The Emerging of End-Time Events

The Emerging of End-Time Events - By Gene Lawley -

https://www.raptureready.com/2018/08/31/emerging-end-time-events-gene-lawley/

 

Events are beginning to pile up on the edge of the horizon in a remarkable way. Broad descriptions are given in Scripture, such as the Rapture told of in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17, but even in that context are finer details that are often overlooked or confused as to timing or connection to the main event specified.

 

These looming events and related conditions include the "falling away" which must happen before the lawless one can be revealed. Another is the prophecy of Jesus that He will return during a time of economic revival. Still another is the prophecy of the Gog-Magog war recorded in Ezekiel 38 and 39. Then the strategic and time-sensitive confirmation of a covenant with many, as reported in Daniel 9:27.

 

In 2 Thessalonians 2, Paul writes that a "falling away" must come before the lawless one can be revealed, and the pronouncement seems to have two prongs to it. One, that there will be a turning away from the faith, a blanket-like rejection of the knowledge of God-fewer and fewer will be embracing the claims of Christ for redemption. Then, parallel to that, multitudes will be rejecting the rule of law, making laws of their own pleasing.

 

Trashing the principle of equal justice for all, with the fear of God non-existent, are visible results of this growing trend. They call evil good and good evil and rant and rave in the streets against authorities. One might surmise it this way:

 

"When the gestation period is finished, out comes that lawless one to take over the raging multitudes." (Note that it says "he will be revealed," indicating that he is already here but hidden.)

 

Further in that chapter 2 of 2 Thessalonians is listed another event that parallels the falling away from God and lawfulness. In Noah's day God looked down and noted that "the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually" (Genesis 6:5). And the ark He had Noah build was to carry Noah and his family out of the punishment of the flood upon those left outside. Likewise, in the case of Lot, recorded in Genesis 19, he was snatched out of the way of the destruction of Sodom.

 

So will it be for the believers who are born-again children of God when the lawlessness compounds to the breaking point of God's mercy. Those who have been resisting the ever-increasing scourge of evil among the people of the world will be removed by the Lord, and evil will have its full sway over the world. It will be the time of the Rapture of the saints, as Paul reports in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17.

 

An unusual incident has occurred in the midst of this abandonment of the law that was heading up a planned destruction of the American sovereignty in order to institute a New World Order that would foster a one-world government. The surprising upset of Donald Trump's win over Hillary Clinton was utterly unexpected by that globalist faction. It has fulfilled a prophecy of Jesus in Luke 17:26-30 that He would return at a time of economic revival in America and in the world.

 

That passage recounts how Noah and Lot were rescued from the destruction of the flood, for Noah, and of the destruction of Sodom for Lot, telling how that provision of God for salvation of the righteous ones from His judgment of the unrighteous will occur in like manner when He comes. The passage is clear that those left behind will be judged by destruction on earth, just as He said:

 

"And as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man: They ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. Likewise, as it was also in the days of Lot: They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built; but on the day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. Even so will it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed."

 

The following verses of that context tell how that escape from judgment will affect each individual person. The judgment is from heaven upon the earth, and those left behind on earth will face it.

 

The larger context of that concise detail of the Rapture in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 continues into chapter 5, verses 1-10, but essentially through verse 4:

 

"But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. 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. But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief."

 

Jesus said no one but the Father knows the day and the hour of His return. It will be "as a thief in the night," but He said THE day or THE hour, not some day and some hour. There is, then, an "appointed time" already in place. And, we must remember that God has not made a promise or a prophecy that He does not intend to keep!

 

In verse 3 there is what appears to be a trigger-like incident, for it says, "...for when they shall say, 'Peace and safety,' sudden destruction shall come upon them, and they shall not escape."

 

Who are "they," and where else is "peace" indicated, and for whom in end-time prophecy? "They" are the Israelites, and the seven years are called "the time of Jacob's trouble" in Jeremiah 30:7.

 

In Daniel 9:27 he predicts a confirmation of a covenant for seven years and speaks of a temple that is not now present in Jerusalem that will be completed by the halfway point of the seven years. It is then that the evil one will cancel the covenant and the sacrifices in the temple to declare himself God and demand the worship of the people.

 

This is the same scenario that Paul predicts in 2 Thessalonians 2 and John in Revelation 17, where the Satan-indwelt Antichrist takes over the one-world government as the eighth head of the beast that has become known more specifically as the one-world government. This is when the Great Tribulation, the last half of the tribulation, begins with its demand that everyone take the mark of the beast or be killed.

 

Hovering over the Middle East is the present threat of Russia's and Iran's combined efforts to take control of the region, including Israel and her abounding resources. When reading in Ezekiel 38-39 that the nation of the far north, no doubt Russia, would have her back turned, and God would have to put hooks in her jaws to bring her attention back on the Middle East and Israel, one may wonder when will, or did, it happen.

 

Perhaps God allowed the Soviet Union to fall apart and leave the solitary nation of Russia standing in shame and dishonor after the Cold War in order to bring about that different coalition with Iran (Persia) and other nations which are named in Ezekiel 38-39, in order to make way for the Antichrist's certain judgment as the solitary head of all evil in resistance against God.

 

In Ezekiel, Gog is awakened to the opportunity of plunder against an "unwalled," defenseless nation that has let down its guard, resting in assumed "peace" from an imposed covenant. The only thing that is apparently holding them back, except for the Lord's timing, would be the commitment of America to defend the state of Israel. If the Rapture will have already taken place, America's ability to defend Israel will have disappeared in the "sudden destruction" described in that event. Russia and the Muslim world will not have been affected very much with the disappearance of Christians from their populations.

 

The question often posed as to how the seven years taken to burn the residue of the weapons of war, and not spill over into the millennium, may be satisfied with the 75 days added on to that last half of the tribulation, as noted in Daniel 12. It appears that the Gog-Magog invasion will take place immediately after the Rapture, then the invasion's failure, followed by the rebuilding of the temple which the Antichrist takes over, but temporarily.

 

The compressing of these events together is evidence that the time is drawing very near. Romans 8:11 is reassurance to the believers that their expectation is to be snatched out of the way of that "sudden destruction" just as Noah and Lot were in those days of long ago:

 

"But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you."

 

Is God Really All-Good?

Is God Really All-Good? - Lee Strobel -

www.biblegateway.com

 

"Good is a notoriously tricky word," Peter Kreeft began, "because even in human affairs there's such a wide range of meaning. But the difference, once again, between us and God is certainly greater than the difference between us and animals, and since good varies enormously between us and animals, it must vary even more enormously between us and God."

 

I like to refer to Kreeft as "the un-philosopher." Not that he isn't a philosopher; in fact, he's a first-rate philosophical thinker, with a doctorate from Fordham University, postgraduate study at Yale University, and thirty-eight years of experience as a philosophy professor at Villanova University and (since 1965) Boston College. He has taught such courses as metaphysics, ethics, mysticism, sexuality, and Oriental, Greek, medieval, and contemporary philosophy, earning such honors as the Woodrow Wilson and Yale-Sterling fellowships.

 

"Granted," I said. "But if I sat there and did nothing while my child got run over by a truck, I wouldn't be good in any sense of the word. I'd be an evil father if I did that. And God does the equivalent of that. He sits by and refuses to perform miracles to take us out of dangers even greater than being hit by a truck. So why isn't he bad?"

 

Kreeft nodded. "It looks like he is," he said. "But the fact that God deliberately allows certain things, which if we allowed them would turn us into monsters, doesn't necessarily count against God."

 

I couldn't see his reasoning. " You'll have to explain why that is," I said.

 

"Okay, let me give you an analogy in human relationships," he replied. "If I said to my brother, who's about my age, 'I could bail you out of a problem but I won't,' I would probably be irresponsible and perhaps wicked. But we do that with our children all the time. We don't do their homework for them. We don't put a bubble around them and protect them from every hurt.

 

"I remember when one of my daughters was about four or five years old and she was trying to thread a needle in Brownies. It was very difficult for her. Every time she tried, she hit herself in the finger and a couple of times she bled. I was watching her, but she didn't see me. She just kept trying and trying.

 

"My first instinct was to go and do it for her, since I saw a drop of blood. But wisely I held back, because I said to myself, 'She can do it.' After about five minutes, she finally did it. I came out of hiding and she said, "Daddy, daddy - look what I did! Look at what I did!' She was so proud she had threaded the needle that she had forgotten all about the pain.

 

"That time the pain was a good thing for her. I was wise enough to have foreseen it was good for her. Now, certainly God is much wiser than I was with my daughter. So it's at least possible that God is wise enough to foresee that we need some pain for reasons which we may not understand but which he foresees as being necessary to some eventual good. Therefore, he's not being evil by allowing that pain to exist.

 

"Dentists, athletic trainers, teachers, parents - they all know that sometimes to be good is not to be kind. Certainly there are times when God allows suffering and deprives us of the lesser good of pleasure in order to help us toward the greater good of moral and spiritual education. Even the ancient Greeks believed the gods taught wisdom through suffering. Aeschylus wrote: 'Day by day, hour by hour / Pain drips upon the heart / As, against our will, and even in our own despite / Comes Wisdom from the awful grace of God.'

 

"We know that moral character gets formed through hardship, through overcoming obstacles, through enduring despite difficulties. Courage, for example, would be impossible in a world without pain. The apostle Paul testified to this refining quality of suffering when he wrote that 'suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.'

 

"Let's face it: we learn from the mistakes we make and the suffering they bring. The universe is a soul-making machine, and part of that process is learning, maturing, and growing through difficult and challenging and painful experiences. The point of our lives in this world isn't comfort, but training and preparation for eternity. Scripture tells us that even Jesus 'learned obedience through suffering' - and if that was true for him, why wouldn't it be even more true for us?"

 

Kreeft let the question hang in the air for a moment while his mental gears whirred. Then he continued. "Suppose we didn't have any suffering at all," he added. "Suppose we had drugs for every pain, free entertainment, free love - everything but pain. No Shakespeare, no Beethoven, no Boston Red Sox, no death - no meaning. Impossibly spoiled little brats - that's what we'd become.

 

"It's like that old Twilight Zone television show where a gang of bank robbers gets shot and one of them wakes up walking on fluffy clouds at the golden gate of a celestial city. A kindly white robed man offers him everything he wants. But soon he's bored with the gold, since everything's free, and with the beautiful girls, who only laugh when he tries to hurt them, since he has a sadistic streak.

 

"So he summons the St. Peter figure. 'There must be some mistake.' 'No, we make no mistakes here.' 'Can't you send me back to earth?' 'Of course not, you're dead.' 'Well, then, I must belong with my friends in the Other Place. Send me there.' 'Oh, no, we can't do that. Rules, you know.' 'What is this place, anyway?' 'This is the place where you get everything you want.' 'But I thought I was supposed to like heaven.' 'Heaven? Who said anything about heaven? Heaven is the Other Place.' The point is that a world without suffering appears more like hell than heaven."

 

That seemed hyperbolic. "Do you really believe that?" I asked.

 

"Yes, I do. In fact, if you don't, then pretend you're God and try to create a better world in your imagination. Try to create utopia. But you have to think through the consequences of everything you try to improve. Every time you use force to prevent evil, you take away freedom. To prevent all evil, you must remove all freedom and reduce people to puppets, which means they would then lack the ability to freely choose love.

 

"You may end up creating a world of precision that an engineer might like - maybe. But one thing's for sure: you'll lose the kind of world that a Father would want."

Perilous Times Traitors

Perilous Times Traitors - Terry James -

https://www.raptureready.com/category/nearing-midnight/

 

The Apostle Paul's "perilous times" prophecy is becoming more manifest by the hour. Perusal of the news at any given point in the news cycle during daily life should make that abundantly clear to spiritually attuned eyes and ears. We are living at the very end of this dispensation known as the Age of Grace or Church Age, if this is the case.

 

Perhaps a closer look at Paul's foretelling in 2 Timothy juxtaposed against news unfolding around us presently will establish the point.

 

As the title of this commentary implies, we will look at a particular term found within that end-times prophecy. That term is "traitor."

 

Paul begins the familiar prophecy: "This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come" (2 Timothy 3:1).

 

The apostle is inspired by God the Holy Spirit in this Scriptural verse to forewarn of a special period of time that is yet future. When the Lord forewarns us, the thing of which He forewarned about represents a danger "on steroids," as we like to verbalize things that are expressed in the vernacular of our day. These times that Paul has been inspired to call "perilous" are well beyond the normal troubles we face during the course of moving throughout life.

 

When going through these "perilous times" indicators in 2 Timothy 3, we can, in my view, discern the souped-up nature intrinsic within each.

 

Paul says further: "For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy" (2 Timothy 3:2).

 

I have written before about the first of these, "lovers of self."

 

I still can think of no more profound example of this "perilous times" indicator than of the forum we call Facebook and of the photographic phenomenon of our time called the "selfie."

 

Facebook, I realize, is popular-and, no doubt-used ubiquitously by those who read these commentaries. I realize, too, that many, including those in my family, interact within this forum to keep up with friends and to enjoy other communication-type activities. So, I might be on tenuous footing in bringing this up.

 

However, studies have shown and continue to show that in cases of far too many the forum is a less than beneficial interactive technology. It can create in some instances alternative realities that present psychological dangers. I maintain that, in some narcissistic instances, it can do great spiritual damage. People can become "lovers of their own selves" to the point of pushing God completely out of the picture. Facebook and selfies can become encapsulated, egocentric universes in which some people become their own gods. These, then, become tools the devil truly uses to bring about his purpose-to separate forever men, women, and children from their Creator.

 

In my opinion, forums such as Facebook and Twitter are presently being used to try to manipulate culture and society. Satan wants life transformed into an existence he considers more conducive to one day serve the new world order he intends to create-the platform upon which to build the coming Antichrist regime. America, of course, is prime testing grounds for this manipulation, and we are seeing this in our news each day. The young-earth's future populace-are the most vulnerable, the most prone to fall victim to the dangers within these technological communications forums.

 

Paul's perilous-times forewarnings thus frame perfectly, I think, the effects on today's youth-the Millennials and younger. Again, Paul prophesied that people at the end of the age will be: "covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy" (2 Timothy 3:2).

 

Any honest observation of what is going on in the world of social media will convinced the spiritually attuned observer that there is more there of an evil nature than of a godly nature. Hollywood-the entertainment media-inculcates the youth (and even those not so young) with ungodliness that reaches the souped-up sort of ungodliness of which Paul forewarns.

 

It is ungodliness with which the evil one-Lucifer the fallen-wants to infuse all of humanity. He is determined to permeate God's creation called man with thinking and with actions that move us ever farther from the God who loves us so much that He sent His Son to die and resurrect in order to redeem us.

 

Again, the spiritually attuned observer can discern this insidious work by the devil in our breaking news.

 

Paul wrote that in the last days, men would be: "traitors" ("having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof").

 

The characteristic "traitors" pervades our highest levels of government in America. While the current president is being assaulted with being called a traitor and with every other invective one can imagine, it is, in my observation, those accusing him of these things who are the traitors-traitors to him, personally, traitors to our nation as founded, traitors to the Lord of Heaven with their lies and accusations.

 

"False accusers" are streaming across our minute-by-minute news feeds. These accusations are particularly virulent within social media, which more and more is letting these vicious falsehoods proceed, while doing all within their power to ban opposing viewpoints. These believe themselves to have the moral high ground-a form of godliness that gives them the right to ban the speech of the ideologically unfit.

 

The perilous-times characteristics of "traitors" and "phony godliness" are prominent while we pass through our hourly increments of life on earth. They constitute a sure sign that we are approaching the moment when Christ will suddenly intervene in the wicked affairs of this world.

"Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh" (Matthew 24:44).

Modern Warfare: Apocalypse Edition, Vol. 1

Modern Warfare: Apocalypse Edition, Vol. 1 - Pete Garcia -

http://www.omegaletter.com/articles/articles.asp?ArticleID=8704

 

"Let your plans be dark and impenetrable as night, and when you move, fall like a thunderbolt." - Sun Tzu, the Art of War

 

Ever since Cain raised up against his brother Abel in anger and with a murderous heart and struck him down, human blood has soaked the earth. In fact, warfare has been one of the oldest mainstays of human history. Where mankind has advanced technologically, he has always done so with how this new invention would benefit him in war. The 20th-century has been particularly bloody, perhaps more so than all of the rest of human history combined with estimates as high (or higher) than 200,000,000 deaths. Historical tacticians, and strategists such as Sun Tzu, Alexander the Great, Napoleon Bonaparte, and Carl Von Clausewitz, were all students of warfare, and used it to shape their own destinies. However, even at their best, their geopolitical reach and hold was limited by the technologies of their day.

 

Modern military strategists have refined and codified our understanding of warfare to three organizational arenas: the strategic, the operational, and the tactical (more on this later). They also have defined the three domains militaries must fight and win in order to stay ahead of their enemies. These domains are land, sea, and air (respectively). In recent years, we have had to add cyberspace to the battlefield domains as technology has advanced and revealed it as major weakness to modernized nations. Adding to that, is the changing demography of the human landscape in the 21st-century, where our population has reached around 7.6-7.8 billion people. This has reshaped the battlefield because of urbanization and the rise of megacities around the globe. Because of this, we must also now contend with the subterranean domain. Lastly, President Trump recently announced the introduction for a space force, primarily, to contend with the growing threat in space.

 

However, according to the Bible, there is yet another domain which has largely been ignored by leaders today and that is the spiritual domain. You see, humans are not the only sentient beings operating in our world.

 

Beyond Sight

 

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Ephesians 6:12

 

Regardless of what you believe, there is a growing governmental understanding and recognition of supernatural and unexplainable phenomena happening all around the world. Reputable military and civilian aviators, air traffic control, astronauts, as well as CCTV from the International Space Station, have proven without any doubt, that we are not alone. It has also shown us that these extraterrestrial (or extradimensional) beings, not only defy our laws of gravity and physics, but also are becoming bolder in their appearances and interactions with mankind.

 

Of course, we Christians already knew that.

 

The Bible has told us all along that humans are not alone. The Bible lists three orders of Beings in this universe: the Godhead, the Angelic realm, and Humans. Within the Godhead, we have the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. All are different Persons, carry out different roles and responsibilities, but are the same substance, also being co-equal and co-eternal.

 

Then there is humankind. From the African Maasai, to the northern Europeans, from the Jewish people to the Arabs, Asians, Inuit's, etc., there are many different kinds of people within the same human race. In terms of variety and types, the Angelic realm is no different. There are cherubim, seraphim, archangels, and probably many others that we are not told about. However, for the purposes of our discussion today, there are two primary categories, the Unfallen (or Holy) angels, and the Fallen (or wicked) angels.

 

As the Prophet Elisha points out in 2 Kings 6:16-18, the total number of angels is in the realm of the innumerable (probably in the hundreds of billions) who exist all around us. While angels are largely marketed to the world as cute, pondering babies flittering about with tiny wings, the reality is that angels are beings of immense power and intelligence who can move inter-dimensionally.

 

This means that they can enter our reality just as easily as they can the unseen realm. The Bible tells us that we (people) have often entertained angels unaware, since they can take on human form when necessary (Hebrews 13:2). They preceded man in the order of creation, and were present at the founding of the earth (Job 38:4-7).

 

The Unfallen

 

Although angels outnumbers humans by quite a bit, there are only a few named angels in the Bible. One that we know of is the Archangel Michael, who is tasked with, among other things, watching over the nation of Israel (Daniel 12:1). The only other unfallen named angel is Gabriel, and who has been instrumental in delivering crucial information to the likes of Daniel, Joseph, and Mary concerning prophetic events and the Incarnation of Christ. Holy angels are tasked with many different responsibilities, from being ministering servants to guardians and messengers; they largely operate undetected on this side of the veil. Jesus told Peter at His arrest that if He asked, the Father would provide more than twelve legions of angels (Matt. 26:51). Therefore, they are at God's disposal to do whatever it is He asked them to do. Moreover, while we may be oblivious to their presence, we are often the beneficiaries of their actions.

 

The Fallen

 

Not all angels are holy and benevolent. Some are dark, violent, and extremely wicked. We are told in Scripture (Rev. 12:4) that a third fell with Lucifer when he rebelled before man was created. Since the total number of angels cannot be counted, neither could we count the third who fell. We assume that even just the third of the angels, still outnumbers mankind by a significant amount. As with the holy unfallen angels, there are only three (possibly) named fallen (evil) angels in Scripture, Lucifer (Satan), Abaddon (Apollyon), and Beelzebub (if he is a separate being apart from Satan). As for the rest, although not personally named, Paul simply refers to them by rank and position...principalities...powers...rulers of the darkness of this age...spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places (Eph. 6:12). These beings are eternally damned, and have no hope of redemption. It should be safe to say that these fallen and unredeemable angelic beings do not have our best interests at heart.

 

The Battle in the Garden

 

It was in the garden that Lucifer launched the first salvo of war against our God. He deceived Eve into breaking the one rule God had given them through Adam, which was not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil, which stood in the center of the Garden (Gen. 2:15-17). When God confronted the three (Adam, Eve, and the serpent Lucifer), He pronounced curses upon each of them, of which, one was aimed directly at Satan. There would come a day when the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman (Gen. 3:15) would do battle. In hindsight, we know that Satan would bite His heel through the death on the cross, but since neither death nor hell could hold Jesus, it was as inconsequential as a dog nipping at your heel (Rev. 1:18). However, this same death would crush Satan's power and authority, by offering mankind something these fallen angels will never receive, redemption. Even though the cross was a fatal blow to Satan's overall agenda, there will come a day when Christ literally defeats Satan (and all those in his employ) in an actual, physical battle.

Unfortunately, at present, we are still under old management.

 

God originally gave Adam the title deed to the earth (Gen. 1:26-28). However, when Adam broke God's one rule, he became sinful and mortal, and inadvertently handed that deed over to Satan; and the earth has been under satanic management ever since (1st John 5:19). Thus, between the fall of Adam and Noah's flood, Satan spent the better part of that 1,600 years trying to corrupt the entire human genome through angel (fallen) and human cross breeding (Gen. 6:1-4). This so that a Savior could not come from the seed of the woman and destroy him.

 

He came close.

 

By the time the flood came, only eight people survived.

 

Satan's weapon of choice?

 

Genetic tampering.

 

God's weapon of choice?

 

Water. Lots of it.

 

In terms of warfare, Satan went high-tech and God went low-tech.

 

It is interesting to me to see how technical Satan got right from the start; clearly, he was not messing around. Since creation, there has been two resets placed upon humanity as a whole, the first being Noah's Flood, and the second, the Tower of Babel. At Babel, merely a century or so after the flood, humanity was again united in rebellion against God.

 

As the Ark rested on Mt. Ararat, God convened what we call the Noahic Covenant with Noah and his sons on behalf of humanity. Several important changes to the world order arose from this particular covenant (Gen. 9:1-17).

 

1. Mankind should be fruitful and multiply and fill the face of the earth
2. Mankind could eat whatever he wanted, so long as it did not have blood in it (this because people were presumed to be purely vegetarian before the flood)
3. If anyone takes another's life, his or her life would be required.
4. The rainbow would be a perpetual reminder that God would never flood the earth again

 

And so instead of multiplying and filling the earth as they were instructed, they multiplied and congregated on the plains of Shinar (in what is today northern Iraq/Syria). They began building a large tower there for reasons we are not entirely sure of today, but speculation ranges from a means to escape a future flood, to trying to open a star gate. All we know for sure, is that they were attempting to build a great city there to "make a name for themselves" under the leadership of a great-grandson of Noah called Nimrod. Whatever reasons they had for building the tower, the important takeaway is that although not stated, it is a very reasonable assumption that Satan was instrumental in influencing Nimrod to disobey God by not filling the earth. For the purposes of our benefit, God goes down to see what is transpiring and makes a curious statement:

 

But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. And the Lord said, "Indeed the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them. Genesis 11:5-6

 

Up until this point in history, man's greatest strength was in their ability to communicate with each other without barrier, because everyone shared the same language. What God was stating here was that there is nothing mankind cannot do when they are united. Therefore, God (out of His mercy) decides to act and separates mankind by both language and presumably race. What is also noteworthy is the fact that there are around 270 global flood stories, from vastly different cultures, still found around the world today. The only way that makes sense, is if everyone shared the same language and history before Babel.

 

The reason for these flood stories is not difficult to understand. When we turn to the history book of the universe, the Bible, we learn that Noah's descendants stayed together for approximately 100 years, until God confused their languages at Babel (Genesis 11:1-9). As these people moved away from Babel, their descendants formed nations based primarily on the languages they shared in common. Through those languages, the story of the Flood was shared, until it became embedded in their cultural history. (Link)

 

Conclusion

 

Since the Babel incident, mankind struggled fruitlessly to overcome the barriers God put in place in Genesis 11:6, that is, until the 20th century. With both the British and the Americans dominating much of the past two-hundred years in global affairs, English has become the most commonly used language around the world for governance, business, entertainment, aviation, financial markets, etc. There really isn't any place you can go anymore in the world where someone does not speak English. Furthermore, we now have the technology in our phones and other electronic devices that can automatically translate most languages so that communication is no longer remaining a divine barrier.

 

While military and other leaders do not consider the spiritual (or unseen) realm as a "legitimate" domain, they do not dismiss the possibility that other dimensions exist. The Bible explains in numerous places that the unseen realm is more real, and more permanent, than the realm we currently inhabit (2nd Cor. 4:18). This means that despite what anyone says, we have to contend with the spiritual nature of our existence on earth, which most assuredly includes the unseen spiritual warfare that is raging all around us.

 

At present, this unseen spiritual battle remains a campaign of influence (good vs. evil), but very soon, the supernatural world will come crashing back into the natural just after the Rapture of the Church. Like us, Satan is in the dark in terms of when exactly it (the Rapture) will occur. God's overarching plan of the ages is fairly open and understandable, but there are still a few things the Father keeps close to the chest. The exact timing of the Rapture is one of them. When it happens, the Rapture will be like that proverbial thunderbolt that shocks the world into the perfect crisis when God removes His ambassadors (us) without warning, and leaves the world in crisis and ripe for deception. Then the unseen campaign of influence and spiritual warfare will take on a very physical manifestation, by way of the man we commonly refer to as the Antichrist. He will have all the backing and authority over the kingdoms of the earth, given to him by the one who currently holds it, Satan (Luke 4:5-6, 1st John 5:19, Rev. 13:7).

 

Now I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals; and I heard one of the four living creatures saying with a voice like thunder, "Come and see." And I looked, and behold, a white horse. He who sat on it had a bow; and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer. Revelation 6:1-2

European Union Continues to Fiscally Back Hate Education Against Israel

European Union Continues to Fiscally Back Hate Education Against Israel - By Michael Calvo - http://www.prophecynewswatch.com/article.cfm?recent_news_id=2517

 

In May 2018, the Israeli Ministry of Strategic Affairs and Public Diplomacy published a report titled "The Money Trail: The Millions Given by EU Institutions to NGOs With Ties to Terror and Boycotts Against Israel, an In-Depth Analysis."

 

Two months later, the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Frederica Mogherini, replied to the report. Her main arguments were that allegations of the European Union supporting incitement or terror were unfounded and unacceptable -- and that terror and boycotts are two distinct phenomena.

 

The Israeli Ministry's report is clear and substantiated, and Mogherini should read it again.

 

What is not mentioned in the report is that the European Union and its member states finance NGOs that harass Israel, Israeli officials, and corporations doing business in Israel and in Europe. The European Union still finances the Palestinian Authority (PA) -- and the PA still encourages Palestinians to kill Jews.

 

As the Taylor Force Act states, "The Palestinian Authority's practice of paying salaries to terrorists serving in Israeli prisons, as well as to the families of deceased terrorists, is an incentive to commit acts of terror."

 

It is well known that the Palestinian leaders have incited their people to kill Jews. PA leader Mahmoud Abbas even admitted that the terrorists "did what the Palestinian Authority ordered them to do," and PA official Mohammed Dahlan confirmed that "Forty percent of the Martyrs in this Intifada belonged to the Palestinian security forces ... and that the Palestinian Authority has hidden Hamas members against Israeli counter-actions."

 

Between 1994 and 2012, the European Union provided 5.6 billion euros to assist the PA. During 2014-15, a total of more than 390 million euros has been allocated to the PA through Pegase Direct Financial Support (DFS).

 

The aim of Pegase DFS is to assist the PA to meet its obligations towards its civil servants, pensioners, and vulnerable families; maintain essential public services; improve public finances; and pay teachers' salaries. Among the civil servants and pensioners who received payments from Pegase DFS during 2014 and 2015, 67% were working in the health and education sectors.

 

Palestinian children are taught to kill and hate Israelis in their public schools -- so by supporting teachers' salaries, the European Union financially participated and continues to participate in hate education, disregard for the lives of the Jews and others by promoting jihad, and inciting children to become martyrs.

 

Concerning boycotts, the European Union has no qualms about applying double standards to Israel. It boycotts Israel's "occupation," but not other -- real -- occupations across the globe.

 

In 2013, the European Union found it appropriate to ban grants, prizes, and financial instruments (such as loans and bank guarantees) to Israeli entities in Judea and Samaria (the West Bank), eastern Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights. In September 2015, the European Union drafted various rules, arguing that consumers must know that some imported products come from the settlements and not from Israel.

 

Under international law, the question of whether the West Bank territory is occupied remains far from settled. However, the European Union finds it legitimate to provide direct financial assistance to Turkish settlements in the occupied territory of Northern Cyprus.

 

It funds the occupation of an EU member state (Cyprus) purportedly to "end the isolation of the Turkish Cypriot community." Concerning the Moroccan occupation of the Western Sahara, European businesses and universities openly operate in these "occupied territories" without being barred from EU funding, while similarly situated Israeli entities are disbarred.

 

China is not required to label products coming from Tibet, which it has occupied since 1951. Goods originating from "occupied territories" such as Northern Cyprus, Gibraltar, the Falklands, Western Sahara, Tibet, Kashmir, and the Russian-held regions of Azerbaijan are not specially labeled.

 

The European Union does not treat Israel like it treats other countries. It applies double standards by requiring from Israel "a behavior not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation." This represents antisemitism, according to the Working Definition of Anti-Semitism of the European Monitoring Center on Racism and Xenophobia, and the European Forum on Anti-Semitism.

Being Kind to Evil Only Produces More Evil

Being Kind to Evil Only Produces More Evil - Todd Strandberg - https://www.raptureready.com/category/nearing-midnight/

 

The world has become so hopelessly overrun with acts of evil, I wonder just how long we can keep descending down this path. I would be absolutely horrified if an angel from God appeared to me and said I had to endure another decade of this insanity.

 

I think a key reason why the world is being overrun with evil is that people think a kind-hearted approach will make things better. Liberal groups would have us following cheerful biblical advice like one given by Peter:

 

"Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing" (1 Peter 3:9 NIV).

 

"Do unto others as you would have them do unto you," is commonly known as "The Golden Rule." Rather than doing to others what they have done to us or giving them what they may deserve, we are to treat them the way we want them to treat us. The Golden Rule does not involve letting the wicked do as they please. If we don't resist evil people, they will naturally seek to destroy us.

 

Jay Austin and his partner Lauren Geoghegan had idealistic views that the world was a wonderful place filled with beautiful people. A year ago, they started a bicycling trip to 'vindicate their belief in human kindness.' They started their journey in Africa and it came to a tragic end in Tajikistan. On July 29, a carload of ISIS terrorists spotted them and promptly killed them and two other tourists from Europe.

 

Crime is growing out of control in many U.S. cities because our cops have been told to be kinder to the criminal elements of society. Mayor Ras Baraka of Newark recently welcomed a group of new recruits to the city's police force. As he sent them out, he told them to use "lightness" in dealing with the public. "We need you to protect us, our community, our children and our families," said Baraka. The mayor also warned the recruits that "people will talk to you and harass you and they will even jump on your car."

 

A few days later several Newark police officers took Mayor Baraka's advice to heart. They stayed in their squad car while 18-year-old Altahriq Aulston jumped on a total of five cars, doing over $5,000 in damage. When a video of the teen jumping on one of the cars went viral, two Newark police officers were suspended for their lack of action.

 

Everyone wonders how 50-60 people are now shot on an average weekend in the city of Chicago. President Trump, guns, the weather, and a code-of-silence are regularly blamed for the violence; but the media never asks about the people pulling the trigger. If they did, they would find Chicago is being overrun by evil people who have no regard for life.

 

The most shocking example of how evil is being allowed to run wild is in the nation of Sweden. The Muslims are only a tiny portion of the population, yet they are the root cause of a crime wave of rape and murder. A couple weeks ago, gangs of Muslim youth went on a rampage, mashing and setting dozens of cars on fire in a dozen cities. More than 100 cars were "burned or damaged" in and around Gothenburg, the second-largest city in Sweden. When a reporter asked a police spokesperson what they were going to do about the attack, she said they are not going to make any arrests. They are just going to talk to the parents.

 

The only real concern on the part of the press is how these attacks can be used by right-wing groups in the upcoming election. The Sweden Democrats have suggested freezing out asylum seekers and reducing the country's immigration budget. The polls show the Sweden Democrats are still in third place because there is no alarm on the part of the public.

 

The most important reason why we need to be vigilant about evil is that we have an enemy that never rests. Satan takes great delight when nations underestimate his ability to cause corruption. Because most people don't even realize how evil the world has already become, it should be clear to true believers that the end is very near.

 

"For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places" (Ephesians 6:12 ESV).

"UN is Replacement Theology on Steroids"

"UN is Replacement Theology on Steroids" - By Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz - https://www.breakingisraelnews.com/113161/rabbi-un-replacement-theology-steroids/

 

When all the nations of the earth gather against her. In that day, I will make Yerushalayim a stone for all the peoples to lift; all who lift it shall injure themselves." Zechariah 12:3 (The Israel Bible™)

 

The United Nations has played a leading role in rewriting history as part of its anti-Israel agenda. A recent editorial in Christian media compared this to replacement theology and one rabbi agreed, noting that pro-Palestinian forces have taken this hated doctrine further than the Church ever had.

 

Brandon Shirkey wrote an opinion article in Charisma News titled "Is This Theology a Serious Threat to God's People?" In the article, Shirkey compared the United Nations treatment of Israel to replacement theology.

 

"The United Nations has seemingly turned a blind eye to the truth of this conflict by absurdly defending the aggressor and condemning the victim," Shirkey wrote.

 

Shirkey's outrage is shared by many Christians who see religious implications in the UN's harsh treatment of Israel in the political arena. Many Christian organizations reacted strongly to a vote last year by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) declaring Hebron and the Machpela (Cave of the Patriarchs) an Endangered World Heritage Site in "Palestine."

 

David Parsons, Vice President of the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem (ICEJ), released a statement, condemning the UNESCO vote as a religiously based attack that should concern Christians.

 

"UNESCO's latest resolution on Hebron is yet another misguided attempt to rob the Jewish people of their biblical heritage here in the Land of Israel," he said. "This revered site has been and always will be the resting place of the Hebrew patriarchs and matriarchs, purchased by Abraham, the great Father of the Jewish people. It is hugely disappointing that even traditionally Christian nations are failing to stand up to this deliberate distortion of established sacred history."

 

Rabbi Ken Spiro, historian and Senior Lecturer and Researcher for Aish HaTorah Yeshiva, was intrigued by Shirkey's application of this theological concept to the political arena.

 

"Replacement theology is a Christian doctrine which states that Jews rejected Jesus and caused his death, so God rejected them and the new spiritual Israel is the Church and Jerusalem is Rome," Spiro explained to Breaking Israel News. "So, on that level, the UN is not espousing a theological replacement theology. But on a political level they are definitely practicing replacement theology."

 

Rabbi Spiro explained how this is being played out in the United Nations.

 

"They are writing the Jews out of any connection with Israel," He explained. "They are even trying to erase our peoplehood. The UN has clearly bought into the idea that Judaism is a religion and not a national identity. They have replaced that with the Palestinian claim of national identity originating in Israel. The UN is pushing the claim that the Palestinians are indigenous and that we are the foreign invaders. They are claiming that the Palestinians, actually the Arabs, are the oppressed minority and Israel is the aggressor. Everything they say, the opposite is actually the truth."

 

This historical revisionism has gone mainstream with many believing that Jewish history in Israel going back millennia - once a historical axiom - is now a questionable and baseless theory. In October 2003, Time Magazine called the Temple "an area where the Jews believe Solomon built the Second Temple." The New York Times has also reported, "historical certainty proves elusive at Jerusalem's holiest place."

 

This political debate turned religious for Christians when, in an effort to refute the Jewish claim to the land, attempts are made to discount the validity of the Bible. One such case occurred in 2001, when the University of Chicago Press published an academic book dismissing biblical books as "national historical tale."

 

"What the UN is doing is even further away from the truth than replacement theology," Rabbi Spiro said. "It is replacement theology on steroids. At least replacement theology recognized that Jews once had a place in Israel, that we once were the chosen people, that Jerusalem was the holy city. Catholicism just said that we got replaced. The UN is claiming we were never here. This is more like total negation theology."

 

Spiro described the UN claims about Israel as following in the methods used by Joseph Goebbels, Reich Minister of Propaganda of the Nazi Party. Goebbels was quoted as saying, "If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it." The rabbi cited a particular Palestinian claim as a prime example.

 

"The Palestinian Authority claims that after 100 years of archaeological research, they can verify that there is no evidence of any Jewish presence in Israel before Zionism," Rabbi Spiro said. "How can they even begin to say that? The Israel Museum and many others are full of with thousands of artifacts that refute this claim. The Palestinian Authority is demanding Israel return the Dead Sea Scrolls even though they are written in Hebrew."

 

As Spiro noted, despite being a science based on facts and physical proof, archaeology in Israel is highly politicized and anti-Israel entities are attempting to rewrite history. Palestinians have recently begun archaeological projects as part of their political agenda. Khaled Nashef, a Palestinian archaeologist at Bir Zeit University and editor of the University's Journal of Palestinian Archaeology, wrote that "for too long the history of Palestine has been written by Christian and Israeli 'biblical archaeologists,' and that Palestinians must themselves rewrite that history, beginning with the archaeological recovery of ancient Palestine."

 

Some of that rewriting has taken the form of destruction of archaeological sites. The Temple Mount Sifting Project was begun in 2004 for the purpose of recovering archaeological artifacts from 400 truckloads of topsoil removed from the Temple Mount by the Waqf during the construction of the underground el-Marwani Mosque from 1996 to 1999. The project has recovered some 500,000 artifacts including flooring from the Second Temple.

 

"The UN's treatment of Israel is an amazing distortion of reality and what is more amazing is to the extent they have succeeded in making people believe it, Rabbi Spiro explained. "They couldn't have gotten away with it if it wasn't for all the anti-Semites who were just waiting for an excuse to attack us. If much of Europe and much of the left-wing didn't already hate us, the UN never would have been able to push this absurd narrative on anyone. Anyone who has the slightest bit of knowledge of history and any level of objectivity would immediately see that the whole claim of Palestinian right to the land and a prior claim to Jerusalem is a lie."

 

It was a rejection of these lies that led the U.S. to leave UNESCO last year. Nikki Haley, the U.S. Ambassador to the UN has been a harsh critic of this distortion of the truth by the international organization.

 

The rabbi believes that the UN's actions are a political expression that has religious roots.

 

"On a certain level, it is an anti-God agenda," Rabbi Spiro argued, quoting Sigmund Freud's book Moses and Monotheism.

 

"Christians don't hate Jews for killing Jesus, they hate the Jews for giving them Jesus," the rabbi said. "People who want to push God out of their lives and reject the morality that His existence requires, hate the Jews. We represent God in the world and people who hate God, express it in how they relate to the Jews."