Sweden Has Become a War Zone

The nation of Sweden is in my view one of the craziest places on planet Earth. Muslim immigrants have caused crime rates to soar to record levels, and the Swedish government and the news media are totally incapable of dealing with the marauding Muslims. Their ineptitude is so bad they don’t even recognize the problem.

Late last year, immigrants went on a rampage, setting dozens of cars on fire. The damage to the vehicles was in the tens of millions of dollars. The event got very little coverage by the Swedish national and international press. Within a few days, it was like the attack had never happened.

Swedish author Björn Ranelid recently warned that the level of crime and violence the previously sedate country is experiencing amounts to a “small scale war.”

“Sweden is at war and it is the politicians who are responsible. Five nights in a row, cars have been set on fire in the university town of Lund. Such insane acts have occurred on hundreds of occasions in various places in Sweden over the past fifteen years. From 1955 to 1985, not a single car was ignited in Malmö, Gothenburg, Stockholm or Lund…. None of these criminals are starving or lacking in access to clean water. They have a roof over their heads and they have been offered free schooling…. They do not live in dilapidated houses…. It is called upbringing and this is missing for thousands of girls and boys in Swedish homes today.” — Björn Ranelid, Swedish author, Expressen, July 5, 2019.

The CEO of Volvo recently stated that the company is considering moving its headquarters out of Sweden, partly due to a rise in violent crime. Håkan Samuelsson told a conference that the car maker was losing its appeal to foreign experts and engineers and further explained his concerns during an interview with SVD Näringsliv.

“We are building cars, we cannot solve the other problems, someone else must do that,” the CEO said, adding that it is becoming more difficult to attract workers due to Sweden’s worsening reputation.

“It’s definitely not helping when people read about the shootings in Gothenburg and wonder if they really dare to move to Gothenburg,” said Samuelsson.

He said if “the situation” does not improve, the company may even have to consider leaving Sweden at some future date.

Notice that Samuelsson didn’t mention what was causing him to contemplate moving his whole company to another nation. He didn’t say the M word because you can’t link the followers of the Koran with any type of crime problem.

The Chief of Police in Gothenburg County, Erik Nord, denied there was a problem, accusing Samuelsson of getting misinformation from social media. Chief Nord is a self-deluded liar. Some of his units are under so much attack from Muslim youth, there are some areas of the city they don’t dare go into. When they do have a presence in Muslim zones, their buildings have to be built like bunkers.

In 2017, a Swedish police report (“Vulnerable Areas 2017”) showed that there are 61 such areas – also known as no-go zones – in Sweden. They encompass 200 criminal networks, consisting of an estimated 5,000 criminals. Most of the inhabitants are non-Western immigrants and their descendants.

The Swedish National Forensic Centre estimated that, since 2012, the number of shootings classified as murder or attempted murder had increased by almost 100 percent.

In 2018, Sweden experienced a record number of lethal shootings, 306 in all. Forty-five people were killed and 135 injured nationwide.

It would be bad enough that these Muslim immigrants are armed with atomic weapons. They also make bombs to blow things up. It is just unreal to have them using explosives to cause mayhem, and the authorities just shrugged it off. They sighted crazy excuses like: It’s because “young people are unemployed or “these are young people who have not found their place in society.”

If you are wondering how people can work in this madness, I found a guideline issued by the city of Malmö municipal workers. Under the heading, “Personal safety – tips and advice on how to avoid getting into unwanted situations,” the municipality advises its employees to “Plan your itinerary – know your area…try to minimize the time from when you park your bike/car until you enter [the destination].”

In the book of Isaiah, God warns that the day will come when he will use children to oppress society. I think the prediction is a perfect explanation for why we have young people turning places like Sweden into a war zone.

“And I will give children to be their princes, and babes shall rule over them” (Isaiah 3:4).

“As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, they which lead thee cause thee to err, and destroy the way of thy paths” (Isaiah 3:12).

–Todd

---

Don’t Fret, George

My desire was to take this week’s Nearing Midnight commentary in a direction other than end-times geopolitics. It seems this area of stage-setting for fulfilled prophecy has too often dominated my thinking on how near we might be to Christ’s call to the Church. But, my desire was overridden; I am convicted, by the Spirit’s nudge to deal again with things involving globalism.

In preparing for taping a television interview (which by the time this commentary appears will have been completed), one of the interview questions the network gave me kept flashing in my mind’s eye: “If we’re headed to a new world order and one-world system…if it’s been prophesied in Scripture…then what would you say to those who might ask, ‘Then, why fight against it?’”

The first answer that leaped to mind was Paul the apostle’s exhortation as recorded in Ephesians chapter 6. That’s the one we’ve used often in these articles –the description of the battle we face: not against flesh and blood, but against spiritual wickedness in high places.

We as believers are to dress in the whole armor of God and stand against this evil.

I can find no better reason in Scripture for doing as instructed in that preparation for battle against the things so obviously on Satan’s agenda as we near that midnight hour of the Tribulation.

We who name the name of Christ are not alone as we fight this crucial battle. The Lord Himself is leading the way.

I don’t want to be misunderstood here. I do not intend to give the current president of the United States glory that belongs to our Lord. Mr. Trump, as pointed out many times in these essays, is but an instrument used to accomplish God’ will–wittingly or unwittingly. I do, however, believe that this president is beginning to get the message, through those God has placed around him. That message is that he–Mr. Trump–is in that office and is apparently, for a time determined by the God of Heaven, impervious to the unbelievably virulent assaults that continue to come against him.

So it was that I kept having the interview question flashing in my thoughts.

“If we’re headed to a new world order and one-world system…if it’s been prophesied in Scripture…then what would you say to those who might ask, ‘Then, why fight against it?’”

The answer, in addition to the one involving Ephesians 6, should include this: We should fight against the globalists trying to bring on the Antichrist platform for world rule because the struggle is working. True, it is a temporary stopgap against the evil that is so obviously assaulting America’s sovereignty and the last bastion of freedom around the world. But it is indeed working for this end-of-the-age moment so near the time of the Rapture.

The Lord is seeing to it that we are able to stand against that wickedness in high places. That force consists of Satan’s minions, both human and demonic.

We have to look no further than one considered by many to be a prime mover in the effort to bring America into a one-world configuration, to bring this president of the United States down so that a globalist can be installed in the office.

We get a picture of our struggle being successful by looking at a quite interesting article:

George Soros recently expressed his frustration that “everything that could go wrong has gone wrong” referring to the rapid dismantling of the New World Order spearheaded by President Donald Trump.

The billionaire globalist who financed of countless Color Revolutions all across the world told the Washington Post that he was “living in [his] own bubble” due to failing to foresee Trump’s meteoric rise.

Soros expressed fears that Trump “is willing to destroy the world” and vowed to “redouble [his] efforts” by pouring millions of dollars into opposing everything that the President stands for all across the world.

In a recent report by the New York Times, it was revealed that Soros and Hillary Clinton paid women to accuse Donald Trump of rape.

Since the report broke, Soros gobbled up a lion’s share of the publication by buying $3 million worth of stocks in the NY Times.

While the Hungarian-American might come off as full of doom and gloom in his interview, he actually has a reason to feel that way because Trump has single-handedly presided over the dismantlement of the Liberal-Globalist world order that Soros has worked for decades to build. (George Soros: Trump Is Winning, He’s Destroying the New World Order, Globalist fears the Presidents dramatic rise in popularity, Daniel Newton, @ Neon Nettle, 22nd June 2018, © press)

As indicated in the title of this article, George shouldn’t fret. He’ll eventually get the new world order he craves. He has God’s Word on it:

And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. (Revelation 13:16-17)

But that same Word goes on to say further:

And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war.His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God. And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. (Revelation 19:11-15)

Come to think of it, George, on second thought, you should be worried. No doubt about it!

–Terry

The Death of Comedy

The world is rapidly becoming overrun with evil. It has also become a place devoid of humor. I think Bible prophecy is the only explanation for why one of the basic human attributes is fading away.

When it was announced last week that Mad Magazine was coming to an end, it took several hours for news outlets to confirm the news. After 67 years, hundreds of issues, a spinoff sketch-comedy series and countless imitators, MAD Magazine as it has been known since 1952 is coming to an end, according to the magazine’s former editor, Allie Goertz.

“There’s been an outpour of kindness surrounding the rumor that @MADmagazine is ceasing publication, but MAD is not quite done,” Goertz tweeted late Wednesday night. “After the next TWO great new issues are released, MAD will begin publishing bi-monthly issues with vintage pieces and new covers.”

With magazines dropping like flies, the demise of one more would not come as any great surprise. What is stunning about MAD Magazine’s passing is that it’s the last major humor publication to fold. Fellow humor publications like Cracked, National Lampoon, and the Weekly World News are long gone.

Comedy and romantic comedy ticket sales have been on a steady slide for the past decade. Ten years ago, comedy was king at the movie theater, and now comedy is a money-losing topic.

The last year that comedies made more than $2 billion domestically was 2011. In 2009, they earned $2.5 billion, with six making more than $100 million domestically. But by 2015, comedy grosses were down to $1.4 billion, with four titles making more than $100 million. And last year, comedies earned only $1 billion, with a single release crossing the $100 million-mark, Crazy Rich Asians.

A key reason for the downturn in comedy is that the politically correct culture has made the job of a comedian very difficult. There is very little left to mock or make fun of these days. In recent years, two very high-profile comedians — Jerry Seinfeld and Chris Rock — have admitted they refused to perform at college campuses. Seinfeld said they would get mad and “don’t know what they’re talking about” because they’re “so P.C.”

Even past comedies are having to be sanitized for the new modern standard. One of the many amusing aspects of the Toy Story movies is the jokes in the blooper reel at the end, which depicts favorite animated characters flubbing various scenes. The problem is that one of them, a blooper from 1999’s Toy Story 2, isn’t so funny anymore.

A new release of the second movie in the storied franchise leaves out a scene in which a character named Stinky Pete the Prospector, voiced by Kelsey Grammer, suggestively tells twin Barbies that he could get them a part in Toy Story 3. He stops speaking when he realizes that he’s being filmed.

I didn’t know Hollywood had any moral foundations left. To discover their morals over an animated toy getting fresh with two other ones is rather strange, but that is why people call the place Hollyweird. That explains why alleged serial rapist Harvey Weinstein is still walking free.

Another reason why comedy is in failing health is its involvement in the leftist agenda. What passes today as comedy is nothing more than political propaganda.

The long-running show “Saturday Night Live” is a prime example of this practice. SNL only does about 22 shows each year, and if you’ve seen one episode, you’ve seen them all. The show’s writers think that they have a direct connection to the voters’ decision process. In 2016 they focused on how Trump was going to lose against Hillary – Never happened. They spent two years joking about impeachment and jail time for Trump – strike two and strike three.

SNL lost its cultural connection when it said there was nothing funny about President Barack Obama. One writer concluded that he was so perfect in his ways, there was nothing to make fun of. I don’t know if there are any comedy shows in North Korea, but I’m sure they would feel the same way about their “Dear Leader.”

The Showtime cable network produced the “Loudest Voice American” drama miniseries about TV executive and media consultant Roger Ailes. It received poor ratings because it is about an unfunny and highly gross subject of a 300-pound guy sexually harassing employees.

In 2016, comedian Will Ferrell had optioned a comedy where he would play a dementia-addled Ronald Reagan. It took strong protest from Reagan’s children to get the project cancelled.

The liberal media is going to keep using comedy to attack people on the right because they are under the control of demons who are fixed on evil. The jokes will become more vile, and ratings can keep dropping like a rock. Unless it is confronted with biblical truth, depravity doesn’t have an off switch.

Comedy will continue on in one way. The radical left has become unintentional comedians with their crazy view of the world. God and hopefully the Church will soon justly laugh from heaven at their foolish end-time antics.

“But the Lord laughs at the wicked, for he knows their day is coming” (Psalm 37:13).

“He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision” (Psalm 2:4).

–Todd

---

Orwellians Waging War

Perhaps it is misnomer to call those principalities and powers, both human and otherworldly, “Orwellian.” Certainly, it is unfair to George Orwell, the author of the dystopian novel 1984 to link him in such a way to things taking place in these closing days of the age.  He was determined, even while suffering severely debilitating illness, to forewarn of dark, evil forces capable of enslaving mankind.

“Orwellian,” however, is exactly a term that best encapsulates the technologies and their applications assaulting this generation. Citizens of the United States today are almost as closely watched as the people of Orwell’s fictional dictatorships or the people of present-day Britain. One can’t move around while shopping or for other purposes without being caught on cameras that stare down from a number of vantage points.

It is fascinating to watch documentaries featuring policing agencies as they investigate crimes. They use surveillance cameras to study the forensic evidence, putting together increments of time with various locations to retrace criminals engaged in murders or whatever.

I long ago wrote a novel about how such a society would develop, leading up to the Rapture and beyond. While Jacob’s Trouble 666 (https://www.amazon.com/Jacobs-Trouble-666-Terry-James/dp/1641194634/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=) might have been considered “far out there” when I wrote it way back there, it probably would seem behind the times to today’s readers. The same with the novelistic endeavors of George Orwell, Aldous Huxley (Brave New World), and others who have written in the dystopian genre prior to the developments we see all around us today.

As it’s said: Life imitates art. The imagination has turned into reality and has gone far beyond. We are witnessing what most surely will eventuate in the Antichrist system of control being implemented in the not-too-distant future.

Recently, a friend sent me an article he thought was the best he had read on what’s happening with regard to surveillance in these last of the last days. I agree that it is an outstanding piece, covering in depth the many aspects of an Orwellian world in the making. I recommend that you read it.

The writer says, in part, the following:

We have arrived, way ahead of schedule, into the dystopian future dreamed up by not only Orwell but also such fiction writers as Aldous Huxley, Margaret Atwood and Philip K. Dick.

“If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.” – George Orwell…

What once seemed futuristic no longer occupies the realm of science fiction.

Incredibly, as the various nascent technologies employed and shared by the government and corporations alike—facial recognition, iris scanners, massive databases, behavior prediction software, and so on—are incorporated into a complex, interwoven cyber network aimed at tracking our movements, predicting our thoughts and controlling our behavior, the dystopian visions of past writers is fast becoming our reality.

Our world is characterized by widespread surveillance, behavior prediction technologies, data mining, fusion centers, driverless cars, voice-controlled homes, facial recognition systems, cybugs and drones, and predictive policing (pre-crime) aimed at capturing would-be criminals before they can do any damage. Surveillance cameras are everywhere. Government agents listen in on our telephone calls and read our emails. Political correctness—a philosophy that discourages diversity—has become a guiding principle of modern society…

We are increasingly ruled by multi-corporations wedded to the police state.

What many fail to realize is that the government is not operating alone. It cannot. The government requires an accomplice. Thus, the increasingly complex security needs of the massive federal government, especially in the areas of defense, surveillance and data management, have been met within the corporate sector, which has shown itself to be a powerful ally that both depends on and feeds the growth of governmental overreach.

In fact, Big Tech wedded to Big Government has become Big Brother, and we are now ruled by the Corporate Elite whose tentacles have spread worldwide. (“The Omnipresent Surveillance State: Orwell’s 1984 Is No Longer Fiction,” John W. Whitehead, via The Rutherford Institute June 10, 2019https://www.rutherford.org/publications_resources/john_whiteheads_commentary/the_omnipresent_surveillance_state_orwells_1984_is_no_longer_fiction)

We can say “Amen” to Mr. Whitehead’s assessment, having spent the past two and a half years watching deep-state government types try to bring down a president. They have used technology and clandestine shenanigans in their high places to try to pull off a coup d’état because of election results they could not abide.

Their efforts have not abated, nor will they as we progress toward the presidential election of 2020. As pointed out a number of times, we are in the Ephesians 6:12 battle not only for the U.S. presidency and governmental control, but for the very souls of men, women, and children.

The technological march to electronically enslave all of mankind proceeds at a level forewarned by the prophet Daniel (Daniel 12:4). It will all come to culmination in the marks-and-numbering system of Revelation 13:16-18.

The Orwellians are waging war indeed! It means we are nearing the midnight hour of human history. The Lord is restraining these who are in an insane rage. They will ultimately pay the price for their rebellion.

The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us. He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision. (Psalms 2:2-4)

–Terry