13 Jan 2025

Our Days Are Numbered

“The days of our years are threescore years and ten [70 years]; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years [80 years], yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away” (Psalm 90:10).

“See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, Redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is” (Ephesians 5:15-17).

Apostasy and Doctrines of Demons

Report Reveals How Ruthlessly The Biden Administration Persecuted Christian Education. The persecution of Christian institutions by the federal government shows the danger of allowing them to become dependent on public money. While Trump and Republican lawmakers may be able to rein in some of the lawlessness over the next few years, Democrats will resume their attacks as soon as they’re able. Christians must prepare.

Islam’s Incursion

‘Muhammad’ Enters Top 10 Boy Names in New York City for First Time, indicating the cultural and demographic shift in the city.

And Islam’s terrorism

Terror Attack in Samaria. Terrorists opened fire at a civilian bus and vehicles on Monday in Samaria. Three people were killed and eight wounded.

Hamas reportedly seeks to carry out terror attacks against Jews and Israelis worldwide. On Tuesday, a senior Israeli official warned that Hamas’ ambition to carry out international terrorist attacks is driven by its severe weakness and inability to target Jews in Israel. After more than 15 months of war in Gaza, Hamas has lost most of its senior leaders, thousands of fighters, and most of its military capabilities.

Pervasive Perversion

Pope Francis names pro-LGBT Cardinal McElroy to Washington Archdiocese as Cardinal Gregory enters retirement.

And The Abortion Abomination

Abortion Was Leading Cause of Death Worldwide in 2024. “Around 73 million induced abortions take place worldwide each year,” the World Health Organization (WHO) says. Abortion is also the leading cause of death in the United States.

Texas Elective Abortions Drop to 0, Saving Thousands of Babies Per Month. Since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, medically necessary abortions to save women’s lives or health through August 2024 average five per month, with elective abortions dropping to zero. The state has allocated $165 million to Alternatives to Abortion program and $400 million to Women’s Health Services in its current budget. Medicaid includes 12 months of postpartum care for mothers, thanks to recent legislative action. Texas Alliance for Life remains steadfast in defending these pro-life laws and advocating for policies that protect women and unborn children while supporting families across the state.

Last Days Traitors

Biden awards Soros, Hilliary Clinton, ‘some of worst people on Earth’ the Presidential Medal of Freedom. As one of his final official acts, Biden will award the nation’s highest civilian honor to 19 people, some of whom are arguably “the worst people on Earth.”

‘Manufactured Crisis’: The Left’s War to Destroy America. James Simpson exposes the left’s ruthless strategy to manufacture crises, weaponize chaos, and systematically dismantle America’s foundations, revealing their ultimate goal: to subjugate a free nation under a socialist regime while exploiting every weakness in the name of so-called justice.

And Their Deliberate Border Disorder: a Marxist Agenda to Take Down Nations

Apocalypse Still Unspooling. The wealthy showbiz folk occupying the moral high ground of the Pacific Palisades voted 90% Democrat. They were fully on board with the Party of Chaos agenda, especially Diversity-Equity-and-Inclusion (DEI) and the open border that allowed a deluge of mysterious strangers to flood the country. Now, reports come across the “X” wires that these mystery folk are cruising the wreckage in the canyons on scooters and in cars to loot anything left of value. Also, police are shown on video capturing a mystery migrant with a blowtorch suspected of starting the latest outbreak named the Kenneth Fire on the edge of the San Fernando Valley. “‘Climate Change’ has been identified: it’s a 28-year-old man from Reseda in a black hoodie holding a lighter and some matches.” – Peach Keenan

UK Government Investigating Elon Musk’s Tweets About Muslim Pedophile Gangs. Musk’s tweets about Muslim pedophile gangs are being assessed by the UK Government’s counter-extremism unit as a potential threat to the country’s security. “They’re investigating Elon talking about the horrific systemic gang raping of kids but not the actual horrific systemic gang raping of kids itself. Why do you think that is? They will spy on Musk’s online activity, but no inquiry into thousands of foreign rapists. Pathetic.”

Economic and Food Insecurity

200,000 Wall Street Jobs Risk As “Agentic” AI Agents Become “Major Breakthrough.” OpenAI CEO Sam Altman recently described “agentic” AI as the “next giant breakthrough” expected in 2025. However, the rollout of agentic AI and other AI tools on Wall Street has a huge downside: job loss. According to a new Bloomberg Intelligence survey of 92 global banks, the industry could shed hundreds of thousands of jobs over the next 3-5 years because of AI.

Britain’s Net Zero madness has led to low gas reserves as amber warning for cold weather is issued. The UK’s gas reserves have dropped to a concerning low, with only a week’s worth of supply remaining, as the country prepares for low wind speeds and freezing temperatures.

Plague, Pestilence, and Plandemics

FDA-Led Peer-Reviewed Study by High School Students Uncovers Alarming DNA Contamination in Pfizer’s mRNA COVID-19 Vaccine at FDA’s Own Lab. The study, published in the Journal of High School Science on December 29th, has sparked renewed debate over vaccine manufacturing standards and quality control processes.

Hospitals in China overwhelmed by surge in HMPV patients, raising concerns about a new epidemic. 
China is experiencing a surge in cases of human metapneumovirus (HMPV), leading to overcrowded hospitals and raising public concern about a potential epidemic. The outbreak coincides with the winter season, which typically sees an increase in respiratory illnesses due to colder weather and more indoor activities facilitating the spread of viruses.

Weather Events

Cyclone Dikeledi forms, forecast to rapidly intensify before landfall in Madagascar. The cyclone is expected to make landfall over northern Madagascar on January 11, posing a serious threat to the region. Rainy and windy conditions are expected for Mayotte on January 12, though the forecast for impacts on the region remains uncertain. Mayotte authorities fear effects of Cyclone Dikeledi since the island residents are still struggling to get back on their feet a month after Cyclone Chido.

Wildfires

The Los Angeles wildfires. The largest of the raging wildfires that have devastated parts of Los Angeles this week shifted direction on Saturday, triggering more evacuation orders and posing a new challenge to exhausted firefighters. Six simultaneous blazes that have ripped across Los Angeles County neighborhoods since Tuesday have killed at least 11 people and damaged or destroyed 10,000 structures. The toll is expected to mount when firefighters are able to conduct house-to-house searches.

Pacific Palisades Reservoir Empty & Offline During Firestorm Catastrophe; 117 Million Gallons Could’ve Saved the Day. Outrage is boiling over after revelations that the Santa Ynez Reservoir, a critical water source in Pacific Palisades, was empty and offline when a devastating wildfire ripped through the area.

Earthquakes

China has almost doubled its tally of injured in Tibet’s deadly earthquake. The latest figures from Tuesday’s 6.8 quake are 126 dead and 337 injured. It’s not yet clear how many are still missing, but over three days later, those trapped under the rubble are likely to have died of hypothermia.

Wars and Rumors of Wars

Israel, US, UK Launch New Airstrikes On Yemen Amid Efforts To ‘Hunt’ Houthi Leaders. On Friday, Israel launched new major strikes on Yemen amid ongoing vows to ‘hunt’ down Houthi leaders and kill them. Last month, Netanyahu called out Iran for its support to the Houthis, warning that “whoever sponsors the Houthi terror in Hodeida or Sana’a will pay the full price.”

The Iranian Regime Is Running Headlong Into the Judgment of God, and They Will Lose. Iran, in the midst of a new year, continues to threaten Israel with a retaliatory strike, possibly ahead of President Trump’s inauguration on January 20th. The Israeli military has been placed on high alert and is preparing to respond to possible ‘extreme’ steps by Iran against Israel in the immediate future.

Concluding Scripture

“For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2).

“And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely” (Revelation 22:17).

13 Jan 2025

Huckabee and Profound Prophetic Appointments

Margaret and I were leaving Highland Heights Baptist Church after a Sunday service sometime in the 1980s. As we turned to trek down the side of the church on the road leading to the parking lot, I heard the voice: “Terry! You and Margaret come here. I want to introduce you to Mike Huckabee.”

It was our pastor, Robert McDaniel, who was standing near the frontage road talking with Mike Huckabee, who had delivered the sermon that morning as a guest speaker.

“Mike is running for lieutenant governor,” the pastor said. “I wanted you to meet him and shake hands with him.”

We did so, and spent a few minutes in pleasantries, with my thanking him for his sermon.

Little did I imagine Mr. Huckabee would achieve the level of national and international prominence the Lord chose for him, of course.

He was, and remains, the personification of a Christian gentleman, according to all I have known from reports all these years. This, despite his being engaged in the rough-and-tumble (some would say “wicked”) business of political warfare in our state of Arkansas and in the nation.

There were many in the Christian community in those days when Mike ran for lieutenant governor and later for governor who either questioned a Baptist preacher becoming intertwined with the often nefarious art of politics, or who adamantly opposed such engagement by a Baptist preacher.

I myself remember asking why a Baptist preacher would want to become a part of the politicking in our state and nation.

My question has since been answered in my spirit. The Lord has had his hand on Mr. Huckabee–as well as on his daughter, Sarah, who was a youngster when Margaret and I shook hands with her father. She, of course, became President Trump’s press spokesperson and is now governor of Arkansas.

Mike, of course, ran for president, and he and the rest of the GOP field were defeated by one Donald J. Trump. Trump went on then to be elected president in defeating another who was once part of Arkansas government–Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton’s First Lady when he was governor here, and, later, when he was president of the United States.

The 2016 election was, as we recall, a complete surprise to many–especially to the Hillary Clinton presidential-aspiration camp. The shock of that victory continues to reverberate with wave after wave of political and cultural impact.

The point is that God’s mighty hand continues to be on display as He restrains evil, has that “wickedness in high places” in derision, and especially as He brings all into focus for the prophesied wind-up of this Church Age (Age of Grace).

To those who observe developments through the prism of Bible prophecy, no instance of God’s great hand of providential direction and control is more profound than the dynamics involving Israel taking place at present.

We’ve seen God moving powerfully since the Hamas attack of October 7, 2023. Remember, for example, the strategic brilliance employed by the IDF in the exploding of communications devices, killing many enemy terrorists in the process. We who believe Israel’s God neither slumbers nor sleeps know this seeming miraculous action was orchestrated by Heaven, while the Supreme Maestro, Israel’s God, continues to direct the prophetic stage-setting.

That same Supreme Maestro has placed in the president-elect’s mind, I’m convinced, to appoint Mike Huckabee to be the next ambassador to God’s chosen nation. Here is a news brief framing that appointment.

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to be ambassador to Israel, has long rejected a Palestinian state in territory previously seized by Israel and has repeatedly signaled his staunch support for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Huckabee, a former TV host and Baptist preacher, frequently visits Israel and once said he wanted to buy a holiday home there. He has maintained throughout the years that the West Bank belongs to Israel, and recently said, “the title deed was given by God to Abraham and to his heirs.”

His argument for a so-called “one-state solution” contradicts longstanding official U.S. support for the eventual establishment of a Palestinian state.

He has described the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas as “horrific” and “beyond anything I’ve ever witnessed in my lifetime” and argued that the U.S. needs to stand firmly behind Israel. (“Trump picks Mike Huckabee to serve as US ambassador to Israel,” AP News, Adriana Gomez Licon, November 13, 2024)

The most important thing about Trump choosing Mr. Huckabee is not that a Baptist preacher will be in the position to wholeheartedly bring America’s full support to God’s chosen nation. Even more profound is that he will have this president’s ear in such an influential way.

This message isn’t only for Mike Huckabee. I want to implore others as well who have Donald J. Trump’s ear. That is, I implore other godly men to advise without reservation as Mr. Trump performs the duties God has appointed him to carry out. That is a main reason they’ve been placed by the God of Heaven into the pathway of this unusual man who will soon again be the most powerful human leader on planet Earth.

God’s men who have this president’s ear, such as John Hagee and Robert Jeffress, have, like Mike Huckabee, a responsibility to inform the president, at every opportunity, about Heaven’s ultimate control over things at this prophetic hour. Your advice in that Holy Spirit sense, gentlemen, is far beyond the Senate’s “advice and consent authority” under America’s constitutional prerogative. Please do not shirk that great responsibility.

–Terry

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No Time for Complacency

Although I had read the verse well over a hundred times, I had always missed its relevance for today and, in particular, our anticipation of Jesus’ imminent appearing. Perhaps it was because the words don’t directly relate to Bible prophecy that I overlooked their relevance to it.

However, as the new year dawned, I saw in the verse below an understanding of why so many people today cling to their hope of a return to normality rather than what Jesus says about their only sure hope for the perilous days in which we live.

“For the simple are killed by their turning away,
and the complacency of fools destroys them” (Proverbs 1:32, emphasis added).

It was the word “complacency” that leaped from the page on January 1. The Hebrew word is shalvah, which also denotes a sense of ease and prosperity. The online Merriam-Webster dictionary defines complacency as “self-satisfaction, especially when accompanied by unawareness of actual dangers or deficiencies.”

It’s understandable why many English versions of the Bible translate shalvah in Proverbs 1:32 as “complacency,” as it fits rather well with the Hebrew word’s sense of self-absorption that leads to a dismissal of dangers until it is too late.

Today’s Church

Unfortunately, today’s prosperity leads many to a state of complacency regarding the Lord’s return, one that causes them to ignore the multitude of signs pointing to the start of the Tribulation. Like the church in Laodicea, arrogant “self-satisfaction” is prevalent among many gatherings of the faithful, particularly in America.

False teaching and/or quietness from the pulpit directs most church attenders away from any awareness that we live in the last days of human history as we know it. Their shepherds fail to teach them how to discern the times in which we live. Their messages might contain fleeting mentions of eternal life, but there’s no meaningful teaching about what it means for New Testament saints.

The resulting complacency among many of today’s church-goers doesn’t mean that those who are truly born again will lose their salvation, no, not at all. But why should believers continue with such an earth-based outlook on life, shalvah, which for those outside of Christ will result in ruin?

The World

The world rejects any notion that the Lord might intervene in our world. Since they spurn all the warnings of Scripture, it never enters their minds that God might judge the wickedness of our day. Not only is the idea of Jesus’ return laughable to them, but they also readily scorn any notion of God’s judgment, now or in eternity.

Peter A. Steveson, in A Commentary on Proverbs, put it this way in his insights into Proverbs 1:32:

Filled with the carelessness of self-confidence, these fools show no concern over divine judgment.

We see this same worldly recklessness in the words of Ezekiel as he used the word shalvah to describe the people of Sodom before they experienced the Lord’s sudden destruction (compare 1 Thessalonians 5:1-3).

“Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy” (Ezekiel 16:49, emphasis added).

The problem with such self-satisfaction is not with what one possesses but rather with the fact it breeds complacency regarding the warnings of God’s Word and a failure to recognize that the Lord’s promise of eternal life is vastly superior to anything the world offers.

Those Who Hear

I know the majority of my readers fall into the category described in Proverbs 1:33:

“But whoever listens to me will dwell secure
and will be at ease, without dread of disaster.”

Those who hope in Jesus’ imminent appearing possess a peace amid all the unwelcome news that continually comes our way. We pray for the Lord to keep us resisting the wickedness and violence of our day, but at the same time, we rest in the confidence that Jesus is coming for us before the terrors of the Day of the Lord.

Is it too much of a leap to say that the wise believers of our day discern the times in which we live and thus recognize the imminency of Jesus’ appearing? Please note the reassuring words that the Lord gave to Daniel, and to us, shortly before the prophet’s death:

“Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand” (Daniel 12:10, KJV).

In today’s world, it’s the discerning saints who avoid the complacency that characterizes many church-goers and those in the world who don’t believe that the Lord will directly intervene in the affairs of humanity.

If you look for and long for Jesus’ appearing, thank the Lord for the insight He has given you into Scripture. In 1 Corinthians 1:18-31, Paul contrasts the wisdom of God with that of the world and ends with these words:

“And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, ‘Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.’”

We must always give the Lord all the credit for who we are in Him as well as for our understanding of what the Bible says about our “blessed hope.” I know many sincere New Testament saints remain complacent regarding the signs of the times and Jesus’ imminent appearing. I don’t fully understand why this is the case or why it’s so clear to us and not to others.

What I do know for sure is this: if there ever was a time for complacency in the body of Christ, this most assuredly is not it.

-Jonathan