Posts for: ziggy88
Oct 10, 2022 11:49:24 #
(Main)
Modern World History Told by the Bible – Part I
By Wilfred Hahn
Researched by Pastor Gary Boyd
Oct. 9th 2022
Readers will no doubt feel harangued, and perhaps confused, by the heated conditions of global politics of late. Yes, of course, geopolitics has always existed, to a greater or lesser extent. However, it would be correct to say that internationalism has exploded over the past century and a half.
To be sure, globalism has been a “growth industry.” What we mean by that is, the focus and activities involving geopolitics and international affairs have expanded enormously. Today, there exist NGOs (non-governmental organizations) beyond count that specialize in international affairs of some type or another. Of course, such pro-globalist organizations as the United Nations and others have deep roots …some having been on the front lines of global affairs for a century and more.
Today, there are many university faculties specializing in international affairs and offering “international studies” degrees. Also reflective of these pro-global trends is the burgeoning number of publications (journals and books, etc.) on this and related topics. Mankind has arrived with a self-assured sense of humanity.
“All the world’s a stage,” to borrow a phrase from Shakespeare’s As You Like It. All the nations are known to each other, meeting in various forums, discussing global policies. Global policy forums have surely arrived, just as the Bible prophesied.
When Balaam prophesied over Israel (when they were still traveling through the desert), he said: “From the rocky peaks I see them [Israel], from the heights I view them. I see a people who live apart and do not consider themselves one of the nations” (Numbers 23:9). The prophet foreknew that a consortium of nations (the entire world) will be apart from and opposed to Israel.
Global Geopolitics Foreknown
Did you know that the Bible lays down a chronology of global geopolitics that extends right to the modern history of our day? What is most remarkable is that this human history is laid out in advance (displaying a foreknowing of mankind’s choices and independence). This will not be obvious to the casual Bible reader. Rather, it is one of those topics where study yields great treasures and gems.
We have always found Bible-based geopolitics a fascinating topic. Also, it always generates the most feedback. Anticipating these many questions, we therefore plan a four-part series.
No doubt of interest to readers is that this timeline holds implications for America, even though this country is not identified directly by name in the Bible. We will return to this fascinating question at the conclusion of this study of Biblical geopolitics. If we correctly interpret the Scriptures and its visions on these matters, some conclusions will be revealed about America’s future.
To carry out our study, however, we must do so only on the Bible’s terms. We will only be emphasizing the main Biblical timelines. Of course, it would not be harmful to corroborate the secular history books against what the Bible says. But not the other way around. As such, we will not draw upon the many secular history works … not even such illustrious tomes such as Will and Ariel Durant’s 11-volume The Story of Civilization. It will stay on the bookshelf, as it does not recognize the main Hebrew-centric timeline of world geopolitics, spanning some three-and-a-half millennia.
The Starting Point of God’s Story About Mankind
We must first ask: just why is there such a thing as history to begin with? If history does exist, then there must also exist a narrative. Therefore, before we venture too deep into our study, it is best to first establish a foundational narrative. Where does it all start?
Naturally, it started with Adam!
There have been a number of dispensations that God allowed through time. We will only briefly mention some of these stages (as there is also much debate on these points).
Adam was born sinless and originally had a direct relationship with God. Then the “Great Fall” occurred. Adam and Eve were evicted from Eden. Eventually, in short order (approximately 1600 years after Adam was created), humanity became so wicked that God allowed a flood in order to “reset” His relationship with mankind.
After the great, Flood-induced “reset,” it becomes more interesting. Human lifespans began to shorten significantly for those born after the Flood. Up to the time of the Flood, the average lifespan was 930 years, according to the Bible. Then, thereafter, a “longevity” collapse ensued. This had a major consequence in the post-Flood era. All the patriarchs that would have known Noah and heard verbal history from him directly, or from others who knew him, died off over a very short period of about 200 years in length. Eleven generations died within this two-century time period.
Consider the impact upon Abraham. Over his lifespan, eight generations of his ancestors died. Imagine that over your lifespan, eight generations—great, great, great grandfathers and uncles, etc. passed away. Abraham himself only lived to an age of 175 years, that being 20% of the pre-Flood longevity average.
There were disastrous repercussions, as the godly influence of earlier generations was left behind. Mankind quickly fell back to godlessness and sin. Only little more than a century after Noah died, at the age of 950 years (which occurred 350 years after the Great Flood), Nimrod was already busy pursuing humanist endeavors: building the Tower of Babel and promoting urbanization.
God needed to disperse the citizens of Babel, who were intent to make a “name for [themselves]” (Genesis 11:4). As such, the plans of Nimrod were thwarted for a time. God mixed up their languages.
As mentioned, with Noah gone as well as those who might have directly known him, there soon again was a great falling away to humanism and godlessness. Less than 500 or so years after the Great Flood, mankind was quickly returning to wickedness. What to do? God had promised never to flood the world again (a sign of this promise being the rainbow). So, what could be done?
Jehovah decided to call out a people for Himself, one that would be a light to the world and help keep the name of the Lord glorified upon earth. He called out of the world His servant Israel (Isaiah 44). He first selected Abram, a man of faith, thereby calling out a people named the Hebrews to be a light unto the world. They were to be separate.
Salvation comes from the Jews (John 4:22), and Christ’s final kingdom on earth will be the completion of King David’s throne, the royal line and Scepter of Judah. This final kingdom will rule the whole earth—not just Israel, but the entire world from Chile to China. The kingdom of God will be on earth for one thousand years. The last kingdom is an eternal one.
As it turned out, this people would indeed be a light at times, but also a lightening rod for Satan, who immediately began to persecute and pursue these “servants” of God. As soon as the Lord began to mobilize Abram—to move him from Ur into a new land—the main geopolitical battles began. These were inspired by demons, according to the Bible.
Satan knew that some kind of plan was underfoot, with the emergence and formation of His people (Exodus 6:7) … the Jews. He and his demonic angels (also often called “princes”) began to influence the Gentile kingdoms and rulers, to persecute and attempt to annihilate the Hebrews. Indeed, the Bible records the names of a number of the princes that were associated with these Gentile kingdoms … i.e., the Prince of Persia (Daniel 10:13), and also the Prince of Greece (Daniel 10:20b).
We will return to this narrative, about the human history of the Hebrews and their persecution. It comprises the history of Gentile nations interacting with the Jews and Israel. And therefore, this is the history that God preserved and left for us to consider and study. Why? Because it is an intrinsic part of God’s plan to bring salvation to mankind. Therefore, the most important geopolitical history is the one detailed in the Bible. In the next parts of this series, we will identify 18 kings/rulers (7 of them by name) that have a lineage that extends right to our day, as well as the future.
Little do the world’s leaders know that the time is short, though surely Satan knows this (Revelation 12:12b). With respect to foundational geopolitical history, there are only two more world rulers to emerge before the Lord sets up His eternal kingdom. The very last chapters of the Gentile age are being set up right before our eyes.
Why the Middle East?
We return to our narrative that we started with Adam. We now know why Bible history circumnavigates the Jews. Salvation comes from the Jews, as do the Scriptures.
But why do history and civilization find their roots in the Middle East? Why not North America, which is an incredibly blessed region?
Today, the earth’s populations are spread around the world, most of them living outside the Middle East. None of the prosperous nations of the world (with the exception of Israel and a few oil-rich nations) are found in the Middle East.
Then, just why should world history have started in the Middle East?
It is one thing to say that world history navigates around the timeline of the Jew, because God has pre-planned it that way. But why does the history of civilized mankind find its roots in this arid region, as we see it today, in the first place? It did not occur by happenstance.
Was it accidental? No. Our geopolitical history could not have occurred anywhere else.
Consider these fascinating aspects of human history and the significance of the Middle East. As is well known, the history of humanity began in this region. The Garden of Eden is thought to be located there. The ancient societies were in Sumer, Mesopotamia, Shinar, Ur, Chaldea, etc.—all in the Middle East.
Of course, God created the world and therefore ordered the conditions that would allow mankind to possess the entire earth, radiating from this region. It is interesting to reflect on the means that God used to predetermine this outcome; namely, of civilization first occurring in the Middle East.
Jared Diamond, an anthropologist and Pulitzer prize-winning author, in his book Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies, provides some insightful perspectives on the question of how God shaped such a destiny.
Mr. Diamond shows how natural geography served to concentrate human development in the Middle East in early times and then spread outward from there. He documents that the availability of the types of plants and animals that could be easily domesticated were clustered in the Middle Eastern region. For example, of all the large mammals living upon earth that were candidates for domestication—either for food or burden—almost half are found in this Eurasian region.1
Furthermore, 13 of the 14 domesticated animals in the entire world, weighing at least 100 pounds, were first successfully domesticated in this area. The only large animal productively tamed outside of the Eurasian region was the llama (and the related alpaca) of South America.
Why was domestication not possible in other parts of the world? Why could horses from Asia be tamed and not zebras in Africa? Simply, God created it so. It is for these reasons and favorable circumstances that farming and commerce first thrived in the Middle East. Therefore, its founding societies stood to have the most influence upon successive human cultures around the world.
It is from this area of the world that God selected Abraham, a man of faith, to become the patriarch of a people that were to bring His light to the world. As of this point forward, human history depicted by the Bible—inspired by the very God of creation and the universe—revolves around the descendants of the Hebrews.
Thoughts to Ponder
Only seven major world kingdoms are mentioned in the Bible (Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome … both old and revived). All of them intersect with the Hebrews. All of them will find at least part of their kingdoms geographically extending into the Middle East.
The Aztec Empire, the Mongols, the Chinese dynasties, the Great British Empire and America: all did not earn any direct or literal mention in the Bible’s geopolitical history—the timeline of the oppression of the Jew. These countries were not selected by Satan to oppress the Jews.
The last kingdom prophesied to emerge is the Roman Empire. It has already existed for some time. Two more offshoots are prophesied. They will unfold very quickly. We continue the Bible’s narrative of world geopolitics in the next part of this series. Maranatha
https://garyboyd2244.blogspot.com
By Wilfred Hahn
Researched by Pastor Gary Boyd
Oct. 9th 2022
Readers will no doubt feel harangued, and perhaps confused, by the heated conditions of global politics of late. Yes, of course, geopolitics has always existed, to a greater or lesser extent. However, it would be correct to say that internationalism has exploded over the past century and a half.
To be sure, globalism has been a “growth industry.” What we mean by that is, the focus and activities involving geopolitics and international affairs have expanded enormously. Today, there exist NGOs (non-governmental organizations) beyond count that specialize in international affairs of some type or another. Of course, such pro-globalist organizations as the United Nations and others have deep roots …some having been on the front lines of global affairs for a century and more.
Today, there are many university faculties specializing in international affairs and offering “international studies” degrees. Also reflective of these pro-global trends is the burgeoning number of publications (journals and books, etc.) on this and related topics. Mankind has arrived with a self-assured sense of humanity.
“All the world’s a stage,” to borrow a phrase from Shakespeare’s As You Like It. All the nations are known to each other, meeting in various forums, discussing global policies. Global policy forums have surely arrived, just as the Bible prophesied.
When Balaam prophesied over Israel (when they were still traveling through the desert), he said: “From the rocky peaks I see them [Israel], from the heights I view them. I see a people who live apart and do not consider themselves one of the nations” (Numbers 23:9). The prophet foreknew that a consortium of nations (the entire world) will be apart from and opposed to Israel.
Global Geopolitics Foreknown
Did you know that the Bible lays down a chronology of global geopolitics that extends right to the modern history of our day? What is most remarkable is that this human history is laid out in advance (displaying a foreknowing of mankind’s choices and independence). This will not be obvious to the casual Bible reader. Rather, it is one of those topics where study yields great treasures and gems.
We have always found Bible-based geopolitics a fascinating topic. Also, it always generates the most feedback. Anticipating these many questions, we therefore plan a four-part series.
No doubt of interest to readers is that this timeline holds implications for America, even though this country is not identified directly by name in the Bible. We will return to this fascinating question at the conclusion of this study of Biblical geopolitics. If we correctly interpret the Scriptures and its visions on these matters, some conclusions will be revealed about America’s future.
To carry out our study, however, we must do so only on the Bible’s terms. We will only be emphasizing the main Biblical timelines. Of course, it would not be harmful to corroborate the secular history books against what the Bible says. But not the other way around. As such, we will not draw upon the many secular history works … not even such illustrious tomes such as Will and Ariel Durant’s 11-volume The Story of Civilization. It will stay on the bookshelf, as it does not recognize the main Hebrew-centric timeline of world geopolitics, spanning some three-and-a-half millennia.
The Starting Point of God’s Story About Mankind
We must first ask: just why is there such a thing as history to begin with? If history does exist, then there must also exist a narrative. Therefore, before we venture too deep into our study, it is best to first establish a foundational narrative. Where does it all start?
Naturally, it started with Adam!
There have been a number of dispensations that God allowed through time. We will only briefly mention some of these stages (as there is also much debate on these points).
Adam was born sinless and originally had a direct relationship with God. Then the “Great Fall” occurred. Adam and Eve were evicted from Eden. Eventually, in short order (approximately 1600 years after Adam was created), humanity became so wicked that God allowed a flood in order to “reset” His relationship with mankind.
After the great, Flood-induced “reset,” it becomes more interesting. Human lifespans began to shorten significantly for those born after the Flood. Up to the time of the Flood, the average lifespan was 930 years, according to the Bible. Then, thereafter, a “longevity” collapse ensued. This had a major consequence in the post-Flood era. All the patriarchs that would have known Noah and heard verbal history from him directly, or from others who knew him, died off over a very short period of about 200 years in length. Eleven generations died within this two-century time period.
Consider the impact upon Abraham. Over his lifespan, eight generations of his ancestors died. Imagine that over your lifespan, eight generations—great, great, great grandfathers and uncles, etc. passed away. Abraham himself only lived to an age of 175 years, that being 20% of the pre-Flood longevity average.
There were disastrous repercussions, as the godly influence of earlier generations was left behind. Mankind quickly fell back to godlessness and sin. Only little more than a century after Noah died, at the age of 950 years (which occurred 350 years after the Great Flood), Nimrod was already busy pursuing humanist endeavors: building the Tower of Babel and promoting urbanization.
God needed to disperse the citizens of Babel, who were intent to make a “name for [themselves]” (Genesis 11:4). As such, the plans of Nimrod were thwarted for a time. God mixed up their languages.
As mentioned, with Noah gone as well as those who might have directly known him, there soon again was a great falling away to humanism and godlessness. Less than 500 or so years after the Great Flood, mankind was quickly returning to wickedness. What to do? God had promised never to flood the world again (a sign of this promise being the rainbow). So, what could be done?
Jehovah decided to call out a people for Himself, one that would be a light to the world and help keep the name of the Lord glorified upon earth. He called out of the world His servant Israel (Isaiah 44). He first selected Abram, a man of faith, thereby calling out a people named the Hebrews to be a light unto the world. They were to be separate.
Salvation comes from the Jews (John 4:22), and Christ’s final kingdom on earth will be the completion of King David’s throne, the royal line and Scepter of Judah. This final kingdom will rule the whole earth—not just Israel, but the entire world from Chile to China. The kingdom of God will be on earth for one thousand years. The last kingdom is an eternal one.
As it turned out, this people would indeed be a light at times, but also a lightening rod for Satan, who immediately began to persecute and pursue these “servants” of God. As soon as the Lord began to mobilize Abram—to move him from Ur into a new land—the main geopolitical battles began. These were inspired by demons, according to the Bible.
Satan knew that some kind of plan was underfoot, with the emergence and formation of His people (Exodus 6:7) … the Jews. He and his demonic angels (also often called “princes”) began to influence the Gentile kingdoms and rulers, to persecute and attempt to annihilate the Hebrews. Indeed, the Bible records the names of a number of the princes that were associated with these Gentile kingdoms … i.e., the Prince of Persia (Daniel 10:13), and also the Prince of Greece (Daniel 10:20b).
We will return to this narrative, about the human history of the Hebrews and their persecution. It comprises the history of Gentile nations interacting with the Jews and Israel. And therefore, this is the history that God preserved and left for us to consider and study. Why? Because it is an intrinsic part of God’s plan to bring salvation to mankind. Therefore, the most important geopolitical history is the one detailed in the Bible. In the next parts of this series, we will identify 18 kings/rulers (7 of them by name) that have a lineage that extends right to our day, as well as the future.
Little do the world’s leaders know that the time is short, though surely Satan knows this (Revelation 12:12b). With respect to foundational geopolitical history, there are only two more world rulers to emerge before the Lord sets up His eternal kingdom. The very last chapters of the Gentile age are being set up right before our eyes.
Why the Middle East?
We return to our narrative that we started with Adam. We now know why Bible history circumnavigates the Jews. Salvation comes from the Jews, as do the Scriptures.
But why do history and civilization find their roots in the Middle East? Why not North America, which is an incredibly blessed region?
Today, the earth’s populations are spread around the world, most of them living outside the Middle East. None of the prosperous nations of the world (with the exception of Israel and a few oil-rich nations) are found in the Middle East.
Then, just why should world history have started in the Middle East?
It is one thing to say that world history navigates around the timeline of the Jew, because God has pre-planned it that way. But why does the history of civilized mankind find its roots in this arid region, as we see it today, in the first place? It did not occur by happenstance.
Was it accidental? No. Our geopolitical history could not have occurred anywhere else.
Consider these fascinating aspects of human history and the significance of the Middle East. As is well known, the history of humanity began in this region. The Garden of Eden is thought to be located there. The ancient societies were in Sumer, Mesopotamia, Shinar, Ur, Chaldea, etc.—all in the Middle East.
Of course, God created the world and therefore ordered the conditions that would allow mankind to possess the entire earth, radiating from this region. It is interesting to reflect on the means that God used to predetermine this outcome; namely, of civilization first occurring in the Middle East.
Jared Diamond, an anthropologist and Pulitzer prize-winning author, in his book Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies, provides some insightful perspectives on the question of how God shaped such a destiny.
Mr. Diamond shows how natural geography served to concentrate human development in the Middle East in early times and then spread outward from there. He documents that the availability of the types of plants and animals that could be easily domesticated were clustered in the Middle Eastern region. For example, of all the large mammals living upon earth that were candidates for domestication—either for food or burden—almost half are found in this Eurasian region.1
Furthermore, 13 of the 14 domesticated animals in the entire world, weighing at least 100 pounds, were first successfully domesticated in this area. The only large animal productively tamed outside of the Eurasian region was the llama (and the related alpaca) of South America.
Why was domestication not possible in other parts of the world? Why could horses from Asia be tamed and not zebras in Africa? Simply, God created it so. It is for these reasons and favorable circumstances that farming and commerce first thrived in the Middle East. Therefore, its founding societies stood to have the most influence upon successive human cultures around the world.
It is from this area of the world that God selected Abraham, a man of faith, to become the patriarch of a people that were to bring His light to the world. As of this point forward, human history depicted by the Bible—inspired by the very God of creation and the universe—revolves around the descendants of the Hebrews.
Thoughts to Ponder
Only seven major world kingdoms are mentioned in the Bible (Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome … both old and revived). All of them intersect with the Hebrews. All of them will find at least part of their kingdoms geographically extending into the Middle East.
The Aztec Empire, the Mongols, the Chinese dynasties, the Great British Empire and America: all did not earn any direct or literal mention in the Bible’s geopolitical history—the timeline of the oppression of the Jew. These countries were not selected by Satan to oppress the Jews.
The last kingdom prophesied to emerge is the Roman Empire. It has already existed for some time. Two more offshoots are prophesied. They will unfold very quickly. We continue the Bible’s narrative of world geopolitics in the next part of this series. Maranatha
https://garyboyd2244.blogspot.com
Oct 4, 2022 12:37:13 #
(Main)
The Unbelievably Amazing Destiny of the Church
by Jack Kelley
Researched by Pastor Gary Boyd
Oct. 3rd 2022
But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:6-7).
Even after years and years of answering questions about it, I am still amazed at how little most Christians know about what’s ahead for the Church. I realize that many Church leaders have become earth centered, focused on meeting growth and financial goals in the here and now. In fact a recent Barna Group survey revealed that the top five indicators pastors use to judge their success are attendance, giving, number of programs, number of staff, and the square footage of their facility.
To me that’s a shame because the Church is supposed to be a heaven centered organization focused on getting people ready to go there soon. Bringing people into the kingdom and preparing them for eternity should be the Church’s number one priority (Matt. 28:19-20). You would think it would at least be in the top 5 indicators of success, but it isn’t.
Paul said we should fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, because what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal (2 Cor. 4:18). To me that means we should pay more attention to our next life than we do to this one. After all we’re going to spend a whole lot more time there. The problem is, most Christians know so little about our next life that even if they wanted to focus on it they couldn’t tell where to begin.
Therefore, I invite you to spend the next few minutes thinking about something that will have eternal significance to you; the unbelievably amazing destiny of the Church.
Where Do We Go Next?
Let’s begin at the beginning. When Jesus died for our sins and rose again He freed us from the penalty thereof, giving us the assurance of eternal life with Him. This is not only true of the Church, but of all those who believed in a coming redeemer and died before the Church came to be, and all those who will come to believe in Jesus after the Church has departed. Hebrews 10:12 tells us Jesus offered one sacrifice (Himself) for all time. That covers everyone from the first man to the last.
Those who either lived in the time before the Church or will live in the time after it, were (will be) required to give evidence of their belief that Jesus died for them by obeying God’s laws, and can suffer a lapse of faith, even to the point of losing their salvation. I assume you know this to be true about Old Testament believers. Matt. 25:1-13, Rev. 14:12, Rev. 16:15 tell us it’s also true about post Church believers.
The only requirement God has imposed on people who live during the time of the Church is that we believe in the one He sent (John 6:28-29). What’s more, He has accepted the responsibility for seeing to it that we don’t suffer a lapse of faith and has put His Spirit in our hearts as a deposit guaranteeing what is to come (2 Cor. 1:21-22) so we can’t lose our salvation. This manifestation of His grace is unique to the Church.
Also unique to us is the authority He gave us to become members of His own family (John 1:12-13). He made good on this by legally adopting us as His children, brothers and sisters of Christ (Romans 8:29) and co-heirs with Him (Romans 8:17, Galatians 4:4-7).
At the same time, He chose to begin seeing us as we will be after we’ve been perfected, calling us “a new creation” (2 Cor. 5:17), “holy and blameless, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish”(Ephes. 5:25-27), and having the righteousness of God (2 Cor. 5:21). He knows we’ll be that way in the future, after He changes us from mortal to immortal, but He began seeing only the “future us” from the time we believed. He attributes our post salvation sins to the sin that still lives within us, and not to the perfect creation He now considers us to be (Romans 7:18-20).
These are the first indications that God looks upon the Church differently from any other group of humankind. If that was all He has done for us, it would be far more than we deserve. But in truth, it’s only the beginning. The real differences will come into effect after He takes us to our eternal home.
Unlike Israel, the Church’s destiny is not tied to a specific location on Earth. In fact our destiny is not on Earth at all. Our citizenship is in heaven, Paul said, and we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ (Phil. 3:20).
While at present the Lord’s Kingdom is in this world, Jesus said it’s not of this world (John 18:36). In other words we don’t belong here. The Church has no homeland on Earth. We are sojourners in a foreign land, and our heart’s desire should be to go home where we belong. That doesn’t mean we can’t have a good life while we’re here. It means we should know that, even on its very best day, life here can’t begin to compare with being home.
Home At Last
Our journey home will be a short one, and it will take many of us by surprise, although we’ve been warned that it shouldn’t (1 Thes. 5:4). One minute we’ll be here, going about our business, and in the next we’ll be there, having been changed from mortal to immortal and from flawed to perfect in the twinkling of an eye (1 Cor. 15:51-53).
Jesus said He will come back to take us to a place in His Father’s house that He’s been preparing for us ever since He left (John 14:2-3). This is where we’ll be safely hidden away while His Father visits the most extreme series of judgments in the history of mankind upon the rebellious world (Isaiah 26:20-21). This series of judgments is called the wrath of God in the Bible (Rev. 6:17). It will take seven years to complete and the Lord promised to deliver us from all of it (1 Thes. 1:10, Rev. 3:10).
During that time the Church will experience a series of events that couldn’t possibly be more different from those taking place on earth. For the first time in our lives we will actually be face to face with the Lord and receive our welcome into the Kingdom, the voices of untold numbers of angels singing and shouting for joy ringing in our ears (Rev. 5:11-14).
We will have a joyful reunion with those whose spirits preceded us, and who will have received their resurrection bodies at the same time as ours were being changed (1 Thes. 4:16-17).
In describing this change John wrote, “Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2) and Paul said, “He will transform our lowly bodies so they will be like His glorious body” (Phil. 3:21). Try to imagine a glorious body just like the Lord’s, with abilities comparable to His.
We will attend an awards ceremony called the bema judgment where the Lord will reward us for the things we did at His direction and in His strength during our time on earth (1 Cor. 3:10-15, John 15:5). Jesus called these rewards “treasure in heaven” and said we should be more focused on storing them up than we are on storing up treasure on Earth (Matt. 6:19-21). That old saying “we can’t take it with us” is certainly true, but the Lord said we can send it up ahead.
Our relationship with the Lord will be formalized. The Bride of Christ will become the wife of the Lamb (Rev. 19:6-8, Rev. 21:9). We’ll be seated at His right hand, above all the ranks of angels, assuming our role as co-regents with Him (Ephes. 1:18-21, Ephes. 2:4-7).
So This Is Where We Live
We’ll be shown our eternal home, the New Jerusalem. From the description in Rev. 21 it appears to be extravagant beyond all known standards, being made of the purest gold and and precious gems. The overall dimensions of the New Jerusalem seem extravagant as well. It will be almost 1400 miles in length and width and just as tall (Rev. 21:16-17). If it was located on Earth it would be much bigger than Israel, as big as western Europe, and nearly half as big as the USA. At nearly 1400 miles tall, it would extend into space well beyond the upper atmosphere and be 4,000 times as tall as the world’s next tallest building.
Based on these dimensions, I don’t believe the New Jerusalem will be on Earth, but instead will descend out of Heaven into an orbit in close proximity to Earth. Some speculate it will be triangular in shape while others say it will be a cube, but the Bible does not reveal its shape. (If it was a globe it would be 2/3rds the size of the moon.)
Our home won’t need either the sun or moon to shine on it because the glory of God will give it light. In fact the light from our home will be sufficient to provide light for Earth as well (Rev. 21:23-24). Remember, in Matt. 24:29Jesus said the sun and moon would not give their light after the end of the Great Tribulation. So we will be the light of the world after all (Matt. 5:14). There won’t be a temple in the New Jerusalem because the Father and Son will be our Temple there (Rev. 21:22) just as we have been their temple here (1 Cor. 3:16).
The Bible doesn’t provide any description of our individual quarters but from the general description of the city I think we’ll find them to be just as opulent.
Some have asked why we will need such a spectacular home, and truth be told we probably won’t. But remember, the kings of the Earth live in palaces that provide luxurious comfort far beyond their needs. Members of their families live in a way the rest of us can only dream about. How much more so should it be for the family of the King of the universe.
But more importantly, giving us only what we need was not the Lord’s objective in building the New Jerusalem. Right from the beginning, His objective where the Church is concerned has been to demonstrate to ages yet to come the incomparable riches of His grace, expressed in His kindness to us in Christ Jesus (Ephes 2:7). And wouldn’t you expect Jesus, one for whom cost is truly no object, to throw the budget out the window when it comes to building something that will express His love for His bride?
Some wonder how we’ll occupy ourselves in our new life. The Bible doesn’t offer any detail on this, probably because there is no way we could compare life here with life in the hereafter. Paul, who did get a glimpse of it, said;
“No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Cor. 2:9).
What we do know is that no group before or after us has ever been so blessed while on Earth, and His word tells us that no group before or after us will ever be so blessed in eternity. And the best part is we don’t have long to wait to start receiving it all. Maranatha
https://garyboyd2244.blogspot.com
by Jack Kelley
Researched by Pastor Gary Boyd
Oct. 3rd 2022
But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:6-7).
Even after years and years of answering questions about it, I am still amazed at how little most Christians know about what’s ahead for the Church. I realize that many Church leaders have become earth centered, focused on meeting growth and financial goals in the here and now. In fact a recent Barna Group survey revealed that the top five indicators pastors use to judge their success are attendance, giving, number of programs, number of staff, and the square footage of their facility.
To me that’s a shame because the Church is supposed to be a heaven centered organization focused on getting people ready to go there soon. Bringing people into the kingdom and preparing them for eternity should be the Church’s number one priority (Matt. 28:19-20). You would think it would at least be in the top 5 indicators of success, but it isn’t.
Paul said we should fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, because what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal (2 Cor. 4:18). To me that means we should pay more attention to our next life than we do to this one. After all we’re going to spend a whole lot more time there. The problem is, most Christians know so little about our next life that even if they wanted to focus on it they couldn’t tell where to begin.
Therefore, I invite you to spend the next few minutes thinking about something that will have eternal significance to you; the unbelievably amazing destiny of the Church.
Where Do We Go Next?
Let’s begin at the beginning. When Jesus died for our sins and rose again He freed us from the penalty thereof, giving us the assurance of eternal life with Him. This is not only true of the Church, but of all those who believed in a coming redeemer and died before the Church came to be, and all those who will come to believe in Jesus after the Church has departed. Hebrews 10:12 tells us Jesus offered one sacrifice (Himself) for all time. That covers everyone from the first man to the last.
Those who either lived in the time before the Church or will live in the time after it, were (will be) required to give evidence of their belief that Jesus died for them by obeying God’s laws, and can suffer a lapse of faith, even to the point of losing their salvation. I assume you know this to be true about Old Testament believers. Matt. 25:1-13, Rev. 14:12, Rev. 16:15 tell us it’s also true about post Church believers.
The only requirement God has imposed on people who live during the time of the Church is that we believe in the one He sent (John 6:28-29). What’s more, He has accepted the responsibility for seeing to it that we don’t suffer a lapse of faith and has put His Spirit in our hearts as a deposit guaranteeing what is to come (2 Cor. 1:21-22) so we can’t lose our salvation. This manifestation of His grace is unique to the Church.
Also unique to us is the authority He gave us to become members of His own family (John 1:12-13). He made good on this by legally adopting us as His children, brothers and sisters of Christ (Romans 8:29) and co-heirs with Him (Romans 8:17, Galatians 4:4-7).
At the same time, He chose to begin seeing us as we will be after we’ve been perfected, calling us “a new creation” (2 Cor. 5:17), “holy and blameless, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish”(Ephes. 5:25-27), and having the righteousness of God (2 Cor. 5:21). He knows we’ll be that way in the future, after He changes us from mortal to immortal, but He began seeing only the “future us” from the time we believed. He attributes our post salvation sins to the sin that still lives within us, and not to the perfect creation He now considers us to be (Romans 7:18-20).
These are the first indications that God looks upon the Church differently from any other group of humankind. If that was all He has done for us, it would be far more than we deserve. But in truth, it’s only the beginning. The real differences will come into effect after He takes us to our eternal home.
Unlike Israel, the Church’s destiny is not tied to a specific location on Earth. In fact our destiny is not on Earth at all. Our citizenship is in heaven, Paul said, and we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ (Phil. 3:20).
While at present the Lord’s Kingdom is in this world, Jesus said it’s not of this world (John 18:36). In other words we don’t belong here. The Church has no homeland on Earth. We are sojourners in a foreign land, and our heart’s desire should be to go home where we belong. That doesn’t mean we can’t have a good life while we’re here. It means we should know that, even on its very best day, life here can’t begin to compare with being home.
Home At Last
Our journey home will be a short one, and it will take many of us by surprise, although we’ve been warned that it shouldn’t (1 Thes. 5:4). One minute we’ll be here, going about our business, and in the next we’ll be there, having been changed from mortal to immortal and from flawed to perfect in the twinkling of an eye (1 Cor. 15:51-53).
Jesus said He will come back to take us to a place in His Father’s house that He’s been preparing for us ever since He left (John 14:2-3). This is where we’ll be safely hidden away while His Father visits the most extreme series of judgments in the history of mankind upon the rebellious world (Isaiah 26:20-21). This series of judgments is called the wrath of God in the Bible (Rev. 6:17). It will take seven years to complete and the Lord promised to deliver us from all of it (1 Thes. 1:10, Rev. 3:10).
During that time the Church will experience a series of events that couldn’t possibly be more different from those taking place on earth. For the first time in our lives we will actually be face to face with the Lord and receive our welcome into the Kingdom, the voices of untold numbers of angels singing and shouting for joy ringing in our ears (Rev. 5:11-14).
We will have a joyful reunion with those whose spirits preceded us, and who will have received their resurrection bodies at the same time as ours were being changed (1 Thes. 4:16-17).
In describing this change John wrote, “Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2) and Paul said, “He will transform our lowly bodies so they will be like His glorious body” (Phil. 3:21). Try to imagine a glorious body just like the Lord’s, with abilities comparable to His.
We will attend an awards ceremony called the bema judgment where the Lord will reward us for the things we did at His direction and in His strength during our time on earth (1 Cor. 3:10-15, John 15:5). Jesus called these rewards “treasure in heaven” and said we should be more focused on storing them up than we are on storing up treasure on Earth (Matt. 6:19-21). That old saying “we can’t take it with us” is certainly true, but the Lord said we can send it up ahead.
Our relationship with the Lord will be formalized. The Bride of Christ will become the wife of the Lamb (Rev. 19:6-8, Rev. 21:9). We’ll be seated at His right hand, above all the ranks of angels, assuming our role as co-regents with Him (Ephes. 1:18-21, Ephes. 2:4-7).
So This Is Where We Live
We’ll be shown our eternal home, the New Jerusalem. From the description in Rev. 21 it appears to be extravagant beyond all known standards, being made of the purest gold and and precious gems. The overall dimensions of the New Jerusalem seem extravagant as well. It will be almost 1400 miles in length and width and just as tall (Rev. 21:16-17). If it was located on Earth it would be much bigger than Israel, as big as western Europe, and nearly half as big as the USA. At nearly 1400 miles tall, it would extend into space well beyond the upper atmosphere and be 4,000 times as tall as the world’s next tallest building.
Based on these dimensions, I don’t believe the New Jerusalem will be on Earth, but instead will descend out of Heaven into an orbit in close proximity to Earth. Some speculate it will be triangular in shape while others say it will be a cube, but the Bible does not reveal its shape. (If it was a globe it would be 2/3rds the size of the moon.)
Our home won’t need either the sun or moon to shine on it because the glory of God will give it light. In fact the light from our home will be sufficient to provide light for Earth as well (Rev. 21:23-24). Remember, in Matt. 24:29Jesus said the sun and moon would not give their light after the end of the Great Tribulation. So we will be the light of the world after all (Matt. 5:14). There won’t be a temple in the New Jerusalem because the Father and Son will be our Temple there (Rev. 21:22) just as we have been their temple here (1 Cor. 3:16).
The Bible doesn’t provide any description of our individual quarters but from the general description of the city I think we’ll find them to be just as opulent.
Some have asked why we will need such a spectacular home, and truth be told we probably won’t. But remember, the kings of the Earth live in palaces that provide luxurious comfort far beyond their needs. Members of their families live in a way the rest of us can only dream about. How much more so should it be for the family of the King of the universe.
But more importantly, giving us only what we need was not the Lord’s objective in building the New Jerusalem. Right from the beginning, His objective where the Church is concerned has been to demonstrate to ages yet to come the incomparable riches of His grace, expressed in His kindness to us in Christ Jesus (Ephes 2:7). And wouldn’t you expect Jesus, one for whom cost is truly no object, to throw the budget out the window when it comes to building something that will express His love for His bride?
Some wonder how we’ll occupy ourselves in our new life. The Bible doesn’t offer any detail on this, probably because there is no way we could compare life here with life in the hereafter. Paul, who did get a glimpse of it, said;
“No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Cor. 2:9).
What we do know is that no group before or after us has ever been so blessed while on Earth, and His word tells us that no group before or after us will ever be so blessed in eternity. And the best part is we don’t have long to wait to start receiving it all. Maranatha
https://garyboyd2244.blogspot.com
Sep 26, 2022 16:48:22 #
(Main)
You Must Be Born Again
by Jack Kelley
Researched by Pastor Gary Boyd
Sept. 26th 2022
Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again” (John 3:3).
This started out as my response to someone asking me to defend my view that children who die before reaching the age of accountability go to heaven. As you’ll see, it became much more.
Born Once
We came into this world when our mother physically gave birth to us. This physical birth is what Jesus called being born of water in John 3:5 and flesh giving birth to flesh in John 3:6. It was our first birth.
Although we were born to earthly parents, we belonged to God in the sense that if our physical life ended for some reason, our soul and spirit, the eternal parts of us, would go to be with Him. We had what the Bible calls eternal life. We continued to enjoy this position with God until we reached a state of intellectual maturity sufficient to understand the sinful nature of our behavior.
Throughout our young lives we had committed various sins, but since we were unable to comprehend the nature of sin, God did not hold us accountable for them.
In referring to sins, I’m not talking about being disobedient to our parents, although some acts of disobedience are also sins. I’m talking about violations of God’s laws. Until we became intellectually mature enough to understand that violations of God’s laws are sins, that carry eternal consequences, God did not hold us accountable for these violations, because to do so would be unjust.
(We have similar provisions in human law where young children are not held to the same standards of accountability as adults are in matters of the law.)
Once we were capable of understanding the sin issue, God began holding us accountable for our sins. At that point we no longer belonged to Him and no longer had eternal life. Our sins had separated us from Him.
We see this transition, and its consequences, in Romans 7:9 where Paul wrote, “Once I was alive apart from the law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died.”
Obviously, Paul was still physically alive at the time. By saying, “Once I was alive apart from the law” he was referring to the eternal life he had before he became accountable for his sins. During that time, he was apart from, or outside, the Law and exempt from its provisions.
The phrase “When the commandment came, sin sprang to life, and I died”means that as soon as Paul became old enough to be accountable for his sins he was immediately scheduled for death, death being the wages of sin (Romans 6:23). Paul knew that although he was born with eternal life, he was not born immortal, so he would eventually experience physical death just like everyone else. Therefore, he was talking about losing his claim to eternal life.
The Greek word for “sprang to life” indicates Paul’s sin nature had always been there, but for accountability purposes it’s as if it was dormant while he was a child. As soon as he came of age, it was revived, and when that happened everything changed for him.
The Bible does not give any exact age at which a child becomes accountable. Among the Jewish people this age has been established by tradition as being 12 for girls and 13 for boys. But the point of this study is not to determine at what age we become accountable for our sins. Rather, it’s to show that we began life as a child of God with the assurance of eternal life, and to demonstrate how we can qualify for that assurance again as adults.
Born Again
Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 18:3).
There are two important points here. The first is the confirmation that if they die, little children will enter the kingdom of heaven because they don’t have to change to do so. And the second is that we must change and become like them in order to enter ourselves. Remember, all children are born with eternal life and their sins are not counted against them. Therefore, as adults we have to somehow regain that same status we had as little children.
Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God (John 1:12-13).
God gives each one who believes in what Jesus did for us and receives Him into his or her life, the right (power, authority, permission) to become a child of God just like we were when we were born. Here’s how it happens.
But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship. Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir (Galatians 4:4-7).
Both this passage and Romans 8:15-17 convey the idea that adoption into the family of God is truly the most important event of our lives. God sent His son to die for our sins so we could receive the right of adoption into His family. According to John 1:12-13 belief in Jesus gives us the authority to claim this right and when we do God adopts us as His children and we become heirs to his estate. At that time, the penalty for all our sins is transferred to Jesus (Isaiah 53:5) and we’re no longer responsible for them.
That’s what it means to be born-again as a child of God and have eternal life. According to 2 Cor. 5:17 we actually become a new creation from God’s perspective. The old has gone and the new has come. This is our second birth, what Jesus called being born again in John 3:3 and the Spirit giving birth to spirit in John 3:6.
Like the little children we once were, we still sin. And like them, God does not hold us accountable for our sins. But this time, it’s not because we don’t understand the sin issue, it’s because the penalties for all the sins of our life have been transferred to Jesus. They were nailed to the cross with Him and when He died we were forgiven for every one of them (Colossians 2:13-14).
Now, just like the children we once were, God doesn’t hold us accountable for our sins but attributes them to the sin nature that lives within us. Here’s how Paul described it:
“I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it” (Romans 7:15-20).
Like He does with little children, God has separated the sins from the born-again believer and no longer counts them against us.
Are You Born Again?
The phrase “born-again” has picked up a lot of baggage over the years to the point where some more “sophisticated” Christians don’t even like to use it. And the liberal denominations that follow reformed theology don’t even recognize the need to be born-again. They teach that since you didn’t choose God but He chose you, there’s no need to be born-again. All you have to do is become an official member of one of their denominations to receive your salvation.
This is by far the cruelest falsehood of reformed theology because it has resulted in millions of sincere people attending church every Sunday, believing that God chose them and actually obtained salvation for them, not knowing that they aren’t saved and never will be unless they undertake a personal effort to find the Lord and be saved apart from their denomination’s teaching.
But the Bible is very clear on two points. The first is this: We must be born-again to enter the kingdom of God (John 3:3). And the second is, we become born-again by believing that we are sinners in need of a Savior; that Jesus came to die for our sins, and that He rose again on the third day as proof that His death was sufficient to save us from our sins. Otherwise we have believed in vain (1 Cor. 15:3-4).
By becoming born-again we have become like little children in God’s sight and are therefore qualified, just like they are, to enter His Kingdom and enjoy eternal life with Him.
Blessed is the one whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed are they whose sin the Lord does not count against them and in whose spirit is no deceit (Psalm 32:1-2).
by Jack Kelley
Researched by Pastor Gary Boyd
Sept. 26th 2022
Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again” (John 3:3).
This started out as my response to someone asking me to defend my view that children who die before reaching the age of accountability go to heaven. As you’ll see, it became much more.
Born Once
We came into this world when our mother physically gave birth to us. This physical birth is what Jesus called being born of water in John 3:5 and flesh giving birth to flesh in John 3:6. It was our first birth.
Although we were born to earthly parents, we belonged to God in the sense that if our physical life ended for some reason, our soul and spirit, the eternal parts of us, would go to be with Him. We had what the Bible calls eternal life. We continued to enjoy this position with God until we reached a state of intellectual maturity sufficient to understand the sinful nature of our behavior.
Throughout our young lives we had committed various sins, but since we were unable to comprehend the nature of sin, God did not hold us accountable for them.
In referring to sins, I’m not talking about being disobedient to our parents, although some acts of disobedience are also sins. I’m talking about violations of God’s laws. Until we became intellectually mature enough to understand that violations of God’s laws are sins, that carry eternal consequences, God did not hold us accountable for these violations, because to do so would be unjust.
(We have similar provisions in human law where young children are not held to the same standards of accountability as adults are in matters of the law.)
Once we were capable of understanding the sin issue, God began holding us accountable for our sins. At that point we no longer belonged to Him and no longer had eternal life. Our sins had separated us from Him.
We see this transition, and its consequences, in Romans 7:9 where Paul wrote, “Once I was alive apart from the law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died.”
Obviously, Paul was still physically alive at the time. By saying, “Once I was alive apart from the law” he was referring to the eternal life he had before he became accountable for his sins. During that time, he was apart from, or outside, the Law and exempt from its provisions.
The phrase “When the commandment came, sin sprang to life, and I died”means that as soon as Paul became old enough to be accountable for his sins he was immediately scheduled for death, death being the wages of sin (Romans 6:23). Paul knew that although he was born with eternal life, he was not born immortal, so he would eventually experience physical death just like everyone else. Therefore, he was talking about losing his claim to eternal life.
The Greek word for “sprang to life” indicates Paul’s sin nature had always been there, but for accountability purposes it’s as if it was dormant while he was a child. As soon as he came of age, it was revived, and when that happened everything changed for him.
The Bible does not give any exact age at which a child becomes accountable. Among the Jewish people this age has been established by tradition as being 12 for girls and 13 for boys. But the point of this study is not to determine at what age we become accountable for our sins. Rather, it’s to show that we began life as a child of God with the assurance of eternal life, and to demonstrate how we can qualify for that assurance again as adults.
Born Again
Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 18:3).
There are two important points here. The first is the confirmation that if they die, little children will enter the kingdom of heaven because they don’t have to change to do so. And the second is that we must change and become like them in order to enter ourselves. Remember, all children are born with eternal life and their sins are not counted against them. Therefore, as adults we have to somehow regain that same status we had as little children.
Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God (John 1:12-13).
God gives each one who believes in what Jesus did for us and receives Him into his or her life, the right (power, authority, permission) to become a child of God just like we were when we were born. Here’s how it happens.
But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship. Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir (Galatians 4:4-7).
Both this passage and Romans 8:15-17 convey the idea that adoption into the family of God is truly the most important event of our lives. God sent His son to die for our sins so we could receive the right of adoption into His family. According to John 1:12-13 belief in Jesus gives us the authority to claim this right and when we do God adopts us as His children and we become heirs to his estate. At that time, the penalty for all our sins is transferred to Jesus (Isaiah 53:5) and we’re no longer responsible for them.
That’s what it means to be born-again as a child of God and have eternal life. According to 2 Cor. 5:17 we actually become a new creation from God’s perspective. The old has gone and the new has come. This is our second birth, what Jesus called being born again in John 3:3 and the Spirit giving birth to spirit in John 3:6.
Like the little children we once were, we still sin. And like them, God does not hold us accountable for our sins. But this time, it’s not because we don’t understand the sin issue, it’s because the penalties for all the sins of our life have been transferred to Jesus. They were nailed to the cross with Him and when He died we were forgiven for every one of them (Colossians 2:13-14).
Now, just like the children we once were, God doesn’t hold us accountable for our sins but attributes them to the sin nature that lives within us. Here’s how Paul described it:
“I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it” (Romans 7:15-20).
Like He does with little children, God has separated the sins from the born-again believer and no longer counts them against us.
Are You Born Again?
The phrase “born-again” has picked up a lot of baggage over the years to the point where some more “sophisticated” Christians don’t even like to use it. And the liberal denominations that follow reformed theology don’t even recognize the need to be born-again. They teach that since you didn’t choose God but He chose you, there’s no need to be born-again. All you have to do is become an official member of one of their denominations to receive your salvation.
This is by far the cruelest falsehood of reformed theology because it has resulted in millions of sincere people attending church every Sunday, believing that God chose them and actually obtained salvation for them, not knowing that they aren’t saved and never will be unless they undertake a personal effort to find the Lord and be saved apart from their denomination’s teaching.
But the Bible is very clear on two points. The first is this: We must be born-again to enter the kingdom of God (John 3:3). And the second is, we become born-again by believing that we are sinners in need of a Savior; that Jesus came to die for our sins, and that He rose again on the third day as proof that His death was sufficient to save us from our sins. Otherwise we have believed in vain (1 Cor. 15:3-4).
By becoming born-again we have become like little children in God’s sight and are therefore qualified, just like they are, to enter His Kingdom and enjoy eternal life with Him.
Blessed is the one whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed are they whose sin the Lord does not count against them and in whose spirit is no deceit (Psalm 32:1-2).
Sep 20, 2022 12:35:45 #
(Main)
We must all who believe put this in the hands of Jesus, let him manage the spiritual warfare in the heavenlies against the fallen ones. He will not let this abomination go when it is his children who are being murdered, tortured and raped. All angels are filled with God's holy spirit that has the power to rid regions of demonic spirits. He has said through the prophets in our day that the devil has already been defeated. Just pray for deliverance and God will protect you with his guardian angels. Pastor Boyd - https://garyboyd2244.blogspot.com
Sep 20, 2022 11:28:14 #
(Main)
Who We Are in Christ
by Jack Kelley
Researched by Pastor Gary Boyd
Sept. 20thy 2022
I am not part of the “word of faith” movement and I am not a charismatic faith healer. I am an evangelical Christian who takes the Bible very seriously, believing it means just what it says.
My goal is is to see what the Bible actually says about healing, as opposed to what people think it says, and to see if I could find any reasons for the disconnect between what it says our experience should be and what it actually is. My research identified several reasons, which I described in the previous segments.
I want to explore what the Bible says about who we are in Christ, and by that I mean what is the extent of our authority in Him.
We all know our destiny is to be kings and priests in the Lord’s Kingdom, but what are we between now and then? Let’s find out.
Ambassadors of Christ
The fact that we’re destined to be kings and priests makes us a royal priesthood (1 Peter 2:9) and having been adopted as God’s own children (Galatians 4:4-7) confirms that we’re part of the ultimate royal family.
In royal families the princes often serve as ambassadors and that’s exactly what Paul called us. Using a Greek word he only applied to us (2 Cor. 5:20) and himself (Eph. 6:20), he called us ambassadors (representatives) of Christ sent with the ministry of reconciliation to reconcile men to God (2 Cor. 5:18-20).
Through the cross, God has made peace with His creation (Colossians 1:19) and as His ambassadors we are called to explain the terms of His peace to all the nations, in other words to share the gospel with them.
When an ambassador is appointed to the country where he will serve, he presents his credentials to the host country. His credentials show he has the authority to act on behalf of his home country’s leaders.
When Jesus sent His original 12 disciples out to minister to the people, He gave them credentials to show they had the authority to act on His behalf. He said, “Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons” (Matt. 10:8).
Later He sent out 72 others telling them to heal the sick in every town that welcomed them (Luke 10:9). And just before He left, after reminding them that all authority in heaven and on earth had been given to Him, He told His followers of that day and ours:
“Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matt. 28:18-19).
To show that we have the authority to act as His ambassadors today, we have also been given the ability to do the things Jesus did.
[He said,] “Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing” (John 14:12).
Notice He didn’t say, “Whoever in this generation” or “Whoever until the New Testament is complete” but “Whoever believes in me.” Prefacing His statement with the phrase “Very truly I tell you” indicates He was being as honest and direct as He could possibly be. That means whether you know it or not, you have the authority as the Lord’s ambassador to do the things Jesus did.
We who believe in Jesus have been authorized to heal the sick, raise the dead, cast out demons, preach the gospel, and make disciples of all men, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. We don’t need anyone’s permission to do these things, they are part of our job, even part of our responsibility. They are what we’ve been sent to do, just as they are what Jesus was sent to do.
Jesus didn’t pray to His Father, asking Him to heal someone if it be His will, He commanded the person to be healed. He commanded demons to depart. He commanded dead people to come to life. He did this because He had the authority to do so.
The disciples didn’t pray to Jesus or the Father, asking for healing on behalf of someone. In Jesus’ name they commanded the sick to be healed, the lame to walk, the demons to depart, the dead to rise. They also had the authority to do so.
What Can I Do for You, Lord?
So many times I’ve received emails from people who say, “I’ve prayed for God to show me what He wants me to do with my life. I keep listening, but I never hear anything back. What’s missing?”
What’s missing is that He’s waiting for us to do what He’s already commissioned us to do as one of His ambassadors.
“Heal the sick, raise the dead, cast out demons, preach the gospel, and make disciples of all men, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.”
Why do we expect Him to give us another job when we’ve yet to begin the one he’s already given us?
It doesn’t matter how busy you are or how important your job is, you could find at least a little time to begin acting as an ambassador of the Lord by doing some of the things He has commissioned you to do. Even if you could only commit a few hours a week to this, you would be serving the One who gave His life to redeem yours.
Imagine, if you can, how different the world would be if each of us spent just a little time each week in our role as an ambassador of Christ. Instead of being known primarily for what we hate, wouldn’t the Church be better known for Who we love? Isn’t that what the Lord wants? (John 13:34-35).
One final word about ambassadors. They don’t try to impose their country’s culture or values on the country they’ve been sent to. And they certainly don’t try to take it over. They know they are guests who serve a special purpose.
In the same way it’s not the Church’s job to take over the world or impose the Christian culture upon it. We are also guests who serve a special purpose. Jesus told the 72 that if they entered a town and were not made to feel welcome, they should leave, shaking the dust from their feet as they did (Luke 10:10-11). And Paul said it’s not our responsibility to judge those outside the Church (1 Cor. 5:12).
Our job is to show them something better by our actions. Now before you say that to be an ambassador for Christ you would have to leave your home and become a missionary in a foreign land, consider this.
“Our citizenship is in heaven and we eagerly await a savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ” (Phil. 3:20).
No matter where you live on earth, you are only a visitor here, so you could start right where you are.
Our purpose is to introduce the very special benefits of our home country (heaven) to those who live on earth and influence them to change their citizenship. And how do we do that? The way Jesus told us to.
“Heal the sick, raise the dead, cast out demons, preach the gospel, and make disciples of all men, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.”
If you’ve never done anything like his before, you shouldn’t expect to do all these things successfully right out of the box. For example, just as it takes faith to be healed, it takes faith to heal others. Most of us don’t have that kind of faith because we’ve never developed it, and we’ve never developed it because it has never occurred to us that we could.
But there are thousands of ways to show the gospel to people. All it takes to get started is to make a commitment to do something. And with prayer, study, and practice, we can all learn to do all these things because we have all been given the authority to do them. It’s who we are in Christ. Maranatha
https://garyboyd2244.blogspot.com
by Jack Kelley
Researched by Pastor Gary Boyd
Sept. 20thy 2022
I am not part of the “word of faith” movement and I am not a charismatic faith healer. I am an evangelical Christian who takes the Bible very seriously, believing it means just what it says.
My goal is is to see what the Bible actually says about healing, as opposed to what people think it says, and to see if I could find any reasons for the disconnect between what it says our experience should be and what it actually is. My research identified several reasons, which I described in the previous segments.
I want to explore what the Bible says about who we are in Christ, and by that I mean what is the extent of our authority in Him.
We all know our destiny is to be kings and priests in the Lord’s Kingdom, but what are we between now and then? Let’s find out.
Ambassadors of Christ
The fact that we’re destined to be kings and priests makes us a royal priesthood (1 Peter 2:9) and having been adopted as God’s own children (Galatians 4:4-7) confirms that we’re part of the ultimate royal family.
In royal families the princes often serve as ambassadors and that’s exactly what Paul called us. Using a Greek word he only applied to us (2 Cor. 5:20) and himself (Eph. 6:20), he called us ambassadors (representatives) of Christ sent with the ministry of reconciliation to reconcile men to God (2 Cor. 5:18-20).
Through the cross, God has made peace with His creation (Colossians 1:19) and as His ambassadors we are called to explain the terms of His peace to all the nations, in other words to share the gospel with them.
When an ambassador is appointed to the country where he will serve, he presents his credentials to the host country. His credentials show he has the authority to act on behalf of his home country’s leaders.
When Jesus sent His original 12 disciples out to minister to the people, He gave them credentials to show they had the authority to act on His behalf. He said, “Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons” (Matt. 10:8).
Later He sent out 72 others telling them to heal the sick in every town that welcomed them (Luke 10:9). And just before He left, after reminding them that all authority in heaven and on earth had been given to Him, He told His followers of that day and ours:
“Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matt. 28:18-19).
To show that we have the authority to act as His ambassadors today, we have also been given the ability to do the things Jesus did.
[He said,] “Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing” (John 14:12).
Notice He didn’t say, “Whoever in this generation” or “Whoever until the New Testament is complete” but “Whoever believes in me.” Prefacing His statement with the phrase “Very truly I tell you” indicates He was being as honest and direct as He could possibly be. That means whether you know it or not, you have the authority as the Lord’s ambassador to do the things Jesus did.
We who believe in Jesus have been authorized to heal the sick, raise the dead, cast out demons, preach the gospel, and make disciples of all men, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. We don’t need anyone’s permission to do these things, they are part of our job, even part of our responsibility. They are what we’ve been sent to do, just as they are what Jesus was sent to do.
Jesus didn’t pray to His Father, asking Him to heal someone if it be His will, He commanded the person to be healed. He commanded demons to depart. He commanded dead people to come to life. He did this because He had the authority to do so.
The disciples didn’t pray to Jesus or the Father, asking for healing on behalf of someone. In Jesus’ name they commanded the sick to be healed, the lame to walk, the demons to depart, the dead to rise. They also had the authority to do so.
What Can I Do for You, Lord?
So many times I’ve received emails from people who say, “I’ve prayed for God to show me what He wants me to do with my life. I keep listening, but I never hear anything back. What’s missing?”
What’s missing is that He’s waiting for us to do what He’s already commissioned us to do as one of His ambassadors.
“Heal the sick, raise the dead, cast out demons, preach the gospel, and make disciples of all men, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.”
Why do we expect Him to give us another job when we’ve yet to begin the one he’s already given us?
It doesn’t matter how busy you are or how important your job is, you could find at least a little time to begin acting as an ambassador of the Lord by doing some of the things He has commissioned you to do. Even if you could only commit a few hours a week to this, you would be serving the One who gave His life to redeem yours.
Imagine, if you can, how different the world would be if each of us spent just a little time each week in our role as an ambassador of Christ. Instead of being known primarily for what we hate, wouldn’t the Church be better known for Who we love? Isn’t that what the Lord wants? (John 13:34-35).
One final word about ambassadors. They don’t try to impose their country’s culture or values on the country they’ve been sent to. And they certainly don’t try to take it over. They know they are guests who serve a special purpose.
In the same way it’s not the Church’s job to take over the world or impose the Christian culture upon it. We are also guests who serve a special purpose. Jesus told the 72 that if they entered a town and were not made to feel welcome, they should leave, shaking the dust from their feet as they did (Luke 10:10-11). And Paul said it’s not our responsibility to judge those outside the Church (1 Cor. 5:12).
Our job is to show them something better by our actions. Now before you say that to be an ambassador for Christ you would have to leave your home and become a missionary in a foreign land, consider this.
“Our citizenship is in heaven and we eagerly await a savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ” (Phil. 3:20).
No matter where you live on earth, you are only a visitor here, so you could start right where you are.
Our purpose is to introduce the very special benefits of our home country (heaven) to those who live on earth and influence them to change their citizenship. And how do we do that? The way Jesus told us to.
“Heal the sick, raise the dead, cast out demons, preach the gospel, and make disciples of all men, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.”
If you’ve never done anything like his before, you shouldn’t expect to do all these things successfully right out of the box. For example, just as it takes faith to be healed, it takes faith to heal others. Most of us don’t have that kind of faith because we’ve never developed it, and we’ve never developed it because it has never occurred to us that we could.
But there are thousands of ways to show the gospel to people. All it takes to get started is to make a commitment to do something. And with prayer, study, and practice, we can all learn to do all these things because we have all been given the authority to do them. It’s who we are in Christ. Maranatha
https://garyboyd2244.blogspot.com
Sep 2, 2022 11:13:10 #
(Main)
The Wealth Endgame
By Wilfred Hahn
Researched by Pastor Gary Boyd
Sept. 2nd 2022
Which statement is true: Wealth is booming worldwide today or wealth is corroding?
Gauging by popular indicators, wealth is surging. Stock market indices have been rising, hitting new all-time highs in some countries. And, spectacularly, real estate values have been soaring to previously unimaginable levels around the world from Sweden to Canada to Australia. Surely, wealth must be booming.
Indeed, some people are becoming very rich; the already-wealthy are becoming incredibly wealthy. The share of wealth of the “one percent” (the wealthiest 1% of people) is definitely rising. But, seen from the vantage point of historical wealth theory as well as Biblical values, we take a completely opposite perspective. We conclude that worldwide wealth is corroding.
People like rising wealth. In fact, they like the “appearance” that wealth is rising. No distinction is made between these two developments. More is better, whether false or real. As such, in our modern financial world, few understand the true essence of wealth.
At its core, wealth is nothing more than the totality of the physical creation and the collective productive capacity of mankind’s labor — both present and future. We can define these types of wealth as either created or of human origin. Both forms of wealth are finite at any given point in time.
There are three important truths about human wealth. First, it is inextricably tied to human labor. Ultimately the value of all wealth rests on the foundation of income — someone’s labors somewhere on earth. Second, wealth can only be accumulated when we consume less than our labor produces. Third, if we exchange our savings for a promise of payment in the future, the underlying support for that liability ultimately depends on the labors of another human sometime in the future.
The inviolable fact of God’s creation is this: There can be no human wealth without human labor, whether present, past or future — either accumulated as savings in the past or an exchange for the promise of savings in the future.
With that conclusion, we can emphatically state that human wealth in the world is corroding today. Why? Because the pool of human labor is on the verge of declining. There are a number of causes but we will focus on just two.
Anti-Familialism. Increasingly, people are choosing not to have children and not to form families. It is becoming prevalent not to marry today. The result (due to this and other reasons)? Fewer children. This has now become a worldwide trend, from the Third World to Europe.
The result? The world’s population is aging. The most significant impact of this development is that future retirees will be relying on the support and economic output of a following generation that will be much smaller. The impact of this aging phenomenon cannot be escaped. The retiree to worker ratio, as a result, is expanding rapidly. Unavoidably, what that means is that the foundation of world wealth is on the path to corrosion. Policymakers also realize this. Their response? Pump up (inflate) the value of assets (house, stocks and bonds) in price, so to make it look like wealth is increasing. It is an attempt to cover up the problem … to kick the can down the road for someone else to worry about.
Shocking Decline in Creation of Life
The second “labor” (wealth) corroding development we mention is a shocking one. Men’s sperm counts are collapsing … around the world!
Researchers led by Dr. Hagai Levine of Hebrew University of Jerusalem examined thousands of studies and conducted reviews of 185 other studies. These included 42,935 male participants who provided semen samples between 1973 and 2011. The chosen studies were well distributed over the nearly 40 years of the study period and among 50 different countries.
What did the researchers determine? They discovered that men’s sperm counts in the Western world have fallen by 59% over the past 40 years. Ponder on this incredible statistic. If the count decline were to continue at the same pace in the future, men’s sperm counts would be at zero in only 4 decades! It is not just a Western problem. There are indications that declines in sperm counts are occurring globally. (Please see graph on pg. 5).
The impact of this development is shattering in many ways. The rate of child conception will be lower, if it is not already. And, should counts continue to deteriorate, world populations would begin to decline and age at a much more rapid rate. As we have pointed out: World wealth is tied to labor. Declining population growth will therefore further undermine the foundations of world wealth.
Financial wealth is booming during our generation. How can this be when real wealth is creeping along at a fraction of that rate? Here again we see that the main driver behind this apparently huge rise in wealth has been nothing more than a boom in the perception of value.
If apparent wealth (perceived financial wealth and otherwise) is rising much faster than underlying income growth and savings, then something potentially very dangerous is occurring. It gives rise to a deceitful environment, one in which claims on true wealth — the ownership of human labor; past, present and future — are being misrepresented. It allows the world to fall for an enormous bondage to fictitious financial wealth even as true wealth is being hoarded by a select few as never before. Maranatha
https://garyboyd2244.blogspot.com
By Wilfred Hahn
Researched by Pastor Gary Boyd
Sept. 2nd 2022
Which statement is true: Wealth is booming worldwide today or wealth is corroding?
Gauging by popular indicators, wealth is surging. Stock market indices have been rising, hitting new all-time highs in some countries. And, spectacularly, real estate values have been soaring to previously unimaginable levels around the world from Sweden to Canada to Australia. Surely, wealth must be booming.
Indeed, some people are becoming very rich; the already-wealthy are becoming incredibly wealthy. The share of wealth of the “one percent” (the wealthiest 1% of people) is definitely rising. But, seen from the vantage point of historical wealth theory as well as Biblical values, we take a completely opposite perspective. We conclude that worldwide wealth is corroding.
People like rising wealth. In fact, they like the “appearance” that wealth is rising. No distinction is made between these two developments. More is better, whether false or real. As such, in our modern financial world, few understand the true essence of wealth.
At its core, wealth is nothing more than the totality of the physical creation and the collective productive capacity of mankind’s labor — both present and future. We can define these types of wealth as either created or of human origin. Both forms of wealth are finite at any given point in time.
There are three important truths about human wealth. First, it is inextricably tied to human labor. Ultimately the value of all wealth rests on the foundation of income — someone’s labors somewhere on earth. Second, wealth can only be accumulated when we consume less than our labor produces. Third, if we exchange our savings for a promise of payment in the future, the underlying support for that liability ultimately depends on the labors of another human sometime in the future.
The inviolable fact of God’s creation is this: There can be no human wealth without human labor, whether present, past or future — either accumulated as savings in the past or an exchange for the promise of savings in the future.
With that conclusion, we can emphatically state that human wealth in the world is corroding today. Why? Because the pool of human labor is on the verge of declining. There are a number of causes but we will focus on just two.
Anti-Familialism. Increasingly, people are choosing not to have children and not to form families. It is becoming prevalent not to marry today. The result (due to this and other reasons)? Fewer children. This has now become a worldwide trend, from the Third World to Europe.
The result? The world’s population is aging. The most significant impact of this development is that future retirees will be relying on the support and economic output of a following generation that will be much smaller. The impact of this aging phenomenon cannot be escaped. The retiree to worker ratio, as a result, is expanding rapidly. Unavoidably, what that means is that the foundation of world wealth is on the path to corrosion. Policymakers also realize this. Their response? Pump up (inflate) the value of assets (house, stocks and bonds) in price, so to make it look like wealth is increasing. It is an attempt to cover up the problem … to kick the can down the road for someone else to worry about.
Shocking Decline in Creation of Life
The second “labor” (wealth) corroding development we mention is a shocking one. Men’s sperm counts are collapsing … around the world!
Researchers led by Dr. Hagai Levine of Hebrew University of Jerusalem examined thousands of studies and conducted reviews of 185 other studies. These included 42,935 male participants who provided semen samples between 1973 and 2011. The chosen studies were well distributed over the nearly 40 years of the study period and among 50 different countries.
What did the researchers determine? They discovered that men’s sperm counts in the Western world have fallen by 59% over the past 40 years. Ponder on this incredible statistic. If the count decline were to continue at the same pace in the future, men’s sperm counts would be at zero in only 4 decades! It is not just a Western problem. There are indications that declines in sperm counts are occurring globally. (Please see graph on pg. 5).
The impact of this development is shattering in many ways. The rate of child conception will be lower, if it is not already. And, should counts continue to deteriorate, world populations would begin to decline and age at a much more rapid rate. As we have pointed out: World wealth is tied to labor. Declining population growth will therefore further undermine the foundations of world wealth.
Financial wealth is booming during our generation. How can this be when real wealth is creeping along at a fraction of that rate? Here again we see that the main driver behind this apparently huge rise in wealth has been nothing more than a boom in the perception of value.
If apparent wealth (perceived financial wealth and otherwise) is rising much faster than underlying income growth and savings, then something potentially very dangerous is occurring. It gives rise to a deceitful environment, one in which claims on true wealth — the ownership of human labor; past, present and future — are being misrepresented. It allows the world to fall for an enormous bondage to fictitious financial wealth even as true wealth is being hoarded by a select few as never before. Maranatha
https://garyboyd2244.blogspot.com
Aug 29, 2022 12:54:23 #
(Main)
Prophecy & Future Cash Flow: The World Economic Saga
By Wilfred Hahn
Researched by Pastor Gary Boyd
Aug. 29th 2022
Over the past decade, a fractious geopolitical environment has come into view. Why? A number of reasons, but mainly because global economic growth has slumped. Major economic players are jostling for a greater share of world trade, water rights, and whatever else is valuable. They are threatening each other … also becoming more nationalistic. One needs no imagination to see the parallels in animal behavior. Consider the Australian spadefoot frog. When water is plentiful, all is fine and placid. However, once the water puddles begin to dry up, the tadpoles become cannibals … eating each other. It is similar with the hippopotamus. When they are enjoying marsh vegetation and deep rivers, they are mostly peaceful. However, once the waterways dry up, they become a heaving mass of ill-tempered creatures.
Given these unstable economic conditions, central bankers are desperately trying to solve the world’s economic problems. It has been over a decade since the traumatic Global Financial Crisis (GFC) struck the globe. Yet, they remain perplexed. Once the financial bloodbath of the GFC meltdown had been staunched, policymakers were optimistic that the worst was over. Soon would come a recovery period of growth and prosperity … or so they thought. However, to most everyone’s surprise, that was not the outcome. Policymakers discovered that they needed to continue pump-priming … meaning trying to stimulate economies in various degrees by suppressing interest rates and supporting bond markets.
What do we see a decade later? Even the U.S. Federal Reserve is worried about another economic downturn, and is again lowering its administered interest rates. More shocking is to observe European interest-rates dropping to new lows. Nay, they have dropped to the lowest negative rate level on record. Imagine that some $13 trillion of the world’s government bond market is priced for underwater yields. No doubt, most readers may be scratching their heads trying to imagine a negative interest yield. Were you to make a deposit, say, Euro 100, in a German bank, this institution would likely ask you to pay them a quarter of a percent or so just to hold your deposit for a year.
Does this all make sense? We will say, yes, though we originally were as surprised as everybody else when this condition first appeared. We say yes … but only because mankind has made some perverse choices. What is unfolding therefore is logical given the misleading perspectives and choices that are being adopted by humanity. We will explain further.
In the meantime, policymakers think they have a new solution—Modern Monetary Theory (or MMT). What is it? It is a group of aggressive monetary and budgetary measures. The only thing modern about this collective group of policies is the level of chicanery. In reality, MMT is just a new name … new wine put into old wineskins, so to speak. And, the outcome will also likely be the same as always … split wineskins.
But that is not to say that such policies do not have consequences or impact. They do. Very simply explained, MMT argues that as long as inflation rates are low and non-threatening, governments can run large budget deficits. The reasoning is that government debt can be perpetually forgiven (notionally at least) by having the central bank buy up the debt.
Such monetary policy is very similar to “money printing,” the difference being that the money is being spent by the government. Anything paid for by the proceeds of borrowed government money—even perhaps the lowering of personal taxes—will almost certainly boost spending. That will stimulate economic activity. After all, what government of elected representatives will not spend free money? Most households, too, will tend to spend their income-tax refunds. Therefore, these new MMT policies can achieve the appearance of success, at least for a period of time.
But, doesn’t all this debt-financed money—actually, money from thin air that will never be paid back—have any consequences? Yes, very definitely, there are critical consequences. And, that is where the chicanery comes home to roost. The longer-term consequences are ignored … not disclosed. Everything in this world has a consequence. God is not mocked. So says Galatians 6:7: “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.” So it is with monetary policy.
The most worrisome side-effect (consequence) of the MMT schemes is that it leads to a greater hoarding of wealth. The ultra-wealthy class will continue to become wealthier. Why? There are a number of links, but we will keep our explanations simple. Government deficits provide a profit boost to the corporate/business sector. Senior executives and stock owners therefore stand to benefit from gains. However, the vast majority of citizens do not have large stock holdings. They do not gain from this rise in stock prices. To the contrary, labor in general is squeezed in its share of national income.
As such, we can document that the rich are getting richer … in fact, there is an increase in the wealth of the super-rich. These individuals can become very powerful, pushing their interests with politicians and people that manage the capital markets. This leads to plutocracy. We would wager to say that America and other nations are well on the road to plutocracy. What is very interesting about these developments is that the Bible says these exact same conditions will become very pronounced in the last days. We will refer to the supporting Bible references in the conclusion.
The Imperative of Cash Flow
Just where do we find the sources of new wealth today?
The Bible says that the love of money is the source of all evil. In our modern day, we could rephrase this to “the love of future cash flow is the motivator of virtually all economic life … and evil.” Whether we consciously know it or not, most people will tend to direct their lives according to the sources and prospects for future cash flow.
While this is understandable, few people really grasp how powerful are the global forces behind future cash flow. Given the concentration of wealth that we see in the world today, there are very big players that muscle their way into new cash-flow channels.
Consider the most recent example of a tsunami-like cash flow eruption. It was the smartphone boom. It was enormous, to the point that just a few companies who exploited this trend now represent as much as 10% of the value of some countries’ stock markets. Trillions in worth was created. But, the hunt goes on: Where are the next cash-flow waves expected?
That’s the question that any business analyst or senior corporate executive must determine an answer to. Most analysts anticipate this will apply to the “Internet of Things” … namely, the global communications and information infrastructure. Companies providing network and internet communications systems stand to boom. They already have. As such, a brutal competition is under way. There are no rules. Why? The potential for value and wealth gains are so great … perhaps $100 trillion and more!
One contender in this competition is Huawei (a Chinese firm). It appeared to be headed to take the lead in this industry, cashing in on the “Internet of Things.” However, the stakes are so great, this company has been thwarted by Western nations who want to capture some of the anticipated cash flow themselves (particularly so the US).
Without a doubt, the potential of big money attracts diabolic-like and brutal forces. The World of Mammon is assuredly more ruthless than the illustrated instinct-driven behavior seen in nature’s battles for survival of the fittest. Many wars have been fought over opportunities for economic growth and future cash flows. Sadly, that is the history of mankind.
The Next Cash-Flow Surges
One prominent analyst with BlackRock (one of the world’s largest asset managers) makes a case for sources of future cash flow. Consider that, already, the value of the Internet today exceeds that of the entirety of global real estate. Furthermore, the Internet is expected to increase to a value of $550 trillion over the next decade, approximately 2.5 times the value of real estate.
Ponder this: Google today offers a lot of free services to its users. For example: free maps, free email, free web search. What would people pay for these services if they were no longer free? Particularly GPS services (geo-positioning system that uses maps) could be extremely valuable in a world of driverless cars and more Uber taxis. Other sources of potential future cash flows include water, property underneath major urban centers, and alternate energy sources. The “big money” in the world is positioning themselves for these potential cash flows.
What is notable about economic developments unfolding today is that changes are transmitted very rapidly. Information-intensive services face no shipping costs, nor large capital requirements. The penetration of these services or devices can be very rapid. It took a century of automobile manufacturing before there were enough autos and trucks registered equivalent to one per person. By contrast, the smartphone reached a 60% adoption rate in only little more than a decade. Indeed, as the end of the age approaches, change itself is accelerating. Suddenness is a mark of that era (see Zephaniah 1:14, 18).
Seeing the monumental narrowing of wealth ownership in the world today (with much larger heaps yet possible with future cash-flow surges) and more inventive monetary policies, can we connect these trends to the last days? After all, these are unprecedented trends of human choices about finances and economies. Our answer: Yes, this writer believes that there are too many parallels with Bible prophecy unfolding today for these to be the result of simple chance.
That said, we cannot (and should not) speak with any certainty as to specific timing of a specific prophecy. This is impossible, apart from recognizing a season. Moreover, the Bible warns us not to do so. “Do not go beyond what is written” (1 Corinthians 4:6).
However, collectively and seasonally, we do identify a world that is “ripening” for the final fulfillment of prophecy. (Please see the previous articles in our series on Ripening Times.) These trends are all unprecedented and are in alignment for a prophesied time where “[…] truth was thrown to the ground” (Daniel 8:12), and “deceit [caused] to prosper” (verse 25).
Thoughts to Ponder
Does the Bible anticipate and warn about an endtime boom in commercialism, materialism and greed?
Monetary corruption is being coordinated around the world as never before in human history. The Bible warns repeatedly about malfeasance. God expressly and often says that He “hates” dishonest scales. Numerous times this is expressed in the Bible.
Apostle James speaks of hoarding in the last days: “Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming on you […]. You have hoarded wealth in the last days” (James 5:1, 3).
Also, we see evidence of other dramatic economic distortions in the Book of Revelation. Consider Revelation 6:6: “[…] Two pounds of wheat for a day’s wages, and six pounds of barley for a day’s wages, and do not damage the oil and the wine!” This prophecy gives evidence of severe income and wealth imbalances.
In conclusion, MMT is just one of the stepping stones toward delusion and the final outcome of judgment that the Bible sees unfolding in the Tribulation period. In the meantime, earthly consequences will continue to worsen so long as the Lord tarries.
In this age where pursuit of “future cash flow” defines a frenzied world, the Bible has something to say to Christians:
“Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you’” (Hebrew 13:5). Maranatha
https://garyboyd2244.blogspot.com
By Wilfred Hahn
Researched by Pastor Gary Boyd
Aug. 29th 2022
Over the past decade, a fractious geopolitical environment has come into view. Why? A number of reasons, but mainly because global economic growth has slumped. Major economic players are jostling for a greater share of world trade, water rights, and whatever else is valuable. They are threatening each other … also becoming more nationalistic. One needs no imagination to see the parallels in animal behavior. Consider the Australian spadefoot frog. When water is plentiful, all is fine and placid. However, once the water puddles begin to dry up, the tadpoles become cannibals … eating each other. It is similar with the hippopotamus. When they are enjoying marsh vegetation and deep rivers, they are mostly peaceful. However, once the waterways dry up, they become a heaving mass of ill-tempered creatures.
Given these unstable economic conditions, central bankers are desperately trying to solve the world’s economic problems. It has been over a decade since the traumatic Global Financial Crisis (GFC) struck the globe. Yet, they remain perplexed. Once the financial bloodbath of the GFC meltdown had been staunched, policymakers were optimistic that the worst was over. Soon would come a recovery period of growth and prosperity … or so they thought. However, to most everyone’s surprise, that was not the outcome. Policymakers discovered that they needed to continue pump-priming … meaning trying to stimulate economies in various degrees by suppressing interest rates and supporting bond markets.
What do we see a decade later? Even the U.S. Federal Reserve is worried about another economic downturn, and is again lowering its administered interest rates. More shocking is to observe European interest-rates dropping to new lows. Nay, they have dropped to the lowest negative rate level on record. Imagine that some $13 trillion of the world’s government bond market is priced for underwater yields. No doubt, most readers may be scratching their heads trying to imagine a negative interest yield. Were you to make a deposit, say, Euro 100, in a German bank, this institution would likely ask you to pay them a quarter of a percent or so just to hold your deposit for a year.
Does this all make sense? We will say, yes, though we originally were as surprised as everybody else when this condition first appeared. We say yes … but only because mankind has made some perverse choices. What is unfolding therefore is logical given the misleading perspectives and choices that are being adopted by humanity. We will explain further.
In the meantime, policymakers think they have a new solution—Modern Monetary Theory (or MMT). What is it? It is a group of aggressive monetary and budgetary measures. The only thing modern about this collective group of policies is the level of chicanery. In reality, MMT is just a new name … new wine put into old wineskins, so to speak. And, the outcome will also likely be the same as always … split wineskins.
But that is not to say that such policies do not have consequences or impact. They do. Very simply explained, MMT argues that as long as inflation rates are low and non-threatening, governments can run large budget deficits. The reasoning is that government debt can be perpetually forgiven (notionally at least) by having the central bank buy up the debt.
Such monetary policy is very similar to “money printing,” the difference being that the money is being spent by the government. Anything paid for by the proceeds of borrowed government money—even perhaps the lowering of personal taxes—will almost certainly boost spending. That will stimulate economic activity. After all, what government of elected representatives will not spend free money? Most households, too, will tend to spend their income-tax refunds. Therefore, these new MMT policies can achieve the appearance of success, at least for a period of time.
But, doesn’t all this debt-financed money—actually, money from thin air that will never be paid back—have any consequences? Yes, very definitely, there are critical consequences. And, that is where the chicanery comes home to roost. The longer-term consequences are ignored … not disclosed. Everything in this world has a consequence. God is not mocked. So says Galatians 6:7: “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.” So it is with monetary policy.
The most worrisome side-effect (consequence) of the MMT schemes is that it leads to a greater hoarding of wealth. The ultra-wealthy class will continue to become wealthier. Why? There are a number of links, but we will keep our explanations simple. Government deficits provide a profit boost to the corporate/business sector. Senior executives and stock owners therefore stand to benefit from gains. However, the vast majority of citizens do not have large stock holdings. They do not gain from this rise in stock prices. To the contrary, labor in general is squeezed in its share of national income.
As such, we can document that the rich are getting richer … in fact, there is an increase in the wealth of the super-rich. These individuals can become very powerful, pushing their interests with politicians and people that manage the capital markets. This leads to plutocracy. We would wager to say that America and other nations are well on the road to plutocracy. What is very interesting about these developments is that the Bible says these exact same conditions will become very pronounced in the last days. We will refer to the supporting Bible references in the conclusion.
The Imperative of Cash Flow
Just where do we find the sources of new wealth today?
The Bible says that the love of money is the source of all evil. In our modern day, we could rephrase this to “the love of future cash flow is the motivator of virtually all economic life … and evil.” Whether we consciously know it or not, most people will tend to direct their lives according to the sources and prospects for future cash flow.
While this is understandable, few people really grasp how powerful are the global forces behind future cash flow. Given the concentration of wealth that we see in the world today, there are very big players that muscle their way into new cash-flow channels.
Consider the most recent example of a tsunami-like cash flow eruption. It was the smartphone boom. It was enormous, to the point that just a few companies who exploited this trend now represent as much as 10% of the value of some countries’ stock markets. Trillions in worth was created. But, the hunt goes on: Where are the next cash-flow waves expected?
That’s the question that any business analyst or senior corporate executive must determine an answer to. Most analysts anticipate this will apply to the “Internet of Things” … namely, the global communications and information infrastructure. Companies providing network and internet communications systems stand to boom. They already have. As such, a brutal competition is under way. There are no rules. Why? The potential for value and wealth gains are so great … perhaps $100 trillion and more!
One contender in this competition is Huawei (a Chinese firm). It appeared to be headed to take the lead in this industry, cashing in on the “Internet of Things.” However, the stakes are so great, this company has been thwarted by Western nations who want to capture some of the anticipated cash flow themselves (particularly so the US).
Without a doubt, the potential of big money attracts diabolic-like and brutal forces. The World of Mammon is assuredly more ruthless than the illustrated instinct-driven behavior seen in nature’s battles for survival of the fittest. Many wars have been fought over opportunities for economic growth and future cash flows. Sadly, that is the history of mankind.
The Next Cash-Flow Surges
One prominent analyst with BlackRock (one of the world’s largest asset managers) makes a case for sources of future cash flow. Consider that, already, the value of the Internet today exceeds that of the entirety of global real estate. Furthermore, the Internet is expected to increase to a value of $550 trillion over the next decade, approximately 2.5 times the value of real estate.
Ponder this: Google today offers a lot of free services to its users. For example: free maps, free email, free web search. What would people pay for these services if they were no longer free? Particularly GPS services (geo-positioning system that uses maps) could be extremely valuable in a world of driverless cars and more Uber taxis. Other sources of potential future cash flows include water, property underneath major urban centers, and alternate energy sources. The “big money” in the world is positioning themselves for these potential cash flows.
What is notable about economic developments unfolding today is that changes are transmitted very rapidly. Information-intensive services face no shipping costs, nor large capital requirements. The penetration of these services or devices can be very rapid. It took a century of automobile manufacturing before there were enough autos and trucks registered equivalent to one per person. By contrast, the smartphone reached a 60% adoption rate in only little more than a decade. Indeed, as the end of the age approaches, change itself is accelerating. Suddenness is a mark of that era (see Zephaniah 1:14, 18).
Seeing the monumental narrowing of wealth ownership in the world today (with much larger heaps yet possible with future cash-flow surges) and more inventive monetary policies, can we connect these trends to the last days? After all, these are unprecedented trends of human choices about finances and economies. Our answer: Yes, this writer believes that there are too many parallels with Bible prophecy unfolding today for these to be the result of simple chance.
That said, we cannot (and should not) speak with any certainty as to specific timing of a specific prophecy. This is impossible, apart from recognizing a season. Moreover, the Bible warns us not to do so. “Do not go beyond what is written” (1 Corinthians 4:6).
However, collectively and seasonally, we do identify a world that is “ripening” for the final fulfillment of prophecy. (Please see the previous articles in our series on Ripening Times.) These trends are all unprecedented and are in alignment for a prophesied time where “[…] truth was thrown to the ground” (Daniel 8:12), and “deceit [caused] to prosper” (verse 25).
Thoughts to Ponder
Does the Bible anticipate and warn about an endtime boom in commercialism, materialism and greed?
Monetary corruption is being coordinated around the world as never before in human history. The Bible warns repeatedly about malfeasance. God expressly and often says that He “hates” dishonest scales. Numerous times this is expressed in the Bible.
Apostle James speaks of hoarding in the last days: “Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming on you […]. You have hoarded wealth in the last days” (James 5:1, 3).
Also, we see evidence of other dramatic economic distortions in the Book of Revelation. Consider Revelation 6:6: “[…] Two pounds of wheat for a day’s wages, and six pounds of barley for a day’s wages, and do not damage the oil and the wine!” This prophecy gives evidence of severe income and wealth imbalances.
In conclusion, MMT is just one of the stepping stones toward delusion and the final outcome of judgment that the Bible sees unfolding in the Tribulation period. In the meantime, earthly consequences will continue to worsen so long as the Lord tarries.
In this age where pursuit of “future cash flow” defines a frenzied world, the Bible has something to say to Christians:
“Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you’” (Hebrew 13:5). Maranatha
https://garyboyd2244.blogspot.com
Aug 16, 2022 16:41:05 #
(Main)
Is Germany Mentioned in Bible Prophecy?
by Wilfred Hahn
Researched by Pastor Gary Boyd
Aug. 16th 2022
One of the most asked prophecy questions in America by far is whether the U.S.A. is mentioned in the Bible. Given America’s influential role in the world in these last days, surely it must merit specific mention … or so, most people reason. There is a wide range of opinion on this question, not to mention virtual terabytes of speculative comment and Scriptural misinterpretations. The debate continues even among learned and respected prophecy scholars. However, of late, the prophetic significance of another Gentile nation is being increasingly queried … namely, Germany. Given the epic financial tremors in Europe, the instabilities in its Eurozone membership, and Germany’s rise in financial and economic power, just what prophecies might validate this country’s current role? As might be guessed, this topic also attracts a range of opinion. In fact, it might be more correct to say that an increasing number of people are now being led to accept versions of British-Israelism on this view (a term we will explain shortly).
Today, there are not a small number of groups that propound these views, causing somewhat of a groundswell among Christians; drawing them into accepting their sometimes fantastical interpretations. While their teachings may not yet have mainstream acceptance, their outreach is quite prolific.
As in the case of America, we see no specific mention in the Bible of Germany (the emphasis here being upon the words “specific mention”).Without a doubt, Bible prophecy encompasses the actions (collective and individual) of all Gentile nations, among which Germany and America are likely included.
Focus upon the Middle East Theatre
Is Germany mentioned in Bible prophecy? To begin, we must remember that the Bible remains an Israel-centric document.As such, its prophecies deal with the generalities of the world’s geopoliticalhistory, but only so in relation to Israel and Jesus Christ. Yes, there are indeed specific nations mentioned in end-time prophecies. However, these are all in the Middle East theatre. To provide aperspective on this issue, we here reproduce an excerpt from an earlier article series in this space (Midnight Call magazine August and September 2008,“Iconic Last Days: False Imagesand Picture-Perfect Prophecy”).
“[…] Consider the surveillance camera. Normally, these devices point at a fixed view; others move in a regular or random arc. Yet, they remain attached to one mounting spot. So it is with the Bible’s perspective of prophecy and historical events. It takes the view of a camera that is installed as if overtop Israel and Jerusalem.
In the Old Testament, this camera was expressly focused upon the live action in this general Middle Eastern area, swinging its angle of view as far east as Susa in Elam, north to Assyria and Babylon, and southwest to Egypt.
The world’s major successive powers of those times, such as the Assyrians and the Romans, are only caught on this surveillance camera as they trample across Israel and Judah. They are bit actors, not even deserving their own camera installation.Later, in the New Testament, the arc of the camera widens somewhat, but not much, roving as far as Rome and more northern parts of Asia Minor.
In our time today, this prophecy camera would still not have captured long glimpses of America on its footage. At best, this nation would only make few and fleeting cameo appearances in the Middle East—minor interventions over the past century, and more recently, the incursion into Iraq.
Yet today, the video camera of Bible prophecy still remains fixed to its pedestal above Israel, limiting its arc of view to the general surrounding area. It has not moved from its spot. This perspective is often overlooked by Bible readers, given that the majority of the world’s Christians (also the greater world populations and economies) lie outside the line of this camera’s view. Given this dominance, we might therefore think that most of the important action in the world is in America, in China, Europe or perhaps other wealthy or populous countries.But where do we see these countries in our prophetic videotape?The Bible at best only gives mention to these countries as either ‘islands of the seas,’ the ‘kings of the east,’ or perhaps Gog from the far north (Ezekiel 38), without even turning its camera in their direction. Imagine this insult to the developed, high-income countries supposedly running the world order of today.They hardly even merit mention in the final credits of Bible prophecy.”
Signs of Germany’s Rise
Lately, offshoots of the British Israelite persuasion, have been proudly proclaiming that they “told you so” in respect of recent gyrations in Europe.
If you missed their admonitions, just what have they been saying?
They see recent financial and economic tremors in Europe, as the final staging to the emergence of the power structure prophesied for the endtimes, this being the Holy Roman Empire in which Germany plays a ruling role.The economic rise of Germany in recent years, along with the advent of financial meltdowns in some of the periphery European countries, is proof-positive to them that their Bible interpretations are correct. They see Germany using its economic power to consolidate its leadership position, then to rule a new European coalition of countries. To this point, likely few prophecy scholars will disagree with these observations. The British Israelite groups, however, come to these opinions by a completely different set of beliefs.
Just what is British-Israelism? In answering, we must acknowledge that there are a wide number of groups that will fall under this broad umbrella (each with some significant theological distinctions). Other names for offshoots from British Israelism include Celtic Israelism and Anglo Israelism. A later term often used is Armstrongism, named after the 20th century teachings of Herbert Armstrong of the Worldwide Church of God. However, the common foundation that distinguishes them from orthodox Christianity, is that they consider many of the Old Testament prophecies that are addressed separately to the House of Judah and the House of Israel (the ancient Northern Kingdom) as applying to the last days.
In their view, the House of Judah (comprised of the tribes of Benjamin and Judah) are the Jews of today, whereas the House of Israel is represented by the lost 10 ten tribes of Israel, who in present timesare “discovered” to exist incognito in the form ofmostly northern European peoples. The 10 tribes of Israel (those that were deported and dispersed abroad by the Assyrians in the 7th century B.C.) lost their identity and were eventually also lost to antiquity. These “lost” Israelites then emigrated to other parts of the Middle East, the Caucasus, to Northern Europe and, importantly, England and Ireland. British Israelite groups generally view Britain as modern-day Ephraim and America as the tribe of Manasseh.
Some groups go a step further, and identify the Germany of today as Assyria. Just as the lost 10 tribes supposedly ended up in Europe and America, so did the ancient Assyrians once they were vanquished by the Babylonians. Is all this plausible?
British Israelism: Is It Harmful?
The objective of this article is not to provide an all-points refutation of British-Israelism and its offshoots, but rather to show that the interpretations with respect to modern-dayGermany among its more prominent factions are incorrect.In our view, the 10 northern tribes were never lost. Clearly, 12 tribes of Israel are shown to exist in the Book of Revelation (Chapter 7, 12 and 21), these references applying to the future. The debate centers on whether all the Israelite tribes are represented by the Jews of today. The New Testament, which documents a time over 700 years after the Northern Kingdom of Israel was destroyed,specifically mentions the House of Israel tribe of Asher as being the ancestor of Anna the prophetess (Luke 2:36). After the breakup of the northern tribes from the southern tribes of Judah and Benjamin, at least some of the northern Hebrews, who remained faithful to the teachings of the Law, fled to the south.
Therefore, the Israel of today is considered to be a blend of the House of Judah and the House of Israel. As such, the prophecy found in Ezekiel 37:19-22—the two houses of Israel and Judah being made into one stick—has already been fulfilled rather than will yet occur in the future. British Israelism was popularized as a Christian interpretation early in the 19th century. It no doubt wasinfluenced by the much earlier academic interests in Irish Orientalism and Phoenicianism.A large number of secular treatises on these influences were written as much as a century earlier.
While we are not convinced to adopt the foundational viewpoints of British Israelism,at the same time we also do not see them as being heretical. These views alone do not affect the gospel or essential doctrine. That said, a ragtag set of beliefs with respect to last-day prophecies, Sabbath-keeping, Judaical ordinances … etc. can be found among them. Of course, the same could be said about the rest of Christianity.
Where Is Germany?
One of the more prolific churches today teaching British Israelism (more specifically, Armstrongism) is the Philadelphia Church of God (PCOG). As such, we will here focus on their statements in regard to Europe, Germany, the Holy Roman Empire and end-time prophecy.
According to them, just as the 10 northern tribes of the House of Israel supposedly migrated to America and became the founders of the European nations of Britain, France and others, so apparently also did the Assyrians. The Armstrongites claim that they migrated to the environs of modern-day Germany (specifically, former Prussia). As Assyrians were a war-loving, cruel people, the PCOG is sure that Germany will be the country that will rule brutally over a new Europe, this taking the form of a group of 10 kings.
Recent events in Europe, of course, only add fuel to the PCOG’s conviction (and boasting, we may add). Indeed, Germany, which has the largest economy of all the 17 Eurozone countries, is in a position of large influence. To the PCOG, this is all a prelude to a Fourth Reich (a revived Holy Roman Empire), a state of organization where Germany will rule over Europe. An evil strong man (Antichrist) will come from this empire, as he is said to be an Assyrian (Isaiah 10:5, Micah 5:5). Moreover, the PCOG interprets various Old Testament prophecies as revealing that Germany will in fact punish all the 10 tribe descendants, also oppressing and dominating America. Really?
These views are not altogether in agreement with Bible prophecy. We observe faulty and confused interpretations on a number of levels.
To begin, Bible prophecy expressly reveals that the rule of the 10 kings (a power coalition of 10 nations) emerges before the Antichrist is revealed. In other words, 10 kings come first, then the 11thwho is revealed as the Antichrist enters the scene. Shown as a king (the Old Testament’s parallel to today’s rulers), he must therefore represent a country. Thus, if Germany is today to be one of the 10 kings that are to arise as a revived Roman Empire, then their leader cannot then emerge to be the Antichrist. He must be the leader of yet another country and not of the 10. How so?
Daniel expressly says, “there before me was another horn, a little one, which came up among” the first 10 horns (Daniel 7:8). (A horn is used in the Old Testament to symbolize the sovereign power of kings.) Clearly, it is an 11th and different king (likely representing a smaller nation) who arises while the previous 10 remain in existence. At a later time, he does indeed subjugate three of them (Daniel 7:8). Germany clearly does not fit this story line. Germany already exists … and it is not small. We can cite more verses that demolish the Philadelphian (PCOG)fixation with Germany, their view ona Holy Roman Empire, and interpretation ofthe Bible’s statements on historical and end-time geopolitics.
Overall, the PCOG framework with respect to both the historical and last day sequence of rulers as laid out in the Bible, is also flawed. For example, they take an incorrect interpretation of the seven heads shown on the beast of Revelation 17. As we have outlined in the past, the 7 heads (who are also 7 kings) represent the historical lineage of the major Gentile powers that have ruled and suppressed the Hebrews. On the other hand, the group of 10 kings,which are also mentioned in Revelation 17 (and symbolized four other occasionsin Scripture), exist at the same time. Whereas the kings (rulerships) that are represented by the 7 heads are consecutive (not in dominance at the same time), the 10 kings represented by the horns exist contemporaneously.
Revelation 17:10 says that the 7 heads “are also seven kings. Five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come.” Just who are these kingdoms? Quoting the November/December issue of the Trumpet, the PCOG assigns the identity of the “five fallen” as follows: Justinian (A.D. 554); Charlemagne (A.D. 800); Otto the Great (A.D. 962); Charles V; and Napoleon who crowned himself emperor in 1804. Such interpretations are highly imaginative and subjective … not to mention scripturally unsound.
John the Revelator wrote down the visions given to him late in the first century. Just how could the five kingdoms that had already fallen, all yet come to power in later centuries, as the PCOG claims? Moreover, just how is it possible to name Hitler as the sixth head (which the PCOG does)? John the Revelator told us that the “sixth” kingdom (the Roman rulership) already existed at the time that he was writing his prophecies. And, just how is it that the PCOG determines that the 1930s to 1940s period qualifies as the time that “is”? If so, there must have been a second coming of John this past century which all of Christianity missed.
The Bible very clearly reveals that the sixth and seventh heads, as well as the 8th king (6th through 8th kings/kingdoms mentioned in Revelation 17) are all of Roman origin. While it is possible that this 8th king could be some type of Assyrian entity, he comes out of the Roman rulership. The previous 5 kingdoms pictured in Revelation 17 (the five that are fallen) are not Roman. For rest of article go to https://garyboyd2244.blogspot.com
by Wilfred Hahn
Researched by Pastor Gary Boyd
Aug. 16th 2022
One of the most asked prophecy questions in America by far is whether the U.S.A. is mentioned in the Bible. Given America’s influential role in the world in these last days, surely it must merit specific mention … or so, most people reason. There is a wide range of opinion on this question, not to mention virtual terabytes of speculative comment and Scriptural misinterpretations. The debate continues even among learned and respected prophecy scholars. However, of late, the prophetic significance of another Gentile nation is being increasingly queried … namely, Germany. Given the epic financial tremors in Europe, the instabilities in its Eurozone membership, and Germany’s rise in financial and economic power, just what prophecies might validate this country’s current role? As might be guessed, this topic also attracts a range of opinion. In fact, it might be more correct to say that an increasing number of people are now being led to accept versions of British-Israelism on this view (a term we will explain shortly).
Today, there are not a small number of groups that propound these views, causing somewhat of a groundswell among Christians; drawing them into accepting their sometimes fantastical interpretations. While their teachings may not yet have mainstream acceptance, their outreach is quite prolific.
As in the case of America, we see no specific mention in the Bible of Germany (the emphasis here being upon the words “specific mention”).Without a doubt, Bible prophecy encompasses the actions (collective and individual) of all Gentile nations, among which Germany and America are likely included.
Focus upon the Middle East Theatre
Is Germany mentioned in Bible prophecy? To begin, we must remember that the Bible remains an Israel-centric document.As such, its prophecies deal with the generalities of the world’s geopoliticalhistory, but only so in relation to Israel and Jesus Christ. Yes, there are indeed specific nations mentioned in end-time prophecies. However, these are all in the Middle East theatre. To provide aperspective on this issue, we here reproduce an excerpt from an earlier article series in this space (Midnight Call magazine August and September 2008,“Iconic Last Days: False Imagesand Picture-Perfect Prophecy”).
“[…] Consider the surveillance camera. Normally, these devices point at a fixed view; others move in a regular or random arc. Yet, they remain attached to one mounting spot. So it is with the Bible’s perspective of prophecy and historical events. It takes the view of a camera that is installed as if overtop Israel and Jerusalem.
In the Old Testament, this camera was expressly focused upon the live action in this general Middle Eastern area, swinging its angle of view as far east as Susa in Elam, north to Assyria and Babylon, and southwest to Egypt.
The world’s major successive powers of those times, such as the Assyrians and the Romans, are only caught on this surveillance camera as they trample across Israel and Judah. They are bit actors, not even deserving their own camera installation.Later, in the New Testament, the arc of the camera widens somewhat, but not much, roving as far as Rome and more northern parts of Asia Minor.
In our time today, this prophecy camera would still not have captured long glimpses of America on its footage. At best, this nation would only make few and fleeting cameo appearances in the Middle East—minor interventions over the past century, and more recently, the incursion into Iraq.
Yet today, the video camera of Bible prophecy still remains fixed to its pedestal above Israel, limiting its arc of view to the general surrounding area. It has not moved from its spot. This perspective is often overlooked by Bible readers, given that the majority of the world’s Christians (also the greater world populations and economies) lie outside the line of this camera’s view. Given this dominance, we might therefore think that most of the important action in the world is in America, in China, Europe or perhaps other wealthy or populous countries.But where do we see these countries in our prophetic videotape?The Bible at best only gives mention to these countries as either ‘islands of the seas,’ the ‘kings of the east,’ or perhaps Gog from the far north (Ezekiel 38), without even turning its camera in their direction. Imagine this insult to the developed, high-income countries supposedly running the world order of today.They hardly even merit mention in the final credits of Bible prophecy.”
Signs of Germany’s Rise
Lately, offshoots of the British Israelite persuasion, have been proudly proclaiming that they “told you so” in respect of recent gyrations in Europe.
If you missed their admonitions, just what have they been saying?
They see recent financial and economic tremors in Europe, as the final staging to the emergence of the power structure prophesied for the endtimes, this being the Holy Roman Empire in which Germany plays a ruling role.The economic rise of Germany in recent years, along with the advent of financial meltdowns in some of the periphery European countries, is proof-positive to them that their Bible interpretations are correct. They see Germany using its economic power to consolidate its leadership position, then to rule a new European coalition of countries. To this point, likely few prophecy scholars will disagree with these observations. The British Israelite groups, however, come to these opinions by a completely different set of beliefs.
Just what is British-Israelism? In answering, we must acknowledge that there are a wide number of groups that will fall under this broad umbrella (each with some significant theological distinctions). Other names for offshoots from British Israelism include Celtic Israelism and Anglo Israelism. A later term often used is Armstrongism, named after the 20th century teachings of Herbert Armstrong of the Worldwide Church of God. However, the common foundation that distinguishes them from orthodox Christianity, is that they consider many of the Old Testament prophecies that are addressed separately to the House of Judah and the House of Israel (the ancient Northern Kingdom) as applying to the last days.
In their view, the House of Judah (comprised of the tribes of Benjamin and Judah) are the Jews of today, whereas the House of Israel is represented by the lost 10 ten tribes of Israel, who in present timesare “discovered” to exist incognito in the form ofmostly northern European peoples. The 10 tribes of Israel (those that were deported and dispersed abroad by the Assyrians in the 7th century B.C.) lost their identity and were eventually also lost to antiquity. These “lost” Israelites then emigrated to other parts of the Middle East, the Caucasus, to Northern Europe and, importantly, England and Ireland. British Israelite groups generally view Britain as modern-day Ephraim and America as the tribe of Manasseh.
Some groups go a step further, and identify the Germany of today as Assyria. Just as the lost 10 tribes supposedly ended up in Europe and America, so did the ancient Assyrians once they were vanquished by the Babylonians. Is all this plausible?
British Israelism: Is It Harmful?
The objective of this article is not to provide an all-points refutation of British-Israelism and its offshoots, but rather to show that the interpretations with respect to modern-dayGermany among its more prominent factions are incorrect.In our view, the 10 northern tribes were never lost. Clearly, 12 tribes of Israel are shown to exist in the Book of Revelation (Chapter 7, 12 and 21), these references applying to the future. The debate centers on whether all the Israelite tribes are represented by the Jews of today. The New Testament, which documents a time over 700 years after the Northern Kingdom of Israel was destroyed,specifically mentions the House of Israel tribe of Asher as being the ancestor of Anna the prophetess (Luke 2:36). After the breakup of the northern tribes from the southern tribes of Judah and Benjamin, at least some of the northern Hebrews, who remained faithful to the teachings of the Law, fled to the south.
Therefore, the Israel of today is considered to be a blend of the House of Judah and the House of Israel. As such, the prophecy found in Ezekiel 37:19-22—the two houses of Israel and Judah being made into one stick—has already been fulfilled rather than will yet occur in the future. British Israelism was popularized as a Christian interpretation early in the 19th century. It no doubt wasinfluenced by the much earlier academic interests in Irish Orientalism and Phoenicianism.A large number of secular treatises on these influences were written as much as a century earlier.
While we are not convinced to adopt the foundational viewpoints of British Israelism,at the same time we also do not see them as being heretical. These views alone do not affect the gospel or essential doctrine. That said, a ragtag set of beliefs with respect to last-day prophecies, Sabbath-keeping, Judaical ordinances … etc. can be found among them. Of course, the same could be said about the rest of Christianity.
Where Is Germany?
One of the more prolific churches today teaching British Israelism (more specifically, Armstrongism) is the Philadelphia Church of God (PCOG). As such, we will here focus on their statements in regard to Europe, Germany, the Holy Roman Empire and end-time prophecy.
According to them, just as the 10 northern tribes of the House of Israel supposedly migrated to America and became the founders of the European nations of Britain, France and others, so apparently also did the Assyrians. The Armstrongites claim that they migrated to the environs of modern-day Germany (specifically, former Prussia). As Assyrians were a war-loving, cruel people, the PCOG is sure that Germany will be the country that will rule brutally over a new Europe, this taking the form of a group of 10 kings.
Recent events in Europe, of course, only add fuel to the PCOG’s conviction (and boasting, we may add). Indeed, Germany, which has the largest economy of all the 17 Eurozone countries, is in a position of large influence. To the PCOG, this is all a prelude to a Fourth Reich (a revived Holy Roman Empire), a state of organization where Germany will rule over Europe. An evil strong man (Antichrist) will come from this empire, as he is said to be an Assyrian (Isaiah 10:5, Micah 5:5). Moreover, the PCOG interprets various Old Testament prophecies as revealing that Germany will in fact punish all the 10 tribe descendants, also oppressing and dominating America. Really?
These views are not altogether in agreement with Bible prophecy. We observe faulty and confused interpretations on a number of levels.
To begin, Bible prophecy expressly reveals that the rule of the 10 kings (a power coalition of 10 nations) emerges before the Antichrist is revealed. In other words, 10 kings come first, then the 11thwho is revealed as the Antichrist enters the scene. Shown as a king (the Old Testament’s parallel to today’s rulers), he must therefore represent a country. Thus, if Germany is today to be one of the 10 kings that are to arise as a revived Roman Empire, then their leader cannot then emerge to be the Antichrist. He must be the leader of yet another country and not of the 10. How so?
Daniel expressly says, “there before me was another horn, a little one, which came up among” the first 10 horns (Daniel 7:8). (A horn is used in the Old Testament to symbolize the sovereign power of kings.) Clearly, it is an 11th and different king (likely representing a smaller nation) who arises while the previous 10 remain in existence. At a later time, he does indeed subjugate three of them (Daniel 7:8). Germany clearly does not fit this story line. Germany already exists … and it is not small. We can cite more verses that demolish the Philadelphian (PCOG)fixation with Germany, their view ona Holy Roman Empire, and interpretation ofthe Bible’s statements on historical and end-time geopolitics.
Overall, the PCOG framework with respect to both the historical and last day sequence of rulers as laid out in the Bible, is also flawed. For example, they take an incorrect interpretation of the seven heads shown on the beast of Revelation 17. As we have outlined in the past, the 7 heads (who are also 7 kings) represent the historical lineage of the major Gentile powers that have ruled and suppressed the Hebrews. On the other hand, the group of 10 kings,which are also mentioned in Revelation 17 (and symbolized four other occasionsin Scripture), exist at the same time. Whereas the kings (rulerships) that are represented by the 7 heads are consecutive (not in dominance at the same time), the 10 kings represented by the horns exist contemporaneously.
Revelation 17:10 says that the 7 heads “are also seven kings. Five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come.” Just who are these kingdoms? Quoting the November/December issue of the Trumpet, the PCOG assigns the identity of the “five fallen” as follows: Justinian (A.D. 554); Charlemagne (A.D. 800); Otto the Great (A.D. 962); Charles V; and Napoleon who crowned himself emperor in 1804. Such interpretations are highly imaginative and subjective … not to mention scripturally unsound.
John the Revelator wrote down the visions given to him late in the first century. Just how could the five kingdoms that had already fallen, all yet come to power in later centuries, as the PCOG claims? Moreover, just how is it possible to name Hitler as the sixth head (which the PCOG does)? John the Revelator told us that the “sixth” kingdom (the Roman rulership) already existed at the time that he was writing his prophecies. And, just how is it that the PCOG determines that the 1930s to 1940s period qualifies as the time that “is”? If so, there must have been a second coming of John this past century which all of Christianity missed.
The Bible very clearly reveals that the sixth and seventh heads, as well as the 8th king (6th through 8th kings/kingdoms mentioned in Revelation 17) are all of Roman origin. While it is possible that this 8th king could be some type of Assyrian entity, he comes out of the Roman rulership. The previous 5 kingdoms pictured in Revelation 17 (the five that are fallen) are not Roman. For rest of article go to https://garyboyd2244.blogspot.com
Aug 15, 2022 09:56:41 #
(Main)
Anti-Creationism: The Devil’s Sudden Killer Tactic – Part II
By Wilfred Hahn
Researched by Pastor Gary Boyd
Aug. 15th 2022
(Anti-Creationism Part 2)
We continue with the final part of our examination of yet one more “prophetically significant” trend of the last days—the adoption of Anti-Creationism. It is a perspective now held by the majority of people. Despite there being no scientific proofs for any of the Anti-Creationist views— i.e. the Theory of Evolution—it has become the accepted view. This view is so replete that those who believe in Creationism are popularly considered stupid and dangerous.
Despite the Facts, We Will Not Believe
It has already been known for many decades that impossible processes and probabilities are required to validate the theory of evolution. Even many secular scientists (some who would consider themselves atheists) have admitted to the impossible probabilities of one amino acid being formed by random chance (this the basic building block of all enzymes, RNA and DNA … all polypeptides). Yes, despite the facts, mankind chooses to belief what he wishes.
Consider another example of impossibility. According to the late Fred Hoyle (a famous astronomer and controversial scientist): “[T]here are about two thousand enzymes, and the chance of obtaining them all in a random trial is only one part in 1040,000, an outrageously small probability that could not be faced even if the whole universe consisted of organic soup.”1
Yet, such theories as Evolution persist. Why? The same Fred Hoyle made this comment: “Once we see, however, that the probability of life originating at random is so utterly miniscule as to make it absurd […] one wonders why it is not widely accepted as being self-evident. The reasons are psychological rather than scientific.”2
Hoyle saw this persistence to believe in something that is impossible to be a “psychological” problem. He is on the right track, but not quite. He himself was vulnerable to the same feats of human illogic with his own theory of panspermia. He proposed that earth’s life forms found their genesis from viruses that were spread by comets.
The problem is not entirely psychological for scientists that study cosmology. It is a result of adamantly rejecting God. It is a choice and an attitude … at best delusion or ignorance.
Using the Garb of Science to Deny God
“Despite the facts, we will not believe in God.” This attitude is not new. According to the Bible, it was there from the beginning. The Hebrews, the nation created by God Himself and who were to be a light to the world (Isaiah 42:6), were prime examples of such rebellion.
“Because they believed not in God, and trusted not in his salvation: Though he had commanded the clouds from above, and opened the doors of heaven, And had rained down manna upon them to eat, and had given them of the corn of heaven” (Psalm 78:22-24, KJV).
Despite the evidence and the demonstration of wonders, they still chose not to believe. They rejected truth. “In spite of all this, they kept on sinning; in spite of his wonders, they did not believe” (Psalm 78:32).
This is how Jesus Christ Himself described this attitude: “Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me!” (John 8:45). Why did they not believe in the Truth? “Whoever belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God” (John 8:47).
There is a primordial aversion to Truth. Not wanting to believe in God, they are given over to their perversions. God has allowed them to mislead each other in their folly. Refusing to acknowledge that there is a Creator, they are forced to indulge in foolishness, dreaming up such convenient and fanciful theories as the “Big Bang” and a myriad of other impossibilities.
Large gaps and holes remain in their theories, forcing them to become ever more inventive and hilarious. For example, faced with archaeological evidence that bears out a world history of perhaps millions of dying species, they spin a false story of evolution … of a process of new life. It demonstrates the exact opposite, as any child (that has not yet been indoctrinated to the false view) would agree. It has been a history of death (the dying off of species) and not new life.
The Follies and Perversions of Anti-Creationists
As mentioned, secular theorists must contort their thinking regarding the “beginnings.” It is the intellectual equivalent to the Baalists on Mount Carmel. They resorted to cutting themselves in a frantic frenzy to prove that their gods and cosmological views were real and true. The account is found in 1 Kings 18:
“Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, ‘Choose one of the bulls and prepare it first, since there are so many of you. Call on the name of your god, but do not light the fire.’ So, they took the bull given them and prepared it. Then they called on the name of Baal from morning till noon. ‘Baal answer us!’ they shouted. But there was no response; no one answered. And they danced around the altar they had made.
“At noon, Elijah began to taunt them. ‘Shout louder!’ he said. ‘Surely he is a god! Perhaps he is deep in thought, or busy, or traveling. Maybe he is sleeping and must be awakened.’ So, they shouted louder and slashed themselves with swords and spears, as was their custom, until their blood flowed” (verses 25-28).
Similarly, today’s evolutionists and anti-Creation theorists are far past noontime. For more than 150 years they have continued to dig for fossils, in the hopes of further developing their fanciful theories, which are becoming ever more complex and contradictory.
The results? They have yet to find any conclusive proofs for their theories … or pattern of missing links. They have not shown nor proven that life can come from inanimate matter (denying the Law of Biogenesis: that life can only come from life); they continue to refuse to accept the statistical impossibility of even the most primitive cells forming from random forces, let alone even one protein or enzyme.
True science would acknowledge all of the above facts. Therefore, the study of beginnings and life is not science but religion. It chooses a belief system that is directly in conflict with facts, the Bible and God … and real science.
Weakened Christians
Many Christians don’t have the courage to hold to Creationism. They are intimidated by the supposedly “expert” claims of modern science. They do not want to feel ostracized from the popular views of our culture.
By rejecting the Creation account and various other parts of the Bible, such people really set themselves up as pretentious authorities. They arbitrarily decide what Scriptures they will believe … and which not. They undo the work of the long history of councils of godly theologians—the early church councils (i.e. Council of Nicea)—where the content of the Bible was debated and settled.
They choose to deny the Creation account in the Bible. By doing so, they have invalidated the entire Bible. Jesus Christ is cast as a liar. A number of times the New Testament records Christ referring to the “creation” as the beginning (Matthew 25:34; Mark 10:6; John 17:24). Mark records Him saying specifically, “[…] from the beginning, when God created the world, until now […]” (Mark 13:19).
Significantly, on none of these occasions does Jesus refute the Genesis Creation account or provide any clarifications or corrections. None were needed.
Anti-Creationism: The Answers of Evolutionism Found Wanting
Evolutionism is a godless religious belief system that fails to satisfactorily answer the questions that hauntingly harbor in the souls of all mankind. Why do I exist? What is my purpose? What happens to “me” after I die? Is my existence meaningless? What thinking and intellectually honest person will not admit to such thoughts?
The fact that these questions even exist, is itself a refutation of the naturalistic theories of the origin of man. Concepts as are revealed by these questions do not and cannot “evolve” from primordial slime, nor are these organically transmitted from one living organism to another.
The greatest atheistic thinkers (whether scientists or philosophers) have no answers to these “why” questions. “Why does the universe even go to the bother to exist?” questioned the famous cosmological physicist, Stephen Hawking. The fact that all mankind has ingrained in them such concepts as “love” and “justice” alone proves naturalism cannot explain the inner thoughts and destinies of man. These are ideas that evolution has no need nor the means to develop.
Yet, our society taunts literal Bible-believers as being “primitive,” should they hold the view that the Theory of Evolution is not conclusively supported by evidence.
The Bible says that mankind will choose to believe a lie. “They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator […]” (Romans 1:25). All of the “prophetically significant” trends that we are examining are the outworking of this prophecy. Will the world go further astray? According to the Bible, yes.
When the lawless one comes, “[…] He will use all sorts of displays of power through signs and wonders that serve the lie, and all the ways that wickedness deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie” (2 Thessalonians 2:9-11).
Thoughts to Ponder – Part II
Truly, we live in urgent times of great prophetic significance. The evidence is clear to see … even for non-Christians (those who do not accept the Word of God as literally true).
Using our diagnostic list to examine the phenomenon of a world-capturing Anti-Creationism, at least 7 of our tell-tale characteristics of a “last-day season phenomena” can be observed: 1. Evidence of acceleration since the mid 1800s; 2. Recency … a trend observed continuing its momentum after 1948; 3. Seeming improbability and inexplicability of its occurrence; 4. Global impact; 5. Suddenness and rapidity; 6. Fitting the humanist and Satanic agenda; and, above all, Bible prophecy.
Anti-Creationism represents one of the most remarkable of the “ripening trends” that we are describing in this series. The dethronement of God as Creator … in fact, the entire invalidation of God … is a massive change in beliefs involving the choices of individuals and mankind. In these latter days, taking place in the space of a little more than 150 years in the timeline of mankind, a sudden denial of God the Creator has erupted.
The Bible has always recognized that this would be the case. “The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God” (Psalm 14:1; 53:1). By definition, then, a world that does not believe in God is foolish. “Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?” (1 Corinthians 1:20).
To this day, the secular scientific theories of the beginnings and evolution are unproven. If observations in real time—what we can see and test today—are denied, then how can theories about the beginnings of life and the universe have any credibility at all?
Truth be told, facts aren’t the deciding factor for most people. Not wanting to believe in a personal God, they must therefore deny the facts. They will hold onto the unproven and the foolish.
Will you believe that there is a God? Will you believe the facts and the Truth? Do you believe that God created you? It is wonderful to ponder on the truth that God created us and knows you and me as special individuals. You are known to Him. He wants to have a relationship with us, and wishes that none of His human creations would go lost (2 Peter 3:9). He therefore sent His Son Jesus Christ, and promised that whoever would believe in Him would have eternal life (John 3:16). Maranatha
https://garyboyd2244.blogspot.com
By Wilfred Hahn
Researched by Pastor Gary Boyd
Aug. 15th 2022
(Anti-Creationism Part 2)
We continue with the final part of our examination of yet one more “prophetically significant” trend of the last days—the adoption of Anti-Creationism. It is a perspective now held by the majority of people. Despite there being no scientific proofs for any of the Anti-Creationist views— i.e. the Theory of Evolution—it has become the accepted view. This view is so replete that those who believe in Creationism are popularly considered stupid and dangerous.
Despite the Facts, We Will Not Believe
It has already been known for many decades that impossible processes and probabilities are required to validate the theory of evolution. Even many secular scientists (some who would consider themselves atheists) have admitted to the impossible probabilities of one amino acid being formed by random chance (this the basic building block of all enzymes, RNA and DNA … all polypeptides). Yes, despite the facts, mankind chooses to belief what he wishes.
Consider another example of impossibility. According to the late Fred Hoyle (a famous astronomer and controversial scientist): “[T]here are about two thousand enzymes, and the chance of obtaining them all in a random trial is only one part in 1040,000, an outrageously small probability that could not be faced even if the whole universe consisted of organic soup.”1
Yet, such theories as Evolution persist. Why? The same Fred Hoyle made this comment: “Once we see, however, that the probability of life originating at random is so utterly miniscule as to make it absurd […] one wonders why it is not widely accepted as being self-evident. The reasons are psychological rather than scientific.”2
Hoyle saw this persistence to believe in something that is impossible to be a “psychological” problem. He is on the right track, but not quite. He himself was vulnerable to the same feats of human illogic with his own theory of panspermia. He proposed that earth’s life forms found their genesis from viruses that were spread by comets.
The problem is not entirely psychological for scientists that study cosmology. It is a result of adamantly rejecting God. It is a choice and an attitude … at best delusion or ignorance.
Using the Garb of Science to Deny God
“Despite the facts, we will not believe in God.” This attitude is not new. According to the Bible, it was there from the beginning. The Hebrews, the nation created by God Himself and who were to be a light to the world (Isaiah 42:6), were prime examples of such rebellion.
“Because they believed not in God, and trusted not in his salvation: Though he had commanded the clouds from above, and opened the doors of heaven, And had rained down manna upon them to eat, and had given them of the corn of heaven” (Psalm 78:22-24, KJV).
Despite the evidence and the demonstration of wonders, they still chose not to believe. They rejected truth. “In spite of all this, they kept on sinning; in spite of his wonders, they did not believe” (Psalm 78:32).
This is how Jesus Christ Himself described this attitude: “Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me!” (John 8:45). Why did they not believe in the Truth? “Whoever belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God” (John 8:47).
There is a primordial aversion to Truth. Not wanting to believe in God, they are given over to their perversions. God has allowed them to mislead each other in their folly. Refusing to acknowledge that there is a Creator, they are forced to indulge in foolishness, dreaming up such convenient and fanciful theories as the “Big Bang” and a myriad of other impossibilities.
Large gaps and holes remain in their theories, forcing them to become ever more inventive and hilarious. For example, faced with archaeological evidence that bears out a world history of perhaps millions of dying species, they spin a false story of evolution … of a process of new life. It demonstrates the exact opposite, as any child (that has not yet been indoctrinated to the false view) would agree. It has been a history of death (the dying off of species) and not new life.
The Follies and Perversions of Anti-Creationists
As mentioned, secular theorists must contort their thinking regarding the “beginnings.” It is the intellectual equivalent to the Baalists on Mount Carmel. They resorted to cutting themselves in a frantic frenzy to prove that their gods and cosmological views were real and true. The account is found in 1 Kings 18:
“Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, ‘Choose one of the bulls and prepare it first, since there are so many of you. Call on the name of your god, but do not light the fire.’ So, they took the bull given them and prepared it. Then they called on the name of Baal from morning till noon. ‘Baal answer us!’ they shouted. But there was no response; no one answered. And they danced around the altar they had made.
“At noon, Elijah began to taunt them. ‘Shout louder!’ he said. ‘Surely he is a god! Perhaps he is deep in thought, or busy, or traveling. Maybe he is sleeping and must be awakened.’ So, they shouted louder and slashed themselves with swords and spears, as was their custom, until their blood flowed” (verses 25-28).
Similarly, today’s evolutionists and anti-Creation theorists are far past noontime. For more than 150 years they have continued to dig for fossils, in the hopes of further developing their fanciful theories, which are becoming ever more complex and contradictory.
The results? They have yet to find any conclusive proofs for their theories … or pattern of missing links. They have not shown nor proven that life can come from inanimate matter (denying the Law of Biogenesis: that life can only come from life); they continue to refuse to accept the statistical impossibility of even the most primitive cells forming from random forces, let alone even one protein or enzyme.
True science would acknowledge all of the above facts. Therefore, the study of beginnings and life is not science but religion. It chooses a belief system that is directly in conflict with facts, the Bible and God … and real science.
Weakened Christians
Many Christians don’t have the courage to hold to Creationism. They are intimidated by the supposedly “expert” claims of modern science. They do not want to feel ostracized from the popular views of our culture.
By rejecting the Creation account and various other parts of the Bible, such people really set themselves up as pretentious authorities. They arbitrarily decide what Scriptures they will believe … and which not. They undo the work of the long history of councils of godly theologians—the early church councils (i.e. Council of Nicea)—where the content of the Bible was debated and settled.
They choose to deny the Creation account in the Bible. By doing so, they have invalidated the entire Bible. Jesus Christ is cast as a liar. A number of times the New Testament records Christ referring to the “creation” as the beginning (Matthew 25:34; Mark 10:6; John 17:24). Mark records Him saying specifically, “[…] from the beginning, when God created the world, until now […]” (Mark 13:19).
Significantly, on none of these occasions does Jesus refute the Genesis Creation account or provide any clarifications or corrections. None were needed.
Anti-Creationism: The Answers of Evolutionism Found Wanting
Evolutionism is a godless religious belief system that fails to satisfactorily answer the questions that hauntingly harbor in the souls of all mankind. Why do I exist? What is my purpose? What happens to “me” after I die? Is my existence meaningless? What thinking and intellectually honest person will not admit to such thoughts?
The fact that these questions even exist, is itself a refutation of the naturalistic theories of the origin of man. Concepts as are revealed by these questions do not and cannot “evolve” from primordial slime, nor are these organically transmitted from one living organism to another.
The greatest atheistic thinkers (whether scientists or philosophers) have no answers to these “why” questions. “Why does the universe even go to the bother to exist?” questioned the famous cosmological physicist, Stephen Hawking. The fact that all mankind has ingrained in them such concepts as “love” and “justice” alone proves naturalism cannot explain the inner thoughts and destinies of man. These are ideas that evolution has no need nor the means to develop.
Yet, our society taunts literal Bible-believers as being “primitive,” should they hold the view that the Theory of Evolution is not conclusively supported by evidence.
The Bible says that mankind will choose to believe a lie. “They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator […]” (Romans 1:25). All of the “prophetically significant” trends that we are examining are the outworking of this prophecy. Will the world go further astray? According to the Bible, yes.
When the lawless one comes, “[…] He will use all sorts of displays of power through signs and wonders that serve the lie, and all the ways that wickedness deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie” (2 Thessalonians 2:9-11).
Thoughts to Ponder – Part II
Truly, we live in urgent times of great prophetic significance. The evidence is clear to see … even for non-Christians (those who do not accept the Word of God as literally true).
Using our diagnostic list to examine the phenomenon of a world-capturing Anti-Creationism, at least 7 of our tell-tale characteristics of a “last-day season phenomena” can be observed: 1. Evidence of acceleration since the mid 1800s; 2. Recency … a trend observed continuing its momentum after 1948; 3. Seeming improbability and inexplicability of its occurrence; 4. Global impact; 5. Suddenness and rapidity; 6. Fitting the humanist and Satanic agenda; and, above all, Bible prophecy.
Anti-Creationism represents one of the most remarkable of the “ripening trends” that we are describing in this series. The dethronement of God as Creator … in fact, the entire invalidation of God … is a massive change in beliefs involving the choices of individuals and mankind. In these latter days, taking place in the space of a little more than 150 years in the timeline of mankind, a sudden denial of God the Creator has erupted.
The Bible has always recognized that this would be the case. “The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God” (Psalm 14:1; 53:1). By definition, then, a world that does not believe in God is foolish. “Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?” (1 Corinthians 1:20).
To this day, the secular scientific theories of the beginnings and evolution are unproven. If observations in real time—what we can see and test today—are denied, then how can theories about the beginnings of life and the universe have any credibility at all?
Truth be told, facts aren’t the deciding factor for most people. Not wanting to believe in a personal God, they must therefore deny the facts. They will hold onto the unproven and the foolish.
Will you believe that there is a God? Will you believe the facts and the Truth? Do you believe that God created you? It is wonderful to ponder on the truth that God created us and knows you and me as special individuals. You are known to Him. He wants to have a relationship with us, and wishes that none of His human creations would go lost (2 Peter 3:9). He therefore sent His Son Jesus Christ, and promised that whoever would believe in Him would have eternal life (John 3:16). Maranatha
https://garyboyd2244.blogspot.com
Aug 11, 2022 11:51:33 #
(Main)
Lures of Monetary Immorality
By Wilfred Hahn
Researched by Pastor Gary Boyd
Aug. 11th 2022
Epochal challenges and upheavals are facing the world financial order. Many Western nations have fallen into classical debt traps; and economic growth rates for many countries have plummeted to a crawl. The largest nations and economic zones are facing continuing and unprecedented tremors. Japan, the third-largest country in the world economically, is caught in a demographic death spiral. The United States is headed for financial and economic suicide on its present course. Yet, many observers remain either unperturbed or complacent. They have no idea as to the continuing troubles ahead.
They are not entirely to blame. They have been lulled into believing that government interventions, bailouts and rescues will always carry the day, no matter how grave the crises may be. Little do they realize that consequences cannot be escaped. If anything, the ultimate crises and collapses will be worse than they needed to be, due to the many techniques used to kick the proverbial can down the road.
All of the problems we identify today are the direct consequence of past choices and unwise policies. The root problems, believe it or not, are fleshly and spiritual in nature. Of course, no card-carrying economist would offer such a diagnosis. We say spiritual in the sense that societies have increasingly staked their hopes upon beliefs that are false or non-sustainable, such as materialism, the ascendancy of the profit motive, neo-liberalism, and so on. We say fleshly in the sense that societies are increasingly engaged in the unbridled pursuit of fleshly fulfillment. Greed, aging societies, and widening inequity of wealth distribution are some of these manifestations.
These are deep problems of a moral nature that secular governments are ill-inclined to solve. What, therefore, is the solution? Apparently, the answer is very evident. Policymakers are looking to central bankers to come up with the fixes and/or deferrals. We are stunned to consider that any knowledgeable policymaker could actually believe that the “monetary wizards” who run central world banks and other financial transnational organizations can implement policies that will solve problems that are moral in nature. This would be patently ridiculous…to use fictitious money (itself immoral) to solve mankind’s moral deficiencies.
As such, we are inclined to believe that something very opposite will occur. Central banks will pursue even greater “monetary immorality.” In secular terms, this is called “unconventional policy” (something that does not involve morality). But, just what do we mean by “unconventional”? We think this term gives rise to some wild-cards that many savers and investors are not yet thinking about at this time.
Just as societies can change their popular views with respect to new fads and morals (no one makes a big deal about long hair and facial piercings anymore these days as was once the case), it is also this way with the accepted norms of monetary protocols. This changing of the “monetary morals” is already well underway. Many do not see this as they assume that central banks will someday unwind their interventions. Moreover, they are blinded by the accepted conventions of central bank accounting.
To demonstrate this last point, consider this question: If the U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed) buys up U.S. treasury bonds, is the debt-to-GDP ratio of the U.S. actually being lowered? We “predict” yes. How so? It will be an enticing solution. Consider the mechanism. The Fed pays for the U.S. treasury that it buys with new created money. It simply adds a liability to its balance sheet and shoves money out of thin air into the banking system. The cost of capital for the Fed is virtually nil and yet it now collects the interest payments earned by holding the U.S. treasury bonds. What happens to this income? It is added to the profitability of the Fed. At the end of every year, this central bank transfers its profits to the federal government.
What has happened? The interest cost of this debt has been lowered to the U.S. government (effectively, getting it rebated back). And, if the Fed never again sells down its treasuring holdings (maintaining them at the same level), isn’t this virtually the same as lowering the U.S. federal debt burden? Yes, so it will be perceived. It would be the equivalent of these bonds being retired. Yet, the accounting convention of the central bank will be to still show these bonds as an asset. What you see therefore promotes a structural illusion.
If global economic torpor and deflationary demand shocks continue, we would expect even more treasury bond purchases by the Fed (this applying to other central banks as well…i.e. the ECB). Why wouldn’t policymakers propose retiring massive amounts of government debt in this way? This would appear to be so much more pleasant than intolerant austerity policies…so seemingly painless. Of course, this perception couldn’t be more wrong, though surely alluring and easily pandered.
The deterioration in “monetary morals” can go much further. In fact, we will not be surprised if it slides much, much further. There is not a small number of policymakers that have broached the topic of “unconventional” monetary tactics. The signs of such central banking shifts are being seen around the globe.
The IMF (International Monetary Fund) explored the topic of budget spending multipliers in its recent Outlook. It argued that the “fiscal multipliers” are much higher than thought, therefore implying that budget deficit cuts may actually lead to higher deficits. If they are not to be cut, then on this logic does it not follow that even higher deficit spending would be even better? But just who would be financing such endless and stupendous government deficits? Central banks, of course.
There is one further step that could follow in this slide, and that is to have central banks directly buy the debt instruments of governments (i.e. circumventing the route of buying them in the open market). We would not be surprised if Japan were soon to adopt such a desperate policy. At this point, some laws and statutes stand in the way of such activities; however, it is likely that necessity will pay little heed to such restrictions.
Our conclusion is this: Long-term developments look challenging and grim. As such, we are inclined to believe that the downhill slide of “monetary morality” has not finished its course given its many willing complicators. But, the ultimate fall-out cannot be avoided. We think that all of these current and future developments are very unfortunate as none resolve the underlying problems but rather only redirect their impact to a more deceptive and unsuspecting path, thus “kicking the can down the road” toward to even greater disruptions and crises. Maranatha
https://garyboyd2244.blogspot.com
By Wilfred Hahn
Researched by Pastor Gary Boyd
Aug. 11th 2022
Epochal challenges and upheavals are facing the world financial order. Many Western nations have fallen into classical debt traps; and economic growth rates for many countries have plummeted to a crawl. The largest nations and economic zones are facing continuing and unprecedented tremors. Japan, the third-largest country in the world economically, is caught in a demographic death spiral. The United States is headed for financial and economic suicide on its present course. Yet, many observers remain either unperturbed or complacent. They have no idea as to the continuing troubles ahead.
They are not entirely to blame. They have been lulled into believing that government interventions, bailouts and rescues will always carry the day, no matter how grave the crises may be. Little do they realize that consequences cannot be escaped. If anything, the ultimate crises and collapses will be worse than they needed to be, due to the many techniques used to kick the proverbial can down the road.
All of the problems we identify today are the direct consequence of past choices and unwise policies. The root problems, believe it or not, are fleshly and spiritual in nature. Of course, no card-carrying economist would offer such a diagnosis. We say spiritual in the sense that societies have increasingly staked their hopes upon beliefs that are false or non-sustainable, such as materialism, the ascendancy of the profit motive, neo-liberalism, and so on. We say fleshly in the sense that societies are increasingly engaged in the unbridled pursuit of fleshly fulfillment. Greed, aging societies, and widening inequity of wealth distribution are some of these manifestations.
These are deep problems of a moral nature that secular governments are ill-inclined to solve. What, therefore, is the solution? Apparently, the answer is very evident. Policymakers are looking to central bankers to come up with the fixes and/or deferrals. We are stunned to consider that any knowledgeable policymaker could actually believe that the “monetary wizards” who run central world banks and other financial transnational organizations can implement policies that will solve problems that are moral in nature. This would be patently ridiculous…to use fictitious money (itself immoral) to solve mankind’s moral deficiencies.
As such, we are inclined to believe that something very opposite will occur. Central banks will pursue even greater “monetary immorality.” In secular terms, this is called “unconventional policy” (something that does not involve morality). But, just what do we mean by “unconventional”? We think this term gives rise to some wild-cards that many savers and investors are not yet thinking about at this time.
Just as societies can change their popular views with respect to new fads and morals (no one makes a big deal about long hair and facial piercings anymore these days as was once the case), it is also this way with the accepted norms of monetary protocols. This changing of the “monetary morals” is already well underway. Many do not see this as they assume that central banks will someday unwind their interventions. Moreover, they are blinded by the accepted conventions of central bank accounting.
To demonstrate this last point, consider this question: If the U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed) buys up U.S. treasury bonds, is the debt-to-GDP ratio of the U.S. actually being lowered? We “predict” yes. How so? It will be an enticing solution. Consider the mechanism. The Fed pays for the U.S. treasury that it buys with new created money. It simply adds a liability to its balance sheet and shoves money out of thin air into the banking system. The cost of capital for the Fed is virtually nil and yet it now collects the interest payments earned by holding the U.S. treasury bonds. What happens to this income? It is added to the profitability of the Fed. At the end of every year, this central bank transfers its profits to the federal government.
What has happened? The interest cost of this debt has been lowered to the U.S. government (effectively, getting it rebated back). And, if the Fed never again sells down its treasuring holdings (maintaining them at the same level), isn’t this virtually the same as lowering the U.S. federal debt burden? Yes, so it will be perceived. It would be the equivalent of these bonds being retired. Yet, the accounting convention of the central bank will be to still show these bonds as an asset. What you see therefore promotes a structural illusion.
If global economic torpor and deflationary demand shocks continue, we would expect even more treasury bond purchases by the Fed (this applying to other central banks as well…i.e. the ECB). Why wouldn’t policymakers propose retiring massive amounts of government debt in this way? This would appear to be so much more pleasant than intolerant austerity policies…so seemingly painless. Of course, this perception couldn’t be more wrong, though surely alluring and easily pandered.
The deterioration in “monetary morals” can go much further. In fact, we will not be surprised if it slides much, much further. There is not a small number of policymakers that have broached the topic of “unconventional” monetary tactics. The signs of such central banking shifts are being seen around the globe.
The IMF (International Monetary Fund) explored the topic of budget spending multipliers in its recent Outlook. It argued that the “fiscal multipliers” are much higher than thought, therefore implying that budget deficit cuts may actually lead to higher deficits. If they are not to be cut, then on this logic does it not follow that even higher deficit spending would be even better? But just who would be financing such endless and stupendous government deficits? Central banks, of course.
There is one further step that could follow in this slide, and that is to have central banks directly buy the debt instruments of governments (i.e. circumventing the route of buying them in the open market). We would not be surprised if Japan were soon to adopt such a desperate policy. At this point, some laws and statutes stand in the way of such activities; however, it is likely that necessity will pay little heed to such restrictions.
Our conclusion is this: Long-term developments look challenging and grim. As such, we are inclined to believe that the downhill slide of “monetary morality” has not finished its course given its many willing complicators. But, the ultimate fall-out cannot be avoided. We think that all of these current and future developments are very unfortunate as none resolve the underlying problems but rather only redirect their impact to a more deceptive and unsuspecting path, thus “kicking the can down the road” toward to even greater disruptions and crises. Maranatha
https://garyboyd2244.blogspot.com
Aug 7, 2022 10:10:58 #
(Main)
The Future Millennium Will Be the Time of Our Lives
Written by Pastor Gary Boyd
Aug. 7th 2022
The world is not quite like it seems due to distortions, misinformation, lies, deceit, and sleight of hand trickery that looks like reality, but is really illusion. Is the rapture really going to happen then? In the blink of an eye? Scripture says it will be on God’s timeline, not ours. Trying to bum rush the word of God into happening now only infuriates our Lord intensifying his wrath.
Knowing every line in Revelations, when the rapture may occur, who the beast may be, when the Holy Temple will be built, is all good for recruitment of people living in the end of days who seek the word of the Lord. Living in the end of days is not living in the last day, however. The last day of the Lord happens in the last 18 months of the Great Tribulation as recorded in Matthew 24:21 – 22. All those that know there scripture know that the rapture happens first, then the Gospel is preached unto the whole world while the Holy Temple at Jerusalem is being built, and then the abomination of desolation takes place when it is finished.
The beast who is Satan declares himself to be the Christ the whole world is looking for and they must obey his word to worship him or die, Revelation 6:11, 13:10.
A time of great wealth & prosperity must come first to the chosen of God. Revelation 18: 11-13 says, 11 “The merchants of the earth will weep and mourn over her because no one buys their cargoes anymore— 12 cargoes of gold, silver, precious stones and pearls; fine linen, purple, silk and scarlet cloth; every sort of citron wood, and articles of every kind made of ivory, costly wood, bronze, iron and marble; 13 cargoes of cinnamon and spice, of incense, myrrh and frankincense, of wine and olive oil, of fine flour and wheat; cattle and sheep; horses and carriages; and human beings sold as slaves.”
This in no way is happening now, but the minions of the devil want you to believe it is happening in our time. The wicked, however, do not get to pick the time of the Great Tribulation, nor should they. Only God knows the time and the hour.
This time of plenty is only coming on the world now as the wicked are being punished for their abuse of God’s children. They are losing their wealth & assets as we the people claim the wealth for ourselves. The Great Military Alliance of Nations has captured the hidden gold & silver, stolen art from the catacombs & tunnels beneath the Vatican and returned it all to the rightful owners we the people.
There are 6,000 thousand new inventions that were hidden from the public, cures from science, Med-Beds to heal the sick & injured, that we the people can invest in to bring about a new world of prosperity & peace for all. For example Med-Bed Technology is Quantum Healing Therapy that uses Quantum computers to diagnose, analyze your DNA, operate on you if necessary, bringing you back to optimum health & fitness. https://naturalhealingclub.com/med-bed-quantum-therapy-healing/
This is the future, not the gloom & doom the wicked predict. The Geo-engineered weather from HAARP (High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program) & DEW laser weapons are the weapons used to make it look like the Tribulation has kicked in when in fact the left is trying to accelerate us into a future time they have no power to do. https://www.geoengineeringwatch.org/
The millennium of Christ is in Revelation 20:1-10 coming at the end of the Great Tribulation. Read it for yourself here in the NIV Bible: The Thousand Years - 20 “And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key to the Abyss and holding in his hand a great chain. 2 He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. 3 He threw him into the Abyss, and locked and sealed it over him, to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore until the thousand years were ended. After that, he must be set free for a short time. 4 I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony about Jesus and because of the word of God. They[a] had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years. 5 (The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.) This is the first resurrection. 6 Blessed and holy are those who share in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years.” - The Judgment of Satan - 7 “When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison 8 and will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth—Gog and Magog—and to gather them for battle. In number they are like the sand on the seashore. 9 They marched across the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of God’s people, the city he loves. But fire came down from heaven and devoured them. 10 And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.”
We the people are we the kingdom of the Promised Land chosen for a time such as this. With the Lord’s help we are defeating the enemy, closing all his portals, blowing apart his Georgia Guidestones, shutting down the Freemason Satanic bloodlines, destroying the altars of Moloch, as his spiritual storm moves across the planet locking up & destroying the evil minions who have been seduced by the devils’ evil spell. That curse has now been broken. That holy march out of Babylon is the same as Moses march out of Egypt with chains broken & the golden calf of Baal destroyed. We have overcome all the wiles of the Devil. Our day of awakening has given us the power to seize our future of peace & prosperity to come. We are now free to change to become the nation we had always dreamed of.
In the millennium a new planet will evolve with Jesus in charge. The ones that survived the Great Tribulation will have longer more productive lives. The seas will recede making more land available for production for living the prosperous life. Everyone will have his own victory garden, own his own home, raise his children by the Ten Commandments while worshiping our Lord living a life of peace & prosperity. 1 Corinthians 2:9, This is what the Scriptures mean when they say, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.”
Like a band or gypsies on our highway of life we the kingdom will dance to our maker’s tune, sing our joy to the world, forever praise him who chose us for our companionship, truth, faithfulness & loyalty.
It is time now to choose who you represent. Following the devil will only get you burnt. Following Jesus will bring you eternal peace & prosperity after the millennium when heaven brings us home to our mansions & golden crowns as rewards for coming to him. Choose now who you love.
Written by Pastor Gary Boyd
Aug. 7th 2022
The world is not quite like it seems due to distortions, misinformation, lies, deceit, and sleight of hand trickery that looks like reality, but is really illusion. Is the rapture really going to happen then? In the blink of an eye? Scripture says it will be on God’s timeline, not ours. Trying to bum rush the word of God into happening now only infuriates our Lord intensifying his wrath.
Knowing every line in Revelations, when the rapture may occur, who the beast may be, when the Holy Temple will be built, is all good for recruitment of people living in the end of days who seek the word of the Lord. Living in the end of days is not living in the last day, however. The last day of the Lord happens in the last 18 months of the Great Tribulation as recorded in Matthew 24:21 – 22. All those that know there scripture know that the rapture happens first, then the Gospel is preached unto the whole world while the Holy Temple at Jerusalem is being built, and then the abomination of desolation takes place when it is finished.
The beast who is Satan declares himself to be the Christ the whole world is looking for and they must obey his word to worship him or die, Revelation 6:11, 13:10.
A time of great wealth & prosperity must come first to the chosen of God. Revelation 18: 11-13 says, 11 “The merchants of the earth will weep and mourn over her because no one buys their cargoes anymore— 12 cargoes of gold, silver, precious stones and pearls; fine linen, purple, silk and scarlet cloth; every sort of citron wood, and articles of every kind made of ivory, costly wood, bronze, iron and marble; 13 cargoes of cinnamon and spice, of incense, myrrh and frankincense, of wine and olive oil, of fine flour and wheat; cattle and sheep; horses and carriages; and human beings sold as slaves.”
This in no way is happening now, but the minions of the devil want you to believe it is happening in our time. The wicked, however, do not get to pick the time of the Great Tribulation, nor should they. Only God knows the time and the hour.
This time of plenty is only coming on the world now as the wicked are being punished for their abuse of God’s children. They are losing their wealth & assets as we the people claim the wealth for ourselves. The Great Military Alliance of Nations has captured the hidden gold & silver, stolen art from the catacombs & tunnels beneath the Vatican and returned it all to the rightful owners we the people.
There are 6,000 thousand new inventions that were hidden from the public, cures from science, Med-Beds to heal the sick & injured, that we the people can invest in to bring about a new world of prosperity & peace for all. For example Med-Bed Technology is Quantum Healing Therapy that uses Quantum computers to diagnose, analyze your DNA, operate on you if necessary, bringing you back to optimum health & fitness. https://naturalhealingclub.com/med-bed-quantum-therapy-healing/
This is the future, not the gloom & doom the wicked predict. The Geo-engineered weather from HAARP (High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program) & DEW laser weapons are the weapons used to make it look like the Tribulation has kicked in when in fact the left is trying to accelerate us into a future time they have no power to do. https://www.geoengineeringwatch.org/
The millennium of Christ is in Revelation 20:1-10 coming at the end of the Great Tribulation. Read it for yourself here in the NIV Bible: The Thousand Years - 20 “And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key to the Abyss and holding in his hand a great chain. 2 He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. 3 He threw him into the Abyss, and locked and sealed it over him, to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore until the thousand years were ended. After that, he must be set free for a short time. 4 I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony about Jesus and because of the word of God. They[a] had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years. 5 (The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.) This is the first resurrection. 6 Blessed and holy are those who share in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years.” - The Judgment of Satan - 7 “When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison 8 and will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth—Gog and Magog—and to gather them for battle. In number they are like the sand on the seashore. 9 They marched across the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of God’s people, the city he loves. But fire came down from heaven and devoured them. 10 And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.”
We the people are we the kingdom of the Promised Land chosen for a time such as this. With the Lord’s help we are defeating the enemy, closing all his portals, blowing apart his Georgia Guidestones, shutting down the Freemason Satanic bloodlines, destroying the altars of Moloch, as his spiritual storm moves across the planet locking up & destroying the evil minions who have been seduced by the devils’ evil spell. That curse has now been broken. That holy march out of Babylon is the same as Moses march out of Egypt with chains broken & the golden calf of Baal destroyed. We have overcome all the wiles of the Devil. Our day of awakening has given us the power to seize our future of peace & prosperity to come. We are now free to change to become the nation we had always dreamed of.
In the millennium a new planet will evolve with Jesus in charge. The ones that survived the Great Tribulation will have longer more productive lives. The seas will recede making more land available for production for living the prosperous life. Everyone will have his own victory garden, own his own home, raise his children by the Ten Commandments while worshiping our Lord living a life of peace & prosperity. 1 Corinthians 2:9, This is what the Scriptures mean when they say, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.”
Like a band or gypsies on our highway of life we the kingdom will dance to our maker’s tune, sing our joy to the world, forever praise him who chose us for our companionship, truth, faithfulness & loyalty.
It is time now to choose who you represent. Following the devil will only get you burnt. Following Jesus will bring you eternal peace & prosperity after the millennium when heaven brings us home to our mansions & golden crowns as rewards for coming to him. Choose now who you love.
Aug 5, 2022 12:11:11 #
(Main)
Final Ecumenicism – When Two Babylons Become One
by Wilfred Hahn
Researched by Pastor Gary Boyd
Aug. 5th 2022
One of the prominent phenomena of the Last Days is the emergence of Babylon the Great, the great commercial colossus that is depicted in Revelation 18 (please also see comments on this topic in this issue’s Signs of the Times column). Its emergence is also foreshadowed and prophesied in the Old Testament. The prophecies applying to Tyre, Jericho and Egypt, for example, all provide an anodyne for the final golden cup filled with the vile toxins of commercialism and materialistic idolatry.
Yes, there assuredly is much debate on the general topic of endtime Babylon, aspects of which we have often commented upon. However, for the purpose of the topic at hand, we need not stop to consider these many views. Here, we only want to focus on one additional aspect of endtime Babylon(s)…namely, the “inseparability” of the two Babylons.
What is meant by the inseparability of two Babylons? How can there be two, and yet they are inseparable? Actually, this was the very question put to me the first time I ever spoke on the topic of Babylon mentioned in Revelation 17 and 18. At the time, I was unprepared. The question was this: Where do you see the break between the Babylon mentioned in Revelation 17 and the one mentioned in chapter 18? I was caught rather flatfooted, as I had simply assumed that they were different Babylons since they were treated in separate chapters and had slightly different names in some Bible translations.
While I still hold to the view that they are different Babylons — in other words, alternate dimensions or at least different perspectives of the last-day Babylon emergence — I also hold to the view that they are inseparable. While this might seem contradictory, it is not. Basically, it is two Babylons1clandestinely in bed together, in effect becoming one. I say clandestinely because most people — surely including many who claim to be Christians — are blind to this emerging union. For the most part, it is a relationship that has been conducted under the covers and in secret, although less so recently. The harlotry is becoming ever more open. From the religious side, it is a union that has been blessed by an increasing number of Christian denominations and religious movements.
Jesus Christ clearly said that there are two separate masters — God and Mammon (Matthew 6:24). You can serve only one. Either you love the one or the other. While God promises to be near and never to forsake us (Hebrews 13:5), Mammon has masterfully honed its attractions to accurately and lethally target the fleshly affections of mankind. These temptations are also near and with us. Who does not agree that the lures of Mammon are lustrous and inveigling? Its apparent entreaties and promises of security are so tempting, immediate and incessant.
But, here is the danger: This apparently unbridgeable gap between God and Mammon offers one of the biggest, exploitable marketing opportunities even known to mankind. How can one have the assurance of being righteous and spiritual and not pass up the chance for rich comfort and lucre from the horn of Mammon?
If you can figure out a way to convince people that they can both worship God and sup with Mammon at the same time, you will meet certain success. This is not a new discovery. It is a gimmick that has worked in past history every time, right from New Testament times, only now it is institutionalized and unfolds on a global scale.
The merging of God and Mammon — figured as religion and materialism, faith and globalization in bed together — is the final capstone of mankind’s deception that is reflected in the religious and commercial Babylons shown to rise in illicit cahoots in Revelation 17 and 18. It is the final, global religion. As such, that may be why the two Babylons in these chapters are presented as one, unbreakable continuum.
Where is the evidence, people might ask. Is this happening today? It assuredly is…and in many ways.
There are numerous channels and multiple feedback loops in this present-day progression. For example, we see an enormous convergence in the world under the rubric of “ethical investing.” It has found a huge alliance within religious circles. Such new organizations as the International Interfaith Investment Group (3IG), which claims to wield some $10 trillion in wealth and 7% of the inhabitable real estate on the planet, are pushing for a purer and better world with the power of money. Also, the “green” movement has bridged alliances with religious groups through such organizations as the Association for Religion and Conservation (ARC). Again, money is the blunt truncheon being used to bring about change and religious reform.
Also, within so-called Christianity there are many movements in this direction. Various prosperity gospels (material comforts in the here and now), Reconstructionism, Kingdom Now and many other ideologies risk consorting with the deadly and deceitful embrace of Mammon. We do not doubt that there are sincere and godly people who may be swept up in these ideologies and who come by their ignorance innocently. However, there are certainly also wolves and entities masquerading as “angels of light.”
While we greatly respect good scholarship, it is also academics that have come to the aid of human lust through the introduction of new theories that “revise” Biblical teaching on idolatry and materialism. For example, such organizations as the influential Acton Institute seem to exist solely to validate capitalism and free-market economics as a Biblically-endorsed system. To the contrary. God has never endorsed any human system.
Any religious movement that claims to build a ‘kingdom” on earth is sure to be fostering ideologies that promote earthly citizenship rather than heavenly citizenship. Jesus Christ could not have been clearer on this point, saying that His kingdom was not of this world (John 18:36). Furthermore, He pointedly asked: “When I return, will I find faith upon the earth?” (Luke 18:8). It is a prophecy enfolded in a rhetorical statement. In fact, it is probably the most indicative of the very few prophecies that specifically apply to the Church.
Sadly, Christians (denominations, movements and individuals) and Christian look-alikes — namely, religious developments deliberately conspired by the Enemy to be an imitation — today risk either falling for or trafficking in the lures of both Babylons. Maranatha
https://garyboyd2244.blogspot.com
by Wilfred Hahn
Researched by Pastor Gary Boyd
Aug. 5th 2022
One of the prominent phenomena of the Last Days is the emergence of Babylon the Great, the great commercial colossus that is depicted in Revelation 18 (please also see comments on this topic in this issue’s Signs of the Times column). Its emergence is also foreshadowed and prophesied in the Old Testament. The prophecies applying to Tyre, Jericho and Egypt, for example, all provide an anodyne for the final golden cup filled with the vile toxins of commercialism and materialistic idolatry.
Yes, there assuredly is much debate on the general topic of endtime Babylon, aspects of which we have often commented upon. However, for the purpose of the topic at hand, we need not stop to consider these many views. Here, we only want to focus on one additional aspect of endtime Babylon(s)…namely, the “inseparability” of the two Babylons.
What is meant by the inseparability of two Babylons? How can there be two, and yet they are inseparable? Actually, this was the very question put to me the first time I ever spoke on the topic of Babylon mentioned in Revelation 17 and 18. At the time, I was unprepared. The question was this: Where do you see the break between the Babylon mentioned in Revelation 17 and the one mentioned in chapter 18? I was caught rather flatfooted, as I had simply assumed that they were different Babylons since they were treated in separate chapters and had slightly different names in some Bible translations.
While I still hold to the view that they are different Babylons — in other words, alternate dimensions or at least different perspectives of the last-day Babylon emergence — I also hold to the view that they are inseparable. While this might seem contradictory, it is not. Basically, it is two Babylons1clandestinely in bed together, in effect becoming one. I say clandestinely because most people — surely including many who claim to be Christians — are blind to this emerging union. For the most part, it is a relationship that has been conducted under the covers and in secret, although less so recently. The harlotry is becoming ever more open. From the religious side, it is a union that has been blessed by an increasing number of Christian denominations and religious movements.
Jesus Christ clearly said that there are two separate masters — God and Mammon (Matthew 6:24). You can serve only one. Either you love the one or the other. While God promises to be near and never to forsake us (Hebrews 13:5), Mammon has masterfully honed its attractions to accurately and lethally target the fleshly affections of mankind. These temptations are also near and with us. Who does not agree that the lures of Mammon are lustrous and inveigling? Its apparent entreaties and promises of security are so tempting, immediate and incessant.
But, here is the danger: This apparently unbridgeable gap between God and Mammon offers one of the biggest, exploitable marketing opportunities even known to mankind. How can one have the assurance of being righteous and spiritual and not pass up the chance for rich comfort and lucre from the horn of Mammon?
If you can figure out a way to convince people that they can both worship God and sup with Mammon at the same time, you will meet certain success. This is not a new discovery. It is a gimmick that has worked in past history every time, right from New Testament times, only now it is institutionalized and unfolds on a global scale.
The merging of God and Mammon — figured as religion and materialism, faith and globalization in bed together — is the final capstone of mankind’s deception that is reflected in the religious and commercial Babylons shown to rise in illicit cahoots in Revelation 17 and 18. It is the final, global religion. As such, that may be why the two Babylons in these chapters are presented as one, unbreakable continuum.
Where is the evidence, people might ask. Is this happening today? It assuredly is…and in many ways.
There are numerous channels and multiple feedback loops in this present-day progression. For example, we see an enormous convergence in the world under the rubric of “ethical investing.” It has found a huge alliance within religious circles. Such new organizations as the International Interfaith Investment Group (3IG), which claims to wield some $10 trillion in wealth and 7% of the inhabitable real estate on the planet, are pushing for a purer and better world with the power of money. Also, the “green” movement has bridged alliances with religious groups through such organizations as the Association for Religion and Conservation (ARC). Again, money is the blunt truncheon being used to bring about change and religious reform.
Also, within so-called Christianity there are many movements in this direction. Various prosperity gospels (material comforts in the here and now), Reconstructionism, Kingdom Now and many other ideologies risk consorting with the deadly and deceitful embrace of Mammon. We do not doubt that there are sincere and godly people who may be swept up in these ideologies and who come by their ignorance innocently. However, there are certainly also wolves and entities masquerading as “angels of light.”
While we greatly respect good scholarship, it is also academics that have come to the aid of human lust through the introduction of new theories that “revise” Biblical teaching on idolatry and materialism. For example, such organizations as the influential Acton Institute seem to exist solely to validate capitalism and free-market economics as a Biblically-endorsed system. To the contrary. God has never endorsed any human system.
Any religious movement that claims to build a ‘kingdom” on earth is sure to be fostering ideologies that promote earthly citizenship rather than heavenly citizenship. Jesus Christ could not have been clearer on this point, saying that His kingdom was not of this world (John 18:36). Furthermore, He pointedly asked: “When I return, will I find faith upon the earth?” (Luke 18:8). It is a prophecy enfolded in a rhetorical statement. In fact, it is probably the most indicative of the very few prophecies that specifically apply to the Church.
Sadly, Christians (denominations, movements and individuals) and Christian look-alikes — namely, religious developments deliberately conspired by the Enemy to be an imitation — today risk either falling for or trafficking in the lures of both Babylons. Maranatha
https://garyboyd2244.blogspot.com
Aug 4, 2022 12:10:21 #
(Main)
Ripening Times #5 – The Rise of Asia: Part III
By Wilfred Hahn
Researched by Pastor Gary Boyd
Aug. 4th 2022
China in and out of Bible Prophecy
The Bible is not silent about Far East Asia, both past and future. Of course, all people of the world are contemplated in the general address of much of the prophetic literature of the Bible. However, there are several prophecies that clearly involve this region in a specific way.
First, revealing the most eastern nation noted in the Bible, China itself is mentioned in a prophetic context in Isaiah 49:12: “Behold, these shall come from far: and, lo, these from the north and from the west; and these from the land of Sinim.” Just what and where is Sinim? Most sources agree that “Sinim” refers to the far eastern region of China.1 Things related to China today are still referred to as “sino”; for example, the word “sinology” means the study of China.
In the Arabic language, China is still referred to as “Sin.” The word “Sin” likely comes from the word Ch’in (or Tsin), as in the Ch’in Dynasty which ruled China between 221 and 206 BC, or some other word derivation from before that time. The word “Sinim” in Hebrew would therefore simply be the plural form of “Sin.”
What we can deduce from Isaiah’s word, written some 2,700 years ago, is that Sinim (China) will most certainly exist in the last days and into the following Millennial period. Moreover, we can also reasonably deduce that China must be a substantial entity at that time, since its name is used in this prophecy to describe the general geographical direction of “east.”
Wonderfully, Isaiah indicates that the people of Sinim will also be in that number that will eventually go to worship in the new Israel of the 1,000-year Millennial Period. The US, on the other hand, is not directly mentioned in Bible prophecy (though possibly included among the group of countries that the Bible refers to as the “islands”).
Further Biblical Mention of Asia in the Last Days
Revelation 16:12 mentions yet another event involving Asia. This takes place in the vicinity of the Euphrates River: “The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up to prepare the way for the kings from the East.”
This verse occurs at the time that the sixth angel pours out a sixth bowl of wrath; sometime in the second half of the Tribulation period. As we learn from these verses, this important border for Israel—the Euphrates River—will be breached when the Kings of the East go over to the west side of this river. Nothing more appears to be directly attributed to the “Kings of the East” anywhere in the Bible, this being the only verse in which these kings are mentioned.
Undoubtedly, we think, the Kings of the East will be the leaders of a number of countries in Far East Asia—namely, nations on the east side of the Euphrates River.
But, why will the Kings of the East cross the Euphrates? The reason is unclear. However, we must let all of Scripture speak. This verse reveals that the great Euphrates will be dried up. What does this mean? This writer concludes that it likely symbolized economic difficulties … perhaps a deep economic depression. In the Old Testament, a dry riverbed is always equated with economic disaster. This would certainly be the case for agrarian countries. As such, we do not see the drying of the river as preparing a route for the Kings of the East to cross into the west side of the Euphrates—an area promised to the Israelites by God. In our day and age, there are plenty of ways to cross a river.
One More Key Prophetic Deduction: A Non-Mention
We now address a question that we posed earlier: Will China also play a significant geopolitical role in the last days, perhaps being a key member of a final world order? The answer, we believe, is again both yes and no. Yes, in our opinion China (and some other select Asian nations) will play a role in last-day geopolitical developments. But the Bible clearly rules out any role for China in the post-globalism, minilateralism period of a “10-king” ruling order just before the Antichrist comes on the scene.
How do we know this? There is one additional verse in the Bible which applies to some key Asian countries today that we have not examined. It is a perspective that is often overlooked, found in Revelation 17:12, which supports an important deduction. It reads: “The ten horns you saw are ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom, but who for one hour will receive authority as kings along with the beast.” Just how does this verse connect to Asian countries today?
We must, of course, first assume that we are indeed living in the very last of the last days. As such, the world today would then be very near the time that the 10 kings will emerge on the world scene. The verse we have quoted from Revelation specifically refers to these 10 kings and reveals a crucial clue.
John the Revelator tells us here that these 10 kings “have not yet received a kingdom.” This means that neither the kings nor their kingdoms referred to in this verse had yet existed either at or by the time that Apostle John wrote the Book of Revelation (approx. 90—95 AD).
As such, we can validly draw some conclusions from Revelation 17:12: Any nation today that existed at or prior to the time of John’s prophecy can therefore not qualify as one of the 10 final kings … in other words, one of the final 10 nations. If we apply this principle, it reveals that such nations as China, India, Persia and perhaps others will not be part of the final 10-king world power coalition. (In the past, we have named this group the Global Power Coalition.)
China already existed in New Testament times. According to historians, the Han Dynasty, a predecessor to modern-day China, was in power at the time of John’s prophecies. The same may be concluded for the nation of Japan.
The nation referred to as “Hodu” (India … earlier named Hindustan) in the Bible had already existed much earlier. The book of Esther confirms the existence of Hodu at the time of Xerxes. The record of Hodu before then, however, is not clear. Crucially, therefore, we discover here that most of these large and influential Asian nations that we observe today, will not be part of the last-day rulership represented on the 7th head of the beasts shown in Revelation 12, 13 and 17 … the 10 kings. According to our understanding of Scripture, most of the 10 kings will be from Europe.
Thoughts to Ponder
What light could the information that we reviewed possibly shed on our times today? For one, without a doubt, there indeed will be “Kings of the East” that fulfill their action as described in Revelation 16:12, confirming their existence at that time. However, we expect that these nations will be dominated by the 10 kings, as the 7th head that they represent is the final power that then rules over the entire world with the Antichrist (see Daniel 7).
Beyond the certainty that these nations will not be part of the world ruling order at the time that Antichrist assumes global control, we can only attempt a few additional speculative scenarios.
One that appears plausible is that the formation of the final 10 kings may very well be a counter strategy to the perceived threats and aggressive actions of other global players, these very possibly including the Kings of the East.
There is no doubt that China is strategically placed geographically, allowing it to become a naval power that can control much of Asia. A number of geographers and geo-strategists have long thought this to be the case. As it happens, China today has sharply increased its spending on its naval capabilities.
Scripture seems to indicate that the Kings of the East are an opposition force … an aggressor. They rise up, crossing the Euphrates River against an unknown enemy. The catalysts may be economic or geopolitical. We simply do not know.
The 10 kings, on the other hand, come together to collect power to then give it to the Antichrist. The Bible tells us that, “These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast” (Revelation 17:13). It is possible that the specter we see developing in Asia today could very well be the world power dynamic that hastens the formation of the 10 kings. If so, the time may already be very short.
While it surely is factual and significant that economic and geopolitical power has begun to be more widely distributed around the world away from the Roman-type nations (this potentially an important alignment with endtime prophecy), consensus predictions that the Asian nations will dominate the world are not likely to be correct.
At the same time, the emergence of certain Asian countries to greater world prominence plays an integral and necessary part in the events and trends that lead to the conditions of the upcoming Tribulation period.
Using our diagnostical list, examining the rise of Asia, six tell-tale characteristics of a “last-day season phenomena” can be observed: 1. Recency … a trend observed after 1948; 2. Seeming improbability and inexplicability of its occurrence … at least at first; 3. Evidence of acceleration; 4. Global impact; 5. Humanist Agenda; 6. Suddenness and rapidity; and, above all, Bible prophecy.
Though very few specific events may be pinpointed from Bible prophecy, Asia’s influence and likely endtime roles can also be discerned through deduction. As in astronomy, “black holes” are not directly visible, but they can be discerned through their impact on other celestial bodies. In the same way, we can observe trends in the Middle East and the Roman-heritage world, informed by both facilitating and parallel developments in other parts of the world.
In any case, the speed of change and the nature of the developments underway in Asia today are simply astounding. Following the lead of other Asian countries, we see that a sleeping giant—China—has been awakened in the past half-century.
The rise of Asia qualifies as a “significant event,” and as we have shown, broadly aligns with Bible prophecy. Maranatha
https://garyboyd2244.blogspot.com
By Wilfred Hahn
Researched by Pastor Gary Boyd
Aug. 4th 2022
China in and out of Bible Prophecy
The Bible is not silent about Far East Asia, both past and future. Of course, all people of the world are contemplated in the general address of much of the prophetic literature of the Bible. However, there are several prophecies that clearly involve this region in a specific way.
First, revealing the most eastern nation noted in the Bible, China itself is mentioned in a prophetic context in Isaiah 49:12: “Behold, these shall come from far: and, lo, these from the north and from the west; and these from the land of Sinim.” Just what and where is Sinim? Most sources agree that “Sinim” refers to the far eastern region of China.1 Things related to China today are still referred to as “sino”; for example, the word “sinology” means the study of China.
In the Arabic language, China is still referred to as “Sin.” The word “Sin” likely comes from the word Ch’in (or Tsin), as in the Ch’in Dynasty which ruled China between 221 and 206 BC, or some other word derivation from before that time. The word “Sinim” in Hebrew would therefore simply be the plural form of “Sin.”
What we can deduce from Isaiah’s word, written some 2,700 years ago, is that Sinim (China) will most certainly exist in the last days and into the following Millennial period. Moreover, we can also reasonably deduce that China must be a substantial entity at that time, since its name is used in this prophecy to describe the general geographical direction of “east.”
Wonderfully, Isaiah indicates that the people of Sinim will also be in that number that will eventually go to worship in the new Israel of the 1,000-year Millennial Period. The US, on the other hand, is not directly mentioned in Bible prophecy (though possibly included among the group of countries that the Bible refers to as the “islands”).
Further Biblical Mention of Asia in the Last Days
Revelation 16:12 mentions yet another event involving Asia. This takes place in the vicinity of the Euphrates River: “The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up to prepare the way for the kings from the East.”
This verse occurs at the time that the sixth angel pours out a sixth bowl of wrath; sometime in the second half of the Tribulation period. As we learn from these verses, this important border for Israel—the Euphrates River—will be breached when the Kings of the East go over to the west side of this river. Nothing more appears to be directly attributed to the “Kings of the East” anywhere in the Bible, this being the only verse in which these kings are mentioned.
Undoubtedly, we think, the Kings of the East will be the leaders of a number of countries in Far East Asia—namely, nations on the east side of the Euphrates River.
But, why will the Kings of the East cross the Euphrates? The reason is unclear. However, we must let all of Scripture speak. This verse reveals that the great Euphrates will be dried up. What does this mean? This writer concludes that it likely symbolized economic difficulties … perhaps a deep economic depression. In the Old Testament, a dry riverbed is always equated with economic disaster. This would certainly be the case for agrarian countries. As such, we do not see the drying of the river as preparing a route for the Kings of the East to cross into the west side of the Euphrates—an area promised to the Israelites by God. In our day and age, there are plenty of ways to cross a river.
One More Key Prophetic Deduction: A Non-Mention
We now address a question that we posed earlier: Will China also play a significant geopolitical role in the last days, perhaps being a key member of a final world order? The answer, we believe, is again both yes and no. Yes, in our opinion China (and some other select Asian nations) will play a role in last-day geopolitical developments. But the Bible clearly rules out any role for China in the post-globalism, minilateralism period of a “10-king” ruling order just before the Antichrist comes on the scene.
How do we know this? There is one additional verse in the Bible which applies to some key Asian countries today that we have not examined. It is a perspective that is often overlooked, found in Revelation 17:12, which supports an important deduction. It reads: “The ten horns you saw are ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom, but who for one hour will receive authority as kings along with the beast.” Just how does this verse connect to Asian countries today?
We must, of course, first assume that we are indeed living in the very last of the last days. As such, the world today would then be very near the time that the 10 kings will emerge on the world scene. The verse we have quoted from Revelation specifically refers to these 10 kings and reveals a crucial clue.
John the Revelator tells us here that these 10 kings “have not yet received a kingdom.” This means that neither the kings nor their kingdoms referred to in this verse had yet existed either at or by the time that Apostle John wrote the Book of Revelation (approx. 90—95 AD).
As such, we can validly draw some conclusions from Revelation 17:12: Any nation today that existed at or prior to the time of John’s prophecy can therefore not qualify as one of the 10 final kings … in other words, one of the final 10 nations. If we apply this principle, it reveals that such nations as China, India, Persia and perhaps others will not be part of the final 10-king world power coalition. (In the past, we have named this group the Global Power Coalition.)
China already existed in New Testament times. According to historians, the Han Dynasty, a predecessor to modern-day China, was in power at the time of John’s prophecies. The same may be concluded for the nation of Japan.
The nation referred to as “Hodu” (India … earlier named Hindustan) in the Bible had already existed much earlier. The book of Esther confirms the existence of Hodu at the time of Xerxes. The record of Hodu before then, however, is not clear. Crucially, therefore, we discover here that most of these large and influential Asian nations that we observe today, will not be part of the last-day rulership represented on the 7th head of the beasts shown in Revelation 12, 13 and 17 … the 10 kings. According to our understanding of Scripture, most of the 10 kings will be from Europe.
Thoughts to Ponder
What light could the information that we reviewed possibly shed on our times today? For one, without a doubt, there indeed will be “Kings of the East” that fulfill their action as described in Revelation 16:12, confirming their existence at that time. However, we expect that these nations will be dominated by the 10 kings, as the 7th head that they represent is the final power that then rules over the entire world with the Antichrist (see Daniel 7).
Beyond the certainty that these nations will not be part of the world ruling order at the time that Antichrist assumes global control, we can only attempt a few additional speculative scenarios.
One that appears plausible is that the formation of the final 10 kings may very well be a counter strategy to the perceived threats and aggressive actions of other global players, these very possibly including the Kings of the East.
There is no doubt that China is strategically placed geographically, allowing it to become a naval power that can control much of Asia. A number of geographers and geo-strategists have long thought this to be the case. As it happens, China today has sharply increased its spending on its naval capabilities.
Scripture seems to indicate that the Kings of the East are an opposition force … an aggressor. They rise up, crossing the Euphrates River against an unknown enemy. The catalysts may be economic or geopolitical. We simply do not know.
The 10 kings, on the other hand, come together to collect power to then give it to the Antichrist. The Bible tells us that, “These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast” (Revelation 17:13). It is possible that the specter we see developing in Asia today could very well be the world power dynamic that hastens the formation of the 10 kings. If so, the time may already be very short.
While it surely is factual and significant that economic and geopolitical power has begun to be more widely distributed around the world away from the Roman-type nations (this potentially an important alignment with endtime prophecy), consensus predictions that the Asian nations will dominate the world are not likely to be correct.
At the same time, the emergence of certain Asian countries to greater world prominence plays an integral and necessary part in the events and trends that lead to the conditions of the upcoming Tribulation period.
Using our diagnostical list, examining the rise of Asia, six tell-tale characteristics of a “last-day season phenomena” can be observed: 1. Recency … a trend observed after 1948; 2. Seeming improbability and inexplicability of its occurrence … at least at first; 3. Evidence of acceleration; 4. Global impact; 5. Humanist Agenda; 6. Suddenness and rapidity; and, above all, Bible prophecy.
Though very few specific events may be pinpointed from Bible prophecy, Asia’s influence and likely endtime roles can also be discerned through deduction. As in astronomy, “black holes” are not directly visible, but they can be discerned through their impact on other celestial bodies. In the same way, we can observe trends in the Middle East and the Roman-heritage world, informed by both facilitating and parallel developments in other parts of the world.
In any case, the speed of change and the nature of the developments underway in Asia today are simply astounding. Following the lead of other Asian countries, we see that a sleeping giant—China—has been awakened in the past half-century.
The rise of Asia qualifies as a “significant event,” and as we have shown, broadly aligns with Bible prophecy. Maranatha
https://garyboyd2244.blogspot.com
Aug 4, 2022 11:06:58 #
(Main)
In the Tribulation God's angels will dry up the Euphrates River so that the Chinese & other armies of the East can march into Israel in the final battle at Armageddon. Jesus will arrive with his armies of heaven and angels to totally destroy all the armies of the world that show up to fight our Lord. The Bible predicts that the preparations for the attack of China upon the Middle East and Israel involve a combination of human and angelic events. In chapters 9 and 16 of Revelation, there are highly symbolic descriptions of angels affecting the area around the Euphrates River in the last days. It is primarily the reference to this river, which ties the two prophecies together and makes them understandable. If we couple these passages with what the Bible says about the armies moving toward the Middle East from out of the north and east at the time of the end, then the prophecy in Revelation 16 becomes relatively simple to interpret. - Pastor Gary Boyd
Aug 3, 2022 11:56:15 #
(Main)
Ripening Times #5 – The Rise of Asia: Part II
By Wilfred Hahn
Researched by Pastor Gary Boyd
Aug. 3rd 2022
The Modern Asian Phenomenon
We continue our series of “Ripening Times—Discerning Trends of Significance.” We proceed with our explanation of why the sudden rise of Asia qualifies as one such trend.
A significant impulse that has rocked the world in recent decades is the rapid emergence of a group of Asian economic dynamos. Large countries with huge populations, such as India and China, seem to have awoken rather suddenly. After years of slumbering, this cocooned region began its butterfly transformation only some 60 to 70 years ago. Today, as some of these nations have muscled onto the world stage as economic titans, they are projecting a wide wake—one that has washed up on the shores of all the high-income countries around the world, particularly North America and Europe. In the process, these Asian nations have become more influential geopolitically.
It would be instructive to get a sense of the epic nature of the Asian phenomenon of the past half-century. It is yet a rapid trend that has direct linkages to economic, financial and geopolitical developments. Even more significant, the rise of Asia finds Scriptural alignments. We must ask: How does Satan benefit from these sudden developments?
Small Beginnings with Big Consequences
It wasn’t that long ago—not much more than 50 years past—that the Western world still looked upon the Far East with a certain aloofness. It was and remains a diverse part of the world, comprising roughly 40% of the world’s landmass and approximately 60% of the earth’s population. To illustrate, the countries of China and India evoked belittling visions of rice paddies and countryside peasants; or, respectively, teeming Hindus living in the stifling suburbs of Calcutta, between their wandering, sacred cows. Westerners would donate their nickels and dimes to alleviate the hungry and homeless in this region … perhaps, the lepers in India.
The Mao uniforms that were worn in the Middle Kingdom (China)—unisex brown khakis for everyone—were also a familiar picture. These Asian peoples, different as they were, seemed a world away—certainly far out of harm’s way and of no fathomable threat to America or any other high-income country.
We considered them less fortunate, backward and undeveloped—beneath the enlightened ways of the West’s so-called Hellenistic and progressive cultures. Their customs and religions were strange. This is what Westerners thought.
It then began with a whimper. In mid-century, the world witnessed the first beginnings of Asia’s economic miracles in a select number of smaller countries.
Japan was the first Asian nation in the post-war period to enter take-off into rapid economic development.
While it had been a force to be reckoned with during World War II, Japan economically was seen as diminutive and non-threatening in the post-war period. Its economy in 1960 represented only 3% of world economic output. Its population accounted for a similar proportion.
Then, suddenly, beginning in the late 1950s, Japan’s economy was sparked to grow more than two to three times as fast as those of America and Europe during this early growth phase. Japan began a hyperactive period of economic growth and development, rapidly rising from its relatively poor status to eventually become the world’s second largest economic powerhouse.
South Korea was next. It seemed even less significant, its economy in 1960 amounting to less than 1/3 of 1% of world output and possessing less than 1% of the world’s population.
Beginning in the early 1960s, this Asian competitor to Japan began its journey to eventually become one of the high-income nations of the world. Only 25 years later, in 1996,1 it would become one of the 30 members of the Organization of Economic Development (OECD)—the rich country club of the world.
The Awakening Spreads to China?
As a world-traveling investment executive, this writer had only come to fully grasp the significance of China’s economic awakening somewhat late. I remember the very day that my awareness was alerted. On a research trip to Asia in 1992, I visited with the Chief Investment Officer of a major family fortune (with Mainland connections) in Hong Kong. This man, who was Chinese and educated in Australia, was more than forthcoming about what was happening in China.
His message was this: Western corporate executives were so greedy they were willing to supply all their technology free to China—and significant investment capital to boot—if they could have an opportunity to access China’s domestic consumer market. He was chuckling as he said it.
He was amused with the transparent gullibility and greed of the wai lo—literally meaning “foreign devils.” It was the Chinese version of a capitalist “monkey trap.” That conversation took place already a full decade after the “economic opening” to the rest of the world, which was begun by Premier Deng Xiaoping in the late 1970s.
Communist China had woken up and realized that a large and growing economy was the equivalent of power and might. And indeed, many Western multinational corporations were very eager to build factories in China. At one point, as much as 50% of China’s goods exports were the output of American- and European-owned companies in China. Western companies made huge profits by “off-shoring” their products to China and its Asian manufacturing hub.
China and Asia Continue to Advance
While the advances of Japan and South Korea were monumentally fast, it is the economic awakening of China that attracts the most emphasis in this review. Firstly, it is crucial to realize that the Chinese have an inordinately large influence on the entire Asian region. Not only is China the largest trade partner with many other Asian countries, but also a large percentage of major businesses in southeast Asia are owned or controlled by Chinese families.
Though a minority ethnic group in Asia (outside of China), they are its main business people. The Chinese diasporas, triggered by political unrest and wars of the late 19th century and the middle 20th (the time of the Great Revolution and victory of Mao Zedong), spread a Chinese business network across the entire region from Malaysia to Indonesia. These large business empires have directed much investment to China in recent decades, and have made a large contribution to the economic rise of China.
Secondly, China, either individually or in concert with other Asian countries, believes they will eventually challenge America and other Western countries. China itself may have less inhibitions in destabilizing the current world order, as it is much more than “a big country, inhabited by many Chinese,” as the French President Charles de Gaulle once opined.
Its agendas find deep motivations. China’s deportment is heavily influenced by the fact that it has existed as a country, millennia before the US and other high-income countries of today. After all, China was the world’s largest economy for 18 of the last 20 centuries.
Finally, China is not militarily reliant upon the West as was Japan when it entered its fast-growth phase. This affords a measure of autonomy. It can choose to align itself against the West. In conclusion, China is no one’s lap dog. It is an independent and proud player on the world scene. Foreign pressure (gaiatsu) is not likely to be effective. Can anyone stop China from pursuing its own interest?
Our opinion: Yes and no, as we will explain.
Is a Dominant Asia Inevitable?
Though it may today appear that the economic advance of China and other Asian nations is unstoppable, this is not necessarily a valid conclusion. In fact, it is not at all likely that Far-East Asian nations will come to dominate the world anytime soon, if ever. To the contrary.
While competitive pressures and conflicts with the Western world (Roman world) are surely to heighten, Bible prophecy as well as other developments observable today suggest otherwise.
It is a strange twist of fate that Asia as a region possesses so little resources and energy reserves in comparison to other parts of the world. The vast abundance of the world’s resources—certainly so when measured on a per capita basis—is found elsewhere. This is a structural reality of the world.
It means that an awakening Asia, as it seeks to attain the prosperity levels of the US, Canada and Europe, is sure to test the limitations of commodity supplies. This has already been the case over the last several decades.
Another hurdle stems from the fact that birth rates have fallen dramatically over the past several decades in China (and also Asia generally). At some point this will cause economic difficulties, as there will be insufficient young people entering the workforce. Therefore, it is reasonable to conclude that China’s ascendancy cannot continue indefinitely.
However, there is one further indication that Asian countries will not take over or lead the world. The reason is revealed in Bible prophecy.
In the final part of this series about the rise of Asia, we examine what the Bible has to say about the futures of both Asia and China. Maranatha
https://garyboyd2244.blogspot.com
By Wilfred Hahn
Researched by Pastor Gary Boyd
Aug. 3rd 2022
The Modern Asian Phenomenon
We continue our series of “Ripening Times—Discerning Trends of Significance.” We proceed with our explanation of why the sudden rise of Asia qualifies as one such trend.
A significant impulse that has rocked the world in recent decades is the rapid emergence of a group of Asian economic dynamos. Large countries with huge populations, such as India and China, seem to have awoken rather suddenly. After years of slumbering, this cocooned region began its butterfly transformation only some 60 to 70 years ago. Today, as some of these nations have muscled onto the world stage as economic titans, they are projecting a wide wake—one that has washed up on the shores of all the high-income countries around the world, particularly North America and Europe. In the process, these Asian nations have become more influential geopolitically.
It would be instructive to get a sense of the epic nature of the Asian phenomenon of the past half-century. It is yet a rapid trend that has direct linkages to economic, financial and geopolitical developments. Even more significant, the rise of Asia finds Scriptural alignments. We must ask: How does Satan benefit from these sudden developments?
Small Beginnings with Big Consequences
It wasn’t that long ago—not much more than 50 years past—that the Western world still looked upon the Far East with a certain aloofness. It was and remains a diverse part of the world, comprising roughly 40% of the world’s landmass and approximately 60% of the earth’s population. To illustrate, the countries of China and India evoked belittling visions of rice paddies and countryside peasants; or, respectively, teeming Hindus living in the stifling suburbs of Calcutta, between their wandering, sacred cows. Westerners would donate their nickels and dimes to alleviate the hungry and homeless in this region … perhaps, the lepers in India.
The Mao uniforms that were worn in the Middle Kingdom (China)—unisex brown khakis for everyone—were also a familiar picture. These Asian peoples, different as they were, seemed a world away—certainly far out of harm’s way and of no fathomable threat to America or any other high-income country.
We considered them less fortunate, backward and undeveloped—beneath the enlightened ways of the West’s so-called Hellenistic and progressive cultures. Their customs and religions were strange. This is what Westerners thought.
It then began with a whimper. In mid-century, the world witnessed the first beginnings of Asia’s economic miracles in a select number of smaller countries.
Japan was the first Asian nation in the post-war period to enter take-off into rapid economic development.
While it had been a force to be reckoned with during World War II, Japan economically was seen as diminutive and non-threatening in the post-war period. Its economy in 1960 represented only 3% of world economic output. Its population accounted for a similar proportion.
Then, suddenly, beginning in the late 1950s, Japan’s economy was sparked to grow more than two to three times as fast as those of America and Europe during this early growth phase. Japan began a hyperactive period of economic growth and development, rapidly rising from its relatively poor status to eventually become the world’s second largest economic powerhouse.
South Korea was next. It seemed even less significant, its economy in 1960 amounting to less than 1/3 of 1% of world output and possessing less than 1% of the world’s population.
Beginning in the early 1960s, this Asian competitor to Japan began its journey to eventually become one of the high-income nations of the world. Only 25 years later, in 1996,1 it would become one of the 30 members of the Organization of Economic Development (OECD)—the rich country club of the world.
The Awakening Spreads to China?
As a world-traveling investment executive, this writer had only come to fully grasp the significance of China’s economic awakening somewhat late. I remember the very day that my awareness was alerted. On a research trip to Asia in 1992, I visited with the Chief Investment Officer of a major family fortune (with Mainland connections) in Hong Kong. This man, who was Chinese and educated in Australia, was more than forthcoming about what was happening in China.
His message was this: Western corporate executives were so greedy they were willing to supply all their technology free to China—and significant investment capital to boot—if they could have an opportunity to access China’s domestic consumer market. He was chuckling as he said it.
He was amused with the transparent gullibility and greed of the wai lo—literally meaning “foreign devils.” It was the Chinese version of a capitalist “monkey trap.” That conversation took place already a full decade after the “economic opening” to the rest of the world, which was begun by Premier Deng Xiaoping in the late 1970s.
Communist China had woken up and realized that a large and growing economy was the equivalent of power and might. And indeed, many Western multinational corporations were very eager to build factories in China. At one point, as much as 50% of China’s goods exports were the output of American- and European-owned companies in China. Western companies made huge profits by “off-shoring” their products to China and its Asian manufacturing hub.
China and Asia Continue to Advance
While the advances of Japan and South Korea were monumentally fast, it is the economic awakening of China that attracts the most emphasis in this review. Firstly, it is crucial to realize that the Chinese have an inordinately large influence on the entire Asian region. Not only is China the largest trade partner with many other Asian countries, but also a large percentage of major businesses in southeast Asia are owned or controlled by Chinese families.
Though a minority ethnic group in Asia (outside of China), they are its main business people. The Chinese diasporas, triggered by political unrest and wars of the late 19th century and the middle 20th (the time of the Great Revolution and victory of Mao Zedong), spread a Chinese business network across the entire region from Malaysia to Indonesia. These large business empires have directed much investment to China in recent decades, and have made a large contribution to the economic rise of China.
Secondly, China, either individually or in concert with other Asian countries, believes they will eventually challenge America and other Western countries. China itself may have less inhibitions in destabilizing the current world order, as it is much more than “a big country, inhabited by many Chinese,” as the French President Charles de Gaulle once opined.
Its agendas find deep motivations. China’s deportment is heavily influenced by the fact that it has existed as a country, millennia before the US and other high-income countries of today. After all, China was the world’s largest economy for 18 of the last 20 centuries.
Finally, China is not militarily reliant upon the West as was Japan when it entered its fast-growth phase. This affords a measure of autonomy. It can choose to align itself against the West. In conclusion, China is no one’s lap dog. It is an independent and proud player on the world scene. Foreign pressure (gaiatsu) is not likely to be effective. Can anyone stop China from pursuing its own interest?
Our opinion: Yes and no, as we will explain.
Is a Dominant Asia Inevitable?
Though it may today appear that the economic advance of China and other Asian nations is unstoppable, this is not necessarily a valid conclusion. In fact, it is not at all likely that Far-East Asian nations will come to dominate the world anytime soon, if ever. To the contrary.
While competitive pressures and conflicts with the Western world (Roman world) are surely to heighten, Bible prophecy as well as other developments observable today suggest otherwise.
It is a strange twist of fate that Asia as a region possesses so little resources and energy reserves in comparison to other parts of the world. The vast abundance of the world’s resources—certainly so when measured on a per capita basis—is found elsewhere. This is a structural reality of the world.
It means that an awakening Asia, as it seeks to attain the prosperity levels of the US, Canada and Europe, is sure to test the limitations of commodity supplies. This has already been the case over the last several decades.
Another hurdle stems from the fact that birth rates have fallen dramatically over the past several decades in China (and also Asia generally). At some point this will cause economic difficulties, as there will be insufficient young people entering the workforce. Therefore, it is reasonable to conclude that China’s ascendancy cannot continue indefinitely.
However, there is one further indication that Asian countries will not take over or lead the world. The reason is revealed in Bible prophecy.
In the final part of this series about the rise of Asia, we examine what the Bible has to say about the futures of both Asia and China. Maranatha
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