You Were A Baby Once Don t Be Scared

You Were A Baby Once Don t Be Scared
Vol: 26 Issue: 31 Thursday, August 31, 2017

“And when He had spoken these things, while they beheld, He was taken up; and a cloud received Him out of their sight. And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven.” (Acts 1:11)

And some nineteen hundred and seventy-seven years later, we’re still gazing up into heaven and awaiting the fulfillment of that Promise.  It’s been awhile since we revisited the Big Picture.  As we prepare to celebrate the occasion of our salvation, the signs of our redemption are everywhere.

When asked by His disciples, “What will be the sign of Thy coming and of the end of the world?”  Jesus outlined a sequence of events that began to unfold in the early part of the 20th century.

“And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.” (Matthew 24:6-7)

But then He pauses, saying, “All these are the beginning of sorrows.”   The phrase, “beginning of sorrows” was carefully chosen by the Holy Spirit – it described the same thing in 1st century Israel as it described in 11th century Libya or in 21st century New York.

The Greek phrase arche odin, translated ‘beginning of sorrows’ could also be translated as ‘commencement of birth pangs’ – a sign easily recognizable to all peoples of all cultures in all times.

Birth pangs, once they’ve started, continue to grow in frequency and intensity.  Once they start, there’s no stopping them.  And, although they are excruciatingly painful, they hold the promise of great joy to come.

I’ve witnessed the amazing transformation personally.   During labor, it’s all, “You did this to me!” and “This is it!  I’m never going through this again!”

Witnessing it (and being the craven coward that I am) I not only had no doubt of the sincerity of her promise, I heartily agreed.

If it was me, it would only happen once.  And if I witnessed it beforehand . . . well, it’s a good thing for the human that women have the babies — or it would have ended with Cain.

There never would have been an Abel.

Assessment:

Witnessing the outline of Bible prophecy as unfolds is, on many levels a terrifying experience.

Speaking for myself, I can say without equivocation that there are times when “looking after the things that are coming upon the earth as the powers of heaven are shaken” before my very eyesterrifies me.

The outline of Bible prophecy is a litany of travail and sorrow and pain that, in the end, brings forth a new existence so glorious that the pain and sorrow fade into irrelevancy.   But that isthen.   We are in the now.

Knowing that it will be better then helps – but now is when the economy is teetering on the brink, the Middle East is on the brink of exploding into potentially nuclear war, as Westerncivilization — oblivious — continues to slide into the abyss.

But unfolding Bible prophecy is not doom and gloom, anymore than going into labor is doom and gloom.  The fear is more is analogous to the fear of major surgery – you know its necessary and it will improve your situation – but still, you know it’s going to hurt.

“But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him.”  (1st Corinthians 2:9)

Ok, but even though the benefits are beyond imagination, the parts we can imagine are scary.  Earthquakes, famines, wars, pestilences, solar anomalies, fear; of climate change, killer asteroids, weapons of mass destruction, social collapse . . . these are hardly things to lookforward to.

The analogy of birth pangs extends from the travail of the mother to the situation of the baby being brought forth.   The baby is quite comfortable in his environment – it is all he knows.

It is warm, dark, safe and protected.  The baby’s needs are all met in the womb and from his perspective, it is the perfect universe.

Until suddenly, his universe starts to heave and buckle and collapse around him, expelling him into a painfully bright, noisy world where the first sensation to greet him is pain.

He is rudely snatched from his universe by his head, slapped on the behind, cut from his umbilical cord and, shivering with cold, enters his new form of existence.  But having experienced this existence, returning to the dark warmth of the womb would seem a living death.

On the other end of this existence, it happens all over again.  We are forced, reluctantly and painfully, into this life.  And on the other end, we are just as reluctantly and painfully forced out.

“For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.” (Romans 8:18)

But during this present time, like the baby in the womb, this is all we know.  As we count down together towards the day of the Promise,  things will only get scarier.  It’s natural to be scared from time to time  — even for Christians. 

Don’t let being scared scare you into thinking your faith is weak.

Be not afraid of sudden fear, neither of the desolation of the wicked, when it cometh. For the LORD shall be thy confidence, and shall keep thy foot from being taken.” (Proverbs 3:25-26)

Maranatha!

This Letter was written by Jack Kinsella on April 2, 2010

The Rapture in Two-Part Harmony

The Rapture in Two-Part Harmony
Vol: 26 Issue: 30 Wednesday, August 30, 2017

In the days of the Apostle Paul, the city of Thessalonica was the largest city in Macedonia, boasting a population of nearly 200,000 people –a megapolis of the ancient world.

The majority of its inhabitants were Greek, although there was a mixture of ethnic groups, including Jews.

Paul’s letters to the Church at Thessalonica are accepted as authentic by virtually all New Testament scholars. The book was quoted by name by early Church Fathers including Iraneus, Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian and Polycarp.

The first epistle is divided into three parts or themes.  In the first part, Paul reiterates his relationship with the Thessalonians, gives thanks to God for them, and outlines the evidence that the Thessalonians were truly saved, in contrast to what the Judaizers were saying about them.  

“For they themselves shew of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God; And to wait for His Son from heaven, Whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.” (1 Thessalonians 1:9-10)

In the second part, Paul defends his credentials as an Apostle and the legitimacy of the Thessalonians’s conversion and his urgent desire to see them again. 

“For yourselves, brethren, know our entrance in unto you, that it was not in vain: But even after that we had suffered before, and were shamefully entreated, as ye know, at Philippi, we were bold in our God to speak unto you the gospel of God with much contention.” (1 Thessalonians 2:1-2)

“But we, brethren, being taken from you for a short time in presence, not in heart, endeavoured the more abundantly to see your face with great desire. Wherefore we would have come unto you, even I Paul, once and again; but Satan hindered us.” (1 Thessalonians 2:17-18)

The third major theme of the epistle is the imminent return of the Lord for His church at the Rapture.  It is a source of endless fascination to me to read the various polemics arguing against the Rapture on the grounds that it was a nineteenth-century invention of J.N. Darby or Margaret MacDonald or C.I. Schofield.

Other scholars, such as my friend Grant Jeffrey, have long since proved that the Rapture doctrine was taught by the early Church as far back as 373 AD when he discovered an ancient text authored by Ephraem the Syrian, a prominent Byzantine theologian.

In On the Last Times, the Antichrist, and the End of the World, Ephraem wrote:

“For all the saints and elect of God are gathered, prior to the tribulation that is to come, and are taken to the Lord lest they see the confusion that is to overwhelm the world because of our sins.”

The most fascinating aspect of Grant’s discovery is the effort to discredit it by opponents of a pre-Trib Rapture by denying Ephraem’s authenticity, called the discovery “pseudo-Ephraem.” 

This argument says that Ephraem didn’t write it, somebody else did.  Is that even a relevant argument? 

I was at Grant’s house visiting shortly after he made his discovery in 1995 and Grant showed me a book in his collection published in the 1600’s in which Ephraem’s teaching on the Rapture was quoted by a French theologian.

So denying Ephraem’s authorship is meaningless to the issue at hand, (which was whether the Rapture had been taught prior to the 1800’s.)

Personally, I’ve never understood how there could be a controversy.  Whether pseudo-Ephraem or just plain Ephraem — or Darby, Schofield, MacDonald — they are largely irrelevant — since the Apostle Paul taught of an imminent Rapture in his FIRST epistle to the Thessalonians. 

The controversy is about whether or not some subsequent interpreter confirmed what God told Paul, and it extends until what Paul actually wrote doesn’t seem to matter.  

But Paul not only outlined the Rapture in detail, he fully expected to witness it himself.

“For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent (or precede) them which are asleep. For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.”  (1 Thessalonians 4:15-17)

But the verses about the Rapture don’t actually complete the third theme of Paul’s first epistle to Thessolonica.

Paul addresses questions concerning his credentials as an Apostle, confirms that the Thessalonians are truly saved, and reveals the details of the Rapture. 

The Thessalonians, like many in the Church today, missed the point of Paul’s first Epistle.  The point was that the Lord’s return should be a source of great comfort, not a source of contention.

“For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him. Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do.” (1 Thessalonians 5:9-11)

The message is as clear as it can possibly be. As clear as this message is, some have trouble understanding it, even today.  Paul says that Lord will appear in the air, the dead in Christ will rise, those still living will rise right after, and we will then spend eternity with the Lord.  

Paul says the purpose of this revelation was to comfort believers facing hard times.  What completes the theme is Paul’s exhortation at the end.

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

Assessment:

Paul’s Second Letter to the Thessalonians had but one primary purpose, as specifically outlined in Chapter Two.  It was to correct the doctrinal errors that an apparently forged letter from Paul had created about the Day of the Lord.  

The Thessalonians feared that the Day of the Lord had come and gone and they had been left behind.  

“Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto Him, That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.” (2 Thessalonians 2:1-2)

The phrase, “our gathering together” is translated from the Greek, episunagoge, which means “a complete collection; especially a Christian meeting: assembling, gathering together.”  It is used but one other time, in Hebrews 10:25 exhorting believers to meet for worship. 

As we go on, let’s ask and answer some questions from the text of Scripture. 

First question: “What is Paul beseeching the Thessalonians about?” Answer: “That they not be shaken by a letter that said they had been left behind.”

The primary theme of 2nd Thessalonians is therefore, the coming of our Lord and our gathering together, or collecting, unto Him. Paul begins by offering two reasons why the Thessalonians should not be afraid that they had been left behind.   

“Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition.” (2Thessalonians 2:3)

So, what is the first reason why the Thessalonians should know that they had not missed the event Paul had described in his last letter?  Because the day would not come until there came “a falling away first.”

The translation “a falling away” should actually be rendered, “THE falling away” namely, the specific falling away of which Paul warned them of “when I was yet with you.” (2 Thessalonians 2:5)

The “falling away” is the great apostasia, meaning, “a defection from the truth.” 

The second reason why the Thessalonians should not be afraid that they had been left behind was because the man of sin, or the son of perdition, had not yet been revealed.  The man of sin is, of course, the antichrist.

The man of sin can’t be revealed until after the great apostasia because it is through the apostasiathat the man of sin is revealed.  Without the apostasia, the antichrist couldn’t get a foothold because the population would not be prepared to buy what he will be selling.

But what else does this passage teach us?  The Rapture couldn’t have happened because the antichrist had not been revealed.  What does that mean?   It HAS to mean that the Rapture comes first and then later, the antichrist is revealed.

I have heard all kinds of clever and imaginative explanations for why these verses don’t mean what they say they mean, but none of them ever actually take on the verses themselves.

They just go out and find others from elsewhere that seem contradictory but I’ve never heard anyone adequately dispute these two simple points – which is probably the reason Paul raised them.

One can come up with verses that seemingly put the Church in the Tribulation, or verses that seemingly dispute the meaning of “the wrath of God” and verses that question who the Restrainer is, or dispute the meaning of the Day of Christ, and so on.

But Paul says that there are two things that must come after “our gathering together unto Him” – the great apostasia, and the revelation of the son of perdition.  So if the Thessalonians don’t perceive a great apostasy, followed by the revealing of the antichrist, then it means they didn’t miss the Rapture.

Let’s reverse this equation and take another look at what Paul is saying from that angle. 

Paul is saying that if the Thessalonians DO perceive a great falling away and they DO recognize “the man of sin, the son of perdition,” then YES, they missed the Rapture.

Turned back around, he’s saying that because the man of sin hasn’t been revealed, the Rapture has not happened.  Why?  Because the Rapture comes first.  Not because Darby, MacDonald, Schofield or even Ephraem the Syrian invented the doctrine after the fact.

But because the doctrine was already well-established in the first century by the Apostle Paul! 

“For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.” (2 Timothy 4:3-4)

The first reference to a pre-Trib Rapture comes from the Bible.  It is not a cunningly devised fable, but is a doctrine made known to us by eyewitnesses of His Majesty (2 Peter 1:16). 

It wasn’t turned into a cunningly devised fable until after the great apostasia first kicked off at the end of the nineteenth century with the “Age of Enlightenment.”

The Great Apostasia is Part One and it is pretty much fully developed.  As for Part Two, the revelation of the antichrist, well, THAT looks like it’s fulfillment is just around the corner.  And according to the Apostle Paul, we won’t be here for Part Two. 

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

This Letter was written by Jack Kinsella on October 12, 2011

Is There Really A Money Trust?

Is There Really A Money Trust?
Vol: 26 Issue: 29 Tuesday, August 29, 2017

One of our OL members posted a question regarding the existence of a money trust conspiracy. In essence, the question was if the money trust conspiracy theory was true. The short answer is yes.

The longer answer is still yes, but the actual money trust ‘conspiracy’ (that’s not exactly the right word for it, but it is close) is less malevolent in fact than it is in theory.

Less look first at what it is, and then we’ll examine what it isn’t.

The rallying cry of the American Revolution was “No Taxation Without Representation.” There was more to it than that. Great Britain didn’t go to war over a tea tax. Included in Great Britain’s financial demands on the colony was control of America’s currency of issue.

That was the real prize, and to the colonists, it was the straw that broke the camel’s back, one issue among many issues popularized as a ‘tea tax revolt’ by history.

The Revolutionary War concluded with a treaty between Great Britain and the new United States of America that included the establishment of the 1st Bank of the United States, but owned by the British Crown.

Working behind the scenes, as an advisor to the British Crown was German financier Mayer Amschel Rothschild. Rothschild reputedly once remarked,

“Give me control of a nation’s currency and I care not who makes its laws.”

Rothschild financed the British Crown’s rental of the Hessian army from Germany, which propelled him to favor in the British Court. Rothschild sought to be the King’s banker. Good fortune and planning soon made him the King’s bank.

Rothschild, with the help of his five sons who controlled the main banking establishments in Europe, developed most effective and well-known private intelligence networks the world had ever seen.

At that time British bonds were called ‘consuls’ and they were traded on the floor of the stock exchange. Eldest son Nathan Mayer Rothschild instructed all his workers on the floor to start selling consuls. The made all the other traders believe that the British had lost the war so they started selling frantically.

When the stock bottomed, Nathan Mayer Rothschild discreetly instructed his proxies to buy them all back. When news finally reached London that the British had actually won the war, Nathan Mayer Rothschild owned most of England.

It put the Rothschild family in complete control of the British economy, now the financial center of the world following Napolean’s defeat, and forced England to set up a new Bank of England, which Nathan Mayer Rothschild controlled.

Rothschild’s sons established banks throughout Europe. Jacob set up de Rothschild Freres (Rothschild Bros) in Paris, other brothers set up banks in Vienna, Hamburg and Nales.

The 19th century is sometimes called the “Rothschild century” and its litany of wars and insurrections were nicknamed the “Rothschild wars” by those who lived through them.

For example, during the war between Britain and France in 1812-16, Mayer financed the British Crown, while Jacob financed Napoleon. Rothschild banking interests, for a time, financed both the Union and the Confederacy during the Civil War.

The Rothschilds found war extremely profitable; before her death, Gutle Schnapper, Mayer Amschel Rothschild’s wife reputedly said, “If my sons did not want wars, there would be none.”

By the end of this century, a period of time that was known as the, “Age of the Rothschilds,” it was estimated that the Rothschild family controlled half the wealth of the world.

The War of 1812 between the US and Great Britain began when the US refused to renew the charter for the First Bank of the United States. It concluded with the establishment of the Second Bank of the United States. The US won the war, but Rothschild won control of the bank.

In 1832, Andrew Jackson campaigned under the slogan, “Jackson and No Bank.” In 1833, Jackson removed US deposits from the Second Bank of the United States and puts them in non-Rothschild controlled banks.

The Rothschild Group responded by contracting the money supply, creating a financial depression, prompting Jackson to swear, “You are a den of thieves, vipers, and I intend to rout you out, and by the Eternal God, I will rout you out.”

In 1836, Jackson finally succeeded in blocking renewal of the Second Bank of the United States’ Charter. Before his death in 1845, Jackson was asked what he believed was his greatest presidential accomplishment. “I killed the bank,” he replied.

In 1863, Lincoln broke with the Rothschild bankers and, with the support of the Czar of Russia, began issuing ‘greenbacks’ to finance the Civil War, infuriating Rothschild, whose banks held most of the pre-war US national debt.

In an 1865 address to the Congress, Lincoln said, “I have two great enemies, the Southern Army in front of me, and the financial institutions in the rear. Of the two, the one in my rear is my greatest foe.”

Two months later, he lay dead from an assassin’s bullet.

The rest of the American 19th century is a litany of banking panics, financial scandals, money supply shortages and recessions that prompted Jacob Schiff, head of Kuhn, Loeb, and Co, (of the Hamburg Rothschild Banking House) to proclaim;

“Unless we have a Central Bank with adequate control of credit resources, this country is going to undergo the most severe and far reaching money panic in its history.”

On December 23, 1913, (when the majority of both Houses were at home for Christmas break) the Federal Reserve Act was put before a vote at a skeleton Congress. Its passage provoked Congressman Charles Lindbergh to thunder;

“The Act establishes the most gigantic trust on earth. When the President signs this Bill, the invisible government of the monetary power will be legalized…….The greatest crime of the ages is perpetrated by this banking and currency bill.”

The first governor of the Federal Reserve was a recent German immigrant named Paul Warburg. Warburg was a member of the Hamburg branch of the Rothschild Banking House before joining the Hamburg-affiliated American investment group of Kuhn and Loeb.

Warburg took his seat as Governor of the Fed just as World War I broke out in Europe.

The German House of Rothschild loaned money to the Kaiser to finance it. In gratitude, KaiserWilhem named Paul’s brother, Max Warburg head of German intelligence. Since Warburg was part of the House of Rothschild, he had access to the Rothschild intelligence network.

The British House of Rothschild loaned money to finance the war to the British Crown. The Crown appointed Sir William Wiseman as head of British Intelligence in Washington in World War I. (Sir William Wiseman was a full partner in Warburg, Kuhn and Loeb until his death in 1963).

After the war, Paul Warburg was among the US delegates to the Treaty of Versailles. Present for the German side was brother Max Warburg.

The crippling war reparations levied against Germany were designated to be paid through the Swiss-based Bank of International Settlements, controlled at the time by a third Warburg brother, Felix.

Cozy. Paul Warburg at the helm of the Federal Reserve, his business partner in charge of British intelligence, his brother in charge of the enemy’s intelligence services, Rothschild money financing all sides, and another brother in charge of collecting reparations when it was all over.

Who said, in war, nobody wins?

Assessment:

These are some of the historical facts supporting the existence of a Money Trust ‘conspiracy’. Now, as to what the Money Trust isn’t.

It isn’t a Jewish conspiracy. There are a number of Jewish names among the Rothschild financial empire, but that doesn’t make it a Jewish conspiracy.

One doesn’t have to be a Jew to be part of the Rothschild group. Its aims aren’t Jewish aims. Its purpose isn’t to benefit world-wide Jewry — its purpose is to benefit the House of Rothschild.

The Rothschild family bonds are not Jewish family bonds, they are Rothschild family bonds. If the Rothschild family history was Irish, nobody would call their banking conspiracy an “Irish conspiracy”.

The Mafia is an organized crime organization made up primarily of Italians, but it isn’t an “Italian crime conspiracy”. It isn’t affiliated with Italy. Its aims have nothing to do with Italy, either malevolent or benign. The Italians don’t get a ‘cut’ from New York’s organized crime families.

The ‘ethnic’ part of the conspiracy is the easiest part to explain. One enlists conspirators from among one’s closest acquaintances. Historically, ethnic groups had been “ghettoized” according to ethnicity, so the guys from the neighborhood are most likely the same ethnicity.

If you were a European Jew, you mostly knew other European Jews. And if you were a European Jew of the 18th or 19th centuries, you had little chance to know, and even less chance, to meet a Gentile.

It was social, not ethnic or religious differences that dictated the ethnicity of the early House of Rothschild. And it was greed and lust for power that drove it, not some ethnic or religious ethic.

The Money Trust conspiracy is a banking conspiracy. It is no more a “Jewish conspiracy” than the Hollywood film industry is “Jewish”.

There are a lot of Jewish names among the top Hollywood film industry, but the goal of the Hollywood film industry is to benefit the Hollywood film industry, not world-wide Jewry. The aim of the Money Trust is to benefit the Money Trust.

The Money Trust benefits when the economy does well, since it owns the economy. Sometimes, it benefits from the economy stalling, so it can lend itself money and collect interest.

When an economy can no longer produce profit, it is allowed to collapse, which brings domestic and political upheaval, which ultimately results in war.

Wars have to be financed, and if both sides are being financed from the same source, that source can selectively control the resources of one side, and then the next, allowing one side to surge, then allow the other, back and forth, until the maximum amount of profit has been squeezed out to finance war materiel whose only purpose is to blow up, forcing the financing of more.

That is how the Money Trust works. Despite its ugliness, the Money Trust ultimately benefits you and therefore, it is allowed to exist.

The big question you are probably asking is, “who is behind the money trust today?” You won’t like the short answer.

You are. And I am. And so is everybody who benefits when the economy surges.

And so we all work together, doing our part to keep the economic surge going. As long as the economy is good, there are jobs, our families are fed, our homes are safe, our lives secure.

We invest in the stock market via our 401(k) plans, we try to protect the environment, preserve our resources, and keep the good times rolling.

So does the local bank manager, and his boss, and his boss, ad infinitum, but NOT to benefit the money trust. Nobody is working for the handful of business executives in the handful of boardrooms at the top of the pyramid. We are working for ourselves.

It just so happens to benefit that handful of unknowns insulated by dozens of figureheads who are known, world leaders, top banking officials, etc. That’s how the world system works.

It should come as no surprise to those who read and believe Bible prophecy for the last days.

“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” (Ephesians 6:12)

We discussed the principle of hiding in plain sight. The best way to hide a conspiracy is among a number of competing conspiracies.

By floating the idea that it is a Jewish conspiracy, the banking conspiracy is effectively cloaked.

The “Protocols of the Elders of Zion” was the text used to justify the murder of uncounted tens of thousands of Jews in countless pogroms across Russia in the early 20th century.

It was widely circulated as documentary fact throughout Nazi Germany. It is still taken as Gospel by anti-Semites where ever they may gather.

The “Protocols of the Elders of Zion” borrowed its plot line from the existing Money Trust, and added the “Jewish conspiracy to dominate the world” twist to it.

Because there is an historical banking family that actually was behind all the events I outlined earlier, there is just enough truth to be plausible.

Making it a Jewish conspiracy makes it dangerous.

Whenever the subject of the money trust comes up, so do the “Protocols”. Only the extremists on both sides would care to discuss it further.

And being extremists, they are dismissed as extremists out of hand by the center who wouldn’t want to talk about it for fear of being labeled an extremist or an anti-Semite.

So nobody talks much about the Rothschilds, the money trust, the Federal Reserve, etc., for fear of being labeled an extremist or an anti-Semite. The money trust remains hidden in plain sight.

The Money Trust conspiracy exists, but it is hidden among so many different versions that the exact truth is known to only a few. We know what it was. Nobody is exactly sure what it is at the moment.

The Bible tells us what it will be.

According to Bible prophecy, the antichrist seizes control of an existing global economy. Itmust already exist — he has only seven years in which to govern.

It must be global — Revelation 13:17 says he exercises economy power over the whole earth — and it MUST be already centralized in order for him to seize it.

The Money Trust isn’t even a conspiracy, any more. It has gone way beyond that. It is a completed system — constructed over a period of hundreds of years — upon which we now depend for our continued existence as we know it.

We rely on it to feed our families. We depend on it to keep them healthy. We feed the world system by our labor, and then plow whatever we can save back into it to feed it some more.

We are enslaved by it on every level, and its power over each of us is both merciless and absolute. We can rail against it, shake our fist, but we can’t change it and hope to survive the process.

We can deny it exists. But we still go to work for it, pay taxes to it, and exist within its framework.

You can call it the money trust. Or you can call it, as the Bible does, the world system. Or you can pretend it doesn’t exist.

But it is what it is.

This Letter was written by Jack Kinsella on August 13, 2007

Seeking God

Seeking God
Vol: 26 Issue: 28 Monday, August 28, 2017

“But without faith, it is impossible to please Him, for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.”  (Hebrews 11:6)

The word “seek” appears in KJV some 233 times.  It is translated from the Greek word ekzeteowhich means “to search out, investigate, worshipfully crave, seek after carefully.”    

This is the manner in which we come to the Lord  – we seek Him out. 

I’ve never met anyone who came to salvation accidentally, or someone who came to know the Lord that wasn’t seeking the truth when they found Him.  If a person doesn’t want to find the truth, he won’t.  

There are those of us who may have found Him by trying to disprove He is, but the only way to accomplish that is to first investigate Him, search Him out, seek Him, and see if He is there.  

If one is diligent in his search and honest in his investigation, God promises that search will be rewarded by God.

There is no greater reward in return for effort expended that to find that which one is seeking, whether is a a lost set of car keys, a buried treasure — or the truth of God’s existence.  

And that knowledge is the reward that is offered here. 

A lot of time that I could be putting to better use is wasted trying to convince people by sharing the results of my own diligent investigation which convinced me that there is an eternal God to Whom we are all accountable for our sins.

I forget oftentimes that I am unable to be diligent on the behalf of the disinterested. I cannot seek God on behalf of someone else, no matter how hard I try.  

I cannot make someone else seek God either, no matter how much I hover over them with my Bible. 

There is an old saying that “you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink.”  If you tried to make him drink you’d drown him.  

Either that, or that horse would never trust you around water again. 

I’ve done that with my Bible.  Someone will seem (to me) to show an interest in spiritual things, and I’ll immediately charge in with the Sword of the Lord.  

And I will stay in there, thrusting and parrying, long after my opponent has asked to withdraw without yielding the field. 

I led them to the Water of Life — whereupon I tried to drown them in it.  

They’ll not get too close to the edge again with me around. 

Assessment:

“Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.” (Matthew 7:6)

One of the most discouraging aspects of one-on-one evangelism is feeling that you’ve let God down by not seizing every opportunity to witness to someone.  

I’ve personally never led anyone to Christ who wasn’t already looking for Him. 

Not once have I ever emerged from one of those adversarial debates over Scripture and God feeling victorious in the sense my opponent suddenly fell to his knees and prayed for salvation.  

That is not to say that it doesn’t happen — I’ve just never seen it.  I’ve seen people come to salvation, but I’ve never witnessed anyone unwillingly dragged to the altar that experienced genuine regeneration.  

To please God, one must believe that He is.  But to discover that He is, one must first be seeking Him.  

We can plant the seeds — but generally what we harvest was what was planted by others.  There are a couple of ways to plant a seed.  

One can plant it in fertile ground that has been prepared to receive it.  Or one can throw it against the same fertile ground and hope it will germinate and take root.  

In either case, whether or not it will grow is, in the final analysis, up to the Lord of the Harvest and not to the planter.  

Farmers plant crops that fail all the time.  And squirrels plant trees all the time.  It’s obvious that a seed planted in fertile ground that has been prepared to receive it has a much better chance of germinating. 

The point is that it is up to us to try to plant the seed in fertile ground prepared to receive it and in the right season.  Planting in the wrong season just kills the seed and needlessly exhausts the sower.  

(Toss some seed corn into the snow in your backyard and let me know what you harvest.)

The Great Commission commands us to go and make disciples of all nations, and the only way to accomplish that is to share the Good News.  

But trying to beat the Good News into them doesn’t make disciples.  It makes more determined adversaries. 

“Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.” (Matthew 7:12)

Note: If we are as far on the prophetic timeline as we believe we are, let us plant the seeds of salvation with wisdom which only comes from the Lord. “But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and BE READY ALWAYS to give an answer to every man THAT ASKETH YOU a reason of the hope that is in you WITH MEEKNESS AND FEAR:” (1 Peter 3:15)

This Letter was written by Jack Kinsella on January 13, 2010

Featured Commentary: The Last Hour ~Pete Garcia

The Replacement Jews

The Replacement Jews
Vol: 26 Issue: 26 Saturday, August 26, 2017

“I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan.” (Revelation 2:9)

The Bible is the record of God’s systematic revelation of Himself to mankind, an unfolding system of revelation, given to man “at sundry times and in diverse manners,” according to Hebrews 1:1. 

Of itself, the Bible says, “For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.” (2nd Peter 1:21)

Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit during a period of 1604 years, extending from B. C. 1492 to A. D. 100. The Bible consists of 66 separate books; 39 in the Old Testament, and 27 in the New. These books were written by 40 different authors over a period of about a thousand years. 

By kings, such as David and Solomon; statesmen, as Daniel and Nehemiah; priests, as Ezra; men learned in the wisdom of Egypt as Moses; men learned in Jewish law, as Paul. 

By a herdsman, Amos; a tax-gatherer, Matthew; fishermen, as Peter, James and John, who were “unlearned and ignorant” men; a physician, Luke; and such mighty “seers” as Isaiah, Ezekiel and Zechariah.

It was written in the wilderness of Sinai, the cliffs of Arabia, the hills and towns of Israel, the courts of the Temple, the schools of the prophets at Bethel and Jericho, in the palace of Shushan in Persia, on the banks of the river Chebar in Babylonia, in the dungeons of Rome, and on the lonely Isle of Patmos in the Aegean Sea.

Although it was composed over a period of roughly 40 generations, the Bible is much more than a compilation of historical eyewitness accounts. It is a progressive account of unfolding Divine revelation. 

The judges knew more than the Patriarchs, the Prophets than the judges, the Apostles than the Prophets. The Old and New Testaments cannot be separated. You cannot understand Leviticus without Hebrews, or Daniel without Revelation.

The language of Scripture can be categorized into three distinct styles; figurative, symbolic and literal. The figurative style is explained by the context. The symbolic is either explained by context or by cross references to other passages of Scripture. 

Anything that doesn’t fall into one of those two categories should be taken literally. 

The Scriptures, while written FOR all men, is not written specifically TO all men. Part of it is addressed to the Jews, part to the Gentiles, and the remainder to the Church. These represent three of four ‘classes’ of spiritual creation, (with the fourth being the angelic hosts). 

Paul identified the three classes of human creation, saying, “Give none offence, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the Church of God:” (1st Corinthians 10:32)

It then logically follows that, while the Bible was written for the instruction of the Church, it isn’t all written about the Church. The Old Testament is mostly taken up with the history of one nation, that of Israel. 

When we take the Old Testament promises and apply them to the Church we rob the Jew of that which is exclusively his, by Divine decree.

The Old Testament is mostly taken up with the history of one nation, that of Israel. When we take the Old Testament promises and apply them to the Church we rob the Jew of that which is exclusively his.

The Book of Isaiah, for example, is largely applied to the Church, although Isaiah opens by specifically addressing ‘Judah and Jerusalem’ (Isaiah 1:1) 

And some of the New Testament is addressed, not to the Church, but to the Jews, as in the Letter to the Hebrews or the Book of James, which is addressed to the twelve tribes scattered abroad. (James 1:1) 

One can identify seven separate dispensations in Scripture. The best definition I can come up with for ‘dispensation’ in layman’s terms would be ‘a period of time in which God dealt with specific persons or groups in specific ways’. 

The Dispensations are; 

1) The Edenic Dispensation, during which God walked with Adam in the Garden in the cool of the evening. 

2) The Ante-diluvian (pre-Flood) Dispensation of Conscience, during which time God allowed fallen man to govern according to his own conscience. During this Dispensation, the human bloodline was corrupted by fallen angels, as part of a Satanic effort to break God’s prophecy that the Messiah would come from Eve’s bloodline; 

“And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise His heel.” 

The Ante-Diluvian Age ended with the Flood, and Noah and his family were spared to preserve and restore the human bloodline. “Noah was a just man and PERFECT IN HIS GENERATIONS. . .” (Genesis 6:9)

3) The Post-Diluvian Age introduced the Dispensation of Human Government, which runs concurrently with the other Dispensations through to the Second Coming of Christ. 

4) The Dispensation of the Promise, beginning with Abraham, when God sets the Messianic plan in motion with His covenant with Abraham and Abraham’s descendants. Abraham was the father of the Jewish race through which God would reveal Himself to the nations and through whom would come the Redeemer Messiah. 

5) The Dispensation of the Law, when God revealed the Law of Moses and set up the system of Temple worship and sacrifice for the Jewish people and prepared them for their coming Redeemer. 

6) The Dispensation of Grace, often called the “Church Age”. This is that parenthetical Dispensation that occurs between the sixty-ninth and seventieth week of Daniel. The purpose of this Dispensation is to gather out a “People for His Name,” called the ‘Church’ (ekklesia — the ‘called out’ or ‘assembled’ ones). We are currently living the final hours of this present dispensation. 

Theologically speaking, there is a difference between an “age” and a “Dispensation.” An ‘Age’ is the period between two great physical changes in the earth, such as the Prediluvian (Pre-Flood) Age and the Antediluvian Age which runs from Noah to the 2nd Coming of Christ. The third great Age is the Kingdom Age, when the earth reverts to its pre-Flood condition. 

7) The Messianic Age is also the Dispensation of the Millennial Kingdom that replaces the Dispensation of Human government. There is to be a period of 1000 years during which Satan shall be bound and Christ shall reign over the earth, as clearly revealed in the New Testament. 

This period is mentioned six times in the Book of Revelation. There is a widely-held heresy within the Church that stems from wrongly dividing the Word of Truth and viewing the Church Age as a continuation of the Dispensation of the Law. 

In this view, the Church is the inheritor of the promises of Abraham, the new ‘chosen people’ to whom the Abrahamic Covenant was transferred. The modern Jew, in this view, is no longer part of the eternal plan of God. 

Since the Old Testament promises of riches and glory have been transferred from the Jew to the Church, Israel is just another country. 

Which is why so many mainstream Protestant churches are taking actions like divestiture to punish Israel for its treatment of the Palestinians without worrying they may be interfering with God’s Plan for the Ages. 

God has no eternal plan that presently includes the Jews, they believe. 

Assessment:

Called ‘New Covenant’ or ‘Replacement Theology’, this view postulates that all prophecy was concluded with the destruction of the Temple in AD 70, that the Emperor Nero was the antichrist, and that the role of the Church is to bring about the Kingdom of Heaven here on earth before Christ can return at His second Coming. 

Replacement Theology is the well spring of antisemitic thought within much of mainstream Protestant theology. It has four major premises:

1.The Jewish people are
now no longer a “chosen people.” In fact, they are no different from any other group, such as the English, Spanish, or Africans.

2. Corporately, as a nation, Israel and the Jewish people have no future, no hope, and no calling in the plan of God. 

3. From Pentecost forward, the term “Israel,” as found in the Bible, now refers to the Church.

4. The promises, covenants and blessings ascribed to Israel in the Bible have been transferred to the Church. However, the Jews are conveniently, still subject to the curses found in the Bible, as a result of their rejection of Christ.

Without an understanding of Dispensational truth, confusion reigns supreme and the Bible becomes a mass of contradictions. Which is correct? 

“And thine eye shall not pity; but life shall go for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.” (Deuteronomy 19:21).

Or. . . “Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.” (Matthew 5:38-39)

What about. . . “Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.” (1st John 4:4) and, “And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them:” (Revelation 13:7) 

How does one rightly divide two conflicting verses? Is it an eye for an eye, or turn the other cheek. Do we overcome because of the indwelling Holy Spirit, or does the antichrist overcome the Holy Spirit when he makes war with the Tribulation saints and overcomes them? 

Clearly, both cannot simultaneously be true, which them means at least one of them in each of these cases is untrue. 

So if replacement theology is correct, half the Bible needs to be tossed out. To get around this difficulty, they teach that Revelation is filled with symbolism and none of it is intended to be taken literally. 

‘Dispensational truth’ is so-called because it is true. The teaching of dispensations does not lead to the conclusion that other parts of the Bible are unimportant or uninspired. 

It teaches that the Word of God, rightly divided, is “sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” (Hebrews 4:12) 

The Bible is true, and we are currently living in the last generation of the Dispensation of Grace. At its conclusion, (which all the signs indicate point to this generation to the exclusion of all others), the Apostle Paul writes;

“For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 

Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.” 

“Wherefore comfort one another with these words.” (1st Thessalonians 4:15-18)

This Letter was written by Jack Kinsella on August 3, 2009

The End from the Beginning

The End from the Beginning
Vol: 26 Issue: 25 Friday, August 25, 2017

The Book of Daniel is among the most controversial books in the Bible, dividing scholars over whether it was actually written by the Prophet Daniel or if it was a late forgery.

In the third-century a heretic named Porphyry declared Daniel was written by Judas Macabeus around the time of Antiochus Epiphanes, around 170-163 BC — about four hundred years after Daniel.

The main reason for rejecting Daniel is his incredibly accurate prophecy regarding the four world empires that were to come.

It takes a dedicated critic to deny Daniel’s authorship.  Daniel predicted the rise of Alexander the Great and his Greek empire, which defeated and replaced the Persian Empire in 334 BC.  

Under Alexander, all subjects of his empire had to use Greek as their working language. 

In obedience to that law, a group of rabbis and Jewish sages undertook to translate the Jewish Scriptures into Greek.  Their final work, the Septuagint, translated in the 3rd century BC, and well before Macabeus, included the Book of Daniel.

There are lots of other examples that shatter the contention that Daniel is a forgery, but the most compelling evidence favoring Daniel’s authenticity is Christianity.  Sir Isaac Newton argued that Christianity itself rests on Daniel’s authenticity. 

Why? Because of the testimony of Matthew 24:15 and Mark 13:14.  The Lord Jesus Christ referred to the Book of Daniel and He called Daniel a Prophet.  If Daniel was a forgery or a mythical character, then Jesus didn’t know that. 

If Jesus didn’t know that, then He could not have been the Son of God. If Jesus was not the Son of God, then He was not qualified to pay your sin debt, your faith is in vain and you remain yet dead in your sins.

It is therefore not possible to reject the historicity and authenticity of Daniel without necessarily rejecting the entire Bible, including the New Testament.  Which is, of course, the position taken by Daniel’s critics.

But apart from the obvious problems already articulated, there is one more logic problem associated with dating Daniel to the Maccabean Period.  Even if that could explain Daniel’s incredible accuracy in predicting the fall of Babylon and the rise and fall of the Persian and Greek Empires, the Roman Empire was yet future.

Daniel had more to say about the rise and fall and rise again of the Roman Empire than he did of any other world empire — and even late-dating Daniel doesn’t explain the prophetic accuracy of the book that bears his name.  In 170-163 BC, Judea was under Greek, not Roman rule.

The Roman Republic had not yet become the Roman Empire when Daniel’s critics claim the Book of Daniel was written.  So even if it was written by Judas Maccabeus, (it wasn’t) the critics are still left scratching their heads, since even with the later date, most of Daniel’s prophecy was yet future.  

It is a ridiculous, desperate effort by those who just can’t accept the supernatural explanation to find one that they can — even if their preferred explanation is even less defensible. 

To accept Daniel at face value is to admit that God exists, since if Daniel is the actual author of the Book, then no other possible explanation makes sense.

Assessment:

“. . . For I am God and there is none like Me, Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure:” (Isaiah 46:9-10)

In Daniel’s day, Rome was not yet even a republic, let alone an empire.  The city of Rome was founded by Romulus at just about the same time that Daniel was interpreting King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream. 

The king had dreamed a dream that he couldn’t remember, but it greatly troubled him.  Eventually, Daniel was summoned to both reveal what the dream was and interpret it. 

The king dreamed of a statue, or image of a man with a head of gold, chest and arms of silver, belly and thighs of brass, two legs of iron and ten toes of iron mixed with clay.

THIS is the dream that confounds Daniel’s critics.  By the time of the Maccabean Period, the empire of Babylon had already been defeated by Persia, which had been already defeated by Greece, which was already beginning to show signs of crumbling.  

The two legs of iron, signifying Rome, were still future.  By the fourth century, the Roman Empire grew too large to be administered from Rome and so the Empire was divided into the Western, Roman Empire and the Eastern Byzantine Empire, with its capital at Constantinople. 

Rome was conquered by the barbarians in 476 AD. Rome’s political destruction was complete – a deadly wound directly to one of the heads of the empire, fulfilling the Apostle John’s prediction of a deadly head wound:

“And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.” (Revelation 13:3)

The Prophet Daniel predicts that the final form of the revived Roman Empire will be a confederation of ten kingdoms that were part of the two legs of iron. With the revival of the Roman Empire, that deadly wound is healed.

“And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.” (Revelation 13:12)

It is at this point that interpreters and Bible critics and Bible teachers and students of Bible prophecy branch out into all kinds of areas. Some are convinced the deadly wound signifies a failed assassination attempt against the antichrist. 

Others focus their attention on the identity of the first beast, or the system overseen by the second beast, or are mesmerized by the concept of the Mark of the Beast and how it will be administered.

All these things are unknown and, I believe, unknowable, until the time appointed.

And all the speculation, (since it is all different and things that are different cannot be the same), throws out the baby with the bath water, can’t see the forest for the trees, is missing a piece of the puzzle, is out wandering in the desert, not to mention all the other metaphors I can’t think of.  

If you back up to the point before the speculation begins, THAT is where the real meat is to be found.

At the time the Prophet Daniel was telling Nebuchadnezzar that the as-yet future Roman Empire would remain a force until it is abolished by Jesus Christ in the final hours of human government, an unwashed peasant named Romulus was founding a settlement along the Tiber River, declaring himself king. 

Twenty-six hundred years after Daniel and sixteen hundred years after the barbarians entered the gates of Rome,  the European Union declared itself the revival of the Roman Empire.  

Whether it currently consists of ten nations or twenty-seven at this particular point in history is largely irrelevant. History is still unfolding. In the end, it will be fulfilled precisely as prophesied.

Isaiah 46:10 teaches us that prophecy starts at the end and works back to the beginning.

In 1948, for the first time since Nebuchadnezzar captured Jerusalem (and Daniel) the nation of Israel was revived and restored to the same piece of real estate from which they had been ejected by the Romans in AD 70.

For a nation of antiquity to be conquered, scattered and then restored in such a manner had no equal in history.   But this event was more than an historical first — it was the direct and unambiguous fulfillment of Bible prophecy for the last days.

At the exact same point in history, the six nations of the Benelux formed a cooperative economic union that marked the beginning of the revival of the Roman Empire.  The revival of an historical empire such as we’ve witnessed in our generation is also an event without equal in the annals of history.

To assume both events happened at exactly the same point in history — by coincidence — takes a faith greater than I can muster up.

The world is in a state of chaos and confusion unlike anything in living memory — for the first time in the history of mankind, mankind faces an existential threat of extinction at his own hand. 

Uncertainty and fear color every waking moment as we wonder if our world will look the same in the morning as it did when we went to bed the night before.

Our systems and infrastructure are in shambles, people are rioting in the streets, the economy is in the tank and everywhere one turns, they are talking about a New World Order.  

There is no need to speculate.  Just look at what is out there in the open.

If you know Jesus Christ (and He knows you) than what is unfolding in our world is proof positive that the world is wrong, God is not dead, Jesus Christ remains on the throne and remains intimately involved in the affairs of men. 

“Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in Me.  In My Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.” (John 14:1-3)

Everything is unfolding according to Plan and what remains unfulfilled will be fulfilled in this generation just as literally as those that have already been fulfilled.  So we have nothing to fear.

“Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. . . And now I have told you before it come to pass, that, when it is come to pass, ye might believe.” (John 14:27,29)

It IS coming to pass.  And I believe. 

Marantha!

This Letter was written by Jack Kinsella on November 7, 2011

Featured Commentary: Pretribulation Teaches Two Gospels ~Alf Cengia

When Skeptics Ask . . .

When Skeptics Ask . . .
Vol: 26 Issue: 24 Thursday, August 24, 2017

I read somewhere that one of the distinguishing characteristics of mankind is that man is the only animal that knows he is going to die. Although everything dies, only man knows that includes him.

My dog is a nervous little thing; when your legs are only eight inches long, everything looks like a threat. But she is avoiding pain, which she does understand, not death, which she does not.

Why is it that man fears death? In the main, most people believe that death is the end of our existence. They believe that the death of our body means the end of our identity, the end of our thoughts and memories, the end of our consciousness.

If you’ve ever been to the funeral of a loved one, you can understand why people believe that. Your loved one, when alive, was warm, animated and engaged with life.

Now they are cold and still and totally disconnected from life. All that you knew them to be is gone, seemingly never to see or be seen again.

In a manner of speaking, you ‘die’ every year. At any given second during your lifetime, a half-million of your cells die and are replaced. At the end of a year, your old body has died and been almost completely replaced with a new one.

During our life our body changes continuously, each day, each minute, each second. Each year about 98% of our molecules and atoms in our body have been replaced. Each living being is in an unstable balance of two opposing processes of continual disintegration and integration.

When somebody dies, only the mortal remains are left behind. What happens to our consciousness? Is your body ‘you’? Or is your body your possession? Do you have a body? Or are you a body?

An atheist would argue that the body and the consciousness are one and the same. When the body dies, the consciousness dies as well. You are your body.

There is no ‘ghost in the machine’ despite the growing mountain of evidence to the contrary. The atheist credits ‘reason’ for his reaching this ‘enlightened’ perspective.

But this all-or-nothing view demands that the atheist be more closed-minded about his worldview than any Christian he might accuse of close-mindedness. Christians aren’t certain of the exact details of the death process, either.

But for atheists, its all-or-nothing. If they acknowledge the existence NDE’s then they can’t be atheists anymore. Now they are agnostics. (For a worldview that claims ‘reason’ as its father, it really isn’t very reasonable.)

In 1943, a 20 year old soldier named George Ritchie was resuscitated after being clinically dead for six minutes. He later wrote of his experience in a book entitled, “Return from Tomorrow.”

Ritchie is among the first to chronicle the experience of ‘near death’.

George leaves his body and sees it lying in his bed. He is not aware the dead body in his bed is his. Wanting eagerly to travel to Richmond, Virginia to start college, he finds himself flying in the air toward a city.

He is not sure how he acquired these strange powers of flight and transparency. He arrives at a city and discovers he has lost his solidness. He flies back to the hospital and sees his lifeless body in the morgue and realizes he has died.

Suddenly, Jesus appears emitting a tremendous light and love. George’s entire life appears before him. Jesus asks, “What have you done with your life?” He realizes Jesus is not judging him, but he is judging himself.

As medical technology advanced through the 20th century, more and more near death experiences, or NDE’s have been reported. They are almost universal in certain aspects, but not all.

Most people who undergo NDE’s say that they are not “dream-like” events, but instead, very real and structured “visits”.

There seem to be two kinds of NDE’s. One is described as warm, peaceful place where one is floating near a bright light. The other is a place of torment and punishment and misery.

In either case, they are almost always life-changing events for those that have experienced them.

Assessment:

The purpose of the Omega Letter is to equip you with answers to some of the tough questions posed by skeptics and questions about NDE’s are about as tough as they get.

There is such a thing as Near Death Experiences — there is no denying them. Whether they are the result of a chemical reaction that takes place as the brain dies or an actual spiritual experience is irrelevant to the fact that they exist.

People report them, and there are medical studies that examine them. So, whether chemical reactions or actual experiences, they are real enough to those who experienced them.

The Apostle Paul reported that, having been stoned to the point of death outside the city of Lystra, he then found himself in the ‘third heaven’ where he received Divine revelation. (2nd Corinthians 12:2-7)

There is, therefore at least peripheral Scriptural precedent for the concept.

NDE’s are NOT evidence a person is saved; many of those who reported NDE’s report not only seeing hell, but report encounters with demons and hellfire.

If Near Death Experiences are evidence of anything, they are evidence that there is somethingthat exists beyond this life. But that’s about as far as anybody can reasonably take what we learn from NDE’s.

Near Death Experiences are not doctrinal. Neither are they necessarily anti-doctrinal. At best, they are doctrinally neutral. They play no role in a person’s salvation or condemnation. Nobody can experience it except the person involved.

Very few details of what they report back about their experiences line up with advanced Bible doctrine, but that’s irrelevant. Mature Christians aren’t looking to someone’s recollection of what happened when they were in a coma for doctrinal truths — that’s what Scripture is for.

‘Coming back’ from a Near Death Experience is not the same as being raised from the dead — they are Near Death Experiences. “Resuscitated” is not the same as “resurrected” — it’s not even close.

Neither are NDE’s an evangelical tool one could use to lead somebody to Christ. Most NDE’s provide just as much ‘evidence’ of Buddha as they do of Jesus.

NDE’s only indicate that there is something beyond this life.

When a lost person asks about NDE’s, there are two possible ways to address the question. The first is to categorically reject them despite the reams of documentary evidence to the contrary.

The second is to know something about the phenomenon, the research that is ongoing, and whether there are Scriptures that either support or oppose the existence of the phenomenon on doctrinal grounds.

Here is what we know about the research itself. It is medical and scientific, not spiritual or doctrinal. It is peer-reviewed every step of the way to ensure proper scientific procedures are being followed.

Without any particular faith or any particular religious tradition, based entirely on medical records and anecdotal evidence, here is what they found:

At some point in the dying process, the scientific evidence points to a physical separation of one’s spirit from one’s body. The brain shuts down but the mind — that part that makes you youcontinues on.

Death, like birth, is a process rather than a permanent state of existence. Death is the de-linking of the soul from the body. That is the physical and scientific findings regarding death.

The Bible teaches that death is a shift from receiving physical input via the body to the consciousness, (the soul) receiving input via the spirit. If one’s spirit has not been ‘quickened’ by the presence of the Holy Spirit, however, then one’s soul is forever chained to a dead and unresponsive spirit.

The Bible says that at the Great White Throne, the body is resurrected and reunited with the soul before being cast alive into the Lake of Fire. But that takes place long after the death process is completed, which is one reason the Bible refers to this as the ‘second death’.

We are living in the last days. As a consequence of that fact, knowledge has been increased and increased until we’ve learned so much so fast it becomes a kind of blur, like so much babble. We can even look beyond the threshold of death. Science can only go so far — at best, it can hypothesize that death is not the end of existence.

That is why we have been entrusted with the Scriptures. When skeptics ask, it is our job to fill in the rest of the blanks.

“But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear. . . ” (1st Peter 3:15)

This Letter was written by Jack Kinsella on September 2, 2009

Featured Commentary: The History of Hatred ~J.L. Robb

From the Ends of the Earth

From the Ends of the Earth
Vol: 26 Issue: 23 Wednesday, August 23, 2017

“But now thus saith the LORD that created thee, O Jacob, and He that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art Mine.” (Isaiah 43:1)

Most scholars place Isaiah Chapters 40-55 during the time the Babylonian captivity. Jerusalem had been destroyed and the people were either in captivity or scattered.

But Isaiah is one of the richest sources of what is known as ‘dual fulfillment’ prophecy in Scripture. ‘Dual-fulfillment’ refers to prophecies that were fulfilled in part during that period of history in which they were written, with the remainder of the prophecy to be fulfilled on a grander scale at some later point in history.

In Isaiah 43 is an excellent example of dual fulfillment. Verses 1-7 address the ingathering of the exiles, which took place, in part, following Ahasuerus’ decree to rebuild the city and sanctuary.

But it also prefigures the complete ingathering of the exiles from the ‘from the ‘ends the earth’ in the last day.

Isaiah 43:8-9 is another example of dual-fulfillment:

“Bring forth the blind people that have eyes, and the deaf that have ears. Ye are My witnesses, saith the LORD, and My Servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe Me, and understand that I am He: before Me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after Me.”

While God is addressing the Jews in Babylonian captivity, He also includes the promise of a Redeemer, One Who gives sight to the blind and ears to the deaf, and includes a challenge to all those who would claim another god.

“Ye are My witnesses, saith the LORD, and My servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe Me, and understand that I am He: before Me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after Me. I, even I, am the LORD; and beside Me there is no Saviour.” (Isaiah 43:10-11)

This is a clear reference to the coming Messiah Jesus, Whom John 1:1-3 reveals as the Creator of the Universe:

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him; and without Him was not any thing made that was made.”

The ‘Word’ — Jesus — was God, and as such, was with God in the beginning, and it was He, Jesus, Who was the Creator of the physical universe.

So, in this passage, we find history, (Creation) and three separate prophecies; the promise of their return from captivity in Babylon,( fulfilled in 445 BC), the coming of the Messiah (fulfilled some 500 years future), and their ultimate re-gathering to their own land in the last days, (in the process of being fulfilled in this generation).

The re-gathering in Isaiah’s day was only a partial fulfillment, since only the Jews of Judah were restored by Ahasuerus. The ten northern tribes of the Kingdom of Israel were taken into exile by Sargon the Assyrian in BC 702, from which they disappeared from history.

After the Israelites were conquered and scattered, there remained only the Jews of Judah, who were taken by the Babylonians and then restored to the land by the Persians.

Isaiah’s re-gathering here is not the re-gathering of the Jews of Judah, but of the whole nation of Israel.

“For I am the LORD thy God, the Holy One of ISRAEL, thy Saviour: I gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee.” (Isaiah 43:3)

Assessment:

A group of fifty-one Indians who claimed to be descendants of one of those ten lost tribes arrived in Israel in 2006 in what Jewish religious authorities are calling a fulfillment of Bible prophecy.

Israel’s chief Rabbinate certified a group of some seven thousand Indians from the remote north-eastern Indian states of Mizoram and Minapur as members of the Bnei Menashe, one of the ten tribes that were lost after being exiled by the Assyrians.

Michael Jankelowitz, spokesman for the Jerusalem-based Jewish Agency, which is co-ordinating the Indians’ arrival, said “they have lived a Jewish way of life for decades” including by keeping Saturday as the Sabbath and observing Jewish dietary laws.

The tale of how the community’s ancestors came to India’s north-east – sandwiched between Bangladesh and Myanmar is fascinating. Exiled by the Assyrians, the tribe was apparently forced east and travelled through Afghanistan and China before settling in what is now India’s north-east.

Rabbi Avihayil, who discovered the Menashe, says he learned of them back in 1979, and, after two years of studying their history and traditions, identified them as members of the lost tribe.

Among the clues that he took to be telltale signs, he said, were traditions resembling those of the ancient Israelites, including having places of refuge for those who had killed someone by mistake.

Rabbi Avihayil said his research revealed that the descendants of Menasseh also practised circumcision, albeit with sharpened flint rather than a knife.

In 1982, Rabbi Avihayil travelled to India, where he met Bnei Menashi . Then in 1989 he sent a religious official there to convert 24 people.

The ingathering of Jews from exile is a central theme of the last days:

“I will bring thy seed from the east, and gather thee from the west,” Isaiah predicted. “I will say to the north, Give up; and to the south, Keep not back: bring My sons from far, and My daughters from the ends of the earth.” (Isaiah 43:5-6)

By Rabbi Avihayil’s estimate, there are tens of millions of descendants of the lost tribes of Israel living in Japan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, China, Thailand and Burma.

“It is not our task to bring all of the ten tribes back, that is the task of the Messiah,” he said.

“But it is our task, before the Messiah comes, to create an opening in this matter.”

The opening is created, and the ingathering is in process.

The ten lost tribes of Israel are rediscovering their Jewish history in places throughout the world, from east to west, north to south, exactly as prophesied, and are being ‘lifted up’ and put back down again in their own land.

Just in time for the Messiah.

“Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh: So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors. . . .”

“Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till ALL these things be fulfilled.” (Matthew 24:32-34)

This Letter was written by Jack Kinsella on November 21, 2006

Featured Commentary: A Multiplicity of Errors ~Wendy Wippel

China s Plan to be King of the East

China s Plan to be King of the East
Vol: 26 Issue: 22 Tuesday, August 22, 2017

Chinese civilization and culture date back 4,500 years. The Chinese have never been aggressive conquerors of other nations or people; but they have a history of being extremely aggressive in defense of their country and the imperial control of Chinese territory and peoples.

The annexing of Tibet, the military campaigns against India in the 1970s, and intervention in the Korean War in the 1950s, were further manifestations of the Great Wall syndrome dating to 200 B.C. It’s been observed that if you stuck a two by four into the ground in China, the next morning, there’d be a wall around it.

During the 90’s, the Clinton administration tried to 1) recruit China as a strategic ally, but the strategy failed while Chinese agents 2) gleefully looted US national secrets, 3) influenced the US national election of 1996, 4) got a pesky missile guidance problem fixed, 5) arranged to have a laundry list of technology waivers granted; and, then, as soon as a new administration took office, forced down a US plane and took its crew captive.

Within hours, there were walls around the EP-3 spy plane, there were walls around the crew, and by the time Beijing released it to us, the Chinese had stripped the plane clean of technology so they could build a wall around their airspace, too.

China doesn’t want a friendship with the West or a strategic alliance with Washington; the 90’s détente was an excuse to plunder the US for fun and profit while learning as much as possible for use in China’s next Great Wall.

China plans an Asian Common Market that would give member countries – including China, preference over countries outside the bloc.

China envisions an Asian Common Market that included the Middle East, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and South Asia, exclude Japan, suck in South Korea, and in the view of the planners in Beijing, ensure Chinese prosperity at a time of increased tensions with Washington.

To this end, China has been conducting a quiet but persistent diplomacy designed to wean the countries of the region away from their “dependence” on the United States.

Beijing has only been partly successful among the ASEAN states (Association of Southeast Asian Nations). Most of them don’t trust China any more than they do the United States, and in many instances, less.

But the “anti-hegemony” rhetoric of Chinese diplomats has been having an increasing response in the Middle East. There, significant elements of the professional and ruling elites are looking to ways of reducing their exposure in Western financial markets. China presents an attractive alternative.

China’s move toward Iran is not aimed at expanding China’s empire, but instead at widening one of its walls. Beijing sees in Iran the ideal country to replicate its North Korea/Pakistan strategy.

By creating nuclear and missile capabilities artificially in unstable, potentially aggressive neighbors Beijing can divert the attention of the United States to these problem states and away from China.

It’s a policy that has worked for two decades, and has resulted in China being nearly surrounded with a buffer zone of nuclear states friendly only to Beijing. China’s new Nuclear Great Wall.

Assessment:

When the apostles were first beginning to spread the Good News of Jesus into the world, the Holy Spirit instructed them not to preach the word of God in Asia.

“Now when they had gone throughout Phrygia and the region of Galatia, and were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia.” (Acts 16:6)

As a consequence, the initial thrust of Christianity as it spread across the earth went toward the west rather than the east. This had profound implications for the future, not the least of which was the fact that Christianity thereafter would be seen as a western institution and be identified closely with western government.

History shows that this has been the course that the message of the Gospel has taken as it has been preached across the world. It started in the Middle East and spread north and west throughout Europe while its eastern course was blocked and thwarted.

Five hundred years ago Columbus brought Christianity to the Western Hemisphere where it began to spread across the American continent. (Jer.25:22). Today it is sweeping across eastern Asia, coming, like the sun, full circle around the globe.

Modern China is home to one of the fastest growing underground church movements in history, as the Word of God continues to follow the path of the sun, from east to west, but the Bible says that the light of truth goes out during the Tribulation period.

John says that the four spirits bound at the Euphrates River will be unbound in the last days, to prepare the way for the kings of the east.

It is from this river that the ‘night’ of Satan bursts its eastern boundaries and move west, proceeding westward from there to take away what light of God yet remains in the west.

The invasion of the West by the forces of the East is one of the most significant events of the last days. From its earliest pages, the Bible has consistently predicted that the final destruction of Babylon will come with the rise to power of the Prince of Persia. (2 Chron.36:20).

The ultimate Prince of Persia is still to come.

At the head of an army greater than any the world has ever seen, this ranting madman from the North will overthrow the power of the western world, and, in his rampage, destroy the entire earth. In that disaster a third of the human race will die in warfare alone. (Rev.9:14).

The army which will inflict this terror on the planet will number 200 million soldiers. (Rev. 9:16). Their battle colors, according to the Bible, will be blue, orange-red and yellow. (Rev. 9:17).

John said that in the van of this army, demon spirits would issue “out of the jaws” of the dragon, calling the entire world to the battlefields that prelude and surround Armageddon. (Rev. 6:13).

China’s ‘one-child’ policy resulted in way more young men than young women, so China’s standing army of 200 million is an army of frustrated and jumpy young men without much hope of a family life apart from the state.

China is extending its reach into Iran, even as it seeks ways to drive the West back over to its side of the Euphrates.

Jesus said, “And when these things BEGIN to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads, for your redemption draweth nigh.”

This Letter was written by Jack Kinsella on June 7, 2003

The ‘Jetsons’ Was Fiction??

The ‘Jetsons’ Was Fiction??
Vol: 26 Issue: 21 Monday, August 21, 2017

When I was a kid, the 21st century loomed large as a bright and shiny future world where wars would be abolished, the world would all be one big happy family, and we’d all talk on videophones and drive to work in flying cars.

I anticipated it being a lot like it was pictured on “The Jetsons” — and in some ways, it is. Jane Jetson would dial in a number and food would pop out seconds later, hot, already on plates and ready to eat. 

In my world, Gayle dials a number and a guy shows up twenty minutes later with a (cold) pizza or some (cold) Chinese food. Then she puts it in a little box on the counter, dials a number, and a few seconds later, its hot and ready to eat. 

Alternatively, she can take a five-course meal from the freezer to the microwave to the table, (hot and already on plates) in under ten minutes — and all without breaking a nail. 

I was pretty disappointed about the flying cars, at first. A lifetime of freeway travel cured me of any lingering disappointment, however. We’re still not that good at driving in two dimensions. We could build ’em, but we still haven’t solved the whole gravity problem. And what goes up, must come down. 

As for videophones, it sounded like a great idea, and it looked cool on the Jetsons. But who wants to have to get dressed up to talk on the phone? 

That was my view of the future from my vantage point on the timeline, circa 1962 or so. The future would be peaceful, productive and pleasant. I was only looking ahead half a lifetime, but I couldn’t have been more spectacularly wrong. 

Not only are there no flying cars, there is no peace. 

In 1991, the Soviet Union collapsed, and with it, the Cold War. It looked like peace was about to break out all over. The West no longer had to spend billions each year to maintain the arms race with the Soviets. The question of the decade became, “What should we do with the peace dividend?” 

Turns out that the answer was, “Buy more guns,” but we didn’t find that out until after we spent all the money.

The big story on New Year’s Day, 2001, wasn’t peace on earth, good will toward men. The 21st century opened with the arrest of Ahmed Ressam, nicknamed, “The Millennium Bomber” who was part of a plot to blow up Los Angeles International Airport. 

The September 11 attacks sparked, (depending on whom you ask) either the war on terror, or a new world war.

In addition to the assymetrical war being waged by the terrorists on every continent, there are major civil, regional and national conflicts raging across the globe. 

Places like Afghanistan, Algeria, the Central African Republic, Eygpt, Burma, Colombia, the Congo, Syria, Iraq, Israel, Georgia, Kashmir, Lebanon, Liberia, Nepal, Northern Ireland, the Philippines, Rwanda, Sudan and Uganda. 

In addition to ‘major’ conflicts (those involving more than one nation or in which more than 1000 people have lost their lives), there are minor conflicts (defined as those confined to one or two nations, but with little potential of spreading to neighboring states).

Among them, Angola, the Bougainville War of Independence, Bangladesh, Chad, Indonesia, West Papua, New Guinea, Iran, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, the Kurdish separatist movements in Iraq, Turkey and Iran, Namibia, Niger, Ethiopia, Somalia, Yemen and the list is growing.

There are dozens of other factional conflicts taking place that either aren’t big enough to make the list, or are taking place in countries already on the list for some other conflict or war.

Assessment:

“And as He sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto Him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of Thy coming, and of the end of the world?” (Matthew 24:3)

Notice a number of things about this verse before we move on. First, it gives us a geographic perspective to work from. Jesus is describing events as they would be seen from the perspective of Israel. 

Secondly, His questioners were not Christians, they were Jews. The Church was not born until Pentecost. 

Third, they wanted to know ‘when’ and fourth, they wanted to know ‘what’. 

And, finally, notice that the question does not deal with the Rapture, which is the conclusion of the Church age, but rather, with the 2nd Coming and the end of the world under human government.

“And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.” (Matthew 24:6)

He is addressing the Jews of Israel, from the perspective of Israel. Israel has fought five bloody wars of survival, and has been under constant threat of war since she first raised her flag on May 14, 1948. 

The very existence of Israel qualifies as a ‘rumor of war’. But then Jesus expands the picture beyond Israel’s borders:

“For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.” (Matthew 24:7)

The word ‘nation’ in Matthew 24:7 is the Greek word, ‘ethnos’ meaning, ‘race, tribe or ethnicity.’ Algeria, the Basques, Burma, Burundi, Congo, India, Iraq, Georgia, Liberia, Rwanda, Sri Lanka and Uganda are ethnic wars.

The word ‘kingdom’ is the Greek ‘baselia’ meaning either “kingdom” or “empire”. Those wars on the list that aren’t ethnic conflicts are either religious or they are international.

Russia’s invasion of Georgia is empire driven. America’s invasion of Iraq could also be portrayed as empire building (only we call it ‘nation’ building) But there are two kinds of empires; political empires, and religious empires.

The word ’emirate’ means ’empire’ and ’emir’ is the equivalent to emperor. So too, does the Islamic caliphate. A ‘Caliphate’ is an Islamic empire — the last Islamic caliphate was the Ottoman Empire.

Jesus went on to say, “All these are the beginnings of sorrows.” “Sorrow” is a euphemism for the labor associated with childbirth. (Genesis 3:16 – “in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children. . .”)

So the ‘beginnings of sorrows’ suggest that, once begun, the ‘sorrows’ will increase in frequency and intensity as the time of deliverance approaches.

Wars have always been part of the human condition, that’s true. But remember that Jesus said that the Jews of Israel would hear of them from the Mount of Olives.

From AD 70 through 1948, there was no Israel, no Jews on the Mount of Olives, and no international media. But to the fig-tree generation living in the 21st century, any war is headline news.

“Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh: So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors. Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till ALL these things be fulfilled.” (Matthew 24:32-34)

This Letter was written by Jack Kinsella on August 13, 2008

Featured Commentary: The Grapes of Wrath ~Pete Garcia