HEADLINES IN PARTNERSHIP WITH - PROPHECY …



Date 11/22/15? PROPHECY UPDATE NEWS HEADLINESYesterday's Prophecies - Today's HeadlinesHEADLINES IN PARTNERSHIP WITH?TRACKING BIBLE PROPHECY heads to Israel this week for talks on terror surgeKerry visit to Israel and Palestine not about peace accord, says US official 4 wounded in Kiryat Gat stabbing attackSuspected terrorist attack foiled in Hebron: Palestinian woman arrested with knifeIsraeli military says it shuts down Palestinian radio station that was inciting violenceU.N. Security Council Unanimously Votes to Adopt France's Counterterrorism ResolutionUN Secretary General Ban urges Russia, US, to cooperate on terrorism Russia kills 10 militants who had sworn allegiance to ISIS Brussels terror alert: Belgium warns of 'imminent attack' as restaurants and cafes ordered shutUS Embassy in Brussels: American citizens in Belgium should stay indoorsParis attacks: Security around city's water system upgraded following atrocitiesFBI: Officials taking report about ISIS threat seriously at Philips Arena in AtlantaParis attacks caused archbishop to 'doubt' presence of GodAfter Paris, Pope Francis Tells Christians to Be Ready for the End of the WorldParis and Mali Attacks Expose Lethal Qaeda-ISIS RivalryObama reaffirms commitment to destroying ISISPlane from New York to Turkey diverted to Canada over bomb threatSword-wielding man causes panic at New York Apple storeSuspected Islamists kill 10 in Cameroon suicide bombing'Nearly impossible' to find jihadists among migrants, Greeks warnHonduras detains Syrian, Pakistanis traveling illegally - policeHillary: Muslims 'Have Nothing Whatsoever To Do With Terrorism'Muslim Countries Refuse to Take A Single Syrian Refugee, Cite Risk of Exposure to TerrorismUS urged to reject bomb sales to Saudi ArabiaForeign drone crashes in southern IranIran trains for capture of Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa, but uses Dome of Rock modelIn Berlin, Europe's biggest department store takes settlement goods off shelvesNetanyahu to Germany: Take action against department store that removed Israeli goods State of emergency, blackout in Russia's Crimea after transmission towers in Ukraine blown up Bill Maher on Terror Attacks: Wouldn't Being Armed at Least Give Citizens a Chance?Trump: 'I want surveillance of certain mosques'Poll: 40 Percent Of Millennials Want Speech CensoredFed's Williams Sees 'Strong Case' for Dec Increase If Data Holds UpSoutheast Asia Creates Unified Economic Community5.5 magnitude earthquake hits near Ovalle, Chile5.3 magnitude earthquake hits near Neiafu, Tonga5.0 magnitude earthquake hits near San Pablo Villa de Mitla, Mexico5 Oklahoma earthquakes of 2.6 magnitude or greater recorded so far SaturdayColima volcano in Mexico erupts to 23,000ftSheveluch volcano on Kamchatka, Russia erupts to 20,000ftCopahue volcano in Argentina erupts to 14,000ftRinjani volcano in Indonesia erupts to 12,000ftMyanmar Landslide Kills Dozens, With at Least 100 Still MissingRare November Snowstorm Targets Beijing, Northern ChinaWinter Storm Bella Dumps Up to 16 Inches of Snow in Chicago Suburbs; Record November Snowstorm in Moline, Illinois14 inches of snow in southern Sioux Falls crushes recordHomicides of transgender women in US reach alarming highVatican indicts 5 in Vatileaks caseHum with guns: Rio's elite police meditate for peace of mindPROPHECY UPDATE NEWSLETTERSTAY INFORMED, GET EQUIPPED, BE ENCOURAGEDPre-Millennium - Pre-Tribulation - PrePARED*If you missed an issue or did not receive your daily copy - All Newsletters are archived at:?? TODAY'S NEWSLETTER...?Featured Article: God's Blessing Game?Massive Russian blanket air bombardment is flattening Raqqa?Iran Guard simulates capture of Al Aqsa Mosque?Analysis: How Iran exploits ISIS to wage terror?A Hook in the Jaw?: Israel's oil in Golan, Megiddo-Jezreel Valley??What's the Point?: End Times and Using the Time We Have Left??Repullulat: Life can 'bud afresh'?God's Blessing Game - Commentary by Jack Kelley - year at Thanksgiving I'm reminded of the holiday's origin, the Jewish Feast of Tabernacles. It was the crowning event in Israel's cycle of fall feasts that also included Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. It was a celebration of the harvest, of God's mercy in forgiving their sins for another year, and a remembrance of the time when He lived among them in the wilderness, setting them apart as His people.?When the Pilgrims had experienced their first successful harvest in the New World, they decided to give thanks for the Lord's provision, even though half of them had died in the year since their arrival. Inviting the neighboring natives to join them, they held a three-day celebration patterned after their knowledge of the Feast of Tabernacles.?Here's How It All Began?The Jews were about to enter the Promised Land. The Lord had Moses tell them that in the future they were to set aside a tithe (1/10th) of their production each year and bring it, along with all their other voluntary offerings, to the place He would choose for them to worship Him. They were to eat them there in a gigantic national feast. Think of it, 1/10th of all the lambs, goats and cattle born that year, 1/10th of the grain, vegetables and fruit from throughout the land, breads and cakes and barrels of wine.?Each fall, after the harvest, everyone in Israel came to Jerusalem to celebrate. It was the biggest Thanksgiving dinner ever. The sounds of laughing and singing and the aroma of exotic foods? filled the air for a whole week as the people gave thanks to God for blessing them (Deut. 12:8-12, 17-19).?Every third year they gave their tithes to the Levites and stayed home. This assured that there was always enough to take care of the Levites (who were the teachers and doctors and lawyers and had no land to till) and all the widows and orphans, the indigent, and the aliens among them. Each year they celebrated His provision and the Lord blessed them with more so that their abundance grew. He commanded them to do this every year so that He could "bless them in all the works of their hands." (Deut. 14:22-29) By setting the Lord's share aside and then using it to give thanks to Him, they found that each year their blessing increased.?But after their return from the Babylonian captivity, the Lord caught them cheating Him. He warned them that they had put themselves under a curse because they weren't setting aside their tithes properly. They were giving the Lord their worst, not their best, and even this was being done resentfully as if it was a great burden. Because of this they were not being blessed but were working harder and harder for less and less. "Return to me and I'll return to you," He told them. "Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse. Test me in this and see if I don't throw open the flood gates of Heaven and pour our so much blessing that you won't have room enough for it." (Malachi 1 & 3:7-10)?And that's always the way it is with the Lord. No hard feelings, no resentment, just return to Him and He'll return to you. All is forgiven, because His mercies are new every morning. We can always begin right where we are and He'll respond as if the past had never happened.?The Rules Of The Game?So by these two passages we learn the rules of what I call God's Blessing Game. We show our gratitude by giving God His due and He blesses us with more. We increase our giving and He increases His blessing, allowing us to give still more. And on it goes. But when we become stingy or resentful and try to short-change God, then the blessings are curtailed accordingly.?The Israelites proved beyond all doubt that by following the rules of the game they could win every time. And they demonstrated the futility of cheating. But is there any New Testament version of God's Blessing Game? Of course there is, because God is the same yesterday today and forever. Luke 6:38 tells us "Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you."?Show a little gratitude and get a little blessing. Show a little more and the blessings increase. The more generous we become the more abundant our blessings will be. Paul gave us the ultimate outcome in 2 Cor. 9:11. You'll be made rich in every way so you can be generous on every occasion. Every time we feel moved to help someone out, we'll find the money's there to do it. And it will all result in thanksgiving to God.?Treasure In Heaven?Lots of people overlook the last half of this promise, and find that because they do it doesn't come true. The Lord didn't promise to make us rich so that we could have bigger houses and more cars, He promised to make us rich so that we could be more generous. As one commentator has put it, "God's blessings are not to increase our standard of living. but to increase our standard of giving."?? We're supposed to be a distribution center for His blessings, not a warehouse.? The blessings we receive are supposed to flow through to others, not stop with us. The riches we store up are for Heaven, not Earth. Good thing too, because here they only last a little while, but there they last forever. (Matt. 6:19-20)?This is God's Blessing Game. It's a game that He developed and that everyone can win. The rules are clear and don't ever change. We establish the level of blessings we'll receive by the gratitude we express through our generosity toward others.? The Lord loves a cheerful giver and will reward us accordingly.?So the Pilgrims decided to take a lesson from the Israelites. They took the little they had and gave thanks, inviting the natives in their midst to join them to show their generosity. In return the Lord blessed them. And so it began. To one degree or another, it's been going on ever since and look how we've been blessed. Americans are the richest people on Earth.? If you don't believe that, try living somewhere else, anywhere else, for a while.?It's Our Little Secret?It's a testimony to God's understanding of the human condition that the Thanksgiving Holiday's roots have been obscured. You see, he longs to bless us but the rules of the game require an expression of gratitude on our part. By allowing Thanksgiving to be perceived as a secular holiday instead of a religious one, He can receive our thanks without risking the same demand that He be taken out of the loop as there is for Christmas. There's no public outcry by the pagans, no suits by the ACLU, and no attacks by other religions against its origin. Very few people are even aware of the Biblical roots of this "American" holiday. But being devout Christians, the Pilgrims knew Who they were thanking, and why. You and I do, too. It's our little secret. Ours and God's.?I pray that your Thanksgiving was a happy one, and that throughout the holidays you'll remember the rules of God's Blessing Game and always play to win.Massive Russian blanket air bombardment is flattening Raqqa - has launched a merciless blanket air campaign, backed by Kalibr cruise missiles fired from the Caspian and Mediterranean Seas, for the object of wiping the Islamic State's Syrian center of Raqqa off the map, debkafile's military sources report.??Western and Middle East sources tracking the campaign since Friday, Nov. 20, report that at least 75 air sorties have been conducted and are systematically razing the town of 200,000 inhabitants 160km east of Aleppo, district by district, irrespective of civilian town dwellers.?Moscow wants the entire Middle East and Muslim world to see the price exacted for launching a terrorist attack on Russia after the downing of the Metrojet airliner that killed 224 people over Egyptian Sinai on Oct. 31. Russian bombers and cruise missiles rained death and destruction on the ISIS administration center after the jihadists claimed responsibility for that disaster and published photos of a soft drink can claimed to have been rigged as a bomb for blowing the plane up.?When the Russians are done, the town will be a pile of rubble, an intelligence source told debkafile.?The Russian defense ministry ran photos Friday of Russian technicians loading bombs on the Tupolev 95 bombers (dubbed "Bears" in the West). Ground crews marked the bombs "For ours," and "For Paris."?Last Tuesday, our military sources first revealed that the Tupolev's were taking off from Morozovsk air base in the Rostov district of southern Russia instead of from the Russian military enclave outside the Syrian town of Latakia.??Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu reported Friday that 15 Syrian oil facilities seized by ISIS had been destroyed this week and 525 of their trucks, costing the jihadists $1.5 million a day in revenue.??As for casualties, the published figure of 600 jihadists killed in one day is probably far below the real figure. Our sources report that the Islamist terrorists' death toll most probably runs into thousands with many more injured.?To sustain the hectic tempo of its aerial war, Moscow has doubled the number of bombers assigned to Syria from 34 two weeks ago to 69 by Saturday, Nov. 21.?Our military sources add that this augmented air power allows the Russians to expand their targets to other parts of Syria. On Friday, they renewed sorties against Syrian rebel forces holding the southern town of Deraa near the Jordanian border.Iran Guard simulates capture of Al Aqsa Mosque - Ali Akbar Dareini - of paramilitary forces from the country's powerful Revolutionary Guard have held a war game simulating the capture of Jerusalem's Al Aqsa Mosque from Israeli control.?Iran's state media reported Saturday that the forces stormed and "liberated" a replica of the mosque in the exercise. They say that 120 brigades from the Basij, the paramilitary unit of the Guard, participated in Friday's exercise outside the holy city of Qom in central Iran.?The symbolic operations were backed up by Guard helicopters, drones and Tucano planes that bombed hypothetical enemy positions before ground troops captured the replica of the mosque set up at the top of a mountain.?In a common mistake, the Guard set up a replica of the gold-topped Dome of the Rock instead of the nearby mosque. Official photos showed one of the troops going to the top of the dome and waving an Iranian flag and a red-colored flag, a symbol of martyrdom.?The hilltop compound, which is holy to Jews and Muslims, has been at the heart of weeks of unrest between Israel and the Palestinians. Muslims call the spot the Noble Sanctuary, and the mosque is Islam's third holiest site after Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia. Jews revere the spot as the Temple Mount - home to the biblical Temples and the holiest site in Judaism.?The current round of fighting was sparked in part by rumors that Israel was plotting to take over the site - a charge that Israel vehemently denies. Clashes outside the mosque erupted in September and quickly spread across Israel and into the West Bank and Gaza Strip.?Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, who heads the Guard's aerospace division, said his force deployed Shahed-121, or Witness-129, drones during the war games. The drone, unveiled in 2013, has a range of 1,700 kilometers (1,050 miles), a 24-hour nonstop flight capability and can carry eight bombs or missiles.?Even so, the exercise appeared to be largely for show. Iranian commanders have not said how they would be able to deploy large numbers of forces against Israel, located 1,600 kilometers (1,000 miles) away, or overcome Israel's powerful and technologically advanced military.?Iran, Israel's arch-enemy, frequently expresses solidarity with the Palestinians and holds an annual "Jerusalem Day" each year on the last Friday of the fasting month of Ramadan. Iran does not recognize Israel, has called for its destruction and supports anti-Israel militants across the Middle East.????Analysis: How Iran exploits ISIS to wage terror - the Obama administration and Europe courting the world's leading state-sponsor of terrorism to help defuse the Syrian civil war, core aims of Tehran's clerical regime have been ignored.?The intense Western effort to decimate Islamic State after the terrorist entity executed attacks in Paris has largely relegated Iranian and Hezbollah jingoism in Syria and Iraq to a secondary status.?With the Obama administration and Europe courting the world's leading state-sponsor of terrorism - the Islamic Republic of Iran - to help defuse the Syrian civil war, core aims of Tehran's clerical regime have been ignored.?Writing on last week's events in Foreign Affairs magazine's website, Ray Takeyh, a senior fellow for Middle Eastern studies at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), and Reuel Marc Gerecht, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, noted: "Iran is using ISIS' ascendance in the Middle East to consolidate its power. The country is now the key ally keeping Iraq's Shi'ites and the Alawite [Syrian President] Bashar Assad regime standing against well-armed and tenacious Sunni jihadists.?"In those battles, Tehran will likely do just enough to make sure the Sunnis don't conquer the Shi'a portions of Iraq and Assad's enclave in Syria, but no more. Meanwhile, in ISIS' wake, Tehran will strengthen its own radical Shi'a militias. The result could be a permanent destabilization of the Arab heartland."?To counter Iran's expansion, Saudi Arabia and Qatar spearheaded on Thursday a non-binding anti-Iran UN resolution to keep some semblance of a spotlight Tehran.?The resolution condemned the intervention in Syria of "all foreign terrorist fighters... and foreign forces fighting on behalf of the Syrian regime, particularly the al-Quds Brigades, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (of Iran) and militia groups, such as Hezbollah." The resolution passed in the General Assembly 115-15, with 51 abstentions.?In many ways Iran and Islamic State are mirror images of each other. Take a historical example from a half millennium ago. Asked what Francis I of France sought in his war with Charles V of the Habsburg Empire, the French king replied: "None, we are in complete agreement. We both want control over Italy."?Fast forward to 2015. Both Islamic State and Iran seek to exert hegemony over the Islamic heartlands.?It is worth recalling that the Iran-Hezbollah- Syria troika is responsible for eight times as many Syrian dead as Islamic State. An October German survey conducted among nearly 900 Syrians revealed 70 percent of those questioned held the Assad regime responsible for their exodus from Syria. The poll showed 52% of the Syrians would not return to Syria if Assad remained in power.?All of this helps to explain J. Matthew McInnis's conclusion. The resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute wrote, "ISIS also serves a practical purpose for Iran. [Islamic State's] reign of terror and global ambitions have effectively distracted the international community from President Assad's butchering of his own people."?Iran and its strategic partner Hezbollah have invoked a kind of plastic surgery to disguise their terrorism in the West. French literary star Michel Houellebecq reminded readers in his Thursday New York Times op-ed titled "How France's Leaders Failed Its People" that in 1986 Hezbollah launched "a series of bombings in various public places in Paris."?Hezbollah's so-called political operation still remains a legal organization in France.?While European politicians have largely gone to great lengths to mainstream Iran's regime - and as a corollary effect, Hezbollah, too - there is a countervailing force in Congress. Last week, the US Senate unanimously adopted the Hezbollah International Financing Prevention Act.?The legislation would permit the US government to sanction foreign financial organizations for providing monetary services to Hezbollah or its subsidiaries.?The sheer barbarity of the massacres in Paris has understandably overshadowed the role of Iran's terrorist apparatus in the region. The Islamic Republic's nefarious behavior is a kind of masterpiece of a dialectic. Supreme Leader of Iran Ali Khamenei manages to keep his hands in all political buckets in the region.?If France and its allies - the US and the EU - are serious about slashing Islamic State terrorism, they will need to examine how the Islamic state of Iran helps boost Islamic State and Syria's al-Qaida franchise Nusra Front.The Truth about Christmas: Naughty or Nice? - Preview The Truth about Christmas:Naughty or Nice??For most of the world, Christmas has become little more than an annual exercise in spending money we don't have, to buy things for need for people who don't need it!?Christmas is certainly the most gift giving time of the year, but it seems that the true meaning and purpose for Christmas have become lost. Traditionally, Christmas was the time of the year set aside to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. However, these days, many people have no idea that Jesus is associated with Christmas. Furthermore, for the last several years, the world has attempted to completely strip any mention of Christ from Christ-mas. With the banning of singing traditional Christmas songs in our schools, and preventing public nativity displays in our cities, and many retailers replacing merry Christmas with happy holidays, the question needs to be asked, should a believer even celebrate Christmas??The debate about whether or not Christians should celebrate Christmas has been raging for centuries. There are equally sincere and committed Christians on both sides of the issue, each with multiple reasons why or why not Christmas should be celebrated in Christian homes. Many evangelical Christians believe that Christmas is a pagan celebration dressed up in "Christian clothes." While many Christians mark Christmas as a special day to worship Christ and give thanks for His entrance into the world, they reject anything to do with Santa Claus, Christmas trees, exchanging gifts, and the like.But what does the Bible say? Does the Bible give clear direction as to whether Christmas is a holiday to be celebrated by Christians?Join us as we examine the origins and meanings behind our Christmas traditions in this informative Bible based video. This video will be released on *December 4th 2015. You can pre-order this new DVD today! When you pre-order one of our videos, not only are you making sure you get your copy early, you are also helping to offset the production costs, thank you!?(*subject to change)?The Truth about Christmas: Naughty or Nice??Click Here To Order This New Video?Or write us at:?Prophecy UpdateP.O. Box 40516Bakersfield, CA 93384-0516?Magog Rising - Preview Trailer?More than 2,500 years ago, God gave?the prophet Ezekiel an astonishing prophecy to give to the world, one that would be fulfilled in "the latter days." Many Bible scholars feel that the prophesied events, found in Ezekiel 38 and 39, could be fulfilled in the near future, and that we might already be witnessing the stage being set and the actors being moved into place, in light of current events happening in the Middle East, right now.?In Ezekiel 38, Russia, Iran, and an alliance of Muslim nations invade Israel due to a "hook placed in the mouth of Russia" to bring Russia down to invade Israel. That hook could very well be the natural-gas fields discovered off the coast of Israel or the more recent finding of massive oil deposits in the Golan Heights.?With Russian and Iranian military forces now cooperating? and engaging in combat in Syria, just miles north of the border of Israel, people are asking if these events are setting the stage for the fulfillment of what Bible scholars call the "War of Gog & Magog" that is supposed to take place in the End of Days??Join us in this exciting new DVD as we examine Ezekiel 38 & 39 and the infamous war of Gog & Magog, and compare it to today's headlines and current events in the Middle East.?This DVD will be released on *November 27, 2015, and you can pre-order this DVD right now. When you pre-order one of our DVD's not only are you making sure that you receive your DVD as soon as it is released, you are also helping to offset the production costs of these very expensive projects. (*subject to change).?TO ORDER THIS NEW DVD - CLICK HERE?The Burden of Damascus and The Psalm 83 War - PreviewNow Shipping!The Fate of Damascus and the Psalm 83 War?About the time of the end the biblical prophet Ezekiel tells of a future invasion of Israel by a vast coalition of nations, known as the battle of Gog and Magog, we find this in Ezekiel chapters 38 and 39. As we read the headlines in the newspapers of today, and witness the conflicts in the Middle East, it's not hard to imagine that this invasion prophesied over 2600 years ago, could be fulfilled in the immediate future.? Ezekiel 36-37 predicts a gathering of the Jews to the nation of Israel, which will be followed by this massive invasion.? For 19 centuries, the Jewish people were scattered throughout the world, and until May 14, 1948, there was no nation of Israel to invade.? With the nation of Israel now a reality, the stage seems set for the war that will usher in the tribulation and the rise of the Antichrist; a war that will end with the destruction of Israel's enemies by God Himself, and lead to the signing of a peace treaty with the Antichrist.?As you read Ezekiel 38 and 39, it isn't just the creation of the nation of Israel that makes this prophecy seem likely to be fulfilled in the near future.? The nations that God tells us will form this coalition against Israel seem more likely now than perhaps ever before to form just such an alliance." The leaders of this coalition will be Russia and Iran, and currently both of these nations are right on Israel's doorstep, under the pretense of battling ISIS in Syria. I believe that there are a couple of unfulfilled prophecies that will lead-up to this massive invasion of Israel, and as we read today's headlines, we find that the fulfillment of these two prophesied events,?could happen very soon! ?The Fate of Damascus and the Psalm 83 WarTo Order this Video on DVD Click Here!A Hook in the Jaw?: Israel's oil in Golan, Megiddo-Jezreel Valley - Christina Lin - there have been reports that Afek Oil and Gas, a subsidiary of the American company Genie Energy, have discovered an oil bonanza in the Golan Heights "with the potential of billions of barrels." ?In an interview with Israel's Channel 2 News, chief geologist Yuval Batov said the layer is 350 meters thick, which is 10 times larger than the average oil find worldwide, and "what's important is to know that there's oil in the rock, and this we know."?However, obstacles remain. The quality, quantity and cost-effectiveness of extraction are still unknown, and there has been resistance from environmental groups concerned about the impact of drilling. Moreover, many nations including the US do not recognize Israel's sovereignty over the Golan Heights, and question her right to exploit the region.?Nonetheless, there is another potential oil bounty that is within Israel's territory and has escaped much media attention-Zion Oil & Gas's exploration of the Megiddo and Jezreel Valley.?Texas-based Zion Oil has been drilling near Haifa since 2005 for potential 484 million barrels of oil, interestingly based on its CEO John Brown's belief in 1981 that oil will be found near the foot of Asher in the Map of the Twelve Tribes of Israel.? In 2004, geologists confirm Triassic oil and gas fields are indeed in the same region.? Now, Zion Oil holds the Megiddo-Jezreel Petroleum Exploration License that comprises approximately 99,000 acres, and is proposing to drill about 26 miles south of the recent Genie oil discovery.?On 6 November, Zion Oil announced the public release of a resource assessment report, with estimated prospective recoverable oil volumes ranging from 20.7 million barrels to 234.6 million barrels of oil. If a discovery is made, the "best estimate" for recoverable hydrocarbons is at 69.7 million barrels.?According to a December 2007 Jerusalem Post article, the Bible Scriptures that led John Brown back in the 1980s to believe there would be oil in Israel are from Deuteronomy 32:13, when Moses says "[God] would suckle him with honey from a stone, and oil from a flinty rock," and Deuteronomy 33:24 with Moses blessing Asher "he shall be accepted by his brothers, and dip his foot in oil."?It is no surprise then that in a 7 October press release, Zion Oil noted Dr. Yuval Bartov from Afek saying, "the important thing is to know the oil is in the rock and that's what we now know."?Add to this the offshore natural gas fields of Leviathan and Tamar in the Levantine basin, this newly discovered oil and gas bounty could enable Israel to become an important energy exporter and perhaps a 'game changer' in the Mediterranean energy market.? Gold Meir once quipped "Moses dragged us for 40 years through the desert to bring us to the one place in the Middle East where there was no oil." Now, it seems not only is there oil, but Moses pointed to it.?What's the Point?: End Times and Using the Time We Have Left - Silas S. Henderson - close of the Church year brings us face-to-face with the Gospel's challenge on how we live our lives?What is the purpose of the Christian life??Or we might ask even more simply: What's the point??As the Church year comes to an end, this essential question is brought into sharp focus. The answer is as simple as it might be unpopular: we're waiting for the fulfillment of time and of hope-filled promises of an untold future. We are awaiting the return of Christ. We "wait in joyful hope," or something vital is missing from our individual faith.?Talk of heaven and hell, death and judgment can be uncomfortable for Christians, and if the naive concepts of heaven's "streets paved with gold" and hell's "fire" shape the lives of some believers, these Sunday school images are neither what we are about, nor the best foundations for a way of living. So we have to be careful not to allow "end times" imaginings to overshadow the truth of God's kingdom.?Still, in the final weeks of the liturgical year, "end times" readings permeate our liturgical worship to a point that might seem unnecessarily negative and even macabre, especially for those Christians who have had the threat of judgment used as a weapon against them, like a divine hammer hovering always just above their heads, and ready to strike.?The liturgical texts for the end of the Church year, like the Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:14-30) and the Lesson of the Fig Tree (Mark 13:24-32), offer us important insights into what our expectant waiting should be like. In the Parable of the Talents, a wealthy man gives talanton to his slaves-five, two, or one, "according to their ability." One "talent" was worth 6,000 days'-or 16 years'-wages. The slaves with five and two talents succeeded in doubling their master's money; the slave with the single talent buried it in the ground to avoid the risk of losing it. The master in the parable rewards the first and second slaves, but the third slave who buried the money out of fear was condemned as being "wicked and lazy" and thrown "into the darkness outside, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth."?Some might use this passage from the Gospel as an opportunity to reflect on economic inequality but we can't ignore that the Church has chosen this text at the end of the year, and paired it with a passage from Proverbs 31, which praises the productive activity of the God-fearing woman. She stands in stark contrast to the timid servant of the Gospel who was so frightened of failure that he chose not to act at all.?The point of the pairing is that we are supposed to use the time we have to do something. We not only have to foster and develop the unique gifts that have been entrusted to each of us, we must also allow those gifts to enrich the world around us. Each day is itself a gift, and if we are truly living for the future, we have an obligation to make the most of today.?But these last days of the Church year should also inspire us to act with urgency because, as Paul reminded the Thessalonians, the Lord will return "as a thief in the night." We will hear the same theme repeated in Advent, as we watch and wait for the coming of Christ in the celebration of his birth in history, in his presence among us today in mystery, and in his final coming in majesty.?Amid talk about the decline of Christianity and of a post-Christian society, I wonder whether so many branches of Christianity are in decline because so many Christians have lost a sense of purpose and the urgency of now in the work we have been called to: feeding and clothing the poor, comforting those who mourn, protecting the innocent and the victimized, healing the sick and addicted, and raising up those who have fallen down. Acts of selfless charity and hospitality are the most effective means of spreading the Gospel. Government can't do it all, nor should we want it to, because we are called to minister to the world, and we mustn't consign that responsibility elsewhere.?We do well to remember and take comfort in the words of the Basil Hume, a Benedictine monk and Cardinal-Archbishop of Westminster, who is remembered as a wise, faithful and compassionate pastor:?A priest started his homily at a funeral by saying, "I am going to preach about judgment." There was dismay in the congregation. But he went on: "Judgment is whispering into the ear of a merciful and compassionate God the story of my life which I had never been able to tell." It is a very great encouragement to think of being in the presence of God who is both merciful and full of compassion, because God knows me through and through and understands me far better than I could ever know and understand myself, or anyone else. Only he can truly make sense of my confused and rambling story ...?The time will come for each of us to appear before our God to render an account of our lives. It will not be a frightening moment, unless to the bitter end we have turned away from him or consciously ignored him. Instead it will be a moment of deliverance and peace when we can whisper into his merciful and compassionate ear the story of all our years, and be forgiven and made whole.?The Gospel requires us to be open to change, and to a way of life that is far different from what we might choose for ourselves. This is what Dietrich Bonhoeffer called "the cost of discipleship" and what S?ren Kierkegaard was thinking of when he wrote of admirers and followers of Christ:?A follower is or strives to be what he admires. An admirer, however, keeps himself personally detached. He fails to see that what is admired involves a claim upon him, and thus he fails to be or strive to be what he admires.?These final days of the Church year provide the answer to our question to the "point" of all this-we fulfill our commitment to follow Christ, with all the graces and burdens that entails, because this is what it means to be a true follower of the One whom we believe will come again in mercy and judgment.Repullulat: Life can 'bud afresh' - Greg Laurie - Greg Laurie emphasizes God's ability to bring 'beauty out of ashes'?I heard about an industrious farmer who wanted to make some more money. He raised turkeys, and he thought, there are only two drumsticks on a turkey. If only I could find a way to get some more. So he went to work in his laboratory and came up with a turkey that had six legs.?When someone asked him how this new turkey tasted, he replied, "I don't know. We could never catch the thing."?Thanksgiving is on the way, and then we'll have that crazy event called Black Friday, where people attack each other in stores. Then the Christmas season follows, which kids especially love. There is so much excitement for them as they anticipate what is to come. They hope they will get that new toy for Christmas, and the best thing of all is they'll be out of school.?For some, however, this season is rather hopeless. It's a reminder that life maybe isn't going the way they wanted it to. Maybe it is a marker of time as they remember a certain loved one who was with them at this time last year but is not with them now. Something has happened in their lives that makes this a difficult time of year.?We need to know there is always hope. And a good way to define hope is to remember it as an acronym for holding on with patient expectation.?When I see that definition of hope, I think of Job. Talk about a guy who had a bad day. I don't know if there is anyone who has ever had a worse day than Job, apart from Jesus Christ himself going to Calvary. In one day, Job lost everything he held dear. He lost his possessions and even his health. He lost people who worked for him. And worst of all, he lost his own children.?Yet despite this horrific chain of events, Job still had hope. He said, "For there is hope for a tree, if it is cut down, that it will sprout again, and that its tender shoots will not cease" (14:7 NKJV).?The Laurie family I was adopted into is a Scottish clan. My father, Oscar Laurie, told me about the family crest, which is essentially a tree stump with tiny stems of growth shooting from it. The Laurie family motto is "Repullulat," which means "it buds afresh."?I thought about this and realized that describes my life. I was cut down. I was the most likely to amount to nothing. I was the most likely to end up like the notorious sinners in my family. But by the grace of God, he changed me. I was cut down, but life came out instead.?Fast-forward to 2008, when God called our son Christopher home to heaven. I was cut down again. Quite honestly, it was so devastating that I didn't know if I could survive that. But with the passing of time, and though we still miss our son with all our hearts, life has begun to bud afresh again.?Sometimes we are cut down in life, and we think this is the end. Not necessarily. God can intervene. He can bring new life. He can bring, as the Bible says, beauty out of ashes.?When the horrific news came to Job that his children had died, we read that "Job arose, tore his robe, and shaved his head; and he fell to the ground and worshiped" (Job 1:20). Seven sons and three daughters were gone, and what did Job do? He fell to the ground and worshiped.?Job had never read the book of Job. He didn't know what was going on at the time. He didn't know that God had given permission for the devil to bring calamity into his life. All Job knew was that one day he woke up, and everything that could go wrong went wrong. Yet when he heard the devastating news, he worshiped.?If Job had fallen to the ground and cried, it would have made sense. If he had fallen to the ground and began to shake his fist in anger at God, it even would have made sense. But instead he fell to the ground and worshiped. Why? Because Job was a godly man.?I believe that when godly men and women are pressed by life, prayer will come out of them. When someone says they've lost their faith through a certain crisis, my response would be, "Good. Get rid of that faith." The faith that cannot be tested is a faith that cannot be trusted. Anyone can praise God when the sky is blue and the sun is shining. But if you can praise God when the roof caves in and when the bottom drops out and when things go wrong, it says to me that you are a true follower of Jesus Christ.?When we worship even if we don't feel like it, when we worship when we are hurting, that is called the sacrifice of praise. We worship because God is deserving of our praise.?We are told in 1 Thessalonians 5:18, "In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." Notice it doesn't say, "In some things give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you," or "When you are in the mood, give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you," or "When circumstances are perfect, give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." Rather, it says, "In everything give thanks. ..." There are no exceptions. There are no excuses. Nothing is beyond those parameters. In everything give thanks.?In spite of his circumstances, Job offered his praise to God. He had an attitude of gratitude. Job didn't know the rest of his story, but this is what he did know. He knew God was good. He knew God was in control. So Job worshiped.?I don't know what circumstances you're facing today. I don't know whether you've had some pruning in your life or whether you've been cut down in some way. But I want you to know that Repullulat can be your motto, too. Your life can bud afresh. You can give thanks.?FROM THE HEART??IF YOU HAVE BEEN BLESSED THROUGH THIS MINISTRY, THEN WE ASK THAT YOU WOULD PLEASE REMEMBER PROPHECY UPDATE IN YOUR GIVING - WE ARE TRULY,?TRULY,?THANKFUL FOR YOUR SUPPORT??Prophecy Update has no corporate sponsors. This ministry is paid for and prayed for by readers and supporters. Without your support, there would be no Prophecy Update, Please pray about becoming a monthly supporter - thanks!??If ever there was a time to invest in God's Kingdom, it's now!What on earth are you doing for Heaven's Sake?"Share in the Blessings and Rewards that will last Forever!""Folks, it's all beginning to unravel. America is in more danger of falling than at any time in its history. But I believe Bible prophecy predicts this very decline. From this point on, we believers have to get serious. We are going to face discouragement, disillusionment and, most certainly, persecution in the time between now and the Rapture. But don't be discouraged or disillusioned. The coming turmoil will provide us unrivaled opportunities to share the good news of the Gospel. So be ready to share your faith and your hope with those who need Christ. We still have time to reap a great harvest of souls for God's kingdom!" - Hal Lindsey1) We need your prayers!- We proclaim the Truth of the Word of God and we are under constant spiritual and sometimes even physical attack.2) We need your encouragement!- We need to hear from you, let us know how the Lord is blessing you through this ministry so that we can share it with others.3) We need your input! - If you have a prophetic article or story or if there is a news related item we missed, let us know. 4) We need your financial support!- To put it quite simply, without your support, there would be no Prophecy Update.I ask that you would prayerfully consider partnering with us to get the Word out and keep the world informed. Remember, your gift, no matter how small, does make a difference! You will be helping to touch lives, around the world, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, thanks to the internet your generosity carries a global impact! - Thanks!Our Prayer for You- "Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God. This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of God's people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, men will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else." 2 Corinthians 9:10-13Prophecy Update is a 501 (c) (3) tax exempt -?non-profit?organization, and all your donations are tax deductible.??If you have been blessed by Prophecy Update and would like to help support this ministry financially. You can make a secure donation online by going to:DONATE NOW?Or Visit our website: write us at:?Prophecy Update P.O. Box 40516 Bakersfield, CA 93384-0516???We are very pleased to offer all our readers this FREE download on Bible Prophecy from the Evangelical Bible College of Western Australia - Just download and enjoy and be blessed! Feel free to share it with all your friends and family members.Click below to download!"AS YOU SEE THE DAY APPROACHING"?If You Died Today, Would You Go To Heaven?Find out, visit:Prophecy Update - GoodSearch Toolbar Prophecy Update Toolbar is free to download and allows you to raise money for our cause every time you search or shop onlineDID YOU KNOW?You can submit an article, leave a comment or praise report at email:prophecyupdate@bak.Maranatha! (Lord Come Quickly)??"On Christ the Solid Rock I Stand, All other ground is sinking sand."??"Let Us make the short time we have left count for all eternity!"??YBIC-RandyStay Connected?? ?? ?? Prophecy Update - PO Box 40516 - Bakersfield, CA 93384 ................
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