Now it Begins

What does our Future Look Like?

Ahmadinejad -- It would seem that the Hitler for our generation has been spouting off again, issuing threats of doom and gloom against the nation of Israel. Physically, he is also a lot like Hitler - very slight build, a funny cartoon face, and dubious facial hair. But all kidding aside, this man is the Number One Enemy of the Jews today. He has a satanic blood lust to see all Jews everywhere tortured, killed painfully, and driven into the sea. This is his over-arching ambition in life, and has been furiously stockpiling caches of weapons and technology towards this end.

The battle of Gog and Magog will be World War III, but it will not be the last war where all the nations of the world will surround Israel and attempt to defeat her. The battle of Armageddon will be the last battle to be fought. But all the players for WW III, prophesied by God in the Holy Bible,are now all taking the stage, assembling their armaments, and are waiting for the moment when they will all attack.

Certainly we are living in the "last-days" and Christ will be returning very soon. For some that will be a time of great joy, but for others will be much different.

The word of the Lord came to me: "Son of man, set your face against God, of the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal; prophesy against him and say: 'This is what the Sovereign Lord say: I am agains you, O Gog, cheif prince of Meshech and Tbal. I will turn you around, put hooks in you jaws and bring you out with your horsemen fully armed, and a great horde with large and small shields, all of them brandishing their swords. Persia, cush and Put will be with them, all with shields and helmets, also Gomer with all its troops, and Beth Togarmah from the far north with all its troops -- the many nations with you (Ezekiel 38:1-6).

To understand what is being stated, you need to know who the players are. God gives us the lists the major nations that will attack Israel, and they are:

1. Magog - this is modern day Russia
2. Persia - this is modern day Iran
3. Meshech and Tubal, Togarmah - this region is modern day Turkey
4. Ethiopia - this is modern Ethiopia
5. Libya - this is modern day Libya
6. Gomer - this is modern day Germany

Russia, the biggest End Times player, has already helped Iran build a nuclear reactor. Iran has repeated over and over their desire to wipe Israel off the map. Iran now has nuclear weapons capable of reaching Israel.

Militant Islam has two goals in our day and age. The first is that of spreading Islam to every country in the world. Second is the complete and total destruction of the Jewish people. Listen to this hatredin their own words, I don't want to be guilty of misstating their position:

This is not the position of just the "radical extreme", no, it's the position of hundreds of millions of Muslims today, and they are united in their desire to see harm come to Israel, and more important, the Jews themselves. Ideally, they would like to "drive the Jews into the sea" so that they might claim Jerusalem as their own.

Our future has been planned...there is no stopping it. Christ will be proclaimed Lord of Lords one day. That you can count on. It is not a question on how, but when!

The Promise Land

On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram and said, "To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great, the Euphrates -- the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites, and Jebusites"

(Genesis 15:18-21).

Note the territory, according to Scripture.

There is a common misperception, that the Jews were forced into the diaspora by the Roman after the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem in 70 A.D. and then, 1,8000 years later, suddenly returned to Palestine demanding their country back.

In reality, the Jewish people have maintained ties to their historic homeland for more than 3,700 years. A national language and a distinct civilization have been maintained. The Jewish people base their claim to the land of Israel on at least four premises:

1. God promised the land to the patriarch Abraham;
2. The Jewish people settled and developed the land;
3. The international community granted political sovereignty in Palestine to the Jewish people and
4. The territory was captured in defensive wars.

The term "Palestine" is believed to be derived from the Philistines, an Aegean people who, in the 12th Century B.C., settled along the Mediterranean coastal plain of what is now Israel and the Gaza Strip. In the second century A.D., after crushing the last Jewish revolt, the Romans first applied the name Palaestina to Judea (the southern portion of what is now called the West Bank) in an attempt to minimize Jewish identification with the land of Israel. The Arabic word "Filastin" is derived from this Latin name.

When Jews began to immigrate to Palestine in large numbers in 1882, fewer than 250,000 Arabs lived there, and the majority of them had arrived in recent decades. Palestine was never an exclusively Arab country, although Arabic gradually became the language of most the population after the Muslim invasions of the seventh century. No independent Arab or Palestinian state ever existed in Palestine. When the distinguished Arab-American historian, Princeton University Prof. Philip Hitti, testified against partition before the Anglo-American Committee in 1946, he said: "There is no such thing as 'Palestine' in history, absolutely not." In fact, Palestine is never explicitly mentioned in the Koran, rather it is called "the holy land" (al-Arad al-Muqaddash).

Today there are many misconcepts; many that have been developed by those who have not right to claims any land that belows to Israel. Israel's international "birth certificate" was validated by the promise of the Bible; uninterrupted Jewish settlement from the time of Abram onward; the Balfour Declaration of 1917; the League of Nations Mandate, which incorporated the Balfour Declaration; the United Nations partition resolution of 1947; Israel's admission to the UN in 1949; the recognition of Israel by most other states; and, most of all, the society created by Israel's people in decades of thriving, dynamic national existence.

Revelation 19:11-16

Tomorrow will come in His Timing
Not Ours!

I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and makes war. His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. Out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. He will rule them with an iron scepter. he treads the wine press of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.

Revelation 19:11-16

2012 - Fact or Fiction?

2012

Signs of the End of the Age
Matthew 24

There has been much talk about the world coming to an end, but it is only talk. Scripture is very direct when it comes to prophecy. Jesus answered, "Watch out that no one deceived you" in Matthew 24:4. He lays out a step-by-step outline of what needs to be completed prior to His return.

• Many will come claiming to be Christ, "I am the Christ" Matthew 24:5.

• You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come Matthew 24:6.

• Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places Matthew 24:7.

• You will be handled over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me Matthew 24:9.

• Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, Matthew 24:12

• And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come Matthew 24:14.

But He also stated that "all these signs are but birth pains and not His return." In Matthew 24:15, He states: "So when you see standing in the holy place the abomination that causes desolation spoken in the prophet Daniel -- let the reader understand -- then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let no one on the roof of his house go down to take anything out of the house. Let no one in the field go back to get his cloak." ABOMINATION THAT CAUSES DESOLATION is Satan taking over the earth and proclaiming himself as god within the Temple.

So when people state December 21, 2012 as the end of this world...think back to what they said about Y2K not so long ago. Matthew 24:36, "No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, not the Son, but only the Father."

For the Glory of It All

Why Holloween?

Most holidays commemorate or celebrate something. But what about Halloween? What is Halloween actualy a celebration of? And how did this peculiar custom originate? Is it, as some claim, a kind of demon worship? Or is it just a harmless vestige of som ancient pagan ritual where folks get together for parties, dress-up in costumes, and bob for apples?

The word itself, "Halloween," actually has its orgins in the Catholic Church. It comes from a contracted corruption of All Hallows Eve. November 1, "All Hollows Day" (or "All Saints Day"), is a Catholic day of observance in honor of saints. But, in the 5th century BC, in Celtic Ireland, summer officially ended on October 31st. The holiday was called Samhain (sow-en), the Celtic New Year.

One story says that, on that day, the disembodied spirits of all those who had died throughout the preceding year would come back in search of living bodies to possess for the next year. The Celts believed all laws of space and time were suspended during this time, allowing the spirit world to intermingle with the living.

Naturally, the still-living did not want to be possessed, so on the night of October 31st, villagers would extinguish the fires in their homes, to make them cold and undesirable. they wourl then dress up in all manner of ghoulish costumes (similar to today's Halloween Costumes), and noisily parade around the neighborhood, being as destructive as possible in order to frighten away spirits looking for bodies to possess.

Probably a better explanation of why the Celts extinguished their fires was not to discourage spirit possession, but so that all the Celtic tribes could relight their fires from a common source, the Druidic fire that was kept burning in the Middle of Ireland, at Usinach.

Some accounts tell of how the Celts would burn someone at the stake who was thought to have already been possessed, as sort of a lesson to the spirits. Other accounts of Celtic history debunk these stories as myth.

The Romans adopted the Celtic practices as their own. But in the first century AD, Samhain was assimilated into celebrations of some of the other Roman traditions that took place in October, such as their day to honor Pomona, the Roman goddess of fruit and trees. The symbol of Pomona is the apple, which might explain the origin of our modern tradition of bobbing for apples on Halloween.

In Greek Mythology, goddesses of the underworld were often used to invoke the Samhain. Popular costumes portray Hecate and Medusa. Hecate was the most favored goddess by Zeus, and wandered the emptiness between the worlds of life and death looking for souls of the dead. Both were considered serpent goddesses, and their ancient dark legends spawned myths such as vampires, who fed off the living using venom and snake-like fangs. Ritualistic dress includes snake adornments and three headed masks. Today, Hecate is often referred to as the goddess of witches.

© 1995-2011 by Jerry Wilson

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Glenn Murray: Practical thoughts on Jesus [DVD Cut] from Glenn Murray on Vimeo.

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