Light is sown like seed for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart. Psalm 97:11
Thursday, March 31, 2016
Monday, March 28, 2016
The Rapture’s in the Air: Part 2 by Pete Garcia
Republished from omegaletter.com
via servehiminthewaiting.com
Pete Garcia
It is only natural for those who are watching the deteriorating conditions in the world today, too want to abandon the idea of the “blessed hope” in favor of ‘prepping’ for The Tribulation. History has, after all, shown us that fortune favors the prepared. But just as it is with our eternal salvation, our deliverance from this coming time isn’t dependent upon our efforts but on what Christ has already done. After all, isn’t that what distinguishes Christianity from every other faith-system? In other words, the ‘blessed hope’ goes against man-centered logic and puts the onus of salvation completely in God’s hands.
Consider the two examples Christ gave us with Noah and Lot. What manner of prepping (aside from what God told them to do specifically) could Noah and Lot have done to ‘weather the storm’? What bunker or high place could have saved Noah from the flood waters which covered the earth? What fortifications could Lot have done to make his house ‘judgment-proof’? In either case, their deliverance wasn’t dependent upon themselves to find a way through it, but as they were instructed by God.
NOWHERE in the NT epistles does the Church find instruction to prepare for the 70th Week of Daniel. The only way people can come to that conclusion is if they take information intended for another audience, and then misapply it to themselves. Such is the case with the confusion over the Olivet Discourse and Revelation 4-19.
Who’s who in the Tribulation?
We now turn to Daniel’s 70 Weeks Prophecy for further clarification of who this particular time is for. The future 70th week of Daniel then is a seven year, “week of years” and is the summation of the entire 70 Weeks (490 years) prophecy as was given to the Prophet Daniel by the angel Gabriel. Daniel 9:24 states;
“Seventy weeks are determined For your people and for your holy city,
To finish the transgression,
To make an end of sins,
To make reconciliation for iniquity,
To bring in everlasting righteousness,
To seal up vision and prophecy,
And to anoint the Most Holy.
If you were to take the whole passage of Daniel 9 in context, it becomes abundantly clear who Daniel was asking forgiveness for and on behalf of…that being national Israel. Here, we see the angel Gabriel comes to assure Daniel that God has a plan for the Jew’s (your people) and for Jerusalem (your holy city). Again, the Church is nowhere to be seen in this, as Daniel (along with all the other OT prophets) had no concept of who or what the mystery of the Church was then, because it had not yet been revealed, and wouldn’t be, until Christ first does in Matthew 16:17-20. Even then, Christ doesn’t go into the details about the specifics of the Church, He will save that task for the Apostle Paul, many years later. And just as we don’t see the Church in the first 69 weeks, neither will we in the 70th week.
As another point of confirmation, we see in the Revelation of Jesus Christ, Jesus addressing the Church (ecclesia) 19 times in chapters 1-3…yet doesn’t mention the ecclesia anymore from chapters 4-19 while describing the 21 divine Judgments that are poured out upon the earth. Critics will argue that this is an argument from silence, but the silence is deafening. Note this as well, the phrase He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches accompanies each of the seven letters to the seven churches. Yet, inside the seven year Tribulation, we see this warning given in Revelation 13:9, which states if anyone has an ear, let him hear. If the Church were still in the Tribulation, this would have been the perfect opportunity to mention it.
At best, critics of the Pre-Tribulation Rapture liken the term ‘saints’ as the Church on the earth during the Tribulation. I’d like to point out, that ‘saints’ is a fairly generic term, which is used before, during, and after Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection. So the usage of ‘saints’ as an indicator of who one is, must be understood in light of the context in which it is given. Jesus specifically addresses the Church as ecclesia, and is liberal in the usage of it in the first three chapters of Revelation. If the ecclesia is in the Tribulation, why neglect it for the next 17 chapters? If you were reading a story in a book and a character was regularly mentioned for the first three chapters, and then not mentioned again…wouldn’t that strike you as odd? The burning question it should leave you unsettled with is…what happened to them?
The Restrainer
One of the most significant points in understanding why the Church is not inside the confines of the seven year Tribulation, is that Paul exhorts and corrects the Thessalonians in his second epistle that they can’t already be inside that specific time period (as someone had erroneously taught them), because the man of lawlessness had not yet been revealed. The man of lawlessness can’t be revealed, until the Restrainer is removed. The Restrainer can’t be removed, until the apostasia has arrived. See the sequential process in 2 Thess. 2:3-8;
Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.
Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming.
This author (along with others), believes that the apostasia is the actual departure at the Rapture. This concept of apostasia is tied to the removal of the Restrainer. Consider the identifying characteristics of the Restrainer who is first identified in a gender neutral identity (what is--vs. 6), then in the masculine form (He--vs. 7).
Were this speaking of Michael the Archangel, or the Antichrist himself, or Satan, they could only be referred to as a ‘he’ or ‘him’, since they are masculine in embodiment. Were the restrainer human government or religion, or some other type of institution, the restrainer would be a thing, and not referred to with a personal pronoun. The only One who this could be referring to is neither male, female, or human in any type of bodily form…yet, is also a living Being, so as to distinguish Him from simply being a ‘thing’…which is God the Holy Spirit. Jesus referred to the Holy Spirit as a ‘He’ numerous times in John 14-16, and thus we should conclude, that the clues Paul leaves here can only reference God the Holy Spirit.
Furthermore, this Restrainer, must be God the Holy Spirit, since evil is present simultaneously all over the created order, and the Restrainer must be powerful enough to curtail it. We see in verse 9; The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders. It first removes the Satan as a candidate, since Satan wouldn’t hinder himself. Secondly, it removes Michael the Archangel since Michael doesn’t (or doesn’t presently) confront Satan with anything more than a rebuke. (Jude 1:9)
It would seem that just as it was in Creation (Gen. 1:2), in Noah’s day (Gen. 6:3), and again before and after Pentecost, (Acts 2), there is coming a time when the Holy Spirit’s active role here on the earth will be changed. To clarify something that often gets misconstrued, the Holy Spirit is omnipresent, and so it’s not that He disappears from the earth altogether, but His role changes, just as it had in the past with Creation, during the OT period, at Pentecost, and now during the Church Age. He will be removing (the apostasia) the Body of Christ via the harpazo (catching up) of those He permanently seals and indwells (John 14:16, Romans 8:9, Ephesians 4:30) in order for the man of lawlessness (the Antichrist) to be revealed.
Imminence
I’ve recently had someone argue against the doctrine of imminence by stating that since Peter was foretold that he was going to have to die in a certain manner that this rules out imminence since Peter would not expect to be taken up in the Rapture prior to that. (John 21:18-19)
For me, that argument carries very little weight and seems to ignore the general expectation that Paul, John, James, and the others had in regards to keeping that ‘blessed hope’ alive, even in their generation. Marshall Hawkins writes concerning this “seeming” dilemma;
Time for this gap between Peter’s middle age and his old age is allowed for by the progress of revelation. It was not until the book of James (written just about A.D. 50), and then later in Paul’s writings that the imminence of the rapture is revealed. Twenty years would have elapsed between the prophecy and the writing of James—enough time for Peter to have aged sufficiently. . . . By this time imminence was a viable doctrine for most of the church since they would have no idea whether Peter was alive at any one moment or not. . . . For those accompanying Peter at this time, the rapture was also imminent because Peter may have been seized and martyred at any time, making the rapture possible immediately afterward. Marshall Hawkins, “Rebuttal of the Posttribulational Denial of Imminence” (Unpublished ThM thesis, Capital Bible Seminary, 1979), p. 45. Cited in McAvoy, “Critique,” p. 83
Let me conclude this discussion on imminence with a sampling of passages linking our faith, with the biblical significance of imminence; 1 Corinthians 1:7, 1 Corinthians 16:22, Philippians 3:20, Philippians 4:5, 1 Thessalonians 1:10, 1 Thessalonians 5:6, 1 Timothy 6:14, Titus 2:13, Hebrews 9:28, James 5:7-9, 1 Peter 1:13, Jude 21, Revelation 3:11; 22:7, 12, 20, Revelation 22:17, 20 [Excerpts from Dr. Tommy Ice’s Imminence and the Rapture]
Conclusion
As mentioned earlier, a believer’s supernatural deliverance in Scripture, is in direct relationship to the size and scope of God's judgment. When the 70th Week comes, it will encompass the entire world and there will be no place for man to escape to on the earth, thus explaining the reason why the removal of the Church (those born-again believers), has to be off-planet. This reasoning fits exactly with what Jesus states in Revelation 3:10…
Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.
The Mid-Trib, Pre-Wrath, and Post-Tribulation views try to promote the notion that ‘prepared’ believers are somehow exempted from the judgments and persecution that will come upon believers during the Tribulation. Yet, we see in Rev. 6:9-11 and 13:7 martyrdom has become global, and that the Antichrist is given permission to overcome the ‘saints’ completely. In fact, the ONLY ones’ who are sealed supernaturally, are those 144,000 Jews from the twelve tribes of Israel, who are listed out by their respective tribes. (Rev. 7:1-8)
So the question then becomes….what exactly is the believer ‘kept from’ during the Tribulation? It would seem martyrdom is the only sure guarantee…which negates the idea of being ‘kept from’.
The only view, which ensures and supports the biblical view of imminence is the Pre-Tribulation view. The Tribulation is a highly chronicled time, broken down by days (2,520), months (42 x 2), and years (3 ½ x 2) and marked by 21 divine judgments, with a clear halfway-point (Matt. 24:15) that separates the first half of the 70th week, from the last half. The question then is, how can any view outside the Pre-Trib view be considered imminent, (no man knows the day or hour) when there are so many clear signs and markers inside the confines of the 70th Week, which count down to the day the Lord will return at His Second Coming?
The only view which correctly defines the apostasia, the Restrainer, and the role each play in accordance to the revelation of the man of lawlessness, AND also fits perfectly with chronological nature of Revelation 1-6 beginning with the Churches, the Rapture of John, the Throne Room scene, and Christ opening of the Seal Judgments, is the Pre-Tribulation view.
The only view which is in keeping with the biblical purpose of “the why” of the Tribulation, is the Pre-Tribulation view. Jeremiah 30:7-11 and Daniel 9:24-27, very specifically teach that this time is for the Christ rejecting world, and for the nation of Israel. This then correlates perfectly to the obvious absence of the “ecclesia” from Revelation 4 onwards.
The only view which properly defines divine wrath consistently, and in keeping with the principles laid out throughout the Bible, is the Pre-Tribulation view. Again, trials and persecutions in this life are to be expected. That is NOT the same thing as the wrath that God pours out in His indignation.
The only view, which takes the biblical understanding of salvation, both eternal and physical, and puts it solely in God’s hands, is that of the Pre-Tribulation view. Our ‘blessed hope’ isn’t dependent upon our own ability to preserve ourselves, but in placing our faith in a God who is faithful to His word, and that He will not destroy the righteous with the wicked.
Lastly, if the Rapture were in conjunction with the Second Coming, the passage below would make no sense. If the Rapture were at some point inside the Tribulation (which Christ said would be the most horrific time in human history), would makes no sense. The only way this passage makes sense, is if the Rapture happens before the Tribulation begins. Therefore…
“Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. John 14:1-3
About Pete Garcia Last week: The Rapture's in the Air: Part 1
via servehiminthewaiting.com
Pete Garcia
It is only natural for those who are watching the deteriorating conditions in the world today, too want to abandon the idea of the “blessed hope” in favor of ‘prepping’ for The Tribulation. History has, after all, shown us that fortune favors the prepared. But just as it is with our eternal salvation, our deliverance from this coming time isn’t dependent upon our efforts but on what Christ has already done. After all, isn’t that what distinguishes Christianity from every other faith-system? In other words, the ‘blessed hope’ goes against man-centered logic and puts the onus of salvation completely in God’s hands.
Consider the two examples Christ gave us with Noah and Lot. What manner of prepping (aside from what God told them to do specifically) could Noah and Lot have done to ‘weather the storm’? What bunker or high place could have saved Noah from the flood waters which covered the earth? What fortifications could Lot have done to make his house ‘judgment-proof’? In either case, their deliverance wasn’t dependent upon themselves to find a way through it, but as they were instructed by God.
NOWHERE in the NT epistles does the Church find instruction to prepare for the 70th Week of Daniel. The only way people can come to that conclusion is if they take information intended for another audience, and then misapply it to themselves. Such is the case with the confusion over the Olivet Discourse and Revelation 4-19.
Who’s who in the Tribulation?
We now turn to Daniel’s 70 Weeks Prophecy for further clarification of who this particular time is for. The future 70th week of Daniel then is a seven year, “week of years” and is the summation of the entire 70 Weeks (490 years) prophecy as was given to the Prophet Daniel by the angel Gabriel. Daniel 9:24 states;
“Seventy weeks are determined For your people and for your holy city,
To finish the transgression,
To make an end of sins,
To make reconciliation for iniquity,
To bring in everlasting righteousness,
To seal up vision and prophecy,
And to anoint the Most Holy.
If you were to take the whole passage of Daniel 9 in context, it becomes abundantly clear who Daniel was asking forgiveness for and on behalf of…that being national Israel. Here, we see the angel Gabriel comes to assure Daniel that God has a plan for the Jew’s (your people) and for Jerusalem (your holy city). Again, the Church is nowhere to be seen in this, as Daniel (along with all the other OT prophets) had no concept of who or what the mystery of the Church was then, because it had not yet been revealed, and wouldn’t be, until Christ first does in Matthew 16:17-20. Even then, Christ doesn’t go into the details about the specifics of the Church, He will save that task for the Apostle Paul, many years later. And just as we don’t see the Church in the first 69 weeks, neither will we in the 70th week.
As another point of confirmation, we see in the Revelation of Jesus Christ, Jesus addressing the Church (ecclesia) 19 times in chapters 1-3…yet doesn’t mention the ecclesia anymore from chapters 4-19 while describing the 21 divine Judgments that are poured out upon the earth. Critics will argue that this is an argument from silence, but the silence is deafening. Note this as well, the phrase He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches accompanies each of the seven letters to the seven churches. Yet, inside the seven year Tribulation, we see this warning given in Revelation 13:9, which states if anyone has an ear, let him hear. If the Church were still in the Tribulation, this would have been the perfect opportunity to mention it.
At best, critics of the Pre-Tribulation Rapture liken the term ‘saints’ as the Church on the earth during the Tribulation. I’d like to point out, that ‘saints’ is a fairly generic term, which is used before, during, and after Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection. So the usage of ‘saints’ as an indicator of who one is, must be understood in light of the context in which it is given. Jesus specifically addresses the Church as ecclesia, and is liberal in the usage of it in the first three chapters of Revelation. If the ecclesia is in the Tribulation, why neglect it for the next 17 chapters? If you were reading a story in a book and a character was regularly mentioned for the first three chapters, and then not mentioned again…wouldn’t that strike you as odd? The burning question it should leave you unsettled with is…what happened to them?
The Restrainer
One of the most significant points in understanding why the Church is not inside the confines of the seven year Tribulation, is that Paul exhorts and corrects the Thessalonians in his second epistle that they can’t already be inside that specific time period (as someone had erroneously taught them), because the man of lawlessness had not yet been revealed. The man of lawlessness can’t be revealed, until the Restrainer is removed. The Restrainer can’t be removed, until the apostasia has arrived. See the sequential process in 2 Thess. 2:3-8;
Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.
Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming.
- And then the lawless one will be revealed
- “Falling away”; apostasia occurs first
- This occurs in conjunction with the removal of the Restrainer
This author (along with others), believes that the apostasia is the actual departure at the Rapture. This concept of apostasia is tied to the removal of the Restrainer. Consider the identifying characteristics of the Restrainer who is first identified in a gender neutral identity (what is--vs. 6), then in the masculine form (He--vs. 7).
Were this speaking of Michael the Archangel, or the Antichrist himself, or Satan, they could only be referred to as a ‘he’ or ‘him’, since they are masculine in embodiment. Were the restrainer human government or religion, or some other type of institution, the restrainer would be a thing, and not referred to with a personal pronoun. The only One who this could be referring to is neither male, female, or human in any type of bodily form…yet, is also a living Being, so as to distinguish Him from simply being a ‘thing’…which is God the Holy Spirit. Jesus referred to the Holy Spirit as a ‘He’ numerous times in John 14-16, and thus we should conclude, that the clues Paul leaves here can only reference God the Holy Spirit.
Furthermore, this Restrainer, must be God the Holy Spirit, since evil is present simultaneously all over the created order, and the Restrainer must be powerful enough to curtail it. We see in verse 9; The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders. It first removes the Satan as a candidate, since Satan wouldn’t hinder himself. Secondly, it removes Michael the Archangel since Michael doesn’t (or doesn’t presently) confront Satan with anything more than a rebuke. (Jude 1:9)
It would seem that just as it was in Creation (Gen. 1:2), in Noah’s day (Gen. 6:3), and again before and after Pentecost, (Acts 2), there is coming a time when the Holy Spirit’s active role here on the earth will be changed. To clarify something that often gets misconstrued, the Holy Spirit is omnipresent, and so it’s not that He disappears from the earth altogether, but His role changes, just as it had in the past with Creation, during the OT period, at Pentecost, and now during the Church Age. He will be removing (the apostasia) the Body of Christ via the harpazo (catching up) of those He permanently seals and indwells (John 14:16, Romans 8:9, Ephesians 4:30) in order for the man of lawlessness (the Antichrist) to be revealed.
Imminence
I’ve recently had someone argue against the doctrine of imminence by stating that since Peter was foretold that he was going to have to die in a certain manner that this rules out imminence since Peter would not expect to be taken up in the Rapture prior to that. (John 21:18-19)
For me, that argument carries very little weight and seems to ignore the general expectation that Paul, John, James, and the others had in regards to keeping that ‘blessed hope’ alive, even in their generation. Marshall Hawkins writes concerning this “seeming” dilemma;
Time for this gap between Peter’s middle age and his old age is allowed for by the progress of revelation. It was not until the book of James (written just about A.D. 50), and then later in Paul’s writings that the imminence of the rapture is revealed. Twenty years would have elapsed between the prophecy and the writing of James—enough time for Peter to have aged sufficiently. . . . By this time imminence was a viable doctrine for most of the church since they would have no idea whether Peter was alive at any one moment or not. . . . For those accompanying Peter at this time, the rapture was also imminent because Peter may have been seized and martyred at any time, making the rapture possible immediately afterward. Marshall Hawkins, “Rebuttal of the Posttribulational Denial of Imminence” (Unpublished ThM thesis, Capital Bible Seminary, 1979), p. 45. Cited in McAvoy, “Critique,” p. 83
Let me conclude this discussion on imminence with a sampling of passages linking our faith, with the biblical significance of imminence; 1 Corinthians 1:7, 1 Corinthians 16:22, Philippians 3:20, Philippians 4:5, 1 Thessalonians 1:10, 1 Thessalonians 5:6, 1 Timothy 6:14, Titus 2:13, Hebrews 9:28, James 5:7-9, 1 Peter 1:13, Jude 21, Revelation 3:11; 22:7, 12, 20, Revelation 22:17, 20 [Excerpts from Dr. Tommy Ice’s Imminence and the Rapture]
Conclusion
As mentioned earlier, a believer’s supernatural deliverance in Scripture, is in direct relationship to the size and scope of God's judgment. When the 70th Week comes, it will encompass the entire world and there will be no place for man to escape to on the earth, thus explaining the reason why the removal of the Church (those born-again believers), has to be off-planet. This reasoning fits exactly with what Jesus states in Revelation 3:10…
Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.
The Mid-Trib, Pre-Wrath, and Post-Tribulation views try to promote the notion that ‘prepared’ believers are somehow exempted from the judgments and persecution that will come upon believers during the Tribulation. Yet, we see in Rev. 6:9-11 and 13:7 martyrdom has become global, and that the Antichrist is given permission to overcome the ‘saints’ completely. In fact, the ONLY ones’ who are sealed supernaturally, are those 144,000 Jews from the twelve tribes of Israel, who are listed out by their respective tribes. (Rev. 7:1-8)
So the question then becomes….what exactly is the believer ‘kept from’ during the Tribulation? It would seem martyrdom is the only sure guarantee…which negates the idea of being ‘kept from’.
The only view, which ensures and supports the biblical view of imminence is the Pre-Tribulation view. The Tribulation is a highly chronicled time, broken down by days (2,520), months (42 x 2), and years (3 ½ x 2) and marked by 21 divine judgments, with a clear halfway-point (Matt. 24:15) that separates the first half of the 70th week, from the last half. The question then is, how can any view outside the Pre-Trib view be considered imminent, (no man knows the day or hour) when there are so many clear signs and markers inside the confines of the 70th Week, which count down to the day the Lord will return at His Second Coming?
The only view which correctly defines the apostasia, the Restrainer, and the role each play in accordance to the revelation of the man of lawlessness, AND also fits perfectly with chronological nature of Revelation 1-6 beginning with the Churches, the Rapture of John, the Throne Room scene, and Christ opening of the Seal Judgments, is the Pre-Tribulation view.
The only view which is in keeping with the biblical purpose of “the why” of the Tribulation, is the Pre-Tribulation view. Jeremiah 30:7-11 and Daniel 9:24-27, very specifically teach that this time is for the Christ rejecting world, and for the nation of Israel. This then correlates perfectly to the obvious absence of the “ecclesia” from Revelation 4 onwards.
The only view which properly defines divine wrath consistently, and in keeping with the principles laid out throughout the Bible, is the Pre-Tribulation view. Again, trials and persecutions in this life are to be expected. That is NOT the same thing as the wrath that God pours out in His indignation.
The only view, which takes the biblical understanding of salvation, both eternal and physical, and puts it solely in God’s hands, is that of the Pre-Tribulation view. Our ‘blessed hope’ isn’t dependent upon our own ability to preserve ourselves, but in placing our faith in a God who is faithful to His word, and that He will not destroy the righteous with the wicked.
Lastly, if the Rapture were in conjunction with the Second Coming, the passage below would make no sense. If the Rapture were at some point inside the Tribulation (which Christ said would be the most horrific time in human history), would makes no sense. The only way this passage makes sense, is if the Rapture happens before the Tribulation begins. Therefore…
“Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. John 14:1-3
About Pete Garcia Last week: The Rapture's in the Air: Part 1
Sunday, March 27, 2016
Saturday, March 26, 2016
Will A Gateway Be Opened When The Arch From The Temple Of Baal Is Reconstructed In Times Square?
Republished from endoftheamericandream.com
via servehiminthewaiting.com
By Michael Snyder, on March 24th, 2016
In April, part of the Temple of Baal that stood in Palmyra, Syria will be reconstructed in Times Square in New York City and in Trafalgar Square in London. The specific portion that is being erected in both cases is the 48-foot-tall arch that stood at the entrance to the temple. The Institute of Digital Archaeology is the organization behind this effort, and the display of these two arches is intended to be the highlight of UNESCO’s World Heritage Week late next month. After seeing my initial story, one of my readers observed that an arch is really just a gateway or a portal. In other words, it can serve as both an entrance and an exit. So could it be possible that we will be unknowingly setting up a gate or a portal of some sort in Times Square?
The worship of Baal, also known as Bel, can be traced all the way back to ancient Babylon. According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, Marduk was “the chief god of the city of Babylon”, and ultimately he became known as “Bel” or “Lord”…
Does anyone else out there find this more than just a little bit creepy?
It just seems so surreal that an arch from the Temple of Baal that is nearly five stories high is going to be erected in Times Square in April. But this is actually happening. The following comes from the New York Times…
And as I reported yesterday, the Institute of Digital Archaeology hopes to put hundreds more of these arches in major cities all over the planet.
What in the world are they thinking?
If we want to take all of this to another level of creepiness, let’s recall what I talked about the other day. Baal evolved from the chief god of the city of ancient Babylon known as Marduk, and Marduk can be traced back to an actual historical person. This historical person was known in Sumerian literature as “King Enmerkar”, and in the Bible he was known as “Nimrod”. Here is a portion of a quote from Peter Goodgame that I included in an article the other day…
I know that all of this may sound very strange to you, but many of
these secret societies and occult groups take this stuff deadly
seriously. And many Christian scholars are convinced that there is a
link between the coming of the Antichrist and this ancient pagan deity
based on the actual historical figure of Nimrod.
So could it be possible that we are laying out a couple of giant welcome mats for this ancient pagan deity by erecting these giant arches in New York and London next month?
Could we be opening up gateways and portals that are extremely dangerous and that we simply do not understand?
I don’t know about you, but for me the construction of these giant arches is a very, very bad sign…
via servehiminthewaiting.com
By Michael Snyder, on March 24th, 2016
In April, part of the Temple of Baal that stood in Palmyra, Syria will be reconstructed in Times Square in New York City and in Trafalgar Square in London. The specific portion that is being erected in both cases is the 48-foot-tall arch that stood at the entrance to the temple. The Institute of Digital Archaeology is the organization behind this effort, and the display of these two arches is intended to be the highlight of UNESCO’s World Heritage Week late next month. After seeing my initial story, one of my readers observed that an arch is really just a gateway or a portal. In other words, it can serve as both an entrance and an exit. So could it be possible that we will be unknowingly setting up a gate or a portal of some sort in Times Square?
The worship of Baal, also known as Bel, can be traced all the way back to ancient Babylon. According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, Marduk was “the chief god of the city of Babylon”, and ultimately he became known as “Bel” or “Lord”…
Marduk, in Mesopotamian religion, the chief god of the city of Babylon and the national god of Babylonia; as such, he was eventually called simply Bel, or Lord. Originally, he seems to have been a god of thunderstorms. A poem, known as Enuma elish and dating from the reign of Nebuchadrezzar I (1124–03 bce), relates Marduk’s rise to such preeminence that he was the god of 50 names, each one that of a deity or of a divine attribute. After conquering the monster of primeval chaos, Tiamat, he became Lord of the Gods of Heaven and Earth. All nature, including man, owed its existence to him; the destiny of kingdoms and subjects was in his hands.And it is interesting to note that according to Wikipedia, the name of the city of Babylon is believed to have originally come from an Akkadian word that meant “Gate of God” or “Gateway of the God”…
The English Babylon comes from Greek Babylṓn (Βαβυλών), a transliteration of the Akkadian Babili.[5] The Babylonian name in the early 2nd millennium BC had been Babilli or Babilla, which appears to be an adaption of an unknown original non-Semitic placename.[6] By the 1st millennium BC, it had changed to Babili under the influence of the folk etymology which traced it to bāb-ili (“Gate of God” or “Gateway of the God“).[7]So now we are setting up a “gateway” or a “portal” for the chief God of ancient Babylon in the heart of our most important city next month.
Does anyone else out there find this more than just a little bit creepy?
It just seems so surreal that an arch from the Temple of Baal that is nearly five stories high is going to be erected in Times Square in April. But this is actually happening. The following comes from the New York Times…
NEXT month, the Temple of Baal will come to Times Square. Reproductions of the 50-foot arch that formed the temple’s entrance are to be installed in New York and in London, a tribute to the 2,000-year-old structure that the Islamic State destroyed last year in the Syrian town of Palmyra. The group’s rampage through Palmyra, a city that reached its peak in the second and third century A.D., enraged the world, spurring scholars and conservationists into action.This sounds like the plot for some really twisted episode of “Stargate” and not something that is supposed to happen in the real world.
And as I reported yesterday, the Institute of Digital Archaeology hopes to put hundreds more of these arches in major cities all over the planet.
What in the world are they thinking?
If we want to take all of this to another level of creepiness, let’s recall what I talked about the other day. Baal evolved from the chief god of the city of ancient Babylon known as Marduk, and Marduk can be traced back to an actual historical person. This historical person was known in Sumerian literature as “King Enmerkar”, and in the Bible he was known as “Nimrod”. Here is a portion of a quote from Peter Goodgame that I included in an article the other day…
Traditionally the Tower of Babel event has been associated with Nimrod, and Jewish commentaries as well as the Jewish historian Josephus both seem very emphatic on this point. Regarding the Sumerian name Enmer-kar, the suffix “kar” means “hunter,” and so “Enmer-kar” is in fact “Enmer the Hunter,” just as Nimrod is referred to as the “Mighty Hunter” in Genesis 10. Furthermore, Enmerkar is named on the Sumerian King List as “the one who built Uruk,” just as Nimrod is described in Genesis 10:10 as having a kingdom that began in “Babel (Eridu) and Erech (Uruk)… in the land of Shinar.” After Enmerkar’s death he became honored in Sumerian myth as the semi-divine hero Ninurta, and eventually this cult evolved into the great cult of Marduk, which became the state religion of Babylon after the conquests and religious innovations of Hammurabi.The cult of Marduk was the root of all of the ancient pagan religions of the Middle East, Egypt, Greece and Rome. In those other religions, the deity of Marduk came to be known by other names such as Baal, Osiris, Apollo, etc. And today there are many secret societies and occult groups that look forward to the day when this pagan deity will be resurrected and will return to rule the world once again. This is something that I explained in our latest YouTube video
So could it be possible that we are laying out a couple of giant welcome mats for this ancient pagan deity by erecting these giant arches in New York and London next month?
Could we be opening up gateways and portals that are extremely dangerous and that we simply do not understand?
I don’t know about you, but for me the construction of these giant arches is a very, very bad sign…
Hillary Clinton: Has her Methodism been influenced by séances, spiritism, and New Age spirituality?
Republished from http://blog.godreports.com/
March 21, 2016
By Mark Ellis
Hillary and Eleanor
Venerable Watergate reporter Bob Woodward of the Washington Post was the first to publicly reveal her sensational “conversations” with deceased first lady Eleanor Roosevelt, as described in his book, The Choice.
In late 1994, President Clinton and his wife, Hillary, invited a group of popular self-help authors to Camp David to help them find answers after the Democrats’ devastating loss to the Republicans in the 1994 congressional elections.
The names of three attendees leaked to the press, including Anthony Robbins, author of Awaken the Giant Within; Marianne Williamson, author of A Return to Love; and Stephen R. Covey, author of The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.
The identities of two others were kept secret, but uncovered later by Woodward.
Jean Houston
Houston describes herself and her late husband, Robert Masters, as founders of the human potential movement. In the 1980s, Houston launched The Mystery School, where students embark on a year-long study of mythic stories which are meditated upon and enacted.
“Houston believed that her personal archetypal predecessor was Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom. She conducted extensive dialogues with Athena on her computer that she called “docking with one’s angel. Houston wore an ancient Hellenistic coin of Athena set in a medallion around her neck all the time.”
The other participant at Camp David was Mary Catherine Bateson, Houston’s associate, an anthropology
ancient goddess Athena medallion worn by Houston
Hillary and Houston hit it off immediately, especially during a discussion of how to use the office for the advancement of society, Woodward noted. “Houston said Hillary was carrying the burden of 5,000 years of history when women were subservient. The rising of women to equal partnership with men was the biggest event in history, Houston told her.”
Houston even compared Hillary to Joan of Arc, and conveyed to her that she had an opportunity to be a transformational figure.
“Houston told Hillary that she would prevail. Hillary was creating a new pattern of possibility for women. She had to hang in there, not give up. Her time would come when she would be in the place and the role that she could really express the fullness of what she was,” Woodward learned, which sounds prescient in light of Mrs. Clinton’s current aspirations for the presidency.
After the weekend at Camp David, Hillary invited Houston and Bateson to the White House. In Hillary’s office, Houston noticed a large photo of former first lady Eleanor Roosevelt.
Houston learned that Hillary was a huge fan of Eleanor. “As they talked further, Houston reached the conclusion that Eleanor was Hillary’s archetypal, spiritual partner, much as Athena was for Houston,” Woodward learned.
Unusual sessions in the solarium
On her visit to the White House in early April 1995, Houston proposed that Hillary dig deeper for her connections
solarium exterior
It was afternoon and they all sat around a circular table with several members of the first lady’s staff. One was making a tape recording of the session. (One can only wonder if the tape still exists and if it formed the basis for the remarkable recounting of details by Woodward.)
“Houston asked Hillary to imagine she was having a conversation with Eleanor. In a strong and self-confident voice, Houston asked Hillary to shut her eyes in order to eliminate the room and her surroundings, and to focus her reflection by bringing in as many vivid internal sensory images as she could from her vast knowledge of Eleanor,” according to Woodward’s source.
interior of solarium
Hillary proceeded to describe what she saw.
Houston instructed Mrs. Clinton to go to Eleanor and speak to her, according to Woodward’s book.
Hillary entered into a long discourse directed toward the former first lady. Houston asked the first lady to further open up herself to Mrs. Roosevelt, borrowing a technique “practiced by Machiavelli,” who used to talk to ancient men. “What might Eleanor say?”
Houston encouraged Hillary to respond as Mrs. Roosevelt. “I was misunderstood,” Hillary replied, her eyes still shut, speaking as Mrs. Roosevelt. “You have to do what you think is right. It was crucial to set a course and hold to it.”
Regarding the first lady’s controversial role in governing the country, Eleanor reportedly told Hillary, “You know, I thought that would have been solved by now. You’re going to have to just get out there and do it and don’t make any excuses about it.”
Next, Houston asked Hillary to carry on a conversation with Mahatma Gandhi, the foremost leader of the Indian independence movement in British-ruled India. Talk to him, Houston instructed.
“Hillary expressed reverence and respect for Gandhi’s life and works, almost drawing his and her own life together with her words, opening herself up wide…It was a strong personal outpouring — virtual therapy, and unusual in front of a large group.”
Refused to talk to Jesus
Houston then told her to communicate with Jesus, but Hillary refused, saying that would be “too personal.”
Woodward says this session with Houston– which some labeled a séance – lasted an hour. There were attempts to keep the sessions secret, because some thought there would be comparisons to Nancy Reagan’s use of astrology in the White House.
“Houston had at least one more deep, reflective meditation session, in which Hillary closed her eyes and carried on an imaginary discussion with Eleanor Roosevelt,” according to Woodward.
One Christian apologist and author, Eric Barger, of Stand Up Ministries, finds these sessions deeply troubling.
“So Eleanor Roosevelt was giving her advice about running the country. This is what the Bible calls necromancy,” Barger maintains. “This is speaking to any entity in the spirit realm except God. Necromancy is the attempt to speak to a being in the spirit realm or the successful communication with a being in the spirit realm. It isn’t Eleanor that Hillary is communicating with – it is actually a demon masquerading as Eleanor Roosevelt.”
“Deuteronomy 18 forbids this kind of thing in the strongest possible terms used anywhere in the Bible.”
Another well-known psychic, Marianne Williamson, participated in some of the sessions, according to Barger.
Marianne Williamson with Oprah
In 1994 Esquire magazine reported that Hillary Clinton was a devotee of Williamson, that Williamson was spending nights in the Lincoln bedroom, and the pair were staying up late exploring how to heal America. Oprah was largely responsible for boosting Williamson’s popularity and her book sales.
When the controversial sessions became public, Houston angrily denied they were séances, saying they were merely creative “brainstorming” sessions.
Paul Kengor, author of God and Hillary Clinton: a spiritual life, also denies they were séances, but says “they were definitely bizarre and far more out-of-line than anything First Lady Nancy Reagan did with her astrologer in the 1980s.”
“Mrs. Clinton did not deny the reports, and neither did her staff. Once the revelations became public, she tried to joke about them and move on, clearly embarrassed, especially politically,” Kengor observes.
Kengor says Hillary was involved in “clairaudient channeling,” which “involves relaxing oneself in either a fully conscious or mildly altered state of consciousness and then listening to one’s ‘inner-self.’”
Houston urged Hillary to write a book about children, and Hillary decided to pursue an idea that had already been germinating. She didn’t like her first draft, however, so she reached out to Houston for help. “In October and November 1995, Houston virtually moved into the White House residence for several days at a time to help,” Woodward recounted. With Houston’s assistance, It Takes a Village: And Other Lessons Children Teach Us was published in early 1996 and rose to the top of the New York Times bestseller list.
The Clintons’ Methodist pastor
Clintons greeting J. Philip Wogaman
In 1995 the Daily News quoted Rev. Wogaman saying, “The Scriptures, like the Washington Post, contain both truth and error.”
He also said, “The government, not the church, is the answer for the poor,” and “Drug abuse, murder, unethical business practices, family breakup and homelessness” were created by “unrestrained laissez-faire capitalism.”
In 1986, Rev. Wogaman called for “revenue sharing on a world scale.” He also taught that God is both he and she and talked about one-world government and building a world religion.
“They put the homosexual couples in the front row of the church,” Barger notes. “That was pretty provocative over 20 years ago.”
A leftist rabbi made his mark
Another unusual spiritual influence on Hillary Clinton is a leftist rabbi, Michael Lerner, founder of Tikkun magazine.
“Tikkun magazine represents an eccentric, left wing, Jewish-based cult, mixing the Old Testament, medieval cabbala-occult mysticism, and 1960s campus Marxism,” according to Barger.
Lerner got degrees at Columbia and UC Berkeley, then went on to chair the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) in Berkeley during the 1960s. Later he became a professor at the University of Washington, where he proclaimed, “I dig Marx.”
“He professed the Communist Manifesto was the best thing you could read and thatpsychedelic drugs were
mandatory to find your way. He said, ‘Until you’ve dropped acid, you don’t know what socialism is,’” according to Barger.Lerner was indicted for a violent assault against the U.S. Federal courthouse in Seattle on February 17, 1970 and spent eight months in jail.
In 1988 the Clintons discovered Lerner and his magazine, Tikkun, and Lerner quickly became a source for Hillary Clinton. He was a frequent guest in the White House and some even labeled him as another guru to the president and the first lady.
A phrase that made her famous, “the politics of meaning,” came from Lerner, from his book called “The Politics of Meaning.”
“So she has Jean Houston and Marianne Williamson and Maya Angelou pushing New Age spirituality and Lerner pushing Marxism to her at the same time and mixing these things together,” Barger observes.
Barger maintains that Lerner’s Tikkun philosophy became the worldview and policy agenda of Hillary Clinton. “It is mystical Marxist socialism. I guarantee that is the worldview of Hillary Clinton to this day.”
Barger says that Lerner and the Clintons had a falling out, because Lerner concluded they were in politics ultimately for their own financial gain and self-aggrandizement.
Paul Kengor concluded that Hillary “appears to be a Christian and is truly a lifelong committed Methodist, albeit a very liberal Christian, a Religious Left Christian.”
Kengor has been troubled by her and her denomination’s views on the abortion issue. “Her denomination, the United Methodist Church, supports legal abortion and in fact is a member of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice. So, she points to her denomination for guidance on this matter and, lo and behold, gets backing in being “pro-choice.”
“The minister at her Washington, DC church, one of the top Methodist leaders in the nation, is pro-choice. Why wouldn’t he be?
“The UMC leadership is pro-choice, as was, by the way, a fellow Methodist named Harry Blackmun, author of Roe v. Wade, who, incidentally, was invited to take the pulpit at Hillary’s church one day in 1995.”
“She is also a Christian who in my view is tragically wrong and misguided on abortion. That said, if you’re a conservative evangelical and someone who is a deeply pro-life Christian, you are almost certainly going to be repulsed by her stridency on abortion. She is to the left of everyone on the abortion issue.”
Thursday, March 24, 2016
Invasion of the mind snatchers by Terry James
Republished from terryjamesprophecyline.com
via servehiminthewaiting.com
A science fiction film of 1956 called Invasion of the Body Snatchers riveted me as a kid of fourteen or so. Sinister, unseen—even unknowable—diabolical entities were taking over the personhood, bodies and all, of earthlings. The protagonist, a physician, was frightened and frustrated as to how to deal with the situation, and was unable for most of the movie to convince those around him that something disastrous was being set up to destroy humanity.
Almost the whole town was replaced by the invaders before…well, you will have to see the movie—I don’t want to spoil it for you.
The storyline was a grand scheme of delusion and deception. You wanted to shout at the big screen for the people to recognize what was going on. You are being set up for falling victim to the body snatchers! But, the course of the storyline could not be changed. It was inevitable that the other-worldly beings would soon take over, as they say, lock, stock, and barrel.
I find the movie and what is happening today in real life to be analogous in several troubling respects. I’ve given this commentary the title “Invasion of the Mind Snatchers” because it has become evident that the thought processes of people of this generation are being set up for the most profound deception ever perpetrated—well, that is, except for the original deception, when the serpent beguiled Eve in the Garden of Eden.
Jesus had told His followers He would be going away from them, but would return. He answered His disciples’ questions about when things He was prophesying would come to pass. They wanted to know when the end of the age would be, and when He would return.
He began His lengthy and in-depth answer with the words: “Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many” (Matthew 24:4–5).
So began what has become known as the Olivet Discourse. This section of Scripture is considered perhaps the most important of all prophecies in the Bible because it is from the mouth of God in the flesh. And, the very first thing Jesus told those disciples—and by way of His recorded words to them that day told us—was that deceivers would mark the very end of the age. Great deception would characterize the time just before He comes back. Jesus forewarned that His disciples must be on high alert for this particular societal condition.
The invasion by the mind snatchers is here. No matter which way we who observe the prophetic picture look, we see the delusion settling upon the thinking processes of men, women, and children. It has completely changed the character of our nation.
In America, it is relatively easy to look back and see that the entertainment industry has been a tool used by the master deceiver to pollute the common sensibility of the people. Hollywood has caused the suspension of disbelief to such an extent that the lines between fiction and fact have been catastrophically blurred. Morality guided by biblical principles has gone by the wayside in our society and culture.
The film industry, for example, has propagandized us to accept that it is okay to sleep around with other than one’s legally sanctioned spouse. As a matter of fact, the very term “sleeping with” is an entertainment industry-spawned term invented to help avoid the stigma attached to the sinful activity of having sex outside the God-ordained union of wedlock.
Deception is the progenitor of delusion—a mental illness that robs one of the ability to discern what is moral and what is not. Values clarification and situational ethics, through incessant inculcation, especially by the political, judicial, and educational progressives (liberals) since the 1960s, have declared that there are no moral absolutes (the Bible is irrelevant). The supreme evidence of how this has deleteriously affected life in the United States is seen in our political process and the results the lack of discernment has produced.
Socioeconomically, geopolitically, and every other way, deception has invaded and taken the minds of humanity farther and farther from God, thus from sanity. No element of this deceptive assault has been more deadly than has the false teachers and preachers of this Laodicean age. Strange winds of doctrine have joined forces with the humanist agenda to blow away every semblance of true spiritual discernment. These satanic psycho-babble concepts have constituted the ingredients for deception that has brought much of society to the point that it is now ready for suffering the great delusion of Bible prophecy yet future.
That prophesied delusion is outlined, of course, in 2 Thessalonians, as the apostle Paul writes:
For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. And then shall that wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. (2 Thessalonians 2:7–11)
Like disease that causes dementia to progress within the human brain, the deceptive tendrils of willful godlessness are pushing this generation toward the strong delusion prophesied for the Tribulation hour.
via servehiminthewaiting.com
A science fiction film of 1956 called Invasion of the Body Snatchers riveted me as a kid of fourteen or so. Sinister, unseen—even unknowable—diabolical entities were taking over the personhood, bodies and all, of earthlings. The protagonist, a physician, was frightened and frustrated as to how to deal with the situation, and was unable for most of the movie to convince those around him that something disastrous was being set up to destroy humanity.
Almost the whole town was replaced by the invaders before…well, you will have to see the movie—I don’t want to spoil it for you.
The storyline was a grand scheme of delusion and deception. You wanted to shout at the big screen for the people to recognize what was going on. You are being set up for falling victim to the body snatchers! But, the course of the storyline could not be changed. It was inevitable that the other-worldly beings would soon take over, as they say, lock, stock, and barrel.
I find the movie and what is happening today in real life to be analogous in several troubling respects. I’ve given this commentary the title “Invasion of the Mind Snatchers” because it has become evident that the thought processes of people of this generation are being set up for the most profound deception ever perpetrated—well, that is, except for the original deception, when the serpent beguiled Eve in the Garden of Eden.
Jesus had told His followers He would be going away from them, but would return. He answered His disciples’ questions about when things He was prophesying would come to pass. They wanted to know when the end of the age would be, and when He would return.
He began His lengthy and in-depth answer with the words: “Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many” (Matthew 24:4–5).
So began what has become known as the Olivet Discourse. This section of Scripture is considered perhaps the most important of all prophecies in the Bible because it is from the mouth of God in the flesh. And, the very first thing Jesus told those disciples—and by way of His recorded words to them that day told us—was that deceivers would mark the very end of the age. Great deception would characterize the time just before He comes back. Jesus forewarned that His disciples must be on high alert for this particular societal condition.
The invasion by the mind snatchers is here. No matter which way we who observe the prophetic picture look, we see the delusion settling upon the thinking processes of men, women, and children. It has completely changed the character of our nation.
In America, it is relatively easy to look back and see that the entertainment industry has been a tool used by the master deceiver to pollute the common sensibility of the people. Hollywood has caused the suspension of disbelief to such an extent that the lines between fiction and fact have been catastrophically blurred. Morality guided by biblical principles has gone by the wayside in our society and culture.
The film industry, for example, has propagandized us to accept that it is okay to sleep around with other than one’s legally sanctioned spouse. As a matter of fact, the very term “sleeping with” is an entertainment industry-spawned term invented to help avoid the stigma attached to the sinful activity of having sex outside the God-ordained union of wedlock.
Deception is the progenitor of delusion—a mental illness that robs one of the ability to discern what is moral and what is not. Values clarification and situational ethics, through incessant inculcation, especially by the political, judicial, and educational progressives (liberals) since the 1960s, have declared that there are no moral absolutes (the Bible is irrelevant). The supreme evidence of how this has deleteriously affected life in the United States is seen in our political process and the results the lack of discernment has produced.
Socioeconomically, geopolitically, and every other way, deception has invaded and taken the minds of humanity farther and farther from God, thus from sanity. No element of this deceptive assault has been more deadly than has the false teachers and preachers of this Laodicean age. Strange winds of doctrine have joined forces with the humanist agenda to blow away every semblance of true spiritual discernment. These satanic psycho-babble concepts have constituted the ingredients for deception that has brought much of society to the point that it is now ready for suffering the great delusion of Bible prophecy yet future.
That prophesied delusion is outlined, of course, in 2 Thessalonians, as the apostle Paul writes:
For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. And then shall that wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. (2 Thessalonians 2:7–11)
Like disease that causes dementia to progress within the human brain, the deceptive tendrils of willful godlessness are pushing this generation toward the strong delusion prophesied for the Tribulation hour.
A Satanic Rampage
Republished from Rapture Ready via servehiminthewaiting.com
By Daymond Duck
The Bible clearly teaches that a satanic kingdom will rule over the entire earth in the future (Dan. 7:23; Rev. 13:7-8). It will be after the Rapture. It will be ruthless and multitudes will perish.
It is common knowledge that a document titled, “Transforming Our World: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development” was unanimously approved by the UN on Sept. 25, 2015. The Preamble of the document calls it a “New Universal Agenda.”
Simply put, this already approved document calls for a world economic system, a world government and a world religion to be established by 2030. Its preamble says, “All countries and stakeholders, acting in a collaborative partnership, WILL (not may) but—WILL, implement this plan.”One government official said, “Not a single human being will be allowed to escape this next great leap forward.”UN Sec. Gen. Ban Ki-moon called it the “Start of a new era.” He said, the world is about to realize the “Dream of a world peace and dignity for all.”The Bible says, “When they say peace and safety, then sudden destruction (the Tribulation period) cometh upon them.”
On Sept. 28, 2015, Pres. Obama addressed the UN and said, “Global integration [the merging of nations] is an agenda that transcends the narrowly defined interests of nation states.” This means he believes that world government is more important than national sovereignty.On Jan. 1, 2016, it was reported that the UN document for creating a world economic system, a world government and a world religion by 2030 is now in effect; and everyone should expect all of the nations to make a strong push to bring it to pass.
On Mar. 10, 2016, it was reported that the UN has released a Master Plan called “Post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals.” According to this so-called “Master Plan,” every government is now required to promote the UN Sustainable Development Goals.These goals include wealth redistribution, population control and reduction; government control of all production, a reduction in the consumption of goods, the use of fewer and smaller vehicles; the use of less heating and cooling at home and at work; the construction and location of smaller houses and apartments; land confiscation; land use restrictions; and more.
The “Master Plan” goals will lead to the loss of freedoms, new building codes and new zoning laws to control the size and location of buildings and communities; artificial shortages to control consumption, new taxes to redistribute wealth, new monitoring systems to reduce the use of energy, new surveillance systems to monitor compliance, and sinister threats of penalties and incarceration to force compliance.
And it is important to understand that this “Master Plan” is not what the UN wants to accomplish in the next 50-75 years. It is what the UN wants to accomplish in the next 14 years.
Obviously, God is in control and He is not bound by UN goals or the under- lying influence of Satan. God can speed the UN agenda up, slow the UN agenda down, or change the UN agenda in any way He wants. But if He lets the UN have its way, the world is on the brink of a satanic rampage.Every government will soon become more aggressive and assertive. Every government is soon going to force a different (evil) lifestyle on the world.
Marilyn MacGruder Barnewall, a former banker, bank consultant and professor of banking at Colorado University, recently wrote an interesting article titled, “Warning! Coming Soon to a Bank Near You—A Cashless Society and with it—A Negative Interest Rate Policy.”This is what to expect in the near future: No more printing of money, a cashless society, negative interest rates, a depression and debit cards to facilitate the tracking of all buying and selling.She clearly believes the world will go to a global economy before it goes to a global government. She said, “Once the international economic system is in place, creating a world government is child’s play.” After the world gets control of the money, it will be easy to get control of the people.
Prophecy Plus Ministries
Daymond & Rachel Duck
duck_daymond@yahoo.com
Tuesday, March 22, 2016
Brussels is coming to a town near you! Time for a moratorium on Muslim migration to America!
Posted by Ann Corcoran on March 22, 2016
It is past time! We have been writing about it for years.Belgium, Germany, France, even the UK have been for decades “welcoming” Muslim migrants and what has it gotten them! This!
There is only one difference between us and them. They have been seeing the colonization longer and the percentage of the Muslim population is higher than ours is here in America. How can our ‘leaders’ possibly not see the same future for us if we allow the Muslim population to continue to grow exponentially.
It is just a matter of numbers and once the population reaches as little as 3 or 4% (pick a number, it will be much lower than you assume!) there will be Molenbeeks in many American cities as the supremacists become confident that they can hide in their cities within cities.
A scene earlier this morning from the departure area of the Brussels airport. Salt Lake City in ten years? Or Phoenix?
The number of Muslim refugees totaled 154,160 (in a total refugee count of just short of a half million for all religious persuasions) since the fall of 2008.
They break down like this: 69,400 Moslems (sect not specified), 33,000 Shiite Moslems, and 51,760 Sunni Moslems. That is just in less than 8 years!
Those numbers do not include all the Muslims who came in through the Diversity Visa Lottery, those who are here in Temporary Protected Status, Student visa holders and the list goes on. And, it doesn’t include all of those who have entered the US illegally and then applied for asylum!
I had to chuckle (well sort of) when I saw that we admitted 30,052 Iraqi Shiites and 40,450 Iraqi Sunnis! In other words we are bringing in both sides of the centuries-old Shiite/Sunni conflict! Is that doubly insane! Does anyone really believe they will bury the hatchet (oops!) and that the mythical American melting pot will make it all go away!
A reminder to voters in Utah and Arizona today!
You both have cities in the top twenty US cities receiving Somali Muslims (Iraqis too!) with a track record of producing devout Islamic supremacist youths! See here.Donald Trump is right! Stop the migration!
Here are the top twenty hot Somali cities in just the last year:
- Minneapolis-St. Paul – 646
- Columbus, Ohio – 412
- Buffalo, N.Y. – 361
- Syracuse, N.Y. – 307
- Dallas-Ft. Worth – 302
- Salt Lake City, Utah – 276
- San Diego – 275
- St. Cloud – 243
- Louisville, Ky. – 236
- Phoenix, Ariz. – 218
- Seattle, Wash. – 212
- Erie, Pa. – 207
- Atlanta – 159
- Glendale, Ariz. – 155
- Tuscon – 154
- Boston – 153
- Houston – 150
- Nashville – 148
- Kansas City, Mo. – 145
- Portland, Ore. – 132
Friday, March 18, 2016
Turkey's Erdoğan Gambles and Loses
N.B.: Australian title is "Erdoğan's despotic slide in Turkey is bad news for Europe"
The Republic of Turkey, long a democratizing Muslim country solidly
in the Western camp, now finds itself internally racked and at the
center of two external crises, the civil war in next-door Syria and the
illegal immigration that is changing European politics. The prospects
for Turkey and its neighbors are worrisome, if not ominous.
The key development was the coming to power of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in 2002, when a fluke election outcome gave him total control of the government, which he then brilliantly parlayed into a personal dominion. After years of restraint and modesty, his real personality – grandiloquent, Islamist, and aggressive – came out. Now, he seeks to rule as a despot, an ambition that causes his country incessant, avoidable problems.
Initially, Erdoğan's disciplined approach to finance permitted the Turkish economy to achieve China-like economic growth and won him increasing electoral support while making Ankara a new player in regional affairs. But then conspiracy theories, corruption, short-sightedness, and incompetence cut into the growth, making Turkey economically vulnerable.
Initially, Erdoğan took unprecedented steps to resolve his country's Kurdish problem, acknowledging that this ethnic minority making up roughly 20 percent of the country's population has its own culture and allowing it to express itself in its own language. But then, for electoral reasons, he abruptly reversed himself last year, resulting in a more-than-ever determined and violent Kurdish insurgency, to the point that civil war has become a real prospect.
Initially, Erdoğan accepted the traditional autonomy of the major institutions in Turkish life – law courts, the military, the press, banks, schools. No longer; now he seeks to control everything. Take the case of two prominent journalists, Can Dündar and Erdem Gül: because their newspaper, Cumhuriyet, exposed the Turkish government's clandestine support for the Islamic State (ISIS), Erdoğan had them imprisoned on the surreal charges of espionage and terrorism. Worse, when the Constitutional Court (Turkey's highest) reversed this sentence, Erdoğan accused the court of ruling "against the country and its people" and indicated he would ignore its decision.
Initially, Erdoğan maintained cautious and correct relations with Moscow, benefiting economically and using Russia as a balance
against the United States. But since the reckless Turkish shoot-down of
a Russian warplane last November, followed by a defiant lack of
apology, the little bully (Erdoğan) has more than met his match with the
big bully (Russia's Vladimir Putin) and Turkey is paying the price. French President François Hollande has publicly warned of "a risk of war" between Turkey and Russia.
Initially, Erdoğan's accommodating policies translated into a calming of domestic politics; now, his bellicosity has led to a string of minor and major acts of violence. To make matters worse, many of them are murky in origin and purpose, building paranoia. For example, before the Kurdish group TAK claimed responsibility for the bombing on Mar. 13 that killed 37 near the prime minister's office in Ankara, the attack was variously blamed on Kurds, ISIS, and the Turkish government; . It was interpreted as intending to justify a more forceful campaign against domestic Kurds or punish the government for attacking the Kurds; to encourage a Turkish military invasion of Syria or to frame Erdoğan's political archenemy, the Gülen movement.
Initially, Turkey became a plausible candidate for membership in the
European Union thanks to Erdoğan's muted behavior. Now, his slide toward
despotism and Islamism means the Europeans go merely through the
motions of pretending to negotiate with Ankara, while counting on the
Republic of Cyprus to blackball its application; as Turkish journalist Burak Bekdil
notes, "modern Turkey has never been this galactically distant from the
core values enshrined by the European civilization and its
institutions."
In the early months of the Syrian uprising, Erdoğan offered sage advice to the dictator in Damascus, Bashar al-Assad, about relaxing his grip and allowing political participation. Things have gone so awry that – as Dündar and Gül reported – Erdoğan now supports ISIS, the most fanatical and Islamist organization of today, and perhaps ever. That support has taken many forms: permitting foreigners to cross Turkey to reach Syria, allowing recruitment in Turkey, providing medical care, and provisioning money and arms. Despite this, ISIS, fearful of betrayal by Ankara, threatens and attacks Turks.
Erdoğan's error of backing ISIS and other Sunni Islamist organizations in Syria has hurt him in another way, leading to a massive influx of Syrian refugees to Turkey, where, increasingly unwelcomed by the indigenous population, they cause new social and economic strains.
Which brings us to Erdoğan's latest gambit. The many Syrian refugees wanting to go on to northwestern Europe provide him with a handy mechanism to blackmail the European Union: pay me huge amounts of money (€6 billion at latest count) and permit 80 million Turks to travel visa-free to your countries, or I will dump more unwelcome Syrians, Iraqis, Afghans, Somalis, et al. on you.
So far, the ploy has worked. Led by Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel, the Europeans are succumbing to Erdoğan's demands. But this may well be a Pyrrhic victory, hurting Erdoğan's long-term interests. In the first place, forcing Europeans to pretend they are not being blackmailed and to welcome Turkey with clenched teeth, creates a foul mood, further reducing, if not killing off, Turkish chances for membership.
Second, Erdoğan's game has prompted a profound and probably lasting
shift in mood in Europe against accepting more immigrants from the
Middle East – including Turks – as demonstrated by the poor showing of
Merkel's party in elections earlier this month.
This is just the start. In combination, these errors by Erdoğan point to more crises ahead. Gökhan Bacik, a professor at Ipek University in Ankara, notes that "Turkey is facing a multifaceted catastrophe," the scale of which "is beyond Turkey's capacity for digestion." If Iran is today the Middle East's greatest danger, Turkey is tomorrow's.
The key development was the coming to power of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in 2002, when a fluke election outcome gave him total control of the government, which he then brilliantly parlayed into a personal dominion. After years of restraint and modesty, his real personality – grandiloquent, Islamist, and aggressive – came out. Now, he seeks to rule as a despot, an ambition that causes his country incessant, avoidable problems.
Initially, Erdoğan's disciplined approach to finance permitted the Turkish economy to achieve China-like economic growth and won him increasing electoral support while making Ankara a new player in regional affairs. But then conspiracy theories, corruption, short-sightedness, and incompetence cut into the growth, making Turkey economically vulnerable.
Initially, Erdoğan took unprecedented steps to resolve his country's Kurdish problem, acknowledging that this ethnic minority making up roughly 20 percent of the country's population has its own culture and allowing it to express itself in its own language. But then, for electoral reasons, he abruptly reversed himself last year, resulting in a more-than-ever determined and violent Kurdish insurgency, to the point that civil war has become a real prospect.
Initially, Erdoğan accepted the traditional autonomy of the major institutions in Turkish life – law courts, the military, the press, banks, schools. No longer; now he seeks to control everything. Take the case of two prominent journalists, Can Dündar and Erdem Gül: because their newspaper, Cumhuriyet, exposed the Turkish government's clandestine support for the Islamic State (ISIS), Erdoğan had them imprisoned on the surreal charges of espionage and terrorism. Worse, when the Constitutional Court (Turkey's highest) reversed this sentence, Erdoğan accused the court of ruling "against the country and its people" and indicated he would ignore its decision.
Erdem Gül (left) and Can Dündar on their release from prison.
|
Initially, Erdoğan's accommodating policies translated into a calming of domestic politics; now, his bellicosity has led to a string of minor and major acts of violence. To make matters worse, many of them are murky in origin and purpose, building paranoia. For example, before the Kurdish group TAK claimed responsibility for the bombing on Mar. 13 that killed 37 near the prime minister's office in Ankara, the attack was variously blamed on Kurds, ISIS, and the Turkish government; . It was interpreted as intending to justify a more forceful campaign against domestic Kurds or punish the government for attacking the Kurds; to encourage a Turkish military invasion of Syria or to frame Erdoğan's political archenemy, the Gülen movement.
The scene in Ankara on Mar. 13.
|
In the early months of the Syrian uprising, Erdoğan offered sage advice to the dictator in Damascus, Bashar al-Assad, about relaxing his grip and allowing political participation. Things have gone so awry that – as Dündar and Gül reported – Erdoğan now supports ISIS, the most fanatical and Islamist organization of today, and perhaps ever. That support has taken many forms: permitting foreigners to cross Turkey to reach Syria, allowing recruitment in Turkey, providing medical care, and provisioning money and arms. Despite this, ISIS, fearful of betrayal by Ankara, threatens and attacks Turks.
Erdoğan's error of backing ISIS and other Sunni Islamist organizations in Syria has hurt him in another way, leading to a massive influx of Syrian refugees to Turkey, where, increasingly unwelcomed by the indigenous population, they cause new social and economic strains.
Which brings us to Erdoğan's latest gambit. The many Syrian refugees wanting to go on to northwestern Europe provide him with a handy mechanism to blackmail the European Union: pay me huge amounts of money (€6 billion at latest count) and permit 80 million Turks to travel visa-free to your countries, or I will dump more unwelcome Syrians, Iraqis, Afghans, Somalis, et al. on you.
So far, the ploy has worked. Led by Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel, the Europeans are succumbing to Erdoğan's demands. But this may well be a Pyrrhic victory, hurting Erdoğan's long-term interests. In the first place, forcing Europeans to pretend they are not being blackmailed and to welcome Turkey with clenched teeth, creates a foul mood, further reducing, if not killing off, Turkish chances for membership.
Turkey's Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu speaks at a conference on immigration.
|
This is just the start. In combination, these errors by Erdoğan point to more crises ahead. Gökhan Bacik, a professor at Ipek University in Ankara, notes that "Turkey is facing a multifaceted catastrophe," the scale of which "is beyond Turkey's capacity for digestion." If Iran is today the Middle East's greatest danger, Turkey is tomorrow's.
Mr. Pipes (DanielPipes.org, @DanielPipes) is president of the Middle East Forum. © 2016 by Daniel Pipes. All rights reserved.
Sunday, March 13, 2016
Tuesday, March 8, 2016
What Your Tears Reveal About You
Revelation 21:4
"And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes;
and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither
shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away."
Photographer
Rose-Lynn Fisher discovered what our tears reveal about us when taking
pictures of the dried tears of one hundred subjects for her project
called "The Topography of Tears". When viewing her own tears, Fisher
said they "looked like an aerial view, almost as if I was looking down
at a landscape from a plane."The Telegraph news website points out that "tears contain oils, antibodies and enzymes and fall into three categories; basal, which are released continuously to keep the eyes lubricated; reflex, which occur in response to irritants such as when chopping onions or when getting poked in the eye; and psychic, triggered by emotions."
The website also noted that "scientists have identified that different types of tears are made up of distinct molecules. For example, those caused by emotions contain hormones which act as a painkiller and are released when we are stressed."
Wasn't that good of our Creator to supply us with tears to help us deal with both emotional and physical pain? Even better, He is always ready to comfort us in times of sorrow. Tears are not the result of mutations over millions of years. They were given to us by a Creator who experienced great emotional pain in the garden of Gethsemane and incredible physical pain when He died on the cross for you and me.
Prayer:
Heavenly Father, thank You for giving us tears that
can do so much more than keep our eyes clean and moist. I am grateful
that You will wipe every tear from our eyes when we are in Your
presence. In Jesus' Name. Amen.
Notes:
Claire Carter, "Structure of tears influenced by what makes us cry," The Telegraph, 5/16/14.
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