Tyrannical Government Grab: Part I
It is always with reticence that I write about government intrusion into our lives. This is because so much wild-eyed speculation is thrown around in cyberspace that one must be alert to what is and is not true in this incendiary area of concern. We get an endless parade of alerts that FEMA camps are almost ready to begin herding Christians, in particular, into the American version of Nazi-style concentration camps. The reports never cease of things such as the claim that gigantic, coffin-like containers are stacked and ready for mass burials at such a time when citizen resistance will be met with deadly force to put down rioting throughout the homeland.
The very term “homeland security” evokes thoughts of 1930s Germany and the rise to power of Adolf Hitler and his genocidal Nazi maniacs. Janet Napolitano, Homeland Security director, is referred to caustically in some circles as “Big Sis,” a takeoff on George Orwell’s sinister symbol of tyranny, Big Brother. It is a matter concerning which she is said to recently have expressed her considerable irritation.
No matter how one chooses to frame in words the growing hold the federal government progressively exerts on our lives, it is essential that we look seriously at the problem while there remains freedom to do so. I dislike triteness, but the trite is true in this case. Where there is smoke there is fire. There is a lot of smoke clouding our future with regard to whether Americans will remain a free people.
The most concerning news that sparked this writing was the report so close to the doings of Hitler’s rise to power as to be chilling. At the same time, the news item seemed so low key at first glance as to be innocuous. But, after that first glance, it became so blatant that even the strangest of bedfellows were, in my mind, joined in resistance to the intrusion.
Children in the Long Island, New York area a few years back were strapped with monitors to keep a running check on their health. The program was the results of the school administrators’ desire to know about the condition of the kids’ problems with obesity. The action was apparently taken without the parents’ knowledge in many cases.
Reports were that this would soon become a full-scale program to monitor the children’s physical activities around the clock. The devices were like wristwatches, and counted heartbeats, monitored body movement during daily activities, and even measured sleep habits, according to the news story of that time. It was all an attempt to get a handle on what the powers that be considered a growing obesity problem, according to those doing the monitoring.
The information was displayed on a color-coded screen and got transmitted to a password-protected website that students and educators could access.
The devices, ostensibly to keep check on health status of those monitored, were put on children in public school systems around the U.S. without the knowledge of many of the parents whose children were involved. Considering the government-controlled health system voted in before 2010 by Congress and signed by President Obama, we can only imagine what the system has produced thus far, and where use of this kind of information might lead.
The matter was and is of sufficient concern that even an entity traditionally sycophantic toward any liberal government program was at the time of its implementation expressing concern. Jay Stanley, of the American Civil Liberties Union, said, “When you get into monitoring people’s biological vital signs, that’s a pretty intrusive measurement. There are key privacy interests at play.” Stanley said that at the very least, parents must have a say in how long the data will be stored and who will have access to it and schools must obtain parents’ consent. “A program like this should only be voluntary. Nobody should be forced to reveal biological indicators,” Stanley added.
The Hitler “Youth Corps” comes to mind when thinking on this and other of today’s government power grabs to control the structure of the American family and the day-to-day rearing of our children.
When Congress–and the president—decided in 1963 to try to kick God out of the American public school system, a flood of insanity gushed in to fill the void. It hasn’t stopped gushing. We have reared generations of children who are becoming ever farther alienated from the family model the God of Heaven instituted. Government has become the keeper of our children. The results are not greater freedom, but an ever-more restrictive way of life in what was once called “the land of the free.” Big Brother’s noose of enslavement, like that Hitler perpetrated those many decades ago, might be on America’s horizon.
Next, we will look at how other signals of government control threaten the American way of life.
The cure for what ails this, or any nation, of course, is found in the most notable of scriptural prescriptions found in God’s Holy Word. It is an Rx that speaks directly to all born-again children of God today–the Church.
“If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land” (2 Chronicles 7:14).
America’s Most Dangerous Time
I once wrote the following in an article titled “Israel Betrayed by U.S.?”:
Israel today stands in the bull’s eye of rage. This is true in the case of being targeted by the Jewish state’s perennial antagonists, the Arab and Persian Islamist enemies. It is true in the case of the entire international community, whose constituent nations see Israel as the congestive blockage to regional and world peace. But it is the growing antagonism by United States presidential administration operatives that is most disconcerting while this beleaguered planet wobbles toward a time of unprecedented trouble.
As a matter of fact, that coming time of unparalleled strife that will bring all nations to Armageddon is termed “the time of Jacob’s trouble” by Isaiah the prophet: “Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble” (Jeremiah 30:7a).
And, it is Jacob’s trouble–the prophesied end-of-days dastardly treatment of Israel by the nations of earth–that will cause the God of heaven to bring them to Armageddon. This is what the prophet Joel foretells: “I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land” (Joel 3:2).
Will America Betray Israel?
We come to the question “Israel Betrayed by U.S.?” The article’s title is in the form of a question because like so much of this American administration’s dealings, the “transparency” presidential candidate Barack Obama and then President Obama promised is not forthcoming. Obama’s intended dealing with Israel is wrapped in an impenetrable fog of political doublespeak…
Since the time of that writing, a number of years have passed. Mr. Obama began his administration almost from the very first day by treating Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu like a White House exterminator–having him come in a door other than the front entrance reserved for dignitaries who are honored with official reception by the president.
The president, shortly after that first meeting with Netanyahu, abruptly left the prime minister and went to have a private dinner, presumably with his family. It was an undeniable snub.
This was apparently meant to be within keeping with his promise to have “the most transparent administration ever.” It was certainly transparent that this president has an utter disregard for Mr. Netanyahu and for Israel, our number-one ally in the Middle East, if not our top ally in the entire world.
Subsequent snubs and disrespectful attempts to bully the Israeli leader and the Jewish state are too numerous to get into. Obama’s attempts to intervene within the sovereign affairs of Israel have not abated as of this late hour in the Obama administration. In fact, they have increased dramatically.
While there is less than nine months of his time as president remaining, Mr. Obama is said to be planning many interventions into Israeli autonomy.
In yet another audacious display of intrusion into the affairs of Israel’s dealings with its internal enemies–many of whom plot and carry out deadly attacks against Jewish citizens–American’s diplomatic enforcers are at work. Ordered to do so by Barack Obama, America’s State Department minions join with those determined to force Israel to bow to international demands in the matter of housing construction in volatile areas of contention.
One news item reports:
WASHINGTON (AP) — Diplomats say the U.S. will endorse a tough new tone with Israel in an upcoming international report. The report is to take the Jewish state to task over settlements, demolitions and property seizures on land the Palestinians claim for a future state…
The harsh language marks a subtle shift. Washington has traditionally tempered statements by the so-called “Quartet” of mediators with careful diplomatic language…(Source: Matthew Lee and Bradley Klapper, “US to Take Tougher Tone on Israeli Settlements in New Report,” Associated Press, 5/7/16).
Early on in the first Obama administration, the pressure to force Israel to give in to diplomatic pressures of land for peace became a driving force in U.S./Israeli relations. The effort has only ramped up since that time. It is as if this president has an obsessive compulsion to impose his will before his time is ended in the White House.
My personal sense is that it is indeed the president’s compulsion that is in play. Because it is the nation Israel we are considering, however, there are also far more powerful intrigues involved. Ephesians 6:12 is at the center of this last minute drive to make the rearrangements that Israel’s greatest hater wants accomplished, it seems to me.
But, my personal sense of prophetic importance of what all of this vitriol pointed toward Israel means is of little consequence. What matters is what the prophetic Word of God says about His chosen nation and its destiny, both near-term and in the ultimate sense.
In that regard, the things we will see develop in these days and months leading up to the November election and beyond can be of profound significance. And in the America and the world vs Israel struggle, we can find little reassurance that anything good can come forth.
America has entered a most dangerous time.
Gog thinking…
One can sense the dark, coalescing thoughts that are going on within the 2016 presidential election cabals. No, I’m not talking about the U.S. presidential election smoke-filled, back-room wheeling and dealing. Rather, I refer to the intrigues that are no doubt presently taking place in the political chambers of Moscow. A very interesting Russian politician we all know about sits snugly ensconced within the seat of power at the Kremlin. He is no doubt contemplating the implications of the U.S. presidential election just ahead. Mysterious doings revolve around this self-promoting, sixty- something year-old former KGB officer with his ongoing macho performances, both actual and of questionable credibility.
We remember his photo ops on the shores of the Black Sea and other places where he proudly displayed his six-pack abs. Then, there is the story where he single-handedly dove into the depths of some body of water, then came up with hands full of treasure–treasure that no one, not even professional marine salvage crews were previously able to find.
Vladimir Putin seems to wield uncontested power at a time when all prophetic signs seem to be converging. There is little observable opposition to his power-brokering and manipulations, either officially or unofficially. It is as if his is a predestined leadership imperative for his most prophetically significant nation.
One billionaire Russian once accused Putin of trying to reprise a system at least somewhat similar to the Soviet Union, and opposed Putin’s ruling plans. One wonders what ever happened to the poor fellow. Such opposition is no longer allowed, it is obvious, considering the recent track records of those who opposed ol’ Vlad. Many of these are in gulag–or are no longer among the living.
This man who so dominates the news coming out of the country that many of us who observe prophetic movement believe will be the nation that will lead the Gog-Magog attack of Ezekiel 38-39 looks more and more like he could fulfill the Gog role. Putin’s thinking about Russia’s future differs from the old, Soviet model in some significant ways, according to his actions and reactions to events of recent times.
i find it particularly fascinating that His thought seems not necessarily to be bent toward taking over nations surrounding Russia, but in sucking those nations into an inescapable fiscal orbit.
One story from the years preceding his re-taking the reins of power in Russia speculated on his vision for empire building.
Vladimir Putin has a vision for a Soviet Union-like he hopes will become a new Moscow-led global powerhouse. But, his planned Eurasian Union won’t be grounded in ideology: This time it’s about trade. The concept of regional economic integration may be losing some of its allure in Europe, where a debt crisis is threatening the existence of the Eurozone. But some countries across the former Soviet Union, still struggling economically 20 years after becoming independent, are embracing Putin’s grand ambition… In anticipation of a new six-year term as president, Putin has made forming a Eurasian Union by 2015 a foreign policy priority. He is promoting the union as necessary for Russia and its neighbors to compete in the modern global economy. His broader goal is to restore some of Moscow’s economic and political clout across former Soviet space and thus strengthen Russia’s position in the world. (Peter Leonard, Associated Press, ” Russia’s Putin Dreams of Sweeping Eurasian Union,” 1/3/12)
Mr. Putin’s thought, obviously, was to convince those he hopes to lure within his orbit that great economic gain is a possibility in such a coalition as he proposes to put together. While his plans have not materialized in the altogether peaceful manner he gave for public consumption, his machinations, using economic manipulation, threat, and actual military force continue his drive toward hegemony within his sphere of influence. This kind of thinking, of course, might just be the nucleus around which could be built a much more ambitious and volatile plan of action. Might that plan include a future invasion to the south as outlined in the Ezekiel 38-39 prophecy?
Certainly, that prophecy indicates an ambitious and volatile plan of action following the Magog coalition leader’s “evil thought” of Ezekiel 38:10-12. Until relatively recently, Israel has had little prospect for great wealth of the sort indicated in this prophecy that would entice such a thought or action by enemies to the north. Oh, there has long been talk of great mineral wealth in the Dead Sea, which is within the territory of the tiny nation of Israel today. But there seems to be little interest of Israel’s enemies in those very uncertain riches. But, such wealth as would be sufficiently enticing to provoke that future “Gog” to think to attack Israel has appeared on the prophetic horizon–in my view, at least.
First, vast natural gas deposits have been discovered just off Israel’s coast, within their territorial waters. Secondly, there are new and, some believe, tremendously large oil deposits within the area of territorial dispute –that of Judea and Samaria, the Golan Heights.
While the oil reserves continue to be matters of volatile contention between nations, will the genius that God has placed within the progeny of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob leap to the forefront of petroleum technology and produce the “spoil” that will provoke Gog to bring his coalition down over the mountains of Israel? This is a developing story to which every watchmen of Bible prophecy should pay attention.
On Binding Satan…
Upon clicking through the religious channels at any given hour of the day–and there are many on my AT&T Uverse set up–there are certain catchphrases I hear consistently.
The most prominent, I’ve found, is the term “plant a seed.” Another is “seed faith brings harvest.” The phraseology is issued forth by the prosperity propagandists, as I term them. These invariably twist and convolute scriptural truth in pursuit of their gullible followers’ contributions.
While there is usually a “seed” of factuality in their pontification that claims planting financial seeds will bring increase, the whoppers I’ve heard some of these “preachers” tell are far beyond anything promised in God’s Word.
For example, I heard not long ago one man with whom most would be familiar because of his constant presence on the fund-raisers say that he once sowed $100,000 into a ministry. This greatly pained him at the time because of his amazement that the Lord would “tell” him to do such a thing.
He complied, despite his pain, and the result was a return of $100 million within a month or so. That’s right. The man said he received $100 million for his $100,000 seed.
That was the only reference I’ve heard to this phenomenal “harvest,” so I presume this sort of return isn’t all that unusual in the prosperity circles…or else such claims are just part of the pitch. Looks like, though, that this amazing sort of miracle return on investment should have made the financial news or something.
Another phrase the prosperity preachers are prone to issue on a rather regular basis is that, in the name of Jesus, they “bind Satan.”
Now, this is even more amazing than the $100,000 being turned into $100 million within a month. This implies not a promise based upon biblical return for faith in planting a financial seed, but claims for any human being who is a Christian direct, supernatural power to completely paralyze almost certainly the most powerful being God ever created.
There have been books sold by the hundreds of thousands telling of how this “binding” can be done. Most all of the prosperity ministries hold this teaching close to their statements of faith. This is often a declaration I’ve heard made as a reward for one ministry or the other receiving a large “seed faith” contribution. The on-air person will declare that he or she binds Satan in Jesus’ name for the benefit of the contributor.
Only–I can find no place in Scripture where Christians can “bind Satan.” The old serpent certainly doesn’t seem to be bound these days–does he?
The Bible tells us: “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5: 8).
There is no chain on our adversary, according to God’s Word. There is restraint, to be sure, upon the old devil’s activity, but that comes from one source and one source only. The Bible reports the following incident, which gives clue to this restraint on our great enemy.
“Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee” (Jude 1: 9).
There will come a time when a chain will be used to bind Satan. We learn of this future binding in the following account which is prophecy yet future:
“And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season” (Revelation 20:1-3).
So, that we can “bind Satan” is a false teaching. But, we are confronted constantly by the serpent and his minions. Here is the Scripture that tells about this constant confrontation. How then, can we deal with this powerful enemy in the biblically-prescribed way? God’s Word has the answer, of course.
First, we are told how to deal directly with that roaring lion–the devil.
“Whom resist steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world” (1 Peter 5: 9).
We are to do certain things to prepare for this “resistance” against that old serpent, the devil. Here are our instructions:
“Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Ephesians 6:11-17).
We as God’s children cannot and must not claim to “bind Satan.” This is the most powerful instruction for the battle in which we find ourselves the nearer we get to Christ’s call to His Church.
“Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you (James 4: 7).
Raging Distress and Perplexity
Years ago I wrote the following:
Global economic chaos is driving the distress and perplexity of the nations of planet earth. The words of the greatest of all prophets, Jesus Christ, echo in cavernous reverberation with each succeeding news report from the capitals of earth’s monetary centers. “And there shall be…upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring” (Luke 21:25b).
Jesus’ Olivet Discourse spoke to conditions exponentially moved beyond norms. In other words, the “distress” and “perplexity” that nations will be experiencing as His Second Coming nears will be beyond any ever known by people of earth. And, in biblical terms, “seas and waves” refer to the masses of peoples. Jesus said that because there will be unprecedented distress and perplexity among the nations, the peoples populating those nations will be “roaring.”
“Distress of nations, with perplexity” has ratcheted up exponentially, since the time of that assessment. The bottom line is more than ever one that projects that America and the other nations of the planet have moved beyond critical mass, as far as reaching the point where economic implosion should have occurred is concerned. Observers of the prophetic times have concluded that only the staying hand of God prevents that inevitable collapse.
Yet, distinctive cracks are developing in the global economic structures. Those cracks are harbingers of things to come. The governmental heads of Greece and Italy have been symbolically lopped off by the European Union (EU) leadership, who are themselves largely unelected by Europe’s peoples. And, those peoples are becoming like “seas and waves roaring,” as Christ’s prophetic words would have it. The results of the incentive-crippling, socialistic economic model that most governments of Europe have for decades employed have come home to roost.
The inability due to Italy’s and Greece’s leaders to stick to strict austerity agendas brought the wrath of the economic powers elite down on them. The European bankers’ inner circle is blamed or credited–depending upon one’s view—for engineering the quasi-coup d’état. The action has thrown the whole of Europe into uncertainty as to what comes next. It is “distress…with perplexity” of the first order. Even Germany, the most stable of the European states, is feeling the pressures of the budding EU dictatorship–the banking money powers— in their demand that all of Europe conforms to their emerging new economic order.
America moves headlong down the same pathway as Europe. Economic cataclysm hangs like the Sword of Damocles over the heads of U.S. and state governments and those of the banking industry. While America’s people are for the most part still law-abiding and want to restore economic tranquility in a peaceful manner, leftist elements are doing all within their power to bring the seas and waves to a roaring state of self-destructiveness. The mainstream media seems determined to do all within its collective power to assist in the movement to rev up anarchy in this nation.
While forces here are determined to bring the United States into a new economic order just as forces in Europe are doing the same over there, it is vital to notice the difference between the two forces at work. It was the leftist-socialistic governance that operated in Europe for decades that drove it to bankruptcy. Now, it is a rightist movement that is demanding austerity and an almost fascist form of governance determined to save Europe.
In America, we are witnessing a Marxist-Leninist-style attempt from the political left to bring new economic order in the form of the current presidential administration as it strives to bring about socialism to this country. The effort has succeeded on a level beyond even that which destroyed the USSR. By that, I mean it has succeeded more profoundly than the dynamics that destroyed the former Soviet Union, because we are now more than $19 trillion in debt–an amount the Soviets could not have imagined.
Two political ideologies, working at changing the world in their parts of the globe, move toward each other from opposite directions. It is an amazing thing to behold! The so-called super committee, appointed years ago to find creative new ways to cut trillions of dollars from federal spending in the U.S., dramatically presents the degree of “distress, with perplexity” that is front and center on today’s prophetic landscape. They failed miserably, as if by design. No cuts were agreed to by anyone.
The “seas and waves” (the discontented and malcontents who are in the process of uprising against any suggestion of cutting social programs) threaten to desert and/or vote out politicians who cut off their handout lifestyles. More than this, threatened anarchy and destruction of inner cities simmers at the fear centers of our political leaders’ thinking.
Those leaders thus help generate and incubate the “distress and perplexity” of these troubling times. They choose to placate their political power bases rather than to transcend selfish ambition. They choose the path of least resistance–the one to destruction–rather than working toward securing the blessings of liberty and promoting the general welfare of their nation, which each has pledged to do.
As disheartening as the “distress and perplexity”–now so evident–are, Jesus’ words have never resonated more clearly: “And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh” (Luke 21:28).
Control Means Everything
Road rage has always been something that has confounded me. My first exposure to the phenomenon came in a humorous fashion. It was presented on The Wonderful World of Disney in animation. One of Mickey Mouse’s close pals–the floppy-eared, buck-toothed Goofy–was the featured character.
The narrator talked about the Goofy character, while the human-like canine went about preparing for work one morning. The narrator told the viewer that this was the gentlest of creatures–a person who wouldn’t harm a fly.
Goofy was polite to his wife and children; he peacefully read his newspaper at the breakfast table while sipping his coffee at a leisurely pace.
Goofy got up from the table, wiped his mug with a napkin, folded the newspaper, and put it beneath his arm. He grasped his briefcase, put his fedora on his head, kissed Mrs. Goofy goodbye, hugged the little Goofies, and opened the door to his garage.
All the while the narrator was telling the viewer just how soft-hearted and, indeed, how wonderful a husband, father, and citizen was our about-to-be work-commuter. Mr. Goofy opened the driver-side door to his sedan, sat in the seat–all the while a tranquil, most pleasant half-smile on his mug.
Then it happened! The moment he grasped the steering wheel, a profound transformation took place. His mug contorted into a vicious, snarling countenance. His smile became a fang-bearing scowl of evil. His eyes widened and became red with bulging blood-veins popping to the surface, his black eyes shifting angrily while drool seeped from the sides of the jowls and he snorted flames and smoke from his big snout.
Goofy became the supreme picture of rage. The narrator described the transformation and gave the viewer the complete account of Goofy the maniac’s trip into the city of his workplace.
Soon after that program aired, I became a regular driver, having reached the age of getting a driver’s license. However, I can’t recall at the time having experienced road rage myself, or even having seen it take place in the real world. But, the creators of that Disney program obviously had experienced the phenomenon.
A little later in life I certainly witnessed the fact that road rage exists. The phenomenon seems to be less and less a phenomenon–rather, has turned into a “new normal” for driver comportment.
The latest incident we might recall is when a former NFL football player was shot to death while he and a female passenger were on a city street. The former player apparently bumped a car in front of him for blocking him from proceeding. He then steered the car around the car he had bumped.
The driver of the car that was bumped sped after the offending vehicle. When he caught up with the former player’s car, the offended driver fired several shots into the other car, resulting in the former player being fatally wounded.
Such reports are not at all uncommon today. It’s as if the human mind has lost all control of reasoning ability while behind the wheel. I believe the phenomenon–now the new normal–might be part of the apostle Paul’s perilous times of 2 Timothy chapter 3. There seems little doubt that today men (and women) drivers are increasingly “fierce” and “incontinent,” as the KJV puts it. That people are without ability to govern their tempers is a bottom-line characterization of the human condition that could legitimately be concluded. Angers flare out of control over the slightest perceived personal disrespect. Too often, such incidents end with bloodshed.
All of the above is but representation in microcosm of the larger manifestation of the ferocity and incontinence (lack of control) that is raging across the world at present.
On a much more profound scale of uncontrolled fury, a corpulent little tyrant In North Korea starves his people, while pouring money into military and nuclear technology with which to threaten the world. The mullahs of Islam incite hatred, encouraging all-out jihad against Israel and all who won’t bow the knee to Allah. In American inner cities, organizations devoted to anarchy and mayhem for the sake of acquiring and/or maintaining power over their ethnic masses go about tearing down the societal fiber of America’s culture. Total chaos appears to be but a major crisis away–perhaps in the very near future. Deteriorating economic conditions on a national and global scale could well be the catalyst for producing such crisis, many experts warn.
Everything looks to be out of control, while those elitists who want to bring all peoples back to Babel and a one-world order of absolute rule search for avenues to reach their utopian goals.
Uncertainty is the disorder of the day, however, no matter how far reaching are the programs and manipulations of the would-be globalist masters. This world, with its myriad building troubles, should have by now imploded from untenable, economic pressures or else exploded in nuclear fire because of road rage-like insanity in planetary conflict.
But, planet earth wags on. The uncontrollable is for some reason still under control.
God raises up kings and nations, and He brings them down. Nothing within all of creation is ever beyond His controlling hand.
Whether considering worries about the upcoming presidential election, fear of North Korea and its nukes, ISIS and its barbarous terrorism, or the fearful diagnosis of a devastating illness or loss of those we love on a personal basis, all is under control at all times. There is no situation, no matter how profound or how personal, that the Lord of Heaven doesn’t control.
The key to being at peace within the safety and assurance of God’s control of all circumstance is to be within the heavenly Father’s family.
This relationship is achieved, of course, only through acceptance of Jesus Christ as Savior (Romans 10: 9-10). The Lord appeals to all of mankind to consider the matter of His absolute control and authority over all that exists.
“Have ye not known? have ye not heard? hath it not been told you from the beginning? have ye not understood from the foundations of the earth? It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in: That bringeth the princes to nothing; he maketh the judges of the earth as vanity. Yea, they shall not be planted; yea, they shall not be sown: yea, their stock shall not take root in the earth: and he shall also blow upon them, and they shall wither, and the whirlwind shall take them away as stubble. To whom then will ye liken me, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number: he calleth them all by names by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power; not one faileth.” (Isaiah 40:21-26)
Prince of Persia Quite Busy
Those of us who examine world issues and events of our time from a pre-trib eschatological viewpoint consistently pronounced that the uprisings that began years ago in the Middle East would result in an expansion of Islamist control over the region. Mainstream news pundits of the secular ilk proclaimed it a great day for democracy’s spreading among the tyrant-laden nations of the Middle East. Mainstream religionists, at the same time–including, sadly, many of the neo-evangelical sort such as Saddleback’s Rick Warren— declared it a new day for all faiths to come together in peace and understanding. The Arab Spring, as it is now known, was to bring in a kind of Mideast utopia, it was gleefully expected by the uprising’s cheerleaders.
Soon Egypt’s president-dictator, Hosni Mubarak, was forced out as the nations surrounding Israel on three sides fell one by one into the hands of peoples that are under the control of…well…that’s another matter into which we will have to have a look. No matter what news network or outlet, the talk was at the time centered on something peaceful and good coming out of the so-called Arab Spring. The movement was a supposedly righteous rebellion to oust dictators that would bring the installation of democracy to most if not all of the nations in the region that has been the most volatile on earth since Israel was reborn in 1948.
But a funny thing happened on the way to all of that promised freedom to choose.
We have watched and reported on the unrest that began those years ago, including the disastrous Egyptian election that resulted. Since December 18, 2010, there have been revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt; a civil war in Libya; civil uprisings in Bahrain, Syria, and Yemen. Major protests were launched in Algeria, Iraq, Jordan, Morocco, and Oman, as well as on the borders of Israel. There were protests in Kuwait, Lebanon, Mauritania, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, and Western Sahara.
Moammar Gadhafi of Libya has met his fate, and Bashar al-Assad perhaps faces the same in Syria, as the Islamist uprisings build toward a fever pitch in that tyrant’s kingdom. It is interesting that Satan has trouble controlling his own diabolist minions within the Mideast madness, even as some rebellious leaders infesting Christianity fight against the good the God of heaven wants to get done during this dispensation. Of course, this shouldn’t surprise. The fomenter of both incendiary actions is one and the same.
In the case of things going on in the Israel-hating nations that surround the tiny Jewish state, the fingerprints are obvious. The same satanic general that instigated and carried out warfare in high places during the prophet Daniel’s time has been turned loose today to stir the boiling Middle East cauldron. His most visible involvement is evidenced within the Islamist fury that rages under the guise of democracy on the move. The most overt evidence of the immediate danger this general poses is the nuclear threat Iran presents against Israel.
The whole region is being prepared –the stage set– for the Gog-Magog attack against God’s chosen people. It has been both amazing and, in a way, somewhat gratifying to see Russia being drawn into the Syrian/ISIS/Syrian rebel conflict. I say it is “gratifying,” because God’s prophetic Word is coming alive day by day in all of these doings. We are privileged to be here, at this time in history, to see His Truth unveiling. Plus, it all means the Rapture must indeed be near.
Jesus said in His days of Noah, days of Lot prophecy of Matthew 24: 36-42 and Luke 17: 26-30 that things will be going along in a relative business-as-usual manner when He next catastrophically Intervenes into human History.
When the Gog-Magog attack occurs, it will be world-rending in many ways. It won’t be business as usual as Jesus said will be the case when He comes for His Church.
Therefore, we can believe with confidence that the Rapture is near, if we are witnessing the build-up for that Gog-Magog assault. And, there isn’t any doubt in this observer’s thinking that we are witnessing that build-up.
Some believe that the attack might occur almost simultaneously with Christ calling His Church in the Rapture, and I think this is very possible, if not likely.
One thing sure, the prince of Persia (Daniel 10:20) is on the loose in these last of the last days.
On Being Rapture Ready Part II
Note: This April 22 was the fifth-year anniversary of the Good Friday trip I was given to somewhere on the perimeter of Heaven. It remains as vivid in my every waking moment today as right after it happened.
I wanted to again present the articles I wrote at the end of that year–2011–because I believe we are so very near the time of Christ’s call to us–“Come up hither!” (Revelation 4:1).
Also, I wish to announce my just completed book which is now being prepared for publication at New Leaf Publishing Group. Rapture Ready…Or Not:15 Reasons This Is the Generation That Will Be Left Behind is scheduled for release July 1, 2016.
I’m certain in the deepest regions of my spirit that this book is a major reason for the round trip to that other dimension on that Good Friday five years ago.
I’m having considerable trouble exercising patience as this book approaches its release. I just can’t wait to share it with you.
Without intending to attract unto myself any aggrandizement–for the Lord of Heaven is the only Person deserving such–I believe I was commissioned to deliver this message. Rapture Ready…Or Not, this generation is on the brink of God’s most profound intervention into human history since the day the Great Flood of Noah’s day burst upon the world.
Here is Part II of that December 2011 Nearing Midnight article.
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There is no specific signal that presages the Rapture of believers in the Scriptures. That calling by Christ to those who know Him as Savior will be unannounced and instantaneous. Paul the apostle’s words inform us of that stunning event: “Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed” (1 Corinthians 15:51-52).
Paul says further: “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord” (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17).
The website Todd Strandberg began in 1987, before the internet was making an impact to any extent on life in America and throughout the world, encompasses what Christ expects every born- again believer to become. Todd gave it the name raptureready.com, a nomenclature defining a spiritual condition eternally crucial to each and every living individual.
All who have died during this Church Age (Age of Grace) are now beyond getting “Rapture ready.” They are either “Rapture ready” or not. People alive at the present time, if they don’t know Christ as Savior, still have opportunity to get Rapture ready. All who are saved (know Jesus as their Savior) are Rapture ready in one sense, but might not be Rapture ready in another. We will try to clarify these matters. It is most important that we do so.
I testified in my commentary last week of instantaneously standing before a throng of heavenly witnesses (Hebrews 12:1-3) the moment my heart stopped beating. This happened three separate times. Each time my heart ceased to beat, I was somewhere in eternity. God the Holy Spirit’s assurance of where I was and who the beautiful, cheering young people were becomes more strongly burned into my own spirit by the day.
The only action I have taken in my life to warrant being instantly transported to that heavenly realm was to accept Christ as my Savior. There is no other action I could take while in this physical life to assure my instant transport into those stunning surroundings. While my near-death experience wasn’t the Rapture, of course, I believe with all that is within my spiritual understanding that it was a type of what awaits the generation of Christians alive at the time of that great event, as described by the Apostle Paul’s prophetic words as given above. At that future moment of Rapture, all who have died during the Church Age, or who are living at the time, will stand not before a throng of witnesses as I did, but before the Lord Jesus, Himself! “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2).
All who are living today who do not know Jesus Christ as Savior stand in mortal danger. When their hearts beat the final time, they will find themselves in the same, unimaginably horrid place as the rich man described by Jesus in the story of the rich man and Lazarus (read Luke 16:19-31). Likewise, the moment Christ says at the Rapture: “Come up hither” (Revelation 4:1), the person who hasn’t accepted Christ will be left behind on earth to face a time in human history of which the Lord Jesus Himself said: “For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved” (Matthew 24:21-22a).
Being Rapture Ready
So, it is imperative to make clear what it means to be Rapture ready. Our eternal souls hang in the balance of God’s impending judgment. The Lord of Heaven must judge sin, because He cannot abide sin in His holy presence. No sin can enter the gates of Heaven. And this is where God’s magnificent love comes to the forefront of His dealing with each of us who are sinners.
He loves you and me so much that He sent His Son–God in the flesh, Jesus Christ—to come to earth to be the perfect sin-sacrifice, the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, whose blood takes away the sin of the world. To be Rapture ready, you and I must be “saved” from our sins and made pure in the righteousness found only in Christ. When we believe God and accept Christ as Savior, we become Rapture ready in the eternal sense. We will go to Heaven upon our death, or will be raptured when Jesus steps out on the clouds of glory and shouts: “Come up hither!”
But, there is another meaning of being Rapture ready. Each Christian is responsible for being Rapture ready in this sense. To be Rapture ready as a child of God means we are to be living our lives in a way pleasing to God. We are to lift the name of Jesus so that men, women, and children will be drawn to Him for salvation. We are to be watching for His any-moment return in the Rapture.
Let me make it clear. I believe the Word of God tells us that every person who is saved through the redemptive blood of Jesus Christ will go to be with Him at the moment of Rapture, no matter the state of his or her fellowship with the Lord. We will ALL stand before Him, Paul tells us.
However, to be truly Rapture ready as a Christian means that we are living life in such a biblically prescribed way that when Jesus calls us we will not be ashamed to look Him in His omniscient eyes. We should desire above all else to hear Him say “Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord” (Matthew 25:23b).
End-times world conditions today are unmistakable. That face-to-face meeting could take place at any moment!
War Rumors Abound
These commentaries have for months been devoted in large measure to examining the building economic bubble that threatens to bring about worldwide cataclysm. I have written on, for example, things like the crisis involving collapsing currencies around the world, which is feared to be creating irreparable cracks in global financial structures.
Things stand out starkly.
- I am amazed that the economic bubble hasn’t burst;
- I believe that the longer the crises build, the greater will be the explosion;
- I maintain that only the staying hand of God has thus far prevented it from bursting; and
- I am of the opinion that it will likely be the Rapture of the church that will pop that bubble.
I was under the illusion that second only to Israel’s position at the center of world controversy; the impending global economic catastrophe has to be the next most profound signal of how near the very end of the age this generation finds us. Jesus, of course, didn’t first specifically mention either Israel or the global economy as being the most significant signs of His return when His disciples asked Him directly. He did, however, mention the subject of this commentary: “And as he sat upon the Mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?” (Matthew 24:3).
The Lord described a number of things that would be on the world scene at the time He would return to planet earth–or at least above the earth. Among the first signals He mentioned are in the following: “And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom” (Matthew 24:6-7a).
As prophetically stunning as Israel being at stage-center is the global economic cataclysm looming above this rebellious, judgment-bound planet. The sudden proliferation of potentially world-rending military conflicts on the prophetic horizon is equally astonishing. “Rumors of war” are literally in every direction we look. We will have brief looks at a number of the “rumors of war” presently front and center in the news:
U.S. deploys B-52 bombers to Qatar for fight against Islamic State
The U.S. Air Force deployed B-52 bombers to Qatar on Saturday to join the fight against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, the first time they have been based in the Middle East since the end of the Gulf War in 1991. U.S. Air Forces Central Command said it last flew the long-range bombers operationally in the region in May 2006 as part of the war in Afghanistan, and during a U.S.-led military exercise in Jordan in May 2015.
North Korea ‘tests long-range missile engine’
North Korea says it has successfully tested an engine designed for an intercontinental ballistic missile. The new type of engine would “guarantee” the ability to launch a nuclear strike on the US mainland, the KCNA news agency said. The test was conducted at the country’s long-range missile launch site near its west coast.
Syria’s Assad shows no willingness to compromise
As the Syria peace talks resume next week, President Bashar al-Assad, backed militarily by Iran and Russia, shows no willingness to compromise, much less step aside to allow a transition Western powers claim is the solution to the conflict.
Rumors of war are indeed rampant upon today’s prophetic horizon. With the impending threats and military preparations, it becomes clear the coming “sudden destruction” of Paul’s forewarning (1 Thessalonians 5:3) cannot be far distant in time. Jesus’ words foretelling what this world faces when the Rapture occurs are starkly in view at this very moment.
“And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all. Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all.” (Luke 17:26-29).
On Being Rapture Ready Part 1
Note: This April 22 is the fifth-year anniversary of the Good Friday trip I was given to somewhere on the perimeter of Heaven. It remains as vivid in my every waking moment today as right after it happened.
I wanted to again present the articles I wrote at the end of that year–2011–because I believe we are so very near the time of Christ’s Call to us– “Come up hither!” (Revelation 4:1).
Also, I wish to announce my just-completed book that is now being prepared for publication at New Leaf Publishing Group. Rapture Ready…Or Not: 15 Reasons This Is the Generation That Will Be Left Behind” is scheduled for release July 1, 2016.
I’m certain in the deepest regions of my spirit that this book is a major reason for the round trip to that other dimension on that Good Friday five years ago. I’m having considerable trouble exercising patience as this book approaches its release. I just can’t wait to share it with you.
Without intending to attract unto myself any aggrandizement–for the Lord of Heaven is the only Person deserving such–I believe I was commissioned to deliver this message. Rapture Ready…Or Not, this generation is on the brink of God’s most profound intervention into human history since the day the great Flood of Noah’s day burst upon the world.
Here, then, is Part I of my thoughts in December, 2011, following that April 22, 2011, Good Friday event.
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Being prepared to meet Jesus Christ face to face–as far as trying to make that my constant state of mind is concerned–has been part of my every waking moment since Good Friday of this year. Not wishing to go over it in a public forum like this one ad nauseam, nonetheless, I’ve been considering the relationship between my near-death moments of April 22, and being Rapture ready, as is the thought wrapped up in our website’s name. So, here goes yet again…
This is intended to be an exhortation for all of us who name Christ as our Lord–urging us individually and collectively to hold Him close to our spiritual hearts during this Christmas season. It is not meant to dwell upon my personal experience as an overriding point of focus. Many who read this column on a regular basis know some of the details of my heart event on Good Friday of this year. I’m often corrected by my wife, Margaret, for not calling it a heart attack. For some reason that description just doesn’t register within my aging gray matter. Others have heart attacks, not me.
I remember thinking at the time it was occurring that this wasn’t possible. The EMT working on me told the hospital dispatcher that he had a “coronary in progress.” It didn’t register then, either. There I was, however, being rushed toward Saline Memorial Hospital, gasping for breath, the pain behind my sternum feeling as if it would explode my chest at any second.
I remember arriving and the gurney being tugged toward the ER outer doors. Then, there was the computer-like blip and I was suddenly before a large heavenly throng of young, beautiful, cheering men and women. The ambiance of my surroundings was dazzling, and I wanted to join them. There was no recollection whatsoever of where I had been–no memories of this planetary existence.
I was, the doctor later told Margaret, dead on arrival.
They hit me with the defibrillation paddles–yes, just like you’ve seen in the shows where they say “Clear!” and then apply the paddles, making the body nearly jump off the table.
I felt nothing, but the action did cause me to leave the place I never wanted to leave. I remembered thinking, “I want to stay here forever in this perfect place.” But, everything turned dark and I awoke in total darkness on the gurney. This is because I’m blind due to a retinal disease, as many who read the account know. The pain behind the sternum grew worse and I heard the blip twice more. Each time I was before that cheering, enthusiastic throng of vibrant, young people. The sights were astonishing, colors of every description emanating from somewhere I could neither determine, nor cared to investigate. The third time I was among them, we were all racing, or being drawn by some powerful energy toward a destination I would never know. I was again in the hospital, this time on the cardiac unit’s procedure table. I had again been hit with the paddles.
I had survived the “widow maker,” an artery-blockage that I was told only 5 percent of victims live through. I was clinically dead three times, my heart having stopped each time. I had been given a journey and return trip that few are privileged to experience–and I say that meaning it as humbly as it is possible to express the fact.
The reasons for and meanings of this experience have been confirmed and affirmed in my spiritual understanding. I’ve dealt briefly with those impressions from the Holy Spirit in a previous article, “HeavenVision.” God willing, there will be a more in-depth presentation on these matters in a book we have planned for release early in 2012, entitled HeavenVision: Glimpses of Glory.
I continue to be given insight into what it all means. As stated at the beginning of this commentary, my thoughts have been turned toward being ever ready to meet the Lord Jesus Christ face to face since that Good Friday when my heart ceased to beat those three times. One of the things constantly on my mind is that my heart could fail again at any moment.
My rehabilitation has been an absolutely amazing success story. And, in that regard, I thank so many of you whose prayers were obviously heard in the throne room of Heaven. I honestly haven’t experienced one moment’s problem, in any way, with my heart or anything else of consequence regarding my health. In fact, I was given the “Arkansas Cardiologist Association’s Patient of the Year Award for 2011” on November 18. I was asked to speak to their convention and I told them that I don’t know why I should be honored. All I did was survive. My Lord, Jesus Christ, deserves top honors, because He holds the keys to death and hell. I then said that they, the wonderful medical professionals, also deserve honors for being the ones God chose to put me back into this race.
The only problem has been cracked teeth and one crowned tooth broken completely off that resulted from being hit with the paddles those three times. Nonetheless, the thought is there that one’s last heartbeat can occur at any moment.
Each time my heart stopped, I stood not before Jesus Christ, but in front of a cheering cloud of witnesses as given in Hebrews 12:1-3. This simply means, I have been assured in my spiritual understanding, that this wasn’t really death. It was a preview I was given for reasons the Lord has determined. But, I will, when God’s timing has come to fullness for my life, stand before my Lord and Savior. It will happen just as instantaneously as did my near-death trip to the fringes of glory. I am ready for that moment, because Jesus saved my soul with His work of redemption on the cross at Calvary nearly 2,000 years ago. When my heart beats that final time, I will, in the twinkling of an eye (see 1 Corinthians 15: 52), stand before Him, and will be with Him for all of eternity.
But, my heart has not stopped for that final time. When Christ calls all believers, living and dead, to Himself, I will, if still alive, stand instantaneously before Him just as I stood instantaneously before that cheering cloud of witnesses on Good Friday, April 22, 2011.
Being Rapture ready is being ready, period. It means you are prepared to meet the Lord at any moment–at all times. Every believer has the same promise–to be present with the Lord when life on earth is over.
“We are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: (For we walk by faith, not by sight): We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5:6-8).
Next week we will go in-depth, examining details about what it means to be Rapture ready.
Terry James Prophecy Line 