Today: They Don’t Burn Books; They Bury Them

Mark Levin is an American lawyer, author, and radio personality. He is a firebrand for constitutional conservative beliefs. He specializes in exposing leftist tactics by the Democrats and the liberal media. He is the host of the syndicated radio show The Mark Levin Show, as well as Life, Liberty & Levin on Fox News.

Mark has some of his greatest success in the book world. He authored the 2005 book Men In Black: How The Supreme Court Is Destroying America, in which he advanced his thesis that activist judges on the Supreme Court have “legislated from the bench.” Liberty and Tyranny: A Conservative Manifesto was released in 2009 and became a #1 New York Times bestseller for eleven to twelve weeks. His 2013 book The Liberty Amendments laid out a plan for restoring the American Republic by suggesting eleven new constitutional amendments.

This latest book has just been released. It is called Unfreedom of the Press, and the liberal media are going to need to get the smelling salts. Just check out the Amazon description:

“… A groundbreaking and enlightening book that shows how the great tradition of the American free press has degenerated into a standard profession that has squandered the faith and trust of the American public, not through the actions of government officials, but through its own abandonment of reportorial integrity and objective journalism.”

Because Satan has found that the liberal media make for an effective tool for guiding and controlling society, it is a must order. Levin doesn’t understand the demonic link to the media, but a Christian reading the book can see Satan’s hand at work.

I was motivated to write about Mark’s new book, but not because of its content; I wrote about it because I could not find it on Amazon.com. It will come right up if you type in “Unfreedom of the Press.” If you had never heard of the book, it’s unlikely that you would stumble across the book. As I was searching through the various categories in the Book section of Amazon, I could not find the book that was their current #1 seller.

Wal-Mart sells more bananas than any other product. They are generally located in the front of the store in the central area of the produce department. If Wal-Mart had the bananas in the far back corner in the fabric section, there would be many complaints.

It is very strange that a company that started out as a bookseller and has become the go-to place for ranking of books would make it so hard to find the current top seller. In the book section there is a list of Celebrity Picks, which are books picked out by mostly liberal celebrities. On top is a Book Awards section, which is by leftist-leaning organizations. I didn’t find Levin’s book in the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Books, which is a requirement for every book page. There is a Best Books of the Month section, which I’m guessing were hand-selected by Amazon staff.

Mark Levin has set a trap for the New York Times. In one of his chapters, he details how the NYT downplayed the holocaust, the largest mass murder of human beings in history. I think the NYT will break from decades of tradition of listing their book of raw sales. The NYT will create a new form of tabulation that largely overlooks Levin’s book.

It would be a very shocking sight to see piles of books being burned by a government that approved of a set content. Because Amazon can block what people are able to see in their search results, we might as well have scenes of Brown Shirt Nazis emptying physical libraries and burning books that fail to meet up to the new Aryan standard. Because censorship only requires a few lines of computer code, books can be buried with little notice.

The madness that has become the left is likely the same group who will murder tribulation saints. The Democratic Party is so sure of their moral footings that they will soon kill believers with not the slightest trace of guilt.

“They will put you out of the synagogue; in fact, the time is coming when anyone who kills you will think they are offering a service to God” (John 16:2).

–Todd

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The Snare Is Set

Hal Lindsey, of The Late, Great, Planet Earth fame, called it “the great snatching up.” The mental picture is of one of those old Jungle Jim films starring Johnny Weissmuller in his post-Tarzan days.

A leopard or other big cat would be stalking through a thick jungle and suddenly it would be violently snatched up when it hit a certain trip mechanism on the snare. A thick net would grab the beast and it would spring upward with the enraged cat, keeping it encased while it flailed mightily above the jungle floor. Jungle Jim would then have captured a leopard for a zoo or he would have rid the area of a man-eater. It was all very exciting for a boy of ten or so sitting in an air-conditioned  movie theater munching popcorn back in those days.

Before those beasts could be caught up, of course, much preparation was made by the one doing the capture. Jungle Jim would usually order natives of the area to carefully place the net flat in a jungle pathway, then camouflage it. The sapling or thick branch was then bent to provide the tremendous spring the trap would need to capture and hold a 150-pound or larger leopard. With the big cat captured, the people left on the ground would be safe from its prowling about and possibly its attacking the most vulnerable inhabitants of the African countryside.

Hal Lindsey, of course, was talking about “the great snatching up” in reverse, so to speak. He, in his biblically prophetic study of times surrounding his writing The Late, Great, Planet Earth, was talking about the prophecy given by Jesus as recorded by the Apostle Luke:

And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares. For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man. (Luke 21:34-36)

In this case, as laid out by the Lord, Himself, the viciousness of the beast world will be left on the earth, and the people to be protected will be snatched into the air to safety. Peter the apostle says this about the one who is even now on the ground that surrounds us, looking to attack us: “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8).

The Apostle Paul tells us in great detail about this “snatching up.” Here is the prophecy most directly pertinent:

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. (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17)

 Harpazo, as many know, is the Greek word to express being “caught up.” People who live to experience the Rapture and Christians who have died during the Church Age (Age of Grace) will be “caught up” or “snatched up.” It will happen in the “twinkling of an eye” (1 Corinthians 15:52).

This instantaneous event that removes God’s people from deadly conditions on earth, unlike ol’ Jungle Jim’s snare that leaves people safe on the ground from the leopard while removing the evil, takes no preparation by any human agency. Jesus finished all preparation on the cross at Calvary when He said, “It is finished.”

All one must do to be removed in that twinkling-of-an-eye moment is to believe in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ according to Romans 10:9-10. While no preparation needs be made beyond simply accepting that call to salvation, the snare is set that will soon leave the world of rebels against God to face the roaring lion described by Peter.

We have, in these commentaries over the years, gone over in depth all of the signals Jesus and the prophets foretold will be in view at the time of this snare-like intervention into the affairs of rebellious earth dwellers. Those indicators are literally everywhere we look upon the planet’s end-times horizon. The spiritually attuned believer can know when that end-times generation will appear at the very end of the age.

Israel, the fig tree in prophetic symbolism, is the key sign.

Again, we look at Scripture to see that the snare is now set that will catapult Christians to Heaven.

And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh. And he spake to them a parable; Behold the fig tree, and all the trees; When they now shoot forth, ye see and know of your own selves that summer is now nigh at hand. So likewise ye, when ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand. Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass away, till all be fulfilled. Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away. And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares. For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth.

–Terry

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We at Rapture Ready join Rev Graham in asking all of our friends and RR family to pray for the president June 2.

We also ask that you pray daily for him and for the nation.

Here is Franklin Graham’s request.

 

Dear Friend, Along with 250+ Christian leaders, I am asking followers of Christ across our nation to set aside next Sunday, June 2, as a special day of prayer for the President, Donald J. Trump. President Trump’s enemies continue to try everything to destroy him, his family, and the presidency. In the history of our country, no president has been attacked as he has. I believe the only hope for him, and this nation, is God. This is a critical time for America. We’re on the edge of a precipice. Time is short. We need to pray for God to intervene. We need to ask God to protect, strengthen, encourage, and guide the President. We know that God hears and answers prayer. He can soften hearts and change minds. He is all-powerful, and He rules over the affairs of nations. The Bible instructs us to pray for those in authority, “that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior” (1 Timothy 2:2–3, NKJV). On June 2, we ask that pastors would lead their congregations in praying for the President, that Sunday schools and other groups would join together and pray, and that individuals and families across the country would have a special focus on praying for the President that day. Would you please join us in prayer and tell others so that we can have as many people as possible praying? Sincerely, Franklin Graham President, Billy Graham Evangelistic Association & Samaritan’s Purse

The Ministry of Truth

There is growing fixation on the part of various organizations to control people’s access to information. They are of the mindset that all data needs to pass through a filter before it reaches the public. Because they have granted themselves a monopoly on truth, they are able to separate fact from fiction.

In the past several months, several journalist institutes have released “blacklists” of media outlets they deemed as “unreliable.” One list created by an employee of the left-wing Southern Poverty Law Center overwhelmingly contains conservative news media outlets. This mirrors the SPLC’s “hate group” list, which contains mainstream conservative organizations alongside racist organizations.

The SPLC once did important work filing civil rights lawsuits against the Ku Klux Klan in the 1970s. But it has become a caricature of itself, labeling virtually anyone who does not fall in line with its left-wing ideology an “extremist” or “hate group.” When it was recently announced that SPLC was rampaged with institutional racism and sexual harassment of employees, the liberal media ignored the charges. The press continues to use SPLC as the go-to authority on hate.

The Poynter Institute for Media Studies, a Florida-based nonprofit journalism school, released its own list that declared dozens of mainstream conservative sites such as the Washington Free Beacon, Daily Caller, Daily Signal, CNS News, and Breitbart as “unreliable” while listing a few liberal sites. After receiving complaints, Poynter conducted an audit and “found weaknesses in the methodology” used to categorize 515 news sites, according to a letter from editor Barbara Allen. “We regret that we failed to ensure that the data was rigorous before publication, and apologize for the confusion and agitation caused by its publication,” Allen wrote.

Facebook has been in the doghouse ever since it was alleged that Russia helped the Trump campaign. Nobody cared that the social media site was openly supporting Obama. Chris Hughes, who co-founded Facebook with Mark Zuckerberg, is calling for the firm to be broken up:

“Because Facebook so dominates social networking, it faces no market-based accountability,” Hughes argues. “This means that every time Facebook messes up, we repeat an exhausting pattern: first outrage, then disappointment and, finally, resignation.” Facebook, which also owns Instagram and WhatsApp, lacks true competition, Hughes writes; Mark Zuckerberg has too much unchecked control over the company’s direction and the content posted by its users. “Mark’s power is unprecedented and un-American,” Hughes says, in a strident turn.

At this point, Zuckerberg would likely welcome a body to regulate Facebook’s content. I’m sure the SPLC is eager to help the site to determine which members and organizations are fit to have active accounts. Facebook is already doing everything it can to limit Christians’ access to social media.

The obsession with being the gatekeepers has begun to reach into the financial world. Anti-Islam activists Tommy Robinson, YouTuber Sargon of Akkad, and Alex Jones of Infowars have all been banned from various financial sites. I am amazed that people have not reacted to this fascist tactic. Yeah, I think Alex Jones is a nut job, but we are clearly headed down a dangerous path by him being blocked from receiving payments.

The activist group SumOfUs has successfully forced Mastercard to hold a vote by shareholders on a proposal which, if passed, could see the company monitoring payments to global far-right political leaders. It would see the formation of a “human rights committee” at the board level, which would monitor financial transactions with designated hate groups. If you are opposed to the Progressive liberal agenda, SumOfUs thinks you should be added to the hate list.

It greatly distresses me to see Rapture Ready being restricted by internet giants. Our enemies’ compulsion does offer me some comfort. With the mark of the beast system rapidly taking shape, the time of the Anti-Christ’s arrival must be very near. Since we leave this world 3 1/2 years before he comes to full power, the rapture is far more urgent.

“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….” (Rev 13:16-18).

–Todd

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Discernment All-Important

This world has gone crazy–completely nuts!

How many times lately have you thought or said that, or heard someone else make such an observation? I, myself, make it on an almost daily basis these days. I discern that these are the most out-of-control times I’ve observed in 76 years of life. I really mean that. There are things happening today within this nation the likes of which I’ve never witnessed.

• Things like a former pediatrician, now governor of a state, approving and even pushing that babies scheduled for abortion be legally murdered if they survive the procedure and are born.
• Things like men marrying men and women marrying women, with approval and even smiles of elation by many in the nation.
• Things like grown men being allowed to use public toilet facilities at the same time little girls and women are using the same facilities–all because the man supposedly is conflicted about his gender.
• Things like an 18-year-old young man with his underage transgender friend who is trying to turn into being a male shooting up a public elementary school because he hates Christians and President Trump.
• Things like the mainstream media that totally ignores this hate-filled act against Christians, yet engages in 24/7 coverage if such murderous hate is directed at Muslims.
• Things like sanctuary cities giving every amenity through tax dollars to illegal aliens, even those who murder citizens of those cities.
• Things like people, because of political ideology, who are so-called comedians or entertainers being allowed to talk about wanting to assassinate a president and not being arrested.
• Things like drug users and others being allowed to defecate and urinate on public streets in San Francisco and strew used drug needles in children’s playgrounds, all the while receiving protection from those cities’ governments that allow them to do so.
• Things like allowing a few Millennials who think America is the cause of all the world’s problems, because they have been taught this insanity through a now-perverted educational system, to change a major political party from one merely liberal to completely reprobate and anti-God.
• Things like a congressional committee chairman who hates the president demanding that the attorney general of the United States break the law and give him information that the law forbids him receiving–else holding the AG in contempt of Congress.
• Things like the Democrat speaker of the house being at the head of the party who has broken constitutional law at every juncture as part of the Trump Derangement Syndrome and yet accusing the president as being one who acts contrary to the Constitution of the United States.
• Things like the entire mainstream media, both news and entertainment, being totally against a president based only on the fact that he beat the candidate they wanted to be president.
• Things like that same media, the Democrat Party and even a number of those who claim to be part of the president’s party so hating him that they supported, and continue to do so, outright lies and a vile, fake dossier they themselves cooked up to try to ruin his presidency.
• Things like the top echelon of America’s FBI, CIA, and others of the intelligence services going along and even being complicit in these efforts to try a coup against a president who has inarguably lifted the nation economically, militarily, and, I’m of the opinion, in other ways.
• Things like those who mention the name of Jesus Christ and the need for the lost of the world to receive the grace of His redemptive act on the cross being called “haters”–and even being prosecuted for hate speech.
• Things like the tiny nation of Israel being assaulted by enemies all around, yet world opinion blaming the Jewish state for the hatred against it.
• Things like today’s rise of anti-Semitism, with the Holocaust and the anti-Semitism that spawned the Nazi regime not far back in the world’s collective memory.

I’m sure you can think of even more egregious examples of the madness of this strange age.

All of this is to make the point that we are at a time where those who name the name of Christ should strive to appropriate discernment as never before. This generation is observably bumping up against the very end of the Age of Grace–the Church Age.

Jesus said the following to the Judaizers–the Pharisees and Sadducees who mocked Him and asked for “a sign” that He was the Messiah even though Jesus had performed and was even then performing miracles and wonders prophesied by Israel’s prophets long before Christ’s time on earth.

When it is evening, ye say, It will be fair weather: for the sky is red. And in the morning, It will be foul weather to day: for the sky is red and lowring. O ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times? (Matthew 16:2-3)

All Christians have within themselves the ability to discern the signals of Christ’s soon bringing an end to this world system. This is a gift from the Creator to those who love Him. It is a distinguishing mark that separates the believer from the nonbeliever. Again, Paul wrote under inspiration of the Holy Spirit who indwells each and every believer.

“But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Corinthians 2:14).

This is why Bible prophecy–eschatology, the study of end things–is so important. God has provided a road map of generally what to look for as we travel the course toward the end of the age. The Christian–the spiritually-attuned believer–can discern these weird, troubling times unfolding around us.

It is with this preface that I herein announce my next book. The title will be Discerners: Analyzing Converging Prophetic Signs for the End of Days.

We are working hard to produce this volume. It will be what I believe–based upon the brilliantly written chapters by the authors I’ve read so far–a book that has been given us by the Lord to present at this crucial time. I’m greatly inspired by what the sixteen authors–some of the best known writers, broadcasters, teachers, and ministers–have to say about discerning these times in which we are privileged to live.

We hope to have the book ready by July and will keep you informed. We will ask for as many preorders as possible. We want to get this book into the hands of many, many pastors and teachers as well as into the hands of each of you who want to be discerners like the Lord Jesus Himself obviously exhorts us to be.

–Terry