It's been busy, but good. I always love the beginning of the year, so fresh with promise of making a difference in a child's life. The end of the year is weary but happy, knowing we are sending the children to the next grade armed with knowledge and love, ready to grow some more on their life's path.
Despite coming home so tired lately, I praise the Lord for His enduring strength which He gives me generously. No matter how tired I am when I get home, after a time of cool beverage refreshment (lately ice water with lemon, but I'm anxious to try fruit-infused water this summer) and a period of quietude, I feel ready to read His word, write about Him on the blog, and pray some more.
Here are some news headlines I thought were particularly evocative of the end of the end times. We see ahead in God's word what will come to pass. And on the ground all around us we see motions drawing toward those events which will come to pass. Some, most, of the machinations are invisible to us, either because they take place in back rooms out of public view, or because they take place in the heavenlies and we are not privy. But with the times being what they are, more and more often we see the drawstring tightening, the hole closing, and the times darkening The few items below are examples of such machinations, attitudes, and events I believe play directly into the Tribulation prophecies to a larger than normal scale.
Israel National news reports,
EU Officials Appalled at Rise of Anti-Semitism in Europe
"At high level meeting with Jewish leaders, 18 EU member-state representatives are urged to wake up and lead the fight against Jew-hatred. ...European Jewish Association (EJA) General Director Rabbi Menachem Margolin led a briefing for EU ambassadors and officials at week's end, following the release of the most comprehensive survey to date on global anti-Semitism by the ADL, which revealed startling levels across the continent."
"Then you shall be left few in number, whereas you were as numerous as the stars of heaven, because you did not obey the LORD your God. "It shall come about that as the LORD delighted over you to prosper you, and multiply you, so the LORD will delight over you to make you perish and destroy you; and you will be torn from the land where you are entering to possess it. "Moreover, the LORD will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other end of the earth; and there you shall serve other gods, wood and stone, which you or your fathers have not known. (Deuteronomy 28:62-68)
'Startling levels.' That's an interesting phrase, especially for a newspaper not usually given to hyperbole.
Then there's this. On May 4, the Times of Israel reported that "Ukrainian Jews immigrate to Israel amid growing unrest; immigration from troubled country up 142%
"Almost 800 people arrived in the country over January-April, and over 200 have signed up for May. The agency noted these figures do not include those who have arrived as tourists and later completed the immigration process while already in the country."
Yet this week Israel National News (INN) says that "Reports of mass exodus of Ukrainian Jews are 'nonsense,' says Joint head"
In first interview since taking over as head of JDC, Alan Gill says Jews are not fleeing the violence en masse, and are not likely to in the future.
Yet the news article cities the same statistics as the Times of Israel. It is fair to say that in the Haaretz report, there are over 350,000 Jews in the Ukraine, many of the elderly and not planning to move anywhere. A thousand Jews moving back to Israel is very small sampling, however the fact that so many more Ukrainian Jews are moving back compared to the year before as INN reported, is also fair to look at.
What does the bible say?
In the Tribulation, Jews will be hunted and killed. Persecution levels will reach genocidal, bloodbath proportions. (Revelation 12:13; Jeremiah 30:7; Daniel 12:1).
The WWII Holocaust, the terrible time when millions of Jews were hunted and killed, was a preview for what is coming on the Day the LORD has set.
In other news, it is reported today that Russia and China have signed a gas exporting contract and in so doing seem to be moving toward a new Eurasian nation. Business Insider has the report:
Russia And China Sign Gas Pipeline Megadeal
Russia's Gazprom and China's China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC) have signed a historic 30-year contract to supply natural gas to China, according to Russia Today and confirmed by Bloomberg. The total value of the contract is $400 billion, Gazprom CEO Aleksey Miller told RT, although the price in the document remains a "commercial secret." Negotiations have been ongoing for more than a decade. ... The gas will be sent through a new eastern pipeline linking the countries. Reuters reports that Russia will invest $55 billion in gas exploration and pipeline construction and Beijing will give roughly $20 billion to Moscow as part of the agreement. ... Europe is Russia’s largest energy importer as it bought more than 160 billion cubic meters of natural gas in 2013, but tensions and sanctions over Putin's meddling in Ukraine have Russia looking elsewhere.
The Business Insider article has the facts, but what are we to make of it? Is there an analysis of what this means? Yes. Yves at Naked Capitalism reposted the take on this megadeal by a reporter for the Asian Times. He introduced the Asian Times reporter's analysis this way:
"Astute readers will no doubt point out that some of the elements of the Russia-Chinese emergent plan, such as reliance on gold-backed currencies, are sorely misguided. But the bigger point is that the two nations are looking hard for ways to undermine the US economic hegemony."
This week should provide the first real fireworks in the celebration of a new Eurasian century-in-the-making when Russian President Vladimir Putin drops in on Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing. You remember “Pipelineistan,” all those crucial oil and gas pipelines crisscrossing Eurasia that make up the true circulatory system for the life of the region. Now, it looks like the ultimate Pipelineistan deal, worth $1 trillion and 10 years in the making, will be inked as well. In it, the giant, state-controlled Russian energy giant Gazprom will agree to supply the giant state-controlled China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) with 3.75 billion cubic feet of liquefied natural gas a day for no less than 30 years, starting in 2018. That’s the equivalent of a quarter of Russia’s massive gas exports to all of Europe
Look at that. Russia's monstrously big.
Combined with Asia as ally or as one of the ten kingdoms, it dominates
Exit the Petrodollar, Enter the Gas-o-Yuan
And then, talking about anxiety in Washington, there’s the fate of the petrodollar to consider, or rather the “thermonuclear” possibility that Moscow and Beijing will agree on payment for the Gazprom-CNPC deal not in petrodollars but in Chinese yuan. One can hardly imagine a more tectonic shift, with Pipelineistan intersecting with a growing Sino-Russian political-economic-energy partnership. Along with it goes the future possibility of a push, led again by China and Russia, toward a new international reserve currency — actually a basket of currencies — that would supersede the dollar (at least in the optimistic dreams of BRICS members).
There's more good stuff at the link to Naked Capitalism, but there is much to consider here, prophetically.
What does the bible say?
The United States figures nowhere important in prophecy. By the time the Tribulation arrives, the US will likely be marginalized, insignificant, or maybe even reduced to rubble. We're nobody special, at least in the prophetic theater, which is 99% contained in the Bible Lands.
Russia, however, does figure prominently. God plans to use Russia to demonstrate His power and His protection of Israel. Ezekiel 38-39 has the story. (Begin with Ezekiel 38:1-4). Asia also figures in prophecy too. The Kings of the East come from Asia (Revelation 16:12).
There are prophesied to be ten kings reigning with the beast over ten kingdoms for a brief time at the end of history. Perhaps this megadeal is the demonstrable movement toward that. (Revelation 17:12). Europe is already united by open borders, economic alliances, and a common currency.
We've looked at God's people the Jews. We've looked at geo-political changes in the prophetic lands. Last, let's look at culture. The liberal media Huffington Post posted this video which apparently (according to them) has gone viral. It is listed as 'Most Popular' on their Gay pages. It is a snippet of a little boy reacting to learning that the two men talking with him are married. The boy looks to be about 5 or 6 years old. It is actually a three-year old video.
WATCH: This Kid's Reaction To Meeting A Gay Couple For The First Time Is Priceless
Transcript. Calen is the kid.
Calen: A husband is a boy.
Right.
Calen: A husband's a boy and a wife is a girl. But you two are husbands! A husband is a boy.
Yeah, we're both husbands
Calen: You're both husbands?! You married each other???!!! That's funny [smacking forehead, and not funny as in ha-ha but that's funny as in that's weird]
That's funny, right?
Calen: Yeah. It's usually husbands and wives. But this is the very first time I saw husbands and husbands!
Homosexual man leans into camera range, laughs- ha ha ha ha ha
Calen: So funny. [thinks, looks away] So that means you love each other.
Yeah.
Calen: Yeah. You're much alike. I'm going to play ping pong, You can play if you want to.
The liberal media is picking up on this (3 years late, I don't know why) and calling it "ridiculously adorable" "innocent" etc. One writer at Slate said
"kids who haven’t been indoctrinated with their parents’ animus tend to react to gay couples with open-hearted curiosity that quickly fades into apathy."
One commenter said, "what i want to know is what were 2 gays with a video camera and a child doing in the bathroom?" Good point.
What media is focusing on is the child's statement that they "must love each other." They trumpet his reaction as one totally without prejudice. But it is not so. The title could well be changed from "Kid reacts to gay couple" to "Kid confused by gay couple". What none of the articles picking up on this speak to his first reaction, with head smack no less; 'that's funny' [weird].
Matthew 18:5-6 says
And whoever receives one such child in My name receives Me; but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck, and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.
Homosexual union IS weird. It is unnatural. (Romans 1:26). There are two prophetic things here. First, any culture that engages in the perverted behavior of homosexuality is ripe for judgment, (Romans 1:18) and any nation that heartily approves of it is being judged already. (Romans 1:32).
Romans 1 is the picture of a process into degradation and God's judgment for that degradation.
Cultures that have become totally depraved such as the world in Noah's day, or the homosexuality that was rampant in Lot's day, are noted by Jesus to indicate that the time of judgment is near. (Luke 17:6, Genesis 6:5, Luke 17:28).
We will see in the near future if things come together quickly or not. I think they will. It seems that the prophetic activity is quickening each day. The Lord is always working so each day actually brings us closer to the Lord's re-appearance. Blessed is He. May His name always be exalted in the highest.
Charles Spurgeon said,
It is idle to talk about looking for His coming if we never set our house in order, and never put ourselves in readiness for His reception.
Are you ready?
