End-Time Incrementalism

Most students of prophecy are familiar with the advancement of an end-time event following an exponential path. Jesus laid this out in his prediction that the end would come like labor pains. There is another pattern in Bible prophecy that can be best described as Incrementalism, which primarily is the result of man’s involvement in world affairs.

Incrementalism is a method of working by adding to a project using many small incremental changes instead of a few (extensively planned) large jumps. Logical incrementalism implies that the steps in the process are sensible.

Incrementalism is a term that is not compatible with scripture. God may use situations that involve incremental changes, but his will always calls for immediate action. If Satan had written a handbook guide for how he spreads deception, incrementalism would likely be covered in some chapter.

When Pharaoh attempted to use compromise, Moses would not take what was offered. Moses had faith in God and did not take the seemingly reasonable deal of the tyrant. As the plagues grew worse and worse, Pharaoh used incremental ploys to resist Moses’s call to “let my People Go.”

“So Pharaoh said, ‘I will let you go, that you may sacrifice to the Lord your God in the wilderness; only you shall not go very far away. Intercede for me’” (Exodus 8:28).

“Not so! Go now, you who are men, and serve the Lord, for that is what you desired.’ And they were driven out from Pharaoh’s presence” (Exodus 10:11).

“Then Pharaoh called to Moses and said, ‘Go, serve the Lord; only let your flocks and your herds be kept back. Let your little ones also go with you’” (Exodus 10:24).

Ancient Israel has a frequent problem with idolatry. As the worship of Idols would incrementally creep in with moral decay, the solution wasn’t to reverse the process. King Josiah is seen as the best example of how to reform from this sin. He did not put away some idols in order to maybe someday destroy the rest sometime later. He destroyed all idols throughout his land and established true worship.

“Now before him there was no king like him, who turned to the Lord with all his heart, with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the Law of Moses; nor after him did any arise like him” (2 Kings 23:25).

What makes Incrementalism troublesome to us today is that we are seeing it on so many fronts. The devil has been on such a lengthy winning streak, we’ve lost sight of how wicked the world has become. Most people don’t even realize how far we have drifted from the truth.

When I was a kid, most people praised and respected our founding fathers for giving us the greatest form of government mankind has ever devised. In recent years, the left has chipped away at America’s national heritage by dwelling on racial grievances. Lately, the attacks have degraded to pure hatred of everything related to American history.

When former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick told Nike he didn’t like a Betsy Ross’s flag on its footwear, the firm immediately pulled the shoe. The flag had nothing to do with slavery. Kaepernick spouted off because he has animosity toward all American flags. Because Trump has the slogan, “Make America Great Again,” the press has become fixated on publishing articles that seek to lower America’s standing in the world.

One of the most dangerous form of incrementalism is the attack on our freedoms. We have gone from the nation that greatly prized personal liberty to one where the needs of so-called minority group are given a higher priority. When liberals were outnumbered, they wanted special protection for their values. Now that they control large regions of society, their new motto is now “majority rules.”

When it comes to rules, there are no set guidelines. On social media, conservatives are being marginalized for offenses that leftist groups get a free pass to violate. In the past few weeks, several people on the right have been banned for insulting posts. And yet, we have groups like Antifa beating people with crowbars, and their accounts face no restrictions.

When Twitter froze actor James Woods’ account because it just didn’t like his conservative views, I gave up on the site. Woods said he is also done tweeting, saying, “Until free speech is allowed on Twitter, I will not be permitted to participate in our democracy with my voice. As long as Jack Dorsey remains the coward he seems to be, my Twitter days were in the past.” Twitter censorship just marches on. The site says it will start labeling tweets from influential government officials (President Trump) who break its rules.

It is very unlikely that we are going to see any change in the direction of incrementalism. Because we’ve been on this path for so long, the natural onset of reprobate thinking makes the chance of any U-turn a remote possibility. In the face of this madness, believers need to abide in God’s truth and wait patiently for the rapture.

“And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient” (Romans 1:28).

“If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:31-32).

–Todd

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Deeper Understanding of Deep State’s Doings

While the demonic activity blatantly bursts forth as the end of the age nears, there comes forth, in my view, sparks of God-revealed enlightenment. Such enlightenment flashed, I believe, in recent disclosures surrounding the 2016 presidential election.

A major reason the unveiling is so obvious is that it involves what is considered the number-one signal by most who hold to the pre-Trib view of Bible prophecy. The matter is at the heart of the so-called Deep-State machinations as the internecine battle rages in this nation and worldwide. The global agenda, as we’ve seen numerous times in these commentaries, was dealt a stunning blow by the 2016 presidential election. Reverberations from that blow continue to quiver and shake like loosely congealed Jell-O. The globalists are in a rage, desperate to regain their geopolitical equilibrium.

Bible prophecy foretells that they will, for a time, accomplish their satanically inspired goal.

Britt Gillette has written perhaps the best piece I’ve read on the globalist madness. He writes, correctly, that we are in a time of backlash against the never-ending assault on national sovereignty. However, that assault bores full-speed ahead. Gillette indicates that the fact is that the youth of today–the Millennial generation—because of luciferian education (my term) will provide the overwhelming basis for the globalists ultimately accomplishing the satanic mission.

Gillette gives the basis for his conclusion: The Millennials embrace: 1) Freedom of movement (open borders); 2) Climate change (Millennials’ greatest fear); and 3) Global government (Millennials trust in strong, central government to provide largesse, the surveys show).

Excerpts from Britt Gillette’s commentary follow.

Current voters may reject the globalist agenda, but according to several surveys, future voters don’t. Globally, the Millennials (those born between 1981 and 1996) outnumber both the Baby Boomers and Generation X, and they believe the concept of being a citizen of a single country is outdated. To them, global citizenship is the way of the future…

While recent political developments show a backlash against globalism, all they’ve done is slow the inevitable march toward global government.

Why All This Matters

So why should you care? You should care because we’re on the cusp of a new era. Ever since the Tower of Babel, tribes and nation states have governed the world. Nations meant well-defined borders, language, and culture. Many people dreamed of global government, but that’s all it was–a dream. Such a government would never work in reality. Local interests and values would triumph, and administering a global government would be an expensive, bureaucratic nightmare. But this generation is tearing down all the obstacles to global government. (“The Unhindered March Toward Globalism” By Britt Gillette, https://www.raptureready.com/2019/06/20/unhindered-march-toward-globalism-britt-gillette/)

As promised, we’ll look more closely at the very heart of the present insanity raging against President Donald Trump and all that seems rational. It is rage, most of all, against the God of Heaven, who mandated the founding of nations and borders in the first place, as seen, for example, in Genesis chapter 11.

Generating mischief at this black heart is the entity that has become known as the Deep State. It is both a loosely knit entity that crosses all international lines and a tightly configured cabal that festers within the most secretive places within the top echelons of America’s and Britain’s intelligence services.

The Deep State threatens the very foundation of constitutional America. These eloquently documented, written borders the Founding Fathers set up–under the guidance of Providence—must be removed in order to bring about the devil’s desired platform–the platform from which he can launch his Antichrist regime.

We get to the very nucleus of the Deep-State efforts through an excerpt of a recent news item.

The story exposed, through the American Center for Law and Justice, how the Obama administration top official laid out a basis for doing harm to the incoming administration’s ability to govern. The official, it appears, colluded with a 60 Minutes producer to set up the resistance to the Trump administration.

Newly uncovered documents show that Samantha Power, ambassador to the United Nations under Barack Obama, while submitting 260 unmasking requests seeking surveillance information about the incoming president and his campaign, was simultaneously engaged in “a move to undermine the incoming administration.”…

[Power wrote to] Bill Owens, the Executive Editor of 60 Minutes: “We’re still reeling here, as you might imagine. My mission to the UN is a cabinet agency under President Obama, but will be demoted to something very different in January. Notwithstanding this, Tuesday’s results have given us an even greater sense of urgency to get our work done in our last few months. 70 good long days left!”

The documentation shows, ACLJ said, the Obama administration “was fully engaged in attempts to do whatever they could to undermine the conservative agenda and the will of the American voters.” (“Obama’s Top U.N. Official Part of ‘Hate Trump’ Campaign” – WorldNet Daily, Thursday June 27, 2019)

The real agenda of the so-called Deep State, for the most part unwittingly, is identical to that of Satan’s agenda. It is a most profound effort by the fallen one as part of the Ephesians 6:12 struggle. At the center of that struggle–the globalist agenda—is the rabid desire to destroy God’s chosen people, the Jews–Israel. As we proclaim constantly, the Bible presents the case that Israel is the number-one sign of where this generation stands on God’s prophetic timeline.

The news excerpt further exposes this agenda:

[Samantha Power] also raised complaints in a email through an article headlined “Donald Trump isn’t even president yet and he’s already making waves at the U.N.”

Power complained about Trump’s opposition to a U.N. proposal that Israel be sized down to its 1967 borders.

ACLJ explained it earlier had expressed concern “the Obama administration was intentionally attempting to undermine the state of Israel through a cowardly act at the U.N. Now we know, they were at the same time displaying their utter disdain for the incoming president. (Ibid.)

The key thing to take from this commentary is that God’s primary action/purpose in seeing to it that the 2016 election came out as it did, rather than as experts predicted and hoped, was in defense of His chosen nation. It certainly is considered a miraculous turn of events by many–myself included.

Those involved within Deep-State intrigues likely haven’t a clue as to what really drives them. Perhaps I am naïve, thus underestimate Satan’s dark, deluding, power to so obviously make manifest his agenda through such a humanistic consortium. It could be there are those of the human sort who fully know what they are about on Satan’s behalf.

Regardless, all indications are that things are shaping for the moment when Christ will withdraw restraint and the diabolist globalists –both human and supernatural, will get the one world order they seek. Thankfully, it will very soon be brought to an end by the returning King of all kings and Lord of all lords.

You want to be a part of that returning heavenly army (Revelation 19:11). You don’t want to be left behind to face what is now on the immediate, end-time horizon.

Again, here’s how you can become part of that returning, heavenly army and not be among those on earth who will suffer untold horrors: “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation” (Romans 10:9-10).

–Terry

The Bread and Circuses Phase of the American Empire

The decline and fall of the Roman Empire has been well documented by many observers of history. Will Luden in “Bread and Circuses for the Masses – Not Just Ancient Rome” describes the Roman government policy as “Emperors, in the later stages of the Empire, used both free bread (and other food) and free entertainment to placate the larger number of people who were otherwise poorly served by their government.”

The Oxford Reference provides the following definition:

“A term referring to the potential of spectator sports and mass spectacle to divert populations or factions of a population away from the weightier business of politics and society.”

The Democrats are currently in a bidding war over who can offer the American people the most goodies in exchange for their vote. It is bread and circuses on a scale that would stump the imagination of the Roman leaders.

Last week, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders presented a plan that would wipe $1.6 trillion in student debt, and offer Fund-Free State College. The massive student-debt jubilee would be financed with a tax on Wall Street: specifically, a 0.5% tax on stock trades, a 0.1% tax on bond trades and a .005% tax on derivatives trades.

The primary problem with this plan is that it would cause the cost of higher education to explode. If Uncle Sam is going to pick up the check, you might as well go to medical school. Colleges would be able to raise the cost of education at will. The average cost of tuition and fees for the 2018–2019 school year was $35,676 at private colleges. Under Bernie’s plan, the cost would easily double in a few years.

Most Democratic presidential candidates support a growing plan to offer reparations for slavery. If we lived in a world of unlimited wealth, there is no amount of money that could satisfy these race hustlers. The price of freedom was paid with the lives of 500,000 people. The H.R. 40 bill would, according to its summary heading, “establish a commission to study and consider a national apology and a proposal for reparations” for the descendants of African American slaves.

A House Judiciary subcommittee held a hearing two weeks ago on the issue of slavery reparations. The Sponsors of this bill seem to think that we are living in 1865. Columnist Coleman Hughes offered stunning testimony against reparations:

“I understand that reparations are about what people are owed, regardless of how well they’re doing. But the people who were owed for slavery are no longer here, and we’re not entitled to collect on their debts. Reparations, by definition, are only given to victims. So the moment you give me reparations, you’ve made me into a victim without my consent. Not just that: you’ve made one-third of black Americans — who consistently poll against reparations — into victims without their consent, and black Americans have fought too long for the right to define themselves to be spoken for in such a condescending manner.

“The question is not what America owes me by virtue of my ancestry; the question is what all Americans owe each other by virtue of being citizens of the same nation. And the obligation of citizenship is not transactional. It’s not contingent on ancestry, it never expires, and it can’t be paid off. For all these reasons, bill H.R. 40 is a moral and political mistake. Thank you.”

Presidential hopeful Senator Elizabeth Warren jumped on the reparations bandwagon with her own crazy idea. She came out in favor of legislation that has been equated to “gay reparations.” Under the Refund Equality Act, same-sex couples would be able to amend their past taxes, readjusting with jointly-filed tax returns and accepting refunds from the IRS. “Our government owes them more than $50M for the years our discriminatory tax code left them out. We must right these wrongs,” said Warren.

Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang has the most straightforward plan. He just wants to hand out cash to everyone who needs it. Yang promotes universal basic income – a modern welfare scheme through which citizens are granted income from the government, without condition. Yang is hosting a Twitter contest whereby he will give away $1,000 per month to 20 lucky people.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is too young to run for the White House, but she holds the record for the most expensive proposal. Her patently insane Green New Deal resolution would cost up to $93 trillion over 10 years, according to the American Action Forum. AOC was all for Sanders’ $1.6 trillion plan. She is currently on track to be our first quadrillion-dollar congressperson.

It is stunning to hear Democrats proposing plans that would bankrupt our nation. I think their insanity is merely a precursor of a coming salesman that will put them all to shame. The Antichrist will be the king of Bread and Circuses ideas. He will use signs and wonders to sell people schemes that will ensure eternal damnation.

“The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with how Satan works. He will use all sorts of displays of power through signs and wonders that serve the lie” (2 Thes 2:9 NIV).

“And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name” (Rev 14:11 KJV).

–Todd

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Cyrus Prophecy – Trump Embrace

Events in and around the Straits of Hormuz rivet the attention of the international community powers that be. Even more, the goings-on there draw intense interest from those who observe end-times prophetic signs.

The diplomatic elite fear escalation of hostilities that might bring about all-out warfare in the Middle East. Bible prophecy students wonder exactly what the sudden eruption might mean with regard to the denouement of the Church Age.

The Strait of Hormuz is a passage through the Persian Gulf area that is most heavily traversed. One-fifth of the world’s oil moves on tankers through the strait. If the channel was blocked, the world’s supply of oil–particularly that of Europe–would be severely affected.

It has long been feared that a diabolist regime such as that of present-day Iran might precipitate a conflict in the region that would draw all nations into the resultant conflagration.

The United States, we are told, no longer has to worry about its own oil supplies. According to even anti-Trump experts, America is now totally petroleum self-sufficient because of the executive action Trump has taken since becoming president. He was instrumental in opening up much of the production of petroleum in counteracting restrictions placed on U.S. drilling and production by the Obama administration.

Even so, America is the one national agent with naval power strong enough to successfully intervene in the attempts of Iran to control the Strait–thus to help protect supplies needed by allies. Iran is in close proximity and claims much of the body of water in the region as its own territorial waters.

Iran is accused of sabotaging four tankers in the strait last month. The current actions are seen by the Trump administration as deliberate attempts to put pressure on the U.S. to lift the extremely heavy sanctions the president placed on the Iranian regime. Iran is said to be suffering greatly because of the sanctions in their business within the international community. The mullahs’ power to maintain control over the Iranian people, thus, it is thought, might be part of the reason for Iran’s stepped-up assaults.

Japanese oil tankers were interfered with, and in the latest blow-up–as of this writing–the Iranians shot down a  U.S. $100-plus-million spy drone charged with keeping watch over Iran’s activities in the region. An attack in retaliation was planned by America’s military, but the president stopped it at the last moment because, according to Mr. Trump, the attack would likely kill 150 people or more and was not “proportionate to shooting down an unmanned drone.”

Where this will end is a matter of much conjecture. I’ve read many postulations on what this might all mean, prophetically speaking. None of us know, of course, but I, too, have a bit of cogitation on the matter running through the neuron-to-neuron synapses.

Could it be there’s another reason the Trump administration–the president–did not go through with a retaliatory strike, at least not as of the time of this writing? Might the thinking be centered around a much more profound purpose?  Could the strike be delayed because he wants to give the ayatollahs enough rope to hang themselves? That is, might the thinking be that by allowing Iran to show its unbridled hostility, a case might be soon made–and accepted by a to-this-point reluctant international community–that action must be taken to avoid a much greater conflict? One that would be nuclear?

The real object of concern in all this is Iran’s determination to get nuclear weapons. They have broken most all agreements and have gone ahead with their developments of their nuclear program. This was true even before Trump withdrew America from the “nuclear  deal” made by American Secretary of State Jon Kerry during the Obama administration.

Trump said it was a disastrous deal and he has repeatedly declared that Iran will not get nuclear weapons. I’m just wondering out loud whether his patience in not retaliating at this time is because there are plans of much more significance. I’m thinking of the complete destruction of Iran’s nuclear program that is supposedly harbored within that nation’s mountainous areas. If so, the whole thing could have prophetic possibilities–considering the Elam prophecies, etc.

Even if there is interim military action against Iran’s aggressiveness–a real possibility–it seems that the Elam prophesies might loom in the near future. I was listening to my friend Phillip Goodman’s latest YouTube offering. He presented some fascinating points about what’s currently going on within that area known in biblical terms as Persia. I recommend that you check it out. Here is the link:

https://youtu.be/UH3IxO8V0bw

He points out in his lecture that God called  Persian leader and King Cyrus by name a couple of centuries before that king came to Israel’s rescue and freed it from Babylonian captivity. God actually named Cyrus! Here is the Scripture. Keep in mind that God is speaking to Israel, then to Cyrus, whom He names more than a century before Cyrus was born!

Thus saith the LORD, thy redeemer, and he that formed thee from the womb, I am the LORD that maketh all things; that stretcheth forth the heavens alone; that spreadeth abroad the earth by myself; That frustrateth the tokens of the liars, and maketh diviners mad; that turneth wise men backward, and maketh their knowledge foolish; That confirmeth the word of his servant, and performeth the counsel of his messengers; that saith to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be inhabited; and to the cities of Judah, Ye shall be built, and I will raise up the decayed places thereof: That saith to the deep, Be dry, and I will dry up thy rivers: That saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure: even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built; and to the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid.

Thus saith the LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him; and I will loose the loins of kings, to open before him the two leaved gates; and the gates shall not be shut; I will go before thee, and make the crooked places straight: I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron: And I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest know that I, the LORD, which call thee by thy name, am the God of Israel. For Jacob my servant’s sake, and Israel mine elect, I have even called thee by thy name: I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known me.

I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me: That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the LORD, and there is none else. (Isaiah 44:24-45:6)

God tells this godless king that there is no other God but the God of Israel. Again, He announces this to Cyrus, by name, more than a century before the Persian leader was born.

Israel was permitted then, through  Nehemiah, to later rebuild the Temple and restore Jerusalem, just as this prophecy foretells. What a Mighty God!

The people of modern-day Israel who hold to Jewish traditions and are considered religious Jews have embraced Donald J. Trump as a modern-day Cyrus. They have even minted a coin to that effect. Certainly, this president being brought into prominence on the world stage, considering all stage-setting we see for prophetic fulfillment, must be more than coincidence. Big things are afoot at this late hour!

–Terry