"Fair Use for Information and Discussion Purposes"

Jan 3, 2022
Published on: January 2, 2022 by RRadmin7

Greed and Corruption in America

The collapse of most empires is not the result of warfare. The downfall of most of them has been triggered by moral decay. When greed and corruption become widespread, the fabric of society begins to break down.

The left likes to blame the nation’s problems on the rich. They claim, if we just make them pay their fair share, America’s difficulties will be resolved. We could tax the richest 1% of Americans at a 100% rate, and we would still not have enough money to fix the nation’s financial woes.

Our key monetary problem is not the lack of taxpayers. We simply have too many people receiving money from the government. The New Deal programs of President Franklin D. Roosevelt started the nation down a dangerous path. The welfare state system has grown with each new president adding his own program to the mix. The people’s addiction to federal handouts reached a new low during the pandemic when the state paid citizens $6 trillion to not work.

The recent surge in Covid cases makes me wonder if more stimulus checks will be called for. More than a year after the vaccine was rolled out, new cases of COVID-19 in the U.S. have soared to their highest level on record at over 265,000 per day on average, a surge driven largely by the Omicron variant. New cases per day have more than doubled over the past two weeks, eclipsing the old mark of 250,000 set in mid-January, according to data kept by Johns Hopkins University.

The Omicron variant is less deadly than the original virus but is vastly more contagious. Johns Hopkins also said that it’s possible that 60% percent of the population could contract the virus. It is unthinkable that we would spend another $6 trillion on Covid. Few people protested the previous stimulus checks, so they would gladly take any new money.

The greatest damage is not that our national debt went from $22 trillion to $29.5 trillion. The stimulus caused millions of people to drop out of the workforce.

Our lawmakers love to hand out cash, but they also like to enrich themselves with government money. They do so by investing in companies that benefit from the bill they pass. Nancy Pelosi and Mitch McConnell are two of the dumbest members of Congress. You would think they were both financial geniuses if you looked at their stock accounts for the year 2021. Nancy had a return of 56%, and Mitch had his stock account rise by 67%. Both of them beat the top 12 money managers on Wall Street. The best performer was David Shaw, with a return of 42%.

Despite bipartisan support for prohibiting members of Congress from buying and holding individual stocks in office, Pelosi recently said that lawmakers should be allowed to make trades while serving. “We’re a free-market economy,” Pelosi told reporters during a news conference. “They should be able to participate in that.”

It’s not fair to the average investor to have Congress trading on knowledge that could have a profound impact on stock prices. If we are going to allow members of Congress to trade on inside information, we might as well allow them to sell their votes to the highest bidder.

When Joe Biden came to office, it’s pretty much a given that his son Hunter Biden was going to use his father to make money. Hunter has a long history of moral failings. He has a fondness for a variety of drugs. Over the past two decades, Biden has been in and out of rehabilitation several times. He fathered a daughter with an Arkansas stripper and then claimed to have never met the woman.

The president’s son was part owner of a venture involved in the $3.8 billion purchase by a Chinese conglomerate of one of the world’s largest cobalt deposits. Hunter opened an art gallery, which has some wondering if people who buy one of Hunter’s paintings will be able to use the acquisition to influence his father’s administration.

The White House has made it clear that Hunter is free of any safeguards. Press Secretary Jen Psaki refused to commit to “basic transparency” about Hunter’s involvement in that Chinese investment fund during a White House Press Briefing. She also refused to admit his infamous laptop is authentic.

“The president’s son is not an employee of the federal government, so I’d point you to his representatives,” Psaki snarked after being asked about the China connection. She used the same lame excuse back in February: “He’s a private citizen — I would point you to him or his lawyers on the outside on any update.”

Greed and Corruption have become so profound in America, I think there’s a 100% chance that we will suffer a financial meltdown. The reason for my certainty is that most people have lost the ability to see the danger that is headed in their direction.

“The way of the wicked is as darkness. They know not at what they stumble” (Proverbs 4:19).

–Todd

Rapture or Rupture

Twenty something years ago, Pat Robertson was on his network, Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN). I remember him saying in an almost amused, mocking tone that there would be no Rapture of the church. He declared that if that were to happen, it would completely disrupt all of the human condition across the world.

Planes would be crashing, cars would be wrecking, trains would run wild, and destruction of every sort would take place in such a moment. That’s not going to happen, he said. There will be no Rapture. He implied rather that there will be a “rupture” of all culture and society across the world. The Tribulation would be the implosion that wrecks everything, rather than the explosion a so-called Rapture would cause.

I remember distinctly Pat talking with his then co-host Sheila Walsh, the Scottish Christian broadcaster. As a side note, I presume Sheila has since moved on from agreeing with Mr. Robertson and his dismissing the pre-Trib Rapture “theory,” as he called it. I’ve heard her just within the past year on air with Dr. David Jeremiah, who teaches solidly on the pre-Trib Rapture of the church. She seemed to agree totally with all he said on the prophetic topic.

Over the years, there has been banter coming from those who adamantly hold that the pre-Trib Rapture is a myth. These sometimes use the word “rupture” to sneer at the idea of a Rapture, which we believe is Bible truth as taught by the Apostle Paul—and, by the way, by the Lord Jesus as well. He said the following as recorded by the Apostle John.

Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. (John 14:1–3)

In these words of the Lord we are told, I’m convinced, the same as the Apostle Paul foretells.

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)

For all the fun-making against pre-Trib Rapture and those of us who believe it to be the next catastrophic intervention by Christ into human affairs, they can’t erase these powerful promises. That is, they can’t without spiritualizing and allegorizing as they make their case. They have to conclude that neither Jesus nor Paul meant what they said in a literal sense.

There is, however, a biblically prophetic passage that speaks, I believe, of a rupture. It is a key prophecy that will take place immediately after the Rapture of the Church. As a matter of fact, we’ve seen this rupture beginning for some time. It will be the tear in the fabric of this world system that will rip civilization the way Mr. Robertson once feared.

The prophet Zechariah forewarned of this coming rupture.

And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it. (Zechariah 12:3)

The prophet is saying here that when the world takes on Jerusalem and Israel–God’s chosen city and nation—it will be a load too heavy to lift. They will be injured severely, or ruptured, in their attempt to remove the city and nation from being in the place where God put them.

We’ve seen almost daily leaders from countries surrounding modern Israel declaring they will destroy the tiny Jewish state. Those such as Nasser and Sadat have tried to do so. Israel not only remains, but is now in a stronger position than ever, even though constantly threatened.

Antichrist and his juggernaut will finally manage to invade Israel, following all of Israel’s surrounding enemies being destroyed in the Gog-Magog attack of Ezekiel 38 and 39. But the man of sin will, too, be severely injured and ultimately bound in chains and removed to eternal punishment. Israel will become the chief nation of the entire world during the Millennium—Christ’s thousand-year reign on planet earth.

Thankfully, all who accept Christ now, this side of the Rapture, will not endure the rupture the whole world will suffer when God again begins dealing with His chosen people, the Jews.

Here again is how to avoid being part of that future injury—that rupture—that will condemn the soul to eternity apart from God.

That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. (Romans 10:9–10)

—Terry

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

"Fair Use for Information and Discussion Purposes"

Jan 10, 2022
Published on: January 9, 2022 by RRadmin7

The Problem with Having Managed Economies

There is probably no nation on earth that has a completely free economy. Although most western countries are nowhere near what it is like in China or the old Soviet Union, things have gotten pretty bad. The central banks of most western nations now assume that they have a duty to manage the general direction of the economy.

Whenever a government tries to manage markets, the typical result is a disaster. President Erdogan of Turkey has been fixated on strengthening his economy by lowering interest rates. This move has caused the national currency to rapidly decline in value.

Erdogan’s fervent belief that high-interest rates cause inflation is why he refused to abandon his crazy plan. The more the Turkish lira plunges in value, the more Erdogan screams for lower rates.

Turkey’s consumer prices have soared by the highest rate since 2002. Independent economic institutes such as the Inflation Research Group (ENAG) calculated last month’s annual inflation rate at 82.8 percent. Erdogan did cause the value of the lira to briefly soar when he announced that Turkey’s central bank would ensure the value of people’s bank accounts. It quickly dropped again when it became clear that the central bank could only accomplish this task by printing vast quantities of the lira.

After the Federal Reserve declined to guarantee its loans as it did for Bear Stearns, the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers triggered a cascade of other firms to become insolvent. From Lehman Brothers on, no other large financial firm was allowed to go into bankruptcy. Even banks that were in good shape would be given huge amounts of money.

The Federal Reserve has rapidly gone from helping the financial system when it gets into trouble to managing the markets from almost a day-to-day basis. If the stock market goes down 500 points, alarm bells sound at the Fed, and the Plunge Protection Team starts buying S&P futures. Another way that the Fed regulated stock price is by giving money to member banks that pass it on to Hedge funds that buy up stocks.

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been reading up on the source of government taxes. From listening to various experts on the financial system, I’ve learned why the stock market and real estate are so important to the government.

In the early days of American history, the federal government’s income was raised primarily from taxes it placed on imported goods. It wasn’t until World War I that people started paying income tax. As time passed, more and more people were paying fewer taxes. About half the people in America don’t pay any federal taxes.

The government gets a huge amount of its income from the sale of homes and stock. During the Financial crisis of 2007–2008, the IRS lost 35% of its tax receipts from the decline in home prices. The only direction that equity prices are allowed to move is in the up direction.

All this pump by the Fed has created a massive stock bubble on Wall Street. Apple Inc. just became the first company to have a $3 trillion stock price. Five years ago, Apple was only worth $500 billion. A six-fold return for a company this massive in size should not be possible, but now on Wall Street, any valuation gain can happen. Tesla’s 23-fold rise makes Apple look like a “dead money” stock.

If it wasn’t for the COVID-19 stimulus spending, Washington could have had a huge surplus. That’s not how federal money spending works. Give any government $200 billion, and it will spend $350 billion. If Elon Musk cashed in his $340 billion in stock and had to write a $100 billion check to the IRS, we would soon be another $1 trillion deeper in debt.

The greatest danger is that soon few people will be writing checks to the IRS from their capital gain sales. Vast numbers of people have stock on margin that is at levels worse than the 1929 crash. Millions of employees are rich, on paper, because they were issued options as payment. Many people who own real estate borrow against the equity value of one home and buy another one.

The global financial system has survived so many crises in the past 14 years, I can only conclude that the hand of God is holding things together. Terry and I talk about this situation many times, and we can only presume that this monetary madness has a connection to the rapture.

“But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief” (1 Thes 5:4).

–Todd

Woke or Awake?

Lou Dobbs, a long-time broadcast pundit on issues and events of the day, and his guest, Eric Metaxas, were discussing the guest’s new book, Is Atheism Dead? The conversation turned to the way culture in America has become victim of insane thinking wrapped in the term “woke.”

Dobbs offered, optimistically, that he had seen his own church and his pastor beginning to awaken. The congregation was awakening to the evil of things going on that were, through the insanity of woke wickedness infecting American culture and society with a deadly virus spawned by neo-Marxists, determined to change the nation into a Soviet or Maoist-style tyrannical state. He said that we are awakening to what is happening. The attempted Marxist cultural revolution is being made manifest for Americans to see. There is, he believes, still a considerable majority of such patriots to prevail against the globalist efforts to bring America down. The founding fathers, he said, knew that we the people need God, thus built into the founding documents that reality and provided ways thereby to deal with such assaults. God has His hand on the nation, but we must exercise our courage to keep the nation as founded, was his exhortation.

Dobbs and his guest, like we do in presenting these commentaries over the months and years, discussed the upside-down thinking of the leftist radicals at the forefront of the woke insanity: how it all got started with the takeover of the public educational system, with Marxist becoming ensconced in the institutions of learning, and the ideological contamination then spreading from K to 12.

Study of the real disciplines—reading, writing, arithmetic, biology, etc.—under woke-ism has been cast to the rear of educational prerequisite. Now it has come to be that CRT (Critical Race Theory,) GLTBQ, and other crazy inculcation grips children in years as young as kindergarten.

Parents are attacked by the governing elements at every stratum, from the federal level to the local school board, for daring to assert that they, the parents, should influence curriculum. Concerned parents have been labeled as “domestic terrorists” for showing up at school board meetings, demanding that their children not be taught CRT or not be subjected to boys and girls sharing the same restrooms or locker rooms at the same time.

We have all been aware of these news stories. And unless we’ve tuned to mostly secondary news sources, not mainstream news outlets, we’ve been bombarded by news slanted so that we are made to seem like the lunatics for disagreeing with the woke culture, and the perpetrators of the woke culture are made out to be the enlightened, sane ones in today’s America.

Lou Dobbs and his guest had to admit that with the ubiquitous mainstream news and the governments in the hands of mostly woke types in many cases, it would indeed be a fight to awaken the numbers of Americans necessary to overthrow this evil. However, such a revolution of change back to sanity was possible with the awakening taking place because of the woke evil in our faces constantly.

One such news item seems to somewhat support the contention.

A majority of Americans say that male and female are the only two genders, and that schools shouldn’t be allowed to counsel children about gender or sexuality without parents’ consent, according to the results of a survey released Monday.

The survey was conducted by Rasmussen Reports among 1,000 American adults from Dec. 21 to 22, with a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points at and 95 percent confidence level. It comes amid a social media firestorm sparked by Harry Potter author J. K. Rowling, who was accused of engaging in “hate speech” for insisting that there are only two biologically distinct genders.

“Transgender activists have accused J. K. Rowling of ‘hate speech’ for saying it, but most Americans agree with the Harry Potter author that there are only two genders,” the report said. (“Most Americans Don’t Trust Teachers, Schools With Children’s Gender Identity: Survey,” by Bill Pan via The Epoch Times, ZeroHedge, December 30, 2021)

Despite the encouraging survey result mentioned here, I must say I can’t match Mr. Dobbs’ optimism. I believe that the year 2022 finds this generation in America and on the earth too far into the reprobate mindset of Romans 1: 28. Rather than seeing a great move within our churches and among our pastors to begin rectifying the cultural rot through turning to God in all the Heaven-prescribed ways, the church as a whole looks the other way to different priorities. The evil and wickedness manifest through this thing called woke run rampant. Our God, through Isaiah the prophet, put it this way.

Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight! (Isaiah 5:20–21)

This condition of seemingly incorrigible corruption as we face 2022 seems to match Jesus’ words about His sudden intervention into the affairs of mankind, when things will be like they were in the days of Noah, and again in the days of Lot.

It is incumbent upon each Christian who reads this to seriously consider whether we are woke or awake. There might not be a Great Awakening taking place as secular pundits such as Mr. Dobbs and some religious personages apparently believe. As a matter of fact, I’m convinced there is no such movement coming. But it is time for each Christian to awaken to the fact that Christ’s Second Advent is blazing across the prophetic horizon.

First there must come a time of horror such as has never been or will ever be—according to Jesus Himself. That is the reality facing all of humanity–with the exception of those in God’s family.

It is time to be awake to how near is Christ’s call to His own in the air above this judgment-bound planet. This individual awakening should inspire each of us to do our utmost for His highest, as Oswald Chambers put it.

What a glorious eternal day it will be to hear our Lord and Savior say, “Well done, good, faithful, servant!”

—Terry

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

"Fair Use for Information and Discussion Purposes"

Jan 17, 2022
Published on: January 16, 2022 by RRadmin7

New York City Has Turned into San Francisco

It just dumbfounds me that one major city after another is having people vote into office individuals who are dingbats. When the people of Chicago voted for a cop-hating, Lesbian, leftist black woman, I knew it was going to be a disaster. Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot turned the city streets over to criminals.

The City of San Francisco is one of the most lawless cities in America. Drug addicts can shoot up with heroin in plain sight of a cop, and thieves can walk into a Walgreens and steal up to $950 worth of products with no consequences. The homeless can set up camp anywhere they like.

Seattle, like most other Democrat-run cities across the US, has experienced a massive spike in crime thanks to radical, felon-first policies that have emboldened criminals like never before. Employees of KIRO News Radio captured a shocking example of this new policy in action when they recorded a driver of a stolen vehicle casually driving away from several police officers who had surrounded the car with their weapons drawn.

In every other time in history, the reaction to what is taking place in Chicago, San Francisco, and Seattle would be an overwhelming demand for tougher policies on criminal activity. There would be a recall election for Lori Lightfoot to replace her with someone who makes the city safer for citizens.

Amazingly, the surge in crime has had no effect on the trend towards lawlessness. The people of New York City voted into office a D.A. that is clearly on the side of criminals. In his first memo to staff, Alvin Bragg said his office “will not seek a sentence” except with homicides and a handful of other cases, including domestic violence felonies, some sex crimes, and public corruption.

Bragg’s memo also detailed the following instructions for prosecutors to reduce charges filed by cops in various cases:

Armed robbers who use guns or other deadly weapons to stick up stores and other businesses will be prosecuted only for petty larceny, a misdemeanor, provided no victims were seriously injured and there’s no “genuine risk of physical harm” to anyone. Armed robbery, a class B felony, would typically be punishable by a maximum of 25 years in prison, while petty larceny subjects offenders to up to 364 days in jail and a $1,000 fine.

Convicted criminals caught with weapons other than guns will have those felony charges downgraded to misdemeanors unless they’re also charged with more serious offenses. Criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree, a class D felony, is punishable by up to 7 years behind bars.

Burglars who steal from residential storage areas, parts of homes that aren’t “accessible to a living area,” and businesses located in mixed-use buildings will be prosecuted for a low-level class D felony that only covers break-ins instead of for more serious crimes. Those more serious crimes, class B and class C felonies, would be punishable by up to 25 and up to 15 years in prison respectively.

Drug dealers believed to be “acting as a low-level agent of a seller” will be prosecuted only for misdemeanor possession. Also, suspected dealers will only be prosecuted on felony charges if they’re also accused of more serious crimes or are actually caught in the act of selling drugs. That felony would mean facing up to seven years behind bars.

Bragg also ordered his staff to stop pursuing low-level offenses. People involved in prostitution, drug use, and petty theft now have an assurance that even if they are arrested, they will never see any jail time. If you don’t enforce lesser crimes, you will end up with more serious crimes. Someone who gets away with stealing from a drug store will be just as willing to rob a bank.

“In Bragg’s Manhattan, you can resist arrest, deal drugs, obstruct arrests, and even carry a gun and get away with it,” Drug Enforcement Administration president Paul DiGiacomo said in a prepared statement.

The moves sparked immediate outrage from cops who said the new policies will lead to more crime and shootings. The head of the NYPD’s largest union, the Police Benevolent Association, expressed “serious concerns about the message these types of policies send to both police officers and criminals on the street.”

The reason why judges and district attorneys have gone soft on crime is because of our eroding moral foundation. Bragg doesn’t understand the basic nature of evil. He thinks if we just lower the standards on prosecution, the crime problem will go away. When New York quickly turns into San Francisco, there will be no backlash against Bragg’s policy change. San Francisco has a D.A. that operates just like Bragg, and no one cares because most people’s hearts are blind to the truth.

“And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold” (Matthew 24:12).

–Todd

Father of Liars

Jesus foretold that one of the great signals of His Second Coming and of the end of the age would be deception and deceivers. Paul, in 2 Thessalonians 2 tells us there will be strong delusion in the last days. He prophesied also that there will be “evil men and seducers growing worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.”

God’s Word—Jesus Himself—declared that the evil at the core of all the deception is a being full of lies. He said in answer to the Jewish religious zealots who tried to entrap Him:

Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he spiked a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. (John 8:44)

There is scriptural proof, therefore, that the charge is based on God’s truth when we say all the lies we see perpetrated in these closing days of this Age of Grace (Church Age) come from the chief minion of Ephesians 6:12. Indeed we have experienced an increase in lies coming at us from many directions.

Remember the explosion of lies following the presidential election of 2016. The accusation of Trump’s campaign and election being in cahoots with the Russians—with Vladimir Putin himself—was in our faces for Trump’s full four years as president. The lies kept coming, and were front and center on every mainstream news outlet and left-wing social media every hour of every day for those years.

Then it was proven that that the Russian collusion charge was all lies, based upon a phony, political dirty trick. The opposing presidential campaign paid operatives to concoct and distribute a false dossier involving charges accusing Mr. Trump of paying Russian prostitutes to do salacious things in order to spew vitriol against Barack and Michelle Obama, his predecessor and former first lady.

The same political party concocted lies against a Trump administration Supreme Court candidate. We remember the weeks and weeks of that parade of prevarication. The president was subjected to a daily barrage for weeks and months in impeachment efforts—all based on lies.

Mainstream newscasts, social media blogs, and other platforms made up lies about the Black Lives Matter and Antifa destruction of cities across America being peaceful protests rather than riots. The same news and entertainment media, while ignoring those destructive, anti-American insurrections, now accuse Trump supporters who protested—mostly peacefully—in Washington, DC, on January 6, 2021, as being insurrectionists. The vice president declared the protest and march to be the evil equivalent of December 7, 1941, and September 11, 2001.

Lies of less magnitude, but progressing geometrically on an hour-by-hour basis in order to maintain the political power they achieved through one of the biggest lies—those involved in the stolen election of 2020—continue to do their destructive work against the republic.

We have covered a number of times the fact that the globalist minions, both human and demonic, are working incessantly to set the stage for the coming Antichrist regime. I’ve pointed out that two prongs of this evil effort are primary in Satan’s blueprint. One is the climate-change mantra and the other is the COVID pandemic that, it is becoming obvious, isn’t likely to end anytime soon. Both are based largely on lies generated by the principalities and powers in high places.

The initial effort was the lies of global warming. That morphed into climate change, when the ice cap at the North Pole didn’t melt and submerge New York City in the waters of the Atlantic after the first prediction of such catastrophe some thirty years ago.

Reports have it that the University of Alabama at Huntsville data set presented from satellite reconnaissance has shown that there has been no global warming at all for the last seven years. Based on the HadCRUT4 data set, there has been no statistically significant global warming for more than nine years—August 2012 to October 2021.

Before the findings, the United Nations-backed Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) confidently said in its First Assessment in 1990 that global warming is a great deal and a climate emergency. But given the succession of long periods without global warning as shown by HadCRUT4 data set, it is safe to say that the IPCC’s warning is way off the mark.

One writer renders judgment on the climate-change hoax.

Journalist and blogger Christopher Monckton noted that the West is self-destructing due to its belief in global warming, which has benefited China and Russia…

Monckton noted that totalitarian administrations, such as that of the United Kingdom, is imagining climate emergency–giving as example the situation in rural Cornwall. He predicted that the first political party to find the courage “to oppose the global warming nonsense root and branch” will sweep the board at the next elections.

“There is no more of a climate emergency today than there was in 2012, so the only reason for declaring one now is not that it is true (for it is not) but that it is politically expedient,” wrote Monckton.

The political leadership in the West, said Monckton, is committing economic suicide as it allowed high-energy industries to be wasted because of the fear of imagined global warming. “Whole industries are have already been or are soon to be laid waste – coal extraction, distribution and generation (and, therefore, steel and aluminum); oil and gas exploration and combustion; internal-combustion vehicles; and a host of downstream industries which will create joblessness and hardship to income earners,” he wrote. (“Global warming statistically insignificant: Climate emergency is imaginary,” Matthew Davis, 1/6/22, Rapture Ready News)

With regard to the pandemic that has the entire world in fear of facing death, the deception—the lies involved—are beyond our ability to comprehend at this point. I’m of the conviction that could be at the center of the prophesied lie that leads to enslavement of the populations of planet earth following the Rapture of the Church.

Never has there been such a global effort among the leaders of the world’s nations in attempts to bring their peoples into subjection. Demanded compliance in the matter of vaccinations and mask-wearing constitutes a powerful mechanism that could soon force all into the one-world mold Antichrist will impose.

The big lie—the great delusion of 2 Thessalonians 2—might spring from the present delusion being foisted—that the jab will bring freedom from pestilences and freedom to be an accepted citizen of the new order.

What we are witnessing might be the catalyst for Antichrist’s underlings—his liars—to bring about control over humanity which the father of lies has desired for millennia.

Before that can happen, the One who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life will step out of the heavenly throne room and call those who belong to the eternal family of God the Father to Himself. You don’t want to miss that magnificent reunion in the clouds of glory.

Again, here’s how you can make sure you will go to Christ when He calls the saints.

That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. (Romans 10:9–10)

—Terry

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

"Fair Use for Information and Discussion Purposes"

Jan 24, 2022
Published on: January 23, 2022 by RRadmin7

Putin Comes to the Aid of Kazakhstan

It can be very easy to get Russian troops to come to the aid of your nation. Once you invite them in, it may be difficult to get them to leave. Syria began fighting opposition groups in 2011, and by 2012 the conflict had expanded into a full-fledged civil war. Russia’s military intervention in Syria began in September 2015 after a request by the regime for military aid against rebel groups.

Moscow deployed troops and military equipment to an airbase near Latakia. Since then, it has carried out airstrikes targeting opposition groups. Putin said several times that his troops were only going to be in Syria for a limited time. He even said at one point they were in the process of leaving the country.

The Russian government announced its troops would be deployed to Syria permanently at the end of December 2017. It is estimated that there are 4,000 to 5,000 Russian troops in Syria.

Another nation has turned to Russian troops to help with opposition groups. The trouble started when the government of President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev sharply raised fuel prices. Kazakhstan is basically a dictatorship that claims to have free elections.

It’s not even sure if Tokayev is really in charge of the government. Nursultan Abishuly Nazarbayev ran Kazakhstan for nearly 30 years. He may have stepped down so he can secretly run the nation. According to some opposition groups, he is still the “unofficial leader” and “dictator” of the country.

After the breakup of the Soviet Union, Russia formed the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), which is something of a poor man’s NATO for Eurasia nations. Members are Russia, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.

Defending the prompt intervention of (CSTO) peacekeeping forces in Kazakhstan, Putin said, “it was necessary to react without delay.” The CSTO will be on the ground “as long as necessary,” but after the mission is accomplished, “of course, the entire contingent will be withdrawn from the country.”

The unrest in Kazakhstan puts Putin into a strong position of being the most powerful force in the region to deal with a “hybrid terrorist attack” by both internal and external forces aimed at overthrowing the government.

Most of the Eurasia nations have a growing problem with radical Islamic groups. Since the average American couldn’t find these nations on a map, western media has largely ignored the problem. ISIS has reconstituted near the borders of Turkmenistan and Kyrgyzstan.

The degrading security situation in Afghanistan shows that you can’t rely on the West to control radical groups. When Putin comes in, he’ll bring heavy bombers to fix any problems. The Russian military bombed several ISIS-controlled cities in Syria back to the stone age.

About 10 years ago, it was generally believed that we could force Russia to bend a knee by simply applying economic pressure to the Russian economy. In the past few years, Russia has sold all its dollar holdings. It built a financial network that doesn’t need to use the American banking system. Europe has become so heavily dependent on Russian natural gas, Putin can hold the economies of several nations hostage at any time.

Some Bible scholars have identified Gomer as being Germany. I’ve always rejected Germany’s involvement in the Ezekiel 38 & 39 invasion because I couldn’t see how the political landscape could change that would have Germany on Russia’s side.

If Putin called the German Chancellor and demanded they help with an invasion of Israel or he’ll turn off the gas, the answer would be likely no. Germany’s enslavement to Russia would make it more prone to look the other way.

Russia has never been in a better position to play the role of Gog. At one time, Iran regarded the USSR (Russia) as its greatest foe. Now both nations have a good diplomatic relationship. Right now, the only thing lacking is the crazy idea to attack a nation that God promised to supernaturally protect.

“Now the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ‘Son of man, set your face against Gog, of the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal, and prophesy against him, and say, ‘Thus says the Lord God: ‘Behold, I am against you, O Gog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal. I will turn you around, put hooks into your jaws, and lead you out, with all your army, horses, and horsemen, all splendidly clothed, a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords. Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya are with them, all of them with shield and helmet; Gomer and all its troops; the house of Togarmah from the far north and all its troops—many people are with you'” (Ezekiel 38:1-6).

–Todd

God’s Egress System

Harkening back fifty plus years ago to my time in the United States Air Force, memories of the jet fighter trainers we were responsible for maintaining further stimulates thoughts on Bible prophecy. The words of Dr. J. Vernon McGee come to the forefront of that time a half-century ago.

Dr. McGee once commented in answer to the naysayers about him being an “escapist” in regard to his pre-Trib view of Bible prophecy. He answered the detractors in his typically southern, cornpone, yet brilliantly humorous way.

The arguments of those who poo-pooed the Pre-Trib Rapture usually went something like this.

“Those who preach that that Christians will somehow avoid being part of the Tribulation are pie-in-the-sky escapists. They are preaching and teaching false doctrine. They just hope to escape that terrible seven years of God’s judgment and wrath.”

Dr. McGee would say something like: “You better believe I hope to escape that time of God’s judgment and wrath. If the house is on fire, I’ll go out the door, through the window, or up the chimney. I’ll leave that burning building however I can.”

Then McGee would usually add: “That’s who Jesus Christ is. He is the blessed hope. And He is my way of escape from that coming time.”

“Boy howdy!” as ol’ Dr. McGee might say, were he here instead of with the Lord in Heaven. “Are we ever in a house on fire today!”

As we’ve covered time after time, every which direction we look we see signals that indicate, like the title of a Billy Graham book once read, in a World Aflame!

Societally and culturally, the landscape is so debauched that nothing short of a miracle can bring things back into a normal pattern of life with morality at its center. The Antichrist spirit has brought about a turning of humanity’s back on God. The result is the reprobate mind of Romans 1:28 for the majority across the world.

Consider the gravity of the sexual revolution of the 1960s that has pulled human sexuality ever downward into some sort of insane-asylum configuration. Men can now be women and women can be men. Boys and girls are taught they can be whichever gender they decide, leaving the parents out of any decision-making. Sodom and Gomorrah-level homosexuality and other depravity is not only accepted, but embraced and championed by governmental leaders and mainstream media. Even worse, a large portion of so-called Christian clergy declare it all to come under God’s love, with no condemnation. The Bible is old-fashioned, out of tune with the times, and should be rewritten to be inclusive of all these new ways of sexuality and human behavior.

Governmental and political lies reside at the heart of everything from legislation to judicial decision-making. Deceivers are on the scene as never before, just as Jesus forewarned for the end of the age while sitting atop the Mount of Olives answering his disciples’ questions about when the end would come.

All nations mentioned in Bible prophecy for the wrap-up of human history seem at play at this very moment. Russia is about to assault Ukraine; Iran threatens Israel with utter destruction; and the Europeans are in turmoil, becoming lockdown states as the likes of Emmanuel Macron of France becomes more dictatorial by the day. China is on a tear, threatening all within its sphere of hegemony and promising to bring Taiwan back into its orb, even if it takes kinetic war.

Pope Francis embraces the dark side at every turn. He fires from the Catholic government longtime clerics who don’t go along with his rewriting of the Scriptures to include homosexuality in biblical approval.

It is indeed a World Aflame!

So, this brings me back to ol’ Dr. McGee and my time in the US Air Force all of those decades ago.

Just as McGee said he would go out the door, through the windows, or up the chimney to escape a burning house, so pilots of those high-performance jet trainers we worked on wanted to escape sure death if necessary.

All jet fighters have an egress system. This is that means of escape. The seats in which the pilots sit and in which they, with their parachutes, are strapped tightly, have what was called in my day t-handles. As I recall, there was a metal handle that the pilot could grip on each side of the seat so it was easy to pull if necessary.

The t-handles were painted bright yellow in the T-38 trainer, as I remember. The pilot could pull straight up on the t-handles. When that happened, the canopy was supposed to pop loose and the wind would take it away. Instantly, a small but powerful rocket ejected the pilot high above the doomed aircraft. At least this is how it was supposed to work. There were times when the canopy wouldn’t pop loose and be carried away by the wind stream. The top of the seat above the pilot’s helmet-covered head had a canopy piercer. It was a piece of metal shaped kind of like an axe blade. If the canopy didn’t deploy, the canopy piercer would crash through the canopy bubble when the rocket fired.

As I say, there were cases when the whole egress system didn’t work properly. These sometimes ended with the pilot being caught up in the destruction of the plane.

All this is to say that we are on a planet about to crash, and, like ol’ Dr. McGee, any sane person would want a way to escape any such holocaust that Bible prophecy foretells.

I’ve given the commentary the title “God’s Egress System” because that’s exactly who His Son, Jesus Christ, is. He is the “blessed hope”—the Savior of the world that is aflame. He came to seek and save the lost—all who are headed down into flames if not ejected into the air when Christ calls all born-again believers to Himself.

The crash into judgment and wrath could happen at any moment. This world is aflame with all of the things we have looked at as indicators of the end times. God’s escape is available for all who will grip that blessed hope—the t-handle of God’s egress system.

Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. (Titus 2:13–14)

— Terry

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

"Fair Use for Information and Discussion Purposes"

Jan 31, 2022

Why Fed Coin Is So Dangerous

Over the past couple of years, I’ve read several articles about the government’s research into the usage of a digital currency that is commonly referred to as a Fed coin. It turns out the Fed has been studying the possibility of issuing a cashless currency, and it issued a report on the pros and cons of implementing such a system.

The Federal Reserve, on releasing its long-awaited exploration of a digital dollar, took no position on the issuance of a central bank digital currency. The Fed’s strange ambiguity regarding a Fed coin is a clear indication that they are definitely working on such a system.

Billed as “the first step in a public discussion between the Federal Reserve and stakeholders about central bank digital currencies,” the 40-page paper shies away from any conclusions about a central bank digital currency or CBDC. The report was originally expected in the summer of 2021 but had been delayed.

“The introduction of a CBDC would represent a highly significant innovation in American money,” the report says. “Accordingly, broad consultation with the general public and key stakeholders is essential. This paper is the first step in such a conversation.”

One primary difference between the Fed’s dollar and other digital transactions is that current digital money is a liability of commercial banks, whereas the CBDC would be a Fed liability. Among other things, that would mean the Fed wouldn’t pay interest on money stored with it, though because it is riskless, some depositors may prefer to keep their money with the central bank.

However, the report also states that it “is not intended to advance a specific policy outcome and takes no position on the ultimate desirability of” the digital dollar.

The motivation for a central bank digital currency has been the success of cryptocurrencies. Some unknown person started bitcoin nearly ten years ago, and it was recently around $2 trillion in value. Several nations had talked about creating their only digital currency. A couple of years ago, Venezuela said it was contemplating whether it should create its own digital currency. Because Venezuela was in dire financial straits at the time, it seemed appealing to create its own cryptocurrency. Since it would quickly become worthless by the minting of unlimited coins, the idea of Venezuela cryptocurrency quickly faded from the headlines.

A government’s appeal in creating a digital currency is the ability to control how it’s used by citizens. When the US government issued $3 trillion of stimulus money during the COVID-19 pandemic, the vast majority of the money was not spent. One report said that $2 trillion is still in people’s savings accounts.

If the Fed could issue a digital currency, and say, if you don’t spend this money by the end of the year, it will disappear, people would be in a mad rush to spend the money. The Fed could control what people spent their fed coins on. At first, they would stop people from spending their money on unhealthy things like beer and cigarettes, but then they would block anything that “the powers that be” don’t like.

A Fed coin would give the government incredible power to combat crime. The late author Hunt S. Thompson once wrote a check for $2 million to his drug dealer and wrote Cocaine in the memo. A shocked teller at the bank must have taken a picture of the check. With a Fed coin, government agents would be able to track and control the transaction of anyone who was known to be trafficking in drugs.

A Fed coin would be incredibly dangerous in the hands of a despotic government. It could monitor the accounts of all its enemies; it could track the activity of all citizens. If you bought a cup of coffee for someone on the government’s naughty list, the feds could come to you with questions.

I don’t know if Fed coin is going to be the system that the Antichrist will use to control the world. When bitcoin came out, some people speculated that it was the mark of the beast, but now there are 17,000 of these cryptocurrencies. The 666 system could come out of any financial institution. Technology has advanced to the point where a lot of people are probably wondering why we already don’t have a mark-like system.

“And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six” (Revelation 13:16-1 .

–Todd

Valley of Derision

The Lord tells, through the prophet Joel, the dire recompense for the rebellious evil of opposing His righteousness:

Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles; Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up: Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruninghooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong. Assemble yourselves, and come, all ye heathen, and gather yourselves together round about: thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O LORD. Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat: for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about. Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe: come, get you down; for the press is full, the fats overflow; for their wickedness is great. Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision. (Joel 9–14)

We are at this moment very near the beginning of that time, at the end of which everyone will be gathered into the Valley of Jehoshaphat–the killing field of Armageddon.

As Joel declares, we now see wickedness growing daily—even hourly. It is indeed an exponential growth of evil directed primarily at God’s prescribed order of things for planet earth.

Armies of the world, particularly those of nations primary to prophetic fulfillment, have already turned pruning hooks and ploughshares into swords and spears that are the incredibly powerful instruments of modern warfare. They have awakened the men of war and gathered them, as witnessed by Russia’s threatened invasion of Ukraine and China’s voracious glances at Taiwan. The world is, to any observer with a rational eye for developments, preparing to make war.

It is just a matter of time until the multitudes will gather to oppose God and storm toward His touchstone to humanity, Jerusalem and the Temple Mount. They will at first rage against one another, each wanting to make that satanic prize–Jerusalem and the Mount Moriah—their conquest. They will be filled with the madness that their father, the devil, has planted in their reprobate minds. They will then see the black skies above earth split apart and the glory of Heaven beaming through as the Lord of Lord and King of kings and His army of redeemed saints begin their descent.

Today we are in a valley of decision, of sorts. The decision is whether to be on the side of the heathens destined to oppose God and His righteousness, thus be in colleague with those who will face Christ the King in the Valley of Jehoshaphat or whether to be on God’s side by accepting His only way to redemption, thus to be on the side that opposes the wickedness we see proliferating in every direction we look.

Another valley I think we can see very plainly at this time is a valley of derision.

It is a place of profound struggle against the powers and principalities in high places of Ephesians 6: 12. Christians who determine to fight the evil that opposes God’s righteousness comprise the nucleus of this force. While many others who do not know Christ as their Lord also fight in this arena against wickedness, God’s people are the glue that holds fast the frontline resistance to the assaults by Lucifer’s minions, both demonic and human.

Paul the apostle says that it is the Restrainer who will hold back the assaults of evil and wickedness until He is taken out of the way. The Holy Spirit is that Restrainer, and He works primarily by indwelling all who know Christ for salvation. So it is the believers of this age who must continue the struggle, empowered by God the Holy Spirit.

And there is plenty of evidence to validate that God is restraining in these times so near His calling the Church out of this doomed world of rebelliousness.

We have witnessed time after time, for example, blockage of legislative efforts that would take America into dictatorship. The evil continues to advance, but is not allowed to completely infect the world with the sin-disease that will cause God’s judgment and wrath to finally fall upon the incorrigible rebels who oppose His righteousness.

The time will come when “earth dwellers” will have their way, mostly unimpeded by God’s governance. But this condition will not last long. Devastating things will begin to happen as God prepares for His Son, Jesus Christ, to return and put an end to all evil, wickedness, and rebellion.

The Lord has these anti-God, anti-Christ forces in derision at this very moment. His Holy Spirit is holding back Satan’s all-out assault until the Church is taken to be with Jesus in the Rapture.

Again, here is what the Lord says about what is going on now and into eternity.

Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us. He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision. Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure. Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. I will declare the decree: the LORD hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee. Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel. Be wise now therefore, O ye kings: be instructed, ye judges of the earth. Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him. (Psalms 2:1–12)

— Terry

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