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An old friend of mine used to say, “Ignorance is bliss.” The saying goes back to the hippie era, as far as I know. I hadn’t heard it much until he used it, thinking it was cool. Rick was a Christian by Catholic standards, and I often caught him smoking pot. Aside from that indiscretion, my friend was well-spoken and knew a few Bible verses. We would stay up late at night and go over those verses and others. He liked to play the devil’s advocate but was well-liked by his unassuming demeanor and laid-back lifestyle.

Rick sided up to me because he admired me for my faith, and I did my best to convert him, but it just wasn’t in the cards. I would even take him to church as often as I could, but he never seemed to get much out of the experience.

As time went by, he withdrew from society and into himself, although I felt he had great potential at one time. He was friendly and amiable but a bit wishy-washy, timid and shy.

He ended up being a recluse after we parted ways over fifteen years ago, and I still call or drop by and visit when I’m in his neighborhood – a hundred miles away. In doing so, I couldn’t help but notice how he’s let himself go and spends his days puttering around the house taking care of his parents and little more.

Today, he is an empty shell of the young man I once knew and loved like a brother.

I’m afraid the same can be said of many lukewarm Christian men today. Seldom do I ever encounter a Christian who has backbone and means what he says while speaking with authority. In fact, not many are able to dialogue concerning the things of God. Most Christian men also back away from telling others of their faith. But we shouldn’t have to be wimpy about our faith; we can study scripture and become more and more confident as time goes by. Study of the Holy Scriptures is the main ingredient in becoming a strong evangelical warrior for Christ, one that commands attention.

Along with that, to be truly effective Christians, we need to be loving, open-minded, and well-informed about world events. Insofar as the word of God is concerned, remember, “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” And without it, you can hardly convince anyone to receive Christ.

Ignorance of the Word is detrimental to your spiritual and emotional health and effectual witness.

Another thing to keep in mind is the parable of the talents that Jesus spoke of. In speaking about the “talents,” which could mean just that or the gift of wealth. He said if a person of faith fails to use this talent rightfully, “Even what he has will be taken away.” Obviously, George Soros and all other wealthy Democrats don’t have to worry about that – yet.

No, ignorance is NOT bliss. It leads to hopelessness, decay, and death.

Another such saying or word is “serendipity” that came about around the same time. It can be likened to chance. It is a silly word that essentially means nothing – except to a pothead.

In trying to validate the existence of God, I was telling another person recently about how God intervened in my life even as I recklessly and without thought attempted to ride my ailing motorcycle over the Mackinaw bridge in Michigan (This was written about in a recent article for Rapture Ready and DZD.) After telling the story, she said it was “serendipity” (a word coined by Disney of Micky Mouse fame), nonchalantly, as though my testimony was the work of pixies and wizards, not giving my miraculous tale much credence.

People who live in this alternative universe are in for a rude awakening. When (and it’s certain to happen since the Bible says so) the final wrap-up of humanity in the form of the Tribulation period takes place, these foolish statements will have lost their cuteness.

People use such witty epitaphs to try to appear to be clever and dismissive of the truths of God exposed in scripture. “Thinking themselves to be wise, they became utter fools.”

I don’t know about you, but once a person utters a word or phrase like that, I can’t help but believe they are ignorant and not very well-read. If they do read, they probably only read fiction or comic books.

I, for one, am tired of people using me for their own amusement and shortcomings. And although I am forgiving, I’m just going to have to let certain people go on with their own devices to their own destruction. Time is short, and there are others who are sincere seekers.

Book Report.

My latest book report is Mysteries of the Messiah – unveiling divine connections from Genesis to Today by Rabbi Jason Sobel. Rabbi Sobel is the founder of Fusion Global. This book is not unlike Jonathon Cahn (his mentor’s) books, steeped in ancient and sometimes archaic Jewish words, and it’s not like the Jewish language is easy to understand with double meanings and gematria included.

I took away what I could from it and left the rest for another rainy day when I have nothing better to do.

It’s not that I didn’t like it. Rather, it’s that I found it hard to understand. How Kathy Lee Gifford, who wrote the glowing forward, understood it and was able to give it a good critique is incredible since she was only a narcissistic pretty face on television – in days gone by.

Still, though, I like to read such things to better understand the times and thoughts of the prophets and to prepare for the times ahead and the hereafter.

NOTE: You should probably start at the back since there are tables and expressions that would be helpful to know when reading this book.

YBIC

Jim Towers

You can write me at jt.filmmaker@yahoo.com and visit at www.dropzonedelta.com and www.propheticsignsandwonders.com

The Growing Risk of a China-Taiwan Conflict

In the past few years there has been a growing danger that China will use force to capture Taiwan. Beijing has taken a series of step that makes military action all the more likely at some point.

In 1949, the Chinese Civil War came to a dramatic close. Chinese Communist forces under the direction of Mao Zedong completed their conquest of the mainland, and the Republic of China forces under Chiang Kai-shek evacuated to the island of Formosa—also known as Taiwan—off the coast of China. There, the Republic of China’s government licked its wounds while maintaining it was still the legitimate Chinese government. The Chinese Communist Party, on the other hand, established the People’s Republic of China, occupied the mainland, and established its capital in the imperial city of Beijing.

Communist China sees Taiwan as a “rogue province,” declaring it a top foreign policy objective (or domestic policy, depending on how you look at it) to bring the island under Beijing’s control. For decades, China did little about Taiwan; Unable to conduct a cross-strait invasion, there was nothing it could do, so the Communist Party bided its time and grew the economy instead.

China has made several intrusions into Taiwan’s air defense identification zones.

Britain’s defense minister warned that Chinese incursions into the Taiwanese air defense zone were dangerous and could spark conflict.

Western capitals and Taipei are on alert after the Chinese air force intensified its overflights on Oct. 1.

“Militarily, they are posturing, as we’ve seen. We think that’s unwise,” British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace told reporters.

“You’re in danger of destabilizing the region; you’re in danger of provoking further conflict in other disputed areas,” he said during a visit to Brussels for a NATO meeting, which is not expected to discuss China or Taiwan.

Joe Biden’s Taiwan Policy has been a total disaster. The Chinese press openly mocks Biden in regards to the Taiwan issue.

“He is just too old and likes to bluff, doesn’t know what he is talking about,” tweeted China Daily’s Chen Weihua, referring to President Joe Biden.

The dismissive comment confirms that America’s deterrence of China is eroding fast. Biden told CNN’s Anderson Cooper he would defend Taiwan. This statement did more damage than good because it shows that Biden doesn’t understand America’s policy of not mentioning who we would defend.

Biden’s definitive statement was a stark departure from America’s decades-old policy of “strategic ambiguity,” the policy of telling neither Beijing nor Taipei what the U.S. would do in the case of imminent conflict.

The walk-back statements could lead Beijing to believe there are disagreements inside the Biden administration, and in a crisis, some officials would try to override the President to block an American defense of Taiwan.

The United States has major interests in Taiwan. Taiwan is also a major economic force, manufacturing over 60 percent of semiconductors worldwide. Beyond that, it has major strategic value to the U.S.: For the Chinese air and naval forces to venture into the western Pacific today, they must pass Russian, Japanese, Philippine, and Taiwanese territory. If the People’s Republic of China gained Taiwan, it would have an unobstructed springboard into the Pacific Ocean.

I don’t think China will invade Taiwan because all the energy of Asia will need to be the focus of the massive invasion of the Middle East. Demonic force will work to build the 200 million army, and since it’s “the kings of the East” the Chinese forces may join unlikely nations like Japan, North and South Korea, and Taiwan.

“And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared” (Revelation 16:12).

–Todd

Halloween Masking

As Halloween nears, a summit is scheduled, and the things the meetings mask are grotesque.

Pope Francis and President Joe Biden have been shown to be instruments of the growing evil that afflicts this end-times generation. At least their statements and policy dictates, in the biblical view of moral matters involving humanity, have been exposed as Ephesians 6:12-level wickedness.

The following report by a mainstream paper in league with those policies and dictates frames the upcoming meeting.

President Biden will meet with Pope Francis at the Vatican on Oct. 29 during a trip to Europe for two high-profile global summits, the White House announced Thursday.

Biden and Francis will discuss “working together on efforts grounded in respect for fundamental human dignity, including ending the COVID-19 pandemic, tackling the climate crisis, and caring for the poor,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement.

Biden, the United States’ second Catholic president, has been at the center of a debate within the Catholic Church about whether he should be able to receive Communion because of his support for abortion rights.

First lady Jill Biden will join her husband in meeting Francis. Biden will already be traveling to Rome for the Group of 20 summit, hosted by Italy. His meeting with the pope had been widely anticipated. (“Biden to meet with Pope Francis to discuss coronavirus, climate change, poverty,” Seung Min Kim and Michelle Boorstein, The Washington Post)

As stated, Biden will be in Rome for the G20 Leaders’ Summit October 30–31. It is a fitting time, perhaps, coming at Halloween. He will next travel to Glasgow, Scotland, November 1–2 to be part of the World Leader Summit in the COP26 climate-change gathering.

The Catholic pontiff and Biden will, according to the report, engage in an effort to bring the so-called COVID-19 pandemic to an end. They will work to find ways to end climate change, and to make sure all peoples can live in dignity and peace, with equity for all. And, it is through redistribution of America’s wealth (what is left of it) that they intend to achieve that equity.

They will put the Halloween mask on the matter of good Catholic Biden’s championing the slaughter of millions of babies in their mothers’ wombs—a large percentage of those children black. They will mask the fact that he and his political party—along with the mainstream media that totally supports his wicked policies—are destroying American liberty at every turn with his demands that we receive untested vaccines—vaccines that statistics increasingly show are causing growing numbers of injuries and deaths.

The pope, himself wearing a mask that hides his true agenda, will no doubt give the American occupant of the White House a pass on the matter of abortion. His mask obviously has two mouth holes. He says from one side that abortion is murder. He says from the other that the Catholic Church’s position is “pastoral,” and that the issue of abortion is “political.”

While I can’t say for certain what he means, I presume he means that the Catholic Church needs to butt out of the issue—at least as it concerns Joe Biden’s support for the murder of babies in the womb.

The sad thing to consider is that the masking as we approach Halloween this year has strong, biblically prophetic overtones. The masking—not just of most of humanity, but of much of what was until a year or two ago considered logical, moral, and sane—now is made, at best, gnarled and grotesque by the mask-demons—the minions, both human and demonic of Ephesians 6:12.

The closer we come to understanding that we are at the very end of this Church Age (Age of Grace), the better we see the prophetic application. While God’s restraining hand is, thankfully, still active during these closing moments of this dispensation, the devil and his minions are busy masking everything and everybody—preparing planet earth for the delusion that is soon to come on an unbelieving world of rebels.

And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. (2 Thessalonians 2:11–12)

—Terry

Ignorance Is Bliss? :: By Jim Towers

Oct 25, 2021