Israel - America - Isaiah & Judgement

Over the past week or so I have been reading Isaiah.
To be honest I am blown away at the similarities mentioned about Israel and then looking at modern day America.
I am not promoting some replacement theology idea or anything like that; but I do believe that when people or nations turn their backs on God, the laws of nature, God's Law, comes into play.
I am one who firmly believes that our nation was brought about by divine providence. King James, the very same king who put his name to the only Authorized version of the bible, also sent people to "the new world" to spread the Gospel and claim the land for God in the name of His Son, Jesus Christ. This is the basic tenants of the James Town Charter claiming America for His Glory.
We are not God's chosen people and in no way replace Israel, but I believe we have a special place in God's plan and because we have remained a Christian nation up until about 40 years ago, God has blessed us immensely.
Our nation has done more to further the gospel, protect the innocent, stood for what was right, and against what was wrong than any other nation. We have defended the weak, opposed tyranny and tyrants.
On July 4th 1776 we declared our freedom beginning with these words…
When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
At the base of the Statue of Liberty it states,
"Give me your tired, your poor/Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free"
We are a nation built upon the principals of God and His Word.
But somewhere on this journey, our great republic strayed and instead of being good, we have chosen the path of evil.
I look around at what is taking place here in the US as well as globally and I see man working towards his own demise through the pleasures of the world and of the flesh.
Instead of exporting the Gospel, we export pornography.
Instead of saving the innocent, we kill millions of our children through abortion.
Instead of standing for God, we work to eradicate His existence from our lives, our monuments and our schools.
Instead of the holy matrimony between husband and wife we have sodomites, pedophiles, hedonism, practitioners of bestiality and necrophilia, all becoming the norm.
Instead of caring for our fellow man, greed and selfishness are what has taken its place. The natural affection of man is gone, brutality is its replacement.
Many people ask is America in Bible Prophecy? I do not see her directly there, but recently I have been studying Isaiah 5 again and as I mentioned I have noticed some very interesting correlations in God judging Judah and where we are in America today.
Please, take the time to read this….

Isaiah 5:8  Woe unto them that join house to house, that lay field to field, till there be no place, that they may be placed alone in the midst of the earth!

Isaiah 5:9  In mine ears said the LORD of hosts, Of a truth many houses shall be desolate, even great and fair, without inhabitant.

Isaiah 5:10  Yea, ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath, and the seed of a homer shall yield an ephah.

Isaiah 5:11  Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink; that continue until night, till wine inflame them!

Isaiah 5:12  And the harp, and the viol, the tabret, and pipe, and wine, are in their feasts: but they regard not the work of the LORD, neither consider the operation of his hands.

Isaiah 5:13  Therefore my people are gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge: and their honorable men are famished, and their multitude dried up with thirst.

Isaiah 5:14  Therefore hell hath enlarged herself, and opened her mouth without measure: and their glory, and their multitude, and their pomp, and he that rejoiceth, shall descend into it.

Isaiah 5:15  And the mean man shall be brought down, and the mighty man shall be humbled, and the eyes of the lofty shall be humbled:

Isaiah 5:16  But the LORD of hosts shall be exalted in judgment, and God that is holy shall be sanctified in righteousness.

Isaiah 5:17  Then shall the lambs feed after their manner, and the waste places of the fat ones shall strangers eat.

Isaiah 5:18  Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as it were with a cart rope:

Isaiah 5:19  That say, Let him make speed, and hasten his work, that we may see it: and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw nigh and come, that we may know it!

Isaiah 5:20  Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!

Isaiah 5:21  Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!

Isaiah 5:22  Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink:

Isaiah 5:23  Which justify the wicked for reward, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him!

In this chapter God shows His people their sins as well as the judgment’s to be brought up them for their sins.
There Are Six Woes That God Proclaims
1. verses 8-10 – This is the first crime, the covetousness and financial greed which shall be punished by famine.
2. verses 11-12 – This is the second crime, living for rioting, reveling and drunkenness which shall be punished by captivity.
3. verses 18-19 –This is the third crime, ultimately defying God and His justice. They parade their sins around for all to see and also defy God to hurry up and hasten his work of judgment.
4. verse 20 –This is the fourth crime, calling evil good and good evil. We know the effects of this, it is prevalent today.
5.  verse 21 - This is the fifth crime specified. It refers to those who are inflated with a false opinion of their own knowledge, and who are, therefore, self-confident and vain.
6. verses 22-23 – Again drunkenness but also due to their drunkenness they pervert justice rewarding the wicked and punishing the righteous.
God has allowed us to prosper as shown in the parable of the vineyard found in Isaiah 5, and we have turned against Him and taken His blessings for granted.
We no longer serve Him and we have become a pagan nation worshiping mammon and a multitude of false gods.
Think about this for a moment. When we lived within God’s economy, business was done on a handshake and a man’s word was a man’s word. Today we live in mammon’s economy with all its clutter, confusion, trappings and ability to steal all with a stroke of a pen.
Today we need contracts that are 20+ pages long and what the big print giveth the small print taketh away.
Read what Isaiah says in Chapter 5, verse 8, this very issue is addressed.

Isaiah 5:8 Woe unto them that join house to house, that lay field to field, till there be no place, that they may be placed alone in the midst of the earth!

Albert Barnes Notes on the Bible explain this verse the best.

Isaiah 5:8 - Woe unto them ... - The prophet now proceeds to “specify” some of the crimes to which he had referred in the parable of the vineyard, of which the Jews had been guilty. The first is “avarice.”

That join house to house - That seek to possess many houses; or perhaps that seek to live in large and magnificent palaces. A similar denunciation of this sin is recorded in Mic_2:2; Neh_5:1-8. This, together with what follows, was contrary to the law of Moses. He provided that when the children of Israel should enter the land of Canaan, the land should be equitably divided; and in order to prevent avarice, he ordained the “jubilee,” occurring once in fifty years, by which every man and every family should be restored to their former possession; Lev. 25. Perhaps there could have been no law so well framed to prevent the existence, and avoid the evils of covetousness. Yet, in defiance of the obvious requirements and spirit of that law, the people in the time of Isaiah had become generally covetous.

That lay field to field - That purchase one farm after another. The words ‘that lay,’ mean “to cause to approach;” that is, they “join” on one farm after another.

Till there be no place - Until they reach the “outer limit” of the land; until they possess all.

That they may be placed alone - That they may displace all others; that they may drive off from their lands all others, and take possession of them themselves.

In the midst of the earth - Or rather, in the midst of the “land.” They seek to obtain the whole of it, and to expel all the present owners. Never was there a more correct description of avarice. It is satisfied with no present possessions, and would be satisfied only if all the earth were in its possession. Nor would the covetous man be satisfied then. He would sit down and weep that there was nothing more which he could desire. How different this from that “contentment” which is produced by religion, and the love of the happiness of others!

Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary states basically the same thing too.
Does this not describe corporate greed and the serving of mammon today?
But that is not all.
It seems that which gender one is having sex with is now more important in the halls of congress than the wholesomeness and protecting the family unit. We care more for this world and justify its shallow perspectives more than the things of God and His eternal perspective.
Do you know that there is an epidemic of teachers accused or convicted of having sex with their students? Hundreds of them, mostly female too (1).   Has this come to the forefront of national and international news in recent years? No.

Isaiah 5:20 Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!

Isaiah 5:23 Which justify the wicked for reward, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him!

I read many articles where so many of these child predators are just given a slap on the wrist. Where liberal judges reward the evils and yet lock up those who are righteous. A prime example of this is the 2 border guard agents who spent time in jail for doing their job and yet a drug smuggler is on the loose coming and going in and out of our country.
Sins of the flesh are being taken to a new high. At a past Sundance Film Festival not only did we have a movie where the main highlight was the raping of a 12 year old girl, OH YEA…but it was all in the name of “ART.”
But get this…
There was also a film called “Zoo” which primary focus was sex with animals.

Leviticus 18:23 Neither shalt thou lie with any beast to defile thyself therewith: neither shall any woman stand before a beast to lie down thereto: it is confusion.

But that is not all. More and more television shows are portraying homosexuality in a very positive light. Showtime was touting their hot show “ The “L” Word” It is a show that glorifies and is about life as a lesbian (2).

Romans 1:26 For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:

Leviticus 18:22 Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination.

But here in Isaiah 5:18 it talks about this very thing which the Lord deplores.

Isaiah 5:18 Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as it were with a cart rope:

Here in the US, we not only openly revel in our homosexual sin, but we parade our sins to God shoving it in His face. I am reminded of a literal example of this, the Gay Pride Parades with the floats and people all reveling. Here is an abomination to God and proudly it is displayed and celebrated.
But, if you are in the world, of the world or even one toe in the world, much of this sounds fine to you, you are “tolerant” of these things and when the day is finally over, and one guesses it is all ok.
But what no one is addressing, with all these things taking place, no one is talking about what to do if the Lord tarries.

Luke 19:13 And he called his ten servants, and delivered them ten pounds, and said unto them, Occupy till I come.

Very few are occupying. ...
Do you see this too? When did we stop living for God and His economy and allowed ourselves to enter mammon’s and flesh’s debauchery?
But you know what; the scary thing is how God corrects and judges these things.
In reading Isaiah and how God deals with a sinning nation, a nation that was dedicated to Him, His Glory and The Proclaiming of the Gospel, He has no choice but to judge the nation and chastise it in hopes that they will turn from their wicked ways and return to God.
For a while people have been saying that God will judge our nation and believing judgment is coming.
I am sorry, I do not believe this.
Why?
Because I believe Judgment is already here and has begun to take place.
What have we done as a nation?
The very same thing that Israel did, they stood in defiance against God, instead of humbling themselves and seeking forgiveness.
God Warns First, Hoping For Repentance, IF NOT…Then
In Isaiah we see God do the same thing over and over again. He warns, then hopes for repentance, He warns, then hopes for repentance.
Finally God has to act and what is the first thing He does in judgment?

Isaiah 5:5 And now go to; I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up; and break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down:

He lifts His hand / hedge of protection.
In doing this, it is His enemies that then come in and start to destroy.
I believe that God has lifted His hand of protection. I believe that we have been given a chance and we have ignored it.
Our hedge of protection has been breached and the enemies of God have come in.
When did this take place?
Think about it.
Never in our history have we been attacked, never has the enemy landed upon our soil, never has the enemy breached our walls.
Why?
Because we have always had His divine protection.
But that changed and now our hedge of protection has been breached.
When did that take place?
September11th, 2001.
On that date the hedge of protection around our nation was breached.
This is why I say that judgment is not coming, it is already here.
Learning From Isaiah
Over and over again we see in Isaiah how God judges the nation.

Isaiah 5:26 And he will lift up an ensign to the nations from far, and will hiss unto them from the end of the earth: and, behold, they shall come with speed swiftly:

Isaiah 5:27 None shall be weary nor stumble among them; none shall slumber nor sleep; neither shall the girdle of their loins be loosed, nor the latchet of their shoes be broken:

Isaiah 5:28 Whose arrows are sharp, and all their bows bent, their horses' hooves shall be counted like flint, and their wheels like a whirlwind:

Isaiah 5:29 Their roaring shall be like a lion, they shall roar like young lions: yea, they shall roar, and lay hold of the prey, and shall carry it away safe, and none shall deliver it.

The nation in Isaiah 5 was judged by an enemy; an enemy with purpose, drive and motivation. An enemy who does not seek sleep, is not weary, and always ready for the attack. Their weapons are at their side and at they are ready to be used at a moment's notice.
Here is the interesting part. In the case of Israel it was Assyria. Today we know much of this land to be modern day Iraq.  Do you know that today we are effected by one of Assyria's greatest invention?
Do you know that it is the Assyrians who are given the credit for inventing terrorism?
Assyrians were one of the most warlike people in history, lovers of the violence of the war and hunt. Amongst the people of the ancient Middle East, they were famous for their cruelty. At the peak of its power, Assyria stretched from Egypt to Persian Gulf. Their aggressiveness was partially attributed to their location: Assyria was in northern Mesopotamia, north of Babylon. As no natural bounders like shores or mountains were found there, they were vulnerable to attacks from any direction. This required the presence of a strong and mobile army. (3)
Who in today's modern world maintains such a hate that they would not sleep, have high motivation and just waiting for the attack?
I believe that the same enemies that were part of divine providence then, have risen again today. They are the very ancestors of the enemies of Israel, the worshipers of Baal / Moloch / Ashur. He is the war god, cruel with the enemies and merciful with his believers.
What is interesting is that his symbol was that of a disk or ornament as identified by strong's…

H7720

sah-har-one'

From the same as H5469; a round pendant for the neck: - ornament like the moon.

H5469

Sahar

sah'-har

From an unused root meaning to be round; roundness: - round.

Today these enemies still worship the same god, his name is Helel Ben Sahar, literally meaning crescent moon / Morning Star. הילל בן־שׁחר
This is the very same name we find in scripture, in fact in Isaiah. But in English we call him Lucifer.

Isaiah 14:12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!

Who attacked and breached our hedge of protection? The ancestors of the enemies of Israel, the worshipers of the enemy named Helel Ben Sahar.
We have the final words from the black box found at the wreckage of flight 93, the flight that did not hit its target.
What were those final words? They were a declaration - a war cry. The words were " Allahu Akbar."

Allahu Akbar (Arabic: الله أكبر) is a phrase, called Takbir in Arabic, meaning "God is greater" or "God is [the] greatest" (4)

What is this god's symbol?
The crescent moon / morning star.
Due to the fact that we are a nation who have turned her back upon God, His divine hedge of protection has been breached by the very same enemies that attacked ancient Israel. The terrorist ancestors mentioned in Isaiah, the ones who invented terrorism the worshipers of the enemy of Jehovah God.
Do you see it?
But That is Not All
9-11 was a warning and I believe a major call to repentance.
But what has our nation done?
Instead of repenting, we have stood with our heels dug in.
Instead of being humble, we have become proud.
Instead of turning to Him, we have stood in defiance of Him.
Out of 9-11 we have said that we will rebuild, become stronger, stand in defiance against the terrorists.
But more than that, we stand in defiance against God Himself because we have rejected His warning.
That warning was the breach in the hedge of protection.
And something that people have also forgotten, the breach is still there.
What should we have done?
The proper course should have been to humble ourselves, seek His face and sought out forgiveness.
If we would have done that, God would have healed our land as promised in 2 Chronicles 7:14

2 Chronicles 7:14 If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

But we haven't done that.
Judgment isn't coming, it is already here. Most of the nation missed it or did not get the warning.
3000+ people died, one of our great cities was crippled, our nation wept and was brought to her knees for a season.
But we have stood again in defiance against God and the enemies of God. Our pride has gotten the best of us.
In reading Isaiah God used the same enemies to not only wreak havoc the first time, but when He pulled the hedge of protection completely; it exposed all of the nation of Israel to attacks, destruction, economic downfall and eventually bound and enslaved to the enemies who brought the destruction.
I am not a prophet. I am a watchman, a student of bible prophecy as well as a student of history.
Isaiah is one of the greatest prophetic books and historical books of the bible and I believe that what happened to Israel is coming to pass again here in America.
Why?
Because we are a nation founded upon God, His Word, dedicated and ordained to sharing the hope of His Son to all the world. We have stopped Occupying Till He Returns. We have forgotten to " always be ready to share the hope that is within us." (1 peter 3:15)
Judgment is not coming, it is here and to be honest I fear what is to come in the next phase of His chastisement.
What do I believe is coming?
That is another article based upon Isaiah in light of ancient Israel and America today.
More to come …


By Ray Gano






Endnotes
1 - http://www.wnd.com/2006/09/38108/
2 - http://www.sho.com/site/lword/home.do
3 - http://news.softpedia.com/news/Assyrians-the-Lords-of-the-Massacres-77262.shtml
4 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allahu_Akbar_%28disambiguation%29

2012 & The Fourth Turning Point

Welcome to the new year, the year of our Lord 2012!

It has been approximately 2012 years since the birth of Christ.

Last year was a hard year for Tracye and I. A lot of personal upheaval, hardships, seemed like one major hurtle after another.

But this year I feel like things are going to take a swing for the better.

Although when you look out from standing on the wall, it appears that the gates of hell have been cast open.

If you are one who believes all that Mayan 2012 stuff, well I can see why you have a "bummer" of an outlook.

As many of you now, I often tell people that I am not some prophet or anything like that. What I believe my task God put me on this earth for is to be a watchman on the wall.

If anyone has seen any of those great medieval battle movies, you always have the soldiers / archers standing upon the wall waiting for the bad guys attack the enemy coming from far off.

Now the interesting thing is that they see what is coming and report on what they see, they also help in defending the wall preventing the enemy from gaining access to the city.

Another point is that those down in the city can NOT see what they see, so it is up to those residents to decide will they believe what the watchman says and take heed, or will they ignore it.

Fast forward to today's Christian body and the job of a watchman is still is a very critical job. A watchman is not a fortune teller or soothsayer, they are just reporting what they observe from their vantage point.

Now depending on where you are "on the wall" your vantage point may be different. For example, If you are on the north facing wall looking north, well you can't see what is on the south wall facing south and visa versa.

But if you are a couple hundred yards one way or the other on the wall and the watchman 50 yards away sees something coming, you the watchman that is on the same wall, may have a little better vantage point than the guy 50 yards away. That little distance may make the difference. On the other hand you may only see bellowing clouds coming your way just like the watchman 50 yards away standing with you on the wall.

You both see something coming, but can't really make it out clearly.

Now I hope that you are grasping the picture that I am trying to paint here for you with the whole wall, medieval analogy, and such. It is what I see in my mind when I think of a watchman up on the wall.

2012 presents some interesting issues.

The entire "New Age / pagan / hippie /biblically illiterate" arena has been promoting this Mayan calendar, end of the world thing.

Thing is that those of us who do know God's Word do not have anything to worry about, well we do, but more on that a little later.

See we as born again Christians know how the end of the story because we all have read the book.

Nowhere in scripture does it point to or say that the end of the world is coming and that it is based all on some ancient calendar.

In fact the opposite, instead of the end of the world, we have a triumphant Messiah returning in victory and glory. He will do battle with His enemies and the enemies who have tried to destroy His people, Israel. He will come to fulfill all His promises to the world and depending on which side you are on, either will be a great and wonderful blessing, or your utter demise.

Now here is the watchman on the wall part telling you what I observe from my vantage point.

Several years ago The Barna Group put out a study that showed that only 6% of our nation believes in a biblical world view.

What is a "worldview"?

Your worldview is the pair of imaginary reading glasses that you wear all the time. It is through these glasses that you "filter" what you observe and then how you react based on your observations, filter and worldview.

Another way of looking at what a worldview is what you believe in, or where do you put your faith.

If you put your faith in the Dali Lama, well you will look at the world though those beliefs and faiths that the Dali Lama promotes.

If you put your faith in Allah, Joseph Smith, Gandhi, Maitreya, or who ever. You will base your ideas and actions upon those filters and bias'.

Now an atheist promotes not having a religion but they put their faith in themselves along with the humanists, agnostics, and so forth. Evolution, same thing, just another worldview that you base your ideas and faiths upon.

The 2012 Mayanism Worldview

As I was saying, if you do not have a biblical world view, that means that your ideas, ethics, character and faith is based on something else.

This means that since you are not grounded in the absolute truth, you will basically fall for anything put out there.

That is my concern.

As I have said only 6% of our nation is based on a biblical worldview. That means that 94% is NOT based upon a biblical worldview but some other view that is based upon a lie.

That means that 94% of the US population has the good chance of falling for this whole end of the world stuff that is being promoted and propagated.

NOW… lets be reasonable and say that of that 94%, who do not maintain a biblical worldview, lets be conservative and say only 10%, decides to buy into this whole Mayan calendar 2012 end of the world thing.

It's Math Time!

There are approximately 307,006,550 living in the US based on the latest census that was taken.

If you took 6% of that you would get approximately 18,420,393 people. That is roughly the same population as California's greater Los Angeles area.

That leaves approximately 288,586,157 people.

Now using our conservative estimates of only 10% of those who do not maintain a biblical worldview and are sold out to the whole Mayan 2012 thing with the world literally ending on Dec 21, 2012, that comes to approximately 28,858,615 people.

Now these people are completely sold out thinking that the world will end this coming December. Their worldview is totally guided by these filters. Thus their actions, beliefs, faith ect is all dictated by the world ending Dec 21, 2012.

That is 28 million people who see their life, world, entire existence being terminated on Dec 21, 2012.

Are you beginning to get the picture here?

That is roughly 28 million people who are sold out that their world is going to be no more.

If you had this sort of fatalist doom and gloom worldview, what would you do these last 340 or so days that you have left?

Man left to his own devices has no boundaries on what they will do.

Now, personally I believe that as time gets closer that 10% number is going to grow and more and more people's angst will get the best of them.

That is if they are not grounded in God's Word.

Now how many of those 28 million people are in government today?

How many are in critical roles, CEOs, movers and shakers, people of influence?

How many are literally crazy - 5150 nutcase crazy? (5150 is radio code for a lunatic)

Does the Dali Lama believe in 2012?

How about Opra Winfrey, Ted Turner, Bill Gates, maybe even President Obama?

How are any of these types of people going to react as we get closer to Dec 21, 2012?

It Only Takes 2%

When you look at any great revolution or social changing event, it was only 2% of the whole who lead the charge. Sold to their beliefs, they in turn sell it to the world and because of that, others (the sheeple) have always followed.

Nazi Germany, barely 2% were completely sold out to the Nazi idea, those became the core of the SS. The rest were mindless followers following the other sheep or those driven by greed and power seeking opportunity, the spoils of war, political clout, etc.

It really only takes 2% sold out to a cause to create an effective social change. History has proven that over and over again.

How will this year be changed if only 2% are sold out to Mayanism?

How fast will it sweep our nation?

What will the powers that be do to combat this? Will they do anything?

The Fourth Turning Point

Look at this nation and where we are today.

An EXCELLENT book titled "Generations: The History of America's Future, 1584 to 2069" by Neil Howe and William Strauss is an amazing read.

Here is how Amazon describes the book...

Hailed by national leaders as politically diverse as former Vice President Al Gore and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, Generations has been heralded by reviewers as a brilliant, if somewhat unsettling, reassessment of where America is heading.

William Strauss and Neil Howe posit the history of America as a succession of generational biographies, beginning in 1584 and encompassing every-one through the children of today. Their bold theory is that each generation belongs to one of four types, and that these types repeat sequentially in a fixed pattern. The vision of Generations allows us to plot a recurring cycle in American history -- a cycle of spiritual awakenings and secular crises -- from the founding colonists through the present day and well into this millenium.

Source - http://amzn.com/0688119123

The basic theory in this book is a simple one: simply look at how American generations behave as they age? When you do that, as Strauss and Howe have pointed out, you find that American generations behave with a certain consistency throughout their lives.

Thing is that this is not just an American behavior, it is called "Generational Dynamics" In this all major societies throughout history cycle through four major societal processes; Austerity, Awakening, Unraveling, and Crisis. (1)

This is what my good friend Jack Kinsella has written his latest article about as well. The title of that is "2012 -- The End of the World As We Know It?"

In this he talks about the follow-up book that Howe and Strauss wrote titled "The Fourth Turning Point - An American Prophecy."

What I find amazing is that here are two secular historians conducting trends research throughout the centuries.

But what they do not totally grasp, well maybe they dom but I am not sure is that what they promote as theory is also biblical fact.

See time is not liner as so many believe. Time is ciclical or circular. Scripture is very clear on this and it is Solomon who said…

Ecc 1:9 The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.

Here is a great graphic that illustrates this idea.

The following is a picture of the generational cycles of "Awakening" and "Crisis" I think you will be amazed.

As I have often mentioned, it is believed that our nation entered into the time of crisis around 2005 / 2006. We are now 6-7 years into the crisis cycle and we have yet to peak.

What do I mean?

Every time of crisis has its peak. It is the turning point where that period of time starts moving from Crisis to the cycle of Awakening. (look at the above chart.)

Here are examples:

• War of the Roses Crisis- 1459-1487; Peak 1485
• The Armada Crisis - 1569 - 1594; Peaks 1588
• The American Revolution Crisis 1773 - 1794; Peaks 1781
• The Civil War Crisis - 1860-1865; Peaks 1863
• The Great Depression / WWII Crisis - 1929-1946 Peaks 1944 (2)

We entered our "crisis" period in or around 2005 - 2006. We have not reached our peak of the crisis yet.

When you look at what is taking place in the world and what scripture says, we know that no one can know the exact date of the rapture. So based on that we need to be spiritually prepared for his return at any moment and physically prepared to withstand in the event that He tarries for a while.

Why Might He Tarry?

1 - Over 1/3 of the world still has no idea who God is, Jesus or any knowledge of God's Word. We are told in scripture that our job of sharing the gospel is done when the "fullness of the Gentiles" takes place.

Scripture says…

Romans 11:25 For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.

We have not been doing our job and in fact we have been slack in this area.

2 - We also know that the Lord is not slack and that he wants man to come to him. His Word supports that our job here on earth is not finished. We have many many people who do not know the Gospel.

In 2 Peter 3:9 we are told that God is "longsuffering" so that "any should perish" and that all should come to repentance.

2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

3 - God is The Creator of the universe and of man. He is also the author of time and space. His Word clearly states that man will continue to repeat himself over and over again. Looking at the cycles of man, the tribulation and the battle of Armageddon fall completely within the generational cycles. It does because God created us and He created the way we "tick". We keep repeating ourselves because of the fall in the garden and because it is in our sin nature.

Scripture says…

Ecclesiastes 1:9-11 The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.

10 Is there any thing whereof it may be said, See, this is new? it hath been already of old time, which was before us.

11 There is no remembrance of former things; neither shall there be any remembrance of things that are to come with those that shall come after.

Folks, I am so ready to go home, right here right now. What we need to remember is that God is going to come for His church at His own timing.

But in the mean time looking a what I have presented you I believe that we need to prepare ourselves for hard times. Not only does history back this up, so does God's Word.

So many people are looking to the next future president to make the difference. Who ever the next president is, nothing will change. They will continue with the same globalist Luciferian policies that have been put in place by Bush, Clinton, Bush and now Obama. They have all been cut from the same bolt of Luciferian cloth, and two sides of the same coin.

We know this because that is what Scripture tells us. The world will rally behind a charismatic individual who will force man to either choose him, the antichrist, or choose Jesus Christ, the true Savior of the World.

So it is coming, but it is not here yet.

We still have a chance to make a difference in this nation. It will not be who we elect, the laws that we pass, or the technology we create.

The ONLY thing that will change the course of this nation is one thing and one thing only. That is the sharing of the Gospel and the repentance of Man.

You want to know the answer?

Scripture says…

2 Chronicles 7:14 If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

But I do not see America doing this and this is my 4th point.

We want and yearn to go home, but we ourselves are slowing down the fulness of the gentiles by not doing what God's Word commands us to do…

Matthew 28:19-20 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:

20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

So what I recommend is that you start building your ark, just as Noah did so that when the time comes, you are able to stand and boldly proclaim the gospel. Instead of being trapped and dependent upon a system ruled by crooks, thieves and luciferians hell bent on ushering in their leader.. the Antichrist.

So, who do you serve.. Mammon or Jesus Christ, the King of Kings?

See, It will be your actions that will produce your fruit; (Matthew 7:20) or the lack there of, for we know that faith without action (works) is dead.

Me? I say … NO KING BUT KING JESUS!!

Joshua 24:15 And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.

By Ray Gano

Endnotes

1- 2012 -- The End of the World As We Know It? By Jack Kinsella

2- The Fourth Turning: An American Prophecy by Neil Howe and William Strauss

Graphic "The Anglo-American Saeculum" from : The Fourth Turning: An American Prophecy by Neil Howe and William Strauss, Published by Broadway Books - Page 50.

GUEST POST - Does The Bible Say Anything About Storing Food

By Daymond Duck

Prophecy Plus Ministries

While teaching on Bible prophecy I often point out that Jesus mentioned that famine is one of the signs of the Beginning of Sorrows (Matt. 24:1-8). This usually leads into a discussion of the rise in food prices and the impact that natural disasters are having on food supplies. It is about this time that I am asked if it is okay to store food. Some people seem to have the impression that storing food is a sin, or at the very least, it demonstrates a lack of faith. This is a good reason to ask, “Does the Bible say anything about storing food?” Yes! It does.

In Genesis chapter six, God told Noah to build an Ark, board it, get his family to board it, put animals on it (verses 14-20), “And take thou unto thee of all food that is eaten, and thou shalt gather it to thee; and it shall be for food for thee, and for them. Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he” (Gen. 6:21-22). Simply put, God intended to send a great natural disaster upon the earth (the Flood) so He commanded Noah to gather a variety of food and store it on the Ark for him, his family and the animals. Could God have spoken food into existence anytime Noah or the animals needed it? Of course, He could. But He didn’t. He commanded Noah to gather food and store it. Did God provide for Noah? Of course! He provided food for Noah to gather and plenty of time for him to gather it.

For those who may wonder if Noah sinned by obeying God and doing this, Paul said, “By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith” (Heb. 11:7). Noah was obeying God and acting by faith when he built that Ark and put food on it.

In Genesis chapter forty-one, Pharaoh dreamed about seven fat cows and seven lean cows. He had a second dream about seven fat ears of corn and seven thin ears of corn. When he got around to asking Joseph to interpret his dream Joseph said, “What God is about to do he showeth unto Pharaoh. Behold, there come seven years of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt. And there shall arise after them seven years of famine’ (Gen. 41:28-30). This is a second story about God planning to send a natural disaster upon the earth. And to make that everyone understands that it was God would send this natural disaster the Holy Spirit said, “And for that the dream was doubled unto Pharaoh twice; it is because the thing is established by God, and God will shortly bring it to pass” (Gen. 41:32).

Did God provide for His people? Yes! God blessed Egypt with bountiful harvests and more food than they needed for seven years. And Joseph said, “Let Pharaoh do this, and let him appoint officers over the land, and take up the fifth part of the land of Egypt in the seven plenteous years. And let them gather all the food of those good years that come, and lay up corn under the hand of Pharaoh, and let them keep food in the cities. And that food shall be for store to the land against the seven years of famine, which shall be in the land of Egypt; that the land perish not through the famine” (Gen. 41:34-36). Pharaoh believed this was a good thing to do; he put Joseph in charge, and the food that God’s man stockpiled became a blessing to others and saved the lives of many.

It is important to understand that God often provides for His people before they have a need. He provided the seven fat years before He sent the seven lean years. He provided extra manna on the day before the Sabbath so the Jews could collect and store food to consume on the Sabbath (Ex. 16:5). He provided triple crops in the sixth year so the Jews could store plenty to eat while they let the land rest during the seventh year (Lev. 25:20-21). He even considers the ant wise because it stores food for the winter during the summer (Prov. 6:6-11; 30:24-25).

Natural disasters are increasing in frequency and intensity. This is a major sign that the end of the age is near. The good news is that the Rapture will be before Jesus breaks the third seal in the Book of Revelation that leads to worldwide famine (Rev. 6:5-6). The bad news is that no one knows the day or the hour of the Rapture or how far Christians will go into the natural disasters and famine before God removes His Church. When it comes to something like food it is better to be over prepared than under prepared. If we wind up not needing it, we won’t have any problems finding people who do. If the Rapture happens and we haven’t used it, that’s great. Others will benefit from it.

Peanut Butter Shoots Up - So Does Other Food Staples

We have been warning that unless weather trends change, the world would see major food shortages. For the past three years I have been reporting to my PZ Insiders on the global droughts and floods that have been wrecking havoc on the food producing countries.

Now we are beginning to see the effects of this and the peanut butter market is a great place to see it happen right before your eyes.

What is going on?

This past year was the worst peanut harvests in decades that have ever taken place. Peanut butter prices are shooting up as high as 40%

Here is what is being reported.

CNNMoney reports that Kraft is raising prices for its Planters brand peanut butter by 40 percent while ConAgra has already increased the price for its Peter Pan by 20 percent.

CNNMoney also states that J.M. Smucker, the maker of Jif, will hike their prices up about 30 percent.

AP Reported that U.S. farmers were expected to produce roughly 1.8 million tons of peanuts this year. This is down nearly 13 percent from last year, and we may be lucky to see even that happen.

Georgia, the largest peanut-producing state in the country, saw record-breaking heat and a lack of rainfall that prevented some peanut seeds from even germinating in the field. Plants that did grow were literally cooked in the summer heat. The result being poor-quality nuts or sometimes nothing at all.

This year was Georgia's worst peanut crop in more than 20 years.

But it is just not peanuts alone, many other crops were effected as well.

We are beginning to see drastic spikes in prices across the board when it comes to food staples.

You may be asking yourself "What is causing such a drastic spike?"

First, farmers have diverted more resources to growing crops for biofuels, such as ethanol made from corn and biodiesel made from palm oil.

Currently, the United States diverts millions of bushels of corn to fuel-production. Where 10 years ago corn was still going to the food supply, today we are literally burning up our food and for what?

Biofuels are now eating up 6.5 percent of the world's grain supply and 8 percent of its vegetable oil.

This is almost one tenth of grain and vegetable oil taken out of the food supply.

Think about this for a moment, one tenth is a large chunk.

what is also taking place is the simple laws of supply and demand are in play as well.

As I stated, corn and soybeans are going to biofuel production.

The rising Asian and Middle Eastern demand for higher-value foods.

We are seeing more developing nations buy more food.

We are also seeing more of the world's countries buying more meat producing animals which also depend on grains to help supplement their feed.

The ever rising transport costs AKA gasoline and Diesel are also playing a major part.

But the biggest issue at hand is crop failures.

Besides the US, Russia and Australia have suffered brutal droughts or floods that have severely effected many of the crops in those countries as well as globally.

Russia is no longer shipping grain out, China, the same. More countries are holding on to their food stores for their own use because other primary sources for food are drying up.

This past winter here in the US we had an extended winter with massive snow fall.

This caused flooding in the central US and prevented crops from going into the ground as well as destroying winter crops that were to be harvested.

The cold winters also extended into Florida damaging much of the citrus crops and also hit Mexico which damaged 80%-90% of the crops destined to the US.

With all these things that have already taken place, we are now begininng to feel the effects all these issues have created.

GMO Comes Into Play

Did you know Monsanto has now given the go ahead for their GMO seeds to be distributed to people for food crops? Farmers may get these seeds, but the drawback is that these seeds were genetically engineered for biofuel and not nutrition.

So even though we maybe filling our bellies, we are still lacking the nutrients needed thanks to seeds that have been genetically modified to produce more starch, which equates to sugar, which equates to alcohol the primary ingredient that makes Ethanol.

To top that off, the production of corn on a large scale is very damaging to the soil, basically stripping it of any usefulness in the long run.

Scripturally we are told to rotate our crops as well as give the land a break and not plant every seventh year.

Exodus 23:10-11  And six years thou shalt sow thy land, and shalt gather in the fruits thereof:
11  But the seventh year thou shalt let it rest and lie still; that the poor of thy people may eat: and what they leave the beasts of the field shall eat. In like manner thou shalt deal with thy vineyard, and with thy oliveyard. 

This no longer is taking place and "mono cropping" the continued growing of a single crop, has depleted much of the US farmland.

So even if we wanted to grow, due to our greed we have depleted the soil and we can not grow. That is unless we stick a bunch of other chemicals in the ground, which in turn damages the soil even more.

Where's The Beef?

The Texas Cattlemen's Association sent out a notice that there is going to be a beef shortage starting before the end of this year and is predicted to last until 2014.

Since the biggest beef producing states in the nation have suffered the worst drought in history, ranchers have liquidated their herds earlier this year. The cows that would normally give birth in the spring time have been sold off, therefor there are not as many cows to produce the fall offspring that would normally be sold at auction about this time of year.

When the winter demands for beef take hold, the supply is not going to be there, thus the prices will skyrocket.

One PZ insider that I know is already paying $6 lb for high fat content ground beef in Oklahoma.  Here in Texas it is just a few cents short of that. Prime ground beef is already selling between $9 and $12 lb.

If what TCA is predicting does in fact come true, then we will be looking at $15+ lb for hamburger meat before next summer with a monthly price increase until the cattle market picks back up around 2014.

What does this all mean?

It means that beef will become the next "caviar" in the years to come.

So What Can We Do?

Knowing that food prices are going to go up drastically, what we need to do is create a "hedge" against inflation.

How we do this is by "investing" our money in food now vs later paying for higher priced food.

For example, ground beef is $5.00 a lb now. We believe that it will probably hit $15.00 a lb by end of next summer. So what we do is stock up on ground beef now.

When you are at the store look for sales in the beef area and if you see some good prices, then purchase some extra.

With the cost of beef going up, that will also cause the prices of other meats to go up as well due to the larger supply and demand due to the lack of beef.

But we do not stop there, stock up on Peanut Butter as well. We KNOW that peanut butter is going up in price, so estimate how many jars of peanut butter your family uses per month and then go out and buy a years supply.

Some of you may be thinking "Oh my.. a years supply??"

If you are like us, a years supply is about 12-14 large jars of peanut butter.

In fact just checking the Walmart Website I see that you can get 5 lbs of Skippy Peanut Butter for $8.98 per two pack.

A year's supply would be 14 jars or 7 two packs, that comes to $125.72.

Now that may seem like a lot of money to spend, but would you rather spend that now or spend the same amount and only get 7 jars around March/April 2011 time frame?

Prices could be that high by then.

Now if you do not have the $125.00 to spend now, what you need to do then is buy in "baby steps." Purchase just one or two jars every time you go to the store.

In fact do what we are doing and start keeping an eye on coupons. When you get a coupon for peanut butter, hold on to it and then the next time you are at the store, use the coupon to purchase extra peanut butter. Often you are able to use store coupons on top on newspaper coupons, thus saving you even more money. Look for these offers, they are out there.

We Bought A Lot - Now What?

Let's say that you have gone out an purchased a large amount of beef. How do you store all this?

Well there are several ways.

First there is freezing, and the best tool to use to freeze with is the Foodsaver. This is a tool ever prepper kitchen needs to have. This is a home vacuum sealer that costs around $80.00+. You can pick it up at Walmart as well as buy it from Amazon. If you have Amazon Prime, that means shipping is free and you also do not pay sales tax on the item.

You can divide up your meat and then put them in individual bags. Suck the air out of them and get a real good vacuum seal. Once sealed mark the bag and date it and then put it in your freezer. The Foodsaver people say that you can keep beef of over a year in the freezer. There isn't any freezer burn and the meat stays fresh.

Second there is dehydrating, and the best tool to use is the Excalibur Food Dehydrator. This is one of my favorite kitchen prepper tools out there. I use my dehydrator quite a bit. More so than freezing in fact. You are able to marinade your beef, cut it in strips and then dehydrate the beef, AKA..Beef Jerky.

But what is great is that you can create different marinades that have different flavors, spices, etc and then make jerky out of it.

Once you have made your beef jerky, I have found that putting into a mason jar with an oxygen absorber will help keep the beef jerkey for some time.

How you use this is by rehydrating it, using it in soups, stews, caseroles, sauces, just about any way that you would use and cook standard beef.

The great thing is that the beef is already seasoned and will help add more flavor to the items you are preparing.

Now the dangers of this is that your family will eat all the beef jerky before you can use it. This is what happens a lot here at the Gano home, so make sure you make extra to compensate for the pantry raids that will be conducted. Another interesting thing is that the beef jerky will disappear and no one in the house will know who ate it all. I am sure that "Mr. Idunno" lives at your house as well. He seems to be the culprit most of the times.

Finally there is canning your beef. One of the best ways to do this is to cook up your ground beef, beef strips or cubed beef and then can it in some sort of brine type liquid.

There is a lot of mystery in doing this and people are afraid of getting food poisoning. But if you follow your instructions in your canning cook book, you will do fine, the canned meat will be safe to eat and you will have meat that will last several years in the jar.

Now the tool that I recomend you to use for this is the All-American 21-1/2-Quart Pressure Cooker/Canner. The best prices that I have found these were actually at Amazon. You can purchase one for $199.99. The average cost is usually over $210-$225.00+.

What I like about the AA-21 is that not only can you use it canning, but you can also cook a full dinner in it in about 15 minutes.

In fact if you raise chicken and have wondered what to do with all those roosters that missed the ax at 90 days old, the pressure cooker is a great way to cook these tough birds and when they come out, they are very tasty and tender.

You can then pressure can the meat and use the broth that it was prepared in as the brine all in the same AA-21 pressure canner.  

Now I know that there are some of you out there that are saying " But Ray, I don't know how to can."

Well I will share with you how we learned. We pruchased a great DVD series titled "Food Storage Secrets." In fact we liked the series so much we now offer it on the Prophezine website.

With this series you get the 2-DVD set, "Food Storage Secrets"as well as another DVD titled "Food Dehydrating Secrets." On top of that they also include a 63 page canning book that goes along with the DVD series.

All this costs $39.95 plus $5.00 shipping and handling.

This is how Tracye and I learned how to can up some of our food stores. I highly recomend this series for anyone who is starting out learning how to can.  To learn more, click on the DVD picture and it will take you to the website.

Conclusion

The world is feeling the famine that drought, floods, excess snow has produced. Prices of food will go up, that is a fact. But if you plan now and start building up your pantry by "investing" in food; you will create a hedge against inflation that will free up resources so that you can then create other hedges such as dairy products, veggies, fruits, etc.

All that we are doing is just what our grand parents and great grand parents used to do. It was un-imaginable to not have at least a years worth of food storage in the days before the grocery store. Everyone canned and everyone dehydrated.

In fact do you know that God even told Noah to store up food?

Genesis 6:21-22  And take thou unto thee of all food that is eaten, and thou shalt gather it to thee; and it shall be for food for thee, and for them.
22  Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he.

Folks, Noah knew that hard times were coming. Like Noah, we have a chance to also store up in our familys "ark" food that will create a hedge against inflation.

We KNOW that higher prices are coming, we can either learn from our examples like Noah, Joseph and others in scripture, or we can pay much higher prices down the road.

Be prudent, be practical, but above all...be prepared.





By Ray Gano



About the Author:

Ray & Tracye Gano are the Executive Directors of Prophezine. Prophezine deals with Bible Prophecy and World Events. They currently serve people  through the internet with a weekly newsletters, daily news updates, community based website, internet radio shows and You Tube broadcasts. Ray recently released his latest book " Survive The Coming Storm - The Value of a Preparedness Lifestyle.

You can purchase his book at - http://www.survivethecomingstorm.com

Visit his main website Prophezine by going to http://www.prophezine.com

Or visit Ray's Blog Survival4 Christians = http://survival4christians.blogspot.com

Watch Ray's Videos at - http://www.youtube.com/survival4christians

If you would like to have Ray Gano come speak at your church or community event, please contact him at ray.gano@prophezine.com