The Fix Is In (II)

One of the most surprising aspects of biblical prophecy for our age, has been the influence of the U.S. administration on many of the birth pain signs that we see around us. The instability in the Middle East, the decline in U.S. influence around the world, the decline of the U.S. dollar (which will ultimately pave the way for a world currency and financial system), the isolation of Israel, particularly regarding the Iranian situation, and the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood in the region along with so many of Israel's enemies - just to name a few examples. The U.S. has been a major factor in the development of events which will lead into the Tribulation and possibly, through the instability in the Middle East, the coming wars which have been discussed so many times before. 

Today's news underscores these themes - beginning with this expected agreement with Iran:

Bushehr Builder Kiriyenko Is Live Wire In Obama-Khamenei Backdoor Dialogue. Putin Gives Impetus

[You can say what you want about Debka, but on this issue, they have been right thus far, abd a few days ahead of the media. We'll see if the same applies with this article]

Sergei Kiriyenko, director of the Russian Atomic Agency Rosatom and the builder of Iran’s first nuclear reactor at Bushehr, is one of the live wires behind the secret deal on Iran’s nuclear program worked out between the White House in Washington, the Kremlin in Moscow and the Tehran office of Iran’s leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. 

Kiryenko, one of Putin’s most trusted adviser on nuclear affairs, divided his time in July and August between Tehran, Moscow and the southern Iranian town of Bushehr. There, he set up a team of Farsi-speaking Russian nuclear scientists for start-ups of joint Russian-Iranian nuclear projects.

According to our sources, President Putin drafted this team into the project for drawing up, under Kiriyenko’s guidance, the text of a nuclear accord for Tehran and Washington to sign.

This text was to be modeled on the US-Russian accord for the elimination of Syria’s chemical weapons that Secretary of State John Kerry and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov concluded in Geneva on Sept. 14.

A tight veil of secrecy has been drawn by Washington, Moscow, Damascus and Tehran over the two Russian teams for Syria and Iran and their mode of operation.

The general framework of the document was drafted by Presidents Barack Obama and Putin and passed to Kiriyenko and his team. They broke it down into segments or topics and analyzed them one by one against the current state of Iran’s nuclear program. The paper was then put before the Iranian experts and developed, section by section, into an agreed Russian-Iranian text.

After the two presidents saw eye to eye, the text was referred to Secretary Kerry and Foreign Minister Lavrov, to be couched in formal language as accords. Buts of those documents will be put on the negotiating table as agreed proposals when the Six Powers and Iran meet in Geneva on Oct. 15.

Markell: Cutting Aid To Egypt Smells Like Support For Muslim Brotherhood

The head of a messianic Jewish ministry says she is not surprised that President Obama wants to punish Egypt's military leadership for deposing Muslim Brotherhood president Mohammad Morsi.  

Markell, who heads Olive Tree Ministries, says the Egyptian leadership wants to restore the economy in that country and restore the safety of Coptic Christians there.
The State Department insists that the decision, announced Wednesday, isn't permanent and says the assistance could be restored if "credible progress" is made toward setting up an inclusive government.
Officials didn't say publicly how much aid is being held back.
Last summer, a military coup overthrew the elected but unpopular government of President Mohammed Morsi and called for elections early next year.
However, political turmoil and violence continue in the country.

"It makes no sense whatsoever except that we have to conclude that our White House and State Department seem to be in love with terrorist regimes, which is what the Muslim Brotherhood and Morsi represent,” Markell tells OneNewsNow.

The God Who Actually Does Know What You're Going Through

[Not really related to prophecy, but it is always a good reminder that Jesus suffered far more and endured far more than we ever will. He knows exactly what we are experiencing at all times]

My friend Adam is a wise guy. Not in a, "A rabbi, a priest, and a vegan walk into a bar," sort of way, but in a Proverbs, real life street wisdom sort of way. He is a residence director at our local university which means he works with college students every day. He deals with students in trouble, students in the dumps, students on academic probation, students on drugs, students who have been assaulted, and students who are on the verge of dropping out of college. In other words, he deals with kids who are pretty vulnerable. Kids who have really been slapped around by life.

When interacting with vulnerable kids Adam could easily resort to saying, “I know what you’re going through.” After all, that’s what we say when someone is in a tough spot. We try to relate their experience to our experience. We try to sympathize with them. To comfort them out of our own experience. To let them know they’re not alone. To make them feel loved. And that impulse to comfort others is a good impulse. But Adam doesn’t always do that. Why? Because he knows that in most cases he doesn’t really know what a person is going through. He may be able to relate to some circumstances but he can’t really know what a person is going through. That is wisdom.

The reality is, when someone is suffering we don’t know what they’re going through. Even if we have experienced similar circumstances as a person who is suffering we don’t process the world the way they do. And we don’t have the same personal history, biological makeup, or support system. When someone is going through the meat grinder we can only know a tiny portion of what they are really experiencing.

Our limited ability to know the suffering of others is what makes 2 Corinthians 7:6 so precious. It says, “But God, who comforts the downcast…”

Jesus knows us fully. He knows our strengths and weaknesses, our family history, our biological makeup, our worldview. He knows every nook and cranny of us. He knows us better than we know ourselves. And he also knows suffering on an intense, personal level. Jesus’ knowledge of suffering is not abstract, ivory tower, textbook knowledge. Jesus was a man of sorrows. He was mocked, betrayed, and humiliated. As he hung on the cross he was cut off from the Father. Jesus knew excruciating, overwhelming, crushing sorrow.

The combination of Jesus’ omniscience and personal experience with deep suffering perfectly equip him to comfort us in our own suffering. He really does know what we’re going through, and he is ready to comfort us when we are downcast. He doesn’t leave us to muddle and slog through suffering on our own. He doesn’t tell us to suck it up, buck up, and get up. He meets us in our downcast state and pours out grace upon us.

Suffering tempts us to withdraw from God when in reality we should press hard into God. Are you downcast? Are you suffering? Do you feel like you’ve been chewed up and spit out? Do you feel like butter scraped over too much bread? Draw near to the God who comforts the downcast. Draw near to the God who knows you exactly and knows exactly what you need. Draw near in your weakness and weariness and ready to call it quits-ness.

God has a special place in his heart for the downcast. Move toward that place.