Monday, September 30, 2019

7.2 Quake Hits Chile: 7th Major Quake In 6 Days






A shallow, powerful earthquake of magnitude 7.2 struck off Chile’s coast on Sunday, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) said. A tsunami is not expected, said the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center. The quake was centred 83 miles (134 km) west of Talca at a depth of 6.1 miles, the USGS said.

The major quakes keep on coming, this evening's quake is the 7th major quake in just 6 days. Coronal activity and geomagnetic storms which have coincided with a burst of seismic and volcanic activity this week concluding in G1-class storms impacting the earth's magnetosphere, these storms are now subsiding. The coronal activity on the Sun and the geomagnetic storms have coincided with a flurry of major quakes and volcanic activity to impact our planet in the last few days

tonight's quake was the 10th major quake (mag 6+) of September and the 110th of 2019, which is only one less than the entire year total of 2017.


5.6 Quake Hits Canary Islands


M5.6 earthquake hits off El Hierro, Canary Islands


A M5.6 earthquake hit 180km (112 miles) east of El Hierro, the smallest and youngest island of the Canary Islands, on September 26, 2019.

The tremors were recorded as far as Tenerife, more than 400kms (250 miles) away from the epicenter. According to specialists, the next magma intrusion begins at El Hierro volcano.


As show in the map below, the strong M5.6 earthquake was recorded on several seismometers as fa as Tenerife, more than 250 miles away from the epicenter.




earthquake el hierro recorded by seismometers across Canary Islands


Data show El Hierro was first hit by an earthquake swarm that began on September 25, 2019.



Earthquake swarm El Hierro, Canary Islands on September 25-26, 2019



This swarm announces the next intrusion of magma at El Hierro, according to specialists. The last few intrusions degassed below sea level after rocking the entire edifice as the magma gradually made its way to the surface from its origin below the bay where the original volcano slumped to the ocean floor millennia ago.
Meanwhile, El Tiede volcano in Tnerife has been hit by an earthquake swarm about 10 days ago.














Hong Kong Braces For Violence On Chinese Anniversary


Hong Kong braces for 'violent attack' on sensitive Chinese anniversary: police


 Hong Kong authorities are preparing for a day of chaos on the city’s streets on Tuesday, the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, and metro stations and malls will close ahead of protests that they fear could turn violent.

There will be a “very serious violent attack,” the chief superintendent of the police’s public relations branch, Tse Chun-chung, told a news conference on Monday. “We are on the verge of extreme danger.”

Police said they arrested a total of 157 people, including 67 students, after a chaotic weekend in which tear gas and water cannon were fired at protesters who set fires and threw petrol bombs. Eight police officers were injured, they said.

Authorities are eager to avoid scenes that could embarrass the central government in Beijing on the eve of the anniversary after months of sometimes violent pro-democracy protests. Police said several major roads will be closed on Tuesday near the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, where a flag-raising ceremony is scheduled to take place.

Authorities on Monday rejected a permit for a march planned for Tuesday from Victoria Park in the bustling tourist district of Causeway Bay to Chater Road, next to government headquarters, on security grounds. Demonstrations are expected across Hong Kong regardless.

Admiralty, Wan Chai, and Prince Edward metro stations will be closed, Mass Transit Railway (MTR) said on Monday. The airport-bound express train will only stop at the central Hong Kong station, and only people with air tickets will be allowed entry to the terminal.






Chinese President Xi Jinping vowed Monday to uphold Hong Kong's special status on the eve of a huge military parade in Beijing that risks being upstaged by more protests in the semi-autonomous city.
Some 15,000 soldiers will march across Tiananmen Square and the latest military technology will be displayed as part of the 70th anniversary celebrations, a patriotic show of strength to demonstrate the country's emergence as a global superpower.
But while Beijing is preparing for huge celebrations, pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong threaten to steal the spotlight, with authorities in the financial hub Monday warning of increased violence by "rioters".





Last month, Beijing moved thousands of troops across the border into this restive city. They came in on trucks and armored cars, by bus and by ship.
The state news agency Xinhua described the operation as a routine "rotation" of the low-key force China has kept in Hong Kong since the city's handover from Britain in 1997. No mention was made of the anti-government protests that have been shaking the metropolis since June.
It was a plausible report: China has maintained a steady level of force in the territory for years, regularly swapping troops in and out. And days earlier, according to an audio recording obtained by Reuters, embattled Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam had told local businesspeople that China had "absolutely no plan" to order the army to put down the demonstrations.

A month on, Asian and Western envoys in Hong Kong say they are certain the late-August deployment was not a rotation at all, but a reinforcement. Seven envoys who spoke to Reuters said they didn't detect any significant number of existing forces in Hong Kong returning to the mainland in the days before or after the announcement.
Three of the envoys said the contingent of Chinese military personnel in Hong Kong had more than doubled in size since the protests began. They estimated the number of military personnel is now between 10,000 and 12,000, up from 3,000 to 5,000 in the months before the reinforcement.

As a result, the envoys believe, China has now assembled its largest-ever active force of People's Liberation Army (PLA) troops and other anti-riot personnel and equipment in Hong Kong.

Significantly, five of the diplomats say, the build-up includes elements of the People's Armed Police (PAP), a mainland paramilitary anti-riot and internal security force under a separate command from the PLA. While Reuters was unable to determine the size of the PAP contingent, envoys say the bulk of the troops in Hong Kong are from the PLA.










'It's Supposed To Be This Way'

Are You at a Breaking Point?

If not for my belief in the rapture, I would have reached a breaking point long, long ago. As it is, I sometimes feel anger boiling up within me as I see entertainers celebrating abortions, the evil that intensifies each and every day, and the greed and hatred rampant in our world.

Apart from the promises of Scripture, I would throw my hands up in despair as I watch a sadly deluded world embracing the evils of socialism as the solution to all its problems. When has totalitarianism ever solved a problem?

I also know many believers have reached a breaking point due to illness, grief, and affliction. Pain touches the lives of so many followers of Jesus.

I have no easy answers for those who feel as though they have reached a breaking point, but I know the truths of God’s Word are able to calm our hearts and reassure our minds regardless of what confronts us today.

1. IT’S SUPPOSED TO BE THIS WAY IN THE LAST DAYS

When it seems as though I am about to whither under the burdens of the day, I remember what the Bible says about the last days. In short, the Bible long ago predicted it would be this way in the last days.
Paul’s words in 2 Timothy 3:1-5 describe our world today with its treachery, brutality, harsh exchanges on social media, and loss of self-control.

Jesus told us conditions before His return will be like the “days of Noah” as well as the time of Lot (Luke 17:26-29). In both cases, exceeding wickedness continued to grow worse with no end in sight.
Revelation 12:12 warns of Satan’s increased activity in the last days as he knows his time is short. I believe this not only refers to our adversary’s activity in the world, but also his stepped up attacks on God’s children.
I know it’s not easy for those of us who feel the breath of the devil’s fury. But rest assured that God sees our pain and frustration, His relief is on the way, and He is much more powerful than the one who seeks to destroy us (1 Pet. 5:8; 1 John 4:4).

2. THE LORD WILL JUDGE THE UNGODLY

Scripture also assures us God will judge the wickedness of this world. Those who refuse to repent of their sins will someday pay a severe penalty for their rejection of the Savior both here on the earth and in eternity.
I recently read Psalm 10 and sensed anew its relevance for today. The Psalmist’s question in verse 1 is one we often find ourselves asking today, “Why, O Lord, do you stand far away? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?”

He answers his own question in verses 14-15 assuring us that the Lord does “see” and that He will “break the arm of the wicked and evildoer; call his wickedness to account till you find none.” 
The Lord’s response to the wickedness and deception we see in the world is on the way. Count on it. He will judge the wickedness that confronts us every day.

The Lord sees. His relief for our affliction may not arrive as soon as we would like or wish, but rest assured Jesus’ will intervene in our lives just as He surely will in this Christ-rejecting world.

3. OUR ULTIMATE HOPE RESTS IN JESUS’ APPEARING

In the meantime, our focus must remain heavenward because it’s from there “we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him to subject all things to himself” (Phil 3:20-21).

Our ultimate hope does not rest in the improving of our circumstances and it certainly does not reside in a fallen world where evil continues to increase exponentially (although it’s already far beyond what I thought I would see in the last days before the rapture).
Our definitive expectation comes from the Lord’s promises to take us to His Father’s house in heaven, to a place He is preparing for us (John 14:2-3). After we arrive safely in heaven with our Savior, God will pour out His wrath on an unsuspecting world as described in Revelation 6-19 and in Isaiah 13:9-13.
In spite of what we see in a world corrupted by Satan for his evil purposes, we know the Lord’s fierce judgment on an unbelieving world is rapidly approaching. We see the signs of this everywhere we look.
In spite of what we experience in a fallen and harsh world, we hold on to our certain hope that Jesus not only knows all about our grief, but is coming to take us into His loving arms and keep us safe during the time of trouble coming upon the world (Rev. 3:10).

4. JESUS WILL REIGN IN RIGHTEOUSNESS

In addition to the rapture, we look forward to Jesus’ righteous rule over all creation that begins with what we refer to today as the millennium; this is the time our Savior reigns over the world that once rejected Him (Psalm 2:7-12; Zechariah 14:9-27).

The biblical descriptions of this thousand year reign of Christ tell us that sin will remain on the earth during this time; it will be a period of testing for mankind (Rev. 20:1-10; Zech. 14:16-19).
How does Jesus’ future reign as king over all the nations encourage us? First, the Bible also says that as believers we are “fellow heirs with Christ” (Rom. 8:17). As such, we will share in Jesus’ inheritance of the nations as He reigns over them (Rev. 5:9-10; 20:4). We will reign with Him.
Second, we have this wonderful promise in Revelation 21:4, “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

Ultimately, we look forward to a time when sin death will no longer exist and Jesus Himself will lovingly wipe away all tears and remove all our pain and sorrow.

5. WE WALK BY FAITH

Our hope consists of things we cannot see with our natural eyes. We currently do not see the Lord’s judgment on the rampant wickedness of our day. We recognize the biblical signs of the last days, but it requires a look of faith to hold on to our hope of Jesus’ appearing and our heavenward excursion through the clouds.

In 2 Corinthians 5:4-5, Paul writes of our hope in the rapture, “For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened—not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.”

Notice how the apostle continues as he describes our lives as we anticipate the reception of our new bodies, “So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Cor. 5:6-7).
We walk by faith, not by sight.

The Bible tells us that wickedness will grow exceedingly strong in the last days, but also reveals the Lord’s harsh judgment of an unbelieving world. Scripture warns us of Satan’s increased activities in the last days, but also assures us of His deliverance of us from this world.
God’s Word does not promise us immediate relief from our afflictions or a quick judgment on the evil around us. It does, however, guarantee a joyous future in eternity full of joy, happiness, and pleasure for those who know the Lord as their Savior.

While we may be at a breaking point from what we see in the world or experience as a result of this fallen world, we walk by faith in anticipation of a much better day. Our eternity with Jesus could start in the next moment, later today, next week, a year from now, or at a later time. We cannot know the exact timing of His return in this the season of His appearing.
But we do know Jesus sees all we see (and much, much more), loves us more than we can imagine, and is now preparing a place for us in His Father’s house (John 14:2-3).
Until then we walk by faith relying on the Lord to give us courage in these last days.



Dissident Group Claims To Have Proof Of Iran's Involvement In Saudi Oil Attacks





Iran’s main resistance group claimed Monday to have intelligence detailing how Tehran was behind the recent attacks on a Saudi oil facility -- just days after Iranian President Hassan Rouhani challenged the international community to provide such evidence of its involvement.
The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) said it has received information from within the government that detailed the missile and drone attacks on Saudi oil facilities on Sept. 14.
It announced its claims in a report, along with an accompanying press conference in Washington, D.C. The report says that the attack was ordered on July 31 by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, with both Rouhani and Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif present.
The group says the information is based on MEK (Mujahedin-e Khalq) sources from within the regime and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). MEK is part of the NCRI.
“The regime is counting on inaction of the international community in its aggression,” the report says. “As long as this regime exists, it will not cease its aggression.”
The U.K., France and Germany joined the U.S. last week in blaming Iran for the attacks, a win for President Trump as he seeks to rally other nations to endorse its “maximum pressure” campaign and demonstrate that Iran is a rogue regime.
"All nations have a duty to act, no responsible government should subsidize Iran's bloodlust," he said in his speech to the U.N. General Assembly last week.

5 Quakes Hit Missouri In One-Hour Period

5 earthquakes rattle southeastern Missouri in hour, experts say 




An area of southeast Missouri experienced five earthquakes in less than hour Monday morning, experts say. 

It started with a 2.6 magnitude temblor around 11:18 a.m. near Lilbourn, a small city just north of Missouri’s boot heel, according to the United States Geological Survey. A mere three minutes later, a 1.1 magnitude quake rumbled nearby. 

Just before 11:30 a.m., a 2.7 magnitude quake rattled southwest of Lilbourn followed by a 1.8 magnitude quake only five minutes later, the USGS says. 

It would be 23 minutes before the next quake, another magnitude 2.7, shook an area just west of Lilbourn, the USGS says.




Ezekiel 38/39 Looms: Iran Now Says Israel 'Must Be Wiped Off The Map...An Achievable Goal


Iran Guards chief: Destroying Israel now not a dream but an 'achievable goal'



The commander of Iran’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said on Monday that destroying Israel was now an “achievable goal.”
Four decades on from Iran’s Islamic revolution, “we have managed to obtain the capacity to destroy the impostor Zionist regime,” Major General Hossein Salami was quoted saying by the IRGC’s Sepah news site.
“This sinister regime must be wiped off the map and this is no longer … a dream [but] it is an achievable goal,” Salami said.
The remarks were made at a biannual meeting in Tehran for commanders of the IRGC amid rising tensions between Iran and the US and its allies.

Salami’s comments were given prominent coverage by the Tasnim and Fars news agencies, close to ultra-conservative political factions.

The official IRNA agency also carried his remarks, but placed more emphasis on his assertion that Iran was growing stronger and would finally beat its foes despite “hostility” toward it.

Salami’s comments Monday came two days after Abbas Nilforoushan, the deputy commander of operations of the IRGC, threatened that if Israel attacks Iran, it will have to collect “bits and pieces” of Tel Aviv from the Mediterranean Sea.

“Iran has encircled Israel from all four sides. Nothing will be left of Israel,” said Nilforoushan in an interview with the Iranian news agency Tasnim on Saturday. “Israel is not in a position to threaten Iran,” he said according to a translation published by Radio Farda, the Iranian branch of the US government-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

Nilforoushan also boasted of Iran’s “deep and long-range [missile] assault capability” and said Tehran has the means to make this capability operations.

“We will not let the enemies to face us at our borders. We will quickly drag the war to the bases and interests of the enemies anywhere they may happen to be,” he warned.



Persecution And Presbyterian Church USA's Obsession With Israel


Christian Persecution and Presbyterian Church USA's Obsession with Israel




Jeremy Hunt, the British Foreign secretary, has recently commissioned a report on the persecution of Christians, most acutely occurring in the Muslim World, and especially in the Arab/Muslim Middle East.
Addressing an audience at the Foreign Office in London on July 8, 2019, along with Bishop Philip (Rt. Rev.) Mounstephen, (Bishop of Truro) who helped prepare the report, Hunt pointed out that, “The number of countries where Christians suffer because of their faith rose from 128 in 2015 to 144 a year later. In the Middle East, the very survival of Christianity as a living religion is in doubt. A century ago, 20% of the region’s people were Christians: today the figure is below 5%.” Jeremy Hunt added, “Perhaps because of a misguided political correctness – or an instinctive reluctance to talk about religion – British governments have not always grappled with this problem.”

Bishop Mounstephen’s concluded that, “Religious persecution and discrimination, political failures, the rise of Muslim extremists, and the lack of legally protected freedom of religion or belief have all contributed in shaping the status of Christians in the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region. Based on Pew Researchfindings, Christians remain the most vulnerable of religious groups in the Middle East. Though the decline of Christians from the Middle East started in the early 20th century, during the past decade, on the evidence cited above, millions of Christians have been uprooted from their homes, and many have been killed, kidnapped, imprisoned and discriminated against.” 


Specific cases include Palestinian and Saudi hate education against Christians and Jews. The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) issued a study of Saudi school textbooks in March, 2018. The findings confirmed that they have been teaching pupils religious hatred and intolerance toward non-Muslims “including references to anti-Christians and anti-Jewish bigotry. Similarly, Palestinian textbooks are notoriously anti-Semitic, and triumphalist. 


Contrasting the positive treatment of Christians in Israel with that in Muslim states in the Middle East, such Iran and Turkey, reveal a sad reality. Arrest, detention and imprisonment are common in Iran. For example, in the course of six days before Christmas, 2018, 114 Christians were arrested in Iran with court cases still left pending, apparently as a form of intimidation. Though most cases in Iran involve converts, indigenous Christians such as Pastor Victor, an Assyrian Christian, with his wife Shamiran Issavi and their son, have also been targeted and imprisoned.


Yet, despite the above record compiled by Anglican Bishop Philip Mounstephen, it is Jewish Israel and not Muslim nations such as Iran, Turkey, or the Arab states (including Palestinians Arabs) that is being set up for boycotts, divestments, and sanctions, as well as other anti-Israel measures, by the mainline Protestant denominations, and especially the Presbyterian Church USA (PCUSA).  

The PCUSA is a shadow of its former glory. The church membership has declined from 2.5 million members in 2000 to 1.4 million in 2018, and the number is still falling. The Pew Research Study found that of the current membership, 38% of the church is 65-years old and older, 30% are 50-64, 24% are 30-49, and only 8% are 18-29 years old. In short, the PCUSA is an aging organization, and the young are going elsewhere.

At its 2018 General Assembly (GA), the PCUSA resolutions echo those of Israel’s enemies in statements such as calling for “the right of return of Palestinian refugees,” which is plainly a formula for the destruction of the Jewish state through demographics.


Another resolution called for the deployment of an “International Peacekeeping Force,” a measure that would deny Israel its right of self-defense against Palestinian terrorists. Still another resolution “urges the U.S. to end the occupation of Palestinian territories now.” This is a false premise to begin with. UN resolution 242 did not apply to, nor recognized an entity called Palestine. Hence, the phrase “Palestinian territories” is a total canard. Had the Palestinian leadership accepted the many offers for the partition of Palestine in 1937 (Peel Commission) or the 1947 UN Partition Plan, or even the Clinton (U.S. President) parameters of July, 2000, there would have been a Palestinian state.



Olmert’s (Israeli Prime Minister) in 2008, offered Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas a most generous solution, but it was likewise rejected. The Palestinians have habitually refused a compromised solution. Thus, a Two-State solution never materialized, and therefore, no “Palestinian territories.” Instead of choosing statehood, the Palestinians preferred terror, and a zero-sum deal, namely, “all for them and nothing for the Jews.”


The Presbyterian Church (USA) Assembly passed eight resolutions against Israel and called it an “apartheid state.” Rabbi Noam Marans (American Jewish Committee Interreligious Director) asserted that, “For many years and in myriad ways, the PCUSA has gone beyond legitimate criticism of Israel and embraced demonization of the Jewish state.”





The End From The Beginning


The End from the Beginning

By Jack Kinsella



The Book of Daniel is among the most controversial books in the Bible, dividing scholars over whether it was actually written by the Prophet Daniel or if it was a late forgery.
In the third-century a heretic named Porphyry declared Daniel was written by Judas Macabeus around the time of Antiochus Epiphanes, around 170-163 BC — about four hundred years after Daniel.
The main reason for rejecting Daniel is his incredibly accurate prophecy regarding the four world empires that were to come.
It takes a dedicated critic to deny Daniel’s authorship. Daniel predicted the rise of Alexander the Great and his Greek empire, which defeated and replaced the Persian Empire in 334 BC.
Under Alexander, all subjects of his empire had to use Greek as their working language.
In obedience to that law, a group of rabbis and Jewish sages undertook to translate the Jewish Scriptures into Greek. Their final work, the Septuagint, translated in the 3rd century BC, and well before Macabeus, included the Book of Daniel.
There are lots of other examples that shatter the contention that Daniel is a forgery, but the most compelling evidence favoring Daniel’s authenticity is Christianity. Sir Isaac Newton argued that Christianity itself rests on Daniel’s authenticity.
Why? Because of the testimony of Matthew 24:15 and Mark 13:14. The Lord Jesus Christ referred to the Book of Daniel and He called Daniel a Prophet. If Daniel was a forgery or a mythical character, then Jesus didn’t know that.
If Jesus didn’t know that, then He could not have been the Son of God. If Jesus was not the Son of God, then He was not qualified to pay your sin debt, your faith is in vain and you remain yet dead in your sins.
It is therefore not possible to reject the historicity and authenticity of Daniel without necessarily rejecting the entire Bible, including the New Testament. Which is, of course, the position taken by Daniel’s critics.
But apart from the obvious problems already articulated, there is one more logic problem associated with dating Daniel to the Maccabean Period. Even if that could explain Daniel’s incredible accuracy in predicting the fall of Babylon and the rise and fall of the Persian and Greek Empires, the Roman Empire was yet future.
Daniel had more to say about the rise and fall and rise again of the Roman Empire than he did of any other world empire — and even late-dating Daniel doesn’t explain the prophetic accuracy of the book that bears his name. In 170-163 BC, Judea was under Greek, not Roman rule.
The Roman Republic had not yet become the Roman Empire when Daniel’s critics claim the Book of Daniel was written. So even if it was written by Judas Maccabeus, (it wasn’t) the critics are still left scratching their heads, since even with the later date, most of Daniel’s prophecy was yet future.
It is a ridiculous, desperate effort by those who just can’t accept the supernatural explanation to find one that they can — even if their preferred explanation is even less defensible.
To accept Daniel at face value is to admit that God exists, since if Daniel is the actual author of the Book, then no other possible explanation makes sense.

Assessment

“…For I am God and there is none like Me, Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure:” (Isaiah 46:9-10)
In Daniel’s day, Rome was not yet even a republic, let alone an empire. The city of Rome was founded by Romulus at just about the same time that Daniel was interpreting King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream.
The king had dreamed a dream that he couldn’t remember, but it greatly troubled him. Eventually, Daniel was summoned to both reveal what the dream was and interpret it.
The king dreamed of a statue, or image of a man with a head of gold, chest and arms of silver, belly and thighs of brass, two legs of iron and ten toes of iron mixed with clay.
THIS is the dream that confounds Daniel’s critics. By the time of the Maccabean Period, the empire of Babylon had already been defeated by Persia, which had been already defeated by Greece, which was already beginning to show signs of crumbling.
The two legs of iron, signifying Rome, were still future. By the fourth century, the Roman Empire grew too large to be administered from Rome and so the Empire was divided into the Western, Roman Empire and the Eastern Byzantine Empire, with its capital at Constantinople.
Rome was conquered by the barbarians in 476 AD. Rome’s political destruction was complete – a deadly wound directly to one of the heads of the empire, fulfilling the Apostle John’s prediction of a deadly head wound:
“And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.” (Revelation 13:3)
The Prophet Daniel predicts that the final form of the revived Roman Empire will be a confederation of ten kingdoms that were part of the two legs of iron. With the revival of the Roman Empire, that deadly wound is healed.
“And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.” (Revelation 13:12)
It is at this point that interpreters and Bible critics and Bible teachers and students of Bible prophecy branch out into all kinds of areas. Some are convinced the deadly wound signifies a failed assassination attempt against the antichrist.
Others focus their attention on the identity of the first beast, or the system overseen by the second beast, or are mesmerized by the concept of the Mark of the Beast and how it will be administered.
All these things are unknown and, I believe, unknowable, until the time appointed.
And all the speculation, (since it is all different and things that are different cannot be the same), throws out the baby with the bath water, can’t see the forest for the trees, is missing a piece of the puzzle, is out wandering in the desert, not to mention all the other metaphors I can’t think of.
If you back up to the point before the speculation begins, THAT is where the real meat is to be found.
At the time the Prophet Daniel was telling Nebuchadnezzar that the as-yet future Roman Empire would remain a force until it is abolished by Jesus Christ in the final hours of human government, an unwashed peasant named Romulus was founding a settlement along the Tiber River, declaring himself king.
Twenty-six hundred years after Daniel and sixteen hundred years after the barbarians entered the gates of Rome, the European Union declared itself the revival of the Roman Empire.
Whether it currently consists of ten nations or twenty-seven at this particular point in history is largely irrelevant. History is still unfolding. In the end, it will be fulfilled precisely as prophesied.
Isaiah 46:10 teaches us that prophecy starts at the end and works back to the beginning.
In 1948, for the first time since Nebuchadnezzar captured Jerusalem (and Daniel) the nation of Israel was revived and restored to the same piece of real estate from which they had been ejected by the Romans in AD 70.
For a nation of antiquity to be conquered, scattered and then restored in such a manner had no equal in history. But this event was more than an historical first — it was the direct and unambiguous fulfillment of Bible prophecy for the last days.
At the exact same point in history, the six nations of the Benelux formed a cooperative economic union that marked the beginning of the revival of the Roman Empire. The revival of an historical empire such as we’ve witnessed in our generation is also an event without equal in the annals of history.
To assume both events happened at exactly the same point in history — by coincidence — takes a faith greater than I can muster up.
The world is in a state of chaos and confusion unlike anything in living memory — for the first time in the history of mankind, mankind faces an existential threat of extinction at his own hand.
Uncertainty and fear color every waking moment as we wonder if our world will look the same in the morning as it did when we went to bed the night before.
Our systems and infrastructure are in shambles, people are rioting in the streets, the economy is in the tank and everywhere one turns, they are talking about a New World Order.
There is no need to speculate. Just look at what is out there in the open.
If you know Jesus Christ (and He knows you) than what is unfolding in our world is proof positive that the world is wrong, God is not dead, Jesus Christ remains on the throne and remains intimately involved in the affairs of men.
“Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.” (John 14:1-3)
Everything is unfolding according to Plan and what remains unfulfilled will be fulfilled in this generation just as literally as those that have already been fulfilled. So we have nothing to fear.
“Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid…And now I have told you before it come to pass, that, when it is come to pass, ye might believe.” (John 14:27,29)
It IS coming to pass. And I believe.
Marantha!

Jews, Gentiles, And The Church

Jews, Gentiles, and the Church

By Dave Hunt




Before the cross of Christ, mankind was divided into two groups: Jews and Gentiles. The Old and New Testaments both make very clear what caused this distinction. It was the covenants God had made with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and with their descendants through Moses. These covenants were for Israel alone and separated her from all other nations on the face of the earth, making God’s “chosen people” absolutely unique. Israel was segregated from other peoples by the Mosaic law and by her special relationship with the One who calls Himself “the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob” (Lev 20:24,26, etc.).
The important distinction between Jews and Gentiles is maintained consistently throughout the Bible: “…so shall we be separated, I and thy people, from all the people that are upon the face of the earth” (Ex 33:16); “…for I the Lord am holy, and have severed you from other people that ye should be mine” (Lev 20:26); “And what one nation in the earth is like thy people Israel, whom God went to redeem to be his…own people for ever” (1 Chr 17:21-22); “…ye [Gentiles] were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God…” (Eph 2:12).
After the Cross a new entity came into existence—the church that Jesus Christ promised He would build (Mt 16:18). As a result, there are now three divisions of mankind: Jews, Gentiles and the church. Paul tells us that we are to “Give none offence, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the church of God” (1 Cor 10:32). It is absolutely essential to understand that these three groups exist side by side in today’s world, to distinguish between them, and to recognize that God deals with each differently.







Pope Frances Supports/Recommends Essay Trashing U.S. Conservative Christians


Pope Endorses Essay Trashing U.S. Conservative Christians



On Thursday, La Civiltà Cattolica journal released the transcript of a meeting between Pope Francis and a group of 24 Jesuits on September 5, 2019, during his recent trip to Mozambique in which the pope suggested that certain Evangelical Protestants in the United States “cannot really be defined as Christian.”
“Two important articles in Civiltà Cattolica have been published in this regard. I recommend them to you. They were written by Father Spadaro and the Argentinean Presbyterian pastor, Marcelo Figueroa. The first article spoke of the ‘ecumenism of hatred.’ The second was on the ‘theology of prosperity,’” the pontiff said.
“Reading them you will see that there are sects that cannot really be defined as Christian. They preach Christ, yes, but their message is not Christian,” the pope said. “It has nothing to do with the preaching of a Lutheran or any other serious evangelical Christianity.”
In the first essay recommended by the pope, the authors, who are both friends of Francis, slammed conservative Christians in the U.S. as ignorant, theocratic, Manichean, war-mongering fanatics.
For the “Evangelical right,” the authors proposed, the panorama of threats to the American way of life “have included modernist spirits, the black civil rights movement, the hippy movement, communism, feminist movements and so on. And now in our day there are the migrants and the Muslims.”
The authors did not hesitate to suggest that many Evangelicals are southern racists who reject climate change.
“Another interesting aspect is the relationship with creation of these religious groups that are composed mainly of whites from the deep American South,” the article stated. “There is a sort of ‘anesthetic’ with regard to ecological disasters and problems generated by climate change. They profess ‘dominionism’ and consider ecologists as people who are against the Christian faith.”
At the time of its publication, the article triggered an avalanche of critical responses denouncing the ignorance and political ill-will underlying the essay.
Philadelphia Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, for instance, wrote a sharp criticism of the essay, saying that the authors were guilty of “dumbing down and inadequately presenting the nature of Catholic/evangelical cooperation on religious freedom and other key issues.”

In his critique of the article, Dr. Samuel Gregg called the article “disturbing,” while lamenting the tacit anti-Americanism and “distinctly amateur grasp of American religious history.”

The published criticisms of the original article by serious scholars, both Christian and secular, ended up being so numerous they could fill a book. The article was eventually dismissed as simply an embarrassing attempt at political propaganda by overly zealous Italian and Argentinian clerics who were completely out of their depth.

Which could lead one to wonder what Pope Francis could possibly be thinking when he dredges up this ill-begotten essay out of the swamp of oblivion to recommend it as a useful aid for understanding America’s complex religious landscape.








Rouhani Has Exposed the Futility of European Diplomacy



  • The reality of the delusional approach adopted by Mr Macron and other European leaders was, though, brutally exposed the moment Mr Rouhani arrived in New York. Instead of showing any sign of seeking to repair Tehran's strained relationship with the West and its allies, he instead indulged in an orgy of self-justification in which he sought to portray his country as an innocent victim of Western aggression rather than accepting, as is really the case, that Iran was the primary instigator of the latest escalation in tensions.

  • "The security of our region shall be provided when American troops pull out." — Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, UN General Assembly, September 25, 2019.

  • This will have made for uncomfortable listening for all those European leaders who still believe that the best way to resolve the global crisis with Iran is by trying to save the nuclear deal.

  • The reality is that, so long as Tehran remains committed to its hostile stance towards the West, there is little prospect of having a constructive relationship with Iran.


    The utter futility of European attempts to keep faith with the flawed Iranian nuclear deal has been brutally exposed in the wake of the uncompromising approach adopted by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani during the United Nations General Assembly.

    In the build-up to the UN's annual jamboree of global networkers, there had been much speculation that, against a background of mounting tensions in the Gulf over Tehran's aggressive conduct, the forum might provide an opportunity to re-establish a dialogue with the ayatollahs.

    To this end French President Emmanuel Macron has, in particular, been actively trying to broker a diplomatic rapprochement between Tehran and Washington, to the extent it was even suggested that a bilateral meeting might be possible between US President Donald Trump and Mr Rouhani.

    The reality of the delusional approach adopted by Mr Macron and other European leaders was, though, brutally exposed the moment Mr Rouhani arrived in New York. Instead of showing any sign of seeking to repair Tehran's strained relationship with the West and its allies, he instead indulged in an orgy of self-justification in which he sought to portray his country as an innocent victim of Western aggression rather than accepting, as is really the case, that Iran was the primary instigator of the latest escalation in tensions.


    The prime target of his attack was, unsurprisingly, the US, which he accused of engaging in "merciless economic terrorism" following the Trump administration's decision to withdraw from the 2015 nuclear deal and impose a new round of economic sanctions against Tehran.

    Washington's policies, Mr Rouhani contended, were designed to "deprive Iran from participating in the global economy" by resorting to tactics that amounted to "international piracy."


    In short, the tone of Mr Rouhani's address to the UN was that of a politician who wants to maintain his confrontational stance against the West, rather than of a man who genuinely seeks peace.
    This will have made for uncomfortable listening for all those European leaders who still believe that the best way to resolve the global crisis with Iran is by trying to save the nuclear deal.
    The reality is that, so long as Tehran remains committed to its hostile stance towards the West, there is little prospect of having a constructive relationship with Iran.