The Handwriting on the Wall: Lessons from Daniel chapter 5 on the future of America and the coming war in the Middle East

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THE HANDWRITING ON THE WALL

Lessons from Daniel Chapter 5 on the future of America and the coming war in the Middle East

“Is America in a ‘Nebuchadnezzar moment’ (where we still have an opportunity to repent and be restored), or a ‘Belshazzar moment’ (where God removes His favor from us and turns out the lights)?”

Joel C. Rosenberg, Jacksonville Pastors Conference, January 29, 2012

[Text of remarks prepared for delivery; see conference video for final presentation]

“The Pastor and the Future” — that’s what I’ve been asked to speak about tonight, and I cannot think of a more important subject to close this conference. You and I are living in one of the most dangerous moments in the history of the United States….in the history of Israel and the Middle East….in the history of the Church. Yet at this very moment when so many people are so anxious about the future, too many pastors are shying away from teaching Bible prophecy.

• Some, because prophecy has been sensationalized in the past and they rightly resist such cheapening of God’s Holy Word.
• Some, because they’ve never really carefully studied Bible prophecy and feel unprepared to teach it to their congregations.
• Some, because they’ve lost sight of the power of prophecy – prophecy is an intercept from the mind of the all-seeing, all-knowing, all-powerful God….prophecies are storm warnings from the future….not to frighten us but to motivate us – to get us ready for what is coming, and to help get others ready…..prophecy is given to encourage and exhort the Church to repentance….to holiness and purity….to prayer and fasting….to sharing the Gospel and making disciples….to pastor training and church planting….prophecy tells us we are going to be shaken….why?….to wake up the Church….to wake up the nations….to wake up Israel….because the Day of the Lord is coming, and surely it is near….and God love us and He wants us to be ready.

In Luke 12:54-56, Jesus rebuked His disciples for not understanding the Word of God and not analyzing the times in which they lived….which is why it is so important that we close this conference by considering “The Pastor and the Future.” So, turn with me, if you would, to Daniel chapter 5. [Read the entire chapter]

What do we see in Daniel chapter 5?

5:1-2 – A pagan nation at the height of its power, and corruption.

5:3-4 – A pagan government and high society drunk with power and consumed with seeking pleasure of all kinds….worshipping the gods of gold and silver and all things material….what do we see in the king’s court?

• Sexual immorality.
• Drunkness.
• Greed and materialism.
• Idolatry
• Blasphemy.
• No care or concern for their history of sin and God’s judgment.
• No remembrance of God’s grace and mercy for those who repent.

King Belshazzar doesn’t seem to remember or care about the testimony of his forefather, Nebuchadnezzar. Once an evil and terrible king, one of the worst in the Bible, Nebuchadnezzar had then faced the judgment of God. He’d been driven out of the king’s palace, into the wilderness, driven mad and eating grass like a beast. Yet after a time, God relented. The Lord gave Nebuchadnezzar a second chance, and Nebuchadnezzar repented of his horrific sins and gave his life to the One True God. What’s more, Nebuchadnezzar praised the Lord before the entire nation ofBabylon.

Nebuchadnezzar testified before his people: “At that time my reason returned to me. And my majesty and splendor were restored to me for the glory of my kingdom, and my counselors and my nobles began seeking me out; so I was reestablished in my sovereignty, and surpassing greatness was added to me. Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise, exalt and honor the King of heaven, for all His works are true and His ways just, and He is able to humble those who walk in pride.” (Daniel 4:36-37).

5:5-6 – So God begins to shake them.

5:7-9 – A mysterious hand appears out of nowhere in the king’s court….mysterious fingers begin supernaturally writing on the wall of the king’s palace….everyone in that room could see the handwriting on the wall….they could all see the hand of God at work…..it terrified them, but it certainly got their attention…..they knew it was important, but they had no idea what is said, or what it meant….so because they were pagans they turned to the so-called “wise men” of the age, but the wise men had no answers.

• 5:7 – King Belshazzar has two reactions:
  • A physical reaction – he gets physically ill.
  • An emotion reaction – he becomes desperate….he suddenly becomes willing to give massive wealth and power to whoever can help him understand the handwriting on the wall.

5:10-12 – Frightened, desperate, and having run out of all other options, Belshazzar turns to a man with a reputation for being completely different than they….a man described as having an “extraordinary spirit”….a man described as having “knowledge and insight”…a man “in whom is a spirit of the holy gods”…..the man, of course, was Daniel….he hadn’t been invited to the party, mind you…he wasn’t part of their culture….he wasn’t part of their religion….he wasn’t a member of the “in crowd”….and that was the point….in their fear and trembling, they were looking for someone completely different….someone who had a completely different perspective and just might be able to help them.

5:13-16 – Enter Daniel….he is brought into the upper echelons of power and wealth and offered a great reward if he can solve the mystery.

5:17-28 – Daniel doesn’t ignore or resist the king’s request….he doesn’t claim separation of Church and State….he doesn’t self-righteously declare he won’t “dirty his hands” by speaking to government leaders….but Daniel makes clear that he’s not interested in money, power or prestige….he’s not trying to be in their club….he certainly doesn’t want to be part of their pagan culture or corruption….rather, he knows he holds citizenship in another kingdom, yet he also knows that he is God’s ambassador….so he agrees to explain the hand of God to the king and his court….giving all glory and honor to the Lord, Daniel fearlessly makes known the word of the Lord, even at great risk to his own life.

Many in ministry look at Daniel with admiration and want to be like him:

• He’s handsome (Daniel 1:4)
• Brilliant (Daniel 1:4)
• Wise (Daniel 1:4)
• Sterling reputation (Daniel chapters 1 through 5)
• Invited into the highest courts of power (the entire book of Daniel)
• Given great accolades, wealth and authority (Daniel 2:46-49 and 5:29)

Yet let’s be clear: Daniel didn’t seek any of these things….moreover, he knew he could take no credit for these things.

That said, let’s take another look….are you really willing to be a Daniel? Consider the high price of his service to the Lord:

• He was taken captive from his homeland (Daniel chapter 1)
• Forcibly given a new home, new name, new diet, new education, new job in a brutal pagan empire (Daniel chapter 1)
• Arrested, convicted, imprisoned, sentenced to death (Daniel chapter 6)
• Yet he never faltered….he never wavered….he clung to the Lord….he knew His God….he listened to His God….he was a man of prayer….he understand the Word….he studied God’s Word diligently and carefully (chapter 9 he’s studying Jeremiah!)…..and when God told him to speak, he spoke boldly and without reservation…..he didn’t pull any punches….he did so at great risk, but with great faith and courage.
• In Matthew 24:15, Jesus calls Daniel “the prophet”….for that is what he was.

How about you?….are you clinging to Christ?….are you on you knees repeatedly throughout the day in prayer?….are you fasting?…..are you listening carefully to the voice of God?…..are you willing to teach God’s Word – all of it, including the prophecies of a future that is coming fast upon us?…..are you ready to stripped of all our worldly possessions…stripped of our identity….arrested…. convicted….imprisoned…. sentenced to death….all for being men faithful to pray and faithful to speak the Word of God in our pagan, corrupt culture? Let us not answer too quickly – let us consider the gravity of this calling in this moment…for these tests may be coming soon.

Now, what was the Lord’s message to Belshazzar via Daniel?

• 5:18-21 — Belshazzar should have known better…he had seen the sins of his father, and God’s judgment
• 5:22 – “Yet you…have not humbled your heart, even though you knew all this,” Daniel says to the king. “You have exalted yourself against the Lord of heaven.”
• 5:26 – Mene, “God has numbered your kingdom and put an end to it.”
• 5:27 – Tekel, “You have been weighed on the scales and found wanting.”
• 5:28 – Peres, “Your kingdom has been divided and given over to the Medes and Persians.”
• Why was God judging Belshazzar? Because of Belshazzar’s pride…his vanity….his insolence….his hubris….Proverbs 16:18 – “Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.”

Yes, the God of the Bible is a God of grace and mercy and forgiveness. He gives us one opportunity after another in life here on earth to say “Yes” to the Lord Jesus Christ and receive His free gift of forgiveness and eternal life by putting our faith in Christ’s death on the cross and His resurrection from the dead. But eventually there is a point of no return. There is a point in which you defy God too long….go too far….cross a line….and at that point you no longer have the opportunity to repent and receive God’s mercy. At that point, when you least expect it, you have sealed your own fate by rejecting the Most High God…by exalting yourself against the Lord, and you will stand condemned to the fires of hell for all of eternity with no way of escape.

Thus, the Scriptures are clear: Say “Yes” to Jesus Christ now, before it is too late.

• “And the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life.” (I John 5:11-12)
• “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish (die and go to hell forever and ever), but shall have eternal life….he who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” (John 3:16,18)
• Jesus said, “Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell….Everyone who confesses Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 10:28,32-33)
• Don’t do what Belshazzar did. Don’t keep defying the Most High God. Don’t wait too long to repent and give your life to the Lord. Otherwise there will come a point of no return. You will be weighed in God’s balances and found deficient, and theKingdomofGodwill be ripped away from you and you won’t have another opportunity to be saved. The Apostle Paul put it clearly: “Now is the acceptable time [to get right with God],” he wrote. “Behold, now is the day of salvation.” (2 Corinthians 6:2)

5:29-31 – For some unknown reason Belshazzar kept his word to Daniel and rewarded him for his insight….and God kept His word and before the night was finished, Belshazzar was dead.

Question: Why did God write on the wall?

It was too late for that king — and that kingdom — to repent. Why, then, did God sent the message? To warn to those Babylonians who were in the room with Belshazzar, and to warn the entire nation of Babylon….and to warn us down through the centuries: Listen to the voice of God….read the Word of God….don’t harden your heart….understand the “handwriting on the wall”….understand that God is trying to wake you up….get your attention….draw you to Him….motivate you to serve Him….don’t wait too long….repent of your sins and receive Christ as your Savior while there is still time.

Today, we can see the handwriting on the wall once again….in Israel and the Middle East….and here in the United States….God is trying to get our attention….will we listen, or harden our hearts?

The Future of Israel and the Middle East

As followers of Jesus Christ, we can see the handwriting on the wall in theMiddle East. We know what it says, and we know what it means: a terrible war is coming to the epicenter. God is going to shake the people of theMiddle East. He wants them to wake up and realize their real and desperate and urgent need to receive Jesus as their Messiah, Savior and Lord. Jesus doesn’t want anyone in the epicenter to perish and go to hell. He wants them to all to be saved.

The Good News is that more Muslims and more Jews are coming to faith in Jesus than ever before in history. But it’s not enough for the Lord. Too many people are still resisting Him. So in His mercy He will continue shaking them in hopes that they will listen and repent like Nebuchadnezzar, not rejecting Him to the very end like Belshazzar.

Will the coming war be a prophetic war (like Ezekiel 38-39, the “War of God and Magog”), or just a really terrible geopolitical war? Of that we cannot yet be certain. But clearly the most dangerous corridor in the world is between Tel Aviv and Tehran. The leaders of the free world say Iran could have the Bomb by the end of 2012. Yet the nations of the world refuse to take decisive action to neutralize the Iranian threat. But make no mistake: if Iran’s mullahs get the Bomb, they could do in six minutes what it took Adolf Hitler six years to do – kill six million Jews. Today’s Sunday New York Times magazine story suggests Israel and Iran may very well go to war in 2012.

The handwriting on the wall is clear – the question is: What will we as believers do about it?

• Will the Church demonstrate the love and courage necessary to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ throughout the Middle East with clarity and compassion before it’s too late? If we really love the people of the epicenter, that’s exactly what we should do.
• Will the Church do everything possible to encourage our brothers and sisters in Christ who live in theMiddle East– to pray for them, to visit them, to equip them, to assist them, to stand with them, come what may? Will we help the persecuted believers in the region? Will we train the pastors and help them plant new churches? Or will we ignore them, abandon them, refuse them in their hour of need? Again, if we love them, we will serve them.
• Time is short, and the handwriting on the wall is clear.

The Future of America

The handwriting on the wall is also clear here in theUnited States. We as followers of Jesus Christ know full well thatAmericais in grave danger — not just at risk of decline but of outright collapse.

• We now have more than $15 trillion in debt….100% of our GDP….but we are facing $65 trillion in unfunded liabilities…..we are on the Titanic, heading for the icebergs, and too many inWashington are saying, “Speed up!” not, “Turn around!”
• The Bible warns us not to go into debt, yet we continue to defy Him.
• We are defying God in other areas, too.
• 53 million abortions
• Legalized homosexual marriage
• A pornography industry that makes more than ABC, CBS and NBC combined.

How much longer will the Lord wait before He lets us reap what we’ve sown? Is God going to give us another chance, or is He finished with us? Is America in a “Nebuchadnezzar moment” (where we still have an opportunity to repent and be restored), or a “Belshazzar moment” (where God removes His favor from us and turns out the lights)? Honestly, I’m not certain.

The good news is that God moved powerfully in this land in the early 1700s with the first “Great Awakening,” a series of amazing spiritual revivals that woke up the Church and rescuedAmerica. God moved powerfully again in the early 1800s with the “Second Great Awakening” that was even more transformative.

The question now is: Will God give us a Third Great Awakening? I don’t know, but I hope so. That’s why I’ve written the book, Implosion. But I can’t wait until June when it releases. I feel compelled to start talking about these issues now because they are so important. We need to be on our knees praying and fasting and pleading with God to have mercy on us. Yes, Washington and Wall Street and Hollywood bear much blame for the mess we’re in. But so does the Church.

There are 340,000 churches in the United States. They are all supposed to be shining cities on a hill. They are supposed to be lights in the darkness. But in too many American churches, the light is growing dim. In some churches, there is no light at all. We desperately need a revival of the Church to save this country. Nothing less will do.

Even if we elect godly, principled, wise and courageous leaders to the presidency, the Senate and the House in 2012, this won’t be enough to keep us from implosion. It’s still important, don’t get me wrong. But won’t be enough. We need a supernatural movement of God to rescue us, or this nation will collapse economically, morally and culturally.

On Saturday, June 16^th, we will host the national “Implosion” simulcast….a three-hour program for churches all across the country….I’ll teach for about an hour on these issues, and then take 2 hours of questions in a live format…we’ll talk about how much trouble we’re in, and we’ll talk more about the Great Awakening and the Second Great Awakening and see if there are lessons we can learn and apply to our own time….I hope you and your churches will consider joining us for this.

Conclusion

The world is fearful and confused. Millions across the globe can see the handwriting on the wall. They know something is terribly wrong. They sense something terrible is coming. But they cannot read the handwriting or understand what it means. That’s your job. That the mission of the pastor, the man of God who knows the Word of God and is charged with teaching the Word of God. It is your job to analyze these present times in the light of God’s Word, in the light of Bible prophecy, and help the Church and the pagan world understand what God is saying….before it’s too late.

Too many pastors, however, are asleep to the trend lines. They are unable – or unwilling – to see how much danger the people of the Middle East are in, and how much danger the people of the United States are in. But now is precisely the time to call the Church, and the nations, and Israel, back to the God of the Bible…..now, while we still can.

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• Help Christians bless needy Israelis now and be ready for a possible new war in the epicenter — please consider a generous, tax deductible financial contribution to The Joshua Fund for the New Year.
• Implosion is now available for pre-order at Amazon…and at Barnes & Noble.
• The Tehran Initiative is available in hardcover or e-book
• Follow the “Epicenter Team” on Facebook with the latest news from the Middle East along with prayer requests.
• Sign up for Joel’s (free) email updates called “Flash Traffic”

RESOURCES ON ISRAEL, IRAN AND BIBLE PROPHECY

• Study notes on the Book of Joel — Israel, Prophecy and the “Day of the Lord”
• Online video messages on the Old Testament Book of Joel from the 2011 Epicenter Conference
• Study notes on Ezekiel 38-39 — What Is The War of Gog and Magog?
• Online video message on “America In A Troubled World: What Does The Future Hold,” looking at several prophecies, including Luke 12:54 -56 and Ezekiel 38-39 at the “Inside the Middle East Conference” at the Moody Bible Church

Audio of Joel’s message on how God is shaking the nations (from the Book of Haggai, chapter 2) at King of Kings church in Jerusalem (given in June 2011)

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God’s fearless Messengers

Jeremiah 23:4
And I will set up shepherds over them which shall feed them; and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall they be lacking, saith the Lord.
Acts 20:27
For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God.

Although the following advice, from the pen of G.D. Watson, may apply particularly to ministers and preachers, it can also come as an appeal to all of us, rank and file Christians. Which of us has not some portion of God’s flock for which our conscience tells us we are responsible? The challenge is to every true Christian, that he may be given that holy courage that will defy all hell until precious souls are son to Christ.

“The world and the visible Church both need messengers of God so perfectly purged by the Spirit and filled with Him as not to fear rich and cultured sinners, who are not ever afraid of offending someone, who have no fear about their salaries or votes of the conference, who are not afraid to preach very simple Bible sermons, who are not afraid of telling their experience, who are not in the least afraid of the flattery or abuse of the whole world.

They need men who so bury themselves in the bosom of God that the created universe cannot scare them; men who so fix their eyes on Jesus that they are oblivious of stained glass, pipe organs, fine clothes, and the foolish whims of proud theatre-going church members; MEN WHO WALK SO CLOSE WITH GOD THAT WHEN THEY PREACH THE PEOPLE FEEL AS IF A SOLEMN SECTION OF ETERNITY WERE FALLING ON THEM.”

“But this holy courage cannot be studied out, nor thought our, nor volitioned out, nor counterfeited. It comes only into an utterly purified hear, and is one of the fruits of perfect love.”

It is easy to appear a Daniel in a country where there are no lions.

Be careful that what you take for sweetness is not cowardice, and what you take to be the defense of the truth is not theological sourness. – Reader Harris.

- The Christian’s Daily Challenge: E.F. & L. Harvey

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A Cup of Trembling & An Oracle Against Damascus

From Bible Prophecy Blog.Com

This is the word of the Lord concerning Israel. The Lord, Who stretches out the Heavens Who lays the foundations of the Earth, and Who forms the spirit of man within him declares, “I am going to make Jerusalem a cup that sends all the surrounding peoples reeling. Judah will be besieged as well as Jerusalem.

On that day when all the nations of the earth are gathered against her I will make Jerusalem an immovable rock for all the nations. All who try to move it will injure themselves” (Zech 12:1-3).

True, the ultimate fulfillment of this passage will come at the very end of the age, but a careful reading shows the progressive nature of the prophecy. First the surrounding nations will be sent reeling, with both Judah (West Bank) and Jerusalem besieged. Ultimately all the nations of the earth will be involved, and those who move against Jerusalem will wind up injuring themselves.

And please don’t miss the way the Author identifies Himself: the One Who stretches out the heavens, lays the foundation of the earth and forms man’s spirit within him. Not much doubt as to Who’s speaking, so we better pay attention.

When Will These Things Happen?

It’s safe to say that all the nations of the earth are troubled over Jerusalem today. They realize the ease with which the whole world could be drawn into a conflict in the Middle East. And almost all are already aligned against Jerusalem. Remember, the prophecy is initially focused on the surrounding peoples and indicates that Judah and Jerusalem will be besieged.

The degree to which this part of the prophecy is already being fulfilled is frightening. Much of the land bordering Israel has become little more than an armed camp, filled with troops at the ready.

Hezbollah has been moving their rockets and missiles into position again with Lebanon’s full support, while steadily increasing their inventories of weaponry. Syria also has troops along Israel’s northern border as well as missiles set to fire upon Israeli cities. In the South Hamas and the PA are no less prepared. Recent reports confirm that large numbers of rockets and missiles from Libya have turned up in Gaza.

Together, these next door neighbors claim that every city in Israel is now within missile range. In it’s headline report on Dec. 5, 2011 Debkafile assessed the likelihood of war in the Middle East, including an Israeli attack on Iran, to be very high between mid-December and mid-January.

The US and Russia have both stationed powerful fleets in the Eastern Mediterranean against this possibility. There’s still time for diplomacy but for now no one believes a diplomatic solution will be forthcoming.

Psalm 83

As a result, this is beginning to look like a run-up to Psalm 83, a battle that’s never happened, but involves all of Israel’s next door neighbors in an effort to “destroy them as a nation, that the name of Israel be remembered no more” (Psalm 83:4).

The Psalmist pleads with God to pursue Israel’s neighbors with His tempest and terrify them with His storm so they will perish in disgrace (Psalm 83:15-17). I believe his prayer will be answered because this outcome is necessary to set the stage for Ezekiel 38-39.

Isaiah 17, An Oracle Against Damascus

We should also consider what could be a related prophecy from Isaiah 17. It was partially fulfilled in 732 BC when the Assyrians conquered Damascus (Aram). But never did Damascus cease to be inhabited as the prophecy requires (Isaiah 17:1). In fact to this day Damascus is described as the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world, over 5000 years and counting. The fortified city in vs. 3 was Samaria, capital of the Northern Kingdom of Israel. It was destroyed by the Assyrians in 722 BC.

The Northern Kingdom consisted of the 10 tribes of Israel who rebelled in the religious upheaval that followed King Solomon’s death and was allied with Damascus against Assyria. Like Damascus it was defeated and its people carried off into captivity.

Since Damascus was never destroyed and never ceased being inhabited, the world may have seen a partial fulfillment in history that points to a total fulfillment yet future to us.

Validating Prophecy

This is not unusual in Bible prophecy where the complete fulfillment of a passage may unfold over thousands of years. You receive an example of this in the mail every Christmas. It comes in the form of a Christmas card that says,
“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given. And the government will be on his shoulders. And He will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace” (Isa 9:6).
The passage goes on to explain that He will sit on David’s throne and reign in peace forever.

Only the first phrase of this passage has come to pass. The Child was born, the Son was given. The rest of the passage awaits His 2nd coming, but the fact that He was born confirms that the rest will take place as well. Partial fulfillment is the Lord’s way of validating End Times prophecies thousands of years in advance.

The Oracle against Damascus is a lot like the one against Babylon in Isaiah 13-14, where Babylon is also described as being so totally destroyed that it would never be inhabited again. For many years scholars believed this prophecy was fulfilled when the Medes and Persians conquered Babylon about 535 BC.

It took the Gulf War to show us that Saddam Hussein had spent billions re-building Babylon, and to realize that Babylon was never destroyed in the manner the Bible describes. It has in fact been occupied almost continuously since its construction 2700 years ago. The City of Babylon will play a major role in world events at the end of the age before its final and total destruction, foretold in Rev. 18.

Back To Damascus

Admittedly the Oracle against Damascus in Isaiah 17 is somewhat more obscure. Scholars who place fulfillment of this passage in our time rely on four things:

1.The phrase in vs. 1 “Damascus will no longer be a city”

2.The multiple use of the phrase “in that day” through out the passage (vs. 4, 7, 9) which often hints of the end times

3.Men will “Look to their Maker and turn their eyes to the Holy One of Israel,” see below,

4.The mention of many nations in vs.12-14 would seem to include more than just Assyria.

Regarding point 3 there was a temporary revival in the southern kingdom under King Hezekiah that spared Jerusalem from the Assyrians, but nowhere is a revival in the northern kingdom or among the Arameans (Damascus was the capital of Aram) or Assyrians mentioned in history.

And yet in Isaiah 19:23-25 Assyria is mentioned with Egypt and Israel as being called “My people, My handiwork, and My inheritance” by God in the millennium. This reconciliation with God is still in the future.

Soon And Very Soon

The USA and Europe have been warning Israel that an attack on Iran would not only result in a wider war in the Middle East, but would also deliver a severe blow to an already reeling world economy. Because of this US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta recently said that Israel has to come to terms with a Nuclear Iran, an Islamized Middle East, and reliance on the US for protection.

Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu said sometimes making a risky decision carries a heavy price, but the price for not making it would be heavier. Reliable observers interpret this to mean when the time comes to attack Iran, whatever repercussions it could cause will not be considered in light of the threat to Israel’s continued existence. We’ll soon know whether that time has come.

You can almost hear the Footsteps of the Messiah.

– Prophecy News Watch

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The Isaiah 9:10 prophecy: Is U.S. under God’s judgment?

From WND.Com

A messianic rabbi from New Jersey is stunning audiences nationwide by revealing the striking parallels between the fall of ancient Israel and what he suggests are God’s early judgments of America.

Jonathan Cahn of the Jerusalem Center-Beth Israel Congregation in Wayne, N.J., says an otherwise obscure passage in the Book of Isaiah is since Sept. 11, 2001, being uncannily re-enacted in the U.S. just the way it originally played out in the time of the great prophet of Israel leading to the nation’s captivity and dispersions.

In a new book, “The Harbinger,” Cahn reveals what he calls “an ancient mystery that holds the secret of America’s future and the collapse of the global economy.”

“Before its destruction as a nation, ancient Israel received nine harbingers, prophetic omens of warning,” he says. “The same nine harbingers are now manifesting in America with immediate ramifications for end-time prophecy.”

The key to decoding the harbingers, he says, is found in understanding the seemingly innocuous words of Isaiah 9:10 (King James Version), what it meant to Israel and how the history seems to be repeating itself in America today.

“The bricks are fallen down, but we will build with hewn stones: the sycomores are cut down, but we will change them into cedars.”

These words were first uttered by leaders in Israel and in response to a limited strike by Assyria on the lands of Zebulun and Naphtali – an attack the prophet makes clear is actually part of a limited judgment by God against apostasy. It wasn’t meant to destroy the nation, but to awaken it, according to most commentaries.

But, says Cahn, Israel didn’t take the cue. Instead, the response from the people in Isaiah 9:10 is one of defiance. The brick buildings were toppled, but they vowed to build bigger and better. The little sycamore trees may have been uprooted, but they vowed to plant bigger and better cedars in their place.

God, speaking through Isaiah, explains what will happen as a result of their pride and arrogance and failure to heed the harbinger: Bigger and more potent attacks will follow. Because neither the northern kingdom of Israel nor the southern kingdom of Judah truly repents, the first is eventually swept away by Assyrian invaders and the latter is carried off into captivity by the Babylonians for 70 years.

But what does this have to do with the United States of America – particularly what the U.S. experienced on 9/11 and since? Cahn has found some eerie parallels.

“In the aftermath of the attack, the nation was stunned,” said Cahn, “Everyone was trying to make sense of what had happened – this unprecedented attack on America. The very next day, September 12, then Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle presented America’s response to the world. And what did he say?”

Daschle said: “America will emerge from this tragedy as we have emerged from all adversity – united and strong. Nothing … nothing can replace the losses of those who have suffered. I know there is only the smallest measure of inspiration that can be taken from this devastation. But there is a passage in the Bible from Isaiah that speaks to all of us at times like this.”

“Daschle has no idea what he is doing here,” explains Cahn. “He thinks he’s offering comforting words to a grief-stricken people, but he is actually embracing the spiritually defiant and arrogant words of the children of Israel, proclaiming the ancient and ominous vow of the leaders of that nation. He doesn’t realize it, but he is actually inviting more judgment on the nation.”

It might be of some significance that Daschle, one of the most powerful men in the nation when he spoke those words, later fell into disgrace – to the point where he couldn’t even serve in Barack Obama’s Cabinet.

That might have been the end of the story – if no other top leader in the nation uttered those strange and obscure words after 9/11. But that’s not the case.

On the third anniversary of the attack, Sept. 11, 2004, another powerful U.S. senator running for vice president that year and who would famously run for the presidency four years later, gave a speech to the Congressional Black Caucus.

This time, John Edwards’ entire speech was built on a foundation of Isaiah 9:10: “Today, on this day of remembrance and mourning, we have the Lord’s Word to get us through,” he said. He then read Isaiah 9:10. He went on to talk about how America was doing just that – rebuilding with hewn stone and planting cedars:

“Like Daschle, Edwards thinks he’s invoking inspirational and comforting words from the Bible, but he’s actually inviting judgment on America,” says Cahn. “He’s repeating the vow that provoked God to bring calamity on ancient Israel.”

Daschle and Edwards were hardly alone among U.S. leaders in making similar statements, as Cahn’s “The Harbinger” reveals.

But aside from such statements, which could be chalked up to political talk and coincidences, is there anything else linking Isaiah 9:10 to 9/11?

The book is full of shocking parallels. There was actually a very famous sycamore tree felled in the attack on the World Trade Center. It was replaced by trees in the same genus as the cedar. There have been many plans made to rebuild the twin towers bigger and better and a large “hewn stone” was actually quarried out of the Adirondack Mountains in New York and brought to Ground Zero as a cornerstone.

“The parallels are truly stunning,” says Joseph Farah, founder of WND, who is producing a video documentary about Cahn’s findings. “They are too numerous and too powerful to relate in news story form. In fact, they are overwhelming in their number and their exactitude. I am persuaded God is trying to tell America something and Rabbi Cahn has found the key to unlocking the message.”

Farah says events continue to unfold that seem to link directly to the message of Isaiah 9:10 right here in the United States.

- Prophecy News Watch

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THE LORD IS a jealous God and avenging; the Lord avenges and He is full of wrath. The Lord takes vengeance on His adversaries and reserves wrath for His enemies; The Lord is slow to anger and great in power and will by no means clear the guilty; The Lord is good, a Strength and Stronghold in the day of trouble; He knows (recognizes, has knowledge of, and understands) those who take refuge and trust in Him; What do you devise and [how mad is your attempt to] plot against the Lord?; But with an [b]overrunning flood He will make a full end of [Nineveh's very] site and pursue His enemies into darkness: Nahum 1:8 Countless authorities confirm the literal accuracy of this reference. Diodorus of Sicily refers to a legend that Nineveh could never be taken until the river became its enemy. Arbaces the Scythian had besieged the city in vain for two years, but in the third year, the river Khoser during a flood season washed away a considerable section of the very great wall, and through this opening the besiegers gained entrance. Nah. 2:6 refers to the devastating flood, and Nah. 3:13, 15 probably to the destruction of Nineveh by fire. The vivid descriptions of chapter 3 “are true to their records and their sculptures.”

Nahum 1:1-15

¹THE BURDEN or oracle (the thing to be lifted up) concerning ^[a]Nineveh [the capital of Assyria]. The book of the vision of Nahum of Elkosh.

²The Lord is a jealous God and avenging; the Lord avenges and He is full of wrath. The Lord takes vengeance on His adversaries and reserves wrath for His enemies.

³The Lord is slow to anger and great in power and will by no means clear the guilty. The Lord has His way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of His feet.

⁴He rebukes and threatens the sea and makes it dry, and dries up all the rivers. Bashan [on the east] and Mount Carmel [on the west] wither, and [in the north] the blossom of Lebanon fades.

⁵The mountains tremble and quake before Him and the hills melt away, and the earth is upheaved at His presence–yes, the world and all that dwell in it.

⁶Who can stand before His indignation? And who can stand up and endure the fierceness of His anger? His wrath is poured out like fire, and the rocks are broken asunder by Him.

⁷The Lord is good, a Strength and Stronghold in the day of trouble; He knows (recognizes, has knowledge of, and understands) those who take refuge and trust in Him.

⁸But with an ^[b]overrunning flood He will make a full end of [Nineveh's very] site and pursue His enemies into darkness.

⁹What do you devise and [how mad is your attempt to] plot against the Lord? He will make a full end [of Nineveh]; affliction [which My people shall suffer from Assyria] shall not rise up the second time.

¹⁰For [the Ninevites] are as bundles of thorn branches [for fuel], and even while drowned in their drunken [carousing] they shall be consumed like stubble fully dry [in the day of the Lord's wrath].

¹¹There is one gone forth out of you [O Nineveh] who plots evil against the Lord, a villainous ^[c]counselor [the king of Assyria, who counsels for wickedness and worthlessness].

¹²Thus says the Lord: Though they be in full strength and likewise many, even so shall [the Assyrians] be cut down when [their evil counselor] shall pass away. Though I have afflicted you [Jerusalem], I will not cause you to be afflicted [for your past sins] any more.

¹³For now will I break his yoke from off you and will burst your bonds asunder.

¹⁴And the Lord has given a commandment concerning you [evil Assyrian counselor], that no more of your name shall be born nor shall your name be perpetuated. Out of the house of your gods I will cut off the graven and molten images; I will make [their temple] your tomb, for you are vile and despised.

¹⁵Behold! upon the mountains the feet of him who brings good tidings [telling of the Assyrian's death], who publishes peace! Celebrate your feasts, O Judah; perform your vows. For the wicked counselor [the king of Assyria] shall no more come against you or pass through your land; he is utterly cut off. [Then the prophet Nahum sarcastically addresses his message to Nineveh:] — Amplified Bible

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THEN I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven, robed in a cloud, with a [halo like a] rainbow over his head; his face was like the sun, and his feet (legs) were like columns of fire; He had a little book (scroll) open in his hand. He set his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land, And he shouted with a loud voice like the roaring of a lion; and when he had shouted, the seven thunders gave voice and uttered their message in distinct words; Then they said to me, You are to make a fresh prophecy concerning many peoples and races and nations and languages and kings.

Revelation 10:1-11

¹THEN I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven, robed in a cloud, with a [halo like a] rainbow over his head; his face was like the sun, and his feet (legs) were like columns of fire.

²He had a little book (scroll) open in his hand. He set his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land,

³And he shouted with a loud voice like the roaring of a lion; and when he had shouted, the seven thunders gave voice and uttered their message in distinct words.

⁴And when the seven thunders had spoken (sounded), I was going to write [it down], but I heard a voice from heaven saying, Seal up what the seven thunders have said! Do not write it down!

⁵Then the [mighty] angel whom I had seen stationed on sea and land raised his right hand to heaven (the ^[a]sky),

⁶And swore in the name of (by) Him Who lives forever and ever, Who created the heavens (^[b]sky) and all they contain, and the earth and all that it contains, and the sea and all that it contains. [He swore] that no more time should intervene and there should be no more waiting or delay,

⁷But that when the days come when the trumpet call of the seventh angel is about to be sounded, then God’s mystery (His secret design, His hidden purpose), as He had announced the glad tidings to His servants the prophets, should be fulfilled (accomplished, completed).

⁸Then the voice that I heard from heaven spoke again to me, saying, Go and take the little book (scroll) which is open on the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land.

⁹So I went up to the angel and asked him to give me the little book. And he said to me, Take it and eat it. It will embitter your stomach, though in your mouth it will be as sweet as honey.

¹⁰So I took the little book from the angel’s hand and ate and swallowed it; it was as sweet as honey in my mouth, but once I had swallowed it, my stomach was embittered.

¹¹Then they said to me, You are to make a fresh prophecy concerning many peoples and races and nations and languages and kings. — Amplified Bible

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Genetic Engineering: Toward the Super Human

From Bible Prophecy Blog.Com

Super human soldiers. They could run fifty miles at top speed, far outpacing even well-trained, experienced runners. They could endure freezing cold or blistering heat. They wouldn’t have to worry about obesity, and they would outlive all of us.

We’re not aware of any that exist right now, but they are not out of the realm of possibility. The technology to build a designer genome is no longer beyond the stretch of our fingertips.

Like a cook throwing together different ingredients in a bowl, today’s biochemists have the ability to toss this bit and that bit of genetic code together in order to make creatures that run faster and longer and defy the normal aging process. The problem is no longer, “Can we?” As serious as it’s ever been asked before, the question of, “Should we?” must be carefully answered.

Programmed Bugs

Genetic massaging has become widespread. Students at the University of Washington won a genetic engineering contest in early November after they built an enzyme that can convert simple carbohydrates into diesel. They plugged the enzyme into bacteria and set the bugs to consuming sugar. Another UW project genetically engineered bacteria to help people digest gluten.

Genetic engineering has offered a wide array of useful applications, however bizarre and questionable the changes to their genetic codes. Goats have had spider-silk protein genes inserted into them so that their milk produces large supplies of silk. Pigs have had spinach genes added to their code to make them less fat and supposedly healthier to eat.

Toward Eternal Youth

Gene therapy is a burgeoning field of interest, and a multitude of genetically modified mice are being used as test subjects for therapies that could possibly one day help humans.

Earlier this month, researchers at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN released a study in which mice had been genetically modified so that their senescent cells self-destructed when the mice were dosed with a specific drug.
Senescent cells are those which continue to survive after they’ve lost the ability to divide. These old cells accumulate in the aging tissues of the body; in arthritic hands and cataracts in the eyes. The immune system regularly removes senescent cells from tissues during an animal’s life, but does so less efficiently as it grows older.

Through gene engineering, researchers at the Mayo Clinic were able to purge the mice of their senescent cells, effectively slowing the aging effect these old cells have on the tissues. The mice did not develop cataracts, were able to run for longer periods on a treadmill at older ages, and retained the fat layers that would have otherwise thinned and caused the wrinkles we recognize in older people.

“I am very excited by the results,” said Dr. Norman E. Sharpless, an expert on aging at the University of North Carolina. “It suggests therapies that might work in real patients,” he said.

Super Soldiers

Some scientists consider the possibility of modifying the genetic code as a form of “forward evolution.”

The Pentagon is pouring $400 million per year to find ways to physically improve American soldiers. Lockheed Martin has taken its own spin on Marvel Comics and produced a “Hulc” (Human Universal Load Carrier) for the military. It won’t make our soldiers look quite like either the Hulk or Iron Man, but it is a battery-powered exoskeleton that helps humans carry 100kg weights and run with them at 10mph.

Still, soldiers have to sleep some time. What if we could build a race of stronger, tougher, faster super soldiers that could carry heavy loads long distances without requiring an expensive suit?

Super Mice

Just four years ago, in November 2007, biochemists at Case Western Reserve University at Cleveland produced a mouse that had been genetically engineered to run 20 meters per minute for five hours without stopping, encouraged onward simply by the smell of female pheromones at the end of the track. The comparison wild-type mouse gave up after about 10 minutes.

Researcher Richard Hanson described the colony of genetically altered mice, saying, “They are metabolically similar to Lance Armstrong biking up the Pyrenees. They utilize mainly fatty acids for energy and produce very little lactic acid. They are not eating or drinking and yet they can run for four or five hours. They are 10 times more active than ordinary mice in their home cage. They also live longer – up to three years of age – and are reproductively active for almost three years. In short, they are remarkable animals.”

These mice were genetically modified so that they produce up to 100 times higher concentrations of the PEPCK-C enzyme in their muscles than wild-type mice. The PEPCK-C enzyme is usually found primarily in the liver and kidneys. The increase of this enzyme in their muscles vastly improved the metabolism of the genetically modified mice, so that even the babies, “popped around the cage like popcorn.”

Great Pause

The Cleveland super mice might not have had to eat while they ran for five hours, but they did generally have massive appetites. They also had attitudes. “On the downside,” Hanson said, “they eat twice as much as control mice, but they are half the weight, and are very aggressive. Why this is the case, we are not really sure.”

Human beings have the same gene to produce the higher concentrations of the PEPCK-C enzyme that the mice do, but we need to be extremely cautious before we try to “improve” the human genetic code. We run into serious ethical issues involved in the calculated act of piecing together a human being as though he were a machine.

There are also practical issues. If we were able to produce test tube babies that have strength and stamina far beyond normal limits, it could be a problem if they turned out to be violent, stubborn sex maniacs who eat everything in the house and refuse to die.

- Prophecy News Watch

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How Friday Is Tied to the Mayan Apocalypse

From Live Science.Com

Friday’s numerical date is written out as 11/11/11. And for some people, that number sequence is more than a coincidence or inevitability — it’s a spiritual signal linked to 2012 Mayan prophecies of both doom and spiritual renewal.

Nov. 11, 2011 mythologies are pervasive on New Age corners of the Internet, with believers suggesting that 11/11 numerical sequences are signals from angels or numbers with hidden meanings. Even people who think little of numerology are finding meaning in the day: The Orlando Sentinel reports that Walt Disney World will host 11 weddings on 11/11/11.

But perhaps the most intriguing 11/11/11 mythology to pop up is the number’s link with the supposed 2012 Mayan Apocalypse. The ancient Mayan long-count calendar ends on Dec. 21, 2012, and some people believe that this date will usher in a new spiritual era, or even doomsday.

Nov. 11, 2011 most likely became linked with Dec. 21, 2012 when believers noticed that the U.S. Naval Observatory had set the exact time of the 2012 winter solstice for 11:11 Universal Time on Dec. 21, according to John Hoopes, a scholar of Maya history at the University of Kansas.

“It’s essentially based on the notion of synchronicities,” Hoopes told LiveScience. Synchronicities are meaningful coincidences, he said. And while everyone has a psychological tendency to find minding in random patterns the subcultures that believe in 2012 mythology tend to be those that dabble in psychedelics and cannabis, drugs that increase feelings of synchronicity.

“If it seems like the 2012 mythology was thought up by people on drugs, it’s because it was,” Hoopes said. [The History of 8 Hallucinogens]

The meaning of 11

Indeed, the U.S. Naval Observatory now lists the official time of the 2012 winter solstice, when Earth’s tilt is angled as far away as possible from the sun, at 11:12 Universal Time on Dec. 21. This has not stopped 2012 believers from focusing on the 11:11 time.

In part, this is because 11:11 mythology has been floating around online for some time. The website 1111spiritguardians.com holds that noticing a clock when the time is 11:11 is a signal from “1,111 fun-loving Spirit Guardians, or Angels.” Other times, such as 12:12, 10:10 or 12:34 are messages, too, according to the site.

These numbers may seem special to people because they stick in our minds, Hoopes said. No one remembers looking at the clock when the numbers don’t make a pattern.

“People are more likely to remember 11:11 than they are, say, 4:29 or 6:53 or 3:17 or something like that,” Hoopes said.

Psychologists call the temptation to find patterns in random data pareidolia. This phenomenon is also responsible for visions of the Virgin Mary in toast or other objects.

Once you accept 11 as a meaningful number — whether because it looks so symmetrical or because you keep seeing it on your digital watch — it’s easy to find the number everywhere. One article on the website 2012rising.com ties together the Mayan calendar, the terrorist attacks of 9/11, the average length of polarity reversals of the sun’s magnetic field, and the author making post number 1111 on a 2012 message board.

“The sun having an 11.11 year cycle, the winter solstice of 2012 falling at 11:11 and people all over the world finding themselves bombarded with 11′s [sic] just as science is predicting some kind of majestic solar event at the peak of this current cycle seems more than coincidence,” the author writes.

(Solar activity does indeed peak about every 11 years, potentially disrupting satellite communications, but according to NASA, there is no special risk associated with 2012 and the peaks are not expected to be different than previous historical peaks.)

11/11/11 Predictions

With all these 11s to pluck from, 11/11/11 predictions are flowing fast. New Age adherents have predicted everything from end-of-world scenarios to the ushering in of a new spiritual era.

“The buzz on the net and on Twitter and elsewhere is that 11/11/11 is the unofficial start of the 2012 metaphysical year,” Hoopes said.

Even moviemakers are cashing in on the action, with a horror/thriller movie titled “11-11-11″ set for release on the date. The plot of the movie centers on a scary, mysterious force that will enter the Earthly realm at 11:11 on 11/11/11.

Non-commercial predictions tend to be more positive than doom-centered, however. The number 11 is seen as a signal that all people are one, for example, and the date is more likely to be seen as an end to greed and disconnection than as an end to humanity. That puts 11/11/11 prophets in a different class than those such as Harold Camping, who predicted a Biblical doomsday in late October.

What the Mayas would say

Whatever modern people may think of the Mayan calendar, it’s not clear what, if any, significance the Maya would have placed on the end of their long count of days, Hoopes said.

“The reality is that the Mayas did keep track of large cycles of time, and there is a large cycle of time that began in 3013 B.C. on our calendar, and there are reasons to think that the cycle reaches a significant number on Dec. 21, 2012,” Hoopes said.

But what that might have meant to the Mayas is an open question, Hoopes said. The Mayan people tended to see time as cyclical, he said, with important events echoing themselves on corresponding dates in a cycle. In that case, he said, the end of the calendar might have been seen as a new beginning.

“But it’s fair to say there’s disagreement about that, and some of the leading Maya scholars are skeptical,” Hoopes said.

Notably, Hoopes said, Mayan end-of-the-world prophecies don’t appear in the historical record until after the group made contact with Christian missionaries — a bunch of people with their own strong beliefs about the end of days.

In fact, astrological end-time predictions were popular in the 1500s, when Franciscan missionaries began voyaging to the New World. In 1524, Hoopes said, an astrological conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter spurred fears of a second Great Flood, touching off panic.

“They were actually preparing for this catastrophe by buying real estate on high places and by stocking up on whatever the 16th-century equivalent of duct tape and bottled water was,” Hoopes said.

Biblical doomsday predictions would have certainly made it to Mayan ears, Hoopes said. In other words, Mayan prophecies simply appropriated Christian theology.

“The world for the Mayas really did end in the Spanish conquest,” Hoopes said. “So they incorporated that into their explanation of what was happening to them.”

The Maya and modern times

The Mayan calendar may resonate today simply because the ancient Maya are seen as an exotic culture with an advanced spirituality, Hoopes said. A century ago, he added, people believed the same thing about Indian and Chinese culture.

What keeps the mythology alive, today, however, is the Internet and social networking, Hoopes said. In that way, he added, believers in a 2012 transformation of consciousness might be right.

“The world is changing because of this transformation of consciousness through the digital network,” he said. “I would not be surprised if in the future people looked back and said, ‘Oh yes, it was 2012 when all that happened.’”

Is there a connection between 2012 and Bible Prophecy?  Be sure to check out our featured DVD – 2012: Prophecy or Panic DVD:

http://www.prophecynewswatch.com/featureditem.html

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NOW MIRIAM and Aaron talked against Moses [their brother] because of his [a]Cushite wife, for he had married a Cushite woman; And they said, Has the Lord indeed spoken only by Moses? Has He not spoken also by us? And the Lord heard it; And He said, Hear now My words: If there is a prophet among you, I the Lord make Myself known to him in a vision and speak to him in a dream; But not so with My servant Moses; he is entrusted and faithful in all My house; With him I speak mouth to mouth [directly], clearly and not in dark speeches; and he beholds the form of the Lord. Why then were you not afraid to speak against My servant Moses?

Numbers 12:1-16

¹NOW MIRIAM and Aaron talked against Moses [their brother] because of his ^[a]Cushite wife, for he had married a Cushite woman.

²And they said, Has the Lord indeed spoken only by Moses? Has He not spoken also by us? And the Lord heard it.

³Now the man Moses was very meek (gentle, kind, and humble) or above all the men on the face of the earth.

⁴Suddenly the Lord said to Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, Come out, you three, to the Tent of Meeting. And the three of them came out.

⁵The Lord came down in a pillar of cloud, and stood at the Tent door and called Aaron and Miriam, and they came forward.

⁶And He said, Hear now My words: If there is a prophet among you, I the Lord make Myself known to him in a vision and speak to him in a dream.

⁷But not so with My servant Moses; he is entrusted and faithful in all My house.

⁸With him I speak mouth to mouth [directly], clearly and not in dark speeches; and he beholds the form of the Lord. Why then were you not afraid to speak against My servant Moses?

⁹And the anger of the Lord was kindled against them, and He departed.

¹⁰And when the cloud departed from over the Tent, behold, Miriam was leprous, as white as snow. And Aaron looked at Miriam, and, behold, she was leprous!

¹¹And Aaron said to Moses, Oh, my lord, I plead with you, lay not the sin upon us in which we have done foolishly and in which we have sinned.

¹²Let her not be as one dead, already half decomposed when he comes out of his mother’s womb.

¹³And Moses cried to the Lord, saying, Heal her now, O God, I beseech You!

¹⁴And the Lord said to Moses, If her father had but spit in her face, should she not be ashamed for seven days? Let her be shut up outside the camp for seven days, and after that let her be brought in again.

¹⁵So Miriam was shut up without the camp for seven days, and the people did not journey on until Miriam was brought in again.

¹⁶Afterward [they] removed from Hazeroth and encamped in the Wilderness of Paran. — Amplified Bible

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Blueprint of your life

Romans 8:28
We are assured and know that (God being a partner in their labour) all things work together and are (fitting into a plan) for good to those who love God and are called according to (His) design and good.

The blueprint of our life is designed according to Gods purpose to be disclosed in the course of time.

From our point of view it may appear to be uncoordinated and confused with no reason and no cause; yet the Great Planner of Ages, the Father of Time intentionally coordinated the plan of our lives to harmonize, with exact precision His Purpose for us.

For those He foreknew, He destined from the beginning to be moulded into the image of His Son. And those whom He foreordained He also called, and those He called He justified and made righteous.

We may deem our life to be futile and the suffering unbearable, but consider that this present suffering is not worth being compared to the glory which is about to be revealed to you and in you.

If we want to share in Christ’s Glory, we must share His suffering, and those who have suffered in the flesh are done with intentional sin.

The Holy Spirit Himself thus testifies together with our spirit, assuring us that we are the sons of God.

God has appropriated and acknowledged us as His by putting His Seal upon us by
Putting His Holy Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee of the fulfillment of His promises.

How difficult can it be to realize that all things work together for good for those who love God and that the blueprint of our life is designed to fit into a plan? Let us therefore not hinder the fulfillment of the planned destiny of our lives, but study for the approbation of God and not mans approval.

Our confidence in God should be unshakable, knowing that He is in control of the entire plan and that as it unfolds our direction will become clear.

Know for a certainty that there is nothing that can separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth or anything else in creation.

Who is there to condemn us, if God be for us, who can be against us? Therefore we must encourage and strengthen ourselves in God as we wait upon Him, for in due time He will bring it to pass. — Sage

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