Putin’s Invasion of Ukraine

When the USSR fell apart in 1992, the nation of Ukraine found itself in possession of thousands of nuclear weapons. To prevent these weapons from falling into the hands of terrorists, an agreement was arranged that all former Soviet states would hand their nuclear material over to Russia for safekeeping. Back in 1994, Ukraine decided to give up those weapons in exchange for the U.S., U.K., and Russia guaranteeing the country’s security. The agreement is known as the Budapest Memorandum. Today, Ukraine’s leaders probably think they should have held on to a few nuclear missiles.

The threat to Ukraine from Russia is not something that just recently popped up. Vladimir Putin has amassed more than 150,000 Russian troops at the Russian border of Ukraine since last year. The build-up began on the 90th day of Biden’s presidency, and no one was really paying attention. There was no alarm at the State Department when Putin had no compunction about stating that Ukraine should not exist at all.

Putin’s strategy is reminiscent of Hitler taking over the Sudetenland. Hitler was worried sick about Germans that lived in areas of Czechoslovakia. They were being pursued by the evil Czechs, and he demanded they become part of Germany. Within months, all of Czechoslovakia fell under Hitler’s control.

Putin has already taken over Ukraine territory in the 2014 Crimea invasion. The Republic of Crimea declared its independence from Ukraine following a disputed referendum, and then Russian Troops moved in.

The fighting is not going well for the Russian side. Many of the Russian troops appear to be poorly trained. Some captured soldiers said they were never told they were going to invade another country. By Western standards, things look bad for Putin, but I see him using the same tactics he used to win against Islamic groups in Syria. He will just keep bombing until there is nothing left standing. If he loses 10,000 troops, soldiers, it won’t matter to him one bit.

The fighting has done wonders to unify NATO. Member nations are having a let’s arm Ukraine party. The Dutch government is sending rocket launchers for air defense. The Estonians are sending Javelin antitank missiles. The Poles and the Latvians are sending Stinger surface-to-air missiles. The Czechs are sending machine guns, sniper rifles, pistols, and ammunition.

And Germany, long allergic to sending weapons into conflict zones, is sending Stingers as well as other shoulder-launched rockets. Germany has also decided to vastly increase its military budget, which oddly enough was reduced to near zero after their defeat in World War I and II. Hey, I guess you can’t have WW III without Germany.

Since we don’t want to get into a nuclear war with Russia, sanctions are the preferred weapon against Putin. In sanctions announced last week, the U.S. and its allies are also targeting “technology exports” in the oil refining sector, which they say could help the U.S. move toward its goal of “degrading Russia’s status as a leading energy supplier over time.” Money accounts by Putin and his thug underlings have been locked up.

Many companies are taking their own action. Nike and Apple closed their online stores in Russia. The world’s biggest shipping lines, MSC and Maersk, suspended container shipping to and from Russia. Airplane giants Boeing and Airbus have both stopped supplying parts and support to Russian airlines. Many booze shops have stopped selling Russian Vodka.

Putin has a $650 billion cash hoard to help him weather the sanctions. He also knows that nations still need to buy his oil, which has soared 20% since he invaded Ukraine. Putin recently sold all of Russia’s U.S. bonds and has accumulated a large horde of gold.

The willingness of Putin to evade Ukraine has to be related to Joe Biden’s presidency. He has watched the weakness of the deteriorating President. He watched America’s disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan last summer.

After 20 years of war, Putin saw the U.S. abandon Afghanistan again to the Taliban – a withdrawal that made the Soviet retreat from the same country 30 years earlier look orderly. Biden has not been on top of the Ukraine situation—any more than he has been on top of anything. Just last month, he seemed to be saying he would allow Russia to take a portion of Ukraine. Two days before Putin acted, Biden said Putin had decided to invade its neighbor, which Putin obviously took as an open invitation.

Former televangelist Pat Robertson came out of his retirement to weigh in on the situation. According to him, Vladimir Putin is being willed by God to conduct the invasion as a way of triggering the End Times. I always expect Pat’s theology to mess up, but in this case, I generally agree with him. Putin is the perfect match for the Gog leader. Ukraine may make Putin so isolated that he tries to change the game by launching an attack on Israel and being joined by a host of demonically inspired Muslim nations.

“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places” (Ephesians 6:12).

–Todd

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Heaven’s Unfathomable Riches

A couple of commentaries ago, I announced my great friend Bob Rogers going to our Heavenly home and how he is now enjoying things beyond which we can imagine. Today we share with you through tears comforted by joyful knowledge that she is alive forever, that his dear wife, Vicki Rogers, a wonderful Christian, wife, mother, grandmother, and friend, has joined him after a lengthy bout with illness. However, both were infinitely more than my friends. We are all part of a family the Lord put together many years ago. It is a spiritual family relationship rather than biological, and that, to me at least, has always meant it was even more meaningful than if we could have been relatives in the earthly, biological sense.

Their daughter, Angie, is my honorary daughter in every sense. She is also my editor (the best in the world of editing) of many, many years. The children of Angie and husband Kurt (also close to my fatherly heart) – Nick, Lindsey and Erin – are my honorary grandchildren, whom I love as if they were my biological family.

Because of her belief in Jesus Christ and being in God’s family, Angie’s mom is now together again with her beloved husband Bob and is exulting in a magnificent joy that’s beyond comprehension. We can know this because of the following familiar promise from God’s Holy Word.

“But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him” (1 Cor. 2:9).

We have read in that Holy Word that Jesus said that in Heaven we are neither married nor given in marriage. Some might find that to be something that is discouraging. I do not. That’s because of the above promise. We are promised more wonderful things when we reach that eternal state of joy than we are capable of imagining. This means, to me, and should to you also, that the relationships, whether they be earthly friendships and family relationships – or marriage partnerships – the intimacy will be millions of times more wonderful than any relationship we’ve had while in this earth-bound body.

Like in the earlier case of Bob’s making that trip to his eternal home, Vicki’s going to be with her Lord tripped things within my spiritually-motivated cognitive processes. It immediately brought up the scriptural promise that I have always found profound almost beyond ability to express. Here is that promise. It is more than a promise.

It is a fact right at this moment, not just when we reach that heavenly home that Bob and Vicki now are enjoying. It is profound because it is so hard for us who are now in God’s eternal family to get our earthly minds around while still in these mortal bodies.

“The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together” (Romans 8: 16-17).

Do you grasp what this is truly saying? All that God has He has given to His Blessed Son, Jesus. God is telling us here through the Apostle Paul that we – already, in this life – are possessors of all of God’s riches, in exact measure as is His Son! Now that is something that I can certainly not truly get this feeble, full-of-much-age grey matter around!

God is telling us that we are joint heirs with the Creator of all that is! Jesus was given the power and authority from the Father to make all there is!

“For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist” (Col. 1:16-17).

The phrase “by him all things consist” has always given me a sense of the awesome power of our Lord. We are told that He created the very substance of all matter. He holds together the atoms and even the elements that make up the atom! If He didn’t hold the elements of Creation together, all that is in existence would fly apart instantaneously.

That is how we can begin to somewhat understand why when Jesus rode the little donkey into Jerusalem to present Himself as Israel’s Messiah, he said that if the people didn’t praise Him at that time, the very stones would cry out. All of nature – the very elements – obeys our Lord and recognizes Him for Who He is!

When we are in Heaven with Bob and Vicki, with each other, and with our wonderful Savior and Lord –our Brother Jesus – we won’t just be tiny unrecognized figures in a Heaven full of billions of souls. We will be people in flesh-and-bone bodies – immortal bodies – like Jesus’ Body. We will know each other individually and intimately, as God, our omniscient Father, knows each of us and every hair on our heads (which all men among us will have again in abundance)!

As Dr. David Jeremiah might say while preaching fervently, “Can I get a praise?!”

–Terry

 

 

The People’s Republic of Canada

A dangerous thing has taken place in our northern neighbor Canada. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has used a law that was intended for a major national crisis to go after supporters of the Freedom Convoy. The Emergencies Act is being used to freeze bank accounts of people who participated in a political protest – not just the organizers but participants. Hundreds of people have been arrested, and a large part of the city of Ottawa has been declared a no-go zone.

The three-week event was triggered by unvaccinated truckers not being allowed to cross the border. Over 90% of truckers are vaccinated, and only a small portion of them would cross over into the US. Many cities have already lifted restrictions, so this protest seems a bit silly to me for both sides.

Trudeau made no attempt to reason with the truckers. At first, he hid from the protestors, and when he did address them, he called the truckers Nazis. When someone calls peaceful protestors Nazis, it’s time to run for the border. Trudeau is following the same game plan that Hitler used to come to power.

When the police moved in to remove the protesters, they looked like Star Wars stormtroopers. They had snipers on the rooftops of buildings. The police had their names and badge numbers taped over. There was no indication that the Freedom Convoy had any violent members, and police acted like they were storming the beaches of Normandy.

I am amazed by the vindictive nature of Canadian officials. Ottawa’s mayor Jim Watson said any vehicles seized during the police crackdown on the occupation of the downtown should be sold to cover costs incurred by the city. The mayor told CBC News that Ottawa has that power due to the Emergencies Act. If Mr. Watson wants to destroy people’s means of income, he might as well seize their homes or sell their children into slavery. Why not just send all the protestors off to death camps? On judgment day, Trudeau and his henchmen can blame all their actions on the Emergencies Act.

This little weasel doesn’t even have a majority of the Canadian population supporting him. Because of a flaw in the parliamentary system, Trudeau was able to become prime minister with only a third of the population backing him.

Biden tried to use the COVID-19 pandemic to grant himself illegal power by issuing an executive order that required all private businesses to force 100% of their workers to get vaccinated. A judge blocked the order, and the US Supreme Court vote of 6-3 verified that Biden had gone beyond his constitutional authority.

Because nations have no bill of rights and set guidelines on what each branch of the government can do, most power is based on what the people think is just. If Trudeau had implemented the Emergencies Act and people started rioting in the streets, he would have backed down. His action was mostly met with silence. Days later, Trudeau said we need to make some of these powers permanent.

Alberta Premier Jason Kenney did file a legal challenge to Trudeau’s “unjustified” use of the Emergencies Act. He launched a Court challenge of the Trudeau government’s invocation of the Emergencies Act because it is:

– Unnecessary
-Disproportionate
– Violates natural justice
– Intrudes into provincial jurisdiction
– Creates a dangerous precedent.

Kenney was on a Canadian news show, and a reporter said, “Don’t you share any blame for supporting the Freedom Convoy truckers? Kenney said his concern predated the protest, and his focus was Trudeau’s actions. The Premier might find that his bank account has been frozen.

The word freedom has even come under attack by the left. When reporters mention the protest, it’s always the “so-called” Freedom convoy. There have been several opinion articles written that said freedom is a dangerous word. We need control to maintain order. Freedom results in chaos. If People have the freedom to do as they please, we’ll have more explanations of what took place in Ottawa.

Justin Trudeau is required by the Emergencies Act to get an approval vote in parliament within 15 days. Since it is too dangerous in Ottawa, the vote is not seen as urgent.

One of the most frustrating things about living in this time is having watched our freedom and liberties being constantly chipped away. Because Bible prophecy predicts a global dictatorship for the last days, things are only going to get worse. The only hope we have going forward is the rapture.

“Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth” (Rev 3:10).

–Todd

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Where’s the Comfort?

Admittedly, I am one who goes to blogcasts on a daily basis. The practice detracts from my work, and I have a ton of it going on at the moment with the release of two nonfiction books and two novels, one of which I’m writing and the other I’m co-writing in the sense of overseeing the project. I guess listening is my idea of interspersing a bit of entertainment within the work schedule. Trouble is, the blogcasts get into heavy stuff regarding things going on in the world that are very dark. All this takes away from the relief I seek, but I can’t break away from the practice of visiting these platforms.

Included in my regime of looking into these dark matters is scanning Rapture Ready News on a regular basis—something I realize many who read these commentaries do every day.

Most writers of note, whom our news posters include on our site, are those who claim a Christian viewpoint. Many among these writers, as well, claim a biblically prophetic perspective.

The most notable bloggers—those with the most followers—correctly shine the spotlight on the evil of these end times. The one example I will present for now is from a host I’ve for the most part respected. His outlook and application of Bible prophecy have always been on point, in my opinion.

Bloggers of his sort, most of whom consider themselves in league with his thinking on these matters and with each other, see tremendously troubling times coming—times that are like those described for the Tribulation.

They see, for example, the dictatorial actions of Justin Trudeau, soon to come to America, like the spread of COVID that has infected the world. They believe that those who resist this wickedness, such as Christians, will soon be placed in the internment camps, they and their families who won’t go along with reeducation into the New World Order ideologies eliminated the way Hitler’s henchmen dispatched resistors of Nazi Germany.

They see imminent financial collapse that will starve millions. They see the technologies now set to enslave each person with the mark of the Beast, the vaccination jabs being the immediate precursor to the Revelation 13:16–18, Antichrist 666 marks-and-numbering system.

These bloggers almost without exception insist that we must plan to endure, fight through—and survive—these times to come, again, which most believe are coming upon America and the world due to what is biblically prophesied.

Here are excerpts from the blog-host I’ve chosen for this commentary.

I have come to believe that what is happening in Canada, and what is surely going to escalate, and it is all preparation for what will soon be coming to the United States. The Democrats (i.e. Bolshevik Communists with Nazi enforcement strategies) probably could not cheat enough to win an election in 2022…

It is clear what should happen if martial law is going to be implemented without hesitation and without the risk of interruption; the greatest threats to the unfolding tyranny must be removed from society. My sources and many of the sources of my media colleagues are saying that people are going to start disappearing. The first wave of “disappeared Americans” will be members of the independent media. First, their work will be disappeared and many of the personalities behind the work of alerting the public, will be disappeared…

The most disturbing of these acts implemented by our government (i.e. legislatively and through Executive Orders) is the NDAA which allows government to “snatch” Americans off of the street and incarcerate them forever without due process of law. These events explain why a mass incarceration/genocide is a potential event in the future of America. Why? Simple, because we are on the precipice of World War III with Russia and we are on a collision course with economic collapse and/or a false flag event away from total martial law…

The smoking gun document that virtually guarantees an Army enforced martial law way of life, within an Agenda 21 megacities framework:

MEGACITIES AND THE UNITED STATES ARMY PREPARING FOR A COMPLEX AND UNCERTAIN FUTURE June 2014 Chief of Staff of the Army, Strategic Studies Group Megacities Concept Team: Colonel Marc Harris, Lieutenant Colonel Robert Dixon, Major Nicholas Melin, Command Sergeant Major Daniel Hendrex, Sergeant Major Richard Russo and Mr. Michael Bailey

An Army report boldly proclaims that American troops need to be ready and willing to enter New York City and other global “megacities” in the “near future”.  The purpose of this instruction by the Army in the nation’s domestic affairs, in violation of Posse Comitatus would be to prevent civil unrest (i.e. “precrime”), political uprisings and protect key infrastructure and natural resources in the national interest. In other words, the American Army will be deployed because what the American people “MIGHT DO”. The official Army report is entitled “Megacities and the United States Army” (PDF), and it was released by the Chief of Staff of the Army, Strategic Studies Group. (“When Taking the Blue Pill Won’t Save You From the Red List-Trudeau’s Tyranny Is About to Magnified and Applied To ALL Americans,” by Dave Hodges, The Common Sense Show, 2/18/22)

These bloggers and blogcasters almost without exception are those who mock anything to do with the pre-Trib Rapture of the Church. Thus they warn folks to be ready to hunker down and lay in supplies to get us through the coming horrors they admit are apocalyptic. Most offer for sale all sorts of foods and other prepping things to help enable us to survive the coming terrors.

Thus the question: Where’s the comfort?

Where is the comfort in the proclamation that Tribulation-like times are upon us and that we need to prepare to fight and survive the massive attacks of those who possess nuclear weapons and overwhelming military and control power? I find no comfort whatsoever in that advice.

Yet, God’s Word tells us we are to find comfort in these last of the last days.

There’s no doubt that the things we see developing are preparing the world for that coming time of Antichrist. But to be a believer in God’s promises, the Christian must not look for the horrors they are predicting that are identical to things prophesied for that last seven years of history this side of Christ’s Second Advent. We are to look for Jesus Christ, who will call us to Himself before that horrific era.

Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth. (Revelation 3:10)

Our hope is not in human government to overcome the wickedness, but in the Lord who tells us to look for Him as our redemption—of our souls and of our physical beings before the time of Tribulation.

Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ. (Titus 2:13)

We are told through the Apostle Paul the following:

For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words. (1 Thessalonians 4:16–18)

—Terry