Latest Audio - 2024-09-14
Safety in Numbers?
"There is no king saved by the multitude of an host: a mighty man is not delivered by much strength." (Psalm 33:16)
It would be difficult to find a corner of the globe today where there are no "wars and rumours of wars". It's a world of hostility and confrontation, with nations mobilising combatants in ever greater numbers, preparing for what they believe are unavoidable violent conflicts. According to one source, there are approximately 30 million armed personnel worldwide today – ranging from just 350 in Bermuda to 1.5 million in the 27 combined EU countries. China is number one numerically with approximately 2 million soldiers, but North Korea has the largest reserve army, which is by some accounts, more than 6 million people.
Humanly speaking, it stands to reason that the way to defeat your enemy is to have a bigger, better and more destructive military force than he has. Russia, for example, illustrates this having increased its army by 15% since the Ukraine war began. 'Might is Right' is the ethos – survival of the fittest and very much a numbers game. But to God, "...the nations are as a drop of a bucket ... the small dust of the balance" (Isaiah 40:15), more than adequately demonstrated in ancient Israel's flight from Egypt, which at that time was the greatest and most powerful nation on earth. And we know how that worked out, as recorded in Exodus 14: no casualties among the Israelites and no survivors in the Egyptian army.
The scriptures are replete with examples of God fighting for His people – whether it's a whole race or just one or two individuals, as it was in the time of Elisha, when the king of Syria was incensed against Elisha, for passing on 'classified information' to his enemy, the king of Israel.
- Therefore sent he thither horses, and chariots, and a great host: and they came by night, and compassed the city [Dothan] about.
- And when the servant of the man of God was risen early, and gone forth, behold, an host compassed the city both with horses and chariots. And his servant said unto him, Alas, my master! how shall we do?
- And he answered, Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them.
- And Elisha prayed, and said, LORD, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the LORD opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.
- And when they came down to him, Elisha prayed unto the LORD, and said, Smite this people, I pray thee, with blindness. And he smote them with blindness according to the word of Elisha. (II Kings 6:14-18)
When an individual exhibits faith in God to fight his battles for him, then the size of the enemy is of no consequence at all, as we can see in II Chronicles 14, when the Ethiopian army numbered a staggering one million soldiers, plus 300 chariots:
- And Asa cried unto the LORD his God, and said, LORD, it is nothing with thee to help, whether with many, or with them that have no power: help us, O LORD our God; for we rest on thee, and in thy name we go against this multitude. O LORD, thou art our God; let not man prevail against thee.
- So the LORD smote the Ethiopians before Asa, and before Judah; and the Ethiopians fled. (II Chronicles 14:11,12)
As many will find out in the future, it is futile to fight against the One who has all power in heaven and earth, and whose word defines reality itself:
- And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.
- And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them. (Revelation 20:8.9)
- And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth. (Zechariah 14:12)
OT Examples
As we can see, human numbers mean nothing to God and this is made abundantly clear in the story of Gideon. Some have surmised that drinking from their hands showed how those selected were more alert than the others. But the reason for the selection process was nothing to do with human alertness and fighting ability, but rather the opposite – to reduce the number, "lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, Mine own hand hath saved me." (Judges 7:2). Even the choice of Gideon shows that God doesn't need human strength/wealth/expertise of any kind at all, as Gideon protested "Oh my Lord, wherewith shall I save Israel? behold, my family is poor in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house." (Judges 6:15)
The One who did this – sending 300 men into battle with nothing more than a trumpet, a torch and a flower-pot – is the same Being who encouraged Jehoshaphat; "Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God’s:" And in this particular case, God impelled the enemies to annihilate each other!
- And when they began to sing and to praise, the LORD set ambushments against the children of Ammon, Moab, and mount Seir, which were come against Judah; and they were smitten.
- For the children of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of mount Seir, utterly to slay and destroy them: and when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, every one helped to destroy another.
- And when Judah came toward the watch tower in the wilderness, they looked unto the multitude, and, behold, they were dead bodies fallen to the earth, (II Chronicles 20:22-24)
At one time in his reign king David felt in need of reassurance concerning the numerical superiority of his army. "And David said to Joab and to the rulers of the people, Go, number Israel from Beersheba even to Dan; and bring the number of them to me, that I may know it. (I Chronicles 21:2) But God regarded this as sin: "and it was evil in the sight of the LORD concerning this thing" (I Chronicles 21:7). Numerical dominance is not where our strength lies, and in a moment of weakness, David – who in his youth single-handedly slew Goliath and put the armies of the Philistines to flight – had forgotten that.
"Growing a Church"?
For most worldly churches, the number of their followers seems to be of great importance. A quick browse of the internet clearly demonstrates this fact, with numerous books and articles offering advice on how to increase church membership:: "11 Powerful Strategies to Grow your Church" ... "50 Ways to Help Grow your Church" ... "35 Growth Strategies that Work" ... and many, many more. Whereas having the privilege of understanding God's Plan through the Holy Days, we know He is not trying to save the world NOW – if He was, He would do so! The well-known (but little understood) Parable of the Sower makes it clear that Christ did not seek a following, 2,000 years ago. And even now, Christ leaves it to the Father to draw people into His church (John 6:44)
- And when he was alone, they that were about him with the twelve asked of him the parable.
- And he said unto them, Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God: but unto them that are without, all these things are done in parables:
- That seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand; lest at any time they should be converted, and their sins should be forgiven them. (Mark 4:10-12)
A Unique Time in History
A cursory reading of the last 2,000 years of true church history reveals relatively small, scattered congregations, most times fleeing persecution and barely holding onto the truth. But during the second half of the 20th century God's church grew quite dramatically and membership at that time was certainly unusually high compared to previous centuries. And for a great purpose: a good-sized membership and co-worker base was necessary for the big push to get a witness to the world as per Matthew 24:14. However, those days appear to have come and gone. Today there is once again a very different configuration, and we need to remember what Christ reveals to the Philadelphian era:
- And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write; These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth;
- I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name. (Revelation 3:7,8)
We clearly understood what the open door primarily was – a work of publishing and radio-preaching – so we also know what Christ implies is subsequently to be shut, as mentioned in verse seven!
To see the state of the Work today – even if you take all the groups combined – it becomes abundantly clear that we are now at that time. If God had deemed it necessary to continue that size and scope of a witness to the world then it stands to reason He would never have allowed the Work to be dismantled, or the Auditorium and the office buildings in Pasadena to be sold. So what God opens certainly let no man try and shut, but when the time comes for God to shut, it is unwise for any man to try and force open. This is confirmed when we read the original passage in Isaiah 22, which describes the work Christ did initially through Eliakim – who was "over the household" (II Kings 18:18,37 and 19:2, Isaiah 36:3,22 and 37:2).
This is why it is then applied as a phrase in Revelation 3 to Christ's Work through Mr Armstrong, who Christ placed as a king-pin over His end-time Household – His Church. But note carefully what happens when that king-pin is removed:
- And the key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder; so he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open.
- And I will fasten him as a nail in a sure place; and he shall be for a glorious throne to his father’s house.
- And they shall hang upon him all the glory of his father’s house, the offspring and the issue, all vessels of small quantity, from the vessels of cups, even to all the vessels of flagons.
- In that day, saith the LORD of hosts, shall the nail that is fastened in the sure place be removed, and be cut down, and fall; and the burden that was upon it shall be cut off: for the LORD hath spoken it. (Isaiah 22:22-25)
The closed Philadelphian door and what we are currently experiencing through the present shattering is therefore leading inexorably to this eventual position:
- And I heard the man clothed in linen, which was upon the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand unto heaven, and sware by him that liveth for ever that it shall be for a time, times, and an half; and when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished." (Daniel 12:7)
Temple Measured
The prophetic time in which we find ourselves today – and about to move into – is a time of testing and measuring those relatively few destined to be part of the Spiritual Temple of God. It is clearly described in Revelation 11:
- And there was given me a reed like unto a rod: and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein.
- But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months. (Revelation 11:1-2)
This passage is found immediately following a verse describing the open door that was set before Mr Armstrong to take God's message to kings, presidents and even emperors. (Revelation 10:11). But following that time, how many people are THEN prophesied to do the Work? The answer is: the absolute bare minimum – just two witnesses (Revelation 11: 3-12) That's all! We find ourselves therefore in a time of testing, of proving, and moving into a time when His Power alone – not the number of humans involved – will be the only criteria of any importance. And please note that, to the utter frustration of all of "the people and kindreds and tongues and nations ... and they that dwell upon the earth..." (Revelation 11:9,10) , nothing will be able to silence these two individuals, until their testimony is finished: "And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed. (Revelation 11:5)
Second Temple
Our consternation at the numerical inferiority and impact of the church and work today compared to when Mr Armstrong was alive has a very clear precedence in scripture, and that is the reaction of the old men at the building of the second temple in the book of Ezra. There God recalls how they wept when they compared the foundations being laid to what they remembered of Solomon's magnificent edifice:
- ... And all the people shouted with a great shout, when they praised the LORD, because the foundation of the house of the LORD was laid.
- But many of the priests and Levites and chief of the fathers, who were ancient men, that had seen the first house, when the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes, wept with a loud voice and many shouted aloud for joy:
- So that the people could not discern the noise of the shout of joy from the noise of the weeping ... (Ezra 3:11-12)
However, we must realise that God's instructions surrounding that event have not been preserved for mere historical interest. What God has to say is much more a message to us, right now, today – those who are being tested, tried, proved and measured as the Spiritual Temple to which Christ is to return. Only by reading it this way do the following related passages make any sense:
- Who is left among you that saw this house in her first glory? and how do ye see it now? is it not in your eyes in comparison of it as nothing? Yet now be strong ...
- For thus saith the LORD of hosts Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land
- And I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come: and I will fill this house with glory, saith the LORD of hosts. (Haggai 2:3,6-7)
The Work Now?
God's words of encouragement therefore are mainly for us today, not the Jews of Ezra's day, when He says: The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, saith the LORD of hosts: and in this place will I give peace, saith the LORD of hosts" (Haggai 2:9) His commands are very much for "the residue of the people" (Haggai 2:2) today – not then, and His commands to us are clear ... and that is not to get distracted and worn down by the cares of this life, or discouraged by a lack of fellowship/local churches to attend, or even waiting for a bigger work to be done, but to get to work on building HIS temple!
Even Zechariah clearly places the arrival of the two witnesses into the context of getting on with the job of this Spiritual Temple – as does Revelation 11 – allowing the material produced by Zerubbabel's hands – used to originally begin that Temple – to also finish it:
- So he answered and said to me: "This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: ‘not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the Lord of hosts ...
- "The hands of Zerubbabel Have laid the foundation of this temple; His hands shall also finish it. Then you will know That the Lord of hosts has sent Me to you.
- For who has despised the day of small things? For these seven rejoice to see The plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel. They are the eyes of the Lord, Which scan to and fro throughout the whole earth."
- Then I answered and said to him, "What are these two olive trees--at the right of the lampstand and at its left?"
- And I further answered and said to him, "What are these two olive branches that drip into the receptacles of the two gold pipes from which the golden oil drains?"
- Then he answered me and said, "Do you not know what these are?" And I said, "No, my lord."
- So he said, "These are the two anointed ones, who stand beside the Lord of the whole earth." (Zechariah 4:6, 9-14 NKJV)
Though we may struggle at times during this "day of small things" we should keep in mind the comment that Mr Armstrong made:
"I would rather have two or three filled with the Spirit of the Living God than to have this Church packed full (and a thousand other Churches like it) of lukewarm people getting into the Laodicean condition, doing their own thing." (Warning to the Church - 1 July 1978)
His frame of mind very much reflects what Christ says: "because thou art lukewarm [toward the things of God], and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth." (Revelation 3:16)
You see it isn't a matter of how many band together and meet in some building and assemble in church pews, or something like that, my friends. And joining a visible organization doesn't get you into the kingdom of God or buy you any salvation in any way at all. Now those in any group, many of them might be Christian, and some not. Or many of them might not be and a few might be. Or they might all be or they might none of them be. God knows, and we're not to judge. And God alone can read men's minds and hearts and He knows who are His. (WT - The True Church 3)
A major point to keep in mind is that the Temple of God – like any building – cannot be built on UNaligned foundations. To qualify for the teaching role we're being trained for we must first and foremost be aligned with the foundation Christ laid – otherwise He is on the outside knocking. And the spiritual foundation of that Temple must be what Christ has already placed in His Church.
If we are off that foundation, we are not part of God's building at all, but something else ... regardless of however many other people feel the same way! Numbers simply don't matter! It matters not one jot if we "have this Church packed full and a thousand other Churches like it" – if they are unaligned to God's foundation. To have total unity and harmony in the Millennium there cannot be disagreement amongst the spiritual leaders over such questions as makeup, interracial marriage, calendar issues, etc etc. For what was the purpose of the entire end-time Work done by Jesus Christ through His king-pin Mr Armstrong, if not to restore what is needed, both for the world as a witness, and for God's future teachers to learn now, ready to teach in the future!
Feast 2024
As God reminded Israel: "The LORD did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people: " (Deuteronomy 7:7) . Jesus Christ compared the beginnings of God's Kingdom to a mere grain of mustard seed, probably one of the most insignificant created – hardly moving the scales – but like the mustard seed, which grows to be the "greatest amongst herbs" "...Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this. (Isaiah 9:7)
Christ's outlook and 'game plan' doesn't change (Malachi 3:6, Hebrews 13:8). He is the same Being who will fight our battles and who will get His Work done at the end-time. Technologically, we live in a world radically different from Mr Armstrong's day. Although TV, radio and the printed page still exist, communications have been transformed by the Internet – a facility that only began in 1990 with the worldwide-web – over 4 years after Mr Armstrong's death. What formerly required expensive typesetting, printing, radio and TV studios, massive satellite dishes, warehouses, mainframe computers and postal centres can now be done with little more than a laptop and distributed across the entire planet instantaneously to an even GREATER degree for a few thousand pounds per year via an Internet edge-server. Could this technology have developed partly because it is what the two Witnesses will need to use eventually? Clearly, God does not depend on human strength, ability or numbers to do His Work. But we who would be USED by Him in that Work – HIS Work, not our own – need to be sure we focus on the right thing – HIS thing!
We need to keep all of this in mind as we approach this year's Feast of Tabernacles which for many will be in a smaller group than in previous years. It would only be natural at times to look back at the Feasts of yesteryear, when in the US in particular, attendance numbered in the multiple thousands, and not just on Feast days. Many if not all of the brethren had access to a physical church and ministry, fellowshipping with brethren every Sabbath, rather than sitting alone with just a computer for company. We meet today in circumstances we could never have imagined a few decades ago – and would have been horrified if we had. It would be easy to be discouraged, regarding God's Church today as 'virtually nothing' in comparison to previous years. If so, we would be wise to remember just how little God regards the strength of physical human numbers – whether it is in military might, or even church membership, and be reminded of what God counts as important, because time is short!
- And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write; These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth;
- I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name.
- Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee.
- Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.
- Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.
- Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.
- He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. (Revelation 3:7-13)
The breakdown of the family… extravagant spending… craze for pleasure… ever increasing threats of war… the decay of religion …
Have we reached…
A Critical Tipping Point?
“Hard times create strong men.
Strong men create good times.
Good times create weak men.
And, weak men create hard times.”
(G. Michael Hopf, Those Who Remain)
The Era Of Weak Men
The way in which today's world is led is described in the book of Isaiah.
“As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, they which lead thee cause thee to err, and destroy the way of thy paths”. (Isaiah 3:12)
Why has this happened?
Because we are in the era of weak men.
Back in the Second World war, times were hard - and dangerous. Strong leaders led the people - to victory - leading to good times.
But this in turn created weak men - and now we see the end result - heading right back to hard times. But this time, no soft landing! If Jesus Christ does not step in to end the coming war, there would be no survivors! (Matthew 24: 22)
How You Topple The Greatest Nation On Earth
This warning, from a most unlikely source:
“History shows us how great empires like Rome fell not because they could be beaten militarily, but because they could collapse from within. When the population of that country fails to unify under a single culture, that nation's flag, only social unrest will result. All the enemies of that nation have to do is instigate protests and influence the media to lie to the people and just watch an independent republic melt away.
Yuri Bezmenov, a former KGB agent defected to Canada, gave lecture tours throughout the US in the 1980’s warning Americans of the perils of not responding to the false narratives of radicals advocating socialism and open borders.
The Road To Destruction
He marvelled at just how far Soviet propaganda had come in influencing the US at that time as the American mass media attacked Ronald Reagan’s efforts at restoring the US economy and strengthening the American military, trying to salvage US prosperity from the incompetence of previous President Jimmy Carter. Today we see President Trump struggling to restore American prestige after 8 years of the faulty and intentionally destructive policies under President Obama.
All it takes is relocating millions of refugees who do not share American values and allowing illegal immigrants to storm our borders, and you’ve established a voting base that can overturn elections! This is exactly what the Democrat Party has been doing.
Blueprint For Rebellion
As Yuri Bezmenov said, there were 4 stages that Soviet propaganda efforts would subject a society they wanted to overthrow to. 1) Indoctrination 2) Demoralization 3) Destabilization and 4) Normalization, which the Soviets jokingly proclaimed when their troop trucks and tanks were parked on the streets of that nation. Today the left, the Democrats, the progressives, the globalists, the LGBT, and Islamic terrorists within our borders are all working toward the same goal, destabilizing our nation either financially or through insurrection.
Aided by low information voters who believe in fake news as they allow CNN, MSNBC, Yahoo, ABC, NBC, and CBS think for them. When only 6 broadcasting corporations own 90% of the airwaves there is not much opposition left to refute the lies!
The Enemy Within
The major broadcasting corporations in America are multinational conglomerates in partnership with our enemies such as China, Russia, and the Middle East. This is why we see programming that is aiding in the decay of the American family, why the news is severely slanted into leftist jargon that defies the truth and undermines our Constitutional government. For decades our major news organizations have been influencing the outcome of elections with false polling data and negative commentary toward conservative and Constitutional policy.
We are now at a critical tipping point where the lessons of history – incontrovertible evidence against the arguments for socialism, yet young adults cannot decipher the difference between capitalism and the documented failures of Communism.” (12160.info)
Decline And Fall: The Five Major Causes
Back in 1969, the Plain Truth Magazine ran a series of articles on the fall of the Roman Empire.
“There were those who warned the Romans of the inevitable end of their ways. Rome had its prophets, it's seers. its political satirists. But their combined ‘jeremiad’ fell on deaf ears. Romans, as a whole, would not listen. And Rome fell.
Americans, Britons, Canadians, Australians, South Africans - as a whole are not listening to the veritable torrent of shouts and warnings trumpeted by leaders in all aspects of national life. Will our nations also fall?
The five major causes for the decline and fall of the Roman Empire deduced from the writings of Edward Gibbon and noted historians of the Roman world are these:
- The breakdown of the family and the rapid increase of divorce.
- The spiralling rise of taxes and extravagant spending.
- The mounting craze for pleasure and the brutalization of sports.
- The mounting production of armaments to fight ever increasing threats of enemy attacks.
- The decay of religion into a myriad of confusing forms, leaving the people without a uniform guide.
Every one of these factors is brimful and running over today [1969]. You read it in the daily newspapers – growing incidence of divorce, broken homes and juvenile delinquency, inflation and taxation, the pleasure binge, the revelation of the gigantic ‘military–industrial complex,’ the startling growth of occultism and weird religion.
They are all part of our world – our society.
They were part of Rome’s, too!” (The Plain Truth - August 1969)
The same five problems exist today, only on a very much larger scale. They resulted in the final destruction of the mighty Roman Empire.
1. Divorce And The Breakdown Of The Family
While conditions back in 1969 when the article was written were bad, they have now sunk to a whole new level!
Teens Are Going Feral
“The acrid smell of cannabis wafts across the green as a group of young teenagers brazenly pass around a joint. Nearby, underage drinkers swig from bottles of vodka and inhale balloons full of so-called 'hippy crack' laughing gas. This was the scene at 8pm on Thursday in a London park, and is similar to those being played out in open spaces across Britain this summer…” (dailymail.co.uk)
Destruction Of The Family
“The family unit is one of the fundamental pillars of any society, and so the weaker our family units become the weaker our entire nation is going to become. For decades, the traditional family unit has been under assault in America, and the consequences have been absolutely catastrophic. Today, the marriage rate has dropped to levels that we have never seen before, we continue to have one of the highest divorce rates in the entire world, and more couples than ever are choosing not to get married at all.
“Figures from the Office of National Statistics show that 2021 was the first year on record that more children were born out of wedlock than in it.” (dailymail.co.uk)
If we continue to go down this road, the institution of the family is going to continue to collapse in the United States, and there is no possible way that America will ever be great again as long as that is happening.” (theeconomiccollapseblog.com)
Demographic Doom
“Forget debt and deflation: the biggest threat to the global economy and the future of modern civilization as we know it, may be demographics, according to a recent Euromonitor study. Whereas over the past decade policymakers have been mostly focused on how to reverse the global infatuation with debt and how to reverse what appears to be a structural decline in inflation, an even more troubling trend has been observed in recent years: due to a culmination of factors including falling fertility rates, rising divorce rates and expensive real estate, family sizes across the world are shrinking. In fact it was as recently as 2012 when the number of couples without children globally surpassed the number of those with children.” (technocracy.news)
2. The Spiralling Rise Of Taxes And Extravagant Spending
The Looming Financial Nightmare
The following article was written back in February 2020. Note the figure for the national debt, $23 trillion, and the amount of interest the US had to pay on loans, $270 billion. Today. just four and a half years later, the national debt is $35 trillion and growing, and the interest payment is more than the US defence budget - at over $700 billion.
A Financial Nightmare, Or A Catastrophe Waiting To Happen
“Let’s talk numbers, shall we? The national debt (the amount the federal government has borrowed over the years and must pay back) is $23 trillion [2020] and growing. The amount this country owes is now greater than its gross national product (all the products and services produced in one year by labor and property supplied by the citizens). We’re paying more than $270 billion [2020] just in interest on that public debt annually. And the top two foreign countries who ‘own’ our debt are China and Japan.
Folks, if you haven’t figured it out yet, we’re not living the American dream. We’re living a financial nightmare. The US government – and that includes the current administration – is spending money it doesn’t have on programs it can’t afford, and ‘we the taxpayers’ are the ones who will pay for it.” (rutherford.org)
This is way bigger than a nightmare!
It IS a catastrophe just waiting to happen!
3. The Mounting Craze For Pleasure Sports
“The UK is the only country in the world whose sporting attendance is greater than its population, allowing the UK to officially claim the world capital of live sport title according to new analysis by Two Circles.” (twocircles.com)
The Global Gambling Industry
“Gambling on football is a huge and growing global industry worth billions of pounds per year. While having a flutter at the bookies has long been associated with horse racing, the growth of online betting could see football challenge that position in Britain. The current estimations, which include both the illegal markets and the legal markets, suggest the sports match-betting industry is worth anywhere between $700 billion and $1 trillion (£435 billion to £625 billion) a year, says Darren Small, director of integrity at betting and sports data analysts Sportradar.” (bbc.co.uk)
The North America Sports Market Size
“In 2018, the North American sports market had a value of about 71.06 billion US dollars. This figure is expected to rise to 83.1 billion by 2023. The market is composed of the segments gate revenues, media rights, sponsorships and merchandising.” (statista.com)
4. The Military-Industrial Complex
“Call it a colossal victory for a Pentagon that hasn’t won a war in this century, but not for the rest of us. Congress only recently passed and the president approved one of the largest Pentagon budgets ever. It will surpass spending at the peaks of both the Korean and Vietnam wars.
As last year ended, as if to highlight the strangeness of all this, the Washington Post broke a story about a ‘confidential trove of government documents’ — interviews with key figures involved in the Afghan War by the Office of the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction — revealing the degree to which senior Pentagon leaders and military commanders understood that the war was failing. Yet, year after year, they provided ‘rosy pronouncements they knew to be false,’ while ‘hiding unmistakable evidence that the war had become unwinnable.’
A Congress that allows endless wars, terrible spending practices, and multiplying conflicts of interest is, as the history of the twenty-first century has shown us, a recipe for disaster.” (zerohedge.com)
The Collapse Of Britain
“It is clear that the UK has continued making all the mistakes made by other decaying empires, particularly in terms of foreign adventurism.
A sudden deterioration, which developed during the course of this year seems to be related to the Western powers’ impending military defeat in their proxy war against Russia. Britain has been the principal cheerleader and sponsor of that conflict, and she seems to have gone ‘in over her head.’ In addition to providing at least £7.5 billion in military aid (nearly $10 billion), Britain gave another £5 billion ($6.5 billion) to Ukraine in financial support.
Furthermore, Britain has also guaranteed multiple tranches of World Bank loans to Ukraine and many British financial institutions have purchased billions’ worth of Ukraine's bonds. Others made extensive direct investments there.
Ukraine’s total debt is $161.5 billion! Given the catastrophic state of the country’s finances, the repayment of these debts would collapse Ukraine’s government and its economy. Ukraine’s default has put the western financial system in jeopardy.” (zerohedge.com)
5. The Decay Of Religion
“Many Americans regard paying taxes as a necessary evil. If they want to worship Satan, now the IRS has officially given them a tax-exempt place to do so. The Internal Revenue Service has granted the same non-profit status given to churches, synagogues and mosques to The Satanic Temple, an organization in Salem, Massachusetts, that calls itself America’s first devil-worshiping church. It is now protected by federal laws governing churches that operate as charities.” (bloomberg.com)
Mass Exodus From The Church
“We are witnessing a religious shift that is unprecedented in size and scope in American history. With each passing year, the percentage of Americans that claim no religious affiliation is growing, and this trend is especially pronounced among our young people. The United States was founded by people that were extremely committed to their faith, and now we are rapidly becoming a nation where people are choosing no religion at all.
If we ever hope to restore the Constitutional Republic that our founders once established, we must return to the Christian values and principles that this nation was originally founded upon. Any other approach is simply not going to work, and time is running out.” (theeconomiccollapseblog.com)
Witches Outnumber Presbyterians
“Halloween has passed, and as Christmas approaches, millions around the world will celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. But news outlets are referencing a 2014 Pew Research Center survey on religion and the rising number of those who practice witchcraft in the US, saying that witches now outnumber Presbyterians in the country. ‘Experts believe that the explosion in the witch population is due to millennial women’s embracing of new-age spirituality, mindfulness, meditation, and yoga,’ the Daily Mail reported in its witchcraft coverage last week. Wicca is recognized as an official religion in the United States.” (breitbart.com)
The Spiritual Void
“In the UK, the Christian faith has declined so dramatically that now we are seeing the rise of ‘humanist chaplains’ that don’t hold to any sort of faith at all… So what does this mean for the future of our society?” (endoftheamericandream.com)
The End IS Nigh!
Modern day Israel – the USA and Britain - will soon fall… suddenly… as God’s end time Apostle warned!
The Modern Warning
“‘For then shall be GREAT TRIBULATION, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved [alive]: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened’ (Matt. 24:21-22).
Here is described the greatest time of TROUBLE – TRIBULATION – in all history, or ever to be. Jeremiah described it as ‘Jacob’s trouble,’ so great ‘that none is like it.’
That YOKE of SLAVERY without mercy is to be laid on the US and Britain by the coming united nations of Europe! Further: ‘In all your dwelling places the CITIES shall be laid waste’ (Ezek. 6:6). This could never have happened until the hydrogen bomb! Cities laid completely WASTE. ALL of them – ‘in all your dwelling places.’
Repentance In Tribulation!
Once God does add these repeated SEVENFOLD-INTENSITY of corrective punishments on our peoples – when they have had their wealth, prosperity, their land – the birthright and everything they possessed and set their hearts on TAKEN AWAY FROM THEM – AT LAST they will be humbled and will cry out to God for mercy and deliverance!
But YOU need not have to suffer this intensified correction, greater than any trouble ever suffered by humans. By God’s direction and authority, I have laid the TRUTH before you! To neglect it will be tragic beyond imagination! To heed it will bring blessings, happiness and GLORY beyond description!
The decision is now YOURS!”
(US and GB in Prophecy - Chapter 14)
“Just what is an APOSTLE?”
Today we find the Church of God in a “wilderness of religious confusion!”
The confusion is not merely around the Church – within the religions of the world outside – but WITHIN the very heart of The True Church itself!
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