March 31, 2011
Read All the Headlines of Prophetic Interest at:
STAY INFORMED - DON'T BE LEFT BEHIND!
Let us make the short time we have left count for all eternity!
Help Spread the Word!
Forward this Newsletter to all your friends and family members!
THE COMPLETE PROPHECY UPDATE DVD SERIES
These DVD’s are not just someone standing at a podium and speaking to an audience, they are full length docudramas just like you would see on the Discovery Channel or the History Channel. They make wonderful witnessing and teaching tools and many churches show them to their congregations and youth groups as well as using them in home Bible study groups.
“Thank you so much! The movies changed my life. I have cried to God of my sins.”- Carlos – Canada
COMPLIMENT YOUR DVD LIBRARY WITH OUR INFORMATIVE AND INSPIRING PROPHECY SERIES
“The DVD’s were just wonderful – well done! I’m proud to show them to anyone.“ Sandra M, Florida
ALL 9 DVD'S FOR ONLY $49.95
www.prophecyupdate.com/prophecy_update_dvd_series.htm
Thank You So Very Much!
A great gift for your family or your church or favorite ministry!
CURRENT PROPHETIC HEADLINES
3/31/11
· Jerusalem lobbies against UN recognition of Palestinian state
· UN chief: End occupation, divide Jerusalem
· Israeli map shows nearly 1,000 Hezbollah sites
· Israel has Saudi Arabia level oil reserves - 250 billion barrels of oil
· Iran Expanding Regional Influence Amid Mideast Turmoil
· Loss of Libyan FM may outweigh battlefield gains
· Gaddafi will stay in Libya "until the end"
· Libyan rebels sold Hizballah and Hamas chemical shells
· Turkey scrambles to deal with Mideast upheaval
· Radiation slows recovery of dead near Japan plant
· Europe rates to lead U.S. as global power shifts
· India population grows to 1.2 billion
· Strong 6.4 quake strikes the South Pacific Ocean, no tsunami alert
· How Does Bible Numerology Play Into Middle Eastern Revolution?
· Church: Easter ad using Jesus' name 'banned'
COMMENTARY AND ANALYSIS
NOTE: The commentary links below are NOT endorsed by Prophecy Update. They are listed because they relate to current events which MAY have prophetic significance.
Jerusalem lobbies against UN recognition of Palestinian state – Herb Keinon and Khaled Abu Toameh – www.jpost.com
PA accuses Israel of practicing "political thuggery" against UN; Israel considers building island off Gaza to provide import-export access.
Israel’s efforts to rally countries against Palestinian Authority plans to ask the United Nations to recognize a Palestinian state along the pre-1967 lines are hindered by the fact that Israel has not presented any plan of its own, diplomatic officials said Tuesday.
Israel has stepped up these efforts since the Palestinian Authority’s Saeb Erekat said two weeks ago that the Palestinian leadership “decided to start implementing alternatives to negotiations, and the first of these is demanding recognition.”
He said this decision had been taken because the PA leadership was convinced negotiations with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s government were impossible because of settlement activities.
Israeli diplomats abroad have expedited efforts to convince countries not to support the recognition move, warning – as Israeli diplomatic officials have been doing for months – that it could lead to counter-moves by Israel.
Among the Israeli unilateral actions reportedly discussed in various forums are annexation of large settlement blocs, and limiting the Palestinian use of Israel’s ports for imports or exports.
The PA, meanwhile, accused Israel of trying to “bully” the United Nations.
The PA leadership in the West Bank also dismissed as unacceptable Israeli threats to cut off ties with the PA if Hamas joined a Palestinian unity government.
Nimer Hammad, political adviser to PA President Mahmoud Abbas, accused Israel of practicing “political thuggery” against the UN.
He said that the international community could no longer tolerate Israel’s “arrogance” and “disrespect” for international laws.
Hammad said that there was a worldwide consensus regarding the need to “end occupation and establish a Palestinian state along the 1967 borders.”
The PA is expected to ask either the UN Security Council or General Assembly for recognition in September.
Also Tuesday, the PA rejected statements by Netanyahu regarding efforts to achieve unity between Hamas and Fatah.
Netanyahu has said in recent days that the PA can have peace either with Hamas or with Israel – but not with both – and that Israel would not have ties with a PA that included Hamas in a national unity government.
Abbas’s spokesman, Nabil Abu Rudaineh, dismissed the threat as unacceptable and accused Israel of intervening in an internal Palestinian affair. He said that Palestinian national unity was a “red line” for the PA.
Abu Rudaineh claimed that Netanyahu was searching for excuses to avoid conducting negotiations with the Palestinians.
The spokesman also brushed aside the Israeli warnings about a unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state by the UN. He said that the number of countries that recognize Palestine is bigger than those who don’t, and added that all West Bank settlements would be dismantled “sooner or later,” just as they were in the Gaza Strip.
Sources in Netanyahu’s office said that the idea of unilateral Israeli moves has not been addressed by Netanyahu in recent meetings with top international officials, including Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman Sen. John Kerry, or the foreign ministers of Norway or Sweden.
According to Israeli officials, the US is also trying to convince various countries to oppose the move, fearing that it would shatter the negotiations framework and lead to unilateral actions by both sides that would make reaching an agreement even more difficult.
But diplomatic officials said that it would be easier to lobby support if Israel had an alternative plan of where things were going.
Channel 2 reported that one plan that was being considered – and has even been discussed in the security cabinet – was the construction of a 2 km.-by-4 km. artificial island built 4.5 km. off the coast of Gaza and linked by a bridge.
According to the plan, Gaza’s exports and imports would go though this island, which would include a port and an airport. The island would be under the security control of NATO or another international body that would search the cargo going in and out of the Gaza Strip.
Israel has adamantly opposed opening a harbor or airport in Gaza because of security concerns.
According to the report, the project – spearheaded by Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz – would cost between $5 billion and $10b. and take some six years to build.
Katz spoke a number of months ago about the idea with Netanyahu, who told him to develop a plan. Some 17 similar models from around the world were studied and discussed.
UN chief: End occupation, divide Jerusalem - Yitzhak Benhorin – www.ynetnews.com
In message delivered by his assistant at Uruguay conference Ban Ki-moon says occupation is morally and politically unsustainable and must therefore end. 'A way must be found for Jerusalem to emerge as a capital of two States,' he adds
WASHINGTON – United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon slammed Israel's policy and called for the division of Jerusalem on Tuesday. In a message delivered by his assistant at a UN regional meeting in Uruguay, Ban said: "The target date for completing the Palestinian Authority’s two-year State-building program is fast-approaching."
"The occupation that started in 1967 is morally and politically unsustainable, and must end," he told the UN Latin American and Caribbean Meeting in Support of Israeli-Palestinian Peace.
"The Palestinians have a legitimate right to the establishment of an independent and viable State of their own. Israel has the right to live in peace and security within internationally recognized and secure borders."
The UN chief said that "a way must be found for Jerusalem to emerge as a capital of two States, Israel and Palestine, with arrangements for holy sites acceptable for all." He added that "there must be a just and agreed solution to the prolonged plight of the Palestinian refugees."
Ban harshly criticized Israel's actions including settlement construction in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, demolition of Palestinian homes and forced transfer of Palestinian residents. He added that all expressions of violence and the incitement or glorification of violent acts must stop.
He lauded the PA's efforts to establish viable State institutions and commended security forces' efforts to maintain security in areas under their control.
He called on Israel to take further steps to improve economic and security conditions by reducing obstacles to movement, halting military operations, and enabling PA to more West Bank areas.
Israel has Saudi Arabia level oil reserves - 250 billion barrels of oil – www.nextbigfuture.com
The Israeli Shefela oil shale is on land. The natural gas is under the water
Harold Vinegar, the former chief scientists of Royal Dutch Shell, has devised an ambitious plan that would, if successful, turn Israel into one of the world’s leading oil producers. Now chief scientist for Israel Energy Initiatives (IEI), Vinegar maintains that the 238 sq km Shefela Basin holds the world’s second largest shale deposits outside the United States, from which around 250 billion barrels of oil – about the same as Saudi Arabia’s proven reserves, could be extractable. IEI estimates the marginal cost of production at between US$35 and US$40 per barrel. That, says Vinegar, would be cheaper than the US$60 or so per barrel it would cost to extract crude oil in more hospitable locations such as the Arctic, and even favorably with the US$30-US$40 in Brazilian deepwater.
Levantine Basin could have 122 trillion cubic feet of natural gas
IEI, owned by the American telecom giant IDT Corp, anticipates starting commercial production by 2020, producing 50,000 barrels a day initially. While that figure is a fraction of the 270,000 barrels per day Israel currently consumes, Vinegar maintains it is a further key step toward achieving energy independence. Vinegar proposes thermal recovery for Israeli shale oil.
The Tamar natural gas discovery will supply the Israeli domestic market for decades. Currently appraised at 8.4 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) Tamar is expected to deliver its first sales in 2013.
Lying to the north-west of Tamar, Leviathan holds around a further 16 Tcf, almost all of which could be slated purely for export. According to businessman Yitzhak Tshuva, part owner of Leviathan, its gas too will be ready for production by 2013, well ahead of schedule. But even at a combined total of 25 Tcf, Tamar and Leviathan only represent around a fifth of the 122 Tcf the US Geological Survey estimates lies in the Levantine Basin, much of which falls within Israeli jurisdiction.
Going Global From The Shores Of Tripoli – www.khouse.org
When Doc Brown shouted, "It's the Libyans!" in the mall parking lot in Back To The Future (1985), he had good reason to fear. He'd taken the terrorists' plutonium and made them a fake bomb out of spare pinball machine parts. The Libyans used to be bad news - back before the bombing of Libya in 1986 and the UN imposed sanctions in 1993. After a double-decades hiatus, Libya is once again making top news, and the troubles in Tripoli are giving global government advocates a renewed energy.
Loving Libya:
Libyan dictator Moammar Gaddafi never really loosened the iron fist from around the neck of his people, but for the most part, Libya hasn't pestered the rest of the world for awhile. In December 2003, Gaddafi announced that Libya was abandoning its WMD programs. The west claimed victory as Libya voluntarily gave up its chemical and nuclear weapons aspirations.
Gaddafi made friends. In 2008, Italy's Silvio Berlusconi paid Libya $5 billion as part of a deal to keep Libyan immigrants from illegally making the boat trip across the Mediterranean to Italian waters. Between 2004 and 2011, EU states sold Gaddafi $1.56 billion (1.1 billion euros) in arms. Libya has been good business for Europe.
Now because of the current crisis, Americans calculate how much the trouble in North Africa will thin the USA's wallet, and Europeans watch with growing trepidation as refugees pour onto their shores.
The results of the Middle East upheavals are of more than academic interest to Europeans. Wide-eyed Italy now has 16,000 refugees – six weeks worth – from Tunisia to deal with, and the boats of Libyans are bouncing across the Tunisian wakes. The population of Lampedusa, Italy's southernmost island, has doubled in the past six weeks. The island has acquired some 230 unaccompanied teenagers (children), now stuffed together with no showers and sharing just two toilets. These immigrants have nothing, and somebody needs to feed them and provide them with clean water and sanitation. The refugees will need homes and jobs, and Italy already struggles with one-third of its under-25 work force unemployed. The rest of Europe expects the flood of newly homeless humanity to migrate throughout the continent, putting fresh burdens on already strained social systems hit heavily by the global recession.
UNSCR 1973
If the North African problem remained a bit more contained, it wouldn't be the biggest story in the news. The Burmese and North Koreans have suffered for decades without serious global intervention on their behalf. Libya is a much squeakier wheel. The United Nations Security Council passed Resolution 1973 on March 17 with the purpose of protecting the civilians of Libya. UNSCR 1973 authorizes the international community to take "all necessary measures" to protect civilian areas from assault by Libyan forces, while "excluding a foreign occupation force of any form on any part of Libyan territory."
NATO has therefore taken charge of enforcing a no-fly zone in order to protect civilians from Gaddafi's planes. Americans already wonder how deep into the Libyan muck the US will wade.
Regardless of NATO involvement, several analysts want the United Nations to do far more. Globalists see Libya as an opportunity to move from using the UN as merely a "peacekeeping force" to a multinational "protection" military force. Don Kraus, Chief Executive Officer of Citizens for Global Solutions argues in The Huffington Post, "But why not create a tough international force under UN command and control made of diverse nationalities with a clear mandate to go into shattered nations, protect civilians, and restore law and order?"
Writing for The Daily Telegraph, George Grant declares that UNSCR 1973 presents a shift toward a more interventionist UN role, saying, "On a number of levels, this resolution is historic, but perhaps the most important is the fact that it has, for the first time, given concrete expression to the UN-recognised doctrine of the Responsibility to Protect (R2P)… R2P holds that international intervention in the affairs of sovereign states is permissible if their rulers prove unable or unwilling to prevent humanitarian atrocities, or are complicit in causing them."
No Unity Among The Nations:
Even Europe, however, is not necessarily ready to jump into every human rights fray out there. Germany abstained on UNSCR 1973, unwilling to get drawn into a lengthy war. Poland and other eastern EU states would rather NATO focus on protecting them from Russia's sphere of influence. British Prime Minister David Cameron might have said recently, "There is no decent future for Libya with Gaddafi in power," but Gaddafi has been in power for nearly 42 years, and he's not leaving without a struggle. Europe isn't in the mood for a long, drawn-out fight.
As much as the globalists want the United Nations to stride in and save the world, Europe doesn't know exactly what to do next. Some European countries – like Italy and France – have more to lose in the immediate future and need resolution to the Libya problem, yet France wants Gaddafi brought to trial for war crimes while Italy has taken a more cautious approach. Those less affected want to avoid the hassle if they can. There is no clear long-term plan set. There's no confidence in the character of the rebels. There is no consensus about what to do with Gaddafi.
If Europe itself cannot get unified on a plan, the globalists should not expect the whole world to bond together for peace and security.
Libyan rebels sold Hizballah and Hamas chemical shells – www.debka.com
Senior Libyan rebel “officers” sold Hizballah and Hamas thousands of chemical shells from the stocks of mustard and nerve gas that fell into rebel hands when they overran Muammar Qaddafi’s military facilities in and around Benghazi, debkafile’s exclusive military and intelligence sources report.
Word of the capture touched off a scramble in Tehran and among the terrorist groups it sponsors to get hold of their first unconventional weapons.
According to our sources, the rebels offloaded at least 2,000 artillery shells carrying mustard gas and 1,200 nerve gas shells for cash payment amounting to several million dollars.
US and Israeli intelligence agencies have tracked the WMD consignments from eastern Libya as far as Sudan in convoys secured by Iranian agents and Hizballah and Hamas guards. They are not believed to have reached their destinations in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip, apparently waiting for an opportunity to get their deadly freights through without the US or Israel attacking and destroying them.
It is also not clear whether the shells and gases were assembled upon delivery or were travelling in separate containers. Our sources report that some of the poison gas may be intended not only for artillery use but also for drones which Hizballah recently acquired from Iran.
Tehran threw its support behind the anti-Qaddafi rebels because of this unique opportunity to get hold of the Libyan ruler’s stock of poison gas after it fell into opposition hands and arm Hizballah and Hamas with unconventional weapons without Iran being implicated in the transaction.
Shortly after the uprising began in the third week of February, a secret Iranian delegation arrived in Benghazi. Its members met rebel chiefs, some of them deserters from the Libyan army, and clinched the deal for purchasing the entire stock of poison gas stock and the price.
The rebels threw in a quantity of various types of anti-air missiles.
Hizballah and Hamas purchasing missions arrived in the first week of March to finalize the deal and arrange the means of delivery.
The first authoritative American source to refer to a Hizballah presence in Benghazi was the commander of US NATO forces Adm. James Stavridis. When he addressed a US Senate committee on Tuesday, March 29, he spoke of “telltale signs of the presence of Islamic insurgents led by Al-Qaeda and Hizballah” on the rebel side of the Libyan war. He did not disclose what they were doing there.
ALL OF OUR DVD’S NOW FOR ONLY $14.95 EACH
DON’T FORGET THAT OUR DVD’S ARE AVAILABLE IN BULK – YOU CAN GET 24 COPIES OF ANY ONE OF OUR DVD’S FOR ONLY $99 -THEY ARE GREAT FOR EVANGELIZING!
These DVD’s are not just someone standing at a podium and speaking to an audience, they are full length docudramas just like you would see on the Discovery Channel or the History Channel, except these are true! They make wonderful witnessing and teaching tools and many churches show them to their congregations and youth groups as well as using them in home Bible study groups.
“Thank you so much! The movies changed my life. I have cried to God of my sins.”- Carlos - Canada
www.prophecyupdate.com/prophecy_update_dvd.htm
Warning! Watching these DVD’s could change your life forever!
You can also watch most of our movies online for free at:
www.youtube.com/user/farsider1975
Leading Troubles - Iran Expanding Regional Influence Amid Mideast Turmoil - Gerlinde Gerber - www.english.globalarabnetwork.com
Iran is trying to shape events in a changing Middle East as part of an ongoing effort to establish the Islamic Republic's regional influence and status, US and Arab officials say.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said earlier this month that "either directly or through proxies" such as Hezbollah and Hamas, Iran is "constantly trying to influence events" in Egypt, Bahrain and Yemen.
At the same time, Syrian opposition sources said Iran had sent units of the Revolutionary Guard and Hezbollah to help Tehran's ally, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, suppress anti-regime protests in his country.
"Iran undermines peace and stability in the Gulf"
Last month, Shiite-led protests broke out in Bahrain, a tiny island kingdom in the oil-rich Gulf.
The kingdom's Sunni rulers accused Shiite Iran of meddling in Bahrain and other Arab Gulf states. Bahrain's king, Hamad Bin Isa Al Khalifa, said last week a "foreign plot" against his state had been foiled.
Fatima al-Beloushi, Bahrain's Minister for Social Development, calmed the demonstrators had links to a "neighboring country" and Hezbollah, a Lebanese Iran-backed terrorist movement.
"We have direct proof. Hezbollah has provided training for their people. They were serving a foreign agenda", she said.
Notably, Iran has occasionally stated that Bahrain is the Islamic Republic's "14th province".
The Al Khalifa royal family is Sunni, while up to 70 percent of Bahrain's 600,000 citizens are Shiite. The Shiite population has long complained of being marginalized and discriminated against economically and politically, and the overwhelming majority of Bahrain's protesters are therefore Shiite.
Bahrain was the first country experiencing the recent wave of unrest across the Arab world which the divide between Sunni and Shiite Muslims has emerged in a meaningful way, causing alarm among the Sunni rulers of other Gulf countries with significant Shiite minorities.
Fearing the spread of Shiite unrest to their countries, as well as the possibility that Iran would have more opportunities to meddle in the region, Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states sent troops to Bahrain to help quell the protests.
In the meantime, a Kuwaiti newspaper reported that Arab Gulf states are considering a plan to deport thousands of Lebanese Shiites over their alleged links to Hezbollah and Iran's Revolutionary Guard force.
Al-Seyassah, known for its strong anti-Hezbollah and anti-Iranian stance, said that Lebanese Shiites had been involved in protests in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province.
If confirmed, this will not be the first wave of mass deportations of Lebanese Shiites from Gulf countries in the past two years. According to various reports, hundreds of Lebanese Shiites and Palestinians were expelled from the UAE for security reasons in summer 2009.
Bahrain has considerable strategic value to the US as well, as the base of its Fifth Fleet, which protects American interests in the region and assures the continued flow of oil from the Gulf to the West.
"The United States has an abiding commitment to Gulf security and a top priority is working together with our partners on our shared concerns about Iranian behavior in the region", US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said lately.
"We share the view that Iran's activities in the Gulf, including its efforts to advance its agenda in neighboring countries, undermine peace and stability".
"Iranians very much involved in Yemen"
While protesters are demanding his ouster, Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh faces further challenges posed by al-Qaeda, a secessionist movement in the south and the Shiite Houthi rebels in the north.
Since the renewal of hostilities between the Yemeni government and Houthi rebels in 2009, Yemeni and Saudi officials have repeatedly accused Iran of providing the Shiite rebels with money, arms and training.
Whereas experts are divided on whether Tehran is indeed involved in internal Yemeni affairs, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton recently told the Senate Appropriations Committee that the US knows that "the Iranians are very much involved in the opposition movements in Yemen".
"Farsi-speaking commandos help suppress protests in Syria"
Although Iran voiced support for demonstrators in Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain and Yemen, it found itself in a different situation with the unrest in Syria, which stands alone as an ally of Iran among the Arab states.
Syrian opposition sources accused the Islamic Republic of sending units of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and Hezbollah to help suppress the anti-Assad protests that broke out earlier this month.
According to reports from Daraa, where protests in Syria began, several Farsi-speaking commandos were captured in the city.
The Revolutionary Guard also played a key role in crushing the 2009 street demonstrations in Iran, which broke out after the controversial re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. (Realite-EU)
How Does Bible Numerology Play Into Middle Eastern Revolution? - Jennifer LeClaire – www.charismamag.com
Israel’s military airstrikes targeted and hit a terrorist squad in the Southern Gaza Strip on Wednesday.
According to Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), the site had launched rockets toward Israel on Tuesday. Hamas is reporting that a Palestinian citizen was killed and another injured in Rafah city.
Meanwhile, Egypt’s Foreign Minister Nabil Elaraby issued a statement on Wednesday asking Israel to show restraint. But Israel has vowed to protect itself.
“The IDF will not tolerate continued rocket and mortar fire aimed at the communities of southern Israel,” the IDF said in a statement. “The IDF will continue to act decisively to thwart any attempts to harm Israeli citizens.”
What does the revolution in Egypt have to do with the terrorist attack in Jerusalem last week? And the escalating violence in the Israel and the Gaza Strip? Plenty, according to Shaddy Soliman, pastor of Every Nation Church in Lake Mary, Fla. and co-author of Islam and Terrorism.
“The Egyptian revolution has fallen into the direction of the Muslim Brotherhood,” Soliman says. “The Egyptians now wish they had never protested. The uprisings in Bahrain and Yemen has Hezbollah and al-Qaeda elements in it. Then there’s Libya. The Middle Eastern world is leading toward one thing: striking Israel.”
Soliman isn’t surprised. That’s because it’s the year 2011. The number 11 in Bible numerology means disorder and chaos. Barely 90 days into 2011 the world has witnessed an uprising in Tunisia, followed by Egypt, Yemen, Bahrain, Syria and Libya, as well as the devastating earthquake in Japan, among other events.
“The symbol of 11 is manifesting,” Soliman says. “We’re seeing history-making events unfold before our eyes. I think this chaos will continue into September, which is the beginning of the new Jewish year. That’s not a prophecy—it’s just a prediction. Fasten your seatbelt, because we haven’t seen the best of it yet. The good news is that 12 is the number of order and perfection.”
So what about peace in the Middle East? Will that come to pass in 2012? As Soliman sees it, there will be no peace in the Middle East until the Muslims confess Jesus is the Son of God and accept Him as God, and until the Jews accept Jesus as their Messiah.
“As long as these two tribes of people exist without accepting Jesus, there will always be war. The only common denominator that’s going to bring people together is a change of heart,” Soliman says. “Until then, the Church in America needs to wake up. We have a responsibility to make disciples and take the Gospel to the four corners of the earth. We’re not making disciples locally; therefore we’re not going to make disciplines in the world.”
America Is Traveling Down The Roman Road - By Dale V. Nobbman – www.raptureready.com
There have been many good roads to travel in America over the past 235 years. They include the roads to independence and democracy, the roads to discovery, progress and success, and trips down country roads, paved roads, railroads, the straight and narrow road, the road to financial freedom, the road to victory, the road to recovery, the yellow-brick road, and best of all, the road that leads toward home, either to our earthly or heavenly home. However, there is one road we do ‘not’ want to travel down as a nation, and that is the Roman road. That road is rocky and will cause us to have a terrible crash. It is a road historically proven to be full of bumps, cracks, potholes, twists and turns. The entire Roman civilization, along with its actual roadways, gradually crumbled into disrepair and decline, which eventually led to the downfall of the great Roman Empire.
The United States of America has the advantage and opportunity to learn from history. We may still have time to detour off the Roman road before it’s too late—before we too come to a dead-end like the Roman Empire—but we currently seem inclined to continue down the Roman road, which if we do, will eventually lead to dire events for our nation. The Roman Empire was in existence much longer than America has been a nation to this point, but today’s world moves much faster than in Roman times, so we don’t have any time to waste in yielding to common sense and making a U-turn off the Roman road. This may not yet be the end of our road as a blessed nation by God—but we can see the end from here if we don’t slam on the brakes!
The downfall of the Roman Empire resulted from a gradual downturn of their political, economic, and military systems, not to mention the decline of social institutions, including their originally established higher social morals. Barbarian (people alien to the Roman culture) invasions and settlement within their empire were the final doom.
Let’s take a look at some of the specific problems that developed within the Roman Empire over the passage of time and see if they ring a bell in the United States of America today. See if you can plug our current ‘buzz words and talking points’ into the corresponding Roman problems listed below. For example, words and phrases such as increased taxes, increasing social class economic inequality, unemployment, political partisanship and finger-pointing, President Obama, Social Security, Medicare, Health Reform, urbanization, illegal immigration, intolerance, Islamists, Muslims, Jews, Christians, Israel, Iran, Iraq, Egypt, Libya, Syria, the U.S. military budget, war justification, inflation, a devalued U.S. dollar, the CRP agricultural program, governmental bureaucracy, diseases, super-bug bacteria, over-spending by government, budget shortfalls at all levels of government, obsession with sex and sports, Mexico, border fence, crumbling infrastructure, unions, pensions, economy, and enormous debt, debt, debt!! Feel free to insert your own words and thoughts as you read through the following ‘partial’ list of Roman Empire problems which brought about its eventual ruin.
1. Increased economic inequality among its citizens. The Romans implemented a system of tax collection that drove many small-scale farmers and business owners out of business, which resulted in more out of work people being dependent on the government, which placed even more tax burden upon those who could not escape taxation. Sometimes the poor were dependent upon the elite who were exempt from taxation.
2. Incompetent political leadership.
3. Incompetent military leadership.
4. The implementation of substantial political and economic reforms.
5. Cultural and political dilution (barbarization) leading to differing opinions, paths and standards among a diverse population, creating societal problems.
6. Intrusion of alien religious ideas.
7. The Romans fought with most of the Middle East countries and many other countries, resulting in a strained military and a drain on financial resources.
8. High inflation caused by years of Roman coinage devaluation.
9. Land was withdrawn from cultivation on a very large scale.
10.Roman society became more complex as it tried to solve problems, creating new layers of bureaucracy, infrastructure and social classes.
11.Urbanization and overpopulation of cities resulted in increased disease epidemics, water and food shortages.
12.An almost non-existent budgetary system, resulting in wasted monetary resources.
13.Moral decay. Sexual immorality and perversion became out-of-control, including rampant homosexuality, prostitution, pornography, orgies, slaves used for sex, increased lust for blood and violence in sporting events, and other debauchery.
14.Diminished fortifications to protect cities from barbarians. Invasions by the Visigoths, Vandals, Germanic tribes, etc…led to a clash of civilization when the invaders ‘settled’ within Roman land.
15.Reduced tax revenue when barbarians wanted to take part in the benefits of the Roman way of doing things, without paying back into the system, resulting in a crumbling infrastructure.
16.The empire ‘spent more money than it took in’ due to the enormous budget it took to maintain the military and infrastructure such as the roads and water supply. This forced the Romans to frequently raise taxes, which in turn caused major economic stress.
17.Additional economic stress was placed on the empire when a greater amount of money had to be spent on social services to keep a restless public happy. This included the promise of pension payments made to retired bureaucrats.
Does this sound all too familiar? Comparisons to our own current predicaments in the United States of America can be drawn from all of the above. The only question now is…if we will choose to continue along the Roman road…or be brave and take the ‘high’ road of doing what is right for our nation’s future and our children’s children. God, and the future, awaits our answer!
The Threat and the Challenge – Bill Wilson – www.dailyjot.com
In reading some of the headlines today, I have to say that the entirety of what I have always held as the American moral ideal in dealing with foreign nations and American citizens is shattered. It’s not a Republican thing or a Democratic thing, it’s just plain insanity. Many people who email me or talk to me about the world's current affairs are beside themselves regarding what is happening. We have to hand it to the current Administration. They ain't playin'. They just come out and say what they are going to do and then they do it, much to any man's chagrin that anyone could be so blatant. Much less, they get away with it. Nobody of any substance is standing up and saying, "Wait a minute, you are wrong."
The Republicans are huddled in their corner acting like they know more than the rest of us about how to handle these terrible, nation-threatening policies that have been adopted. They are making deals as if they have to. They are essentially quiet about the terrible decisions that are being made on behalf of the American people. The Democrats also seem to be in a stupor over the policies spewing forth from their own people. Just one small example, this Administration is helping al Qaeda and the Muslim Brotherhood take over Libya. It helped the Muslim Brotherhood take over Egypt. These are enemies of the United States and destabilizers of the Middle East. With impunity these things have been done.
Then there is the Church and those who say they are Christians. We are not without blame in this. We, too, have been so busy with our buying of church buildings, our self indulgent man-made doctrines, our self-righteous prayer circles, our self improvement conventions and retreats that we have not been about our Father's business. Romans 12:21 says, "Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good." By shrinking back and waiting for a rapture or trying to command God to do this or that, or by swallowing do-gooder doctrines, have we not become ineffectual? Where is the standard that our Lord and Savior set for us? Can we honestly look in the mirror and say, "I've done my part"?
Now I know that there will be some who will read this and become so indignant that they will press the unsubscribe button. And others will reply and say, "What else can I do?" The fact is we have evil staring us down every day, across the board in our lives from the media we watch and hear to the politics to the finances and other things in our lives. It has become a tipping point. Either we are going to succumb and watch as our freedom to worship and speak are swept away by the critical mass of current events, or we are going to stand in the gap with both prayer and action. The Lord knows your heart. 1 Samuel 15:22 says, "to obey is better than sacrifice." Let us not be perplexed or confused, but find what we can do to overcome this evil before us.
A Working Conscience – Greg Laurie – www.harvest.org
Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron.
— 1 Timothy 4:1–2
Arthur Conan Doyle, author of the famed Sherlock Holmes novels, was a bit of a practical joker. One day, on a lark, he jotted out a note and sent it to 12 of his closest friends. The note read, "Flee at once! All is discovered!" Within 24 hours, all 12 of his friends had left the country.
The conscience is a bit like an alarm; it warns us of impending danger. Sometimes we are tempted to ignore or even disable alarms because we don't want to listen to them. The smoke alarm in my house only goes off at 3:00 A.M., warning that the battery is dead. It is very tempting to disconnect it so that I won't have to listen to it.
But if our conscience is working, if it is reminding us that something we have said or done is wrong, then that is a good thing. We want a conscience that is tender, a conscience that works properly. We don't want to try to disable it, and we certainly don't want to dull it, because the Bible warns that we can sear our conscience as with a hot iron (see 1 Timothy 4:1–2). This means having a conscience that is calloused and hard.
Everyone has a God-given conscience. As Romans 2:14 tells us, "For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do the things in the law, these, although not having the law, are a law to themselves, who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else excusing them."
We need to teach our conscience how to function properly. We want to effectively educate it with God's Word so it will do what it is supposed to as designed by our Creator.
Now, more than ever, we need your support – thanks!
If ever there was a time to invest in God’s Kingdom, it’s now!
What on earth are you doing for Heaven’s Sake?
"Share in the Blessings and Rewards that will last Forever!"
“Folks, it's all beginning to unravel. America is in more danger of falling than at any time in its history. But I believe Bible prophecy predicts this very decline. From this point on, we believers have to get serious. We are going to face discouragement, disillusionment and, most certainly, persecution in the time between now and the Rapture. But don't be discouraged or disillusioned. The coming turmoil will provide us unrivaled opportunities to share the good news of the Gospel. So be ready to share your faith and your hope with those who need Christ. We still have time to reap a great harvest of souls for God's kingdom!” – Hal Lindsey
1) We need your prayers! – We proclaim the Truth of the Word of God and we are under constant spiritual and sometimes even physical attack.
2) We need your encouragement! - We need to hear from you, let us know how the Lord is blessing you through this ministry so that we can share it with others.
3) We need your input! – If you have a prophetic article or story or if there is a news related item we missed, let us know.
4) We need your financial support! - To put it quite simply, without your support, there would be no Prophecy Update.
I ask that you would prayerfully consider partnering with us to get the Word out and keep the world informed. Remember, your gift, no matter how small, does make a difference! You will be helping to touch lives, around the world, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, thanks to the internet your generosity carries a global impact! – Thanks!
Our Prayer for You - "Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God. This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of God's people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, men will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else." 2 Corinthians 9:10-13
If you have been blessed by Prophecy Update and would like to help support this ministry financially. You can make a secure donation online by going to:
www.prophecyupdate.com/donations.htm
Or write us at:
Prophecy Update
P.O. Box 40516
Bakersfield, CA 93384-0516
Above all things I ask for your prayers, Thanks!
Waiting in the Wings - by Heidi Swander - www.olivetreeviews.org
"According to the New Age/New Gospel, Christ is not a person. It is an office. This New Age Gospel teaches that while Jesus of Nazareth occupied the office during His active ministry, He no longer holds that same position. Today, the office of 'Christ' is occupied by someone else. And this 'someone else' is presently in the process of establishing contact with humanity. This 'Christ' intimates that he is already in the world awaiting mankind's call." So says former New Ager Warren Smith in his new book, False Christ Coming, Does Anybody Care?
The alleged immanency of this so-called "Christ" is another sign of our [end] times -- one that not many Christians know much about because it's being announced in circles that we don't frequent. Warren goes on: "This 'Christ' explains that his New Age/New Spirituality will unify the world's major religions and bring peace to the world." This grandiose statement sounds an awful lot like Daniel's description of the "king of fierce countenance" (aka, the antichrist) that he refers to in Dan. 8:25: ". . . he shall magnify himself in his heart and by peace shall destroy many. . . "
Warren continues, "This 'reinvented' Christ teaches that all humanity is the body of Christ. He, as the 'Christ,' is the head. This 'Christ' states humanity's dilemma is that we have forgotten who we are. We are not 'sinners' separate from God. We are all part of the one body of Christ and the one body of God. Salvation does not come by grace from accepting Jesus Christ as the Son of God. Rather it is achieved -- when we accept ourselves as Christ and when we accept ourselves as God."
Where is Warren getting this information? From the writings of people like Helen Schucman who transcribed A Course in Miracles for a demonic entity calling himself "Jesus" (lauded by Oprah Winfrey and her frequent guest Marianne Williamson); from the book, Conversations with God, written by Neale Donald Walsch, who allegedly wrote down actual conversations with an entity calling himself "God," but who contradicted pretty much everything God has already written in His Word; and from The Revelation, dictated to Barbara Marx Hubbard by an "inner voice" that came to her in 1966. For decades the message has been sent that a time of renewal is "at hand." And the world-at-large -- and even many who call themselves Christians -- are being drawn into the net of a false message, as if from Jesus Christ. I believe we were warned about this.
Now Williamson, Walsch, Hubbard and other New Age devotees have joined forces to create The Peace Alliance (formerly called The Global Renaissance Alliance), an organization that describes itself as "a citizen-based network of spiritual activists." Warren explains that this "Alliance was spearheaded by a high-level group of New Age/New Gospel advocates who appeared to be operating from a general blueprint channeled from the spirit world years ago by esotericist and occultist, Alice Bailey. It is this organization that is campaigning for a new chair on the president's cabinet: a U.S. Department of Peace. Can you even imagine what such a chair on the cabinet would represent? Very probably a liaison with the false prophet and the man of sin, himself!
Interestingly, it was after 9/11 that these New Age/New Spirituality representatives found a wide and public platform for their message. Several key New Age leaders from the former Global Renaissance Alliance "suddenly appeared on network shows that were directly related to the tragic events . . . All of them gave their spiritual perspective on September 11th and introduced their New Age/New Gospel ideas for creating peace" to the world. The organization even created a handbook that included a guided meditation for world peace.
In explaining how the New Age Peace Plan will be enacted, Warren explains that each person will be required to ". . . correct any 'misperception' that reinforces the idea that God, self, humanity, and the world are separate from one another. All fear-based notions of separateness must be eliminated from their thoughts and actions. No more separatist thoughts about sin, Satan, or Armageddon being real. Only thoughts of God, love, and peace."
As I examined Warren's short and readable little book, I was overwhelmed with the fact that the enemy's plan is well-advanced. Scripture verses on a one-world religion and the man who will believe he is God came rushing to mind. As I said at the outset, this is a piece of the end-times puzzle that the average Bible-believing Christian knows little about. But we really need to know.It encourages me -- really. If we see so many signs of the 70th week of Daniel so prevalent, then the appearance of our bridegroom must be near at hand!
If You Died Today, Would You Go To Heaven?
Find out, visit:
www.prophecyupdate.com/if_you_died_today.htm
Prophecy Update – GoodSearch Toolbar
http://www.goodsearch.com/toolbar/prophecy-update
Our Prophecy Update Toolbar is free to download and allows you to raise money for our cause every time you search or shop online
DID YOU KNOW?
You can read all the news articles, analysis and commentaries at:
You can visit the news archives at:
www.prophecyupdate.com/prophecy_update_archives.htm
You can submit an article, leave a comment or praise report at email:
Maranatha!
(Lord Come Quickly)
"On Christ the Solid Rock I Stand, All other ground is sinking sand."
"Let Us make the short time we have left count for all eternity!"
YBIC-Randy