true believers had been saying, "Jesus could come at any moment." But it's quite a different thing to say, "Jesus is coming soon!" The word "soon" sets an outer limit on the time of anticipation. Soon means within a few years ... a few decades at most. Apocalypticists knew that the clock was ticking. Prophecy Unfolding: Israel & Iran Prepare For War - By Michael Snyder - http://www.prophecynewswatch.com/article.cfm?recent_news_id=3436 Are we about to see World War 3 erupt in the Middle East? Over the past several days, Israel has attempted to prevent attacks by Iranian forces and their allies by striking targets in Syria, Gaza, Lebanon and Iraq. As you will see below, political leaders in both Lebanon and Iraq are now accusing Israel of a "declaration of war", and Hezbollah is pledging to strike Israel back extremely hard. Of course if a full-blown war erupts between Israel and one of her neighbors, it is likely to become a multi-front war almost immediately. But at the core, this is a conflict between Israel and Iran. The Iranians have repeatedly pledged to wipe the nation of Israel off the face of the planet, and the coming "final war" is going to literally be a matter of life or death for those two nations. Both sides have been preparing for this "final war" for a very long time, and once it fully erupts the death and destruction that we will witness will be off the charts. Just within the past few days, the fighting has escalated dramatically as the Israelis have conducted operations in four different territories... Israeli forces openly claimed attacks over the weekend in Syria and the Palestinian-administered Gaza Strip and were blamed for two more operations in Lebanon and Iraq. As reports of what occurred across the region emerged, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hinted at his country's ongoing efforts abroad, telling a Monday planning meeting that "we will deepen our roots and strike at our enemies." The attacks in Syria, Lebanon and Iraq specifically targeted Iranian forces and their allies, and the goal was to prevent imminent attacks against Israel... In Syria, Israeli warplanes killed two members of the Lebanese Hezbollah. Israel says the individuals were supporting an Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps plot to launch explosive-laden drones into Israel. The Israelis say that the specific Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps unit responsible was the Quds Force, led by Qassem Soleimani. If true, the Quds Force was likely using Hezbollah as a deniable proxy to avoid direct links between the plot and Tehran. In another operation in Lebanon, Israel targeted another Iranian-allied group, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. In Iraq, senior Iran-aligned figures accused Israel of another air strike. Missiles are not flying directly back and forth between Israel and Iran yet, but at this point a state of war essentially exists, and many are deeply concerned about what is going to happen next. In particular, it looks like Hezbollah could launch a large scale attack against Israel at any moment, because their leadership is absolutely furious that the Israelis just hit their headquarters building in Beirut... Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah's secretary-general, threatened to attack Israel in retaliation for a drone attack over the weekend on the organization's headquarters in Beirut. Tensions between Israel and Hezbollah are now at their highest point since the 2006 war. And the Lebanese government itself is extremely angry as well. In fact, the president of Lebanon has publicly stated that what Israel has just done is essentially the equivalent of "a declaration of war"... Lebanese President Michel Aoun met Monday with the U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon Jan Kubis, calling Israel's moves in Beirut and Qusaya "a declaration of war." The statement echoed the words of Iraq's powerful Fateh Alliance, which called separate strikes that killed a militia commander in the border town of Al-Qaim "a declaration of war on Iraq and its people," according to the Associated Press. This is an extremely serious situation. Israel is literally on the brink of war with Hezbollah, and many feel that such a war is inevitable. Meanwhile, a very powerful bloc in the Iraqi government has also accused Israel of "a declaration of war"... A powerful bloc in Iraq's parliament has called for the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq, following a series of air raids targeting Iran-backed Shia militias in the country that have been blamed on Israel. The Fatah Coalition said on Monday that it holds the United States fully responsible for the alleged Israeli aggression, "which we consider to be a declaration of war on Iraq and its people." We had not seen the Israeli military strike targets in Iraq until just recently, and this latest attack has absolutely enraged the Shia militias. During the funeral procession for the commander that was killed in the attack, some of the Shia fighters were actually trampling the American flag... The Shia militia group, meanwhile, held a funeral procession in Baghdad for the commander killed on Sunday. "There is no greater God but God!" the mourners shouted as they marched behind a banner with the words "Death to America" and "Death to Israel." Some trampled on an American flag as they marched. Thousands of U.S. soldiers died, thousands more were injured, and we spent trillions of dollars in the process of "liberating" Iraq, and this is how they feel about us. What a colossal waste. Ultimately, nothing is going to be able to stop the massive war that is coming to the region. The Iranians and all of their allies have a religiously-fueled hatred for Israel that most people living in the western world will never understand, and they are absolutely obsessed with permanently destroying the nation of Israel as it exists today. There will never be peace between the two sides, and the coming apocalyptic conflict will literally be a battle for national survival. This can definitely be described as a time of "wars and rumors of wars", and the situation on the ground is extremely fluid right now. The fact that the Israelis have another national election coming up adds another layer of complexity to all of this, and that election may cause events to accelerate even faster than many were anticipating. Let us pray for peace, because right now tensions are extremely high and things are beginning to spiral out of control. And when a full-blown war does break out, it is highly likely that the U.S. will get involved, and that will have enormous implications for all of us. Nearing Midnight: The Hateful Haters of Hate - Todd Strandberg - https://www.raptureready.com/category/nearing-midnight/ The Democratic Party appears to have decided that its hope of gaining control of the White House in 2020 is to make racial division the centerpiece of its agenda. President Trump is constantly being compared to Adolf Hitler. Every act of hatred in the nation is somehow linked to him. Senator Cory Booker told CNN that Trump is "worse than a racist." That is a rather confusing pronouncement, implying that the senator believes racists are not the worst of all people. Booker tried to explain himself: "[Trump] is actually using racist tropes and racial language for political gains, trying to use this as a weapon to divide our nation against itself." Booker was completely incapable of understanding the irony of his own words. Booker is not the only person on the left whose rhetoric requires redefining the word "outrageous." MSNBC put alleged investigative journalist Vegas Tenold on the air, back in July, to claim, "We're at a point where Trump is more racist than neo-Nazis." Again, this is an amazing revelation that Nazism was not the low point in history. People are being brainwashed into thinking that the ultimate in hatred is occurring right before our eyes. In August, Robert "Beto" O'Rourke said of Trump, "He is a racist, and he stokes racism in this country, and it does not offend our sensibilities; it fundamentally changes the character of this country and it leads to violence." Beto called President Donald Trump a white supremacist. When asked by MSNBC's Jacob Soboroff whether Trump is a white supremacist, O'Rourke said, without hesitation, "He is." Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren also claims that the president is a white supremacist. Warren told The New York Times at a campaign stop in Iowa that she thinks President Trump not only fits the label himself, but has also "given aid and comfort to white supremacists." The Question, "Do you think President Trump is a white supremacist?" should be a simple test of a candidate's mental fitness. Anyone with an IQ above 60 should be able to determine that Trump doesn't fit into this category. Democrats are allowed to spout this nonsense because the liberal media is on their side. The Democratic presidential contender Kamala Harris wants to 'disarm violent hate' by seizing guns from bigots. If elected, she will push legislation that would authorize federal courts to issue gun confiscation orders against people who express opinions that may indicate an intent to commit a hate crime. These "domestic terrorism prevention orders" would "temporarily restrict a person's access to guns if they exhibit clear evidence of dangerousness," including "violent racist threats or anti-immigrant manifestos." Her plan to "disarm violent hate" is pretty vague, and it would be difficult to make it consistent with the First Amendment. The creation of a federal "red flag" law would very likely infringe on constitutionally protected speech. If Harris is allowed to determine who will have their weapons confiscated, anyone who voted for Trump would likely make the list. The political world doesn't have a monopoly on irrational protests against racism. Carolina Panthers safety Eric Reid is still kneeling in silent protest before every football game. Reid is close friends with former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, and he was his sidekick in many protests during the national anthem. According to the Charlotte Observer, Reid's current reason for kneeling is to "protest racial inequality and social injustice in America." Maybe he is hoping to get fired so he can get a fat settlement check from the NFL and endorsement deals from Nike, just like his pal Kaepernick got. The craziest recent statement on racism was made by Senator Bernie Sanders. Speaking to the Young Leaders Conference in Atlanta, Sanders pledged to "go to war against white nationalism and racism in every aspect of our lives." The senator cited his personal history, saying that his father's entire family was wiped out by "Hitler and his white nationalism." Ironically, just as Hitler scapegoated Jews as being responsible for almost all of Germany's problems at the time, so the modern American left seeks to hold white people of European descent responsible for all the Western world's problems today. The lack of a single Democratic candidate with a reasonable view on racism shows how dangerous the world has become. If voters are foolish enough to elect someone who sees his enemy as neo-Nazis, then any action they take will be justifiable. If there is no standard on what qualifies as hateful speech, there will also be no standard on who qualifies as a bigot. "Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 5:10). America Divided Split Cut - Paul Rolland - https://wordpress.com/view/nightwatchman.blog Zechariah 12:3 And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it. Matthew 12:25 And Jesus knew their thoughts, and said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand: Mark 3:24 And if a kingdom be divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. Mark 3:25 And if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand. Luke 11:17 But he, knowing their thoughts, said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and a house divided against a house falleth. Luke 12:53 The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against the father; the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother; the mother in law against her daughter in law, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. The US Government has become politically divided and is in discord and disunity. The political division affecting and splitting America is a direct result of its efforts to 'divide Jerusalem' via the 'Deal of the Century' or the regional covenant of peace and security in the Middle East. Throughout scripture, God has made it abundantly clear that Jerusalem is the 'apple of his eye' and has his stamp of ownership on it ... above all other cities on earth. God makes it adequately clear in Zechariah 12:3 that any nation that attempts to cut or divide up Jerusalem, will themselves be cut up or divided. As such, the US is cut or divided politically because of its leadership role in attempting to split God's Holy City of earthly Jerusalem. Plain and simple. OK. So it's clear about the accelerating implosion of political unity in the US. Political discord will get worse and become angrier, antagonistic, confrontational, and hateful with little to no compromise, concession, agreement or unity. Contempt and distrust rules the day. Some would say this is already the case not only between Democrats and Republicans, but also within each party. Whether you believe the US being extremely divided is a result of God's wrath for its role in dividing Jerusalem or not, it doesn't matter. The fact remains that the US is becoming bitterly more and more divided. This division has also taken place in culture (LGBTQP+ social inclusiveness agenda), economics (income inequality), etc. The list can go on. America is divided on so many levels, not just politically. America Divided, Split: New American Civil War? Some people think it's already begun. From celebrities calling on citizens to take to the streets, to members of Congress calling for the public harassment of White House officials, to mob justice at restaurants - is the US heading toward a new kind of Civil War? Well, some people think the seeds of a new Civil War have already been sown - and in a recent article, University of Tennessee Law Professor Glenn Harlan Reynolds argued in a USA Today column that this new war is indeed "well underway." Reynolds was echoing similar comments from political scientist Thomas Schaller who wrote in a recent Bloomberg column that America is "at the beginning of a soft civil war," and author Tom Ricks who agreed that the country seems to be "lurching" in that direction. Much of the recent disquiet has been spurred on by the Trump administration's "zero tolerance" immigration policies and the decision to separate children from their parents at the US-Mexico border, but things have been bubbling up since Trump took office 18 months ago. 1. 'God is on our side!' Representative Maxine Waters (D-California) caused a huge stir when she encouraged critics of the White House's immigration policies to go out and harass members of the Trump administration in public. Waters made an impassioned call for citizens to ensure there would be "no sleep, no peace" for White House officials. "If you see anybody from that cabinet in a restaurant, in a department store, at a gasoline station, you get out and you create a crowd. You push back on them. Tell them they're not welcome anymore, anywhere," she said. But her comments were so extreme and incendiary that it prompted a former secret service agent to call them "dangerous"and warned they "go beyond breaking the norms" of civil discourse and criticized her for "endorsing mob-rule to satisfy a political goal." Not long after Waters' comments, White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders was asked to leave a restaurant in Virginia because she works for the Trump administration. 2. 'Surround their homes and schools in protest!' Celebrities are getting in on the action, too, encouraging Americans to take to the streets in the millions to protest the Trump administration. Last week, comments by actor Peter Fonda put the secret service on alert when he suggested that Trump's 12-year-old son Barron should be taken from his mother Melania and put "in a cage with pedophiles" and that citizens should "surround the schools" of administration officials' children in response to the child-separation policy. Somewhat less dramatically, other Hollywood figures have called for protests and change. Actor John Cusack accused the Trump administration of "fascism" and "torturing" children - while musician Serj Tankian wrote on Instagram that the US is in a state of "utter regression" and that it is time for a "peaceful revolution." 3. Confederate monuments controversy The fierce debate over the removal of confederate monuments and symbols across the US epitomizes the current political and social divide and the competing interpretations of American history, with one side believing the monuments revere figures who fought to maintain slavery while the other side believes they honor great patriots. When white supremacist Dylann Roof killed nine black Americans attending a prayer service in Virginia in 2015, it prompted a movement to have Confederate monuments removed from public spaces across the country. More than 100 publicly-supported monuments and symbols have been removed since 2015 - but not without controversy and counter-protests. While monuments are being removed across the US, other groups are pushing for new ones to be erected. Last year a 'Unite the Right' rally called in protest at the planned removal of a statue of Robert E. Lee in Charlottesville, Virginia turned violent when a protester drove a car through a crowd of counter-protesters, killing activist Heather Heyer. 4. Media wars, polarization of opinion All of this social discord is playing out, magnified, on Americans' TV screens in a way that appears to be exacerbating the problem. Eager to up their ratings, news networks invite the most polarizing of guests for daily screaming matches to be beamed into people's homes. Far from the days of simply favoring one news channel over another, now if Americans don't like how something is reported, it instantly becomes "fake news" or "propaganda." In his article, Reynolds wrote that news media which "promote shrieking outrage in pursuit of ratings and page views, are making the problem worse" and reminisced about a time when Americans could disagree with each other without hating each other. 5. Stratification of society While all this is being played out on TV screens and social media, those at the fringes of society are feeling the effects of a sick system perhaps more than anyone. The socio-economic stratification of American society appears more obvious than it has at any time in recent years. Inequality and rampant police violence against African-Americans prompted the NFL kneeling protests, which turned into a nationwide controversy between Americans who are proud of their flag and national anthem and all they stand for - and those who believe true freedom and justice have not yet come to America. A devastating opioid crisis, one of the highest child poverty rates in the world, and a strict adherence to policies which make the poor poorer and the rich richer, have all helped take anger in America from a simmer to a boil. Reynolds wrote that part of the problem now is that Americans don't feel social ties which transcend politics. It's all us vs. them - and nothing in between. He argues that churches, fraternal organizations and neighborhoods used to cross political lines, but that this America has "shrunk and decayed" and people are increasingly finding their identity only in politics. Marriage counselors, Reynolds explains, say that a relationship is doomed to fail when the couple begin to view each other with contempt - and in America today, there seems to be nothing but feelings of contempt felt on both sides of the political spectrum. Celestial Sign in the Heavens: The Great American total solar eclipse of August, 2017 crossed the US from Northwest to Southeast (Diagonally). The upcoming Great American total solar eclipse in April 2024 crosses the US diagonally from Southwest to Northeast. The two combined eclipses form a gigantic "X" across the US. These two eclipses take part exactly seven (7) years apart. The Number 7 denotes God's completeness to his plan or purpose. In this case for the US. 2024 also marks the next US election after the 2020 election. It is entirely possible that the US might devolve into an utter state of chaos and socialistic anarchy at this point. It is also entirely possible that sometime in 2024 marks the 'midpoint' of the Tribulation, if it begins sometime in 2020. Our redemption draws nigh! A time to look forward to and up! In His Service, Paul Rolland Night Watchman Ministries Daily Jot: What's behind this grieving in the spirit - Bill Wilson - www.dailyjot.com The email response to our discussion about grieving in the spirit has been tremendous. So many fellow brothers and sisters are feeling this sense of foreboding. These are not isolated cases, people across the country are experiencing the same thing. If you are feeling this way, know that you are not alone, that there are many others connected together by this spiritual heaviness. In order to address it, let's try to put our finger on the pulse of it. For me, it is a heaviness of the condition of people's hearts-Matthew 24:12's, "because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold"--and that treating others the way you would want to be treated is an afterthought within this post-modern world. Here is how all this is affecting EC: "Since the election of President Trump, however, I've been grieving other things. I've been grieving the cloddy, thoughtless, insecure and juvenile image he conveys seemingly every time he opens his mouth. I've been grieving the fact that he makes those who support him--despite his disgraceful and unstatesmanlike behavior, but rather because of his good accomplishments--look like mindless fools. And while on some level decent people shouldn't care what evil men and women think, things don't have to be as difficult as they are, and America doesn't have to be as divided as we are now. "But it seems our president's thoughtless conduct contributes so much to making it so. I grieve that. And worst of all, I grieve the obvious fact that the left hasn't relaxed their efforts to promote their treachery one bit it for moment since Trump's election. Usually in days and months following any election, parties of a defeated candidate will stand down and just allow history to unfold a while - see how things go and then begin considering plans for the future of their party and their shared ideals. But that didn't happen this time...I'm 66 now. I've never seen that before. Instead, evil men and women on the left are just waxing worse and worse by the day. I grieve all that... "...the next time they come into power, they will continue to press into their mission to destroy everything decent and wholesome and redeeming that there is in and about America...and it's all owing to believers refusing to speak plain truth as Jesus would have, and that in the name of some phony brand of love, the claim of which I suspect is really just a vail for their cowardice. I grieve all that the most." EC may have hit the nail on the head. In our spirit, we know that much of what is being said and done by many of those we support is not remotely Godly. We support it because the alternative is so dark. And we are responsible because as followers of Christ we are losing the cultural war to the dark side. This is creating a conflict within. Let's put pride, people and events aside for a bit, and reason together to reconcile this conflict. Daily Devotion: Does God Need Us? - by Greg Laurie - www.harvest.org How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?-Romans 10:14 Sometimes I've heard people say that God needs us, and the reason He created humanity was because He was lonely up there in Heaven and wanted some companionship. Nonsense. God doesn't need anything or anyone. But having said that, it is true that God loves us. It is true that He longs for relationship and friendship with us. But He doesn't need us. Here is the question: Can God reach lost people without us? Yes, He can. But does He want to reach lost people without us? No, He doesn't. The Bible says, "How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?" (Romans 10:14 NKJV). God has placed each of us where we are for a reason. We need to find that reason and then do what we can to bring honor and glory to the Lord. Did it ever occur to you that you are where you are because God put you there? Maybe that cranky neighbor, that difficult coworker, or that person you come into contact with on a regular basis could be your mission field. Did you ever stop and think about praying for that person by name and praying for an opportunity to engage them in a conversation to lead them to Christ? There are two things we can do with our lives. We can chase after the empty promises of this world and waste our lives. (And many do. They waste their entire lives.) Or, we can say, "I want to discover God's plan. I want to take the position He has given to me, whatever it is, wherever it is, and leverage it and use it for His glory." 
FROM THE HEART
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