Prophecy Update Newsletter
September 27, 2016
IN TODAY'S NEWSLETTER...
The Rapture Will Take Place Before the Tribulation - By Dan Payne - http://raptureready.com/soap2/payne69.html
This article will attempt to illustrate several significant considerations contained within the Word of God that demonstrate that the Rapture of the Church will indeed take place before the Tribulation. Let's first take a look at the mystery of being changed in a moment as taught by the apostle Paul: "Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed - in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet, for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this immortal must put on immortality" (1 Corinthians 15:51-53). A key point to observe in relation to the "mystery" that Paul revealed in these verses is contained in the prior verse: "Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does corruption inherit incorruption" (1 Corinthians 15:50). There will be people who are still alive in the flesh when Jesus returns for His true Church. Our bodies that are made of flesh and blood are prohibited from entering heaven. Therefore the fleshly bodies of the true believers who are still alive at the return of Christ must be changed into glorified bodies authorized to enter heaven. If those who are still alive at the Rapture were going to stay on earth then why would they have to receive new glorified bodies necessary for entrance into heaven? It is obvious that at the Rapture "we who are alive and remain" are not staying on earth but are going to heaven. The fact that these verses are contained within a very important letter written by the apostle Paul to a prominent church in that day demonstrates that the true Church is in view. The last trumpet referred to by Paul is the last trumpet sounded for the true Church. The Lord often uses the blast of a trumpet to signify action for His people. There are over 200 verses containing references to the sound of horns and trumpets contained in the Bible! Here are two such verses that are very significant to the true Church: "I was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day, and I heard behind me a loud voice, as of a trumpet" (Revelation 1:10). 'For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first" (1 Thessalonians 4:16). The similarity of the voice of the angel shouting behind John like a trumpet on the "Lord's Day" and the voice of the archangel shouting when the "Lord Himself" descends from heaven as described by Paul, cannot be missed. It is very significant that after the apostle John heard the voice like a trumpet, his own spirit, and not his flesh (see 1 Corinthians 15:50), was immediately taken to heaven. "After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven. And the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying, 'Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place after this.' Immediately I was in the Spirit; and behold, a throne set in heaven, and One sat on the throne" (Revelation 4:1-2). Another very significant point is that John viewed the future events of the Tribulation after he was taken to heaven. This fits the model that the Church will be translated to heaven prior to the Tribulation. After the true Church hears the last trumpet sounded for her, those who are not part of the true Church are going to hear more trumpets sounded only for them. Another very important point not to be overlooked is that the Rapture equals a resurrection. The Lord will bring with Him all true believers who have already passed away when He returns for the true Church. "But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord" (1 Thessalonians 4:13-17). These verses in 1 Thessalonians portraying the dead in Christ rising are a clear description of a resurrection. However, there is no mention during this resurrection of Jesus coming to the earth to tread the winepress of the wrath of God as described in Revelation chapter 19. "And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses. Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God" (Revelation 19:14-15). Likewise, there is no mention of a resurrection at all in these verses or in the rest of Revelation chapter 19 and who can deny that the second coming of Jesus is described in Revelation 19? Is there then a resurrection to take place after the Lord Jesus treads the winepress of His wrath at the end of the Tribulation? Yes indeed: "And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection" (Revelation 20:4-5). It's all about the resurrection! The "first resurrection" takes place in stages with the first fruits being Christ Jesus at His resurrection and the Rapture of His bride before the Tribulation, with the last stage taking place after the events of Revelation chapter 19. "But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep" (1 Corinthians 15:20). This demonstrates that those who were martyred for their witness to Jesus and who rejected the mark of the beast are resurrected at the end of the Tribulation and are not part of the same group who will return with Jesus when the members of the true Church are changed in the twinkling of an eye. Those true believers who have passed away before the Rapture will have the amazing experience of returning twice with Jesus to the earth. First on their way to reunite with those of us who are still alive at the Rapture and the second time joined with us at the second coming of Jesus after the Tribulation. "And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses" (Revelation 19:14). When Jesus returns he will bring with Him those who have died in Him (born-again Christians) for they are with Him in heaven now. But they, too, still await the resurrection of the body to receive their new spiritual body. The spirit and soul of these believers will then be united with their new body through this resurrection. Then both those who have been resurrected and those believers who are alive when the Lord returns will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air. Another significant consideration is how the Lord compared the unexpected suddenness of His return to the unexpected suddenness of the judgment of the Flood in the days of Noah. "But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only. But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be" (Matthew 24:36-39). It is obvious that the sun and the moon were still giving their light before the judgment of the Flood of Genesis, isn't it? But what will happen to the sun and the moon after the judgment of the Tribulation? "Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory" (Matthew 24:29-30). Do you see the difference between the coming of Jesus before the judgment of the Tribulation and His coming after? Before the Tribulation judgment, while the sun and moon are still shining, Jesus will return for His true Church and at the same time He will catch the rest of the world by surprise. "For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. For when they say, 'Peace and safety!' then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape" (1 Thessalonians 5:2-3). Then after the judgment of the Tribulation, when the sun and the moon are no longer shining, the entire world will see Jesus return with the light of His great glory shining brighter than the sun! Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus! 
Many Concerned Obama 'Won't Have Israel's Back' at UN After November Election - Barney Breen Portnoy - http://www.prophecynewswatch.com/article.cfm?recent_news_id=682
There is significant bipartisan concern in Washington that President Barack Obama "won't have Israel's back" at the United Nations following the election of his successor in November, a prominent Middle East expert told The Algemeiner on Tuesday. Clifford D. May, president of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies think tank, spoke with The Algemeiner a day after 88 US senators sent a letter to Obama urging him to veto any one-sided resolutions regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict during the remainder of his time in office. The letter, which was organized by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), made "very telling points," May told The Algemeiner. "A one-sided UN Security Council resolution would be damaging not just to Israel, but to any possibility of peace in the near future," May warned. He further explained, "I think it's fairly obvious at this point that the UN is egregiously prejudiced against Israel. And what you don't want to see is something like what the French have been discussing -- mandated negotiations, and if those negotiations fail to produce fruit, the Palestinians would be rewarded. That would assure that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas would not make any concessions." In his final address to the UN General Assembly last week, Obama said, "Israelis and Palestinians will be better off if Palestinians reject incitement and recognize the legitimacy of Israel, but Israel recognizes that it cannot permanently occupy and settle Palestinian land." May noted that those words would "probably feed into the concern that exists that after the election Obama will take actions that will tie the hands of the next president." "People in this town who are in favor of a productive peace process -- those who want to see the Israelis and the Palestinians living side by side in peace -- are worried and I think the idea is that if President Obama is contemplating such a move now, that needs to be discouraged," May concluded. In an interview with The Algemeiner last week, former State Department Middle East negotiator Aaron David Miller said the signing of the new 10-year memorandum of understanding (MOU) on US security assistance to Israel might serve as a "trigger mechanism" for a fresh American-led Israeli-Palestinian peace push during the lame-duck period between the election on Nov. 8 and the inauguration of the next president on Jan. 20. As reported by The Algemeiner, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed his reservations about a potential US peace drive during a meeting last month with a visiting bipartisan delegation of American foreign policy experts.
Our World: Ending the Palestinian exception - Caroline B. Glick - http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Our-World-Ending-the-Palestinian-exception-468764
It was never about building "Palestine." Ahead of Monday night's first presidential debate, Rudolph Giuliani - former New York mayor and Republican nominee Donald Trump's current adviser - spoke at the Israeli American Council's annual conference. Four days of intense debate preparation with Trump preceded the talk. Giuliani insisted the time has come for the US to "reject the whole notion of a two-state solution in Israel." It can only be hoped that regardless of who prevails in November, Giuliani's statement will become the official position of the next US administration. In his speech before the UN General Assembly last week PLO and Fatah chief and unelected Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said many things to drive home the basic point that he is not interested in peace with Israel. He is interested in destroying Israel. But one particular demand stands out. It stands out not because it is new. It isn't new. Abbas says it all the time and his advisers say it all the time. They say it to Palestinian and international audiences alike, and it always is met with support or at least sympathy. Abbas demanded that Israel stop arresting Palestinian terrorists and release all Palestinian terrorists from its prisons. That is, he demanded that Israel allow thousands of convicted terrorists to walk free and refrain from doing anything to interfere with terrorists engaged planning and carrying out the murder of its citizens. The overwhelming majority of Palestinians support this demand. And so does the US government. During US Secretary of State John Kerry's failed peace process in 2013-14, President Barack Obama and Kerry embraced Abbas's demand that Israel release 104 terrorist murderers from its prisons as a precondition for agreeing to negotiate with the Jewish state. Bowing to US pressure, Israel released 78 terrorists from its jails in three tranches. Ahead of the fourth scheduled release, Abbas and his advisers bragged that they would cut off talks with Israel as soon as the last group of terrorist murderers were released. That is, they admitted that the negotiations, such as they were, were nothing more than a means to achieve the goal of freeing murderers. Rather than condemn Abbas and his colleagues for their cynical bad faith and repulsive immorality, the Obama administration chastised Israel for refusing to play along. When Israel responded to their statements by refusing to release the last group of 26 convicted terrorists, the administration accused Israel of breaching the terms of the negotiations. Obama, Kerry and their advisers held Israel responsible for the talks' failure. It's important to consider what Abbas's demand for free-range terrorists says about him. It is important to ponder what the fact that the overwhelming majority of Palestinians are partners in this demand says about them as a society. And it is worth pondering as well the strategic rationality and moral stature of a US government that supports this position. As far as Abbas and the Palestinians are concerned, their refusal to view mass murderers as criminals tells us a great deal about who they are and what they want. The Palestinian national movement they have come to embody was never about a deep-seated desire for national liberation. It was never about building "Palestine." From the time it was created by Amin el-Husseini in 1920, Palestinian identity has been about the negation of the Jewish national liberation movement - Zionism. And since Israel achieved independence in 1948, the Palestinians have defined themselves by their collective dedication to annihilating the Jewish state - hence their support for terrorists who kill Jews. Husseini's heir Yasser Arafat shared his view that terrorism was a both strategic goal in and of itself and a means to achieve the ultimate end of the Palestinian movement - that is, the violent eradication of Israel. As the heir to both men, Abbas, like his sometimes partners and sometimes rivals in Hamas, has never been interested in building anything. And indeed, he hasn't. Consider what is loosely referred to as the "Palestinian economy." In an article published this week by the Hebrew-language online journal Mida, economist Uri Redler showed that the Palestinian economy isn't actually an economy. It is an extortion racket. Using World Bank data, Redler showed that the Palestinian economy is an optical illusion. In its 22 years of existence, the PA has almost entirely destroyed the private sector in Judea, Samaria and Gaza. Seventy-five percent of its tax income comes from indirect taxes that Israel collects for it on imports. Forty percent of its budget comes from donors. Only 18% of it income comes from direct taxation. And most of that comes from deduction at source of PA employees. Since Operation Protective Edge in 2014, only 15% of foreign aid toward the reconstruction of Gaza has been used for reconstruction projects. The rest of the money has been used as discretionary funds by Hamas. Seventy percent of the funds have come from American and EU taxpayers. This means that the US and the EU have been directly funding Hamas terrorists. It is not surprising that the aid has been diverted. And it is not surprising that the US and the EU have continued to provide money they know is being diverted by Hamas. Hamas, like Fatah, has no interest in developing a Palestinian economy. Economic development doesn't bring in the money. Terrorism does. Palestinians with economic freedom won't be dependent on the likes of Abbas and his Hamas counterparts for their livelihoods. So they block all independent paths to prosperity. Rather than build roads, the PA and Hamas pay people to kill Jews. The more Jews you kill, the more money you receive. They can maintain this policy because the US and Europe pay them to do so. The more terrorism they commit, the more headlines the Palestinians receive. And the more headlines they receive, the more money they are paid by the UN and Western governments - to advance the cause of the "twostate solution." This then brings us to the US and Europe, and their unstinting support for Palestinian demands for the release of terrorists. What are they thinking? Earlier this month Prof. Eugene Kontorovich of Northwestern University Law School and the Kohelet Forum published a paper on the international community's general interpretation of paragraph 49(6) of the Fourth Geneva Protocol from 1949. The relevant clause states that an "Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies." As Kontorovich noted, this clause the forms the basis of the international community's constant refrain that Israeli communities built beyond the 1949 armistice lines in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria are illegal. In other words, it forms the basis of the West's case against Israel and, by extraction, for the Palestinians'. Just last week during his speech before the UN General Assembly, Obama attacked Israel for its continued settlement activity. Kontorovich investigated the same international community's view of communities built by citizens of a dozen other states in lands occupied by their governments in armed conflicts. He noted that the activities of Moroccans in the Western Sahara, of Turks in Northern Cyprus, of Indonesians in East Timor and of other nationals in multiple other territories are legally indistinguishable from Israel's activities in the areas it took control over from Jordan in the 1967 Arab-Israel war. In none of these other cases, however, has the US, EU, UN or any other international or national authority ever invoked the Fourth Geneva Convention or otherwise claimed that those activities are a breach of international law. In other words, the legal basis for the criminalization and political condemnation of Israel in relation to the Palestinians is entirely specious and discriminatory. In other words, US support for the so-called twostate solution, like the international community's support for it, is really just a means of discriminating against Israel. It does not advance the cause of peace or justice, for Israelis or for Palestinians. It merely empowers terrorist gangsters to kill Israelis and extort both the Palestinians and the international community. So again, Giuliani is absolutely right.
Jubilee is Counted in the Land for First Time in 2,000 Years - By Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz - http://www.breakingisraelnews.com
"And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a Jubilee unto you." Leviticus 25:10 (The Israel Bible™) Amidst the shofar blasts, this Rosh Hashana will include a mitzvah (Biblical commandment) that hasn't been performed by the Jews in almost 2,000 years: counting the Jubilee. It is a simple mitzvah, reciting just a few lines, but performing this mitzvah is a declaration that the prophesied return of the Jews to Israel has been fulfilled, thereby establishing a basis for the rebuilding of the Jewish Temple. Unbeknownst to all but a few witnesses, as Rosh Hashana ended eleven months ago, the nascent Sanhedrin concluded months of deliberation by ruling that certain conditions had been met requiring the Nation of Israel to begin counting the Jubilee cycle. Rabbi Avraham Dov Ben Shor recited the blessing and the 49-year cycle began again. When Rosh Hashana - the Jewish New Year - ends next Tuesday evening, it will be time for Jews to count the second year of the Jubilee cycle. The blessing and the count are as follows: .ברוך אתה יי אלוהינו מלך העולם אשר קידשנו במיצותיו וצונו על ספירת שמיטים ויובלות Baruch Atah Adonai Elohenu Melech Ha-olam, Asher Kidshanu B'Mitsvotav, V'Tsivanu Al Sfirat Shemittim v'Yovalot. Blessed art thou, Ruler of the Universe, who sanctifies us in his commandments, and has commanded us to count the sabbaticals and the Jubilees. .השנה הזאת היא השנה השניה ליובל הראשון והשנה השניה לשמיטה ראשונה ביובל הראשון Hashana HaZot Hee Hashanna Hasnia La'Yovel Harishon v'Hashanna Hashnia LaShmitta Rishon Bayovel Harishon. This year is the second year of the first Jubilee, and the second year for the first sabbatical in the first Jubilee. Specific conditions outlined in Jewish law had to be considered by the Sanhedrin before reinstating this mitzvah. Unlike most Torah commandments being observed today which are incumbent on an individual, the Jubilee is a national mitzvah. Its observance is dependant upon most of Israel being in the land of Israel. To begin counting the Jubilee last year, the Sanhedrin, as a bet din (rabbinic court), ruled that the Jews have returned to inherit the land as a nation, and not just as individuals. This requires at least 600,000 Jews, equal to the number of Israelites that returned to Israel from Egypt under Joshua. Rabbi Hillel Weiss, spokesman for the Sanhedrin, explained to Breaking Israel News, "The Sanhedrin ruled that we are now clearly in the prophesied third inheritance of the land, the first being by Joshua, the second after the Babylonian exile. "There are 5 mitzvot connected to the Jubilee: counting the Jubilee, letting free slaves, returning land, blowing the shofar, and forgiving debts," Rabbi Weiss explained. "We have reinstituted one: the counting of the Jubilee." Rabbi Weiss added that blowing the shofar, performed on Yom Kippur, has not yet been reinstituted as part of the mitzvah of Jubilee, but if an individual feels so inclined, he can do so without a blessing. It has been exactly one complete Jubilee cycle since the Six-Day War and the unification of Jerusalem. Had the Jubilee cycle not been interrupted 2,000 years ago by the Diaspora, the first year of the ongoing Jubilee cycle would have been in 1967, the year Jerusalem was unified, and again last year, when the Sanhedrin reinstituted the Jubilee. The next Jubilee will be declared in 2065, 48 years from now. To signify the reinstitution of the Jubilee, and also to commemorate the Jubilee of Jerusalem, the Sanhedrin has issued a medallion. One side is engraved with an image of Solomon's Temple, flanked by two shofars, symbolizing the Jubilee. The other side shows a lit seven-branched menorah, two cherubim, and a Hebrew inscription stating that the third inheritance of the land of Israel by the Jews has officially been declared. The Sanhedrin is selling the medallion and setting aside the proceeds for use in the Third Temple. "Sale of this medallion will serve as the basis for the mitzvah of the half-shekel, which was collected from every Jewish male," Rabbi Hillel Weiss explained. "As such, the money will go towards acquiring animals, grain, oil and wine, for sacrificial purposes. It will also be used for building and maintaining the temple." The rabbi specified that the medallion does not fulfill the requirements outlined in the Torah for the half-shekel, and should not be considered sacred, but all of the funds will be reserved by the Sanhedrin for Temple use.
Nearing Midnight: The Wheel of Humanity - Terry James - http://raptureready.com/rap16.html
It is the geopolitical center of earth's most dangerous dilemma from the standpoint of the threat of nuclear Armageddon. It even outweighs the gravity of threats from ISIS, Russia, China, or North Korea. The very survival or destruction of humanity's future seems to revolve around this nucleus geopolitical matter. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu voiced the problem in a recent video. Israel's diversity shows its openness and readiness for peace. Yet the Palestinian leadership actually demands a Palestinian state with one pre-condition: No Jews. There's a phrase for that: It's called ethnic cleansing. And this demand is outrageous. It's even more outrageous that the world doesn't find this outrageous. Some otherwise enlightened countries even promote this outrage. Out of 138 nations eligible to vote on United Nations Resolution A/67/L.28, only Israel, the United States, Canada, and the Czech Republic voted against the resolution, while forty-one abstained. The resolution reaffirms: "the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination and to independence in their State of Palestine on the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967." U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, in a practically unprecedented such bias-tinged statement, declared recently that the Israeli "occupation" of Palestinian-controlled territories "must end." As the U.N. world leaders gathered in New York City the past week, the number one-collective thought, if not necessarily expressed as the all-out obsession of most gathered, was the idea to force Israel to give up land for peace. It was the same old, ages-long rant: There can't be peace until Israel gives the Palestinians back their rightful land. Only, it isn't theirs. God gave it to Israel in perpetuity: And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your descendants after you. And I will give to you and to your descendants after you, the land of your sojourning, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God. (Genesis 17:7-8) But, if you don't accept that biblical claim, then how about this one? Israel took the territory in question in a series of modern wars, the most pertinent for this argument being accomplished in the 1967 Six-Day War. The diplomatic world frets that this is the sticking point for Middle East peace. They fret further that if not forthcoming, acceptance of the demand that Israel give up the land in question for peace will mean World War III--nuclear conflict, and the end of humanity itself. Actually the inverse is true--thus according to God's Word, which prophesies the following: I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land. (Joel 3: 2) Most all of the leaders of the nations are dead set to do just what this foreboding prophecy foretells. They are determined to part or divide God's land. At some point, this will be accomplished, because that's what Armageddon is all about. All nations will be brought by the God of Israel into the Valley of Jehoshaphat--that is, to the place where Armageddon will unfold. All of this is shaping up at a rapid pace while most every signal of prophetic significance is coming together in dramatic convergence. We have covered these converging signals of end-times alignment many times in this column. There is perhaps no such prophetic element so important as the nations of the world dealing treacherously with God's timepiece--Israel. One of the great Bible teachers of these present days mentioned Israel in relationship to the world's nations the other day. I was sipping my coffee and watching his thirty-minute Bible study at 5 a.m. It was Through the Bible with Les Feldick, and Les made a profound point. The fact that he had made it way back in 2001 when the program was taped did not diminish its profundity. He said (and I paraphrase) that the world is like a wheel, with Israel its hub. All of humanity move in their orbits around this people as God permits with Israel, His chosen, at the center. He gave the following Scripture: When the most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel. For the LORD'S portion is his people; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance. (Deuteronomy 32: 8-9) This does not in any way mean that the Jewish people are better than any other. As a matter of fact, God points out on occasion that they have been among the most obstinate. But, make no mistake, Israel is His, and it will be the nations of the world forcing its version of peace on that nation that will bring about God's wrath and judgment. That great wheel of humanity and history is rolling ever closer to Armageddon. 
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
The Election and the Future of America - By Paul McGuire - http://www.newswithviews.com/McGuire/paul291.htm
The upcoming Presidential election is far more than competition between two different candidates. This election represents two different paths for America based upon two different ideas about our country, and these ideas have profound consequences for the future of our nation. First, we have the essential problem and that is America is no longer the land of the American Dream with unprecedented economic opportunity and unique freedoms, although up until relatively recently it has been one of the he most unique nations in the history of Mankind. Up until the last two decades it has been the most prosperous nation on planet Earth, with the largest middle class in the history of Mankind and a relatively prosperous working class. Through its unique Declaration of Independence and Constitution and Bill of Rights America provided more freedom to more people than any other nation. The promise and reality of the American Dream acted as a light to the nations. But today the American Dream is dying; the middle class and working class are struggling to make ends meet. The globalist elite and their multinational corporations control both the Republican and Democratic elite establishments, which have enacted numerous trade treaties which have caused an exodus of higher paying jobs and manufacturing to leave America. It is not that America should retreat into isolationism, but globalism has destroyed the wealth of the average American while making the 1% elite richer than they have been at any time in history. The degradation and loss of the Bill of Rights, of Freedom of the Press, Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Religion, Freedom from Unreasonable Search and Seizure, and other freedoms are staggering. Americans are largely kept in the dark about these matters because all of the major media, which includes television, radio, and the print media is controlled by just six corporations, and they are stealthily extending their control over the Internet. America has become a surveillance state where the citizens are subject to 24/7 electronic surveillance from cameras and microphones in our cell phones, big screen digital televisions, Internet social media, GPS, and technologies that we don't know about. I deal with these topics in my book, A Prophecy of the Future of America 2016-2017. The basic question every voter should be asking himself is which candidate's ideas and belief system offer the strongest possibility of restoring the American Dream along with its prosperity and unique freedoms. One of the biggest problems in America today is our educational system, which, from grade school through the university level teaches an illusory view of history based on historical revisionism, political correctness, and the deliberate dumbing down of our children and young adults through things like Common Core and the suppression of the right side of the brain, where the ability to see the big picture, analyze, create, and think outside of the box comes from, in order to create compliant, programmed and non-thinking individuals who will not ask real questions. The Frankfurt School in Germany developed this form of education, which is really all about indoctrination, in the 1930s when its professors designed a non-violent communist revolutionary strategy that would transform America into a Marxist State through political correctness, historical revisionism, and by introducing Marxist principles through the school systems. From the beginning this plan by the intellectuals of the Frankfurt School was designed to destroy the family, Christianity, morality, and patriotism, and indoctrinate students into hating America in an effort to destroy capitalism and the Judeo-Christian foundation upon which America was built. However, the very things that the Frankfurt School wanted to destroy are the very things which made America great. The endgame of the indoctrination of the Frankfurt School in America's schools was to replace the family, Christianity, patriotism, and capitalism with Marxism, which teaches that the individual must be replaced by the collective of the State and ruled by a top-down centralized government which controls all things. In Marxism the family unit is perceived as capitalist oppression of women, etc. and the "mythology" of God is to be replaced by the communist state. All of this was in distinct contrast to the America founded by Bible-believing Pilgrims and Puritans who came here to escape religious persecution in Europe. When the Pilgrims settled "New England" in America in the early 1700s they viewed the Atlantic Ocean as their Red Sea and the kings of England whom they were escaping as the Egyptian pharaohs. The Puritans viewed themselves as a righteous remnant of the true Church not corrupted by the Babylonian teachings of the Church in Europe. The Puritans maintained a strong Protestant work ethic and a belief in private enterprise and private property and did not allow themselves to be controlled and managed by any form of centralized government. In addition, they entered into a Covenant with God based on the Covenant that God made with the ancient Hebrews through Moses and specifically the Covenant referred to in Deuteronomy Chapter 28, also known as the blessings and the curses. In Deuteronomy 28 God promises a long list of blessings based on two requirements. First, the ancient Jews had to worship the Biblical God and not worship any idols. Secondly, the people had to "hearken diligently to the voice of the Lord thy God," which meant that they had to know the Word of God and obey it. Although the Puritans and the American people did this very imperfectly, God honored this Covenant because He had a unique plan for America to be a light to the nations and a platform for the Gospel of Jesus Christ to be proclaimed around the world. It is impossible to reduce America's incredible prosperity and freedoms to a set of pure materialistic mechanisms like the fact that America was separated from the world by the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean. America has been supernaturally blessed by God, and not because of some great inherent virtue. Beginning with the Mayflower and over the next two decades 16,000 Puritans settled the Massachusetts Bay Colony. They strongly identified with the children of Israel in the Old Testament, and Scripture determined their earliest legislation. The Puritans believed in education for all and built Christian schools and universities such as Harvard, which was founded in 1636 as a training school for Puritan ministers, and colleges like Yale, William and Mary, Rutgers, Princeton, Brown, and Kings College, which later became Columbia University. In all these schools a strong Biblical worldview was taught along with the learning of Hebrew and Bible studies. Many of America's Founding Fathers were educated in these Christian universities. Thomas Jefferson attended William and Mary; James Madison, Princeton; Alexander Hamilton, King's College (Columbia); and many others of America's early leaders and Founding Fathers were profoundly influenced by a Biblical worldview in these Christian schools. America's founding documents like the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution with its Bill of Rights were influenced by Biblical thought. In the Declaration of Independence, we read: We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among them are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. These words are similar to the Enlightenment's and John Locke's concept of "the inalienable rights of man," which clearly reflect a Biblical origin. It is also clear that America was founded on a synergy of Biblical thought, Freemasonic, and Deist principles. Some of the Illuminist principles developed by philosophers like Rousseau and Voltaire, which ignited the more humanistic French Revolution, also influenced America. However, beginning in the 1920s educators like John Dewey, a signer of the Humanist Manifesto, returned from communist Russia to implement communist ideas on education through the U.S. public school system. One of the primary strategies used by the Frankfurt School and communists is to radically transform society through "social justice." The term "social justice" is heard everywhere from college students, media personalities, activists, and even ministers. But most of the people using the term do not understand what it really means and what its true purpose is. The philosopher John Locke communicated to our Founding Fathers the idea that each individual has an inalienable right to his own life, liberty, and property. According to Locke, the only purpose of government, which is to be limited, is to secure those rights. "Social justice" really means government absolutism or totalitarianism where a centralized government dominates and controls everything and every person. This is the opposite of what our Founding Fathers advocated because it destroys our rights to life, liberty, and property. In every totalitarian society we see mass murder, absolute tyranny, and mass confiscation of individual property. "Social justice" demands a totally controlled socialist society, and the total abolition of privacy and private property...for the masses, but not, of course, for the ruling elites. Personal privacy is thought of just like private property, and no ordinary individual has the right to privacy. Historically "social justice" always leads to totalitarianism such as depicted in Orwell's Animal Farm. Its advocates dismiss tyranny as an exception rather than the rule, but this is a lie; "social justice" always produces some form of brutal dictatorship. "Social justice" teaches that competition is wrong and only the team or collective matters. People who work hard and achieve goals are thought to be the undeserving recipients of some kind of natural ability and their work or discipline is never acknowledged. The "haves" never deserve what they have (except, of course, for the super-billionaire elites who are behind it all), and the "have nots" are where they are due to "discrimination or "racism." This is, at best, a partial truth: many people who do not "have" have been deprived economically, socially, and educationally. People who are born into wealthier families where their parents were educated can often have advantages that others do not. But "social justice" will never acknowledge that things like hard work, discipline, and commitment can often give people certain advantages, which they have earned. "Social justice" demands that wealth and opportunity be redistributed artificially. Everything is about a centralized top down government controlling everything through endless bureaucracies and behavioral scientists. The idea that individuals are personally responsible for their behavior, which can produce either success or failure, must be erased from the minds of the people (unless their behavior involves opposition to the elites, in which case they will be savagely punished). A victim mentality and dependence on an all-powerful state must be cultivated. However, without exception, the historical record of every such society has been dictatorship, poverty, loss of freedoms, mass death, imprisonment, and incredible suffering. These ideas do not work. In contrast, the ideas created by the Judeo-Christian belief system of the Bible upon which America was built produced the most prosperity and the most freedom for more people than any other nation on Earth. To be blunt, it worked up until very recently as our Judeo-Christian belief system has been undermined and destroyed through education, media, government policies, the activities of the Tavistock Group, and various activist groups financed by globalist super-billionaires. Why would Capitalist super-billionaires want to destroy America's prosperity, Judeo-Christian values, and Capitalism and replace it with Marxism? The reason for this is that the secret purpose of Marxism from the beginning was not about creating "social justice" and a Utopia for everyone. The Communist Manifesto written by Karl Marx and Engels was simply a copy of the earlier Illuminati manifesto. The secret globalist elites, members of the Illuminati and other secret societies, are the ones who created communism and socialism so they could maintain total dictatorial control over every nation and create a race of slaves under the masquerade of liberating the people. For those that doubt the existence of the Illuminati and other secret societies, read The Babylon Code. The reality is that there is not one communist state that has ever worked, not one! Every nation that fell to a communist revolution ended up murdering millions of its citizens, sending them to concentration camps, establishing military dictatorship, and producing mass poverty. In contrast, every nation that has used Judeo-Christian principles and an American-style Constitution and Bill of Rights has produced freedom and prosperity. The goal of the globalist elite is to create a one world socialist or communist state through organizations like the United Nations, IMF, World Bank, Bilderberg Group, and various secret societies. The reality is that globalism is primarily benefits the globalist elite. It is not an accident that since the beginning super-billionaires have secretly financed the rise of Adolph Hitler, the Communist revolutions in Russia and China, and the radical transformation of America. These same elite groups have financed the path to world socialist government and their agencies like the United Nations are implementing this plan. The question has to be asked regarding this upcoming election, which candidate's ideas have the greatest chance of working to restore the American Dream and our unique freedoms? Which candidate's belief system and plans will enable America to fulfill its divine destiny? All of this was in distinct contrast to the America founded by Bible-believing Pilgrims and Puritan's who came to America to escape religious persecution in Europe. When the Pilgrims settled "New England" in America in the early 1700's, they viewed the Atlantic Ocean as their Red Sea and the Kings of England who they were escaping as the Egyptian Pharaohs. The Puritans viewed themselves as a "righteous remnant of the Church not corrupted by the Babylonian teachings of the Church in Europe. The Puritans maintained a strong Protestant work ethic, a belief in private enterprise, private property and peacefully did not allow them to be controlled and managed by any form of centralized government. In addition, they entered into a Covenant with God based on the Covenant that God made with the ancient Hebrews through Moses and specifically the Covenant referred to in Deuteronomy Chapter 28, also know as the blessings and the curses. In Deuteronomy 28, God promises a long list of blessings and most of the economic based on two requirements. First, the ancient Jews had to worship the Biblical God and not worship any idols. Secondly, the people had to "hearken diligently to the voice of the Lord thy God," which meant that they had to know the Word of God and obey it. Although the Puritans and the American people did this very imperfectly, God honored this Covenant because He had a unique plan for America to be a light to the nations and a platform for the Gospel of Jesus Christ to be proclaimed around the world. It is impossible to reduce America's incredible prosperity and freedoms to a set of pure materialistic mechanisms like the fact that America was separated from the world by the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean. America has been supernaturally blessed by God and not because of some great inherit virtue has America has been blessed. The Puritans beginning with the Mayflower and over the next two decades, 16,00 Puritans settled the Massachusetts Bay Colony. They strongly identified the children of Israel in the Old Testament and Scripture determined earliest legislation. The Puritans built Christian schools and universities such as Harvard University, which was founded in 1636 as a training school for Puritan minister. The Puritans believed in education for all and established Christian colleges and schools like Yale, William and Mary, Rutgers, Princeton, Brown, Kings College, which later became Columbia University. In all these schools a strong Biblical worldview was taught along with the learning of Hebrew and Bible studies. Many of America's the Founding Fathers were educated in these Christian universities. Thomas Jefferson attended William and Mary, James Madison Princeton, Alexander Hamilton King's College (i.e. Columbia), and many others of America's early leaders and Founding Fathers were profoundly influenced by a Biblical worldview in these Christian schools. America's founding documents like the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution with the Bill of Rights were influenced by Biblical thought. In the Declaration of Independence we read: We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among them are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. These words are similar to the Enlightenment's and John Locke's concept of "the inalienable rights of man," which clearly reflect a Biblical origin. It is also clear that America was founded on a synergy of Biblical thought, Illuminist, Freemasonic and Deist principles. Some of the Illuminist principles developed by philosophers like Rousseau and Voltaire, which ignited the more humanistic French Revolution, also influenced America.
Daily Jot: And the winner is... - Bill Wilson - www.dailyjot.com
It was the polished, well-rehearsed proven liar politician against the brash, organic, unpolished, non-politician who sometimes is so passionate he can't get his facts straight. So who won? In style points, poise and politico-speak, Hillary Clinton was the hands-down winner. Just ask any mainstream media analysts who babble on about birth certificates and other non-issues of this campaign trying their best to level the liar playing field that is so deeply tipped in Clinton's direction. But interestingly enough, those voting online see things differently. At the time of this writing, Donald Trump is ahead in the CNBC online poll 65-35% with 711,327 total votes; Time, Trump is winning 53-47% with 1.37 million votes. Online voters at Drudge, the conservative news aggregator, have Trump winning 82-18% with 444,266 votes cast. There were many times during the first presidential debate where Trump missed opportunities to drive home Clinton's lifelong malfeasance, shady dealings and incompetency. He said very little about exposing our nation's secrets on her private email server. He didn't go into Benghazi at all. He didn't set the record straight on how Clinton has enriched herself with $250,000 speaking engagements and selling influence through the Clinton Foundation. Trump said his advisors told him to be nice. But he did drive home the fact that Clinton is a politician that talks a good game but gets nothing good done. Clinton did talk a good game. She was poised, "presidential," and her answers to questions were so well rehearsed that she seemed at times like she was reading them from a teleprompter. She pressed Trump on his tax filings and essentially called him a racist by using his own comments against him. She clearly and concisely explained the difference between her and her opponent-she is a big government socialist, believing in a global foreign policy, and taxing Americans to grow the government and provide government jobs. She arrogantly scoffed at Trump often, especially making light of his points on law and order and foreign policy. She came across as a politician that knows better than the normal citizen. Trump, while not scoring many points on style, was very organic in pointing out that big government and a continuation of the leadership that Clinton brings is bad for America. Clinton scored a lot of style points as she demonstrated how polished and super-knowledgeable she is on the issues. A couple of Bible verses to consider as you pray about this election: Ephesians 5:6, "Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things comes the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience." Matthew 7:15, "Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves." Matthew 7:20, "Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them." 
Daily Devotion: Perfect Peace - Greg Laurie - www.harvest.org
You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You. -Isaiah 26:3 I remember asking Billy Graham a number of years ago about what he experienced when he gave the invitation for people to come to Christ at a crusade. He said, "When I am preaching and giving the invitation, I feel like power is draining out of me." I understand that, because it is a spiritual battle that rages on. When we are serving the Lord, it can be draining in many ways. It can even be draining spiritually. Jesus, who was fully God, also was fully man. That means He was human just like you and me. He felt pain. He felt sorrow. He felt hunger. And He could feel weary from a hard day's work. In Matthew 8, we read that Jesus, tired after a day of ministry, was sleeping soundly. He and the disciples were on a very primitive wooden boat, being tossed back and forth like a cork in the ocean. How do you sleep in a storm like that? You can sleep in a storm when you're confident in the will of God. In other words, you know you're doing what you should be doing. Isaiah 26:3 says, "You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You." Sometimes the worries and pressures of life keep us awake at night. When this happens to me, I'll pray about it and say, "Lord, I can't worry about this for a while, so I'm going to let You worry about it. I'm going to get some shut-eye." I'm being humorous, of course, because I know God isn't going to worry about it. But I'm entrusting the matter to Him. That is what we need to do when we're tired and overwhelmed by worry. We need to cry out to God.
FROM THE HEART
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