The Great Cold Blast of 2021

There was a general belief on the part of most people that 2020 would stand as a year where a chain of disasters all occurred during the same year. The historical run of major disasters has now followed us into 2021, with a cold blast that set over 3,000 records.

I had a first-hand view of the disaster from my home here in Arkansas. When I moved down here from Nebraska, I quickly realized the deep south doesn’t handle cold weather very well. If you don’t cover up your crawl space vents, your water pipes can freeze and rupture. From the 11th of to the 21st of February, the thermometer was below 32 degrees.

We set so many records, I lost track of many of them. We had three days in a row with record lows, we had a record amount of snow on the ground from two back-to-back weather events, and we had record peak electricity demand for any winter season. The record I didn’t want to see is how cold the water was coming out of my faucet. When it dropped from the upper 40’s to the low 30’s, I knew my pipes might freeze. While I was monitoring the cold faucet, old man winter froze up my hot water pipe. After an hour of using a space heater in my utility closet, the hot water finally coughed back to life.

To top off my experience, the city told all residents to boil their water. A main pipe had ruptured, which allowed untreated groundwater to leak into the system.

Even the hardy United States Postal Service had to call it quits because of the cold and 20 inches of snow that clogged the streets. The Postal Service said, “…in an abundance of caution, and to ensure the safety of both postal customers and employees, the Arkansas District is temporarily suspending retail and delivery operations.”

I’m sure many of my readers in Texas would gladly switch locations with me. Rolling power outages and outages from ice affected a large section of the state. At the peak, there were nearly 4.2 million Texas customers without power.

The great need for electricity and natural gas generated a huge price spike for these commodities. Wholesale power for delivery was trading at anywhere from $3,000 to $9,000 a megawatt-hour in some places. A megawatt-hour is normally priced around the $25 range. Oklahoma natural gas prices have swung anywhere between $50 to the high of $600 per mmBtu. Gas normally sells for three dollars per mmBtu.

Many producers of natural gas made huge profits on the massive price rise. The owner of one producer estimated that his company brought in $600,000 to $700,000 a day — up from just a few thousand dollars a day. That’s enough to make conventional wells drilled years ago, and all but forgotten, profitable again. “We’ve got a roustabout crew hooking up wells that are so old they were disconnected,” he said.

The blackouts in Texas were the result of a cascade of events. Massive failures occurred at natural gas plants as the product froze up, along with failures at coal and oil sources. Wind turbines and solar panels also got knocked out, and a major nuclear plant lost half of its generating capacity.

I don’t normally open any of my gas or electric bills, but I will when I get the next month’s bill. Some people in Texas are getting billed as much as $17,000. This is an insane level of price gouging. It is just plain greed to sell something at a 200 times markup.

As warmer Pacific air invades the south, prices have come down about 90% according to ERCOT, Texas’ largest power company. The parent of a boy who died of hypothermia is suing the local utility for $100 million. As the south thawed out, many residents had their homes flooded with water from ruptured pipes.

I think the Great Cold Blast of 2021 will not stand long in people’s memory. In a few months, we will likely be on to our next disaster. Few people take the time to ask themselves, Why are all these disasters happening in such a short period of time? The only answer that I can find is Bible prophecy.

“Watch out,’ replied Jesus. ‘Don’t let anyone deceive you. You see, there will be several who will come along, using my name, telling you ‘I’m the Messiah!’ They will fool lots of people. You’re going to hear about wars, actual wars and rumoured ones; make sure you don’t get alarmed. This has got to happen, but it doesn’t mean the end is coming yet. Nations will rise against one another, and kingdoms against each other. There will be famines and earthquakes here and there. All this is just the start of the birthpangs” (Matthew 24:4-8).

— Todd

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Harlot System in View

My much-missed friend, the late Dave Hunt, received considerable heat for pointing out the evils found within Catholicism. In his book, The Woman Rides the Beast, he pointed out, by name, some very famous Christian evangelists, ministers, and church leaders for their cozying up to Pope John Paul and the Catholic Church of that period. He gave all biblical reasons that the Catholic Church and true biblical Christianity were not compatible.

When Dave agreed to write a chapter for one of our books, controversy arose over his inclusion of his criticism of these Christian leaders in his chapter. Even a friend of Dave’s, one of my best friends and a Christian brothers, now also deceased, called me and asked: “Should Dave’s chapter be included, with his strong criticism of…and…for saying good things about the pope?”

My question to this friend–one of the most wonderful preachers and teachers of God’s Word and of Bible prophecy—was: “Well, is Dave telling the truth in his chapter about the Catholic Church and its false teaching?”

Our friend’s answer was, “Well…yes.” I then said, “So why shouldn’t we print Dave’s truthful telling about the mistakes of the Christian evangelist, minister, and church leaders cozying up to the pope and the Catholic Church?”

So, Dave Hunt’s chapter doing just that was published in our book, precisely as Dave wrote it.

I’m sure both of my great friends, now in Heaven, are closer friends than ever–along with the now-deceased men Dave was pointing out as in error by giving a degree of credence to the Catholic Church’s false teaching.

Dave Hunt’s book was harsh in its condemnation, to be sure. But God’s Word is even more condemning of that coming system of wickedness, which Dave and our friend who questioned the inclusion of Dave’s chapter agreed almost certainly will have Catholicism at its heart. As a matter of fact, even much of the Catholic clergy are beginning to conclude that this current pope manifests characteristics portrayed by the Bible’s depiction of the coming false prophet.

“Harlot” –rendered “whore” in the King James Version of the Bible–is a term that denotes a woman who prostitutes herself sexually. In Bible prophecy, the term is applied symbolically, to a system of religion that rejects true doctrine from God’s Word and gives itself totally to a false system of worship.

Just as the true Church (all born-again believers of the Church Age, the dispensation of grace) is known as the Bride of Christ, the harlot, as depicted in Revelation, chapter 17, can be likened to being the mistress of Antichrist. She is of her father, the Devil:

And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters: With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication. So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication: And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration. (Revelation 17:1-6)

This harlot church system will, many prophecy students and teachers believe, be made up of an eclectic mix of religions in the time following the Rapture of the true Church. The religious system, called “Mystery Babylon,” will work in concert with the Antichrist regime to enslave the world in every realm of life.

According to Christian apologist Mike Gendron of Proclaiming the Gospel Ministries, the current pope presents a profoundly corrupted gospel, not the true Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Gendron, who was formerly a devout Catholic for thirty years, says that he, like many Catholics, never read the Bible for himself to any great extent, depending instead on Catholic teaching by those who inculcated him in the Catholic dogma. It was only when he started looking into Scripture for himself that he was freed from the grip within which the church held his eternal soul. He is now a man on Holy Spirit fire for getting out the true Gospel and particularly to those entrapped within false systems of religious worship.

The apostasy we see developing and burgeoning within society and culture today is a powerful signal of how quickly the Church Age must be nearing its end. When Christ calls the true Church to Himself, the false church–the harlot church—will come together, led by the false prophet who many believe could be a pope. Again, even many Catholic leaders believe this to be the case.

I’ve heard Mike Gendron speak on a number of occasions, and always have found his presentations inspiring and instructive about the evil of false worship systems. However, upon listening recently to Mike and Jan Markell on her remarkable radio program, aired over nine hundred stations each week, I was even more drawn to the truth of the evil the world faces with the ongoing developments.

With Pope Francis saying bluntly and on several occasions that even atheists will go to Heaven, we can be confident that apostasy is blatantly in our faces today. I strongly urge you to listen to Jan’s Discerning the Times radio program. I’ve provided a link below.

–Terry

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-19FOFwyk8

When the Vengeful Think They Are the Virtuous

I had hoped that the left’s complete victory over Trump and the Republican party would have placated them for a few months. It now appears that satisfaction will only come when they turn America into a dictatorship. The biggest difference between the right and the left is that the left has no empathy. They believe they are 100% correct and everyone else is wrong.

It should be obvious to all Americans that the second impeachment of Donald Trump was nothing more than an exercise in stupidity. We’ve done this before with the same outcome–acquittal. The Democrats voted to kick him out of an office that he has already vacated. I can only wonder if some new criminal offense will surface that will require a third “historic” impeachment of the same man.

The left’s pettiness in its hatred of all things Trump should have triggered outrage. The Washington Post argued that Trump doesn’t deserve to have a presidential library. Biden said Trump was too dangerous to receive any more intelligence briefings, which has been granted to all previous presidents.

I’m sure citizen Donald’s life is going to become a nightmare. Because all America’s current problems are the result of Trump, no action taken against him will be reported as going too far. We may see credit card companies and vendors decline to provide services to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort. Even the most hardcore Democrats should not want to live in a nation where the mob decides who should be persecuted for their political views.

Gina Carano, a mixed martial artist who played the hard-charging mercenary Cara Dune on “The Mandalorian,” was sacked by Lucasfilm after comparing modern-day conservatives to Jews persecuted during the Holocaust. She had reposted the following tweet:

“Jews were beaten in the streets, not by Nazi soldiers, but by their neighbors… even by children,” the post reads. “Because history is edited, most people today don’t realize that to get to the point where Nazi soldiers could easily round up thousands of Jews, the government first made their own neighbors hate them simply for being Jews. How is that any different from hating someone for their political views?”

Pedro Pascal, the lead actor in The Mandalorian, also made a politically-charged Holocaust comparison, and it seems Disney has not taken any action in his case. In the summer of 2018, when Democrats demonized President Donald Trump for putting “kids in cages” by sharing photos of children put in cages during the Obama administration, Pascal explicitly compared the “kids in cages” claim to the Holocaust. He shared two images with the hashtag “ThisisAmerica.”

Virginia Heffernan, a columnist for the Los Angeles Times, wrote the most perverse column in recent memory. The title: “What can you do about the Trumpites next door?” Heffernan wasn’t lamenting neighbors who had jokingly put pro-Trump signs in her yard or who had participated in the Jan. 6 riots. No, Heffernan was lamenting the travails of living next door to Trump supporters who dared to clear her driveway of snow.

Heffernan writes, “Trumpites next door to our pandemic getaway … just plowed our driveway without being asked and did a great job.” This simple act launched Heffernan into a journey of angst and rage. “How am I going to resist demands for unity in the face of this act of aggressive niceness?” she bemoans. “I realize I owe them thanks — and, man, it really looks like the guy back-dragged the driveway like a pro — but how much thanks?”

Many of the people who invaded the Capital Hill building cannot find lawyers to represent them. It shows how vile and uncivilized our nation has become. The defendants at Nuremberg were provided with legal counsel because, at that time, people still had respect for the rule of law. With there being no middle ground for rational debate, civil war or death squads for anyone seen as a foe will be the fate of our nation.

We are likely beyond the point where an event could trigger a revival to constitutional thinking or even a pause in our decline. When people become so irrational that they think they have a monopoly on truth, there is no reasoning that will return them to sanity.

“Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!” (Isaiah 5:20-21).

— Todd

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Israel in End-Times Spotlight

While the globalists, world media, and the American political deep state wind up another unsuccessful effort to bring down one man, the spotlight of Bible prophecy focuses on exactly where it should be at this late hour of the age.

Israel shines brightly as the number-one signal of where this generation is on God’s prophetic timeline.

We begin to understand that this is true by considering that Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, faces much of the same sort of globalist deep-state hatred and attempted destruction as former President Donald Trump. In this way, the student of Bible prophecy who looks at things from the pre-Trib view again comprehends the Heaven-directed linkage between His chosen nation and our own very special republic founded on Judeo-Christian principles.

Both men, intensively in the world’s spotlight for the past number of years, seem an almost joined-at-the-hip representation of this God-directed connection.

America was instrumental in Israel again springing to national existence on May 14, 1948, as we know. This, despite great objections from the American State Department. Looking at the history, we can see the hand of the Almighty as He moved in the lives of President Harry Truman and his one-time haberdashery partner, a Jewish man named Eddie Jacobson.

Jacobson prevailed upon his friend, then president, to intervene on behalf of the drive to give the Jews a homeland in ancient Israel’s geographical location. This Truman did, overriding objections by his secretary of state and all other naysayers’ objections. It is obvious, even to skeptics, that America has been immensely blessed through championing modern Israel’s right to exist.

Just as when Barack Obama became president and showed disrespect and even disdain for Netanyahu and Israel, the new president, Joe Biden, has opted to put America’s relationship with the Jewish state in question. As a matter of fact, his treatment is seen by many as rude at best and disdainful at worst. The following gives a glimpse of the current president’s attitude.

President Joe Biden is the first American leader in 40 years not to contact Israel’s leaders as one of his first actions in the White House, setting up what could be four years of chilly relations between America and its top Middle East ally.

Biden has already phoned multiple world leaders, including Russian president Vladimir Putin and Chinese president Xi Jinping, but during his 23 days in office has yet to speak with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu—making Biden the first president in modern history to punt on bolstering U.S.-Israel relations during his initial days in office. Every president going back to at least Ronald Reagan in 1981 made contact with their Israeli counterpart within a week of assuming office, according to a review of news reports.

Congressional foreign policy leaders slammed Biden’s Netanyahu snub, prompting a flurry of questions for White House press secretary Jen Psaki, who has declined to disclose when or if Biden will call the Israeli leader. Psaki also said on Friday the White House would not list Israel as a U.S. ally when asked about the relationship during her daily press briefing. (“Biden Makes History: First President in 40 Years to Punt on Contacting Israel – White House doesn’t list Israel as American ally,” Washington Free Beacon, February 14, 2021)

The report gives facts about Israel’s ties to America. For example, modern presidents going back to Reagan have almost on the day of assuming office made calls or gotten in contact with Israel. Almost without exception, the messages have included that the US would stand firmly with Israel and its right to nationhood. Biden’s obviously intentional disrespect for Netanyahu and for Israel comes at a time when Israel faces increasing terrorist threats and a bellicose Iran that threatens to produce and use nuclear arms within the very near future.

The report also informs that Biden “also has hired several individuals with a background in anti-Israel activism, including Maher Biter, a top White House National Security Council official who spent his youth organizing boycotts of the Jewish state. The State Department’s Iran envoy, Robert Malley, also has been a vocal critic of Israel.”

When thinking on the growing anti-Semitism across the world and the fact that Iran seems on the brink of becoming a nuclear power, the observer of prophetic stage-setting for soon fulfillment can’t miss the signposts. Israel is indeed in the spotlight of God’s omniscience. His chosen nation is moving swiftly and exactly into the position prophesied by Zechariah millennia ago. In his prophecy is a dire warning for all in authority as heads of nations–including the president of the United States.

And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it. (Zechariah 12: 3)

–Terry