Wednesday, November 28, 2012

The Shaking To Come - Our Talks in Costa Rica


shaking-nation-410-200As some of you know, we went down to Costa Rica for several reasons, but one of the main reason was to meet with some other watchman ministries.
I want to thank several of you who helped us with this as well as some of the ministries who also helped make the way for us to go down.
While we were down there we had a good time, made new friends and re-established relationships.
Tracye pointed out that God really blessed us weather wise. October is usually the wettest month of the year and yet, we really did not have much rain except in the evenings. What is interesting is that the day we left, it started to rain all day. But when we were in the different towns we were visiting, barely any rain at all; in fact we had some of the most beautiful spring like weather one could have.
When we met up with our watchmen friends, God really blessed that time as well. We had some good quality time to talk about what is going on, specifically in the US. We talked about other things going on in the world, but the US seemed to be the topic that we kept coming back to.
One thing that came out of this meeting is something that was obvious, we are no longer a good nation.
Instead of standing for truth and what is right, we are defending political wars. Wars dealing with power, greed and shedding of innocent blood and viewing that as just "casualties of war."
We no longer defend the innocent and the bloodshed of the innocent runs deep.
We as a nation have lost our moral and spiritual barring. We have forgotten to be good and because of that we are no longer great.
alarmInstead of doing what is right, we continue to taunt God with our sin and rebellion.
Now I have to ask, is this anything new to you who are watchmen?
No, not really. It just hammers it home again and confirms what God has been impressing upon those of us who are watchmen. If you are reading this, you are probably shaking your head yes as well.
Sometimes being a watchman is not the job we wished we had. But it is the job God has appointed us to do.
With it comes responsibility, which most of the time is not a welcomed one. We are the ones who are called to warn the people. Because if we do not warn them, the blood of the innocent is on our hands. So we must warn and shout it from the roof tops so all can hear. Only then can we say we did our job of warning the people.
But we believe that the time of warning is coming to a close and God is starting to make His move upon this nation.
But that is not all.
Something else that kept coming up, was that there seems to be a noose that is tightening around our nation's neck.
Our historic enemies are surrounding us, and we the people do not care.
Our enemies see us as a long awaited prize waiting to be plucked and taken over.
America, like ancient Israel has been called to repent. Over and over again God has given us warning.
Saved and unsaved disregard the warnings even when it is right before their eyes. They still refuse to repent and submit to God.
I am not a prophet and I am not claiming some prophetic word either.
What I have done, is just been a good Berean and gone to God's Word and sought out examples from the past.
They are clearly there, you just have to read and study.
King Solomon once stated that there is nothing new under the sun.
Man will continue to repeat himself and his poor decisions that he makes. He will repeat his sinful history over and over again. This is a fact and today we see it taking place right before our eyes.
Like ancient Israel, our enemies are beginning to surround us and we still do not give heed to this warning.
putin-nukesRussia conducted major nuclear tests. Did the people care? No, in fact the news was barely even reported.
Russian bombers enter US airspace, do we care?
Russian Subs have been found to be patrolling in the Gulf of Mexico, do we care?
Our nation is being eroded from within due to our sin, hedonism and selfishness. Do we care?
Our historical enemy Islam is growing like a cancer in our own nation, do we care?
China holds debt over our heads as a weapon, do we care?
When faced with all of this what is our response?
"Let's eat and drink and be merry; for tomorrow we die!"
AKA… Party Hardy.
Sound familiar?
I am reminded of the book of Isaiah. In it the prophet tells the people that God is calling the people to repentance. This was at a time when Jerusalem was surrounded.
What was interesting is that the people did not care that they were going to die.
Scripture says…
Isaiah 22:12 - 13 And in that day did the Lord GOD of hosts call to weeping, and to mourning, and to baldness, and to girding with sackcloth:
13 And behold joy and gladness, slaying oxen, and killing sheep, eating flesh, and drinking wine: let us eat and drink; for tomorrow we shall die.
Our nation is reflecting what once took place in Ancient Israel.
God is the same yesterday, today and forever.
When a nation turns from God, the outcome will always be the same; and yet people refuse to heed the warning and continue to buck against God.
God will send warnings trying to get the attention of the people.
tower2-9-11As I have stated before I believe that 9-11, the financial fall of 2008 as well as other events were warnings from God calling our nation to repentance.
Christian and non Christian alike refuse to acknowledge it. They make excuses, drum up lies, say good times are ahead of us, God's blessing our nation, etc., etc., etc.
Again, this is the same thing that ancient Israel did when the Assyrian king Sennacherib laid siege Jerusalem.
They refused to listen to the warnings.
Isaiah 30:9 - 11 That this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the LORD:
10 Which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits:
11 Get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us.
Like the days back then, so are the days today.
We The People do not want to hear about our sin and the need to repentance. The churches today preach a "God is love", a sugar coated, false prosperity message that leads to hell and damnation.
The overall message coming out of many pulpits today is… "Oh, we don't want to offend the people. They don't need to hear about hell and damnation. We just want happy people giving to our building fund and our TV programs and our other efforts so that everyone feels warm and fuzzy all over."
While I was down in Costa Rica visiting with the other watchmen, God inspired upon me that He is getting ready to really shake this nation to the core.
Like ancient Israel, I do not think that we are going to repent.
As much as I like to quote and have hope in 2 Chronicles 7:14, I don't think we will come to that, at least not in the near future.
The price and consequences of our sin and rebellion has caught up with us.
I explained what we are facing and the other watchmen agreed. They have seen the writing on the wall too.
We were talking and we called what we believe is about to transpire. We dubbed it "The Shaking."
"The Shaking" What We Will Soon Be Facing
I and others believe that the time of mercy is over. God has given our nation chance after chance to repent and all we have done is spit in His face.
As with ancient Israel which God shook, we too will go though our time of shaking our nation to its core. It is God's way of trying to get our attention.
Here are just some of those things I believe what God will use to shake this nation.
fiscal cliffThe Financial Cliff - starting Jan 1 this nation will face some major financial cuts and major rise in taxes across the board. This will take its toll on millions. If this is pushed off, then we are probably looking at June 2013 before something is done. If the can is kicked down the road a bit, the Feds will start up the printing presses with gusto just trying to keep the economy afloat. This in turn will cause even more drastic inflation.
If this is pushed off, look to Europe to collapse first, thus causing everyone to run to the dollar.
Those of us watching, this will be a flag we need to watch for. When we see this take place, we will know that our time is just around the corner.
What this will do is will falsely prop up our economy. Many will cry out "happy days are here again." Then all of a sudden we will wake up and realize that we have flown off the cliff and gravity is about to take hold.
And when it does, we will fall and probably fall very hard.
Inflation Beginning To Run Amok - We are amazed at the prices of things already starting to go up. We don't buy food that much because we eat from our pantry and shelf reliance items. But recently we have seen prices almost double. Just yesterday my daughter bought some dish washing soap for the dishwasher. It was $8.00 for a small bottle where the last time we purchased it was around $4 - $5.
80-20 ground beef five lbs for $16.95. That is almost $4.00 a lb and with that you are paying for 20% fat.
A 2 lb block of cheese has doubled from $3 - $4 to over $8.00.
These are just a few examples of inflation taking hold in every day America.
Food Prices Going Up / Shortages of Food - As with everything else, food is also effected by inflation. But what people forget is the lack of food and shortage of crops that was produced the last three years.
We are now at a place nationally where we have used up our supplies from past harvests and the harvests prior were not able to replenish what we as a nation consumed.
This winter I believe we will see some major increases in the cost of food to the point there will be people who cannot afford to buy food.
But what we need to remember is that hungry people do desperate things to feed their families.
Already we have 45 million people on food stamps, what will happen when our nation's coffers cannot afford to pay that food stamp bill? Our nation's debt is going to be our down fall and eventually food stamps like other government welfare programs will be effected.
Another Housing Bubble Will Burst - With the baby boomers selling off their homes so they can down size. A glut of homes are beginning to form. 2016 the peak children of baby boomers will be in range to start purchasing new and these used homes. But with approx 72 million homes being put on the market and only 45 million baby boomer kids able to purchase, that puts the housing market in the negative.
In other words to prevent a housing bust, baby boomer kids will need to purchase two homes to keep the housing economy alive. We know that they will not do this, so house values will drop like a lead balloon and along with that a large chunk of our economy will go down with it.
Do you realize how much the home industry drives our economy?
Think about everything that goes into a home, keeps a home running. Everything that makes a house a home will be effected.
erisa-lawsuit-bp-article-4ERISA Law Going Into Effect - This is a biggie and if nothing else crushes our nation, this will. When the baby boomers bought, companies made millions throughout the years.
Now all these Baby Boomers have money that they have saved for retirement via their 401(k), IRAs, ect.
Between 1995 and 2005 the millions of people who followed the “Work hard, save money, get out of debt, invest for the long term, and diversify, diversify, diversify.” advice lost an estimated $7-9 trillion.
In the 2008 collapse they lost even more of their retirement. In fact many were wiped out.
We now are facing 2016 where 2,282,887 baby boomers that are turning seventy. The ERISA Law states that at age 70, retirees will be forced to start drawing out and paying taxes on the retirement funds.
Where is all this retirement money being housed?
In the stock market.
In 2017 the number of retirees jumps to 2,928,818 more people. That is about 700,000 more people than the year before that will start selling and pulling their money out of the stock market too.
Just in these two years close to 5,211,705 people will start pulling money out of the stock market via selling off shares of 401K, IRA, and other self directed retirement accounts.
That many people will affect the economy and more people will be added each year for approximately 20 years. That is if the market lasts for 20 more years.
What we need to remember is that all in all, that is a lot of stock being sold, or at least trying to be sold.
Here is the kicker.... What happens when millions of people start selling millions of shares of stock?
The prices start to drop and fast.
The laws of supply and demand will come into effect, and the odds of major panic just increased enormously.
If none of the other major events bring this nation to her knees, ERISA will and do it very quickly to boot.
Overnight millions upon millions of baby boomers and anyone else saving for retirement through one of these retirement vehicles will be broke. Inflation and supply and demand will make these accounts worthless. The stock market will fall like no other throwing us into a major economic crisis like this nation has never seen before.
repent-300x226Will We Repent?
After all the shaking, will the people turn to God after all?
If we are following what Israel did in the past, which we have pretty much have followed step by step, then the answer is, No.
The people, even many Christians today will continue to choose rebellion over God's Word.
Like Israel, the people refuse to heed the watchmen warnings ...
Isaiah 30:9 - 11 That this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the LORD:
10 Which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits:
11 Get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us.
Woe Unto Them...
In Isaiah we read about the sins of the nation who have turned their backs upon the Lord. They shake their fists in defiance and taunt God.
God in return tells the people, "Woe unto them..."
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 5:20 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!
But out of all the five woes mentioned in chapter 5, the woe found in verse 18-19 is the one that is most telling...
Isaiah 5:18 -19 Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as it were with a cart rope:
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!
This is where our nation is today. Utter rebellion.
We parade our sins in pubic so they are pridefully on full display.
We shake our fist at God and challenge Him to "make speed and hasten His work." In other words "proclaim your judgment upon us God, we do not care. We know our fate before us, let's just get it over and done with. "
This attitude that we display today is the same attitude that Israel had as we can see here in Isaiah 22...
Isaiah 22:12 And in that day did the Lord GOD of hosts call to weeping, and to mourning, and to baldness, and to girding with sackcloth:
Isaiah 22:13 And behold joy and gladness, slaying oxen, and killing sheep, eating flesh, and drinking wine: let us eat and drink; for tomorrow we shall die.
We are past the repentance stage and as much as I do not want to say it, I believe we are a nation past the point of no return.
It will take years of pain and even possible bloodshed to break our rebellious spirit and return to a nation serving God.
I do believe that we will get there, but the price we will pay will be great.
So these and other "shakings" will take place.
But to get to the place of pain, something else needs to take place.
It happened to Ancient Israel. God is a constant unchanging God. So that means that our nation will need to go through it as well.
What will that place of pain and suffering be?
I will discuss that in my next article.

ray-gano-med
By Ray Gano