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Table Of Contents
Terrorism – Live And Real-Time (IMPORTANT) 4
Terrorists Burn Jordanian Pilot To Death. 5
Terrorists Strike In Garland Texas. 5
Third French Terrorist Attack In 2015. 6
Terrorist Strike In San Bernardino, California. 9
Prophetic Weather Forecast From Europe (IMPORTANT) 11
Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl Indicted. 20
GermanWings Flight 9525 Crash. 22
Russian Metrojet Flight 9268 Crash. 23
Gyro-Copter Lands On United States Capitol Lawn. 24
Charleston, South Carolina Church Massacre. 27
New York Prison Inmate Escape And Capture. 29
Supreme Court Decision To Legalize Same-Sex Marriage. 30
The Real American Values Spotlighted. 31
2016 United States Presidential Campaign. 37
Personal Reflection. 38
Deception, division and mayhem hung like a wraith over 2015, as the news aired endless stagy updates on political hopefuls to occupy the White House next, punctuated by shocking incidents committed by people with no remorse. I set the foundation with a children's nursery rhyme…
"Pussycat pussycat, where have you been?"
"I've been up to London to visit the Queen."
"Pussycat pussycat, what did you there?"
"I frightened a little mouse under her chair."
This Sixteenth Century verse contains a familiar parable about an English canine in London expressly there to visit the Queen, distracted by a rodent in the room. This succinctly pictures Americans who should be actively involved in governmental affairs as citizens in a Republic, but who are distracted by liberal news media headlines about football air pressure, global warming, the alleged offenses against mounting minorities and a host of other trivialities (the mouse under the chair), rather than America's failing economy and staggering defensibility, and the Church's lukewarm spiritual state only compounds the problem.
Rolling Stone Debacle
Media controversy swirled in early 2015 from a nine-thousand-word December 8, 2014 Rolling Stone, documentary about an alleged college sexual assault. Experienced, investigative-reporter Sabrina Erdely dramatized an alleged gang rape by seven men at a 2012 University of Virginia fraternity party. This she developed on the uncorroborated testimony of the alleged victim identified as only "Jackie". While the story was an emotional magnet and had an air of political-correctness, inconsistencies plagued the plot. The genesis was Erdely's quest for a college rape at a prestigious American campus, when she stumbled on this unreasonable facsimile at the University of Virginia. Although she lists sexual assault as an expertise, she and her editors were less than objective. Rush Limbaugh referred to the article as a 'random act of journalism.'
Rolling Stone's collective shortsightedness beckoned T. Ross Shapiro from the Washington Post to connect the dots. He learned that "Jackie" had a prescription for anti-depressants at the time, and because she preferred anonymity, no one contacted the accused. Shapiro also learned that the fraternity in question had no recorded parties on the weekend in 2012, when "Jackie" claimed the assault occurred. "Jackie" said the alleged perpetrators injured her when they smashed her into a glass coffee table, but three friends discouraged her from seeking medical attention. Sanctimonious imagination can be colorful! Shapiro interviewed one of the friends, who denied speaking to anyone from Rolling Stone about the incident.
He mentioned "Jackie' seemed upset at the time, but disputed other details of her claim. Sabrina Erdely's article indicated "Jackie's" three friends found her in a bloody dress near the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity house, but the friend Shapiro spoke with denied this as well. He said he saw no injuries, but said "Jackie" claimed her assailants forced her to perform lewd acts on the accused men. Another of "Jackie's" friends said she first claimed five assailants, but revised the number to seven.
These inconsistencies begged scrutiny of Erdely's work on a broader scale, focusing on a 2012 article she wrote about suicides among Minnesota teens professing to be homosexual. Erdely's article featured Brittany, a girl taunted as a "dyke", who later committed suicide. While Brittany's death can be validated, Erdely followed with this editorial note:
"Like many 13-year-olds, Brittany knew seventh grade was a living hell. But what she didn't know was that she was caught in the crossfire of a culture war being waged by local evangelicals inspired by their high-profile congressional representative Michele Bachmann, who graduated from Anoka High School and, until recently, was a member of one of the most conservative churches in the area. When Christian activists who considered gays an abomination forced a measure through the school board forbidding the discussion of homosexuality in the district's public schools, kids like Brittany were unknowingly thrust into the heart of a clash that was about to become intertwined with tragedy."
The facts are that Michele Bachmann did not live in the school district at the time of the incident or article, and whatever her views on homosexuality may be; Erdely's attempt to link her name with these tragic deaths is more political than factual. Erdely could not allow truth to override her ideology, remaining now like stench on a feedlot! The American rule of law is that the accused is presumed innocent until proven guilty, but that no longer applies in the court of popular opinion. Gullible Americans accept information immediately without verifying the credibility, and in sexual assault charges, the accused is assumed guilty far too often. The University of Virginia, the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity and seven young men are the collateral damage of unverified published text.
Rolling Stone initially defended the article, but later retracted their defense, as its credibility imploded. In short, there was an institutional failure at Rolling Stone, which gambled their established credibility to gain political favor using a sensual, victimized plot, and they lost. The fallout has been fierce. The fifty-year-old publication may never mask the odor of this incident. Now the Phi Kappa Psi has rightfully filed a series of suits against the magazine.
For some unknown reason, "Jackie" brought undeserved embarrassment to the University of Virginia, the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity and the seven men she accused, who may be plagued by her fabrication the remainder of their lives. While the evidence of spiritual life is conspicuous by its absence from all identified in this story, both physical and spiritual principles govern every one of us, beginning with a desperately wicked heart (Jeremiah 17:9). Barbara Grizzuti Harrison wrote, 'All acts performed in the world begin in the imagination,' and so it is. Concerning the operative spiritual principle in this case, the Apostle James wrote…
(3) Behold, we put bits in the horses' mouths, that they may obey us; and we turn about their whole body. (4) Behold also the ships, which though they be so great, and are driven of fierce winds, yet are they turned about with a very small helm, whithersoever the governor listeth. (5) Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth! (6) And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell. (7) For every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind: (8) But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. James 3:1-8 (KJV)
Concerning such matters, Moses wrote: be sure your sin will find you out (Numbers 32:23), and so it is here! No one sins in a vacuum, and in this case, three organizations and seven men at a minimum were tarnished by "Jackie's" bizarre fabrication!
Terrorism – Live And Real-Time (IMPORTANT)
Terrorists Attack Charlie Hebdo
Al Qaeda battle strategist in Yemen directed the January 7th through 10th, Paris, France terrorist attacks. Mayhem began on Wednesday, January 7th at 11:30 A.M., when three masked, Kalashnikov-toting gunmen garbed in black, entered the ground floor of the weekly satirical magazine named Charlie Hebdo, located in a trendy and densely-populated Algerian Muslim neighborhood.
They made their debut with guns blazing, first encountering Cartoonist Corine Rey, who was indefensible under the circumstances. The terrorists operated commando-style, demanding the names of everyone they encountered, indicating they had specific targets to kill. The terrorists moved quickly with military precision to massacre ten souls, and then escape.
Charlie Hebdo first incited Muslim anger in 2006, with a reprint of a dozen Prophet Mohammed cartoons, originally circulated in a Danish daily post. Charlie Hebdo did this in defiance of Islam's forbidding of any image portraying its most important prophet. Shortly thereafter, their offices were firebombed. Not to be stopped, Charlie Hebdo distributed crude Prophet Mohammed caricatures around the Muslim world. Then in 2011, the publication challenged Muslim terrorists with a cover-caricature of the Prophet Muhammed, and further angered Muslims by TWEETing a cartoon of Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. These Muslim terrorists felt duty-bound to avenge these epithets. Stephane Charbonnier, Charlie Hebdo's editorial director and the artist behind the caricatures that offended jihadists was one of the January 7th terrorist targets.
The killers completed their assignment in about five minutes. Nearby witnesses heard the killers shout in clear French with no accent, "We have avenged the honor of the prophet' and 'Allah Akbar", then ran to a waiting black SUB that accelerated briskly, but stopped adjacent to a policeman on the sidewalk. One of the terrorists exited, exchanged brief dialogue with him, and then shot him in the head. With this as their last defiant act on Wednesday, January 7th, they sped away from the crime scene. By late afternoon, French authorities identified the killers and circulated photos of them. Believing the killers were still in the vicinity, authorities dispatched ninety thousand police and military personnel to end this violence. On Thursday, the killers emerged to execute a police woman on duty in a routine traffic incident.
The mindset of Muslim extremists is gaining their perceived deity's favor by killing infidels. Their brutality included a late Friday afternoon stop at a Jewish Kosher market on Paris' East side, where they took nineteen hostages, killing four of them and wounding several others. Since the Jewish Sabbath starts each Friday at 6:00 P.M., many shoppers would have been there in preparation for their weekly worship. This was a strategically planned anti-Semitic act. Their final showdown came Saturday, January 10th at a printing plant north of the city, when French police killed the two living suspects and freed the hostage they took.
Terrorists Burn Jordanian Pilot To Death
Less than one month passed before another round of terrorist activity hit the news. Jordan had cooperated with the United States in bombing Muslim extremists in Syria, but one of the Jordanian pilot's plane crashed December 24th, and ISIS fighters captured him. Earlier, an ISIS female suicide bomber's explosive vest failed to detonate, and the Jordanian military took her captive. In January, Jordan offered to exchange her for the captured pilot, but ISIS never participated in serious negotiations. Instead, they released a professionally-produced video on February 3rd, of the Jordanian pilot's barbarous execution in a cage by burning, and immediate burial by a bulldozer. Later information indicated he died in early January, meaning the negotiations were all in vain. There is no way to reason these terrorist activities other than by demonic possession.
Terrorists Strike In Garland Texas
Nearly four months after the Paris massacre came the second act of the same play in Garland, Texas, but with a more favorable outcome. Pamela Geller organized the Mohammed Art Exhibit and Contest, at the Curtis Culwell Center on May 3rd. The New York-based American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI) hosted the contest that would award $10,000 to the artist of the cartoon chosen depicting the Prophet Mohammed, of which there were three hundred fifty entrants. Oddly enough, the winner was a former Muslim and a Muslim critic who submitted six drawings. Muslims consider such drawings blasphemous and events like this have sparked violence around the world. According to mainstream Islamic tradition, any physical depiction of Mohammed, even a respectful one is unacceptable. Pamela Geller, president of the local chapter of the AFDI said she organized the event to stand for free speech in response to violent protests by Muslims over drawings of Mohammed, and indicated that the shooting showed how needed the event really was. The AFDI is known for mounting a campaign against the building of an Islamic mosque near the site of the World Trade Center Towers destroyed by Muslim extremists September 11, 2011.
Two radicalized Muslim Phoenix residents arrived in Garland armed with three assault rifles and three pistols. Garland Police reported the two men pulled up outside the Culwell Center and started shooting. Witnesses estimated they fired twenty rounds, wounding a Garland ISD Police officer in the leg. Authorities speculated the two timed their arrival to coincide with the conference end at 7:00 P.M., but it went longer than anticipated, so that very few people were outside when the shooting started. Of interesting note, authorities claimed they had no foreknowledge of the attack, but reading between the lines, the responding officer who injured the two assailants with a .45 caliber service automatic must have had some notion they wore body-armor. The SWAT team heard the shots, witnessed the incident and killed the two shooters before they could retrieve more weapons from their car. One must admire the responding officer's nerve and marksmanship to have hit his target facing automatic gunfire!
Terrorist Attack In Tennessee
A Kuwaiti-born, twenty-four-year-old Jordanian man, with naturalized American citizenship stepped into Thursday, July 16, 2015, with a private agenda. After stowing an AK-47 semi-automatic rifle, a 12-guage shotgun and a 9mm handgun in a rented, convertible Mustang, he headed for the Armed Forces Career Center (AFCC) on Chattanooga's Lee Highway. This facility recruits personnel for the United States Army, Air Force and the Tennessee National Guard. The gray Mustang entered a strip mall parking area without any suspicion and stopped outside the recruiting office at approximately 10:30 A.M., where his plot started to unfold.
Without warning or announcement, he aimed the AK-47 at the AFCC front and squeezed the trigger as twenty-five-to-thirty rounds sprayed the recruiting office entrance area, wounding one Marine. Those inside recognized the danger, and took cover to summon help because they were unarmed. Chattanooga Police responded quickly, pursuing the shooter seven miles to a naval reserve facility for the second round of the attack. The shooter crashed through a secured gate, fired several shots into the reserve center, and then turned the gun on the police, who returned fire and killed him. The shooting spree lasted approximately thirty minutes, during which four Marines died and three were wounded, one of whom died two days later.
While authorities remain undecided about what motivated this incident, several factors have come forth. The shooter was reported to be a devout Muslim, who followed the recent ISIS call for United States Muslim residents to kill United States law enforcement and military personnel. According to family members, the shooter abused sleeping pills, opioids, pain-killers, marijuana and alcohol. He had accrued excessive debt and was planning to file for bankruptcy. Relatives had attempted to have him admitted for psychiatric, inpatient treatment, but the health insurer disapproved the request. The shooter received therapy for drug and alcohol abuse, and treatment for depression, but was irregular and taking the prescribed medication. Authorities learned from the shooter's parents that he was depressed and bipolar, a time-bomb with a short fuse. He had journeyed curiosity about martyrdom, but there is no evidence to suggest he ever concluded if martyrdom would absolve his sins.
While our national polycrats contemplate their navels and do nothing, state governments are relaxing the firearm bans for military personnel, and installing bulletproof glass in military facilities.
Third French Terrorist Attack In 2015
You may recall the August 21, 2015 attempted mass-shooting and stabbing incident aboard Thalys train 9364, the second terrorist attack on French soil. The train was enroot to Paris via Brussels, Belgium, from Amsterdam, when passing through Oignies, Pas-de-Calais. Ayoub El Khazzani, the twenty-five-year-old Moroccan-born perpetrator stepped out of the carriage twelve toilet shirtless at 5:45 P. M. Central European Time (CET), and opened fire shortly after the train crossed the border from Belgium into France. Three American friends subdued him, namely twenty-three-year-old Airman First Class Spencer Stone, twenty-three-year-old Anthony Sadler, and twenty-two-year-old Specialist Alek Skarlatos.
Four passengers received injuries, including the perpetrator, but none fatally. French police believe the incident was an Islamic terrorist blunder, although the gunman claimed the motivation was robbery due to hunger. He was armed with a 9mm Luger pistol, an AK-M assault rifle, a box-cutter and a bottle of gasoline. He also had nine spare magazines with a total of two hundred seventy rounds of ammunition, not the typical choice of weapons for a hungry thief. Rather, his Mode of Operation (MO) is typical of terrorist conduct. French, Belgian, Spanish and German authorities had Ayoub El Khazzani on a watch-list, tagged with the highest warning level, because of speeches defending jihad, attending a radical Muslim mosque and drug-trafficking.
A well-organized, group of terrorists launched the third French attack the evening of November 13, 2015 at 9:16 P. M. CET (3:16 P.M. EST). The campaign strategy staged six mass shootings and several suicide bombings at diversified Paris and the northern Parisian suburb of Saint-Denis, France locations. The following order does not imply any chronology, as they were all supposed to unfold concurrently, intended to confuse law enforcement and first-responders.
One of the terrorists' targets was the Le Carillon, a café-bar at Rue Bichat and Rue Alibert, near the Canal Saint-Martin in the 10th arrondissement, where in drive-by style, attackers fired on outside diners. The assailants then crossed Rue Bichat and attacked another restaurant called Le Petit Cambodge (Little Cambodia). French police reported eleven deaths at these restaurant shootings. Witnesses reported that one of the two vehicles used had a Belgium license plate.
A single terrorist wielding a machine-gun then sprayed diners at the terrace of La Casa Nostra, an Italian restaurant, on rue de la Fontaine-au-Roi, south of rue Bichat, injuring eight and killing five patrons. Then at another location, two gunmen fired for several minutes into the terrace diners at the La Belle Équipe, a restaurant on the rue de Charonne in the 11th arrondissement before returning to their car and driving away. Concurrently, five died from three suicide bombers near the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, where French and German soccer teams were playing a friendly match. One of these suicide bombings occurred in a nearby bar to the State de France killing ten.
The deadliest attack was at the Batacklan Theater on Boulevard Voltaire in the 11th arrondissement where the Palm Desert, California rock band Eagles of Death Metal was playing to an audience of around 1,500. Four black-clad agents of death armed with AK-47 assault rifles crept into the public arena shouting "Allah akbar" before calmly and methodically opening fire into the crowd. One of the gunman yelled, 'This is because of all the harm done by Hollande to Muslims all over the world.' The terrorists fired on police and first-responders who reported to the scene. Witnesses reported other unmasked killers also fired indiscriminately and threw hand grenades, as they worked to coral those they captured for about three hours until French authorities killed the terrorists and freed the captives. None of the Eagles of Death Metal band members died or suffered injury.
On Saturday, November 14, 2015, an Islamic State spokesman claimed responsibility for the work of 'the brothers' in killing infidels and assured listeners that this was only the beginning of the storm. One hundred twenty-seven died, two hundred were injured and of these, ninety-nine were listed in critical condition. French President François Hollande publicly assured the world and those responsible for this massacre would be hunted and prosecuted, and the French set out to uphold his commitment. They learned that the war room for this horrific act was in Saint-Denis, arresting or killing those involved. They also learned that Brussels, Belgium is a hotbed of radical Muslim activity with a high concentration of Muslims currently living there.
It is interesting to note that Islam is touted by the politically-correct to be a peaceful religion, but if you examine its `history, you will find that Muslims in any given area were peaceful until their devotee number exceeded fifty percent of the native people, when they became aggressive and violent to claim the land for Allah. Their replace local law with Sharīʿah Law that empowers them to legally eliminate opposition. While I Have included the following in previous papers, may I present once again the verses from the Koran that specifically exhort devotees to kill non-Muslims they refer to as infidels…
Koran References Indicating Infidels Are Worthy of Death
- Quran (2:191-193) – "And kill them wherever you find them, and turn them out from where they have turned you out. And Al-Fitnah [disbelief] is worse, but if they desist, then lo! Allah is forgiving and merciful. And fight them until there is no more Fitnah [disbelief and worshipping of others along with Allah] and worship is for Allah alone. But if they cease, let there be no transgression except against Az-Zalimun (the polytheists, and wrong-doers, etc.)" than killing…
- Quran (2:216) – "Fighting is prescribed for you, and ye dislike it. But it is possible that ye dislike a thing which is good for you, and that ye love a thing which is bad for you. But Allah knoweth, and ye know not."
- Quran (3:151) – "Soon shall We cast terror into the hearts of the Unbelievers, for that they joined companions with Allah, for which He had sent no authority".
- Quran (4:74) – "Let those fight in the way of Allah who sell the life of this world for the other. Whoso fighteth in the way of Allah, be he slain or be he victorious, on him We shall bestow a vast reward."
- Quran (4:76) – "Those who believe fight in the cause of Allah…"
- Quran (4:95) – "Not equal are those believers who sit (at home) and receive no hurt, and those who strive and fight in the cause of Allah with their goods and their persons. Allah hath granted a grade higher to those who strive and fight with their goods and persons than to those who sit (at home). Unto all (in Faith) Hath Allah promised good: But those who strive and fight Hath He distinguished above those who sit (at home) by a special reward,-"
- Quran (5:33) – "The punishment of those who wage war against Allah and His messenger and strive to make mischief in the land is only this, that they should be murdered or crucified or their hands and their feet should be cut off on opposite sides or they should be imprisoned; this shall be as a disgrace for them in this world, and in the hereafter they shall have a grievous chastisement"
- Quran (8:12) – "I will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve. Therefore strike off their heads and strike off every fingertip of them"
- Quran (8:65) – "O Prophet, exhort the believers to fight…"
- Quran (9:5) – "So when the sacred months have passed away, then slay the idolaters wherever you find them, and take them captive and besiege them and lie in wait for them in every ambush, then if they repent and keep up prayer and pay the poor-rate, leave their way free to them."
- Quran (9:29) – "Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger, nor acknowledge the religion of Truth, (even if they are) of the People of the Book, until they pay the Jizya with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued."
- Quran (33:60-62) – "If the hypocrites, and those in whose hearts is a disease, and the alarmists in the city do not cease, We verily shall urge thee on against them, then they will be your neighbors in it but a little while. Accursed, they will be seized wherever found and slain with a (fierce) slaughter."
- Quran (48:29) – "Muhammad is the messenger of Allah. And those with him are hard (ruthless) against the disbelievers and merciful among themselves"
Mali Terrorist Attack
Five Muslim militants with a malevolent thirst for blood, arrived in a car with diplomatic license plates at the Bamako, Mali Radisson Blu hotel between 7:00 and 7:30 A. M. on November 20, 2015. This hotel is in the heart of the Bamako business district close to the embassies and frequented by business people and government dignitaries. It is an up-market hotel owned by the Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group based in the United States and Belgium. The gunmen killed twenty of the one hundred seventy hostages they took, before Malian commandos raided the hotel and freed the survivors. Al-Mourabitoun claimed that it carried out the attack "in cooperation with" Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.
The Western world receives information of this nature wondering what could have triggered such violence, without realizing that radical Muslim ideology drives its followers to violent retribution to anyone, or group that braces their fervor, and they do not forgive or forget. Muslim conflict with the French goes back quite far.
Muammar Gaddafi was a divisive Libyan leader for decades and his death October 20, 2011 only disbursed the turmoil. North American Treaty Organization (NATO) troops and specifically French forces were responsible for Gaddafi's overthrow and subsequent death. Many of the ethnic Tuareg who were loyal to Gaddafi moved to northern Mali and continued to fight, eventually joining with the Al Qaeda Islamic terrorists. After their defeat in Libya, these forces turned their attention to forming an independent state in Mali. What Westerners fail to realize is that Muslims to not assimilate the culture they infiltrate, but remain aloof until their population equals that of the target culture, when they begin demanding replacement of the existing culture with theirs, and violence follows.
This rebel group grew and advanced their agenda until they declared independence from Mali. The French launched a military operation to overthrow the rebels and restore some semblance of order, but the caldron of tensions continued to bubble. The current jihadist group gains encouragement from a radical Muslim cleric who believes in strict Sharia Law and the beat goes on.
Terrorist Strike In San Bernardino, California
The San Bernardino, California Department of Public Health rented a banquet room for a late-morning employee training session and join holiday lunch party on December 2, 2015 at the Inland Regional Center in the 1300 block of Waterman Avenue. Of the ninety-one invited guests, approximately eighty attended that day. The training session proceeded as planned until one of the invited guests, Syed Rizwan Farook left abruptly, following a confrontation with another guest. At 10:59 A. M., automatic gunfire from two masked killers garbed in black, tactical gear shouting Muslim epithets in English interrupted the meeting, as they fired their weapons indiscriminately into the unsuspecting crowd. The less than four-minute gunfire killed fourteen souls and wounded twenty-two others.
Police and first-responders arrived within four minutes, transported the injured to local medical facilities, and swept the area to find an undetonated pipe bomb. Witnesses told authorities a man and a woman garbed in black and wearing ski masks fired indiscriminately. Survivors identified one of the perpetrators as Syed Rizwan Farook by his voice and build, and told investigators the deadly duo drove away in a black sport utility vehicle. Law enforcement headed for Farook's townhome. The killers fled, but law enforcement caught and killed them in a gunfire exchange within four hours. Police identified the second perpetrator as Tashfeen Malik, Farook's wife.
Syed Rizwan Farook was a United States citizen of Pakistani descent, born June 14, 1987 in Chicago, Illinois to Pakistani-immigrant parents. Authorities learned he grew up in Riverside, California as a troubled child in an abusive home and graduated from La Sierra High School in 2004, one year early. He then earned a bachelor's degree from California State University, San Bernardino in environmental health. With his degree in hand, he worked for the San Bernardino Department of Environmental Health for five years until his death. Family and coworkers testified that Syed Rizwan Farook was a devout Sunni Muslim who attended prayers at the Islamic Center of Riverside twice a day. He had finished the Hajj in 2013, the fifth of five Islamic ritual plateaus that requires time, money and commitment to complete. Farook's father claimed his son shared ISIL ideology and had a fixation on Israel.
Farook's wife and accomplice in this malicious act was Tashfeen Malik, born July 13, 1986 in Karor Lal Esan, Pakistan and died with her husband December 2, 2015 in San Bernardino, California. She spent most of her life in Karor Lal Esan, Saudi Arabia. Malik moved to Multan, Pakistan in 2007 to study pharmacology at Bahauddin Zakariya University, graduating in 2012. The city of Multan is known as a hotbed of jihadist activity.
While there, Malik attended the local center of the Al-Huda International Seminary, a conservative women-only religious academy network with seminaries across Pakistan and branches in the United States and Canada. According to Farook's coworkers, he and Malik married a month after he traveled to Saudi Arabia in 2014. Farook and Malik had a six month old daughter.
Malik entered the United States on a K-1 (fiancée) visa with a Pakistani passport. The process to obtain such a visa requires thorough screening. Farook completed Malik's application for permanent residency on her behalf in September of 2014, by which she received a green card in July of 2015. Part of her visa application with the State Department and application for a green card, required Malik submit her fingerprints and undergo "three extensive national security and criminal background screenings" using Homeland Security and State Department databases.
Malik also underwent two in-person interviews, the first with a consular officer in Pakistan and the second with an immigration officer in the United States. Concurrent with all this, Malik wrote openly on social media that she supported violent jihad and wanted to participate in it years before the attack, but because "immigration officials do not routinely review social media as part of their background checks," the postings never came to the attention of American authoritiess.
Far too many Muslims are unwilling to integrate into a society, but to overwhelm it and claim it for their god. With respect to the history of Islam, the only thing they respect is power, and those who attempt to negotiate with their talking heads from a weak position lose, and that is exactly what America is doing with respect to Muslim terrorists. Please note that there is very little opposition by Muslims to violent terrorist activities, and the reason is because the noncombatants have as much to gain from Muslim victories as the violent do!
Please note that Islam eschatology exhorts devotees to expect the Twelfth Imam, who is the Islamic equivalent to the Jewish Messiah or the Lord Jesus Christ, and Muslims believe that jihad with stimulate his debut. Fyodor Dostoyevsky wrote, 'the mystery of human existence lies not in just staying alive, but in finding something to live for.' While this may be true for most, the counterpart radical terrorist proverb is finding a means to kill others, regardless of whether the perpetrator dies in the act, or not! May I remind the reader of state of the human heart…
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? Jeremiah 17:9 (KJV)
While this is certainly true for everyone ever born, the condition manifests itself differently person-to-person; this condition exhibited by radical Muslim terrorists strongly suggests the presence of demonic activity.
Prophetic Weather Forecast From Europe (IMPORTANT)
As a caveat, this article is lengthy and complicated, with several interwoven, temporal plots developing around key figures against a prophetic context. In the Lord's economy, nothing happens in a vacuum, but is wrapped in a critically important context where background information is necessary for all the pieces to fit together.
Bible prophecy students have keenly watched Israel since its founding in1948, her Muslim Brotherhood neighbors who reek of anti-Semitism and Europe because of Scripture that speaks of a revived Roman Empire.
These same students wonder about the United States, as prophetic Scripture mentions no world power even remotely similar to this nation. The Middle East is well named, as the world's attention is riveted to that geography, and accompanied by spiritual, social and moral decay in Europe, where Greece has been the focal-point of that attention for an extended period. Greece elected Alexis Tsipras (Ah-lehik-sees Seep-rahs) as Prime Minister on January 26, 2015, convinced he would solve the nation's financial woes. For the record, the Grecian, socialistic, entitlement-based government eroded the country's economy to insolvency.
In short, a diminishing work-force was unable to sustain the demands of an entitlement-minded population. This topic has been a reverberating headline over the last several years, with cries for help without attention to, or recognition of the root cause. The same virus runs rampant here in the United States now, with city-after-city digressing to war-zone ghettos fast-tracking to bankruptcy. The fact is that socialism has demonstrated dismal repeated failures in contrast to capitalism in a democracy, which while it does have problems, has been the government form to support freedom-loving people.
The inherent problem of a democracy is when the electorate learns they can pay themselves, the governmental form moves toward socialism. Remember, any field a human pursues is prone to problems, as we are all under the curse (Genesis 3). Socialism has been the preference of the minority elite, think-tank, and subculture, power-brokers who kill and impoverish millions for personal aggrandizement. Alexis Tsipras is one such, a Grecian Communist sympathizer leading the European Coalition of the Radical Left party (Syriza), born July 28, 1974 in Athens.
Tsipras is an unmarried atheist, who fathered two children with a two-decade, cohabiting high-school girl friend. He is Greece's first openly atheist leader, a growing trend in the European Union (EU), preceded by France and Croatia, and the first Prime Minister Greece chose, who refused to take a religious oath as part of the ceremony.
Alexis Tsipras' billionaire father, Paylos Tsipras' died in 2012. He owned "SKAPANEA", an Athens-based construction company, responsible for all major Grecian public works projects, for which he exploited African construction workers, , giving them just enough to survive to minimize his labor costs. Similar to the Italian mafia, he forced competitive construction companies to pay him a fee if they wanted any business. Of course, Paylos leaned left in his political affiliation. These were Alexis' childhood environmental influences.
In high school, Alexis joined the Communist Youth of Greece, as did his future life's partner, Peristera Batziana. He matriculated as a civil engineer at the National Technical University at Athens, where he honed his socialistic ideology and intensified his activism in leftist politics. He served on Synaspismos' Central Committee and functioned as their secretary of the youth organization. Synaspismos sprang from a bloc of leftist and green sympathizers when the Communist Party of Greece dissolved, and then changed its name to Syriza in 2004 with the addition of other liberal groups.
Syriza's organizers sought a 'rising star' when they noticed Alexis Tsipras in 2008. The following year, Tsipras joined the Grecian Parliament and then using a series of crafty political moves, dissolved the Grecian Parliament and formed a coalition government with himself as the Prime Minister. Please be advised that Obama is moving the United States in parallel with this socialistic thinking. May I remind the reader that Obama is delivering on the campaign promises few of America's electorate imagined he could fulfill, because of the checks and balances the founding fathers designed into our government, but the current stewards of those checks and balances are dreadfully complacent, baptized in a litany of monastic doldrums and manifesting indifference to Obama's contra-Constitution actions, illegal moves that only advance his own anti-American agenda.
Washington insiders have fallen into a plane of mediocrity, becoming cold and formalized in commitment to a wicked ideology. They allow Obama to operate as a monarch to our nation's demise, because they are part of the problem. You might remember the classic movie 'Wizard of Oz, where a single individual energizes strange events from a camouflaged position. Obama has inflicted deadly changes on the United States in his two terms, similar to those Alexis Tsipras is proposing in Greece and Europe. The liberal news media and proliferation of internet information has drawn Americans into susceptibility to every spurious wind of political correctness on the airwaves. Only the naïve refute a common denominator operating in these fronts, but the naïve are the swelling majority, ignorant of, and indifferent to the identity of the current wizard. This ain't Kansas Toto! I wonder who the wizard might be.
And the spotlight shines on George Soros, who was actually born György Schwartz in Budapest, Hungary to Tivadar Schwartz and Elizabet Szucs, non-observant Jews. His father was a lawyer who escaped from a World War I Russian prisoner-of-war camp and rejoined his family in Budapest, and his mother's family owned a thriving silk shop. They married in 1924, and had two sons. The elder Paul was born June 26, 1926 and then George arrived August 12, 1930, both in Budapest. Due to the growing anti-Semitism, his parents guarded their Jewish lineage, so much so that Tivadar changed the family name from Schwartz, meaning 'black' in German to Soros, meaning 'successor' in Hungarian. George was thirteen years old in March of 1944, when NAZI Germany invaded and occupied Hungary. The NAZI's barred Jewish children from attending school, and told them to report to the Jewish Council established at the outset of the NAZI occupation. Of this time George Soros wrote…
"The Jewish Council asked the little kids to hand out the deportation notices. I was told to go to the Jewish Council. And there I was given these small slips of paper… It said report to the rabbi seminary at 9 am… And I was given this list of names. I took this piece of paper to my father. He instantly recognized it. This was a list of Hungarian Jewish lawyers. He said, "You deliver the slips of paper and tell the people that if they report they will be deported."". His Dad realized the mounting threat, and went underground.
Then alone, but already resourceful at age fourteen, George Soros lived with an employee of the Hungarian Minister of Agriculture, posing as his godson. During this season, he turned-in other Jews to be loaded on trains heading for NAZI death camps, void of regret then, or now. It should not surprise anyone what evil this man is capable of. George Soros survived the bloody Battle of Budapest, and then moved to London, England as an impoverished student in 1947. George supported himself in retail sales but gravitated to finance as his professional pursuit.
He earned a number of financial degrees and secured an entry-level job in a London bank. He made careful notes of investment successes and failures that would evolve into a financial theory he calls 'REFLEXIVITY', which yielded numerous investment windfalls. These successes set him on center stage in finance. In the early 1990's Soros began speculating in European currency exchange, and recognized the United Kingdom's unfavorable position in the European currency Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM), and planned to take advantage by stockpiling many pounds sterling in 1992. With all factors in Soros' favor, he sold more than ten billion dollars in British pounds.
This speculative venture devalued the British Pound and damaged the English economy, while earning Soros over one billion dollars profit, and the distinctive title of having broken the Bank of England. It has not been that long since the Brits could legitimately claim 'the sun never set on the British Empire," but they turned their back on the Jews and now are only a dismal facsimile of what they once were. One of the baseline tenants of the Abrahamic Covenant is the Lord's Promise to bless those who bless Abram's descendants and curse those who curse them (Genesis 12:2), and the British demise is living proof that the Lord stands behind His Promises! George Soros reasoned he could modify the 'REFLEXIVITY' operating principles to work in politics, which he used effectively to jettison Barack Obama from obscurity, into 'stardom' in the United States at the turn of the Century, and now Alexis Tsiporas in Europe. All the internet chatter I have seen about George Soros reflects sinister objectives.
In his second letter to the church at Thessalonica, the Apostle Paul documents a high-level sequence of events that will precede the Day of the Lord. He carefully omits details of this season that generates speculation, but points to the importance of living by faith. I fully understand that Amillennialism is a growing eschatological belief in the Twenty-First Century, and much, if not all of the prophetic Scripture in that view, is already fulfilled, and we are just in a bad cycle right now. That belief does not alter or negate what we are facing, which Scripture carefully documents for wise living and effective stewardship. I hasten to point out the Apostle Paul's documented future timeline, with three major components:
- Apostasy within the Church.
- Satan, or the man of sin revealed.
- Day of the Lord.
Scripture delivers its message via patterns, types and shadows, and the shadow of Biblical prophecy always precedes its fulfillment. Regarding end-time events, the Apostle Peter wrote…
But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. II Peter 3:10 (KJV)
And the Apostle Paul wrote…
(2) For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. (3) For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. (4) But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. I Thessalonians 5:2-4 (KJV)
For the record, the futile cry for peace and safety is prevalent in many conversations, which is a shadow so that the church is not ignorant of where we are on the Lord's timeline. I included II Thessalonians 2 for your review, noting that the letter in its entirety is not written to 'tribulation saints' as many suggest, but to Christians, who will experience the Antichrist when he makes his debut. 'Tribulation saints' is a term coined by a group espousing a particular eschatological view, which is extra-Biblical! As an editorial note, hermeneutics is the interpretation of Scripture, by which one determines the central focus. The question the reader must answer is whether your theology is God-centered or man-centered? In Gospel-Centered Hermeneutics, Graeme Goldsworthy writes 'History is not the story of God's trial of something good that failed, thus requiring Him to come up with an emergency package as an afterthought.
God's ultimate creation plan was not Adam and Eve in Eden, but Christ in the Gospel." The climax to the Gospel is the Revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ. The context of those left behind following a pretribulation rapture of the church, who will realize their error and decide to follow Christ is man-centered! I would call the reader's attention to II Thessalonians 2:13, which specifically refers to the letter recipients as those God hath from the beginning chosen to salvation through sanctification, and the raptured are the elect, set apart by God as His ambassadors to live in holiness as witnesses to a lost and dying world. While the Lord is not the author of evil, he does use man's depraved nature to accomplish His Redemptive Plan in the dimension of time. Evidence of a preceding rapture to these perilous and climatic events is conspicuous by its absence from this chapter.
Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, (2) That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. (3) Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; (4) Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God. (5) Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things? (6) And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. (7) For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. (8) And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: (9) Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, (10) And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. (11) And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: (12) That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. (13) But we are bound to give thanks alway0 to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth: (14) Whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. (15) Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle. (16) Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God, even our Father, which hath loved us, and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace, (17) Comfort your hearts, and stablish you in every good word and work. II Thessalonians 2:1-17 (KJV)
If there was ever a time when the world operates in strong delusion, it is now! Please note that those advocating that the Lord will rapture the church before the peril of the final season substantiate their position with several passages, the first being…
For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, I Thessalonians 5:9 (KJV)
This group assumes the entire seven year period represents the Lord's wrath, but that is not the case. Scripture indicates God's wrath does not start until the Sixth Seal (Revelation 6:12), and the recipients thereof prefer to die, than face the Lord Jesus Christ (Revelation 6:16). This suggests that the rapture of the saints will not happen until after the Fifth Seal is broken, and hardness of heart sweeps earth's residents at that time, rather than repentance.
They also cite the Lord's message to the church of Philadelphia in Revelation 3:10, as divine promise that the church will be exempted from the final prophesied peril, but the Twenty-First Century church is more akin to the church of Laodicea, which the Lord has no commendation for and equates with vomit. Who are we fooling? Advocates also cite II Thessalonians 2:6-8, but this view is based on a faulty interpretation of the passage, claiming the restrainer is the Holy Spirit, Who when taken out of the way will allow iniquity to abound, but who is able to restrain omnipresence, omniscience and omnipotence? The problem with this is the restrainer is Michael the Arch Angel, whose job is to protect Israel. Jude gives you Michael's title…
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 (KJV)
And Daniel documents Michael's job description…
And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people (Israel / the Jews): and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book. Daniel 12:1 (KJV)
Scripture only identifies two Archangels: Gabriel and Michael. Scripture does not document the specifics of Michael's protective tasks, but countless anti-Semites attempted to annihilate the Jews without success, and will continue to do so, until the Lord relieves Michael of this responsibility. Then Satan will be free to unleash his considerable power to destroy Israel, and it will be in this season that a remnant of surviving Jews will recognize their forebears' error in rejecting the Lord Jesus Christ as their Messiah and turn to Him. The fact of the Lord's Redemptive Plan is that anyone who rejects the Lord Jesus Christ as their only hope is damned eternally. This includes descendants of Abraham, whose false hope rests on their lineage!
Also note that Alexis Tsipras target infrastructure is the revived Roman Empire, the Iranian buildup is the revived Persian Empire, and George Soros has his hand in both, together with the United States moral demise and military atrophy. Onlookers must determine whether these events are coincidental cyclic events or if we are seeing intricate prophetic pieces being divinely dropped into the Biblical eschatological puzzle. On a side note, George Soros set up his headquarters in Thessaloniki, Greece, the modern city of Thessalonica in Scripture.
As the beat of the somber song grinds on in a minor chord, Alexis Tsipras participates in a three-part harmonized vocal with Pope Francis and Vladimir Putin. While I have no ability to see into the future, Scripture obligates every Christian to some awareness of where you are in the Lord's Redemptive Season. And Jesus said…
The Pharisees also with the Sadducees came, and tempting desired him (Jesus) that he would shew them a sign from heaven. (2) He answered and said unto them, When it is evening, ye say, It will be fair weather: for the sky is red. (3) And in the morning, It will be foul weather to day: for the sky is red and lowring. O ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times? Matthew 16:1-3 (KJV)
The group confronting Jesus represented the most learned of that day, yet the Lord Jesus Christ called them hypocrites! Essentially, the Lord contrasted their ability to know if the next day would bring rain or sunshine, against their ignorance of their spiritual status standing in front of God Incarnate. I would remind the reader that they only had the Old Testament, whereas you have the complete Canon, plus two millennia of recorded Scriptural illumination, which leaves us indefensible in ignorance of where we are on the Lord's Redemptive timeline. Putting this in perspective, Scriptural references to Jesus Second Coming outnumber references to His Incarnation eight to one.
There are two hundred sixty chapters in the New Testament that contain three hundred twenty-one references to His Second Coming. Seventeen Old Testament books emphasize Jesus' return, and New Testament authors mention Jesus' return in twenty-three of their twenty-seven books. One out of every thirty verses in the New Testament deals with Jesus' Second Coming, and Jesus mentioned His return twenty-one times. Jesus' return is second only to salvation as the most dominant subject in the New Testament. There are eighteen hundred, forty-five Biblical references to Jesus' Second Coming. Seven out of every ten New Testament chapters mention Jesus' Second Coming. Despite all of these references, the majority of people do not believe it will ever happen.
The reason is that people have adopted an incrementally growing cavalier opinion to God in general and specifically to the Lord Jesus Christ, disregarding the idea of His Holiness versus our sinfulness and His right and intent to judge sinners. The climax to this timeline is Jesus' Glorification / Revelation. As an editorial note, there seems to be mounting interest in prophecy because people are curious about future events, and with this comes a group of false prophets and seers garnering support from ignorant masses. The reader should know that Jesus warned us about false prophets (Matthew 24:11), that they will proliferate as the time for Jesus return draws near. The necessary operative principle in Jesus' charge is discernment, which is an antiquated practice in the modern church. I fully understand that suggesting Christians will experience events described in Revelation explodes the currently-accepted paradigm, but how well are you able to read the signs of our times?
Prior to his Prime Minister election in January of 2015, Alexis Tsipras met with Pope Francis at the Vatican September 17, 2014, the first left-wing party leader any Pope ever entertained. In reality, such a meeting should not surprise anyone, as Pope Francis is a rabidly ecumenical and 'green' Jesuit, always talking about global warming and the perceived abuses of people harming the earth. At the outset, unity between the leader of the Roman Catholic Church and a staunch atheist seems strange, but closer examination of common core values in these two men reveals a single thread.
Alexis Tsipras asked Pope Francis to draft a peace treaty between Israel and the Palestinians. You may remember that when these peace talks started years ago with Yasser Arafat representing the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), the media presented the report as P-E-A-C-E Talks wanting to end the conflict, whereas Arafat referred to them as P-I-E-C-E Talks, because the Muslim Brotherhood goal is to chip away at Israel one piece at a time, and that mentality as never changed. The following is an alarming quote from Alexis Tsipras following his September 17, 2014 Vatican visit.
"In our meeting with Pope Francis today -who is often referred to as "The Pope of the Poor"- we had the opportunity to discuss the economic crisis, as well as the crisis in human values. To discuss the need for politics to re-inspire people in values which are collective, universal and substantive instead of the currently pre-dominant values of profit and material consumption?
We discussed the need for peace to return on earth, for the immediate cease of war interventions, the need for solidarity's rehabilitation as a value, and the need to speak about the significance of making sure that people always count more than profits.
We pleaded with him to continue struggling against poverty and to speak in behalf of the dignity of humans as well as the structural causes behind poverty which are the inequality in the distribution of wealth and the rampant behavior of the financial markets." Here we have a paid political announcement for socialism!
"We asked him to take an international initiative for the termination of conflicts in the Middle East and the Ukraine; we discussed the issue of migration that enormous plague of our times and the need for a revision of the European migration policy which generates humanitarian crises in the Mediterranean.
I brought to him the true picture of Greece, a country that after four years of an unjust policy of austerity continues to sink inside the crisis a crisis assuming the proportions of a humanitarian disaster. And I explained to him that what happened was implemented in order to save banks not humans. In addition, I told him that the majority of the Greek people, and I personally, are determined to put an end to this policy, something which necessitates the support of broader forces across Europe.
Finally, we agreed that the dialogue between the Left and the Christian Church must go on. We may have different ideological starting points; however, we converge on common values, like solidarity, love for the fellow Human being, social justice, and our concern regarding world peace."
Does this sound like Obama-speak? Absent from the previous report is any mention of the Lord Jesus Christ. Any agreement indifferent to His Will and Redemptive Plan is futile. This politically-correct news flash was written to appeal to the strongly deluded to disguise the actual objective, and it was reasonably effective. Please note the reality of the diminishing middle class globally, and the environmental similarity when the rider of the black horse (Revelation 6:5 and following) makes his debut. Meanwhile, there is a growing alliance between Vladimir Putin and Alexis Tsipras. Onlookers wonder why Russia would have any interest in a small European country with a failed economy, until you examine current events through Scriptural lenses.
I confess to have engaged in 'pin the tail on the antichrist, along with many others in times gone bye. I suppose Adolph Hitler was a viable candidate with his anti-Semitism, wicked objectives and demonic involvements, but there were too many Scriptural requirements missing at the time. Although some liberals try to dismiss the Holocaust, Hitler and his Third Reich came and passed off the scene and the Jews are still with us.
Satan attempts to counterfeit much of what the Lord is, and does. With the Lord Jesus Christ being the Second Person of the Trinitarian God Head, Scripture specifically says that prior to Jesus' return, Satan will deploy an unholy trinity consisting of himself, the Beast, which will be a political leader and the False Prophet, which will be a religious leader recognized by much of the world as authoritative. Could George Soros, Alexis Tsipras and the Pope possess the attributes to fill these posts? While Satan is an angelic, spirit being, who can, and does indwell humans to carry out temporal wicked objectives, one of which Daniel documented…
And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate. Daniel 9:27 (KJV)
A week is a Hebrew idiom meaning seven years, similar to our use of fortnight as a time unit of fourteen days. There have been several United States diplomats who tried unsuccessfully to get Israel to sign a peace agreement with their enemies like Henry Kissinger, Condoleezza Rice and Hillary Clinton, but apparently the timing was not right. Please note that I am NOT SETTING ANY DATES, NOR AM I IDENTIFYING GEORGE SOROS, ALEXIS TSIPRAS AND THE POPE AS THE UNHOLY TRINITY, but I am making the readers aware of current events that critically align with Scripture. Many Biblical prophecy students agree that the signing of this treaty is the trip-wire for the last seven years of peril Scripture documents.
The props are all positioned on stage for the final drama, with the Muslim Brotherhood pressing to kill all the Jews and destroy Israel, Vladimir Putin arming the Muslim Brotherhood and aligning the former Soviet bloc nations (Gog) with the revived Roman Empire and the growing anti-Semitism in the Merchants of Tarshish nations (Britain, Canada, Australia and the United States) that cause them to withhold support from Israel when the wicked powers from the north move to invade her (Ezekiel 38:13). The stage is all set for this final act and we are waiting for the man of sin to make his debut, when that curtain will rise. Until then, the Psalmist wrote…
Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love thee. Psalm 122:6 (KJV)
The probability that peace will come to Israel before the Lord returns is slim, which suggests praying according to Psalm 122:6 is saying 'come quickly, Lord Jesus' (Revelation 22:20). The facts are that anti-Semitism is the nucleus of Spiritual Warfare, which yields both physical and spiritual death in its final form, with an underlying spirit of division that breeds contempt. In the thirty-four hundred years of recorded history, there have only been about two hundred fifty years of the absence of war. For those living in the Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries, the absence of war is a foreign concept, but one Scripture promises will prevail on the earth when the Lord Jesus Christ returns to reign in righteousness.
With that being said, there is a clear distinction that must be stated between events in Israel, its Middle East neighbors, Europe and the United States. The events in Israel, the Middle East and Europe align with those described in Daniel, Ezekiel, and Revelation. Current events in the United States align with Romans 1, where the Apostle Paul outlines the demise of and individual or nation that turns from God to idolatry, and the above entities dove-tail at Ezekiel 38:13.
The message here is to watch the developments cited above carefully, from objective media sources, rather than from the liberal media bias! Repentance from our idolatry is America's only hope! I close this section suggesting you read II Timothy 3:1-7 in your own Bible to note the similarity between what the Apostle Paul prophesied about the last days, and what we are experiencing! Many interpret these collective incidents as signals of an imminent rapture of the church. I hope they are right, because if they are, I will escape the peril described of that season, but I do not believe they are. It is my fear that this belief will be the nucleus of the falling away the Apostle Paul mentioned in II Thessalonians 2:3, when everyone must accept the mark of the beast (Revelation 13:17), or suffer the consequences.
I would remind the reader that when the Supreme Court affirmed the Affordable Care Act (ACA) as law, something neither affordable nor caring, the IRS hired thirty thousand additional agents for the purpose of injecting chips in every Social Security Number holder by the end of 2017. If you have a Social Security Number, this includes you! Luke-warm church members are ill-prepared for such a choice! With the current technology available, this initiative could easily be expanded as a global project as part of the New World Order George H. W. Bush introduced in 1991, thereby fulfilling Revelation 13:17. I would prefer to be prepared, rather than shocked and drawn to believe I was either lied-to, or left behind! Consider this a prophetic weather report.
Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl Indicted
Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl has been one of many White-House-involved controversies for several years, and President Obama is the eye of the storm. The White House Press Corps talking heads claimed in early 2014, that President Obama was doing what he could to secure hiss freedom since his capture by Taliban insurgents in 2010. This all sounded good until the White House publicized sketchy details of his release. President Obama faced bipartisan criticism after authorizing the controversial exchange of the soldier for five high-value Taliban leaders held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba May 31, 2014.
The damage-control-tale White House talking heads spun was that vicious rumors flowed from partisan political opponents trying to discredit the President, but evidence that Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl deserted his post in June 2009 under questionable circumstances to join with the Taliban, endangering the lives of other troops dispatched to search for him, persisted. Despite consistent reports of Bergdahl's desertion, President Obama proudly announced that the United States agreed to a five-to-one prisoner exchange, because Sergeant Bergdahl had served his country with honor and distinction.
Huh? Say what? Whose honor and distinction? Is there a new politically-correct definition for these terms, like 'transparency in the White House? Many Americans received the information with mixed emotion; glad that a prisoner-of-war was coming home, but stunned at the mention of honor, and shocked at the trade-ratio. The amount of publicity the exchange got sent a message that this was somehow a politically-correct photo op for the President and his minions. President Obama iced this stale cake in his White House Rose Garden speech to America honoring Bergdal with his parents as invited guests. Susan Rice's appearances on the Sunday morning talk-show circuit to substantiate the White House announcement only multiplied public suspicion.
Surprise! Surprise! Army spokes-personnel reported that the Army arrested Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl, saying General Mark Milley; head of United States Army Forces Command at Fort Bragg could choose to do nothing, upholding the White House and company's whopper, or charge the soldier with treason, which is a capital offense or something in between. Against the backdrop of this new White House scam, the Army recognized its responsibility to many soldiers who did actually serve their country with honor and distinction, none of whom walked off their combat outpost to join with the enemy.
After taking ample time reviewing one thousand two hundred pages of investigative material related to Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl's disappearance and captivity, and their options, the Army charged Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl under the Uniform Code of Military Justice with Article 85 Desertion and Article 99 Misbehavior Before The Enemy. While treason seems a more fitting charge, it would be more difficult to prove than desertion, but misbehavior may require information gleaned from sources via methods United States Intelligence is unwilling to publicize, and therefore become a legal dead-end to prosecution.
The Government Accountability Office (GAO), which is mutually exclusive terminology, reported the Pentagon violated the Department of Defense (DOD) Appropriations Act when it failed to give thirty days advance notice to Congress about plans to move the five Taliban prisoners. The Pentagon also violated the Anti deficiency Act by paying the one million dollars ransom for the exchange from already appropriated funds, but we must realize that tax payer dollars is nothing more than funny-money to the Washington-Insider polycrats!
This whole matter evolved into a titanic, behind-the-scenes struggle between the White House that wanted to camouflage the release of five dangerous Taliban prisoners, against the Army knowing that Bergdahl is a traitor, but the Army would be hard-pressed politically to find him guilty of anything, a real 'catch-22' scenario. Obama wanted a convenient reason to release the Taliban prisoners, and Bergdahl was it!
The Naval Criminal Investigation Service (NCIS) 2009 report went public April 6, 2015, revealing that Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl planned to go to Uzbekistan to speak with Russian organized crime. The report also contained evidence that Bergdahl offered himself to the Taliban to serve against America in Afghanistan. Wow, what honor and distinction! So now the game is afoot, the White House credibility against United States armed forces integrity.
Bill and Hillary Clinton's backgrounds are replete with scandals including White Water, Rose Law Firm, Cattle Trading Futures, Travel Gate, Benghazi and now the e-mail charade. Subsequent verses of this sad song play on ad nausea. In fact, I looked for some news article that indicated either Bill or Hillary were above-board in anything and found none! Converse evidence shows them both to be chronic and pathological liars with 'snake-oil-stories' to mesmerize the masses, and the liberal media bias and like-minded polycrats baptize them in Teflon so that nothing sticks!
Those who attempt to expose their activities get castigated. As an editorial note, I have a personal policy that if someone is unfaithful to their spouse, then I am reluctant to believe anything they say. Hillary's interest in the Democratic 2016 Presidential nominee has been disgusting to watch. She avoids questions except when her supporters control her audience and the questions therefrom. The entire e-mail issue reeks of corruption, regardless of their unknown content. If law enforcement suspected you or me of criminal activity, they would confiscate whatever they believe supported their suspicion.
We would not have the luxury or time to purge evidence and blow smoke to cloud the investigation. The real tragedy is the number of Hillary-supporters who vocalize nothing but praise for her and the Democratic Party. This is living proof that growing numbers of Americans are drowning in strong delusion, that they should believe a lie (II Thessalonians 2:11b). The very next verse says that the yield of this pursued deception is damnation!
Disgusting controversy continues to swirl around Hillary's reluctance to release her sent and received e-mails from a personal server installed at her New York home, while she was Secretary of State. Having been a NASA contractor employee, responsible for database backup, recovery, performance and data security thereof, NASA required me to qualify and obtain a TOP SECRET clearance to perform my duties. The United States considered data breeches a capital offense. NASA employees could not retain personal data or correspondence on government equipment, nor were we allowed to bring personal equipment to the work site, yet Hillary exempted herself, believing she is above the law for convenience to conduct national affairs from her home. She and her husband have operated outside the law for years and exempted themselves from accountability, as well!
Hillary and the State Department have been reluctant to release e-mails to and from her personal server during her service as Secretary of State to Congress and/or anyone else. She attempted to 'stonewall' and 'stiff-arm' all attempts to investigate her activities, and her indifference about Benghazi was the catalyst. United States Intelligence ran out of patience in August of 2015, which has already been shown to contain TOP SECRET communiques. Inspector General Charles McCullough notified senior members of Congress that two of four retroactively classified e-mails found on Clinton's server were deemed 'TOP SECRET' SENSITIVE COMPARTMENTED INFORMATION. Hillary was the first and only Democratic candidate until Bernie Sanders announced his bid, and maintained an impressive advantage over him in the polls, until she had to release the private server and three thumb-drives containing e-mail backups. Polls also indicate voter confidence in Hillary's credibility continues to fall.
Airline Disasters
GermanWings Flight 9525 Crash
One hundred, forty-four passengers including two babies, and six crew members boarded GermanWings flight 9525, an Airbus A320-200 in Barcelona, Spain on a scheduled international flight bound for Düsseldorf, Germany on Tuesday, March 24, 2015,. GermanWings is a low cost airline owned by Lufthansa, and this particular airframe design calls for a pilot, a co-pilot and four flight attendants. The plane took off without incident and climbed to its normal cruising altitude of thirty-eight thousand feet. The pilot, Patrick Sonderheimer performed a routine check with air traffic control, and then exited the cockpit for a pit-stop, leaving twenty-seven-year-old co-pilot AndreasLubitz alone at the controls. Lubitz locked the door when the pilot exited, prohibiting anyone from interrupting his intent, and started a descent forty-four minutes into the flight in relatively clear weather over Barcelonnette, Spain. Air traffic control described the eight-minute descent as unusually rapid, but possibly controlled, although it left the plane too low to navigate the mountains.
Sonderheimer sensed a problem when he felt the rapid descent, realized the magnitude when Lubitz ignored him, and tried unsuccessfully to break through the door with an ax. The commotion sent a shock-wave through the cabin, as passengers watched his futile efforts, and realized death was eminent. AndreasLubitz flew GermanWings flight 9525 into a snowy and hostile French Alps mountain at four hundred, thirty miles per hour approximately sixty-two miles northwest of Nice, Spain.
Part of Lubitz's job responsibility was regular medical checkups. He had been previously treated for suicidal tendencies and declared unfit to work, but Lubitz withheld this restraint from his management and deliberately crashed the Airbus that day. Because of terrorist threats to attack public transportation, passenger plane manufactures retrofitted stronger cockpit doors with locks, the case in the March 24th Airbus crash. Canadian, New Zealand, German and Australian aviation authorities reacted immediately, implementing new regulations that required two authorized personnel to be present in the cockpit at all times. Within a week, other airlines outside this scope announced they adopted similar policies voluntarily.
Dwight Lyman Moody was a no-nonsense preacher of the Nineteenth Century, who on an occasion to teach a men's seminar on prayer, was preparing for the next day's session while his disciples were in the dorm for the night. Moody came into the dorm, knelt by his cot for a moment, and then crawled onto his cot and fell asleep. The next day, one of his attendees challenged him wanting to know why Moody did not spend any more time in prayer than he did. Moody responded, 'because I keep my list of unconfessed sin short.'
It is reasonable to believe that no one except Andreas Lubitz planned to die Tuesday, March 24th, but I call your attention to the increasing proliferation of unexpected, curious and violent deaths, intense weather conditions, personal assaults, terrorist attacks, or out-of-control vehicles that injects an element of anxiety into people's emotional strata. The question I leave with you at the close of this topic is how long is your list of unconfessed sin?
Russian Metrojet Flight 9268 Crash
Two hundred seventeen passengers and seven crew members boarded a chartered AirbusA321-231 airliner at Sharm el-Sheikh International Airport located in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt bound for Pulkovo International Airport in Saint Petersburg, Russia. The plane was owned by Dublin-based AirCan and leased to the Russian Kolavia Airline. The aircraft failed to make contact with Cyprus Air Traffic Control twenty-three minutes after takeoff, raising suspicion. Russian Air Traffic Control confirmed that flight 9268 had disappeared from their radar tracking. Shortly after the crash, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant 's (ISIL) Sinai branch claimed responsibility for downing the plane near the vicinity of the Sinai insurgency that killed all two hundred twenty-four aboard. The possibility of a bomb caused many countries to restrict flights to the Sharm el-Sheikh International Airport. As most of the flights into Egypt carry tourists, flight cancellations left many tourists stranded.
A multi-national team representing Egypt, Ireland, France and Russia gathered to determine the cause. The Egyptian spokesman said the team recovered the 'black boxes', the voice recorder was damaged, but did reveal the sound of an explosion shortly before the recorder broke down. Investigators quickly eliminated both aircraft technical malfunction and pilot error. While a Surface-to-Air Missile (SAM) was possible, it is unlikely because terrorists in the area are not known to have access to Man-Portable Air Defense System (MANPADS), since this class of weapon cannot reach half the altitude of a passenger jet at cruising altitude. This promoted the possibility of an on-board bomb stowed by someone at the Sharm el-Sheikh International Airport. The Flight 9268 crash is the deadliest airline disaster, both in the history of Russian aviation and in Egyptian territory. Furthermore, it is the deadliest crash of an aircraft from the Airbus A320 family and the deadliest airline crash in 2015, surpassing the one hundred fifty-four deaths of the German Wings murder-suicide March 24, 2015 incident.
The two hundred twenty-four who boarded Flight 9268 very likely never suspected to die as they did. Terrorists, regardless of what sect they align with are maniacal mad-men, who yield only to greater opposing power. Their ideology exhorts them to kill to trigger jihad, and if they die in the effort, they mistakenly believe it will be to their glory. It would be interesting to have a video of jihadists' one moment after they die for their cause. When seeking a profound definition for evil, M. Scott Peck's eight-year-old son said, 'evil is live spelled backwards,' and evil is the epitome of terrorism. They have a right to be wrong, and wrong they are. By contrast, life is worth living for the Christian because the Lord Jesus Christ holds the future, and each one of us should be thankful for each moment of protection He gives us.
Boston Bomber Conviction
By review, the annual Boston Marathon is the world's oldest and most celebrated foot race, run each Patriot's Day, the third Monday each May. In terms of interest, it is the second biggest single-day sporting event behind the Super Bowl, and an ideal opportunity for a terror attack. Two bombs exploded near the finish line at 2:50 P.M., killing three and injuring two hundred sixty others. By Thursday of that week, cooperating law enforcement agencies identified two suspects as Tamerlan Tsarnaev and his younger brother Dzhokhar. The Tsarnaev brothers were ethnic Chechens who moved to the United States from Russia more than a decade ago, and were full partners in a plan to punish the U.S. for its wars in Muslim countries.
The duo kidnapped a driver, but later released him and stole his car to flee. Their actions testified of a jihadist mindset, as they executed a Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) police officer sitting in his patrol car. Law enforcement surrounded them and a shootout followed. Police shots wounded both and Tamerlan fell, but his brother escaped in the stolen car, running over Tamerlan and killing him. Dzhokhar avoided capture several times, but law enforcement finally arrested him in a residential subdivision. Boston Police charged Dzhokhar Tsarnaev with thirty counts of conspiracy and use of weapons of mass destruction. The jury of twelve found him guilty on all counts and sentenced him to death by lethal injection, but his date of execution has not been determined yet.
Gyro-Copter Lands On United States Capitol Lawn
The National Capitol building is a popular Washington D. C. tourist attraction, particularly in the spring each year. On Tax-Day, Wednesday, April 15, 2015 visitors milling around the Capitol building grounds heard and watched a gyro-copter approach and land on the west lawn. Somebody with a video device filmed the event, and picked up a bystander comment: 'Oh no! This ain't good.'
The craft landed hard, and Douglas Mark Hughes remained seated in his machine, which confused authorities, not knowing if he was injured or carried explosives he planned to detonate when law enforcement approached him. Police ordered him out with hands raised, arrested him and removed him from the premises. Investigators learned the sixty-one year old pilot was a mail carrier from Ruskin, Florida who claimed he planned the event for a long time, to express his frustration with the need for campaign finance reform.
He had five hundred, thirty-five letters; one addressed to each member of Congress expressing his frustration and need for change. Hughes told investigators he planned this event well in advance and publicized his intent on his website, as well as several news sources, but apparently no one took him seriously. I suppose 'Intel' was on vacation during that time! When interviewed, Hughes said, '"I don't believe that the authorities are going to shoot down a 60-year-old mailman in a flying bicycle,"
In precaution after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack, the United States military positioned a classified number of anti-aircraft missile batteries around Washington D. C., but Hughes gyro-copter was too small and flew too slow to trigger an alert. When asked about this incident, one of the FOX News Contributors commented on governmental awareness of the spectrum of threat America now faces.
He pointed out that Iran claims to have an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) with sufficient range to strike both Israel and the United States, and not only so, but Iran has Russian built submarines off both coasts that could launch a preemptive strike. He claimed our defense systems require seven minutes to respond to an aerial assault, which is adequate for an incoming ICBM from Iran, but inadequate to ward-off a submarine-launched missile. He posed another scenario, where a terrorist could replicate Hughes gyro-copter-stunt carrying an explosive-packed bag rather than letters. Mr. Hughes presented a whole new set of defense challenges for our military.
Mounting Racial Tension
Baltimore Riots
Violence erupted in Baltimore, Maryland protesting the death of a black man from questionable injuries after local law enforcement arrested him. Any death is tragic, and this incident is yet another example of a spirit of division manifesting seditious results. Twenty-five-year-old Freddie Carlos Gray Junior (August 19, 1989 – April 19, 2015) had had numerous previous arrests, and spent time in prison following conviction, indicating he lived by a law unto himself.
Three Baltimore bicycle patrol officers encountered Freddie Gray on Saturday morning, April 12, 2015 in the street near the city's Gilmor Heights' housing project, a neighborhood characterized by high home foreclosures leaving abandoned properties, poverty, drug deals and violent crimes. The Police incident report stated that Freddie Gray ran when he saw the three officers, sending the message he had something to hide, so the officers pursued him on foot and apprehended him without incident.
As standard procedure, the lead officer searched Gray for weapons he could use against them and found a switch-blade knife. The officer arrested him for unlawful possession of a prohibited weapon. Lawyers wrangled that Maryland allows citizens to carry switch-blade knives, but Baltimore City ordinance prohibits them. The defense position is that state law should supersede city law, another attempt to immerse the naïve public in socialism!
Various publicized accounts of following events gave more ammunition to those waging war on law enforcement. Some witnesses claimed arresting police, used excessive force to immobilize Gray, but contrary to testimony, the police video showed Freddie Gray climbing into the back of the police van on his own and unassisted. Once the van doors closed, the story took erratic turns that left Freddie Gray in a coma at the University of Maryland R. Adams Cowley Shock Treatment Center inside an hour from initial police encounter. The admitting physician reported Freddie Gray had severe head wounds, together with spine and vertebrae injuries. Surgeons performed extensive surgery attempting to save Gray's life, but Gray died from total cardiopulmonary arrest April 19, 2015.
While evidence continues to indicate Freddie Gray self-inflicted his head and spine injuries in the back of the police van, the damage-control committee placed the involved officers on leave, charged three of them with manslaughter and another faces a second degree depraved-heart murder charge, and the 'war-on-law-enforcement' spokespeople flocked to the microphones. Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings Blake publically stated that there is no place on the Baltimore Police Department for officers who choose to engage in violence, brutality and racism. In response, Gene Ryan, president of the police union chapter said "Despite the tragic situation, "none of the officers involved are responsible for the death of Mr. Gray."
Blowing the smoke from this malarkey, the projected image is another white-on-black crime, further polarizing racial bigots. The fact remains that three of the six charged officers are black. In short, this is trial by popular, public opinion, fueled by the liberal news media hungry for a repeat of Ferguson, Missouri, and so it became. As if this was not bad enough, the plot thickened and the situation worsened.
Freddie Gray's death attracted nonlocal anarchists, civil rights activists, provocateurs and race hustlers, who capitalized on mob-mentality by stoking racial fires into violent protests, rioting and looting.
This was the same or similar group that swooped into other cities like stink on a feed lot, further dividing America racially, and Baltimore became a war zone. As Baltimore violence escalated, news clips showed a line of police watching protestors damage property, burn vehicles and property and loot businesses, as if they were attending a sporting event.
When questioned about this miscarriage of law enforcement responsibility, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings Blake said, 'It's a very delicate balancing act. Because while we try to make sure that they were protected from the cars and other things that were going on, we also gave those who wished to destroy space to do that as well. And we worked very hard to keep that balance and to put ourselves in the best position to de-escalate.' I hasten to point out that Baltimore has been a Democratically-controlled city for over three decades.
Here we have legal vertigo when the mayor ordered the police not to restrict violence! Any reasonable-thinking individual would understand the mayor's statement as license to do whatever they wanted, and the protestors took advantage this privilege. The neighborhood citizens paid the bulk of the tariff in the currency of their residence and vehicle damage, and their businesses robbed, looted, destroyed and/or burned-out.
By April 25, 2015, agitators had morphed the protestors into a violent mob that marched from City Hall to Inner Harbor, where they pelted police with various projectiles injuring six officers and damaging five police vehicles, while vandalizing, looting and burning local businesses, some of which had been there for generations. Wow, how far our freedom has come!
William Porter was the first of the six suspended and charged officers to come to trial. The Baltimore District Attorney charged him with involuntary manslaughter, second-degree assault, reckless endangerment and misconduct in office. The Baltimore State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby implied in prideful public statements that Porter's conviction was certain, but the overwhelming legal opinion at the start of this fiasco was that the case was weak and should not have been the first one tried. Testimony in this case started December 2, 2015, and the case went to jury deliberation December 14, 2015. Two days passed before the judge declared a mistrial due to a deadlocked jury. This whole spectacle has been a politically-correct spoof from the very outset.
The jury in this case was in a no-win situation unless they returned a deadlocked decision. The racial and political polarization is evident by the gag-order and secrecy of juror identities. The Baltimore legal system is in a dilemma of how to proceed, knowing the racially-charged public is expecting a conviction, whether just or not, while any jury chosen in a retrial will face the same pressure this one did. Here we witness the yield of a Democratically-controlled city for over three decades.
Charleston, South Carolina Church Massacre
Twelve members and a white male visitor gathered at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church for a weekly prayer meeting on Wednesday evening, June 17, 2015. The visitor specifically asked to sit next to Senior Pastor, state senator Clementa C. Pinckney who was leading the meeting. The service move for about an hour without incident until the visitor challenged several Scripture references. Then after the time of prayer commenced, the visitor stood, pulled a Glock 41 .45-caliber handgun from a fanny pack and started shooting, killing nine members including Pastor Pinckney. He purposely spared one woman so she could tell others what happened. Following that comment, the visitor pointed the gun to his own head and pulled the trigger, only to learn he had emptied the clip. With that, he exited the church to a black Hyundai, and left the scene.
Investigators distributed the church's security camera images of the then unknown suspect and escape vehicle to the media. His parents recognize their twenty-one-year-old son on the broadcast and called authorities to identify him as Dylann Storm Roof. Dylann was born in Columbia, South Carolina, but was living in largely African American Eastover at the time of the attack. A woman who watched the report saw the black Hyundai and recognized the driver as the suspect and notified law enforcement. Authorities quickly located the car and took Dylann into custody in Shelby, North Carolina, two hundred forty-five miles from the scene of the crime.
Shelby authorities extradited Dylann back to Charleston, South Carolina, where he confessed to the crime hoping to ignite a race war. The United States Justice Department indicted Roof with thirty-three federal hate crime charges and South Carolina charged him with nine counts of murder.
If convicted, he could face death, or thirty years to life in prison. Investigators found a manifesto detailing his beliefs on race, together with several photos of Roof posing with emblems associated with white supremacy.
The official reaction was shock that someone would enter a place of worship and kill parishioners gathered to study God's Word and pray. This is what the public should expect the official response to be, but what was unexpected was the families of the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church's willingness to forgive Dylann Storm Roof. This response stood light-years above the politically-correct statements from government officials for the Scriptures say…
(13) Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men. (14) Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. (15) Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. (16) Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
Matthew 5:13-16 (KJV)
The Christian is the only bible some people ever read, which suggests that the world stands in need of a revised edition in far too many cases. The Christian preaches a sermon wherever he goes, and sometimes, he even uses words. The people of the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church preached a powerful sermon to a lost and dying world through their willingness to forgive Dylann. They lived out their faith, which glorifies the Lord. I wonder if you would do likewise in a similar situation.
Pictures of Roof holding a Confederate Battle Flag triggered animated debates on its modern display. Since the South seceded from the United States because its economy depended in a large part on slave labor, and the South lost the war, the Confederate Battle Flag has come to rightly or wrongly represent pro-slavery. Attempting to discourage this thinking, South Carolina led in a decision to remove the flag from public display.
The War On Cops
War On Cops' is a politically-correct phrase describing an unorganized offensive against American, uniformed personnel of any ethnicity, or either gender. Media airing of such belligerence fanned the flames on the premise of law enforcement racial discrimination to blacks in 2015, but quickly escalated to clandestine execution-style murder of any, uniformed individuals with seeming disregard for target ethnicity. , and such deaths rise among racially-charged rhetoric. High profile, racially-charged cases from Missouri to Maryland catalyzed criticism from activists; the liberal media and even the White House made sweeping accusations of racism and racial profiling by law enforcement, while vigorously criticizing law enforcement for overstepping their authority.
Such comments leave law enforcement personnel alienated and angry. These protests, rioting and federal investigations make the job of keeping Americans safe far more dangerous than it ever was in the past. In the wake of conviction by popular opinion of officers indicted in these racial cases, Grand Juries return not guilty verdicts of officers charged in these political charades. The collateral damage, intended or not is killing morale among law enforcement personnel and elevating fear in those wearing uniforms.
It is common for humans regardless of their employment choices to overstep their authority. I am not justifying this practice, but simply stating a factor of societal degradation. In the case of white-collar crime, it has become a game and there are very few prosecuted for their activities, and while the few who are prosecuted may be required to pay fines, those affected by these behaviors rarely receive any remuneration.
AMTRACK Derailment
On Tuesday, May 13, 2015, two hundred thirty-eight passengers and five AMTRAK crew boarded Northeast Regional Train 188 in Washington D. C. bound for New York City, New York, a familiar and well-traveled route for most of those on board. The train stopped normally in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and then eleven minutes from this departure, the train derailed at Frankford Junction in Port Richmond at approximately 9:30 P.M., killing seven and injuring two hundred others. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) spokesperson reported the train was traveling one hundred six miles per hour in a fifty mile per hour speed zone when it derailed.
The released conclusion was excessive speed, but no explanation about why. The Apostle James exhorts you about arrogant plans in his general epistle…
(13) Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: (14) Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. (15) For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that. James 4:13-15 (KJV)
New York Prison Inmate Escape And Capture
The curtain rose on an intense twenty-one day drama June 6, 2015, when two convicted murderers escaped from the Dannemora, New York maximum security Clinton Correctional Facility in the northern part of the state. The standard early morning bed-check revealed that Richard Matt and David Sweat were missing. On the order of 'Shawshank Redemption', the two had cut through the prison's two-foot thick walls and escaped through a sewer system. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo called it "a crisis situation for the state", and his offer of a $100,000 reward for tips leading to the capture of the two portrayed the gravity of the situation. News commentators emphasized the need for citizens to be alert and fearful, as the duo was considered dangerous and very likely, armed. New York marshalled two hundred fifty law enforcement personnel with bloodhounds from numerous agencies to lock down the area, beginning with a house-to-house search of the small town where the prison is located.
High profile prisoners, such as these are normally apprehended within twenty-four hours, so by the third day, the search force grew to four hundred. The higher the profile of a prison escapee, the quicker they are normally apprehended, because the public is more prone to report sightings for their own safety.
Investigators concluded early-on that someone inside the prison facilitated the escape and began questioning employees. Joyce Mitchell was already struggling with her involvement, and her guilt prompted her to confess to having purchased tools to cut the escape hole, together with plans to drug her husband so the two could murder him, and then drive them in her vehicle to an undisclosed destination, but consequential fear overwhelmed her and she did not follow-through. Now Joyce Kelly Mitchell faces prison time for her poor judgment.
The geography in northern New York State is rugged, making pursuit much more difficult. The two escapees separated, but pursued their flight in the Adirondack Mountains. Through tips from locals, authorities cornered Richard Matt on Friday, June 26, 2015. Authorities killed him when he refused to drop the shotgun he carried and raise his hands. Authorities pursued David Sweat another two days before shooting him and taking him into custody about one mile from the Canadian border. The prophet Isaiah condemned those who reverse poles of good and evil when he wrote…
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! Isaiah 5:20 (KJV)
You now live in an era when illegal, immoral or illicit conduct is not viewed as wrong unless the perpetrator gets caught, a dangerous norm to adopt in the Lord's economy.
Supreme Court Decision To Legalize Same-Sex Marriage
The Supreme Court ruled five-to-four September 26, 2015 in the Obergefell versus Hodges case that state-level bans on same-sex marriage are unconstitutional, thereby legalizing the act in all fifty states. Cheerleading the victory, John Becker of Silver Spring, Maryland waved a rainbow flag outside the Supreme Court building in Washington D. C.
One does not have to be a homophobe or bigot to realize the blunder magnitude of creating out of thin air, an imaginary right for same-sex individuals to legally marry. This decision will have legal, sociological and spiritual consequences for years to come. The decision will open a floodgate of litigation against any individual, business or organization that refuses to honor same-sex marriage. If same-sex marriage is a legal, civil right, then anyone who opposes it will be guilty of civil rights violation. There are already examples of florists, bakeries and wedding chapels sued, and in some cases, put out of business for refusing to participate in same-sex wedding ceremonies.
Such suits will accelerate exponentially with this legal shift. The follow-on will be civil and governmental action against religious institutions refusing to honor same-sex marriage. During oral arguments for this case on April 28th, Justice Samuel Alito asked the Solicitor General for the Obama administration, Donald Verrilli, if this redefinition of marriage would require religious colleges to offer housing to same-sex couples, or risk losing their tax-exempt status, and Verrilli responded, 'I don't deny this is going to be an issue. I would hasten to mention that this divisive infliction aligns with George Soros' thinking! With this move, America shakes her fist in the Lord's Face saying, 'We don't care what You say about life's most important relationship.
We know better.' In 1983, the Supreme Court upheld a precedent of a lower court that revoked the tax-exempt status of Bob Jones University for prohibiting interracial marriage. Since same-sex marriage is now on par with interracial marriage, what rationale would government have for not revoking tax-exempt status of any organization that refuses to recognize same-sex unions?
To date, American Christians have experienced very little persecution, and because we have failed to oppose perverted conduct, we will now face the dire consequences. Reflecting on reality, the Lord turned America over to sexual impurity in the 1960's according to Romans 1:24, to homosexuality in the 1980's according to Romans 1:26 and to reprobate thinking, or lunacy according to Romans 1:28 in the 1990's. This Supreme Court decision certifies the fulfillment of Romans 1:28 in the United States. Here are the remaining verses of Romans 1…
(29) Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, (30) Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, (31) Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful: (32) Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them. Romans 1:29-32 (KJV)
These verses describe America's societal state, which is a bad position to be in. Many Americans realize our national government is broken, which is why public polling favors Washington-outsiders, but a national shift in representations is no substitute for repentance. America's downgrade has accelerated since the 1940's, regardless of which political party prevailed in Washington D. C., and now internet and social media chatter indicates the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is challenging unmarried homosexuals to press the point by approaching pastors and priests to marry them, against religious convictions. Refusal to do so will open the floodgate of legal suits charging pastors, priests and anyone else refusing to comply with civil rights violations, as well as hate crimes. We can expect the follow-on legal challenge will be to legalize polygamy and beastiality. Although the Greek and Roman Empires imploded on sexual perversion, America remains ambivalent to the cause of their downfall, but the fact remains that those who fail to learn from history are doomed and damned to suffer similar consequences!
The Real American Values Spotlighted
The Center for Medical Progress (CMP) released the first of several shocking videos the national news began airing July 14, 2015. The report included excerpts from a shocking video of a meeting of two CMP activists posing as employees of a biotech company with Deborah Nucatola, Planned Parenthood's Senior Director of Medical Research, to determine which baby body parts are in highest demand, and therefore yield the greatest revenue. Capitol Hill telephones lit up from angry constituents, and Planned Parenthood damage-control teams came to attention. Governmental representatives flocked to microphones proclaiming shock and assuring the public they would look into the matter, which was more stench from the political feedlot. While this news was an unexpected development, look is all they intend to do. There is far too much potential for loss of big money for them to actually activate an end to the matter.
The public anger epicenter was the news that Congress continues to funnel taxpayer dollars to Planned Parenthood under the premise of women's rights and services, while this liberal organization's primary objective is aborting babies to harvest organs they sell for premium prices. The standard liberal deflection and defense is proclamation of all the good these vital organs serve to improve the quality of life for others, while further justifying these horrific acts claiming the aborted babies have no value.
I would remind the reader that the Lord Jesus Christ is the Creator and Sustainer of all that is, which among other attributes, qualifies Him as the Great Physician through Whom all healing comes. The Lord enabled modern medical science remarkable techniques to correct conditions formerly considered incurable, which is nothing short of miraculous. For anyone to think the Lord will honor improved health achieved through the body parts of aborted babies is foolish, at best. Claims that unborn babies are only tissue violate medical evidence that human life begins at conception. These bubbas just do not like being confused with the facts.
Scrutiny of facts revealed that while Planned Parenthood claims to offer a complete gamut of female services, reality testifies that the majority of their clinics refer non-abortion requests for service elsewhere. More importantly, the sale of aborted baby organs is prohibited by law as a felony offense, regardless of who may benefit. Felony crimes equate to prison terms, which would shut down the Planned Parenthood operation, but just like Hillary, Planned Parenthood operates exempt from criminal prosecution. Of equal importance, Planned Parenthood's name suggests they counsel clients about parenting, but that is nothing but a liberal scam.
FOX News aired a poll indicating the spin masters earned their pay. When asked if Congress should continue funding Planned Parenthood, sixty-five percent of the respondents believed that Congressional funding of Planned Parenthood should continue, and continued funding is exactly what Congress maintained in a bipartisan vote, but talking heads indicate that Congress is going to look into the matter. The responses indicate that sixty-five percent of adult Americans place no value on the life of the unborn child. This is a national tragedy! In the meantime, several states did cease Planned Parenthood funding, Texas being one of them.
Concurrent with the Planned Parenthood stories, news aired that a Minnesota dentist killed a relatively tame lion named Cecil on an African safari hunt. American outrage came immediately, federal investigators came to attention and the dentist castigated for this perceived act of cruelty. I am not justifying the death of this lion, but I am appalled at the contrast between national anger over the death of an animal versus national indifference over the deaths of millions of unborn babies to market their vital organs. How would you like it if a governmental authority determined you are eligible to be slain so they could market your body parts? This contrast reminds me once again of Isaiah's warning…
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! Isaiah 5:20 (KJV)
America's moral, social and ethical values are in absolute, total vertigo. We are living out incremental moves toward anarchy, that all started decades ago, when the media began asking their audiences for their opinion on high-profile matters, as if public opinion actually counts. The United States is replete with national, state and local laws that citizens must obey, regardless of our opinion. The civil rights movement of the 1960's was the first organized civil-rights protest that gained national attention, but it was quickly followed by anti-war protests and evolved to demonstrating for just about anything, except what is right!
Stephen Stills wrote 'For What It's Worth. a song the Buffalo Springfield band popularized in the 1960's. One of the lines of that song is 'Mostly say hurray for our side', which has become the overarching theme of contemporary anarchical protests. When the Lord confronted Cain about killing his brother Able, He said, 'thy brother's blood cries unto Me from the ground,' and so it is with aborted babies here in America. Talking heads speak out for a woman's right to decide what to do with her own body, but silent concerning her responsibilities. This is yet another signpost reflecting how far America has fallen socially.
Oil Discovered In Israel
News broke October 7, 2015 of a significant oil reserve discovery beneath the Golan Heights in northern Israel. Researchers are uncertain about the exact quantity or expected quality of the find, but the announcement followed decades of exploration based on…
And of Asher he said, Let Asher be blessed with children; let him be acceptable to his brethren, and let him dip his foot in oil. Deuteronomy 33:24 (KJV)
This verse is part of the prophetic blessing Jacob/Israel pronounced on each of his twelve sons, the namesakes of Israel's tribes. Olives were the prevailing source of oil and income in Moses' day, but petroleum is another matter. Neither Asher, nor his descendants knew the location or nature of Jacob's words until after Joshua divided the land …
(25) And their border was Helkath, and Hali, and Beten, and Achshaph, (26) And Alammelech, and Amad, and Misheal; and reacheth to Carmel westward, and to Shihorlibnath; (27) And turneth toward the sunrising to Bethdagon, and reacheth to Zebulun, and to the valley of Jiphthahel toward the north side of Bethemek, and Neiel, and goeth out to Cabul on the left hand, (28) And Hebron, and Rehob, and Hammon, and Kanah, even unto great Zidon; (29) And then the coast turneth to Ramah, and to the strong city Tyre; and the coast turneth to Hosah; and the outgoings thereof are at the sea from the coast to Achzib: (30) Ummah also, and Aphek, and Rehob: twenty and two cities with their villages. (31) This is the inheritance of the tribe of the children of Asher according to their families, these cities with their villages. Joshua 19:24-31 (KJV)
Olive trees grow abundantly in Israel's soil and climate, therefore providing income from orchards, harvesting and processing fruit into cooking oil, food, lighting fuel, soap and medicines. While the Jews developed several olive-crushing techniques, the original method was manual by bare feet, thereby fulfilling Jacob's blessing. Although golden olive oil does uphold the stipulation, the recent petroleum (black oil) find exemplifies near and far prophetic fulfillment, and the plot thickens…
And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, (2) Son of man, set thy face against Gog, the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him, (3) And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal: (4) And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws, and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords: (5) Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet: (6) Gomer, and all his bands; the house of Togarmah of the north quarters, and all his bands: and many people with thee. (7) Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them. (8) After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them. (9) Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy bands, and many people with thee. (10) Thus saith the Lord GOD; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought: (11) And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates, (12) To take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land. Ezekiel 38:1-12
Gog The name of a ruler or man leading a coalition of nations against Israel.
Magog A coalition of nations, most of which were part of the former Soviet Union including, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and possibly Afghanistan
Rosh People living north of the Black Sea, or modern Russia.
Meshech and Tubal: Parts of the present nation of Turkey.
Persia Modern Iran (Islamic Republic of Iran)
Cush Ethiopia and present Sudan
Put Libya
Gomer Modern Germany and Turkey
Togarmah Phrygia which is part of Turkey in Asia Minor.
Dedan Peoples of the Arabian peninsula (Saudi Arabia, Kuwait)
Merchants of Tarshish:: The market-based economies of Western Europe, Great Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United States.
Assembling the pieces, Vladimir Putin is a wicked power-broker incrementally expanding his empire, and the United States has made no effort to slow him down. He has aligned a contingent of nations united on the platform of anti-Semitism, commonly known as the Muslim Brotherhood. Regarding Ezekiel 38:4, Israel possesses four valuable spoils, aside from a common hatred of the Jews: petroleum, natural gas, Dead Sea minerals and food production. Daniel included an interesting comment in the last chapter of the book that bears his name…
And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book. (2) And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. (3) And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever. (4) But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased. Daniel 12:1-4 (KJV)
The context of Daniel's statement is the end of the age, pointing to these days of pressing schedules and the explosion of knowledge. It should not take much analysis to recognize the accelerating pace of society and the exploding demand for increased education imposed on society. The curious corollary to this is diminishing wisdom and discernment! Harmonized is this generation's privilege of watching prophecy fulfilled before our very eyes, something the Old Testament prophets wondered about, and while there is a growing interest in apocalyptic events by film producers, there is growing apathy in the church. What is wrong with this picture? The Lord Jesus warned about this condition in one of His confrontations with protagonists…
The Pharisees also with the Sadducees came, and tempting desired him that he would shew them a sign from heaven. (2) He answered and said unto them, When it is evening, ye say, It will be fair weather: for the sky is red. (3) And in the morning, It will be foul weather to day: for the sky is red and lowring. O ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times? Matthew 16:1-3 (KJV)
Jesus' audience apparently included experienced meteorologist of that day, who were spiritually insensitive. While many contemporary Bible students see Ezekiel 37 and following as future, the stage is set for this part in the Lord's Redemptive Plan to unfold, so as Middle East tension continues to mount, the Psalmist exhorts you to…
Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love thee. Psalm 122:6 (KJV)
Since the probability that peace will exist in Jerusalem before Jesus, the Messiah returns is slim, this petition is in fact saying 'come quickly, Lord Jesus' (|Revelation 22:20). Curiosity about future events is common but Leviticus 18 warns of tampering in this arena. In addition, the Bible contains four warnings not to alter any Scriptural content (Deuteronomy 4:2, 12:32, Proverbs 30:6 and Revelation 22:18-19), and these warnings come with sobering consequences. With this being said, and considering Jesus' Matthew 16 words, the righteous do have responsibility to awareness of the season you are in. One of the Scriptural comments I would call your attention to is…
The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap. Isaiah 17:1 (KJV)
While Damascus is the oldest continuously-occupied city that has been defeated numerous times, it has never been left uninhabitable, meaning Isaiah's words remain unfulfilled. Bear in mind that Damascus is the capital of Syria and the war-room for terrorist strategy, and not that far from the Golan Heights. Damascus has been the launch-point of terrorist missiles into northern Israel and the target of numerous Israeli sorties. While the Lord could certainly do to Damascus what He did to Sodom and Gomorrah, both Israel and Russia have the will and fire-power to destroy this city and leave the geography uninhabitable, and the tension in that region continues to escalate. Politically-correct pundits view Israel and the Jewish people as a problem that should be eliminated, but in the Lord's economy, there is Israel and then all other nations. Israel and particularly Jerusalem is holy real estate to the Lord. The politically-correct have a right to be wrong, and so they will be shown to be! It is time to be faithful, be strong, be discerning and keep looking up!
May I say boldly that I cannot see into the future, but discernment and the study of Scripture reveal pieces falling into place of a complex prophetic mosaic? The Lord crafted these pieces and is strategically placing them on His schedule, and He exhorts you to be mindful of His divine work!
2016 United States Presidential Campaign
This is one of the most depressing subjects, which is why I addressed it last. Many Americans feel the nation is headed for downfall, without a course correction. Depending on the spokesperson, some blame George W. Bush, others blame Barack Obama, while still others blame the Congress. Most agree that corruption and/or cronyism among career politicians and lobbyists 'inside the Beltway' is a contributing factor, and all of those guys, regardless of gender have fitted themselves with 'golden handcuffs.'. Regardless of where opinions cluster, the United States has been degrading since the close of World War II, and except for Ronald Reagan, this nation has been void of statesmen in leadership for the last century, regardless of which party prevailed. Corruption is evident across the board in Washington D. C. and voter disgust with conservative candidates in the last two presidential elections yielded apathy at the polls, the primary reason political analysts believe the nation elected Barack Obama twice. Another factor is that liberals are committed to, and united in their cause, whereas conservatives vary, vacillate and feel no obligation to get involved in politics. Now, look who holds the short end of the stick!
The Democrats have three potential candidates, Hillary Clinton, Birney Sanders and Martin O'Malley. Martin O'Malley is trailing in the polls and will likely drop out. Birney Sanders seems to be gaining in poll numbers, but he is a confirmed socialist, which seems to be the prevailing direction of the Democratic Party. Despite Hillary Clinton's dismal Secretary of State performance, her pathological deception and the FBI security violation investigation, political analysts believe she will get the nomination. In cold fact, because the Clintons have operated above the law for decades without shame, remorse, regret, no one really believes she will be prosecuted for anything.
The Republicans have a litany of candidates, only three of whom are not Washington- insiders, and they are the ones polls indicate the voters prefer. It has been disgusting to hear the liberal media continually castigate conservatives at every opportunity, and the viewing public will be forced to tolerate this malarkey for another year or more.
Reference the Prophetic Weather Report From Europe on page 11 for background information on George Soros. He first broke the bank of England, damaged governments and economies of several other nations and is the agent who put Barack Obama into the White House and directs his every move. Now there is mounting evidence he owns the Democratic National Convention, many of Republican Congress people, the Supreme Court, America's education system and news media. He is a socialist with an avowed hatred for capitalism! If George Soros has expended this much money and effort for nearly a decade to destroy this country, he cannot afford to let conservatives win the 2016 Presidential election. In the essence of Rahm Emanuel who coined the phrase, 'You never want a serious crisis to go to waste,' I fully expect the Soros-engine to engineer a calamity to keep his socialistic plan on track in the United States. I have no idea yet what that might be, but Americans will just need to watch and remain prepared. Many Americans set their hope on the 2016 election yielding a party change in Washington and a course-correction, but this does not deal with the need for Americans to repent. What is tragic is the void of any prophetic voice like Jonah or John the Baptist.
Donald Trump remains the front-runner Republican candidate, like him or not. Being a Washington-outsider, he has boldly tabled issues that make Washington-insiders shudder, one of which is the need to deal with terrorism. He suggested one solution is to restrict Muslims from coming to the United States. This created a fire-storm of controversy and castigation. When questioned, Donald Trump suggested his approach would be to force all Muslims to register, which only stoked the flames. What came out of that was dialogue about requiring everyone to register their religious affiliation. Christians are already considered intolerant. Substantiating evidence that Christians are hated is the growing number of Christian martyrs. Like it or not, Christians now have targets on our backs much like the Jews have had. Should this move to force religious registration become law, you can expect Christian persecution to escalate quickly. Welcome to the New World Order! Fasten your seatbelts, for we are in for a ride!
Personal Reflection
2015 was a pressing time for me personally. I am still watching two men the Lord used to disciple me deplete physically because of aging, which led to a role-reversal. I wrestled with how to pray for these Godly men the Lord used in my life. Watching them suffer challenged me to align my emotion with the reality of the Lord's Redemptive Plan in view of the curse (Genesis 3), and remind myself regularly that I will see them again, and when I do, they will not be encumbered by fleshly short-comings. Trying to minister to one with progressing Alzheimer's is a challenge I feel ill-equipped to handle, and honoring a prayer-request to ask the Lord to take a friend home is something I never faced before, and found myself relying on the Apostle Paul's exhortation…
Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Romans 8:26 (KJV)
The second verse to this song is how to pray effectively for the incarcerated, as well as their families. I keep reminding myself that there, but for the Lord's grace, walk I. Having not moved much, I struggle with life in a different geography, which drove me to audit my own spiritual condition. When the Lord instructed Abram to leave Ur of the Chaldees for an unknown destination, he did not complain and long for home, but obeyed. The Scripture is silent about how men like Abram, Noah, Jeremiah and John the Baptist dealt emotionally with the Lord's demands. A friend counseled me once when I was sinking in a slew of despond that if I did not get my spiritual act together, I would make another trip around Mount Sinai. His comment served as a checkpoint for my propensity to drift spiritually. I am reminded of I Thessalonians 5:18 and Ephesians 5:20 where the Apostle Paul exhorts me to thanksgiving in, and for all things. In that regard, the Lord provided really nice living accommodations, and enabled me to adjust to the altitude and climate differences without physical complications, which I have experienced before. The Lord led us to a strong church to worship and through the door into strong Christian fellowship, and not only so, but the Lord also opened a number of ministry doors unavailable to me were I not where the Lord moved me. Eric Little wrote, 'Circumstances may appear to wreck our lives and God's Plans, but God is not helpless among the ruins.'
I close with two verses I internalized this year…
For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. II Corinthians 4:16 (KJV)
For the Lord GOD will help me; therefore shall I not be confounded: therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed. Isaiah 50:7 (KJV)
As I watch the country I was born in, degrade in harmony with the world at large, and listen to the proposed solutions, I just shake my head. The bottom line is that when you start calling right wrong and it becomes the politically-correct thing to do, so that the truth can no longer be proclaimed, you know you are in the end of the age and darkness has taken over.
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