Friday, November 9, 2012

The Coming Future [Updated]




We know what is coming, we just don't know exactly when, but it appears to be approaching rapidly. We know what the world will look like during the Tribulation, and it is uncanny how recent events line up with biblical prophecy. We can recall what Jesus said specifically in relation to these last days and the Tribulation:




"For then there will be great distress, unequalled from the beginning of the world until now - and never to be equaled again." (Matthew 24:21)


And very early in the Tribulation, we can see the what the financial collapse and a new round of wars will bring:


"A quart of wheat for a day's wages, and three quarts of barley for a day's wages..."  (Revelation 6:6 - in other words, a full day of work will only buy a day's worth of food. That is a financial collapse to the extreme)


And bypassing much of the detailed,  massive carnage that the Tribulation will bring, we can point to scriptures which provide brief summaries:


"The rest of mankind that were not killed by these plagues still did not repent of the work of their hands; they did not stop worshiping demons, and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone and wood - idols that cannot see or hear or walk. Nor did they repent of their murders, their magic arts, or their sexual immorality or their thefts." (Revelation 9:20)


"Then I saw another angel...he had the eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on earth - to every nation, tribe, language and people. He said in a loud voice, 'Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come.'" (Revelation 14:6-7)




And how do most of the people of earth respond, once they recognize what is really happening during the Tribulation? (hint: it is similar to the way people are reacting now to God - before the Tribulation strikes):


"Men gnawed their tongues in agony and cursed the God of heaven because of their pains and sores, but they refused to repent of what they had done." (Revelation 16:11)




And this ties in to what we are seeing today - as described by the apostle Paul - which is amazingly accurate. It is worth reading several times, and consider these scriptures in the context of the recent elections and the general mind-set that we see today. It would almost seem that the first paragraph applies to so many people today and the second paragraph seems to apply to the modern day politicians as well:




Godlessness in the last days:


"But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the  good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God - having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them.

They are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over weak-willed women, who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires, always learning but never able to acknowledge the truth. Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed the truth - men of depraved minds, who as far as the faith is concerned, are rejected. But they will not get far because, as in the case of those men, their folly will be clear to everyone."   (2 Timothy 3:1-9)



Unfortunately, the massive failures of today's politicians won't become readily apparent until the very depths of their policies are reached during the Tribulation. 



With that as a backdrop we can see today's news and how tightly it fits into biblical prophecy and reveals what is coming soon (for the non-U.S. readers, I hate to be "U.S. centric", but unfortunately, once economic collapse occurs in the U.S. it will also take the world economy down with it):






The mind-numbing re-election of President Obama in the wake of trillions of dollars in new debt created by the man is the death knell for fiscal responsibility in the United States of America. Only under Obama does Big Government not only think it can spend money more wisely than the businesses and workers from which it confiscates wealth; it also believes government is so wise and arrogant that it can confidently spend trillions of dollars today which have yet to be confiscated from taxpayers in the future!
This belief in economic time travel is the fairytale fantasy of the self-congratulatory Washington tax-and-spend elite whose cognitive superiority should be self-evident, they insist, by the mere fact that they have graduate degrees from Harvard and Yale. But if these genius decision makers are so smart, you might wonder, why have all the economic problems of America only gotten worse over the last four years?
As Lew Rockwell correctly points out, the secret desire of all government parallels that of a cancer tumor: To grow to infinite size, to commandeer all available resources, and to take over the landscape until nothing is left standing other than itself. If anyone anywhere is still making a decision without the boundaries and nannyspeak of Big Government telling them what to do, then the work of Big Government expansion is never quite finished, it seems.



How can the following happen in a government-run utopia?




And this will be coming to your neighborhood soon, as the U.S. hasn't been able to drill for oil or produce any refineries. Contrary to popular opinion, little energy fairies don't come out at night and sprinkle magic energy dust to supply our needs:


With long gas lines persisting more than a week after Superstorm Sandy, New York imposed a gasoline rationing plan Thursday that lets motorists fill up every other day.Police will be at gas stations Friday morning to enforce the new system in New York City and on Long Island. Gas will be available to drivers with license-plate numbers ending in an odd number or a letter on Friday. On Saturday, drivers with license plates that end in even numbers of zero can fuel up."It'll be bad. How am I going to get my jobs done?" said Parris Hancock, a driver for a Manhattan catering company who makes deliveries from morning to night. "I'll have to get up at 4 a.m. and just keep going back for gas and waiting in long lines."Officials said something had to be done to ease the long waits for fuel, which they say has caused panic-buying and hoarding.Cuomo said he understands the panic, seen in lines blocks long for gas across New York City."The system is coming together slowly," he said.




Another 'read it and weep article'


Do elections have consequences? If you have been paying attention to the financial markets, you might think so. Wall Street has had two horrible days since President Obama won a second term.However, stock prices are not the only thing taking a hit. It appears that the job market is also suffering. In the last 48 hours, the following major corporations have announced layoffs in America (links take you to news stories about the layoffs – with details from the companies):









Who is voting for these policies?


This one is in the category of 'watch it and weep':




A three block line weaved through a quaint neighborhood in South Boston, each person waiting to cast their vote at the polling place inside the Benjamin Franklin Institute of Technology.  This is an austere, historic and heavily liberal section of Boston (generously assuming there are some non-liberal parts of Boston).  
Their answers were largely couched in generalities, warm pockets of feel-good social “rights” issues, that sounded line-and-verse like Obama campaign talking points.
“Women’s rights”, “gay marriage”, “planned parenthood”, “social welfare” rang out time and time again.  The economic issues Mitt Romney hammered on were nowhere to be found — these voters were participating in an alternate election, one based on the social issues hand-crafted by team Obama.  Without any specifics, but in full faith, these young voters stood, ready to cast their sacred ballots for the incumbent.


And this related article/video:





A group of college students chanted “Karl Marx” and “socialism” while celebrating President Obama’s electoral victory in front of the White House late Tuesday night, a video shot by Campus Reform reveals.
The raucous group of students chanted “Karl Marx, Karl Marx, Karl Marx,” and cited abortion, socialism, and “Obama phones” as reasons for their support of President Obama’s second term.  






There is more to this article, but the paragraph below pretty much sums it up:


Communist Party USA leader Sam Webb, has hailed the election of Party “friend” Barack Obama, as the “dawn of a new era.”
The Party is cock-a-hoop over Obama’s victory, seeing it as both a repudiation of the conservative agenda and an opportunity to move the United States further towards socialism.



A bleak future awaits, but we knew this was coming. This is most certainly a worthwhile read and below are just a few random quotes:




In future, our elections will be like those in Britain or New York. We will be presented with a choice between a statist liberal and an out-there uber-liberal. And with the uber-liberal enjoying the full backing of the media and Hollywood, it’ll by no means be an easy win for the ordinary Mike Bloomberg or David Cameron-style liberal, who will be portrayed as a heartless plutocrat if he happens to come from money, or as a hopeless rube if he happens to come from nowhere.

I didn’t expect this would ever happen to my country, and certainly not so fast, but we are now a decadent European social welfare state, sure to be accompanied by European levels of economic stagnation, taxation, welfare rolls, unemployment and perpetually misallocated resources such as subsidies to favored companies. Military irrelevance will soon follow as the staggering costs of the cradle-to-grave socialist state grow exponentially. Iran will soon have nuclear capability, to be followed in short order by its Middle Eastern neighbors, folllowed shortly by widespread proliferation of nuclear arms to terrorist groups.
I do not think Americans fully educated by the media on the pros and cons would have voted to turn into declinist Britain (where even working class people pay 40 percent income tax and where thanks in part to hidden value-added taxes everything costs double what it does here, except gasoline which costs triple). But Americans have chosen to allow themselves to be fooled by irrelevant chatter about caring or birth control or the DREAM act or gay marriage or “investing in our children” or whatever shibboleths were necessary to cover up the fact that we’re taking in $2.5 trillion while spending $3.6 trillion, with millions of Baby Boomers set to retire and all forms of entitlement spending set to skyrocket. The president has said repeatedly that middle class taxes won’t have to go up to pay for all this government, but even at the level of government we have today, this is a gigantic lie. And today’s government is tiny compared to what it’ll be in a decade.







So, I was as wrong as it’s possible to be. Hideously, egregiously, spectacularly wrong. Apparently, we aren’t a center-right nation any more. We will re-elect a president with the worst economic record since the Great Depression.


I made the mistake of being optimistic. I see that now. But not anymore. Pessimism, cynicism and sarcasm are really the only rational responses to the country that we’ve turned into. There will be no sudden resurgence of liberty. No diminution of government. No "Atlas Shrugged" moment, where the clear light of reason dawns on the electorate. We’ve become a country where a critical mass has latched onto a single demand for government: "Pay for all the things!"So be it. In any democratic system, the people get the government they deserve, because it’s the government they’ve chosen. Fine. I say let the Democrats have everything they want. Higher taxes? Great. No problem. Hike ‘em up however you want. Universal health care? Fine by me. Massive defense cuts? Let’s start tomorrow. Continued debt expansion? Go for it.


At this point, I guess the only way to let the people see how bankrupt the Leftist ideal is, is to give them their fill of it. We’re headed in that direction anyway, why slow it up by occasional, gentle taps on the brakes? It’s gonna happen inevitably. The country I was born in is long gone. The country that’s taken its place is headed down the path to failure, and I find I no longer care much for it anyway.

If I’m going to be relegated to simply playing Cassandra, then let’s go the whole Trojan route. Let them burn it down.




Not that anyone is listening (this one may have been posted before; if so it is worth re-posting):



On Wednesday, the Rev. Franklin Graham, son of famed evangelical leader Billy Graham, was candid about his fears for America’s future. After celebrating his father’s 94th birthday, Grahamissued some apocalyptic-esque warnings to the American electorate.
“Unless we’re willing to repent for our sins, we will stand in [God's] judgment,” he proclaimed. “I want to warn America: God is coming around. He will judge sin, and it won’t be pretty.”
Graham also proclaimed that America may be risking God’s blessings, seeing as the Lord purportedly “brings bedlam when countries turn their back on him.” The faith leader warned that the Almighty may “withdraw his hand of protection.”





Not that it really matters at this point:



Did the suppression or lack of voter ID laws aid President Obama’s victory over Mitt Romney?
Obama did not win a single state that requires photo IDs to vote, although he was victorious in four states that require non-photo identification – Washington, Colorado, Ohio and Virginia. Those states accept as legitimate identification current utility bills, bank statements and paychecks.
Obama won several closely contested states that do not require any voter identification, including Minnesota, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Iowa, Wisconsin and Nevada.
The states that Obama lost that do require photo identification do not traditionally vote Republican. Tennessee, for example, voted Democrat in the 1972, 1992 and 1996 presidential elections. Georgia, which also requires photo ID, voted Democrat in the 1976, 1980 and 1992 presidential elections.
In Colorado, where non-photo identification is accepted, a review by RedState.com showed irregular voting patterns, finding that 10 counties had a total registration ranging between 104 to 140 percent of the respective populations.
WND previously reported a radical group that has a history of biased research provided data utilized in both cases that blocked the new voter ID laws.
The Brennan Center for Justice, heavily funded by billionaire activist George Soros, has been at the center of providing data claiming voter ID laws will disenfranchise minorities.




Alea iacta est:  'The Die Is Case'


I say - lets just bring it on quickly. Our fate and our future comes at the time of the 'gathering up'. Bring it - I'm ready. 


And just as the prophecies are incredibly accurate in these last days - we cannot forget other, more important prophecies concerning our fate - a fate which seems ready to be fulfilled at any second:



"For the Lord will himself come down from heaven with a loud command, with the voice of an archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever." (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17)


Amen and maranatha!



29 comments:

  1. ChristineInClevelandNovember 9, 2012 at 10:09 AM

    AMEN, SCOTT... AMEN!!!

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  2. It's that last part, the Rapture, that makes all of the other things headed our way tolerable, even welcome in a strange way.

    I love this country, but I love Jesus Christ more (ten thousand times more). As watchmen, we have two tasks: to look and recognize the signs and to warn of what's coming. Now's the time to get into high gear and allow God to work through us to call unbelievers to Him.

    Looking up indeed.

    God bless.

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  3. I sit homeschooling my 8 yr old grandson and wonder about his future. Thankfully he believes in God and his spiritual future looks bright.

    Great work Scott. I appreciate the hard work you do keeping us informed.

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  4. Scott, I would like to say that I find your web site very interesting and when I can, I check it every day. I appreciate your time and research.

    There is one thing that bothers me. I am a Bible Believer which means, I am not a believer in many Bibles. For they say different things in the same language and can not all be right. The word of God needs to be exact or it is just a matter of which one we like. I know that you know that human nature causes us to choose
    the easy wide road. Of course you know the Bible I am talking about is the King James AV 1611. I am sure their are others like me that look at your site and are bothered by the other versions used.

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  5. was once told that, if men would see the plagues during tribulation, they will repent and believe (tribulation saints). the above post prove this to be the opposite.

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  6. The Observations link above is short, sweet, and a must read. Yup, bring it on....let them have the full measure of what they voted for and then be done with it and move on and pick up the pieces.

    Course, we suspect there will be no moving on....this is to be the unique one and we won't be here to participate or help put the pieces together.

    No worries, Mate. They'll have the Superstar, Mr. Fix It!

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  7. Yup, I wanna read the bible just as Jesus spoke it! In the kings english of 1611!!? ThankYouLord for the availability of modern texts and versions of your word that are as much, or more accurate than the King Jimmy, to the original greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic texts!!! Love this blog!!! Great work brother Scott!!!

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  8. Ya know, up until the past week I felt certain we would have 7-10 days to get ready after we saw the first warning signs of collapse. No longer!

    Get prepared, and stay that way....just stay that way. It could all go down in one day or less now. Complete financial gridlock and collapse.

    The more optomistic estimate was from experts but based on the assumption that it would not be by design of our national leader. The Idiot-n-Chief is going to do it intentionally....well, intentionally or by stupidity, this house of cards only needs one or two key cards yanked out to come down in a matter of hours.

    Get ready folk, the liberals are going to get precisely and exactly what they have been begging for.

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  9. Caver,
    Please elaborate... I always enjoy your comments- but this one has me perplexed. What would cause things to change in a day or two?
    Ann Marie

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  10. Thank you Caver! Info is power. I am almost ready! Maranantha!

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  11. Thank you for the kind words. Gotta run right now, will be back later and try to give a bit of an explanation.

    The markets are jittery now, Romney was going to be a bit of reassurance...we would get it worked out...that's gone now from the astute international markets.

    Gotta run right now...will be back.

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  12. hey everyone, can someone tell me where in the Bible it talks about in the last days that nothing will make sense anymore, or how everything seems upside down? thanks

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  13. Hi Mary! Are you thinking of Isaiah 5:20? John 3:19-21 is good, too!

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  14. Hi Vic, I'm not an expert but from my experience with the same concerns I would recommend that you 1. Don't get hung up on this issue as it will keep you from moving ahead in your walk and growth with God. The reason being is because your always wondering if your what your reading is the truth and that can have disastrous consequences on your trusting the Bible as a whole.
    2. Ask God to show you which version he wants you to read. About 18 years ago I was in this dilema and I just asked God to show me which is the best translation for me and before I knew it I had a New Living Translation in my hands. You know what it spoke to me and I've had and loved that bible since.
    3. The word of God is perfect but in my opinion not the versions. Heresy you cry, please bear with me. I doubt we will ever be able to read a bible exactly the way it was written in the original languages as there just simply aren't exacting words in the English language to parallel or match the original.
    4. As I said in number 2, you must ask God to show which version is for you as He made you and knows what works for you. You are an original and are created so your maker, He knows.
    5. If your American I am betting you can't afford to get hung up on this issue. You will probably have to start devoting yourself to serious prayer and fasting, seeking Gods face for His guidance and provision in these terrible days of the wonderful coming of Christ.

    So my friend please please please find yourself a modern translation or one that speaks to you ie jumps off the page and opens the understanding of your mind, giving you the assurance that God has just spoken to you. You don't know how long Bibles will be legal over there so please go to your Heavenly Father and ask Him now.
    It's very far away that banning home groups are coming to my nation of Australia, don't worry it's coming I believe that.

    Dave

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  15. Hi Alice,
    Yes, Isaiah is the passage I was thinking about. thanks

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  16. Dave and Vic,
    I would like to join in here if I may. I too struggled with which version. I have tried them all and keep them all.
    I like to read different versions, but my real understanding and joy comes from the NLT also. I so look forward to reading and studying. I agree, if you force yourself to read a version you do not understand, are you going to read it? or give up.
    thats my 2 cents.

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  17. Hi Miss Ann Marie,
    OK, am back from the running around so will take a stab at it off the top of me head.

    A little background. The vast majority of money exist in digital forms, not dollar bills. IN fact, the supply of actual paper money is in short supply. Starting about 6 months ago, it began to be hard to actually walk into many banks and say I want to empty out my account and I want cash. Sometimes the bank took over 24 hours just to get 10K together. Some actually try to prevent you from actually getting cash.

    So, with that said...anything that induces a run on the bank is going to result in shut doors. These days, that is a wide range of potential causes and minor low scale bank runs been happening for several months now, as folk quietly try to get from all to 1 to 3 to 6 months of their cash out "just in case".

    Two things have long been considered the trigger to look for, each expected to give 7-10 days warning before it reaches our shores. One is the default and collapse of one of the weaker EU countries, such as Greece.

    The other is the raising of US interest rates...once it starts its a complete reversal of policy and the implications and snowball effect roll over and flatten (close) many things in short order.

    Several scenarios and even videos have been showing up in alternative media and investment blogs and advisory letters lately...more and more, with differing scenarios and the speed with which they are expected to move. In this digital age and with so many banks leveraged to the hilt in derivatives, its truly frightening.

    Think about a few scenarios....
    1. One country, say China, start dumping US Treasury bonds on the market.
    2. Iran close the shipping lanes for oil and gas.
    3. One major bank default on its derivatives (don't forget, the US Banking industry has derivative exposure to the tune of over 17 times the WORLD GDP at the most conservative estimate. These things are starting to collapse)
    4. The world is starting to unhook from the US dollar as the reserve currency...there are any number of ways this could mess us up big time overnight but its one of the least likely scenarios.
    5. Successful or partial successful EMP attack.
    6. Hackers get serious access to financial computer networks and either jumble the records or start transferring money overseas.
    7. JP Morgan is manipulating the silver market to keep the inflation rate hidden and interest rates low. Others are doing the same with gold. All with apparent government approval. Just like any ponzi scheme, their ability to do this is getting less and less....and it's expected to run out sometime in the next year. As folk (including major banks) are being caught without the gold or silver they have been paid to store for clients or to purchase and store for clients, they are having to pay more and more for replacement gold and silver to make good on what they were supposed to already have. There is not enough in existence to cover what has been sold...its just not there. This could cause all kinds of problems....check out the stories of Germany trying to physically inspect the gold they have been paying the Federal Deposit bank to store for them for years now....its been six months and they still can't even see it.

    The list goes on...

    Hope that helped just a Tid bit.:)

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  18. Oh, and a link if someone wants to read it.....not very good, but just another of the ever growing voices chiming in....this is not well written or documented, just handy.

    http://www.economicnoise.com/2012/11/06/the-one-hour-meltdown/

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  19. Hey Vic,Mary,

    You are well founded on your concerns on Bible translations. Google WyCliffe Bible Translators, and Rick Warren and you will see why.

    I actually have digital photo's of The Dead Sea Scrolls, and I can't read or understand them either, and I'm guessing they were somewhat original. My advice is get what speaks to you. Get multiple translations, that way you will probably get a better understanding from each of them as they may reveal something to you in a different way. I also have a study aid called "What The Bible is all About" Bible Handbook, by Dr. Henrietta C Mears. it gives clear concise overviews of every book of the bible.

    Be wary, there have been companies as named above along with preachers named above that have conspired and met and re wrote the Bible to make it more appealing to muslims, gay and lesbians and so on.....hope this helps

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  20. Dear Ones, Just weighing in too onthe translation discussion.
    I became a believer st age 8 and the nmeth church we attended gave . I remeber memorizing from it.. ( Eventhis week when I felt afraid over the elections.. fret not thyself because of the wicked.. Because of the Holy Spirirt I actually understood as a child , a version that certainly didn't come in the vernacular of Atlanta . I 4eas given a Lining bible at 16 from a dear lady at a church my sister and I found where someone really preached. It was like freshair but I held it more loosely. Most of my life I have studied from either the new Amer standard version or Niv1984. One reason I am speaking into this is because of a great tool I use ALOT. Bible gate.com has many versions. I cn put in a passage and view it in the many translations. I love the one with strongs helps to click on for the greek or hebrew words and meanings.It is not as helpful as the old Lexicons but still good. '
    The vriety of versions isnot as different as one might suppose.
    Buthe otherday I was using a passage for some correspondence. One of my friends, helping me in thinkiung about an iussue sent the same passage in a different version and I was stunned at how differentlky it read and it actually left out te meaning I had originally seen. Comparing the cersions as you study really is helpful. Biblegate,com God Bless you1
    KR

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  21. Sorry about the typos above. I don't know how I managed to erase part of a sentence. The first version was King James.
    kr

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  22. I do the same by looking at different versions and since I'm lazy I have a few parallel bibles handy but gateway is also a good way to look at the different translations.

    I use NIV study bible - mainly because I got to the point that I had so many notes etc in it I couldn't change.

    Its funny because I do most of my presentations in NIV and there are some churches that are King James only and I have to go back and change all the scriptures back to KJV...I wait for those words as we correspond about a presentation "...ummmm did you know that we're King James only?".....:)

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  23. Thanks Waterer and Scott for weighing in on this subject.
    I am familiar with Bible Gateway and use it fairly often.I agree that sometimes they read very differently.

    Scott, on a side note. Sometimes those 2 words we have to type at the end are almost impossible to figure out. I have tried sometimes 4 or 5 times. If we remain on your "good behavior":) list, could we have a pass?
    sometimes I wonder if there are posters who simply cannot take part because they cannot figure out the code. just thinking.

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  24. I use biblegetaway.com too. I compare the different versions and don't really stick with one in particular all the time.

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  25. Mary

    I've heard that complaint before and I have experienced it myself (if I am at a remote location etc).

    I will consider it again - but the problem is - without it the amount of spam that I have to deal with is incredible - unbelievable actually. Then I have to moderate because there is porn spam too and other 'undesirable' spam I don't want here (IOW, if I remove the letters you have to reproduce, then the spam gets through and the only way to then block it is to moderate and thats really time consuming)

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  26. Scott,
    I didn't realize all that was involved. Don't put yourself through any more trouble by considering it again. You have enough to do and we all sure appreciate it. Sometimes I think that maybe if by the fourth time of trying God does not want me to post that?!
    many thanks, and God bless!

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  27. Mary,

    Maybe this will help. I have started refreshing it until I get one that I can read pretty easily.
    If you look on the right of where you type the words, there is a circular arrow and I just keep hitting it until one comes up that I can understand.

    Blessings,

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  28. Helen - thats exactly what I do. We can thank the spammers out there. I should go a few days w/o blocking it just so you guys can see the unbelievable amount of spam that comes through - its like an avalanche!

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  29. Helen,
    thanks for the tip. Do you young people have as much trouble that we "older" folks do?:):)

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