Watch, Warn, Plant and Pray
Extreme Weather
In the US: Intense storms slammed much of California for three days this week. Torrential rainfall and fierce winds contributed to six deaths. A blizzard affected the higher elevations.
Winter Storm Harper is wreaking havoc: Heavy snow moved into the Plains and Midwest this weekend. One person died in a weather-related crash and there have been many car accidents. The storm will intensify as it heads into the northeast Sunday with heavy snow, sleet and ice. 40 inches is possible in northern New England, and close to 30 inches in central and northern New York State and northern Pennsylvania. Other areas on the East Coast will see lots of rain. A blast of Arctic air will cause temperatures to dip into the single digits and below zero with strong winds in places.
In the Middle East: A freezing cold snap also brought sandstorms, hail and rain to parts of the Middle East. Strong winds whipped up dust throughout Israel. Torrential rain and hail stranded cars and turned streets into rivers of mud. Three people were rescued in a flash flood where an IDF soldier was killed. (Nahal Hilazon creek is generally dry, but it has been flooding often over the last month.) Jerusalem had its first snowstorm in years. Snow and heavy rains battered Syria and parts of Lebanon. In Egypt’s capital, an orange cloud of dust blocked out the sky.
Australia: An extreme heatwave has affected the country since last Saturday with at least five of its 10 warmest days on record. This has caused wildlife deaths, bushfires and an increase in hospital admissions. There were daily national temperature highs of 40 C (104 F). Record-breaking heat in the country’s north two months ago wiped out almost one-third of the Australia’s spectacled flying foxes (also called spectacled fruit bats). They were unable to survive in temperatures which exceeded 42C (107.6 F).
Earthquakes in Diverse Places
In the US, earthquakes are rare on the East Coast. On Tuesday, a 4.7 earthquake occurred off the coast of Ocean City, Maryland, that could be felt within 800 miles of its occurrence. Several earthquakes have occurred in Tennessee in the past several weeks, including this week. Tennessee experiences more seismic activity than other states in the East, but the 4.4 quake in December was atypically intense for the area; it was the strongest one to hit the area in over 45 years and could be felt all the way in North Georgia and portions of the Carolinas.
In Oklahoma, a 4.4 earthquake rattled Garfield County on Monday, and a 3.4 occurred in California in the city of Piedmont that was quick but strong due to being shallow.
Alaska is experiencing endless aftershocks seven weeks after its 7.0 earthquake. So far there have been over 7,800 aftershocks.
A 6.6 earthquake struck off the coast of Vanuatu on Wednesday.
A 6.2 earthquake struck off the coasts of Papua, New Guinea on Thursday.
A 6.0 earthquake struck off the coast of Mexico on Friday.
A 5.0 earthquake rattled Tokyo, Japan on Friday.
Japan’s Mount Shindake volcano erupted on Saturday, rattling buildings like an earthquake.
A recent study shows that Nepal may still face the threat of much stronger earthquakes, 8.0 or more, because part of the Himalayan fault is still under stress even after the catastrophic quake in 2015.
In New Zealand, scientists are developing an emergency response plan to prepare for the rupture of the country’s largest fault. The response plan is vital in making sure people are ready and resilient for a future earthquake and tsunami event. Research over the past few years suggests the likelihood of a rupture may be higher than initially understood.
In Russia, a mountain in Siberia collapsed, and the 525 foot-high mound of rockfall blocked the Bureya River and left several villages at risk of flooding, along with other repercussions. Putin sent in the army to investigate and try to clear the massive rockfall.
Apostasy in the Churches
LGBT activists are no doubt rejoicing over getting their way in a small, rural farming community in California. Pastor Justin Hoke posted on the church sign at Trinity Bible Presbyterian Church, “Bruce Jenner is still a man. Homosexuality is still sin. The culture may change. The Bible does not.” LGBT activists swarmed the church claiming the sign was hateful. Later, they vandalized the sign. A church elder asked Pastor Hoke to resign following claims of a potential mass exodus of church members. The church refused to stand behind the man of God or the Bible’s teachings.
Persecution of Christians
During a segment discussing Second Lady Karen Pence teaching art at a Christian school, CNN host John King actually questioned whether Mrs. Pence should be receiving taxpayer-funded Secret Service protection or government-funded housing because of her religious beliefs.
At least 245 million Christians are facing “extreme persecution” this year, up 14% from 215 million at the beginning of 2018.
The Iranian regime declares the country to be a Shia Islamic State and is constantly expanding its influence. Hardliners within the regime are vehemently opposed to Christianity, and create severe problems for Christians, particularly converts from Islam. There are spies waiting to turn believers in, and the police often engage in surveillance with anyone suspected of Christian activity—phone tapping, setting up security cameras, and following them on the streets.
In recent weeks, Islamists have carried out a spate of attacks against four churches that were in the midst of seeking official recognition from the state to carry out worship services.
Persecution of the Jews
The World Council of Churches (WCC) is training volunteers to promote boycotts of Israel and engage in anti-Semitic rhetoric, with funding from several Western governments and the EU, as well as support from the UN.
In Malaysia, a mostly Muslim country, Israeli athletes are banned from participating in events hosted by the World Para Swimming Championships in July. Malaysia’s cabinet decided last week that Israelis will not be allowed to enter the country for any event.
In Israel, Aliyah and Integration Minister Yoav Galant visited Judea and Samaria and said, “I came here to tell the Israeli public, and especially the residents of Judea and Samaria, that we will not allow the establishment of more than one state west of the Jordan River.” Galant added, “Anyone who tries to harm Israel’s security will bear the responsibility. We will reach every terrorist; he will end his life in prison or a cemetery; there is no third option.”
Spread of Islam and its Terrorism
In Syria, four Americans were among several people killed on Wednesday by a suicide blast that struck near a U.S.-led coalition patrol. ISIS claimed responsibility.
In the US: Hasher Jallal Taheb of Cumming, Georgia, has been arrested after a year-long sting operation. He is accused of plotting a mass terror event to destroy the White House and other government buildings in Washington, D.C., plus a synagogue. Taheb told an informant “jihad was the best deed in Islam and the peak of Islam,” adding “it is not complicated at all to do jihad today.” Taheb said he planned to travel to ‘hijra,’ a term said to refer to ISIS territory.
In Kenya, Al-Shabaab Muslim terrorists attacked a five-star hotel in Nairobi. Sixteen Kenyans and three unidentified people of African origin were killed, along with a British and an American businessman. (The American was a survivor of the 9/11 terror attacks). Twenty-eight others were hospitalized. Their excuse for this attack is the US declaration of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Their intention is to target Western and Zionist interests worldwide in support of Muslims in “Palestine” – their imagined state. The attack happened three years to the day after Al-Shabaab terrorists targeted a Kenyan military base in neighboring Somalia, killing dozens of soldiers.
Islam’s agenda has help from the globalist liberal left:
An article in the Atlantic (a liberal site) from last year points out the influence of ISIS recruitment networks in the US. While the ISIS presence in America is often characterized by so-called lone wolves,… stories like that of Zulfi Hoxha (top ISIS leader from New Jersey) are a reminder of the existence and importance of jihadist recruitment networks in the US. ISIS’ American commanders may be limited in number—but the trajectory of the group shows that small numbers can wreak great damage.
ALL European countries have signed international human rights conventions that leave them with the same dilemma that Denmark is having regarding criminal “asylum seekers.” These consist of criminals of various sorts, including those who have been sentenced to be deported but can’t be either under the rules or because of countries refusing to take them back, those considered a security threat, and “foreign warriors.” The Danish government plans to send them to the island of Lindholm. It houses a research center for contagious animal diseases and, interestingly, the ferry the “asylum seekers” will be able to take to the mainland during the day is named “Virus.”
In the UK, members of the Muslim pedophile grooming gang responsible for trafficking children for sex (who have since been sentenced) received over $1 million in legal aid to help them defend criminal charges and fight deportation.
Global Government Agenda of the Liberal Left
The United States birth rate remains well below the replacement level needed as white American births plummet in all 50 states and the District of Colombia. This fits right in with globalist plans.
The G20 “Candy Nations” flag sculptures that have been making the global rounds made their way to New York, where they were erected on the World Trade Center grounds, a stone’s throw away from the 9/11 memorial. This included the flag sculpture of Saudi Arabia emblazoned with its Islamic conquest sword and the words in Arabic meaning, “There is no god but Allah, and Mohammed is his prophet.” 15 of the 19 terrorists of 9/11 were from Saudi Arabia. Due to complaints, it’s been moved several miles away to the JFK airport AirTrain system. The artist is moving all of them to keep them together, because she imagines that G20 is all about “peace, unity and love among mankind.”
California’s new Democrat governor, Gavin Newsom, proposed his first budget for the state, and it includes a tax on drinking water!
New York City’s socialist-leaning, big government promoting Mayor De Blasio introduced a plan this week that would allow the government to seize private property from what he considers “bad landlords” who try to force tenants out. What is hypocritical of the mayor is that the city itself runs some of the worst housing via the NYC Housing Authority. State Assembly member Nicole Malliotakis, daughter of Cuban refugees who fled Castro’s Cuba in 1959, said this is what happened to her family; she had her home taken, and her grandfather had his gas station taken. “This is extreme even for Mayor de Blasio, because we know that he has socialist leanings, but this is straight communism,” she said.
The up-and-coming Democratic Party’s Green New Deal would force the economy to run on 100% renewable energy. This multi-trillion-dollar plan (which would cost 3,600 times the price of a border wall) would provide taxpayer-funded incentives for wind and solar, while shuttering American coal, oil, and steel independence.
In France, a senior politician, Luc Ferry, says police should use “shoot-to-kill” tactics against Yellow Vest protesters (who are protesting the higher fuel taxes and high taxes on electricity, etc., imposed by the globalists that are ruining lives). The Yellow Vests were out again protesting this weekend.
Macron’s European army goal: All French 16-year-olds will wear a uniform under a national service scheme that will start trials in June. Macron said, “Each young French person will experience military life, even briefly, to allow our democracy to be more united and increase the resilience of our society.”
From Zero Hedge: Norway is readying its ‘Big Brother’ GPS-based taxation on per kilometers driven. Norwegians trust the government way too much, because they believe that this system will eliminate the need for road tax, fuel tax, toll roads and reduce the cost of car insurance.
In Zimbabwe, the government just increased fuel taxes by 130%. Thousands are protesting the price increase, along with increasing levels of poverty, poor state of the economy and declining standards of living. The government crackdown that followed has resulted in hundreds of arrests and multiple deaths. The government blames a number of things, but none of which is the fact that Zimbabwe signed the Paris Climate Change Agreement. Yet, Zimbabwe’s president and his ministers charter jets and buy new cars while urging citizens to travel by bicycle to save money.
Traitors
Israel’s Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit has decided to file an indictment for bribery against Prime Minister Netanyahu. Bibi’s lawyers said, “It is ridiculous that neither money nor envelopes but a handful of unhostile articles in a sea of hostile articles against the prime minister on an internet site are considered bribery.”
Former Democrat congressman and failed Senate candidate Beto O’Rourke questioned the relevance of the United States Constitution in a recent interview with the Washington Post.
Recently-arrested for extortion, Democrat Chicago Alderman Edward Burke, a very powerful city councilman and a leading anti-gun rights advocate, possessed 23 guns in his City Hall offices. He was legally allowed, but it’s ironic nonetheless. The Burke trial parallels the corruption trial of Democrat California senator Leland Yee, a gun control advocate who was convicted of weapons trafficking. We’re left to wonder the true motivation for Yee’s pushing for gun control and also what a power-hungry, corrupt Chicago politician intended to do with his stash of firearms.
Latest reports offer only more proof of the FBI’s dishonesty and corruption. The bogus Russian collusion claim against Trump was and is all about vengeance because their equally corrupt candidate didn’t win the presidency, and their partner in corruption, Comey, was fired. They abused their power, defied the law, ignored or perverted facts, and debased the integrity of a heretofore-respected law enforcement agency.
Border Disorder
Ranchers and farmers near the U.S.-Mexico border have been finding Muslim prayer rugs on their properties in recent months, according to one rancher who asked to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation by cartels who move the individuals.
In Mexico, a fuel pipeline that had been illegally tapped erupted in a massive explosion Friday, resulting in at least 66 deaths. At least 76 were injured and 85 are missing. The rampant rise in fuel thefts is due to ruthless criminal organizations, which have used bribery and violence to co-opt officials at all levels of government, including workers at the state-owned energy company. The criminal groups have also cultivated widespread support among local residents, some of whom have found lucrative employment with the gangs and many of whom are happy to pay the far lower prices for black-market fuel.
Mexicans are lashing out as the new Honduran caravan (now 2,000 in number) heads its way, intending to end up at the US border. The number is expected to increase to 4,000. One commenter said there might be work for people who actually want to work, but not for those just looking for entitlements. Another warned, “Please don’t trust these manipulative agitators who are encouraging you to risk everything for nothing.”
In the US, another round of troops is heading to the southern border. The Pentagon announced that troops will continue to assist the border patrol with security through Sept 30.
From Israel’s Arutz Sheva: Trump is right. There is a border crisis, bad enough, but even worse is the hate crisis that has consumed, sickened and poisoned the Democratic Party, and that is even worse. Worse because they are already IN the country. That, plus hating Trump is the only agenda that motivates them.
About 30 Democrat congress members, who claim to be concerned for federal workers who haven’t had a paycheck, went to Puerto Rico with their families and lobbyists to whoop it up together instead of working to end the partial government shutdown. Of course they saw a special performance of the Broadway show “Hamilton” – which is far-left propaganda. Nancy Pelosi has done the most traveling during the shutdown, and was about to take off again. But the president stopped her from using military transport at taxpayer expense.
An immigration loophole allows MS-13 gang members to go free. If the Trump administration had its way, Ramon Arevalo Lopez and Oscar Canales Molina would have been either in detention or deported. Instead, they were out on the streets — thanks to judges’ orders — where, according to police, they and another illegal immigrant delivered an MS-13 gang beat-down to two high school students in New York.
Orwellian Society
India’s government has authorized 10 federal government agencies to intercept and monitor information from any computer.
Germany attack on homeschooling: The European Court of Human Rights upheld the ruling against homeschooling children. If parents don’t go along with the ruling, the government can remove children from the home, and even use police battering-ram assaults on the home to ensure that happens. This happened to a family several years ago, and a court battle has been ongoing till now.
Lawlessness will Abound
At a Tallahassee, Florida school, two 5th graders have been charged with plotting to kill another student. Thanks to one student reporting this out of a number who knew, the child’s life was saved. The intended victim had not come forward, though he’d been threatened and heard about the plot, and had been told by these students to meet in a secret place after school. Police confiscated a backpack with a pipe wrench, knife, glove, etc. Parents, please tell your children to report threats. And as always, pray for the children unceasingly.
A team of retired detectives and a gang expert believe the deaths of at least 100 college-aged men across America ever since the late 90s are victims of the Smiley-Face Killers, an alleged organized gang of serial killers that communicates on the dark web, with cells in dozens of cities across the US. An additional 250 cases might be connected, but they can’t prove it, they say. The drowned men were all young, athletic and academic achievers, all reportedly found dead after a night out drinking. Some had the date rape drug in their systems. A graffiti of a smiley face was reportedly found near the bodies, and nine of them were drawn with horns. A smiley face was found spray-painted on an underpass near where one of the bodies was discovered.
In Texas, a pro-life activist, Ryan Roberts, was assaulted by a man outside an abortion clinic. The man first threatened to kill Roberts and his whole family. Ryan told the man the reason he was there to dissuade women from aborting their babies is because he was saved from being aborted. As the man was driving away, the young man said, “Jesus loves you.” That’s when the man stopped and brutally punched him several times in the face.
The mayor of Gdansk, Poland, died a day after he was stabbed at a charity concert. The man who stabbed him blames him for his prison sentence for armed robbery.
Days of Noah and Lot Returned
Sex trafficking is big business globally. And, sadly, children in the care of social services and foster care have been sex trafficked. In 2017 in the US for example, an estimated 1 out of 7 endangered runaways reported to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children were likely child sex trafficking victims. 88% of them were in the care of social services or foster care when they ran. There’s no official estimate of the total number of human trafficking victims in the U.S. Polaris estimates that the total number of victims nationally reaches into the hundreds of thousands when estimates of both adults and minors and sex trafficking and labor trafficking are aggregated.
A family dubbed Britain’s “first transgender family” has announced they’re encouraging the “transition into a girl” of their 5-year-old son, Jayden. The boy’s so-called “stepfather” is a 27-year-old biological female who now identifies as a male. As reported by The Daily Wire in February, parents actually lost custody of their 17-year-old for refusing to encourage a “gender transition.”
In Louisiana, citing free speech, the ACLU won its lawsuit against the Lafayette Public Library. Now Drag Queen Storytime will be allowed to continue. The ACLU calls those against this debauchery “extremists.” Ken Ham of Answers in Genesis said, “Now if the library allowed a Christian group to have Bible readings for kids from Genesis 1-2, Matthew 19, and Romans 1 where God defines true marriage as one man and one woman and there’s only two genders, male and female—would the ACLU defend this as free speech?
Planned Parenthood is required by law to report child sexual abuse, but it routinely covers up these crimes. In this #HumanTraffickingAwarenessMonth, watch as a Planned Parenthood manager aids a child sex trafficking ring at this link.
Planned Parenthood launched a new billboard campaign last week in the US heartland (in Iowa) that attempts to make the killing of unborn babies seem normal. The first set of its “Say Abortion” billboards went up Friday in Des Moines, displaying messages such as, “I had an abortion, and I’m not apologizing.”
Time Magazine published an op-ed encouraging readers to set aside money for their future abortions and telling women that an “emergency abortion fund” should be a staple of their savings plan.
An abortion activist Danielle Campoamor, who says she owns her abortion proudly, called an unborn child “fetal tissue” over and over in a tweet. She also said, “Talking to abortion providers is always the highlight of my day & reason #466,875 why I love my job.” Campoamor is often featured in Teen Vogue.
A ruling by Judge Haywood Gilliam in California, a nominee of pro-abortion Obama, partially blocked the Trump administration from providing wider religious exemptions to groups that don’t want to include birth control drugs and devices that may cause abortions in their employee healthcare plans.
Shaving supply company Gillette is getting into the “let’s emasculate men” act, challenging men to “shave their toxic masculinity.” And it’s backfiring on them; people have had enough!
From American Thinker: “The guy at the ad agency’ is actually philosophically unpleasant feminist woman Kim Gehrig… Gillette didn’t learn a lesson from “Dodge, the NFL, Target, Lynx, Nike, PepsiCo, and Dick’s Sporting Goods. They all suffered as a consequence of catering to P.C. prejudices… The greatest ultimate harm caused by Gehrig’s Gillette advertising maliciousness may be this: irresponsible,”woke” parents bludgeoning their young sons with her message that just being a boy is unhealthy – a wrong for which they should forever hang their heads. Poor kids.”
Pestilence/Disease
Physicians are seeing an increase in patients with a cough-causing virus that is lasting a month and even longer.
In Oregon, Clark County has declared a public health emergency due to a measles outbreak that has sickened at least 19 people, 18 of them children. The County Council Chair declared the emergency Friday, the same day that the list of sites linked to the outbreak included a Jan. 11 Trail Blazers game at Portland’s Moda Center attended by 19,000 people.
The second-largest, second-deadliest Ebola outbreak in history has reached 600 confirmed cases in five months.
Drugs
For the first time ever, opioids killed more than car crashes in the US last year. According to the CBP government website, illicit fentanyl is smuggled across the border to reach the US. Yet Democrats still won’t fund the border wall. Fentanyl added to drugs has proven to be deadly.
Man Playing gods
CERN: Scientists behind the world’s largest atom smasher intend to build an even bigger one, in hopes of unlocking more secrets of matter and the universe.
Progressing Toward the “Peace” Covenant with Many?
The shifting of attitudes in the Arab world toward Israel has a lot to do with Iran being a common enemy. Recently, a group of Iraqis decided to establish a “virtual embassy” in Israel via Facebook. “Continuous dialogue will inevitably lead to peace!” reads the lead post on the page “The Virtual Embassy of Iraq in Israel.”
Wars and Rumors of Wars
The US Air Force is putting China on notice by deploying three nuclear-capable B-2 Spirit stealth bombers to Hawaii for training in the Pacific, along with 200 support personnel airmen.
For the first time, the US will acquire a “full weapons system” from Israel to defend its troops in battlefields abroad.
The US Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs David Hale said the US will step up efforts to counter Iran’s “dangerous activities” around the region, including the financing and activities of proxy organizations such as Lebanon’s Hezbollah.
President Trump threatened to “devastate Turkey economically” if it attacks Kurdish forces in Syria. In a phone call with Erdogan afterward, Erdogan says he’ll create a safe zone for Kurds. We can only assume that he means he’ll continue fighting the Kurds in Syria but will allegedly try not to harm Kurdish citizens. We shouldn’t hold our breaths on that one.
Israel’s PM Netanyahu admitted that Israel did hit Iranian arms warehouses at the Damascus International Airport several days ago, succeeding “impressively in stopping Iran’s military buildup in Syria…”
The head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard says Iran will keep military forces in Syria despite PM Netanyahu’s threat that Israeli forces would continue to attack Iranians in Syria unless they quickly get out of there.
Israel: One of the recommendations that appeared in INSS’s Strategic Assessment for Israel 2018-2019 is that Israel needs to prepare for the possibility that its battle to keep Iran from entrenching itself militarily in Syria may have to be expanded to Lebanon or to Iran directly.
Israel’s IDF ended Operation Northern Shield after it discovered a 6th cross-border attack tunnel belonging to Hezbollah – the largest one discovered that stretched from Lebanon into northern Israel.
In Iraq: The deputy parliament speaker Hassan Karim al-Kaabi is fuming after the revelation that 15 Iraqi dignitaries made groundbreaking trips to Israel and visited with government officials. Iraq does not recognize Israel, and is technically in a state of war with the country. Kaabi is calling for an investigation in what he calls crossing a red line.
The US reportedly said it would not intervene if Israel were to bomb Shiite militias in Iraq.
Iran’s atomic chief claims the country can enrich uranium up to 20% within four days, a comment aimed at showing Iran could quickly expand its nuclear enrichment program if its nuclear deal with world powers collapses.
Israel Defense Force infantry troops are to get a revolutionary “smart” gun sight named Dagger. It gives them ability to hit moving targets precisely; it allows soldiers to hit a target on the first shot, regardless of their skill as a marksman, and reduces the chances of innocent civilians being hit.
This is week 43 of the Hamas riots. Over 10,000 protestors clashed with Israel’s IDF forces on the Gaza border at five separate locations.
The so-called “Palestinian” split looks set to worsen in the coming months. M. Abbas is poised to take multiple measures against the Gaza Strip to squeeze its Islamist rulers, Hamas. A cornered Hamas could renew violence against Israel, which has taken its own measures against Hamas. The Gazan citizens will suffer and likely blame Israel instead of the real culprit, Hamas. May it cause them to look to the only One who can save their eternal souls.
The Russian Navy will deploy 30 underwater nuclear drones designed to create a tsunami wave up to 1,600 ft. tall and wipe out enemy vessels and marine bases, which would then contaminate the area with radioactive isotopes.
China’s President Xi made it clear that a war with Taiwan is inevitable. He claims there is only one China and has called on the military to be prepared to fight “bloody battles” for every “single inch” of (what it claims as) its territory.
Watch, Warn, Plant and Pray
I wrote an article entitled “Watch, Warn, Plant and Pray” that should be posted on raptureready.com. It speaks of Tu B’Shvat (the New Year of the Trees) that begins on January 20 at sundown in Israel as well as the supermoon total eclipse of January 20. As we look up to watch the eclipse, let us remember to watch and pray for Israel and all those in the world who have not yet accepted Christ as Savior in this, the “fig tree generation.” This new year is shaping up to be interesting, to say the least, for Israel and the world.