[The Last Generation Report] News from Bible Prophecy Blog: THURSDAY, MARCH 3...

THURSDAY, MARCH 3, 2011

Bible Prophecy Is Not a Singing Telegram

By Jack Kinsella 
The Omega Letter 

According to the online dictionary, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a severe anxiety disorder that can develop after exposure to any event that results in psychological trauma.

According to the Mayo Clinic PTSD symptoms include flashbacks, upsetting dreams, emotional numbness, a sense of hopelessness, memory problems, irritability, self-destructive behavior (drinking, drug abuse) trouble sleeping and concentration, hallucinations, etc.

PTSD is fairly common among combat veterans and those with dangerous, high-stress jobs like police and firefighters, victims of violent crime, and sometimes eyewitnesses to violent or stressful events.

Summarized in layman’s terms, PTSD is what happens when you’ve seen too much. Too much death. Too much mayhem. Too much chaos. Too much terror. Or sometimes, by knowing too much.

One can be traumatized by knowledge; it happens all the time. What is more traumatic than acquiring the knowledge that one has a terminal disease and six months to get one’s affairs in order?

The movie, “Asteroid” was all about the trauma experienced by a core group of scientists, politicians and other officials with knowledge of an approaching killer asteroid.

Should they inform the general public when there was no hope? What would it mean? Would civilization break down into chaos and lawlessness?

Knowledge is power. Not all power is good. It depends on who has it and what they use it for. In the 21st century, we even have a term to describe the effects of too much knowledge – information overload.

Think of it like electrical power. Electrical outlets are grounded to prevent too much power from burning up the lines or frying whatever is plugged into them.

Too much information with insufficient grounding can burn out a person as efficiently as a bad ground wire can fry a computer or a TV.

I get emails all the time from people that say they subscribe to the OL because they just can’t bear to watch TV anymore. They want to be in the know – but only on a need to know basis.

If I don’t need to know, I don’t want to know. I like it here inside my bubble.

For many Christians, Bible prophecy is like that. Sometimes, it is just too much information. If viewed from the perspective of the here & now, there isn’t much about it that is good news.

During a meeting the other day, somebody suggested trying to take a lighter, ominous tone – maybe lighten things up with a little humor.

It sounds like a great idea, except that the Middle East is descending into total chaos as Libya follows Egypt and Tunisia into the flames.

On the lighter side. . . ummm, er, well . . . (you see what I mean?)

How does one discuss the end of the world in a light and breezy manner, anyway? Singing telegram?

Dum, dum da dum, da dum. . . Woe unto the inhabitants of the earth . . . for the devil is come down to you, knowing he hath but a short time. . . da, dum.

(Maybe an accompanying dance routine?)

Bible prophecy is a wonderful witnessing tool for the unsaved. Most unbelievers are agnostic – they don’t rule out the existence of God, but they have their doubts.

Witnessing the unfolding of Bible prophecy before one’s eyes is powerful evidence that God is real. If God is real, then Satan is real.

Suddenly, the choices become crystal clear. On one side is salvation, heaven, and possibly the Rapture. On the other side is damnation, hell, with the probability of the Tribulation first.

But for Christians happy inside their bubble, Bible prophecy is an information invasion. They are saved but they don’t really want to know that the Lord is coming soon.

What does a person do with that kind of information? What do you tell your kids or your grandkids? (I recall my own kids hoping the Lord would wait until they learned to drive.)

Bible prophecy isn’t for everyone. For some, it is just too scary to even contemplate. For others, it is a kind of ‘gee-whiz’ trivia game in which every single happening is somehow connected to Bible prophecy.

For others, it is evidence that the Lord God is not just real, but that He is alive and deeply engaged in human affairs.

The chaos of the Middle East, Iran’s quest for nuclear weapons, Russia’s role as Iran’s patron, the climate change debate, global politics, America’s political decline, all these things are part of the Big Picture.

What that means is that what looks like uncontrolled chaos is really part of a larger, pre-ordained Divine Plan, already outlined in advance, like the program of a play.

Events up until now have followed that Divine Plan to the letter, which means that we can have confidence that all things will continue to play out as predicted.

God remains on the Throne and you can trust His Word. We will have earthquakes and famines and wars, (oh my!) together with rumors of wars, pestilential disease, ethnic unrest and strange celestial happenings.

But instead of being harbingers of doom, to us they are signs of redemption. It is not cause for fear, but rather grounds for eager anticipation.

The same Jesus that warned of war and tribulation and judgment also told the Church:

“In My Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.” (John 14:2-3)

How do we know He isn’t referring to His Second Coming in this passage?

When He is ready, He will come for us - and bring us to where He is – in his Father’s House.

Where is the Father’s House? That is where Jesus is preparing a place for us. It is where He is and where we will join Him.

Contrast that with the Second Coming, Jesus brings judgment on the earth, after which He sets up His Millennial Kingdom. Notice He is not in His Father’s House, containing many mansions, but returning in power and great glory.

He reigns during the Millennial Kingdom on earth from Jerusalem. So He can’t be referring to taking the Church to His Father’s House - in Jerusalem. But that’s where He will be at the Second Coming. In Jerusalem.

Right now, He is still preparing our place in Heaven. And when it is ready, He will come for us, and receive us unto Himself.

“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)

At the Rapture, the Lord descends, the Church rises, the Tribulation falls and the Church dwells with the Lord forever.

At the 2nd Coming, the Lord descends, the rebellion is crushed, the Jews are redeemed, the Messiah is anointed and He rules from Jerusalem for 1,000 years.

On the earth, gloom and doom and destruction and judgment on a Christ-rejecting world. But for the Church, it’s a singing telegram.

“Wherefore comfort one another with these words.” (1st Thessalonians 4:18)

Dum, de, dum dum dum dum.

Huckabee's Timing Good for 2012

By Chad Groening 
OneNewsNow.com 

A conservative political scientist is pleased former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee appears ready for a 2012 presidential run.

Huckabee recently told a group of reporters that he is "seriously contemplating" a 2012 bid. His final decision might be bolstered by a recent Gallup poll which put the former Arkansas governor at the top of a crowded GOP field with 18 percent, surpassing both Sarah Palin and Mitt Romney, both of whom had 16 percent. Five months ago Huckabee ranked third with 12 percent on a similar poll.

Dr. Charles W. Dunn is distinguished professor of government at Regent University's Robertson School of Government. He says timing is very important.

"His book A Simple Government could not have come out at a better time," Dunn observes. "The American people are fed up with the complexity of government - particularly, of course, the national government. The Government Accountability Office released this report of the ballooning cost of government."

The historian adds that Huckabee's recent trip to Israel helped raised the governor's foreign policy profile.

"Increasingly there are more Jews becoming Republicans - and while they haven't turned in the majority yet, they're seeing that President Obama does not represent their interests with regard to Israel," the educator offers. "And of course, evangelical Christians are very staunchly pro-Israel."

In addition, Dunn says unlike some of the other potential GOP candidates, Huckabee - an ordained Baptist minister - is conservative on the social issues.

Israel: Jewish Population Up, Arab Population Down

By Ryan Jones 
Israel Today 

Left-leaning Israeli leaders and international power brokers continue to try to scare Israelis into surrendering their biblical heartland by insisting that if they do not, Arabs will very soon outnumber Jews by a large margin west of the Jordan River.

They call it the “demographic threat,” but time and again, honest researchers have proven that such a threat simply does not exist. And even if it did, why should today’s Israelis be any less faithful to their biblical mandate than was David Ben Gurion, who declared Israel’s independence despite being actually outnumbered by the Arabs?

The latest study on demographics in the Holy Land was conducted by Yaakov Faitelson of the Institute for Zionist Strategies. It showed that there remains a strong and undiminished 66 percent Jewish majority in all territories west of the Jordan River, including the Palestinian-ruled areas of Judea and Samaria.

At the start of 2011, the number of Jews west of the Jordan River stood at just over 6.1 million. That figure exceeded by a whopping 234,500 the estimates made by Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics (ICBS) in 2007, meaning the Jewish population is growing much faster than even the “experts” expected.

And that trend will only continue with the Jewish fertility rate reaching 2.9 in 2010, which is much higher than every Arab nation in the region with the exceptions of Jordan and Syria.

At the same time, the Arab population west of the Jordan River is growing slower than expected. The number of Israeli Arabs stood at just over 1.5 million in 2010, which was 28,000 less than the ICBS had forecasted.

The figures were similar among the Palestinian Arabs.

In short, as 2010 began, there were 3.12 Jewish births for every 1 Arab birth west of the Jordan River, a long-term demographic trend that clearly favors the Jews, contrary to what everyone loves to claim.

And then there is the effect of immigration and emigration.

Nineteen thousand new Jewish immigrants arrived in Israel in 2010, an increase of 16 percent over 2009 and an increase of 39 percent over 2008. At the same time, the Palestinian Arabs are registering a net emigration of about 23,000 per year.

Previous estimates that portrayed the Jews as quickly becoming a minority west of the Jordan River were based on unsubstantiated Palestinian figures, which even the World Bank in 2006 concluded had been grossly exaggerated.

The truth is that the Jewish population west of the Jordan River has been increasing at a rapid pace for over 60 years, and is showing no signs of stopping. While the Arab population in the entire region has experienced a significant slow-down.

Sharia Law Protest at the White House‎

By Aaron Klein 
WorldNetDaily 

The imposition of Islamic law on the U.S. is the best solution for the country's economic woes, argued exiled British extremist Omar Bakri Mohammad in a WND interview.

Mohammad is the founder of controversial Muslim organizations. His followers are planning a protest in Washington today calling for American Muslims to "rise up" and impose Islamic law, or Shariah.

"You see, the problem of the economy of the West is that you have a bunch of capitalists who control all the resources and the remainder of the people are living in a very difficult position, some of them are below the lines of poverty," stated Mohammad, speaking from Lebanon, where he has been living since being booted from the U.K. in 2005.

"Islam is your solution, because we will bring the resources to the people," Mohammad continued. "Not to have the needs of the society controlled by some capitalist businessman, but rather the government must guarantee the needs of every individual – food, clothes, shelter, basic needs."

"And then anyone who wants more can work for himself," he added. "But right now the U.S. system is not even doing the basic things. And soon your country will be in more debt."

"We are offering you an alternative," he said.

Mohammad is the founder of Al Muhajiroun, a disbanded British extremist group that called for an Islamic state to be imposed in Europe and the U.S. The group was openly supportive of al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden and his ideology.

Mohammad left the U.K. following the July 2005 London bombings when the country's Times newspaper reported that "a dozen members" of Al-Muhajiroun "have taken part in suicide bombings or have become close to Al-Qaeda and its support network." Shortly thereafter, Mohammad was told by the British government he could not return.

Al Muhajiroun previously maintained a branch in Queens, N.Y., which claimed it disbanded following the Sept. 11 attacks. Remnants of the U.S.-based group formed another extremist organization, calling itself the Islamic Thinkers Society.

The group is planning a protest today in front of the White House calling for an Islamic state to be imposed on the U.S.

The protest is also being planned by Mohammad's former aide, Anjem Choudary, a British extremist who has said he will take part in today's demonstration. It was unclear whether Choudary will be granted entry into the U.S.

On Sunday, Choudary said in a radio interview President Obama must embrace Islam as a way of life or face the consequences of a trial under the Islamic court system.

Choudary claimed Obama was waging a war against Islam.

"[Obama] has promised all Muslims to be released from Guantanamo Bay. They are still languishing there even though he knows they are completely innocent," Choudary claimed.

"On top of that, he's increased the number of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, so he is a warmonger just as his predecessor was. And thirdly and more importantly," Choudary said, "the Muslims don't want democracy and freedom. Democracy and freedom are anathema to Islam and the Shariah."

Choudary said that at his protest, he will call on Obama and all Americans to "embrace Islam, not only as a religion but as a way of life."

Choudary continued:

"And at the same time, we will be issuing a warning that the presence of U.S. forces and U.S. personnel in Muslim countries, looking out for their interests, at the moment is very, very insecure. I think the Muslims are boiling angry around the world. This is something [Americans] should take very seriously."

Choudary turned his ire back to Obama, claiming the president was committing "crimes" against Muslims in Iraq and in Afghanistan.

He warned Obama:

"I do believe that the only way for him to save himself in this life and in the hereafter is to embrace Islam. Islam will eradicate all his sins; he will be like the day his mother gave birth to him. Otherwise, when we do implement the Shariah, obviously he will face the consequences of a trial under the Shariah court."

Choudary has publicly stated he believes the flag of Islam will fly over the White House. He repeated that contention in his radio interview.

"I do believe that as a Muslim every part of the world will be governed by the Shariah," he said. "So symbolically the flag of Islam will fly from every single country, every single nation."

Choudary says he expects thousands to come out to today's protest, which is also drawing counter protesters.

He currently presents himself as an Islamic lecturer and a leader of Britain's Shariah court. He is a founder and former chief of Al Muhajiroun.

After the group disbanded, Choudary then became a leader of Al Ghurabaa, which was reportedly a continuation of Al Muhajiroun. Al Ghurabaa was banned in 2006 by the U.K. for reportedly supporting terrorism.

Former Al Muhajiroun members led by Choudary reportedly continue their activism at public protests and on Internet forums under a new banner group called Ahlus Sunnah wal Jamaah.

Choudary in 2007 led a protest outside London's Central Mosque attended by WND. The protest called for the downfall of the British government for offering knighthood to novelist and essayist Salman Rushdie, who was accused by Muslims of defaming Islam and Muhammad in his 1988 book "The Satanic Verses."

Depictions of British flags were burned at Choudary's protest. Ralliers chanted, "Down with Britain, down with the Queen."